I have read various blogs posts about how horrible they expect this movie to be, and I have heard the rumours that they had to change the keys for all of Queen Latifah's songs because she couldn't sing them as they were on Broadway, but I do not care in the least!
This is what I want from a musical, and I can see from the trailer that Hairspray seems to have it.
Foot tapping songs? - CHECK! Period costume? - CHECK! Camp factor? - CHECK! Energy (lacking from Dreamgirls) - CHECK! Underlying serious message - CHECK! And the most important thing Group dancing with fun choreography? - CHECK CHECK CHECK!!!
All the elements are here, so unless Adam Shankman is a horrible director (please do not let it be so) then I think this will be alot of fun. I mean the man did choreograph the amazing Buffy episode "Once More With Feeling" so how bad can the man be....I mean that is coolness factor right there. THEY GOT THE MUSTARD OUT!
So anywhoo....this looks fun and I am going to jump on the small band wagon and say GET ME THERE!!
Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God!!
It has finally arrived. I am so excited about this movie that I am almost pooing myself with anticipation. For those of you not in the know the premise is this: "A woman (Foster) struggles to recover from a brutal attack by setting out on a mission for revenge." I love Jodie Foster (you can bet on a post about that soon) and want her doing some more of her awards calibre work and pronto. This looks like it just might been the ticket she needs, lets hope Neil Jordan gets his mojo back
I am really looking forward to this. I was a fan of Kasi Lemmons after she appeared as Ardelia Mapp in "The Silence of the Lambs" and more so after she turned out the gothic drama "Eve's Bayou" one of those films I had not heard of living in London that I stumbled on and LOVED!!! I even enjoyed her second feature "The Caveman's Valentine" and thought it had some very interesting ideas so I am thinking that this film and subject, with this cast should pay off for a highly entertaining film.
The Premise goes:
The true life story of Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene Jr. In the mid-to-late 1960s, in Washington, D.C., vibrant soul music and exploding social consciousness were combining to unique and powerful effect. It was the place and time for Petey to fully express himself - sometimes to outrageous effect - and "tell it like it is. With the support of his irrepressible and tempestuous girlfriend Vernell, the newly minted ex-con talks his way into an on-air radio gig. As Petey's voice, humor, and spirit surge across the airwaves with the vitality of the era, listeners tune in to hear not only incredible music but also a man speaking directly to them about race and power in America like few people ever have.
Well it is Friday today and apparently the rain will subside and the sun will shine tomorrow (it is making attempts today) so I am thinking hot thoughts. And there is nothing hotter than Channing Tatum. I have never seen him in a movie, so I cannot comment on his acting skills, but his looking sexy skills are unparalleled.
Taking a look at his IMDB page I see he is getting lots of work as he is Hollywood’s next big thing (they are always looking for another Brad Pitt), and some of it looks interesting.
Well here is something hot for you all to look at to get you reared up for the weekend! Enjoy, salivate and…well…use a tissue.
"Let's face it, we were all once 3-year-olds who stood in the middle of the living room and everybody thought we were so adorable. Only some of us grow up and get paid for it." Early in her career, Meryl Streep received a letter from Bette Davis, whom most critics and cinema historians rank as the greatest American movie actress ever. Davis told Streep that she felt that she was her successor as the premier American actress. Ironically, According to Katherine Hepburn's official biographer A. Scott Berg, Meryl Streep was her least favorite modern actress on screen: "Click, click, click," she said, referring to the wheels turning inside Streep's head.
Well all I can say is “Click, Click, Click” has served her very well. I struggle to think of an actress who has turned out such a tremendous body of work as Streep. Even when she stumbles in a role, she is usually ten times better then a lot of actresses who have won Academy Awards in recent years.
Think about the roles she has played. Joanna Kramer in “Kramer vs Kramer” was her first Oscar win, but did not prepare us for things to come, especially the one, two, three punch of Sarah/Anna in “The French Lieutenant's Woman” (1981), the heartbreaking Sophie Zawistowski in “Sophie's Choice” (1982) and Karen Silkwood in “Silkwood” (1983). These were followed by, what I like to call, her maturing years, where she perfected her craft.
During this time no performance makes me shudder at the brilliance of Streep that her Lindy Chamberlain in “A Cry in the Dark”. The steely coldness she resonated when in the face of the press to the superb accent delivered flawlessly, to the grief over the death of her baby, this is probably one of my favourite performances ever. This came smack in the middle of her Karen Blixen in “Out of Africa” and Helen Archer in "Ironweed", two other fearless and vanity free performances.
