While In Bruges is an older film (2008), it’s only now seeing the light of day on Blu Ray. While it received fairly positive reviews from critics and earned a much-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, the film did get overlooked by many. Now that it is on Blu-Ray we get a chance to travel back to the little city of Bruges and view it in all its high-definition glory. Read the full story

E-mail Matt Tyler and be sure to follow him on Twitter. You can also interact with him on our Facebook page!

He actually looks kind of nice in the above photo, doesn’t it? Well, it may be one of the last “nice” poses we get from Mr. Spacey for a while, as he looks poised to join Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston as a trio of horrible bosses that three of their pee-ons (Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day) plan to have killed in the film…Horrible Bosses. [Variety]

Seth Gordon (The King of Kong, Four Christmases) is directing the picture, from a script by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, off an earlier draft by Michael Markowitz. Both Goldstein and Markowitz come from writing television while Daley comes from acting in television, so this is a big move for everybody involved. It’s a solid premise but certainly one that feels ripe with sitcom-available antics.

Getting Spacey involved as an unlikeable executive is perfect. See Swimming With Sharks for further confirmation. Shooting starts in a month.

Are you excited for Horrible Bosses?

E-mail Dan Mecca and be sure to follow him on Twitter. You can also interact with him on our Facebook page!

Most remakes inspire cries of anguish from most filmgoers, especially horror remakes, however Craig Gillespie‘s Fright Night seems certain to break with tradition. The fact that it isn’t Platinum Dunes financing it is a big plus for starters, with the remake of Columbia’s surprise 1985 hit being produced this time round by DreamWorks. Read the full story

There is an odd charm to the romantic fantasy Ondine that makes it watchable for about half of its running time. Established writer-director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) is able to work well with cinematographer Christopher Doyle to create a film of visual entrancement. The problem here is that the story never takes off and, even worse, doesn’t have much of an attention-getting quality to begin with.

The main character is Syracuse, an Irish fisherman played by Colin Farrell. Since his divorce, Syracuse has made good on his promise to stay sober so that he can remain a viable role model for his daughter Annie (Alison Barry), who suffers from kidney failure. He isn’t a churchgoer, but he makes frequent visits the local priest (Stephen Rea) to confess his wrongdoings. He is a good man at heart, and Farrell makes him easy to like.

At the start of the film, we are introduced to the title character (Alicja Bachleda), whom Syracuse inexplicably finds in his fishing net one cloudy afternoon. Ondine is incredibly flustered when Syracuse brings her on board (and possibly even experiencing short-term memory loss), which makes it impossible for Syracuse to determine what type of creature she is. Is she a human? A mermaid? A selkie? More importantly, do we care?

Jordan tries to get us to care through the relationships that blossom because of Ondine’s appearance. She becomes close with both Syracuse and Annie, which brings the father and daughter closer together as well. Annie begins to spend less time with her real mother (Dervla Kirwan) so that she can be with her father and Ondine. All of this is well-done, and even though there isn’t any legitimate conflict, the first half of Ondine manages to engage more than it actually should.

The story takes a dreadful turn for the worse in its third act, which provides an answer to Ondine’s origins that is completely incoherent with the tone and spirit of the first half. It is a typical (and disappointing) Hollywood ending to what initially feels like a very independent picture. Granted, there is not much of a story to being with, but the way Jordan chooses to conclude his story doesn’t nearly match the audacity of some of his earlier films.

The inconsistency of the acting is also an issue. Farrell is solid in the lead role, although I wonder if audiences will have trouble believing him as a struggling fisherman, especially when he’s packing the heavy Irish accent. On the other hand, the lack of a public image for Bachleda - giving her an aura of mystery – often plays as a strength to her character. But she seems more comfortable in the first half, playing the attractive mystery woman, than she does in the final portions, when her true identity is confronted. I also think that Jordan put too heavy of a burden on the shoulders of Alison Barry. She is adorable, but the amount of intelligence this character is expected to have would have been difficult for any actress of Barry‘s age to pull off. (There is a shot of Barry sitting with several lengthy selkie textbooks in front of her. Can we really expect a girl her age to sit and read through all of those pages?)

