Filed under: Drama, Music & Musicals, Deals, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Celebrities Gone Wild!

Producer Gary Hamilton, mostly known for direct-to-video crap although he also produced the stellar Aussie horror film Wolf Creek, recently chatted with Page Six about his upcoming film Dare to Love Me, starring Lindsay Lohan, and apparently production on that film has been postponed at the zero hour before cameras were about to roll. "I'm not sure the movie is going to go immediately," he confessed to the gossip rag, while deflecting the obvious question about whether insuring star Lohan was the financial hurdle he couldn't get over. "There's no problem with Lindsay from our perspective," he said. "It's financing the film, which is a separate issue." I wouldn't necessarily take him at his word on that, since even at this stage of the game he couldn't afford to be perceived as slamming his star in the press and it makes too much sense to assume insurance companies balked at backing Lohan, who was spotted chugging champagne as recently as this past weekend.

On the other hand, one look at the movie's bio will make you think that no one would finance this thing if it had Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie attached. The seemingly ill-conceived period piece follows "tango legend Carlos Gardel" who falls in love with a prostitute and gets shot in the lung, but still "seduces crowds with his enchanting voice, bringing Tango music as a liberating voice to Europe." It's being directed by Alfonso Arau, the guy who hit us over the noggin with A Walk in the Clouds back in 1995, and was only recently released from director's jail for that crime. Stay tuned to Cinematical for the latest twists and turns in Lohan's career rollercoaster ride.

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Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Deals, Warner Brothers, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Summer Movies

Can such a large project as the Superman sequel unravel in a single day? Certainly seems that way, doesn't it? First there was the Anne Thompson blog post which made the rounds earlier in the day (see our post on it here), in which she speculated -- and it seems a given that she wouldn't make such a speculation unless she had some info to back it up -- that Bryan Singer was likely to throw off the long-in-doubt sequel to the mediocre-performing Superman Returns in favor of concentrating on his other upcoming projects. I personally don't see the logic in this, since Valkyrie is already in the can and the Harvey Milk film will be a small thing that need not trample on a huge payday like the Supes sequel. However, Thompson also made a sideways reference to what may be the real issue -- Warner Bros.' increasingly obvious intention of using the upcoming Justice League of America as a way of rebooting said underperfoming Superman film by tossing Brandon Routh.

Now comes Latino Review, exploding a story that they claim to have been sitting on "for weeks and weeks" out of deference to sources at DC Comics. "Kelvin knew about Brandon not being the new Superman for weeks and weeks now, but made a promise to the DC people that he wouldn't break the story. Variety has now confirmed what we've secretly known for a while and Brandon Routh will be replaced in the stand-alone sequel by whomever is cast as Superman in the upcoming Justice League of America movie." Funny, since Variety doesn't say that at all -- this is clearly LR's attempt at a 'whoops, I thought it was safe to leak that info since Variety reported.' Anyway, if LR's source is legit the move on Warner and DC's part does make sense -- Routh didn't connect with audiences, for whatever reason, and in the age of instant reboots there are no second chances.

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Do you know any self-respecting cineaste who likes being called a "film buff"? A relative pulled that one on me over the holidays and I had to hold myself back from going medieval on him with a turkey leg. "Film buff" sounds patronizing and clammy and above all amateur, like those guys in junior high who collected Laurel and Hardy movies on Super-8 and who the rest of us obsessives kept as far away from as possible. Film geek, sure -- wonk, grindhouse junkie, mouth-breathing Godard maniac, call me what you want. But "buff"? Sorry, jack, I'm a professional.

That said, here's a little year end/year beginning reading for the devoted:

The Reeler has had enough of year-end top ten movie lists and has compiled a list of the ten worst ten best lists.

Wesley knocks heads with fellow critics Scott Foundas, Nathan Lee, and Dana Stevens in the annual Movie Club over at Slate -- it's a good, lively round-robin discussion that replicates what most people think movie reviewers sound like when they hang out together. And yay to Wes for defending "Zodiac," one of the two most misunderstood movies of the year (the other is "There Will Be Blood," and most people haven't even seen that one yet.)

