by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
Support Leroy on Patreon:
INDIANA JONES - From Newsarama: "Indiana Jones 5" may begin filming as early as April 2020, says Harrison Ford. The film is due for release July 9, 2021.
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JAMES BOND - From Variety: Grammy-winner Billie Eilish released the audio of her theme song for the next James Bond film, "No Time to Die" (due April 10th). Once again, the song is a collaboration with her Grammy-winning older brother, Finneas.
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MOVIES-COMICS - From BleedingCool: Bong Joon Ho's storyboards for his Oscar-winning film, "Parasite," have been collected a graphic novel.
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MOVIES - From THR: Actors Jake Johnson and Omar Sy, who were supporting actors in 2015's "Jurassic World," will return for the third film in the series, which is due June 2021. Neither appeared in the second film, "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" (2018).
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TELEVISION - From THR: Fox has ordered a pilot for a TV series in which a teacher and three students attempt to re-enact the classic 1980s film, "The Goonies."
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MOVIES - From Variety: Universal and Blumhouse's "The Hunt" has a new release date, March 13, 2020. The film was originally slated for September 2019, but it was pulled after controversy about its plot - elites hunting ordinary people.
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MOVIES - From IndieWire: Here is a first look at Wes Anderson's next film (his 10th), The French Dispatch," via 5 images. It will debut at Cannes in May and hit North America July 24th, 2020.
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MOVIES - From Deadline: Laurence Fishburne will jion Liam Neeson for the action-adventure film, "The Ice Road," which Jonathan Hensleigh will write and direct.
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MOVIES - From Deadline: Dee Rees will write and direct a feature film adaptation of George Gershwin musical, "Porgy and Bess" for MGM.
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BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficeMojo: The winner of the 2/7 to 2/9/2020 weekend box office is "Birds of Prey" with an estimated take of 33.25 million dollars.
From Patreon: Leroy Douresseaux reviews "Birds of Prey."
STREAMING - From Deadline: Ava DuVernay is directing a documentary about the slain rapper, Nipsey Hussle. Netflix has won the rights to it after a reportedly fierce bidding war.
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TELEVISION - From Deadline: CBS is considering a "CSI" revival event miniseries in time for the 20th anniversary of its debut on CBS.
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OSCARS - From Deadline: This link will give you a complete list of winners at the 92nd Academy Awards.
From YahooEntertainment:
From YahooEntertainment: Joaquin Phoenix remembers his late brother, actor River Phoenix, who died in 1993 at the age of 23.
Winners in select categoreies:
Best motion picture of the year:
"Parasite" Kwak Sin Ae and Bong Joon Ho, Producers
Performance by an actress in a leading role:
Renée Zellweger in "Judy"
Performance by an actor in a leading role:
Joaquin Phoenix in "Joker"
Achievement in directing:
"Parasite" Bong Joon Ho
Performance by an actress in a supporting role:
Laura Dern in "Marriage Story"
Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
Brad Pitt in "Once upon a Time...in Hollywood"
Adapted screenplay:
"Jojo Rabbit" Screenplay by Taika Waititi
Original screenplay:
"Parasite" Screenplay by Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won; Story by Bong Joon Ho
Best animated short film:
"Hair Love" Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver
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MOVIES - From CinemaBlend: Vin Diesel would like Oscar-winner Judi Dench to join the "Fast and Furious" franchise.
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CULTURE - From THR: "Hollywood's Black Problem on the Set" - Apparently, there is a shortage of Hollywood and film industry makeup artists and hair stylists who know how to work with African-American performers' natural hair and skin tones.
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MOVIES - From Variety: Legendary Entertainment is developing another reboot of the 1974 horror film, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Director Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes remade (or rebooted) the film with "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in 2003.
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OSCARS - From YahooEntertainment: Superstar songwriter Diane Warren recently received her 11th best song Oscar nomination - for the song, "I'm Standing with You" from the film, "Breakthrough." She did not win with her previous ten nominations, making her the most nominated woman in Oscar history never to have won. She says, "I don't ever expect to win" ... but she'd like to.
OBITS:
From Deadline: The veteran stage and screen actress, Lynn Cohen, has died at the age of 86, Friday, February 14, 2020. She was best known for playing the role of "Madga" on the HBO TV series, "Sex and the City" (1998-2004) and the 2008 and 2010 film versions of the series.
From THR: The stage, film, and TV actress, singer, and dancer, Paula Kelly, has died at the age of 76. The African-American performer's best known film appearances include "Sweet Charity" (1969) and "The Andromeda Strain" (1971). She received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, one of them for one of her best known TV roles, "Theresa" in the miniseries, "The Women of Brewster Place" (ABC, 1989).
Showing posts with label Renee Zellweger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Renee Zellweger. Show all posts
Saturday, February 15, 2020
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Negromancer News Bits and Bites from October 22nd to 31st, 2017 - Update #46
Support Leroy on Patreon.
MOVIES - From Variety: Paramount Pictures' "Pet Sematary" remake will be directed by Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer, the directors of the buzzed about horror film, "Starry Eyes."
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MOVIES - From Variety: Blake Lively's spy thriller, "The Rhythm Section" is due in 2019.
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SCANDAL - From Deadline: Harvey Weinstein has been expelled from the Producers Guild of America for life, following scores of sexual misconduct allegations.
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MOVIES - From Variety: Lupita Nyong'o and Josh Gad to star in zombie romantic comedy, "Little Monsters.
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SCANDAL - From Variety: Kevin Spacey becomes the latest big-time Hollywood actor to be accused of some kind of sexual misconduct. His accuser is Anthony Rapp of "Star Trek: Discovery."
From Variety: Kevin Spacey's response to those accusations have irked some.
From Deadline: Netflix is cancelling Kevin Spacey's streaming series, "House of Cards," after next year's sixth season in light of allegations against the two-time Oscar winner.
From HuffPost: Remember that creepy Kevin Spacey joke on "Family Guy" in 2005?
From YahooNews: Sexual misconduct accusations have dogged Kevin Spacey for year, according to "Newsweek."
From TheWrap: Netflix is looking at creating a spinoff of its hit series, "House of Cards," which is will end after the sixth season - in light of accusations against series star, Kevin Spacey.
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BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficeMojo: The winner of the 10/27 to 10/29/2017 weekend box office is "Jigsaw" with an estimated take of $16.25 million.
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MOVIES - From Collider: Quentin Tarantino has summoned big studios to look at the first script for his anticipated Charles Manson project.
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SCANDAL: From YahooGMA: Actress Annabella Sciorra ("Jungle Fever," "The Sopranos") is the latest to accuse Harvey Weinstein of rape.
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COMICS-FILM - From Variety: Zachary Levi, best known for NBC's "Chuck," has been tapped for the lead role in New Line Cinema's "Shazam," film based on the DC Comics character.
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MOVIES - From YahooEntertaiment: Writer-director Robert Rodriguez ("Spy Kids") once dated Rose McGowan, who says she was raped by Harvey Weinstein, who released several of Rodriguez's films.
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ANIMATION - From TheVillageVoice: This article argues that "South Park," has backed off criticizing President Trump and the alt-right, when it has historically not back off any sacred cows.
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MOVIES - From Variety: Tom Hanks to star in science fiction film, "Bios."
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MOVIES - From Collider: Vin Diesel releases information about the upcoming ninth and tenth installments of the "Fast & Furious" film franchise.
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CULTURE - From SplinterNews: The military has a serious White Nationalists problem? [Yes, it does. This is not new news. - Leroy]
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TELEVISION - From Deadline: Who knows what is going on with the "Bad Boys" film franchise, but producer Jerry Bruckheimer is developing a TV spin-off. The character played by Gabrielle Union, who was in "Bad Boys 2," will be the focus on the series.
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MOVIES - From Variety: Adam Driver ("Star Wars") is attached to star in Spike Lee's "Black Klansman" film.
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COMICS-FILM - From TheWrap: Gareth Evans, the director of the fantastic film, "The Raid," is in talks to direct a film based on the "Deathstroke" character from DC Comics.
