Kingdom's Lure

A few days ago a story about alleged right-wing disdain for Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven (20th Century Fox, 5.6) appeared in the London Times. **

The paper's L.A. correspondent John Harlow reported that "Christian hostility" to the film (the righties don't like it that some of the Crusaders are portrayed as selfish and "mean-spirited," and they really don't like it that Saladin, the Muslim military leader, is portrayed in "chivalrous" terms) may prove "damaging" at the box office.

Orlando Bloom during relatively early scene in Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven.

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Face-Off

On Tuesday afternon I saw a DVD of Paul Schrader's Exorcist prequel flick, which has been titled as Dominion: A Prequel to The Exorcist. Warner Bros. will release it on May 20, and it's about friggin' time.

Do I have to recount the whole Exorcist mishegoss over the last two or three years? Are there people who haven't read about Morgan Creek's James Robinson shelving the Schrader because he felt it wasn't scary or pea-soupy enough, and then hiring Renny Harlin to shoot a slicker, aimed-at-the-youth-market version, blah blah?

Stellan Skarsgard (r.), star of

Heads Will Roll

The stand-out thing about The Ax, the new Costa-Gavras satire that opened the San Francisco Film Festival on Thursday night (4.23), isn't that it's utterly black. That's obvious and easily digestible from the get-go. We're used to this, in any case.

The money element for me -- the selling point -- is that it's so bracingly dry. And tightly plotted and suspenseful. And the fact that it never quite tips into being a reassuring "comedy."

The Ax director and co-writer Costa-Gavras, producer (and wife) Michele Ray-Gavras during reception at home of Frederic Desagneaux -- Friday, 4.22.05, 7:10 pm.

Beautiful Journey

How many coming-to-America immigrant movies have I seen that have put the hook in? Not that many. Up until two days ago I would have said I'm not a huge fan of this genre, if you can call it that. People uprooted, struggling, adversity, etc. I've got enough aggravation.

I remember liking Elia Kazan's America, America (1963), about a young Greek guy (based upon Kazan's uncle) making his way to these shores. And the young Vito Corleone, Robert De Niro, life-in-Little- Italy sections of The Godfather, Part II. And I'll never forget Oliver Stone's Heaven and EarthRead More

Considering the Smiths

Things seem to be happening between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie these days. Stories about recent time spent together (shared vacations, swanky hotel rooms, etc.) have been inside all the supermarket tabs, including Us magazine. And the evidence seems conclusive. **

Question is, what effect will these tabloid shenanigans have on the fortunes of Mr. and Mrs. Smith (20th Century Fox, 6.10), an obviously pumped-up, very expensive action comedy from director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Go ) in which they play married-to-each-other professional assassins?

Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie in Doug Liman's

The Big Stink

Deep down there's something in us that enjoys the art of financial hoodwinking and flim-flamming... as long as it's presented in a suitably fictional and charming package.

There's an appealing example of this in The Sting when Paul Newman's Henry Gondorff is talking about his days with the O'Shea mob in Chicago in the 1920s, when corruption was rife and "the feds took their end without a beef."

(l. to r.) Former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, former COO Jeff Skilling, sullied execs Andy Fastow and Lou Pai

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Thunder Approaching

My baby blues have beheld the majesty of Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven (20th Century Fox, 5.6).

It may be a little bit early to say what it is, but I think it's fair to say what it isn't. That sounds, I realize, like I'm qualifying or being "careful" by saying as little as possible. Not so. I just need to set the record straight about something I wrote about this super-sized epic late last year.

In some ways surprising, in several ways stirring and in almost every way admirable, Kingdom...Read More

Psycho Bondo

So how will the James Bond loyalists take to the apparent hiring of Daniel Craig as the new James Bond?

The Bond casting rumors been all over the map the last few months and ya never know, but reporter Sean Hamilton of London's The Sun has just reported that Bond producer Barbara Broccoli has offered Craig a three-picture 007 deal, and I'm told by a knowledgeable source that "she really likes him [and] wants him bad."

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Bruised, Not Beaten

The best thing I've seen on the tube since HBO's Unscripted is another HBO thing -- a 90-minute documentary called Left of the Dial.

It premiered last night (3.31) and will air next Tuesday and Friday a few times. For some reason HBO isn't showing it today or Saturday or Sunday. Why? Because it's a political doc and viewers are -- what? -- presumed to be in a non-receptive, beer-drinking mood on weekends?

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