The new trailer for Stephen Zaillan’s star-studded take on All the King’s Men premieres online. I remain conflicted — James Gandolfini looks just about dead-on as Tiny Duffy (and should be fun to watch as the anti-Tony Soprano), and, tho’s she not really in this clip, I love Patricia Clarkson as Sadie. But Jude Law and Sean Penn still feel wrong, wrong, wrong to me (particularly when Penn/Stark’s on the stump.) And I still kinda hate the blatantly Oscar-bait-ish ad campaign on display here, what with the distracting orchestral sweep and all the actorly kudos. But, we’ll see…I’ll definitely be in the theater day one.
At the Hands of Texans Unknown.
“When you have a deep enough infection and you just open it up a little bit and let air get to it to heal over, it will come back. It will keep coming back until you open it up and you let it heal from the inside out.” The city of Waco, Texas attempts to come to terms with its local history of lynching.
Ground Zero Hour.
“With today’s agreement, we can now move forward with rebuilding the World Trade Center.” After months of wrangling, developer Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority strike a deal on the planned “Freedom Tower” at the WTC site. Said Pataki: ““This is the last stumbling block to putting shovels in the ground.” Construction on the 1776-foot Freedom Tower is set to be completed by 2012.
Last Man Standing.
The long-stalled film version of Richard Matheson’s I am Legend (or third version, if you want to count Last Man on Earth and Charlton Heston’s The Omega Man) moves forward with Will Smith in the lead and Constantine‘s Francis Lawrence at the helm. Hmmm. Will Smith can be a good actor at times, but the fact that hackmeister Akiva Goldsman penned the script suggests to me that this’ll be a forgettable adaptation.
Gouge Away.
Feeling the heat from his nose-diving poll numbers (and spurred by GOP congressional leaders’ desperate pleas for political cover), Dubya announces a probe into high oil prices (and sings the praises of ethanol like it was a week before the Iowa primary.) Ok, but if our oilman–president (who, to be fair, failed at both callings) really wants to get the bottom of the situation, it’d be nice if he’d look into not only oil company price-gouging but also exactly what went on at Cheney’s infamous Energy Task Force meetings…
The KBR Relocation Authority.
I’m a bit late on this one: In an ugly confluence of several of this administration’s shady dealings, CheneyCo.’s KBR/Halliburton — its attempts at continued war profiteering faltering — recently won a $385 million contract to build immigrant detention centers for the Dept. of Homeland Security. “The contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs.” Um, new programs? (By way of Supercres.)
White House Snow Job.
So it’s looking increasingly likely that Tony Snow of FOX News will replace Scott McClellan as White House press secretary. Good of ’em to eliminate the middleman — Why filter the ridiculous right-wing spin through your in-pocket cable news network, when you can just spout the garbage directly from the Brady Room of the West Wing? Update: Snow takes the job.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
“This is certainly not the first time that politics has trumped science at the FDA. Another recent example: the agency’s decision to block over-the-counter availability for emergency contraceptives in the face of overwhelming evidence that the treatment is safe and effective…From my standpoint as a doctor, the question is this: What do you do when federal agencies become so politicized that their recommendations can’t necessarily be trusted?” In Slate, pediatrician Sydney Spiesel begins to doubt the FDA’s credibility these days, particularly after their recent and apparently blatantly political decision against medicinal marijuana. “Marijuana as a medicine — whatever its risk and benefits are eventually determined to be — may turn out to be much less important than the question of whether we can count on agencies like the FDA to be honest in their dealings.”
Ocean’s Hoo-ah / Shadow in the East.
In casting news, Al Pacino joins Ellen Barkin and the usual suspects in Stephen Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Thirteen, where he’ll play “Willie Banks, the owner of a high-profile casino and hotel in Las Vegas.” And, fresh from A History of Violence, Viggo Mortensen re-ups with David Cronenberg for Eastern Promises, a project penned by Dirty Pretty Things‘ Steve Knight.
My Dogs Wear My Collars, Sir.
As you can see, Berkeley has entered his Elizabethan period in order to recuperate from a foot injury (bloody toe, dislocated nail) suffered over the weekend. Fortunately, he should only have to wear the collar for a few days, while the antibiotics work their mojo.