Jack's back - and on board to save the world at least two more times.
Fox has ordered two more seasons of 24, keeping the Emmy-winning drama on the net through the 2008-2009 TV season. . .
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Exec producers for 24 have already told several publications that they plan to make some changes on the show next season - but the twist will remain the same: Each episode covering one hour of real time as special agent Jack Bauer races against the clock to stop something bad from happening.
20th Century Fox TV and Imagine TV are behind 24, which winds down its sixth season Monday with a two-hour finale.
24 is coming off an Emmy win for outstanding drama series, as well as outstanding lead actor in a drama (for star Kiefer Sutherland). Show has scored 51 Emmy noms throughout its existence, including five for best drama.
I used to love the Tintin books when I was little, in which the odd Belgian boy detective and his little dog travel the world, solving mysteries in exotic locales. Now, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson will be directing and producing these books for us, using performance capture technology and full 3-D!
Here's an excerpt from the Variety article:
Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are teaming to direct and produce three back-to-back features based on Georges Remi's beloved Belgian comic-strip hero Tintin for DreamWorks. Pics will be produced in full digital 3-D using performance capture technology.
The two filmmakers will each direct at least one of the movies; studio wouldn't say which director would helm the third. Kathleen Kennedy joins Spielberg and Jackson as a producer on the three films, which might be released through DreamWorks Animation.
Tintin has long been a passion project for Spielberg; he and Kennedy have held various film rights to the comedic adventure book series off and on for more than 25 years. With the rights in place, Spielberg, Jackson and DreamWorks began quietly developing the project.
Jackson has also long been a fan of the comic books.
Jackson's New Zealand-based WETA Digital, the f/x house behind The Lord of the Rings franchise, produced a 20-minute test reel bringing to life the characters created by Remi, who wrote under the pen name of Herge.
Herge's characters have been reborn as living beings, expressing emotion and a soul which goes far beyond anything we've seen to date with computer animated characters, Spielberg said.
We want Tintin's adventures to have the reality of a live-action film, and yet Peter and I felt that shooting them in a traditional live-action format would simply not honor the distinctive look of the characters and world that Herge created, Spielberg continued. . .
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'300' -- Fact or Fiction?
Crowds are flocking to see the film 300 about the ancient Spartans' last stand at the pass at Thermopylae against an invading Persian army. Yet many critics, in panning 300, have alleged that the film is essentially historically inaccurate. Are they right? Here are some answers. But first two qualifiers. I wrote an introduction to a book about the making of 300 after being shown a rough cut of the movie in October. And, second, remember that 300 does not claim to follow exactly ancient accounts of the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.
Instead, it is an impressionistic take on a graphic novel by Frank Miller, intended to entertain and shock first, and instruct second.
Indeed, at the real battle, there weren't rhinoceroses or elephants in the Persian army. Their king, Xerxes, was bearded and sat on a throne high above the battle; he wasn't, as in the movie, bald and sexually ambiguous, and he didn't prance around the killing field. And neither the traitor Ephialtes nor the Spartan overseers, the Ephors, were grotesquely deformed.
When the Greeks were surrounded on the battle's last day, there were 700 Thespians and another 400 Thebans who fought alongside the 300 Spartans under King Leonidas. But these non-Spartans are scarcely prominent in the movie. Still, the main story line mostly conveys the message of Thermopylae. A small contingent of Greeks at Thermopylae (which translates to The Hot Gates ) really did block the enormous Persian army for three days before being betrayed. The defenders claimed their fight was for the survival of a free people against subjugation by the Persian Empire.
Many of the film's corniest lines - such as the Spartan dare, Come and take them, when ordered by the Persians to hand over their weapons, or the Spartans' flippant reply, Then we will fight in the shade, when warned that Persian arrows will blot out the sun - actually come from ancient accounts by Herodotus and Plutarch. The warriors of 300 look like comic-book heroes because they are based on Frank Miller's drawings that emphasized bare torsos, futuristic swords and staged fight scenes. In other words, director Zack Snyder tells the story not in a realistic fashion - like the mostly failed attempts to recapture the ancient world in recent films such as Troy or Alexander - but in the surreal manner of a comic book or video game. The Greeks themselves often embraced such impressionistic adaptation. Ancient vase painters sometimes did not portray soldiers accurately in their bulky armor. Instead, they used heroic nudity to show the contours of the human body.
