Now this makes for an exciting Monday!

Finally an official one-sheet for Ariel Vroman

I mentioned the other day how much I loved the poodle with the Bride of Frankenstein 'do. That's her above and apparently her name is Persephone. LOVE. IT.

Considering this movie doesn’t even come out until October, we certainly have been gifted with a lot of new goodies from Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie lately. Not that I’m complaining, but it makes me wonder if we’ll have seen the whole movie by the time it is released. Today we have a handful of new stills for this re-imagining of Burton’s 1984 short film.

Stop-motion fascinates me. The painstaking attention to detail, not to mention the patience required, must be astounding. The results, at least in the hands of Tim Burton (to be fair Aardman Studios is brills at it as well), usually are. Apparently this time there will be more than just Victor’s dog Sparky get the ‘reanimation’ treatment. Victor’s friends are all based on icons of classic horror films and each creates their own ‘monster’. We got our first glimpse of Edgar last week who is obviously a stand-in for Igor.

Frankenweenie, which will be the second of two Burton films for 2012, after Dark Shadows opens in May, reunites Burton with (the voices of) Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones, Martin Landau and the late Glenn Shadix and reanimates theaters October 5.

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We have a gorgeous new “retro” poster for Oren Moverman’s Rampart with Woody Harrelson. I love the poster’s 70s vibe that the movie itself gives off.

Synopsis:

Nothing fascinates like a dirty cop. In real life they're terrifying, but in the movies their upending of law and order can open deep explorations of psychology, morality and violence.

So meet Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson), Brown is a cop long ago unleashed from the rules of the Los Angeles Police Department. Roving the streets in his black-and-white cruiser, he governs and punishes at will. His home life is a riddle. Somehow he has fathered children with two sisters (Anne Heche and Cynthia Nixon). Somehow he still lives casually with them both, slipping in and out of a family life that's as tangled as his long career on the force. His own daughter calls him Date Rape. That's because, years ago, Brown may have killed a rapist and gotten away with it. The shadow of the incident still haunts him, so when his Rampart division gets caught up in a corruption scandal, Brown makes an easy target. As the controversy seeps through the department and into city hall, this hardened, reckless officer finds himself at the centre of a sordid L.A. story.

Following up on his Academy Award ® nominated The Messenger, writer/director Oren Moverman assembles an impressive team of talent for Rampart. The script is co-written by crime fiction legend James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential). The cast includes Ben Foster (also in The Messenger), Robin Wright, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Buscemi and Ice Cube.

Although based on a real LAPD scandal from the nineties, Rampart easily transcends reportage.

Rampart is currently in limited release in the US and opened yesterday in the UK.

Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie is an expanded remake of the director’s own short film from 1984.

It’s the tale of young Victor, whose pet dog Sparky  (who stars in Victor's home-made monster movies) is hit by a car, Victor decides to bring him back to life the only way he knows how. But when the bolt-necked "monster" wreaks havoc and terror in the hearts of Victor's neighbors, he has to convince them (and his parents) that despite his appearance, Sparky's still the good loyal friend he's always been.

While the original short was live action, the 2012 version is stop-motion animated in the vein of A Nightmare Before Christmas. It features the voices of many Burton regulars like Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau,  Danny Elfman again provides the score.

Frankenweenie opens October 5 in the US and the UK.

New Year, New Movie: Bernie is a dark comedy about a Texas mortician who kills a wealthy widow, then goes to great lengths to create the illusion that she’s alive. Directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused) and starring Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey, the film marks McConaughey’s third collaboration with Linklater after Dazed and Confused and The Newton Boys and Black’s second, after School of Rock.

Synopsis:

Black plays Bernie, the beloved mortician in a small Texas town. MacLaine is the town’s richest, meanest widow, and even she adores him. No one will say a bad word about Bernie—even after he commits a very nasty crime.

Bernie played a few festivals last year including LA and London and gets a limited US release on April 27

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We have some great new pics of the artisans in Tim Burton's studio working on his re-imagining of his 1984 short film Frankenweenie. Stop-motion fascinates me. The painstaking attention to detail, not to mention the patience required, must be astounding. The results, at least in the hands of Tim Burton (to be fair Aardman Studios is brills at it as well), usually are. Check out the pics below.

