As of 6:15 pm today, the people running the E! website couldn’t be bothered to post even a small-type mention of the passing of Andy Jones, a guy who worked and wailed for them pretty well in his heyday. He did a fair amount of on-camera work also. Jones had issues, okay, but he deserves at least a modest farewell piece. But I guess that wouldn’t attract readers, huh? Really classy, guys. Hats off.

“Despite its $200 million-plus budget, the presence of Steve Carrel and an aggressive campaign aimed at Christians, it appears that this story of a modern day Noah will generate a weekend gross that is only in the $35 to $38 million range. I’m told that the three major tracking services have the movie at $35 million or $36 million, but one studio has the picture at $38 million and another says that it gets to $40 million tops. If this number holds, and keep in mind that it is a preliminary number, Evan Almighty will have a hard time getting to $100 million domestic. That would be a major disaster for Universal.” — Moguls columnist Steve Mason in a 6.22 posting.

A handwriting analysis of Paris Hilton’s pre-pubescent scrawl …funny. Best snicker of the day.

There was once a serious notion, believe it or not, that milk-fed Jennifer Aniston might portray Marianne Pearl in A Mighty Heart. Gold Derby’s Tom O’Neil considers this might-have-been scenario, and in the process persuades a certain bigmouth to comment as follows:
“Jennifer Aniston is not a bad actress, but she’s not right for A Mighty Heart,. No casting director in their right mind would say, ‘Let’s try Aniston in the role.’ For one thing, she’s not right physically. She’s not exotic like Angelina Jolie and she can’t pull off that French/ Italian/ north African accent. Putting Aniston in A Mighty Heart would be like casting Marlene Dietrich as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.”

Sicko director Michael Moore “has hardly been shy about sharing his political beliefs, but he has never before made a film that stated his bedrock ideological principles so clearly and accessibly,” writes N.Y. Times critic A.O. Scott.
“His earlier films have been morality tales, populated by victims and villains, with himself as the dogged go-between, nodding in sympathy with the downtrodden and then marching off to beard the bad guys in their dens of power and privilege. This method can pay off in prankish comedy or emotional intensity — like any showman, Mr. Moore wants you to laugh and cry — but it can also feel manipulative and simplistic.
“In Sicko, however, he refrains from hunting down the C.E.O.√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢s of insurance companies, or from hinting at dark conspiracies against the sick. Concentrating on Americans who have insurance (after a witty, troubling acknowledgment of the millions who don√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢t), Moore talks to people who have been ensnared, sometimes fatally, in a for-profit bureaucracy and also to people who have made their livings within the system.
“The testimony is poignant and also infuriating, and none of it is likely to be surprising to anyone, Republican or Democrat, who has tried to see an out-of-plan specialist or dispute a payment.”

When I mentioned yesterday that the winner of the 2007 Best Picture Oscar will most likely be one of those Iraq War/Afghanistan movies (Charlie Wilson’s War, Lions for Lambs, In The Valley of Elah), I didn’t mention three others set in that troubled area. My reasons for excluding them are mostly sound. Peter Berg‘s The Kingdom is sounding more like an out-and-out thriller. Marc Forster‘s The Kite Runner may be a bit too smallish and exotic to be considered an early Oscar favorite. And Brian DePalma‘s Redacted looks…wow, interesting as hell. But the day-and-date release scheme places it in a exposure category that handicappers tend to dismiss.

I missed my only shot at seeing Evan Almighty last Tuesday when I blew off the all-media at Mann’s Chinese in order to see Danny Boyle‘s Sunshine, which does indeed fall apart during the final act. If I have nothing better to do this weekend and find myself in a plex where it’s showing, I might pop in and watch it.
This would only happen under duress as I am fundamentally, philosophically, psychologically, ethically and religiously opposed to all big-studio, digital-fart tentpole movies that cost over $100 million to make and always get the suckers on opening weekend, no matter how good or bad they’re supposed to be. All of the good and hearty souls in Movie America need to grab swords and torches and band together like the renegade gladiators in Spartacus and say “no” to Imperial Rome.

I heard this morning about the massive heart attack that poor Andy Jones, the colorful journalist, E! columnist and Film Stew contributor, suffered last night at Hollywood’s Arclight plex during a press screening of A Mighty Heart. (Not funny, don’t go there). And I spent three fruitless hours this morning trying and failing to get a reliable read on his condition — people either didn’t pick up or they dummied up or they didn’t know anything.

Andy Jones

There’s no solid confirmation of anything, but L.A. Fish Bowl reported at 11:50 am that Jones has passed away.
I knew Andy fairly well and liked him alot for his ireverent humor and his bluntness. I’m obviously sorry and saddened if this is true. But anyone who really knows something should bite the bullet, step to the plate and say what happened. (David Poland wrote at 12:50-something that Jones has indeed died.)
A Paramount Vantage spokesperson confirmed that the tragedy happened during the Mighty Heart screening, and a manager at the Arclight told me that Jones had been taken away in an ambulance, but he wouldn’t say any more over “privacy” issues. I called the cops, a couple of ambulance services, three hospitals, Film Stew‘s Sperling Reich, Ted Casablanca at E!, Joey Berlin at the BFCA…and nothing came of any of it.
I called Andy’s home and all I heard was this message, which was apparently recorded as a favor to Jones by voiceover legend Don LaFontaine.
I could mention some stuff I know about Andy’s work history and personal issues, particularly some things I was told this morning by a colleague who knew Andy fairly well. But I don’t want to do a Bob Clark again. I just hope that somebody confirms or denies what Fishbowl is reporting. I’m presuming the worst but it’s obviously better to stick to known facts.

The one press screening of Live Free or Die Hard (20th Century Fox, 6.27) will be the all-media on Monday, 6.25, at 7 pm. At the crummy, down-at-the-heels Avco in Westwood, no less. That conflicts with lots of other interesting opportunities (the LA Film Festival showings, of course, as well as a shot at seeing Peter Berg‘s hotly-anticipated The Kingdom) and I really don’t know what to do. Maybe this LFODH review from the Montreal Film Journal will provide some guidance. Wait…”sub-par,” “hardly distinctive,” “bring back McTiernan”?