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Discland

edited by Jonathan Doyle

Mafioso (The Criterion Collection, 3.18.2008) Nino Badalamenti is a supervisor in a car manufacturing plant who hasn't taken a vacation in over two years. On his way out the door to visit his beloved childhood hometown of Sicily -- with his blonde wife and daughters -- Nino is handed a package by his boss and asked to deliver it to a powerful and influential Sicilian gangster named Don Vincenzo. Once in Sicily, Nino has a hoot seeing friends and family, but his wife has trouble fitting in and is unfairly dismissed as a snob by Nino's family. Even more worrisome, Nino finds himself entangled in an intricate web of secret mafioso dealings and is eventually sent on an unexpectedly... elaborate errand. (continued)

Upcoming

May 2

The Favor

Fugitive Pieces

Mister Lonely

XXY

May 9

A Previous Engagement

The Babysitters

Noise

OSS 117: Cario - Nest of Spies

The Tracey Fragments

What Happens in Vegas

May 16

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Reprise

Sangre de me Sangre

May 21

The edge of Heaven

May 22

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

May 23

The Children of Huang Shi

May 30

Bigger, Stronger, Faster

The Foot Fist Way

Savage Grace

Sex and the City

Stuck

The Unknown Woman

Friday, March 31, 2006

A couple of weeks after

A couple of weeks after I called director-screenwriter John Milius about that issue of seeing parallels between the Wolverines in his classic Red Dawn...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 3:23 PM on Friday, March 31, 2006

I'm reluctant to get into

I'm reluctant to get into this because I know how venting about weight makes me sound, but funny-guy Vince Vaughn looks too bulky in the trailer for The Breakup (Universal, 6.2). I was half focused on the premise, dialogue and jokes, and half trying to ignore a voice that wouldn't stop saying, "Whoa...guy's gotta hit the treadmill." But I lost the battle and the "whoa" voice, in fact, kept getting louder and louder. Forget Vaughn's Swingers physique -- he hasn't had that for ten years. The problem is that he looks heavier in this trailer than he did in ...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 2:17 PM on Friday, March 31, 2006

Being something of a talent-spotter,

Being something of a talent-spotter, I agree with Anne Thompson's recommendation about Movie Marketing Madness. It's a site about the latest scientific techniques to strengthen soil nutrients in water-depleted areas...a site about the business of selling movies, I mean...and it's pretty damn good. The author is Chris Thilk, a 31 year-old Chicago-based writer and married guy with two kids. (I wrote earlier that Thilk is most likely single and lonely, since happy fulfilled guys don't bang out blogs....not this time! Thilk has also never toiled in any ad agencies.)

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 12:39 PM on Friday, March 31, 2006

The smartest thing that Business

The smartest thing that Business Week columnist Jon Fine says in his riff about New Line's Snakes on a Plane (8.18) is "I can't wait till this comes out...although on a certain level, I guess it already has." Precisely. Snakes is the internet rumble about it...I've had lots of fun and laughed at a lot of hand-made songs and video spots...and I'm starting to think the hoopla has probably already peaked, in fact. (I told this to a Washington Post staffer who interviewed me for a Snakes piece yesterday morning -- file it quickly!) Richard WilliamsonRead More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 12:00 PM on Friday, March 31, 2006

There's a boo-boo in Borys

There's a boo-boo in Borys Kit's Hollywood Reporter story that's partly about Stone Village Prods. having hired Bo Goldman to pen an adaptation of a forthcoming remake of Jules Dassin's Rififi, which will star Al Pacino in the Jean Servais role. The piece names the director of the remake as "Walt" Becker. Referred to in the story as Pacino's collaborator on Sea of Love and City Hall, the guy's actual name is Harold Becker. Walt Becker, an actual guy, directed Van Wilder.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 11:22 AM on Friday, March 31, 2006

"Page Six" says in a

"Page Six" says in a lead item today that "embattled Paramount chief Brad Grey's days seem to be numbered" and that "speculation on a possible replacement for him is running rampant." Okay, maybe...but does anyone really think Viacom president and CEO Tom Freston and the Paramount board are going to jettison Grey because federal prosecutors are rattling their sabers about some wiretapping mucky-muck that went on back in the '90s when Grey was a talent manager, and because reporters are writing stories about this? LA Indie's Ross Johnson...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 10:50 AM on Friday, March 31, 2006

A seasoned talent who has

A seasoned talent who has his alliances and enemies like anyone else in this town, but in my estimation has always had a fairly profound understanding of Hollywood power games, and who now enjoys a certain priveleged insight into upper-stratosphere Hollywood maneuverings...this guy told me something yesterday about Paramount chief Brad Grey's former attorney Bert Fields, who's being pressured these days by federal prosecutors over suspicions that he may have been doing the bidding of Grey (and possibly others) when he allegedly hired indicted investigator Anthony Pellicano...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 8:56 AM on Friday, March 31, 2006

I rather liked Greg McLean's

I rather liked Greg McLean's Wolf Creek upon seeing it at Sundance '05, and I said so right away. Very few in my journo circle agreed, though, and more than a few despised it. Which is why it feels oddly comforting, way after the fact, to read Christopher Kelly, film critic for the Dallas-Ft. Worth Star Telegram, give it a thumbs-up. Mat Zoller Seitz was startled by Kelly's piece, and then challenged him to discuss it online.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 8:04 AM on Friday, March 31, 2006

Thursday, March 30, 2006

That guy who's worked with

That guy who's worked with N.Y. Times Manohla Dargis and has more to the point trashed the idea of her being worthy for the Pulitzer Prize in that Women's Wear Daily piece has an enemy in L.A. Daily News critic Glenn Whipp. "Whoever this source is has a serious case of professional jealousy," Whipp wrote this evening. "This person never hears that Dargis is the best critic the Times has? I hear it all the time."

