Blog Title: Movie News, Reviews, Trailers and More at RopeofSilicon.com

Sunday Morning Movie Jumble: July 5, 2009

[jumble_form] I shouldn't even give a clue for this one but I am in a giving mood. CLUE: One of the taglines for this film was: "Earth — Take a good look. It could be your last." ADDITIONAL CLUE: (Highlight for the clue if you are about ready to give up) Welcome to earth! GIVE UP? CLICK HERE Don't give away the answer read more..

A Gangster's Demise: Jarrett vs. Rico vs. Dillinger

I am sure many/most of you clicking on this headline were interested enough to have also gone and seen Michael Mann's Public Enemies this weekend and saw Johnny Depp as bank robber John Dillinger get gunned down outside the Biograph theater in a haze of CG blood. Personally I thought the use of CG at read more..

Trailers for Sheridan's 'Brothers' and Almodovar's 'Broken Embraces'

I will never understand why movie studios allow for their trailers to debut on "Entertainment Tonight" with that shoddy logo slathered on the video and an ugly bootlegged version of it showing up online, but that's what we have here when it comes to our first look at Jim Sheridan's Brothers, which stars Tobey Maguire, read more..

Pfriday's Poster Puzzles: July 3, 2009

The rules for this one are simple. I have washed away all the credit details from the poster snippet above leaving only the cast names. Your job is to guess the title of the movie. Be sure to spell correctly, misspelled titles are wrong answers. [poster_form] CLUE: No clues, but you can click here for a larger look read more..

Captain Kirk Avoids Deadly Disease in 'Carriers'

The trailer for Carriers recently arrived online and appears to be the last breath of Paramount's genre wing Paramount Vantage, but instead of Oscar-fare we are getting a PG-13 rated horror/thriller in the vein of 28 Days Later starring Lou Taylor Pucci, Chris Pine, Piper Perabo and Emily VanCamp. There isn't an official synopsis yet, but read more..

Box-Office Oracle: Jul. 3 – Jul. 5, 2009

#1 movie predicted correctly: 1 Week in a Row 1. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs It's difficult to find much recent precedent for animation over the 4th of July. I know that Wednesday and Thursday will hurt it a little bit — but I still have it going big. Estimate: $55.9 million 2. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Heavily read more..

'Ice Age 3' Bests 'Transformers 2' With $13.8 Million Opening

Well, box-office prognosticators are going to have their hands full this weekend trying to decide if Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs will be able to take the top spot ensuring Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen only enjoys one weekend at the top. Early estimates have the third film in the animated franchise getting off read more..

Nimrod Antal Set to Direct 'Predators'

Ain't It Cool News spoke with Robert Rodriguez who is producing Predators and Rodriguez confirmed LatinoReview.com's earlier story announcing Nimrod Antal (Vacancy) will be sitting in the director's chair for the proposed "re-inventing [of] the franchise," which started with the Arnold Schwarzenegger action classic in 1987. The film is already set for a July 7, read more..

Karl Malden Passes Away at the Age of 97

It has been a rough two weeks for the entertainment business when it comes to the passing of major celebrity names as Karl Malden has passed away at the age of 97. Malden died in his sleep about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, his manager Bud Ross tells CNN. Malden won an Oscar for his performance alongside Marlon read more..

Latest MPAA Ratings: BULLETIN NO: 2076

It has been a rough two weeks for the entertainment business when it comes to the passing of major celebrity names as Karl Malden has passed away at the age of 97. Malden died in his sleep about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, his manager Bud Ross tells CNN. Malden won an Oscar for his performance alongside Marlon read more..

QUIZ: How Well Do You Know Michael Mann?

Michael Mann and Johnny Depp on the set of Public Enemies Photo: Universal Pictures With the release of Public Enemies this week and my earlier look back at the films of director Michael Mann I felt it was only appropriate this week's quiz follow suit. Mann is obviously a favorite among many movie buffs and while you read more..

Movie Review: Public Enemies (2009)

Marion Cotillard and Johnny Depp in Public Enemies Photo: Universal Pictures It's no secret how the life of John Dillinger came to an end; so when Michael Mann begins his telling of the Dillinger story in 1933 only allowing for just over a year's worth of story to be told he isn't giving himself a lot of read more..

Movie Review: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)

The gang and one new addition in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Photo: 20th Century Fox Animation has blown-up since the advent of computer-animation. From my count, in 1995 we saw Toy Story, the first feature film released to use only computer-generated imagery, hit theaters and that same year it was accompanied domestically by only two read more..

134 New Names Invited to Join the Academy

Yesterday came the yearly announcement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as it extended 134 invitations to several artists and executives "who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures" read the press release. Of course all of them can decline, but I wouldn't necessarily expect that to happen as read more..

Trailer for Soderbergh's 'The Informant' Looks Outstanding

Trailers are coming in from all sides today as Warner Bros. has just unwrapped Steven Soderbergh's The Informant starring Matt Damon as Mark Whitacre, a rising star at agri-industry giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) who suddenly turns whistleblower. Watching the trailer and having the words "Based on a True Story" pop up in the middle is read more..

