The feature-length documentary “Ayn Rand & the Prophecy of ‘Atlas Shrugged‘” is currently in its final week of a month-long limited national theater run, having to date played to enthusiastic audiences in upwards of 75 cities, including New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Toronto, Stamford, Boston and Annapolis, Md.

The documentary will be available on DVD and download beginning in April through Virgil Films (“Restrepo,”"Forks Over Knives”) complete with extra features.

Author/philosopher Rand began writing her last and most ambitious novel – “Atlas Shrugged” – in the years immediately following World War II. Her working title for the book was “The Strike.” It was about what would happen if all the productive people in America went on strike, leaving the entitlement recipients and governmental regulators she called “moochers” and “looters” without anyone to create value for them.

The result is chaos and ultimate disaster.

The post-war years and early ’50s are generally thought to be a relatively prosperous and benign period in twentieth century American history. Yet that’s the period through which Rand painstakingly crafted her novel. When it was published in 1957, “Atlas” was widely dismissed for its “preposterous” scenario. “Atlas” was science fiction. In no way, said the critics, did it depict the real America. Not yet, Rand said. In fact, she wrote the novel in the hope she might prevent it from coming true.

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“We’re out of cranberry sauce,” I might say.

Three hours later: “Whew. Sorry, guys, you wouldn’t believe it. I had to go to twelve stores to find it!”

Would they really miss me? Wife and mother of two… probably. Alas.

I am one of those boring domestic types who typically watches movies on Netflix when they are at least two years old. I see less than ten movies a year in the real cinema and almost never on opening day (don’t tell anyone at Big Hollywood; that might be a serious deal breaker).

But director Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse” has me very intrigued. I’ve viewed the trailer more times than I care to admit. I will tell you that this is because I’m using it as an example of a kick-ass movie trailer for my daughter’s Destination Imagination team, but that would not be entirely honest (and don’t worry, I didn’t use the word kick-ass with the middle schoolers).

The truth is I’ve been nurturing a hope that “War Horse” may be one of those epic films that stirs your soul and lives in your heart long after you leave the theater.

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Screen Rant:

Onetime stuntmen-turned-filmmakers Mike “Mouse” McCoy and Scott Waugh hope to recreate the real-life experience of Navy SEALs with extreme accuracy onscreen in Act of Valor, an upcoming war thriller that boasts a cast composed primarily of (appropriately) actual Navy SEALs.

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An official trailer has been released for Act of Valor – and while it doesn’t offer much insight into the film’s plot or characters, the footage on display certainly suggests this production will feature some of the more convincing battle sequences and practical tactical maneuvers (say that three times fast…) ever put to film.

Act of Valor originated as a military recruitment video before it was developed into a fully-realized fictional motion picture – one directed by McCoy and Waugh, based on a screenplay from Kurt Johnstad (300). Relativity Media acquired the screen rights to the project earlier this year.

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Screen Rant:

The wait is almost over for season 2 of AMC’s breakout hit The Walking Dead, and the promotion machine has gone into overdrive. The new trailer “Hope Survives” lets the characters shine and puts the undead on the back burner.

One of the things that makes The Walking Dead such a unique show is that it isn’t about a zombie apocalypse, it’s about people dealing with a zombie apocalypse. During the six episodes of the first season, most of the time was spent on conversations or transitional scenes – in other words, character development. The zombie attacks, while certainly awesome, are not the central focus of the series.

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IMBD description:

A nine-year-old amateur inventor, jewelry designer, astrophysicist, tambourine player and pacifist, searches New York for the lock that matches a mysterious key left by his father when he was killed in the September 11 attacks.

But of course he’s a nine-year-old pacifist. And according to Wikipedia, he’s also a nine-year-old vegan. Why would he be anything else? So precious.

Hard to get behind a protagonist in desperate need of a good slap.

But maybe by the end of the flick, the kid sees the light…

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I just watched this prequel trailer on my computer in broad daylight in my sunlit office with the windows open, the birds singing and the comforting sound of a lawnmower mowing somewhere off in the distance … and it still scared the hell out of me.

Can’t wait for October 21 … or for it to hit Redbox.

