Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Home Entertainment

News broke in May that Anthony Hopkins was heading an all-star adaptation of William Shakespeare's King Lear. But as I mentioned then, this is one of two Lear projects on the way -- the other being a theater version starring Ian McKellen. This was going to be shown in the UK, but according to CNN, it's also hitting stateside on PBS next season.

Here's the kicker -- McKellen stripped down to his birthday suit for the role. Considering the kerfuffle that followed one slipped Janet Jackson nipple, one would think that there'd be a nice blur applied to Sir Ian's bits. However, PBS president Paula Kerger says: "Let's talk about this in January. It's what I think about it and what the FCC will allow." And as for what she thinks: "It's powerful. His entire performance is quite powerful."

Powerful or not, I'm sure there would be quite an uproar if his nudity was shown on a public station, even if it fits with the King's decline into madness at the hands of his evil daughters. So, I doubt that we'll get an unedited version of the play, but maybe there will be an unrated DVD that can go head to head with Hopkins. And, would Anthony go that far for the role?

I'm still trying to decide who I like more as Lear. It's probably McKellen, but Hopkins did a great job in Titus, so anything is possible. Who do you prefer?

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Filed under: RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand

I was just about to eat lunch when Cinematical's Christopher Campbell IM'd me the following ... "your dream movie ..." with a link to an article over at Daily Star featuring a quote from Megan Fox (who's no longer getting married to what's his name from Bev Hills 90210, by the way) in which she says her dream is to film an entire movie in the nude. No joke. And if I somehow had the money to fund such an experiment (donations? anyone?), I'd do so in less than a second. Strike that -- I'd do it in less than less than a second. (What do you want from me? It's Monday ... I'm alone ... writing about Batman for the 7,654th time. I'm allowed to geek out over my girl Megan just a little, right?)

Here's the quote: "I would love to do a movie naked - it would be beautiful. No one dares make that kind of film today. They did it in the 1930s in an arty way, so why not now?" Sh*t, why not now? I'm sure Brett Ratner would make that film for no money -- heck, I'm sure Ratner would pay someone else out of his own pocket if it meant he could direct that movie. I can almost see it now: Arty: The Movie, starring a naked Megan Fox and directed by Brett Ratner. And you thought The Dark Knight was popular? Wait until you see the viral sites for this one!

(And don't even pretend not to care -- the gallery below is our most popular on the site.)

Continue reading Megan Fox Wants to Film an Entire Movie Naked!

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If opening weekends are elections, Eddie Murphy just lost in a landslide. "Meet Dave" grossed $5.3 million at 3,300 screens -- that's a $1,606 per-screen-average, downright pathetic for a heavily marketed comedy featuring a major star. (Can we still say that about Eddie? Maybe not.) The comic can take heart that "Dave" did marginally better than "The Adventures of Pluto Nash" (a $2.1 million opener in 2002) -- but it also did much, much worse than "Norbit" ($34 million in February of 2007). What's the lesson here for Murphy? Stay away from sci-fi themes? More dramatic supporting roles like "Dreamgirls"? Hide under a rock for a few years?

The weekend's big winner was "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," buoyed by a wave of great reviews and a want-to-see primed by the first film's DVD success. $36 million in grosses put it well above the 2004 opening weekend for "Hellboy" ($23 million), and the per-screen-average was $11,200, far above "Meet Dave."

The big smackdown, in fact, was between "Hellboy II" and "Hancock," which made $33 million its second weekend out and has grossed $165 million to date. Fine; with a $150 million budget (not counting marketing costs), the Will Smith vehicle will need to rake in major dollars (and euros and yen) to break even.

"Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D" made a very tidy $20 million, 57% of which came from the 854 theaters (or 30% of the total) equipped with RealD projectors. Which makes sense, since why would anyone want to see a movie with "3D" in the title in a 2D version?

In limited release, the twisty French suspense chiller "Tell No One" is doing bang-up business with a $13,388 per-theater-average at 18 theaters; Boston gets it on August 1. Before then, of course, comes the one-two punch of "The Dark Knight" and "Mamma Mia!" this Friday -- perhaps the most demographically balanced double tsunami of the summer.

Here's the Box Office Mojo chart and here's Leonard Klady at Movie City News.

On its release, Penelope made little impression in the film world and went largely unnoticed. I had seen a trailer though and thought the concept seemed rather sweet and endearing. A cursed girl born with pig features tries to find love. Also, the cast list was amazingly impressive, with James McAvoy, Christina Ricci, and Reece Witherspoon, to name but a few. So I gave it a go. The first thirty minutes were extremely enjoyable and very funny, but then the film lost its way and became a bit of a disappointment. (more…)

Filed under: New Releases, Celebrities and Controversy, Politics, Celebrities Gone Wild!

When Josh Brolin takes a night off from playing a young George W. Bush to get arrested in a bar, the jokes practically write themselves. (Method acting, anyone?) That's what happened in the wee hours of Saturday morning in Shreveport, La., as Brolin, co-star Jeffrey Wright (who plays Colin Powell), and five crew members from Oliver Stone's biopic W. were arrested at the Stray Cat bar and taken down to the big house.

