Will Smith

By Christopher Campbell There’s not much that can be said for Beverly Hills Cop’s sci-fi capabilities. Do we send Axel Foley into space, only to bomb on the level of Pluto Nash and Meet Dave? Eddie Murphy does not do well with the genre, except for the Nutty Professor series, which avoids interstellar elements. Thos...

By Christopher Campbell This week is proving to be a monumental moment for failed movie marketing campaigns. Over at Deadline Hollywood Daily, Nikki Finke shares an insider’s look at the blunder of Summit’s Bandslam campaign, which is being blamed for the movie’s dreadfully disappointing bow. Meanwhile there...

By Christopher Campbell I think both Smith and Hanks would be good choices, but I think Hanks might be able to pull off the eccentric quality of Harvey without it being too funny or over the top. It makes me think of his performance in Big. Smith might come off as a bit too comedic and you might lose the heart of the charact...

By Christopher Campbell See what little (American) films bucked the 4th of July weekend release system after the jump: Distributor: Troma Entertainment Release date: July 3, 1987 The Wackness Distributor: Sony Classics Release date: July 3, 2008 Studio offerings: Hancock

By Christopher Campbell Okay, so Herzog remaking this Park Chan-wook flick may not seem as unlikely as Will Smith and Steven Spielberg remaking it, but it is still highly improbable that he’d ever get such a high profile project in Hollywood. Still, this movie and Herzog’s The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser have similar...

By Christopher Campbell After years of being little more than an enjoyable action hero, Smith proved that he had real acting chops by taking on the very, very recognizable boxing icon Muhammad Ali. While he doesn’t exactly deliver the kind of portrayal that makes us temporarily forget our mental image of the orig...

By Christopher Campbell So there you have it. The more things change, the more they stay the same. So why remake it, then? Probably cause Will Smith thinks it’d be cool if his son became a movie star. Oh, to have a famous father who can indulge in nepotism with impunity…

By Christopher Campbell While not technically a taxman, Ness (Kevin Costner) was an agent from the U.S. Treasury Department, and though he attempted to bring Al Capone down on bootlegging and murder charges, he ultimately had to settle on a conviction for tax evasion. So, he and his “Untouchables” were sort of a tea...

By Karina Longworth That’s what Bahrani’s films are — nice, novel.  They give film critics and an extremely small segment of presumably educated, monied film goers a glimpse into immigrant pockets they’d otherwise be oblivious to, and that’s both nice and novel. But how long can a filmmaker coast on nice and n...

By Kevin Buist I Am Legend This 2007 Will Smith vehicle is another example of revisionist futurism, when a story’s prediction doesn’t come true, the story is retold and the date is moved further into the future. This is the third film adaptation of Robert Matheson’s original novel. Published in 1954, the...

By Christopher Campbell After being rumored in September ‘07, a Karate Kid remake starring Will Smith’s son Jaden has finally been confirmed by Variety. Was this the longest period between a leak and a legit announcement? Considering the rumor had been followed by news that the elder Smith denied the project and...

By Steven Boone The Obama Movie: so inevitable, it’s as if it is already among us. You know that Will Smith will play Obama and that Oliver Stone will write and direct. John Williams and Quincy Jones will tag-team the musical score, a soulful, all-American gumbo that samples gospel, Aaron Copland and snap m...

By Karina Longworth Gonzo director Alex Gibney talks about what makes him feel like Gandalf, and the search for the American Dream.Gerard Depardieu goes to the dungeon.Dragging the Hitchcock out of Mad Men.LAFF: Heaven Wants Out, Trinidad and Thing With No NameMetropolis edges towards a landmark restorati...

By Christopher Campbell “Wild Wild West” from Wild Wild West “Men in Black” from Men in Black “Black Suits Comin’ (Nod Ya Head)” from Men in Black II “Just the Two of Us” for The Pursuit of Happyness “Ring My Bell” for I Am Legend “Miami” for Bad Boys and Bad Boys II “Summertime” for Independence Day

By Karina Longworth Hancock made a bunch of money on Tuesday. Yay, Will Smith IS America!All together now, in our best Werner Herzog voice: “Don’t call it a reeeemaaaaake!” But whatever it is, Val Kilmer and Xzibit have joined the cast of Bad Lieutenant.Timothy M. Gray’s midyear assessment of the Oscar race fin...