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MOVIES - From Variety: Colman Domingo joins Barry Smith's (Moonlight) drama, "If Beale Street Could Talk." Domingo is known for his role as "Victor Strand" on "Fear the Walking Dead."
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MOVIES - From THR: Sharon Stone will star as a mob mistress in "Sunny," the English-language debut of Norwegian filmmaker, Eva Sorhaug.
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CELEBRITY - From YahooEntertainment: The daughter of the late actor, Paul Walker, has reached a settlement in her wrongful death lawsuit against Porsche. Walker and another man were killed in a Porsche car crash in November 2013.
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COMICS-FILM - From Variety: "Captain Marvel" director Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are in talks to have the star of their film, "Mississippi Grind," Ben Mendelsohn, join their Marvel Studios film as the villain.
From WeGotThisCovered: Director James Mangold begins work on movie that spins off the character, "X-23," from the hit movie, "Logan."
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SPORTS - From CNN: The site offers a guide to the 2017 World Series pitting the Los Angeles Dodgers (National League) against the Houston Astros (American League). This is the Astros second trip to the World Series; they last played in 2005 as the representative of the National League, where they were until 2013. The Dodgers were last in the World Series in 1988, which they won.
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COMICS-FILM - From Deadline: Set photo from first day on the set of "Venom" starring Tom Hardy.
From Refinery29: Why is Tom Hardy always cast as the ugliest comic book characters.
From TheWrap: Marvel's "Captain Marvel" film will lead into the fourth "Avengers" film.
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TELEVISION - From TVLine: Ray Donovan is coming back for a sixth season, but there will be a big change.
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MOVIES - From THR: Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger will portray the legendary actress, Judy Garland, who is most famous for role in "The Wizard of Oz." The film will be set in the final years of Garland's life.
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STAR TREK - From TheWrap: "Star Trek: Discovery" gets a second season from CBS All Access, the streaming service.
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BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficeMojo: The winner of the 10/20 to 10/22/2017 weekend box office is "Tyler Perry's Boo 2! A Madea Halloween" with an estimated take of $21.65 million.
From Variety: Tyler Perry's "Boo 2!" keeps the weekend box office from being a complete disaster.
From Variety: With its big debut in China, "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" wins the recent international box office.
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SCANDAL - From TheWrap: James Gunn, director of Marvel's "Guardian of the Galaxy" films, says that he has been trying to warn people about writer-director James Toback, who has been accused by over 30 women of sexual harassment.
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MOVIES - From YahooEntertainment: Frank Oz talks about the Muppets and his career directing films.
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MOVIES - From SlashFilm: There is a synopsis and the promise of a trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming film, "Phantom Thread."
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POLITICS - From NYTimes: President Trump isn't Adolf Hitler, but...
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SCANDAL - From LATimes: "Stranger Things" and "IT" star, "Finn Wolfhard," has led the LA-based talent agency, APA, after his agent, Tyler Grasham, was accused of sexually assaulting a teenager (who is not a director) a decade ago.
From LATimes: Over 30 women have made sexual harassment claims against director and Oscar-nominated screenwriter ("Bugsy"), James Toback.
From MadameNoire: Director Michael Canton-Jones days that Harvey Weinstein would not let him cast actress Sophie Okonedo in his 1998 flick, "B. Monkey," because Weinstein did not find her "f***able." Okonedo would go onto star in "Hotel Rwanda," for which she received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination. She has won a Tony Award.
OBITS:
From THR: Actor Jack Bannon has died at the age of 77, Wednesday, October 27, 2017. He was best known for playing the amiable city editor, Jack Donovan, on CBS's "Lou Grant."
From THR: Famed cinematographer Harry Stradling, Jr. died at the age of 92, Tuesday, October 17, 2017. A two-time Oscar nominee, Stradling was known for his work on Western films, like "Little Big Man" and "Rooster Cogburn." He worked across genres and earned Oscar nods for "1776" and "The Way We Were."
From RollingStone: The music icon and legend, Fats Domino, died at the age of 89, Tuesday, October 24, 2017. Domino, a symbol of the dawn of rock and roll, was an architect of rock and roll, and during the second half of the the 1950s, his record sales were reportedly second only to Elvis Presley. His hits including "I'm Walkin'," "Blue Monday," and "Ain't That a Shame," to name a few.
From TheWrap: The actor Robert Guillaume has died at the age of 89, Tuesday, October 24, 2017. He was best known for playing the character, Benson DuBois, a butler. He played Benson as a supporting character in the ABC TV series, "Soap," and as a lead character in the ABC series, "Benson." He won two Emmys for the role, once as a supporting actor and once as a lead actor. Guillaume is also known for his voice performance as "Rafiki," in the Disney animated film, "The Lion King." Guillaume won a Grammy Award for performing the character on "The Lion King" Read-a-long Book.
MOVIES - From Variety: Paramount Pictures' "Pet Sematary" remake will be directed by Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer, the directors of the buzzed about horror film, "Starry Eyes."
----------
MOVIES - From Variety: Blake Lively's spy thriller, "The Rhythm Section" is due in 2019.
----------
SCANDAL - From Deadline: Harvey Weinstein has been expelled from the Producers Guild of America for life, following scores of sexual misconduct allegations.
----------
MOVIES - From Variety: Lupita Nyong'o and Josh Gad to star in zombie romantic comedy, "Little Monsters.
----------
SCANDAL - From Variety: Kevin Spacey becomes the latest big-time Hollywood actor to be accused of some kind of sexual misconduct. His accuser is Anthony Rapp of "Star Trek: Discovery."
From Variety: Kevin Spacey's response to those accusations have irked some.
From Deadline: Netflix is cancelling Kevin Spacey's streaming series, "House of Cards," after next year's sixth season in light of allegations against the two-time Oscar winner.
From HuffPost: Remember that creepy Kevin Spacey joke on "Family Guy" in 2005?
From YahooNews: Sexual misconduct accusations have dogged Kevin Spacey for year, according to "Newsweek."
From TheWrap: Netflix is looking at creating a spinoff of its hit series, "House of Cards," which is will end after the sixth season - in light of accusations against series star, Kevin Spacey.
----------
BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficeMojo: The winner of the 10/27 to 10/29/2017 weekend box office is "Jigsaw" with an estimated take of $16.25 million.
----------
MOVIES - From Collider: Quentin Tarantino has summoned big studios to look at the first script for his anticipated Charles Manson project.
----------
SCANDAL: From YahooGMA: Actress Annabella Sciorra ("Jungle Fever," "The Sopranos") is the latest to accuse Harvey Weinstein of rape.
----------
COMICS-FILM - From Variety: Zachary Levi, best known for NBC's "Chuck," has been tapped for the lead role in New Line Cinema's "Shazam," film based on the DC Comics character.
----------
MOVIES - From YahooEntertaiment: Writer-director Robert Rodriguez ("Spy Kids") once dated Rose McGowan, who says she was raped by Harvey Weinstein, who released several of Rodriguez's films.
----------
ANIMATION - From TheVillageVoice: This article argues that "South Park," has backed off criticizing President Trump and the alt-right, when it has historically not back off any sacred cows.
----------
MOVIES - From Variety: Tom Hanks to star in science fiction film, "Bios."
----------
MOVIES - From Collider: Vin Diesel releases information about the upcoming ninth and tenth installments of the "Fast & Furious" film franchise.
----------
CULTURE - From SplinterNews: The military has a serious White Nationalists problem? [Yes, it does. This is not new news. - Leroy]
----------
TELEVISION - From Deadline: Who knows what is going on with the "Bad Boys" film franchise, but producer Jerry Bruckheimer is developing a TV spin-off. The character played by Gabrielle Union, who was in "Bad Boys 2," will be the focus on the series.
----------
MOVIES - From Variety: Adam Driver ("Star Wars") is attached to star in Spike Lee's "Black Klansman" film.
----------
COMICS-FILM - From TheWrap: Gareth Evans, the director of the fantastic film, "The Raid," is in talks to direct a film based on the "Deathstroke" character from DC Comics.
----------
MOVIES - From Variety: Colman Domingo joins Barry Smith's (Moonlight) drama, "If Beale Street Could Talk." Domingo is known for his role as "Victor Strand" on "Fear the Walking Dead."
