David Cronenberg Remaking Time Crimes?
Time Crimes director Nacho Vigalondo revealed that David Cronenberg is in the running to direct the upcoming English language remake of the popular Fantastic Fest award winner. The original Spanish-language indie sci-fi thriller followed a man who accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour, and finds himself in a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences. Cronenberg’s take on the story would no doubt be much different, and certainly a lot more interesting than your typical American horror remake. Timothy J. Sexton, one of the writers of Children of Men, is writing the English language adaptation. Check out the teaser trailer for the original film below. [Twitch]
TIFF Movie Review: Eastern Promises
David Cronenberg is a director that tends to polarize audiences. Either you love him, or you hate him. I’m one of the few people who sways back and fourth depending on the film. I was a fan of his earlier films, and really ended up digging A History of Violence. And I was very excited to see his latest film Eastern Promises.
Have you ever been in a movie for only a few minutes before you knew that you weren’t going to like it? This is what happened to me in the screening room. I sat there in shock. I wanted to leave but chose not to because I had a scheduled roundtable interview with Chronenberg and star Viggo Mortensen. I wanted the film to get better, to draw me in, and I sat around, waiting for something that never came. To be fair, it did improve slightly before offering a total cop out of an ending.
Cronenberg likes to take a traditionally trashy genre story (in this case a mob movie) and elevate it using a slower indie tone and some interesting ideas that usually evoke questions. I have met many people who have left a Cronenberg film calling it boring and slow. I’ve usually been one to (a least internally) say “They just don’t get it.” I know that sounds elitist, because, well it is. But I left Eastern Promises happy that it was over, but not glad that I had seen it. And may-be “I just don’t get it”, or maybe it’s just “such an accomplished film that it’s out of my understanding”, but I’m pretty sure otherwise. Either way, I’m now a lot more excited to see American Gangster and We Own The Night.
Most of the characters are cliches of cliches. They are one dimensional stereotypes with the possible exception of Kirill, which would have been original if it hadn’t been played on The Sopranos last season. Naomi Watts’ character Anna Khitrova is naive to the core. Her sole mission is to protect an innocent baby, but every move she makes puts the baby in further danger. There is a story point late into the film which was entirely unnecessary and felt like something that a studio executive would have fought for in a big Hollywood action movie. Cronenberg should be ashamed for allowing Steve Knight’s character twist to appear in his film. I found a few connections of ideas and plot points to New Testament bible stories to be interesting, but not much more. I would like to discuss these points in the review, but that is impossible without revealing major spoilers from late into the plot. And while these connections maybe interesting at first glance, I have found that there isn’t much substance to the ideas.
And in typical Cronenberg fashion, there are outbursts of excessive gore and violence (sometimes even to a laughable degree). There is one sequence which takes place in a bathhouse which was incredibly intense and bloody. In a better movie it could have been the icing on top of the cake, but it just felt out of place in this film. Viggo Mortensen fangirls will no-doubtedly flock to theaters to see the Lord of the Rings star in the buff. I will offer this cautionary comment: the full frontal nudity does not occur in a love scene with Naomi Watts, but instead in the bloody bathhouse sequence that I just spoke of.
Oh, and I canceled my interview with Cronenberg. I mean, what could I really ask him about this flick? And how could I have looked him in the face knowing that I had seen it.
Friday Box Office: Resident Evil $22M 3-day; Eastern Promises strong; Into The Wild huge
As expected, RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION will easily win the weekend topping GOOD LUCK CHUCK. David Cronenberg’s EASTERN PROMISES has expanded strongly, and Sean Penn’s INTO THE WILD has opened huge. THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES… had a so-so opening, and THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB is a disappointment.
The third and, reportedly, final chapter of the RESIDENT EVIL Trilogy will coast to an easy weekend win. After grabbing $8.8M on opening day, it will likely finish the frame with $22M, which is in line with industry expectations. Sony’s RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION will easily surpass the original 2002 film, which opened to $17.7M, but it will probably fall short of 2004’s RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE, which enjoyed a $23M opening.
Despite unbelievably bad reviews, GOOD LUCK CHUCK (Lionsgate) has grabbed a respectable $4.4M, and thanks to Jessica Alba’s body and Dane Cook’s MySpace friends, it should finish with an estimated $12.54M. THE BRAVE ONE (Warner Bros) added $2.3M on Friday, putting it just shy of $20M for its first 8 days of release. The Jodie Foster thriller is headed for a $7.47M 2nd weekend.
