Is Joaquin Phoenix The New Michael Moriarty?

I realize that this isn't "film-related" per say. But dammit, this just couldn't be ignored.

If this turns out to be a hoax, then Joaquin Phoenix is just plain brilliant.

The Oscar-nominated Gladiator co-star suddenly decides to retire from acting in the closing months of last year to pursue a country music career. Fair enough (I guess?) I mean he had one Helluva singing voice in Walk the Line. 

Casey Affleck (his brother-in-law) decides to film a documentary chronicling Phoenix's "rise to the top."

Does anyone care to guess how said music is coming along? Check out the videos below.

Furthermore, has anyone exactly seen the guy lately? If you haven't, take a look to your left.

Yup, that's the same actor who graced the silver screens with films like Signs, The Village, Hotel Rwanda and Quills (as well as the ones mentioned earlier!)

And for those souls asking, "Jaime, who the Hell is Michael Moriarty?"

He's best known for playing A.D.A. Ben Stone on the first four seasons of Law & Order, and was widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation.

So what happened? Long story short, the multiple Emmy-Award winner (whose had a well-documented history of mental and substance-abuse issues) quit the popular series, moved to Canada and more or less destroyed his career.

Sound like a possible future for Phoenix?

Let's hope not.

The Watchmen Domino Effect

Now that The Watchmen dispute has been settled, all the "freaks and geeks" of the internet can breath a sigh of relief, including myself. I'm breathing said sigh due to the fact it is good for the film industry that the studios settled, not so much that  The Watchmen is coming out as scheduled. Frankly, I am not all that excited about it, but I hope it does blow my hair back.

Details of the settlement have surfaced via Variety and some of the details involve big name actors and blockbuster films:

Though it was denied by both studios, sources said that in recent weeks that WB and Fox discussed several intriguing horse-trading scenarios after WB choked on Fox’s initial ask of 10% gross and distribution in some overseas territories.

One scenario had WB moving "Terminator Salvation" away from its Memorial Day weekend opening on May 22, because it collides directly with Fox’s launch of "Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian." WB considered that, but there was a major problem. "Terminator Salvation" rights owner Halcyon has that May 22 release date stipulated in its contract. With sci-fi films "Transformers 2" and "Star Trek" due this summer, there is no better berth for "Terminator Salvation" than the four-day holiday weekend, so a moving wasn’t possible.

Another area that was explored involved Steve Carell. Fox wants to pair the actor with Tina Fey in "Date Night," a comedy that Shawn Levy will direct. Fox needs to get that film in production by the spring, because Fey has a small window before resuming her duties of writing and starring in "30 Rock."

WB was in a position to block that, because it held an option on Carell for a "Get Smart" sequel that it could have used to ruin Fox’s "Date Night" dreams. WB didn’t press that, because it has a strong relationship with Carell and it was clear that "The Office" star badly wanted to make the movie with Fey. WB agreed to push "Get Smart 2" to spring 2010, a move made before the studio settled its "Watchmen" dispute.

The Watchmen is sure to effect audiences in the theater as it did with comic book fans years ago but to think it could have delayed WB's Summer blockbuster T4 due to this Watchmen settlement amazes me. It seems Fox was succesful in delaying a possible Get Smart sequel due to WB not wanting to upset Carrell, maybe The Watchmen are much more important than I give them credit for.

I am not sure if there is really a "good guy" or "bad guy" in this situation, like today's films, there is more of a gray area. Warner Bros. and their battalion of lawyers surely knew about the rights issue but went forward anyway to capatalize on the super hero boom. Fox obviously had no intention of going forward with Watchmen any time soon but found an opportunity to stick it to WB.

I'm not sure if Fox and WB are both winners or both losers? I guess fans of The Watchmen are the winners in all of this.

TMT's Movie Moan Podcast: Opening Night

I'm proud to debut the first edition of TMT's Movie Moan podcast hosted by Jamie Williams and Phill Gee. When Jamie and I first thought about opening up a website one of the first moves we wanted to make was securing Phil Gee's Movie Moan to add to our site. I'm happy that Phil and Jamie have decided to move from the Now Live Network to Think Mcfy Think.

Jamie and Phil discuss the Fox & WB Watchmen settlement, the troubled production of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Terminator Salvation, Sherlock Holmes, Iron Man 2, Marvel, The Avengers...and more!

TMT's Movie Moan: Episode 001

Paul Blart "Malls" The Competition

Studio estimates are in and Kevin James has rode his "Segway" to the top of the weekend box office charts. "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" has pulled in an estimated $33,800,000 leaving it's competition in the dust. The antics of Kevin James scored a per theater average of $10,751 on 3,144 screens. With a budget of only 26 Million this is a big win for Sony and Kevin James. Coming in a distant second but still holding strong, is Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino". Eastwood shot his way to a solid $22,235,000 weekend for a total of $73,232,000.