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 11:52 PM on Thursday, March 30, 2006

I'm watching the PBS DVD

I'm watching the PBS DVD of Ric Burns's two-hour Eugene O'Neill documentary, and it has a clip from a 1960 televised production of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, and suddenly there's a dissolute Robert Redford playing Don Parritt....

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 11:11 PM on Thursday, March 30, 2006

"Now that Peter Jackson's King

"Now that Peter Jackson's King Kong has been released as a two-disc DVD, enterprising fans will undoubtedly find a way to upload the 188-minute film and trim it down to a more dynamic running time," writes DVD/Laser Newsletter editor Doug Pratt. Please! If someone does this soon, I will provide a link and do my part to bring viewers to it. Jackson's Kong...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 10:25 PM on Thursday, March 30, 2006

Film critic Manohla Dargis has

Film critic Manohla Dargis has been been submitted by her N.Y. Times editors as a contender for a Pulitzer Prize, and someone "whos worked with her there" trashes her, saying "by no means do you ever hear that [Dargis] is the best critic [the Times] has...she's known for synopsizing and giving stuff away. You're not supposed to read her if you don't want to know what's going to happen."

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 9:53 PM on Thursday, March 30, 2006

Universal Pictures has agreed to

Universal Pictures has agreed to hand over 10% of the opening weekend grosses of United 93 (opening 4.28) to the Flight 93 National Memorial. The proposed $30 million memorial will be located in a field near the spot where Flight #93 crashed on 9/11, near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. This seems like a good move, right? The Universal donation, I mean.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 9:06 PM on Thursday, March 30, 2006

Rally Round

Rally Round

If a movie is going to try and tell the truth about a real event, I believe it should stick as closely as possible to what is actually known, and if certain things about this event aren't crystal clear then that should be acknowledged and somehow worked into the film.

With this theory in mind, it hit me this morning how United 93...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 8:45 PM on Thursday, March 30, 2006

With Basic Instinct 2 arriving

With Basic Instinct 2 arriving this Friday, here's an amusing piece about unwanted sequels by L.A. Daily News critic Glenn Whipp. One of the the misbegotten is Oliver's Story, a 1978 sequel to Love Story. I remember this film's poster fondly, or rather a dialogue- added variation. I saw it on a New York subway station wall...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 2:22 PM on Thursday, March 30, 2006

Hollywood Elsewhere's technical ally Jim

Hollywood Elsewhere's technical ally Jim Stanley has constructed a special search engine that's aimed at only the WIRED section. He's eventually going to put up a regular link to this on the main page, but in the meantime here it is.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 11:52 AM on Thursday, March 30, 2006

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Many people have written in

Many people have written in and asked if I've seen Dylan Avery and Korey Rowe's Loose Change (2nd edition), a documentary that lays out a lot of suspicious maybes, intriguing indications, and clues of different shapes, weights and sizes to support a premise that neocons in the U.S. government orchestrated the 9/11 attacks for their own political benefit. A lot of readers think it's at least a disturbing piece (smart, disciplined, well-ordered), and probably the most famous member of this club is Charlie Sheen...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 8:08 PM on Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Oh, and by the way:

Oh, and by the way: the allegedly brash nude footage of Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct 2 isn't that brash at all. I guess Columbia had to trim it down to satisfy the MPAA. All I know is that is that your eyes barely have a chance to feast before the editor cuts back to David Morrissey. It's basically blink-and-you'll-miss-it. There's a nice boob shot that lasts maybe four or five seconds, and I don't know what that New York guy was on about when he told "Page Six"...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 4:26 PM on Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Paul Greengrass's United 93, the

Paul Greengrass's United 93, the 9/11 thriller hitting theatres on 4.28, will open Manhattan's Tribeca Film Festival on 4.25. Tammy Rosen's press release says that people whose family members died on Flight 93 will be there. Also attending will be "other 9/11 groups and family organizations and first responders whose lives were forever altered on that day." (After I read this last sentence to a friend, he asked, "Will they be flying them in on United?") It's obvious why this downtown Manhattan film festival is looking to show United 93...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 3:28 PM on Wednesday, March 29, 2006

David Fincher's Zodiac is absolutely

David Fincher's Zodiac is absolutely going to be called that. Chronicles is just what it was called during casting and shooting, apparently...as a ruse. Movies do this sometimes. Just yesterday a breakdown came out for Transformers under the name Prime Detective.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 3:21 PM on Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Columbia had an all-media screening

Columbia had an all-media screening last night of Basic Instinct 2 (Columbia, 3.31) at the new AMC Century City plex. The hope was that it might be Showgirls bad...something deliriously awful...so bad it would make middle-aged men squeal like pigs. Alas, the verdict is that it falls short. At best, it's Catwoman bad, which is what gossip columnist George Christy said to me after the show. But of course, that movie wasn't bad enough either. The New York Post's "Page Six" reports that people laughed at some of the BI2...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 1:57 PM on Wednesday, March 29, 2006

It's not just David Fincher's

It's not just David Fincher's Zodiac (Paramount, 9.22) that's probably going to run about three hours, but also Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Warner Bros., October), which stars Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Shepard and Sam Rockwell. I don't know anything rock-solid, but it seems fair to deduce that the James film will run long because Dominik's script is a whopping 210 pages, whereas James Vanderbilt's Zodiac script runs about 190 pages...do the math. Here...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 1:02 PM on Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Here are two edited reactions

Here are two edited reactions to Julia Roberts' stage debut in the very first preview performance of Three Days of Rain in New York on Tuesday night, 3.28: Guy #1 has written that Roberts "appeared nervous in the beginning but hit her stride in the second act. Paul Rudd and Bradley Cooper [were] both outstanding. A standing ovation came at the end (of course), but Julia appeared very happy to get this one out of the way. A few lines were flubbed, but the show is in good shape considering it was the first preview." Guy #2 Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 12:03 PM on Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Kim Voynar at Cinematical has

