Genre director update: As if their Willy Wonka wasn’t creepy-serial-killer enough, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp will soon reunite for Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street. Meanwhile, the Spike Jonze-Dave Eggers interpretation of Where the Wild Things Are lands at Warner Bros. Says author Maurice Sendak of the project: “I am in love with it. If Spike and Dave do not do this movie now, I would just as soon not see any version of it ever get made.“
Month: January 2006
Hammer Falls.
“The job of majority leader and the mandate of the Republican majority are too important to be hamstrung, even for a few months, by personal distractions.” Whether it be due to Abramoff’s encroaching testimony, the uprising of GOP moderates, Duke Cunningham’s wire, or all of the above, Boss DeLay has admitted defeat and given up his post for good. While this is excellent news, there’s still much work to do: The ringleader may be dethroned, but the DeLay Ring persists. Hopefully prosecutors in Texas and the Justice Department, as well as members of Congress shamed by the rampant corruption characterizing DeLay’s reign, won’t rest until the Hammer is thrown out of the House and taken to the woodshed. In fact, with any luck, Boss DeLay will be a featured member of the Big House before long.
He has refused his assent to laws.
“It appears unlikely that a court would hold that Congress has expressly or impliedly authorized the NSA electronic surveillance operations here,’ the authors of the CRS report wrote. The administration’s legal justification ‘does not seem to be…well-grounded.'” A 44-page nonpartisan report by the Congressional Research Service finds Dubya’s dubious reliance on presidential prerogative to explain away the NSA wiretaps doesn’t hold up.
Bullock Bullish.
August commencement to George Hearst’s time in town: Before Season 3 is even aired (it’ll return in June, with The Sopranos), Deadwood looks to get a fourth time ’round. Huzzah.
Let’s Roll.
The teaser for Flight 93, first of the 9/11 movies out of the box, is online. Normally, I wouldn’t be interested in this project, but the presence of Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday, The Bourne Supremacy, the aborted Watchmen) at the helm is an X-factor. (Expect lots of shakicam.)
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues.
Greetings from NYC, where Berk and I returned yesterday evening. I’ve been spending today running errands and generally cleaning up the apartment environs for 2006, but I expect updates should return to normal around here shortly.
Howlin’ Mad Murdock.
“There’s no going back. From that moment on, the series’ hero is in a morally untenable situation, and everything he does makes things worse. The only thing Murdock can do is to start lying, and make all of his allies lie for him, too…The second half of the Bendis-Maleev run fills in the gaps of the missing year bit by bit, and suggests what happens when a hero chooses to rule in hell (or its kitchen) rather than serve in heaven.” Salon‘s Douglas Wolk sings the praises of Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev’s work on Daredevil.
Galaxy Quest.
Stabilize your rear deflectors, watch for enemy fighters…Also in today’s movie bin is the trailer for 5-22-77, a low-budget paean to seventies fanboys in which John Francis Daley (a.k.a. Sam Weir of Freaks & Geeks, all grown up) must overcome all manner of obstacles in order to catch a showing of the original Star Wars. Can Haverchuck come? (Official Site.)
Repeated Injuries and Usurpations.
With most of their arguments already rendered false or nonsensical, “Big Time” Dick Cheney invokes an old standby to justify the illegal NSA wiretaps (which, it turns out, may have begun before White House authorization): 9/11, 9/11, 9/11. And, also in the King George department, Dubya in effect announces he’ll bypass the new torture ban whenever he feels like it. Says one legal expert: “The signing statement is saying ‘I will only comply with this law when I want to, and if something arises in the war on terrorism where I think it’s important to torture or engage in cruel, inhuman, and degrading conduct, I have the authority to do so and nothing in this law is going to stop me.’” (Media Matters link via Looka.) Update: The FISA court judges want answers, and a possible NSA whistleblower steps up.
Red Letterman Day.
“I’m not smart enough to debate you point to point on this, but I have the feeling, I have the feeling about 60 percent of what you say is crap.” Along the lines of (2006 Oscars host) Jon Stewart on Crossfire in 2004, a driven-to-anger David Letterman goes after guest Bill O’Reilly on Cindy Sheehan, the war in Iraq, and his “fair and balanced” drivel. “I agree to you, with you that we have to support the troops. They are there, they are the best and the brightest of this country…however, that does not eliminate the legitimate speculation and concern and questioning of ‘Why the Hell are we there to begin with?’” (Via Dumbmonkey.)