The celebrity deaths keep on happening, which makes me hope that Death takes a holiday at least over the 4th of July weekend. Yesterday we lost actor and baritone singer Harve Presnell, who is best remembered nowadays for playing William H. Macy’s father-in-law in Fargo, and now today we say goodbye to Karl Malden, who won a supporting actor Oscar for A Streetcar Named Desire, which was one of his four collaborations with director Elia Kazan. He was also Oscar-nominated for his performance in Kazan’s On the Waterfront.
Other memorable film appearances include roles in Gypsy, Patton, How the West Was Won, Birdman of Alcatraz, I Confess, Pollyanna and One-Eyed Jacks, directed by his occasional costar Marlon Brando. He also starred on TV’s The Streets of San Francisco.My favorite of his movies is Baby Doll because his character was one of the first I’d encountered where I wasn’t sure if I should like him or hate him. Ultimately I sympathized with him over his rival in the film, played by Eli Wallach, simply because I grew up loving Malden and his big bulbous nose. Plus, between Waterfront and Pollyanna, as a kid I always associated Malden with good, religious roles. Even though he hadn’t worked in years, his passing today marks quite a significant loss for both cinema and television.
Check out other film blogs’ tributes to the great actor after the jump: …Read more
I initially planned to write an Antichrist-inspired list of most misogynistic movies ever made. But after some minor research, I decided that as a man, even one who has studied feminist film theory, I’m not the best judge of what titles to choose. Besides, I figure there are already enough places on the web where we can debate whether or not Neil LaBute and Lars von Trier are misogynistic filmmakers or if they are in fact the opposite.
I could have instead attempted a list of movies that are misandric, but I don’t think hatred towards men is equally as off-putting to male viewers as misogyny is to women. So, here’s something slightly similar, also inspired by Antichrist (particularly a disturbing genital-mutilation scene in the film), because there’s certainly nothing more difficult for men to watch than scenes in which male sex organs are harmed.
Of course, cinema has been hurting guys’ balls for laughs throughout the existence of motion pictures. And plenty of action and horror flicks depict castration by shotgun, knife, van door and other means on a regular basis. Therefore, I’ve gone specifically with these six sex scenes, since they add to the pain by first teasing pleasure. But no, masochistic delight is nowhere to be found in any of these hard-to-watch movie moments. …Read more
Meanwhile, Variety has a rundown of what various famous people are up to today. MagiC Johnson lent his voice to a No on Prop 8 robocall, Hollywood Republicans (they exist!) are meeting up at Barney’s Beanery, and Harvey Weinstein is throwing a party in New York (no, we were not invited).
After being on track to be as perfect as the first film, Iron Man 2 has received a monkey wrench in the form of a recasting: for unspecified reasons (money), Terrence Howard will not reprise his role of Jim Rhodes, aka the future suited-hero War Machine, allowing Don Cheadle to replace him. While the same (or better) level of actor will be involved, the remodeling of the part is sure to be a little discomforting.
Universal will be the new distributor of DreamWorks films in a deal that everyone expected to happen. But just because it was inevitable doesn’t change how perfect the relationship is. For one thing, their Earth and moon logos fit together so well. And as a team, they’re like Elliot and E.T. riding that bike across the sky (but which studio is in the basket?). Sorry if that only makes sense to me.
Who knows what the markets will be like when the film is released, but Fox appears to be fast-tracking the sequel to Wall Street, titled Money Never Sleeps, which will see Michael Douglas’ Gordon Gekko released from prison into an unrecognizable financial world. 21 screenwriter Allan Loeb will be rewriting the film so expect the world to also be unrecognizable to most on Wall Street, as all the Asian traders will presumably be replaced by whites.
Gekko’s character was written to create an engaging, charming, but deceitful and brutal being. I have nevertheless run into quite a number of younger people, who upon discovering that I co-wrote the film, wax rhapsodic about it . . . but often for the wrong reasons.
