| Globes Puts Spotlight on Warren Beatty | | Posted Saturday, January 20, 2007 3:11:16 PM by Blog57 Team | | BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — It's been 45 years since the Hollywood Foreign Press Association pulled Warren Beatty from near obscurity, and presenter Tom Hanks wouldn't let anyone forget those years long ago. Beatty, who will be 70 on March 30, was presented the association's Cecil B. DeMille Award by Hanks for his "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field." .... | |
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| | | In the news, and on DVD | | Posted Tuesday, October 24, 2006 11:03:40 AM by Blog57 Team | | As the world wonders what to do about North Korea's nuclear ambitions, a new movie released last week explores what might happen if the totalitarian state had a missile armed with an atomic bomb capable of reaching New York. ''Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil'' is the straight-to-DVD sequel to the 2001 film starring Gene Hackman and Owen Wilson. The sequel was written 18 months ago by first-time writer/director James Dodson and filmed in Bulgaria. ''I was a stranger to what was going on in Korea before I did the research for the movie,'' Dodson said. Twentieth Century Fox, which released the DVD, said its timing was coincidental. ''The timing was established months ago,'' said Steve Feldstein, senior vice president of marketing at Fox Home Video. Here are other outlets in which Hollywood has explored North Korea: "Die Another Day" (2002) -- Back when Pierce Brosnan was still Bond, he faced a reckless North Korean adversary.... | |
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| | | AMBITIOUS SEASON AHEAD ON NETWORK: NFL Films founder replays company's long highlight reel | | Posted Monday, October 02, 2006 11:02:23 AM by Blog57 Team | | Hip replacements prevent him from getting around these days, but Ed Sabol insists he doesn't have many complaints, just fond memories. Sabol just turned 90, meaning that half his life has been devoted to his pet project, NFL Films, which over the years has changed the way sports fans appreciate pro football. "I tell ya, I had no idea that it would grow this big," Sabol said. "We had one room when we started in 1962, and we had three employees: myself, a secretary and a gofer that brought us doughnuts." Today, NFL Films is the muscle behind pro football's growing media arm, which includes NFL.com and the NFL Network. This season, the network will make great strides, airing unique highlight shows and eight regular-season games, beginning on Thanksgiving.... | |
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| | | Dark Comedy Triumphs | | Posted Thursday, September 07, 2006 1:05:23 PM by Blog57 Team | | “Little Miss Sunshine," this past spring's Sundance sweetheart, has managed to do the near impossible; it has taken a stale premise (dysfunctional family hits the road; comedy ensues) and infused it with wit, originality and, as Gene Hackman would say, “miles and miles of heart." And it's the most joyous moviegoing experience I've had in years. “Little Miss Sunshine" gives us Olive (Abigail Breslin), a little girl with a dream of winning the Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest. Her obsession is so intense, she tapes and watches Miss Universe competitions constantly, rewinding to the parts where the beauty queens find out they've won, mimicking their surprised mannerisms. It's terribly cute in a creepy sort of way. When she gets invited to attend the competition, her family bands together for a 1,500 mile road trip to give Olive her chance at victory.... | |
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| | | Film fest: A guide for non-passholders | | Posted Friday, September 01, 2006 11:10:35 AM by Blog57 Team | | Credit for the invention of the motion picture camera is most often given to the Thomas Edison Laboratory. Because, however, Edison thought motion pictures would never amount to much more than parlor tricks, he failed to pay $150 required for an international patent.Lumiere brothers, August and Louis, leaped into the gap, commercializing their version of the invention. The Frenchmen, however, only recorded whatever quotidian events unfolded before their hand-cranked camera.Another player upped the ante, by telling actual stories based on the new technology. .... | |
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| | | Irwin Allen's Upside of Disaster | | Posted Tuesday, August 15, 2006 1:02:41 AM by Blog57 Team | | Irwin Allen's production of The Poseidon Adventure is properly regarded as among the best of the late producer's movies, which include The Towering Inferno and The Lost World (1960). Poseidon is an entertaining movie, certainly better than most of the disasters being released in today's movie theaters. It's an old-fashioned, one-at-a-time popcorn picture: good writing, steady plot, large scale excitement, terrific special effects for its time and a great cast, notably Gene Hackman as a preacher who's losing his faith in God. His doubting begins before ocean liner Poseidon capsizes after being struck by a tidal wave, despite captain Leslie Nielsen's efforts. Written by Stirling Silliphant (In the Heat of the Night) and Wendell Mayes (Death Wish), based on the novel by Paul Gallico, the 1972 dramatic thriller was directed by Ronald Neame (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie), who uses visual effects to suggest a New Year's Eve disaster that suddenly tears the massive cruise asunder.... | |
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| | | Practices will be dictated by depth issues | | Posted Thursday, August 10, 2006 7:08:50 AM by Blog57 Team | | Remember the scene from "Hoosiers" when a couple of disgruntled players walk out of practice taunting coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman), "Good luck trying to win with five players, or make that four-and-a-half." While heat already affects practice routines at all levels, a lack of players shouldn't be another factor to pile on. .... | |
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| | | Cobbled together, but with good bits | | Posted Monday, July 24, 2006 9:12:17 AM by Blog57 Team | | Filming for Superman II began under Richard Donner, who made the first Superman. However, the producers fired him when the sequel was about 70% complete. They replaced him with Richard Lester, a director who didn't just finish the remaining portion of the movie, but who also threw out much of what had already been made, creating new scenes or rewriting and reshooting completed ones. Certain actors were either no longer able to participate or were unwilling to reprise their roles, forcing Lester to make use of the existing footage. On top of all that, all footage of Marlon Brando was removed due to a dispute between him and the producers.As a result, the film is plagued by production problems (watch for scenes of another actor's voice being badly dubbed over Gene Hackman's performance as Lex Luthor!) and plot holes (no explanation is in the finished film for how Superman's powers are restored).... | |
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| | | Red Buttons | | Posted Wednesday, July 19, 2006 7:05:29 PM by Blog57 Team | | ?EIGHTY isn?t old. You?re old when your doctor doesn?t X-ray you anymore, he just holds you up to the light.? When Red Buttons quipped about his longevity in 1999 the pint-sized entertainer could look back on a comedy career that had already spanned seven decades. At 7 he was singing on street corners for pennies. In his twenties he was starring on Broadway and by the 1950s he was one of America?s favourite stand-up comedians. And when the laughter stopped and his popularity waned, he went on to become one of the cinema?s most respected character actors, winning an Oscar and starring in box-office hits such as The Poseidon Adventure and They Shoot Horses, Don't They? .... | |
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| | | Sobs and suffering on the sofa | | Posted Sunday, July 02, 2006 1:09:08 PM by Blog57 Team | | Suddenly it was all over bar the shouting - and there was certainly enough of that from commentator John Motson during England's quarter-final game against Portugal at Gelsenkirchen, ending with (the now-obligatory?) spot-kick misery. There is always an extra frisson when Motson is commentating - the idea that at any moment men bearing nets might descend upon the man with the BBC microphone and cart him off for tests. 'The roof is on but the gloves are off,' pronounced Motson with his customary endearing strangeness at the start of the game. Fellow commentator Mark Lawrenson coped well with the Vesuvius of emotion and over-reaction at his side ('Good start, Mark?' 'Good enough'), though even he seemed choked up at the end at the sight of grown men in shorts sitting on the pitch blubbing like girls into their England shirts.... | |
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