She ended the 80’s and spent the early part of the 90’s steering away from the drama and focusing on proving her impressive comedy skills with “She Devil” (1989), “Postcadrs from the Edge” ” (1990), “Defending Your Life” (1991) and “Death Becomes Her” (1992). She all but stole each movie from her co-stars and started becoming a fixture at the Golden Globes in both the Comedy/Musical category and the Drama.
She has this insane talent where she can give you entire emotions with one simple look, or in one word. When you see her on screen next, notice the small and tiny touches she gives to add history and back story to her characters. From kicking the fridge door shut behind her in “The Bridges of Madison County” to the way she utters the word ‘stuff in the “cerulean scene in “The Devil Wears Prada” she demonstrates how less is so much more.
Forget the Oscar wins and nominations for a second and think about how, even though she is one of the most celebrated actors in the world, she remains ‘real’. You feel you could approach her and have a laugh with her over wine and cheese. She is also graceful in interviews, and has the most impeccable comic timing. When she does make a rare public appearance she does not seem to worry about what she is wearing, she is that rare thing in Hollywood, an actress comfortable in their skin.
Here are some interesting things I learned about her.
She has a fear of helicopters.
Has a deviated septum, which she refuses to have fixed. Directors work around it by avoiding straight-on close-ups.
The children's TV series "Sesame Street" has featured a character named "Meryl Sheep" in her honour.
Was originally supposed to play the role of Iris Hineman is the film Minority Report (2002), but had to back out. She was replaced by Lois Smith.
Originally applied to Law School but slept in on the morning of her interview and took it as a sign she was destined for other things.
Took serious singing lessons. At age 12, she studied to become an opera singer.
Friend of of Jill Clayburgh. First met in their roles as mothers.
Drives a Toyota Prius . How environmentally friendly of you, but I would expect no less.
Has named her favourite actresses working today as Cate Blanchett, Emily Blunt, Dame Helen Mirren and Nicole Kidman.
I could list all the great work she has done (Marvin’s Room, Angels in America, One True Thing, The River Wild, Adaptation, The Hours and on and on) but you all know by now what a formidable talent she is, I mean if you look at her IMDB page you will see that she has ten, yes, ten movies in the works right now. Look for Meryl to be winning her third, if not forth Oscar soon.
So of all things childish and silly to come out of Hollywood and it’s little internal fights this one really makes me laugh. Sony is questioning the accuracy of the six-day worldwide box office haul reported by “ Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End d”, claiming that Disney actually opened the movie a day early in Italy and France, which would mean its six-day totals actually occurred over seven days. All I can picture is a little child in a Sony T-Shirt having a big ole tantrum, crying and screaming how they are the best.
Pirates set an overseas launch record with $251 million over ''six'' days, $19 million ahead of Sony's “Spider-Man 3”. Buena Vista International, the foreign distribution arm of the Walt Disney Co., confirms that $1.4 million in sales from a seventh day were rolled into the six-day total, and a Sony executive claims that “Spidey 3”, which opened a day early in 18 overseas markets, should be given a seven-day record for taking in $418.1 million over that time-span. This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a long time. They should be more upset about the fact that their films were not considered very good, then how much money they made in Italy on day one. They should settle this with a nice civilized game of charades.
What is basically comes down to is what we all know anyway, money is far more important that quality when it comes to Hollywood, and the lovely ole U.S., in fact a lot of the world. Imagine studios actually not arguing and suing each other over such small trivial things, but instead congratulating each other over great scripts, brilliant pictures, and discovering new talent.
My good friend Heidi and I used to scare our selves to death with this movie. It was at a time when Disney was producing some very frightening films aimed for older kids. Many people prefer "Something Wicked This Way Comes", but for me the film that captured the chills and frights of the unseen (years before "The Blair Witch Project") was Disneys 1980's "The Watcher in the Woods". It also led to Heidi and I playing some overly imaginative and, frankly, quite frightening games. When a normal American family moves into a beautiful old English house in a wooded area, strange, paranormal appearances befall them. Their daughter Jan sees things, and daughter Ellie hears, the voice of a young teenage girl who mysteriously disappeared during a total solar eclipse decades before. When she vanished something replaced her in the woods and now watches them.
Ohhh I have chills thinking about it. Bette Davis plays the aged Mrs. Alywood in one of her last roles. My sister recently bought me the DVD of this, and at the tender age of 23 (give or take eight years) this still made me jump and had me pulling the covers to my chin. Though tame by today's bloody standards and a flop on its original release, this handsome little gothic ghost story has become something of a cult film for its suggestive direction, impressionistic imagery, and spooky sense of the unknown.
