Movie Minesweeper - The Palm Tree Peel Edition

- Paramount are to fly solo (distribution wise) in Japan from the start of next year. This pretty much puts the final nail in UIP's coffin.

- Adam Rifkin's an odd one. His Homo Erectus is to be released theatrically as National Lampoon's Homo Erectus this autumn. Meanwhile, his bona fide cult number The Dark Backwards is finally about to hit DVD after months of delays. And, of course, Underdog isn't too far away.

- David MacKenzie's Hallam Foe will be the opening night film for this year's Edinburgh festival.

- Doug Aarniokoski, an old 2nd of Robert Rodriguez, is making his 1st debut with the horror film Animals. Marc Blucas, Nicki Aycox, Andy Comeau and Eva Amurri are to star.

- Iwo Jima is being re-named Iwo To (re-named literally - it is returning to its original name). Clint Eastwood is being credited with reminding people of the misnomer and prompting the change.

- Is there going to be a sequel to 30 Days of Night? Apparently, planning is already underway.

- Peter Medak is to direct Addicted. Addicted to what? Sex, apparently. Might as well be Risk?

- AintItCool have a test screening review of the Halloween rehash.

- The brains behind lonelygirl15 have signed a Neutrogena sponsorship deal. I wonder if there's anybody similar out there trying to get attention on YouTube but, I dunno, possessed of some artistic ambition and integrity. Angling for a film deal is one thing, just wanting fame is another entirely.

It's Eastwood Versus Malick, Dominik Versus Scott

The LA Times have reported on the sorry test screenings for Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and the various cuts of the film that have been made in attempt to please variously the director, producers and studio.

The way they tell it, Dominik was aspiring to a Terrence Malick pastiche whereas the studio were looking for something styled after the films of Clint Eastwood - either way, sounds like following a pre-exisitng template was the goal. If they have to copy, can't they come up with somebody better than Malick and Eastwood? How about Monte Hellman. A nice Hellman-styled western would be tempting, I have to admit.

Other than the director's cut, which reportedly runs over three hours, there have been various other versions, overseen by Brad Pitt, editor Michael Kahn or producer Ridley Scott.

I'd think Scott would have a pretty good chance of sorting the film out to some degree - but whether or not that's the same issue as pleasing the studio is another matter entirely. Scott's history in recutting his own films is certainly impressive. As wonderful as Alien always was, he managed to improve upon it - and turn out a shorter film into the bargain.

There's no concrete news on which version of the film will be released - a release currently scheduled for September 21st, but don't be surprised to see that slip even further away. This situation reminds me of the current spin on Julie Taymor's Across the Universe: In both cases there's officially still hope that the version released will be director approved - there has to be hope to stem the flow of bad will against the studio-sanctioned recuts, just a little bit. But in both cases, again, it seems far more likely that a shortened version will hit the multiplexes.

Besides, forcing a double-dip for the Director's Cut DVD only makes for more dollars, doesn't it?

Slow Fish

Sounds like another belated April Fool's joke, but WENN are now reporting that Clint Eastwood's face is going to feature on promotional bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale. Doug Cook, a brewery spokesman, is quoted as saying "Clint is a massive fan of the drink. Having his face on the bottle would be a real eye-catcher"