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Reynolds Goes Green, But Will There Be a New Big Blue?

Late this week Interweb chatter in the geekverse spiked twice. First over the release of the San Diego Comic Con schedule for later this month. It revealed that, due to conference-hall scheduling, James Cameron-worshiping fanboys drooling for a peek at some Avatar footage might have to push and shove in line with rabid Twihards squealing for a New Moon presentation and a possible Bobby Pattinson appearance. Oh, the indignation! Oh, the humanity! Oh, the deadly spread of cooties!

The second web-shaking news was of more interest to the general movie-going public. There had been a month of speculation that Hangover-hot Bradley Cooper was a likely shoo-in to play Hal Jordan in the film adaptation of DC Comic’s Green Lantern. (To be directed by Martin Campbell of the Zorro films, Goldeneye, and Casino Royale.) But then came news this past week that in fact three actors were in contention to wear the Lantern’s Power Ring (not to be confused with Sauron’s Ring of Power—totally different geek rings): Cooper, Ryan Reynolds, and Justin Timberlake.

And on Friday Warner Brothers announced that instead of the presumed Cooper it would be Reynolds playing the hot-shot test pilot-turned-intergalactic cop in the live-action superhero flick. This comes after the word in May that Marvel Films would develop a Deadpool spin-off film from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, with Reynolds reprising his role as the wisecracking, fourth-wall-breaking “merc with a mouth.” Having played Marvel vampire hunter Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity, and once on tap to play DC’s Flash (that project is currently stalled out), Reynolds could now become the first actor ever to play heroes for both Marvel and their long-time rival DC.

So, fresh off the success of The Proposal, Reynolds is now being expected to carry two budding superhero franchises? I’ve long been on record as an unabashed Reynolds fan, so I have no problem with him doing either or both masked franchises. And despite lumping them together as “superhero movies,” these are very different characters and stories. Wade Wilson/Deadpool is a sarcastic, manic, pop-culture spouting jester with big guns and swords, whose story will no doubt revolve around down-and-dirty semi-criminal work.

Hal Jordan/Green Lantern is one of the classic DC characters—somewhat temperamental and headstrong (it's that nature that makes him such a galactically renown wielder of the ring, which amplifies willpower), but overall a noble heroic companion to Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. (Except for that one time when he went insane and tried to destroy the Earth and then died. But he got better.) And hopefully the Lantern film will primarily be an outer-space action tale.

My only hope is that the no-doubt grueling, time-consuming task of appearing in simultaneous big-budget, big-effects, action movies doesn’t severely limit Reynolds’ ability to keep doing the occasionally comedies or rom-coms where he's so good. After all, look what happened to Christian Bale: he becomes both Batman and John Connor and suddenly you just never see him in lighthearted, charming romantic comedy roles anymore… like American Psycho or The Machinist.

And follow over the jump for the confused current state of the Superman film franchise.

What Time Is It? It's Freeze Frame Time

Today I've chosen three great movies for our weekly Freeze Frame challenge, but I didn't pick the most obvious stills from any of them -- you've gotta work for that homemade trophy, especially since last Friday's game was pretty darn easy.

So here we go... put your thinking caps on and take a look at these images for your chance at fame (kind of), fortune (OK, not really) and glory (definitely!):

Movie #1

Movie #2

Movie #3

Once you've got a guess for each of the above films, tell us what you think they are in the comments link right below this post, and then check back on Monday to see who won.  As always, good luck!

Thursday Threes: The Answer

The Summer Domination continues! How long HAS it been since anyone other than Donna, Millar74, Jason or Joe Allen won a Threes quiz? June 10th! That's a full month!

It's official, you guys are becoming the Yankees.

Donna continued her Threes roll this time, followed by ejb in second and, of course, Millar74 in third place. (Naturally Jason was in fourth. Maybe Joe Allen is on vacation.) I think that's your fourth Threes medal, right, Donna? One of these days I'll get around to updating the Threes Winners spreadsheet and then we can start a running winners' tally board. I think Joe might still be ahead overall with five wins, but I'd need to double check.

Meanwhile, it was a fun quiz this time around--the kick of these Threes trivia questions is to get you guys to say "OMG! I forgot that actor was in that film!" or "No way! He/she was in that one?"

So what actor was in Class, Speed, and Star Trek Generations? Just heybattaheybattaheybatta suhwiiiingbatta at the Inviso-Text!

Yes of course it was Alan Ruck, aka Cameron Frye--you didn't really think I'd give you Ferris Beuller's Day Off as a clue, did you? Ruck appears this weekend as a parent--yep, Cameron's now a goofy parent himself!--in I Love You, Beth Cooper. (And who wouldn't LOVE to see a Ferris Beuller sequel in which grown up Ferris and Cameron have to deal with their own rebellious teens?)

