I was
hoping to do a post just for the Austin Film
Festival, but for time's sake I'm going to intro the
weekly rundown with some thoughts on four of the
flicks that I saw. Read on.
Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire is kind of a
mess, but it certainly has quite a bit of heart that
comes from its rather compelling tale about two
star-crossed lovers in India. I just sort of
wish that had not used the foreign version of Who
Wants To Be A Millionaire as a framing device -
those segments tended to be rather distracting.
By far the worst film I saw at AFF was Six Gun.
I won't divulge all the reasons why, but to
emphasize how poorly done it was I will point out
that the mostly-serious third act had me doubled
over in laughter.
There aren't many people out there that can say they
love Charlie Kaufman as much as I do, so to say I
was really looking forward to Synecdoche, New York
would definitely be an understatement.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure that it lived it up the
hype that I given it in my mind. It was
certainly good, but once Phillip Seymour Hoffman's
character entered his semi-dream world the film
became super thick and very disconnected.
Perhaps another viewing would make it better.
The Great Buck Howard is probably a little too close
to Orange County in terms of tone and story (both
feature Colin Hanks wanting to be a writer), but it
is one hell of a feel good tale. John
Malkovich as a wild mentalist is great, Emily Blunt
is really cute as the love interest and Tom Hanks in
a small fatherly role was nice to see. I
wouldn't mark it down as one of the best upcoming
films, but if you see it around somewhere you should
at least think about making the effort to give it
viewing.
- The Rundown -
Crispin
Glover has signed on to play Knave Of Hearts in Tim
Burton's take on Alice In Wonderland.
Rumor has it that Chris Columbus may direct the
long-gestating Ripley's Believe It Or Not.
Supposedly, Jim Carrey is still attached to star.
McG's follow-up to Terminator: Salvation looks as
if it will be an adaptation of Dead Spy Running.
There's word going around that Legendary Pictures may be
on the verge of buying Epic Games, which would then give
them the rights to adapt Gears Of War.
Some are thinking that Ben Stiller might try his hand at
something not-hilarious by directing The Trial Of The
Chicago 7.
Javier Bardem has signed on to be the lead in Alexander
Gonzalez Inarritu's Biutiful. The story is
said to follow a man with illegal dealings who gets
confronted by an old friend that's also a police
officer.
Marvel President Kevin Feige says that he thinks Dr.
Strange might be in the next wave of characters to
get the silver screen treatment.
Fanboys has been delayed again. Now it
should hit theaters sometime in January.
Universal has begun work on adapting Army Of Two
into a full length feature. The game's story
follows to mercenaries who get caught up in a political
war.
A-Team has been delayed. Also, John
Singleton is no longer attached to direct.
Naomi Watts is in talks to star in My Name Is Jody
Williams. The film would tell the story of how
Jody Williams went from teacher to Nobel Peace Prize
Winner.
Terrence Howard recently told NPR that he has nothing to
do with him not coming back for Iron Man 2.
In case you don't remember, Don Cheadle will replace
him.
Speaking of Iron Man 2, Samuel L. Jackson has
said that Jon Favreau told him he will be in the sequel.
Daniel Craig has let it be known that he turned down the
role of Thor.
Steven Soderbergh seems to be getting things underway to
do a 3D rock musical version of Cleopatra.
As of now, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Hugh Jackman are the
only two rumored casting choices.
- John Laird
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