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Movie news & updates 18...whip it...halloween 3D...mandy moore now rapunzel...
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Mandy Moore, shown here at the Gain "Love at First Sniff" concert in 2009, Chicago, LaSalle Power Co., will voice "Rapunzel" for Disney. Details below. Originally posted to Flickr as Mandy Moore--Gain "Love at First Sniff" Concert 2009 by Kate Gardiner; Creative Commons Attribution 2.0. www.wikipedia.org image
Many new developments are unfolding, even as we read. Let's push on.
1) "Clash of the Titans": great new photos from the upcoming feature, courtesy of 'Empire' and 'Entertainment Weekly'--available on www.firstshowing.net. Trailer due soon.
2) "Shutter Island": The Scorcese film has been pushed back. "Shutter Island" was due later this month but has been rescheduled to Feb. 19, 2010, according to Paramount. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo as U.S. Marshals sent to a remote island off the Massachusetts coast to investigate the disappearance of a murderess from the island's hospital for the criminally insane. Trailer in high def on Apple.
3) "Ghostrider 2" Update: Writer/director David Goyer will definitely direct the film from a script he'd written 9 years ago. In a recent interview with Collider, Goyer said, "I wrote a script for that (Ghost Rider) 9 years ago and Sony decided, and its producers, that they wanted to make that as the sequel script. So, in this case, I'm coming on as a producer and we're basically just doing a polish of my 9-year-old script. There's not much work involved." The polishing involved means toning it down from an R-rating to PG-13. No early hints about the storyline yet but Nicolas Cage will be returning.
4) "Whip It"--review: This is a coming-of-age film, centered around Ellen Page, who plays Bliss Cavendar, a Texas teen searching for her lot in life, like so many others in so many other films. That's not a surprise, being implicit in the storyline laid out in this column a couple weeks ago. Bliss's lot in life turns out to be Roller Derby, a very physical, sometimes brutal sport with precious little room for error. One could make similar arguments about directing, hopefully sans violence. Drew Barrymore, in her directorial debut, proves that starring in a film and directing oneself in a film are two seperate entities best left to those who've mastered each individually.
Ms. Barrymore is a very very talented actress but she has yet to develop the vision of herself as an actress from a director's perspective, obviously since this is her debut. That makes this a series of barely related events rather than a smooth cohesive film. There are some fun moments, some funny moments, even some touching moments but they're too often lost in side-trips that distract from the point. Growing up does suck and directing isn't easy if one can't remove oneself from oneself. In short, Drew's next 10-15 directorial efforts should not include herself in the cast. Still, it's a start and this film cannot be dismissed out of hand. Great soundtrack.
5) Stallone teasers: Sly wants to direct a remake of "Death Wish", the classic Charles Bronson film. Sly wants to do a remake or a sequel of/to "Cliffhanger", his own (semi-)classic film. Sly wants to direct a bio-pic of Edgar Allen Poe. With his new venture, "The Expendables" set for release next August and yet another "Rambo" sequel on the horizon, Sly also wants more hours in the day.
6) Michael Bay himself announced the intended release date for "Transformers 3"--1 July 2011--upstaging the folks at Paramount who usually do that sort of promotion. Megan Fox will return.
7) "Halloween 3D": The soap opera continues: First it wasn't going to happen--then it was but without Rob Zombie--then it definitely was happening with Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine 3D) and, voila, it would be out next year. Now, The Weinstein Company's Dimension Films has shut down pre-production, according to Nikki Finke at DeadLine Hollywood. Finke says that Bob Weinstein shut it down because it was moving too fast. She also points out that "the rumor mill claims TWC is out of money amid all those layoffs and couldn't agree on a $2.5 million budget battle with Lussier." Beyond that, there's even talk that Summit Entertainment might purchase TWC. That cannot be confirmed but TWC is planning (hoping) to re-release Zombie's "H2" on the Halloween holiday weekend which is so obviously when it should've been released anyway. This is exactly what makes the movie biz so difficult yet so exciting. Things change at the drop of a machete.
8) "RAPUNZEL": Disney's 50th animated feature will be the 'passion project' of John Lasseter (Toy Story Trilogy). 'Empire' recently discussed this upcoming project with singer/songwriter/actress Mandy Moore. She said, "I just feel honored to be in such good company. Being a Disney princess is kind of every girl's ultimate dream." Originally, Kristin Chenoweth was slated to voice the part but Mandy now has it. This will be her third animated feature along with "Racing Stripes" and "Brother Bear 2". Mandy has not blogged about this yet on her website but she will. Mandy never fails to keep her fans updated. Stay tuned.
9) "A Nightmare on Elm St.": Trailer in high def on MySpace. Check it out. It looks darker and more intense than the original. Coming 30 April 2010.
10) Opening Oct. 9 (John Lennon's birthday): "Couples Retreat", directed by Peter Billingsley, the cute little guy who played Ralphie in "A Christmas Story". Trailer in high def on Apple. Starring Kristen Bell, Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau and Kristin Davis.
More to come soon as the story of Roman Polanski unfolds. Mr. P. was a naughty boy a long time ago in a galaxy not so far away and justice may or may not prevail, depending on how deep his pockets are. Stay tuned.
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