11/22/2009

Foster author’s ‘Crazy Heart’ gets reprint now that movie is on the way
Upcoming film starring Jeff Bridges brings first novel by RIC professor back into print

11/21/2009

‘Twilight’ hunks part of film’s heartthrob history
Fifteen-year-old Chloe Bates is in love.

11/20/2009

A powerful and poignant juxtaposition of despair, hope
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” follows a teenager named Claireece “Precious” Jones struggling with incest, illiteracy, physical abuse, poverty and obesity in 1980s Harlem. The movie is harrowing and unforgiving — a two-hour pile-on that leaves poor Precious (not to mention the audience) with no room to breathe.

Courteney Cox to return in ‘Scream 4’
CULVER CITY, Calif. — Courteney Cox isn’t done running from masked serial killers.

Dakota Fanning wanted to be evil for a change
LOS ANGELES — Dakota Fanning, at 15, has more credits than most of the young stars of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” combined. But that didn’t stop the young actress from agreeing to take on what is little more than a cameo in the new film.

Spotlight is on ‘Twilight’
She calls recent tabloid attention “false” and “mean”

Video reviews: The new ‘Star Trek’ is an exciting seat-of-the-pants adventure
Thrilling, vibrant, stunning, emotionally solid and faithful to the spirit — if not always to the letter — of Gene Roddenberry’s original TV series, the new “Star Trek” (Paramount, $29.99 DVD; $39.99 two-disc DVD or three-disc Blu-ray) appealed to sci-fi fans and more.

TOP RENTALS
Source: Redbox / MCT

Movie review: Uneasy darkness haunts lightness of ‘Education’
Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a 16-year-old growing up in the London suburb of Twickenham in 1961, is always the first in class to raise her hand with the answer. She is fluent in French and studying Latin; she plays the cello and is familiar with all the pre-Raphaelite artists (Rossetti and Burne-Jones are her favorites; Holman Hunt, not so much).

First lead movie role has Carey Mulligan living in the spotlight
Career-making turn has been a real ‘Education’ for the British actress

11/19/2009

Next comes ‘Eclipse’
It’s never too early to get hysterical: “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” will be released June 30, furthering the advance of Stephenie Meyer’s vampire chronicle into pop-culture immortality. As the story picks up, a string of gruesome murders has Seattle on edge and Edward Cullen suspects a young vampire out of control. Edward and Bella apply to college; Bella wants to see Jacob; Edward proposes to Bella; Jacob licks his wounds.

‘New Moon’ director says chaste approach has strong female appeal
‘Twilight’ vampire sequel makes teen sexuality seem supernatural, yet safe

11/15/2009

The end is near — and Hollywood is loving it
Filmmakers have become disaster happy of late

Vampire villain or hearty hero: It makes no difference to Sheen
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — It’s a crisp May morning on the set of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” and Michael Sheen strides into an elaborate reconstruction of an Italianate marble hall in costume as Aro, the head of the Volturi, a menacing group of age-old vampires that metes out justice in the realm of the supernatural.

11/13/2009

Director traces early years of a fashion trendsetter
Before the worship were whispers among the elite of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s early years.

With ‘2012,’ Sony is banking on doomsday forecast
HOLLYWOOD — There’s spirited debate about whether the ancient Maya calendar really predicts much of anything, particularly the world’s end in three years. But there’s little argument in Hollywood about the accuracy of an even more significant doomsday forecast: “2012” is going to be a blockbuster.

‘Pirate Radio’ director makes a love story about rock ‘n’ roll
Richard Curtis (“Pirate Radio”) says the mid-’60s were a time of freedom, music and friendship

Movie Review: ‘House of the Devil’ offers up shivers over splat
Once upon a time in horror cinema, the victim — often female and preferably wearing a backlit diaphanous gown — would inch up the creaking stairs toward the inevitable.

Movie review: ‘The Yes Men’
It takes some nerve, not to mention diabolical intelligence and financial resources, to pull off the elaborate pranks devised by Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno (who are in real life Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos), the anti-globalization activists and satirical performance artists known as the Yes Men.

Video reviews: ‘Up’ soars with an adventure tale for adults, children
One of this year’s movie highlights was Disney Pixar’s “Up” ($29.99 DVD; $39.99 two-disc DVD; $45.99 four-disc Blu-ray), the unlikely tale of an old man and a little boy who sail to South America in a house pulled aloft by thousands of helium balloons.

First showing Saturday of Glocester history film
After three years in the making, Betty and Carlo Mencucci of Log Cabin Studios have completed their nearly two-hour-long movie, “West of the Seven Mile Line — A History of Glocester” Episode 1, and have scheduled two free public screenings under the auspices of the Glocester Heritage Society.

Providence Public Library begins film noir series
The classic thriller “The Maltese Falcon,” starring Humphrey Bogart, will kick off free Sunday matinee film noir screenings at the Providence Public Library’s Auditorium at 2 p.m. Sunday.

11/08/2009

MOVIES
Actor plays drug popping guru of a military unit that experiments with mental powers

11/06/2009

TOP RENTALS
Source: Redbox / MCT

Video Reviews by Michael Janusonis: You want explosions? Sign up for ‘G.I. Joe’
Possibly the most violent PG-13 movie ever, “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” (Paramount, $29.99) has cardboard characters, relentless blam-blam-blam action, plenty of explosions, and a too-long running time. When it’s over, you may feel as though you’ve been playing a video game for two hours. Of course the film was a hit in theaters late last summer.

Locally produced “Death Force” finally hits the screen
Two days before Rick Laprade of Narragansett had scheduled the world premiere of his post-apocalyptic thriller “Death Force” at the Columbus Theatre last Aug. 29, the place was closed on orders of the Providence Fire Dept. as a safety hazard.

Movie Review: ‘Coco Before Chanel’ has a certain style
At the turn of the 20th century, French women of style were gilded peacocks festooned with jewels, gaudy things cinched so tightly at the waist that they could not breathe, teetering on claw feet.

Movie Review: Prison brute turns film star in ‘Bronson’
“Bronson” portrays a real-life British bruiser as a psychotic performance artist. It’s an assaultive work about an assaultive fellow, Michael Peterson, Britain’s most notorious prisoner.

‘Twilight’ gets a re-release
HOLLYWOOD — Wanting to capitalize on the teen vampire movie craze it stirred last year, Summit Entertainment is planning to re-release “Twilight” in more than 2,000 theaters Nov. 19, the night before the arrival of the highly anticipated sequel, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

11/05/2009

‘Death Force’ premieres
“Death Force,” a post-apocalypse thriller that was filmed in Rhode Island as the first feature film from the independent 12 Gauge Pictures, will have its premiere Friday and Saturday at the Cable Car Cinema. The film was written by Ricky Laprade and Corey Gomes and directed by Laprade. It will be shown at 9 and 11 p.m. both nights. It is not rated, but is not recommended for children because of its violence and profanity.

10/31/2009

Micro-budget horror flick
The supernatural thriller “Paranormal Activity” has become one of the year’s biggest success stories