"Red Riding Hood" Trailer Gothic to Say the Least

We've covered Red Riding Hood quite a bit here on AtD. Since Leonardo DiCaprio's production company announced it, to Catherine Hardwicke directing, to Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman being cast to this: the first trailer. Click the jump to check out the trailer below and read some of my notes.

I have to admit, I didn't quite understand how they were going to make this work. I mean, a "Gothic" Red Riding Hood just seemed a bit weird, no? But after seeing the trailer I understand the direction they're headed. It's still not something I will go watch, but interesting nonetheless. I like the art direction and cinematography. The music is not my cup of tea, but its ok. The talent is there, the style is there, will the story be there? I doubt it. It looks like a mash-up of The Village and Twilight; fitting as the movie shares the same director as Twilight. I know I say it a lot, but we'll have to wait and see. Your thoughts?

First Look at Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman in "Red Riding Hood"

These are the first pictures of Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman on the set of Red Riding Hood. Pictures are popping up all over the web, but these are courtesy of AS, if you'd like to see the rest of their pics, click here. The site has shots of almost the entire cast as well.

Remember the film is a 'gothic' retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood story. Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, is bringing the story to life. Director of the first Twilight film, Catherine Hardwicke, is running the show. The movie is due out March 11, 2011. Your thoughts?

"Girls, Guns & Gambling" Cast & Plot

Writer/director Michael Winnick has a flick coming up called Girls, Guns & Gambling.

THR's heat vision reports that the film "throws Elvis impersonators, Indians, modern cowboys, a 6-foot-tall blond assassin, a frat boy, a corrupt sheriff and a prostitute into a chase for a priceless American Indian artifact stolen during a poker game at an Indian casino."

The unusual cast so far includes Christian Slater, Dane Cook and AtD favorite Gary Oldman.

Christian Slater will be playing an Elvis impersonator, which I thought was pretty funny considering a previous film he was in, AtD favorite True Romance (written by Tarantino & directed by Tony Scott), had Slater talk to his subconscious in the form of Elvis, played by Val Kilmer.

Any thoughts, Tonedog?

The Book of Eli DVD review

This past Tuesday, two major movies were released on DVD and Blu Ray. One of which was When in Rome, which I already reviewed; the other is this treat, The Book of Eli. The movie stars Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman and Mila Kunis. Let's go!

The things I liked:
The Cast
Washington plays the title character of Eli, and does so with care. Eli's only purpose is to protect a book, the Bible, and make sure it gets to where it needs to be. He will do whatever it takes to protect the book, even fight and kill 10 guys at once with a huge sword. Awesome! But there is a tortured soul aspect to Washington's character. He is killing, in order to protect the last Bible on Earth. A bit contradictory. There is a huge surprise in the end that I will not spoil. But I would like to say that few actors in Hollywood could have pulled it off, Washington does.



Oldman plays a "mayor" of a town. He has aspirations of building-up, and controling cities after the Apocalypse has taken place. Oldman is so good at being a villain, I loved his role. Oldman's character wants the last Bible on Earth, because he believes that people will stop viewing him as a savior if they're reminded of the son of God as the true savior. He is driven to this cause that none of his men can relate to, no one can understand his obsession, yet it will not stop him.


I never thought I'd say this, but I liked Mila Kunis in this film. She did very well in the movie. I normally dislike all of her work (i.e. Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Max Payne). She does well as a reminder to Washington's character. She reminds him of the value of life; something he forget while killing people to protect the Bible. The way Kunis reminds Washington what it means to be human is reminiscent of another Gary Oldman film, The Professional. Similar to Natalie Portman's character in that film, Kunis is for this film. She brings a human aspect to the story that Washington is missing. Nice job.


The Story/Concept/Pacing
The story is very easy to follow. There is nothing in the movie that "too religious" or "too preachy". It has a nice flow that will keep you entertained the whole movie. The other thing I must comment on is the action. I loved the action, but there's more to it. I've said this a million times; I hate action in movies just for the sake of action, IRON MAN 2, AHEM, ahem. The action in this movie was imperative in telling the story. Loved it! Like I said before, there's a surprise at the end that will make you want to go back and watch the movie again to see if you could find the setup to the surprise.


