Sylvester Stallone does Edgar Allen Poe?  Apparently, it’s going to happen.  After he is finished with Rambo MXVIII, Sly has plans to make a movie about Poe, and guess who he wants to play the lead?

Our source says, “Stallone has recently met with Viggo Mortensen and has offered him the role of Edgar Allan Poe in the film. Mortensen is consdiering the role although he wants some slight revisions in the script.” Yep, Viggo Mortensen could end up doing drugs and quothing the Raven for Sly. How cool is that notion? [...]

UPDATE! We’ve been able to get a little more information from our source this morning, and a lot of what he’s saying checks out. This is starting to look credible. Additionally, our source has also told us that if Viggo doesn’t take the part, Clifton Collins Jr. (recently cast in Star Trek) and John Hawkes are being considered as backup options for the role.

Well, now.  I’m incredibly picky about my movies, and even pickier about who I like.  But since Viggo comes highly recommended by none other than our illustrious D, and since Poe has long been a favorite of mine, and since I’d rather watch historical dramas than typical Hollywood twaddle, this could be something I’d actually go see.

When I heard “Stallone”, and “Poe” together, however, I had a sinking feeling that Sly hisownself was going to play the part of the tortured poet.  “Ay, yo, is ALL dat we see er seem, budda dreem widin a dreem?  ANNABELLE!!!”

The second installment in the Marvel Comics Fantastic Four series is set to be released in theaters on Jun 15, The Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer.

This is the summer for blockbusters with several big movies coming out over the course of the summer including Pirates of The Caribbean: At World’s End set for release this Thursday, May 24th just in time for Memorial Day Weekend, Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix July 13th (the world premier is set for Jun 28th in Tokyo) and the new Fantastic Four nestled in the middle of these likely box office blockbusters.

The first FF was ok by “comic book” to “big screen” standards. It filled all the requirements of setting up the origin of how our superheroes Mr. Fantastic aka Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), The Thing aka Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis), The Human Torch aka Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) and of course, The Invisible Woman aka Susan Storm (Jessica Alba) get their powers - as well as their arch-nemesis - Dr. Doom aka Dr. Victor von Doom (Julian McMahon).

A “cosmic storm” (a full blast of intense radiation - it’s Marvel, what’d you expect) is the catalyst for the genetic mutations that transform the team of scientists and pilots. The original comic series, the four of them minus Dr. Doom, attempt a risky space trip to test our Reed’s latest invention, a space exploration starship. Faced with bankruptcy after spending all his inheritance working on his aeronautical inventions, Reed made a last ditch effort and asked two pilots, the quiet and gentle Ben Grimm, and the hotshot Johnny Storm to help him pilot his craft, along with his former flame (and older sister to Johnny) genetic scientist Susan Storm to accompany him on a mission in an attempt to keep his government backing for the project (gee that sounds familiar, see Green Goblin/Harry Osborn).

As we know, the cosmic storm bombards them with radiation and instead of dying a ghastly death, they are instead transformed into supercool superheroes: with the power to stretch, there’s Mr. Fantastic, the power to be really strong and durable, The Thing, the power to fly and create supernova strength heat, Human Torch and the power to turn invisible and create otherworldly force fields, Invisible Woman.

But wait, there’s more…

Today marks the 27th anniversary of Ian Curtis’ death, when at age 23, Curtis hanged himself on the eve of his band’s departure for a tour of the U.S. In a fitting tribute to his brief, but brilliant career, a new biopic titled Control premiered last night at Cannes which chronicles his short life and that of his band Joy Division. The film is based on the book written by Curtis’ wife Deborah called Touching From a Distance and follows his life from the start of band’s formation (1976) to his death on May 18th, 1980. The couple have one child, daughter Natalie who was born in 1979.

It would be difficult to imagine today’s musical landscape without the influence of Ian Curtis and Joy Division. Despite having the legacy of being one of the youngest rock musicians to die so early in his career, Ian Curtis like so many before and after him, continues to impact our lives through his music.

Dutch rock-photographer and videographer Anton Corbijn, who is making his directorial debut with Control, photographed Joy Division in the late 70’s. He’s also a legendary music videographer who directed Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box,” Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus,” and literally dozens of others, as well as, having photographed virtually every big name in music including the album covers for Depeche Mode and U2′ s Joshua Tree. Corbijn is quite literally a legend of rock in his own right, which makes him the perfect fit to capture the life of a rock legend.

