Entertainment News
Entries from July 2011
With Rise of the Planet of the Apes about to be released, The New York Times looks at the history of the series and evaluates the individual films, finding relevance to today's social issues. Click here to read
Netrflix, the popular American company that rents DVDs by mail and allows streamikng of thousands of titles, has seen its once-vaunted customer service policies plummet. Netflix has done away with its most popular pricing plan, thus raising costs to customers. They have compounded the error by sending loyal customers E mail nofitications that some considered to be rudely worded. Click here for more
Several days ago, maverick director Francis Ford Coppola appeared at Comic-Con and presented clips from his new independent film TWIXT, a bizarre chiller starring Val Kilmer and Bruce Dern. Coppola is experimenting with new technology that will allow audiences to see sequences in 3-D without having to use cumbersome glasses. Click here for more
The golden age of the drive-in movie theater may be long gone, but audiences are wild about watching flicks in the great outdoors. Click here for the best places to indulge in this movie lover's pasttime.
In a column for the web site Grantland, writer Lane Brown takes some prominent actors to task for tarnishing their once-vaunted status as Oscar winners by appearing in lousy movies in return for a quick pay check. Among those in the Hall of Shame: Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Frances McDormand, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks and old reliable Nicolas Cage, who bravely paved the way for trashing one's once formidible reputation. Click here for the list of cinematic crimes committed by these offenders.
Screenwriter Michael B. Gordon, who wrote the script for 300, is turning back to ancient times to bring a new version of the 1960 Kirk Douglas/Stanley Kubrick classic Spartacus to the big screen. Gordon promises this one will be "less fictionalized". Sure, but let's see him recreate those astounding epic sequences without relying on today's cheesy CGI effects. For more click here
There is a prequel to the classic sci-fi film The Thing that will be hitting theaters in December. I have an inherent prejudice that nothing will ever top John Carpenter's 1980s remake of the original 1950s film. The new film has a relatively no-name cast compared to the inspired casting for Carpenter's movie but that doesn't mean it might not be a good chiller in its own right. Click here for trailer - Lee Pfeiffer
It's enough to make you bay at the moon. Back in 1981 director Joe Dante created the classic werewolf pic The Howling, then had the good sense to move on to other things. Other directors exploited the movie and turned it into a low-rent franchise that continues to this day with The Howling: Reborn. The trailer offers no evidence that this installment will pave any new ground in terms of restoring quality to the series. Click here to view
The man who made Dirty Harry a household name - Clint Eastwood- has agreed to serve as Honorary Chairman for the National Law Enforcement Memorial and Museum, which is being built in Washington, D.C. The museum will honor law enforcement officers who have been slain in the line of duty. Eastwood remarked, "“The National Memorial and Museum are long overdue and richly deserved
tributes to the men and women in law enforcement.Thousands of real-life, sworn law enforcement officers never make it
home. They make the ultimate sacrifice. We owe those who have fallen,
and all of our nation’s law enforcement officers, a huge debt of
gratitude.†For more click here
Universal has gotten cold feet and withdrawn from Ron Howard's plans to direct a trilogy of feature films based on Stephen King's 7-part novel The Dark Tower. There have been rumors that the studio might be getting nervous about backing the big budget project, but plans seemed to be proceding and sets were constructed to begin shooting. Now Universal has dropped the project- something almost unheard of considering the high power talent involved. The studio isn't giving a reason why they have backed out but sources say the top brass is nervous about having already bankrolled action films with mega budgets. For more click here
As reported previously, Ben Stiller will star in the remake of Danny Kaye's 1947 comedy The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, about a shy man who lives vicariously through his fantasies of leading exciting and heroic lives. Now comes news that Stiller will also direct the project, making this his fouth directorial effort. He also intends to bring a sequel to his Zoolander comedy to the screen. For more click here
Sony has released the first teaser trailer for the much-anticipated The Amazing Spider-Man. If it whets your appetite, the bad news is that you'll have to wait a full year to see the film: it opens on July 4, 2012. We're psyched....
