The Hollywood cycle of life whirred vigorously this week, cruelly plucking legends from Earth and Idol alike. But new, baffling species and phenomena took their places as they always do. Relive the experience after the jump, and have a great weekend!
· And what did you do today on your lunch break? Zooey Deschanel was gifted with a key to the City of Los Angeles, a deserved reward for introducing audiences worldwide to two of the city's least appreciated hallmarks: beautiful downtown architecture (via 500 Days of Summer) and insufferable hipster vegan posses (via Top Chef Masters).
Ben Stiller's brave new foray into social networking is going so well that the writers of this week's five best comments will receive from Ben a SuperPoke, an invitation to join Mob Wars, a Tweet asking what hashtags do, and the enigmatic status update "Ben Stiller is." What a package! Who are our five winners?
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The Internal Revenue Service has hit Nicolas Cage with a lien for $6.2 million in unpaid taxes from 2007, according to documents filed last month in a New Orleans district court. In an attempt to generate cash, Cage will attempt to offload his $6.5 million home in Louisiana, a $35 million estate in Hollywood, and a Werner Herzog-directed remake of Bad Lieutenant in Toronto. [The Wrap]
· The whole wide web wants to know: Is Lady Gaga Hollywood's most famous hermaphrodite since, well, you know? We remain unconvinced -- she's probably just wearing her Gonzo g-string.
· Robert Luketic's Barbarella remake has a writer: Joe Gazzam, who penned the pilot Deputized for SyFy and a Scared Straight film called Riot for Nicolas Cage.
· When we talked to Evan Rachel Wood about her True Blood vampire queen, she was all atwitter to find out who'd be playing her lesbian lover. Evan, meet Lindsey Haun!
· After years of being rescued in the editing room, Doug Liman has now rescued someone himself.
· Kara DioGuardi went on Ryan Seacrest's radio show to talk about how close she is to Paula Abdul -- so close, in fact, that they haven't spoken a word to each other since Abdul quit. In Kara's defense, it's probably because she hasn't gotten her triumphant cackle down to a murmured chuckle yet.
Dylan Dakota Banana Murphy lives in Mankato, MN, where he is enrolled in Mrs. Kozolowski's 4th grade class at St. Sebastian's Elementary. In addition to film criticism, he is on the soccer team and the founding member of the YouTube club. His favorite movie is a toss-up between "Max Payne" and "Step Brothers", and his favorite band is Metallica. Because we completely lost our inner 10-year-olds somewhere in the Mall of America in late '80s, we asked Dylan to review "G.I. Joe" for us.
GI Joe: The Rise of Puke in my Mouth!
By Dylan Dakota Banana Murphy
Ok, like, I know my dad and all you hipster peeps totes got into GI Joe way back in the 60's or whatever and that's cool. I mean, I guess all you did was sit around and play with these dolls and watch your 3 TV channels NOT in color. Lame. I prob woulda killed myself. Anyway, Paramount went balls to the wall trying to get the "youth" into this stuff. Thanks to my monthly movie review in the St. Sebastians's Elementary Observer (shout out: Dylan's Hot Flix! woot woot!), they flew me and my staff to Paris for a junket, or whatever that is, and a special private screening.
Today, long after Kung Fu Hustle's Stephen Chow had dropped out of the role, Columbia Pictures announced that they have finally cast Kato in Michel Gondry's The Green Hornet. Filling the role of Seth Rogen's sidekick will be Taiwanese singer/actor Jay Chou. "Jay is incredibly unique and charming and fights like a wild dog!" said Gondry in a statement. "When I filmed him next to Seth, they had such great chemistry, and I knew the movie will be great."
Briefly, let's get to know him.
Among the outpouring of requiems for John Hughes, few if any boast the poignancy or revelation of the one written last night by his one-time pen pal Alison Byrne Fields. Yes, John Hughes had a pen pal -- a fan at first, then something of a friend and eventually a confidante who may or may not have just revealed the dirty little secret behind the prolific filmmaker's abrupt exit into reclusion.
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Is it possible to review Julie & Julia without referring to Chris Messina as Amy Adams's "supportive husband"? Not so much, as countless critics have found out. Our own guest critic called Messina's part the "girlfriend role," and it's one that crops up from time to time: the patient, hunky love interest who stands by his woman but gets little else to do. (In other words, the role that would always be played by a woman in any movie but a chick flick.) In honor of Julie & Julia's release, let's salute some of cinema's best man-girlfriends.
In case Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe's brooding, revisionist take on Robin Hood isn't choking you up with anticipation, Warner Bros. is planning a dystopic, urban twist on the legend with the producers who brought you 300. Their action-adventure take is said to revolve around a cluster of futuristic London thieves whose crimes "restore hope to the city's embattled population." Perhaps surprisingly, Joel Silver and Guy Ritchie have nothing to do with this, but the guy who penned Ashton Kutcher's unfortunate gigolo comedy Spread is writing the script, so caveat emptor anyway. [Risky Biz]
It's been called the most anticipated (if not especially revelatory) documentary of the year: By the People: The Election of Barack Obama, which had a private screening earlier this week teasing its Nov. 3 premiere on HBO. But why wait until November when HBO is qualifying the film for an Oscar this weekend in Hollywood? (UPDATE: And New York as well, hiding in plain sight... more after the jump.)
· The slowly advancing franchise tank that is Mission: Impossible 4 inched ever closer to firing Thursday. Current producing braintrust J.J. Abrams and Tom Cruise handed the script-writing duties to first-time feature scribes (and Alias alumni) Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec. The duo previously created the series October Road and adapted the U.K. hit Life on Mars for ABC; their MI:4 is underway now for a tentative 2010 shoot and 2011 release. Only the salary math remains before Cruise officially commits, though it's a lot of math; Shia LaBeouf might want to stay by the phone just in case. [Variety]
Jay Leno sets his first musical guests, Jason Reitman plants a flag, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
Welcome back to Movieline Attractions, your regular guide to everything new, noteworthy and super-fierce at the movies. This week brings offers the counterprogramming event of the summer, with your inner child, your inner foodie and your inner genre fan battling for control of your weekend moviegoing. But don't underestimate your inner art-house dweller. See what they're all squabbling about after the jump.
· Here's your first glimpse at Evan Rachel Wood's lesbian vampire Queen Sophie-Ann, whom you first heard about right here. Beware, as when she's done with you, she'll feed on your sunglasses next! [via EW]
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Nora Ephron has left few stones unturned in her promotion of Julie & Julia -- did you know that the film's healthy marriages are like her own? Or that the film contains some delicious cooking? Or that Julia Child was no fan of homovipers? (Wait, scratch that last one.) Now, in the eleventh hour before the film's release, Ephron has pulled out all the stops, scripting a HuffPo essay about how she can totally relate to Ryan O'Neal hitting on his daughter.
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