Henry Cavil Talks “Man of Steel.”

Posted on October 30, 2011 by jlmicek

Here’s video of a Splash News interview with “Man of Steel” actor Henry Cavil on the movie’s Vancouver set.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon Levitt “Dark Knight” Set Photos.

Posted on October 29, 2011 by jlmicek

Via ComicBookMovie, here’s a few photos of Christian Bale and Joseph Gordon Levitt on the NYC set of “The Dark Knight Rises.”

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Read more here.

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Charles Napier, RIP

Posted on October 29, 2011 by jlmicek

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Charles Napier, a veteran tough guy actor who brought his swagger to such films as “Rambo: First Blood,” and such vintage TV series as “Star Trek,” and “Hogan’s Heroes,” has died. He was 75.

“Wherever I go, people will look at me as though they recognize me,” he wrote in his autobiography “Square Jaw and Big Heart: The Life and Times of a Hollywood Actor,” earlier this year. “They see that square jaw with the big smile. They may not know my name, but they know that face.”

According to an obituary published in The Guardian today, Napier was born in Allen County, Ky., the son of a tobacco farmer and postman. He joined the Army after high school, where he served as a paratrooper. He later attended Western Kentucky University, graduating with a degree in art, The Guardian reported.

HIs acting career began in 1967, with stage work. He later went on to land a small part in the old “Mission Impossible” TV show. Turns on “Hogan’s Heroes” and “Star Trek” followed.

In the ensuing four decades, Napier was rarely without work. An inspection of his IMDB page shows him starring in such iconic films as “The Blues Brothers,” “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” “Philadelphia,” and even “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.”

Read the full obituary here.

Posted in Film Criticism, Film News, Golden Age of Cinema, Guy Cinema, Noir, Our Films, Ourselves | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ten Things Not To Like About “Anonymous.”

Posted on October 29, 2011 by jlmicek

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Just Call It The Shakespeare “Birther” Movement.


Writing in Slate, film critic Ron Rosenbaum has a bone to pick with “Anonymous,” the Rhys Ifans– starring movie released this week that posits that the plays of William Shakespeare were written by someone else.

Those who populate the Alternative-Shakespeare industry are the literary equivalent of Cryptid hunters (Nessie, Bigfoot, Yeti, et,al.) , forever hoping that they’ll uncover definitive proof that the Bard was a fraud and that the greatest plays of western literature were written by a bored nobleman or maybe a baker from Bath who was looking for something to do while his bread was rising.

For those of you unfamiliar, the new movie, directed by Roland Emmerich, who’s best known for blowing stuff up in Independence Day or last year’s ahistorical “2012,” explores the so-called “Oxfordian” theory, which posits that the Earl of Oxford, Edward De Vere, was the real pen behind the plays.

But anyway, here’s Rosenbaum:

“It’s kind of sad. They were all atwitter, the “Oxfordians,” when they when they heard that Roland Emmerich would be making this film. Emmerich, of course, is the auteur who brought us that super-distinguished film based on an equally bogus theory, 2012. “Ooh, Hollywood is paying attention to us!” the poor Oxfordians exulted.”

Indeed, the Oxfordians are so excited about their turn on the big screen that I recently have been bombarded with email missives from an Oxfordian who, just by happenstance, is also editor of Fluoride Journal. (Remember the fear that the commies were poisoning our “precious bodily fluids” with fluoride? Birds of a feather.)

Believe me, I didn’t want to see the movie, or write about it. My position has always been that what matters is what Shakespeare wrote, not who he was. That life is short and you essentially have a choice between immersing yourself in the dizzying astonishments of his language or spending that precious time spinning idiot conspiracy theories about who wrote those words. I tried to avoid the subject entirely in my book The Shakespeare Wars, which was about genuine controversies regarding the way to read and play the plays. I didn’t want to dignify the film with any coverage or comment.”</em


Read the full story here.

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Samuel L. Jackson Is Just Cooler Than You. So Deal.

Posted on October 28, 2011 by jlmicek

Writing In The Guardian This Morning …
… Stuart Heritage takes a look at how Mr. Jackson became the highest-grossing film star OF ALL TIME.

Jackson has a couple of secrets to his success. And Heritage dissects them, one-by-one. To wit:

“Step One: Never stop making films.
Since playing the part of Stan in 1972’s Together for Days, Samuel L Jackson has featured in over 100 movies. The man is a machine. Not including videos and TV movies and videogames, Jackson still finds the time to appear in movie after movie after movie. In 2008, for example, you could have seen him in The Spirit, Soul Men, Lakeview Terrace, Iron Man, Gospel Hill and Jumper. Admittedly several of his films now are as Nick Fury, where he only has to put on an eyepatch and tut at Robert Downey Jr for a day or so, but even before that he had a work ethic that would exhaust his contemporaries.”

Read the full story here.

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The Daily Dark Knight: Trump Tower Cast In “Dark Knight Rises.”

