Posted Dec 1st 2008 11:25AM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Music & Musicals, Casting, Remakes and Sequels
Back
in October, we heard about the large cast of unknowns that were assembling for the remake of
Fame. Now we've got word of the instructors, and I'm happy to say --
Debbie Allen leads the pack!
Variety reports that Allen,
Charles S. Dutton,
Kelsey Grammer,
Megan Mullally, and
Bebe Neuwirth have signed on for "the roles of instructors and supervisors" in the upcoming remake. Don't worry -- Frasier won't be in tights, but sadly, Allen isn't either. Instead of teaching the kids to dance, Allen will be the school's principal (which makes sense), while Dutton plays an acting teacher, Grammer plays an orchestra maestro, Mullally plays a voice instructor, and Neuwirth plays a dance instructor.
Damn, these kids are lucky -- you can't much better than that for your intructors. But perhaps more importantly -- this means a reunion for Lilith and Frasier! Bebe played Dr. Lilith Sternin-Crane in
Cheers, and popped up as the ex in a handful of
Frasier episodes. Will the dance instructor canoodle the maestro once again?
Posted Dec 1st 2008 9:03AM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Music & Musicals, Scripts, Remakes and Sequels
Remember that
Hairspray sequel that William Goss mentioned back
in July?
Adam Shankman had signed on to direct the sequel, and the master of the perverse (and creator of the original),
John Waters, was going to whip up a story to send out to writers. Looks like things are on schedule -- according to
EW, Waters has finished scheming up the sequel, and they're now hunting for a writer.
Basically, Waters has handed over "an outline and some ideas" for the film that will ultimately become the next instalment of Tracy Turnblad as she heads for the "next era of music," the '60s. "That period was superpolitical, it was a time of serious change. We're trying to track, in a comedic way, the historical elements" says Shankman. This will include the British Invasion, which consumes Link (played by Zac Efron in the remake).
On the plus side: Waters schemed up the outline. On the negative side: Waters isn't writing the meat of the script. Will a Waters outline be enough? I'm not so sure.
Posted Nov 27th 2008 9:02PM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Animation, Classics, Music & Musicals, Family Films, Cinematical Seven
A few years ago, I wrote a Cinematical Seven on my
favorite dysfunctional families in films. Everyone has a crazy messed-up movie family they love, whether it's the Hoovers in
Little Miss Sunshine or the Bullocks in
My Man Godfrey or the Corleones in the
Godfather saga. I thought that this year, it would be fun to make a list of families that got along, worked together, and supported one another. You know, happy families ... but not dull, one-dimensional bundles of endless cheer.
It's a lot more difficult to find seven movies with happy-but-not-sappy families than it is to find the screwed-up kind, especially if you are looking for something more interesting than the Cleavers. Since I'm visiting my relatives for the Thanksgiving holidays, I asked them for suggestions. They were all very helpful, and I'm sorry I couldn't include all the suggestions, which ranged from
The Thin Man to
The Sound of Music to
The Hills Have Eyes. Let me know what else we missed in the comments.
Continue reading Cinematical Seven: Non-Dysfunctional Movie Families
Posted Nov 27th 2008 6:02PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Drama, Music & Musicals, Fox Searchlight, Images, Posters
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It really was about time that Christopher 'Notorious B.I.G.' Wallace received his own biopic. Unfortunately, judging by what I've seen so far, Notorious has been flirting with being one step up from a movie of the week -- and for someone so influential in music history, that's a shame. The latest poster for the biopic has just been released, and like most of the marketing for this film, it leaves you feeling a tad underwhelmed.
Before being crowned "the savior of East Coast hip-hop", Christopher Wallace could have been just another statistic. But, during his short career, he created some of the most influential sounds in hip-hop -- along with launching his producer, Sean 'Diddy' Combs into the spotlight. Notorious was directed by George Tillman Jr. (Barber Shop) and stars Jamal Woolard as Wallace, Angela Basset as his mother, Violetta, and Antonique Smith (RENT) as his ex-wife, Faith Evans.
A few posters have already been released, but in most cases they looked like rejected covers from Source magazine (if you don't believe me, take a gander at some of the previous one-sheets). By the looks of it, this latest poster is going for a decidedly more 'dignified' look -- and in this case, dignified seems to mean ripping off of the Ray poster. Luckily, no matter what the posters or the trailers may look like, at least this movie is going to have one hell of a soundtrack. Check out the full version of this poster after the jump.
