So says Sony and Nikki Finke.
And he can sing.
He can do the other thing, too.
I didn’t see Taiwanese pop-star turned actor/martial artist Jay Chou in “Curse of the Golden Flower,” but if he can hold his own with Gong Li and Chow Yun Fat (though I understand his Asian reviews were less supportive than English-language critics), I think he can manage Nicolas Cage‘s sure-to-be-nuts villain and Seth Rogen’s jokey Green Hornet.
Screenrant has some more.
It’s hard to tell from the wilds of deepest North Orange County, but I’m guessing that Hollywood’s in a mild state of shock following the very unexpected death of John Hughes, without a doubt one of the most influential writers and directors of the past two-and a half decades. Nevertheless, life goes on and the box office is the fact of life in the film business.
And so it is that, Lord help us all, “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” seems poised to take this coming weekend’s chase for the green fairly effortlessly. Indeed, the always jovial Carl DiOrio of The Hollywood Reporter expects something in the neighborhood of $45-50 million. As mentioned here before, the actioner hasn’t been screened for critics, an increasingly common studio ploy that is nevertheless still somewhat rare for a film as high profile as this one.
Variety‘s Pamela McClintock, though not setting any numbers out for us, remarks that the action/sci-fi flick and toy/game marketing device is:
…sparking strong interest among both young and older men, as well as some curiosity among younger femmes, according to tracking.
Why any sensible young person of either gender should be interested in this film eludes me, but I guess we’ll have to see if there’s enough insensible ones from both to make this film more than a young male bastion. I should also add that some critics in the online and foreign press have managed to somehow see the film despite Paramount’s non-screening decision, and the Rotten Tomatoes numbers are less dismal than you would expect. Still, in my estimation, the best reviews lack all conviction while the worst are filled with passionate intensity, though the rough beast we call the teenage populace will not be stopped from slouching towards the Plex-ville. (My profoundest apologies to Mr. Yeats.)
Intriguingly, while both Variety and THR say “Joe” will be deploying to 3,500 screens, Box Office Mojo has the film in over 4,000 theaters. The cinematic Powell doctrine, anyone?
John Hughes, the man responsible for capturing teen angst with more humor than anyone else in the 1980s, has died, and as a tribute, I offer up sixteen of my favorite quotes from the man who gave us “Sixteen Candles.” Your mileage with these selections may vary, particularly since I wanted to pay specific tribute to his writing (if we were limiting ourselves solely to films that he directed, we wouldn’t be able to use “Pretty in Pink” or “Some Kind of Wonderful”), but that’s what the Replies section is for, so don’t be afraid to leave your own favorites below.
1. “I understand that you little guys start out with your woobies and you think they’re great… and they are, they are terrific. But pretty soon, a woobie isn’t enough. You’re out on the street trying to score an electric blanket, or maybe a quilt. And the next thing you know, you’re strung out on bedspreads Ken. That’s serious.” – Jack Butler (Michael Keaton), “Mr. Mom” (1983)
2. “This is no longer a vacation. It’s a quest. It’s a quest for fun, I’m gonna have fun and you’re gonna have fun, we’re all gonna have so much fucking fun we’ll need plastic surgery to remove our goddamn smiles! You’ll be whistling Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah out of your assholes! I gotta be crazy; I’m on a pilgrimage to see a moose! Praise Marty Moose! Oh, shit!” – Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase), “National Lampoon’s Vacation” (1983)
3. “Can I borrow your underpants for ten minutes?” – The Geek (Anthony Michael Hall), “Sixteen Candles” (1984)
4. “Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?” – Bender (Judd Nelson), “The Breakfast Club” (1985)
5. “How about a nice, greasy pork sandwich served in a dirty ashtray?” – Chet Donnelly (Bill Paxton), “Weird Science” (1985)
6. “I love this woman, and I have to tell her. And if she laughs, she laughs. And if she doesn’t love me, she doesn’t love me. But if I don’t find out…oh, I love her too much.” – Ducky Dale (Jon Cryer), “Pretty in Pink” (1986)
7. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick), “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (1986)
8. “I like art, I work in a gas station, my best friend is a tomboy. These things don’t fly too well in the American high school.” – Keith Nelson (Eric Stoltz) – “Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