Kim Voynar at Cinematical has spoken to Rebel Without a Cause screenwriter Stewart Stern, and reports that "the screen test Marlon Brando made in 1947" -- which will be included on a new double-disc DVD of A Streetcar Named Desire coming out May 2nd -- "had practically nothing to do with the Rebel Without A Cause we're all familiar with." Stern tells Voynar that "Marlon's 1947 test was not for Rebel Without a Cause as we know it. Dr. Robert Lindner...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 11:57 AM on Wednesday, March 29, 2006

The Guardian's Xan Brooks on

The Guardian's Xan Brooks on how well Marlon Brando might have handled the Jim Stark role in Rebel Without a Cause.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 11:55 AM on Wednesday, March 29, 2006

It didn't truly hit me

It didn't truly hit me until yesterday the degree to which public broadcasting TV affiliates (like L.A.'s KCET) are operated like medieval feifdoms, totally local and unto themselves with no regard for providing viewers with shared information about options to re-view or purchase popular shows. I'm saying this as a way of explaining that I was bizarrely misinformed yesterday by both a KCET spokesperson and a WGBH media relations executive named Lucy Sholley when I called about wanting to see a re-broadcast of Ric Burns' Eugene O'Neill...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 10:33 AM on Wednesday, March 29, 2006

That $10 million Randy Quaid

That $10 million Randy Quaid Brokeback Mountain lawsuit filed on Thursday, 3.23 against the makers of this widely honored, very profitable film (i.e., Focus Features, James Schamus, David Linde, Del Mar Productions), now enjoys a certain enhancement by the mere fact that Sharon Waxman has examined its merits in a N.Y. Times story out today (3.29). Boil the snow out of it, and the conclusions are these: (a) Randy Quaid is in no way a whinin', groanin' sourpuss actor but in fact has a bright, buoyant attitude about the lawsuit, as ...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 8:47 AM on Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

If anyone in Manhattan went

If anyone in Manhattan went to the first-night preview of Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain on Tuesday, 3.28 (which is being performed as I write this, the time being 9:04 pm back east) and feels like sharing an opinion about how first-time performer Julia Roberts did in the lead role, please get in touch. Roberts' costars in the Joe Mantello-directed show are Paul Rudd and Bradley Cooper. The official opening is 4.19, and the reportedly sold-out show will run at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre for for 12 weeks. This Playbill...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 5:52 PM on Tuesday, March 28, 2006

If you weren't watching your

If you weren't watching your local PBS station Monday night (like me) and therefore missed Ric Burns' Eugene O'Neill, a two-hour "American Experience" documentary about this country's greatest playwright...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 5:50 PM on Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Two things about David Fincher's

Two things about David Fincher's Zodiac (Paramount, 9/22) -- one sounding a tad questionable and the other most likely accurate. The film, first things first, is a crime period piece based on the Robert Graysmith "books" about cops and reporters on the trail of the Zodiac killer who plagued the San Francisco area in the '60s and '70s. Except last night a person close to the film told me it's no longer being called Zodiac but Chronicles, allegedly due to some title-rights issue. (The IMDB lists a recent Thinkfilm release with Rory Culkin and Robin TunneyRead More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 4:23 PM on Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Sweet Bird of Youth

Sweet Bird of Youth

It's not so much how the 23 year-old Marlon Brando looked, although this is fascin- ating in itself. It's more the metaphor of a life not yet blemished or sullied...an aura of freshness, vitality, raw presence.

These are stills from a screen test Brando made in 1947 for a planned film of Rebel Without a Cause, in which he would have played the famously troubled teenager Jim Stark, whom James Dean made into a legendary inconographic figure in Nich- olas Ray's 1955 film of the same name.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 4:12 PM on Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Monday, March 27, 2006

Stop what you're doing (again)

Stop what you're doing (again) and watch "Wife Force One," an absolutely brilliant short about the jeopardy that the wives of Harrison Ford have been subjected to over the years...and the overal climate of "rage, pure rage" that has permeated his numerous action films.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 12:47 PM on Monday, March 27, 2006

The feds looking into the

The feds looking into the past deeds of indicted private investigator Anthony Pellicano "have found no convincing evidence that actor Steven Seagal was involved in depositing a dead fish on a reporter's windshield in June 2002," etc. Great... and nobody cares. This story is mainly about whether or not Paramount chief Brad Grey is going to emerge so compromised by allegations of involvement in illegal wiretapping via his associations with Pellicano by way of attorney Bert Fields that he'll be forced to resign...that's it. With maybe a sideplot" exploring to what extent Tom Cruise ...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 11:25 AM on Monday, March 27, 2006

Director Richard Fleisher left us

Director Richard Fleisher left us a few days ago, and I'm only just paying homage now...sorry. If you're a film buff-type, you might feel like saluting Fleisher for having directing Narrow Margin, the classic 1952 noir-on-a-train with Charles McGraw. But for me, Fleischer's peak was The Vikings -- the 1958 historical action epic that was mostly dominated by producer-star Kirk Douglas, but was (and still is) notable for two dramatic elements that still work today. One is what seems to happen inside the male Viking characters (particularly Douglas and dad Ernest Borgnine...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 10:33 AM on Monday, March 27, 2006

"I think there's a big

"I think there's a big difference between James Bond and Jason Bourne. I think James Bond is the secret agent who likes being a secret agent and likes killing people. He's a misogynist, an old-fashioned imperialist, and Jason Bourne is an outsider on the run and he's one of us and he's fighting against them, I think. That's the profound difference, and that's why I like Bourne." -- director Paul Greengrass riffing two weeks ago with Empire magazine online about the The Bourne Ultimatum...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 8:55 AM on Monday, March 27, 2006

The New York Post's "Page

The New York Post's "Page Six" column says "the race is on" to see who'll be the first to make a biopic of LSD guru Timothy Leary -- Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way production company, which has been half-heartedly stirring this pot for at least a couple of years, or Fountain director Darren Aronofsky , who didn't mention any Leary project to me when we last spoke (at the Golden Globes awards) but whatever. Aronofsky may or may not be in a "race" mode but the DiCaprio team is mostly slumbering, I've been told. ...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 8:22 AM on Monday, March 27, 2006

Stop what you're doing right

Stop what you're doing right now (seriously) and watch this -- actor Dave Coyne (a.k.a. "DCLugi" of Subatomic Warp), has put together a comic video, called "Early Auditions", about four actors -- Chris Walken, Jack Nicholson, Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro -- doing their best to land a part in Snakes on a Plane. [Note: The first link goes to Snakes on a Blog, which had the Coyne video on the top of its page at 7:50 am Monday, but they'll eventually move it down, of course.]

