Holy Pile Of Remakes Batman!

1) Since Johnny Depp has been sidelined by the Disney shutdown of the Lone Ranger remake he was going to make with Gore Verbinski, he has now agreed to star in a remake of the '30s staple The Thin Man, played over a series of films by William Powell and Myrna Loy, not to mention their cute and talented dog Asta. Those films drip with sophistication and crisp, staccato dialogue. The only two relatively modern films I can think of that use similar rhythms, 1992's Capraesque Hero and 1994's Hudsucker Proxy, both tanked at the box office. So look for Depp and his latest Pirates helmer Rob Marshall to cast either Angelina Jolie or Penelope Cruz and call this The Tourist 2.

2) The Footloose remake, out October 14, has the feel of a lab experiment, similar to the 1998 Gus Van Sant Psycho. Everything looks and feels the same, down to newcomers Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough as Ren and Ariel, and Dennis Quaid as Reverend Moore. Director Craig Brewer of Hustle and Flow fame has apparently given things a rougher, hip-hoppy edge. I suppose I don't mind a little Step Up chaser with my Footloose, as long as writer-director Brewer and original co-writer Dean Pitchford jettison the 1984 film's one stupid scene: Ariel destroying her loutish boyfriend's truck AFTER riling him up previously, just so Ren can have his heroically mushy moment that gets the story moving.

3) But I suppose I would rather have something overly familiar, rather than enduring the wholesale changes of the Dirty Dancing remake in 2013, which will feature Johnny Castle (Julianne Hough's brother Derek channelling his inner Patrick) recieving a visit from a girl claiming to be his daughter. I can watch that on Maury Povich at least three times a week for free! But if they give Mr. Hough a dancer-actress that can keep up with him, and beef up his role so he doesn't have to play a professional dancer who just dances kind of OK (which Patrick Swayze claimed was his major issue with the original, as per his autobiography Time of My Life), maybe director Kenny Ortega, who choreographed the original, can make it come out all right. And then it would be nice if he were able to write and direct something entirely original.

MTMG

Huey Lewis And The News - Heart And Soul

25 years ago tonight I was rocking out to these guys at Edmonton's then Northlands Coliseum. You can't go back, but you can sure have fun remembering!

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Manly Leo

http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/why-does-leo-dicaprio-in-j-edgar-look-like-a-vampire

I just can't believe these guys. Leonardo DiCaprio's finally getting a chance to play a real-life, deeply conflicted individual, and they're comparing him to a vampire? Sorry folks, I don't buy it.
This is what a cocktail of sleepless nights, determination, and a truly tormented soul should look like. Leo started down this road seven years ago in The Aviator, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what kind of performance he is able to achieve under Clint Eastwood's freeing yet firmly gentle direction. I will be there at the November 9 opening. And let's let Taylor Lautner deal with baby fat and teenybopper vampire roles till he is 50!

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