The critically-acclaimed David Cronenberg film EASTERN PROMISES (Focus Features) has expanded powerfully to 1,440 locations, churning up $1.9M in Friday ticket sales. That’s 4th for the day, but it will likely finish at #5 for the 3-day. The Russian mob yarn starring Viggo Mortensen is on its way to a $6M weekend and a 3-day PTA of $4,330. Meanwhile, 3:10 TO YUMA (Lionsgate) picked up another $1.8M to start the weekend, but it should edge PROMISES for #4 for the 3-day with approximately $6.12M.
The other wide new release, SYDNEY WHITE (Universal) starring Amanda Bynes, is a non-starter with just $1.75M on opening day. It’ll wrangle less than $5M worth of tweens and teens for the weekend.
3 more Oscar caliber specialty films arrived in limited release today, and the big winner is Sean Penn’s INTO THE WILD (Paramount Vantage). Based on Jon Krakauer’s bestseller of the same name, INTO THE WILD opened at 4 locations Friday with an astounding $13,850 Per Theatre Average. Featuring a remarkable performance by Emile Hirsch, the adventure film will wrap up the weekend with nearly $175,000 or $43,600 per. The news was not as good for 2 other entries into the Oscar derby.
THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (Warner Bros), a movie that has sharply divided critics and moviegoers, managed a Friday PTA of just $8,364 at its 5 locations for just under $42,000. Starring Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck in the title roles, ASSASSINATION will manage a weekend take of only $130,000 for a 3-day PTA of $26,000 or so.
THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB (Sony Classics) is off to an underwhelming start. With a nice ensemble cast including Maria Bello and Emily Blunt, Sony Classics has been hoping for a mainstream hit, but it managed only the 6th-best Per Theatre Average on Friday, and it’s headed for a disappointing $139,000 on its 25 screens for the 3-day. That would mean a PTA of just over $5,500.
Julie Taymor’s ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (Universal) expanded to 276 locations, and the Beatles-inspired musical generated $570,000 in Friday sales. It should reach $1.5M for the weekend, finishing just outside the top 10. IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH (Warner Independent) expanded with less success. The Iraq War-themed drama managed only $270,000 Friday at its 317 locations for a PTA of only $850. ELAH appears to be headed for just under $900,000 for the weekend for a 3-day PTA of just $2,811.
Finally, TRANSFORMERS is back in the Top 10 for Per Theatre Average thanks to the addition of IMAX locations from coast-to-coast. The Michael Bay-directed, Hasbro-inspired action pic scored a $928 PTA on Friday, and it’ll grab another $1.3M or so this weekend, driving its domestic cume to $313.4M.
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Deborah Kara Unger Biography
Deborah Kara Unger was born on 12th May 1966 in Canada
Deborah Kara Unger most recently starred opposite Sir Ian McKellan in Carl Bessai’s upcoming feature film Emile, and screen legend Sophia Loren in Edoardo Ponti’s Between Strangers, with Mira Sorvino and Gerard Depardieu, for which she received a 2003 Genie Award nomination.
Since graduating from the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art, she has co-starred in such films as Norman Jewison’s Hurricane, with Denzel Washington; Payback, with Mel Gibson; David Fincher’s The Game, with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn; David Cronenberg’s Crash, with Holly Hunter and James Spader, which received 1997’s Special Jury Prize at Cannes; and Istvan Szabo’s award-winning epic Sunshine, with Ralph Fiennes and William Hurt, which garnered her a 2000 Genie Award for Best Supporting Actress. Other feature film credits include The Salton Sea, with Val Kilmer; Signs and Wonders, with Stellan Skarsgard and Charlotte Rampling; No Way Home, with Tim Roth; Bette Gordon’s critically acclaimed Luminous Motion; and The Weekend, with Gena Rowlands, which received the 1999 Best Ensemble Acting Award at the Seattle Film Festival. Other films include Leo, with Dennis Hopper and Sam Shepard; Fear X, with John Turturro; Stander, with Thomas Jane; 13, with Holly Hunter; and 1.0, directed by Marteinn Thorsson and Jeff Renfroe. Ms. Unger made her feature film debut in the award-winning WWII drama Prisoners of the Son, with Russell Crowe.
On television Unger appeared as Ava Gardner in HBO’s 1998 drama The Rat Pack and in the award winning mini-series Bangkok Hilton with Nicole Kidman.
In May 2003 Unger was honored as the first actor to be the recipient of the Libertae Award at the Dubrovnik International Film Festival for her work in and commitment to the spirit of the independence in film.