News for June 26 to July 7, 2000

7 July, 2000

Ghost Rider

In case you haven't heard, there is an attempt being made to turn the Marvel comic Ghost Rider into a movie. Marvel and Crystal Sky Entertainment are teaming up with Jon Voight as a producer to make the film. An early script has been written by David Goyer (Blade) that will serve as a basis for the film. That script won't be the final one by any stretch of the imagination but it fell into the hands of master script reviewer Stax so that you can find out what it's like.

Ghost Rider's very nature makes for strictly B-movie fare so I'm all for the filmmakers trying to have some fun with the material. The screenwriters clearly realized the ridiculous degree to which they were asking people to suspend their disbelief; their consistent use of sardonic (but not campy) humor acknowledged as much. But just because Ghost Rider is "just a B-movie" doesn't mean it can't have a stronger story; The Mummy and Escape From New York are examples of a better standard of B-movie. While there was a lot of visceral imagery and several entertaining moments in this draft, the cliché "devil comes to earth" plot and an array of under-developed characters hurt the overall story. I hope that David Goyer's future efforts on Ghost Rider will bring a much-needed clarity and depth to the story. As a comic book fan, I'm still interested in seeing a Ghost Rider movie. But after reading this "starting point" draft, I'm glad the filmmakers have decided to re-conceptualize and simplify the story. - STAX

To read the entire review, head to Stax's home at FilmForce.

The spoof of practically every horror movie ever made hits theaters today so we turn to 'Eric Lurio' to find out if it's any good or not.

How does a genre end? When someone does a parody so devastating that no one can take it seriously ever again. The problem with the "teen ax-murderer" films is that it no one has taken it seriously for ages now and it's all been parody for about seven years, if not longer.

"Scream" was a parody of all those "Last Summer The Bride of Chucky Screamed Because Halloween Fell On Friday the 13th" type of things. Then this parody spawned a slew of wannabees, which did well in the first case, but then usually bombed when the sequel came out. The last of these things was supposed to be the climactic battle of "Freddy vs. Jason" but it seemed that nobody could figure out how to do it without making it a complete travesty.

So along comes Keenen Ivory Wayans, who gave us such cultural treasures as "Don't Be A Menace To South Central When You're Drinking Your Juice In Hood" and Jim Carrey, and he decides that making a complete travesty isn't all that bad an idea. So he announces that he's making a picture called "I Know what You Screemed Last Halloween," or "Last Summer I Screamed Because Halloween Fell On Friday the 13th" or something even worse than that and nobody really believed that it would ever get finished as there were several incompatible scripts making the rounds.

But low and behold, Wayans has actually managed to get the darn thing made, and to be frank, it's not nearly as bad as it could have been. Not that it's really all that good, mind you, but it has it's moments.

The film begins on a thoroughly predictable note. starts with the obvious. Drew(Carmen Electra) gets a call from the guy in the ghoul suit from "Scream" and BAM! we're in Mel Brooks land. The jokes are as raunchy as one can possibly get without getting an NC-17. There are sex jokes galore, with realistic dildos and cum fountains the likes of which would make Dirk Diggler green with envy. Much of it is actually quite funny.

The plot is in fact non-existent. All the usual suspects are there: We've got Ray(Shawn Wayans) the bisexual high school football player and maker of gay sight gags, Greg(Lochlyn Munro), Ray's ultra-macho teammate who's lacking where it really counts, his lusty airhead of a girlfriend Buffy(Shannon Elizabeth) and her brother Doofy(Dave Sheridan), who has yet to be toilet trained at 23 and just happens to be on the police force.

Of course we haven't gotten to the main character yet, who's played by Anna Faris and her horny boyfriend, who's played by Jon Abrahams. We don't really have to because they're just there to be the butt of dirty jokes, not that there's anything wrong with that....

Just about every movie that's been made in the past few years gets pasted from "Amistad" to The Exorcist." Cheri Oteri is mostly wasted as the pushy reporter, but she does get to shine in a wicked "Blair Witch" parody, and we, the movie-going public gets a bit of a revenge fantasy when Brenda(Regina Hall) answers her cel-phone during "Shakespeare in Love" [hey, it's Miramax, they can do that]. All in all, this is a very dumb movie, but that's deliberate. This dish is best served with recreational drugs. You have been warned.

30 June, 2000

Scary Movie

In a startling move, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) handed the raunchy horror spoof an R rating with very few cuts. It was expected that the movie would have to make many changes to avoid an NC-17 rating. The MPAA is generally very averse to male frontal nudity but didn't blink for Scary Movie.

Apparently the MPAA isn't nearly as strict when the movie is a comedy as opposed to a serious film. That seems to be the only way graphic nudity and gags can be acceptable in Scary Movie but last summer's Eyes Wide Shut required the digital insertion of figures to block the action, despite there being no frontal male nudity at all.

Examples of the material in Scary Movie include a scene where a man in a bathroom is stabbed through the head with an erect penis, a sex scene reminiscent of The Exorcist and a scene where a teen male needs a weed-whacker to deal with his girlfriend's excess of pubic hair.

I wasn't a big fan of last summer's The Mummy. To me it was a movie that couldn't decide if it wanted to be creepy or silly. However it raked in a lot of cash so inevitably there was going to be a sequel. Sure enough, Universal has been busily putting together the pieces for a second film. Director Stephen Sommers and stars Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Oded Fehr and Arnold Vosloo are all going to return along with newcomer Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. So the question of the moment is, how good is Sommers' script for the sequel. For the answer we turn to Stax who has an uncanny ability to get a hold of scripts.