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It’s been six years since Andrew Niccol seated himself in a director’s chair; after the powerful Gattaca (1997), misfire S1m0ne (2002), and sleeper Lord of War (2005), the inventive writer is headed back to the big screen with another original sci-fi concept, In Time. A couple trailers have already dropped; this sizzle reel does a good job introducing the heady premise without giving away exactly where the story will go (I hope).

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The biggest reason I’m pulling for the film is Andrew Niccol’s name. In a market full of adaptations, remakes, reboots, prequels, sequels, and any combination of those categories, Niccol remains committed to telling original stories through the medium of film. Both Gattaca and The Truman Show had all the qualities of great literature, yet video was an absolutely integral element of their storytelling. Barring Sucker Punch (haven’t seen it), the last time Hollywood offered a completely original blockbuster like this was Inception, and I welcome any attempts to make it the rule and no longer the exception.

The Brave New World-esque universe he’s created here is intriguing, and the concept of a world where every action you take temporarily staves off death shows he’s exploring weighty themes through speculative fiction, not just “ooh shiny future stuff!” sci-fi. It appears Niccol’s taken a far more action-oriented approach than his earlier films, so it’ll be interesting to see how well he does. He’s recruited cinematographer and longtime Coen brothers collaborator Roger Deakins, and most of the action shots appear wide and/or steady, so I’m not worried about the kind of shaky-cam anarchy common to untested action directors (I’m looking at you, Marc Forster). (more…)

MTV:

Based on what we see in the “Battleship” trailer, the film’s plot looks fairly clear: young naval officer Alex Hopper, played by Taylor Kitsch, is in a heated but secret relationship with a beautiful woman (Brooklyn Decker) who just so happens to be the daughter of Hopper’s superior officer Admiral Shane, played by the eternally badass Liam Neeson. To say that the admiral disapproves of his subordinate is an understatement, but maybe he’ll whistle a different tune when our young hero is forced to save the day from weird alien robot ships that emerge from the ocean and threaten to blow up, well, everything.

The only solution? According to Neeson: fire all of the weapons. That’s good advice for most alien invasion scenarios, really.

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This new trailer answers some of the questions about Steve Roger’s/Captain America’s motivations, which appear to be duty to his country. The more I see, the more I like. The production design is superb as are the effects creating “scrawny” Steve Rogers. Best of all, the film has a sense of humor about itself. Most refreshing is the character-testing of Rogers, the part about him being a “good man.” Old-fashioned ideas like self-sacrifice and a calling higher than one’s self make for memorable storytelling themes, the kind that stick with you long after you leave the theatre.

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The LA Times:

Mainstream Hollywood rarely tackles the subject of abortion, and when it does, it’s usually when a character quietly opts not to have one. But two new independently financed movies — a small-town mystery and a psychological thriller — are bringing an emphatically anti-abortion slant to the hot-button issue.

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“Doonby,” a $2-million film backed by an anonymous financier, tells the story of a mysterious drifter played by John Schneider (Bo Duke from “The Dukes of Hazzard”) who quickly makes himself indispensable to a small Texas town. The secret of Doonby’s past lies in the only person in town he doesn’t like — a gynecologist named Dr. Cyrus Reaper (Martin Sheen’s brother Joe Estevez).

Meanwhile, “The Life Zone,” a $1-million thriller written by New Jersey Republican State Senate candidate Kenneth Del Vecchio, follows three pregnant women who have been abducted from abortion clinics and are being forced to carry their babies to term by a shadowy jailer (Robert Loggia) and a barren female physician named Dr. Wise (Blanche Baker, perhaps best known as the older sister in “Sixteen Candles”).

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Both films have supernatural themes and a third-act twist that conveys an anti-abortion moral. Neither of them yet has theatrical distribution.

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Whenever I’m accused of carrying water for conservative-leaning films, my best defense is always “Transformers 2,” which I ranked as number 1,2, and 3 in my list of the five worst films of that year. Love me some Michael Bay for making the Obama administration part of the problem and treating the United States Military with the respect it deserves, but…

And I’m a Michael Bay defender. Other other than the shaky-cam, I didn’t hate the first one, but it’s no exaggeration for me to say that sitting through the sequel was the most purely painful cinema-going experience of my life  … and I’ve seen “Grace is Gone.”

