USA Network aired The Phantom (1996) before I left for the city yesterday, and I recalled my enjoyment on first seeing it on HBO in '97.
Actress Jennifer Tilly is no poker pretender. Tilly won the Ladies no-limit Texas Hold 'Em event at the World Series of Poker, marking the first time a celebrity has won a bracelet at the famous tournament.
Despite the criticism I level at Parker, I'm still enough of a fan to pick up The Spenser Movie Collection, out on DVD today.
Also out on DVD today, Stone Cold is the best movie to-date adapted from Parker's work, staying true to the Parker feel while breaking from the text where necessary for the sake of a better movie.
Taimak Guarriello, star of Berry Gordy's 1985 cult classic The Last Dragon, turns 41 today. Visit his website and see what he's been up to.In one of my books, somebody's introduced, and then a sentence or two later, he's introduced with a different name. This error was introduced by the printer after all the painstaking copy editing had been completed.
"He's so big nobody copy edits him" is an easy shot to take, but we really have no way of knowing who goofed.
Stunt Community Angered by Oscar Decision
Hollywood's stunt community has been left fuming after Academy Awards bosses decided not to introduce an Oscar category to recognize their work. Following a protest outside the Academy Awards headquarters in Los Angeles earlier this week, Oscar organizers were forced to consider a category honoring stunt work but made their unpopular decision to keep the annual ceremony's running time down. Academy president Frank Pierson explains, "At a time when the Academy is trying to find ways to reduce the numbers of statuettes given out, the board is simply not prepared to institute any new annual awards categories." But stuntman Jack Gill, 50, who has worked on big-budget films such as Pearl Harbor and The Day After Tomorrow, fumes, "Stunt co-ordinators are an integral part of the filmmaking business yet we are totally overlooked by the Academy. It seems like every picture that is promoted has an action piece to lure audiences in there and the stunt people are central to those scenes. Even the Academy shows action scenes at the Oscars, yet they keep us out of it, despite the fact that we play a major role before, during and after production."
NEW YORK (AP) - An attempt to erect the world's largest Popsicle in a city square ended with a scene straight out of a disaster film — but much stickier.
Cattrall Finds Love with Co-Star
Former Sex And The City star Kim Cattrall has found love with her London theatre co-star Alexander Siddig. Cattrall, who dated 27-year-old Canadian chef Alan Wyse until earlier this year, starred opposite the Sudan-born actor, 39, in West End hit Whose Life Is It Anyway? until April. Cattrall, 48, starred as Claire Harrison, a woman paralyzed from the neck down, who enjoys a flirtatious relationship with the handsome Doctor Scott, played by the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actor. At British magazine Glamour's Women Of The Year Awards in London on June 9, where Cattrall picked up Theatre Actress Of The Year, the couple went public for the first time on the red carpet. A theatre source says, "Their chemistry is amazing."
'Lois & Clark' Star Dies
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman star Lane Smith has lost his battle with neuromuscular disease ALS and died in California, according to internet reports. The actor, 69, played Perry White in the hit TV series. In a posting on Superman fansite Kryptonsite.Com, a family statement reads, "Thanks for your concern and good wishes and prayers. We are sorry to tell you that my uncle Lane Smith died yesterday, a blessed relief from his ALS. Thank you so much for your support." Smith's other credits include roles in Red Dawn, Air America and The Mighty Ducks.
Private investigators are working to blunt legislation that cracks down on the active marketplace for Social Security numbers, telling Congress that restricting access to the numbers will hurt their business and hamper their investigations.
Sony Pulls 'Panther'
Sony, which began showing a trailer for its upcoming The Pink Panther movie preceding the release of Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith, has yanked the film from its scheduled August 5 release date following disparaging reviews on a number of websites, Reuters reported. One review on JoBlo.com remarked, "How could anything with Kevin Kline and Steve Martin be so unfunny?" The film, also starring Beyonce Knowles and Jean Reno and directed by Shawn Levy (Cheaper by the Dozen), is now scheduled to be released on Feb. 10.
Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith has failed in China to create the kind of excitement that it has in the rest of the world. China Daily reported Tuesday that the film earned only $3.37 million in its first week of release in the world's largest nation. The newspaper commented that the failure of the film likely reflects cultural differences, noting that its "virtual world seems too celestial to be acceptable to many Chinese movie fans," many of whom, it said, have more adult tastes than Westerners. The newspaper observed that Titanic, by contrast, earned $38.5 million on the Chinese mainland market and attributed its success to "the universal theme of love."
