More good news emanating from the Sith: Apparently Steven Spielberg had a hand in choreographing the direction of some of Episode III‘s most crucial lightsaber duels. Even if Spielberg didn’t do all that much, the fact that Lucas looked for outside advice this time around bodes well indeed for the final installment.
Category: Cinema
Trials of a Comedian.
Uh-oh. It’s mostly fanboy speculation at the moment…still, word from the AICN crew is Paramount may be getting squeamish about The Watchmen. That’s too bad — the recent interviews with Paul Greengrass suggested this project was in sound hands.
Harding Eight.
Boogie Nights and Punch-Drunk Love wunderkind Paul Thomas Anderson (a writer-director I like a lot less than most people, although I caught Magnolia again on IFC recently and didn’t loathe it this time) announces his next project — Upton Sinclair’s Oil!, possibly starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Hmmm…looks like I had best write that dissertation chapter on Teapot Dome sooner rather than later.
Rogues’ Gallery.
In Marvel film news, the Fantastic Four trailer from ShoWest makes it online (nope, still not feeling it), and there’s more talk of the villains for X3 and Spidey 3: Dark Phoenix and (as I guessed…booyah) The Sandman respectively.
Woody on the Couch.
“Remove Allen from the scene of the contemporary romantic comedy and you get either Hugh Grant’s hollow trysting or Ethan Hawke’s pretentious babbling. (Actually, without Allen’s precedent, Hawke probably wouldn’t be allowed to babble.)” In the new N+1, Christian Lorentzen (a friend of mine from college days) writes on Melinda, Woody Allen’s castration anxiety, and Melinda.
Keira Fett.
Bounty hunter Keira Knightley gets backup from Mickey Rourke, Delroy Lindo, and Lucy Liu in the new trailer for Domino. This looks like a standard helping of grainy-flashy Tony Scott hokum, but Donnie Darko writer Richard Kelly’s presence is an X-factor.
Hairy Potter and the Girls of Goblet.
A French website obtains a number of new Goblet of Fire images courtesy of Premiere Magazine. Besides Harry and Ron in their shaggy late-Beatle phase, they include looks at new characters Rita Skeeter (Miranda Richardson) and Fleur Delacour (Clemence Poesy.)
Fifteen Cent Baby.
In this corner, the full trailer for Ron Howard’s Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, and Paul Giamatti. As with the last trailer, Crowe & co. still seem to be beating the Seabiscuit angle into the ground. I give, already.
Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sithterhood.
Another slew of extremely spoileriffic Episode III pics show up online, courtesy of a new calendar now available at Wal-Marts across the country. If in doubt, you probably don’t want to see some of these. Update: Another spate of grotesquely spoilerish shots here. Update 2: Yup, even more.
Apes, Aslan, & Aliens.
Courtesy of Coming Soon, Adrien and Naomi brave Skull Island in this new still from PJ’s King Kong, WETA Workshop shows off its Narnia designs in this catalog of sculpture, and Steven Spielberg unleashes the GOP’s worst nightmare — an ornery Tim Robbins brandishing a shotgun — in some recently-released images from War of the Worlds.