Friday, July 20, 2007

Movie Minesweeper - The Les Dennis Edition

Soon after I do this Minesweeper, I'll be writing positive reviews for Ratatouille and Hairspray. In the meantime, here is some news:

- Michel's son Paul Gondry has directed his first music video. Robots vs. Mutants, scribble style.

- Eat Cinema is dead, long live Film 24. The interview/advertorial/puff piece channel is to air 24 hours a day on Sky here in the UK.

- Walden are to make a surfing film. Is there a slow echo in here? Or did I just dream of this?

- I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry might not be much cop, but the Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor draft of the script sounds much better. What a surprise. A pox on the producers/studio/Sandler for plumping for a dumbed down version.

- Justin Cronin's trilogy of vampire novels are to become films through Scott Free. Will Ridley direct, or is Tony going to get his Hunger rumbling again? The premise is fun: cancer is cured through the vampire virus, with horrendous consequences.

- Seth Rogen is to write The Green Hornet film and take the lead role. Is this going to be Jack Black as the Green Lantern all over again? I want Tony Jaa for Kato, Jake Kasdan to direct.

- Gavin Hood has signed to direct the Wolverine film. At last some good news for the piece. I'm hoping the script has been rewritten entirely, because the version I read was absolutely catastrophic. I'll remind you: I've read plenty of scripts for film ick, Wolverine was definitely the worst.

- Not quite changing the subject here... Fox have pulled out of Comic-Con. Why?

- Robert Downey Jr. has been modelling one of Tony Stark's special mittens.

- Richard Franklin has died, age 58. He was a pretty solid Hitchcock impersonator, but definitely floundered when dealing with non-suspense material.

- Catalina Sandino Moreno has signed to appear in Soderbergh's Guerilla and The Argentine, his pair of Che Guevera films. Superb.

- Donnie Wahlberg is to appear in Righteous Kill.

- After a series of Lionsgate maneuvres changed the calendar somewhat, The Weinsteins pulled The Nanny Diaries forward. Good - it looks great, so why should we wait any longer?

- Guillem Morales is remaking his film The Uncertain Guest in English. The plan is to make the film more naturalistic and cast with 'A List' talent - which really means 'B-List', I'm sure, because the real 'A-List' are too busy being just three or four people signed up for the next year or two solid.

- The rights to Terminator 4 are a little confused. Will it kill the film? No - but it may well delay it.

- More political drama from Rod Lurie: Nothing But the Truth. Kate Beckinsale is in talks to play a journalist imprisoned for refusing to name her source after outing a CIA agent, played by Vera Farmiga. Matt Dillon, Edie Falco and Ala Alda are all also set to appear - three out of three.

- Micahel Tolkin is scripting the Nine adaptation for Rob Marshall.

- Bill Pullman, Eliza Dushku and Alan Rickman are to appear in Bottle Shock, Randall Miller's 1970s period piece anbout the vineyards of Napa Valley.

- Indiana Jones IV has been on the news. Download the evidence. Zzzzzzzz.

- If I am to believe the hype, John Carney is an incredible talent. He's set to follow Once, a truly beloved movie that I've yet to see, with Town House, another relationship drama in the world of music.

- The Other Side is to star Brittany Murphy, Jason Lee, Ji
m Broadbent, Lili Taylor, Tim Roth and Giovanni Ribisi - is that a 50/50 split of scientologists and other folk? I'm not entirely sure but it is something like that. The film has been described as a fantasy.

- ComingSoon have a clip from Stardust. Neil Gaiman may have said many positive things about the film but, well... I've heard a few stories that suggest he is either misguided, blinded, over excited or just plain fibbing. Stories that argue the film is something of a confused mess and has left audiences rather unsatisfied. I really hope not.

- Katee Sackhoff has signed a deal for her role on The Bionic Woman to be recurring. Next stop for her signature is probably the purchase order for a gold-plated flying car.

- There's an odd They Live rumour doing the rounds: that it is to return as a TV series for the Sci-Fi channel.

- David Gest has parted ways with ITV and will instead embark upon a live tour of stand up comedy. Yep. Really.

- Fancy a role in the Tekken movie? Surely it can't be as absolutely crazy as the DOA film?

- Josh Schwarz claims his new series Chuck is to be jam packed full of pop culture reference points.

- You can listen to Danny Boyle discuss his silly film Sunshine over at SlashFilm.

- John Carl Buechler is remaking his own film Troll. I was curious as to why anybody would have asked him to bother but it seems this is to be a tie-in launch pad, aimed squarely at kids/toy company shareholders. Apparently, the FX crew from the first film will be back too. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, I suppose.

- Production of Poor Things was halted after Lindsay Lohan went into rehab. Now it seems to have been cancelled outright. Who is employing this stupid girl? Stupid people who can't even keep a simple, low-budget film on the rails for a few weeks?

- Tru Loved has a promising cast - both Jane Lynch and Bruce Vilanch have signed up.

- Kevin Smith wants Roasrio Dawson (for Zack and Miri Make a Porno), but Dawson is yet to sign.

- Neither Roger Avary or Christophe Gans are doing Silent Hill 2; Avary is adapting The Nocturnals.

- Melissa George has taken the lead role in Captive. I bet that gets a title change.

- Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Evil Dead 2 and Halloween are coming to Blu-Ray, courtesy of Anchor Bay. That's an incredible line-up.

- Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow are to be reunited in Dirty Tricks, a Watergate drama. Meryl Streep, Sharon Stone and Annete Bening are also to appear.

That's all I can stand in one sitting. Eye fatigue. Numb fingers. A new found desire for horizontality.

More soon.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

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