Justin Timberlake Talks In Time: I'd Like to Occupy Pasadena

In Time follows Timberlake’s character in a world where money has been replaced by time. The poor scramble to live day to day, while the wealthy have centuries to cavort as they wish. The question the film raises is: If you had all the time in the world, what would you do with it (click here for the In Time trailer)?

Timberlake, fresh off his turns in The Social Network and Friends with Benefits, gets us caught up on the platinum album singer’s movie modus operandi. 


Justin Timberlake Talks In Time: I'd Like to Occupy Pasadena

Movie Fanatic: How much fun was it to be the action guy and almost like a James Bond? Especially in the poker scene! 

Justin Timberlake: When you’re a little kid, you obviously see those types of scenes in movies and you never picture yourself as the guy who loses the poker match so... yeah! That worked out then [laughs]. You read it and you’re like, “This is going to be a lot of fun on top of being a really smart, intellectual thriller. We’re going to have a lot of fun.” The script really read like it plays. It was intense for me when I read the script and I remember for three days after I couldn’t stop thinking about the themes but also the fact that it was relentless in its pace. It’s a really rich story filled with lots of things.

Movie Fanatic: What would you do if you only had 24 hours to live? 

Justin Timberlake: It sounds cliché, but I would spend it with people that I love. If I had 24 hours, I’d probably… I could probably squeeze like a three-hour round in if I played golf by myself. Then that leaves me 21 hours, so I would probably spend the rest of that with the people that I love.

Movie Fanatic: If there’s anyone who has “lived,” it’s you. Is there anything you feel you haven’t done yet that you might want to get in that day?

Justin Timberlake: I’d like to Occupy Pasadena. We can work on that [laughs]. I relate that to this film. I saw this movie as a very beautiful story in the midst of a really otherworldly macro-concept. I just saw this movie as there were some really simple themes to this guy and I just saw him as an everyday man who gets pushed too far and decides he’s not going to take it anymore. I was really excited to work with the cast and obviously Andrew. I’m a huge fan of his previous outings. 

Movie Fanatic: What age you would want to get stuck at and why?

Justin Timberlake: I look back as a lot of my younger years have been documented and I can honestly say that I would not like to revisit them. I just went last night to the Environmental Media Awards and obviously it’s recycle, recycle, recycle. And literally, one of the things that popped up into my mind was: I can think of something I probably wouldn’t recycle and that’s a couple of the outfits that I wore in 1999. So I’m perfectly fine with aging.

Captain America: The First Avenger Blu-ray Review

In one sentence, everything that's great about Paramount and Marvel Studios' adaptation of the classic Star-Spangled Avenger is laid out on the table.

The comic book superhero adventure has become a genre of film unto itself, and it's produced some truly great movies, such as The Dark Knight and Iron Man. But in spite of how wonderful those films mentioned may be, Captain America: The First Avenger might be the first comic book adaptation yet to hit every mark for which it aims.


The First Avenger Blu-ray Review


I pride myself on being a fair reviewer, of being level-headed about the films I love and respectful-yet-honest regarding the ones I loathe. Quite honestly, I can think of no criticisms of Captain America: The First Avenger.

The true test of whether or not a piece of art (be it film, book, television series, whatever) lies in whether it accomplishes what it sets out to do. And quite like the Captain's mighty shield, it never misses.

Set in 1942, the film tells the story of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a 98-pound weakling with a history of asthma, chronic colds and just about every other common disease under the sun. Unfortunately for him, his greatest desire is to serve his country, and every recruiter he begs deems him unfit for service.
His fate (and the fate of the world) changes when he's "drafted" into service by Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci), a scientist who has developed a compound (the Super Soldier Serum) that will transform an ordinary man into a superhuman fighting machine.

Among Rogers' allies are his best friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones), and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell).

As the film progresses, it becomes clear that there's a greater danger than the Nazis lurking in Eastern Europe, and it comes in the form of the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) an earlier test subject of Dr. Erskine who has proclaimed himself to be "walking in the footsteps of gods" and sets out on his own quest of world domination.

There are any number of different directions in which this movie could have gone. With its World War II setting, the writers and producers could very well have produced a campy satire of the era's propaganda, ala Starship Troopers.

They could just as easily have followed in the footsteps of an earlier (and much … MUCH worse)Captain America film adaptation and brought the Captain into modern times.Instead, director Joe Johnston and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely showed something that's in very short supply among the people tasked to bring comic book superheroes to life: Restraint.

The film plays out more or less exactly as described above. There aren't any bells and whistles or stupid one-liners. There's a truth and honesty to it that calls to mind the verisimilitude of Richard Donner's Superman – the movie presents us with what we (and the filmmakers) know is a ridiculous scenario but treats it as an absolute truth.

