Home invasion films are no new thing, but The Purge perhaps deserves a little recognition for at last making one with a more ridiculous conceit than Home Alone 2. The film stars Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey, and rests on the idea that maybe it's not poverty or sociopathy driving crime but just the need to murder someone every year or so. Thus, in this film's alternate vision of the U.S., every calendar year guarantees a "purge" day, wherein citizens can kill, rob, or do whatever else they want without The Man telling them that's illegal or just generally wrong. That program apparently drives crime and somehow unemployment down, but it also results in a stressful night for Hawke and Headey when their kid lower their security system to save a guy, leaving them vulnerable to some masked would-be murderers. Watch the trailer below, and prepare to rethink all your positive beliefs about that anti-law law that doesn't exist.
While Sinister's first trailer tried to spell out its stock horror plot (family moves to new home, there's some kind of demon or something, there's also some spooky home movies, etc.), this latest trailer wisely shifts the focus away from the details and more to the creepy atmosphere, enthusiastic reviews, and so many shots of Ethan Hawke freaking out. It should also be noted, this new trailer is also rated for mature audiences only, due to a lingering shot of an entire family being hanged to death in their backyard. A kid really shouldn't see that without the explanation that demons aren't real, and that such a scene would only normally happen if dad gets too sad again.
When writer Ethan Hawke moved his family out to a new, cheaper home where a family was brutally murdered in the suburbs, he THOUGHT he'd use the setting and rent savings to write "the best book that anybody's ever read." He has a "really good feeling" about writing this book that's insinuated to be about the old residents' deaths! But when Ethan Hawke discovers and proceeds to digitize (he always tells his friends he's a bit of a "gear head") an old box of 8mm film in his newly-affordable attic, he finds more than just the joyful vicarious experience of someone else's barbecue party. THOSE ARE THE DELIGHTFULLY NOSTALGIC HOME MOVIES OF A PAGAN DEITY, ETHAN HAWKE! And as it turns out, in sort of a retro Ring scenario, by watching said 8mm movies, Hawke has freed Bagul, a big-time goth music fan (you can just tell) and spirit pedophile that consumes the souls of children, drastically lowering an area's property value enough that poor writers can move in with their kids. It's a SINISTER cycle, indeed. And on that note, here's the trailer for Sinister, the latest film to take irrational pride in being "from the producer of Paranormal Activity and Insidious":
- James Franco is ready to once again get into some biopic homoeroticism by starring as photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the aptly-titled Mapplethorpe. And that Franco-esque shape when you blink? That's just a negative Franco burnt into your retinas.
- James Badge Dale is reportedly the frontrunner to play the eponymous hero's brother in Disney's The Lone Ranger, as the Lone Ranger is only "lone" insomuch as if you disregard Native American companions and immediate family.
- America Ferrera and Julia Stiles are attached to star in a comedy about four couples who meet for brunch and end up stuck in a house together as the world possibly comes to an end. The Todd Berger film is currently called It's a Disaster, replacing the earlier title Even Stupider Couples Retreat.
- Ethan Hawke has signed to star in Scott Derrickson's untitled, micro-budgeted horror film from Insidious and Paranormal Activity producer Jason Blum. Practice your "that noise was very creepy" face, Ethan.
- Here's a photo of Bill Hader as he appears playing a spot-on Andy Warhol for one of Men in Black III's back-in-time scenes. I get it, Men in Black: eccentric celebrities are aliens. (via)
- After pursuing Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen, Hugh Jackman, and Joel Edgerton with varying levels of non-success, Thor's Chris Hemsworth is the latest to start talks with Universal that will inevitably end once he realizes this is a Kristen Stewart vehicle.