The Associated Press's account is sparse, so we turn to Shreveport's KSLA News 12 for more details (and thanks to Jeffrey Wells for the link). Seems it was closin' time at the ol' Stray Cat, and Brolin and his pals wouldn't leave, despite bein' asked twice, and they were bein' rowdy. So the bar staff called the police, who arrived just after 2 a.m., whereupon there was a bit of a scuffle, and a fellow named Eric Felland got arresting for remaining in the bar, public drunkenness, and resisting arrest. Brolin, Wright, and the other W.-affiliated folks reportedly interfered with the arrest, so they got arrested for that misdemeanor.

The Shreveport Times reports that Brolin posted a $334 bond and was free to go. Wright and the other four arrest-resisters had the same price on their heads. The guy who was being arrested in the first place, Felland, who is a lighting technician on the film, had a $752 bond. It's unclear from the early news reports how long it took everyone to get out of the clink, but one assumes they didn't have to fester in jail too long. I like what one of the commenters at Hollywood Elsewhere said, that it would have been great if James Cromwell, who plays George Bush Sr., had had to come bail everyone out.

Continue reading The Cast of Oliver Stone's 'W.' Gets Arrested in a Louisiana Bar

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In this summer of comic book heroes coming to a theater near you to rescue you from heat, boredom or both, Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) muscles it’s way out front of a pretty competitive pack. The visual effects alone are worth your ticket price. From start to finish the solid cast of actors sells this fantasy and we are presented with something not often found in this genre; well fleshed out characters. Sure, there are plenty of things getting blown up, ripped apart and beaten up, just as one would expect from any self respecting action movie; but Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) delivers even more and like the title character, this movie has heart. (more…)

Funny Games is about two preppy young men who psychologically and physically terrorize an upper class family in their home. This is the Americanized version of the 1997 film. Although artistic and well crafted, the film is about as unpleasant as the countless number of torture porn movies that are manufactured these days. The irony about Funny Games is not that it isn’t funny but that the joke is on the audience and the director, Michael Haneke, is the only one who’s laughing. (more…)

Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom

What is it about ice cream that makes distinguished former astronauts get so cranky? Buzz Aldrin, the second man to step foot on the Moon, says that "fantastic and unbelievable" science fiction movies and television shows are partly to blame for the boredom young people have with the modern space program.

During an ice cream party this week, Aldrin told Sci-Fi Wire: "All the shows where they beam people around and things like that have made young people think that that is what the space program should be doing. It's not realistic ... you can't possibly live up to the expectations you have created in young people. Why do they get bored with the space program? That's why."

Aldrin doesn't hate all science fiction films and TV shows -- just the ones that deal with "fantasy and ... traveling seven times the speed of light." He spoke favorably about Ron Howard's Apollo 13 and Tom Hanks' From the Earth to the Moon series: "They were fascinating, because it was reality history, and reality fiction can be good if you stick to reality." Got that?

While not mentioning Star Trek or Star Wars, I'd guess those were some of the culprits he had in mind. When he's not busy slagging science fiction and fantasy, Aldrin hosts Unseen Moon, a National Geographic Channel show. Hmm, I wonder if his show is "reality history" or "reality fiction"?

[ Via Classic Horror Film Board ]

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Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Universal, Celebrities and Controversy, Distribution, Politics, Remakes and Sequels

When it comes to Hollywood movies, Chinese censors have always been a little strict. Case in point: The State Administration for Radio, Film and Television tells Variety that the upcoming release of The Mummy 3 Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is still pending until Universal makes unspecified changes to the flick. The censors didn't give any details about what would have to be cut from the film, but speculation has it that the source of the problem is "usually themes involving ghosts are taboo in China".

Emperor sets the new and improved O'Connell family (Brendan Fraser, Luke Ford, and Maria Bello) smack dab in the middle of another adventure battling a tyrannical emperor (Jet Li) and his legion of undead armies. Universal already made some concessions to the Chinese government in exchange for permission to shoot on location. According to Variety Universal was urged to make the film, "less political and more focused on fantasy than real history" -- Less political? Now that's a word I would have never associated with the Mummy franchise.

A flack for Universal has already released a statement saying, "Universal does not anticipate any obstacles to clearing the film for China and looks forward to releasing "The Mummy: Tomb of The Dragon Emperor" in the country where it was set and shot." Translation: We just spent $145 million bucks on this movie, and we want some of those Chinese box-office dollars. Emperor is just the latest Hollywood production to get a rough deal from Chinese censors, but at least they are in good company. On the upside, I guess the Chinese will never know what they're missing.

The Mummy 3 Tomb of the Dragon Emperor opens on August 1st, 2008.

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Filed under: Classics, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Family Films, Newsstand

Warner Bros has finally broken their silence when it comes to the much talked about Where the Wild Things Are. As you must remember, the film has been dogged with rumors of reshoots and recasting. The last news we heard wasn't good, as the studio had casting calls out for reshoots.

But finally, someone has managed to get the studio to say what the heck is going on. LA Times writer Patrick Goldstein sat down with studio chief Alan Horn, who finally gave the studio's side of the story. Horn denied all reports that Spike Jonze had been taken off the project, but admitted the film was being reworked. "We've given him more money and, even more importantly, more time for him to work on the film. We'd like to find a common ground that represents Spike's vision but still offers a film that really delivers for a broad-based audience. We obviously still have a challenge on our hands. But I wouldn't call it a problem, simply a challenge. No one wants to turn this into a bland, sanitized studio movie. This is a very special piece of material and we're just trying to get it right ... The jury is still out on this one. But we remain confident that Spike is going to figure things out and at the end of the day we'll have an artistically compelling movie."

Continue reading Warners Finally Says (Exactly) Where the Wild Things Are

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