I know, I know – we’re getting just as tired of all of this back and forth surrounding Ghostbusters 3 as you are. But when you look at it, it’s not so much “back and forth” as it is “Dan Akroyd shooting his mouth off,” so it should come as no surprise that the most recent update from the former Blues Brother is that “Bill Murray will not do the movie.” Seems pretty definitive, and a good indicator that the film should just be abandoned. Wait, what’s that? Akroyd still wants to make it? Give me a break.

Akroyd told The Telegraph (via Vulture):

At this point it’s in suspended animation. The studio, the director Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis feel there must be a way to do it, but Bill Murray will not do the movie. He doesn’t want to be involved. He’s got six kids, houses all over America. He golfs in these tournaments where they pay him to turn up and have a laugh. He’s into this life and living it. I know we’d have a lot of fun [but] I can’t be mad at him. He’s a friend first, a colleague second. We have a deep personal relationship that transcends business and he doesn’t want to know.

He claims they’re “not going to do a movie that exploits the franchise,” but recasting Murray’s iconic Peter Venkman (or, frankly, doing the project without Murray’s involvement at all) would be a flying in the face of that very claim. I’m really hoping now that he has a definite “no” from Murray, Akroyd will give it up entirely. Thoughts?

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Ghostbusters 3 has been one of those projects that just won’t die. Dan Aykroyd took a crack at the script back in the 90s, then “The Office” scribes Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg had a go at it, setting up the story to involve passing the ghostbusting torch to a new generation. Bill Murray has been the voice of reason in this whole thing; he was rumored to have sent a shredded version of the most recent script back to Aykroyd with a note that said, “No one wants to pay money to see fat, old men chasing ghosts.” Sony once said they won’t make the movie without Murray’s involvement, but now Aykroyd is singing a different tune: he says they just might recast Dr. Venkman altogether.

Empire spoke with Aykroyd recently, and the actor implied that Peter Venkman could be played by some other actor, akin to the way Jack Ryan has been played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck over the years. He also mentioned a desire to pull Rick Moranis out of retirement to reprise his role in the classic series:

If we can get the script to Ghostbusters 3 right, then it would definitely have Moranis as a major component. None of us would want to do the movie without having him as a participant.

While Aykroyd may claim none of filmmakers “want” to do the movie without Moranis, the same could be said about their “all for one, one for all” attitude regarding Bill Murray when this project first came to light a few years ago. But it’s clear that mentality only goes so far, as evidenced by his willingness to replace Murray if the outspoken actor refuses to take part in their version of the movie.

At this point, I wish the concept of another entry in this franchise would just quietly go away. But Aykroyd seems desperate to get this made, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see who pushes harder: Akroyd, or the legions of people who never want this project to see the light of day. Is anyone out there actually excited about a Ghostbusters 3?

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Focus Features has released the first trailer for Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, which features Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Jason Schwartzman as part of the cast.

Watch the trailer below:

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, MOONRISE KINGDOM tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore — and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the boy and girl.

Moonrise Kingdom will be released May 25th, which is the same day as Men in Black 3.

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A slow-paced examination of a man coping with self-imposed exile, Get Low is a subdued movie that provides a showcase for yet another fantastic performance from the legendary Robert Duvall. Director Aaron Schneider shows promise here in his debut feature, and proves (if nothing else) he has an excellent grasp on creating atmosphere.

This is the type of movie the Academy loves: a small independent film featuring powerful acting and establishing a great sense of place. Loosely based on true events, the story follows Felix Bush, a Southern hermit who hires a couple of funeral home workers (Bill Murray and Lucas Black) to throw him a “funeral party” he wants to attend before he dies. The film also charts his relationship with Maddie (the charming Sissy Spacek), whose family indirectly caused his hermitage.

Avoiding comparisons to Tom Sawyer will be difficult for this film, but the main story difference between the haggard Bush and the spry Sawyer is that Bush isn’t hiding at his own funeral. He invites the entire town to come out – in fact, he wants anyone who has a story to share about him (there are many since, after all, he’s a hermit) to come out and tell it. Through his time spent reunited with Maddie and old pastor friend Charlie (played by “you’d know him if you saw him” Bill Cobbs), Felix discovers he doesn’t want to hear stories about himself; instead, he wants to tell his own story to everyone to set the record straight and ease his conscience.