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 7:38 AM on Monday, March 27, 2006

Sunday, March 26, 2006

"Be disloyal. It's your duty

"Be disloyal. It's your duty to the human race. The human race needs to survive and it's the loyal man who dies first from anxiety or a bullet or overwork. If you have to earn a living and the price they make you pay is loyalty, be a double agent -- and never let either of the two sides know your real name. The same applies to women and God. They both respect a man they don't own...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 7:08 PM on Sunday, March 26, 2006

Kris Tapley informs me that

Kris Tapley informs me that Univeral publicist Jen Chamberlain sent out a press release on 3.7.06 announcing the title change from Flight 93 to United 93. Okay, fine...but I didn't get it, and it was still being called Flight 93 on the IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes and JoBlo earlier today, and Variety ran that story on 3.19 in which they called it Flight 93 and that Google search I mentioned shows that several other sites are still in the old mode, so is everyone suffering from ADD or what?

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 6:55 PM on Sunday, March 26, 2006

Here's a pretty good (i.e.,

Here's a pretty good (i.e., well-written, moderately diverting ) piece about Friends with Money director Nicole Holofcener by critic Carina Chocano. I've seen the film, which portrays four Westside L.A. women in terms of their jobs, income and relationships with their men (i.e., mostly husbands), and I certainly recognize some of the characters, character traits and situations. Holofcener is a smart writer, an honest artist and a straight dealer...but there are two things in this film that no one, anywhere, is going to buy. One is Jennifer Aniston...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 6:17 PM on Sunday, March 26, 2006

"I, too, just came back

"I, too, just came back from seeing Inside Man and while my audience wasn't vocal against the United 93 trailer like they were in Arlington Heights, my companion turned to me when it ended, saying, 'Do you want to see that? I have no desire to see that...eccch!" -- Joseph Jones, Tampa.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 5:48 PM on Sunday, March 26, 2006

One of the zombie letters

One of the zombie letters (in response to my observation that there are no Pacific Rim zombies...the phenomenon is strictly East Coast, Caribbean and other Old World areas) came from reader Charlie Hill, who reminded me about that highly regarded Joe Dante/Sam Hamm Showtime film, Homecoming, which aired on the "Masters of Horror" series last 12.2.05. Based on the short story "Death and Suffrage" by Dale Bailey ...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 4:35 PM on Sunday, March 26, 2006

"I live in Arlington Heights,

"I live in Arlington Heights, Illnois -- a fairly affluent, moderately left-leaning suburb -- and the audience I saw Inside Man with on Saturday reacted none too well to the United 93 trailer. When the Brokeback Mountain trailers first started playing there was some discomfort but nothing too reactive. But reaction to United 93's trailer was downright hostile, with a few people actually yelling, 'too soon!' and 'there's no reason to see that' in addition to a lot of perturbed coughing...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 4:17 PM on Sunday, March 26, 2006

Switcheroo

Switcheroo

Like old habits, movie titles you've gotten used to can die hard. Even relatively recent ones, like Universal's Flight 93, the Paul Greengrass 9/11 thriller that's opening on Friday, 4.28. Or the former Flight 93, I should say. The old-shoe, boilerplate-sounding Flight 93 of yore...a label I was totally down with.

I was so accustomed to the sound of it that when I linked to the trailer three days ago (on 3.24), I didn't even notice that Universal had snuck in like a cat burglar on the Cote d'Azur and changed it to United 93.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 3:47 PM on Sunday, March 26, 2006

Turns out that Snakes on

Turns out that Snakes on a Plane tune I liked so much was sung by Neil Cicierega. He wrote this evening and asked me to link to his www.lemondemon.com site, except it's been shut down due to bandwidth overages. He also passed along "live journal post" whatchamacallit.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 12:55 AM on Sunday, March 26, 2006

Saturday, March 25, 2006

A mildly depressing, somewhat alarming

A mildly depressing, somewhat alarming piece by Nerve writer Justin Clark about the growing power of conservative media mogul Philip Anschutz. The conservative-minded owner of Regal Cinemas (as well as the Edwards and United Artists chains) has plans to shape and control the kind of movies you'll be seeing at his theatres in the coming years. Sanitized, family- or Christian-friendly...a segregated aesthetic environment.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 2:48 PM on Saturday, March 25, 2006

A "Page Six" item, based

A "Page Six" item, based on the word of private eye Richard Sabatino, says that Nicole Kidman was "well aware" that Tom Cruise "was using a private detective to wiretap her phones during their 2001 divorce" [and that] "Kidman knew that Cruise's private detective, Anthony Pellicano, was a resourceful opponent." The story says that "during her divorce, [Kidman] would talk to friends on the phone and every couple of minutes break into the conversation and say, 'So, Tom, are you listening?' or 'Am I saying what you want me to say, Tom?' ...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 2:25 PM on Saturday, March 25, 2006

British author and gossip columnist

British author and gossip columnist Toby Young yesterday passed along an insane-sounding rumor about Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter being considered as Paramount honcho Brad Grey's replacement, a story that Young admitted was almost "almost impossible to believe." The noteworthy thing here is Young's declaration that "Grey's position looks increasingly untenable...at this rate, it's not a question of if he goes, but when."

