Cannes Standout "As I Lay Dying" Comes to PH Cinemas

After receiving acclaim in Cannes last May as an official selection in the Un Certain Regard section, actor-director James Franco brings the searing drama “As I Lay Dying” to mainstream cinemas.

Directed by James Franco from a screenplay by Franco and Matt Rager, “As I Lay Dying” is adapted from the 1930 classic American novel by William Faulkner. The story chronicles the Bundren family as they traverse the Mississippi countryside to bring the body of their deceased mother Addie to her hometown for burial.

Addie’s husband Anse and their children, Cash, Darl, Jewel, Dewey Dell, and the youngest one Vardaman, leave the farm on a carriage with her coffin - each affected by Addie’s death in a profound and different way. Their road trip to Jefferson, some forty miles away, is disrupted by every antagonistic force of nature or man: flooded rivers, injury and accident, a raging barn fire, and not least of all -- each individual character’s personal turmoil and inner commotion which at times threaten the fabric of the family more than any outside force.



The film stars Franco, Danny McBride, Tim Blake Nelson, Logan Marshall-Green, Beth Grant and Ahna O’Reilly.

Widely regarded as one of the best works of 20th century literature, “As I Lay Dying” is known for its unique approach to storytelling -- shifting the first person narration between a whopping 15 characters over the course of nearly 60 chapters.

Published in 1930, “As I Lay Dying” holds a solid canonical position as one of Faulkner’s best, most frequently republished works, along with “The Sound and the Fury,” “Light in August” and “Absalom, Absalom!,” all of them set in the novelist’s fictional Yoknapatawpha County, a Mississippi state of mind as well mapped mentally by its creator as Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

“As I Lay Dying” be shown exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas nationwide starting Nov. 27.

THIS IS THE END Review

Take five of the some of the most famous Hollywood comedians and place them in an apocalyptic situation and you've got yourself the makings of a great comedy such as "THIS IS THE END" which will be exclusively playing in Ayala Cinemas.

So if you live in a bunker and you're not familiar with who the cast members are, here goes: Seth Rogen (Knocked Up), James Franco (Spider-Man 1,2 and 3, 127 Hours, Oz the Great and Powerful), Jay Baruchel (Tropic Thunder, How to Train your Dragon 2), Craig Robinson (Hot Tub Time Machine 1 & 2), Danny McBride (Your Highness, Tropic Thunder) and Jonah Hill (Moneyball, 21 Jump Street, Django Unchained). 

There's a number of reasons why I'm putting the film in such a high regard. First, it managed to topple the already high standing of Adam Sandler's LITTLE NICKY. Secondly it's a no-brainer, stoner-friendly comedy starring the same guys from such films as TROPIC THUNDER, YOUR HIGHNESS, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, 21 JUMP STREET and so much more. That alone is worth the ticket price. If you still need a bit of convincing then hold on...

The movie is obnoxious and downright irreverent which makes it much more appealing to watch (well because it's silly and we all get to laugh at silliness right?) From Danny McBride's A-grade performance as a certified asshole to stuff like the two dozen cameos splattered across the film, THIS IS THE END is certainly worth watching.

THE GOOD:

- The main cast is star power enough but check out the cameos and guest appearance. They've got Jason Segel, Kevin Hart, that Indian chick from that drama series, that Indian guy from I think "The Office", a very different looking Paul Rudd and more importantly - RIHANNA. 

- The BACKSTREET BOYS. 

- A potential teaser to PINEAPPLE EXPRESS 2 all taken using the camera that Franco used in "127 Hours". 

- There's also a ton of movie references thrown around the film. One that stood out was the comment hurled about Seth Rogen making a "Green Hornet" movie that did not suck. Oh and they want us to believe that James Franco loves himself so much that he'd keep standees from his New/ Green Goblin days. 

- I hated Danny McBride ever since. And "This is the End" definitely proved why I hate him so much. But with so much hate, maybe he shows that he's an effective actor/ comedian. Still I hate that guy. 

- The music that they chose to use in the film was also great. They've got M.I.A.'s Paper Planes, Dr. Dre and Snoop's Next Episode and my favorite, PSY's Gangnam Style. Used to the best of their abilities. 

- The jizzing jokes were funny and cringeworthy at the same time. 


THE BAD

- Rape jokes. I hate rape jokes. It's improper and just plain bad. Thank goodness they got limited that bit. 

- Forced bromosexual tensions. Not cool. We get that you guys are buds and all but some things are just depicted too much. 

- Demon Dicks. No thank you. 

- There's really something disturbing about seeing Channing Tatum in this film. 

VERDICT: Me and the missues had a grand time watching THIS IS THE END. It's crass and a bit boorish and asinine but there's a lot of redemption going on in this movie (both literally and figuratively). Catch it when it starts rolling exclusively in AYALA CINEMAS starting September 11. 

