To paraphrase Spencer Tracy, there ain’t much meat on this story, but what’s there is cherce. Though Nikki Finke pretty much reports everything like it’s the Normandy Invasion, the idea of Warner Brothers’ President of Production, Jeff Robinov*, literally declaring "We are no longer doing movies with women in the lead" in response to the … Continue reading
That headline’s only, what, two years past its expiration date? I’ve also got video of a tranquilized bear bouncing off a trampoline if you’re interested. Jeffrey Wells broke this story last Wednesday, but I held off filing a reaction on the off-chance he got some bad information. It’s not that I had any reason to … Continue reading
It’s all gone wrong for Todd Phillips, hasn’t it? After the scandal of Frat House (the 1998 documentary about college fraternities that allegedly contained staged sequences), Phillips rebounded with the sporadically funny Road Trip and the zeitgeist-capturing Old School. Suddenly, he was redeemed. And just as suddenly, he was back on the canvas following the … Continue reading
Tony Gilroy’s directorial debut, Michael Clayton, blares its brilliance over the opening credits, as Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), the manic depressive ace litigator for Kenner, Bach & Ledeen (a corporate law armada blasting away in defense of a massive agrochemical conglomeration called U/North), rails in high Chayefskian dudgeon against the malevolence of corporate America, and, … Continue reading
Studios have often been willing to shift release dates for films that might comment too directly or crassly on current events, but I can’t remember an example of a picture being delayed because it could get several of its lead actors killed. (Not that directors haven’t been killed for the content of their films before: … Continue reading
Before Len Wiseman came aboard, the worst thing the Escape from New York remake had going for it was a generic action script. Now, it just got the cinematic equivalent of herpes. This began as a rumor at AICN, and has now been confirmed by IESB: Wiseman is off Escape from New York, and Brett … Continue reading
I guess we should count our blessings, such as they are. For the first time since Bowfinger, we got to watch Eddie Murphy act in last year’s Dreamgirls. Bill Condon’s adaptation of the legendary Broadway musical was supposed to represent a first step back to legitimacy for the wayward Murphy, but, after losing Best Supporting … Continue reading
When Movie City News‘ David Poland invited me to join the Gurus of Gold 2.0 (or, as Jeffrey Wells has dubbed the group, "The Bad News Bears" of Oscar prognosticating – and I’ll assume he means the Ritchie/Matthau gang, ‘cuz, otherwise, it’s pistols at dawn), I was a little hesitant given my deep-seated distaste for … Continue reading
"[Ridley] Scott is a decorator, a borrower, and a synthesist; like a great machine he contains all striking images and can deliver and fuse them, so long as the product is impersonal." That’s from David Thomson’s dismissive entry on the master in The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, and this bullshit attitude reminds us why … Continue reading
Contrary to the juvenile suggestiveness of the headline, there will be no incestuous ménage à trois in Jim Sheridan’s redo of Susanne Bier’s Brothers – which, given the impossible hotness of the three leads (Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and the just announced Natalie Portman), will surely be a great source of sorrow for our many … Continue reading