Posted on October 28, 2011 by jlmicek

As if The Donald Didn’t Need Another Ego Boost.
ComicBookMovie reports that Trump Tower in Manhattan will be pulling double-duty as the HQ of Wayne Enterprises as Christopher Nolan’s Batpic shifts filming to the Big Apple.

Regardez:

“SHH ninjas have made an amazing discovery on Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises New York City set! It appears as though the NYC Trump Tower will be transformed into the new headquarters for Batman’s alter ego’s business ventures. This will be the third time Wayne Enterprises has moved to another building!”

And here’s a set photo:

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New “Lorax” Trailer Released.

Posted on October 27, 2011 by jlmicek

Dr. Seuss’s timeless environmental fable hits theaters in full 3D CGI next year. Danny DeVito voices the cranky environmentalist.

Here’s the trailer:

And here’s a clip from the original — and still best — animated special directed by Chuck Jones.

Odd, but I don’t remember any subplots about trying to impress girls or death-defying races amongst razor-sharp knives from the original story. Why … oh why … Lord … does Hollywood feel the need to “update” stories for the screen by ripping the guts out of them?

Has the disaster of “Mars Needs Moms” taught us nothing?

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Grace Kelly Lives On The Silver Screen Again.

Posted on October 26, 2011 by jlmicek

Princess Grace of Monaco gets the “King’s Speech” treatment:

The Guardian has the story:

“But [the] upcoming film Grace of Monaco, which has just secured its $15m (£9.3m) funding, will focus on six months in 1962, when Charles de Gaulle and Prince Rainier III were at odds over Monaco’s standing as a tax haven. Kelly, then 33, was said to have been instrumental behind the scenes to solve the political impasse.

The script is by Arash Amel, whose sole credit to date is The Expatriate, a CIA drama starring Aaron Eckhart and due out next year. Producer Pierre-Ange Le Pogam (Tell No One) is said to be looking for a director, plus an actor to take the lead role.”

Read the full story here.

Posted in Biopic, Film News, Golden Age of Cinema, Matinee at the Bijou, Screen Sirens | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Actor As Meteor: The Accelerated Career Path Of Today’s Stars.

Posted on October 26, 2011 by jlmicek

A Fascinating Read From Slate …
… about the accelerated career paths of Young Hollywood and why the term “child star” may now be a misnomer.

“It used to be the case—until the mid-’90s at least—that your average star broke out sometime in their late twenties if they were a man, early twenties if they were a woman, and took on their defining roles in their thirties and early forties, setting them up nicely for an Oscar run: Tom Hanks was 28 when he appeared in Splash and 37 when he won his first Oscar in Philadelphia. Sandra Bullock was 30 when she appeared in Speed and 45 when she won an Oscar last year for The Blind Side. For the generation coming up behind them, it’s pretty much the same, only everything has shifted forward exactly a decade. Actors used to be butterflies—now they are mayflies. Your teens are when you break out, your twenties your prime acting real estate, and 30 the age at which the women win their Oscars, at which point they either go to work for HBO or disappear into Paltrow-esque semi-retirement, and the men announce their plans to direct.

“If I’m still acting at 46 I’ll be surprised,” Ryan Gosling told me when I interviewed him earlier this year, recently turned 30, exuding the confidence of someone with an 18-year career already under his belt. It has been the exemplary modern career: a Mouseketeer at 12, Gosling made his film debut at 17 (Frankenstein & Me), was a tween superstar at 24 (The Notebook), after which he tacked hard left to establish his indie street cred (Half Nelson, Lars and the Real Girl, Blue Valentine), before making a big down payment on his movie star equity this year in Drive and Crazy Stupid Love. “How many characters can you play?” he asked. “I don’t know how much longer you can really do it for. I’ve been acting since I was 12. If I was just starting now, maybe. But now I’m 30. I do this for 10 more years I’ll be shocked.”

Read the full story here.

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The Daily Dark Knight: Batman Will Not Occupy Wall Street.

Posted on October 25, 2011 by jlmicek

Turns Out The Dark Knight will not join the #OWS protesters when shooting for the final installment of the Bat-Saga lands in the Big Apple next month. Entertainment Weekly has the story:

“If you were hoping that you might see Batman join the fight with Occupy Wall Street, don’t go looking for the bat signal just yet. In fact, you would probably have better luck holding out for Spider-Man swooping in from Broadway’s Turn Off The Dark to save the day.

While Christopher Nolan will begin filming portions of The Dark Knight Rises in New York City over the span of the next two weeks, a Warner Bros., rep tells EW that there are no plans to shoot in Zuccotti Park, the home base for the OWS movement. After an open casting call for NYC extras for the project hit the web, rumors swirled that the project could be filming very close to, if not directly in, Zuccotti Park. Last week an anonymous source told the LA Times, “Cast members have been told the shoot could include scenes shot at the Occupy Wall Street protests” and that Nolan could be using “the protests as a backdrop or a stand-in for something that already exists in the film,” but that simply doesn’t seem to be the case.”

Read the full story here.

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