What I didn't like:
Plot Holes
There are a few plot holes in the movie that leave you scratching your head. For example; why and how could there be only ONE Bible left on the entire Earth. I understand how Eli got to the last Bible on Earth, but WHY is it the last one? The movie tells us its been 30 years since the Apocalypse, is that enough time for the entire world to forget the sayings or meanings of the Bible? I don't think so. It would take generations for the world to forget the readings of any major writings in Religion. There's a few more example, but none that took away from my experience.


Overall the movie plays it safe, and by the book, no pun intended. But it's done well. The Hughes brothers directed the movie, and I commend them. It would have been easy to make this a overly religious movie, but they didn't. There were no Oscars for the movie, but I liked it. It was nice because I didn't see the movie in theaters, but heard so much hype about it. So it was nice to see that hype pay off. So until next week, look at it this way.... you could buy/rent The Book of Eli, or that crap of a movie When in Rome. Your choice!

Update: New casting for Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom

UPDATE: Jean Claude Van Damme has joined the cast of Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom. Also joining Van Damme will be Michelle Yeoh, and Victor Garber. Pretty interesting news; I wonder how Van Damme will perform as a voice actor. I don't recall any movie's he's lent his voice to, so this should be interesting. As far as Yeoh, I'm really not familiar with any of her work; and Garber is a great actor.

The title says it all, and we love it! Gary Oldman is joining the cast of Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom as a character named Peacock. Of course this film is the sequel to Dreamworks' mega-hit, Kung Fu Panda. Oldman has a great voice and I think he'll fit in nicely with the likes of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, etc.

I didn't see the first film in theaters. In fact, I didn't see it until I bought it on sale on DVD. I don't know why I waited; I suppose I didn't give Dreamworks much credit after the horrible Shrek The Third. But Kung Fu Panda is amazing. The fight sequences are better than a lot of live-action movies. This is cool news for the day.

Guest Review: Al Berto: "Planet 51"

Welcome to a world of creativity with a lack of… creativity.

Captain Charles "Chuck" Baker played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson , an American astronaut, lands on an unknown planet thinking he's the first life form to step foot on it. To his surprise, he finds that this planet is inhabited by little green people who are happily living in an American 1950’s, white picket fence world. Lem, played by Justin Long, (who you can usually be find in the Mac vs. PC commercials), is just a teenager working on getting the girl of his dreams, while trying to land a job at a local planetarium. Lem risks his job, his relationship with his family and his future girlfriend to help Chuck get back to his ship orbiting the planet above.

When I watched the trailer to this movie I was totally excited. I thought to myself, “finally, something original.” I’m so sick of this phase the film industry is going through of bringing back old ideas to keep selling tickets. It’s as if Hollywood writers lost all touch with the right side of their brains and I’m honestly getting sick of the “Hollywood Formula:” Everything’s normal, something disrupts it all, the main character faces a number of challenges, he or she overcomes those challenges, happy ending. You’d think in this day and age that movie watchers would expect more, something a little different.

Sadly this movie is typically the same as the rest. The one thing that stuck me the most was the complete lack of imagination and creativity from such an amazing plot idea. They took absolutely no effort whatsoever to give you the feeling that you were on another world. I think the only real difference between earth and planet 51 was that the inhabitants physically look different, (they were obviously green with four fingers and didn’t have noses), and they have weird gravitation properties. Their dogs were a small cute version of the alien seen in the 1986 movie Alien. For some reason they had American looking cars that floated, yet their helicopters needed blades to lift them off the ground. Somehow, 50 million light years away, another species also invented a game that required a round heavy object to hit 10 pins, and they called it bowling! Did I mention it rained rocks? The odds of all this occurring has to be one out of, I don’t know, a billion-zillion-kagillion! The one and only thing that was remotely entertaining about this movie was a small probe sent to the planet to study and find living creatures, but failed its mission because it had an obsession with examining and collecting rocks.

