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by Jeff Giles on Tuesday, Dec. 08 2009, 03:20 PM
You may not know his name, but you almost certainly recognize his face -- and you might even know his voice too: Since the early 1980s, Keith David has been one of the most prolific actors in the business, scoring roles in a dizzying array of films, lending his voice to cartoons and videogames, and even singing when he feels like it. Heck, he even popped up on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood during the 1980s, appearing as Keith the Southwood Carpenter. You've heard of "that guy" status for actors? That's Keith David in a nutshell -- and since you'll be hearing his voice in The Princess and the Frog this weekend, we thought now would be the perfect time to give this ubiquitous thespian the Total Recall treatment!
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by RT Staff on Monday, Dec. 07 2009, 10:34 PM
Awards Tour: D.C. Film Critics Name Up in the Air as Year's Best
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by RT Staff on Monday, Dec. 07 2009, 05:10 PM
If you're a regular RT reader, then you're probably familiar with our end-of-year Golden Tomato Awards. The long and short of it is that we compile a list of the films released each year and award the ones in various genres that achieved the highest Tomatometer ratings. This year, however, we'll be incorporating a new award; specifically, we'll be including a category for the highest Community-rated film, period. And you know what this means, right? That's right! It means that you will actually have a say in which movie is chosen for the award! If you haven't yet explored the movie-reviewing functionality in our Community section, this is the perfect opportunity for you to register an account (if you don't already have one) and make sure your voice is heard.
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by RT Staff on Monday, Dec. 07 2009, 04:18 PM
This week on home video, it's all about Harry Potter. The franchise's sixth installment comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray this week, but that's not all. Warner Home Video is also releasing "Ultimate Editions" of the first two films, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which are jampacked with new special features. But if HP and the gang aren't your thang, then there are several other new releases, from Public Enemies to The Cove, a couple of oldies but goodies, a limited edition box set for a popular TV show, and a workout video (yeah, you read that right). Peruse this week's column and see if you'll be picking up any of these choice selections.
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by RT Staff on Monday, Dec. 07 2009, 04:02 PM
As a star, Clint Eastwood is one of cinema's most iconic tough guys. However, it's arguably as a director that he's made a bigger impact on the movies. Since his debut in 1971, Eastwood has never been afraid to take chances, to jump genres, or to take a close look at the moral complexities of being human. And it's not unfair to say that Eastwood has made some of the very best pictures of his career in his August years. His latest, Invictus, starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman, hits theaters this week, and we thought it would be high time to take a closer look at one of contemporary cinema's most enduring, compelling artists.
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by Luke Goodsell on Monday, Dec. 07 2009, 03:38 PM
Audiences down under have been familiar with Australian actor Sam Worthington for a few years now, but for the rest of the world it's almost as though the guy appeared out of nowhere. This year he's already starred in Terminator Salvation (some critics suggesting he was the best thing about the film), and will soon headline 2010's amped-up remake of Clash of the Titans. Then, of course, there's his pivotal role in arguably 2009's most anticipated film -- James Cameron's 3-D sci-fi epic Avatar. So just how did this little-known actor become the planet's go-to action guy? Maybe it's got something to do with his taste in movies...
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by Will Lawrence on Monday, Dec. 07 2009, 05:32 AM
It has taken Being John Malkovich and Adaptation director Spike Jonze more than five years to bring Where the Wild Things Are to the big screen. Maurice Sendak, the writer and illustrator of the best-selling children's book (which has sold upward of 20 million copies), identified Jonze as the only man he trusted enough to render his story on film. That story focuses on Max, the boisterous boy in wolf pyjamas who, when sent to his room for bad behaviour, journeys in his imagination and travels to the realm of the Wild Things, a gaggle of hairy monsters who proclaim him king. The book contains only a few hundred words, and yet Jonze has created a full feature film, as wild as the source and as dark and brooding as any ancient fairy tale. The director joins Maurice Sendak and some of his key collaborators to explain exclusively to RT how they shaped the world of Where the Wild Things Are on the big screen.
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by Gitesh Pandya on Sunday, Dec. 06 2009, 05:01 PM
This weekend audiences across North America cheered on Sandra Bullock as she defeated all her opponents to clinch the number one spot at the box office with her runaway hit drama The Blind Side which spent the last two weeks in second place. Flip flopping positions, The Twilight Saga: New Moon finished in the runnerup spot while new releases were met with moderate to dismal results. It was typical for the frame as the weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday session always sees huge declines and unimpressive openings from new titles. But overall, the marketplace remained strong with sales up double digits over last year and 2007.
Crowd favorite Sandra Bullock scored her second number one of the year with The Blind Side which climbed from second to first place with an estimated $20.4M for a relatively light 49% decline.
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by Greg Dean Schmitz on Friday, Dec. 04 2009, 05:33 PM
This week's Ketchup include news of plans to remake The Amityville Horror (again) and Disney's The Black Hole, a new project for acclaimed director Paul Thomas Anderson and new roles for Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gwyneth Paltrow and one of the stars of The Twilight Saga: New Moon.
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by Alex Vo on Friday, Dec. 04 2009, 03:35 PM
Happy Friday Harvest, a weekly round-up of the best pictures, posters, and videos that have become available for viewing/download on Rotten Tomatoes. Each section features the favorite or most interesting item we've added for the week, along with several other new highlights. Enjoy!
