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Total Recall: Quentin Tarantino's Best Movies

We count down the best-reviewed work of the Django Unchained director.

Jeff Giles on Thursday, Dec. 27 2012, 10:32 AM comment

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Since making his debut with Reservoir Dogs 20 years ago, Quentin Tarantino has enjoyed one of the fastest-rising -- and consistently critically lauded -- careers of any director in modern Hollywood. He's back this weekend with the Jamie Foxx-led revenge fantasy Western Django Unchained, and the reviews are typically solid -- which means now is the perfect time to dedicate a feature to taking a fond look back at his earlier efforts. So cover the kids' ears and keep an eye on Marvin in the back seat, because this week, we're serving up Total Recall Tarantino style!

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The 25 Breakout Stars of 2012

A look at the new stars who made the biggest impact on screen this year.

Luke Goodsell on Thursday, Dec. 27 2012, 06:57 AM Comment

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From the newcomers of Moonrise Kingdom and Beasts of the Southern Wild to the rising young stars of The Hunger Games, Bond girls, arthouse mavericks and off-the-radar actors who made an impact, here's our look at the 25 breakout performers of 2012.

Five Favorite Films with West Memphis Three's Damien Echols

With the documentary West of Memphis in theaters, we talk to wrongly-convicted death row inmate -- and now free man -- Damien Wayne Echols about his favorite films, life on the inside, and the strange process of becoming a celebrity.

Luke Goodsell on Tuesday, Dec. 25 2012, 05:00 PM Comment

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It's hard to imagine just how surreal Damien Echols' life must have been. In 1994, the teenager was sentenced to death for his alleged part, along with two others, in the gruesome 1993 murder of three boys in Arkansas. Convicted by state prosecutors riding a wave of public and media hysteria, the so-called West Memphis Three spent the next 18 years in prison -- until an accumulation of new evidence raised doubts as to their guilt and, in 2011, they were finally set free. Having spent most of his adult life incarcerated, Echols has since become something of a celebrity, drawing the support of people like Peter Jackson, Johnny Depp and Eddie Vedder, who lent their weight to the campaign to free the falsely-accused men and expose the miscarriage of justice. Jackson also co-produced an extensive new documentary about the case -- Amy Berg's West of Memphis -- and with the film opening theatrically this week, we had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Echols recently. Read on for more of the interview, in which Echols talks about life in prison, his admiration for Stephen King, how the support of those famous pals helped save him from death row, and his plans with Depp to produce a screen version of his memoir. First up, he took a moment to talk about his five favorite films.

Interview: Director Rich Moore on Wreck-It Ralph

The Simpsons and Futurama veteran talks about creating the world of Disney's animated hit, his love of gaming, working with John C. Reilly, and the joys of layered visual humour.

Luke Goodsell on Friday, Dec. 21 2012, 11:41 AM Comment

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How much do you love Rich Moore? As one of the key directing circle on the early seasons of The Simpsons, the Californian animator was behind such classic episodes as "Flaming Moe's" and "Marge vs. the Monorail," and would later go on to helm some of the best of Futurama, too (you can thank him for "Roswell That Ends Well," one of that show's absolute highlights.)

This year he's made his feature directing debut with Disney's video-game adventure riff Wreck-It Ralph, which arrives in Australian cinemas this week on the back of a hit run with both audiences and critics in the US.

John C. Reilly voices Ralph, an 8-bit oaf who -- yearning to break from the drudgery of being the bad guy and become a hero -- escapes his vintage arcade game and sets out on a cross-platform quest through a first-person sci-fi shooter and the unlikely world of a Mario Kart-style candyland. Bursting with dynamic visual humour, a cavalcade of famous gaming character cameos, and a serving of old-fashioned Disney heart, Ralph marks an impressive big-screen debut for Moore. But you'd expect nothing less from the man, of course.

We had a chance to sit down and chat with Moore in Los Angeles recently, where he talked about developing the movie with Disney, his love of gaming and layered humour, and why he thought Reilly was perfect for the role.

21 Unfilmable Books That Became Movies

With Life of Pi, an epic meditation on the power of storytelling and myth, Ang Lee has taken Yann Martel's supposedly unfilmable novel and turned it into something quite remarkable as cinema. Here, we take a look at some other supposedly unfilmable books that made it to the screen -- for both better and for worse.

RT Staff on Tuesday, Dec. 18 2012, 07:38 PM Comment

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With Life of Pi, an epic meditation on the power of storytelling and myth, Ang Lee has taken Yann Martel's supposedly unfilmable novel and turned it into something quite remarkable as cinema. Here, we take a look at some other supposedly unfilmable books that made it to the screen -- for both better and for worse.

Garrett Hedlund Talks On the Road

The rising young star discusses the pressure of bringing to screen Jack Kerouac's iconic work of the Beat Generation.

Luke Goodsell on Tuesday, Dec. 18 2012, 07:37 PM Comment

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Jack Kerouac's On the Road is easily one of the most famous American novels of the 20th century, so it's no small surprise that -- unlike contemporary Beat Generation giants Naked Lunch and Howl -- the seminal 1957 work has taken this long to reach the movie screen. Not that there haven't been attempts: Kerouac himself reportedly tried to entice Marlon Brando to star in a movie version, and the book rights were later acquired by Francis Ford Coppola, who shepherded the project through more years of development. At last, Motorcycle Diaries director Walter Salles came on board, and the result is this week's On the Road -- a languid, sun-kissed riff on the classic starring Garrett Hedlund, Sam Riley, Kristen Stewart and a host of stars (Viggo Mortensen, Amy Adams, Kirsten Dunst) in smaller character roles. We sat down recently with Hedlund -- who plays the story's iconic drifter, Dean Moriarty -- where he talked about his love of the book and the pressure of starring in a tale with so much cultural import.