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 1:55 PM on Saturday, March 25, 2006

More blood in the water,

More blood in the water, the sharks are circling, and things are looking even more dicey as far as the future of Paramount chief Brad Grey is concerned. The latest bite was contained in yesterday's (3.24) N.Y. Times story linking Grey and indicted investigator and accused wiretapper Anthony Pellicano by David Halbfinger and Allison Hope Weiner. They reported that "the first direct evidence of eavesdropping" by the indicted investigator "has surfaced in newly filed court documents" that contain "excerpts of what prosecutors have described as Mr. Pellicano's summaries of conversations he intercepted in 2001 between ...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 1:36 PM on Saturday, March 25, 2006

"There's an aircraft error in

"There's an aircraft error in the Flight 93 trailer. The shot of the jet taking off into the rising sun is not a United Airlines 757 but in fact a British Airways Airbus. There's a good possibility that it is just a stock shot used for the trailer to be eventually be replaced, but..." -- Andy Smith, an airline expert.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 1:23 PM on Saturday, March 25, 2006

This is my favorite Snakes

This is my favorite Snakes on a Plane T-shirt so far. And only $14 a pop.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 1:19 PM on Saturday, March 25, 2006

Randy Sharp, director of special

Randy Sharp, director of special projects for the Mississippi-based American Family Association, is encouraging "concerned" (i.e., anti-gay) Christians to contact Wal-Mart regarding the 4.4 release of Universal Home Video's Brokeback Mountain DVD. Sharp claims the retailer's plan to distribute the "pro-homosexual film" (according to an AgapePress news story) is evidence that Wal-Mart has strayed from its family-friendly roots. (Excuse me? Wal-Mart is friendly only to the notion of constant commerical expansion and destruction of small-town businesses.) An Advocate story...

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 12:58 PM on Saturday, March 25, 2006

Toronto Star critic Geoff Pevere,

Toronto Star critic Geoff Pevere, having described himself as a "nearly extinct stone-age geezer" (funny...he doesn't sound that way in his reviews), laments how common it is to be viciously attacked these days if people don't agree with your film reviews. The internet, says Pevere, is "the ideal technology for venting intellectually unadulterated spleen...with e-mail it has never been easier to fire a vigorously hawked-up spitball ...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 12:43 PM on Saturday, March 25, 2006

The two big success stories

The two big success stories of the weekend are Spike Lee 's Inside Man and Jason Reitman's Thank You for Smoking. Lee's bank-robbery drama was projected to do $25 to $30 million this weekend, and current estimates (based on yesterday's figures) project a $28.6 million tally, having done about $9.5 million on Friday. And Smoking took in $262,000 in 54 theatres yesterday, averaging about $20,000 a print. I'm sorry to report that V for Vendetta is falling...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 12:09 PM on Saturday, March 25, 2006

In his story about the

In his story about the current proliferation of zombies in movies, N.Y. Times writer Warren St. John lists all the recent commercial manifestations required for a story like this to be approved by his Times editor, but he fails to mention one important geographical distinction. Zombie Nation is pretty much anchored in the eastern region of the U.S., the Caribbean islands, New Orleans, and most recently England (i.e., Shaun of the Dead...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 11:15 AM on Saturday, March 25, 2006

Friday, March 24, 2006

This is a totally excellent

This is a totally excellent trailer for Paul Greengrass's Flight 93 (Universal, 4.28)...you know, the 9/11 movie about the plane that went down in the Pennsylvania countryside because a few brave passengers stood up and did the hard thing. But what's with the image on the one-sheet [see below]? Flight # 93 was nowhere near Manhattan after the towers got hit, but Universal's ad guys...well, as the saying goes, "Leave it to the ad guys!" They obviously decided the folks wouldn't get it unless the burning towers were front-and-center. Talk about clever, creative, Cleo-Award work.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 5:22 PM on Friday, March 24, 2006

Randy Quaid acted in Brokeback

Randy Quaid acted in Brokeback Mountain for peanuts, so you can understand why he's pissed that he did that, given that the movie has taken in $160 million worldwide. He's figuring that a portion of the dough ought to be passed around as a retroactive make-up thing. And yet it seems a mite strange that Quaid is suing Focus Features, Del Mar Prods., and Brokeback producers James Schamus and David Linde...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 3:03 PM on Friday, March 24, 2006

When he recently interviewed former

When he recently interviewed former pinup queen Bettie Page, whose life during the 1940s and '50s is the focus of Mary Harron's The Notorious Bettie Page (Picturehouse, 4.14), L.A. Times staffer Louis Sahagun wrote that that "her face remains smooth and fresh, and one can still see the face of the young woman in the old. Her eyes, bright blue, still sparkle." That's good to hear because judging by Paige's reported criticism of the film, she's not that hip...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 1:58 PM on Friday, March 24, 2006

What's the worst DVD commentary

What's the worst DVD commentary track ever recorded? Obviously a subjective call, but Rate That Commentary hands the booby prize to the usually very well-spoken William Friedkin and his commentary on Warner Home Video's The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 12:38 PM on Friday, March 24, 2006

The coolest thing about John

The coolest thing about John Anderson and Laura Kim's new how-to-sell-your-independent-movie book, "I Wake Up Screening" (Billboard, 3.30), is, of course, the title...although it sounds more like a description of what it's like to attend Sundance or Cannes or Toronto as a buyer or a journalist than anything else. It's a how-to manual for emerging filmmakers "about how to (and how not to) get their films talked about, written about"...uhhm, the best way to do this is to get people like me to see it early...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 11:58 AM on Friday, March 24, 2006

That server shutdown that happened

That server shutdown that happened around 10:30 am and lasted about fifteen minutes was one of those unfortunate incidents. Lunar Pages has offered their apologies, and I, too, am offering mine.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 11:13 AM on Friday, March 24, 2006

A little more than three

A little more than three years ago Variety's Michael Fleming reported that former bigtime auteur Lawrence Kasdan (Grand Canyon, The Big Chill, et. al.) was starting work (along with screenwriter Terri Minsky) on a U.S. remake of Sandra Nettlebeck's Mostly Martha for Castle Rock. There was moderate excitement about this since pretty much everyone with any taste was fairly taken with the '01 German-made original. In June 2002, back in my Reel.com period, I ran a rave about Martha, calling it "a culinary Kramer vs. Kramer...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 8:47 AM on Friday, March 24, 2006

