Author: Jason Zingale (Page 95 of 154)

Wanted: Hot girl with one leg

While walking around the showroom floor on Wednesday night, I stopped by the Dimension booth with the hope of finding out a thing or two about the upcoming release of “Grindhouse” on DVD. I didn’t get what I came for, but something else caught my eye that’s definitely worth sharing.

Your eyes haven’t deceived you: this is a woman commissioned (by the studio, no less) to dress up as “Planet Terror” heroine Cherry Darling in full stripper gear, and with a machine gun-leg to top it off. Certainly not the Comic-Con exclusive you were hoping for, but pretty damn cool nonetheless.

Comic-Con: Day Zero – Beowulf

The 38th annual San Diego Comic-Con didn’t officially kick off until today, but that didn’t stop Paramount from getting an early start with footage of its upcoming 3-D release of “Beowulf” on Wednesday night. It did, however, stop the press from taking any pictures, video or audio of any kind. As a result, we weren’t able to snap any shots of co-writers Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary during their short Q&A session, nor any of the other celebs that stopped by at the party afterwards.

Nevertheless, we were shown an exclusive 3-D trailer for the film (now available on Apple), as well as the world premiere of the complete second reel, and suffice it to say, the movie looks pretty darn cool. Gaiman and Avery set up the fifteen-minute clip – which featured Beowulf’s defeat of the half-demon Grendel and his seduction by the demon Queen (played by a very naked Angelina Jolie) – and from what we were shown, you can definitely tell they were adamant about making the movie as mature as possible.

The question remains whether people are going to flock to theaters to watch their favorite actors (including Jolie, Ray Winstone and Anthony Hopkins) rendered in CGI, but methinks the “300” crowd will be chomping at the bits to see more sword-and-sandals action up on the big screen. The addition of 3-D certainly helps the cause, but I can’t help but think that it’s simply being used as a gimmick to get people in the seats.

The Q&A session was short, and mainly dealt with their decisions to a) make yet another movie about a story everyone already knows, and b) implement 3-D, but I was able to talk with Roger Avary later in the night to discuss the progress of something much more near and dear to my heart: the adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ “Glamorama.” After successful adaptations of both “American Psycho” and “Rules of Attraction” (which Avary wrote and directed), you’d think making another Easton-inspired film would be easy, but Avary confirmed that no studio was currently attached to produce.

Avary seems to believe that the subject matter is incredibly important in such dangerous and paranoid times (and to a certain degree, I agree with him), but I can also understand why a studio wouldn’t want to get involved with a movie about international fashion models-turned-terrorists. Avary did promise to stay true to the novel – claiming that if he’s going to do it, he’s “going to do it right” – so fans can look forward to one helluva film if it ever does get made.

It ain’t over til the short Irish guy sings

It seems I was getting a little ahead of myself when I declared the fourth season of “Entourage” as one of the best yet. It’s true, the season has been amazing after that overly long (and ultimately eventless) junior year, but enough already with the whole Eric/Walsh blowout. I get that Walsh is a giant prick and Eric is sick of putting up with his crap, but it’s Hollywood – you’re making shit tons of money for doing very little (especially Eric), and yet you still can’t grin and bear it like everyone else? Has Eric ever thought that maybe Walsh doesn’t enjoy working with him? Of course not, because he’s too busy bitching and whining about why he doesn’t like Walsh, how Walsh has screwed up “Medellin,” and how he’s already peaked as a director.

As a favor to Vince, however, Eric has bailed out of his producing duties (which he’ll still get paid for, though) on the new Chase/Walsh collaboration, and will simply operate as Vince’s manager. This is probably a good move for all three of them, but if Eric ends up being right about Walsh, the audience is going to be forced to side with him in every future decision he makes and, well, that wouldn’t be good.

Hopefully, this won’t get in the way of Ari signing Walsh, but I doubt it will since Vince has still agreed to star in the film. Ari, meanwhile, has more important things to worry about when Lloyd up and leaves the agency in the middle of the workday. His reasoning? His boyfriend, Tom, just broke up with him, and he’s simply too depressed to carry on. After a clueless replacement screws up a call from Eric, Ari goes looking for Lloyd in an attempt to get his all-star assistant back in the game. It doesn’t work, however, and Ari is forced to make a visit to the ex to patch things up. What he discovers when he gets there, however, is that the reason Tom broke up with Lloyd isn’t just because of his long work hours (as Ari was told), but because he cheated on him. Ari, always prepared to lie to get what he needs, convinces Tom that Lloyd was with him the night in question, and presto, Tom takes back Lloyd, and Lloyd comes back to work. You gotta love Ari Gold sometimes; the guy knows how to get things done.

And in a very unsurprising turn of events, Drama and Turtle stayed as far away from the main action this week in order to go off and do their own thing. Turtle’s cousin, Ronnie, is in town with a possible investment opportunity involving a Sandy Koufax baseball jersey up for auction. He doesn’t have enough money to seal the deal, though, and so he goes to Turtle for the other half. With rumors swirling that Koufax could kick it any day, it’s the perfect time to swoop up some rare personals to turn around and sell for some serious profit. Unfortunately, after Ronnie bails and Drama steps in to pick up the financial slack, the pair wins the jersey only to discover that the rumors are false. Big surprise, there, and yet another complete waste of time for the comedic duo.