Working as a photographer for British rock mags, Corbijn was on the scene to capture the dark, but electric mood of the late 70’s as the now legendary label Factory Records helped spawn the careers of Joy Division, and later New Order (see also OMD, Happy Mondays and Duritti Column) during a period that also saw the emergence of The Sex Pistols and the Buzzcocks, just to name a couple.

Corbijn recalls the period and his decision to film the movie in stark black and white:

”My whole memory of that period is black and white. There is basically no color photography of that band around. So it felt very proper to the project.”

Corbijn also felt strongly about his decision to cast a relative unknown actor Sam Riley in the role of Curtis based on his initial impressions of the actor:

”A lot of bands I met, including Joy Division, were kind of underdressed - a thin coat on, smoking and shivering in the cold. When I met Sam it was also in the winter and he was totally the same…had an innocence and a freshness that I was hoping for but never thought I would find.”

Despite an all-too-short life, both as a group and for that of their lead singer Ian Curtis, Joy Division has had a tremendous influence of many of today’s biggest names in rock. U2’s Bono has described Curtis voice as “holy” and wrote the song “A Day Without Me,” as a direct reference to the suicide of Curtis. This was the first single released off of U2’s debut album Boy in 1980. NIN’s Trent Reznor is also a fan of Curtis’ work and covered Joy Division’s amazing song “Dead Souls” which was a released on The Crow soundtrack and Reznor often lists the band and Curtis as an early influence.

It would be fair to trace Curtis and company in the sounds of Bauhaus, Echo and The Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Siouxie and The Banshees and certainly later in the sounds of techno master Moby, who covered “New Dawn Fades” for the Heat soundtrack, which may possibly be the greatest movie soundtrack ever made.

Clearly, Curtis’ life was polarized between his creative forces and his personal pain. Ian suffered from epilepsy and this certainly contributed in part to his various spikes in emotions and personality conflicts. His wife Deborah described him as very controlling, often moody and distant. At the time of Curtis’ suicide the couple were contemplating divorce which was exacerbated by Ian’s affair with a Belgian writer named Annik Honore.

Deborah says these torn feelings may have been at the root cause of his suicide, but even she has no definitive answers:

“Maybe he was concerned about doing the right thing. Maybe he was torn between what he should do and what he wanted to do. Maybe Annik wasn’t the one, but he felt he needed to go. I don’t know. I’ve spent a lot of time wondering, because there were so many other things he could’ve done besides commit suicide.

Only Ian Curtis knows why he took his own life on the eve of what was clearly to be a journey into rock greatness, leaving behind many broken lives, including that of his bandmates. With the end of Joy Division (the band agreed that if any member departed, they would change the name) New Order was created, and we should all be thankful for that.

Hopefully this new biopic will shed some light into the world of a mysterious figure that most of us know only through his lyrics and haunting voice; and while these gifts are priceless in quality, their absence in quantity is painful to bear.

Perhaps the answer to the mystery of his death can be found in Ian’s own words:

Love Will Tear Us Apart

When the routine bites hard
And ambitions are low
And the resentment rides high
But emotions wont grow
And were changing our ways,
Taking different roads
Then love, love will tear us apart again

Why is the bedroom so cold
Turned away on your side?
Is my timing that flawed,
Our respect run so dry?
Yet theres still this appeal
That weve kept through our lives
Love, love will tear us apart again

Do you cry out in your sleep
All my failings expose?
Get a taste in my mouth
As desperation takes hold
Is it something so good
Just cant function no more?
When love, love will tear us apart again

Spider-Man 3 broke the record for ticket sales in its opening weekend, making an estimated $375 million worldwide. Considering the cost of the film was close to $500 million, it seems certain the film will break even and likely set more records. The test will be how people react to having seen the film and if the mixed reviews will keep on-the-fence movie goers from seeing it.

The critics have been panning the film for a variety of failures, including an all too emotional cast with everyone shedding a tear (including villians) Kirsten Dunst singing (twice!), a fair number of convoluted plot devices and a seemingly cramped story-line filled with too much going on. All of that is true, but even still - I found it still very much worth seeing.

My kids, ages 3 and 7, loved it. My daughter cried at the end (spoilers ahead, so beware) and my son who is possibly the biggest Spidey freak on earth was mostly able to sit still for the entire 2-hour+ film: no small feat for a 3-year old.