Weekend Estimates (Jan. 16-18)

1 Paul Blart: Mall Cop $33,800,000
2 Gran Torino $22,235,000
3 My Bloody Valentine $21,900,000
4 Notorious (2009) $21,500,000
5 Hotel for Dogs $17,707,000
6 Bride Wars Fox $11,750,000
7 The Unborn (2009) $9,849,000
8 Defiance ParV $9,206,000
9 Marley and Me $6,325,000
10 Slumdog Millionaire $5,900,000

Hugh Jackman On Wolverine Reshoots + New Photo

We all saw the news the other day that Gavin Hood and Hugh Jackman were doing some reshoots for the upcoming Fox blockbuster 'Wolverine'. There were mixed views on this news, some thought it was the final nail in the coffin of the troubled film, others hoped that maybe it was Hood adding in some character work that Fox had initially vetoed. Anyway Hugh Jackman has contacted Harry Knowles at AICN with this E Mail and the pic above. (UHQ version at AICN)

Hey everyone -

It’s Hugh Jackman, sending this note from freezing Vancouver. I have read a lot of your online comments regarding the footage that we are currently shooting and I share your passion for the Wolverine character and the movie - I owe it all to you guys!

I wanted to reach out and let you know that due to scheduling conflicts with certain cast members and location/weather considerations, we had to wait until now to shoot a couple of scenes. Please rest assured that WOLVERINE will be badass and hopefully meet all of your expectations. I am stoked by the positive response to the teaser, which clearly reflects the tone and scope of the film. If you like that, we’ve got much more in store!

In the meantime, here’s an exclusive shot of some characters you may recognize…

Cheers,

Hugh

I think Hugh comes across as a very nice guy and I am a big Wolverine fan, however it is hard to have any faith in a movie in this genre at Fox these days. My hope is that 'Tsoti' director Hood can make this as dark as he'd envisioned, If The Dark Knight showed one thing it is that a dark and serious comic book movie can be a huge hit with the summer audience, and I am not one of those that believes every CBM should now be trying to emulate TDK but in Wolverine's case the logic applies.

Wolverine is set for release on May 1st.

500 Days of Summer Teaser Trailer

Every year an indie film catches my eye, in 2007 it was 'Juno', last year it was 'The Wrestler', and this year it is '500 Days of Summer' starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.

The other day /film debuted a couple of clips online, you can see them here, today the teaser trailer has found it's way onto the interwebs and really doesn't convey the film's selling point nearly as well. In the clips we get to see the kinda of sparky and fun dialogue exchanges between Levitt and Deschanel that look to make for one of the most entertaining central pairings for some time

However, in this teaser trailer we get to see that the film will also look stunning, BUT there is no dialogue, instead we get a cheesy voice over guy and some "dreamy" song playing in the background, I think they may be aiming for ironic but It doesn't really work.

Still I am looking forward to this, Levitt is a massive talent and Fox Searchlight have delivered with their recent indie offerings.

'500 Days of Night' is out July 24th, you can check out the trailer below.

Fuqua Eyeing Penn For Scarpa Biopic

Training Day director Antoine Fuqua has been chatting with our friends at Comingsoon about his new movie 'Brooklyn's Finest', during the interview he revealed his plans for his next project.

"It's called 'Scarpa' with Morgan Creek, and it's New York again, Brooklyn, FBI, Italian gangsters, it takes place from the '60s to the '90s, and we're talking to Sean Penn."

According to Wiki:

Gregory Scarpa Sr., (May 8, 1928 – June 4, 1994) also known as "The Grim Reaper", was a soldier for the Colombo crime family and an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was the brother of Colombo crime family mobster Salvatore Scarpa and father of Gregory Scarpa Jr.. During the 1970s and 1980s, Scarpa was the chief enforcer to the fierce Colombo leader Carmine "Junior" Persico.

Sounds like a pretty frightening individual and certainly the kind of intense and conflicted role that would attract Penn. Fuqua has had a rough road since his huge success with 'Training Day' but I think he is a good director (his 2007 action/thriller 'Shooter is criminally underappreciated by the CGI generation) with his best movies ahead of him.

Zemmicks 'A Christmas Carol' Concept Art

We have just left Christmas behind us but /film have gotten hold of two new concept art images from Disney's new annual report, for Robert Zemmeckis mo cap version of Dickens classic 'A Christmas Carol'.

I actually really liked 'The Polar Express' and feel mo cap is an exciuting new way to tell one the greatest and most timeless stories ever written. The images below are lush and rich with detail and atmosphere.

Jim Carrey is playing Scrooge as well as the 3 ghosts and Gary Oldman is playing Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and Marley in this version, due out November 6th 2009.

We're All Mad Here?