Any time a new Bill Murray movie comes out, a certain segment of the population rejoices. I am a member of that segment. Murray is great here as the quasi-sleazy funeral home owner desperate for money. Constantly sneaking drinks from a flask, Murray’s trademark deadpan humor fits this character better than most considering the black humor that must be employed when dealing with dead bodies all day. Lucas Black, who many might recognize from The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift, was actually tolerable as Murray’s sidekick and followed Duvall around for most of the movie dealing with his eccentricities. The movie also featured a small acting appearance by Crazy Heart director Scott Cooper, marking another collaboration with Duvall (who co-starred in and produced Cooper’s movie). The dialogue between these two is solid as well, with the mentor Murray dropping bits of wisdom like, “If you don’t do this yourself, you’ll never know if you’re any good. And you’ll never be good if you don’t know that you are.”

Technically speaking, the movie was very well made – especially for a debut film. The opening shot – a striking static shot of a building burning in the dark – was haunting and sticks in your mind for the rest of the movie. The production design is exceptional, utilizing a woodsy color palette perfect for the setting and tone of the film. The music also stood out in an effective way, featuring a nice mix of slide guitar, banjo, and bluegrass instrumental bits with more famous songs like “If I Didn’t Care” by the Ink Spots (famously used in The Shawshank Redemption).

All that said, there’s something about Get Low that didn’t quite connect with me the way the filmmakers were presumably hoping. I’m not entirely sure what it was – perhaps the story was a bit too familiar, perhaps the slow pace threw me off, or the fact that it was funny, but not overly so – but I wasn’t as hooked or moved as the story seemed to desire. I’m not implying this is a bad film – so much worse has come to theaters this year – but if you’re not a huge Duvall or Murray fan, I’d say wait for a rental. Until next time…

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Wes Anderson’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox might be my favorite Roald Dahl adaptation of all time. When I say that, I’m speaking of Roald Dahl adaptations like The Witches (1990), Matilda (’96), James and the Giant Peach (also ’96), and both versions of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005 with that title, 1971 as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory). The stop-motion animated Fantastic Mr. Fox may not best the pure Dahl we were blessed to see in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, You Only Live Twice and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Dahl wrote screeplay drafts of the first two and provided stories for six episodes of the latter), but forms a hybrid Anderson/Dahl film that manages to enhance the creative force coming from each man without infringing upon the sensibilities of the other.

This fall has been a season for contemporary adaptations of children’s books from my past, with this opening relatively close to Spike Jonze’s Where The Wild Things Are, but where Jonze brought the story of Max and the Wild Things into my adulthood to remind me what it was like being a child, The Fantastic Mr Fox brought my childhood sense of wonder back from the past and let me stare lovingly at it for 87 minutes.

Wes Anderson has always exercised a great degree of control in his framing and composition, and being forced to create the entire world of Mr. Fox, right down to tiny pieces of silverware, has built an autumnal world where green doesn’t exist. Add in the “boiling” effect created when stop-motion animators work with real fur and the film seems like the end of an era. The visual look of the film takes about 5 minutes to get used to, but after the limitations have been set, Anderson doesn’t shy away from potentially problematic visuals like smoke, liquids and shots filled with moving parts sculpted in minute detail.

Anderson’s visual style and the screenplay by Anderson and The Squid and the Whale author Noel Baumbach adds depth to the story Dahl created without violating the bounds of the original story and the added elements find the perfect place between Dahl and Anderson to nestle in and become cannon. The story of the book concerns a debonair Fox (George Clooney) stealing food from three evil farmers – Boggis, Bunce and Bean (Bean voiced by Michael Gambon in the film) – only to see the same three farmers attempt to dig the Fox out of his home. The plot of the book takes up the middle of the film, with some Wes Anderson family dynamics adding most of the additional material, including Fox’s loner son Ash (Jason Schwartzman) and his attempts to impress his father. Where Dahl’s version is more about Fox’s mid-life crisis causing him to lose his home and endanger his friends, Anderson’s version has an additional storyline about being an outcast and how everyone’s differences are special.