Similarly, Athenian tragedies that depicted stories of war employed contrivances every bit as imaginative as those in 300. Actors wore masks. Men played women's roles. They chanted in set meters, broken up by choral hymns.
The audience understood that dramatists reworked common myths to meet current tastes and offer commentary on the human experience.
Some reviewers think the film is gratuitously violent. But Thermopylae was no picnic. Almost all the Spartans and Thespians were killed, along with hundreds from other Greek contingents. Some of the film's most graphic killing - such as Persians being pushed over the cliff into the sea - derives from the text of Herodotus.
And the filmmakers omitted the mutilation of King Leonidas, whose head Xerxes ordered impaled on a stake.
Finally, some have suggested that 300 is juvenile in its black-and-white depiction - and glorification - of free Greeks versus imperious Persians. The film has actually been banned in Iran as hurtful American propaganda, as the theocracy suddenly is reclaiming its infidel ancient past.
But that good/bad contrast comes not from the director or Frank Miller, but is based on accounts from the Greeks themselves, who saw their own society as antithetical to the monarchy of imperial Persia. True, 2,500 years ago, almost every society in the ancient Mediterranean world had slaves. And all relegated women to a relatively inferior position. Sparta turned the entire region of Messenia into a dependent serf state.
But in the Greek polis alone, there were elected governments, ranging from the constitutional oligarchy at Sparta to much broader-based voting in states like Athens and Thespiae. Most importantly, only in Greece was there a constant tradition of unfettered expression and self-criticism. Aristophanes, Sophocles and Plato questioned the subordinate position of women. Alcidamas lamented the notion of slavery.
Such openness was found nowhere else in the ancient Mediterranean world. That freedom of expression explains why we rightly consider the ancient Greeks as the founders of our present Western civilization - and, as millions of moviegoers seem to sense, far more like us than the enemy who ultimately failed to conquer them.
Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and author, most recently, of A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War.
Cate Blanchett has signed on to star in the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones adventures.
Harrison Ford already has boarded the project, which will be produced by Lucasfilm and directed by Steven Spielberg.
With David Koepp's screenplay shrouded in secrecy, it is unclear what character Blanchett will play. However, sources said the Oscar-winning actress has landed a starring role.
Shooting will begin in June in Los Angeles and at undisclosed locations around the world.
Paramount Pictures will release Indy 4 day-and-date around the world on May 22, 2008, with a handful of territories opening the following day.
Frank Marshall is producing, with George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy executive producing.
Blanchett, who is filming David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, next will lend her voice to Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr. Fox. In addition to her Academy Award win for The Aviator, she received a supporting nomination this year for her role in Richard Eyre's Notes on a Scandal.
She is repped by CAA.
There is a popular game played amongst my pals, the name of which must be edited, or censored, for The Blue Grotto. It is akin to the long-car-ride game where one person says I'm thinking of someone, and the other passengers ask a series of questions about the subject's nature to arrive at the name.
In our version of the game, somebody announces that they are thinking of somebody, but the subject must be categorized as a Total [edited - synonyms: ace, champion, conqueror, hero, superstar] or a Total [edited - synonyms: wimp, wuss, cream puff, invertebrate, milquetoast, sissy, tenderfoot].
An example of the former might be Russell Crowe's character Maximus in Gladiator, while an example of the latter might be figure skater Scott Hamilton. Anyway, I nominate the character of King Leonidas as the ultimate example of the former in the new blockbuster movie, 300! I had seen the previews for this flick for a couple of months and thought to myself, No, gracias. It looked like a bizarre, testosterone-soaked B-movie with nothing but a lot of blood and gore and CGI special effects.
Well, I was impressed by how this new movie set out to offer a whole new genre, and succeeded! It is AWESOME! 300 tells the story the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.
, in which King Leonidas and 300 of his best Spartan warriors defended Greece, to the death, from the onslaught of Persian king Xerxes (Xerxes was, by the way, my father's old email address) and his millions of soldiers. The heroic stand of the Spartans gave the rest of the Greek army enough time to assemble, march to the area, and defeat the Persians.
300 is based on Frank Miller's comic book (or graphic novel as they're now called), and the special effects are created to give the impression that you're watching a comic book unfold onscreen. The actors are real, of course, but the whole atmosphere and effect is sort of amped up on adrenaline. The movie is full of limbs and heads being lopped off at every turn, so if you have a weak stomach you might want to stay home and watch a Matlock rerun.