Sam Raimi, who’s been getting some heat for some of the over-the-top scenes in the latest installment in the Spider-Man series, needs to be cut some major slack. Unlike movie critics and your average movie-goer, we are a family submersed in comic books and the superhero/villain lore. I grew up on “origin stories” with a dad who collected comic books. So even with our “slightly above average level of Spider-Man sophistication” we were able to see the movie for what it was meant to be: a fantasy engagement with our inner child.

But that doesn’t mean they stayed true to the story(ies).

***Spoiler Warning***
But wait, there’s more…

Holy Tapdancing Saints In The Cathedral! Spider-Man 3, which opens nationwide in theaters tomorrow, is getting the chronic beatdown by the critics. Radar Online has a whole big list of not-so-nice reviews of the third Sam Raimi installment in the extremely popular Spider-Man film series. Here’s a couple of my favorites from Radar:

Rope of Silicone: “Spider-Man 3 presents a world where people come into rooms, make heartfelt speeches, and then exit for no apparent reason while the other person looks off into the distance. It’s all a wacky attempt at Steel Magnolias (with webs) and it comes off as fully contrived.”

Dallas Observer: “It all just feels so … Fantastic Four, so dopey and forgettable and crafted out of second-rate cheese.”

Well, I actually liked Fantastic Four, but it was cheesy. Here’s a few others I found on Rotten Tomatoes, which in all fairness has some nice reviews about the movie as well:

FilmsInReview: A disappointment. Spidey keeps his mask off and weeps. Everyone cries. I hated the silly monolith sad sack Sandman. Did Dunst’s contract stipulate she sing two songs?

Slant Magazine: Is this Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 or Aaron Spelling’s?

Here’s the thing, this film (and those like it) are about comic-book heroes. Most of which base their superhero powers around the same contrived premise: gamma rays gone right. In reality, gamma rays go wrong, usually leading to strange cancerous growths and the eventual death - so really - let’s not be too harsh on Spidey. Even if it sucks out loud, which I doubt it does, it will still kick ass at the box office. Why? Because we’re all kids at heart and superheroes are cool - and none are cooler than Spider-Man.The merchandising alone will make millions. My son has every freaking Spider-Man action figure and supplement toy that they could squeeze out of that franchise.

And let’s face it, movie critics are a bunch of uptight, snotty, sneering d-bags anyway. Every time they say something sucks, I usually like it.

Of course, I might have really crappy taste in movies. In fact, that’s a distinct possibility!

Update:  Blogcritics has some sweet stories and reviews as well.

From the Cleveland Spider-Man 3 set, a star in the making, sort of. And of course, our very own review from BC Critic, TV and Film Guy:

…And that is the real problem with the movie. The Harry Osborn/Peter Parker story could be a full movie, the Flint Marko/Peter Parker story could be a full movie, the Peter Parker/Venom story could be a full movie. Yet, here they all are, rolled up into one huge, overstuffed film. There is too much happening and not enough time to really explore it all.

Go read the whole review - it’s a much more well-balanced approach to the film as a whole.  And for the record, TV and Film Guy is neither sneering, snotty or uptight — and definitely not a d-bag.

Last night, I caught the last 20 minutes of Just My Luck on cable as I was waiting for American Idol to come on. It was, as they say, time NOT well spent. I have always considered Lindsay a talented actress, but a bit immature and misguided. Well it seems that was a grave miscalculation on my part. She’s a lot immature and terribly misguided.

She is right about one thing though, she should be allowed to blow off steam, go out and dance with her friends. Live it up a bit if she wishes. She’s young and that’s really what youth is for. By the time you are in your 30’s people don’t want to see you out partying every night, and truthfully, your body just doesn’t recover like it used to.

This however doesn’t mean that you can have your cake and eat it too.

Lindsay is living under some kind of delusional misconception that she can be an irresponsible younster and still be taken seriously as an actress. In the last year alone, Lohan has dropped out of four different film projects, and was publicly chided for her unethical behavior on the set of the ONE she did show up for. The latest drama involving Lindsay’s faltering acting career is the Dylan Thomas film (The Best Time Of Our Lives) that she was set to star in with Keira Knightley - certainly a name anyone in the film industry would want the opportunity to star in a film with.

Say what you want about Keira’s eating habits, she is respected for her acting. Let us not forget, Ms. Knightley also stars in the summer’s most anticipated film, Pirates of The Carribean: At World’s End, and who wouldn’t want the opportunity to have their name associated with that kind of starpower?

