“The Great Debaters” is coming out on the shelves May 13^th!!!

I have a copy to giveaway!!! Please post your name; I will draw the winner Wednesday. You don’t want to miss this movie - it is inspirational to the core.

“The Great Debaters” is a wonderful and provoking film written beautifully by Robert Eisele and directed very tightly by Denzel Washington who plays the lead role.

This film sets forth the traditional values and dignity the American spirit needs, once again. Even though it’s a historical story, it has everything to do with society today.

Eisele wrote the spirit of this film and Washington brought it to life with some very young and talented actors (Nate Parker, Jurnee Smollett, Denzel Whitaker.)

Forest Whitaker also stars making this the first film were two black Oscar winners star in the same movie.

As a side note:  I had a chance to interview Robert Eisele about writing the script for “Debaters” and working with Washington.  Eisele spoke very highly of Washington’s ability to take the character to another depth, something you can only understand by watching him work on the set.

I must acknowlege Oprah Windrey for producing this film!!!

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Screenhead reported that Natalie Portman was cast as the lead in adaptation of Emily Bronte’s classic novel, “Wuthering Heights.”

However, reportedly Portman has left the production per the Hollywood Reporter.  This leaves some random financial problems and other pre-production woes. 

No word yet on who will replace Portman.

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Variety’s article about Karen Allen’s return to “Indiana Jones” franchise by David S. Cohen is quite charming, warm and entertaining. It’s hard to believe that 19 years has gone by since the last “Indiana Jones” movie.  Karen Allen was in the first, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” creating a Tracy-Hepburn feel to the serial genre of Lucas and Spielberg.  At the time, no one was aware of the huge impact of the film, looking back, its quite magical.

With the May 22nd opening of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” I recommend reading this article to reflect on the formative years of “Indiana” and the new and more wise renewal of “Indiana” today.

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According to Hollywood Reporter, Ron Perlman is set to play the bad guy in a hybrid martial arts movie “Bunraku,” which Guy Moshe is directing from his own script.

Japanese actors Gackt and Shun Sugata also have been cast in the international-flavored movie, which features Josh Hartnett, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson, Scottish actor Kevin McKidd and Spanish actor Jordi Molla. Now, that is a mixure!

The film is set in a hyperstylized universe a la “Sin City” and draws from a mixed bag of genres, including puppets, origami, comic books, video games and German expressionism. It follows a drifter (Hartnett) who teams with a samurai (Gackt) to take on an Eastern European gang lord, played by Perlman (”Hellboy”).

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Okay, Transformers 2, that makes sense. Iron Man 2 does as well. But Donnie Darko 2?!?

For those who haven’t seen it, Donnie Darko is a strange little indie film, written and directed by newcomer Richard Kelly, and starring Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal. It was a mix of sci-fi and teen drama, about a teenager who is visited by a giant rabbit-creature who guides him out of his house before a jet crashes into it. It didn’t particularly do well in theatres, but it became quite the success story on DVD, making it a cult classic. And for some reason, the powers that be see fit to make a sequel.

Screen Daily reported that S. Darko is already in production. It follows Donnie’s younger sister, Samantha (played by Daviegh Chase in both films), 7 years after the events of the first film. On a road trip to LA she starts having bizarre visions.

It doesn’t help that the sequel is being directed by Chris Fisher, whose three films, Nightstalker, Dirty, and Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders, were neither critical nor commercial successes. In fact, they were quite the opposite.

Richard Kelly is reported to have no participation in the film, and I can understand why. Donnie Darko was a nice little self-enclosed film about coming to terms with one’s place in life, and death. It’s not the kind of film that warrents more. Indeed, Kelly went on to make a director’s cut of the film, which to me felt inferior to the original, adding unnecessary elements to the enigmatic tale. So in light of that, here’s a few other pointless sequels we’ree probably be hearing about shortly:

No Country for Hit Men- If you thought No Country for Old Men was about the omnipresence of violence in human society, as a force that is beyond our control or comprehension, think again. Sherrif Bell is back on the job, for one last case. Chigurrh is back, and this time Bell’s gonna settle the score.

There Will Be No More Blood- A moving melodrama about Daniel Plainview’s attempt to deal with his problems, and try to get through each day without killing someone.

Control 2: The Eternal- If you thought the biopic of Ian Curtis ended with his suicide, think again. Raised from the dead, Curtis infiltrates the seedy world of New Wave by posing as New Order’s roadie, in an attempt to save the world from drugs and hair-spray. The villain is played by Martin Kemp.

United 94- The terrorists are back. But this time, The Rock is ready for them….

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The official poster from TRUMBO is here.  I am so excited about this movie.

It’s a remarkable story of Dalton Trumbo’s journey from Hollywood royalty, to blacklisted writer to Academy Award winner.  Trumbo is one of my favorite screenwriters of the Golden Era of Hollywood, ROMAN HOLIDAY is one of my favorites.

The film focuses on the writer’s own indelible words, the film features performances of some of his extraordinary letters, clips from his films and, archival and contemporary interviews with those who knew him best. Forced to write underground, letter writing became the chief repository of Trumbo’s extraordinary talents and they serve as a wonderfully entertaining testament to his boundless intellect, acerbic humor, and staggering resilience.

TRUMBO is directed by Peter Askin and is based on the play Trumbo by Christopher Trumbo. The film includes the all-star cast of Joan Allen, Brian Dennehy, Michael Douglas, Paul Giamatti, Nathan Lane, Josh Lucas, Liam Neeson, David Strathairn, and Donald Sutherland.

Here is a list of films written by Trumbo:  A MAN TO REMEMBER (voted one of the ten best films of 1938); KITTY FOYLE (ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION); A GUY NAMED JOE (BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE AWARD); THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO (BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE AWARD); TENDER COMRADE, and OUR VINES HAVE TENDER GRAPES (BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE AWARD).The film is opening June 27th!

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Samuel L. Jackson thriller “Unthinkable” with Gregor Jordan (”The Informers”) attached to direct is set for production Sept. 2 in Michigan.

The film’s plot focuses on a major threat to the United States when the locations of three nuclear devices are shrouded in secrecy by a single terrorist. With only two days before they are deployed, a black-ops interrogator and a female FBI agent have to decide how far they will go to find them.

Jordan recently completed production on “The Informers,” starring Kim Basinger, Billy Bob Thornton, Winona Ryder and Mickey Rourke. That film will be released later this year.

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Parker Posey (”Superman Returns”) and Johnny Knoxville (”The Dukes of Hazzard”) are set to star in John Waters’ Christmas film “Fruitcake.”

The story sounds a bit farfetched or over the top. 

Reported by the Hollywood Reporter, the plot is officially under wraps but is said to center on the title character, a boy named after his favorite dessert. He runs away from home during the holidays after he and his parents are caught shoplifting meat, and then meets up with a runaway girl raised by two gay men and searching for her birth mother.

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The Cannes Film Festival will pay tribute to Warner Bros.’ 85th anniversary by bowing Richard Schickel’s PBS documentary “You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story” and unspooling a Warner film every night under the Cannes Classics section. This is a wonderful way to acknowledge the pioneers of film. Congratulations Warner Bros.

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Here is the official poster for BANGKOK DANGEROUS, an adrenaline-powered thriller starring Nicholas Cage as an anonymous assassin who takes an unexpected turn when he travels to Thailand to complete a series of contract killings.

Directors Oxide Pang and Danny Pang (The Eye) paint an explosive picture of the Bangkok underworld, illuminated with neon and saturated in violence.  Based on the Pang Brothers’ wildly popular Hong Kong action film of the same name BANGKOK DANGEROUS is written by Jason Richman.

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