James Franco Welcomes the Apocalypse in "This Is The End" (Opens Sept 11)

Hip actor James Franco satirizes himself as he plays a Hollywood version of, well, himself, in Columbia Pictures' wacky comedy “This Is The End.”

Says writer-director and co-star Seth Rogen, “The things we mock in James Franco in the movie are real, but Franco in real life is nothing like the way he acts in the movie. He genuinely does like art and weird stuff, but it’s not pretentious and he’s not in-your-face about it. He doesn’t care what others think about his art. He just likes art.”

In “This Is The End,” six friends – who just happen to be James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson – are trapped in Franco’s house as the end of the world begins outside. And we’re not talking about any old California-slides-into-the-ocean earthquake… we’re talking the fire-and-brimstone Apocalypse – the real Biblical deal.

Franco says that he didn’t hesitate to sign on for the project – even though he wouldn’t have even considered the project if it had been with anyone other than the writing-directing team of Rogen and Evan Goldberg. “We’re playing extreme versions of ourselves, and I would really only trust Seth and Evan to depict me in an outrageous way,” he says. “Their take on me is funny – of course, I don’t think I’m really like that, but yes, it’s a version of me, it’s their version, and it’s funny. But going back to `Superbad,' through all their movies, they put in a level of heart, or emotion, that grounds the characters, and that’s in this movie, too. I was game for it because the way they make movies, their sensibility is just so solid.”

“The way my character is on the surface, he’s a pretty shallow person,” says Franco. “He’s a guy who thinks that Seth can’t be his friend and anybody else’s – like sixth grade behavior. So that’s where we took the character deeper. In real life, Seth has been there at important points in my career – ‘Freaks and Geeks,’ ‘Pineapple Express’ – so we took that and decided that the character of James Franco would have this affection for Seth and need to connect with him. Really, he’s obsessed with Seth.”

In the film, Franco’s house is filled with art. Not surprising, in a way, because the real Franco cares deeply about art. However, the filmmakers and the real Franco make it clear that there’s a blurry line between the art he cares about and the art that the pretentious character he plays prefers. “My first conversation with James Franco was about the fact that the character is a ‘version’ of James Franco,” says production designer Chris Spellman.

“People know I’m interested in art,” says Franco. “I just went to school for it and for a while I was collecting art – I sold most of it a while ago so I could go to school and not work so much. So it was kind of a funny idea that the Franco character would be collecting art, and Seth asked me if there was any particular artist that I wanted to have in the character’s house. And I thought, there’s a way to take this to a different level. There’s a painter that I really like named Josh Smith – his work is hard to place because a lot of it has a very humorous feel, even though it’s abstract work. Josh was interested. Not only interested, but wanted to create new work, and it would be special because it would be work that was only intended for this movie. And as Josh and I were talking, we came on the idea that we could do the paintings together. Josh and I spent two days together and we painted a lot, through the night, ten huge paintings and a bunch of little ones.”

Together, Franco and Smith created art that directly references the movie. “The idea is that my character is somewhat obsessed with Seth,” says Franco. “So the subjects of the paintings are shows I did with Seth – there’s a Freaks painting and a Geeks painting, there’s a Pineapple Express painting.”

Distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International, “This Is The End” will be shown exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas nationwide starting Sept. 11.

Actors Play `Horrible' Versions of Themselves in "This Is The End"

For a film about the group dynamics among a group of friends facing the apocalypse, it’s no surprise that the characters in Columbia Pictures' critically acclaimed comedy “This Is The End” were tailor-made for the actors playing the roles. They would all play horrible “versions” of themselves, says co-director/writer Evan Goldberg.

In “This Is The End,” six friends – who just happen to be James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson – are trapped in Franco’s house as the end of the world begins outside. And we’re not talking about any old California-slides-into-the-ocean earthquake… we’re talking the fire-and-brimstone Apocalypse – the real Biblical deal.

“Seth isn’t a duplicitous coward, but he plays one in this film,” Goldbrg says. “Danny is a delightful sweetheart, but his character is a maniac. Franco – the things we mock in Franco in the movie are real, but Franco in real life is nothing like the way he acts in the movie. He genuinely does like art and weird stuff, but it’s not pretentious and he’s not in-your-face about it. He doesn’t care what others think about his art. He just likes art. The only exceptions are Jay, who is more like his character than anyone else in the movie, and Craig, who isn’t a jerk like his character, but is a guy who carries a towel around to wipe sweat off his face.”

“People think they know everything about you based on the characters you play,” says co-director/writer and star Seth Rogen. “So we thought it would be funny to play into that – to have these characters that behave in the way that everybody thinks is what we’re like off-screen. There are elements of our real selves, but we all twisted them or exaggerated them to make it funny.”

Playing yourself can be a challenge – even for an Academy Award® nominee, as Jonah Hill says, “I’ve never slipped out of character more than when I was playing myself.”