Notorious arrives in theaters on January 16, 2009.
Continue reading Another 'Notorious' Poster for Biggie Smalls Biopic
Posted Nov 24th 2008 7:32PM by William Goss
Filed under: Horror, Independent, Music & Musicals, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Lionsgate Films, Fandom, Distribution, Exhibition, Fantastic Fest
Back in September, standing outside of Austin's Paramount Theatre, myself and a couple of others listened to
Darren Lynn Bousman as he talked about the challenges he was facing in getting Lionsgate to properly release his
Repo! The Genetic Opera. The studio had taken down rave after rave after a select screening several months before, and now the next night's Fantastic Fest screenings were as good a chance as any to prove the film's worth.
Well, I saw the film the following night amidst an impressive turn-out of die-hard fans, so while I may have already made
my own thoughts clear, I cannot deny its growing (and all but inevitable) cult following, and it seems that neither can Lionsgate. Following a limited release and successful road tour,
Bloody Disgusting reports that each will be expanded in the weeks to come to include the likes of Phoenix, New Orleans, Boston, Philadelphia, and Houston.
As for everyone else, you can either keep your fingers crossed for a third tour (though Bousman and co-creator Terrance Zdunich may want to see their families for the holidays, who knows) or just wait for the DVD, which will apparently still hits stores in January.
Posted Nov 20th 2008 11:03AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Drama, Music & Musicals, Romance, Casting, RumorMonger, Newsstand
Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston are going to prison, according to
Just Jared --
admittedly
not the most accurate source for film news. But considering that tabloids have obsessively documented the meetings, it's probably close to being a done deal.
Goree Girls is a 1940s musical to be produced by Aniston. MSN describes the plot as a semi-true story inspired by Skip Hollandsworth's article "
O Sister Where Art Thou." It's actually a pretty cool story of the first female country-and-western musicians who just happened to be prison inmates. Hollandsworth's article is definitely worth reading for the whole story, which is a pretty heartbreaking one, despite the relatively happy ending.
And that's kind of my problem with the concept .I love the story, but ...
Jennifer Aniston as an inmate? As a
singing inmate? Already, it looks like this is getting the slick and shiny Hollywood treatment rather than something truthful. I want to see
Walk the Line, not
Chicago. The article convinces me there's a brilliant movie here, the MSN description initially just made wince and wonder where
Gerard Butler's promise went.
By now, you're probably wondering what part Butler does play in a women's prison movie. From the article, I'm guessing he plays the "strapping Paul Mitchell," an inmate who narrowly escaped death row (literally -- he was strapped to the electric car when his pardon came in) and drove the Goree Girls to their shows. He eventually married one of them, so for once, the Hollywood love angle is actually part of the true story.
Now, Butler I can believe as a prison inmate (it's the hard knock school of Glasgow), but Aniston as his prison paramour stretches the realm of belivability. However, a lot of grit
could be added by whoever lands the directing job and the rest of the cast. So, keep this one on your radar, and watch for it all to be made official.
Posted Nov 19th 2008 12:32PM by Scott Weinberg
Filed under: Comedy, Horror, Music & Musicals, Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Remakes and Sequels, Trailers and Clips
As any hardcore
Little Shop of Horrors fan can tell you -- and there are tons of us -- the 1986 cinematic version once had a much darker ending ... one that was much more in line with the dual source material of
this musical and
this Corman flick. But since this was 1986 and Frank Oz's movie had a lot of funny people in it ... a few test audiences deemed the finale too dark, and so we got a so-so ending tacked on to an otherwise excellent musical comedy.
When Warner Bros. first released
Little Shop of Horrors on DVD, the original ending was included as part of the special features -- but that release was recalled right quick, which means that most of us actually own
this particular DVD. But now, through the magic of YouTube + Cinematical, we can finally sit down and pick through the original ending of
Little Shop. Obviously it's not "final print" material in any way, but you can definitely get enough to make you wish, oh I dunno, that someone would toss some money at the flick and let Frank Oz re-create a director's cut.
So if you own the "original" WB DVD, well goody for you. The rest of us can watch the fascinating footage right after the jump...
Continue reading Watch This: Original Ending for 'Little Shop of Horrors'
Posted Nov 12th 2008 8:32PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Music & Musicals, Deals, Scripts
Fred Durst wasn't the first Du-singer to make it into the world of cinema. Back in the '90s, Counting Crows singer
Adam Duritz produced two films, and now, a decade later, he's heading back to the biz.