Bay and his star Shia Le-what’s-his-name have both fessed up to the awfulness of part 2 and have a pretty valid excuse for where it all went so wrong, the writer’s strike. So let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and trust they’ve learned from their mistakes.

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Friends:

When I write it is usually out of a deep concern for our country and the world in which we live, and not to hawk a project except, perhaps, in those cases where entertainment and a cultural message can be married. This is one of those times. Also, the producer of the project, Mark Joseph, is one big pain in the butt and wouldn’t leave me alone until I did this. I know it comes from his passion for the project and he is a friend, so here’s the trailer for the new John Schneider film “Doonby“:

I don’t have a major role in the film. I did my best to serve sensitive English director/writer Peter Mackenzie’s vision, as I always do when I take on a project. Speaking of the English, I confess I did watch the Royal Wedding and was moved. In this chaotic world a little romance and beauty is good for the soul. To see the crowds cheering was very emotional, but more importantly, it proved that a tradition for love and magic is what we all yearn for, as opposed to the latest celebrity rehab reality show. We yearn for the nobility of the human soul, the best it has to offer, not the lowest that we are barraged with continually on television and elsewhere. The poetry of life has given way to crude and destructive programming . But last week while watching the marriage of a beautiful young couple, two billion people dreamed.

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If you remember, in my exclusive story yesterday regarding the future of the “Atlas Shrugged” trilogy, we learned the following:

The most interesting development, however, is that in their effort to expand television advertising, MSNBC, CNN and CNBC “have all rejected a 15-second ad for ‘editorial’ reasons [with] no further explanation provided.”

“This unforeseen censorship effectively puts the brakes on our follow-up marketing efforts where we were trying to reach millions of people unaware of the movie being in theaters now,” Kaslow wrote. “We are continuing with the theatrical release because we have great word of mouth and awareness for the movie increases daily.”

Just a few minutes ago, the producers were good enough to send along a YouTube of the rejected ad with this note: “Here’s the ad.  It’s very simple and certainly in no way offensive[.]”  

See for yourself:

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What’s to Like: The finale to the “Harry Potter” series promises to feature a lot of exciting action sequences and great special effects. Judging by the trailer and the content in the last book, I know there’s a lot to cover in this final film and I’m excited to see it come alive on screen. I’m particularly impressed with the trailer focusing on how many people have sacrificed themselves to protect Potter. It’s a dark theme but one the final film should address.

What’s to Dislike: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 1” was a complete disappointment. It was long and devastatingly dull. It’s hard to get my hopes up for part two when I’m still thinking about everything wrong with part 1. Plus, this new movie is in 3D. I’m not sure why, but it is.   

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Interesting take on the story:

How’s this for unexpected territory in a superhero film: “X-Men: First Class” not only uses the Kennedy years, the Civil Rights movement and the Cuban Missile Crisis as a backdrop for its retro tale, the movie’s story of two massively powerful mutants who struggle against bitter prejudice was directly informed by the complicated lives of Malcolm X and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“It came up early on in the rehearsal period and that was the path we took,” says Michael Fassbender, who stars as the emotionally scarred Erik Lehnsherr, who will become the militant mutant known as Magneto. “These two brilliant minds coming together and their views aren’t that different on some key things. As you watch them you know that if their understanding, ability and intelligence could somehow come together it would be really special. But the split is what makes them even more interesting and tragic.”

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Uma Thurman has been gracing the world’s movie screens with her ethereal beauty and unique presence for more than 20 years, ever since her breakthrough role in 1988’s “Dangerous Liaisons” opposite John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer. Since then, she’s helped bring all types of films to life, although perhaps her career peak came with her iconic star turns for Quentin Tarantino in “Pulp Fiction” and the two “Kill Bill” films.

Yet despite her butt-kicking abilities and way with witty dialogue in those films, Thurman is actually a very centered and calm presence who’s regarded as one of the most pleasant actresses to work with in Hollywood. No doubt that fact has contributed to her longevity, as she has not only passed 40, but she’s doing it with style and a full resume that includes her latest work in the excellent new indie film “Ceremony” (available with On Demand from some cable services now, but in theaters starting April 8).

