Blowing Smoke: A Letter from the Editor

 

November was another stellar month for Killer Film.  Highlights included seeing Repo! the Genetic Opera on the big screen, interviews with the Repo! cast and crew, as well as our interview with Up the Yangtze director Yung Chang. November also saw the addition of documentary, and soundtrack review categories.  We are doing our best to keep a wide focus that encompasses indie art-house films, documentaries, as well as soundtracks and feature content.  

It’s been a rewarding time for Killer Film so I’ve decided to make a list of things that I’m thankful for.  Here goes;

I’m thankful that I got to check out original movies like Repo!, Role Models, Milk, and Let the Right One In.  It’s refreshing to be able to enjoy movies that aren’t remakes, movies that take chances and leap over boundaries.  Repo! kicks musical ass and was like nothing I’ve ever seen before, Role Models was funny, brilliantly cast and touching, Milk was biopic gold, and Let the Right One In is a beautiful film that defined new genre conventions.  

I’m thankful for the comments and emails we’ve been receiving.  My inbox box has been   overrun with positive feedback and suggestions, all of which are appreciated.  I started this site because I love movies, not because of money (I don’t make any), and feedback from readers make the hard work worth it.  

Finally I’m thankful for my awesome staff.  Jon puts an amazing amount of work into this site.  The man eats, sleeps, and breathes movies, while Serena writes insightful features that spark conversations and keep people thinking.  Also I’m thankful for our new news man Daniel Herrera, and our new DVD reviewer Shawn Everidge.  Welcome to the site guys.  

December looks like it’s going to be a fun month here at Killer Film.  With movies like The Wrestler, Revolutionary Road, Seven Pounds, Defiance, Punisher: War Zone, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Grand Torino, Yes Man, The Tale of Despereaux, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Spirit, Bedtime Stories, and Valkyrie hitting the screen.  So keep check back with us here at Killer Film for the latest reviews, interviews, and features during the month of December.  

I hope everyone has an awesome Christmas.

Until next month,

Donny Broussard

Satellite Award Nominations

The  International Press academy has just  given its nominations for it’s best films of the year, thought they arent a sure fire nomination when it comes to oscar time it does give a hint as whats to come in January when nominations are rolled from the Oscars.

This years list includes:

