Horror Column: Eastern Promise Jun 2, 2008
UK, May 29, 2008 - Like many horror fans, I discovered Hideo Nakata's Ring at a film festival ... In the early 2000s, wannabe producer Roy Lee sold the remake rights to Nakata's Ring to DreamWorks, who hired Mousehunt director Gore Verbinski to helm the adaptation ... Released in October 2002, The Ring was a major hit, grossing over $120m in the US alone. (IGN FilmForce)
Your Turn: The shocking truth about game adaptations May 16, 2008
Considering I had just finished what will not only go down as one of the best games of 2008, but one of the best games of all time, the source of my extreme satisfaction should be obvious ... I love movies and videogames equally, and respect Gore Verbinski as an artist for his work on The Ring and the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, but even with a skilled director such as himself onboard I'd only be able to describe a BioShock movie as one thing: Redundant ... Hollywood has been butchering... (Sydney Morning Herald -- Technology)
Verbinski immersed in Bioshock May 9, 2008
The director, whose successes include Japanese horror adaptation The Ring in addition to the Pirates trilogy, will commence work on Bioshock as soon as Gladiator and Aviator screenwriter John Logan has delivered a script ... He is currently hard at work in his native New Zealand wrapping up Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones and is preparing to put on his producer's cap for a raft of big budget projects that includes the 3D version of Tintin, sci-fi epic District 9, and of course the small matter... (Guardian Unlimited -- Film)
Seductive sea makes waves in 'Pirates' Jun 4, 2007
The sea washes away the film's shortcomings of skittering plot twists and turns, cornball gags, implausible character developments and a tedious length of nearly three hours ... At World's End, directed by Gore Verbinski (The Ring, The Mexican, Pirates 1 and 2) unleashes the full glory of the sea's mercies and menaces. (The Clarion-Ledger)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End *½ May 25, 2007
Starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and (for a few seconds) Keith Richards ... There are moments, during a running time that has grown exponentially with each outing and now threatens the three-hour mark, when your eyes water and your nerves numb and your head throbs like it's been whacked by the business end of a broadsword ... They're back, in their respective glad rags as Barbossa, Will and Liz, traipsing about some inanely baroque steam bath in the urban wilds of Singapore... (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
Disney walks the plank to give wow to 'Pirates' May 14, 2007
HOLLYWOOD -- "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," the highly anticipated third installment in the wildly successful "Pirates" franchise starring Johnny Depp, opens May 25 ... In the light of 500 flickering candles, they discuss pirate matters while floorboards creak ... Outside the ring of filming, crew members wander by, some with Jack Sparrow pirate locks. (Indianapolis Star)
Authentic Old World for new 'Pirates' May 10, 2007
Deep in the heart of the back lot, all those BlackBerry-monitoring employees have given way to 150 pirates of every hue, hair configuration and state of personal hygiene ... The third installment in the wildly successful "Pirates" franchise starring Johnny Depp, "World's End," is, to put it mildly, highly anticipated ... In the light of 500 flickering candles, they discuss pirate matters while beneath them floorboards creak and above them rigging exudes a tarry odor. (AZCentral -- Entertainment)
Spawn of Satan? Apr 6, 2007
Besides giving all the child-hating people in the world more of a reason to not have their own squirming offspring, evil children pose an interesting conundrum to the horror realm. It's easy to convince a showering co-ed or half-naked camper that the huge masked man with the three-foot long machete is out to kill them, but who could ever believe that sweet little Damien from down the street could be the harbinger of perpetual evil ... Linda was just entering her teens when she had to take on the... (IGN FilmForce)
Asian horror has more guts than its Western counterparts. What a shocker! Jan 12, 2007
Other titles are more obscure, such as 1999's spooky "Nang Nak," from Thai director Nonzee Nimibutr and based on ancient folklore about a man who returns home after years away only to discover that his wife is not all that she seems, and 1986's "The Seventh Curse," Hong Kong filmmaker Nam Nai Choi's offbeat hybrid that blends horror, kung fu and action adventure starring the great Chow Yun-Fat ... It irritates Galloway that for many American filmgoers, exposure to Asian film is not to the... (San Francisco Chronicle)
Still Playing Aug 6, 2006
Cake (Romance/Comedy, 94 minutes) Starring Heather Graham, Taye Diggs, David Sutcliffe, Sandra Oh, Sarah Chalke ... Lucky Number Slevin (Action/Drama, 109 minutes) Starring Sir Ben Kingsley, Bruce Willis, Josh Hartnett, Kevin Chamberlin, Lucy Liu ... Miami Vice (Action/Crime/Drama, 145 minutes) Starring Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Gong Li, Naomie Harris, Ciaran Hinds, Luis Tosar, John Ortiz. (Jakarta Post, Indonesia -- Features)
'Pirates 2' is too much, too little Jul 21, 2006
He has a keen eye for interesting visuals and seems equally at home with big blockbuster fare ("Pirates of the Caribbean"), eerie horror ("The Ring") and more grown-up studio offerings ("The Weather Man," one of my unheralded favorites from last year), but with this bloated sequel one wonders how much was his (the opening sequence is unmistakably Verbinski in style) and how much came from the mind of uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, for whom mind-numbing action is a specialty. Depp is in fine... (Foster's Daily Democrat)
Behind the scenes with Gore Jul 16, 2006
