Had Knocked Up managed to topple Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End as the top film at the box office last weekend, it would’ve been the story of the summer (until Evan Almighty tanks, but more on that later); unfortunately, Judd Apatow’s excellent romantic comedy came up $14 million short (though it did get … Continue reading
Memo to Michael Bay: if you want Linkin Park, fucking get Linkin Park. (And I say this as someone with very little use for Linkin Park.) At the risk of looking like an idiot (what risk, right?), I’m going to declare this nu metal cover of the Transformers theme song a botched attempt by some … Continue reading
Every time I see John McTiernan prepping a new film, I wonder why the hell he isn’t in jail for lying to federal prosecutors about his employment of noted wiretapper-to-the-stars Anthony Pellicano. Did he ever serve time for this? Or did he get the Paris Hilton discount? If directing a formulaic sounding thriller like High … Continue reading
Earlier today, I thought I’d amuse myself by liveblogging the series premiere of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, if only to get even with the sitcom for its incessant advertising campaign that nearly ruined the NBA Eastern Conference Finals (thank god, then, for LeBron James and Boobie Gibson). So I settled in with a Racer … Continue reading
Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass may be done with the Bourne franchise, but they are far from done with each other. The pair are planning their third collaboration – their first of the non-summer blockbuster variety – with an adaptation of Imperial Life in the Emerald City, Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s account of the United States’ catastrophic … Continue reading
The state of the world today is upsetting enough, so what’s the point in paying $10 to heighten one’s misery? What’s the upside in spending ninety minutes to watch a group of nubile ingénues get sliced up in gorily inventive ways when one need only listen to a few minutes of conservative talk radio to … Continue reading
Sir Ridley Scott loves to keep us guessing. Or he just likes to acquire projects. Though I’ve been assured that Body of Lies aka Penetration – which would re-team Scott with Kingdom of Heaven scribe William Monahan, who, in turn, would be re-teaming with The Departed lead Leonardo DiCaprio – will be the master filmmaker’s … Continue reading
I am forlorn no more. Fernando Meirelles’s adaptation of Jose Saramago’s intellectual sci-fi thriller, Blindness, was dealt quite a blow last month when Daniel Craig vacated the project in order to make a World War II movie with Edward Zwick (not what I’d do with my newfound Bond clout, but whatever). This left Julianne Moore … Continue reading
There’s no use getting overly indignant in response to the news that Lionsgate is developing a Meatballs remake; though I enjoy the Ivan Reitman original for Bill Murray’s inspired riffing and the charisma vacuum that is Chris Makepeace (to be fair, he’s much better in Tony Bill’s underrated My Bodyguard), it’s not a particularly strong … Continue reading
If there is any justice on this whirling glob of dirt and water, there will be a major rediscovery of Daryl Dukes’s Payday, in which world-class hellraiser Rip Torn gives the performance of his career as country-and-western warbler Maury Dann. Currently unavailable on DVD, and written by a now deceased novelist, Don Carpenter, whose entire … Continue reading