But it’s more than just a joke, says Rogen. It’s a way of acknowledging the elephant in the room. “Everybody knows that we’re friends and we’re always in movies together. It was almost weirder that the movie wouldn’t acknowledge that in some way,” says Rogen. “So we thought, OK, let’s acknowledge it, and then let’s move beyond it. We wanted the relationships to feel real. We thought that would be the element that grounded the movie if the dynamics between the characters were real and relatable. So even though the movie gets super-crazy – it’s the Apocalypse – there’s a simple idea at the center that I hope is very believable. We never could have written this movie if we didn’t know these guys – and we definitely couldn’t have directed it.”

Distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International, “This Is The End” will be shown exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas nationwide starting Sept. 11.

Oz the Great and Powerful Review

Here's my review for Oz the Great and Powerful starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams. The film will be locally distributed by Walt Disney Pictures Philippines. 

The film is directed by Sam Raimi and is a prequel to the 1939 "Wizard of Oz". This flick basically explains why the Wizard was in Oz as well as the origins of the Wicked Witches of the east AND west. 

The movie is pretty to look at especially if you catch the flick in 3D.  

Rachel Weisz - From Bourne Legacy to Oz the Great and Powerful

Coming off the box-office success of “The Bourne Legacy,” Oscar-winner Rachel Weisz now plays Evanora, the witch who rules over the Emerald City, in Walt Disney Pictures' new 3D fantasy-adventure, “Oz The Great and Powerful.”

Directed by Sam Raimi, imagines the origins of the beloved wizard character, who made his debut in author L. Frank Baum’s first book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”

Weisz raves about her time on the project, saying, “What really appealed to me about playing Evanora was that I got to be a bad girl. She has a lot of fun being bad and I think that’s what appealed to me about the character. I loved the script. I thought it was a great imagining of the origin story of the wizard and the witches.”

Michelle Williams is Glinda the Good Witch in 'Oz the Great and Powerful'

Three-time Academy Award-nominee Michelle Williams (“My Week With Marilyn”) plays Glinda, the Good Witch who tries to convince Oscar (James Franco) that the Land of Oz is in trouble at the hands of the evil Evanora, in Walt Disney Pictures’ fantastical adventure “Oz the Great and Powerful.”

At the same time, Glinda is hoping Oscar is the answer to the land’s prophecy—that a wizard will someday come and restore order.

Director Sam Raimi says of casting Williams for the role, “Michelle has a real positive spirit and depth of soul. She’s a good person and I needed that in the actress who was going to play Glinda.”

New Character Posters for Oz the Great and Powerful

The character posters of Disney's fantastical adventure “Oz the Great and Powerful” have been released by the studio. The one-sheets individually highlight the main characters played by James Franco (Oscar Diggs), Rachel Weisz (Evanora), Michelle Williams (Glinda) and Mila Kunis (Theodora).

“Oz The Great and Powerful,” directed by Sam Raimi, imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved character, the Wizard of Oz. When Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot—fame and fortune are his for the taking—that is until he meets three witches, Theodora, Evanora and Glinda, who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity—and even a bit of wizardry—Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.

“Oz The Great and Powerful” is produced by Joe Roth and written by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire. Grant Curtis, Philip Steuer and Palak Patel are serving as executive producers.

Opening across the Philippines on March 7 in IMAX 3D, Digital 3D and regular theaters, “Oz The Great and Powerful” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International through Columbia Pictures.

Check out the other character posters after the cut.

New Poster and Trailer for 'This is the End' Starring Seth Rogen, James Franco and the Gang

James Franco and Seth Rogen headlines a new movie entitled "This is the End" which is basically an 'end of the world' flick featuring other funny men like Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Jay Baruchel and Craig Robinson.

Who the heck is Craig Robinson? 

Anyway, check out the film's trailer and the synopsis after the cut.

First Full Trailer for Disney's Oz: The Great and Powerful

The full trailer of Walt Disney Pictures' upcoming fantasy adventure “Oz The Great and Powerful” arrives online and can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILZc18BjNVw&feature=youtu.be. The film stars James Franco, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams and Mila Kunis.

Sneak Peek: Wicked Witch of Oz the Great and Powerful

Walt Disney Pictures has revealed new artwork from director Sam Raimi's “Oz The Great and Powerful” that you can view below. The art is said to be the first section of a three-part image and gives a first look at the Wicked Witch.

The fantasy adventure stars James Franco, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams and Mila Kunis.

Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens Spell Sexy in "Spring Breakers"

Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens team up for a new movie entitled "Spring Breakers" and the photos are showing a sexy side to these former Disney "princesses".

In the film, four young girls go South for Spring Break where they go wild and catches the authorities attention. They later meeet a young drug dealer (James Franco) who tasks them to kill a rival dealer.