In addition to looking like a comic book, the movie deals in very bold, black-and-white, comic-book-like themes. What I mean is that King Leonidas and his group of brave warriors are the heroes of this story due to their self-sacrifice based on honor, duty, and courage. You're not going to find any subplots involving the King crying on his wife's shoulder, showing his more sensitive side. Nor are you going to see any examples of compassion, sympathy, humility, or even kindness from these heroes. This story celebrates the virtues of honor, duty, and courage, and it is up to some other story to celebrate other virtues not found in these men.
One common denominator among all heroes, I have come to believe, is that whether a hero is a fierce warrior like King Leonidas, or a humble toiler like Mother Theresa, the person places his or her own interests second to the interests of others. Well, enough of my commentary. Here are some pics from this action-movie-on-steroids:
Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazer; story by Sacha Baron Cohen, Peter Baynham, Anthony Hines, Todd Phillips (20th Century Fox)
Children of Men Screenplay by Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby (Universal)
The Departed Screenplay by William Monahan (Warner Bros.)
Little Children Screenplay by Todd Field, Tom Perrotta (New Line)
Notes on a Scandal Screenplay by Patrick Marber (Fox Searchlight)
Dreamgirls John Myhre, art direction; Nancy Haigh, set decoration (DreamWorks and Paramount)
The Good Shepherd Jeannine Oppewall, art direction; Gretchen Rau and Leslie E. Rollins, set decoration UUniversal)
Pan’s Labyrinth Eugenio Caballero, art direction; Pilar Revuelta, set decoration (Picturehouse)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Rick Heinrichs, art direction; Cheryl A. Carasik, set decoration (Buena Vista)
The Prestige Nathan Crowley, art direction; Julie Ochipinti, set decoration (Buena Vista)
Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea) Javier Fesser and Luis Manso; A Peliculas Pendelton and Tus Ojos Production
Éramos Pocos (One Too Many) Borja Cobeaga; An Altube Filmeak Production (Kimuak)
Helmer Son Soren Pilmark and Kim Magnusson; A Nordisk Film Production
The Saviour Peter Templeman and Stuart Parkyn; An Australian Film Television and Radio School Production (Australian Film Television and Radio School)
West Bank Story Ari Sandel; An Ari Sandel, Pascal Vaguelsy, Amy Kim, Ravi Malhotra and Ashley Jordan Production
Curse of the Golden Flower Yee Chung Man (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Devil Wears Prada Patricia Field (20th Century Fox)
Dreamgirls Sharen Davis (DreamWorks and Paramount)
Marie Antoinette Milena Canonero (Sony Pictures Releasing)
The Queen Consolata Boyle (Miramax, Pathé and Granada)
Deliver Us from Evil Amy Berg and Frank Donnerl; A Disarming Films Production (Lionsgate)
An Inconvenient Truth Davis Guggenheim; A Lawrence Bender/Laurie David Production (Paramount Classics and Participant Productions)
Iraq in Fragments James Longley and John Sinno; A Typecast Pictures/Daylight Factory Production (Typecast Releasing)
Jesus Camp Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady; A Loki Films Production (Magnolia Pictures)
My Country, My Country Laura Poitras and Jocelyn Glatzer; A Praxis Films Production (Zeitgeist Films)
Babel (Paramount and Paramount Vantage) Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise
Blood Diamond (Warner Bros.) Steven Rosenblum
Children of Men (Universal) Alex Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón
The Departed (Warner Bros.) Thelma Schoonmaker
United 93 (Universal and StudioCanal) Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse and Richard Pearson
I Need to Wake Up from An Inconvenient Truth, music and lyric by Melissa Etheridge (Paramount Classics and Participant Productions)
Listen from Dreamgirls, music by Henry Krieger and Scott Cutler; lyric by Anne Preven (DreamWorks and Paramount)
Love You I Do from Dreamgirls, music by Henry Krieger; lyric by Siedah Garrett (DreamWorks and Paramount)
Our Town from Cars, music and lyric by Randy Newman (Buena Vista)
Patience from Dreamgirls, music by Henry Krieger; lyric by Willie Reale (DreamWorks and Paramount) On December 1st, New Line Cinema will release The Nativity Story, chronicling the perilous journey of Mary and Joseph and the birth of Jesus. Keisha Castle-Hughes stars as Mary. Did you see 2002's Whale Rider?
If not, rent it. It's a wonderful movie. She plays Paikea, the main character in that movie, and she's great! She was nominated for an Oscar at age twelve for that performance, and I heard somewhere that the same agent that discovered her discovered Anna Paquin for her 1993 Oscar-winning performance in The Piano, which she won at about age ten or eleven.
