February 13, 2006
World Trade Center Teaser Poster
Here's the teaser poster to Oliver Stone's upcoming 9/11 film, World Trade Center. I worry people "won't get it." With just the title and the giant silhouettes of the World Trade Center-- is it to subtle? Maybe there should be a cartoon Osama bin Laden dressed like the Red Baron flying an old plane, too. I say just scrap what you've got and start over. Save this one for World Trade Center II.
Previous Entries
Mac Joins Philadelphia Department of Recreation
Bernie Mac, the man we know and love for his comedy and having his eyes sometimes look in different directions, will soon be dropping the jokes (retaining the eye thing) for a dramatic turn:
Bernie Mac is in final negotiations to sign on for his first dramatic role, co-starring with Terrence Howard in "PDR" for Lionsgate Films. "PDR," or Philadelphia Department of Recreation, chronicles the real-life story of Jim Ellis (Howard), who in the 1970s transformed a group of troubled inner-city kids into one of the best swim teams in the country.
Is it just me, or is Philadelphia Department of Recreation the worst name possible for a movie? Though I think shortening it to PDR really improves it. It's like yesterday, I found out I had to renew my driver's license. First I was worried I was going to have to go to the stodgy old Department of Motor Vehicles, but it turns out I just have to hop on over to the "DMV." I've never heard of this place, but it sounds like a hot, young hangout, not at all like the Department of Motor Vehicles. I'm really excited about the whole thing. Nearly as excited as seeing a film named after the Philadelphia Department of Recreation.
New X-Men Posters
X-Men: The Last Stand has some new bus shelter posters with super-glam, perfume-ad-style shots of six of the characters. There's Angel, Dark Phoenix, Wolverine, Rogue, A seductive Halle Berry as Storm, and, of course, a blue Rocky Horror-era Meatloaf. These are good enough that they almost make me want to visit a bus shelter to see them in person. If that didn't run the risk of seeing a poor person.
See them all after the jump.
Are We Done Yet?
Ice Cube was set to play the lead in a remake of the 1948 Cary Grant comedy Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, and though the picture is still being made, it's now the sequel to Are We There Yet?, titled Are We Done Yet? In some of the most brilliant decision making I've ever witnessed, Revolution Studios realized the film would probably make more money as a sequel to the successful Ice Cube comedy. The story is essentially unchanged, except now the characters are from Are We There Yet? So all of you assholes who bet me that the Ice Cube remake of the 1948 Cary Grant comedy Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House wouldn't have the characters changed to make it a sequel to Are We There Yet?-- you owe me five dollars.
Honestly, I just look at it like the line from Romeo and Juliet: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet." Except replace the rose parts with "horrible Ice Cube movie."
Terry Gilliam Does Anything For Billy
After a couple moderate disappointments with The Brothers Grimm and Tideland, Terry Gilliam has announced that his next project will be a film based on "Anything For Billy," a novel that partly chronicles the exploits of Billy the Kid:
The film will follow the exploits of Ben Sippy, a writer from Philadelphia who heads west in search of adventure and ends up running into the legendary gunslinger.
The concept sounds pretty interesting, and with Gilliam at the helm, it should be bizarre if nothing else. The western is written by Larry McMurty, co-writer of Brokeback Mountain, though the novel doesn't capitalize on the now-famous homosexual themes of that film. However, I did find it strange how often it described Billy the Kid "spontaneously breaking into a showtune."
Corddry is Becoming Glen
Rob Corddry, best known as a correspondent on The Daily Show, has scored the lead in a new pilot being developed at Fox:
"Becoming Glen," from 20th Century Fox TV, Ricky Blitt and Seth MacFarlane, centers on a successful fortysomething man who looks back at 1994, when he was a 32-year-old slacker (Corddry) living with his parents and spending all his time lying on the couch watching TV.
Corddry is often one of the best parts of The Daily Show, and his appearance on Curb Your Enthusiasm was some of the funniest stuff of the season. Giving him a show is one of the few television decisions I approve of. Then again, I probably wouldn't have given a small group of puppies* a show--an event dubbed "Puppy Bowl"-- though Animal Planet seemed to fair pretty well with it. So what do I know about television programming?
*During half-time it was kittens. Seriously.
