Screenhead

…Patrick Lussier.

Um…yay?

Seriously, this isn’t exactly a terrible development.  Granted, it’s not exactly a GREAT development either, but it’s far from terrible.

See, Patrick Lussier directed the 3-D remake of My Bloody Valentine, which came out not too long ago and we reviewed here.  He certainly didn’t screw that up; not that it turned out to be anything awe-inspiringly great or anything, but he definitely didn’t botch the job nearly as bad as he could have.  In fact, he actually managed to turn out a fairly watchable piece.  I liked it, anyway.

So the thought of handing over what is pretty much a diseased franchise anyway, thanks to that schmuck Rob Zombie, to a reasonably competent director actually gives me a hopeful feeling way down in the cockles.  It’s not the kind of thing I feel very often, but it’s become an almost giddy possibility that, indeed, Halloween 3 3-D MAY NOT SUCK.

Wow.

I never thought I’d see myself type THAT.

This one made me cough up a perfectly good bottle of Dew, folks.  ALL over my keyboard. It was vile.

See, I was cruising the news sites, looking for something interesting to talk about.  What do I find?  I find that none other than Guy Ritchie has been detailed to handle directing duties for the upcoming Lobo movie.

First, I’m amazed, because I never thought anyone would try and bring The Main Man into things.  If there was ever a comic book movie I wanted quite so badly as a Venom / Carnage, Deadpool or Transmetropolitan movie, it was clearly Lobo.  Better yet, shooting’s going to start early next year by last report.

Okay, sure…so putting Guy Ritchie in charge pretty much ensures that it’s going to turn into Lock Stock and Two Fraggin’ Barrels O’ Fun, but it’s Lobo.  How bad can it be with The Main Man on the scene?  You know you can’t go anywhere with the Last Czarnian without lots of things blowing up and some choice one-liners.  Even with Guy Ritchie it can’t be too highbrow.

I’ll take bets right now–two to one Ron Perlman gets an offer to play Lobo.

Heath Ledger developed an idea to direct a video for the song ‘King Rat’.  Heath Ledger’s vision, brave and unapologetic in its nature, brings together his love of bold and original music with his impassioned stance against the illegal commercial whale hunts taking place of the coast of Australia each year.

The video was fully conceived down to the last detail by Heath, but unfinished when Heath passed away in January of 2008. In the interest of fully realizing Heath’s final work as a visual artist, THE MASSES (a film and music company which Heath was a partner) finished the video in his honor and memory.

Make sure you watch the video until the end credits.

Spike Jonze who is wrapping up work on Where The Wild Things Are, nabbed the feature rights to Shane Jones’ debut novel “Light Boxes” with Ray Tintori assigned to direct.

“Light Boxes,” published earlier this year by Genius Press, is centered around a mysterious town that endures a deadly 1,000-day winter.

Tintori’s directed a number of music videos plus short films Jettison Your Loved Ones and Death to the Tinman.

You might wonder why I’m tackling such an “older” film today–after all, A Simple Plan was released back in the dim dark days of 1998.  A long time ago by anyone’s reckoning–I graduated from high school that year.  But there are reasons, rest assured.  One, it just got a rerelease just a couple weeks ago.  Two, its director, Sam Raimi, has recently been announced to take the director’s chair for the World of Warcraft movie, so some mention is due.  Three, this movie’s too good not to, and there’s a fair chance a lot of you haven’t seen it.

In A Simple Plan, three guys out in the woods one day find a downed aircraft quite by accident.  They go in to investigate and find a pilot, long dead at the stick, and a duffel bag with just shy of four and a half million dollars in it.  The three come to an agreement–keep the money and leave the plane behind.  What follows as a result of that decision is a series of horrific events that’ll change their lives forever.

If you enjoy anything about this masterful suspense / thriller, based on the book by Scott Smith, enjoy the fact that this sucker BUILDS suspense like an absolute master.  You’d never imagine that Sam “Evil Dead” Raimi had the subtlety for this kind of thing, but once you see A Simple Plan, it will be clear as daylight that he’s more than up to the task.   There’s a wonderful series of escalations and point / counterpoint going on here that shows what happens when people get greedy, or just plain old get needy.  The human capacity for deceit is in full bloom here, and it makes for incredible movie watching.  Watching the relationships interplay, not just within the three who found the money, but also from without, makes a interweaving tapestry of distrust, deceit and sheer thrills that just blows me away.

Even better are the actors he’s got handling the job.  I’m a little ambivalent about Billy Bob Thornton even in the best of times, but there’s no denying that he’s in fine form in this one.  This could be the best thing I’ve ever seen

It’s like I said–it’s that escalation that really makes this movie absolutely amazing to watch.  Every minute that passes, things only get more involved and steadily worse.  It doesn’t just shoot up to a plateau and stay there–it climbs, steadily, until its inevitable conclusion.

By the end, an incredible web of suspicion and paranoia has been built, and when it reaches its inexorable end, it’s downright amazing.  Okay, sure–it’s not all sunshine and lollipops here.  There’s a good few slow moments in here, a little drama between the foursome, but this really shouldn’t distract overmuch from the sheer amount of quality they’ll bring to bear here.