1983's Class is one of those small, forgotten coming-of-age films that I watched over and over on pay cable movie channels during high school and college--it starred Andrew McCarthy and Rob Lowe as prep-school roomies. Ruck was in the background as one of their classmates. (Cusack and Virginia Madsen also have small parts.)

Then came Ferris, but despite everyone's love of Cameron, Ruck's film career has always sort of sputtered along. In fact, other than playing Cameron, he'll probably always be best remembered as a regular on the TV show Spin City.

But after Ferris and before Spin City, there was Young Guns II, and then of course Speed, where he played one of the bus hostages. In Star Trek Generations, Ruck had a brief appearance at the start as Capt. John Harriman, captain of the newly christened U.S.S. Enterprise-B--going down in Starfleet history as the captain who "lost" James T. Kirk.

Woulda Coulda Shoulda

When word broke earlier this week that Lindsay Lohan had turned down a role in The Hangover, it inspired me to research other not-so-wise-in-retrospect career moves.  (Though I have to wonder if LiLo's mere presence in the surprise hit of the summer would've had a negative effect on its ticket sales and then it wouldn't have done as well?  Has she reached that level on the Box-Office Poison-o-meter?)

What I found really interesting when digging up info on passed-over movie roles is that some actors and actresses turned down huge parts and have still done extremely well for themselves.  Take Will Smith, for example.  Did you know that he could've been Neo in The Matrix?  It's almost hard to fathom, because to me, Keanu Reeves and all his "Whoa"-ness and stiffness and slicked-back-hairness IS Neo.  They are one in the same -- they always have been and they always will be... forever.  But if Big Willie hadn't chosen to make Wild Wild West instead (please be polite and try to stifle your laughter), it would've been him getting jiggy with Morpheus. 

Another case of an actor who wasn't adversely affected by turning down a plum role: Mel Gibson.  Despite his personal dramas, no one can deny that he's had a successful career both in front of and behind the camera.  Might it have been a bit more successful if he hadn't put the kibosh on taking the lead in Gladiator?  You know, the part that snagged Russell Crowe an Oscar?  Sure, Mel might regret that one a bit, but I think overall his bank account hasn't suffered too much because of that decision.

But can we make the same statement for Molly Ringwald -- '80s teen-movie star who was offered Julia Roberts' role in Pretty Woman?  D'oh!  That must've been a tough pill to swallow when Roberts' career skyrocketed after the unconventional rom-com hit theaters.  (For the record, Meg Ryan, Daryl Hannah and Jennifer Jason Leigh also turned down a chance to play hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold Vivian Ward.) 

While Molly has settled into a television career thanks to The Secret Life of the American Teenager, the same can't be said for Richard Grieco, who starred alongside Johhny Depp in 21 Jump Street (and after that, its spin-off Booker).  When Grieco tried to transition into movies, he was offered the lead role in a film that would turn both of its co-stars into A-listers: Speed.  That's right, it could've been Richard Grieco, rather than Neo--er, Keanu Reeves, working with Sandra Bullock to try and keep an L.A. transit bus from exploding.  Instead, he's taken to appearing in really bad films and has otherwise faded into oblivion.

Now, of course, the real question is, "Is it the actor/actress or the role or the overall movie that makes a film successful or launches a career?"  There's just no way of knowing, but I doubt that's stopped the likes of Lohan, Ringwald and Grieco from wondering, "What if... ?"

I Love You, Beth Cooper

In I Love You, Beth Cooper, nerdy valedictorian Dennis Cooverman (Paul Rust) stands before his graduating class and breaks away from the usual "look back/look forward" tradition of the event and decides to break away a little bit -- and profess his love for Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere). If Beth and Dennis were dating, it'd be an over-the-top sentimental gesture; the fact of the matter is, though, that Dennis and Beth have never spoken. Dennis has, through the miracle of alphabetical seating, gazed on Beth's hair for years and built his image of her into an undying feeling -- or, as he regrettably phrases it in his valedictory address, "I've loved you from behind for years. ..."

And that joke is I Love You, Beth Cooper, in a nutshell; a little eager to shock, a little clumsy, a little bit too eager to make the joke. Directed by Chris Columbus (who gave us such '80s teen-comedies as Adventures in Babysitting and The Goonies), I Love You, Beth Cooper is based on a novel by Larry Doyle, who's written for programs from The Simpsons to Beavis and Butt-Head; the novel is a swift, if shallow read, so clearly attempting to invert and re-invent teen movie moments that it begins each chapter with a quote from the classics of the canon from Rushmore to Risky Business. When his parents tell him to have fun in his last summer before college, Dennis offers that "This whole teenage, coming-of-age thing, it's a relatively new construct; it was invented in the '50s. ..." Well, sure, but "that whole teenage, coming-of-age thing" was re-invented in the '80s by the kinds of movies I Love You, Beth Cooper wants, and fails, to imitate; what plays as tribute on the page feels like rip-off on the screen.

