The teenage years can, don’t we all know, be an alienating experience, even when you don’t have an actual alien trapped inside your body. But such is the fate of the spirited young heroine of The Host, who finds that talking to boys and stuff is a whole lot harder when your soul is being sucked by one of the space invaders slowly wiping humankind from the face of the planet. This extravagantly silly but undeniably entertaining sci-fi soap opera — the latest adapted from the work of Mormon YA-lit phenom Stephenie Meyer — should prove shrewd distaff counterprogramming to G.I. Joe: Retaliation, posting solid (if less-than-Twilight-sized) numbers at home and other points throughout the galaxy.
With The Walking Dead slaying ’em on the smallscreen, Warm Bodies still haunting a few multiplexes and Oblivion just around the bend, there seem to be few surer bets in Hollywood these days than tales of an Earth imperiled by some alien/zombie/enviro apocalypse and the hardy band of survivors trying to preserve their humanity. In this latest variation, ETs that look like fuzzy, phosphorescent amoebas enter their human “hosts” through slits in the back of the neck, bonding with them like the similar-minded occupiers from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a submissive demeanor and a telltale ring of bright blue light in the eyes signaling that the transformation is complete.
By the time we pick up the story, most of the damage has been done, but the news isn’t all bad: These unfailingly well-mannered aliens have, an opening narration informs us, brought “honesty, courtesy and kindness” to our often cruel society. For unexplained reasons, they also seem to have leeched all the color from the world, dressing from head to toe in lab-tech couture and driving…
Full Story »It’s the first day of spring and a perfect time to celebrate young love of the parasitic alien variety. And how do we do that? By giving away a prize pack for Open Road’s adaptation of Twilight creator Stephenie Meyer’s novel, The Host, to one budding poet out there who can capture the spirit of the movie in an original haiku.
First, some inspiration: one winner will receive the following bag o’ swag:
1.The Host T-Shirt
2. The Host Buttons
3. Signed Poster
4. A copy of Meyer’s novel
5. Movie Companion with Behind-The-Scene Photos
If that’s enough to turn your brown eyes an eerie shade of blue, all you need to do is reside in the United States and submit an original haiku (using the 5-7-5 format) inspired by the plot of The Host or an actual parasite. I’m crossing my fingers that we get at least one entry involving bedbugs.
Deadline is 6 p.m. Pacific Time on March 28. A winner will be chosen on March 29, when The Host opens in theaters.
In the event that you’re going to completely wing it for this contest, some background follows. Good luck.
The official synopsis:
What if everything you love was taken from you in the blink of an eye? “The Host” is the next epic love story from the creator of the “Twilight Saga,” worldwide bestselling author, Stephenie Meyer. When an unseen enemy threatens mankind by taking over their bodies and erasing their memories, Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) will risk everything to protect the people she cares most about — Jared (Max Irons), Ian (Jake Abel), her brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and her Uncle Jeb (William Hurt) , proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world.
The trailer:
Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter.
Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Can aliens be bigger drama queens than vampires? Next spring will tell. With the last installment of The Twilight Saga opening this weekend, Summit Entertainment has begun priming Twi-Hards for its next Stephenie Meyer project, The Host, which hits the big screen on March 29. The scenario laid out in the trailer bears some similarities to early Twilight, except the roles seem reversed. Melanie Ryder (Saoirse Ronan) and Jared Howe (Max Irons) comprise the Bella Swan-Edward Cullen core of the story, but in this case it’s Melanie who is altered — by an extraterrestrial, not supernatural force. (It’s unclear whether that means Jared plays a really passive dude in the picture.)
Parasitic aliens are using humans as hosts to take over the planet — steely blue irises are the giveaway that a person has been infected — and Melanie, who, with Jared, is part of a rebel group fighting back against the invasion, eventually becomes one of them.
Or does she? Meyer’s book is about how Mel, who remains partially conscious, fights back against the parasite controlling her body using her emotions and memories and eventually forms a bond with it that could help save the human race. (Cue dramatic score.) As you might expect from a Meyer novel, romantic complications, angst and action scenes ensue.
Andrew Niccol, who directed the 1997 sci-fi gem Gattaca, helmed The Host, so my expectations are higher than usual, but I hope the movie isn’t as exposition heavy as this trailer.
Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter.
Follow Movieline on Twitter.