IT is safe to make blanket statements when declaring that the world has gone absolutely insane over Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest ... Im exhausted, declares Verbinski as he slumps back into his chair during a group interview in Los Angeles to field yet another barrage of questions on how soon he can get the third Pirates instalment out and when he plans on starting production for the possible sequels ... Granted a lot of the films success has ridden on the popularity of Johnny... (The Star Online, Malaysia)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Jul 7, 2006
Captain Jack's addled grace, his tipsy eye-rolling, his beads, rings, plaitings and piercings are all borrowed from Richards ... A sneering Tom Hollander is the company officer, and caught in his machinations are the heroic lovers, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) ... Verbinski ( The Ring, The Mexican) has always had a talent for putting life's shady side on screen, and the Flying Dutchman, with its sinister overlay of seaweed and heavy mildew, is a magnificently... (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
'Pirates' awash in adventure Jul 7, 2006
Whether he's scurrying away from a tribe that wants to cook him, steering a small boat with a leg bone, or putting the moves on a lovely yet stressed-out damsel, Depp is irresistible ... Still, it does spring a couple of leaks ... Yet director Gore Verbinski ("The Ring," "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl") along with high-adrenaline action producer Jerry Bruckheimer and a strong cast, prevent it from capsizing. (Contra Costa Times -- Entertainment)
Inside Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Jul 2, 2006
"It's a bit mad to take on two movies at once [but] there are still a lot of stories to be told with these characters. I didn't feel that way with The Ring. I didn't know where to go with it when they talked to me about doing that. And Pirates, there was no plan on making a 2nd or 3rd movie when we filmed the first one and then the studio said, 'Could you do two more?' And that was sort of challenging to construct a trilogy in reverse so to speak. That was exciting" ... Lord of the Rings veteran... (Cinema Blend)
Yo ho, Yo ho, `Pirates' life wears on Verbinski Jul 2, 2006
Yep, they take some wearing and not everyone can do it," Nighy jokes. ``The first couple of days you feel majorly outclassed by everyone else because they're all looking glamorous. They're all pirates. Then there's me walking around in my spotted pajamas with a little skullcap with a bubble on top. And also spots all over my face for the laser points so they can track all of my facial expressions. It's odd for the first couple days. Then it becomes just like any other job because the task is the... (Boston Globe)
more » Jul 2, 2006
-- Doing his Thespian best during a photo shoot at a posh hotel, Gore Verbinski grimaces from the back of a long conference table, under a chandelier ... "If you made a film for stockholders it would really be boring and it wouldn't be fiscally responsible." he says ... Verbinksi's first five features, including "Mouse Hunt," "The Mexican" and "The Ring," have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. (CTNow.com)
Getting in touch with his inner octopus Jul 1, 2006
To achieve this ghastly image, which was created with the help of computer graphics, Nighy had to perform wearing cumbersome grey overalls with light-emitting diodes, so the machine could trace his movements for later adornment ... "I take it as a compliment, really. Even when I was young, I secretly thought if I'm going to have any appeal, if I'm going to be useful in any way, it's going to be in terms of what they call character. Because I wasn't terribly good in straight roles, only because I... (Toronto Star -- Arts)
IGN Interviews Gore Verbinski Jun 29, 2006
June 28, 2006 - The last time we met up with Gore Verbinski he was promoting a film that was an admitted departure from the director of The Ring and Pirates of the Caribbean ... IGN FILMFORCE: How jarring is it to go from a character piece like Weather Man to the Pirates sequels. (IGN FilmForce)
Walt Disney Pictures and MySpace.com Launch World Premiere of ''Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'' Theatrical Trailer Apr 29, 2006
"We are always looking for innovative ways to bring fresh content to increasingly hard-to-reach consumers," said Oren Aviv, President of Marketing and Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney Studios ... It is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer ("Black Hawk Down," "Pearl Harbor") and directed by Gore Verbinski ("The Ring") ... MySpace is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends and discovering popular culture. (Yahoo! Wire -- Entertainment News)
This summer's big screen? Really big Apr 19, 2006
LOS ANGELES There's something really wrong with Hollywood if it can't get off to a better start than it did during the dreary summer of 2005 ... A globe-trotting mystery, the adaptation of Dan Brown's best seller follows a symbologist (Hanks) and cryptographer (Audrey Tautou) racing to uncover clues about the murder of a member of a shadowy society harboring deep secrets about Christianity ... Wolfgang Petersen is back on the water with Poseidon, starring Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss and Josh... (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Cruise, `Da Vinci' kick off summer films Apr 19, 2006
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- There's something really wrong with Hollywood if it can't get off to a better start than it did during the dreary summer of 2005 ... A globe-trotting mystery, the adaptation of Dan Brown's best-seller follows a symbologist (Hanks) and cryptographer (Audrey Tautou) racing to uncover clues about the murder of a member of a shadowy society harboring deep secrets about Christianity ... " Wolfgang Petersen is back on the water with "Poseidon," starring Kurt Russell, Richard... (The Advocate -- Entertainment)