It got me really thinking about how well it could work today. Alejandro Amenábar proved in 2001 that he has an amazing sense of suspense and is able to handle and maintain a slow uncomfortable build, and we would be my first choice in the director’s chair. Of course the original ending worked better than any of the deleted ones tagged onto the DVD (aliens......really) and I will always be one who stands by the fact that leaving some plot lines unanswered adds to the mystery and thrills. Apparently Brian Clemens wrote a version of the screenplay he was most interested in directing, but Disney decided that this version was much too dark, and hired Rosemary Anne Sisson to lighten it up. I would be curious to see Clemens version, mainly to see how dark he intended it to be.
I am sure it is lying around somewhere, so someone get it out and re-adapt it but without the cheep thrills, gore, torture and rape that seem to be the rage with all current horror films. The ‘Saws’ and the ‘Hostels’ of the world are such poor examples of genuine horror. If I want to watch someone get hacked up with loads of blood and gore I will watch a surgery channel. If I want to watch a teenage girl get brutally raped (‘The Hills Have Eyes’) just to be thrilled I will check myself into a mental hospital and get lots of therapy (being raped is horrific enough without it being used to up the scares and shock in a horror film – some film makers are irresponsible). Bring back the thrills and shivers of ‘The Changeling’, ‘The Blair Witch Project’, ‘The Others’ and even the Japanese horror films of ‘Ringu’ and ‘Ju-on’ that used atmosphere and story telling to scare you. STOP THE VIOLENCE!!!
This does look like it may be damn good, never underestimate the power of the Clooney. Plus with that cast it looks like it could be a tense ride. Here is hoping it we are biting our nails out of suspence and not out of panic.
For those who do not know, here is a plot Summary:
Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is an in-house "fixer" at one of the largest corporate law firms in New York. A former criminal prosecutor, Clayton takes care of Kenner, Bach & Ledeen's dirtiest work at the behest of the firm's co-founder Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack). Though burned out and hardly content with his job as a fixer, his divorce, a failed business venture and mounting debt have left Clayton inextricably tied to the firm. At U/North, meanwhile, the career of litigator Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) rests on the multi-million dollar settlement of a class action suit that Clayton's firm is leading to a seemingly successful conclusion. But when Kenner Bach's brilliant and guilt-ridden attorney Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) sabotages the U/North case, Clayton faces the biggest challenge of his career and his life.
Well it is another bank holiday weekend here in the UK, so yay!! However it has not stopped bloody raining and I was so looking forward to a weekend of sun and lazing about glorious Clapham Common, but no it seems mother nature has other plans. She wants to water her beloved flora and who am I to argue. I shall accept it and celebrate the rain with a selection of songs that are in my box to the right.
Umbrella ft. Jay-Z - Rihanna This was played constantly in NYC while I was there this past week and it has buried itself into my brain with it’s addictive hook. Also as the BF and I wandered home from Kazbar in the rain, we really did wish we had an umbrella. Rihanna your song works on so many levels. Jokes aside, it has an impressive feat here in the UK. "Umbrella" became the first song by a female artist to debut at number one on The Official UK Singles Chart solely on download sales, and only the second single overall to debut at that postion without a physical release (after "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley). Well done honey.
London Rain - Heather Nova I mean…how appropriate is this song. A fellow Bermudian and an amazing songwriter and vocalist. You may be familiar with her music if you watched ‘Dawson;s Creek’ or ‘Felicity’ as it was always featured. She has never had HUGE success in the charts, but perhaps it is for the best. There are some artists that you like to discover yourself and keep secret. There is nothing worse than radio ruining and over playing songs you loved (like they have done over here with poor ole Mika). Keep it up Heather, and I look forward to your next release. ”And where l'm home, curled in your arms, and I'm safe again. I'll close my eyes and sleep to the sound of London Rain”
Here Comes The Rain Again - Eurythmics A beautiful, simple, hypnotic song. Nothing can beat its melancholy lyrics that fittingly draw a comparison between the painful and tragic feelings of unrequited love with falling rain. Bless you Annie and your heartbreaking voice. This was always one of my favourite Eurythmics songs. When this group was on, boy were they ever on. ”Here comes the rain again, Raining in my head like a tragedy, Tearing me apart like a new emotion”
In more remake news, Robert Rodriguez will direct Universal's adaptation of the sci-fi comic “Barbarella”. The character was made famous by the 1968 movie adaptaion , which starred Jane Fonda and was produced by Dino De Laurentiis (he who thought Jodie Foster was not sexy enough to play Clarice Starling in “Silence of the Lambs”), who is also producing the new film with Martha De Laurentiis. Those two have not done great work, successful, but not great in terms of critical praise. Rodriguez has had much more critical success, but that is still divided. He, however, does have the visual flare to make some pretty sweet eye candy, and the source material is full of it I went on IMDB to have a looksie at the plot (I have never seen it…hang my head low) and was met with this which made me howl with laughter.
