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Dan Owen reviews

DAN'S   MOVIE   DIGEST

I s s u e   # 1 9

2 2   N o v e m b e r   2 0 0 2

Movie News
US & UK Top cinema listings
Obituaries

** MOVIE NEWS **

FINAL DESTINATION

Some screenshots of the sequel to "Final Destination" have been released here

DUMB & DUMBER 2

Eric Christian Olsen [the blonde cocky guy from "Not Another Teen Movie") and Derek Richardson will play the young Harry and Lloyd in the "Dumb & Dumber" prequel. Rachel Nichols, Eugene Levy ("American Pie"), Mimi Rogers and Luis Guzman are also starring.

HOUSE OF THE DEAD

Co-executive producer Michael Roesch told 'Coming Soon' that the first official trailer for the video-game adaptation is due in the next few weeks.

The trailer will be released on the official website and will contain a first look at the computer effects for the movie. The visual effects crew at 'Elektrofilm' have been working on the several hundred digital effects for the movie since mid-2002 and will continue working on it till early-2003.

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN

'Universal Pictures' and Brian Grazer's 'Imagine Entertainment' have hired two writing teams to rewrite the franchise property "The Incredible Shrinking Man".

Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant will rewrite the movie, with Keenen Ivory Wayans attached to direct and Eddie Murphy to star.

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FREDDY vs JASON

'MTV' have reported from the set of "Freddy Vs Jason" and spoke to star Robert Englund about the plot. He said that buried in the plot of the film is some social commentary - with the Elm Street residents having escaped Freddy by stuffing their teens with pills to prevent them from dreaming. Freddy uses Jason to get around all that, and get back to the killing.

Englund elaborated: "[It's] a metaphor about how easy it is to medicate society these days. And it's discovered that people need to dream... Freddy's at loose ends to get people afraid of him anymore, [because] if you don't dream, Freddy can't hurt you."

"Freddy's trying to regenerate himself and he's using Jason to instil fear in the relatives of the offspring of the original Elm Street vigilantes. Freddy needs to manipulate Jason, and when he's in the dreams he can. What happens is that Freddy creates a Frankenstein... Freddy kind of spoils him, gives him a little too much dog food and he kind of turns on his master. And that's the gist of the plot."

INDIANA JONES 4

Frank Darabont was at the '2002 Creative Screenwriting Expo' in L.A recently and confirmed the following facts with the "Indiana Jones 4" screenplay he's writing.

Currently he's going through the Act I and has weekly/twice weekly story meetings with Steven Spielberg. They are both still working on Act III, but George Lucas has basically handed full responsibility to Spielberg. Darabont said that he's trying to be very true to the character, but without being repetitive - and not just give us a rehash of the previous movies.

JURASSIC PARK

An inside mole has revealed that the current script to "Jurassic Park 4" involves the United Nations and the extermination of the dinosaurs.

In relates news, Jeff Goldblum spoke with the 'Hollywood Reporter' recently and hinted at his involvement in the fourth film saying he has "a very good chance to be returning in JP4" alongside Sam Neill and possibly Vince Vaughn.

He said the film is only at the "drawing board stage and Steven and Mr. Moehan are busy writing the script prepping it to make sure it is perfect". But what he's read so far "takes a more sci-fi approach with some science thrown in to make it more enjoyable".

Jeff Goldblum also added: "Steven has told me that my old nemesis, the T-Rex will be back, possibly along with the Dilophosaur, that venom spitting one and get this, maybe even a water dino - a Mososaur, or something like that."

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HELLBOY

'Variety' reports that 'Partnership Films' has landed production services for "Hellboy" - due to start filming in Prague from March to August 2003.

Patrick Palmer, who produced "Blade II" in Prague in 2001, is reuniting many from that film's team, including Prague-based independent producer Michelle Weller.

Meanwhile, "Hellboy" casting continues. Professor Broom will be played by John Hurt, Grigori Rasputin will be played by Karel Roden, the small part of Dr. Manning has gone to Larry Miller, Doug Jones will be taking the part of the non-CGI Abe Sapien, and three different actors will be playing the part of Kronen.

Director Guillermo Del Toro also spoke recently about the creatures in the movie, saying: "I think that the great thing about the creatures in 'Hellboy' is that they will not be like any creatures in any horror film that you have seen in many, many years. They will be going back to more inventive creature creation not in a funny way not in a whimsical way."