Actress In A Motion Picture, Drama
Melissa Leo	Frozen River	Sony Pictures Classics
Angelina Jolie	Changeling	Universal
Anne Hathaway	Rachel Getting Married	Sony Pictures Classics
Kristin Scott Thomas	I’ve Loved You So Long	Sony Pictures Classics
Meryl Streep	Doubt	Miramax Films
Kate Winslet	The Reader	The Weinstein Company
Actor In A Motion Picture, Drama
Mickey Rourke	The Wrestler	Fox Searchlight
Mark Ruffalo	What Doesn’t Kill You	Yari Film Group
Richard Jenkins	The Visitor	Overture Films
Frank Langella	Frost/Nixon	Universal
Leonardo Dicaprio	Revolutionary Road	DreamWorks
Sean Penn	Milk	Focus Features
Actress In A Motion Picture, Comedy Or Musical
Sally Hawkins	Happy-Go-Lucky	Miramax Films
Meryl Streep	Mamma Mia!	Universal
Lisa Kudrow	Kabluey	Regent Releasing
Kat Dennings	Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist	Columbia Pictures
Catherine Deneuve	A Christmas Tale	IFC Films
Debra Messing	Nothing Like the Holidays	Overture Films
Actor In A Motion Picture, Comedy Or Musical
Ricky Gervais	Ghost Town	DreamWorks / Paramount
Sam Rockwell	Choke	Fox Searchlight
Josh Brolin	W.	Lionsgate
Michael Cera	Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist	Columbia Pictures
Brendan Gleeson	In Bruges	Focus Features
Michael Cera	Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist	Columbia Pictures
Mark Ruffalo	The Brothers Bloom	Summit Entertainment
Actress In A Supporting Role
Rosemarie DeWitt	Rachel Getting Married	Sony Pictures Classics
Penelope Cruz	Elegy	Samuel Goldwyn Company
Anjelica Huston	Choke	Fox Searchlight
Sophie Okonedo	The Secret Life of Bees	Fox Searchlight
Emma Thompson	Brideshead Revisited	Miramax Films
Viola Davis	Doubt	Miramax Films
Beyoncé Knowles	Cadillac Records	TriStar Pictures
Actor In A Supporting Role
Michael Shannon	Revolutionary Road	DreamWorks
Robert Downey, Jr.	Tropic Thunder	DreamWorks
Rade Sherbedgia	Fugitive Pieces	Samuel Goldwyn Films
James Franco	Milk	Focus Features
Heath Ledger	The Dark Knight	Warner Brothers
Philip Seymour Hoffman	Doubt	Miramax Films
Motion Picture, Drama
The Reader		The Weinstein Company
Slumdog Millionaire		Fox Searchlight
Revolutionary Road		DreamWorks
Frost/Nixon		Universal Pictures
Milk		Focus Features
Frozen River		Sony Pictures Classics
Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Happy-Go-Lucky		Miramax Films
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist		Columbia Pictures
Vicky Cristina Barcelona		The Weinstein Company
Tropic Thunder		DreamWorks
In Bruges		Focus Features
Choke		Fox Searchlight
Motion Picture, Foreign Language Film
Let the Right One In	Sweden	Magnet Releasing
The Class	France	Sony Pictures Classics
Sangre de mi Sangre	Argentina	IFC Films
Reprise	Norway	Miramax Films
Gomorrah	Italy	IFC Films
Caramel	Lebanon / France	Roadside Attractions
Motion Picture, Animated Or Mixed Media
The Tale of Despereaux		Universal Pictures
Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!		Twentieth Century-Fox
WALL-E		Pixar / Walt Disney Pictures
Bolt		Walt Disney Pictures
Waltz With Bashir		Sony Pictures Classics
The Sky Crawlers		Sony Pictures Classics
Motion Picture, Documentary
Man on Wire		Magnolia Pictures
Pray the Devil Back to Hell		Balcony Releasing
Encounters at the End of the World		Discovery Films / THINKFilm
Religulous		Lionsgate Films
Anita O’Day - The Life of a Jazz Singer		AOD Productions
Waltz With Bashir		Sony Pictures Classics
Director
Thomas McCarthy	The Visitor	Overture Films
Ron Howard	Frost/Nixon	Universal Pictures
Gus Van Sant	Milk	Focus Features
Christopher Nolan	The Dark Knight	Warner Brothers
Danny Boyle	Slumdog Millionaire	Fox Searchlight
Stephen Daldry	The Reader	The Weinstein Company
Screenplay, Original
Philip Roth	Elegy	Samuel Goldwyn Company
Thomas McCarthy	The Visitor	Overture Films
Eric Roth, Robin Swicord	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	Paramount / Warner Bros. Pictures
Courtney Hunt	Frozen River	Sony Pictures Classics
Baz Luhrmann, Stuart Beattie, Ronald Harwood, Richard Flanagan	Australia	Twentieth Century-Fox
Dustin Lance Black	Milk	Focus Features
Screenplay, Adapted
John Patrick Shanley	Doubt	Miramax Films
Peter Morgan	Frost/Nixon	Universal Pictures
David Hare	The Reader	The Weinstein Company
Simon Beaufoy	Slumdog Millionaire	Fox Searchlight
Justin Haythe	Revolutionary Road	DreamWorks
Original Score
David Arnold	Quantum of Solace	Columbia Pictures
Thomas Newman	WALL-E	Pixar / Walt Disney Pictures
John Powell	Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!	Twentieth Century-Fox
A.R. Rahman	Slumdog Millionaire	Fox Searchlight
David Hirschfelder	Australia	Twentieth Century-Fox
Danny Elfman	Milk	Focus Features
ORIGINAL SONG
”Another Way to Die”/Jack White	Quantum of Solace	Columbia Pictures
“If the World”/Guns N’ Roses	Body of Lies	Sony Pictures Classics
“Down to Earth”/Peter Gabriel	WALL-E	Walt Disney Studios
“By the Boab Tree”/Angela Little, Felix Meagher Baz Luhrmann, Anton Monsted, and Schuyler Weiss	Australia	Twentieth Century-Fox
“Jaiho”/ A.R. Rahman and Gulzar	Slumdog Millionaire	Fox Searchlight
“The Wrestler”/Bruce Springsteen	The Wrestler	Fox Searchlight
Cinematography
Jess Hall	Brideshead Revisited	Miramax Films
Gyula Pados	The Duchess	Paramount Vantage
Mandy Walker	Australia	Twentieth Century-Fox
Tim Orr	Snow Angels	Warner Independent Pictures
Tom Stern	Changeling	Universal Pictures
Claudio Miranda	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	Paramount / Warner Bros. Pictures
Visual Effects
Chris Corbould, Kevin Tod Haug	Quantum of Solace	Columbia Pictures
John Nelson, Shane Mahan, Dan Sudek, Ben Snow	Iron Man	Paramount Pictures / Marvel
Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber, Paul Franklin	The Dark Knight	Warner Brothers
Jeffrey A. Okun	The Day the Earth Stood Still	Twentieth Century-Fox
Chris Godfrey	Australia	Twentieth Century-Fox
Film Editing
Matt Chessé, Richard Pearson	Quantum of Solace	Columbia Pictures
Dan Lebental	Iron Man	Paramount Pictures / Marvel
Lee Smith	The Dark Knight	Warner Brothers
Dody Dorn, Michael McCusker	Australia	Twentieth Century-Fox
Chris Dickens	Slumdog Millionaire	Fox Searchlight
Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill	Frost/Nixon	Universal Pictures
Sound (Mixing & Editing)
Eddy Joseph, Mike Prestwood Smith, Mark Taylor, Jimmy Boyle, Martin Cantwell	Quantum of Solace	Columbia Pictures
Christopher Boyes	Iron Man	Paramount Pictures / Marvel
Richard King	The Dark Knight	Warner Brothers
Jenny Ward	Australia	Twentieth Century-Fox
	WALL-E	Pixar / Walt Disney Pictures
William R. Dean, David Husby	The Day the Earth Stood Still	Twentieth Century-Fox
Art Direction & Production Design
Karen Murphy, Catherine Martin	Australia	Twentieth Century-Fox
Alice Normington	Brideshead Revisited	Miramax Films
Ken Wakefield, Michael Carlin	The Duchess	Paramount Vantage
Donald Graham Burt, Tom Reta	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	Paramount / Warner Bros. Pictures
Jon Billington, Martin Laing	City of Ember	Fox-Walden
Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt	Revolutionary Road	Paramount Vantage
Costume Design
Michael O’Connor	The Duchess	Paramount Vantage
Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh	Brideshead Revisited	Miramax Films
Catherine Martin	Australia	Twentieth Century-Fox
Patricia Field	Sex And The City	New Line Cinema
Ruth Myers	City of Ember	Fox-Walden
Jacqueline West	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	Paramount / Warner Bros. Pictures