Another credit to the writers is the how genuine and fleshed-out the characterizations are. Steve Rogers is, and has always been, Marvel Comics' most heroic superhero. He has a clearly-defined and utterly unshakable moral code. He's selfless and committed to the battles he fights, and the writers have kept those ideals intact without making the character either hokey or campy.

Likewise, their treatment of the Red Skull deserves considerable praise. So many times throughout the history of the superhero genre, the villain has a tendency to completely take over the movie, making the hero a veritable afterthought.

Not here.
The Red Skull is used more-or-less sparingly. He's given just the right amount of screen-time, and his presence is felt even when the character is nowhere in sight.

And, as mentioned earlier, Peggy Carter never needs rescuing. She's presented as tough-as-nails, fighting rifle-in-hand alongside the boys; there's never a cliché moment where the villain demands the hero to stand down lest the girl be killed.

That alone puts this movie on a different level with its tights-wearing brethren. In all of the classic superhero films – Superman, Spider-Man 1 & 2, The Dark Knight, and Iron Man – the love interest always needs saving. I can't sing the praises of the team that put this movie together loud enough to not only buck what's an undeniably successful formula but doing it without so much as a second thought.The work of the cast is also brilliant.
Chris Evans absolutely owns the role of Captain America. I admit to having reservations about his casting when it was first announced (hey, I saw those Fantastic Four movies... ugh... ), but those reservations melted away within the first five minutes of this movie.

Evans brings the toughness of some of cinema's latest leading men. He's a powerful leader, a strong moral compass, and an iron-clad warrior. And yet he also infuses the character with real humanity. I came into this movie dreading seeing Evans as Captain America.

I left it completely unable to wait to see him again in next summer's The Avengers movie.
Also great in the movie is Hayley Atwell as Peggy. Cliche or not, the lead actress in a comic book movie has to display a certain amount of femininity, and Atwell is more than up to the task. She's gorgeous and charming.

But you absolutely believe it when Atwell picks up a gun and heads into battle.
And, as he is in everything, Hugo Weaving is astonishing. He's menacing and threatening, all without ever going over-the-top. It would have been easy for Weaving to simply show up for work and add another notch to his sci-fi/fantasy belt.

Instead, he owns the role and provides a great nemesis for Evans.
In terms of the direction, there's no one on Earth who could have done a better job at the helm of this movie than Joe Johnston.

For one thing, he has a good track record when it comes to WWII-era action flicks with the eternally-underrated The Rocketeer, and he has an excellent sense for both action and visual effects.

Speaking of visual effects, the work done in this film is incredible. It's not as obviously-dazzling as anX-Men flick or an Iron Man picture, but the fact that it's not immediately noticeable is a testament to just how great the effects truly are.

It's a magnificent blending of practical and optical effects on par (and in some ways above and beyond) the work from Chrstopher Nolan's Batman epics.

Will the Exotic Animal Slaughter in Ohio Hurt the Movie ‘We Bought a Zoo’?

The animal slaughter in Ohio showed the world how hard it is to run a zoo at home. So will the disaster have any impact on the marketing of the coming family movie “We Bought a Zoo”?


Matt Damon in “We Bought A Zoo”

 Out of the 50 animals freed by the owner of an Ohio animal preserve, a macaque monkey is the lone animal unaccounted for, although authorities say it’s possible that one of the larger animals consumed it. Over the last two days, 18 endangered Bengal tigers, 12 lions and eight bears, among other animals, were shot and killed. The home preserve’s owner, Terry Thompson, took his life Tuesday after he opened all the cages, prompting the mass animal killing.

This incident comes just two months before 20th Century Fox (which, like The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp) will premiere “We Bought A Zoo,” a film that tells the story of a father who relocates his family to a rural countryside to renovate and re-open a zoo. Starring Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson, and directed by Cameron Crowe, the film is due in theaters on December 23.

“I think they are in trouble,” Ray Subers of Box Office Mojo said of the coming film. “After the event it feels like the trailer was jokingly put together in a very un-tasteful way.”

The trailer features Damon repairing the grounds of the zoo and looking at wild animals from the second story of his house.

As of now, the studio says that there are no plans to pull advertisements or trailers or shift the course of marketing the film.

“We are saddened by the tragic events in Ohio, but the story of ‘We Bought a Zoo,’ is completely unrelated to that misfortune and will not affect our plans,” said Chris Petrikin, the head of Corporate Communication for the studio, in a statement. “In Cameron Crowe’s film, a zoo is simply the backdrop for a story of family redemption and reunion.’”

Box Office Mojo’s Subers says that the studio shouldn’t try to avoid the movie’s zoo aspect in its marketing. “Don’t run and hide, it’s in the title and movies with animals tend to do pretty well with family audiences,” he said.