Apparenlty not Sienna Miller. She cheerfully took Lindsay’s place in the Dylan Thomas film after Lohan backed out at the last minute due to “contract changes.” A brief recap: this is the fourth film Lohan has dropped out of. According to this article, all three of previous bailings were under dubious excuses, ranging from “too busy, recovering from rehab” (Woman Of No Importance with Anette Benning)” “not interested in projects with no big names ” (Bill, directed by two up and coming director Bernie Goldmann and Meliss Wallack)” and she was dropped for a film penned after a Tennesee Williams story, The Loss Of A Teardrop Diamond, for as of yet undisclosed reasons.

That should bring us up to speed, with exception of her Georgia Rule fiasco, which we mentioned above, resulted in some severe criticism from the Morgan Creek execs and her fellow cast members. Oh, and of course she took a brief hiatus (to attend rehab) from shooting her film I Know Who Killed Me, surely jeopardizing that film’s budget and staff. And now, The Best Time Of Our Lives (also starring the hot Cillian Murphy) makes it quattro failure.

As I stated earlier, Lohan’s camp used “contract changes” as the excuse for backing out a mere week before production was to begin, yet according to a “not so blind item” on Perez Hilton’s site, it seems that something much for scandalous was the root cause. From the post:

What recently rehabbed hard-pAArtying actress was fired from her latest movie, though she claims she dropped out, because she refused to comply with the producers’ demand of mandatory drug testing????

Hey, I am no Mensa member, but I can figure that one out. How much you wanna bet this story surfaces again but with names being mentioned that rhyme with “Frenzy Blohan.” I’m just pointing out the obvious. If drug testing is truly the reason for Lindsay dropping out, then her being replaced by Sienna Miller is a shocker. In case you didn’t know, Sienna is an admitted drug-dabbler — but she also has reputation for showing up and doing her job.

And of course there’s these recent telling statements from an interview in Nylon. An interview that was set to take place a week earlier in LA where the writer was to meet Lindsay, only to discover the day of the interview that Lindsay was in NY. Why? Because her little brother and sister wanted her to stay. Ahh, the whimsy. Here’s some excerpts:

Lindsay discusses her role as a stripper in I Know Who Killed Me:

“I don’t think that there has been a role for an actress like this movie was for me in so long…At first I was like ‘I can’t do this, I’m getting my leg cut off. I don’t want to look like that in scenes, I want to look decent!’ But that was just just me being young and stupid. And I have my first sex scene in it, which I always said I wouldn’t do…I wanted to this movie so people can see that I’m a f@#%ing actress and I’ve been doing it forever and it’s about time people see that. It felt so good to really act.”

Lindsay on the photogs:

“I get embarrassed about the paparazzi if I’m in a chic restaurant, or when I was in the AA meetings. I felt very disrespectful because those people are doing that for themselves and it’s no one elses’ business. But that was the only time it was embarrassing–other times, I obviously like it I wouldn’t ever want them to not take my picture. I’d be worried. I’d be like, ‘Do people not care about me?’”

When you couple her recent track record with her rambling vignettes of incoherency and manic logorreah, the now infamous interview in Nylon magazine, a central theme keeps blinking in neon lights: “Lindsay Lohan’s Blowing It, Lindsay Lohan’s Blowing It” and by blowing it, I mean B-L-O-W-I-N-G I-T!

Take that anyway you want.

Spider-Man is probably the most popular man in our house.  Without exaggerating, we have somewhere near 100 Spider-Man related action figures.  My son dressed like Spider-Man for Halloween and in his little toddler-brain, Spider-Man will save him from all the brain-eating zombies, Doc Ock and Green Goblin pumpkin bombs out there. 

But even with all that power and might, the hardest thing Spider-Man’s had to do: kiss Kirsten Dunst.  I am not surprised.  But before I let the snaggletooth insults fly, let’s put that quote in the right context.  Actor Tobey Maguire, 31, who has played the webbed-hero for all three movie (Spider-Man 3 comes out May 4th) is featured in this week’s Parade Magazine where he opens up about that famous kiss (hailed as one of the steamiest at the time), his difficult and lonely childhood, and his future with five-month-old daughter Ruby and fiancee Jennifer Meyer. 

Maguire on Spidey kissing Dunst:

But wait, there’s more…

 

Since when did moviestars have to borrow money from their sister to pay their rent?  Where’s this guy living, Buckingham Palace? 