----------
MOVIES - From THR: Sharon Stone will star as a mob mistress in "Sunny," the English-language debut of Norwegian filmmaker, Eva Sorhaug.
----------
CELEBRITY - From YahooEntertainment: The daughter of the late actor, Paul Walker, has reached a settlement in her wrongful death lawsuit against Porsche. Walker and another man were killed in a Porsche car crash in November 2013.
----------
COMICS-FILM - From Variety: "Captain Marvel" director Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are in talks to have the star of their film, "Mississippi Grind," Ben Mendelsohn, join their Marvel Studios film as the villain.
From WeGotThisCovered: Director James Mangold begins work on movie that spins off the character, "X-23," from the hit movie, "Logan."
----------
SPORTS - From CNN: The site offers a guide to the 2017 World Series pitting the Los Angeles Dodgers (National League) against the Houston Astros (American League). This is the Astros second trip to the World Series; they last played in 2005 as the representative of the National League, where they were until 2013. The Dodgers were last in the World Series in 1988, which they won.
----------
COMICS-FILM - From Deadline: Set photo from first day on the set of "Venom" starring Tom Hardy.
From Refinery29: Why is Tom Hardy always cast as the ugliest comic book characters.
From TheWrap: Marvel's "Captain Marvel" film will lead into the fourth "Avengers" film.
---------
TELEVISION - From TVLine: Ray Donovan is coming back for a sixth season, but there will be a big change.
----------
MOVIES - From THR: Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger will portray the legendary actress, Judy Garland, who is most famous for role in "The Wizard of Oz." The film will be set in the final years of Garland's life.
---------
STAR TREK - From TheWrap: "Star Trek: Discovery" gets a second season from CBS All Access, the streaming service.
----------
BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficeMojo: The winner of the 10/20 to 10/22/2017 weekend box office is "Tyler Perry's Boo 2! A Madea Halloween" with an estimated take of $21.65 million.
From Variety: Tyler Perry's "Boo 2!" keeps the weekend box office from being a complete disaster.
From Variety: With its big debut in China, "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" wins the recent international box office.
---------
SCANDAL - From TheWrap: James Gunn, director of Marvel's "Guardian of the Galaxy" films, says that he has been trying to warn people about writer-director James Toback, who has been accused by over 30 women of sexual harassment.
----------
MOVIES - From YahooEntertainment: Frank Oz talks about the Muppets and his career directing films.
----------
MOVIES - From SlashFilm: There is a synopsis and the promise of a trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming film, "Phantom Thread."
----------
POLITICS - From NYTimes: President Trump isn't Adolf Hitler, but...
----------
SCANDAL - From LATimes: "Stranger Things" and "IT" star, "Finn Wolfhard," has led the LA-based talent agency, APA, after his agent, Tyler Grasham, was accused of sexually assaulting a teenager (who is not a director) a decade ago.
From LATimes: Over 30 women have made sexual harassment claims against director and Oscar-nominated screenwriter ("Bugsy"), James Toback.
From MadameNoire: Director Michael Canton-Jones days that Harvey Weinstein would not let him cast actress Sophie Okonedo in his 1998 flick, "B. Monkey," because Weinstein did not find her "f***able." Okonedo would go onto star in "Hotel Rwanda," for which she received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination. She has won a Tony Award.
OBITS:
From THR: Actor Jack Bannon has died at the age of 77, Wednesday, October 27, 2017. He was best known for playing the amiable city editor, Jack Donovan, on CBS's "Lou Grant."
From THR: Famed cinematographer Harry Stradling, Jr. died at the age of 92, Tuesday, October 17, 2017. A two-time Oscar nominee, Stradling was known for his work on Western films, like "Little Big Man" and "Rooster Cogburn." He worked across genres and earned Oscar nods for "1776" and "The Way We Were."
From RollingStone: The music icon and legend, Fats Domino, died at the age of 89, Tuesday, October 24, 2017. Domino, a symbol of the dawn of rock and roll, was an architect of rock and roll, and during the second half of the the 1950s, his record sales were reportedly second only to Elvis Presley. His hits including "I'm Walkin'," "Blue Monday," and "Ain't That a Shame," to name a few.
From TheWrap: The actor Robert Guillaume has died at the age of 89, Tuesday, October 24, 2017. He was best known for playing the character, Benson DuBois, a butler. He played Benson as a supporting character in the ABC TV series, "Soap," and as a lead character in the ABC series, "Benson." He won two Emmys for the role, once as a supporting actor and once as a lead actor. Guillaume is also known for his voice performance as "Rafiki," in the Disney animated film, "The Lion King." Guillaume won a Grammy Award for performing the character on "The Lion King" Read-a-long Book.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Disney Channel Star, Olivia Holt, Joins "Same Kind of Different As Me"
OLIVIA HOLT TO STAR IN PARAMOUNT PICTURES’ “SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME”
Olivia Holt, star of Disney Channel’s “I Didn’t Do It,” has joined the cast of Paramount Pictures’ “SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME,” based on the best-selling nonfiction book by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent, author of the bestselling book Heaven Is for Real.
Holt will play Regan, the daughter of Ron and Debbie Hall, played by Greg Kinnear and Renee Zellweger, respectively.
“SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME” is directed by Michael Carney from a screenplay he co-wrote with Alexander Foard and Ron Hall. Mary Parent and Cale Boyter are producing through Disruption Entertainment, alongside Darren Moorman, Stephen Johnson and Hall. The executive producers are Chris Bancroft, Hans Graffunder, Carney and Foard.
Holt currently stars as ‘Lindy’ in the Disney Channel original series “I Didn’t Do It,” which is about to start production for season 2. She is best known for playing ‘Kim’ in the Disney XD hit martial arts series “Kickin’ It.” Earlier this year, Holt sang the theme song “Carry On” in the DisneyNatures film “BEARS” and in September, signed a record deal with Hollywood Records.
“SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME” is the story of an international art dealer Ron Hall (Kinnear) who must befriend a dangerous homeless man (Djimon Hounsou) in order to save his struggling marriage to his wife (Zellweger), a woman whose dreams will lead all three of them on the most remarkable journey of their lives. Jon Voight plays Hall's father, with whom he reconciles thanks to the revelations of his new life.
The film is shooting in Jackson, Mississippi.
Holt is repped by Principato-Young Entertainment, Paradigm, & Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman.
Olivia Holt, star of Disney Channel’s “I Didn’t Do It,” has joined the cast of Paramount Pictures’ “SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME,” based on the best-selling nonfiction book by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent, author of the bestselling book Heaven Is for Real.
Holt will play Regan, the daughter of Ron and Debbie Hall, played by Greg Kinnear and Renee Zellweger, respectively.
“SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME” is directed by Michael Carney from a screenplay he co-wrote with Alexander Foard and Ron Hall. Mary Parent and Cale Boyter are producing through Disruption Entertainment, alongside Darren Moorman, Stephen Johnson and Hall. The executive producers are Chris Bancroft, Hans Graffunder, Carney and Foard.
Holt currently stars as ‘Lindy’ in the Disney Channel original series “I Didn’t Do It,” which is about to start production for season 2. She is best known for playing ‘Kim’ in the Disney XD hit martial arts series “Kickin’ It.” Earlier this year, Holt sang the theme song “Carry On” in the DisneyNatures film “BEARS” and in September, signed a record deal with Hollywood Records.
“SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME” is the story of an international art dealer Ron Hall (Kinnear) who must befriend a dangerous homeless man (Djimon Hounsou) in order to save his struggling marriage to his wife (Zellweger), a woman whose dreams will lead all three of them on the most remarkable journey of their lives. Jon Voight plays Hall's father, with whom he reconciles thanks to the revelations of his new life.
The film is shooting in Jackson, Mississippi.
Holt is repped by Principato-Young Entertainment, Paradigm, & Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Production Begins on Paramount Pictures' "Same Kind of Different as Me"
GREG KINNEAR, RENEE ZELLWEGER, DJIMON HOUNSOU AND JON VOIGHT TO STAR IN PARAMOUNT PICTURES’ “SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME”
PRODUCTION BEGAN OCTOBER 27TH IN JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI
Paramount Pictures today announced that Academy Award®-nominees Greg Kinnear and Djimon Hounsou and Academy Award®-winners Renee Zellweger and Jon Voight will star in “SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME,” based on the best-selling nonfiction book by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent, author of the bestselling book Heaven Is for Real.