After introducing the world to Bella Swan and Edward Cullen in her 2005 global hit novel Twilight (thus launching a multi-billion-dollar franchise, which draws to an end in November’s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2), author Stephenie Meyer wrote the sci-fi best-seller The Host, about human heroine Melanie Stryder, the alien “soul” who comes to inhabit her, and the dual lives and loves they have while sharing the same body. With a Saoirse Ronan-starring adaptation set for 2013, now’s the perfect chance to give The Host a read. Get your shot at winning a signed copy of the book by entering Movieline’s latest 10-word review contest!
Movieline has two signed copies of The Host to give away to the winners of our latest 10-word review contest, which will end on Monday, June 25 at 5pm ET/2pm PT. We’re opening this contest up to the topic of any of this weekend’s new releases; pick any new film — perhaps Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter? The ginger heroics of Pixar’s Brave? Or Woody’s latest Euro-confection? — and flex those brain muscles to deliver your best 10-word review. (More weekend openers here.) Movieline’s editors will select the two best entries judging on originality, wit, and analysis (only one entry per person).
CONTEST RULES:
- Submit an original 10-word review of any new release movie in theaters this weekend in the comments below. Entries must be exactly 10 words, no more, no less!
- Enter with your full name and an email address where you may be reached.
- Two (2) winners will be selected and announced on Monday, June 25.
Contest ends Monday, June 25 at 5pm ET/2pm PT — so get to reviewing!
About The Host: …
Full Story »It’s brief, but the newly debuted teaser trailer for the sci-fi romance The Host is here to tantalize you with images of freaky-eyed pod people and star Saoirse Ronan’s fierce, unearthly qualities. Adapted from author Stephenie Meyer’s non-Twilight novel about a human and an alien symbiote who share the same body, The Host is headed to theaters in 2013 under director Andrew Niccol (In Time), and while this oughta give Host readers a twinge of anticipation, non-fans are likely scratching their heads wondering what Ronan’s eyeballs and the vaguely Benetton-like reel of faces has to do with anything.
Just to fill in the blanks: As Ronan’s voice over says, we’re in a future where the world’s problems have been solved. Yay! The bad news? Everything’s only kosher now because aliens have descended on Earth to invade our bodies, erasing our memories. Except when it comes to Melanie Stryder (Ronan); she refuses to shove over to let her alien “soul,” Wanderer, have full run of the place. And of course, this leads to a love quadrangle as host and alien fall for different boys (Max Irons and Jake Abel).
Have a looksie, courtesy of Yahoo:
The Host will hit theaters on March 29, 2013.
[Yahoo!]
Full Story »
The synopsis of Precious screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher’s feature directing debut Violet and Daisy sounds straightforward enough: “A brutal fable about a pair of teenage assassins, played by Saoirse Ronan and Alexis Bledel, who believe they’ve landed a straightforward assignment but soon find themselves thrown off their game when their latest target isn’t who they expected.” Evidently, however, that’s not quite what its audience — or even its stars themselves, for that matter — seemed to take away from its Toronto Film Festival premiere.
According to the LAT’s Steve Zeitchik, who caught the confounding screening, it went a little like this:
Overflowing with whimsical dream sequences, cryptic symbolism and surrealist touches (the main characters tool around on a tricycle), Violet & Daisy features flavors that won’t be to everyone’s taste, and it’s hard to imagine a major distributor taking a flier on it. But even its detractors will concede the film has a degree of style and ambition. […]
So bizarre are some of the scenes in Violet & Daisy that at the post-screening Q&A Thursday night, even the actors there to support the film said they found themselves experiencing moments of confusion. “I came in with lots of questions,” Bledel said, “and I still haven’t gotten any answers.”
To a query from one member in the audience, Ronan jumped in with: “There are so many bizarre things in this film, so many things left open, it might be better off not to ask questions.” (Her remark prompted Cameron Bailey, the festival co-director who was moderating the session, to quip, “That kind of ruins the Q&A.”)
Don’t feel bad, ladies! That’s TIFF for you. I’m still waiting for people to come around…
Full Story »
Also in this Wednesday edition of The Broadsheet: Adam Scott is an A.C.O.D.… Viola Davis heads to HBO… Elizabeth Olsen has some thoughts about female roles in Hollywood… and more ahead.
