Archives for April, 2010.

Bill Murray Doesn’t Believe in Ghostbusters 3

Filed under: Entertainment, Sympatico — D.I.S.H. @ 2:08 pm on April 28, 2010

Though it may seem not a day goes by without new rumours and reports about Ghostbusters 3, one of the original Ghostbusters says he doesn’t believe in plans to make the film.

Bill Murray, who played lovably cynical parapsychologist Peter Venkman in the first two Ghostbusters movies says stories that a third film is brewing are “hogwash.” This despite reports that stars Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson, along with director Ivan Reitman, have all signed on to shoot GB3 later this year.

Murray told Cinema Blend “All this talk is just talk. It drives me nuts, it’s just people talking… Until someone actually creates a great script it’s just hogwash, it doesn’t mean anything.”

“It’s just really the movie studio. They love the franchise, they’d just like to re-create it again,” the star is quoted as saying. “It’s interesting that people are interested in it, they’d like to see it. It was a great thing, it really was fun. Maybe it should (happen). And if it’s such a good idea, then someone will write the screenplay.”

As for reports that Murray had insisted he would only return if Venkman died early in the film, the notoriously fickle comedian admits he was only joking. “There was always this joke, sort of a half-true, half-joke thing like, ‘Well, I’ll do it if you kill me off in the first reel.’ That was my joke, you know?”

Whether or not Murray is still joking remains to be seen.

(Photo by PR Photos)

Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation

R-Rated Movies Lead to Underage Drinking

Filed under: Entertainment, Sympatico — D.I.S.H. @ 1:55 pm on

A new study published in the Journal of Studies On Alcohol And Drugs – found via the Onion AV club – says that kids who watch R-rated films are more likely than their peers to start drinking at a younger age.

Dr. James D. Sargent, a pediatrics professor and an author of the study, says his investigation confirms other reports that exposure to R-rated films leads to early drinking, smoking and sex, as well as violent behaviour. “Keeping kids from R-rated movies can help keep them from drinking, smoking and doing a lot of other things that parents don’t want them to do,” Sargent said in a news release.

The study monitored nearly 3,600 middle-school students over two years and found that “3 percent of the kids who said their parents never allowed them to watch R-rated movies said they had started drinking alcohol, compared with 19 percent of those who were sometimes allowed to watch R-rated movies and 25 percent of those who said they were allowed to watch such movies ‘all the time.’”

Sargent says that alcohol use is depicted in about 90% of R-rated films, which may be one of the reasons for the correlation between movies meant for adults and underage drinking.

Critics have suggested the true correlation has less to do with the influence of “R-rated” movies than with permissive parenting and that kids who are allowed to watch said movies “all the time” may not have the best parents in the world and that maybe, just maybe, that’s why they’re drinking.

(Image: wikimedia commons)

Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation

WWE to Make Gorgeous George Movie

Filed under: Entertainment, Sympatico — D.I.S.H. @ 1:33 pm on

WWE Studios, the in-house film production company of Vince McMahon’s wrestling empire, will produce a film version of the life story of famous grappler Gorgeous George.

WWE has snapped up the rights to John Capouya’s excellent 2008 book Gorgeous George: The Outrageous Bad-Boy Wrestler Who Created American Popular Culture, according to Deadline Hollywood. The biography tells the true story of George Wagner, a journeyman ‘rassler who reinvented himself and pro-wrestling in the 1940s and 50s by becoming an effeminate, arrogant and much hated villain. Wagner died in 1963 at age 48.

WWE Studios has fine-tuned itself into a film production factory, with plans to produce nine low-budget films in less than two years. Each picture features WWE superstars in key roles alongside such established Hollywood talent as Ed Harris, Patricia Clarkson and Parker Posey.

The idea for the film came from the big boss Mr. McMahon himself, breaking his own bizarre rule to never make a film about wrestlers or wrestling. Mike Pavone, the head of WWE Studios, says the decision was made because the story is just too good to pass up.

“George Wagner was a good wrestler who couldn’t get over the top until he developed this character that people loved to hate,” Pavone said. “George realized that they don’t come to see the good guy win, they come to see the bad guy lose.”

The film is scheduled to begin shooting next year.

(Photo by PR Photos)

Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation

Ozzy Wants His Story Told

Filed under: Entertainment, Sympatico — D.I.S.H. @ 8:53 am on

Are you ready for Ozzy Osbourne: The Motion Picture?