Michael Carney will make his directorial debut from a screenplay he co-wrote with Alexander Foard and Ron Hall. Mary Parent and Cale Boyter will produce through Disruption Entertainment, alongside Darren Moorman, Stephen Johnson and Ron Hall. The executive producers are Chris Bancroft, Hans Graffunder, Michael Carney and Foard.
Principal photography began October 27th in Jackson, Mississippi.
“SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME” is the story of an international art dealer Ron Hall (Kinnear) who must befriend a dangerous homeless man (Hounsou) in order to save his struggling marriage to his wife (Zellweger), a woman whose dreams will lead all three of them on the most remarkable journey of their lives. Voight plays Hall's father, with whom he reconciles thanks to the revelations of his new life.
About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. Paramount controls a collection of some of the most powerful brands in filmed entertainment, including Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Home Media Distribution, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., and Paramount Studio Group.
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PRODUCTION BEGAN OCTOBER 27TH IN JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI
Paramount Pictures today announced that Academy Award®-nominees Greg Kinnear and Djimon Hounsou and Academy Award®-winners Renee Zellweger and Jon Voight will star in “SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME,” based on the best-selling nonfiction book by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent, author of the bestselling book Heaven Is for Real.
Michael Carney will make his directorial debut from a screenplay he co-wrote with Alexander Foard and Ron Hall. Mary Parent and Cale Boyter will produce through Disruption Entertainment, alongside Darren Moorman, Stephen Johnson and Ron Hall. The executive producers are Chris Bancroft, Hans Graffunder, Michael Carney and Foard.
Principal photography began October 27th in Jackson, Mississippi.
“SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME” is the story of an international art dealer Ron Hall (Kinnear) who must befriend a dangerous homeless man (Hounsou) in order to save his struggling marriage to his wife (Zellweger), a woman whose dreams will lead all three of them on the most remarkable journey of their lives. Voight plays Hall's father, with whom he reconciles thanks to the revelations of his new life.
About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. Paramount controls a collection of some of the most powerful brands in filmed entertainment, including Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Home Media Distribution, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., and Paramount Studio Group.
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Saturday, October 25, 2014
Negromancer News Bits and Bites for the Week of October 19th to 25th, 2014 - Update #15
NEWS:
From YahooTV: "Manhattan Love Story" becomes the first new show of the 2014-15 television season to get cancelled. Yahoo has a list of other endangered shows.
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From TheWrap: 2014 Gotham Film Awards nominations announced.
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From YahooMovies: Keanu Reeves laments that studios no longer offer him big budget films.
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From YahooCelebrity: A bit of news of the Renee Zellwegger "new face" freakout.
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From Time: Halle Berry's child support fight.
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From TheWrap: Patrick Stewart, of X-Men and Star Trek fame, to play a white supremacist in crime thriller, Green Room.
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From Variety: The new film, "Fury" takes the top spot at the October 17th to 19th, 2014 weekend box office with an estimated gross of $23.5 million dollars.
COMIC BOOKS - Movies and Books:
From YahooMovies: "Avengers: Age of Ultron" trailer debuts.
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From CheatSheet: Here is Jena Malone, rumored to be the female Robin in "Batman Vs. Superman."
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From TheWrap: Collin Farrell and Keanu Reeves among those being considered for Marvel's "Doctor Strange."
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From IGN: And the new Robin (in the Batman comic books) is... someone who was previously Robin.
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From NerdReactor: Zach Snyder is a genius... well, at least someone think so.
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From YahooMusic: Adam McKay reveals changes he made to the "Ant-Man" screenplay.
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From TheVerge: 9 Avengers rumors, plus one about Ryan Gosling.
STAR WARS:
From Flickeringmyth: More alleged "Star Wars 7" set photos.
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From the HuffingtonPost: 5 plot holes in Star Wars that you might have missed.
MISC:
From GMA: President Obama has odd, funny encounter while taking advantage of early voting.
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From Deadspin: Nobody wants to play with Kobe!
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Review: "Cinderella Man" Ignores the Woman Next to the Man (Happy B'day, Paul Giamatti)
Cinderella Man (2005)
Running time: 144 minutes (2 hours, 24 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense boxing violence and some language
DIRECTOR: Ron Howard
WRITERS: Cliff Hollingsworth and Akiva Goldsman; from a story by Cliff Hollingsworth
PRODUCERS: Brian Grazer, Penny Marshall, and Ron Howard
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Salvatore Totino
EDITORS: Daniel P. Hanley and Mike Hill
COMPOSER: Thomas Newman
Academy Award nominee
DRAMA/BIOPIC/SPORTS
Starring: Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger, Paul Giamatti, Craig Bierko, Paddy Considine, Bruce McGill, Ron Canada, Clint Howard, and Rufus Crawford
The subject of this movie review is Cinderella Man, a 2005 boxing drama and biographical film from director Ron Howard. The film is based on the life of heavyweight boxing champion, James J. Braddock (1935 to 1937), and the movie’s title is taken from Braddock’s nickname.
In 1928, James J. Braddock (Russell Crowe) was an up-and-coming prizefighter. By the early 1930, Jim Braddock was an impoverished ex-boxer – broken-down, beat-up, and as unfortunate and out of luck as so many Americans were who had hit rock bottom during the Depression. Although his boxing career was seemingly over, Braddock and still had a wife, Mae (Renée Zellweger), and three children to support, and to him they were what mattered most. Braddock was unable to pay his bills and eventually had to seek Public Relief (kind of like modern welfare); he even begged for money when things got that desperate.
However, Braddock never gave up on his dream to be a great boxer, even when the Boxing Commission took away his license to fight, and chance brings him a one-time fight. With his manager, Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti), at his side, Jim grabs the success of that fight and pushes his way back into boxing, each success keeping his family with a roof over their heads, food on the table, and light and heat. Eventually, he gets his dream match – a heavyweight championship fight with the reigning champion, the unstoppable Max Baer (Craig Bierko). Now, Jim, considered too old and finished by many in the boxing community, must face Baer, a man renowned for having killed two men in the ring.
Ron Howard’s biopic, Cinderella Man, based upon the real life of Depression-era boxing hero, Jim Braddock, was one of the best reviewed films of 2005, but considering the reviews and the pedigrees of the filmmakers involved, the film was not well attended. That’s a shame because Cinderella Man is one of those proverbial “good movies” of which many people, especially media watchers, complain there aren’t enough. This is actually Howard’s epic film, an ode to middle class values from a man, who as a child actor, played one of the ultimate Middle American children, Opie Taylor on “The Andy Griffith Show” and later played the teenage version of that in Richie Cunningham of “Happy Days.”
Cinderella Man is a film where you can really root for the hero, Jim Braddock. He’s the (not so) little guy battling against doubters, haters, financial misfortune, poverty, unemployment, etc., but he believes in himself. Though his back is often against the wall, he never quits, and he ain’t too proud to beg – if it keeps his family fed and off the streets. Russell Crowe’s performance embodies that plucky American spirit, but he shows something else we Americans really like – grit – the kind of grit it takes to fight the tough times. In fact, Paul Giamatti’s Joe Gould is like that voice inside our heads that keeps pushing us, and just when we think that the voice has left us, it’s back in our corner when it sees that we’re willing to fight out of the bad times. That’s the acting dynamic between Crowe and Giamatti – the hero and the voice of encouragement.
Cinderella Man actually does a few things to keep from being a perfect film. The lighting and cinematography are too murky; everything looks like an Old Master painting covered in soot. The script by Cliff Hollingsworth and Akiva Goldsman is good, but not great. One reason that it isn’t great is because it takes the easy road of turning Renée Zellweger’s Mae Braddock into the little wife at home fretting away for her man. I can imagine that Mae does as much to hold things together for the Braddocks, and Howard and his writers don’t have the imagination to really show her struggle – what she does to support the family unit. Mae is just a prop the filmmakers use when they need to send Jim home for scenes that don’t involve boxing or work.
