The King Bulletin

Saturday, July 24, 2010

The King Bulletin Has Moved

Posted by Danny King at 3:13 PM

Those who have been following The King Bulletin for a while are probably aware that I have been working on redesigning my website. Well, thanks to the help of Alex Haas and Teddy Blass (who run the Nolan Fans website), I am happy to announce that although the process is not completely finished, I will only update my new website from now on. In no way does this mean I am abandoning the Blogger community. I will continue to follow the great blogs that I currently read, and hopefully find some new ones along the way.

My first complete post over at the new website is my Inception review (http://thekingbulletin.com/2010/07/22/movie-review-inception-2010-4-stars/). I have added a star rating at the top, which is something I plan to do for all of reviews, past and present. Other features of the new website include the Forums (http://thekingbulletin.com/forums/). While there are still room for comments on each individual post, I plan to use the Forums for more "spoiler-ish" discussion. I haven't added any topics yet, but please head over to the Forums link above and create a profile for yourself. Hopefully we can begin discussions soon.

I don't think there's much else to say for now other than I hope to see all of you over at my new website. As always, thanks for your support, and if you have any comments/suggestions, don't hesitate to share them.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Movie Review: Inception (2010) - 4 stars

Posted by Danny King at 8:41 PM

Batman Begins and The Dark Knight marked Christopher Nolan's renovation of the comic book movie. With Inception, he does the same thing to the heist movie. The film does have a few conventions, but they are entirely forgivable because the world Nolan surrounds them with is completely foreign. Conventions do not feel monotonous when they are seen in a new context, and this is one of the newest contexts in recent years.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Updates On David Fincher's 'Dragon Tattoo' Remake

Posted by Danny King at 10:12 PM

Cinema Blend's Katey Rich has shared a few updates regarding David Fincher's upcoming remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo that I feel are worth noting and discussing. The first one - more of a relief than a surprise - is that Fincher will be allowed to remain faithful to the violent nature of the novel. In other words, we're probably looking at a hard R-rating. In an interview with The Wrap, Sony's Amy Pascal shared the following:

We’re doing the book. That’s why we hired David Fincher. We’re going to really do this, in all their glory. Otherwise why do it? They’re very R-rated movies. It’s the shock of what’s really going on underneath the surface of society. If you don’t actually make good on that, you haven’t told the story

With Seven, Fight Club, and Zodiac under his belt, I never had any doubts about Fincher's faithfulness, although I had a sneaking suspicion that the studio may have wanted to exploit the project's commercial potential to the fullest extent by suggesting a PG-13 rating. But it looks as if my worries - and I'm sure most people's - have been put to rest. Who knows, perhaps this will be a case where the disturbing content brings audiences to the multiplex rather than pushing them away.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

'Inception's' Oscar Chances

Posted by Danny King at 12:00 PM

Since (I'm assuming) most of us have seen Inception by now, I thought it would be appropriate to delve into some preliminary Oscar discussion, particularly because I find Inception's Oscar chances - in the main categories - very difficult to predict. While the reviews have been mostly positive, there are several notable naysayers, which could hurt its cause. However, I feel that the critical reception has been good enough to put the film in Oscar contention, and I think a Best Picture nomination is likely.

Obviously Inception should have a field day getting several tech nominations, but as of right now, I don't see any acting nods in store, and I see some trouble in the fields where The Dark Knight was snubbed. I think a snub in the Original Screenplay category would be a real travesty, so I'm pretty confident it should get in there. After all, it is one of the most original and challenging ideas to come to fruition in years.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Trailer for Ben Affleck's 'The Town'

Posted by Danny King at 11:11 PM

2010 could turn out to be a pretty impressive year for Ben Affleck. He will star in John Wells' The Company Men, as well as make his second directorial effort after 2007's acclaimed Gone Baby Gone. His adaptation of Chuck Hogan's novel Prince of Thieves will follow a thief (Affleck) who must balance his feelings for a bank manager (Rebecca Hall) while also fending off an FBI investigation. Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) and Jon Hamm will co-star.

Affleck co-wrote the script along with Peter Craig and Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air). Warner Bros. will release the film on September 10th.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

'Welcome to the Rileys' Trailer

Posted by Danny King at 1:38 PM

Yahoo has debuted the trailer for Jake Scott's Welcome to the Rileys. Based on a script from Ken Hixon, the film will follow the struggling relationship of Doug (James Gandolfini) and Lois (Melissa Leo) Riley, and the complications that arise when Doug decides he wants to watch after a runaway stripper (Kristen Stewart).