If Sharon Osbourne can be believed – and we see no reason why she shouldn’t – her husband Ozzy is about to become the latest legendary musician to see his life story played out on the silver screen.

Contact Music reports that Sharon, the heavy metal headbanger’s wife-slash-manager, has promised that a major announcement regarding the project is forthcoming. “There’s about to be a big announcement,” she says. “It’s been picked up and it’s going into production.”

Though it’s still early in the development process, things are apparently starting to come together. “There’s no cast yet, but we have a producer and we have lots of money and we’re all starting.”

The life and times of the Ozzman should make for a fascinating movie. The British rocker helped pioneer the heavy metal genre with his band Black Sabbath before becoming one of the most revered – and controversial – solo artists of all time.

While recently promoting his autobiography I Am Ozzy, Ozzy summed up his life like so: “I took lethal combinations of booze and drugs for thirty f—ing years. I survived a direct hit by a plane, suicidal overdoses, STDs. I’ve been accused of attempted murder. Then I almost died while riding over a bump on a quad bike at f—ing two miles per hour.”

Though Sharon has suggested a young unknown actor should play Ozzy, she thinks her daughter Kelly would be perfect to play her. “She is a Mini Me, so yeah, she would be good.”

(Photo by PR Photos)

Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation

Blind Side’s Oher to Write Bio

Filed under: Entertainment, Sympatico — D.I.S.H. @ 8:49 am on

By now almost everyone knows the story of Michael Oher, the poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks who was saved from a life of poverty and became a star in the NFL thanks to Sandra Bullock… Er, Leigh Anne Tuohy.

That somewhat true story provided the plot – and the heart and soul – of Best Picture nominee and box office smash The Blind Side. Now Oher has decided to tell his own story from his perspective and will be writing his own book detailing his inspiring life story.

Oher’s book – to be called I Beat the Odds – will retell the tale of how the young African-American football star grew up on the streets before being adopted by the white Tuohy family. The Blind Side was based on the 2006 Michael Lewis book of the same name.

While some might regard this as a case of double-dipping, critics of the film have charged that Oher was made into a secondary character in his own story in order to boost Bullock’s role and focus the movie around the Tuohy family. Bullock, in the news lately due to her own family issues (cough, cough, Jesse James) won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance as Leigh Anne Tuohy.

Oher, an offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens, has signed a deal with Gotham Books to publish I Beat the Odds in February 2011. The Tuoys reportedly also have their own book deal in the works.

(Photo by PR Photos)

Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation

A-Team Cameos

Filed under: Entertainment, Sympatico — D.I.S.H. @ 3:58 pm on April 27, 2010

The A-Team won’t be storming into theatres until June, but anticipation for the relaunch of the iconic TV action series is already reaching a fever pitch. Now, Empire Magazine has a new reason for fans to get excited with news of cameos in the film from some originals A-Team members.

Joe Carnahan, director of shoot ‘em ups Narc and Smokin’ Aces was behind the camera for the summer blockbuster and he tells Empire to expect a few familiar faces when the film hits the big screen.

Dwight Schultz – the original Howlin’ Mad Murdoch – and Dirk Benedict – the original Faceman – both make an appearance in the new movie, though Carnahan doesn’t spoil the surprise by saying when or how. As for the original B.A. Baracus? Carnahan refuses to confirm or deny whether or not toughman Mr. T appears.

Carnahan spoke to the magazine while the film was still shooting. “Actually, Mr. T and I have become quite chummy recently,” he said. “We had lunch just last week. I showed him a bunch of stuff and he loved it. I guess the thing is, do we have time to do it in the time we have left? Or do we want to save him for a bigger thing, should we do another film?”

The director even went so far as to speculate that the mohawked role model would make a great villain for the sequel, saying “He’d be a great villain, totally unexpected. Wouldn’t that be perfect?”

Last December Latino Review published a report that Mr. T had told them he had no plans to appear in the picture. Fans can find out for themselves when the film opens June 11.

Chipmunks Lawsuit

Filed under: Entertainment, Sympatico — D.I.S.H. @ 11:54 am on

ALVIIIIIIN!!!! Alvin and the Chipmunks are in all sorts of trouble and, for once, it’s not the trio’s red-shirted leader who’s to blame. Instead, there’s a lawsuit brewing over charges that a writer who worked on a script for Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel hasn’t been paid what she’s owed.