Thursday, March 23, 2006

I mentioned something a while

I mentioned something a while back about David Morrisey, Sharon Stone's costar in Basic Instinct 2 (Columbia, 3.31), not being "her sexual equal...his eyes are too small and his pale freckly face is a bit soft and puffy." One presumes Morrisey was hired for the part because of this...because he would make Stone look good. Can anyone imagine Stone and director Michael Caton-Jones deciding to cast an exceptionally handsome and photogenic younger costar? This movie was Stone's show...she's the one who had to look great, not the guy.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 10:53 PM on Thursday, March 23, 2006

"As long as the leadership

"As long as the leadership at the other agencies remains static, many Hollywood players are putting their money on Endeavor as the one that could mount a challenge to the CAA monolith. The solution for Endeavor would be to follow the CAA model of focusing on teamwork and efficiency -- and bring in more top agents like ex-CAA agent [Patrick] Whitesell. 'If they pick off a partner or two from the other agencies,' one producer says, 'the balance could shift pretty quickly. Pull over an Ed Limato and shake the power balance. CAA can't handle everybody. ...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 9:58 PM on Thursday, March 23, 2006

If you're mainly a WIRED

If you're mainly a WIRED reader (i.e., not into reading the feature stories in this column), I'll reiterate the key point of today's Snakes on a Plane story, which is that New Line Cinema's 8.18 release date -- five months from now -- is a mistake at this stage, given all the excitement being generated right now. No movie company can orchestrate what's happening with Snakes, and it's folly to think that the present energy levels will keep up for another 19 or 20 weeks. If New Line's distribution chief Russell Schwartz is smart, he'll push Snakes...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 4:02 PM on Thursday, March 23, 2006

Snakes! Snakes!

Snakes! Snakes!

You're in your too-small coach seat and speechless, eyes aglare and back arched. Reason? A dangling diamondback rattler (as opposed to a dangling participle), four or five inches in front of your face and hissing like any well-motivated serpent, is about to bite down hard.

This, in a nutshell, is New Line's Snakes on a Plane (8.18). Combined with that hilariously idiotic title, it's also behind a growing camp following and internet groundswell that appears to be turning this low-rent thriller into the first major movie phenomenon of 2006.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 3:04 PM on Thursday, March 23, 2006

Holy coyote! Holy fruit salad!...now

Holy coyote! Holy fruit salad!...now the N.Y. Daily News has sided with the N.Y. Times in this completely groundless beep-beep vs. meep-meep debate, which, of course, Hollywood Elsewhere is totally on the audibly-correct side of. I'll say once again to these old-media newspaper editors who keep using "beep beep"... listen to one of the damn Roadrunner cartoons already. I know this will require extra effort...I know it'll take time out of your lunch hour...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 8:39 AM on Thursday, March 23, 2006

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Steve Buscemi keeps getting bumped

Steve Buscemi keeps getting bumped off in his movies, and when he directs movies (like the upcoming Lonesome Jim) he always seems to make them about loser gloom-heads...but the thing moviegoers love about Buscemi...his ace-in-the-hole material...is when he plays extra-smart guys saying really sassy lines. Reservoir Dogs' Mr. Pink explaining why he doesn't tip, that psycho killer in Con Air explaining the meaning of irony, his high-IQ mobster Tony Blundetto ...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 11:41 PM on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Basic Instinct 2 (Columbia, 3.31)

Basic Instinct 2 (Columbia, 3.31) "will almost certainly be hailed as unforgettable -- though not, perhaps, for the reasons that Stone and the filmmakers intended. The movie, directed by Michael Caton-Jones, finds Sharon Stone's oversexed ice-queen author, Catherine Tramell, squaring off against a criminal psychologist (British actor David Morrissey) as she goes on trial for the murder of a soccer player. If you expect an erotic thriller, you may be sorely disappointed. But if you expect soft-core camp, you will be rewarded with a showstopper nearly in the league of the weirdly mesmerizing Showgirls...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 10:22 PM on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

"I've had it with these

"I've had it with these snakes!" -- one of Samuel L. Jackson's money lines in New Line's Snakes on a Plane (8.18). (This is an unfinished trailer -- some of the CG snakes look like something out of a cartoon.)

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 5:41 PM on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Will Smith may have another

Will Smith may have another half-decent film opening later this year, and perhaps more: Pursuit of Happyness (Columbia, 12.15), directed by Gabriele Muccino and written by Steve Conrad. It's about a salesmen having a tough time (Smith) as he takes custody of his son (played by Smith's son, Jaden). In any event, Mike Sampson at JoBlo has seen an early cut and reviewed it. An excerpt: "Will this be an Oscar contender or a blockbuster? I'd say Smith has a good chance of being nominated...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 5:20 PM on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven

Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven "Director's Cut" (191 minutes), which I saw and reviewed early last January, is coming out on DVD on 5.23. And Mr. Beaks' Collider site is having a free screening of it 4.4 on Hollywood's Arclight.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 5:09 PM on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

We're all tired of hearing

We're all tired of hearing that Sofia Coppola's Marie-Antoinette (Columbia, 10.13), which will play at the Cannes Film Festival in mid May, is going to be a stylized take on the life of the young Austrian-born woman (Kirsten Dunst) who became the Paris Hilton of her day when she married King Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), and not a "historically accurate" capturing of any kind except for the 18th Century sets, clothes and hairstyles. What's instructive, perhaps, is that before deciding to use Lady Antonia Fraser's biography of the ill-fated empty vessel and party girl --"...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 3:18 PM on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Roadside Attractions will distribute the

Roadside Attractions will distribute the Berlin Film Festival hit The Road to Guantanamo in the U.S. of A. sometime early this summer. Which means, of course, that only people in the big cities will see it in theatres and everyone else will rent the DVD through Netflix. Co-directed by the always-slightly-irritating Michael Winterbottom, it's a docudrama about three British Muslims who were nabbed by U.S. authorities ...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 1:26 PM on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

