Wachowski Brothers Update

As most of you know, I am a huge Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix, Bound, Speed Racer) fan.  Whenever I do an interview with anyone who knows the brothers, I always try to find out what they’re up to as they don’t do any press.  If you follow the brothers, you know they produced Ninja Assassin [...]

Watch This: Stunning Samurai Sci-Fi Trailer The Cup of Tears

I don't exactly know what's going on in this, but I must thank Quiet Earth for finding this beautiful trailer and sending it my way. Tonight I'm featuring the trailer for Gary Shore's The Cup of Tears, a gorgeous CGI hybrid samurai sci-fi movie being made in Ireland. This was shot on the Red camera in Slovenia and is simply referred to as a "visually rich modern fairytale." That's all you really need to know before watching this, just let the visuals take you in from there. It looks kind of like a stunning combination of Sin City, an anime, and Speed Racer, in a way I suppose. Really, I don't know what else to say, so just check this out! Watch the official trailer for Gary Shore's The Cup of Tears: Follows a scorned geisha who creates a magical cup made of tears that causes any man who drinks from it ...

Astro Boy Review

Thanks for checking out our Astro Boy review. If you’d like to see a video version of our Astro Boy review you can watch it at the bottom of the written review below. Like “Speed Racer” before it, Astro Boy was destined to bomb at the box office. Like Speed Racer, a semi-recognizable name [...]

Ninja Assassin TV Spots Online

A relative newcomer to North American films, but already a household name in Korea and much of that side of the world, Rain is getting his chance to show the rest of the world he has what it takes. After working with the Wachowskis in a small role in Speed Racer, Rain is now playing a [...]

Another Inspirational Teacher Film on the Way: Speed Boyz

Like the uplifting sports films we've all come to expect every year, another subgenre has become almost as predictable in its execution: the story of an inspirational teacher showing a group of misfit kids that they're underestimating their potential as he drives them towards accomplishing a seemingly impossible goal.  Alcon Entertainment is throwing another one of these stories our way as THR reports that they have purchased a pitch called Speed Boyz about "real-life engineer-turned-teacher Simon Hauger, who inspired a group of troubled Philadelphia high schoolers to win a competition to build an alternative-fuel vehicle." The pitch comes from screenwriter Michael Schiffer who had success with a similar story in Lean on Me, a drama that starred Morgan Freeman as real-life, hard-nosed New Jersey high school principal Joe Clark. The pitch for Speed Boyz based on the true story: "when Hauger launched an unorthodox curriculum in 1998 to improve students' performance in ...

NEED FOR SPEED: SHIFT PS3 Review

The Need for Speed franchise has survived many low points over the last few years. Silly additions and subtle changes made to each iteration of the series have pushed the well-known brand further into mediocre and sometimes downright awful territory. For their latest release, Electronic Arts went back to the drawing board, and handed over [...]

A Bad Ass Must Watch Ninja Assassin TV Spot

“A young ninja turns his back on the orphanage that raised him, leading to a confrontation with the clan.” Ninja Assassin is directed by Australian filmmaker James McTeigue, who previously worked as the first assistant director for all three Matrix movies and Speed Racer and also directed V for Vendetta himself. The screenplay was co-written by newcomer Matthew Sand and comic book [...]

Interview: Emile Hirsch

In the last few years, Emile Hirsch has become a go-to resource for directors of all sorts of films: After starring in Sean Penn's Into the Wild, Hirsch took on the reins of Speed Racer, a massive, effects-driven action film from The Matrix's Wachowski brothers, and then collaborated on screen with Penn again, in a supporting but essential role in Gus Van Sant's Milk. In his latest project, Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock, Hirsch tackles yet another period character, this time playing a young Vietnam veteran who regains a little bit of his humanity when the iconic music festival descends on his hometown.

Cinematical recently spoke to Hirsch in an exclusive telephone interview about his role in Taking Woodstock. In addition to discussing the challenges of bringing a character to life whose behavior, if not very identity, has become as familiar to audiences as the imagery of Woodstock itself, Hirsch revealed some of the sources of inspiration he took for his portrayal, and talked about the futility of coming up with a strategy for one's acting career.

Cinematical: The character you played in Into the Wild had his own tragic past, but the way that he dealt with it was with a greater degree of serenity. Did you see any parallels or similarities when you took on this role in Taking Woodstock?

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James McTeigue on Superman Reboot

It was recently reported that Warner Bros is working hard to reboot the Superman franchise and are currently looking to bring on a director. Some of the names that keep coming up are the Wachowskis (The Matrix, Speed Racer) and their protege James McTeigue (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin).

Is Rain The New Bruce Lee?

Because the whole "Speed Racer as a vehicle to stardom" thing didn't work out, Korean megastar Rain is still best known in the U.S. for his strange rivalry with Stephen Colbert. But he's still trying! He'll be in the upcoming, Wachowski-produced Ninja Assassin, and according to Latino Review, he's also in the running to became the modern day Bruce Lee. In a planned contemporary remake of the Bruce Lee classic Enter the Dragon-- the new one is titled Awaken ...