Review: 'The Color of Time' starring James Franco, Jessica Chastain, Mila Kunis, and More

Imagine you're an NYU film student and, amazingly, you're going to be working on a feature film with Jessica Chastain, James Franco, and Mila Kunis. Pretty awesome, right? Now imagine their disappointment to learn the film would be another of Franco's "passion projects" nobody will ever want to watch. That's the case with The Color of Time, a biographical impression of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, CK Williams, directed by twelve of Franco's students as a narrative recreation of his work. It makes sense that fledgling talents would be a little unsure stylistically, much like their teacher, but the result is disjointed and trivial, and probably should have stayed in the classroom.

Hopping around in time to follow Williams at various life stages, he's played by a handful of actors including Franco and Henry Hopper. Taking the counter-intuitive route, a straight narrative is opted for rather than some kind of anthology with Williams' poems serving as the throughline. None of it amounts to much other than a series of bland flashbacks with sparse dialogue, and apparently Franco must have taught an extensive course on Terrence Malick. Right down to Chastain prancing in the grass under sun-drenched skies as Williams' angelic mother, her scenes are basically a shot-for-shot homage to The Tree of Life. Unfortunately, the other periods in Williams' life turn out much the same with each director aping the style of a different filmmaker they've probably long admired. It's distracting, especially if the ultimate goal is to put us closer in touch with Williams' elegant words. The Color of Time  is essentially a series of cinematic postcards; beautiful but meaningless.

Also starring Zach Braff as Williams' best friend, Mila Kunis as his bubbly wife, plus an appearance by Bruce Campbell, there's certainly a wealth of talent here and they all bring a soulfulness to their performances. Best of all may be Kunis, who brings a levity and lightness that cuts through the droll mood. Fans of Williams who have found his poetry inspiring and profound will wish for more experienced directors who could bring that into being on screen. It's possible that in this group is the next Quentin Tarantino or Terrence Malick, but they aren't ready for the big leagues yet and The Color of Time is proof of that.

 Rating: 1.5 out of 5

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New Trailer for James Franco's 'The Color of Time' with Mila Kunis and Jessica Chastain

Formerly titled Tar, James Franco's The Color of Time is another experimental endeavor that may or may not pan out as he hoped. Franco enlisted twelve New York University film students to piece together a comprehensive look at the life and times Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, C.K. Williams, and the result is a melodic, star-studded affair that resembles the work of Terrence Malick.

Franco emptied out the Rolodex and called up Mila Kunis, Jessica Chastain, Bruce Campbell, Henry Hopper, and Zach Braff to appear in the film about Williams (played by Franco) as he prepares for a reading in New York City while haunted by memories of the past. It may have been a better idea to craft an anthology rather than a single narrative because even in this brief footage it seems a little disjointed. However there's a lot of talent in front of the camera, and who knows, maybe a new superstar filmmaker will emerge out of it.

The Color of Time hits VOD on December 2nd, followed by a brief theatrical run on December 19th.


The Color of Time by Teaser-Trailer.com

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Starz Orders 'Evil Dead' Sequel Series Starring Bruce Campbell

Remember when there was all that hubbub about Sam Raimi's big plans for Evil Dead following the mildly successful remake? There was talk of fashioning out a trilogy that would connect to the classic Evil Dead flicks, a pretty ambitious plan that we've heard precious little about lately. But also in the midst of all that was news of an Evil Dead TV show that Raimi was writing with his brother, Ivan, and apparently the Starz network loved the sound of it.

According to Variety, Starz has ordered up Ash vs. Evil Dead, a 10-episode sequel series that will naturally star Bruce Campbell. The now much-older Ash has spent the last 30 years avoiding any kind of responsibility, but when a new Deadite threat emerges he must face his demons, both the literal and personal kind. Sam Raimi, who worked with Starz on the great Spartacus TV series, will direct the first 30-minute episode, exec-produce, and write the scripts along with Ivan Rami and Tom Spezialy.

So good news, I guess? Ash is back and presumably so is his boomstick. Episodes are scheduled to begin airing in 2015.

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Olivia Munn Joins 'Ride Along 2'; 'Ant-Man' Adds David Dastmalchian; Lyndsy Fonseca is 'The Escort'

* Olivia Munn is set to join the returning Ice Cube and Kevin Hart in Ride Along 2, the sequel to this year's $153M-grossing cop comedy. Tim Story is again directing with film to begin soon for release on January 15th 2016. Rumors are the story will take the action to Miami with Benjamin Bratt playing some sort of role.  Munn will be seen next in Scott Derrickson's horror, Deliver Us from Evil.

* David Dastmalchian, who made his acting debut as one of the Joker's henchman in The Dark Knight, is jumping to Marvel for an unspecified role in Ant-Man. He joins a cast led by Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas with Peyton Reed directing for release on July 17th 2015.

* Lyndsy Fonseca (How I Met Your Mother, Kick-Ass 2) has taken the title role in romantic comedy, The Escort, an indie film that also stars Michael Doneger, Rumer Willis and Bruce Campbell. Will Slocombe (Cold Turkey)directs the story co-written by Doneger that "tracks a sex-obsessed journalist who throws himself into the world of high class escorts when he starts following a Stanford-educated prostitute." [Deadline]

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The bloody red band trailer for the 'Evil Dead' remake

When Sam Raimi first revealed that he was remaking his camp horror classic, Evil Dead, it was unsurprisingly met with skepticism. It would be one thing if Raimi himself was directing, but instead the reins were handed over to newcomer Fede Alvarez. With the promise of a new female Ash replacing the irreplaceable Bruce Campbell, the expectation was that this might fall in with all of the other horror remakes that crashed and burned.

And then the first footage of the film was shown at New York Comic-Con, and the response by the fans was so wildly enthusiastic that they used it in yesterday's trailer tease. After a leaked version of it appeared a few days ago(and was swiftly removed), the full red band trailer has been unveiled and it more than lives up to the hype.

Targeted squarely at the skeptics, immediately the ominous and gory tone is in effect as the blood flows freely and terror is amplified. The cheesiness of the original seems to be taking a back seat in favor a more disturbing experience, capped off by a chilling tongue-slicing. I've said it before that the original Evil Dead isn't a particular favorite, but the redo looks fantastic.

Starring Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Jessica Lucas, Bruce Campbell, Lou Taylor Pucci, and Elizabeth Blackmore, Evil Dead opens on April 12th 2013....

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Leaked trailer for the 'Evil Dead' remake!

NYCC was the place to be over the weekend if you're one of those curious to see how the Carrie and Evil Dead remakes were shaping up. Audiences were treated to new images and footage(which we have here), and the response to all of it has been overwhelmingly positive. But more so than Carrie, Evil Dead caused an uproar from fans who were worried about the changes that would be made to their beloved cult classic. The response from the crowd at the event responded with overwhelming praise, and judging by this newly leaked trailer, I don't think fans of Sam Raimi's film have anything to be concerned about. 

Produced by Raimi and directed by Fede Alvarez, what is immediately apparent in this very hardcore NSFW footage is that it's going to be very violent and incredibly gory. I'm also not sensing much of the campiness of the original. This one is clearly targeting horror fans with strong stomachs, as seen in the copious amounts of blood and chopped up body parts. As I've said before, Evil Dead was never really my thing, but this looks like something to get excited over.

Starring Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Bruce Campbell, Elizabeth Blackmore, and Jessica Lucas, Evil Dead opens next year on April 12th 2013. Check out the leaked trailer below, and know that we'll update this once the official one hits....[We Got This Covered]

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