Entertainment Crack, vol 1.6

[liptonrm_backup]

This will be my last column of the week, seeing as I'm going to be very, very busy welcoming my little brother home from Brazil tomorrow. Yay! I'm so excited;-).

There's quite a few hunks in the news today, what with some Viggo Mortensen news, Johnny Depp's new movie and an interview with David Twohy, the man who directed that new Vin Diesel flick The Chronicles of Riddick. It's days like this when I wish I had image hosting capabilities;-).

Viggo Mortensen speaks Spanish, why didn't anyone ever tell me that? That's very cool. Mr. Mortensen has just signed to do another movie with horses, this time starring in as a Spanish soldier/mercenary from the 16th century (hence there will be much riding of horses. It'd be really funny if he bought the horse from this movie as well, he'd have to buy a ranch;-). The movie is entitled Alatriste and is based on a set of five popular novels by Arturo Perez Reverte.
Viggo Speaks Spanish

How many of you remember seeing those old Fat Albert cartoons from back in the day? Well, apparently they're about to become a live action feature. Kenan Thompson of Nickolodeon fame is set to star in the titular role and filming supposedly begins in April. Does anyone really think this is a good idea? Personally, the strongest memory I have of Fat Albert is that of the Fat Abbot spoof on South Park and I don't think that would be very encouraging to Bill Cosby & Co. They should really rebroadcast the cartoons or at least market them in some way shape or form before they plop a movie down in our laps, but that's just my two cents.

Hey, Hey it's Fat Kenan

They're making a movie based on Beowulf. How uber-sweet is that. You know, it's a really good time to be a fan of epic movies because you can't turn around anymore without hearing news about another great legend/story that's being brought to the big screen. I like the idea of Beowulf being a movie, the poem's language is so evocative and primal that, if they do it right, the movie should knock our socks off. The casting of Scott Speedman (best known for his work on Felicity) has me a little skeptical, but I'm willing to retain some optimism until I've heard a little bit more.

Speedman on Beowulf

I saw Pitch Black when it was first released in the theaters. It was fun, Claudia Black was in it, there were big space monsters and interesting, very human characters and while it wasn't the Great Thing that everyone said it was, I enjoyed myself. It's also the movie that catapulted Vin Diesel to stardom. Well, Mr. Diesel is back in its sequel/prequel entitled The Chronicles of Riddick which also stars Dame Judi Dench (one of the all time great actresses). David Twohy, the director of both projects recently answered some questions about his design for this and upcoming Riddick projects.

Twohy Talks Chronicles of Riddick

I know there are people out there who loved The Ring (I'm looking at you Chris;-) and hence I'm sure someone will be interested in the fact that Hideo Nakata, the man who directed the original Japanese movie Ringu is now in talks to direct the American version of The Ring 2. What could this possibly mean? I have no clue, but what I suspect is that the sequel is going to be even more terrorizing then the first one was. Damnit.

Nakata Steps into The Ring 2

Terry Gilliam is known for his work on all sorts of weird, cool movies like Time Bandits, 12 Monkeys, and Brazil is working on the movie The Brothers Grimm, a fictionalized account of the two famous brothers of fairy-tale fame. The picture stars Heath Ledger, Matt Damon and Monica Belluci and is, according to Gilliam his "first sell-out movie". *snerk* I still think it sounds pretty cool, sell-out or no.

Ledger Talks Brothers GrimmWho doesn't love Johnny Depp? He's played everything from a boy with scissors for his hands to a drunken metrosexual pirate. Opening this weekend he gets to play a writer in the latest movie based one of the works of Steven King which goes by the title of Secret Window. Various media reviews of the work can be found here and the trailer can be seen by clicking over here. I have no idea what this movie is really about (besides having something to do with a window that should never be opened;-) but it still looks like the best thing opening this weekend. You all can make up your own minds while I go see RotK for the sixth time;-).

Have a great weekend!

Comments

[shirebound]

That's so cool about Beowulf, and about Viggo speaking Spanish! (I understand he spent his youth in Argentina or someplace.) He should do horsey action movies until he's too old to leap about like he did in "Hidalgo".

[liptonrm.livejournal.com]

It's no wonder he's such a bohemian if he spent his childhood in all sorts of different places. Lucky man.

Yes, Viggo should never, ever stop doing horse movies. He has great horse chemistry, after all;-). Shoot, he should do them even when he is too old to leap about, they can always just CGI in the leaping or something.

Ooh, I know, I know!

[hlgraban.livejournal.com]

I know what Secret Window is about, because unlike some people I know, I actually do see a different movie in the movie theaters everytime I go! (No offense, LotR was and IS a great epic, but I cannot justify spending a fortune on movie tickets for it. Twice, maybe, but more than that? I don't know... Most I've ever done was to see The Matrix three times...) Anyway...

In Secret Window, Johnny Depp plays a writer, only he's terrorized by another kinda freaky-looking man who insists that Depp's book was copied from his own. Then scary things start happening, and I think the premise was that it was all coming from the book (i.e., if Depp knows his story well, then he will eventually see the ending come to life). So, it sounds kinda scary, but I bet it would sound even better if I knew more. That's all I could gather from the trailer I saw when I went and saw 50 First Dates. Looks ok, but I don't know if I'd really go out of my way to see it... Depp's not really playing his usual quirky character, he actually looks kinda normal in this one (well, normal for a writer that is)...