” After an in-flight anti-gravity striptease (masked by the film's opening titles), Barbarella (Jane Fonda), a 41st century astronaut, lands on the planet Lythion and sets out to find the evil Durand Durand in the city of Sogo, where a new sin is invented every hour. There, she encounters such objects as the Exessive Machine, a genuine sex organ on which an accomplished artist of the keyboard, in this case, Durand Durand himself, can drive a victim to death by pleasure, a lesbian queen who, in her dream chamber, can make her fantasies take form, and a group of ladies smoking a giant hookah which, via a poor victim struggling in its glass globe, dispenses Essance of Man.”
The futuristic mercenary character Barbarella (which actually debuted in 1962 and was written and illustrated by Jean-Claude Forest) roams the universe of a distant future, undertaking missions that require fearlessness, ingenuity, sensuality, and often lead to sex. The original tag line read
” Who seduces an angel? Who strips in space? Who conveys love by hand? Who gives up the pill? Who takes sex to outer space? Who's the girl of the 21st century? Who nearly dies of pleasure?”
Well this is sounding better and better all the time.
Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are developing an original adventure for the new movie. Purvis and Wade co-wrote Casino Royale and recently finished the next Bond movie, which has a working title of Bond 22 so expect something a little more high brow than the original camp classic sex romp . Rodriguez, who is currently in theaters for Planet Terror, one-half of the Grindhouse double feature he co-directed with Quentin Tarantino, was expected to next take on an adaptation of The Jetsons or Land of the Lost, but his attention will now be turned toward helping Universal get Barbarella fast-tracked into theaters by 2008. I guess this means we can look forward to “The Jetsons” and “Land of the Lost” coming soon to a theater near you…..great.
Who would be cast as the space age trollop? Anna Faris comes to mind. She is getting great reviews for her comedy work in “Smiley Face” even if they say the movie is slight. Rachel McAdams has proven Comedy chops as well.
I would like to see our favourite drunken slutty celebrity come back with a tongue in cheek action/sex/sci fi romp and really go for it. Give it to Lindsay!! Let he prove her comedy worth again! This time, with the lack of wardrobe, she should be at home. She looks the part, she has pretty much lived the part, the only thing she will need to get used to is the sci fi setting. All jokes aside, we all know that there is a great actress inside this girl, she just needs to get over her rebellion, and make us proud.
So it seems that Warner Bros is officially on board for that He-Man movie. If this seems like a bad idea then ask why producer Joel Silver and Warner are teaming with Mattel for a live-action adaptation of the 1980s action figure (thank Madonna not the cartoon series). Justin Marks (who is unproven) has been tapped to script the movie, which will be called Masters of the Universe.
Now I played and collected these action figures as a child, but even at the tender age of 10 I knew the cartoons were awful. He-Man as a toy was campy enough without the formulaic plots of the cartoon. If Silver can bring out his producing best from ” The Matrix” (first one), ” Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”, ” Veronica Mars”, ” V for Vendetta” (yes I liked it!) and ” Xanadu” (heeeeeeeee) then perhaps this will not be as dire as it sounds here.
The deal, which still requires Mattel's approval of a formal outline, would make this the second He-Man movie, following the 1987 mega meal flop starring Dolph Lundgren (my word, I knew I was gay when I saw him!) as the title character. Mattel has been wary of doing another movie, having already passed on an attempt by Fox 2000 with director John Woo.
According to Variety ”The Warner/Silver movie would reimagine the franchise as a classic good vs. evil battle, using the kind of visual effects used in 300. “
This may actually work, if they also aim it for adults again. The problem with children’s films is that they are far too childish these days. Films like ” Spirited Away”, ” The Incredibles”, and by first looks the upcoming ”Transformers”will appeal to adults, but appeal to kids because they will think they are seeing something adult and exciting. I know I sound like a broken record with this, but the studios seem to forget that the people who played with the toys in the 80's are now all thirty-somethings and do not want to sit through the live action version on the TV cartoon. The story is about a great warrior, touted as the last hope of Eternia, which is being destroyed by technology and the evil Skeletor, He-Man's nemesis. Rumors are rampant over the web about the casting, but no one has been cast. Kate Moss is in talks for the role of Skeletor, but the studios fear she may be too thin to pass it off (boom boom). My first question and concern is who will play Orko?
Anyway, enough of all this and more of Dolph. I do like my Scandinavian men hence why I picked out the BF eight years ago in the International Scandinavian Boyfriend Fair. I was worried that Dolph may not have aged well, but I was wrong...rugged and yummy with a spoon.
Foot tapping songs? - CHECK!
