The UBS Evening Television & Movie News 09.03.09
Posted by George H. Sirois on 09.03.2009
A quick update on the novel rewrites, DVD news about the latest SNL box set, a look at Guy Ritchie’s next project and Roadside Attractions to the rescue! All this with Andy’s latest winning photo news brief and more in The “I’m Too Fried to Come Up with a Catchy Title” 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!
It seems like I'm in the process of developing a little pattern here. Every other week, I'll have a Mad Prophet rant all set to go, and the weeks I don't have one set because I'm too wrapped up in my novel rewrites allow me to turn to Andy for the main event. This is one of those weeks, and as always, Andy has delivered with a very main event-worthy photo news brief for your viewing pleasure.
As for the book rewrites, I can't tell you how excited I am right now because I not only finished the very long and cumbersome Chapter 12, but I'm almost halfway finished rewriting Chapter 13! Just one more chapter and the epilogue, and I'll be a big step closer to finishing this journey!
And now, on with the news…
SYBIL THE SOOTHSAYER
UPCOMING MOVIES
Gamer: Gerard Butler stars in this futuristic thriller set in the dystopian world where the ultimate online simulation environment is humans remote-controlling other humans in mass-scale, multiplayer online gaming.
Turns out the original title for this was Citizen Game. Something about that makes me wish they had called this movie that instead. While the current title sounds a little weak, I gotta say I'm interested in this. Despite what I heard from many of the teeny-boppers that got all pissed off because I dared to say I didn't like Gerard Butler's singing voice, I like him as an action hero and seeing an ORIGINAL sci-fi action flick with him as the star is a very positive thing.
Extract: Mike Judge writes and directs this comedy about a flower extract plant owner (Jason Bateman) who's dealing with workplace issues and a stream of bad luck, including his wife's affair with a gigolo.
Loved Office Space. Loved Idiocracy. And I have a feeling I'm going to love this as well.
All About Steve: Convinced that a cable news cameraman (Bradley Cooper) is her true love, an eccentric crossword puzzler (Sandra Bullock) trails him as he travels all over the country, hoping to convince him that they belong together.
Looks like The Proposal did what it needed to do: it put Sandra back in the spotlight, and I gotta say, good for her. I've always enjoyed her work – other than Speed 2 of course – and anytime she can get out of the typical romantic comedy rut is a step in the right direction. Plus, it looks like she had a blast playing this, so we'll see if anything comes of it.
Credit: TheMovieBox.net
DVD NEWS
If you've been collecting the season box sets for the first era of Saturday Night Live, you'll be interested in knowing the fifth season set is scheduled to hit shelves on December 1st. These discs will include all of the episodes uncut with the original musical guests.
There's speculation that this will be the last box set from Universal, but personally I'd like to see them release the 1980 season just so I can see how badly it sucked. Anyway, you can buy the fifth season set for $69.98.
Credit: DVDReview.com
MOVIE TRAILER OF THE WEEK: 9
JIM WEBBING AND HIS IT'S THE HONEST TRUTH DEPARTMENT
Guy's Back's Back!: Warner Bros. has locked Guy Ritchie to direct "Lobo," the live action adaptation of the DC Comics drama about an alien interstellar bounty hunter.
Don Payne wrote the most recent script draft, and Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona will produce. Pic is a co-production between Silver Pictures and Weed Road.
Ritchie will make the film his follow-up to "Sherlock Holmes," the Silver-produced film that stars Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and Rachel McAdams, which Warner Bros. opens Christmas Day.
Production on "Lobo" begins early next year. The character originated in 1983 in "Omega Men," written by Roger Slifer and Keith Giffen. Lobo has had several comic incarnations. In the film, he is a seven-foot tall, blue-skinned, indestructible and heavily muscled anti-hero who drives a pimped out motorcycle, and lands on Earth in search of four fugitives who are bent on wreaking havoc. Lobo teams with a small town teenaged girl to stop the creatures.
WB is aiming for a PG-13 rating. Pic will be strong on visual effects, and Ritchie will bring the irreverent, gruff tone of past films like "Snatch" and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels."
Steve Richards and Kerry Foster will be executive producers.
This has me excited and worried at the same time. My experience with Lobo is limited to reading the trade paperback "Lobo's Back's Back," which shows Lobo getting blown in half, going to Heaven, picking a fight with the other inhabitants there, going to Hell and kicking Satan out, then kicking the asses of "The God Squad" while God is laughing hysterically. Needless to say, I was entertained.