“We Bought a Zoo” will have competition. Two other family films, “Alvin and the Chipmunks – Chipwrecked” and “The Adventures of Tintin” are also slated for release during the holiday season.
“I think ‘We Bought A Zoo’ may get lost completely if it is seen as just a general family hugs and sunshine film, but I think they are in trouble regardless,” Subers said.

Matt Damon Wants to Direct; Bin Laden Movie Bumped

Today in film and television: Bigelow's Bin Laden movie pushed back, Matt Damon readies for his directorial debut, and John Singleton sues Paramount.

Matt Damon Wants to Direct; Bin Laden Movie Bumped

Sony sources says it "looks likely" that the studio will move the release date Mark Boal and Kathryn Bigelow's hunt for Bin Laden movie back from October 12 of next year to a date after the next presidential election. Maureen Dowd suggested in a column back in August that the film's release date could help the president's reelection efforts. That raised the ire of Rep. Peter King, who objected to the notion of the administration cooperating with filmmakers on a story that could help benefit Obama politically. No new date has been set, two studio sources suggest to Media Decoder's Michael Cieply that it "might not be released until early in 2013."

When Matt Damon decides he's ready to make his directorial debut, he wants to have plenty options to choose from. His latest is an untitled drama described as being "in the vain of Erin Brockovich" that he co-wrote with Office star John Krasinski, who first developed the idea with Dave Eggers. The production is said to beeying a spring start" and supposedly "insiders say Damon will be in the helmer's chair with the untitled drama in the spring." Earlier this year, Damon set up Father Daughter Time: A Tale of Armed Robbery and Eskimo Kisses at Warners with an eye towards directing and starring in the film. 

According to the Los Angeles Times, director John Singleton invested $5 million of his own money in director Craig Brewer's Memphis-set hip-hop drama Hustle & Flow to help get the film make. When it sparked a bidding war at the 2005 Sundance film festival, Singleton spurned New Line's $10 million offer to take $9 from Paramount, because the studio "pledged to finance and distribute two films of Singleton's choosing, with $3.5-million budgets." Six years later, Singleton is suing Paramount for $20 million, claiming they didn't live up to their end of the bargain and foiled his attempts to make his two films. A studio representative said today the studio "was hoping" he'd produce the two films before his contract expired in 2010, at which point he went to direct Abduction for Lionsgate. In his suit, Singleton says the studio kept "asserting self-imposed, non-existent conditions" that stopped them from ever getting off the ground.

Lana and Andy Wachowski are returning to Warner Bros. for Jupiter Ascending, described as "the first major science fiction action franchise play since The Matrix." Those movies made Warners a mint, and the not-so-hot performance of Speed Racer in 2008 doesn't seem to be a problem. The siblings are currently working on the adaptation of David Mitchell's The Cloud Atlas, but production on Jupiter Ascending is on track to start in the spring. Until then, the studio is said to be discussing which star it wants  "to lead the cast while keeping the script and logline under tight wraps."

Horror film debuts exclusively on Facebook

The producers of an indie horror movie called “The Perfect House” are breaking new ground by using Facebook as a exclusive distribution channel.

Starting today, Facebook members can rent the one-hour, 22-minute thriller, marking the latest attempt by filmmakers to tap the power of the 800-million-member social network.

But this one-hour, 22-minute film from independent directors Kris Hulbert and Randy Kent is marketed as the first made-for-Facebook movie.

It could start a new trend for indie filmmakers, who have traditionally had to scramble to get their work seen by a wider mass market audience.

“Going forward, we want to release all of our movies this way,” said Hulbert, founder of North Hollywood’s Gratwick Films, which produced “The Perfect House.” “Our goal is to establish ourselves on Facebook first so people know where to find us.”

Hulbert wrote the movie about newlyweds touring a supposed dream home that has a bloody, violent past. According to the movie site IMDB.com, the movie was made with a budget of about $155,000.

Technically, the movie has already made a screen debut, but in the grassroots way that is more typical of indie films that don’t have big budgets or major theatrical distribution deals.

Hulbert and his team just returned from a tour – they loaded a movie projector into a 1973-vintage recreational vehicle, then drove across the country to show the movie a few times at film festivals, universities and restaurants.

Hulbert said the company didn’t chose Facebook just because it couldn’t land a distributor – using the social network is Gratwick’s long-term business plan.

“This is actually our first and primary choice,” he said. “If we can execute on responsible film making, then we can control our own destiny.”

The company already has plans for two “Perfect House” sequels and has plotted out other projects for the next decade.

Gratwick is using Social Cinema, a social networking viewing and sharing platform from Milyoni Inc. of Pleasanton.

The technology has been used to bring blockbusters like “The Big Lebowski” and “The Dark Knight” to Facebook.

And for Halloween, Social Cinema is also being employed to rent other thrillers, including “Saw,” “The Blair Witch Project” and “Leprechaun,” which starred a pre-”Friends” Jennifer Aniston.