Pretty much everyone got a little bruised this week at Movieline, whether it was while witnessing an unprecedented network pile-up, a blockbuster franchise toppling, or just trying to keep up with the torrent of non-stop goings-on the beat tossed our way. Help us parse them after the jump, and have a great weekend!
· Some band-aid relief to a horrible, horrible week, courtesy of Terry Richardson. [Terry's Diary]
The largest problem with Jay Leno's opening soliloquies this week has not been their cruel bite. It's that he's not auctioning off his self-sabotaging jabs to the highest bidder! Now you, dear Movieline tribesman, can own your favorite quibble about ratings, NBC, or the vistas at Fox on CD or Minidisc. Play it in the car when you're feeling down! Because Jay Leno proves that anybody can pity himself -- even a guy who owns a Corvette in every shade of Crayola Washable. So, who's winning the woes?
Can't wait 'til tonight to find out what self-pitying, unfunny monologue jokes Jay Leno has in store? Here's a preview of the act: "SUNDAY NIGHT ON FOX IS THE PREMIER OF A NEW SHOW CALLED "HUMAN TARGET.' I THOUGHT IT WAS ABOUT ME." Five more knee-slappers at the link! [Live Feed]
Welcome back to another edition of Say Whaaaa?, your Friday round-up of bizarre news, quotes and other events that apparently really occurred this week. Grab a drink, bring your friends, settle in with the Say Whaaaa? Singers, and prepare to be baffled!
more »
Matt Damon and Brad Pitt haven't made a movie together since Ocean's Thirteen, but Movieline hears that the two actors have both been cast in an upcoming film directed by George Miller. No, not Miller's Mad Max reboot starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron. I'm warning you, temper your expectations a little.
more »
· Vanity Fair has the first look at the cast of Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.
· Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow has attached herself to Held By The Taliban, based on a series of articles by kidnapped NYT journalist David Rhode.
· Meanwhile, Marc Foster will mount Robert Ludlum's The Chancellor Manuscript for Leonardo DiCaprio.
· Roger Ebert is delivering an open smackdown to Rush Limbaugh: "You should be horse-whipped for the insult you have paid to the highest office of our nation."
· The new Denise Richards film Deep in the Valley offers "naked DVD commentary." Technology!
I know, right? Yes, Hollywood Video does still have 1,000 retail locations it can close, and it may do exactly that, according to reports today. The move by owner Movie Gallery would nudge more than a third of its 2,700-store chain off the books, thus liquidating its DVD inventory and paying down some of its hefty $600 million dollars of debt. Representatives had no comment on the closures, which, for a company that so rarely has your preferred movie in stock when you want it, sounds just about right. [WSJ]
January is Dud Season, that most fertile of Hollywood harvests for folks who'll literally watch anything. But while the would-be sophisticated, romantic pleasures of screeching bombs like Leap Year yield a proportionate bumper crop of critical malice, is it really fair to hold the tossed-off Jackie Chan family film The Spy Next Door to the same rigorous standards? Apparently so!
At the cash-plagued Weinstein Co., the success or failure of the current movie tends to affect the film coming after it. Thus, it's no surprise that after the dismal performance of Nine and the middling Youth in Revolt, the company's only other dated release, Piranha 3-D, has been bumped from April to August. Here's hoping that by then, the Weinsteins will have made enough from Inglourious Basterds on home video to give this Alexandre Aja fishploitation thriller an actual opening. [LAT]
· The developing Farrelly Brothers comedy Hall Pass tied down another lead this week: Jenna Fischer, who will play the wife whose "pass" allows husband Owen Wilson to pursue some enlivening extramarital dalliances (and later entitles her to her own). Jason Sudeikis plays his equally liberated pal, whose own wayward wife has yet to be cast. Just put your money on Kristen Wiig and let's get back to the real casting sweepstakes over at Sony. [THR]
Lionsgate takes on an unadaptable literary milestone, Iron Man 2 blows up (literally) and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
Welcome back to Movieline Attractions, your regular guide to everything new, noteworthy and mostly premasticated at the movies. This week, Jackie Chan has come for your children, Denzel Washington has come for your soul, and everyone else has pretty much stayed home and watched the NFL. Make your own filmgoing call from the selections after the jump.
· You know that the Jersey Shore phenomenon has reached critical mass when it finally gets its own child-recreated viral video. (I expect a strongly worded statement from the Italian-American Anti-Defamation Playpen any minute now.) Just one thing: Isn't it a little unnerving that lil' Snooki is the same size as actual Snooki? You be the judge:
more »
CBS's highly-rated dramas NCIS: Los Angeles and The Good Wife were both picked up for second seasons, says EW's Michael Ausiello. The NCIS spinoff, starring Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J, had the highest consistent ratings of any new primetime show last year. In other news: TNT has renewed its dramedy Men of a Certain Age with Ray Romano, Andrew Braugher, and Scott Bakula. [EW]
With the ink not yet dry on Jay Leno's most recent Tonight Show contract, NBC is already announcing their new 10 P.M. schedule, which looks pretty much like their old 10 P.M. schedule with a few minor adjustments.
more »
FILM NEWS 