Welcome Home, Tim Hunter

River's Edge is one of the best teen films of the 80s - and therefore, as all teen movie fans know, of all time. It almost made a minor geek culture star out of it's director, Tim Hunter, and garnered positive comparisons to Blue Velvet - and not just because they both feature Mr. Dennis Hopper gnashing at the furniture with glee.

After that, Hunter accrued most of his high-profile credits from TV - the pilot to Beverly Hills 90210, three episodes of Homicide: Life on Street and three more of Twin Peaks, as well as installments of shows as varied as Carnivale, CSI:NY, The 4400 and, my current fave, House. It's a great CV.

Now he's making a new feature film, and I'm genuinely excited.

Originally called Microwave Park, the film has now been retitled New Orleans, which makes a certain amount of sense as the location has also been shifted from LA to a post-Katrina Louisiana. The plot revolves around a murder cover-up, and in this new draft, the dead policeman is alleged to have been killed in the floods, only for his partner to uncover the crooked conspiracy that really cost his life.

Robert De Niro is the crusading partner, and Fifty Cent is gonna come on as his new sidekick. That's a bit of casting that has lot of people sniffing, but I'm gonna wait until I see the two of them in action. It certainly sounds better than a De Niro/Ed Burns reteam.

I trust in Tim Hunter. I'm looking forward to New Orleans.