Movie Make-out

If there’s anything I’ve learned from my Australian friends, the most important of all is that it’s a country that does have its own ideas and ideals, and has a unique identity and cultural touchstones that I will only begin to understand.

My friends’ ensuing glee over this trailer is proof-positive of this:

The official synopsis of the original novel by John Marsden goes like this:

Australian teenager Ellie and six of her friends return from a winter break camping trip to find their homes burned or deserted, their families imprisoned, and their country occupied by a foreign military force in league with a band of disaffected Australians. As their shock wears off, the seven decide they must stick together if they are to survive.

The film was adapted by Stuart Beattie (Collateral, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) who will also be making his debut as a director. The lead character in the book, Ellie Linton, will be played by Caitlin Stasey who is best-known for a long-running role in “Neighbours,” an Australian soap opera.

Now, before all of you readers in the U.S. start screaming, “This is a Red Dawn rip-off!” I do have to point out that there are 9 novels in what’s known as the Tomorrow series and its spinoff The Ellie Chronicles, and that an entire generation of young adults who devoured the books have been waiting almost two decades for this adaptation. Besides, Beattie already addressed this concern back in June 2009 when his involvement was first-announced:

“I don’t want to make Red Dawn, ” said Beattie, though he admits to liking the movie that MGM is in the process of remaking. “Do you remember when The Full Monty and Striptease were coming out together? They came out within months as the exact same premise—the parent strips for money so they can see their kid. But completely different. One was all flash and rockin’ body, and the other was completely the opposite, of total insecurity about getting up onstage. We’re more like the Full Monty version.”

Tomorrow will be released on September 2 in Australia and New Zealand; no word yet on any other foreign distribution dates.

At long last, a trailer for the big-screen adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series is here. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was directed by Edgar Wright and stars Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and a bunch of other people you think are cool or will on August 13, 2010.

Related Posts: Scott Pilgrim vs. Superman and the Human Torch, sorta; Exclusive: Scott Pilgrim’s Life isn’t Precious — or Little, either (updated again – 3/31)

The teaser trailer for Predators that premiered at SXSW is online now, and… well, it’s a little to bitmapped for my taste, but it looks promising.

The film stars Adrien Brody as ”Royce, a mercenary who reluctantly leads a group of elite warriors who come to realize they’ve been brought together on an alien planet… as prey. With the exception of a disgraced physician, they are all cold-blooded killers – mercenaries, Yakuza, convicts, death squad members – human ‘predators’ that are now being systemically hunted and eliminated by a new breed of alien Predators.”

Laurence Fishburne, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Danny Trejo, Walton Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali and Louiz Ozawa co-star. Robert Rodriguez produced it with director Nimrod Antal.

Predators hits theaters on July 7th.

I’m really not sure what to make of this trailer. On the one hand, it’s a comedy about a bunch of would-be suicide bombers, which I’m inclined to find morally repellent. On the other, they’re jaw-droppingly shitty suicide bombers, and it’s freakin’ hilarious.

Nominally “illuminating the radicalized British jihad and undermines the folly of western culture’s attempts to alienate them,” Chris Morris’s Four Lions premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back in January, where it was short-listed for the World Cinema Narrative prize. The film will premiere in the UK at the Bradford International Film Festival next week, followed by a national release in May.

There is no US release date set, and… just hazarding a guess based on the fact that the movie’s a comedy about a quartet of terrorists… don’t hold your breath for one.

Every time Michael Caine stars in a movie, there has to be some blurb saying it’s his finest performance ever.

Every time a revenge thriller comes out, there’s a blurb saying it’s gripping and intense, and blah blah blah.

It also gets very old after a while. So let me just say that despite a been-there, done-that premise (a man is “forced to take the law into his own hands after a gang of local teenagers brutally kills his best friend”), this looks sublimely well-executed; shut up; and get out of the way.

The official synopsis goes like this:

Set in modern day Britain, Harry Brown follows one man’s journey through a chaotic world where teenage violence runs rampant. As a modest, law abiding citizen, Brown lives alone. His only companion is his best friend Leonard. When Leonard is killed, Brown reaches his breaking point. Harry Brown is a powerful, character driven thriller starring two-time Academy Award® winner Michael Caine in a tour-de-force performance.

There’s red band trailer over at the official site. The film, which was directed by Daniel Barber (the Oscar-nominated short film The Tonto Woman), hits theaters April 30, 2010.

Related Post: Review: 2008 Oscar-nominated Live Action Short Films