Tag: Movies
On the ‘Easy Rider’ Trail, 40 Years Later
by Eva Holland | 11.17.09 | 9:36 AM ET
Keith Phipps followed Wyatt and Billy’s path from Southern California to the Gulf Coast, and the first part of his resulting multiday series for Slate ran yesterday. It looks to be a good one. Here’s a sample:
More an elegy for a generation that never got where it wanted to go than a celebration of that generation’s superiority, it pits hopefulness against resignation and sets the battle on a lovingly photographed stretch of the United States. Easy Rider hit theaters with a memorable tag line: “A man who went looking for America. And couldn’t find it anywhere.” Star, producer, and co-writer Peter Fonda hated that line, and rightly so. It’s really the story of two men—Wyatt and Billy, played by Fonda and co-writer and director Dennis Hopper—who went looking for America and found it everywhere. They just didn’t find a place for themselves.
We paid tribute to the movie on its 40th anniversary this past summer.
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Yahoo! BuzzTravel Movie Watch: ‘127 Hours’
by Eva Holland | 11.09.09 | 4:33 PM ET
It looks like “Slumdog Millionaire” director Danny Boyle may not be headed back to Mumbai right away, after all. Variety is reporting that Boyle’s next project is an adaptation of “127 Hours,” the true story of a mountaineer who was pinned under a boulder in Utah for five days and eventually amputated his own arm to make his escape. The rumor mill has Ryan Gosling playing the lead, but nothing’s been confirmed yet. Stay tuned. (Via Gawker)
Travel Movie Watch: ‘Risk’
by Eva Holland | 11.05.09 | 11:13 AM ET
News broke yesterday that a movie version of the classic board game is in the works, with Will Smith as a producer and possible star. Blogger Colin Boyd is excited about the project, but I’m not so sure.
My favorite thing about the game was always the board itself—if you haven’t guessed that I’m a map geek by now, you haven’t been paying attention—but I can’t imagine how a movie would capture that global sweep, the bird’s-eye view of people moving across the continents. I can only hope the producers care enough about that element of the game to try.
The Best Movies of All Time, Mapped
by Eva Holland | 11.03.09 | 4:08 PM ET
Speaking of London Underground-style maps, here’s another good one: Hollywood classics, organized by genre along colored subway lines. Genius.
Travel Movie Watch: ‘The Canyon’
by Eva Holland | 10.29.09 | 11:51 AM ET
This one’s for all the low-grade horror fans. When a newlywed couple heads for the Grand Canyon on their honeymoon, things, predictably, go awry—cue the rattle snakes and the inexplicable pack of man-eating desert wolves. The IMDb page for “The Canyon” doesn’t offer much detail, but apparently the film was released last weekend. Straight to DVD, perhaps? Here’s the trailer:
More Great Travel Horror Movies
by Eva Holland | 10.27.09 | 2:56 PM ET
It’s that time of year again. If you’ve already worked your way through our list of 13 great travel horror movies, why not check out Gadling’s picks for the 10 scariest travel-themed movies of all time? They’ve selected a few flicks that didn’t make our list.
‘Are Australian Horror Films Scaring Tourists Away From Australia?’
by Michael Yessis | 10.16.09 | 1:21 PM ET
One of the films in question is Wolf Creek, which made our list of 13 great holiday horror travel movies.
‘My Life In Ruins’: Worth the Rental?
by Eva Holland | 10.15.09 | 5:00 PM ET
Publicity still via Fandango “My Life in Ruins” landed on DVD last week, and I picked up a copy to check it out. A follow-up flick from Nia Vardalos of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” fame, it tells the story of an uptight Greek-American tour guide who learns to let loose, and I was cautiously optimistic when I first heard about it. I’m happy to report that my confidence was rewarded with an enjoyable lightweight flick—with a couple of caveats.
First, anyone looking for unexpected plot twists will be disappointed: This is a safe, predictable comfort-food type of movie. Second, the jokes are a lot like the storyline; pardon the pun but this is well-traveled comedic territory. Still, Vardalos and co-star Richard Dreyfuss are charming enough to keep things together, the titular Greek ruins are gorgeous, and hey, do jokes about tourist stereotypes ever really get old?
If your answer to that question is yes, then “My Life in Ruins” probably isn’t for you. But if you can appreciate a sunny little story peppered with travelers’ inside jokes and some lovely Greek landscapes? Then I’d say it’s worth the five bucks and two hours of your time.
Video: ‘Ridiculous Long Walk From Room to Elevator’
by Eva Holland | 10.15.09 | 1:59 PM ET
Here’s a Jason Reitman original that I’m sure most travelers can relate to. It’ll have to tide us Reitman fans over until his larger-scale travel movie, Up in the Air, lands in December.
The Critics: ‘Couples Retreat’
by Eva Holland | 10.12.09 | 12:24 PM ET
A few months back I said that “Couples Retreat”—you know, the one where four couples unwittingly book into an all-inclusive marriage counseling resort?—had “some comic potential.” Well, the flick opened this weekend, and I have to report that while said potential was there, it never blossoms into vacation comedy gold. There are a few decent jokes scattered throughout—everyone likes a good jab at Sandals, right?—and the scenery is lovely (the movie was shot in Bora Bora) but the story drags aimlessly between the occasional laughs.