 

Some of the biggest shocks no doubt include  Religulous as it is already out of the running for the oscar in the documentary front as well as the inclusions of Mark Ruffalo,Beyonce (for Cadillac Records a film very few have seen as of yet), Angelica Huston(with no precuser love in any publication for Choke), as well as James Franco for Milk which every one is assuming would go to James Brolin if a supporting actor nomination would be given to the film.

No love to The Dark Knight??

 

Source: Press Academy

Looking Forward

December is upon us, can you believe it? Welcome back to Looking Forward, my monthly column in which I give you a quick overview of the important titles coming out. This will not replace my New Release Tuesday articles as those will be more in-depth.

As with any month, studios are primed to release some of their biggest hits, and with Christmas coming up, competing for your holiday dollar is their goal. There’s perhaps no bigger release this month, actually in the last five years (easily) than The Dark Knight. Warner is shipping over one million copies of the Blu Ray, priming the film to be the biggest Blu Ray release ever. I suspect they’ll hit that goal with incredible ease as this was the most anticipated summer film in years so why not the DVD/Blu Ray? It’s a must own just based on the quality of the film alone, but I’m sure WB will make the extras worth it too.

The other big releases are Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Mamma Mia! The Movie and Horton Hears a Who! Some of the release dates are screwy so keep with me on the New Release Tuesday lists to plan your buying accordingly. For DVD, the two I’m most interested in are Criterion Collection’s White Dog, the rarely seen, so-called “lost” film of Sam Fuller. Long time readers should know of about my excitement level for this release. The other film is Man on Wire, a fabulous documentary about the art crime of the century. A haunting tribute to the man who wire-walked from one World Trade Center building to the next. It’ll most likely be Oscar nominated, but documentaries aren’t known on DVD to be filled with extras, so I hope for something worthwhile.

