One thing you can say about NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” they do like to shake things up and keep viewers interested. Last night’s Season 10 premiere was no exception, as they changed the way that they choose contestants. The theme this season is “pay it forward,” so they had various contestants from past seasons involved as host Alison Sweeney and trainers Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper traveled to seven different cities to choose their players this season.
Forgive my Edward D. Wood, Jr. paraphrasing above but, while I’ve had about zero interest in the whole “Transformers” thing, I’d pay money to see a feature version of “dark and gritty” Pokemon fan film below.
H/t to JoBlo.com, though I’m not sure everyone there, both commenters and blogger Paul Tassi, is really in on the joke. I was laughing through all of this. I think I was supposed to. Also, considering this was obviously made on a shoestring, I was personally impressed by the often very funny effects, too.
And one final thought, I admit I’ve never actually watched more than a couple of minutes of “Pokemon” at a time, but how is Ash really any different from Michael Vick?
The noted screenwriter and producer, whose parents were respectively an immigrant rabbi and a Hebrew school teacher, passed on at Cedars Sinai on Sunday at age 89, the day after Yom Kippur ended. He and his wife, Harriet Frank, who survives him, wrote some of the best screenplays of their day set in the then-contemporary American west, including “Hud.”
The over 20 filmed screenplays by Frank and Ravetch weren’t fancy, they were just, for the most part anyway, good. A couple of scenes illustrating that point, one famous, the other less so.
If these scenes are new to you, the first clip is from “Hud” (1963) the second is from “Murphy’s Romance” (1986), Frank and Ravetch’s underrated penultimate filmed screenplay, both directed by another underrated talent, Martin Ritt.
I’m rather fond of this quote from the NYT obituary I linked to above:
“Movies can’t correct human injustice all by themselves, but they can show it, they can touch you while showing it, and they can seed ideas and wake up dormant minds,” Mr. Ravetch said. “For a medium that began — pretty much in my early childhood — as a few flickering images on a nickelodeon machine, that’s pretty powerful stuff.”
So far, this season has been pretty hit and miss for me, with a lot more misses than hits. That’s just the nature of what Kurt Sutter has set up this year, however, and I expect things to really begin picking up by midseason. But for the time being, we’re stuck waiting out SAMCRO’s inevitable journey to the land of potatoes and leprechauns as they’re forced to split time between searching for Abel and dealing with business back in Charming.
After deciding that starting a war with the Mayans was against their best interest, the Sons task the Grim Bastards with getting intel on Mayan activity in their home base of Lodi. The Bastards are short on guns at the moment, though, so Clay sets up a deal with Henry Lin to get them some semi-automatics in exchange for the Cara Cara girls to be party favors at an upcoming blowout for some Hong Kong business partners. Opie isn’t at all pleased about Lyla having sex for money, however, and when he sees her going down on one of the Chinese guys at the party, he flips out, leading to an all-out brawl and their deal with Henry Lin ruined. Clay smoothes things over by offering Henry one of SAMCRO’s gun clients in exchange for the guns intended for the Bastards, but he doesn’t look very happy about the trade. Still, the Mayans pose an immediate threat, and at the moment, that’s more important than the future of their gun trade.
The bad news just keeps rolling in when a woman from the law office representing the Sons pays them a visit to inform them that City Council has requested a new bail hearing in regards to their assault charges from the church incident. It seems that Jacob Hale is using the recent drive-by as proof that it was retaliation against SAMCRO’s criminal activity, and unless they appear in court at the end of the week, they’ll lose the bail money and incur a longer prison sentence. Not that anyone really cares, because Jax has already decided that he’s heading for Vancouver, and the rest of the guys plan on skipping town to join him. That becomes unnecessary, however, when Juice receives an email from the Belfast VP with a picture of Cameron Hayes left for dead on the streets of Belfast.
Direct from the Starbucks at Pico & Robertson…
* Rumors have been circulating for at least a week that Jon Hamm of “Mad Men” and now “The Town” is being considered to play Superman. I’m a huge fan of the guy, but count me among those who think he’s a bit old to play an eternally youthful superguy, if there’s going to be more than one movie anyhow. Kal-El is not Tony Stark. In any case, apparently someone else who it appears did turn down the role of Superman director was Guillermo del Toro. Actually, if they ever make a movie set in the Bizarro world, del Toro would be the guy. Otherwise, I don’t see it at all and, it seems, neither did del Toro.
* In terms of film biz transactions, the Toronto International Film Festival surprised everyone and did rather well with numerous indie films being purchased for release. What doe it mean? Mike Fleming sees a modified return of the indie market, though with a thriftier than ever edge.
* The first casting news has come for the J.J. Abrams’ science fiction Steven Spielberg homage/collaboration, “Super 8.” Naturally, one of the stars is a young person — Elle Fanning. The other is closer to my age and is best known for his TV work. No, it’s not Abe Vigoda, but Kyle Chandler of “Friday Night Lights.”
* Speaking of people in my general age cohort who can’t escape their youth, Keanu Reeves is apparently getting colleauges like Alex Winter ready to do a middle-aged edition of the “Bill & Ted” epic. As actors go, Reeves may not be a Philip Seymour Hoffman-level thespian, but he really excels at certain kinds of comedy and I’m board for this. He does a pretty good Werner Herzog, besides.
* Tim Burton is going back to where he started as a director with a stop-motion version of his career-starting live-action short, “Frankenweenie.” The voice cast has just been announced and it will include Winona Ryder, Martin Landau, and SCTV alums Catherine O’Hara and Martin Short.
* Did anybody out there ask for a “Timecop” reboot? Simon Brew is game.
* Re: l’affaire du Hulk back in July, Edward Norton continues to kill Marvel’s Kevin Feige with perhaps not kindness, but civility. Ouch.
* I beg to differ with Sarah Silverman, her “full frontal” nude scene will be pretty. Very pretty.
* I’ve seen movies in some mighty small “shoebox” multiplex theaters and screening rooms, but if you’re wondering how small a movie theater can be, this promotion for “Buried” answers the question.
* As I write this I’m getting ready to watch the multi-director documentary “Freakonomics” for free. You however, may pay as little as a penny and as much as a $100 to see it this Wednesday. It’s your choice. Still, we know there’ s no such thing as a truly free, or almost free, anything and, as with writers like myself, some effort is expected in return. Details here.
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