Another thing which prevents Ondine from hitting home is the way it begins. Syracuse catches Ondine in the film’s first scene, meaning all that we learn of Syracuse (his drunk and troubled past, his failed marriage) is played out through dialogue. This wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if Syracuse’s past wasn’t filled with cliches, and if Jordan didn’t rely so much on the character’s past for the final emotional impact. It makes the third act turn of Farrell‘s character, in particular, very tough to believe.

There are some moments during the film in which you truly feel like you’re in the hands of a skilled filmmaker. The lively banter during the confession scenes between Farrell and Rea is one of the main highlights, as is the striking underwater camera shots. Unfortunately, Ondine ends up being only one-half of a decent film, with a disastrous conclusion that, frankly, shouldn’t be associated with a filmmaker of Jordan‘s caliber.

5 out of 10

What did you think of Ondine?

At first, news of the Fright Night remake felt tired. Another retread. But, somewhere between news that Anton Yelchin was being cast as the lead, Toni Collette was playing his mother and Colin Farrell was taking on the role of the suspicious, potential vampire neighbor, Fright Night became something to anticipate, rather than something to fear.

Now, more intriguing news: David Tennant (BBC’s current Doctor Who) and Christopher “McLovin/Red Mist” Mintz-Plasse will co-star in the picture. Tennant will play a Las Vegas magician who talks a good game but is really a phony, while Mintz-Plasse will play Evil Ed, a friend of Yelchin’s Charlie, who feels betrayed after his friend has gained a sense of cool, turning to the “dark side” as a means a vengeance. [THR Heat Vision]

Does that Mintz-Plasse role sound familiar at all? Craig Gillepsie (Lars And The Real Girl) is directing.

Are you excited for Fright Night? What do you think of Tennant, Yelchin and Mintz-Plasse as actors?

Lost in La Mancha, a documentary that followed the trials and tribulations of Terry Gilliam’s attempt at making The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, is a document of the vast variety of problems that can change the fate of a film overnight. Ten years later, the visionary director has re-aimed his sights on completing the cursed project and has re-cast the original leads replacing Jean Rochefort with Robert Duvall and Johnny Depp with Ewan McGregor. Read the full story

Three days ago, it was announced that Colin Farrell and Marion Cotillard will star in David Cronenberg‘s upcoming adaption Cosmopolis; today, First Showing reports some principal promotion art from the film (pictured above). Cosmopolis is scheduled to begin shooting in March 2011. Cronenberg is currently in pre-production on A Dangerous Method, which will star Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud.

Below is the official synopsis from Amazon, as well as the novel’s original cover art if you want to compare and contrast. Farrell will play DeLillo; Cotillard will play his wife.

DeLillo skates through a day in the life of a brilliant and precocious New Economy billionaire in this monotone 13th novel, a study in big money and affectlessness. As one character remarks, 28-year-old Eric Packer “wants to be one civilization ahead of this one.” But on an April day in the year 2000, Eric’s fortune and life fall apart. The story tracks him as he traverses Manhattan in his stretch limo. His goal: a haircut at Anthony’s, his father’s old barber.

What do you think of the early artwork for Cosmopolis?

Following his Sigmund Freud/Carl Jung psychological drama A Dangerous Method (starring Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen and Vincent Cassel), David Cronenberg will get deep into the post-modern with an adaptation of Don DeLillo‘s Cosmopolis, and Colin Farrell and Marion Cotillard are along for the ride.

Read the full story

Irish actor Colin Farrell has signed on to costar with Anton Yelchin in Dreamworks upcoming Fright Night remake. Farrell is going to take over the role Chris Sarandon originated as the suspected vampire terrorizing the neighborhood. Yelchin is set to play the young protagonist that discovers his secret and tries to warn the neighborhood. Read the full story

Here’s the first screen pic/on-set photo of William Monahan’s directorial debut London Boulevard.

The film concerns an ex-con (Colin Farrell, shown above) hired to guard a famous actress (Keira Knightley, pictured in the picture above). Action and smug dialogue will most certainly ensue – which is exciting when considering the potential chemistry between Farrell and Knightley.

Below is a photo of Monahan in action. He’s the scribe behind The Departed, Kingdom of Heaven and the lackluster Edge of Darkness.

Read the full story