Travel Movie Watch: Yet Another ‘Vacation’ Sequel
by Eva Holland | 10.08.09 | 11:48 AM ET
Dust off the Family Truckster: The Griswolds are back. Well, one of them at least—apparently, in the soon-to-be fifth installment of the “Vacation” series, Clark’s now-grown son Rusty will take his own young brood on the road. Get the Big Picture’s Colin Boyd speculates:
My hunch would be that they’d look to a well-established comedic actor for the role, and the more money they have, the bigger name they could attract. I also have a hunch that it won’t matter to a lot of you, since you may have already imposed a ban on this film out of principle.
Anyone who followed along when the World Hum Travel Movie Club tackled the original last summer knows that “Vacation” is not one of my personal sacred cows. Still, it’s hard not to be suspicious of the motives for making a sequel nearly 30 years later—this wouldn’t have anything to do with the publicity generated by the recent death of John Hughes, would it?
‘Warm Shots,’ ‘Vaseline’ and Other Movie Classics
by Eva Holland | 10.07.09 | 9:42 AM ET
The Huffington Post takes a look at the international variations of a few well-known movie titles. My favorite? China’s “Six Naked Pigs”—otherwise known as The Full Monty.
TripAdvisor Goes to the Movies
by Eva Holland | 10.06.09 | 10:41 AM ET
Over at College Humor, some classic traveling movie characters review their destinations, TripAdvisor-style. My favorite comes from a member calling himself “Fr0d0”—here’s a sample: “Took a trip up to Mordor on official business, DO NOT GO THERE!!! The journey was absolute mordor! (lol)”
Nigeria’s Rebranding Campaign Hits a Hollywood Road Block
by Eva Holland | 09.28.09 | 11:43 AM ET
Poor Nigeria. The government there launched a major rebranding campaign back in March, attempting to improve its reputation for corruption and annoying email scams, but so far cooperation from outside the country has been hard to come by. Two of the latest obstacles? A Sony PlayStation commercial that made a crack about those aforementioned email scams, and the sci-fi movie “District 9,” which apparently portrays its Nigerian characters as “gangsters, cannibals, pimps and prostitutes.” Ouch.
Julia Roberts: Eat, Pray, Offend the Locals
by Eva Holland | 09.24.09 | 9:51 AM ET
There’s trouble on the set of “Eat, Pray, Love” in India: Apparently, local villagers were banned from praying in their ashram during an important religious festival because filming was going on inside. Said one local police officer:
There are more than 100 policemen outside the Ashram Hari Mandir and almost equal number inside the premises, both uniformed and in civilian disguise. Nobody can breach this cover and no outsider is allowed to enter the ashram, no matter whosoever he or she is. We have strict instructions.
Now that’s what I call a “hearts and minds” strategy.
Happy 70th Birthday, ‘The Wizard of Oz’
by Eva Holland | 09.22.09 | 1:57 PM ET
One of the all-time classics is celebrating its 70th anniversary this month, with a brief return to theaters and a fancy new Blu-Ray disc. Beyond all its other accomplishments, the film deserves a mention for summing up the feelings of many a traveler over the years: “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
Travel Movie Watch: ‘Road, Movie’
by Eva Holland | 09.18.09 | 3:08 PM ET
The Indian flick, which premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend, follows a young man as he attempts to escape the family business, traveling Rajasthan in an old truck loaded with film projectors and movie reels. To judge by the trailer, it’s going to be a good one:
There’s no word on North American distribution plans beyond TIFF, but if “Road, Movie” makes a splash at the festival—and assuming last year’s “Slumdog Millionaire” explosion has left plenty of viewers wanting another taste of India—I’d bet it will turn up in select theaters before Christmas.
Travel Movie Watch: ‘A Moveable Feast’
by Eva Holland | 09.17.09 | 10:29 AM ET
Hemingway’s classic Paris memoir looks to be getting the book-to-big-screen treatment: The author’s granddaughter, actress Mariel Hemingway, has acquired the film and TV rights and is moving ahead with the project. There are no details yet, but plenty of intriguing questions. For instance, how might the movie handle the editing controversies of the book’s two dueling print editions? And who will play Hemingway, not to mention the cast of literary all-stars—Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald and more—that surrounded him in Paris?
As always when a favorite book is being adapted, I’m nervous and skeptical. But I’m also very, very curious to see how this one plays out. (Via EW’s News Briefs Blog)
R.I.P. Patrick Swayze
by Eva Holland | 09.14.09 | 8:55 PM ET
The actor has died at age 57, after a two-year battle with cancer. Swayze starred in the surfing favorite “Point Break,” and his biggest success, “Dirty Dancing,” recently made our list of great summer vacation movies.
Travel Movie Watch: ‘Up in the Air’
by Eva Holland | 09.11.09 | 12:59 PM ET
The first trailer for the much-anticipated adaptation is here. Check it out:
“Up in the Air” will be making a big, red-carpeted splash at the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend. Beyond that, it goes into limited release Nov. 13 and—with a recent bump-up in the schedule—hits theaters nationwide on Nov. 25.
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