PH BLOG ➹

F rom Universal Pictures ,the horror thriller The Purge illustrates the government’s response to an America overrun by escalating crime and overcrowded prisons. For a 12-hour period, once a year, any and all criminal activity, including murder, becomes legal. And on this one particular night, James ( Ethan Hawke ) and Mary Sandin ( Lena Headey ), and their two children, will learn just how vicious the outside world can be. Actor Ethan Hawke talked about why the subject of families in peril make for good suspense and horror films, what he enjoys about making genre movies, getting to film somewhat chronologically, how much fun the fight scenes were, what he thinks this film says about society, and whether he believes humans are inherently violent.

T he Brad Pitt suspense-thriller World War Z has made a big splash at the box-office as it set the title as the actor’s best ever first weekend opening movie. Debuting in 220 screens nationwide, it opened at #1, grossing over P88.7 M on its first weekend, despite competition from strong second week hold-over Man of Steel which had more screens. Top 10 screens were SM Mall of Asia (P3.84M), Trinoma (P3.82M), SM North Edsa (P3.55M), Newport (P3.22M), SM Megamall (P 2.96M), Glorietta 4 (P2.85M), Greenbelt 3 (P2.61M),Alabang Town Center (P2.43M), Powerplant (P2.39M) and Eastwood (P2.16M).

E ric Bana was first introduced to American audiences in the title role of Mark “Chopper” Read in the feature film Chopper , which premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival and was then released in the U.S. to critical notice after its Australian success. Bana earned awards from the Film Critics Circle of Australia and the Australian Film Institute for his portrayal of Chopper. Bana was seen co-starring in Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down as Delta Sergeant First Class Norm “Hoot” Gibson, one of a group of elite U.S. soldiers, opposite Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor and Tom Sizemore.

C hris Pine who has emerged as one of Hollywood’s hottest young actors, is currently shooting “Jack Ryan,” slated for a December 2013 release, assuming the mantle of the Tom Clancy action hero previously portrayed on film by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck. This holiday season Chris Pine provides the voice of the character of Jack Frost , a ghostly blue and white 14-year-old boy with no memory of his past apart from waking up one night floating in a frozen lake. “They know Jack as a troublemaker, as this immature kind of guy,” says director Peter Ramsey, and by all appearances, he is. Jack is a 300-year-old prankster in a 17-year-old body, with the power to create frost, wind and snow. Happiest when he’s causing havoc, controlling winter with a swing, tap or touch of his staff, to him, a successful day is measured by how many snowballs he’s thrown, how many windows have been fogged and how many schools have closed after it’s been declared a snow day. He has no resp...

K atheryn Elizabeth Hudson is the daughter of two Christian ministers who allowed only gospel music in their home. But Hudson's alter ego, 27-year-old Katy Perry, looks every inch the pop star, with her purple hair and pink ruffled dress, as she arrives at a Beverly Hills hotel suite to talk about her new movie, Katy Perry: Part of Me 3D . Perry invited two filmmakers to tag along as she circled the globe on her sellout 124-arena California Dreams Tour. The movie captures performances and real life, including a glimpse into her marriage to comedian Russell Brand at the beginning of the tour, and one painful moment depicted later when she is seen sobbing as the marriage unravels. ''There were some moments that made my tummy turn when I saw them in the final edit, because I'd already lived them and I really didn't want to live them again,'' Perry says.

A cademy Award® winner Rachel Weisz , known for her powerful performances in such films as The Constant Gardener, The Lovely Bones and The Whistleblower, was eager for the challenges that lie ahead and the results were more than they had hoped for. In her new anticipated movie The Bourne Legacy she plays Marta a workaholic, utterly devoted to her groundbreaking research as a biochemist at a top-secret lab in Maryland. Marta’s mundane life is turned upside down and she becomes a target when Outcome is rapidly shut down and she is perceived as simply residual cleanup. Aaron played by Jeremy Renner —a man whom she has examined multiple times in four years but doesn’t know well—appears in time to save her, and the two quickly form a relationship out of necessity.

