The UBS Evening Television & Movie News 08.20.09
Posted by George H. Sirois on 08.20.2009
A brief look at the two big upcoming films for this weekend, an introduction to the new head of MGM, more remake news, and some news about an 80s cult horror classic’s release to DVD and Blu-Ray. All this and one of Andy’s best photo news briefs to date in the “Good News: Your Dates Are Here” Edition...
Welcome everyone to the latest edition of the UBS Evening Movie News. I'm George H. Sirois, and if you're on Twitter, you can find me HERE! And don't forget, for all of you who are new to 411Mania.com, make sure you check out all of our zones. We have some of the best writers on the Internet right here, and we love to hear from all of you! So keep coming back to read what we have for you, make us your homepage and if you have Facebook, make sure to join our group HERE!
Hope everyone's doing well today. I'm enjoying my latest week of employment and getting a LOT of work done on the novel re-writing. The pace has really quickened now that Chapter 10's been edited, and most of the last act is similar to what it was in the first draft. It just has to be tweaked for the adjustments needed to match the parts that came before. I'm already two sections into Chapter 11 and I think I only have three more to go after that, plus the short epilogue. This has been an absolute blast seeing this book come together over the past several months, and I can safely say now that I love this story. And it takes a lot for me to say that.
With this in mind, I won't have a Mad Prophet rant ready for this week since I've been so wrapped up in the book the past few days. So Andy gets the main event slot, and he definitely takes advantage of it with one of his best photo news briefs to date. Sirois approves!
But before you can gaze upon the goodness that Andy brings us, we got some news to report...
SYBIL THE SOOTHSAYER
UPCOMING MOVIES
Shorts: A young boy's discovery of a colorful, wish-granting rock causes chaos in the suburban town of Black Falls when jealous kids and scheming adults alike set out to get their hands on it.
I'm not too interested in seeing this, but I'm not in the family demographic anyway. Besides, I have to give it a Rodriguez a lot of credit for putting together a truly original family film that's not a sequel or based on a book or anything like that. It looks pretty damn imaginative even though I'm not going to be on line for it at the theater.
Inglourious Basterds: Brad Pitt plays Lt. Aldo Raine, the leader of a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" who are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich.
It's a rarity when a project that Tarantino talks up for years is actually seen through to the end. Therefore, I will definitely be seeing this.
Credit: TheMovieBox.net
DVD NEWS
For all you cult horror fans, you'll be pleased to know that Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has just added Night of the Creeps to their release line-up, bringing the film to DVD and Blu-Ray Disc just in time for Halloween.
This disc will contain a Commentary Track by Writer/ Director Fred Dekker as well as a Cast Commentary and a Trivia Track. In addition, it will contain a selection of Deleted Scenes and the movie's Original Theatrical Ending, as well as a series of Featurettes, such as "Birth of the Creeps," "Cast of the Creeps," "Creating the Creeps," "Escape of the Creeps," "Legend of the Creeps" and "Tom Atkins: Man of Action."
(Quick Tom Atkins story: I've seen him several times at Chiller Theatre conventions, and he is always selling a T-shirt that has a picture of his face on it with the word "ATKINS" underneath. I want one, just to see people's confused looks when they see it.)
The DVD version will come around for $19.94 while the Blu-Ray version will be $24.95. The film arrives in stores on October 27.
And without further ado, for those who don't know what I'm talking about, I present to you…
MOVIE TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Night of the Creeps
JIM WEBBING AND HIS IT'S THE HONEST TRUTH DEPARTMENT
Remake News for the Week: Warner Bros. and Hollywood Gang Productions have set "Shoot `Em Up" helmer Michael Davis to direct "Outland," a remake of the 1981 Sean Connery sci-fi film.
The redo will be written by Chad St. John, who scripted the WB drama "The Days Before," which Hollywood Gang is producing.
The drama revolves around a police marshal stationed at a remote mining colony on Jupiter's moon IO, where a cop uncovers a murderous conspiracy endangering the entire Outland with collapse. The cop's a week away from retiring and returning to Earth with his wife. He must choose between walking away or taking on a private army with his overachieving ex-partner and wife's former boyfriend.
Hollywood Gang's Gianni Nunnari is producing and Craig J. Flores is executive producer. Hollywood Gang produced `300' for the studio, and is also producing `Silence,' the adaptation of the Shusaku Endo novel about 17th Century Jesuits in Japan that Martin Scorsese hopes to direct with Daniel Day-Lewis, Benicio Del Toro and Gael Garcia Bernal.
"We loved the original sci-fi film with Sean Connery," Nunnari said. "At its core, `Outland' is a version of `High Noon' in outer space, as two courageous people take a stand against a gang of ruthless conspirators at the highest level."
Davis, who wrote and directed the Clive Owen action film "Shoot `Em Up," said "We're staying true to the thematic heart of `Outland' while expanding the space frontier concept."
