A complete version of that Atlantic Monthly article on The Golden Compass has been posted here, and alas, no, it does not seem that either I or my colleague were quoted. But I am struck by the following paragraphs: The final, shooting script includes no mention of sin or the end of death. As [New Line Cinema’s production president Toby] Emmerich told me, Dust is “akin to the Force” in Star Wars. Coulter tells Lyra that Dust is “evil and... Read more
First there was all that confusion over the title of The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising. Now Fox Walden is getting even more bad buzz thanks to Big Fox‘s treatment of a critic at a Denver Film Festival screening of Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. According to Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere, this critic was told he would be “physically blocked” from going into the theatre even if he had bought a ticket to see it like all the other festivalgoers.... Read more
My review of Lions for Lambs is now up at CT Movies. As an amateur number-cruncher, I can’t resist noting a few extra things about this film — and specifically about its place in Tom Cruise’s career. Going back to Mission: Impossible II (2000), Cruise is arguably the only movie star to have appeared in seven consecutive films that earned over $100 million in North America — eight, if we count his cameo in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002). I... Read more
Imagine that you are Tom Cruise, and that your career and reputation have begun to falter a wee bit, and so you decide to launch a new phase in your career by, say, taking charge of an entire studio. Imagine that the first film released under your leadership — a film that, not incidentally, features you as one of its stars — is about to come out. Now imagine that the only publicity you intend to do for this movie... Read more
Variety reports that Winona Ryder is going to play “the Vulcan mother of a young Spock (Zachary Quinto)” in Star Trek XI. One slight problem: Spock’s mother is human. It’s kind of essential to Spock’s character that he be the product of a mixed-species relationship. Let’s hope the Variety reporter simply got his facts wrong. Amanda Grayson was played in the TV series (1966-1969) and in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) by Jane Wyatt, who was 57 when... Read more
So says the Atlantic Monthly in a story on the controversy surrounding The Golden Compass and its transition from anti-religious novel to not-quite-so-anti-religious movie. In addition to getting some revealing quotes from author Philip Pullman and writer-director Chris Weitz, reporter Hanna Rosin spoke to me and at least one other Christian commentator for this story, but since it is accessible only to Atlantic Monthly subscribers, I have no idea whether it quotes us. At any rate, a summary of the... Read more
The casting for Star Trek XI continues! Now that most of the basic bridge crew have been assigned, the Hollywood Reporter says Bruce Greenwood — the Atom Egoyan regular who played John F. Kennedy in Thirteen Days (2000; my review) — has been cast as Christopher Pike, who was captain of the Enterprise before James T. Kirk came along. Pike was played by Jeffrey “I Was a Teenage Jesus” Hunter in the original unaired pilot episode which was shot in... Read more
I try not to get bogged down in celebrity gossip here, but I do like funny coincidences. So I cannot help but note that, last week, I posted an old video in which Russell Crowe played a guy who thinks about becoming a Seventh-Day Adventist minister, and today, the Associated Press reports that Crowe intends to get baptized soon — though in what denomination is not clear: “I’d like to do it this year,” the Oscar-winning actor tells Men’s Journal.... Read more
The move to our new apartment is not quite finished it, but it’s getting there. In the meantime, yesterday we received the first pieces of mail that were sent directly to our new address — one of which contained a pair of passes to an Imax 3-D preview screening of Beowulf. Now, normally, when the studios host a preview screening, they send out a single pass that “admits two” — the assumption presumably being that the person who gets the... Read more
Variety reports that Jennifer Connelly, who won an Oscar for her role in A Beautiful Mind (2001), has signed on to play the Patricia Neal character in Scott Derrickson‘s remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951; my comments), while Kathy Bates, who won an Oscar for her role in Misery (1990), is also apparently in talks for some sort of role. They join Keanu Reeves, who has not won an Oscar; he signed on to play the alien... Read more
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