There’s no way to overstate the importance of Chess Records to modern music. The Chess brothers, Polish immigrants, began recording blues musicians after seeing that they weren’t getting the proper attention. One of their first artists was the incomparable Muddy Waters; over time their stable would include Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. Sam … Continue reading →
The Karate Kid remake has been Zabka’d. In a statement issued by his publicist, Heidi Schaeffer, Will Smith angrily dismissed rumors that he was intending to revamp the 1984 non-classic with his nine-year-old son, Jayden, in the lead role (and Jackie Chan as the Bonsai-tree trimming, adolescent boy ass-kicking Mr. Miyagi). "He’s certainly not," said … Continue reading →
Ever mindful of keeping his options open, Tony Scott has added to his stable of post-Taking of the Pelham One Two Three projects with an untitled biopic on the life of Don Aronow, a construction millionaire whose passion for speedboat racing spawned the obnoxious Cigarette Boat – which became the go-to go-fast boat for South … Continue reading →
It’s a bit premature to declare the post-9/11 Middle East drama a complete non-starter for American audiences (it used to be that baseball films were considered commercial poison), but one more box office disappointment (like, say, Robert Redford’s Lions for Lambs) could cause a citywide greenlight outage. This is why, looming WGA strike be damned … Continue reading →
Clint Eastwood’s getting his actors in line for The Changeling, the movie he’s making that isn’t a remake of the fun George C. Scott ghost flick from the 1980. (And not to be confused with Changeling sans the definite article, a film whose titular status will probably live up to its original title, which won’t … Continue reading →
From the official Star Trek casting breakdown we ran back in August: [LEONARD(BONES)MCCOY] – 28-32 Medic on the Enterprise. Smart, clever and a bit danger-loving. Dark hair, blue eyes. And, now, Karl Urban’s vitals: Age: 35Hair: DarkEyes: Definitely not blue.Danger Threshold: LowFavorite Monkee: Peter Tork This is very near to an outrage, J.J. Abrams. And … Continue reading →
To drum up interest in 30 Days Of Night, which opens at the end of the week, Sam Raimi took part in a press conference today to discuss the film and also to say that, basically, that he’s not currently involved in the films you’d probably like him to be doing (Spider-Man 4, The Hobbit) … Continue reading →
It’s been a while since we’ve heard news on Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables: Capone Rising, but with the master filmmaker still making the press rounds in tireless defense/support of his exceptionally difficult (and I think brilliant) Redacted, it’s hardly a surprise to hear him say that the prequel to his biggest commercial success will … Continue reading →
If Love in the Time of Cholera is fated to be one of this year’s worst films, then its long, leaden stomp toward wretched artlessness began when some moron hired a hack to film the words of a poet. It’s not screenwriter Ronald Harwood to whom I object; he did a fine job with The … Continue reading →
Guys, I know we disagree on Batman Begins. And nothing I’ve seen from The Dark Knight has really gotten me all that excited (in fact, knowing most of the story has made me a little less excited!). But I understand that for you this is a big movie. You’re psyched. So just think how psyched … Continue reading →