Brüno is an hilarious adventure that provides stomachache inducing laughs. Sacha Baron Cohen delivered an excellent shocking original film with Borat, but does Brüno live up that? Not quite. The outrageous shock value isn’t at the level of Borat since Cohen’s antics are known by now, but all of his gags still remain funny.
The story revolves around a highly flamboyant fashion expert named Brüno. After a disastrous fashion show in his native country Austria, he decides to embark on a trip to California to become a worldwide star. While on his mission to become a celebrity he encounters homophobes, scary hunters, and even a terrorist leader. He will do all that he can to achieve stardom while he’s oblivious to the people surrounding him.
2008 was a great summer for the movies. Good entertainment was had, and not just dumb popcorn movies for once. We got The Dark Knight, Wall-E, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, and Pineapple Express. This summer is even going to be better. Although the start was a bit shaky with Wolverine, Star Trek kicks it off right this weekend. Here are the top 15 stand out films this summer:
15- Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen
Release Date- June 24th
Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen will inevitably offer no more then a lot of explosions and CGI, but with robots. While the first film wasn’t a landmark of any kind, and mostly dumb, it was fun none-the-less. The 147 minute running time for the new one is a bit bothersome, but long running times are fine when the story calls for it. My only question is do we really need to see robots fighting for that long? Its a Michael Bay movie, there will only be good action, nothing more. Even the length of the first movie was a problem, the last thirty minutes turned into nothing but repetitive action. Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen will without a doubt be a fun action movie, even if it extends its welcome.
American Violet is based on the true story of Dee Roberts who is a single mom who struggles to make ends meet in a small Texas town. When the cops arrest her in a drug sweep, she insists on her innocence. Refusing a plea bargain that would allow her to avoid jail time, Roberts decides stands up against a corrupt law enforcement and judicial system. The film stars Nicole Beharie (The Express), Tim Blake Nelson (O’ Brother Where Art Thou), Xzibit (Gridiron Gang), Will Patton (Remember the Titans), and Michael O’Keef (Michael Clayton). Anyway, I was lucky enough to have a sit down with the film’s star Nicole Beharie and the writer/producer Bill Haney. Here’s the result:
How did you get attached?
Nicole Beharie: That’s weird (laughs), I auditioned for the part. I got like a stack of scripts from my agency and I read a whole bunch of them, and quite frankly some of them were garbage. This one I was just moved by enough so that I actually had a dream about it. So I called my agency and asked if I could go in for the part, and when I went in I was moved by Bill and Tim, and what they said about there investment and how they had actually been to the town and they’ve been working on it for like six years. So I knew I wanted to have a part in this regardless if I played the main character or whoever. I wanted to have a part in it, because I thought it was important and then from there I got the part (laughs) which is kind of amazing.
Universal has announced that Bruno has officially received an R-Rating by the MPAA. A few weeks ago the initial cut was hit with an NC-17. Its still unclear whether it was received through an appeal or Universal re-editing the film down to an R-rating. Though Universal did say that the filmmakers were prepping a new cut, but nothing has been confirmed whether thats how the R-rating was received.
Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales) has posted a new update on his blog, and gave a bunch of updates on his new film The Box:
* WB is releasing the film on October 30, 2009. The release date has been shuffling around a bit, but this is common with studios, and everyone feels like this is the best date for the film
* The film is completely finished. Principal photography was completed in March 2008, and it was officially delivered to WB right before Christmas 2008. A March 2009 release was briefly considered, but a Fall 2009 release was always a better fit.
* We shot in Massachusetts and Virginia. The film takes place predominantly in Virginia, 1976.
* The running time is 1 hour 55 minutes long including end credits.
* The film was digitally photographed using the Panavision Genesis camera. In my audio commentary on Tony Scott’s Domino, I mentioned that I would never shoot a 1970s period piece using a digital camera. My position on this changed when I saw David Fincher’s extraordinary Zodiac. It can be done.
* There is more than 300 visual effects shots, which required eight months of post-production. The digital work-flow of the Genesis was essential to completing these visual effects properly.
* Win Butler, Regine Chassagne (of Arcade Fire) and Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy, frequent collaborator with Arcade Fire) recorded more than 80 minutes of score for the film.
* Here is a list of artists whose songs appear in the film: GRATEFUL DEAD, DEREK & THE DOMINOS, WILSON PICKETT, THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND, SCOTT WALKER
* The official website for the film is www.thebox-movie.com – it will unveil sometime this summer.
* This is my most personal film to date, and I’m very proud of how it turned out.
The trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno is here! Check it out below or in High Definition on MySpace:
This looks downright hilarious, I loved Borat and can not wait for this. Wonder how much they will need to cut to go from a NC-17 to R rating. From the trailer it definitely looks like they are pushing some boundaries. It hits theaters July 10th, 2009.
The Wrap reports that the Motion Picture Association of America has given Sacha Baron Cohen’s (Borat) next film Brunoa NC-17 rating. The rating given was because of numerous sexual scenes that the ratings board considers over the line.
One of the scenes in question was with Bruno — a gay Austrian fashionista played by Baron Cohen – who appears to have anal sex with a man on camera. In another, the actor goes on a hunting trip and sneaks naked into the tent of one of the fellow hunters, an unsuspecting non-actor.
Sounds like they are raising the bar again from the naked hotel room fight in Borat. The film still has a bit of time before it’s July 10th release to get edited down to an R rating. We will have to wait until a DVD to see the full director’s cut. Bruno got overwhelmingly positive response from the footage shown at SXSW festival. Looks like Cohen could end up having the funniest film of the year, again.
Are you excited for Bruno? What did you think of Borat?
After their collaboration on the upcoming Kick-Ass is appears that director Matthew Vaughn (Stardust, Layer Cake) is in talks to direct Mark Millar‘s American Jesus. According to the Hollywood Reporter the film is set for an early summer release date. The story is a modern retelling of the Jesus Christ story that builds up to an epic confrontation between the main character Jodie Christians0n and the antichrist. You can check out the first issue of the comic at newsarama.
I’ve never read the comic, but it sounds like an interesting premise. I’m a fan of Vaughn so I’ll definitely keep my eyes on this film and check it out when released.
Oh no. Or maybe not. As reported by the guys over at Get The Big Picture, the incredible Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In, directed by Tomas Alfredson, will be remade in the states by Overture Films, and Matt Reeves, J.J. Abrams collaborator and director of the very good Cloverfield, is set to direct.
Bloody Disgusting reports that they have, however, unfortunately changed the film’s title to Let Me In. Shooting is set to begin in May.
