At long last, we have the hotly anticipated trailer for Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity. Aside from it being Cuarón’s first feature since 2006′s Children of Men, it reportedly has a 20-minute opening shot and while it was once set to star Robert Downey Jr. and Angelina Jolie, the parts ended up going to George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. I mean, that’s cool too, I guess. (*kicks can*)

In the clip, astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney) and Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) marvel at the sunrise — from space. Wearing space suits, they float in the blackness of the universe 372 miles above the Earth. But when their shuttle collides with some debris, the ship is destroyed, forcing the two of them to fight for survival in an environment they cannot control, and they have no place to land. Scrambling to hold onto one another, and then to any solid object that might provide a respite from the nothingness of zero gravity, they fight to find a way to contact Earth and make it safely home.
“Gravity” is scheduled for release October 4. [MTV]

Finally, a use of Futura font that actually makes sense!

Needless to say, Cuarón? In space? Oh, I’ll play your game, you rogue. But with big box office stars like George Clooney and Sandra Bullock on the bill, I’m a little surprised they went with the one-name, indie sci-fi name a lá Solaris or Moon and not something more commercial. Say, “Way Up in the Air,” or “The Blind Side of the Moon.” Yes, I’m a marketing genius. (*puts on foam cowboy hat marked “GENIUS,” pets cat*)

Read the rest of this entry »

From Paul Feig, director of Bridesmaids, an Apatow movie with chicks instead of dudes that was somehow hailed as the first time women had ever been funny (not that I should have to cite examples here, but Baby Mama came three years earlier and was better), comes The Heat, starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. They each play over-the-top, cop-movie caricatures, with Bullock as the tight-ass Joe Friday (they even call her a “tight ass” in the voice over) and McCarthy as the brash, slovenly Jack Black. She’s neat! She’s a slob! Familiar jokes! Is this equality? Where women get to do all the lame hacky crap we’re already tired of guys doing? I’m all for fairness, but there are better ways.

Read the rest of this entry »

I miss Dennis Hopper.

Sandra Bullock is putting aside changin’ peoples’ lahves to return to comedy for The Heat, as she’ll display her girl-next-door charm that she previously showed off in laughers like Miss Congeniality and The Net. Co-starring Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) and directed by Paul Feig (also Bridesmaids), The Heat is about a no-nonsense FBI agent who teams up with a goofball Boston cop to bring down the Russian mob.

But in a twist of 18-year old irony that left bloggers scrambling for Speed quotes, a production truck was struck by an MBTA bus during filming at Roxbury District Court on Monday. Fortunately, America’s sweetheart was in another building, away from the damage. Oh, and Bullock was safe, too.

Deborah Simmrin, unit publicist for “The Heat,” said the stars of the cop-buddy flick, Bullock and “Bridesmaids” funnygal Melissa McCarthy, were in a building across the street when the crash occurred.

Simmrin said the driver of the truck suffered minor injuries but returned to work after the accident. She said the crew hadn’t checked to see if any equipment was damaged.

“We just continued working,” she said. (Via the Boston Herald)

Brave. That’s what I call that. In all, a reported 11 people had to be taken to the hospital for treatment, but nobody was seriously harmed. The Herald also points out that Bullock is no stranger to accidents while filming, as she and then-husband Jesse James were hit by a drunk driver while she was filming The Proposal. Bullock and James weren’t seriously harmed in that accident, which the actress probably referred to as a relief then but a shame now.

With that, I think it’s time to revisit what I just assume was the winner of the Best Original Song at the 1995 Academy Awards…

Read the rest of this entry »

As the Tom Hanks-Sandra Bullock drama Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close hits theaters today, New Yorkers are voicing their displeasure over the decision by both Warner Bros. and the MTA to air the movie’s commercials in digital subway ads in New York City. Most notably, the commercials are airing on a digital panel at a subway station right next to Ground Zero.

The film is about a young boy whose father (Hanks) dies in the attacks on the World Trade Center and his subsequent search for the answers to life’s questions, and so the ads feature footage of the attacks and smoke billowing from the towers. You know, I could see how that might upset some people in New York City.

“Everybody’s trying to make money off 9/11,” said Bill Doyle, whose son, Joseph, was killed in the north tower.

“A lot of families got upset. Why couldn’t they warn us about this? I don’t think people really realized that these people are really still stressed.”

A Warner Bros. spokesman, Paul McGuire, said the movie company would pull the ads.

“It was never our intention to cause any distress,” McGuire said. “As a result, we will make best efforts to pull the material from pertinent locations.”

(Via the New York Post)

Common sense is a rare treasure these days. I mean, I understand that you want to be able to convey to people that you’ve made a dramatic film that has 9/11 as a backdrop (oh how I miss the Cold War) and you need to show the horrific footage to really hammer home your point.

But I also want to believe that at some point during the video editing process for the TV ads, someone looked up and said, “Hey, I just had a thought – this might upset people.” Then again, I also assume another person just responded, “Nah, people still like Tom Hanks.”

Read the rest of this entry »

After the jump, I’ve got the new trailer for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, based on the Jonathan Safran Foer novel. This is also “the Daldry” that New Yorker critic David Denby said he was looking forward to in his email to producer Scott Rudin yesterday. As in, the new movie from director Stephen Daldry (The Reader, The Hours, Billy Elliot), who seems to make movies specifically for New Yorker critics.

…the story focuses on Oskar Schell (played by newcomer Thomas Horn), a nine-year-old boy from Manhattan whose father (Hanks) dies on 9/11 [So would you call it... OSKAR BAIT? ...I'm so sorry. -Ed]. Two years later, the boy discovers a key belonging to his father, which sends him on a search through the city, believing it will lead to a final message from his deceased parent. [ThePlaylist]

This looks great. I’ll probably throw on a wool caftan, light a few sandalwood candles, and curl up with a nice glass of Pinot Gris. Then after I have myself a good cry, I’ll probably throw the old James Taylor Greatest Hits CD in the Prius and go for a nice drive.

Read the rest of this entry »