In the film, which is squarely in the quirky character-comedy vein of Wes Anderson films like “The Royal Tenenbaums,” Thurman plays a free-spirited and wealthy woman named Zoe who’s about to get married to her longtime fiancé. But when another past boyfriend – the much younger Max (played well by Michael Aragano, who replaced Jesse Eisenberg in the role) – shows up to declare his still-burning love for her, the weekend gets turned upside down as Zoe is torn between two lovers.

“Ceremony” is a fun and often touching romp, a coming-of-age film for Max that doesn’t succumb to sappiness or cliché. And Thurman hits a homer with it. She recently did a round-table interview at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills to discuss the role and some of her life philosophies.

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More terrific reporting from the Hollywood Reporter:

About 9 million adults are active Tea Partiers, and 45 million support the movement, a CBS/New York Times poll says.

Atlas Shrugged, a novel in which society’s most productive citizens choose to disappear, was published in 1957, and filmmakers have spent nearly every year since trying to adapt it. They finally succeeded, and the first part of what’s planned as a trilogy comes out April 15. If you didn’t know that, it’s likely you’re not a member of the Tea Party.

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It was probably only a matter of time before Hollywood tried tapping the e-mail lists and social networks of the giant political movement, as distributor Rocky Mountain Pictures and filmmakers including co-producer Harmon Kaslow have for Atlas Shrugged: Part 1.

Despite years of cinematic interest and high hopes for stars and funding, the film was made for less than $10 million, with Taylor Schilling — who appeared on NBC’s short-lived Mercy — playing protagonist Dagny Taggart.

By Hollywood standards, the marketing budget is tiny, so word-of-mouth from Tea Partiers sympathetic to the film’s message is crucial to its success.

The film is also the perfect test case to see whether such an effort can work because Ayn Rand’s novel extols free markets and entrepreneurialism and excoriates government coercion and overtaxation, values that unite Tea Partiers. In fact, rallies invariably feature signs that mimic the book’s opening line: “Who Is John Galt?” Another common sign at Tea Party rallies asks, “Is Atlas Shrugging?” If Hollywood can’t persuade this demographic to support Atlas, it might as well write off the Tea Party as a marketing source.

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There’s nothing at all in the trailer to indicate the faith elements that are obviously a very big part of the true story of Bethany Hamilton — a young surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack and through the love of her parents, her Christian faith, and an incredible amount of determination, miraculously returned to tournament surfing. Instead, the marketing’s aimed directly at teens and positioned as a coming of age/overcoming obstacles/feel good film. Nothing wrong with that. As long as the film itself is true to the faith elements (from what I’ve read, it is), this is probably a wise move. People already aware of the story will show up, so why categorize your product as a “Christian film” if it’s so much more?

This is how it used to be, anyway, before Hollywood grew so openly hostile to Christianity. Hollywood always uses “reflecting reality” as an excuse for its coarseness, but won’t do so to reflect the reality of how the Christian faith is a central component in the lives of most Americans. Our faith is as natural a part of who we are as our work and family and secular lives, so there’s no reason to, for lack of a better term, “ghetto-ize” this kind of story as Christian.

In the real world, this is a universal story, no?

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Knowing the “Captain America” trailer had been released last night, I headed over to YouTube to look for it, found this, and thought “Wow, this looks fantastic.” Then I thought, “Wait, isn’t that the guy from ‘Dances With Smurfs?’” — which saved me from looking like a total idiot.

As far as the actual trailer, sorry but when one of the first statements out of a director’s mouth on any project, much less a project titled “Captain America,” is…

“He wants to serve his country, but he’s not this sort of jingoistic American flag-waver,” [director Joe]Johnston said. “He’s just a good person. … “Yeah and it’s also the idea that this is not about America so much as it is about the spirit of doing the right thing,” the director said. “It’s an international cast and an international story. It’s about what makes America great and what make the rest of the world great too.”

…it has something of a dampening effect on my enthusiasm. The goodwill necessary to boost my excitement just ain’t what it was when the project was announced. Could be worse, though. Johnston could’ve made the Tea Party the villain.

Anyway…

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