If Derek Wan's Shadow: Dead

If Derek Wan's Shadow: Dead Riot, a lesbo women-behind-bars zombie flick, is half (or even a third) as entertaining as Nathan Lee's review in the 3.22 New York Times, I'd really like to see it. The opening graph reads, "A cult classic is born in Shadow: Dead Riot, and so is a rampaging corpse baby. Written by Michael Gingold...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 1:05 PM on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

"Because Netflix relies on subscriber

"Because Netflix relies on subscriber ratings and recommendations, and can offer an almost limitless array of product, it creates a level playing field, allowing a tiny indie film to compete with a multiplex monster. It's a great example of what Wired magazine's Chris Anderson calls the Long Tail. Put simply, our culture is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of blockbusters at the head of demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 12:50 PM on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

"It's funny you mentioned The

"It's funny you mentioned The Hospital because I just bought the screenplay off Amazon (as part of "The Collected Works of Paddy Chayefsky, Vol. II") and am reading it for the first time. (I've never seen the movie but will as soon as I finish.) The impulse came from rewatching the brilliant Network...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 10:13 AM on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Will Smith as "a charming

Will Smith as "a charming rogue who is blackmailed by the government into doing covert larceny for the good of his country"? God...the old Cary Grant debonair-thief concept again? No offense to the producers (Kevin Misher, John Davis, Joe Singer), but the mentality beneath a project like this is what everyone with a smidgen of taste or a half-functioning brain hates about Hollywood, and is exactly the sort of vehicle that has made Smith into the most vapid African-American superstar around. Smith peaked in '93 when he did Six Degrees of Separation...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 9:33 AM on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

I came across these two

I came across these two dialogue files by accident this morning -- two clips from Paddy Chayefsky's The Hospital (1971), and it hit me all over again how wonderfully particular and penetrating and needle-sharp these soliloquies are. George C. Scott's confession to a colleague about what a wreck his middle-aged life has become is about as masterful and genuine-sounding as this sort of thing gets, and I love the the cadence he brings to some of the lines. (The almost imperceptible pause he inserts between the words "pushing" and "drugs" is sheer genius.) And the ...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 8:58 AM on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

"Chaiya Chaiya" is a Bollywood

"Chaiya Chaiya" is a Bollywood tune, but I was never entirely clear about what precisely constitutes a Bollywood tune...or a Bollywood film, for that matter. (I know how to define them generally, but not with any particularity.) So a reader named Aamir Hanif laid it all out: "Bollywood refers to all movies that are made in Mumbai, formerly Bombay. Sort of like Hollywood movies." (Okay, I knew that.) "Pakistan, India's neighbor, has the same sort of thing. Its movie capital is a city called Lahore and all Pakistani movies are also called Lollywood movies...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 8:45 AM on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

I'd like to ask everyone

I'd like to ask everyone to stop what they're doing and bow their heads in a moment of silence...seriously...for Sidney Lumet's Find Me Guilty, which opened on 3.17 and is already dead. It's one of the best films of 2006 so far, it's Lumet's best since Q & A, and it has what can reasonably be called an embarassment of first-rate performances (by Vin Diesel, Peter Dinklage, Anabella Sciorra, Alex Rocco and Linus Roache...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 7:56 AM on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

A catchy Indian Bollywood tune

A catchy Indian Bollywood tune called "Chaiya Chaiya" seriously energizes the opening and closing credit sequence of Spike Lee's Inside Man (Universal, 3.24), and is one of the best things about it. The cut was previously used for an allegedly decent Indian 1998 film called Dil Se (i.e., From the Heart.) The composer is a guy named A.R. Rahman, the composer for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bombay Dreams on Broadway (and in London), and currently the composer for the Lord of the Rings musical that's opening (or will soon open) in Toronto.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 11:22 PM on Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Here's the voice, mind and

Here's the voice, mind and personality of Gretchen Moll, star of Picturehouse's The Notorious Bettie Page, talking to a round table of journos at today's (Tuesday, 3.21) at the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills. Mostly chit-chat, four or five decent questions. (Me? I asked whether she had any contact with the real Bettie.)

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 11:08 PM on Tuesday, March 21, 2006

A portion of the Cannes

A portion of the Cannes 2006 lineup has been reported on, and the only one I'm really hot to see so far is Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu's Babel (Paramount, 10.6.06), a three-story interweave in the vein of Amores Perros with a script by that film's author, the great Guillermo Ariagga. Plus a large cast topped by Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Gael Garcia Bernal...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 9:12 PM on Tuesday, March 21, 2006

"I think you're onto something

"I think you're onto something with this 'beep beep'/'meep meep' thing. I can't imagine any person with functioning ears hearing the Roadunner sound as anything but 'meep meep.' But Warner Bros. seems bizarrely insistent that the actual term is 'beep beep' (for example, see serial number 73689940 in the U.S. trademark database) and Chuck Jones himself used 'beep beep' (with the 'b' clearly pronounced) in interviews. I cannot imagine what sinister purpose...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 8:57 PM on Tuesday, March 21, 2006

I've heard some "interesting spin"

I've heard some "interesting spin" from two enthused sources over the last few days about Steven Zallian's All the Kings Men (Columbia, mid-to-late fall). They're saying this period political drama, believe it or not, is going to be the film to beat in the 2006 Oscar race. Based on Robert Penn Warren's novel but for all practical purposes a remake of the Oscar- winning 1949 Robert Rossen film about a ruthless Southern politician modelled on Huey Long, the Mike Medavoy production was yanked from its 12.16.05 release on or about 10.20.05. (Here...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 6:32 PM on Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Regarding Fathers

Regarding Fathers

There isn't anyone out there who doesn't expect Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers (DreamWorks/Paramount) to rank as a probable Best Picture contender later this year, but it won't be screened for another four or five months or so why not chill and write about something else?