Actually, how can "There Will Be Blood" be misunderstood when every critic is raving about it? The combined Village Voice/LA Weekly 2007 film critics' poll is up and the Paul Thomas Anderson film heads the list by a California country mile. Here's the full list, as well as the individual ballots of the critics who participated, yours truly included.

Finally, Movie City News puts it all together for movie-crazed statisticians on their 2007 Top Ten scorecard, a criticial concatenation and masterwork of anal-retentive HTML layout far beyond the capabilities of your average movie buff.

Filed under: Awards, Cannes, Celebrities and Controversy

Between upcoming high-profile work as an actor (including a role as Harvey Milk and his voice work for the English dub of Persepolis), and the honors, acclaim and awards nominations for Into the Wild, it's been a great year for Sean Penn professionally. And now it seems 2008 is going to be just as interesting for the writer-actor-director, as Variety brings news that Penn will serve as the head of the Cannes jury for the 2008 edition of the international event.

Penn's quote about the honor suggests he's facing his duties with enthusiasm: "In the last few years it seems there has been a rejuvenation of cinema building worldwide; increasingly thoughtful, provocative, moving, and imaginative films by talented filmmakers: that a new generation of filmmaking may have begun." The Cannes jury is comprised of nine people; jury presidents of the recent past at Cannes have included Stephen Frears, Wong Kar-Wai and Quentin Tarantino. As Variety notes, this isn't he first time Penn's been honored by Cannes; he received a prize for best Male Performance in 1997 from that year's jury (headed by Isabelle Adjani) for his work in Nick Casavettes's She's So Lovely.

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Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Warner Brothers, Celebrities and Controversy, Comic/Superhero/Geek

Well, we probably all should have seen this coming when you consider that Alan Moore seems to hate the movies Hollywood makes from his works just as much as Hollywood loves to make them. In an interview with Wizard Universe, the comic book legend spoke about his current involvement (or lack thereof) in Zack Snyder's big-screen version of Moore's Watchmen. According to Moore, he has officially (read, legally) washed his hands of the whole thing. Moore says, "I got a piece of paper a couple of months ago saying, "I, the undersigned, hereby give you permission to take my name off of the film and to send my money to Dave Gibbons." So I sent that back to them all signed and sealed, which means that now I don't have to rant and spew about the film. I'm just simply not interested in it". Watchmen is one of the most respected comic books out there, so you can imagine there is a lot riding on Snyder getting it right. There has already been plenty of discussion about casting choices, but so far, most fans seem to be cautiously optimistic about the whole thing.

In the past, Moore has battled with filmmakers over other film versions of his books like V for Vendetta and the famously crappy The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. But it would seem that Moore has learned something this time around, and instead of kicking up a fuss, he just walked away from the whole project. As for Moore's original Watchmen collaborator, Dave Gibbons, he seems a lot more positive about the whole thing. On the official production blog for the film, Gibbons waxed poetically after viewing the sets, saying, "Finally, tired but happy, arms around my new buddies, costumed and otherwise, it's my turn to smile for the camera. A month later, I'm smiling still". Well at least someone sounds happy about the whole thing. So while this is the last we are going to hear from Moore on the subject, that doesn't mean there won't be plenty more Watchmen updates to come before the film hits theaters on March 6th, 2009.

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Filed under: Awards, Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand

While it's a new year, the same old back-and-forth continues. Yesterday, there appeared to be a light at the end of the Golden Globes tunnel, as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (or HFPA) sent out a press release claiming to have resumed talks with the WGA in an attempt to get that same sort of interim deal the WGA made with The David Letterman Show and Worldwide Pants, which would allow writers to pen scripts for the Golden Globes ceremony. That deal isn't so much about getting people to write the "witty" banter between stars on stage as it is finding a way to still televise the event and get people to show up.