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by Damon Wise on Friday, Dec. 04 2009, 12:10 PM
Five or six years ago, the Sundance Film Festival was more famous for showing dozens of worthy, politically correct movies that instantly disappeared than the odd breakout hits that it spawned, which previously included the likes of The Blair Witch Project, Reservoir Dogs and El Mariachi. Recently, however, the festival has become an excellent launching ground for low-budget movies from across the world, with the 2009 event showcasing the likes of British indie hits Moon and In The Loop and starting the awards momentum for two very different rites of passage movies: An Education and Precious, both tipped for Academy Award/BAFTA success. This year, under the stewardship of new artistic director John Cooper, Sundance shows no sign of slowing down, as its 2010 choices seem to suggest. RT investigates Buried, starring Ryan Reynolds, The Extra Man, Christopher Morris's controversial Four Lions, Joseph Gordon-Levitt starrer Hesher, Howl, Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me, Jeffrey Blitz's Lucky, Vincenzo Natali's Splice, Sympathy for Delicious and Kristen Stewart's rumoured nude scene in Welcome to the Rileys.
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by RT Staff on Thursday, Dec. 03 2009, 05:29 PM
The first major awards ceremony, the National Board of Review, has announced their winners of the year.
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by Tim Ryan on Thursday, Dec. 03 2009, 04:58 PM
This week at the movies, we've got a fractured family (Everybody's Fine, starring Robert De Niro and Drew Barrymore); a sibling rivalry (Brothers, starring Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal); an inside job (Armored, starring Matt Dillon and Laurence Fishburne); and vampire hilarity (Transylmania, starring Patrick Cavanaugh and James DeBello). What do the critics have to say? Sometimes a film contains such good acting that one is willing to overlook its other faults. One example might be Jim Sheridan's Brothers, a film critics say often works despite being frequently overwrought. Robert De Niro has an intensity and presence that shines through even when he's not playing Travis Bickle/Jake La Motta types. And critics say his measured performance is easily the best thing about Everybody's Fine.
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by Joe Utichi on Thursday, Dec. 03 2009, 04:33 PM
It's no secret that director Jason Reitman comes from an established Hollywood pedigree, and while his father, Ivan Reitman (Stripes, Ghostbusters), is remembered most for his iconic 80s comedies, Jason is well on his way to making a similar name for himself with his edgy comedies of the aughts. Reitman burst onto the big screen in 2004 with a critically acclaimed satire, Thank You for Smoking, then followed that up in 2007 with the quirky, indie comedy Juno. The latter went on to win various awards, including the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for newcomer Diablo Cody's pop-slang heavy script, and jumpstarted the career of its diminutive, sharp-tongued star, Ellen Page. This week, Reitman's latest effort, the George Clooney-powered Up in the Air, opens in limited release, and we were lucky enough to sit down with Jason for a friendly chat about his Five Favorite Films and his personal Tomatometer.
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by on Thursday, Dec. 03 2009, 02:08 PM
The Sundance Institute has announced its out-of-competition lineup of films that will screen in the Premieres, Spotlight, New Frontier and Park City at Midnight sections at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, which runs from January 21-31.
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by Michael Adams on Wednesday, Dec. 02 2009, 09:29 PM
Oren Peli's debut feature 'Paranormal Activity' -- an ingenious horror movie set in a house as a young couple attempt to capture a spectre on camera -- was made on video for a tiny budget of just $15,000. But with a smart marketing campaign and viral word-of-mouth from audiences that propelled it from limited release into wide theatrical distribution, the shoestring fright flick has now taken more than $107 million in the US alone. What's more, it marks an all-time record return on initial investment. As the film finally arrives (on a wave of hype) in the rest of the world, we decided to take a look at 10 other profitable horror films throughout history. After all, it's the genre to be in if you really want to make a low-budget killing.
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by RT Staff on Wednesday, Dec. 02 2009, 02:38 PM
The most prestigious awards ceremony for independent films has just been announced! Did your favorite movie that you probably didn't watch make it?
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by RT Staff on Wednesday, Dec. 02 2009, 02:33 PM
State of the art CG and stop-motion lead the way in the most well-known animation awards ceremony.
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by RT Staff on Wednesday, Dec. 02 2009, 01:30 PM
The Sundance Film Institute announced its lineup of films selected to be screened for the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to the four Competition Categories -- U.S. Documentary, U.S. Dramatic, World Cinema Documentary, World Cinema Narrative -- the Festival will present films in five out-of-competition sections to be announced on December 3.
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by Luke Goodsell on Tuesday, Dec. 01 2009, 06:17 PM
There are so many movies in the zombie genre that it would seem almost impossible to make something that feels fresh -- yet that's just what Ruben Fleischer has done with his debut feature, 'Zombieland'. Though it has antecedents in Romero and 'Shaun of the Dead', the film is its own beast: a zom-com, sure, but also a road movie, a buddy comedy, and an off-kilter indie film that somehow wandered into the land of the dead. It's also a hit with audiences and critics, having taken more than $74 million at the US box office and rating 89% Fresh on RT. With Zombieland out in Australia this week, we spoke with Ruben about the film.
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