W hen casting Safe House, producer Scott Stuber and director Daniel Espinosa placed importance on avoiding tired tropes. Stuber explains the rationale: “Action without character is boring. The script read well because everything moves at a quick pace. Then, when you sit and get to know these people, there’s a real depth to them. We went after actors who could be in those moments and have the audience feel what these characters are feeling.” As the producer and the director discussed their dream cast, Denzel Washington was brought up as their ideal Tobin Frost, the CIA’s most notorious traitor. The two invited Washington (then starring on Broadway in the play Fences) to discuss the proposition. Stuber recalls the meal: “At the end of lunch, Denzel stood up and said, ‘All right, we’re going to do this,’ and walked out. I thought, ‘What? Is he going to call his agent? Is it a done deal?’ I wanted to make sure, so I called Denzel’s agent and he said, ‘I just got off the phone...

W hile action star Daniel Craig may not be the first person one considers when the words “American cowboy” come to mind, director Jon Favreau, who transformed Robert Downey Jr. into a superhero in Iron Man, has a knack for inspired casting. He saw something both familiar and iconic in the British native that would fit the character of Jake Lonergan, the lone, amnesiac stranger who wanders into the former boomtown of Absolution just in time to save it from total annihilation.

K risten Wiig leads the cast as Annie, a maid of honor whose life unravels as she leads her closest friend, Lillian, and a group of colorful bridesmaids-Helen, Rita, Becca and Megan-on a wild ride down the road to matrimony. Annie's life keeps coming up short. But when she discovers her lifetime best friend is engaged, she simply must serve as Lillian's maid of honor. Though lovelorn and broke, Annie dives into all of the required rituals as she gets to know the other ladies in the bridal party, including one particular rival (Helen) who is perfectly poised to fulfill all the duties that Annie struggles through. As she brings Lillian's bridesmaids along on an escalating series of disasters, Annie realises the person who knows her the best has introduced her to four strangers who will shake up her life for good.

S upermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has revealed how she took a highly challenging, physically demanding role in Michael Bay’s eagerly anticipated third instalment of the Transformers franchise, Dark of the Moon, and loved every minute of it – despite picking up plenty of knocks and bruises. “I love being physical and I loved doing the action stuff - that for me was when I felt the most present and I really enjoyed that side of it because it was so exciting,” she says. “The sets are so realistic, there’s gun fire and explosions and it looks like the end of the world and you are running through fire and jumping over broken cars and you’ve got Michael screaming down the megaphone ‘run faster!’

S upermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has revealed how she took a highly challenging, physically demanding role in Michael Bay’s eagerly anticipated third instalment of the Transformers franchise, Dark of the Moon, and loved every minute of it – despite picking up plenty of knocks and bruises. “I love being physical and I loved doing the action stuff - that for me was when I felt the most present and I really enjoyed that side of it because it was so exciting,” she says.

F or Jack Black, returning to the character of Po was a chance to spend more time with one of his most beloved characters. Thanks to Po, Black had the chance to kick off the 2008 Cannes Film Festival (“Kung Fu Panda” was the first film screened), by leading a parade of marchers dressed in panda costumes.

P aramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the highly anticipated motion picture adaptation of “Thor,” the latest from the Marvel pantheon of legendary super heroes who have inspired generations of readers. The epic adventure “ Thor ” spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the mystical realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. As a result, Thor is banished to Earth, where he is forced to live among humans. When the most dangerous villain of his world sends its darkest forces to invade Earth, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero.

A new clip for THOR called ‘TASER’ and a new trailer is now available online! Watch it above :) Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Colm Feore, Ray Stevenson, Idris Elba, Kat Dennings, Jaimie Alexander, Josh Dallas, Tadanobu Asano, Clark Gregg, with Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins as Odin “THOR”

E mily Blunt made her film debut in 2004 in Pawel Pawlikowski’s dark coming of age tale, My Summer of Love, a daring performance that won her a British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer. She says it is the only one of her films she recommends people to see. It also happens to be the one in which she spends most time naked. “I’m really proud of it,” she says. “It’s not like any other movie.” She thinks for a second and adds with a laugh, “I don’t know why I’m broadcasting my breasts to the world. It’s a bit worrying.”