"This is a monster movie. That is very interesting for me to say because most people just pile up all the horror movies into one category. I think there are atmospheric horror, which is moody like 'The Haunting', like 'The Uninvited', like 'Don't Look Now', which is the type of horror movie that feeds mostly on atmosphere and absence. Which is what is not there, what is only heard what is only glimpsed. That is one style of horror. The other style of horror is the horror of presence of something weird, and it's essentially a chase movie."

"You can put there John Carpenter's 'Halloween', or 'The Thing', or Romero's 'Day Of The Dead' or 'Dawn Of The Dead'. Where the creatures are 'on your face'."

"Thirdly there is a type of movie that is not that frequent, that is the Monster Movie. And I think 'Hellboy' is a monster movie. 'Hellboy' is like 'Creature From the Black Lagoon'. The more you see the monster the more you like the movie. A lot of people just go by the rule: 'What you don't see is more scary than what you do.' Yes, but that is not the only type of horror movie that could be affective. 'King Kong' is a monster movie. 'Creature...' is a monster movie, 'Frankenstein' is ultimately a great monster movie. But it's the type of sub genre in which you are supposed to fall in love with the creature not be just scared by it."

THE LAST SAMURAI

The Tom Cruise kung-fu action flick due out late-2003 currently shooting scenes on the 'Warner Brothers' studio lot. Apparently the scene will feature 100 women in antique kimonos who'll wander by making so much noise in their Japanese clogs it sounds like a herd of horsemen!

THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN

According to 'Entertainment Weekly' the mood on the set of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" is so bad crew members in Prague are grumbling they want to go home.

Star Sean Connery and director Stephen Norrington ("Blade") can't stand each other, says the report. After Norrington stopped filming for a day because he "didn't like the way an elephant gun looked" Connery threatened to have him fired. Stephen Norrington apparently screamed: "I'm sick of it! Come on! Punch me in the face!"

Sean Connery later admitted that: "there have been differences of opinion on everything. I just want to complete the picture."

In related news, producer Don Murphy said: "Sean [Connery] wrapped his role entirely this past Monday. He has given a brilliant and exciting performance that film fans will love. He has completed the picture and is happily on the way to the Bahamas."

"His last act was to shoot a special teaser trailer for the film that is awesome. It will be released in December. Shooting in Prague continues to progress with the rest of the cast. 'LXG' is on its way to being a hugely successful franchise starting July 11, 2003."

Franchise? This word supposedly pertains to films with expected sequels - such as comic-book adaptations, Bond films, etc. Will there be more adventures for the LXG gang to follow? If so, I wouldn't count on Connery returning if Norrington's at the helm...

LEGALLY BLONDE 2

'The Hollywood Reporter' indicates THAT Sally Field is in talks to star as Congresswoman Rudd, a woman who serves as the "mentor" character to Elle [Reese Witherspoon] as she enters the political world in the upcoming sequel.

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STAR WARS - THE ANIMATED SERIES

Sources inside 'Cartoon Network' say that 'Lucasfilm' will create an animated series based on the "Star Wars" prequels entitled "Clone Wars". George Lucas is apparently hopeful a 50-60 episode run can be secured, with the show premiering mid-2003 or mid-2004. Genndy Tartakovsky ("Samurai Jack") will produce the 30-minute episodes.

STAR WARS EPISODE III

Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, has apparently indicated that's he'll be working for George Lucas next year. Does Mayhew have a cameo-role in "Episode III"? If so, will he be playing a younger Chewbacca?

LETHAL WEAPON 5

Danny Glover has apparently suggested he may be ready to star in a fourth sequel to 80's hit "Lethal Weapon", despite claims Mel Gibson won't star. The rumoured story finds Glover's character coming out of retirement to avenge Gibson's screen death.

LOONEY TUNES - BACK IN ACTION

Director Joe Dante has talked about the aesthetic concerns of blending the classic animated figures with a live-action environment.

He said: "I'm just trying to marry movie icons. These guys are older than any of us. We've all grown up with them and they have this multigenerational appeal. Even though they've had some hard times and periods where they were less active than others, the old cartoons were always in circulation, so there's always been a fan base for these character."

To preserve the Looney Tunes' look, Dante has been careful to maintain the two dimensional look of the cartoons and not make them three dimensional CGI.

He said: "You can't be entirely two dimensional when you're putting them into situations where they're lit and where there are shadows. You'll see us sometimes sticking a white ball into the shot at the end. It shows the animators where the light's coming from and which side of the character's going to have modelling or shadowing."

"You can go overboard on it and make them look kind of squishy, which we don't want to do, but there has to be an attempt to try to put them into the environment. So, it's essentially flat animation. It's certainly nothing like CGI."

