Film Junk » Greg

Vin Diesel Quits ‘XXX’. The World Remains Silent

Greg — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:51:37 +0000

After returning to the Fast & the Furious franchise it had looked like Vin Diesel was going back to the XXX franchise as well, but that has all changed. An article on Cinefools.com says that Vinny has pulled out of XXX: The Return of Xander Cage. I would think this will be very bad as it follows on the heels of original director Rob Cohen (The Fast & the Furious, XXX) pulling out as well and little known filmmaker Ericson Cole stepping in. Details for Diesel's departure have not been released. What does this mean for the XXX franchise? I, personally, have seen XXX nor it's Ice Cube sequel. I suppose they could go ahead with another actor. What do you think? Should they bother and would it make any money anyway? Update: Breathe easy folks, it looks like this rumour has been debunked.

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Robert Redford has his ‘Conspirator’

Greg — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:21:51 +0000

Good news for history buffs as Robert Redford's next directing gig will start shooting this week and he has rounded out an impressive cast. According to Variety, the Conspirator, which is about the aftermath of the Abraham Lincoln assassination, will star James McAvoy, Robin Wright Penn, Tom Wilkenson, Evan Rachel Wood, Alexis Bledel, and Kevin Kline. Wright Penn plays Mary Surratt, the only female charged in the conspiracy to kill the president, and McAvoy plays Frederick Aiken, the war hero assigned to defend her. Wilkinson will play Reverdy Johnson, the former attorney general who as a U.S. senator is the mentor to the young lawyer and sympathetic to Surratt. Wood plays Surratt's daughter, Anna, and Kline plays Lincoln's War Secretary Edwin Stanton. Bledel plays Aiken's wife, Sarah Weston. No word if there will be any flashback scenes with Lincoln and his killer John Wilkes Booth or if they will mention that Abe Lincoln ranked number one in U.S. Presidents with awesome facial hair and facial warts. The Conspirator will hit theatres in 2010.

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Chris Pine To Become Jack Ryan?

Greg — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:11:37 +0000

Apparently, I'm all about the Chris Pine news this week. It's been 7 years since we've seen CIA analyst Jack Ryan on the big screen, but our wait may finally be over. Variety is reporting that Paramount is in talks with Mr. James T. Kirk to reboot the franchise based on Tom Clancy's novels. Although talks have just started, it is expected that Pine will sign up. The studio and producers are working with a new, original script by Hossein Amini (Four Feathers, Killshot). It's still pretty early and it's unsure if the franchise will get going before or after Pine stars in the next Star Trek film. Pine would be the fourth actor to play Jack Ryan behind Ben Affleck, Harrison Ford and my personal favourite Alec Baldwin. Are you pining (hardy har har) for a new Jack Ryan film?

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‘Captain’ Lou Albano – 1933-2009

Greg — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:50:25 +0000

It's a sad day in the entertainment world as one of it's most colourful characters has passed away. 'Captain' Lou Albano was 76. While some know him from his starring role opposite John Ritter in the 1992 hit film Stay Tuned and his many appearances as Mario in the Super Mario Brothers Super Show, others may know him from his portrayal of Cyndi Lauper's Dad in the videos for 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun', 'She Bop' and 'The Goonies R Good Enough'. I, for one, will always remember him as one of the greatest wrestling personalities of all time. Over his 42-year career "Captain" Lou managed 34 men to championship gold which is an accomplishment that not even Jimmy 'Mouth of the South' Hart or Bobby "The Brain" Heenan can match. With his trademark rubber bands attached to his face he managed the likes of the U.S Express, George 'the Animal' Steele, 'Superfly' Jimmy Snuka, the Magnificent Muraco and of course one of the greatest tag teams of all time, the British Bulldogs whom he guided to the WWF tag team championship at Wrestlemania 2. In 1998 he co-wrote a book called the 'Complete Idiot's Guide to Pro Wrestling' and he even performed a cover of the song 'Captain Lou's History of Music/Captain Lou' by NRBQ on the original Wrestling Album back in 1985. The man did it all. Albano was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame last year. He passed away in his sleep and is survived by his wife. Clearly, I was a fan. Do you have any favourite memories of 'Captain' Lou?