M att Damon stars in sci-fi, love story, The Adjustment Bureau directed by George Nolfi. “loosely” based on a story by Philip K. Dick. In The Adjustment Bureau, Damon plays a smooth talking congressman who has a serious future in national politics. He meets a beautiful ballerina, but is unable to make a connection with her due to strange and uncontrollable circumstances. Damon’s interest was piqued by this tale of a man who stumbles on a vast, powerful and unseen world that exists on the periphery of our own. He told the filmmakers that if future drafts looked as good, he would be ready to join. “George has been a friend and collaborator for a long time,” notes Damon. “He brought this script to me that he’d written on spec…because he wanted to direct it. I was a big believer in him and felt he could do it.”

T rue Grit is the first movie invite I got from Solar-UIP. They're the one who distribute United International Pictures, Dreamworks and Paramount Pictures' movies here in the Philippines. The screening took place in the Solar Preview Room in that posh Solar-Century Building in Makati City. Their screening room has the capacity of approximately 60 people, it actually resemble the MyCinema at Greenbelt3. Anyway before I head on to the venue, I already read the synopsis so I know what to expect on the actual screening. Here's a quick synopsis of " TRUE GRIT ," Following the murder of her father by hired hand Tom Chaney, 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross sets out to capture the killer. To aid her, she hires the toughest U.S. marshal she can find, a man with "true grit," Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn. Mattie insists on accompanying Cogburn, whose drinking, sloth, and generally reprobate character do not augment her faith in him. Against his wishes...

D o we control our destiny, or do unseen forces manipulate us? Matt Damon stars in the thriller The Adjustment Bureau as a man who glimpses the future Fate has planned for him and realizes he wants something else. To get it, he must pursue the only woman he's ever loved across, under and through the streets of modern-day New York. On the brink of winning a seat in the U.S. Senate, ambitious politician David Norris (Damon) meets beautiful contemporary ballet dancer Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt)-a woman like none he's ever known. But just as he realizes he's falling for her, mysterious men conspire to keep the two apart. David learns he is up against the agents of Fate itself-the men of The Adjustment Bureau-who will do everything in their considerable power to prevent David and Elise from being together.

J eff Bridges, who was cast in the role of Cogburn, says it was the idea of mixing the book’s authentic cadence and rollicking yet moving tone with the Coens’ cinematic approach that got him so excited to tackle an iconic character in a fresh way. “When the Coens first mentioned the idea of making True Grit, I said ‘Gee, didn’t they make that movie? Why do you want to do it again?’ and they said, ‘We’re not remaking the film, we’re making a version of the original book by Charles Portis’. So I read the book and I immediately saw what they were talking about. It seemed like the perfect story for the Coens to make into a movie. And since they have never made an actual Western adventure before, it was going to be a surprise.”

M att Damon likes to joke that it’s taken the Coen Brothers sixteen long years to offer him a job. “Yeah, and then along came True Grit,” he smiles. “So it was worth the wait…” Joel and Ethan Coen are extraordinary filmmakers, he says, and when they first approached him to ask if he’d be interested in working together there wasn’t a moment’s hesitation – even though, at that point, he hadn’t seen a script. The fact that it was a Coen Brothers movie was enough. “If the Coen Brothers ask you to work with Jeff Bridges on True Grit , that’s easy,” he says. “I was in before I knew what the movie was. And then I looked at it and the script is great and unlike anything I’ve had the chance to do before so it was a really easy decision.” Damon first met the Coens back in 1994 when, as a young actor still making his name, he was cast alongside Frances McDormand – Joel’s wife – in a Tommy Lee Jones’ directed made-for-TV western called The Good Old Boys.