Ultimately, this is Ron Howard’s Middle American fable, and he uses the elements of cinema to manipulate the audience as much as Steve Spielberg did in films like E.T. the Extraterrestrial and The Color Purple. However, Cinderella Man has many genuine and honest moments that speak to the American family and of the grit it takes for a family to keep it together. That’s enough to make me ignore the warts.
7 of 10
A-
NOTES:
2006 Academy Awards, USA: 3 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Paul Giamatti), “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Daniel P. Hanley and Mike Hill), “Best Achievement in Makeup” (David LeRoy Anderson and Lance Anderson)
2006 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Screenplay – Original” (Cliff Hollingsworth and Akiva Goldsman)
2006 Golden Globes, USA: 2 nominations “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Russell Crowe) and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Paul Giamatti)
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
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Friday, May 31, 2013
Will Smith Wags "Shark Tale" to Success
Shark Tale (2004)
Running time: 90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some mild language and crude humor
DIRECTORS: Bibo Bergeron, Vicky Jenson, and Rob Letterman
WRITERS: Damian Shannon, Mark Swift, Michael J. Wilson, and Rob Letterman
PRODUCERS: Bill Damaschke, Janet Healy, and Allison Lyon Segan
EDITORS: Nick Fletcher with Peter Lonsdale and John Venzon
COMPOSER: Hans Zimmer
Academy Award nominee
ANIMATION/COMEDY/FAMILY
Starring: (voices) Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Renée Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, Jack Black, Martin Scorsese, Ziggy Marley, Doug E. Doug, Michael Imperioli, Vincent Pastore, Peter Falk, Katie Couric, and Phil LaMarr
The subject of this movie review is Shark Tale, a 2004 computer-animated comedy film from DreamWorks Animation. Shark Tale stars Will Smith as a worker fish and Jack Black as a vegetarian shark who take advantage of a gangster shark’s death.
Oscar (voice of Will Smith) the fish lives in the low end of the reef. He works at a whale (think car) wash, but he’d like to be a rich, famous somebody. Lenny (Jack Black) is a vegetarian shark, but his father, Don Lino (Robert De Niro), a shark mob boss, wants him to be tough so that he can run the family business with his brother, Frankie (Michael Imperioli). Oscar and Lenny & Frankie have an accidental encounter that leaves Frankie dead. Through a series of unfortunate misunderstandings, Oscar gets credit for killing Frankie and becomes known as “the shark slayer.” Oscar befriends Lenny and the two help each other; Oscar gives Lenny a place to hide, and the shark helps the fish perpetuate the myth of Oscar being a shark slayer. However, all that wealth and fame make Oscar forget his roots, and he fails to see that his friend Angie (Renée Zellweger), has been there for him all along. And his troubles only get worse when Don Lino comes looking for the shark slayer, and Don Lino isn’t awed like everyone else at the reputation of the shark slayer.
I could never imagine Disney using African-American or Black subcultures as a stylistic basis for one of their animated films, but DreamWorks does just that with Shark Tale. The computer-animated tale uses lots of hip hop attitude and music and a little of its slang, mostly through the performance of actor Will Smith. The film isn’t hip hop heavy, but Shark Tale has enough hip hop-ness to be noticeable.
Hip hop aside, Shark Tale is a very entertaining film, mostly on the strength of Will Smith’s performance, and Smith seems to chose material that he has to save on the strength of his personality. Is that some kind of martyr complex? Shark Tale isn’t all that well directed or written. The film is well cast; even famed movie director Martin Scorsese surprises with a small but wiry voice over performance. However, Scorsese, like everyone except Will Smith, has little with which to work. The film, especially on the writing end, treats the cast like window dressing, but still, the supporting cast gives inspired performances as window dressing.
Shark Tale’s premise, both Oscar’s plot and Lenny’s subplot, are actually effective and intriguing; both however are glossed over. Oscar has some serious self-confidence issues, and Lenny is certainly…a fish out of water with his family. The script focuses on jokes over the substance of overcoming obstacles. Still, Shark Tale is very entertaining, and visually, it’s a vast improvement in the quality of the computer animation over other DreamWorks computer animated films.
So how does Shark Tale compare to the Oscar®-winning, Finding Nemo, which is also an undersea tale? Finding Nemo has more heart, and the screenwriters took time to delve into the character issues and the humanity of the players. Shark Tale creates obstacles for the characters and then sweeps everything under the rug, whereas Nemo saw the characters through heartaches all the way to victory. While it may come up short on that end, Shark Tale still deserves credit for what it does right. It lets a charming film personality and movie star do his thing, and boy, does Will Smith do his thang.
7 of 10
B+
NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Bill Damaschke)
2005 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “BAFTA Children's Award-Best Feature Film” (production team)
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Cast of Oscar-Winning "Chicago" Reunite at 2013 Oscars
Reunion Of "Chicago" Stars – Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, Renée Zellweger, And Catherine Zeta-Jones – To Present On 10th Anniversary Of The Film's Oscar® Win
Academy Award® winners Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones will join their "Chicago" cast mates Richard Gere and Queen Latifah to present together on-stage at the Oscars®, show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced today.
"We are very excited to reunite the stars of 'Chicago' to present on the Oscars, on the 10th anniversary of the movie's win for Best Picture," said Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.
Zellweger, Zeta-Jones and Queen Latifah received nominations for their performances in the film. Jones and Queen Latifah were nominated for their supporting roles, Jones took home the Oscar that year. Zellweger, who was nominated for her lead performance in the film, has been nominated three times, and won in 2003 for her supporting role in "Cold Mountain."
Gere, Queen Latifah, Zellweger and Zeta-Jones join a stellar list of previously announced Oscar presenters including Mark Wahlberg, Ted, and "The Avengers" cast members Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo; returning 2011 Oscar winners Jean Dujardin, Christopher Plummer, Octavia Spencer and Meryl Streep; special guests Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Daniel Radcliffe, Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron; and performers Adele, Dame Shirley Bassey, Norah Jones and Barbra Streisand.
Oscars for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, February 24, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and will be hosted by Seth MacFarlane live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.
ABOUT CRAIG ZADAN AND NEIL MERON
Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are producers of critically acclaimed and award-winning feature films, television movies, series, and Broadway productions. Their feature films include The Bucket List, Footloose, Hairspray, and Chicago, which won six Academy Awards including one for “Best Picture.” For television, they’ve produced films of “Steel Magnolias,” "Life with Judy Garland," and "A Raisin in the Sun," among many others and the series “Smash” and “Drop Dead Diva.” They recently returned to their roots in live theater by producing Broadway revivals of the Tony-winning “Promises, Promises” and the Tony-winning 50th Anniversary revival of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”
Academy Award® winners Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones will join their "Chicago" cast mates Richard Gere and Queen Latifah to present together on-stage at the Oscars®, show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced today.
"We are very excited to reunite the stars of 'Chicago' to present on the Oscars, on the 10th anniversary of the movie's win for Best Picture," said Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.
Zellweger, Zeta-Jones and Queen Latifah received nominations for their performances in the film. Jones and Queen Latifah were nominated for their supporting roles, Jones took home the Oscar that year. Zellweger, who was nominated for her lead performance in the film, has been nominated three times, and won in 2003 for her supporting role in "Cold Mountain."
Gere, Queen Latifah, Zellweger and Zeta-Jones join a stellar list of previously announced Oscar presenters including Mark Wahlberg, Ted, and "The Avengers" cast members Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo; returning 2011 Oscar winners Jean Dujardin, Christopher Plummer, Octavia Spencer and Meryl Streep; special guests Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Daniel Radcliffe, Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron; and performers Adele, Dame Shirley Bassey, Norah Jones and Barbra Streisand.
Oscars for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, February 24, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and will be hosted by Seth MacFarlane live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.
