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| 042408 Johnny Depp as John Dillinger in Michael Mann’s upcoming film. |
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. . . . . . I was psyched to read that filmmaker Michael Mann’s latest film ‘Public Enemies’ is about Melvin Purvis, John Dillinger, and the formation of the F.B.I. This seems like a subject that Chicago native Mann should be perfect for. I’m a huge fan of the filmmaker and the subject in general. Filmmaker John Milius made the underrated 1973 film 'Dillinger' which treads on similar material. (You can find my review of Milus’s film HERE as well as a review of the Lawrence Tierney 1945 vehicle of the same name HERE.) The Milius film had the awesome Warren Oats as Dillinger and for Mann’s upcoming feature we can look forward to Johnny Depp filling the role. Depp seems an odd choice to me but I can’t remember not liking him in a film so he will probably be quite good. (Hell, even Bogart played a character that was Dillinger-like in 'High Sierra'.) Christian Bale will be playing Purvis (Ben |
| Johnson was Purvis in the 73 film) and Billy Crudup will be playing J. Edgar Hoover. I’m hoping Purvis gets a more sympathetic portrayal in this film than he has in the past. Johnson was certainly good but not exactly sympathetic. The pics of Depp in character were posted at Beyond Hollywood and as far as I know were shot by fans watching the film shoot. Channing Tatum, John Ortiz (who was in Mann’s film ‘Miami Vice’, reviewed HERE.) and Giovanni Ribisi have also been mentioned as being in the cast. Of course, I’ve probably got a wait for ‘Public Enemies’ since it is not due out until next year. Then again, I’m always looking forward to Mann’s latest film and it would be a nice bonus if the release actually made a long overdue special edition of 1973 Milius film happen. The Beyond Hollywood page can be found HERE. -Nate |
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| 042408 Artie Lang is back. |
| . . . . . .Thank goodness, Artie Lang has not left the Howard Stern show. I meant to post about this earlier in the week but I am going through an apartment move at the moment and updating the website has not been easy. He’s one of the best parts of the show and it would have been a shame for him to have left. -Nate |
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| 041008 Howard Stern makes Artie Lange go berserk! |
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. . . . . .I already posted today but I just couldn’t help at least mentioning the ‘Howard Stern Show’ today. During the last show of the week (and the last one before the show goes off for vacation) cast member and comedian, Artie Lange started arguing with his assistant Teddie, while host Stern kept pushing Lange’s buttons until Lange jumped up and tried to tear his assistant limb from limb. While Lange has more issues than you can count I found it hilarious that everyone on the show was shocked that something like this happened. One could hear Lange getting madder and madder as Stern kept prodding the building argument. Then all of a sudden Lange lunged at his assistant and nobody could seem to hold him back. I’ve been listening to the 'Stern Show' |
| forever now it seems and I think Lange is one of the best things about the show. This blowup comes the day after Lange slept through part of the show snoring loudly (pictured above) while Stern and the rest of his crew continued the show. This fight also comes not all that long after a similar “talk” between Lange and another cast member was narrated by Stern and surprise, surprise, it lead to a blow up. How no one thought something like this could happen when Stern wound up Lange is beyond me. Needless to say, this was gripping radio made all the more bizarre by the odd decision not to replay the show. (Normally the show replays all day.) With the ‘Howard Stern Show’ it can be tough to tell at times where the show ends and reality begins. For myself, I hope this is not the end of Artie Lange on the ‘Howard Stern Show’. He can go a bit too offense for my tastes but I feel he is one of the best features of the show. He is part of the reason I continue to listen. Keep Artie on the show!!! The official site of the 'Howard Stern Show' can be seen HERE (although as of this post it has nothing on the fight and the site is rarely updated when they are on vacation.) There is something criminal in the fact that it will now be over a week before there is some sort of resolution to this.. -Nate |
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| 041008 Bangkok Dangerous. |
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. . . . . .When I was in college my buddy Ben kept telling me he would see this movie at the video store that looked like something I would like. The movie was called ‘Bangkok Dangerous’ and looked to be like sort of an actiony’ type movie and since I had liked Hong Kong action films like ‘The Killer’, ‘Hard Boiled’, and ‘A Better Tomorrow’, etc. then maybe I would like this apparently Bangkok based action film. I never did actually check that film out but now the guys that made that film have remade it (with the same title no less) and it looks to be a bit of a throwback to the style of the above mentioned John Woo helmed films. It looks like the type of thing that the action will make or break, so here’s hoping it has some killer action scenes. The film stars non other than Nicholas Cage, taking over the type of role that I wish Chow Yun Fat would do again. No idea if |
| 'Bangkok Dangerous' will be good but here’s hoping. Maybe I should finally watch the original.