Now my problem comes toward the climax of the film. In it, Lex Luthor gives Superman one of those Super-hero sadistic choices. He fires two missiles. One toward California where Lois Lane is and one toward Hackensack, NJ. After making a deal with a woman who saves his life, Superman saves Hackensack first.
Then the nukes go off in California and Lois dies. Superman gets pissed, flies around the world backwards and changes time and saves Lois.
My question is... what the hell happened to Hackensack? We're just conveniently supposed to forget Hackensack? The missile obviously went back in time and kept going...
IMO, Superman was way too powerful in the movies, but I don't think he has enough mass to reverse the earth's rotation. Even if he did, physically reversing the earth would not reverse time.
If Luthor were really smart, he would use half the kryptonite to stall Superman in the pool, and the other half he would split between each missile, so Superman would get too weak to knock them out.
But then we wouldn't have a movie franchise.
Bale Calls for Batman Sex Scenes
Batman Begins star Christian Bale is urging producers to release two versions of the next Batman movie, so that the Caped Crusader's sexuality can be explored. The actor, who has already signed up to star in a second Batman movie, believes it's time for the powers that be to show the comic book superhero's R-rated side, while also releasing a film for younger fans. Bale says, "I do think there is a lot of room for, like, an R-rated Batman. It's a little bit tricky to broach the sex aspect of the story when you want kids to come see this as well. I mean, we still like for a 12-year-old to come see it and enjoy it. I think it would be very interesting, myself, to do maybe one version, which can be both PG-13 and R - two different cuts of it. The (Batman) graphic novel certainly dove into his private life because it's fascinating. He's got to do something sexual at some point. I think it could be an interesting storyline to take somewhere."
NEW YORK - Anne Bancroft, who won the 1962 best actress Oscar as the teacher of a young Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker" but achieved greater fame as the seductive Mrs. Robinson in "The Graduate," has died. She was 73.
The first reviews are emerging for the next blockbuster flick, Batman Begins, and they're likely to bring much cheer to Warner Bros. officials, who are releasing it on June 15. David Edwards in the London Daily Mirror describes it as "a violent and truly scary film and definitely not one for the kids. For grown-ups, though, it could well be the ultimate superhero movie." Mike Goodrich in the British trade publication Screen Daily describes the movie as "a bold new vision of the DC Comics staple and further proof that [director Christopher] Nolan possesses abundant confidence and vision as a mainstream film-maker." And Kirk Honeycutt in the Hollywood Reporter comments that for "Nolan to turn Batman Begins into such a smart, gritty, brooding, visceral experience is astonishing. Truly, Batman does begin again."
Jillette, 50, and his wife Emily, 39, welcomed Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette on Friday, according to publicist Glenn Schwartz. It was the first child for the couple, who married last year.
"We chose her middle name because when she's pulled over for speeding she can say, `But officer, we're on the same side,' Jillette explained. `My middle name is CrimeFighter.'"
Another reality show to get us through summer, "Hit Me Baby One More Time" is a tasty combo of VH1's "Bands Reunited" and FOX's "American Idol," and is based on a popular British show by the same name. "HMBOMT," hosted by original U.K. presenter Vernon Kay, finds a bevy of "veteran" performers (in our case, folks like Flock of Seagulls, Arrested Development, Loverboy and Tiffany) competing for audience votes. The artists will perform one of their own hits as well as a cover of a popular contemporary song, with the winner to be determined by an audience vote. No word on what the winner receives -- but the nationwide exposure on NBC can't hurt their careers.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- George Mikan, professional basketball's first dominant big man who led the Minneapolis Lakers to five NBA championships, has died, family members said Thursday. He was 80.
Six-foot-10 with thick glasses, Mikan was so effective as a center at DePaul that he forced the NCAA to adopt the goaltending rule.
After a 17-year layoff, Sylvester Stallone is ready to reprise his role as everyone's favorite muscle-bound Green Beret for a fourth installment in the popular 1980s film franchise...
"I've signed the deal and I have the old headband, machine gun and bow and arrow ready to go. I am looking forward to showing movie fans the real action hero again," Stallone said in a statement...
The sequel opens with our brooding Vietnam vet finally settling down with a wife and child, while still working for the military...
Though he's "assimilated into the tapestry of America," workplace stress forces Rambo to leave the big city and move his family to the boonies. Their lives are upended however by white supremacists unhappy about a part-Navajo man moving into the area. When the racists take Rambo's 10-year-old daughter hostage, dad is forced back into action to rescue her.