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Chris Pine and D.J. Caruso To Counterfeit Money.

Greg — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:38:25 +0000

After working with Shia LaBeouf for a couple of films, D.J. Caruso could be set to helm a new film starring another young Hollywood hot shot, Chris Pine. Variety reports that Paramount Pictures is trying to round the two of them up to begin production early next year on The Art of Making Money. It's the story of a fellow named Art Williams who was a small time thief who became an expert counterfeiter. The film is based on a true story and can be found in the pages of the book titled The Art of Making Money: The Story of a Master Counterfeiter by Jason Kersten. Pine, who is currently starring with Denzel Washington in Tony Scott's Unstoppable, would play Art Williams. Caruso most recently directed Eagle Eye and Disturbia.

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Playboy Decides It Doesn’t Want To Make Any Money

Greg — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:03:44 +0000

You know, for a multi-million dollar company Playboy makes some odd decisions. With the recent weird Marge Simpson cover to the news we get from In Touch Weekly magazine that Hollywood mess Tara Reid will be appearing in their pages. Apparently, she did a photo shoot this month. I doubt we'll see it anytime soon as the scars from that odd boob job and her botched liposuction are going to take a very long time to hide. Is the world ready to see this girl in the buff? Do we want to? You can catch the American Pie actress fully clothed in the upcoming comedy Last Call later this year.

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Al Pacino Would Have Sex With You…If You Gave Him A Place To Live.

Greg — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:15:44 +0000

According to our friends over at WENN.com , when Al Pacino was a struggling actor in his youth back in Sicily, the future Carlito's Way star traded sex for room and board. Hoo-ah! Back in 1960, he went home to his native land after dropping out of school to pursue his dream of acting. A gossip column in the New York Post said he decided to sell his body to keep a roof over his head. Al Pacino said "At 20, I lived in Sicily by selling the only asset I had - my body. An older woman traded food and housing in return for sex. I woke mornings not really loving myself." Fantastic. What celebrity would you shelter in return for sex? This could be a new weekly poll. Let's keep it clean though, folks.

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Sit Down, Acting! Ryan Gosling Is Focusing On Music.

Greg — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:21:20 +0000

In another story of actors wanting to become musicians or musicians wanting to become actors, here comes the tale of Ryan Gosling and his band Dead Man's Bones. According to Jam!, my favourite cast member of Breaker High has decided to take a few months off from acting and focus on music. I suppose he's earned the chance to do this. With superb acting performances in The Believer and Half Nelson maybe he can translate that into music. If you haven't heard much from his band check this out. Not much in the way of actual music videos from the band, but you can get a good idea of what they're about. I should point out that this isn't indicative of Canadian music, but I'll hand it to him and say that at the very least, it's different. He and partner Zach Shield sing about zombies with broken hearts and other weird stuff. Gosling sings and plays guitar and the band is heading out on tour if you want to catch them live. If Dead Man's Bones isn't your thing, you can look for Gosling back on the big screen as he has two movies in editing. Blue Valentine with Michelle Williams and All Good Things with Kirsten Dunst. By the way, I know you're going to watch that whole episode of Breaker High.

