Negromancer News Bits and Bites for June 29 to July 5, 2014 Update #6

NEWS:

From WebProNews:  The super fine and gorgeous Scarlett Johansson wins "sex object" lawsuit.

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From Hitfix: 10 stories that we might have missed...

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From Hitfix:  Sony is re-imagining 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - a sign of the slow death of imagination in Hollywood.

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From Box Office Mojo:  Transformers: Age of Extinction to take out Tammy at the July 4th weekend box office?

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From Deadline Hollywood: Manslaughter indictments in the death of camera assistant Sarah Jones on the set on the Gregg Allman biopic, "Midnight Rider."  Allman has since requested that the film be cancelled.

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From Deadline Hollywood:  Woody Harrelson and Liam Hemsworth will star in a revenge Western, "By Way of Helena."

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From The Daily Mail:  Daniel Radcliffe (formerly known as Harry Potter) and Marisa Tomei (just formerly known) snuggle while filming a new movie.

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From Ropes of Silicon:  "Rambo 5" may actually happen.

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From Yahoo:  Too many romantic comedies derailed Katherine Heigl's career.  By the way, I do NOT like her.

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From Vulture:  Spike Lee's films are ranked from worst to best.  Worst - She Hate Me. Best - Do The Right Thing (of course).

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From ShadowAndAct:  Speaking of Do The Right Thing: Spike is still trying to bring it to Broadway, as play, not as a musical.

AND love this story: a young Barack Obama used a date to Do The Right Thing to impress Michelle. Awww! (from Moviefone).

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From Screen Rant: Former Bond star (1995 to 2002), Pierce Brosnan wants to join The Expendables.  One would think that this franchise is running out of space for aging action stars.

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From Salon:  The decline of Shia LaBeouf.

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COMIC BOOK MOVIES:

From Screen Rant: Henry Cavill as Clark Kent - without glasses - plus other early news about "Batman Vs. Superman."

From Screen Rant:  Analysis of early info on "X-Men Apocalypse," the planned 2016 X-Men movie.

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MOVIE TRAILERS:

From UPI:  The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby with Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy.

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OBITS:

From Reuters:  Television actor Bob Hastings died Monday, June 30, 2014 at the age of 89.  Hastings was best known for playing Lt. Elroy Carpenter, the yes-man to Captain Wallace Burton Binghamton (played by actor Joe Flynn), on the 1960s World War II era comedy, "McHale's Navy."  A World War II veteran, Hastings also provided the voice of Archie Andrews from 1945 to 1953 on NBC radio.

Negromancer sends condolences to Mr. Hastings family (including younger brother Don Hastings who is also an actor) and friends.  Hastings's Lt. Carpenter was one of my favorite classic TV characters.  R.I.P. Bob Hastings.

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From the Times:  Acclaimed director, Paul Mazursky, died, Monday, June 30, 2014, at the age of 84.  I remember him for the 1989 film, Enemies, A Love Story, which I thought was a truly fine film.  Negromancer sends condolences to Mazursky's family and friends.

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From Variety:  The actor, Meshach Taylor, died Saturday, June 28, 2014 in California.  He was 67.  Taylor was best known for his role as interior design aide, Anthony Bouvier, on the CBS series, "Designing Women."  Taylor earned an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in comedy series in 1989 for the series, which ran from 1986 to 1993.

Taylor also appeared in Mannequin films the CBS sitcom, "Dave's World," from 1993 to 1997. Negromancer sends condolences to Taylor's family and friends.  R.I.P. Anthony Bouvier.

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From Variety:  Soul music legend, Bobby Womack, died Friday, June 27, 2014, at the age of 70.  He had numerous hits, but my favorite is the 1982 single, "If You Think You're Lonely Now," from his 1981 album, The Poet.  It peaked at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #3 on the Hot Soul Single charts.

One of Womack's hit songs was the top 20 hit, “Across 110th Street.” It was the title song from the 1972 crime thriller, Across 110th Street, starring Anthony Quinn and Yaphet Kotto.  Quentin Tarantino used the song for the opening credits of his 1997 film, Jackie Brown.  Negromancer sends its condolences to Womack's family and friends.