A typical example would be a business executive or a younger studio development person spouting something that goes like this: “The movie changed my life. Once I saw it I knew that I wanted to get into such and such business. I wanted to be like Gordon Gekko.”
The flattery is disarming and ego-stoking, but then neurons fire and alarm bells go off. “You have succeeded with this movie, but you’ve also failed. You gave these people hope to become greater asses than they may already be.”
While I can understand Weiser’s horror in this idolization of amoral Gekko, especially in the wake of the real Wall Street’s collapse, I also couldn’t help but think back to a column I wrote in which I dissected Malcolm McDowell’s portrayal of Alex in A Clockwork Orange. Kubrick also was sufficiently horrified by the hero-worshipping of Alex, by the copycat crimes by droog wannabes that occurred in England after the film’s release (enough to yank it from distribution in that country). But the idea that either Weiser or Kubrick would be shocked (“utterly shocked” in Weiser’s sarcastic appraisal of Gekko’s view of the financial meltdown) by this pedestal raising strikes me as either naïve or disingenuous. Put sexy actors in passionate roles and what do you think is gonna happen?
Disney still loves its cash calf, Miley Cyrus, and is doing all it can to see her mature in its own pastures. The studio has hired Nicholas Sparks for a tailor-made project along the lines of his A Walk to Remember. He’ll simultaneously pen the novel and script, the plot and title of which are unknown. The only thing certain about the film is that it won’t feature any singing parts for Cyrus.
More South Korea firsts: following the recent news that Universal is financing a South Korean film, Sony Pictures has announced a production that will be the first mainstream Hollywood movie to shoot in the country. Unfortunately, the movie is Beverly Hills Ninja 2, starring David Hasselhoff.
Michael Douglas will portray Liberace in a biopic written by Richard LaGravenese (The Fisher King) and directed by Steven Soderbergh, which is only slightly less bizarre than the news two years ago that Nicolas Cage was to produce and star in a Liberace film written by the partners in parody Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg (Disaster Movie). Soderbergh’s project will also involve his Ocean’s series producer, Jerry Weintraub, and Matt Damon, who will portray Liberace’s purported lover, Scott Thorson.
The second deal announced this week regarding a sci-fi version of The Fugitive: this one is titled Karma Coalition, and it’s different from the Tuesday-announced project, in that it involves the end of the world rather than time travel, and it’s written by the lead singer of an indie rock band (Shawn Christensen of stellastarr*).
The Academy’s Sid Ganis, desperate to come to some sort of revealable conclusion as to what kind of Oscars he’s going to preside over, has been pestering the WGA to grant a waiver to allow the producers to use writers/put on a show and not get picketed. So far he’s been denied, and it sounds like his hands are wringing fairly fervently. “I’m nervous. We’re getting down to the final moments; we need to make plans.”
There’s been some hubbub over the past couple of days on media blogs about Michael Douglas, who recently became the new announcer for NBC’s Nightly News with Brian Williams. According to TVNewser, Douglas “worked for scale, and … donated his earnings to charity.” But I have to wonder if maybe the aging actor took payment of another sort. Check out the most recent episode of NBC’s 30 Rock, embedded above. Wait (or skip) to about 8:10, and you’ll see a very clear reference to a film from Douglas’ heyday––which was recently re-released on DVD. Coincidence? Yeah, probably.
And if you’re wondering if this post is just an excuse for me to justify using work time to watch clips of 30 Rock on Hulu … well … guilty!
Talk of our economy is rampant and underneath it all we’re questioning again Michael Douglas’ oscar-winning statement, “Greed is good.” We discuss the economy by watching a heart-breaking new issue doc called The Price of Sugar and Oliver Stone’s classic, Wall Street. Paul interviews Price director, Bill Haney.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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Is it possible to concentrate on ANYTHING other than the election today? Does that not make today the perfect day for MGM to announce that they’re 