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TIFF Review: Whip It

Greg — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:25:38 +0000

Whip It Directed by Drew Barrymore Starring: Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, Eve, Jimmy Fallon, Daniel Stern, and Zoe Bell Whip It stars Ellen Page as Bliss, a bored Texas teenager who feels the need to escape her small hometown, her meaningless waitress job and the beauty pageants that her mother wishes she would take more seriously. On a shopping trip to nearby Austin, Bliss spots some roller derby girls delivering flyers for their upcoming games. The derby girls are covered in tattoos and piercings. They wear short skits, high socks (oh yeah) or fishnets. Bliss likes the style, grabs a flyer and heads home. With her best friend in tow, Bliss heads to the game and is introduced to a hard-hitting, take-no-prisoners sport for women. She meets some players Smashlee Simpson (Barrymore), Rosa Sparks (Eve), Iron Maven (Lewis), Bloody Holly (Bell) and Maggie Mayhem (Wiig), who invites Bliss to try out for the team next week. Bliss makes the Hurl Scouts team and begins attending practices and games all the while keeping it from her debutante mother (Harden) and oafy father (Stern). There's a very weak subplot involving a boy in a band that seems more like filler than storyline. Page has zero chemistry with the actor playing her love interest, there's no payoff and honestly, I felt a little cheated watching scenes with this because it took away from more roller derby action. Clearly, the roller derby scenes are the best part with actors doing their own stunts and the scenes were choreographed well. Like a good sports movie, the games are intense, yet because it's a comedy, still a little light-hearted. Speaking of sports movies, I knew I was going to get a training/music montage scene and did we ever. Speed skating drills, sit-ups, jumps and spins all to the tune of 38 Special's "Caught Up in You". That was awesome. The roller derby is really the only reason to see this film. Most of the other scenes fall kind of flat as much of the dialogue is hokey and predictable. When I first saw the trailer for Whip It, I was interested, not only because of the roller derby, but because I wanted to see if Drew Barrymore had any directing chops. Coming from the family lineage that she does, I expected maybe she had some talents other than acting. She's not the greatest actor, by all means, but for the most part she's passable. After watching the movie, I realize that Drew Barrymore's directing is pretty much like her acting. It's just....there. -- Greg

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TIFF Review: Vengeance

Greg — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:59:26 +0000

Vengeance Directed by Johnnie To Starring: Johnny Hallyday, Anthony Wong, Lam Ka Tung, Lam Suet and Simon Yam For those that have read my TIFF reviews and updates over the past few years, you may remember me mentioning a director by the name of Johnnie To. Not only is he a great action director in Hong Kong, but I think he's one of the best ever in the world. There's something to his style that I just love, so you can imagine how happy I was that his latest film Vengeance came to TIFF. Vengeance is the story of an older man with a failing memory named Costello (Hallyday) whose daughter is in a hospital struggling to survive, while her Chinese husband and their two kids lay dead after a gang hit. Who wanted them dead and why? Costello is immediately warned by police to stay out of the way and let them do their jobs. He crosses paths with some hitmen and hires them to find the ones responsible for hurting his daughter. As the mystery begins to be solved we are treated to a number of scenes that can only be described as bullet ballets. We get shootouts at a picnic, gunfights in an apartment complex, and duels in an open field using tumbling bales of compressed paper as shields. Can Costello and the hitmen exact revenge on those responsible for the deaths of his family? Will his failing memory be the cause of their failure? Does the word vengeance have the same meaning when you can't remember those that have wronged you or those that you've lost? Go see the movie to find out. Obviously, since I'm a big fan of Johnnie To, I had high hopes. I love his action style. I like the slo-mo fight sequences. I love the shots of the guns in each holster and then the shots of the hands reaching for the guns all the way to having the weapons pointed at each other. To me, there's an art form to it and I think Johnnie To has it mastered. Once the hitmen find those responsible, the film becomes non-stop action with gunfight after gunfight. Each time in a different location to keep it all fresh. His regular cast of actors are all here, playing the three hitmen (Anthony Wong, Lam Ka Tung, Lam Suet) and the crime lord (Simon Yam). Solid performances from this crew as always. The one problem I had with this film was Johnny Hallyday. If you don't know who he is, he's a pop star in France. He's been known as the French Elvis Presley. Not only are his singing chops nowhere near the caliber of the King, but he's even a worse actor. It looked like Johnnie To showed up at the nursing home, checked Hallyday out for a bit and put him in the movie. Even with the laughable and somewhat bizarre performance of Hallyday being the core of this film, the fired bullets, the blood splatters and the rising death count made this film enjoyable to watch. The back drop of Hong Kong is always a good setting for a hitman versus hitman war and with Johnnie To at the helm, this bullet ballet gets an extra curtain call or two. - Greg

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