General Lew Wallace had lived a colorful life of his own before his novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ was published in 1880. By then, he had defended Washington, D.C. from Confederates during the Civil War, served on the court-martial that tried Lincoln’s assassins, and, as Governor of New Mexico Territory, dealt with outlaws like Billy the Kid. But what he really wanted to do was write — and so he wrote his novel about a Jewish prince who... Read more
Two things, not really involving “news”, per se. 1. My friend Jeffrey Overstreet has started posting transcripts from the Serenity junket that took place late last week. Lucky sod. 2. Brad Tytel at The Revealer notes how a few critics have gone after Reese Witherspoon’s Just Like Heaven for, of all things, having too much alleged religio-political baggage in common with The Exorcism of Emily Rose! The loudest critic on this point — and warning, there be implicit spoilers here!... Read more
Here are the figures for the past weekend, arranged from those that owe the highest percentage of their take to the Canadian box office to those that owe the lowest. Wedding Crashers — CDN $24,160,647 — N.AM $203,618,000 — 11.9%The 40-Year-Old Virgin — CDN $10,558,412 — N.AM $90,606,000 — 11.7%The Constant Gardener — CDN $2,813,025 — N.AM $24,366,000 — 11.5%Transporter 2 — CDN $3,950,774 — N.AM $36,507,000 — 10.8%The Man — CDN $738,077 — N.AM $7,115,000 — 10.4%Lord of War... Read more
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit won’t be out here for another three weeks, but Studio Briefing reports that it’s already been released in Australia — and the critics and audiences love it. Now The Hollywood Reporter offers its own two bits: Aardman’s first feature for DreamWorks, “Chicken Run” in 2000, didn’t completely manage the trick of maintaining the laughs and stylish glee of its shorts in a film nearly three times their length. The studio now hits... Read more
I wouldn’t say I’m a big John Woo fan — I’ve only seen a couple of his more famous Hong Kong films, and most of his Hollywood films, like Windtalkers (2002; my review) and Paycheck (2003), have been letdowns — but I have always been a fan of Face/Off (1997), a wonderfully implausible and movingly melodramatic sci-fi action flick that made my top ten list for that year. I have always been intrigued by the way Woo has discussed, for... Read more
As I’ve mentioned a few times here, my sister Michelle is studying music at the University of Victoria, and at least one of her performances got a good review in the local daily newspaper six months ago. Now, as she begins another year at school, she tells me she has just received three scholarships: one for outstanding performance on piano, one for outstanding overall musicianship, and one for music history. Congratulations as ever, sis-sis! Read more
The forces behind Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings released each of the extended movies in four-disc DVD sets in time for the Christmas seasons in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Now it looks like they aim to continue the tradition with four-disc sets for each of the soundtrack albums, beginning this year. Movie City News reports that the “complete recordings” for the extended version of The Fellowship of the Ring — spread out over three CDs, and repeated yet again... Read more
Time for another batch. 1. The new trailer for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire rocks. (FWIW, I blogged the earlier trailer — or teaser? — here.) 2. Bryce Dallas Howard, daughter of Ron and star of The Village (2004), talks to CanWest News Service about Manderlay, the upcoming sequel to Lars von Trier’s Dogville (2003) — in which Howard plays the role originated by Nicole Kidman. Along the way, she confirms von Trier’s reputation as a provocateur: Working... Read more
Two films open today, one in wide release and the other in limited, and both concern romances between a man who is living and a woman who, um, isn’t, exactly. (In one film, she’s a ghost; in the other, a corpse.) That’s about all Just Like Heaven and Corpse Bride have in common, apart from one other thing: I like ’em both. There is little I can say about Just Like Heaven that hasn’t already been said as well as... Read more
Time for another handful of items. 1. The New York Times had a bizarre item yesterday on how the surprise hit documentary March of the Penguins has been drafted into the culture wars, with conservative religious pundits pushing the film’s already problematic anthropomorphism far beyond what its makers intended, and cheering its depiction of monogamy and whatnot (and never mind the penguins practise only serial monogamy). Today, Jeff Sharlet at The Revealer responds: . . . the conservative, religious reading... Read more
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