Rapid Fire Rejects: Volume XV

“Underground”
A movie like “Underground” relies solely on the power of deception. Convince enough people to rent your little movie and you’ve just earned back your budget. Fool even more into buying it, and now you have enough money to run away and never be heard from again. Set around an underground tournament featuring 12 ultimate fighters from different disciplines, the film follows their progression in the tournament until just two remain. And like any competition where money and violence is involved, it’s all for the entertainment of a bunch of greedy businessman looking to earn some extra pocket change. Starring some of the world’s best fighters and stuntmen, each character is given about 20 seconds of background and stupid nicknames like The Homeless and The Foreigner. It’s all pretty lame in an I-sure-hope-the-action-makes-up-for-it kind of way, but unfortunately, it doesn’t. Not only is the acting horrendous, but so is most of the fighting. The action sequences shouldn’t feel like they’ve been choreographed, but they positively reek of it. Of course, when the lamest dude in the competition is the one who wins, it’s difficult to expect anything less.

“Perfect Creature”
Attention Dougray Scott: I know you’re still pissed about losing out on the chance to play Wolverine (because, well, your career would be on a much different path if you had), but can you please, puh-lease, just crack a smile every once in a while so we can all rest assured you’re not an emotionless robot? Granted, the dude is playing a vampire in his latest direct-to-DVD role, but even bloodsuckers smile every once in awhile, right? Perhaps not, but it’s hard to believe Scott was able to take the subject matter so seriously when this New Zealand spin on the gothic horror genre is so incredibly tame. Vampires bound to God? A deadly epidemic? Been there, done that, thank you very much.

“The Long Weekend”
To be fair, “The Long Weekend” isn’t really as bad as it sounds. In fact, had the filmmakers toned down the raunchiness of it all, it could have actually been a decent rental for fans of sex comedies like “American Pie.” Instead, this tale about a hotshot ad executive whose brother spends the entire weekend trying to get him laid, is more concerned with frontloading the movie with goofy viral clips a la “America’s Funniest Home Videos” than just telling the story. And though it gets marginally better towards the end, it doesn’t make the final product any easier to watch.

“Surf School”
I’m proud of the fact that I made it through a whopping 27 minutes of “Surf School” before my DVD player imploded – not because it was as bad as that horrendous National Lampoon vehicle for Paris Hilton, but because it was much, much worse. Any movie made by Righteous Dudes Productions and Thongs R Us Entertainment is definitely going to have one of three things – hot chicks, bad actors and a chimpanzee dressed in a bikini. Amazingly, “Surf School” has all three. Need I say more?

The Kobe and Shaq of Hollywood

And the streak continues, not only with one of the best episodes of the season, but of the series thus far. Honestly, I don’t know how these guys do it, but they’ve managed to up the ante with each successive episode this season. The whole “Medellin” debacle was taken a step further this week when Snoop Dogg informs Vince and Eric that the “Medellin” trailer has been leaked on to YouTube. Walsh is quick to accuse Eric of sabotaging the film, and in return, Eric tackles Walsh right in the middle of the Barney’s café. What I want to know is why no one even thought to consider that Harvey was the one behind the leak. He certainly has his motives after being screwed over for the second time in as many years, but it was probably just one of the editors.

Nevertheless, the leak proves to be a rare positive moment in the film’s disastrous production, and now that every studio exec has had the chance to see footage from the film, everyone that’s anyone is ready to offer Vince a job. Of course, Ari is already on top of his client’s new passion project: “Lost in the Clouds,” some mountain climber memoir that already has Curtis Hanson (“L.A. Confidential”) signed on to direct. And that’s not even the good news. Dana Gordon – Ari’s ex-flame/blossoming movie exec – is in charge of the project, and so Ari swings by to schmooze her with Cristal and cupcakes. Unfortunately, Heath Ledger is already in final negotiations to nab the lead role, but when Ari convinces his agent (Josh Weinstein) that the character is gay (an obvious, but completely necessary, lie), the deal suddenly drops through.

Meanwhile, Eric and Walsh make amends (kinda) and join Vince for an interview with film critic Elvis Mitchell to discuss the making of “Medellin,” but it soon turns into a battle of egos, leading Mitchell to comment on how great of a rapport they have. Not quite the word I would have used, but Eric bites his tongue nonetheless, only speaking his mind afterwards on his feelings about Walsh. Of course, that’s when Ari calls to inform them of the good news: the studio wants to offer the “‘Medellin’ dream team” the chance to work together again on the new project. Vince will star, Eric will produce… and Walsh will direct. Eric’s response? “Fuck me.” I couldn’t have put it any better myself. It’ll be curious to see what happens from here, but methinks the two will kiss and make up once “Medellin” sweeps Cannes and award buzz begins to swell.

I’d be remiss (and probably ostracized by the “Entourage” viewership) if I didn’t mention the latest chapter in the Adventures of Drama and Turtle, but aside from offering some much needed comic relief, it didn’t serve much purpose to the story. Drama, desperate to embrace a younger image before the start of the new season of “Five Towns,” spots a black trucker hat (featuring the image of a marijuana leaf) while shopping around Barney’s, and suddenly, he’s obsessed with getting one himself. This leads the pair to a medical marijuana club and a visit to the doctor to fake the necessary symptoms needed for the all-important note, but when Drama arrives on set wearing his new hat, he soon discovers that all the cast really care about is getting their hands (or more specifically, their lungs) on some of that medical marijuana. This turns into a game of strip/smoke weed blackjack where Drama becomes the life of the party.

I’m glad to see Drama finally getting what he wants (work and fame), but how about giving the fans a little something as well; namely, actual footage of Drama working on the show. Oh yeah, and how about the return of that fine girl Turtle was dating?

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Premium Hollywood

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