· Not that you needed any more proof that little Dakota Fanning isn’t so little anymore, but the actress has signed on to play the titular role of a sexless wife in Effie. Written by Emma Thompson, Effie tells the true story of teen bride Euphemia Gray (Fanning) and her marriage to famed critic John Ruskin in 1850s London. Per Deadline, “Effie’s husband never consummated the marriage over five years because Ruskin was for some reason disgusted by her body.” Richard Laxton (An Englishman in New York) will direct, with Thompson, Tom Sturridge and Greg Wise co-starring. Before Fanning signed on, both Saoirse Ronan and Carey Mulligan were circling the project. [Deadline]
· Adam Scott will lead the indie comedy A.C.O.D. (which stands for ‘Adult Children of Divorce’) for director Stuart Zicherman. Scott will play a thirtysomething male forced to bring his parents back together for his younger brother’s surprise wedding. Are we having fun yet? [Deadline]
· Anna Paquin, Ryan Phillippe and Luke Wilson will star in Straight A’s, about a man recently out of rehab (Phillippe), the ghost of his dead mother, his brother (Wilson) and his brother’s wife (Paquin) — who still has a crush on him. [Variety]
· The Help star Viola Davis is close to finalizing a deal with HBO to produce and possibly star in an untitled series from Pariah director Dee Rees. The show — which surprisingly is listed as a half-hour vehicle, despite seeming like a…
Full Story »· Dreamworks Animation might be concentrating on getting Kung Fu Panda 2 into theaters this month, but that doesn’t mean the studio can’t look ahead to its next animation blockbuster. Ahead, find the first glimpse at Salma Hayek’s character Kitty Softpaws from Puss in Boots.
Sassy! [via DreamWorks/Paramount]
· In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, actress Saoirse Ronan reveals she won’t be making an appearance in The Hobbit. “I would have been working for about a year on it and there were other projects that I was very interested in, but Peter [Jackson] and [his producer wife] Fran have been very good about it and very understanding,” she said. “I’ll have to just go back down to New Zealand for a holiday and hang out with the hobbits.” [Belfast Telegraph]
· Move over, Disneynature; there’s a new family friendly documentary producer in town. SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment will release Turtle: The Incredible Journey, a 3D film that follows the “life and migration of a loggerhead turtle.” Miranda Richardson will do the narrating honors. [Press Release]
· The new Miranda July film has a poster, and it’s pretty awesome. Click through for a look. [Vulture]
· Content Film has acquired the international rights for Hick, starring Blake Lively, Chloe Moretz and Alec Baldwin. [Variety]
Full Story » 
A potent combo of good reviews and strong word-of-mouth (not to mention some expert marketing by the gang at Focus Features, right out of their American playbook) lifted the thriller Hanna to a solid third-place finish at the weekend box office. And now that you’ve seen it, it’s time to talk it over.
As per Moveline’s weekly talkback tradition, consider this your open forum to praise, rage, expound, inquire, joke, gripe and/or inveigh with wonder and bemusement. Sky, limit, etc. Keep it to the movie itself, please, up to and including…
· Dynamite young star Saoirse Ronan, or her castmates Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett
· Proven dramatic filmmaker Joe Wright took on his first big action film. How did he do? What should he do next?
· How did everything you’d seen advertised about the film match up with what was onscreen?
· Where does Hanna fall on the “girl-power” spectrum? Does it deserve to weather comparisons to Sucker Punch?
…so on and so forth. Have at it!
Full Story » 
As in: Here, let me get the door, and let us flee this week for the fresh air of the weekend. It’s been a good one, though, right? I mean, so much Helen Mirren! Let Movieline’s Week in Review jog your memory, and drop by Saturday and Sunday for the artisanal verbal handiwork of weekend editor Dixon Gaines. Have a good one!
· Jen Yamato hit the WonderCon beat pretty damn hard, chatting up the likes of Saoirse Ronan, Paul Bettany, Henry Cavill, Joe Wright, Logan Lerman and Cam Gigandet.
· Thanks to this week’s illustrious interviewees, including Dennis Quaid, Vera Farmiga, David Gordon Green and Verge designee Dustin Ingram.
· History! Helen Mirren and the tortured Three Stooges updating have it!
· We determined who should really direct Barack Obama’s reelection campaign ads.
· Arthur schmarthur. Who’s ready for some Melancholia?
· The one and only Jerry Weintraub taught us how to produce movies.
· To Catch a Thief is being remade whether you want it or not. We came up with solutions.
· Christopher Walken will be avoiding New Jersey for a while.
Full Story »
