News for June 5-9, 2000

9 June, 2000

Sum of All Fears

Apparently Harrison Ford is having a hard time settling on his next project. First he dropped out of Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, then he waffled on Sony's Gemini Man and now he's bailed out of another project. The fourth Jack Ryan novel by Tom Clancy to be adapted for the big screen may have to go forward without Ford. He and director Philip Noyce have been unable to agree on the script. The most recent version by Paul Attanasio was finished recently. He has a contract to do two more Ryan movies which he signed following the success of Patriot Games.

Ford is apparently looking for a big action movie to star in but has yet to find one he's comfortable with.

The Ladies Man

Personally this trailer makes me shudder but some of the other folks here love it so go figure. Anyway, if you haven't seen it yet you can download it here.

• 11.0 MB MOV

Charlie's Angels

An interesting shot of Drew Barrymore

Coyote Ugly

The trailer and poster are here!

8 June, 2000

Collateral Damage

What was the last really great Arnold Schwarzenneger movie? You probably have to go all the way back to 1994's True Lies. That's really sad because I've always liked the big guy. Next up for him is The 6th Day, which has him battling a clone of himself. Early reports on the script indicate it sounds suspiciously like Total Recall. Well then maybe the film after that holds promise. Collateral Damage is set to be his next project. The title sounds pretty cool. The story has Arnold looking for revenge after his family is killed by terrorists. Not exactly original but it could hold some promise for great action.

So how is the script? For the answer to that we turn to the good folks at IGN Movies. They got a hold of the script and were kind enough to share their thoughts. What did they think? "Collateral Damage is, well, it's one of the saddest pieces of drivel we've ever come across."

Ouch. To read the rest of the review, head over to IGN Movies.

Talk about it on the Forums

Phone Booth

Yesterday we learned that Jim Carrey is negotiating to star in this movie. That was really the first bit of news that gave the movie hope. Since the bulk of the movie is spent in a phone booth, Carrey's amazing range of facial expressions will come in handy to keep the audience from getting bored.

Like I said, Carrey is the bright spot. He will be directed by Joel Schumacher (8MM), who hasn't made a really good film in some time now. Now thanks to Stax, we can judge the script too. It isn't good news.

I wanted to enjoy Phone Booth much more than I did. It had a lot of things going for it but I just never emotionally connected with the material. Hopefully, either Steve Gaghan or Brian Helgeland succeeded in making Larry Cohen's characters into more than mere talking heads. If the filmmakers are able to make us truly care about the person trapped inside that phone booth, then this should make for a very interesting thriller. Otherwise, Phone Booth may end up being more notable for its gimmick and for its "guerrilla-style" shoot than for its content. - STAX

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

Talk about it on the Forums

Tomb Raider

Jolie talks about playing Lara Croft

7 June, 2000

Dieter

Mike Myers has at least temporarily put a halt to production of Dieter, the movie to be based on his Saturday Night Live Sprockets skit. The movie was to start filming this August but Myers felt the script wasn't good enough so he halted the project until it could be fixed. "My agreement with Universal has always been that the movie would not be made until I approved the script. I informed Universal that the script does not work and it needs more time to be fixed. The question from the beginning has always been can 'Sprockets' move from beyond a sketch into being a full-length feature film, and despite my greatest efforts, I have yet to achieve that. I cannot, in good conscience accept $20 million and cheat moviegoers who pay their hard-earned money for my work by making a movie with an unacceptable script," Myers said.

Universal was less than pleased with this development and has now hit Myers with a lawsuit for breach of contract. "We have a deal, we are living up to our end of the deal and expect Mr. Myers to live up to his end. We are filing this lawsuit to enforce our rights," a studio rep said.

The studio is seeking to recover approximately $5 million that they had already invested in the project. Furthermore they sought an order that would prevent Myers from working on any other project for the period of time he was to have been working on Dieter.

At this point it becomes debatable if the project will be made at all considering the bitter feud developing.

Talk about it on the Forums

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Not long ago Stax review the script for this project and gave it a thorough thrashing. Now one of his compatriot's over at FilmForce has gotten a hold of the script. If anything, he hated it even more. This is truly depressing. From the review I quote, "I can safely say that this is the worst adaptation from book to screenplay that I've read/heard of/seen in my entire life. Everything that makes Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy enjoyable is completely stripped out in this screenplay." Ouch.

Charlie's Angels

Cameron Diaz takes her turn answering rumors

6 June, 2000

Dragon's Lair

Believe it or not some thought is being given to making a feature length animated movie based on the old laser disc video game Dragon's Lair. Creator Gary Goldman told SCI FI, "Our fan base for that game is big enough that ... one of the projects we're developing for Fox is a feature film based on Dragon's Lair."

Admittedly I always liked that game but the fact is that no one has yet to make a good movie based on a video game. Until that happens I have no choice but to view such projects with extreme skepticism.

Talk about it on the Forums

5 June, 2000

Bruce Almighty

I'm going to need some convincing on this project. Universal just snapped up a spec script by Steven Koren and Mark O'Keefe for Bruce Almighty. It would be produced and maybe even directed by Patch Adams director Tom Shadyac.

The script centers around Bruce. Suffering from horrendous bad luck, Bruce curses God. God appears to Bruce and challenges him to a better job. Bruce then has 24 hours to succeed or the world will go back to the Dark Ages. He then has to deal with the oddities of the job like keeping the praise meter high and answering God's beeper, which goes off with every prayer.