Movies: Return to “Narnia” | Newsweek Entertainment: Movies

MOVIES
You Can Go Home Again
David Ansen 7/18/2008 12:00:00 AM
Anyone who fell in love with the landmark 11-part British TV series of "Brideshead Revisited" 26 years ago is likely to approach the movie version debuting next week with extreme trepidation. Not to mention all those who have fallen under the spell of Evelyn Waugh's opulent, elegiac 1945 novel. How could this rich work possibly be condensed into a film running a bit over two hours?
MOVIES
Bat Trick
Devin Gordon 7/12/2008 12:00:00 AM
Despite the smothering 90-degree heat and the brilliant afternoon sun, despite being interviewed on his own back porch in West Hollywood, just a few feet from the giant trampoline he bought for his four young children, Christopher Nolan, the director of "Batman Begins" and its forthcoming sequel "The Dark Knight," is wearing the same thing he always wears: a trim black suit. It's his uniform. His Batsuit, if you will. He's got 10 more just like it. Nolan is a meticulous guy, and he likes knowing where all his stuff is, including the two passports he habitually keeps in his inside coat pocket, just in case. His movies, especially his latest, match the man: thoughtful and precise, with a coiled, relentless intensity. "The Dark Knight" finds Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) coping with the consequences of his bid to obliterate crime in Gotham. The criminals have stepped up their game as well, led by that heckling hell-raiser the Joker, a psychopath who forces his victims to make unimaginable choices. The Joker, of course, is played by Heath Ledger, whose sudden death in January stunned Hollywood and has only ratcheted up interest in what was already one of the most anticipated performances—and films—of the summer. Nolan wrote a eulogy for the actor in NEWSWEEK that month, and he revisited the subject, along with many others, during a 90-minute conversation. Excerpts:
HOLLYWOOD
The Return of the Sleestak
6/30/2008 12:00:00 AM
Inside a soundstage the size of an airplane hangar in the San Fernando Valley, Marty Krofft gazes around the set of Land of the Lost, marveling at what an army of studio craftsmen can do with $5 million. Outside, it's 95 degrees in the smog. Inside, the air conditioning whirs like a jet high above, jungle vines twist around massive pillars standing sentry over a wide Incan staircase. Two dozen reptile-suited extras meander around Will Ferrell, dressed in khaki and waiting for the camera to roll. Crew members doze on fake rocks. A man comes over with slices of cantaloupe and watermelon.
ENTERTAINMENT
Spring Movie Guide
4/4/2008 12:00:00 AM
Indiana Jones, Speed Racer, the Incredible Hulk and Carrie Bradshaw? Talk about a power-packed spring. Admit it, that John Williams' "Raiders" theme is already stuck in your head. Not only are the characters big, but the directors—Spielberg and the Wachowski brothers among them—bring heft to this spring's blockbusters. So grab your popcorn (don't forget to check to see if the film is playing at an IMAX theater) and get ready to have your mind blown.
HOLLYWOOD
There Will Be Oscars
David Ansen 1/18/2008 12:00:00 AM
Daniel Day-Lewis arrived a little late, but he did it in style. He was wearing a jaunty porkpie hat and a black-and-white Western shirt that looked like something swiped from Bob Dylan's closet. The result was so un-Hollywood that George Clooney, this roundtable's class clown, couldn't stop ribbing his fellow best-actor hopeful. Question: "Daniel, do you remember your first professional job?" Clooney: "It was a Western, wasn't it?" One of the delights of these annual gatherings is watching beautiful, talented, rich celebrities become just folks. James McAvoy, who stars in "Atonement," spent the time waiting to go onstage at L.A.'s Hammer Museum talking about trying to steal some wineglasses from a recent Oscar event, only to be caught by the waiter. Just before they were announced onstage, Clooney turned to Angelina Jolie and said, "Let's not go out!" She then pointed to two nonactors nearby and said, "Let's send them instead." Before long, everyone-newbies and supercelebs-bonded. Jolie and Marion Cotillard, the French star of "La Vie en Rose," chatted about Provence. "Juno" star Ellen Page confessed that she just got her first apartment. It's a converted brothel, and it's haunted. "My stuff keeps vanishing," she said. "Weird things, like makeup." Advice to Ellen: if you do win an Oscar, hide it. An edited transcript:
Next Stop Narnia