Movie News

We could simply cut and paste stories from Variety, but we don’t. We’re too amazing for that. We RETYPE articles from Variety…

IS ZOE BELL THE FEMALE JACK REACHER?

You loved her in Grindhouse. Or did you? I loved Zoe Bell in Tarantino’s Death Proof, but a lot of people didn’t take to her untrained delivery — it wasn’t natural but awkward. Now Bell’s been tapped to star in an as yet untitled picture by Marco Weber and Senator Entertainment, the US arm of … Continue reading

BUT CAN THE FOCUS BE ADJUSTED?

The one sheet for Michael Clayton, Warner Bros’ Oscar grabber this fall, has arrived in the CHUD inbox and I am fascinated by how it manages to both be dominated by Clooney’s mug while also obscuring him. There’s a metaphor in here for how the new breed of megastars with serious intent approach their work. … Continue reading

WRITERS GET GROSS WITH FOX

In case you’re actually trying to keep track of the various screenwriter factions, there’s John Wells’s Writers Co-Op, Christopher McQuarrie’s 1.3.9 and, now, Fox’s Writing Partners. If you want me to handicap which faction has the best opportunity to make the most coin movies, the smart money has to be on Writing Partners, which is … Continue reading

NEW YORK TAKES DE PALMA, LANDIS, LUMET

In what can only be viewed as good news for a group of veteran filmmakers in desperate need of critical re-validation, The New York Film Festival has tapped Brian De Palma’s Redacted, John Landis’s Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project and Sidney Lumet’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead for their 2007 lineup. These films … Continue reading

TARSEM PAROLED FROM DIRECTOR JAIL

After seven years served in Director Jail for The Cell, one of the most incomprehensibly awful films of the last decade, Tarsem Singh has been released back into the Hollywood system. He will direct The Unforgettable, which is based on a video game called The Condemned: Criminal Origins. Just to confuse the issue, the film … Continue reading

THE GREAT LEN WISEMAN TO SHAME JOHN CARPENTER

Hot off his Live Free or Die Hard triumph (riding high with an 80% "fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes), the incomparable Len Wiseman is ready to receive another critical pass with his remake of Escape from New York, the twenty-six-year-old relic that’s been rendered unwatchable due to its plentiful matte paintings and an unforgivable absence … Continue reading

SOMMERS SAYS NO JOE

What happens when the director who’s top on your list wants ten million? Roll ’em out and move on, that’s what. According to IESB, that figure is the reason Lorenzo diBonaventura and Stephen Sommers are passing on one another, leaving G.I. Joe hanging like a lost little child in the middle of a divorce. Hey … Continue reading

THE BEAKS CANON VOL. 1: THE SILENTS

I am woefully unqualified to assemble a film canon. Though I have devoured films and books on films, and actually made a few short films (the most distinguished being "Crisis in the Golan Heights", which consists of my friend Volney chasing my other friend Phil all over a crowded Athens, Ohio thoroughfare in the middle … Continue reading