ABOUT CRAIG ZADAN AND NEIL MERON
Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are producers of critically acclaimed and award-winning feature films, television movies, series, and Broadway productions. Their feature films include The Bucket List, Footloose, Hairspray, and Chicago, which won six Academy Awards including one for “Best Picture.” For television, they’ve produced films of “Steel Magnolias,” "Life with Judy Garland," and "A Raisin in the Sun," among many others and the series “Smash” and “Drop Dead Diva.” They recently returned to their roots in live theater by producing Broadway revivals of the Tony-winning “Promises, Promises” and the Tony-winning 50th Anniversary revival of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Review: "Down with Love" With is a Showcase for Costume Design (Happy B'day, Renee Zellweger)
Down with Love (2003)
Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual humor and dialogue
DIRECTOR: Peyton Reed
WRITERS: Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake
PRODUCERS: Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeff Cronenweth
EDITOR: Larry Bock
COMEDY/ROMANCE
Starring: Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Sarah Paulson, David Hyde Pierce, Rachel Dratch, Jack Plotnick, Tony Randall, and Jeri Ryan
The subject of this movie review is Down with Love, a 2003 romantic comedy. Directed by Peyton Reed, it is a pastiche of early 1960s sex comedies.
The Renée Zellweger-Ewan McGregor comedy, Down with Love, was apparently an attempt to recreate the Doris Day-Rock Hudson film Pillow Talk in both appearance and mood. Down with Love also tries to capture the time period of similar comedies from the 1950’s and 1960’s, like the 1964 Natalie Wood movie, Sex and the Single Girl, from which Down with Love borrows the plot device of a heroine writing a best selling book. The film does want to be something from the past, but it is more retro than accurate. The anachronisms may be deliberate, but that makes the film a strange hybrid of being both historical fiction and a naïve nostalgic revival. It’s so peculiar that the best I can do is say that I found it mildly entertaining and pleasant with its wall to wall tongue-in-cheek humor, but I can’t say any reader of this review will like it, although the film clearly had admirers including several print, television, and online reviewers.
Barbara Novak (Ms. Zellweger) writes a best-selling book, Down with Love, that leads a lot of women to start looking at love, relationships, and sex the way men do. Barbara earns the ire of dashing playboy journalist, Catcher Block (McGregor). A womanizer who is described as a “man’s man, ladies’ man, man about town,” Block targets Barbara for a takedown. He adopts the guise of an innocent Southern gentleman and astronaut and courts Barbara in an attempt to make her do just what her book says women should not do, fall in love with a man, but will Catcher fall in love with Barbara?
Down with Love is coy and filled with sexual innuendo. The innuendo is good for some laughs, but the coyness ultimately hurts the film. In the final analysis the films seems to encourage marriage, while also suggesting that a woman assume some feminist position of power. Chase a man, then run away from the man when you realize that you’ve mistakenly fallen in love with him. Make him beg to respect you, play hard to get, then give in – I don’t know what’s going on here. However, Down with Love certainly looks like the few romantic comedies from the 1950’s and 60’s I’ve seen. The art direction resulted in some truly beautiful sets and the cinematography is both of a fine quality and convincingly looks like the time period it attempts to mimic.
Ms. Zellweger and McGregor are charming, but are more or less on automatic, relying on star power, their good looks and reputations rather than on acting chops. The actual standout performer in Down with Love is the costume designer Daniel Orlandi and his crew. Every costume (from head to toe) was custom made for each character. So I’ll recommend this film for fans of the lead performers and romantic/comedies, especially of those from the 1950’s and 60’s.
5 of 10
B-
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Sunday, April 8, 2012
Review: Crazy White Women Put the Bloom in "White Oleander" (Happy B'day, Robin Wright)
White Oleander (2002)
Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for mature thematic elements concerning dysfunctional relationships, drug content, language, sexuality and violence
DIRECTOR: Peter Kosminsky
WRITER: Mary Alice Donoghue (from the novel by Janet Fitch)
PRODUCERS: Hunt Lowry and John Wells
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Elliot Davis (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Chris Ridsdale
COMPOSER: Thomas Newman
DRAMA
Starring: Alison Lohman, Robin Wright Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Renee Zellweger, Amy Aquino, Patrick Fugit, Cole Hauser, Noah Wylie, Marc Donato, Billy Connolly, and Dallas McKinney
The subject of this movie review is White Oleander, a 2002 American drama film. It based upon the 1999 novel of the same name from author Janet Fitch, a novel which also has the distinction of being picked for Oprah’s Book Club in 1999.
In White Oleander, Michelle Pfeiffer is Ingrid Magnussen, a woman sentenced to prison when she murders her lover in a crime of passion. Her imprisonment sends her daughter Astrid (Alison Lohman) on a journey through the foster care system where she undergoes intense experiences of love, loss, and near death. She, however, never loses touch with her mother, maintaining contact through letters and Astrid’s brief visits to the prison. As the years past, Astrid begins to resent her mother’s insistence that she live her life as her mother wishes, and their relationship becomes a war between a controlling mother and a teenage girl determined to find her own way.
I could describe the film White Oleander (the name of a beautiful, but deadly poisonous plant) as beautiful, but I would have to add on the descriptive term, “hauntingly.” If you like chick movies, especially sad chick movies, White Oleander is one of the best I’ve seen in ages. It is unrelentingly sad, and that has put off some viewers, but the performances are monster and deserve to be seen. Ms. Pfieffer can play the shrinking violet as well as anyone (see Dangerous Liaisons), but her talents are quite sharp when she extends her razor-like claws of her talent into bad girl/misunderstood woman roles (The Fabulous Baker Boys or her voice work in the animated Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas). Young Alison Lohman shows an ability to channel pain that recalls the early work of the first lady of tragic heroines, Meryl Streep. Ms. Lohman dominates this movie, and she saves this from being a dreadful movie of the week. Director Peter Kosminsky (an award-winning television movie director) smartly lets her shine.
White Oleander is quite engaging and enthralling, unusual for a movie of such palatable sadness, but it’s rewarding. It’s a feel good movie about surviving the really rough patches in life. I fault an incoherent script for running from one sad scene to another as if the writer was trying to make a grocery list of the bad things that can happen in life. The film never really slows down to take the time and show us the process of Astrid growing up and growing independent. Still, this has to be one of the prettiest sad movies in a long time. It’s like a beautiful car wreck and if you’re not careful, you might find yourself in love with all this pain.
7 of 10
B+
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Monday, October 17, 2011
Review: "Chicago" is Bold and Splash (Happy B'day, Rob Marshall)
Chicago (2002)
Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content and dialogue, violence and thematic elements
DIRECTOR: Rob Marshall
WRITER: Bill Condon (based upon the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins and the musical by Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb)
PRODUCER: Martin Richards
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dion Beebe (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Martin Walsh
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
2003 Academy Award winner
MUSICAL/CRIME/DRAMA with elements of comedy
Starring: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Lucy Liu, Taye Diggs, Colm Feore, Christine Baranski, Dominic West, and Mya
Adulterous Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) kills her lover after he boldly admits lying to her and stringing her along. Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) kills her song and dance partner sister and her own husband when she catches them knocking boots. Both end up in the same dark and dank prison awaiting trial, clients of William “Billy” Flynn (Richard Gere), a flamboyant lawyer who specializes in representing gals who’ve killed their husbands and lovers. Under the tutelage of Matron “Mama” Morton (Queen Latifah), the girls struggle to escape the gallows for their crimes and strive for fame in scandal laden 1920’s Chicago.
Yes, it’s good, damn good. Director/choreographer Rob Marshall’s Chicago, a film version of the famed musical, is a thoroughly enjoyable and invigorating film spectacle. If this and Moulin Rouge! represent what the return of film musicals will look like, we are in for a treat. Marshall choreographed “Annie” and “Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella” for television. In his film, he creates lavish and electrical dance scenes of the musical’s songs and integrates them with the dark and gritty world of 20’s Chicago. The colorful staged renditions of the songs flit back and forth showing us the idealized worlds of the characters, juxtaposed against the brutal frankness of their real world. The dance numbers are stirring and attention grabbing, as visually attractive as anything on MTV.
Screenwriter Bill Condon, who won an Academy Award for writing his film Gods and Monsters, does an excellent job composing a story that can compete with the energy and electricity of the songs. That’s no easy feat. Condon had to structure the story so that we would be as interested in it as we were thrilled by the songs. Chicago’s central story is rife with engaging tension and conflict and with characters we can support along every step of their treacherous journey.