Meet the Cast of '9' in Eight Character Posters

Focus Features just sent over eight character posters depicting all nine of the main characters in the upcoming animated effort 9 from filmmakers Tim Burton (The Corpse Bride, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory) and Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Nightwatch). For anyone that has already seen the trailers you already know this looks like it has the read more..

New Trailers for 'Inglourious Basterds,' 'Coco Before Chanel' and 'Couples Retreat'

Three new trailers debuted today for some upcoming films that all have the possibility of being worthy additions to the second half of 2009. First off is a new international trailer for Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, it's actually the only trailer of the three I did not watch, but from what I am reading around the read more..

Oscar Update: 'Moon,' 'Transformers 2' and Still Talking 10 Best Picture Noms

This past weekend I painted the doors on the soon-to-be unveiled "The Contenders" for the 2010 awards season and I filled the stables with 29 horses. I still need to tidy up around the edges and make a few adjustments here and there, but with six months to go in 2009 and the upcoming release read more..

This Week On DVD and Blu-ray: June 30, 2009

DVD LINKS: DVD NEWS | RELEASE DATES | NEW DVDS | REVIEWS | RSS FEED Do the Right Thing (20th Anniversary Edition) There is only one title to buy this week and it begins and ends with Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing as Universal has put together an impressive package with a brand new commentary from read more..

Details On the American Remake of 'Let the Right One In'

I am not one of those film goers that fell head over heels for last year's Swedish vampire drama Let the Right One In, but I did enjoy it and gave it a relatively favorable review despite some issues I had with it. However, I'm not sure how interested I am in an American remake read more..

Amy Adams Joins David Russell's 'Fighter'

Amy Adams is the latest name to join the cast of David O. Russell's The Fighter as she joins Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Melissa Leo in the Paramount Pictures drama which is set to begin shooting next month in Lowell, Massachusetts. The Fighter follows boxer "Irish" Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world lightweight title. read more..

'The Dark Knight' Remains Five-Day Champ as Box-Office Actuals Arrive

Box-Office Mojo has updated their weekend charts with the three-day actual receipts and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen dropped from the original estimated three-day take of $112 million to finish with $108.9 million for the three-day weekend and $200 million for the five-day, which means The Dark Knight's five-day record of $203.7 million remains intact. However, read more..

International Trailer for Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 'Micmacs'

Back in March I posted 11 images from Jean-Pierre Jeunet's next film Micmacs a tire-larigot and today we get our first look at actual footage as Twitch delivers the international trailer for his follow up to A Very Long Engagement and if you have seen either Amélie (one of my favorite films of all-time) or read more..

Critics Have Little-to-Nothing To Do With Box-Office Success

When people say a movie is "critic-proof" it really doesn't mean anything since reviews for movies have very little to do with determining whether or not the majority of people are going to go see a movie. With that said, what is published in David Germain's AP story "'Transformers': Worst-reviewed $400 million hit?" means absolutely read more..

In My Opinion: Ranking the Films of Michael Mann

The films of Michael Mann Photo: Universal Pictures Ranking the Films of Michael Mann In advance of this Wednesday's release of Public Enemies I thought it was only fitting to take a look back at the films from director Michael Mann and see how they would sort themselves out in a quick ranking session and what a wild read more..

Box-Office Wrap-Up: Jun. 26 – Jun. 28, 2009

Right now Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is 2.4m short of Dark Knight's five day opening. Based on today's estimates we are left with Revenge of the Fallen at $201.4m vs. The Dark Knight's $203.8m. But there are still three scenarios that could play out. They've underestimated Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's Sunday. Word of mouth is read more..

Sunday Morning Movie Jumble: June 28, 2009

[jumble_form] FIRST CLUE: (Don't look at the other clues if you can help it) The first major American movie star to wear a military uniform in World War II. ADDITIONAL CLUES: (Don't look unless you really can't get it) Once played a role in which he thought he could see an invisible rabbit. Campaigned for both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan in read more..

Academy Still Misses the Point As They Cut Honorary Awards from the Oscars Telecast

"For some years now, the Board has struggled to balance the desire to truly honor worthy individuals with the time limitations that the Oscar® telecast imposes on these honors," said Academy President Sid Ganis. "By creating a separate event for recognizing these outstanding people in the movie industry, we're insuring that each honoree will be read more..

TV Review: Tonight's 'True Blood', Episode 2.03 'Scratches'

Photo: HBO Things just keep getting better with "Scratches," the third episode of "True Blood" season two, as a new element of villainy is added to the scenario and one that begins to play a larger role with more than just one of the series' characters. The episode picks up shortly after the goings on at Jessica's read more..

'Transformers 2' Looks to Best 'Dark Knight's Five Day Box-Office Record

It's going to be close folks as estimates now peg Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as hitting anywhere from $190-209 million for its opening five days, the latter number would mean a five-day box-office record for the feature as it added another $36.7 million to its cumulative total with Friday estimates. Revenge of the Fallen has read more..