Variety reports that Duritz is going to produce a new film from the Broken Lizard comedy troupe called
Freeloaders. Written by director
Dan Rosen (with the lead singer of Gigolo Aunts, Dave Gibbs), the film focuses on "five guys and a girl who live in the lap of luxury in a rock star's mansion." That is, until the star decides that he wants to sell his home. Oh, the woes of groupie moochers. Broken Lizard (
Super Troopers) is financing the film, and I imagine they're also starring in it -- that leaves us with the girl, and the rock star. Will Duritz take it? And speaking of '90s singers and film -- who's next? Mmm Mmm Mmming Brad Roberts?
Meanwhile: I knew it!! As soon as
word hit earlier this year that Cheech and Chong were going back on the road, I wondered how long it would be before a reunion film. Well, we're not getting a fictional feature (not yet), but we are getting a concert documentary.
The Hollywood Reporter posts that the Weinstein Co. will produce and distribute a doc based on their current
Light up America tour. But don't hold your breath -- whether this makes it to the big screen depends on what the company thinks of the final product. Then they'll decide whether to release it in theaters or television.
Posted Nov 12th 2008 10:45AM by Scott Weinberg
Filed under: Action, Animation, Horror, Music & Musicals, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Our previous reports on this troubled-but-provocative animated project can be found
here and
here, but the latest news comes by way of
Twitch, who got it from one of the film's producers on this message board
right here. The project is a new-fangled adaptation of
Heavy Metal, the producer is
Kevin Eastman, and the latest dish is this: Three directors have agreed to direct segments for the film: David Fincher, Zack Snyder, and Gore Verbinski. Woo! And Eastman promises more names to come!
Check out
the Twitch report for a few more specifics, because I'm about to offer a very brief history lesson: The
Heavy Metal franchise began with
this widely-acclaimed publication before spawning movie versions like
this one and
this one. For more on Heavy Metal, I refer you to my pal
Wiki-P.
But uh, I couldn't care less if this project goes back to Paramount or not. With directors like those ones already on board, you can consider my interest duly piqued no matter who bankrolls the thing. So if we're talking about dark sci-fi fantasy animation ... which other directors would you include? Del Toro, Jackson, and Nolan, obviously, but how about Danny Boyle, Brad Anderson, or Tim Burton? The possibilities are quite entertaining to consider -- especially when you consider that
Heavy Metal will
almost definitely be an R-rated affair.
Posted Nov 10th 2008 5:15PM by Eric D. Snider
Filed under: Music & Musicals, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek
What do
Hellboy 2 (on DVD this week) and
Milk (in theaters Nov. 26) have in common, aside from flamboyantly controversial main characters? Musical scores by
Danny Elfman, that's what.
Like many people, I was first aware of Elfman as the frontman for Oingo Boingo, a band that had a few songs I liked and an abundance of songs that annoyed me -- may I never hear "Dead Man's Party" again as long as I live -- before I was awestruck by his score for
Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Even if you haven't seen the film I bet you'd recognize the factory-like main theme, officially titled "Breakfast Machine," which starts at 1:15 in the YouTube clip embedded below. It's still my favorite piece of Elfman music, and it typifies his work: whimsical, rhythmic, slightly dark, and heavy on the mechanical noises.
It was Elfman's first orchestral score for a film (he and Oingo Boingo had made something called
Forbidden Zone five years earlier), and the beginning of a partnership with
Pee-wee director
Tim Burton that lasts to this day. Many of Elfman's scores, for Burton and for other directors, have been for films that readily lent themselves to his Halloweenish sensibilities -- comic book/sci-fi/superhero capers like
Dick Tracy,
Batman,
Men in Black,
Beetlejuice,
Mars Attacks!,
Spy Kids, and
Spider-Man. And let it not be forgotten what
Burton's [correction: Elfman's] most famous composition is: the theme from
The Simpsons, surely one of the most recognizable TV songs in the world.
Continue reading Discuss: What's Your Favorite Danny Elfman Score?
Posted Nov 7th 2008 11:03AM by Jeffrey M. Anderson
Filed under: Comedy, Music & Musicals, New Releases, MGM, Theatrical Reviews, New in Theaters, The Weinstein Co.