One the Blu Ray side, last month’s Criterion titles were delayed for some reason and now are finally released this month. Expect The Third Man, Bottle Rocket, and a few more titles. Of course like I mentioned The Dark Knight is the title to own, but I’m interested in The Day the Earth Stood Still, X-Files: Fight for the Future, and the aforementioned Criterion titles. Some key catalogue films are being released in high def like the immortal classic Casablanca, which should be one heck of a Blu Ray to own. The Grindhouse films from Tarantino and Rodriguez, Deathproof and Planet Terror, make a long awaited Blu Ray release, unfortunately the extras are the same as the DVDs.

Well, as you can see December looks stacked. There are plenty more big releases this month, so visit us here at Killer Film every Tuesday to see what’s coming out and possible reviews for these titles too. Until then Press Play…

Want the Watchmen to make your computer look spiffy?

Warner Bros.  has just released quite a few Watchmen wall papers to grace the screens of your computers to help quench your thirst for the Watchmen.

Though many of the wallpapers are very similar to previous posters and one sheets that have been released, you may as well get some for those fanboys out there. you know who you are!

Personal favorite would be the widescreen comedian image with him staring at you while you do what  you do on your computer. (input innuendo here)

Check out the Warner Bros official site here.

 

 

Source: Warner Bros.

Trailer for Little Ashes

Robert Pattinson is currently the ‘it’ man around town as his female friendly vampire romance (if thats now a genre) Twilight, has lit up the box office and has already paved way for two upcoming sequels.

Pattinson’s, latest effort has him as famed artist Salvador Dali and chumming it up with Federico Garcia Lorca.

Check out the trailer here courtesy of Ann Thompson

 

Source: Ann thompson

First look at gambit from upcoming X-men origins: Wolverine

Here now is your first look at Gambit from the upcoming X-Men spinoff : X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  In the film we will see the origin of the popular X-Men charecter as well appearances from other famed mutants as the likes of Sabretooth, The Blob, and the other spinoff charecter Deadpool as played by Ryan Reynolds( Waiting,Smokin’ Aces).

Those of you have seen the unofficial trailer on you tube or were lucky enough to attend the comic con show already have Gambit in action with his signature playin cards, and now courtesy of /film we have you first image of the cajun mutant which you can view HERE.

 

Source: /film

First look at Public Enemies

Michael Mann’s latest film Public Enemies just got a big boost as the folks over at EMPIRE have released the first pics of two of the stars of the film : Johnny Depp and Christian Bale.

Check out the stills here

 

Source: EMPIRE

Transporter 3 Review

 

I was really excited about Transporter 3, mainly because I think that Jason Statham is an awesome action star.  I dig the guy’s movies.  I Loved both Transporter and Transporter 2, and I was ready to love the third installment in the series as well.  How can you go wrong with a pure action flick that doesn’t try to be anything more than a good time at the movies?  I guess you’d have to ask director Olivier Megaton (cool last name) because this flick was nowhere near as cool as the previous ones.  

This time around Frank Martin (Statham) is enjoying the good life, fishing with Tarconi (Francois Berléand), enjoying quiet time at home, and loving his retirement.  Of course it doesn’t take long for trouble to disrupt Frank’s reclusion.  Soon Frank finds himself driving his bad-ass car once again, only this time with a super sexy Ukrainian chick (Natalya Rudakova) riding shotgun, and a bomb bracelet locked around his wrist.  If Frank journeys to far away from his car he activates a  liquid in the bracelet and blows himself up.  For some reason this seems like a great plot device on paper, but doesn’t work that well on the big screen.  It feels played out the second it’s introduced into the fabric of the film.  Also the flash cut is taken to new heights in this flick.  At times I wasn’t even sure what I was watching, but I was positive it was supposed to be an action scene.  Basically this time around Frank Martin is cool, but the story he inhabits sorta sucks.  

I understand that most of the time sequels blow, but I had faith in Frank and the Transporter series.  And the movie wasn’t all bad, the chemistry between Statham and Rudakova is pretty interesting, and Berléand is always brilliant.  The movie even has a few impressive stunt scenes.  It just never reaches that level of awesome that the previous ones did.  Transporter 3 wasn’t a killer film.

 

Rating:

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