Can Ms. Zellweger, Ms. Zeta-Jones, and Mr. Gere sing and dance? The answer is a resounding “yes!” Seeing them in the staged numbers and in the story scenes is like watching six different performers. I had a hard time believing the actors and singer/dancers were the same people; I know these performers and to see them pull off these performances is a revelation. I didn’t know Gere had it in him. It’s simply stunning and worth every minute of your time to watch.
The supporting performances are quite nice. Queen Latifah’s presence asserts itself strongly on the film; it often seems as if Mama is the puppeteer backstage directing events. Taye Diggs adds a sense of style to the film, and John C. Reilly quietly adds a sense of innocence and moral dignity to a story of people ready to grab fame at any costs.
Chicago, like Moulin Rouge!, is not like your average film. In fact, it’s very different from most quality and “serious” films. Like a good drama, it’s thoughtful; like the best action movies, it’s quite explosive. Chicago is a dream work, a film that is as visually rambunctious as the best music videos, but with the strong story and characters that you can take to heart – a must see movie.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
2003 Academy Awards: 6 wins: “Best Picture” (Martin Richards), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Catherine Zeta-Jones), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (John Myhre-art director and Gordon Sim-set decorator), “Best Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood), “Best Film Editing” (Martin Walsh), and “Best Sound” (Michael Minkler, Dominick Tavella, and David Lee); 6 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (John C. Reilly), “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Renée Zellweger), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Queen Latifah), “Best Cinematography” (Dion Beebe), “Best Director” (Rob Marshall), “Best Music, Original Song” (John Kander-music and Fred Ebb-lyrics for the song "I Move On"), and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Bill Condon)
2003 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and “Best Sound” (Michael Minkler, Dominick Tavella, David Lee, and Maurice Schell); 10 nominations: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Danny Elfman, John Kander, and Fred Ebb), “Best Cinematography” (Dion Beebe), “Best Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood), “Best Editing” (Martin Walsh), “Best Film” (Martin Richards), “Best Make Up/Hair” (Jordan Samuel and Judi Cooper-Sealy), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Renée Zellweger), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Queen Latifah), “Best Production Design” (John Myhre), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Rob Marshall)
2003 Golden Globes: 3 wins: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Martin Richards), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Richard Gere), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Renée Zellweger); 5 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Rob Marshall), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (John C. Reilly), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Catherine Zeta-Jones), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Queen Latifah), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Bill Condon)
2003 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Theatrical - Best Supporting Actress” (Queen Latifah)
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Monday, April 25, 2011
Review: "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" is Better Than the Original (Happy B'day, Renee Zellweger)
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 237 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – R for some language and some sexual content
DIRECTOR: Beeban Kidron
WRITERS: Andrew Davies, Richard Curtis, Adam Brooks, and Helen Fielding (based upon the novel of the same title by Helen Fielding)
PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan, Jonathan Cavendish, and Eric Fellner
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Adrian Biddle and Doug Propp
EDITOR: Greg Hayden
Golden Globe nominee
COMEDY/ROMANCE with elements of drama
Starring: Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Gemma Jones, Jim Broadbent, and Jacinda Barrett
Bridget Jones’s Diary was a comic romance – a romantic film with a huge helping of humor. The 2004 sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, is a romantic comedy – a thoroughly comic film that deals with romance. Taking place several weeks after the end of the original film, The Edge of Reason should find Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) happy, right?
She found her Mr. Right in Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) by the end of Diary, but as Edge begins Bridget discovers that the couple has huge cultural, social, and personality conflicts. Mark is a conservative who has poor people-hating, rich Tory friends. Bridget is full of insecurities, although Mark is supportive and (almost) tolerant of Bridget’s tiny jealousies. However, the trouble comes to a head when Bridget meets Mark’s leggy new intern, Rebecca (Jacinda Barrett). Rebecca is thin, oh-so-young, drop-dead gorgeous, and she always says the right thing at the right time. Fed up with what she perceives as Mark’s cold lack of concern about their future together she dumps him. Just in time, her old flame, old boss, and eternal cad, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), sweeps in and to become Bridget’s new co-worker. Their television partnership eventually takes them to Thailand in what becomes the worst vacation Bridget ever had. Will Mark come to her rescue… and rescue of their relationship?
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is one of the funniest movies of the year, the funniest movie Ms. Zellweger has done to date, and funnier (though not as romantic) than the original. Ms. Zellweger gives one of the finest comic performances in recent years; it’s part slapstick and part physical comedy (lots of pratfalls). Not only did she have to give near perfect timing on the delivery of her dialogue, but also her facial ticks and mannerisms had to perfectly fit the moment, which they always do in this film.
Colin Firth didn’t bring anything new to the second film, but he didn’t need to change what he did in the original film. His film persona is endearing (even when he plays the bad guy, as he did in Shakespeare in Love); Firth makes Mark Darcy as he must be – perfectly so to explain Bridget’s craziness about their relationship. Hugh Grant is cut from the classic mold of old Hollywood. He’s a star known for “playing himself.” He is however, vastly underrated, because of his skill in slightly modifying the same character (he plays every time) to flawlessly fit each new film in which the character appears. Virtually every classic Hollywood film star from Humphrey Bogart to James Stewart did this, and Grant’s spin on his film persona is another reason Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is not only better than the original, but also a standout comedy.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
2005 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Renée Zellweger)
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"Bridget Jones's Diary" Has Fun with Words
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 236 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux
Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK/France
Running time: 97 minutes (1 hour, 37 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and some strong sexuality
DIRECTOR: Sharon Maguire
WRITERS: Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies, and Richard Curtis (based upon the novel by Helen Fielding)
PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan, Jonathan Cavendish, and Eric Fellner
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stuart Dryburgh
EDITOR: Martin Walsh
Academy Award nominee
COMEDY/ROMANCE with elements of drama
Starring: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Gemma Jones, Celia Imrie, James Faulkner, Jim Broadbent, Felicity Montagu, Shirley Henderson, Sally Phillips, and James Callis, Salman Rushdie, Embeth Davidtz, and Honor Blackman with Julian Barnes
Renée Zellweger earned an Oscar® nomination in the category of “Best Actress in a Leading Role” for her performance in Bridget Jones’s Diary. Bridget Jones (Ms. Zellweger) is a 30-something, single British girl who decides to improve herself (i.e. lose weight) while seeking to find Mr. Right before she becomes an old maid (if she isn’t already that in her own estimation), so Bridget decides to keep a diary of her progress and her trials and travails. Her romantic endeavors eventually focuses on two men
There’s her boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), at a publishing firm, and Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), who was childhood neighbor. Cleaver is a cad who lays ‘em and leaves ‘em, and Darcy is a sharp-tongue, embittered divorcee, who claims to have bad memories of Bridget as a child. Who will finish the film as Bridget’s beau, and will she make an ass of herself before she finds her man?
Although the film story doesn’t amount to much, Bridget Jones’s Diary’s script is witty and bawdy enough to cause blushing. Ms. Zellweger expertly plays the fumbling Bridget Jones, who has a penchant for running off at the mouth and saying the worst things at the worst times. Like her co-stars (especially Grant and Firth), she makes the most of the film’s dialogue; ultimately, it’s what the actors say that defines their characters. If they’d delivered their lines badly, they would have ruined the film; luckily the cast verbally dances around each other like Olympic fencers.
7 of 10
B+
NOTES:
2002 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Renée Zellweger)
2002 BAFTA Awards: 4 nominations: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Jonathan Cavendish), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Colin Firth), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Renée Zellweger), “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies, and Richard Curtis)
2002 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Renée Zellweger)
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Review: "Cold Mountain" Wants to Be Epic and Literary (Happy B'day, Anthony Minghella)
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux
Cold Mountain (2003)
Running time: 154 minutes (2 hours, 34 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and sexuality
DIRECTOR: Anthony Minghella
WRITER: Anthony Minghella (based upon the novel by Charles Frazier)
PRODUCERS: Albert Berger, William Horberg, Sydney Pollack, and Ron Yerxa
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Seale (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Walter Murch
Academy Award winner
DRAMA/HISTORICAL/ROMANCE/WAR
Starring: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Donald Sutherland, Ray Winstone, Brendan Gleeson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Kathy Baker, James Gammon, and Giovanni Ribisi
Inman (Jude Law) fell in love with Reverend Monroe’s (Donald Sutherland) daughter, Ada (Nicole Kidman), without really knowing her, but there was something about her and there were no words to describe the strength of this new love. Then, Inman has to go off to fight for the Confederacy in the War Between States.