One thing is clear, Sam Raimi is some kind of insane freaky genius.  The guy knows what he’s doing.  This bodes incredibly well for the upcoming World of Warcraft movie, and there’s every reason to catch A Simple Plan, whether for the first time or the tenth.  The Screenhead Ten Scale responds with appropriate love, giving A Simple Plan nine out of ten for being a high-quality thriller with only a few rough edges.

For those of you who follow the comments sections of the various pieces here on Screenhead–and if you don’t, you really ought to; some great stuff in there–I was recently engaged in a discussion with my able colleague Kenna McHugh about originality in filmmaking.  I took the stance that you don’t see much of it any more because it just doesn’t sell, whilst she responded that regardless of the numbers, we need to see more of it.

And now, I’m happy to report that there IS some still originality out there, as evidenced by the existence of the movie Leatherheads.  I’ve been meaning to try this one for some time, folks, so it’s good to get it in.

Anyway, this is about professional football, back in an era when playing professional football was almost unthinkable.  It was woefully underfunded, with teams folding on a weekly basis, games limited to one ball that was occasionally stolen, and players who demanded bonuses of five whole dollars upon proving they lost a tooth in play.  One such struggling team, the Duluth Bulldogs, turns to a war hero football player to inject some necessary publicity into the whole industry.  But when a sharp-witted young reporter digs up the truth about the war hero’s past–the war hero may not be as heroic as was projected–the Duluth Bulldogs’ chance to recover may not be as present as it once was.

For those of you who remember George Clooney, who not only serves as the director of Leatherheads but also its lead actor, from his fantastic performance in O Brother Where Art Thou? (which, for the sake of full disclosure, is on my top five all time favorite movies list), you will be not at all disappointed by his performance in Leathernecks.  Depression-era America agrees with Clooney, for some reason, because he’s as good as a slick football player turned promoter as he is as a slick convict turned adventurer.  Okay, so maybe the difference between Dodge Connelly and Ulysses Everett McGill isn’t exactly a long shot, but still, Clooney knows it well, and Clooney DOES it well.

The movie itself, meanwhile, is a rollicking comedy of epic proportions, even if it tries too hard on occasion.  Frankly, Renee Zellweger would not have been my first choice for a romantic female lead set in the twenties (I personally would’ve checked if Laura San Giacomo was available), and the whole comic aspect of things occasionally felt a bit forced.

Occasionally, of course–there are still plenty of laughs and surprises in this one, and there’s never anything wrong with that.  Clooney’s aforementioned skill will serve him well.  I especially love the soundtrack–this is all that great old big band / early jazz music that’s so much fun to hear.  There are even some (semi-) authentic football terms out there–a bit of research revealed that there IS such a thing as a “crusty bob”, but it’s not the same thing as what’s described in the movie.

Basically, Leatherheads is great fun, in its way, with plenty of laughs and a little extra drama for spice.  It’s also not like anything we’ve seen recently, either.   It’s an easy seven out of ten on the Screenhead ten scale, and worth every bit of your time.

The Last Airbender trailer is a true teaser without any details.  I want to know more before I decide if M. Night Shamalayan does the popular story justice.  What do you think?

Ben Stiller is set to direct Help Me Spread Goodness, a drama with comic insinuation.

The story concerns a Chicago banker who is swindled in a Nigerian Internet scam.  

Although the movie is bent on the entertainment side of the situation, it gets a little serious on current issues in Nigeria and other African countries, which hopefully will compel audiences to see the need for social change.

The Merry Gentleman tells the story of Kate Frazier, a young woman running away from a troubled marriage in the hope to find anonymity with a new home and a new job in Chicago. When Kate meets Frank Logan, the two discover unexpected satisfaction in their mutual shared silence.  Haunted by the troubling choices he has made, Frank finds a kindred spirit in the younger Kate, and, for a moment, the two seem destined to redeem and remake each other.  As the holidays and New Year pass against an urban landscape that seems both breathtakingly beautiful and starkly quiet, Kate and Frank’s friendship becomes one of necessity and survival. But, neither lonely soul can escape the lives they have left behind. As events unfold and the painful truth slowly emerges, Frank is forced to face the man he truly is, while Kate struggles to become the woman she needs to be.

The film marks the directorial debut of Michael Keaton who stars alongside Kelly Macdonald, Tom Bastounes, and Bobby Canavale. The Merry Gentleman is a heady mix of suspense, gentle romance and quiet humor blending a hopeful spirit with a surprisingly dark heart. I am excited to see Keaton directing and playing such a complex character.  The movie opens in theaters May 1, 2009.

Craig Brewer has signed a development deal with New Regency to write and direct Mother Trucker derived from a “Maxim” article written by Steven Russell.

Mother Trucker is gauged to be an updated take on Smokey and the Bandit, the classic 1977 Burt Reynolds-Jackie Gleason chase movie that generated two sequels. 

Trucker is an action comedy concerning a man who escapes from jail and steels an 18-wheeler. He drives across the South to see his dying mother with police hot on his trail.