Brooklyn isn't all hipsters and lesbian moms, dudes. Some of this shit is REAL. So real that Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, and Don Cheadle have decided to demonstrate how real it is to be a Brooklyn cop with a film, called Brooklyn's Finest. This trailer is basically every conflicted cop movie melded into one:
Look out vampire-teen-abstinence-romance, there's a new vampire crossover genre in vampire town: vampire-sci-fi-action-noir! In Daybreakers, the we're-exhausting-our-precious-resources! ecological warning is given the Twilight twist, with the vampire race--Earth circa 2019's new dominant society--finding itself on the verge of running out of humans to harvest for blood. It's something like this:
"Nowwwwwww what?", says Vampire Co. CEO Sam Neill.
"I'll work on it. I'm dead, anyway. Because I'm a vampire," explains Ethan Hawke.
"I have crossbows," warns Willem Dafoe.
It actually looks somewhat better than that horrible description. Trailer:
When did Ethan Hawke become a meth head? I don't remember watching Gattaca and being afraid the protagonist would run out of his trailer waving a pistol at me. Either he's gotten amazingly good at transforming himself for roles or he's addicted to methamphetamines. So well done/get help (whichever applies).
Here's the trailer to New York, I Love You (the thematic sequel to Paris, je t'aime), the upcoming film in which 13 directors pretend there aren't already a lot of movies proclaiming love for New York and make some of their own. Who are these directors? All your favorites. Rush Hour director Brett Ratner? Got him. Natalie Portman the Director? She's there. Natalie Portman's Other Boleyn Girl co-star, Scarlett Johansson the Director? Yup. Plus, it stars everyone, and is going to make Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon ridiculously easy from now on.
- Brett Ratner has said he is no longer the directing the Escape From New York remake, giving him plenty of time for two or three more Rush Hours. [AICN]
- David Dobkin, director of The Wedding Crashers and Fred Claus announced he's taken over the reigns of the Flash movie hoped to spin-off from Justice League of America. To those worried his involvement means it will be a comedy, he offered up the film's melancholy tagline, "You can't outrun yourself," indicating it will instead be a laughable melodrama. [MTV]
- On that note, Greg Berlanti is lined up to direct the Green Lantern movie, pitting the Lantern in a tough race against The Flash for critical and commercial failure. [Variety]
- Cuba Gooding Jr. has joined John Carter's action thriller The Way of War, with executive producer Nick Thurlow adding, "With his intensity and ability to take a character to the edge, the part is tailor-made for Cuba." Is that assessment based on Snow Dogs, Boat Trip, or Daddy Day Camp? [Variety Hollywood Reporter]
- Mark Ruffalo, Ethan Hawke, and Amanda Peet will star in Brian Goodman's autobiographical crime drama Real Men Cry. Telling a true-to-life Boston crime saga, it will be the 50th film of the year to do so. [Hollywood Reporter]
The poster for Before the Devil Knows You're Dead cleverly uses horns, a pointed tail, and the color red to remind us who the devil is, with names to remind us who the actors are. It's got it all!
Bonus prank idea to do before the devil knows you're dead: Quickly dress up as Hitler or some other known villain of society, so that when the Devil comes for you, he's like, "Wait a minute, aren't you down there already?"
I would have thought any movie written by Ethan Hawke, directed by Ethan Hawke, and based on the novel by Ethan Hawke would be far too Ethan Hawkey for my taste, by which I mean shitty. But this trailer, though pretty typical of coming-of-age indie dramedies, looks surprisingly decent. And even more surprising is that Hawke was able to recognize that he's gotten far too haggard to play the 20-something protagonist. You got out at the right time, Uma.
Speaking in a recent interview, Ethan Hawke, already connected to the futuristic vampire picture Daybreakers, revealed that he will be dueling fellow vampire Willem Dafoe in the film, and also that he's growing his hair out for the part. Hawke, his blonde locks showing signs of progression, explained that the plot is set in a distant future overrun by vampires, at least one of whom has long hair. Brushing his lengthening bangs from his forehead, the actor went on to say that the vampires have exhausted their resources for blood, leaving them fighting for the final humans.
If you missed the heavy-handed political undertones, the long-tressed actor elaborated, "It's a big analogy about what's going on now," before adding, "It's really dark and weird and everybody's sucking each other's blood," proving that he is actually an 8th grade girl.