"But, we do try to give them a certain shape with shadows and stuff and that's basically the difference I think between the way this cartoon looks and the way the actual original cartoons look."

The sets themselves also had to be designed to accommodate their cartoony look. Dante: "Our art director is a guy named Bill Brzeski who did the 'Stuart Little' movies and the trick here is to try to make a movie that feels like a Looney Tune movie."

"When I did the 'Gremlins' movies, we discovered that you couldn't just take these weird characters and stick them out on the corner of Fifth and Main and expect them to look like they belong there. So, the movie has been stylized around what I would call the Looney Tune look."

"The colours that we use in some of the backgrounds, the desert locations that we chose, were all chosen to specifically replicate certain kind of cartoon looks. So, it's a normal movie. It's shot like a regular movie but we hope that we stylized the backgrounds to the point where Bugs and Daffy look a little more at home."

Dante thinks the protagonist of Bugs Bunny will still be valid to modern audiences, saying: "it's the same reason why the Marx Brothers are still popular. It's totally anarchic. He's got a certain code of honour. He doesn't heckle anybody unless they've done something bad to him and then, look out. And he's always the coolest guy in the room."

However, Dante is sticking to the classic Looney Tunes characters and not incorporating their modern spin-offs into "Back in Action." Dante: "There's a scene where the water tower falls over and somebody said, 'Oh, the Animaniacs live in there.' But I think we decided that we wanted to keep it pure."

"There was some talk. 'Warner Brothers' now owns almost every cartoon character known to man because they've got 'MGM', they've got Hanna Barbara. They've got everybody and so there was some talk about putting in Tom and Jerry or putting in Droopy or putting in a couple of characters and we realized that although we have the ability to do that, it was sort of taking away from the special-ness of the Looney Tunes gang."

"And God knows there's plenty of them. So, our efforts to shoehorn in all of these characters in various places of the movie, there's still some we don't even know where we're going to put them."

PAYCHECK

Ben Affleck is in talks with 'Paramount' to take the lead in "Paycheck", the sci-fi thriller to be directed by John Woo. The film is a futuristic tale of an amnesiac trying to piece together his past.

"Paycheck" was originally written as a short story by Philip K. Dick and first published in 1953. The plot involves an electrician who wakes up to discover his employer has erased his memory of the past two years as a security measure. When he tries to collect his paycheck, he finds he had previously signed a release replacing the money with a bag of random objects.

The script has been adapted by Dean Georgaris.

RETURN TO THE BATCAVE

The 'Chicago Sun-Times' talked to actor Jason Marsden ("X-Men") about the upcoming "Return To The Batcave: The Misadventures Of Adam And Burt" TV-movie. He said: "The film is based on [Ward's and Adam West's] books and is pretty insightful as to what went on behind the scenes and how the series impacted on their careers and lives. It's also a hilarious adventure comedy. [The plot is that] the Batmobile gets stolen from a museum, and the real Adam and Burt have to find it."

VAN HELSING

'Screen Daily' has said that Stephen Sommers' "Van Helsing" movie with Hugh Jackman has entered pre-production in Prague with combination interior and exterior shooting to begin in January 2003. Half of the 6-month shoot looks set to take place in Los Angeles.

US TOP 10 (CINEMA)

1. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ($88.3m)

2. 8 Mile ($19.3m)

3. The Santa Clause 2 ($15.1m)

4. The Ring ($10.6m)

5. Half Past Dead ($7.8m)

6. My Big Fat Greek Wedding ($4.7m)

7. Jackass: The Movie ($3.8m)

8. I Spy ($3.8m)

9. Frida ($2.9m)

10. Sweet Home Alabama ($2.2m)

UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)

1. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (�18.8m)

2. 28 Days Later (�0.7m)

3. Mr Deeds (�0.6m)

4. xXx (�0.44m)

5. Changing Lanes (�0.41m)

6. Lilo & Stitch (�0.27m)

7. Super Troopers (�0.26m)

8. Rabbit-Proof Fence (�0.229m)

9. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (�0.224m)

10. Bowling for Columbine (�0.15m)

OBITUARY

James Coburn: 1928-2002

James Coburn (Our Man Flint, The Magnificent Seven) and winner of an Academt Award for his portrayal of a dissolute father in Affliction, has died at the age of 74.

Coburn died of a heart attack at home while listening to music with his wife. He won his best supporting actor Oscar for the 1998 film after overcoming a 10-year struggle with arthritis that left one hand severely crippled.