British actor Matthew Goode, who plays Gary the no’er-do-well in the new film, The Lookout, which is about a guy who suffered a traumatic brain injury and is subsequently duped into committing a bank robbery is having real-life thoughts about robbing a bank, well not real real-life, just fantasies. 

In the movie, Matt tricks head-trauma victim Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character into helping him rob a bank.  The film, likely to be a hit, is the directorial debut by screenwriter Scott Frank, who’s best known for writing the screenplays for Minority Report, Get Shorty and Out Of Sight.  The Lookout has gotten mostly good reviews as being suspenseful and engaging.  It also stars Isla Fischer, Sacha Baron Cohen’s (Borat) pregnant fiancee.

Back to Matt and his bankrobbing dreaming sequence — recently he said this about his financial woes:

“It would be nice to have a bit of cash right now. I’d pretty much walk up to a bank teller with a banana in my jacket, so I could just laugh it off if I got arrested, and say, ‘I was just a bit drunk officer, I’m so sorry.’ I could get away with anything with a British accent over here in America, but in England they’d be like, ‘Listen, you tosser, you’re not taking the money.”  He added, “I’ve been borrowing rent money from my sister for the last three months.”

He’s right, in America  all you need is to be famous and you can pretty much get away with anything.  The British accent and the banana, well that’s just a little extra insurance.  Matt hopes to finally score a real paycheck — legally — with his upcoming films The Brideshead Revisited and Copying Beethoven, also starring Ed Harris and Diane Kruger.  Some of his previous filmwork was in Chasing Liberty with Mandy Moore, and Match Point, which starred Scarlett Johannson and John Rhys-Meyers.

He can “rob” me with a banana if he wants.  And by rob I mean…well, you know what I mean *wink*

 

Kate Hudson and Owen “Butterscotch Stallion” Wilson are the most annoying couple.  Owen is a perpetual teenager unable to commit to even the hottest female celeb like Kate Hudson, and Kate, can’t seem to take a hint.  Does Owen have some sort of magical weenis?  Maybe it does some kind of laser-light show after dark.  All I know is that everytime I read a story about these two it aggravates me how unwilling he is to give her what she needs in a relationship and how totally “penilized” she is by his special charm.

Kate has been in Australia for the past few months filming Fool’s Gold with Matthew McConaughy and according to reports, the two are getting chummy, and maybe Matt’s been the source of comfort Kate needs as she finally figures out that Owen is a worthless pursuit. Matt and Kate worked together on a previous film, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, but she was married to rocker Chris Robinson at the time.  Maybe now, the two can finally see if there’s any real chemistry between them.

As for Owen, not only was he out with Woody Harrellson on the night of the infamous brawl at a Venice bar, but apparently he’s been seen with two “mystery” women in the last few weeks and has bailed on visits to see Kate down under several times.

Truthfully, I hope she does move on.  Owen’s hot and all, but no woman needs to put up with that kind of commitment-resistant whack-a-doo.  Go ahead Matt, show her the good lovin’.

 

The internet is abuzz over a story involving young actress Thora Birch and her dad acting like a total jackhole on the set of her new film, Winter Of Frozen Dreams. Apparently while filming a sex scene, Thora’s dad and manager Jack Birch demanded to be present, despite standard procedure being a closed set for such types of intimate scenes. An insider on the set said this about Thora’s sex scene with actor Dean Winters:

“It was so wrong. The director is saying, ‘Harder! Faster!’ and the father is giving Winters the thumbs up.”

There’s also some concern over Jack Birch bullying the director Eric Mandelbaum about camera angles, and on the first day of shooting the sex scene the insider stated: “All of a sudden, the front door is being kicked in. Her father was threatening to kill the assistant directors. Then he threatens to pull her from the movie with three days of shooting left.”

Jack Birch’s demeanor is both bizarre and unpleasant, and he’s described as looking “like Charles Manson,” wearing a “full-length leather coat and wraparound sunglasses, even at night” and in a review for an old movie he did  “Road of Death” (1973) he’s described as “a muscle-stud . . . so unphotogenic you can’t take your eyes off him.”

Oh, and he’s an old school porn star who met Thora’s mother Carol Connors on the set of their claim to fame film “Deep Throat.”

So, really, if you think about it, having parents who are porn stars is like the equivalent to having parents who are serial killers.  All the notoriety you could want, plus they aren’t in jail.  Why anyone is surprised that her dad acts like a freaking pervert and a digusting pedophile is beyond me.  Chances are pretty good that he is one.  Scandal solved.