Looks like Meryl Streep better start making room on her crowded mantle of awards if the teaser trailer for The Iron Lady is any indication of her next triumph. Streep portrays Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the high profile biopic due out in January 2012. Click here to view teaser trailer
Controversial entertainment writer Kitty Kelly, who wrote a best-selling unauthorized book about Frank Sinatra in 1986, finally gets an interview after 25 years with Nancy Gunderson, who had a passionate two-year affair with Sinatra in 1970. There are some fascinating insights into the private life of a very private man, including the feud that goes on even today between Sinatra's wife Barbara and his daughters Tina and Nancy. Click here to read
Although it's $38 million gross to date may seem like chump change in an era in which films that gross a half-billion dollars are considered to be "disappointments", Woody Allen's wonderful and quirky romance Midnight in Paris is now poised to be the biggest grossing movie of his long career. Allen has always eschewed commercial films in favor of those that appeal to urban art house crowds. The perpetually glum artiste continues to point out that his Best Picture Oscar winner of 1977- Annie Hall - is still among the lowest-grossing movies to receive the accolade. (Not that Allen even bothered to show up at the ceremony to collect his prize, opting instead to play with his jazz band at a New York night club.) Still, it's nice to know there is an audience that remains for such intelligent and uncompromising directors and their films. Click here for more - Lee Pfeiffer
(Note: Since this story was prepared, the grosses for the film have climbed to $41 million, making it indisputably Allen's biggest grossing movie to date)
A bridge that featured in a key sequence from the 1982 film First Blood, which introduced the character of John Rambo, played by Sylvester Stallone, has been torn down due to environmental concerns. Ironically, it was interest by movie fans who visited the rickety structure in the town of Hope, British Columbia, that apparently caused the bridge to weaken. Local officials tried to save the bridge but found the effort too costly. It has been torn down and replaced with a new structure. For more click here
Some unofficial on-set footage from the forthcoming Batman flick The Dark Knight Rises has hit the web. The silent sequence depicts Christian Bale chatting with Anne Hathaway, who plays Catwoman, in the midst of a faux rain storm (FX people are using hoses). There is also an imported American taxi cab in the sequence, which was shot in Nottingham, England. The scene was shot at a distance and is so hurky-jerky it appears as though it was filmed by the ghost of Don Knotts. Click here to view
Johnny Depp will bring a big screen version of the 1970s TV series Kolchak:The Night Stalker to reality through his partnership with Disney. The Night Stalker began as a 1972 ABC TV "Movie of the Week" and garnered legendary ratings that led to the concept being expanded to a weekly TV series. Darren McGavin starred as a newspaper reporter on a one man crusade to expunge modern day vampires from society. The show has spawned a loyal following that continues to this day. In today's Twilight-fueled pop culture, vampires are all the rage and the Night Stalker project looks liek a sure winner.
In a startlingly different project, Depp will play American colonial patriot Paul Revere, whose legendary ride through the night to warn settlers that "The British are coming!" earned him a "revered" place in U.S. history books. The Revere project has picked up steam from an unexpected development that thrust the patriot back into the headlines. This occurred last month when former Governor Sarah Palin misstated the facts regarding Revere by saying he was riding to warn the British that the Americans would not allow them to take their guns. After being debunked by historians on both the political left and right, some of Palin's supporters temporarily changed Revere's entry on Wikipedia in an attempt to make it appear her statement was correct. From such bizarre scenarios, major motion pictures are given the green light. The Revere controversy caused countless people to re-examine his life and, presumably, made him "box-office" again for the first time in decades. I'm personally pulling for a controversy about George Washington, whose incredible life story has never been properly made into a feature film, though a 1980s TV mini series was highly acclaimed. Is it asking too much for some politician out there to screw up the facts about him so we can get the Father of Our Country back on the big screen? For more click here- Lee Pfeiffer
To the delight of Warner Brothers and the surprise of absolutely no one, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 2 has shattered international boxoffice records opening to a three day gross of $294 million. The final chapter in the blockbuster film franchise will also prove to have "legs" as it's been scoring exceptionally well with fans who feel it's one of the best in the long-running series. For more click here
By Lee Pfeiffer
One of the indignities that every president has to endure is having his image distorted in ludicrous ways, sometimes for satirical purposes and in other cases through a misguided homage. President Obama is no exception. One action figure gives him the face of a demon from hell, while a Japanese company has him as a Star Wars-like hero, complete with samurai sword. Our favorite is the Obama line of condoms, advertised by the tag line that they represent the ultimate stimulus package for hard times! At least they didn't use the line "Between Barack and a hard place...." Click here to view
Harrison Ford turned 69 years-old earlier this week. The Huffington Post provides a slide show of his greatest on-screen moments. Click here to view