In continuation of my fixation on the Cheshire Cat (I've been doodling him everywhere like a schoolgirl in Mia Wasikowska cast as 'Alice'love lately)-- this week Kitty's Corner is dedicated to the upcoming special effect extravaganza re-imagination of Alice in Wonderland.

While I'm curious and excited to see yet another incarnation of my favorite Cat, everything I'm reading about this project is leaving me reluctant to put all my biscuits in one basket, so to say.  In general, I like Tim Burton's twist-tastic take on story making-- some of his movies rank in my all time favorites.  However, I'm starting to see the shine wear off Burton's method.  The Barenaked Ladies said 'It's all been done before' and I hate to feel like it's true.  I want to see Burton do something that blows my socks off like Nightmare Before Christmas did when I was a kid-- something so creatively clever and new that you can't help but wonder how no one thought to make it that way before.  The last few movies I've seen from him have, well, been precisely Burton-esque.  He's his own genre nowadays and is stuck in it.  For an artist, this is a dangerous trap and here's hoping he can bust himself out of it.

Aside from the danger of Burton being too Burton-ey, I'm worried about the heavy special effect-reliance that this movie is bragging about.  Sure, it has the potential to make Wonderland come alive in previously unforseen (and un-attainable) ways-- taking the audience really and truly through the looking glass as they've only been in their imaginations thus far.  It also has the potential to steal energy, money, and attention that could have been spent on making the script and acting really spectacular.  We've seen a lot of movies in this super-visual power era fall victim to pretty sights and crappy scripts.  Alice promises to be a mish-mash of animation, motion capture, and CGI-- all along with presentation in 3D.  It will inevitably be either perfectly amazing or painfully overwhelming. 

You know I'm a sucker for a Cat with tattoos-- American McGee's take on the Cheshire CatMy third concern for this little (by little I mean huge-budget) film is the re-use of burton's go-to actors-- Johnny Depp and more recently Helena Bonham Carter.  Believe me, I loves me some Johnny and Helena. They're good... when they're good.  But there comes a point when even a capable actor can't shed the traces of all the roles he or she has played before-- and we get Willy Wonka the Mad Hatter.  I do honestly think that Johnny Depp is capable of bringing the Mad Hatter to new levels.  I'm just not convinced that it will happen in this project.  Too many factors are present that could push this whole production into Already-Been-Done-derland.  

That said, the choice to bring a relatively unknown actress into the role of Alice sooths some of my concerns.  At least a fresh face will be taking us through Wonderland-- even if all the wonderful characters we meet are old news. A really stunning performance by Mia Wasikowska could pull this whole thing together- even if my other possible issues do turn out to be disappointing realities. 

And, obviously, if they screw up the Cheshire Cat I'll never forgive the lot of 'em.  I am hoping for a deliciously dark incarnation ala American McGee's Alice video game.  I suppose if this Burton-attempt does fizzle, there are always rumors of a Marilyn Manson take on the whole idea-- and that is certainly guaranteed to be anything but 'overdone.'

Roland Emmerich Adapting Asimov's 'Foundation' Trilogy

In news that is sure to depress hardcore Sci Fi fans, Variety have revealed that Columbia have won the rights to the legendary sci fi authors Foundation trilogy and have set German helmer Emmerich to direct. Columbia beat out Warner Brothers and Fox for the rights to the sci fi tale. Had Warners won Alexy Proyas would have been directing.

Here is the Wiki run down on the plot:

The premise of the series is that mathematician Hari Seldon spent his life developing a branch of mathematics known as psychohistory, a concept devised by Asimov and his editor John W. Campbell. Using the law of mass action, it can predict the future, but only on a large scale; it is error-prone on a small scale. It works on the principle that the behaviour of a mass of people is predictable if the quantity of this mass is very large (equal to the population of the galaxy which has a population of around a quadrillion). The larger the mass, the more predictable is the future.

Using these techniques, Seldon foresees the fall of the Galactic Empire, which encompasses the entire Milky Way, and a dark age lasting thirty thousand years before a second great empire arises. To shorten the period of barbarism, he creates two Foundations, small, secluded havens of all human knowledge, on opposite ends of the galaxy. The focus of the trilogy is on the Foundation of the planet Terminus. The people living there are working on an all-encompassing Encyclopedia, and are unaware of Seldon's real intentions (for if they were, the variables would become too uncontrolled). The Encyclopedia serves to preserve knowledge of the physical sciences after the collapse. The Foundation's location is chosen so that it acts as the focal point for the next empire in another thousand years (rather than the projected thirty thousand).

Personally I don't think it sounds particularly interesting anyway but hardcore fans will no doubt be in dismay at this work landing in the hands of a director not known for subtlety or depth, Emmerich's credits don't suggest the guile required to pull off complex sci fi and while I am not sure Asimov fans have ever truly been happy with any of the adaptions of his work, Blade Runner included, this is by far their darkest day.