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Trailer

It won't be screening for critics.....take that for what it's worth.....

Most of the French critics at Cannes were raving about it.

Looks like he's following the recent trend of horror movies, down to getting Lionsgate as a distributor.

From that trailer, I wouldn't be caught dead watching this movie. It all looks and feels like a late night made for TV horror movie. And surely that's not good by anyone's standards, right? I would love to be proven wrong, though.

From the trailer, me too (...They Live In Your Blood... BUG). But I remember it got good notices from Cannes, and that may be enough trailer be damned.

Is there a certain place where you can figure out what movies will be screening for critics?

The trailer is boring as hell. Still, I might see it. Do they get on a plane, perchance?

It's not really a horror movie. I guess Lions Gate has decided to try to sucker the horror movie fans into the theatre on opening weekend, hoping to jack the b.o. out of the gate. Downside, of course, is they're going to lose a lot of people who won't see horror movies (like most of the Baby Boomers) and piss off a lot of horror movie fans when the realize they're not watching Saw 3. Maddening.

Speaking of, the Saw III teaser is up on Yahoo.

Where is Bug?

Coming Soon, apparently. I had no idea, btw, that this was based on a play.

I like Ashley Judd, but she'll be hard-pressed to equal Shannon Cochran's amazing performance during the play's off-Broadway run in 2004.

tavernier wrote:I like Ashley Judd, but she'll be hard-pressed to equal Shannon Cochran's amazing performance during the play's off-Broadway run in 2004.

Hopefully it'll resurrect her career. I think that line from an episode of Will & Grace sums up her last few misfires pretty well: "Right now I just-- I feel like gettin' back to my room, putting my feet up, and ordering up that movie where Ashley Judd runs around scared in town."

Bug is Coming Soon!

Barmy wrote:Bug is Coming Soon!

Wide release on May 25, to be precise.

New trailer.

She's not Ashley Judd, but here's Shannon Cochran, who originated the lead role in the play in London and New York, with her costar Michael Shannon, who reprises his role in the movie. (BTW, Ashley gets nekkid in the movie, but not in the sex scene, which is obviously done with a body double.)

NSFW

There was more nudity onstage but LOTS more blood in the movie.

Ebert's Cannes 2006 Review/Interview

The trailer is despicable. Shame on Lions Gate. I can't help but be reminded of certain recent ultra-deceptive M. Night Shamalan trailers..

Freidkin seems to be name-checking Haneke a lot, which would seem to be an appropriate influence here.. I want to have high hopes for this, but I would probably feel more comfortable if it was not a wide release.

SG Interview. I know it doesn't belong here, but it should be of note that in the interview he says that the Cruising DVD will be out sometime during the summer. Also, that he couldn't find all the footage that he had to cut out of the film due to UA decided to destroy the footage when the company was going under.

Recent Friedkin interviews like that, plus the news that he's directing operas now have really changed my opinion of the man. I always thought of him as a hissy fit director who wasted away his talent and resigned himself to directing a vehicle for Shaq. I suppose I'll have to reevaluate his work. Bug and the new Cruising seem like the perfect starting point.

The Chicago Sun-Times interviews playwright/screenwriter Tracy Letts.

Here's my two cents on the "old" Cruising:

It's up against Pirates this weekend, so either Lionsgate thinks it'll attract an audience on it's own, or they're trying to dump it.

Highway 61 wrote:I always thought of him as a hissy fit director who wasted away his talent and resigned himself to directing a vehicle for Shaq.

I must admit, I liked Blue Chips. Nick Nolte, Mary McDonnell, and JT Walsh were all good in it, and it was a solid story despite some obvious casting mistakes.

caught this one over the weekend, and i must say that i was taken by it. it's quite phenomenal. it's not for everyone and it's easily dismissed, but i find it to be a brutal examination of physically- and emotionally-abusive relationships. probably one of the best films i'll see this year (gross generalization, but i mean it).

review (shamelessly peddling my own work, but at least it's generalization free).