You would figure an animated movie would have encouraged a number of creative ideas from such an interesting movie plot idea. Planet 51 was basically just a reason to make a quick buck by an unknown animated movie company. This is why Pixar will still be number one in my book; DreamWorks comes in a close second.

Quickie: The Book of Eli trailer 2

Holy Wow... are you freakin' kidding me?! I can't wait! Watch, enjoy, comment.

Tony: Dark Knight Review

It's been awhile since I posted a review, and since I've seen "The Dark Knight" about 5 times since it's release, I will explain my thoughts on the movie. Let me start with a little background information. Louie (my brother) and I loved superheroes like a lot of kids do. He was ALWAYS a Superman fan and I loved the X-Men comics/cartoon for as long as I can remember. But the Batman Animated series and Batman movies were kinda secondary. I liked Batman the superhero, I liked the bad guys/girls, but wasn't a "hardcore" fan.... untill now.

The Dark Knight is obviously a sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins". "Batman Begins" did a lot of things that no other Batman movie did before. It took a detailed look at the origin story and how this billionaire named Bruce Wayne decided he would beat up bad guys in a bat suit. The second thing Christopher Nolan did differently was keep the movie "reality based". He makes the audience feel as though this could happen! "Batman Begins" was a great leap for "superhero" movies. The Dark Knight carries on the same reality based tone.

I don't want to talk about plot details, thats why you watch the movie. But I will say this; the story is very original and beautifully written by the director Christopher Nolan and his brother. Christian Bale is magnificent as Bruce Wayne and a very fitting Batman. It's too bad... he's magnificent but Heath Ledger is even better! All the buzz about this movie has always been around Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker. And it's all deserving! The way they re-invented this character, this iconic character is amazing. I loved the new look: the new clothes, the new makeup, the new hair, attitude, the deep and high pitched voice, the way he arcs his back, all of it! My cousin Matt said it best, "Heath Ledger is not in this film, The Joker is".

I think what also adds to the effect of the Joker is that the movie is based in reality. "This could happen" is what takes over your mind and it makes the Joker that much scarier. If Heath Ledger doesn't get nominated for an Oscar, it would be such a shame. It would only be because critics and writters are scared they'll get complaints that they only voted for him out of sympathy. Well the truth is, he deserves the nomination if not the win, whether he was still alive or not. He is brilliant by every definition of the word in the Dark Knight.

What most people don't understand about the Dark Knight, and what I've argued many times is: the entire movie revolves around Harvey Dent/ Two-Face. He is played by Aaron Eckhart who does a great job! The reasoning of my argument: "Batman Begins" dealt with the idea of fear. This notion that you can overcome your fears and do great things in life. Dark Knight's overal idea is "duality". Having two sides to every person. Bruce Wayne/ Batman, Harvey Dent/ Two Face, good/ evil, life/ death. They talk about Batman's only rule being not to kill; well the Joker kills throughout the movie. They talk about life/ death; and not to give anything away, but society sometimes has tough choices they have to deal with. The rise of Harvey Dent, the fall, and the outcome are the backbone of this movie.

Emotionally, the movie is fantastic, and may be nominated for Best Picture; we'll have to wait and see if the people in charge feel like rewarding this film the way they rewarded The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King. The writing is unlike any other action movie you'll see. Again, maybe a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for Christopher Nolan and his brother. The action is unbelievable. You know how you see an action movie and notice nothing new, nothing you remember when you walk out of the theater? That is not the case with the Dark Knight. There are two scenes specifically that will blow your mind: one involves a semi-truck and the other a balloon and airplane. Trust me, just watch it.

Overall the movie is fantastic, there are some plot holes in the movie but nothing to complain about. The acting is amazing; including Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Cain and Maggie Gillanhall (spelling?). The action and story are unparrallel and the directing is top notch. GO SEE THIS MOVIE. There's very few times in a generation where a movie becomes a cultural event. The last one was The Passion of The Christ and Titanic before that. Appreciate the acting, believe the buzz, cheer the caped crusader and just admire the joker! 5 Stars, 9.5/10, two thumbs up and has officially taken the number one spot on my all time favorite movie.