Even though the original DVD cover art is cheap looking, I think I prefer it to the freaky looking Cage movie poster. Check the trailer HERE. -Nate |
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| 040908 GI Joe. |
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. . . . . .I meant to post about this awhile ago but managed to do one of those wonderful moves where I accidentally delete a near completed website update and have to retype the whole friggen’ thing. Anyway, a couple weeks ago the first images of Snakeyes from the upcoming ‘GI Joe’ movie appeared on the web and they looked pretty cool. I’m sure tons of dorks like myself were suddenly filled with at least a little nostalgia for their lost ‘GI Joe’ toys and other assorted merchandise of days gone by. I dunno’ what to make of the upcoming film but I must admit these pics’ looked better than I thought they would. That ‘Transformers’ movie was entertaining I guess, so maybe ‘GI Joe’ the movie could be too. ‘GI Joe’ is directed by Stephen Sommers who also directed |
| ‘The Mummy’ which I thought was a great action/ adventure film but I wasn’t so big on the sequel. Then there was the film ‘Van Helsing’ that he did which I couldn’t even make it through the whole thing. That doesn’t exactly bode well for ‘GI Joe’ but then again maybe this will be his return to form. -Nate |
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| 040808 Breaking up the morbid posts with a bit of accidental hilarity. |
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. . . . . .Since, the recent posts have been a bit on the sad side I thought I might post something on the more comical side of things... I give you ‘Zombie Strippers’! What is ‘Zombie Strippers’? Well, it is an ultra-low budget looking movie that according to an official post is described as: “Worldwide media sensation JENNA JAMESON and Nightmare on Elm Street’s ROBERT ENGLUND star in ZOMBIE STRIPPERS. When a secret government agency lets out a deadly chemo virus causing the reanimation of the dead, the first place to get hit is Rhino’s, a hot underground strip club.” Notice anything suspicious about that description? “Worldwide media sensation Jenna Jameson”? Worldwide sensation??? In the world of porn I suppose but worldwide sensation? Talk about rewriting a persona. How about “Former porn star Jenna Jameson”. At least that is honest.
. . . . . .The film looks to basically rip-off Robert Rodriguez’s film ‘Planet Terror’ from the doublebill ‘Grindhouse’ (complete with copying the style of the poster art.) I’d say the film looks unintentionally funny and pretty weak but Jameson’s boyfriend Tito Ortiz is also in the film and I don’t want the stuffing pounded out of me. Ah, you have to love that tag line: "They'll dance for a fee. But devour you for free." Riiiiiggggghhhhht. Still, what do I know, maybe it is just a bad trailer, and poster art, and tagline.... Check the trailer HERE. -Nate
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| 040608 Charlton Heston passes. |
| . . . . . .I need to stop this before it becomes some creepy pattern. Still, I couldn’t help but post that screen legend Charlton Heston has passed on. He had been in declining health for some time and was out of the acting scene for awhile now.
A favorite Heston film of mine is the Orson Welles helmed ‘Touch of Evil’. I think Heston bellowing ‘Where’s my wife?’ as only he could will be burned into my brain for all eternity. The Heston narrated re-release trailer for 'Touch of Evil' can be seen at Youtube HERE. An article about his passing can be seen HERE. -Nate |
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| 040508 A note about Gary Gygax. |
| . . . . . .Not to continue on a morbid streak or anything but I have to at least mention the co-creator of ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ who passed away at the beginning of last month. As a kid I played ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ thereby securing my life as a dork. I remember playing the dice based game several times as a child with some good friends in Connecticut. Actually, thinking back now, I remember it being an awful lot of work. The funniest part of the whole role playing game empire that Gygax helped start was the paranoia and controversy that some stirred up over the supposed dangers of sitting around with a bunch of dorky kids rolling dice. Nothing sums up the stupidity of the “controversy” better than the clips and reviews I have seen about the TV movie starring Tom Hanks called ‘Mazes and Monsters’. While I have never been able to see the whole thing, the clips I have seen make it look like it should have been on 'MST3K'. Needless to say, Gygax was never fazed by any of the idiocy of role playing paranoia. Rest in peace, to see the brief tribute from Stephen Colbert, go HERE. A very funny post (with some profanity) that includes clips from ‘Mazes and Monsters’ can be found at the blog 'Pluck You, Too!' HERE. -Nate |
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| 040408 Jules Dassin and Richard Widmark pass on, as well as author Arthur Lyons. |
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. . . . . .Sadly, there has been a trio of Film Noir related deaths recently. Fiction writer Arthur Lyons co-wrote ‘Death on the Cheap: The Lost B Movies of Film Noir’ and was involved in many Film Noir related projects. Veteran actor Richard Widmark starred in several Film Noir’s including some directed by Jules Dassin. Dassin directed a favorite film of mine, known here in the US as ‘Rififi’. ‘Rififi’ is one of the great film’s of all time and Dassin was a true craftsman. I will leave other, better writers, to comment on their sad |
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I was remiss in not posting about this sooner. An article about Dassin and Widmark at DVDTimes can be found HERE and an article about Lyons can be found at The Desert Sun HERE. -Nate |
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