In the waning years of the war, Inman, after surviving a grave wound, deserts the Southern army and embarks on a perilous journey back home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina, realizing that he’s tired of killing and as a broken man, he could find comfort in Ada’s arms. Meanwhile, Ada is struggling on the home front until she’s meets a feisty young mountain girl, Ruby Thewes (Renée Zellweger), who helps Ada get her father’s farm back in order. Together the survive depredations, the home guard, and cruel local lawman looking for Ada’s love.
Director Anthony Minghella won an Academy Award for directing the powerful, tragic romance, The English Patient, and after following that with The Talented Mr. Ripley and now Cold Mountain, Minghella seems intent on making love stories that move inextricable to a tragic end. Minghella is a really good filmmaker; his movies play out as if directed by a thoughtful storyteller who combines the disciplined acting of stage drama with the visual punch of epic filmmaking.
Cold Mountain is beautifully photographed, and the war scenes, despite their brevity, are as emotionally charged as anything since Braveheart, and the scenes have that kind of old school charm that recalls the golden age Hollywood classic, Gone with the Wind. Cold Mountain is a film where all the skilled and technical crafts were put on film with bravado and intelligence and with an eye on beauty, as if the filmmakers knew that Cold Mountain was indeed a war film, but a war film with an eye on the love lives of the soldiers behind the lines.
The acting is earnest and good, but seems a bit strained at times. It’s too sweet, as if the actors know that they were in an important film, a film leaning more toward art than entertainment – we’re actors, and this time we’re acting in an important film, not starring in a blockbuster. In fact, the acting is reminiscent of the exaggerated, faux stage acting style of 1930 and 40’s Hollywood romance films. Combine this forced formalism with the fact that Cold Mountain is slightly miscast, and the film is suddenly kind of twitchy.
Cold Mountain is a very good film, and it is indeed a poignant romance with epic war as the backdrop. You weep for the character’s hardships, but you yearn as they long for love. If the ending had been at all agreeable, this would have been a perfect film, but what pleasures it offers are indeed gratifying, so I recommend it.
7 of 10
B+
NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Renée Zellweger); 6 nominations: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Jude Law), “Best Cinematography” (John Seale), “Best Editing” (Walter Murch), “Best Music, Original Score” (Gabriel Yared), “Best Music, Original Song” (T-Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello for the song "Scarlet Tide") and “Best Music, Original Song” (Sting for the song "You Will Be My Ain True Love")
2004 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Gabriel Yared and T-Bone Burnett) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Renée Zellweger); 11 nominations: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Sydney Pollack, William Horberg, Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, and Anthony Minghella), “Best Cinematography” (John Seale) “Best Costume Design” (Ann Roth and Carlo Poggioli), “Best Editing” (Walter Murch), “Best Film” (Sydney Pollack, William Horberg, Albert Berger, and Ron Yerxa), “Best Make Up/Hair” (Paul Engelen and Ivana Primorac), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Jude Law), “Best Production Design” (Dante Ferretti), “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Anthony Minghella), “Best Sound” (Eddy Joseph, Ivan Sharrock, Walter Murch, Mike Prestwood Smith, and Matthew Gough) and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Anthony Minghella)
2004 Golden Globes: 1 win “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Renée Zellweger); 7 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Anthony Minghella), “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Gabriel Yared), “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Sting for the song "You Will Be My Ain True Love"), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Jude Law), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Nicole Kidman) and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Anthony Minghella)
Cold Mountain (2003)
Running time: 154 minutes (2 hours, 34 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and sexuality
DIRECTOR: Anthony Minghella
WRITER: Anthony Minghella (based upon the novel by Charles Frazier)
PRODUCERS: Albert Berger, William Horberg, Sydney Pollack, and Ron Yerxa
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Seale (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Walter Murch
Academy Award winner
DRAMA/HISTORICAL/ROMANCE/WAR
Starring: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Donald Sutherland, Ray Winstone, Brendan Gleeson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Kathy Baker, James Gammon, and Giovanni Ribisi
Inman (Jude Law) fell in love with Reverend Monroe’s (Donald Sutherland) daughter, Ada (Nicole Kidman), without really knowing her, but there was something about her and there were no words to describe the strength of this new love. Then, Inman has to go off to fight for the Confederacy in the War Between States.
In the waning years of the war, Inman, after surviving a grave wound, deserts the Southern army and embarks on a perilous journey back home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina, realizing that he’s tired of killing and as a broken man, he could find comfort in Ada’s arms. Meanwhile, Ada is struggling on the home front until she’s meets a feisty young mountain girl, Ruby Thewes (Renée Zellweger), who helps Ada get her father’s farm back in order. Together the survive depredations, the home guard, and cruel local lawman looking for Ada’s love.
Director Anthony Minghella won an Academy Award for directing the powerful, tragic romance, The English Patient, and after following that with The Talented Mr. Ripley and now Cold Mountain, Minghella seems intent on making love stories that move inextricable to a tragic end. Minghella is a really good filmmaker; his movies play out as if directed by a thoughtful storyteller who combines the disciplined acting of stage drama with the visual punch of epic filmmaking.
Cold Mountain is beautifully photographed, and the war scenes, despite their brevity, are as emotionally charged as anything since Braveheart, and the scenes have that kind of old school charm that recalls the golden age Hollywood classic, Gone with the Wind. Cold Mountain is a film where all the skilled and technical crafts were put on film with bravado and intelligence and with an eye on beauty, as if the filmmakers knew that Cold Mountain was indeed a war film, but a war film with an eye on the love lives of the soldiers behind the lines.
The acting is earnest and good, but seems a bit strained at times. It’s too sweet, as if the actors know that they were in an important film, a film leaning more toward art than entertainment – we’re actors, and this time we’re acting in an important film, not starring in a blockbuster. In fact, the acting is reminiscent of the exaggerated, faux stage acting style of 1930 and 40’s Hollywood romance films. Combine this forced formalism with the fact that Cold Mountain is slightly miscast, and the film is suddenly kind of twitchy.
Cold Mountain is a very good film, and it is indeed a poignant romance with epic war as the backdrop. You weep for the character’s hardships, but you yearn as they long for love. If the ending had been at all agreeable, this would have been a perfect film, but what pleasures it offers are indeed gratifying, so I recommend it.
7 of 10
B+
NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Renée Zellweger); 6 nominations: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Jude Law), “Best Cinematography” (John Seale), “Best Editing” (Walter Murch), “Best Music, Original Score” (Gabriel Yared), “Best Music, Original Song” (T-Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello for the song "Scarlet Tide") and “Best Music, Original Song” (Sting for the song "You Will Be My Ain True Love")
2004 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Gabriel Yared and T-Bone Burnett) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Renée Zellweger); 11 nominations: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Sydney Pollack, William Horberg, Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, and Anthony Minghella), “Best Cinematography” (John Seale) “Best Costume Design” (Ann Roth and Carlo Poggioli), “Best Editing” (Walter Murch), “Best Film” (Sydney Pollack, William Horberg, Albert Berger, and Ron Yerxa), “Best Make Up/Hair” (Paul Engelen and Ivana Primorac), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Jude Law), “Best Production Design” (Dante Ferretti), “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Anthony Minghella), “Best Sound” (Eddy Joseph, Ivan Sharrock, Walter Murch, Mike Prestwood Smith, and Matthew Gough) and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Anthony Minghella)
2004 Golden Globes: 1 win “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Renée Zellweger); 7 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Anthony Minghella), “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Gabriel Yared), “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Sting for the song "You Will Be My Ain True Love"), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Jude Law), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Nicole Kidman) and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Anthony Minghella)
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