So getting a chance to see a character like Lobo on the big screen has me looking forward to lots of humor, lots of action and plenty of humorous action. HOWEVER, the fact that WB is aiming for a PG-13 rating has me thinking that they're shooting for a typical comic book movie audience at the expense of the audience that actually knows who the hell Lobo is! The trade paperback I just mentioned was for mature readers, and it's easy to see that Lobo's at his best when the chains are off and he can just kick ass without the threat of any censors.
If I could have WB's ear to give them some friendly advice, I'd say to give this movie a low budget and take off the handcuffs. Let's see some old-fashioned low-tech make-up-heavy violence and plenty of 4-letter words all in the name of good fun!
Credit: Variety
One of those really good reasons to enjoy cable: Premium TV service Epix, a joint venture among Viacom, Lionsgate and MGM, has struck a second exclusive film output deal, this time with Roadside Attractions.
Epix will carry as many as 22 films the indie firm has slated for theatrical release through 2011 across its linear channel, subscription-on-demand and Epixhd.com.
The agreement comes a few weeks after a similar Epix output deal with Samuel Goldwyn.
"At a time of great contraction in the indie world, having this guaranteed outlet for our films across multiple platforms I believe will make Roadside an even more attractive home for filmmakers," said Howard Cohen, co-president of Roadside Attractions.
Said Epix president and CEO Mark Greenberg, "Roadside is an ideal partner for Epix, with a reputation as a leading independent film distributor delivering award-winning movies."
Well, this is kind of like what George Lucas was talking about years ago when he mentioned how blockbuster movies created larger multiplex theaters that showed indie films. Of course, his belief turned out to be a little less than complete bullshit since the larger multiplex theaters only show more screenings of the blockbuster movies instead of indie films.
Fortunately for indie films and filmmakers, someone else like Epix noticed this and did something about it. So kudos to Epix for getting involved with a company like Roadside Attractions. The more venues that open for filmmakers to get noticed, the better the chances of their works being seen, so I hope all of this works out well.
Credit: Hollywood Reporter
Google's next step in conquering the world: Google's YouTube is in talks with Hollywood studios, including Lionsgate Entertainment, Sony and Warner Bros., about allowing users to stream movies on a rental basis, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday afternoon on its Web site.
The Journal cited people familiar with the company's plans. The move would be one of the online video firm's first towards charging for content. Currently, some studios make older, lesser-known movies available on YouTube, but the current talks focus on newer releases, including in some cases releases that would happen at the same time as DVD launches, the Journal said.
YouTube couldn't be reached for comment.
Remember the times when YouTube was simply for viewing such simple pleasures as the Dramatic Chipmunk, "Chocolate Rain" and Chris Crocker? Well, I wouldn't call Crocker a pleasure, but you know what I mean. Now, you'll be able to go to the same source to rent the latest movies? This site is like the iPhone for the Internet. Whatever you want to see, there's a link to it.
Personally, I'd rather see the studios just come up with their own means of showing off their catalog of films instead of sending the rights over to YouTube. You might remember the frenzy of panic that resulted over Gmail being shut down for a few hours on Tuesday?
ANDY CRITCHELL'S INTERACTIVE BABE PHOTO NEWS BRIEF WITH ANDY CRITCHELL
For this week's gal, I thought I would showcase a lovely young woman from the exotic and mysterious country known as Canada! Now not much is known about Sweet Krissy other than that she is sweet and may or may not be named Krissy. In fact, the only reason I know she is Canadian is because freeones tells me so. But tons of hot chicks seem to come from Canada so I believe it. Anyway, Sweet Krissy has her own site where she gets all naked and fun with tons of pics and movies. A quick Bing search will take you there. Let's check her out:
She really is lovely isn't she? That's it for me this week. Have a good one!!
And that's a wrap for Chapter 128 of The UBS Evening Movie News! For Andy Critchell, I'm George H. Sirois and we'll see you next week!
Good lord those pictures are going to get me canned.
Posted By: Todd Vote (Registered) on September 03, 2009 at 09:59 AM
Gamer's original title wasn't Citizen Game, it's working title was Game. The title Citizen Game was an April fool's joke by Neveldine/Taylor, it was originally announced on Twitter and went on from there.
Posted By: FYI (Guest) on September 03, 2009 at 03:09 PM
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