But HFPA's play-nice propaganda was a bit premature, as the WGA later put out a statement saying they still intend to picket the Globes ceremony as planned: "Dick Clark Productions is a struck company. As previously announced, the Writers Guild will be picketing the Golden Globe Awards. The WGA has great respect and admiration for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, but we are engaged in a crucial struggle that will protect our income and intellectual property rights for generations to come. We will continue to do everything in our power to bring industry negotiations to a fair conclusion. In the meantime, we are grateful for the ongoing support of the talent community."

So where is this heading? Well, most likely the ceremony will not be televised (unless a miracle agreement is reached), and HFPA will cross their fingers and hope that the WGA will not picket if the event is not televised, allowing actors and actresses to attend the ceremony, as well as the more important (and expensive) after parties. And you should care ... why?

[via Deadline Hollywood]

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The London Sunday Times reports that Sacha Baron Cohen has been cast to play Abbie Hoffman in a drama about the trial of the Chicago Seven that Steven Spielberg may direct, from a script by Aaron Sorkin. That is, says Variety, if Spielberg doesn't make his Abraham Lincoln movie first, starring Liam Neeson and based on a Tony Kushner script.

Who's Abbie Hoffman, the younger readers are wondering? Sort of the Sacha Baron Cohen of the late 60s, except with a lot more socio-political importance (or pretentions, if you will). Oh, just read the Wikipedia entry. I'm assuming you know who Lincoln is.

Ah, the start of a New Year! As I break out the calandar, mark up important days to come, then, the morning surprise of snow on the ground, and a day’s worth of shoveling and snowblowing. It’s a workout, time consuming and it is depressing. Just like …The Seeler’s Annual Lemon List…, the worst films of 2007. Folks, you didn’t actually think I’d forget about this, did you? Sadly, even if I did, the world still turns, life goes on, because the more I think about these pictures the more I think nuclear armeggeddon is soon upon us. (more…)

Technorati tags: chokingonpopcorn movie General The Lemon List Of 2007 : I’ll Give You A Requiem!

Filed under: Drama, Critical Thought, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Scripts, Oscar Watch

A number of people who've seen There Will Be Blood have commented on the fact that women don't seem to figure into lead character Daniel Plainview's life at all. As one commenter on David Poland's blog recently put it, "There's never a single woman in sight of him. Not when he becomes successful. Not even when he's older. Not even whores. There's no explicit point of this made, so much as it's just de facto." This is part of the commenter's argument that Plainview is a repressed homosexual. Another commenter pegs Plainview as simply a-sexual, noting that "his only love and appetite was for more money as a means to an end." But is that really what's going on? I recently sat down and read the script for There Will Be Blood and noticed something that I don't remember being included at all in the film. Since it's only one line I could have just missed it, but I don't think I did, and if I'm right it might go a long way towards explaining things.

On page 80 of the script, Daniel and Henry (a drifter who may be his brother) are sitting in a mess hall drinking and talking and Daniel tells Henry that H.W., who he's been passing off as his son, is "not even my son." "What do you mean?" Henry asks. At this point, the script says that 'Daniel begins to break down, holds his crotch' and then says to Henry "He's not my son. My c**k doesn't even work. How am I gonna make a kid? Does yours work Henry?" So that kind of sheds a new light on things, doesn't it? His half-hearted attempts at finding male companions -- his adopted son and Henry, in addition to his manservant -- are his only option, really.

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If there is a formula for a brainless action picture, it’s almost a shame that newcomer Michael Davis has to show other filmmakers how it is done well, but also how to make it enjoyable. It’s also a plus to get some actors who are in on the joke, but don’t treat it like one. Yeah, there’s outrageous stuff and crazy action setups, new and inventive uses for carrots, but one actor in particular stands out in the action. (more…)

Technorati tags: chokingonpopcorn movie Reviews Shoot ‘Em Up