Also starring in this movie, as John the Baptist's mother, is Shohreh Aghdashloo. She was nominated for an Oscar for playing Nadi, Ben Kingsley's wife, in 2003's House of Sand and Fog. Even better, she was awesome as the sinister Dina Araz in Season 4 of 24. Here she is in that role:
Then we have Ciaran Hinds as King Herod. He's a character actor who's been around, but he's really hitting his stride now. He played Julius Caesar in HBO's big production of Rome, and he was also recently in Munich. I think he's great.
Here he is as Caesar in Rome:
I have no idea if The Nativity Story will be a good movie or some wacko, off-the-wall interpretation like Martin Scorsese's Last Temptation of Christ, but I hope it's the former, and it certainly looks promising. Click on the following link to see the trailer. It'll take you to the site. When you get there, the music will start and the site will load up.
When you can, click on Videos in the bottom left, then select Theatrical Trailer (the first option) and then Flash Video on the far right.
Cate Blanchett has enjoyed the #1 spot on my list of best actors/actresses for some time now. Check out the cover of the most recent Premiere magazine, which asks if she is Today's Best Actress . I think the answer is a resounding Yes !
In December, keep an eye out for Steven Soderbergh's The Good German, in which she stars with George Clooney. I read the script two or three years ago, and it should be a good entry in the film noir category. Adapted by Paul Attanasio (he won the 1994 Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Quiz Show) from Joseph Kanon's novel, it's a thriller set in the four quadrants of Berlin immediately after World War II. George Clooney plays an American war correspondent, Cate Blanchett plays his former German lover with some things to hide, and Tobey Maguire plays an American soldier with connections in the black market. There's no trailer available yet, but here's a still:
The Jude Law-Michael Caine remake of Sleuth is a go, with Kenneth Branagh on board to direct an adaptation of the Anthony Shaffer play, scripted by Harold Pinter.
Financing was arranged by Castle Rock, and the film will shoot in January at Twickenham Studios in London. It's the second time Shaffer's play is getting movie treatment, and the second time Caine is playing a major role in the drama that revolves around two men vying for the same woman. This time, Caine will play a brilliant thriller writer and social fixture who's so upset at losing his wife to a young hairdresser (Law) that he hatches a complex revenge plan. Caine played the hairdresser in the original and Laurence Olivier played the writer.
Both got Oscar nominations for the 1972 original film, as did director Joseph Mankiewicz. Keep an eye out for this new series on Animal Planet, premiering on June 9: Meerkat Manor is a soap opera with a difference – the main protagonists are 12 inches high, live underground in burrows and survive on a diet of worms, insects and lizards. This ground breaking series, narrated by Bill Nighy, follows a group of meerkats living in the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa. From family squabbles to love affairs, Animal Planet presents a detailed portrait of these curious and entertaining creatures as never seen before. We'll get to know each individual character as intimately as any human soap star but here the relationships, births, deaths and conflicts are for real.
In cooperation with Cambridge University, the story of the Whiskers mob is told from the perspective of the meerkats themselves. With no humans featured, film crews were housed in specially built sheds and, for the first time, successfully filmed inside a meerkat burrow using fibre-optic cameras.
Here is a list of some titles that might make you look onto the back seat floor of your car to check for any lurking agents of evil before driving away in the dark, peer behind your shower curtain when stopping by the bathroom in the middle of the night, or just look at people in a different, terrified way. . . .
How about those rubbery, featureless faces peering at poor Tim Robbins from the rear windows of passing cars? Yikes! That little kid was so convincing that I really hope he was acting and wasn't in fact . . . .
I've seen the trailers for the remake (clever release date of 06-06-06!) and it looks excellent.
Talk about a nightmare! And casting Angela Lansbury as the creepy villainess is up there in the Counterintuitive, Genius Casting category with Wilfred Brimley as the unnerving head of security in The Firm. I'm thinking I'll post lists for overall Best Movies, Most Entertaining Movies, Best Comedies, Creepiest Movies, and one for hard-to-categorize, offbeat, or honorable mention movies. Let's get right to it! How are these for some of the Best Movies of All Time?
Keywords: Buena Vista, Warner Bros, King Leonidas, Century Fox, Dead Man, Caribbean Dead, Man Chest, Dead Man Chest, Frank Miller, Caribbean Dead Man
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