Editorials > FilmWad Breaks it Down: Tuesday Sept 18

The news that Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal would be playing brothers almost seemed like not news at all considering the two of them bare a passing resemblance. Check out the pictures Variety posted of the two of them. Note that some intern at Variety was instructed to find the pictures with the most nearly matching stubble.

Christopher Walken, William H. Macy, and Morgan Freeman are all starring in comedy The Lonely Maiden. Considering how prolific these guys all are, it's almost hard to believe they've never worked together before. If only their first collaboration could sound a little more promising.

The Oscar race is really starting internationally now that Venice and Toronto are behind us. France got behind the black and white animated Persepolis while Finland submitted A Man's Work for consideration. The Finnish film selection committee reportedly spent several hours on their decision, though most of that was a celebration for having made any films this year.

Probably the biggest news (at least for nerds like me) is that J.J. Abrams has selected his Uhura for the upcoming Star Trek film. Zoe Saldana, who has been seen in such films as The Terminal, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and Guess Who, will be playing the younger version of the communications officer originally played by Nichelle Nichols. She joins Zachary Quinto (as Spock) and Anton Yelchin (as Chekov) as the third primary cast member to be chosen, not including Leonard Nimoy who may somehow reprise his role as old Spock.

The first trailer for today is Funny Games. The film is an English language remake of Michael Haneke's Austrian film of the same name. Haneke also directs the remake, which seems to be doing a Kubrick-style marketing campaign reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. I know Lukas just did a rant about "cool music" in movies but in my book using already overused classical music songs in trailers is more offensive. That said, the film looks interesting. And good for Tim Roth getting back into prominent roles like this and in Youth Without Youth.

The second trailer is for The Great World of Sound, an independent comedy from first timer Craig Zobel. Though I couldn't find a single laugh in the trailer, it looks almost worthwhile. It's low key, offbeat, it doesn't go for too many easy jokes, and I admire that.

The third trailer I'm honestly just posting because of the music in the trailer. It's for Fierce People, a film that did the film festival circuit back in 2005, but only got a wider release this month. As for the trailer, I guess they couldn't get the rights to "Under Pressure" or "Bittersweet Symphony" (does The Verve really drive a hard bargain?) so it's full of just-off sound-alikes. This is officially worse than hipster music and overplayed Grieg orchestral pieces.