If the final film retains even half of this draft's action sequences then The Mummy Returns should prove a greater spectacle than the original. The Scorpion King, who is very Harryhausen-like in description, is a force of nature that decimates anyone and anything in his path. Don't worry about The Rock's acting ability here; his character didn't utter a single line during the entire story. This draft's finale crosscuts between the rumble at the Oasis of Ahm Shere and a battle royale waged between the resurrected Army of Anubis and several thousand Medjai warriors led by Ardeth Bey. There was some truly epic imagery written here; I just hope Mr. Sommers has the budget necessary to realize such lofty ambitions.

I was somewhat disappointed that, unlike the first film where the heroes' actions drove the narrative forward, the villains controlled the plot most of the time here, which made Rick O'Connell more of a reactionary character than before. Still, The Mummy Returns was fun to read, about as much fun as the first film was to watch. If you didn't enjoy or understand the first Mummy, though, I doubt you'll be won over by this film. But if you are a fan then this is one sequel that should live up to its predecessor. - STAX

To read the entire review, head to Stax's home at FilmForce.

The early word on Disney's next animated movie hasn't been terribly positive. Here's the first chance to find out for sure. The trailer is available for download.

• 240x180 MOV
• 320x240 MOV
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29 June, 2000

This is getting almost comical. After proposing a movie project where the lead roles were auctioned off to the highest bidders and then getting threatened with legal action by the California Labor Commission, the producers have decided to try a new tactic. Now the auction is designed so that you can buy a role for someone else. That should definitely take care of the Labor Commission's complaint. I'm sure no one out there would ever consider giving friend money to bid on a role for them. Right? I mean that would be dishonest.

28 June, 2000

It looks like director Tim Burton has settled on his lead for the remake of the 1968 classic. Taking on the part originally played by Charleston Heston is Mark Wahlberg (The Perfect Storm, Three Kings). Part of Wahlberg's deal with the studio is an agreement to make a sequel. Filming should begin this fall with 20th Century Fox looking to release the movie July 4, 2001.

Some days Hollywood makes the job of writing about bad movies far too easy. This is one of them. A whole bunch of companies like Blockbuster, Yahoo! and MP3.com have gotten together to make a movie. Wait, it gets much worse. The movie will be cast by Yahoo! Auctions. That's right, anyone with enough cash can bid on a role. Actually the crew will be selected in this manner as well. As if that wasn't bad enough, Blockbuster will be awarding a pair of roles in a sweepstakes. That means two roles cast on somebody's ability to have their name picked out of a hat.

Once the the winners of the auctions are decided, a script will be written by Adam Rifkin (The Chase, Mouse Hunt, Small Soldiers) based on the various strengths of the cast. The movie's score will be chosen in a contest at MP3.com. Up to six bands that submit their music to the site will be selected.

The actors will receive some training and then director Tony Markes will have to try and make something out of what he has been handed. The producers promise that the movie will receive a screening at Sundance and a theatrical and video release.

The idea has a certain fascination. Unfortunately I suspect it is the same sort of fascination one has in looking at a car wreck. The possibility that a good movie will come out of this plan would appear to be incredibly tiny.

If you're interested by all this you can find the gory details at Who Wants to be a Movie Star?

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Who Wants to be a Movie Star (part 2)

Shortly after the website for this project was launched the California Labor Commission launched an investigation into what it describes as "totally illegal" practices in selling jobs to the highest bidder. "It's a dead-on violation of the state labor code," said Miles Locker, chief counsel for the California Labor Commissioner. Locker wants the bidding to "cease immediately." "We have looked into this," Locker said of the site. "Based on what we saw on the Web page, the law is being violated. We are making calls today to get this project discontinued. We would like them to post on the Web page that the bidding is discontinued. We want them to do it immediately. We are trying to get this thing stopped as soon as possible to ensure that any jobs on this motion picture project are given to people without charging those people one cent for those jobs." Locker said that if the auction isn't discontinued, "there will be legal action taken."

When I said that this project was a bad idea I was only speaking in terms of movie quality. It never occurred to me that it would be a bad idea on the legal front as well.

27 June, 2000

In case you haven't heard, Sharon Stone has officially signed on to a sequel to the 1992 hit Basic Instinct that made her a star. My full reaction to that news was Why? It would appear that producers Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna have some might impressive skills at persuasion. Last week they talked Arnold Schwarzenegger into reprising his Terminator role too. Of course the fact that they waved $15 million under her nose probably had something to do with her decision.

While they may have lured back Stone, Michael Douglas, director Paul Verhoeven and writer Joe Eszterhas have not agreed to come back. Henry Bean (Desperately Seeking Susan) has written the script for the sequel and a director is as yet unsigned.

So how is that script? For the answer to that question we turn to Stax, who as alway has a review waiting for the script to the latest high profile project.

As with the first film, there is hardly a character Catherine Tramell is not sexually involved with so this makes the list of murder suspects rather lengthy. Like the original, we're unsure if Catherine is the actual killer or not, or if it is really someone else. There are other parallels to the first film beyond just these similarities between the plight of Andrew Glass and the various murders committed. Andrew's former lover Denise causes trouble for him not unlike Jeanne Tripplehorn did for Michael Douglas. There is also the George Dzunda-like grizzled cop, Washburn, who warns the protagonist more than once that his sexual obsession with Catherine is leading him down the road to ruin. And there is a violent ending that claims a few hapless victims just like the finale to the original film. In hindsight, this draft was really a slick repackaging of the first movie's plot. What really troubles me, however, is that I enjoyed this script more than I expected to.

To read the entire review, head to Stax's home at FilmForce.

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26 June, 2000

Tomb Raider

Jolie has an early bedtime