The film will be released on November 5th. You can read some of the early reviews by clicking here.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Trailer for Hoffman's 'Jack Goes Boating'

Posted by Danny King at 12:40 PM

Certainly one of the year's biggest potential surprises is Jack Goes Boating, the directorial debut of Philip Seymour Hoffman. Back in late January, Roger Ebert called the film "my best Sundance experiece." The screenwriter, Bob Glaudani, originally wrote this as a stage play, which was eventually released in an off-Broadway theater. Hoffman, John Ortiz, and Daphne Rubin-Vega, who star in the film, also starred in Glaudani's production. The film's fourth star is Amy Ryan, who will play Hoffman's love interest.

Jack Goes Boating will hit theaters on September 17th. The embed below is in high-definition, but feel free to watch the trailer over at Apple as well.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Halftime Report 2010

Posted by Danny King at 6:08 PM

For the sake of timing, I think it is appropriate for me to share a brief halftime report summarizing the movies I have seen so far in 2010. Some of the more notable films I have yet to see include How to Train Your Dragon and Exit Through the Gift Shop. Overall, however, I think I have done a fairly decent job of keeping up with the new releases.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Will 10 Best Picture Nominees Affect the Directing Category?

Posted by Danny King at 3:46 PM

For me, one of the more interesting things to analyze about any given year's slate of Oscar nominees is how the Best Picture and Best Director lineups overlap. It seems that more often than not, they match each other completely. The last time a director was nominated for a film which didn't receive a Best Picture nod was Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly in 2008. Not surprisingly, over the last ten years or so, most oddball directing nominees come from foreign films.

The Academy's recent change to ten Best Picture nominees has provoked a lot of questions about the ceremony's future. Here is my most recent one: As long as the Academy stays with this format, what are the chances that there will ever be another directing nominee from a film not nominated for Best Picture? With ten nominees, I have to think that the Academy will continue to be more forgiving with regard to foreign pictures and even the more "obscure" films. It seems that out of this past decade's oddball directing nominees, a great majority of these films - including United 93 (Paul Greengrass), Mulholland Drive (David Lynch), City of God (Fernando Meirelles) - would have received a Best Picture nod under the current ten-nominee format.

So, to reiterate, my question to you is this: With the ten-nominee format in place, how likely is it that a director will receive a nomination for a film which is excluded from the Best Picture category?

Thursday, July 1, 2010

'Let Me In' Trailer

Posted by Danny King at 10:52 PM

Let the Right One In was one of 2008's finest films. Because of its great critical success, there was never really any question that an American remake would get the green light. It has been known for quite some time now that writer-director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) was going to tackle the project, with Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass) and Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) taking over the roles that were played so beautifully in the Swedish film. The trailer doesn't provide much beyond an atmospheric taste, but either way, it's the involvement of Moretz and Smit-McPhee that has my hopes relatively high for this one.

Overture Films will release Let Me In on October 1st, the same weekend as David Fincher's The Social Network.

Movie Review: Cyrus (2010) - 3 stars

Posted by Danny King at 10:20 PM

Cyrus is a film which proves that a group of good actors possess the ability to stretch thin material for an entire 90 minutes. The film's premise, based on a screenplay from filmmakers Jay and Mark Duplass, is clever, but, I repeat, thin. It is about a lonely man who, in the company of a fantastic new woman, finds happiness for the first time in years. But she has a troubled son who makes the relationship harder than it should be.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

6/30: News Updates

Posted by Danny King at 12:17 PM

Here are some news updates I've compiled over at The Film Stage during the past few weeks:

New Release Dates For 'The Night Chronicles: Devil,' 'Never Let Me Go,' & 'Red Riding Hood' [Click Here]
US Trailer For Sundance Favorite 'Animal Kingdom' [Click Here]
International Trailer For Andrew Jarecki's 'All Good Things' [Click Here]
Jason Reitman Gets Rights To 'Elliot Allagash' [Click Here]
McAdams and Tatum To Star In 'The Vow' [Click Here]
Tom Hanks & Natalie Portman Among Stars Offered Roles In Tom Tykwer's 'Cloud Atlas' [Click Here]
Universal Releasing 'The Thing' In April 2011 [Click Here]

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