Negromancer News Bits and Bites from August 14th to 20th, 2022 - Update #12

by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

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ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:

TELEVISION - From Deadline:  Warner Bros. Discovery has shuttered HBO Max's non-scripted division.  Discovery already has a non-scripted division and HBO Max is supposed to merge with Discovery+, so...

BUSINESS - From Deadline:  Swedish video game company Embracer Group has acquired "Middle-earth Enterprises," a division of The Saul Zaentz Company, which owns the intellectual property catalogue and worldwide rights to "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien.  Financial terms of the sale were not revealed.

TELEVISION - From Deadline:  Viewership of streaming programming surpassed that of cable TV for the first time in July, Nielsen reported.

NETFLIX - From Deadline:  Netflix has released a teaser trailer for "Wednesday," which is director Tim Burton's re-imagining of "The Addams Family."

ACADEMY AWARDS - From AlJazeera:  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has apologized to Sacheen Littlefeather, a Native-American activist who endured abuse when she took a stand at the 1973 Academy Awards against anti-Indigenous racism in the U.S. film industry.  The Academy will host Littlefeather, now 75, for an evening of conversation and healing on September 17th, 2022.

MOVIES - From Deadline:  Robert De Niro will star in Warner Bros' mob drama, "Wise Guys," which will be directed by Oscar-winner, Barry Levinson.

MOVIES - From Deadline:  The very busy Kenya Barris ("Black-ish") will write and direct a re-imagining of "The Wizard of Oz" for Warner Bros.

MOVIES - From Variety:   Actress Bryce Dallas Howard says she was paid so much less than her costar, Chris Pratt, on the "Jurassic World" sequels, but that Pratt did fight for pay equity.

BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficePro:  The winner of the 8/12 to 8/14/2022 weekend box office is "Bullet Train" with an estimated take of 13.4 million dollars.

CRIME - From YahooPolitics:  The FBI's search warrant for Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property has been released and can be read at the "Yahoo" link.

OBITS:

From Deadline:  German film director, Wolfgang Petersen, has died at the age of 81, Friday, August 12, 2022.  He came to prominence in America with his West German war film, "Das Boot" (1981).  He earned two of the film's six Academy Award nominations, "Best Director" and "Best Adapted Screenplay."  He would go on to direct some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters and action films, including "In the Line of Fire" (1993), "Outbreak" (1995), "Air Force One" (1997), and "The Perfect Storm" (2000), to name a few.

From THR:  Prolific film and television character actress, Denise Dowse, had died at the age of 64, Saturday, August 13, 2022.  She appeared in numerous film and said that her roles in "Ray" (2004) and "Coach Carter" (2005) were her favorites.  Her extensive TV career including recurring roles in "Beverly Hills, 90210," "The Guardian" and HBO's "Insecure."

From GuardianUK:  The television, film, and stage actress, Anne Heche, has died at the age of 53, Thursday, August 11, 2022 after being declared "brain dead."  She first came to fame as the twins "Vicky Hudson" and "Marley Love" on the daytime soap opera, "Another World" from 1987-91, which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award.  She came to prominence in the mid to late 1990s in a number of prestigious films, including "Donnie Brasco" (1997), "Psycho" (1998), and "Six Day, Seven Nights" (1998).  In recent years, she had recurring roles on such television series as NBC's "Chicago P.D." and CBS' former series, "All Rise."

Review: Brad Pitt Shakes Money-Maker in "Troy"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 84 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Troy (2004)
Running time: 163 minutes (2 hours, 43 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic violence and some sexuality/nudity
DIRECTOR: Wolfgang Petersen
WRITER: David Benioff (inspired by Homer’s The Iliad)
PRODUCERS: Diana Rathbun, Colin Wilson, and Wolfgang Petersen
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roger Pratt, B.S.C.
EDITOR: Peter Honess, A.C.E.
Academy Award nominee

ACTION/DRAMA/HISTORICAL/WAR with elements of adventure and romance

Starring: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger, Brian Cox, Sean Bean, Brendan Gleeson, Peter O’Toole, and Garrett Hedlund

Paris of Troy (Orlando Bloom) steals Helen (Diane Kruger), the wife of the Spartan King, Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson). Agamemnon (Brian Cox), Menelaus’ brother and the king who united the varied Greek kingdoms, suddenly has a reason to invade Troy. Paris’ brother, Hector (Eric Bana) stands ready to defend his kingdom, but that means he may have to face the greatest warrior the world will ever known, Achilles (Brad Pitt). This old tale gets a retelling in Warner Bros.’ Troy.

Anyone who is familiar with the legend of Troy from Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad (or Virgil’s The Aeneid) or countless retellings, documentaries, history lessons, etc. will already know how this film ends. But trust Hollywood to make just enough changes to surprise or, at least, infuriate purists. In my case, I was deeply troubled by a number of issues (especially the absence of the manipulations of the quarrelling Greek gods’ who played a large role in the literary story of Troy), but it wasn’t enough to keep me from enjoying this movie.

Director Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy is an epic war story that is equal parts costume drama and big budget, Hollywood historical epic. It’s goofy, but serious enough to past muster. The dialogue is wooden and stiff, and the speeches will sometimes make you cringe. However, there are enough times when the characters speak with equal measure of weight and pomposity and clarity to sell the story. And at the end of the day, this movie is just fun to watch.

Like those historical epics of the 1950’s and 60’s, Troy has some secret allure to it. For some reason, these crazy dramas, with their high fallutin’ faux Shakesperean-lite speeches, are entertaining. Of course, there are always the battles, and Petersen (another very talented film director who has an impressive filmography of entertaining macho movies) stages the slugfests and bloodshed with brilliance. Granted, I’ve seen the massing of large fleets and armies on the big screen before Troy, but Petersen also smartly focuses on individual, man on man fight scenes, especially those with Achilles.

Regardless of what one might think, there’s no way you cannot not treat yourself to the sight of Brad Pitt throwing it down Greek thug style. I loved his fight scenes, and while he may not be the world’s greatest actor, he may be one of the most sincere. He looks great on screen, and the camera loves him. Pitt throws himself into the role of Achilles with such relish that I can’t help but be awed by him. And no matter what others might say, he more than holds his own in a really nice scene he has with Peter O’Toole. Yes, he may not be the greatest actor, but he’s one of the great movies stars, and he’s a better actor than for which he’s given credit. For him alone, I recommend Troy.

7 of 10
B+

NOTE:
2005 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Bob Ringwood)

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