I must visit Oulu, Finland one day; it seems like the craziest place on earth. Home to not only the World Air Guitar Championship but also the Shouting Men's Choir, which is exactly what it sounds like: 30 men, shouting in harmony. Australian news source, The Age, has afeature story on the documentary about this unusual musical act. The documentary was chosen to appear at the Sundance film festival earlier this year.
WOKR TVreports that John Malkovich has landed a starring role in the next Harry Potter movie, playing evil Lord Voldemort. The actor's daughters, Amandine and Lowrie are huge fans of the fantasy franchise and convinced him to appear in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire.
FilmJerk.com has an intersting article on possible characters and casting choices for the Elektra movie being spun off from Daredevil. Ben Affleck may have a small supporting role but has said he has no interest in playing Daredevil again. I don't think anyone was petitioning for another Daredevil movie to be made.
I still would have preferred to see Guy Pearce in the Matt Murdock/Daredevil role, though with his recent choice in roles I'm not as convinced as I once was. After great performances in Memento and Count of Monte Cristo, he appeared in The Time Machine, The Hard Word and Til Human Voices Wake Us, all of which received mixed reviews.
His next movie, Two Brothers, looks to be a Disney-esque feel-good story about man and nature. I've only read a short synopsis and seen the teaser trailer so it's hard to say for certain at this point what the film is going to be like. It is being directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, who also directed The Bear, so that gives me some hope that it will be a watchable film.
Kenneth Branagh, veteran of several Shakespeare film adaptations, has been picked to join Tom Cruise, Carrie-Ann Moss and Ving Rhames in Mission: Impossible 3 which is slated for a 2005 release. Other sources indicate that Lost in Translation star Scarlett Johansson has also joined the cast and will portray an ally of Cruise's Ethan Hunt character.
Donnie Darko, which co-stars Drew Barrymore as well as Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, created a cult following after its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001. Now the director's cut of the film will screen at the Seattle International Film Festival which runs from May 20th to June 13th.
ZDNet and other news sources are reporting that Netflix is planning to sending movies directly to consumers' homes via the Web as early as 2005. The CEO of Netflix was quoted as saying he expects "moderate" consumer interest in downloads initially because most homes don't have Internet-connected television sets and because "DVD by mail works so well." They are not looking at allowing movie downloads but are possibly going to use streaming to reach set-top boxes like TiVo. TiVo CEO Mike Ramsey serves on the Netflix board.
Michael Moore's new film, "Fahrenheit 911," has been selected by the Cannes Film Festival to premiere there in competition next month. Farenheit 911 is a documentary that will trace why the U.S. has become a target for hatred and terrorism. It will also attempt to explain alleged dealings between two generations of the Bush and bin Laden clans that led to George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden becoming mortal enemies.
I find it hard to be of one opinion about Michael Moore. On one hand, he does make interesting films (Canadian Bacon is one of my all-time faves) but on the other hand his political gesturing often comes across as just that -- gesturing. What he says and does often conflicts with the values he tries to promote. There are a number of anti-Moore sites around the net and they have a lot of food for thought. You can start at MooreExposed.com, which has links to some of the other sites.
According to a report on the TrekWeb fan site, Star Trek producer Rick Berman says that he is now developing an eleventh Trek movie. Unwilling to offer many details, Berman cryptically describes the new project as "a prequel". This could mean it may involve the cast of characters from the current series - Enterprise or it could even go further back and show us the beginnings of Starfleet and the Federation.
Franciscan friars are petitioning Mel Gibson to make his next film about their founder, Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Francis (1182-1226) is the patron saint of the environment and animals. At this point it is unlikely the Franciscans will be successful as Gibson continues to hint that his next project may be a film about the rebellion of the Jewish Maccabees against their Greek overlord in 165 B.C.
Wal-Mart is selling the world's first DVD player that can seamlessly skip over violence, swearing, nudity and other movie content that some viewers find offensive. The $79 unit features technology by ClearPlay and is manufactured by Thomson Inc. under its RCA brand. You can read more about this DVD player on the MSNBC website.
Fans of the 1980s TV series Knight Rider will be pleased to hear that it is going to be made into a movie - with David Hasselhoff in a starring role. Hasselhoff will still play the original role of Michael Knight as well as his role as producer, but he won't be driving supercar K.I.T.T. Instead, Hasselhoff will take a 'mentor' style role, as Micheal Knight's son takes over the vigilante business.
Former U.S. counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke has had the film rights to his book, "Against All Enemies", purchased by Sony Pictures. "Against All Enemies" charges the Bush administration with paying more attention to Iraq than the increasing threat of al-Qaida. Some of the same producers who worked on the 1976 Watergate drama "All the President's Men", will produce the Clarke movie.
According to Reuters, a director has finally been chosen for the Fantastic Four project. Tim Story, who previously directed 2002 low-budget hit "Barbershop" for MGM, will direct the film for the Marvel/Twentieth Century Fox team.
CTV has announced the are making a movie-of-the-week about the legendary Canadian daredevil band of men's downhill skiers know as the Crazy Canucks.
Based on the book White Circus by Ken Read, one of the Crazy Canucks, the $4-million-plus film takes place entirely in European locales where the Canadian Men's Alpine Team became famous in the mid-1970s on the World Cup Downhill circuit.
There are a number of rumours buzzing around that both singer Pink and actress Renee Zellwegger have been signed to play Janis Joplin in seperate projects.
Pink apparently impressed producers at her audition by mimicking the singer's gravelly vocal style at a screen test. The rumoured storyline of the Pink film is that she will play the star from the age of 19, when she first arrived in California, to the age of 27, when she died of a drugs overdose.
Mafia boss Vito Corleone, as played by Marlon Brando in The Godfather, has been named the greatest movie character of all time by US film critics. Sixteen film experts voted for the most memorable characters in cinema for US magazine Premiere. Read the BBC News article for more.
I just wanted to apologize for my recent absence in this space. With Easter weekend, the completion of my course, work and other personal matters I have been completely overwhelmed this past week or two. I will be back to posting regular news stories later this week. Thanks for reading and check back often.
A number of sources, including MSNBC are circulating a story about Guy Ritchie scouting out historic sites in Israel for a movie he wants to make. It's unclear if he wants to make a documentary or a drama filled with religious references.
At this point it is just rampant speculation and it is possible that he is just scouting locations for a video shoot with wife Madonna. Madonna recently announced her plan to give concerts at various sites in Israel, including the historic King Solomon's mine.