Contact Music reports that Janice Karman alleges that “substantial copyrighted” chunks of a screenplay she wrote were used while shooting the box office smash. Karman, who was a producer on the film and is married to the son of Ross Bagdasarian Sr. – the man who created the Chipmunks back in 1958 – claims she was offered money from the studio but turned it down saying it wasn’t enough.

Since then, she says, she hasn’t been paid for her writing work at all. Now she and executives at Bagdasarian Productions are demanding 50% of all profits “attributable to The Squeakquel’s screenplay” from 20th Century Fox, the studio that made the film.

The Squeakquel was released just before Christmas in 2009 and grossed almost $450 million at the box office.

For their part, 20th Century Fox are willing to go to court, claiming the suit is “completely without merit.” Fox said in a statement, “We look forward to resolving our differences and, in the meantime, we are continuing to move forward with this franchise.”

The Ring Back a Third Time

Filed under: Entertainment, Sympatico — D.I.S.H. @ 11:41 am on

Everything old is new again in Hollywood these days, whether you’re talking 3D movies or sequels to films you loved years and years ago. The latest example? How about a third installment of The Ring? In 3D?

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Paramount is putting together a second sequel to the 2002 horror classic, which was itself a remake of a 1998 Japanese film. Screenwriter David Loucka has been tagged to write a script for the new pic, which will likely be an attempt to reinvent the franchise and aim it at a teenage audience.

The first Ring film featured Naomi Watts as a journalist working to uncover the story of a mysterious VHS tape that seems to kill anyone and everyone who watches it (It makes more sense when you see it). That film, directed by Gore Verbinski, who went on to make all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, grossed almost $250 million at the international box office. The Ring 2 followed in 2005.

There’s no word yet on who may direct or star in the next follow up, or who will explain to a teenage audience what a “VHS tape” is.

Adam Lambert Wants Leonardo

Filed under: Entertainment, Sympatico — D.I.S.H. @ 9:44 am on

Adam Lambert lost American Idol to Kris “Who?” Allen just over a year ago, but in the year since, the sparkly crooner has proven you don’t have to win the competition to capitalize on the fame. If there’s one thing Lambert knows, it’s that perception is everything.

Which is perhaps why the Whataya Want From Me? singer is already thinking about who should play him in a biopic about his life. Posed the question in a recent webchat on MySpace Music, Lambert didn’t hesitate to name the actor he thought could best portray him on the silver screen.

“I have always thought that Leonardo DiCaprio is a really good actor – he could play me,” Lambert said. “He could get intense.”

Though it may be early in the 28-year-old Lambert’s career to be thinking biopic, one has to admit that the story of a young Jewish boy from Indiana who grows up to become a controversial glam rocker, reality TV star and the  first outspokenly gay male mainstream pop artist to launch a career on a major label is a pretty good one.

DiCaprio’s camp has yet to respond to the suggestion, but if Martin Scorsese can be convinced, you never know.

Hefner Saves Hollywood Sign

Filed under: Entertainment, Sympatico — D.I.S.H. @ 9:36 am on

Hugh Hefner has saved Hollywood’s greatest landmark. The pajama-clad Playboy magazine boss has kicked in $900,000 to save the famous sign that has hung over the city in the Hollywood Hills since 1923.

It was a classic story of heroes and villains as Chicago-based investors who had bought the land, officially known as Cahuenga Peak, had threatened to develop the area, thus obscuring the classic view.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spearheaded an effort to save the sign, helping to raise the $12.5 million needed for the city to buy the land back and incorporate it into the surrounding area of Griffith Park, thus preventing any possible development.

Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and others had already contributed to the cause, but in the end it was the Playboy mogul who saved the day, donating almost one million dollars to seal the deal.

Hefner – who had donated $28,000 to refurbish the letter “Y” back in the 1970s as part of an effort to rejuvenate the then-dilapidated sign – released a statement in which he explained his motivation.

“My childhood dreams and fantasies came from the movies, and the images created in Hollywood had a major influence on my life and Playboy,” Hefner said. “As I’ve said before, the Hollywood sign is Hollywood’s Eiffel Tower and I’m pleased to help preserve such an important cultural landmark.”

« Newer PostsOlder Posts »