Schwartzman does well in his first animated appearance, adding many of the repeat lines I keep rattling off to others who have seen the movie. Things like: “I don’t have a bandit hat, but I modified this tube sock,” and “I can fit through there, you want to know why? I’m tiny.” Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray and Eric Anderson (Wes’ brother who plays Kristofferson, the super athletic fox cousin) all turn in subtle but excellent voice work, even if Streep is criminally underused for only a handful of lines.

Overall, The Fantastic Mr. Fox is an easy film to break down into it’s various elements that elicit some sort of nostalgia, be it for Dahl, stop-motion animation or Wes Anderson before he went semi-crazy with The Darjeeling Limited. However, when the film starts rolling, all these outwardly obvious tropes become the gears that propel the mechanism into a working piece of family entertainment. Not just working, but one of my favorites all year. The Fantastic Mr. Fox isn’t long enough to let it’s wit and inherent coolness start to grate on its audience, and it ends in joyous dance.

In a year when most of our children’s films have either been pointless tripe (Monsters Vs. Aliens) or flicks that skew towards adults almost to a fault (Up and Where The Wild Things Are), it’s been the two stop-motion animated films, not the CGI masterpieces that have brought children’s entertainment into the fray of “family entertainment.” Both Coraline (Dir: Henry Selick, now on DVD!) and The Fantastic Mr. Fox never stop being entertaining or visually stunning, even though they are on the cutting edge of a dying art.

I’m looking forward to the debate when Up, Fox and Coraline go head to head for the Best Animated Feature Academy Award.

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The trailer for Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox is now online. It’s actually quite refreshing to see a kids movie that isn’t all CGI’d with wide eyed animals. It’s got a retro feel to it. When I first watched the trailer it kinda freaked me out a little, especially the rat, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it gave a few kids nightmares. However, after I watched it a few more times it gradually grew on me.

As the trailer shows, the film has quite a lot of cool actors providing their voices, people such as George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Brian Cox and Adrien Brody. Fantastic Mr. Fox will be released on November 13th in the US and October 23rd in the UK

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French site Filmsactu got their hands on some new images from Fantastic Mr. Fox. The film has quite a lot of cool actors providing their voices, people such as George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Brian Cox and Adrien Brody.

Directed by Wes Anderson, the stop-motion film is based on Roald Dahl’s classic children’s story and centers on the clever Mr. Fox who must outwit three mean, dimwitted farmers who try their hardest to hurt him and his family.

Fantastic Mr. Fox will be released on November 13th in the US and October 23rd in the UK and we should be getting a trailer by the end of July.

Click here to see another image!

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Just the other day we were glaring at the new poster which looks a lot like the Internet Explorer logo…just more golden. Now we have a nice new teaser trailer. I have never read the book, and didn’t even know the movie was being made, but it looks quite interesting. It’s a different concept, and unlike most movies with children as leads, I would actually consider seeing this. Plus it has Bill Murray in it.

Enjoy!

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The movie City of Ember now has a teaser poster!

No, this doesn’t look ODDLY familiar at all!

I smell a lawsuit! Or at least a schoolyard slapping match over copyright infringement. SOMETHING.

The movie sounds like one of those schnazzy new kiddie flicks that have been coming out the past few years. Here’s the synop:

For generations, the people of the City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights. But Ember’s once powerful generator is failing … and the great lamps that illuminate the city are starting to flicker. Now, two teenagers in a race against time, must search Ember for clues that will unlock the ancient mystery of the city’s existence, and help the citizens escape before the lights go out forever.

Sounds kind of interesting. The cast alone would probably make me go see the movie, including Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Martin Landau, Saoirse Ronan (pronounced “SIR-SHA”, who played young Briony in Atonement, and Susie Salmon in the upcoming Peter Jackson drama The Lovely Bones), and Harry Treadaway (I wouldn’t really go for him alone, because I have no idea who he is. Though he kind of looks like Skandar Keynes, who plays Edmund Pevensie in the Narnia movies, which is who I actually thought this WAS until I looked it up online. He’s been in, well, nothing of note as of yet).

Should be interesting! This film flickers its way into theaters October 10.

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