No matter what else happens in
Soul Men, it's hard not to be moved by the posthumous performances of Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes, especially when they appear onscreen together, and more so when, in one scene, they leave a room together. At other times, however, Mac is at the top of his comedic game. He has the power to make us forget that anything is wrong in the world, including the fact that it has lost two of its best and brightest.
In Soul Men, Mac plays Floyd Henderson, one third of a legendary 1960s soul music trio. In the 1970s, the group's lead singer Marcus Hooks (played in flashbacks and photos by John Legend) embarked upon a solo career, leaving Floyd and his bandmate Louis Hinds (Samuel L. Jackson) in the lurch. They tried to continue alone, but quickly broke up due to "creative differences," i.e. they fought over a woman. Now Marcus has passed away and Floyd and Louis have been invited to perform in a tribute show at the Apollo. And since Louis doesn't fly, they must drive cross-country, which gives them plenty of time to fight and bicker. (Isaac Hayes appears relatively briefly, as himself, at the tribute.)
Continue reading Review: Soul Men
Posted Nov 4th 2008 3:03PM by William Goss
Filed under: Music & Musicals, Romance, Disney, Box Office, Fandom, Exhibition, Family Films, Remakes and Sequels
The day before opening, I made
an educated guess that we'd see a sing-along incarnation of
High School Musical 3: Senior Year soon enough. However, while I thought that Disney might go for the relatively open weekends of November 14th or December 5th, last week's 65% drop in business suggests that repeat viewing has already somewhat exhausted itself and that the studio better milk their cash cow dry a bit sooner, so on November 7th, the lyric-laden version of
HSM3 will pop up in 125 digital theaters nationwide.
There's something to be said for the digital aspect of this release. Though I have friends and colleagues who still cheer 35mm all the way, to dismiss the merits of digital projection -- whether in this or better cases -- seems downright foolish. Who knows: with any luck, we'll be treated to a digital release of
Saw School Musical come next October...
Posted Oct 30th 2008 9:32AM by William Goss
Filed under: Comedy, Horror, Music & Musicals, Disney, Exhibition, Family Films, Remakes and Sequels, Fox Atomic
In Utah -- the state so pure that
some theaters owners refuse to show the relatively tame
Zack and Miri Make a Porno but haven't given
Saw V a second glance -- one theater moved their audience for the weekend's #1 movie,
High School Musical 3: Senior Year, into a larger auditorium that had been showing the raunchy
Sex Drive ... and promptly
continued to do so once the lights went down.
This isn't a terribly uncommon mistake to be made. Just
last year, a Long Island multiplex exposed children to the gruesome opening of
The Hills Have Eyes 2 instead of
The Last Mimzy, and back in 2005, I found myself attending a Saturday night sneak of
Zathura in a theater where
The Fog proceeded to begin instead. (Childless and intrepid as I
was am, it took my fetching a manager to correct the situation, not any of the number of vocally concerned parents in the surprisingly full house.)
(No, please, it was nothing.)
I just hope that some giddy
HSM3 fan let loose with "Go, Wildcats!" regardless. They wouldn't have been too far off...
Posted Oct 28th 2008 5:25PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Music & Musicals, Deals, Remakes and Sequels
I usually don't heavily rant here on
Cinematical, but one of the stories that fired me up was the news that
Footloose was getting remade into a cinematic musical with Zac Efron. No, this isn't a remake of the live musical a la
Producers, but rather a straight remake from the film. Now,
Variety reports that the project is being fast-tracked and could start production this spring. First, however, Peter Sollet (the director of
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist) is penning a rewrite of Jon Hartmere's script. Then we can watch our beloved '80s classic get Efronized. In the meantime, the songs are being cooked up -- ones that will combine new tunes with some of the old favorites. Yeah, I'm still not sold.
In more drug-centric news: It looks like
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which
Gus Van Sant grabbed
in June of last year, is still moving forward.
The Hollywood Reporter posts that Fox Searchlight has picked up the project. However, they're not sharing any news about when the film will get made or released. Maybe never? Yes, I'm bitter about this project too, but that's just because I was not happy with how he handled Tom Robbins and Blake Nelson's work, so I really don't want Tom Wolfe added to the mix. What do you think? Can Van Sant handle the lives of Kesey and the Merry Pranksters?
Continue reading Updates on 'Footloose' Remake and 'Electric Kool-Aid'
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