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 12:24 PM on Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Monday, March 20, 2006

I can't stop laughing at

I can't stop laughing at this. I've read it over and over and it's magnificent....brilliant. The speaker, quoted in USA Today, is Greg Laemmle, president of Laemmle Theaters, a 16 theatre Southern California chain. "The movie business is a little like the drug business. We are the pushers, and our customers are the users. Even if business is good, you have to keep giving people what they want."

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 4:53 PM on Monday, March 20, 2006

Thanks to MCN's "the Reeler"

Thanks to MCN's "the Reeler" for his unqualified support in the all-important New York Times vs. Hollywood Elsewhere "beep beep" vs. "meep meep" debate, which came to a head in this space on Sunday, 3.19.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 4:00 PM on Monday, March 20, 2006

There's a stinky sulfur cloud

There's a stinky sulfur cloud hanging over Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn, a Vietnam-Laos escape-from-a-POW camp film set in the mid '60s and costarring Christian Bale, Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies. It's no secret to anyone who's taken the time to read the chat boards attached to Rescue Dawn 's IMDB page that the odor in question has nothing to do with Herzog or the film itself, which no one has seen because it hasn't yet been cut into viewable feature-length form, but from a pair of hotshot L.A. operators -- funny-money financier Elie SamahaRead More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 12:46 PM on Monday, March 20, 2006

Of the 24 films in

Of the 24 films in this generic N.Y. Daily News spring-preview piece, you can take two to the bank, and they're both from Universal: Spike Lee's Inside Man (opening Friday) and Paul Greengrass's Flight 93 (opening 4.28...only six weeks from now).

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 12:27 PM on Monday, March 20, 2006

Time's Tim Padgett has visited

Time's Tim Padgett has visited the Yucatan peninsula set of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (Touchstone, 8.4), and discovered that the movie's message will likely be embraced by the followers of "liberal Hollywood's bible," and that it might play like some kind of wild-ass companion piece to Al Gore's anti-global warming film An Inconvenient Truth, which is opening this spring. "Wacko Mel", as he is generally thought of and/or referred to in liberal circles, has made a violent and very bloody film with human-sacrifice scenes, okay, but it's also a metaphorical warning piece...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 11:55 AM on Monday, March 20, 2006

Padgett also writes in his

Padgett also writes in his Time magazine Apocalptyo piece that "criticism of Apocalypto is expected from Mexican nationalists ...since it touches on the raw issue of human sacrifice, which scholars don't believe was a prevalent Maya practice until the post-classic period, after A.D. 900, when fiercer influences like the Toltecs and Aztecs arrived. It is in that period, not coincidentally, that Apocalypto is set." Padgett also writes that "if there are complaints about Apocalypto...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 11:55 AM on Monday, March 20, 2006

A crisp, perceptive take by

A crisp, perceptive take by Newsweek's Andy Dehnart on Tony Soprano's coma dreams and existential wanderings via an alternate identity (i.e., salesman Kevin Finnerty) in episode #2 of The Sopranos. "I'm 46 years old," Soprano/Finnerty says in a hotel bar to some sales execs he's recently met. "Who am I? Where am I going?" To which costar Sheila Kelley, sitting across from him, says, "Join the club."

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 10:52 AM on Monday, March 20, 2006

Robobos has cut another excellent

Robobos has cut another excellent faux trailer that spins a dark melodrama into a piece of easily digestible pop-fluff, in the vein of that popular Shining trailer from last year. This one takes Dennis Hopper's ferociously insane Frank character from David Lynch's Blue Velvet and turns him into...a wild and crazy guy!

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 9:46 AM on Monday, March 20, 2006

A penniless Anthony Pelicano is

A penniless Anthony Pelicano is looking to part ways with his pro bono defense attorney and is planning to make a motion in court today to defend himself, according to L.A. investigative journalist Ross Johnson on his just-launched L.A. Indie website. "Pellicano wants to go quickly to trial and is willing to do it without the help of a federal public defender," sources are telling Johnson. "In this scenario, Pellicano might use the trial as a forum to expose what he feels is the duplicity of the various state and federal prosecutors...Read More

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 9:28 AM on Monday, March 20, 2006

Spike's Slam-Dunk

Spike's Slam-Dunk

I haven't seen the tracking on Inside Man (Universal, 3.24), but I'll tell you one thing for damn sure. It's going to be the top box-office dog when it opens five days from now. In fact, it's quite obviously...hello?...the most commercial film ever directed by Spike Lee.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 12:18 AM on Monday, March 20, 2006

Spike's Slam-Dunk

Spike's Slam-Dunk

I haven't seen the tracking on Inside Man (Universal, 3.24), but I'll tell you one thing for damn sure. It's going to be the top box-office dog when it opens five days from now. In fact, it's quite obviously...hello?...the most commercial film ever directed by Spike Lee.

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 12:06 AM on Monday, March 20, 2006

Sunday, March 19, 2006

A Sunday (3.19) profile by

A Sunday (3.19) profile by the San Francisco Chronicle's Vicky Haddock of controversial anti-Iraq War activist Cindy Sheehan (the mother who last year camped out in protest near President Bush's home in Crawford, Texas, following the death of her soldier son Casey in Iraq) mentions that Sheehan had recent plans to "breakfast in Manhattan with actress Susan Sarandon, who is set to portray her in a biopic movie." Haddock doesn't say if it's for cable or theatrical, but the former sounds a bit more likely. If anyone knows anything...

posted by Jeffrey Wells at 6:14 PM on Sunday, March 19, 2006

Charles Solomon's N.Y. Times piece

Charles Solomon's N.Y. Times piece about how annoyingly verbal animated features have become refers to Chuck Jones' Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons as an example of the non-verbal, all-visuals approach that used to rule in the old says. But hold on...Solomon says the Roadunner cartoons "took place in a silence broken only by music, sound effects and an occasional 'beep-beep.'" Inaccurate, dawg. The Roadrunner so