Two teaser posters have been released in advance of the December opening of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, with Guy Ritchie directing the sequel to the original smash hit revival of the famed detective. The posters are as uncreative and bland as one might expect by today's dismal standards: big close-ups of the main actors dominating most of the artwork. One would have thought that the Holmes legend and mystique might have inspired a more creative campaign, but they've chosen to the take the road that was, well, elementary. - Lee Pfeiffer
Arnold Schwarzenegger's big screen comeback, delayed temporarily because of scandals in his personal life, is back on track. In September he will begin filming Last Stand, described as a contemporary Western with the former Governator cast as a sheriff battling a viscious drug cartel near the Mexican border. The movie's boxoffice reception will probably dictate whether younger audiences will respond to Schwarzenegger's films. For most the better part of the last decade he has put his film career on hold while serving as governor of California. Hollywood is betting that there is still plenty of enthusiasm to see him back in action. For more click here
Director Sam Raimi, the latest filmmaker to "re-imagine" The Wizard of Oz through his forthcoming production Oz, The Great and Powerful, may have been dealt a blow by a U.S. court decision regarding copyrights pertaining to the classic 1939 film. Although Frank Baum's original novel and its characters are in the public domain, the court has ruled that changes made specifically for the MGM film version remain under copyright. Some of the most iconic elements that audiences associate with the story derive from that film, not the source novel. The ruling could have a major effect on similar plans to capitalize on older films through remaking key elements that were not in the original books. For more click here
The Huffington Post presents another of those meaningless but irresistible past-times: voting for your favorite American actors on a scale of one through ten. Among the contenders, an eclectic group including Buster Keaton, Humphrey Bogart, Sean Penn, Marlon Brando,Robert De Niro, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks. In an increasingly dumbed-down world, we're just gratified that so many old-timers even made the list. We expected to find such legendary stars as Orlando Bloom and Adam Sandler populating the choices. Click here to vote.
Jamie Foxx has slipped and accidentally confirmed rumors that Leonardo DiCaprio will be co-starring with him in Quentin Tarantino's ode to spaghetti Westerns, Django Unchained. Click here for more
Sir Christopher Lee, move over. Adam Sandler is gonna show you how Count Dracula should really be played. That's not entirely fair: Sandler has signed on to provide the voice for the legendary vampire in a 3-D animated film titled Hotel Transylvania. That sound you hear, dear reader, is that of Bram Stoker turning over in his grave. Click here for more
Rod Serling's remarkable life and career will be the subject of a big screen bio pic authorized by his widow. There was far more to Serling's career than his association with the classic Twilight Zone TV series. Click here for more
The latest issue of Cinema Retro (#20) features a major article about the 1974 blockbuster Earthquake that includes the history of the Sensurround phenomenon, short-lived as it was. If you're an Earthquake fan, click here to visit a terrific site dedicated entirely to the film. You can read about the aborted sequel that was planned and view deleted scenes.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE FILM ON DVD FROM AMAZON
With The Green Lantern opening to soft grosses, the Los Angeles Times' Steve Zeitchik explains why movie adaptations of D.C. comic books seem destined for oblivion unless they have producer/director Christopher Nolan as part of the creative team. Click here to read
Warner Brothers will release Clint Eastwood's highly-anticipated J. Edgar Hoover bio-pic this October. Apparently the film has been retitled J. Edgar from Hoover. The studio will also release the Tom Hanks-Sandra Bullock starrer Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close in December, in an obvious marketing strategy to capitalize on possible Oscar nominations. The film is a drama centering on a surviving relative of a 9/11 World Trade Center victim. For more click here
Legendary country singer Glen Campbell,75, has told People magazine that he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. Campbell is still able to perform and will hold a series of farewell concerts. He wanted his fans to know about his condition because he didn't want any missteps during the concerts to be construed as a lack of professionalism. Campbell hit the big time in the 1960s crossing over to the pop charts with many hit songs. He also enjoyed a successful, but brief, acting career highlighted by his co-starring role with John Wayne in the the original 1969 version of True Grit. The Oscar-nominated theme song to the film was warbled by Campbell and became a major hit on the charts. For more click here
Wanna live like Hollywood legend Kate Hepburn? All it will take is a spare $18 million to purchase her beloved estate in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Hepburn disdained the celebrity party scene and enjoyed a rural lifestyle. Her Lion in Winter director Anthony Harvey was virtually the only show business contact allowed to visit her there in her later years. If you're trying to calculate whether you can afford the real estate, it comes out to only $100,000 per month - assuming you have a $1.8 million down payment. Click here for photos of the property.
Deadline Hollywood Daily reports that Clint Eastwood is looking to collaborate with Leonardo DiCaprio following the J. Edgar Hoover pic they are currently lensing. Eastwood is preparing to bring the fourth version of A Star is Born to the screen and hopes to get DiCaprio and Beyonce to co-star. For more click here
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