So, I’ve just seen photos of Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock Holmes from Guy Ritchie’s upcoming film. Now, obviously, Holmes never held a Starbucks cup in 1895. This is probably the “cleanest” of the photos, without directors, Starbucks coffee cups, or boom mics. Now, I have a lot of faith in Downey as an actor.Continue reading “On Photos of Robert Downey, Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes”
Category Archives: Film
On Unmade Science-Fiction Films
It’s odd. I’ve just read a book that I generally enjoyed, but it was a book that annoyed me to no end. The book? David Hughes’ The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made. Getting a movie from pitch and script to screen is a bit like running a gauntlet, and the book chronicles some twenty-odd science-fictionContinue reading “On Unmade Science-Fiction Films”
On the Watchmen Trailer
Sweet zombie Jesus. The Watchmen trailer. Holy shit. They fucking filmed Watchmen! ETA: The Smashing Pumpkins kicks the trailer up a notch, because “The Beginning is the End is the Beginning” was the one of the two songs the band wrote for Batman & Robin. Like the “Ozy-nipples” (Ozymandias’ costume shows nipples, as the BatsuitContinue reading “On the Watchmen Trailer”
On The Sword in the Stone
A few weeks ago Disney released the 45th-anniversary edition of The Sword in the Stone, the animated adaptation of the first volume in T.H. White’s The Once and Future King Arthurian quadrilogy, on DVD. I’d been meaning to buy the movie for years because I have fond memories of it from my youth, but hadContinue reading “On The Sword in the Stone”
On the Movie I Want To See
Producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro held an on-line chat last week where they talked about their plans for the two Hobbit films. Near the end of the chat, del Toro is asked about some comments he had made a few years ago about not being a fan of sword and sorcery fantasyContinue reading “On the Movie I Want To See”
On The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
It’s hard to believe it’s been nineteen years since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Nineteen! Years! I was a junior in high school. The summer hadn’t started yet. And opening weekend, I went to see it with my younger brother at the movie theater in Bridgeport, West Virginia. A few weeks later, with someContinue reading “On The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”
On Prince Caspian
It was pretty. That was the recurring thought I had yesterday after seeing Prince Caspian, the sequel to 2005’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, based on the second (or fifth, depending on which order you use) book in C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia series. As one of the four films I wasContinue reading “On Prince Caspian”
On an Alternate Clockwork Orange
You learn something new every day. Mick Jagger wanted to star as Alex in A Clockwork Orange. The Beatles wanted to compose the film’s soundtrack. So says a letter from Mick Jagger’s manager, dating back to 1968. He was writing to John Schlesigner, the director attached to A Clockwork Orange. Schlesinger passed on the project,Continue reading “On an Alternate Clockwork Orange”
On the Justice League and the Justice Society
The on-again, off-again film based on DC Comics’ Justice League appears to be off again. Years of development heck wasted. The present Justice League project seemed cursed from the very beginning. From script issues (and the Writers Guild strike) to casting problems to location uncertainty (would be it Canada? would it be Australia?), Justice LeagueContinue reading “On the Justice League and the Justice Society”
On Thinking About Summer Movies
I mentioned a few days ago the comic book films I was looking forward to this summer. To recap, from top to bottom: The Dark Knight Hellboy II: The Golden Army Iron Man The Incredible Hulk It’s a bit of a misnomer, actually, to suggest that I’m looking forward to The Incredible Hulk. I’m quiteContinue reading “On Thinking About Summer Movies”