9. “The last thing I want to be remembered as is an annoying blabbermouth. You know, nothing grinds my gears worse than some chowderhead that doesn’t know when to keep his big trap shut. If you catch me running off with my mouth, just give me a poke on the chubbs.” Del (John Candy), “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” (1987)
10. “In the end, I realized that I took more than I gave, I was trusted more than I trusted, and I was loved more than I loved. And what I was looking for was not to be found but to be made.” – Jake Briggs (Kevin Bacon), “She’s Having A Baby” (1988)
11. “You know what the gourmet here wanted? Hot dogs! You know what they’re made of, Chet? Huh? Lips and assholes!” – Roman Craig (Dan Aykroyd) “The Great Outdoors” (1988)
12. “Stand me up today, and tomorrow I’ll drive you to school in my robe and pajamas and walk you to your first class. 4:00, okay?” – Buck Russell (John Candy), “Uncle Buck” (1989)
13. “Where do you think you’re going? Nobody’s leaving. Nobody’s walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We’re all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We’re gonna press on, and we’re gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye! And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he’s gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse!” – Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase), “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (1989)
14. “Bless this highly nutritious microwavable macaroni and cheese dinner and the people who sold it on sale. Amen.” – Kevin McCallister (Macauley Culkin), “Home Alone” (1990)
15. “Any little fraulein who expects anything more from me than a little bit of pleasure, a little bit of danger, and a great set of pectorals, she’s lookin’ for a fall right on her ass.” – Jim Dodge (Frank Whaley), “Career Opportunities” (1991)
And one to bring it on home…
16. Jake: Happy birthday, Samantha. Make a wish.
Samantha: It already came true.
R.I.P., Mr. Hughes. Thanks…and don’t worry: we won’t forget about you.
The ending of Budd Schulberg‘s extraordinary life at age 95 last night was just a little strange for me personally. By a very odd coincidence, just the night before I finished watching the 1959 TV production of “What Makes Sammy Run?,” Schulberg’s great and possibly never-to-be-filmed 1941 novel about Hollywood careerist dehumanization (yes, it goes back that far, at least). The DVD included an interview he gave just last year. Given his age and fairly obvious frailty, I wondered how long it would be before I’d be writing one of these posts on him. He was not a young man, but this is still too soon.
Anyhow, what can you say about the writer of “On the Waterfront” and “A Face in the Crowd” — two of the most acclaimed screenplays ever written — and the nastily on-point movie business novel which was so effective it is supposed to have driven the usually jovial John Wayne to physical violence? Of course, Schulberg got it from all sides, though for differing reasons.
Like most liberals, I have serious complaints with how Schulberg and his more famous directing collaborator, Elia Kazan, comported themselves during the McCarthy era, and certain lines in both of their most famous films stick in my craw. While Budd Schulberg never abandoned his liberalism, it’s clear to me that his entirely justified anticommunism took a form that helped that American extreme-right, harmed the first amendment, and bolstered the most vicious aspects of U.S. foreign policy. Still, there’s no denying the power and clarity of his writing or the moral values they expressed at their best.
As it happens, I posted one great scene from “A Face in the Crowd” just last week. I’m posting more after the flip, starting with a scene with Andy Griffith and Patricia Neal that should knock your socks off.
This is, by the way, the first scene from Juzo Itami’s hit 1985 comedy “Tampopo.” A classic work of what I call culinography (i.e., food porn). We may be seeing bits of other examples, plus more from this one, later in the week.
Speaking of gratuitous depictions of the acts of cooking and eating, it is part of my duties as a regular PH blogger to ensure that our own TV cooking maven Mike Farley see this “Julie and Julia” inspired post on “10 TV Chefs Who Need Their Own Movie.” An okay list, I guess, but how did he miss Graham Kerr? And what of the various Iron Chefs? Personally, I find just about any episode of the original Japanese “Iron Chef” series 100 times more exciting than most summer movies. I also wonder if Christopher Campbell knows that Alton Brown of “Good Eats” was a film school geek long before he went to cooking school.
© 2026 Premium Hollywood
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