Now this is what a remake should be, something to draw people's attention towards the original since it's gone from the majority of the filmgoers' consciousness. Even though I'm still not a fan of them in general, I'm intrigued to see how this one will turn out. Since there's not much of an audience for this film outside of the hardcore fans, it's very possible that a project like this could be just what Outland needs to get some new life pumped into it.
Too bad they already started filming the new Nightmare on Elm Street. That one's exactly the wrong approach to make for remakes.
Credit: Variety
Meet the new keeper of the Lion's Den: Can the man who restructured Krispy Kreme and Enron save Leo the Lion?
The initial reaction of key Hollywood players to Tuesday's management shakeup at MGM was one of skepticism.
"Now it's really going to get ugly," said one banker, who worries that the new MGM team may find itself "at war" with debt holders.
"MGM doesn't need a new CEO -- it needs someone to write a check for a couple of billion dollars," said the CEO of a rival company.
The exit of Harry Sloan as CEO (he stays on with the title of chairman) has been viewed as an inevitability for several weeks. The office of CEO will now be divided between three executives, with the key restructuring role going to Stephen Cooper.
Cooper, a corporate turnaround specialist known for dismantling Enron after its collapse and for salvaging Krispy Kreme after its bankruptcy, confronts a $3.7 billion debt load at the Lion, with major payments coming due next year.
"It's up in the air what can truly be salvaged in the way of assets," another corporate CEO declared. "This will be an epic task at debt restructuring, if it can be accomplished at all."
Sloan arrived at MGM in 2005 with the dream of restoring the company to its glory days. Sloan had become a billionaire as a result of his savvy investments in TV in Europe's fast-expanding media market in the 1980s and '90s, but he had never cracked the big time in Hollywood.
Sloan had invested in New World Entertainment and Lionsgate before becoming chairman of SBS Broadcasting, a company he sold for about $2.6 billion four years ago.
I don't get this "now it's gonna get ugly" talk when it comes to Cooper. He's hardly the worst thing to ever happen to MGM. This company's had a constant history of selling, buying, re-selling and defaulting on payments for chunks of this studio. It just keeps feeling like it's in a perpetual state of flux and it's always the responsibility of the next guy in charge to make something of the old lion.
Damn shame considering the studio's history, but maybe someone who actually wants to return MGM to its glory days instead of selling it off piece by piece can be a good thing. We'll have to wait and see.
Credit: Variety
Hellraiser meets Saw… kind of: ABC has picked up the script "Clive Barker's Hotel" from "Saw" scribes Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton. The network bested Fox and several other nets eyeing the Warner Bros. TV project.
The script centers on a series of ghoulish incidents at a haunted hotel.
Horror maven Barker is attached as a producer, and McG's Wonderland Sound and Vision banner is in talks to produce. Joe Daley is co-producing. McG could come on board in a directorial capacity if the project moves forward.
Dunstan and Melton, repped by APA and Underground Management, were discovered when they won a season of "Project Greenlight" with their horror script "Feast," which became a Dimension pic. They went on to write "Saw IV" and "Saw V" and penned the screenplay to this fall's "Saw VI."
Dunstan has just made his feature directorial debut with "The Collector," a pic about an ex-con who targets his employer's house for a heist that he wrote with Melton.
The pair worked with "Hellraiser" creator Barker, repped by APA and Evolution, on a draft of the reboot of "Hellraiser" that's set for Dimension.
Talk about a hell of a match-up, pun intended: Clive Barker guiding the current writers of the Saw franchise for a television show brought to you by Disney. How awesome is that?
It's great to see Barker working again, even though it's not as a director. And I do believe Dunstan and Melton have put together some good work. I like how the Saw franchise has gone, despite the feeling that it's running out of steam. With a horror legend like Clive overseeing this, I am very excited to see this once it gets going.
The only thing that worries me is, where are they going to put this project? It seems like something that the network would likely try to put on Friday nights, which would be a virtual death sentence.
ANDY CRITCHELL'S INTERACTIVE BABE PHOTO NEWS BRIEF WITH ANDY CRITCHELL
Good evening UBS fans! This week I have one of Houston's finest, and I am not talking about a cop (although this gal and handcuffs could be fun!) April Gutierrez is a bikini and glamour model and she was recently named Miss COED for August 2009 by COED Magazine. What does that mean? I don't know but I guess it's worth something. It caught my eye and allowed me to share with my loyal readers, so that's something. Let's check her out:
And there you have it! Hope you enjoyed. Also, don't forget to check me out over in the wrestling zone where I write the hottest new TV Report, ECW Extreme Extracts. Here is the latest entry. I'm also keeping a blog here on 411 which you can read here. Of course, if you were smart and checked out my blog, you would have already seen a picture of this week's gal. If you didn't, well keep an eye on my blog for a preview of next week's girl.
And that's a wrap for Chapter 126 of The UBS Evening Movie News! For Andy Critchell, I'm George H. Sirois and we'll see you next week!