As I said before, when I heard that Burton was not only remaking his own (brilliant) film, but stretching it into a full length feature, I had to wonder why he'd want to mess with perfection?

Well, according to Producer Allison Abate who spoke with ShockTilYouDrop during a set-visit:

“Tim always wanted to make it into a feature and into an animated feature. We had to open the story up a little bit. Pretty much, the whole first act is like the short. We meet Victor and his beloved dog, Sparky. There’s a terrible car accident tragedy and the dog gets killed. Of course Victor, being a clever guy, figures out how to reincarnate him. Where the story diverges is that Victor is now desperate to keep his dog a secret. He doesn’t really know if what he’s done is a great thing. He doesn’t tell his parents and he doesn’t tell his school friends… Of course, the other kids at school get wind of it and kind of want in.”

Apparently this time there will be more than just Victor’s dog Sparky get the ‘reanimation’ treatment. Victor’s friends are all based on icons of classic horror films and each creates their own ‘monster’. In the pics, we can see sketches that point to everything from mummified hamsters to turtles with scales that resemble Japanese movie monster Gamera. Now that sounds funny. A reanimated turtle. How can you tell?

The really good news about any of this, for me, is that Frankenweenie reunites Burton with Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones (I thought he was in jail?), and the late Glenn Shadix, who all appeared in Beetlejuice. This is actually Burton's third collaboration with Ryder, who also starred alongside Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands. Of course, since Frankenweenie is stop-motion animation (the original short was live-action) like that seen in A Nightmare Before Christmas, only their voices will be featured, including the voice of another Burton alum, Martin Landau. 

Frankenweenie, which will be the second of two Burton films for 2012, after Dark Shadows opens in May, comes to theaters October 5.

Black Swan closed last night’s AFI Fest 2010 Gala held at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre Hollywood, California. Mila Kunis refuted rumours that Tequila was involved in her graphic erotic love scene with Natalie Portman:

“There was no tequila! Not sure where that rumor came from, but it’s false,” “I don’t think we could have done that scene if we were intoxicated.”

Despite being good friends in real life, filming that scene was not comfortable:

“They’re never comfortable, same-sex, opposite-sex, it’s never comfortable.”

The film is set to be released December 3. Also at last night’s gala: Juliette Lewis, Winona Ryder, Dita Von Teese and others.

Pictures after the break

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The Black Swan premiere was held last night at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival where it received a standing ovation.

Natalie Portman attended the premiere along with cast mates Winona Ryder, Barbara Hershey, Vincent Cassel and Ksenia Solo.  Also attending and lending their support were Rachel Weisz, Dominic Cooper, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Jenna Dewan.

The movie is:

A thriller that hones in on the relationship between a veteran ballet dancer and a rival.

That relationship is between the characters played by Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis (who didn’t attend the TIFF premiere) and of course for those of you who are fans of girl-on-girl action there is supposed to be a hot scene between these two ladies.

The movie premiere December 1, 2010 in theatres.

Pictures after the break

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Aaron Eckhart rocks a bit of a shadow on that gorgeous face of his as he attends a private party in that took place in Hollywood last night.  I can’t find what the party was about but they seem to be holding a pamphlet that has M.B.T. on it and I can’t make out the words underneath.

Anne Hathaway made an appearance with her new boyfriend.  Also at the party:

• Rosario Dawson
• James Caan
• Maggie Gyllenhaal
• Selma Blair
• Roseanne Barr
• Ron Perlman
• Winona Ryder
• David Spade
• Robert Rodriguez
• Heather Graham
• Melanie Griffith

Pictures after the break

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On a flight to London, Winona Ryder fell ill, and was taken to the hospital when the plane landed.  Her reps statement:

“[Winona] felt better when she landed but as a precautionary measure [was] taken to the hospital,” says her rep.   Ryder was in the hospital for about an hour and “released in good health,”

Source

Photo:  WENN