In select cities, a little indie thriller titled
Transsiberian quietly opened over the weekend and did fairly well in the indie market (despite the long shadow cast by
The Dark Knight's opening), which frankly surprises me. With some folks calling the movie "Hitchcockian" in its suspense, and featuring a cast that includes the enigmatic Emily Mortimer and a shape-shifting Ben Kingsley, I was interested in seeing it myself. But now I kinda wish I hadn't.
Sir Ben Kingsley attended a screening of
The Wackess in London this week, kicking off promotion on this side of the pond for the awesome indie movie that's out on August 29. As you know,
I have a lot of love for this film set in the hot New York summer of 1994, which is currently on limited release in the US and slowly opening in more cities as the weeks go on. Ben was accompanied by his supportive wife Daniela at the London screening, but I think it would be fantastic if we get a glimpse at his co-stars Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby and Mary-Kate Olsen on our shores too in the coming weeks!
After viewing
The Wackness I had
lots of nice overall feelings about the movie but one tiny little part of it still makes me go, "Eeesh!" And that would be the part where Mary-Kate Olsen makes out with Ben Kingsley. Yeah, that makeout session (because it's definitely more than a little peck!) gave me the opposite of warm-fuzzies inside.
With
an adorable film gem under their (rather large in Mary-Kate Olsen's case) belts, the cast of
The Wackness are promoting like crazy in the US at the moment ahead of their July release date. Last night The Cinema Society screened the movie and,
unlike the LA premiere, Sir Ben Kingsley and Mary-Kate showed up to take part in the festivities. Mary-Kate rocked two outfits (a la
Sienna Miller at The Edge Of Love London premiere) – one for the red carpet and a more colourful mini dress for the afterparty,
Fab UK wants to know which on you prefer!
Ben Kingsley has always been a man of many faces (and accents), but lately it seems like he's popping up in every movie (and every time with a different accent). I knew he was in
War, Inc. with John Cusack, and in one of my
Tribeca favorites,
The Wackness. And then when I checked out
the trailer for Elegy (which is mesmerizing only because Penelope Cruz is so smoking hot no matter what she does), there he was again!
NB: I was lucky enough to catch a screening of this indie movie back in early June, and was so taken with it that I posted the preview for you back then. The movie's coming out this Friday, so here's a reminder / rundown of what I thought of it!
First things first:
The Wackness is dope.
My girl Buzz is at the
Tribeca Film Festival in New York at the moment, seeing all the best upcoming movies.
The Wackness is one she really enjoyed –
she said,
"It's funny, it's got that tender boy-grows-up storyline, and there's plenty of sex, drugs and a ridiculously awesome, rap-heavy soundtrack."
Starring Sir Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby and Method Man, I've been looking forward to it for a while.
Previously, I'd mostly known
The Wackness as that weird-looking
Sundance movie in which an Olsen twin makes out with Ben Kingsley and which features a ton of pot smoking. While those things are true, I also gotta say I really liked this weirdo pot-smoking movie. I can easily see why The Wackness won the audience award at Sundance this year: it's funny, it's got that tender boy-grows-up storyline, and there's plenty of sex, drugs and a ridiculously awesome, rap-heavy soundtrack.
Okay, I'm willing to give
The Love Guru a huge chance based on the cast alone: Mike Meyers (natch), Romany Malco (Conrad from
Weeds!), Justin Timberlake (dressed all funny and bewigged), John Oliver (hilarious British guy from
The Daily Show) and Ben Kingsley (funny because of, you know, his Oscar-winning performance as
Ghandi). Oh, and Jessica Alba's in it too.
The new trailer for The Love Guru looks silly in the Austin Powers kind of way, though less charming and less humorous.
