It didn’t happen to his Brokeback Mountain, and it didn’t happen to Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book, but now Lust, Caution, Ang Lee’s follow-up to his culturally significant homo opus has been tagged with the four characters that newspapers and Blockbuster love to use as excuse to pretend movies don’t exist: NC-17. It’s been a minute … Continue reading →
We’ve been pretty tough on Rod Lurie lately. News of his Straw Dogs remake hasn’t done anything to endear the filmmaker to any of us here. The guy makes a comment about how he’s going to approach the film’s pivotal rape scene and he might as well be on the front page of US Weekly … Continue reading →
What if Martin Scorsese wanted to shoot a Rolling Stones concert, but Mick Jagger balked at the idea of too many cameras whizzing about? What would Marty do? WHAT WOULD HE DO!?!? Judging from this new trailer for Shine a Light, this appears to be the central tension of Scorsese’s Rolling Stones documentary – which … Continue reading →
Dito Montiel’s follow-up to his strong debut film, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, is just looking better and better. First he added Channing Tatum to the untitled film about a ticket scalper who gets involved in the underground world of New York City streetfighting; Tatum is one of the most exciting and talented up … Continue reading →
As a fan of Westerns, I’m pleased as punch to see a bigscreen resurgence this year. 3:10 to Yuma has good buzz and great pedigree, and hot on its September heels comes The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which now has a brand spanking new trailer that improves 100 percent on … Continue reading →
If only this were 1997 instead of 2007…you remember 1997, don’t you? The music world was on the verge of being overrun with kooky rap/metal combinations. Limp Biskit had just released their debut album, Three Dollar Bill, Yall$, to a chilly reception that got mighty warmer once they released its carcinogenic cover of George Michael’s … Continue reading →
Waking up to Carla Gugino casting news is like waking up as a child Christmas morning, only instead of frenzied glee as I tear into presents, it’s more me tearing through Google Search to enjoy her well-photographed self. I’m dignified like that. But as an adult, I do have responsibility to get a grip and … Continue reading →
How did the NHL lose touch with my generation? When I was in college, EA’s NHL games were more popular than Madden; they boasted the easiest controls and the most fluid game play. And people were learning new names (Jaromir Jagr, Joe Sakic and Sergei Fedorov), while playing with established greats (Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux … Continue reading →
Just so you know, Greg Mottola is not upset at a perceived lack of credit for Superbad‘s success – even though some folks have tried to spin this blurb at New York Magazine‘s "Vulture" blog as evidence of hostility toward an allegedly credit-glomming Judd Apatow (who, I’m sure, has never glommed a thing in his … Continue reading →
(If you’re looking for my preamble, and recommendations for the silent era, click here.) When your grandparents used to complain about Hollywood "not makin’ ’em like they used to", they really meant "not makin’ ’em like they were forced to make ’em as a result of the Production Code" – or "The Hays Code". Though … Continue reading →