Rumors are swirling about one of the most talked about films at Sundance, a on the fly social media documentary following the real life story of two filmmakers and how one of their brothers becomes entranced in an online romance called ‘Catfish‘. The buzz this documentary has received from Sundance has probably been the best of any film to come out of this year’s festival, with many audience members consensus that this might have the most mainstream potential of most of the Sundance flock. Yesterday it was reported by First Showing, that the film was being screened at a Paramount lot where that attendees should “have seen and enjoyed” films like Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity, Slumdog Millionaire or An Inconvenient Truth. Seems like Paramount could be potentially positioning this film to be their next big indie hit. To add fire to these allegations, additional mumblings about Paramount heavyweights J.J Abrams and Jason Blum are also said to be pushing for the film to be released through their studio. However at 1am, Deadline reported that Brett Ratner has made an offer for ‘Catfish‘ with no need for test screenings. The race for the film is heating up and I’m sure filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost are enjoying their options.

Do you want to see “Catfish“?

If it wasn’t for my undying love for Cloverfield I probably wouldn’t be posting this. I know not everyone enjoyed the film but it is interesting to take a look at lead character designer Neville Page’s early sketches of the film. Page has quite the resume. He was the lead creature and character design on J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, and he was the lead creature and character designer on James Cameron’s Avatar. Maybe these sketches will give us a look at what the creatures in Avatar might be? Check it out after the jump.

Check out the sketches >>

Here is an absolute must-see trailer. The trailer is for super secret sci-fi film District 9 directed by Neil Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson. Check it out after the jump in HD:

Check out the trailer >>

Here is the sixth episode of The Film Stage Podcast in which we review Joe Wright’s The Soloist and Earth, Sin Nombre, and Crank: High Voltage. Recorded by Jordan Raup, Dan Mecca you can stream it below or download the mp3:

Download the mp3 (right-click and save as): The Film Stage Podcast Episode 6 – The Soloist,  Earth, Sin Nombre, and Crank: High Voltage

You can now subscribe through iTunes! Just click the image below and each episode will download for you automatically as it comes out:

Check out the contents of this podcast >>

In a recent MTV interview with Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) has revelaed he’s planning to shoot  an $80 million action epic this fall and then, three weeks later, shoot a feature length version of Thanksgiving for $5 million. He described the project a little bit:

It’s going to be something that is really fun with lots of mass destruction. I wanted to do something along the lines of Transformers or Cloverfield that was a little more science fiction-based, and with lots of chaos and mass destruction.

Read the rest of this interview >>

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.

Read the rest of this entry >>

It appears some select media was shown 25 minutes of J.J. Abram’s new Star Trek film in order to fix some of negative dissent around the film. Jonathan Llyr from Hardcore Nerdity was able to see it and offered his impressions:

I’ve been skeptical about this movie from the beginning, but was trying to remain cautiously optimistic about the whole thing. I like Abrams, and never had any doubt that he would make a fine action picture. But would it be Star Trek? The answer is – holy fuck yes.

This movie is going to blown your brains out. I was gob-smacked at the production values, size and scope. All of the actors (with one notable exception) are bang on. I still have a few issues with the look of the bridge and the ship, but those issues have shifted to the background.

Since I haven’t yet seen the whole thing, I have no idea if the entire movie holds together. But from what I’ve seen, we are all going to have a great ride.

And man are you ever going to love Chekov. Never thought I would type that.

Looks like he had a good time. I put my full faith into Abrams after his involvement with Cloverfield, Lost, MI:3, etc. He knows how to excite audiences and I have no doubt he will continue to do so with Star Trek.
Star Trek is due out May 8th, 2009. Check out the trailer here.

Reuters reports Richard Jenkins (above left) has signed, and Bradley Whitford (above right) is close to signing, for two associated roles as “white-collar co-workers with a mysterious connection to the cabin”. The film is written by Lost collaborators Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard. Goddard also wrote last year’s excellent Cloverfield. Whedon said the casting signals what kind of movie they are hoping to make. “They’re the first proof that though ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ is a classic horror film, it isn’t one you’ve seen before.”

Cloverfield was one of my favorite films of last year, and I love Lost so I can’t wait for this film. I’m confident they can put a new spin on the horror genre, especially with these new casting additions.

The Cabin In The Woods is set to be released February 5th, 2010.

Do you think Jenkins and Whitford are a good fit for ‘The Cabin’?

My Bloody Valentine 3D is quite possibly the worst film ever to be shown on the silver screen. Everything about it is horrible. The acting makes a piece of wood look like Marlon Brando and the writing is equivalent to something out of a Steven Seagal straight-to-DVD actioners.

But then that is the whole point of the movie. To be horrible…3-dimensionally. The plot revolves around a small mining town in which a crazed miner named Harry Warden slaughters a slew of people with a pick-axe, finally taken down and killed by a couple of veteran cops.

Ten years later, the killer is back! And that’s pretty much it. Plus the whole 3-D thing. When the killer throws his axe at someone, he’s throwing it at you. The weapon goes through a character’s eye and into your face. And when people are not being slaughtered, select objects are 3-dimensional in the frame and characters who enter midway through a shot seem to walk from off the set into the camera’s view.

My Bloody Valentine is really less of a movie and more an experience, and in that way reminiscent of last January’s big hit Cloverfield. However, Cloverfield was an expertly made film about people the audience cared about with genuine thrills and style. This is the opposite of all of that – a B-movie in every sense of the word. Patrick Lussier, the film’s director, is a frequent collaborator (usually the editor) with Wes Craven, who is a master of finding true scares in the cheese that is the horror genre (see Cursed). This “horror-savvy” is apparent (on some small level) throughout Valentine, and hopefully we will go on to see Lussier make an effective horror film that is not completely dependent on one gimmick. Or just make another one like this, which I would have no problem with.

Gimmicks or not, see the movie with friends and laugh your ass off at the serious parts and get scared when jaw bones and fire flies off the screen and into your personal space. And, for God’s sake, if you’re even thinking about seeing it NOT in 3D, don’t. Go see Last Chance Harvey instead. Or Hotel For Dogs. Anything else really.

8 out of 10 (rating based on theater experience)

UPDATE: The list below was written in January of 2009. I suggest checking out our new list, 65 Must See Movies of 2010. Click the image below to see:

So 2008 is over, come on, it’s time to move on. Here are 50 great reasons to go to the theater this year:

January

My Bloody Valentine 3-D (Jan 16^th)

Synopsis: After surviving a fatal accident that claimed the lives of five of men in a mine shaft, Harry Warden performed a horrific killing spree on Valentines night in the town of Harmony, killing 22 people before he was shot to death.

Why You Should See It: Early screening reports have said there is more sex, limbs, and buckets of blood than one can handle. The 3-D gimmick is the only reason this is on my list. If implemented right it should be a great time at the movies.

Read the rest of the entry >>