Tax Day is stressful. You park yourself at the computer at 9 a.m., wait for your assistant to find your W-2s, spend five hours navigating the H&R Block website and burn through another hour or so troubleshooting with a consultant outsourced in India. Throw in a few smoke breaks and lunch at a four-star restaurant and your day is shot. So how do you celebrate your Tax Night? If you're Kiefer Sutherland, by raising hell at a London strip club.
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We've known for quite a while that Hit Girl from Kick-Ass would be cinematically controversial, but now that the film is in release, the debate about her has gotten kicked up a notch. On one side, you have Roger Ebert, who gives the film one star and questions the delight taken in Hit Girl's R-rated behavior (which involves ultraviolence and a terribly dirty mouth). One the other side, you have Harry Knowles saying, "Naw, old man!" and then ding-dong-ditching Ebert. Let's examine their arguments, shall we?
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By now you've heard the feel good story of the week -- hey, it was a slow week -- that Harvey and Bob Weinstein are thisclose to buying back their beloved Miramax from Disney for the not-so-cheap price of $600 million. Disney has denied this, but were the sale to go through it would bring up at least one question: How the hell do the Weinstein Brothers -- the same Weinstein Brothers who barely had enough money to release Youth in Revolt into theaters -- plan to pay back their fellow investors (lead by billionaire financier Ron Burkle), who presumably footed a lot of this bill? One word: Remakes! Here now are the five films from the Miramax library that the Weinsteins should seriously consider revisiting.
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According to Movieline's sister site Deadline Hollywood, the recent Oscar-winner will appear on Lopez Tonight during its first week following Conan's new show in November. Bullock appeared on her buddy's show earlier this year to undergo a Chola makeover. Depending on the next seven months, the interview could be the actress's first television appearance since her unofficial separation from philandering husband Jesse James. [Deadline]
Happy April 16, dear reader! Time to join Movieline on another breezy expedition through the historical arcana and milestones that helped shaped the pop culture you know and love today. Honestly, April 16 is not quite the rich trove of happenings that you're used to, but we shall make a go of it thanks to a few strategically-born men.
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Following preemptive reports that the Weinsteins (i.e. their backers, including Ron Burkle) won back their studio, all hell broke loose overnight in the Miramax sweepstakes. In a nutshell, Disney has reportedly denied that a Weinstein sale is imminent; if anything, the Weinsteins are closer to securing an exclusive negotiating window with Disney than they are to striking an actual deal. Come on, competitors David Bergstein and the Gores brothers! Let the Weinsteins have their baby! There's a perfectly good gently used studio in MGM that could desperately use suitors like you; go harass them, for heaven's sake. [Deadline]
· Someone must have requested it, right? Because Paramount is planning a delivery: The search is on for a writer and a director to reinvent the classic hero-rodent cartoon Mighty Mouse in quintessentially 21-century fashion: Part live-action, part CGI, probably 3-D, and ironic enough to send up the superhero-genre craze the way it sort of did in its '40s heyday. Can we make him drunk like Hancock? Maybe kind of a slut like Tony Stark? What other vice would a flying mouse have in 2010? Gas-huffing? Otherwise I don't get it. [LAT]
Taylor Lautner gets a new leading lady, Curtis Hanson contemplates a new job, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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Welcome back to Movieline Attractions, your regular guide to everything new, noteworthy and pseudo-heroic at the movies. This week, a new comics franchise is born, a British comedy is reborn, and a surfeit of indies stretch the art-house seams. Titans are pretty much done clashing by now; read on to see who's dueling for No. 1.
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Happy days are here again! Disney has reportedly chosen Harvey and Bob Weinstein's $600 million bid to reclaim Miramax Films, the label they started 31 years ago before breaking away in a rift with... Disney, which acquired the minimajor in 1993. It's like a giant schadenfreude sandwich on rye, but don't worry about it. All you need to know is that if the word on the street is in fact accurate, and if the Weinsteins are restored to their place atop the Miramax food chain, and if Harvey's power and bluster return stronger than ever, and if the Miramax name crests like a phoenix from its ashen repose on some disused back lot in Burbank, then maybe -- just maybe -- Hoodwinked 2 might eventually be released. Developing... [THR]
· Canada may have exported its fair share of classic game show hosts, like Alex Trebek, Monty Hall, and Pictionary's Alan Thicke, but the space-invading, child-scaring Fergie Oliver was not among them. If you can make it through this video compilation of his most cringe-inducing moments, you're a braver soul than I. [Videogum]
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Many of the best music video directors and artists borrow their concepts from films, and they're geniuses to do it. Shrinking a classic cinematic treasure to three minutes and imbuing it with pop urgency creates a whole new experience, one that reaffirms and adds to our appreciation of the original film. Now, Movieline revisits ten videos that rejiggered moments from film history to staggering effect. Do you want stark Orson Welles shoutouts? What about two movie-lovin' videos from the greatest music video artist of all time? All that and more await you.
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The Material Girl is speaking out about Glee in anticipation of next week's "Power of Madonna" episode, though she's not really commenting on the show itself (or even Jane Lynch's frame-by-frame copy of her iconic "Vogue" video) as much as she's publicizing her affection for the show's sole white-man rapper: "I think Mr. Schuester is very cute. I'm glad he's doing such a good job empowering all the girls." Translation: "Matthew Morrison, if you play your cards right, you can be my next Vanilla Ice." [Billboard]
Don't call it a comeback, but suddenly we're talking about Kirsten Dunst again. Though she was left hanging by the Spider-Man franchise and hasn't done that much since besides sing for McG, Deadline reports that the actress will play the female lead in Lars von Trier's next film, Melancholia. Go easy on her, Lars. She's been through enough lately. [Deadline]
You -- yes, you. Stop what you're doing. I mean, whatever it is you're doing besides reading this. You look like could use a shiny new iPad courtesy of Movieline, and I'm here to help explain your last chance of scoring it. But time is short -- you only have until 9 p.m. PT / midnight ET! Tonight! Instructions after the jump.
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How much did the upcoming action thriller Salt change when Angelina Jolie took the part meant for Tom Cruise? "In the original script, there was a huge sequence where Edwin Salt saves his wife, who's in danger," director Phillip Noyce told EW. "And what we found was when Evelyn Salt saved her husband in the new script, it seemed to castrate his character a little. So we had to change the nature of that relationship." Yes, even gorgeous, imaginary action heroines have husbands who are threatened by their success. Thanks, Hollywood! [EW]