Brilliant Idea of the Week (Rolls Eyes): A MacGruber Movie

Ugh, I can't even believe I'm going to write this: a MacGruber movie has gotten the green light.  Yes, that MacGruber, the Saturday Night Live spoof of the '80s TV series MacGyver, which, as I reported back in March, also has a big screen version in the works.  It's no surprise to learn that SNL co-creator and producer Lorne Michaels, who's also responsible the two Wayne's World movies, A Night at the Roxbury, Coneheads, Stuart Saves His Family, Superstar and The Ladies Man, is behind this project, and that Will Forte (MacGruber) and Kristen Wiig (MacGruber's trusty sidekick Vicky) will be reprising their roles. 

Now, humor me for a second and look again at the above list of SNL-inspired movies.  Did you actually see any of them, besides Wayne's World?  I sure didn't.  And although the majority of those comedies miraculously ended up turning a profit, they didn't feature the types of explosions or special effects that MacGruber will surely have to include.  Meaning that MacGruber will need a bigger budget and will then in turn need to attract that many more moviegoers in order to not be in the red when it's all said and done. 

So I really don't understand the thought process behind this one -- the SNL skit has been totally played out and isn't even funny anymore -- if they were going to make a MacGruber movie, you'd think they would've gotten on the ball in 2007 when the skit debuted (although it wasn't really movie-worthy back then, either).  What's even more unbelievable is that apparently both Ryan Phillipe (?) and Val Kilmer (???) feel differently, as the former is in talks to star as an Army officer who pairs up with MacGruber for a mission, and the latter wants to take on the role of a nuclear-warhead-wielding villain referred to in the movie's summary description as -- are you ready? --  "evil Cunth."  (Words fail me.)

For those of you who either don't watch SNL or only forward through to the typically awesome digital shorts and/or Weekend Update, you can see what all the fuss is about here. 

Now imagine at least ninety minutes of those shenanigans.  Worth $10?  I don't think so.  (But if they somehow loop Shia LaBeouf in to reprise his role as MacGruber's son, I am so there.)

The Code (aka Thick As Thieves)

I’m fairly certain Morgan Freeman is still considered a semi-large star, right? And Antonio Banderas… well, he was one once, wasn’t he? (Hey, I love Banderas—13th Warrior is one of the great underrated action films of the past decade—but lackluster Zorro and Desperado sequels, Spy Kids flicks, and Shrek voice work—excellent as it may be—does not a “movie star” career maintain.)

So yes, there was a bit of head-scratching “huh?” going down when The Code showed up in the redboxes recently—and then went on to become THE top-rented DVD in the country. What the hell is this film? Where did it come from?  Why is everyone renting it?

The Code is known as Thick As Thieves overseas and in fact that's what it was produced for: overseas direct-to-video sales. You know how big stars often make foreign television commercials that are never seen in the US? (The whole Conan O’Brien Bud Light ad is based on the premise.) Well, that’s sort of what The Code/Thick As Thieves is: a small, cheap heist film created to fill out European DVD shelves and rent based on two stars with strong international recognition. (If the film itself doesn’t give this intent away, its end does: when you play an old T.A.T.U. dance tune--are there any new T.A.T.U. songs?--over your closing credits, you’ve fully exposed your Euro-pop roots.)

The presence of those two stars makes The Code somewhat different from most cheap straight-to-video flicks. And 10 years ago director Mimi Leder was on the Hollywood A-List, making The Peacemaker with Nicole Kidman and George Clooney (when he was still a hot, rising TV-to-movies star, but just before he became George Clooney) and Deep Impact (one of 1998’s two “something big is going to hit the Earth” flicks). Then Leder made Pay It Forward, with Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, and Haley Joel Osment. So you see, this is what paying it forward gets ya: a decade in the Hollywood hinterlands. Still, Leder's sure-handed competence makes The Code a pretty decent rental for a film you’d probably never heard of.

Your Thursday Threes

Okay, I'm putting this Threes up before 5 pm. So put a sock in it, Fiirvoen/Jason!

A refresher for newcomers and anyone not completely scared off by the Millar74/Donna/Fiirvoen/Joe Allen Threes dominance of late: On Thursdays you get three movies, you just have to tell me what actor was in all three of them. Enter your guess in the comments section below this post, and if you are first to come up with the correct answer you win a brand-new, homemade, wonderful construction-paper medal. (Constructed in your own home.)

I won't post any of the guesses until I put up the answer tomorrow.

What actor appeared in all three of these films?

Class

Speed

Star Trek Generations

Positively Smurfy News?

A live-action-mixed-with-animation film adaptation (say THAT five times fast!) of one of my favorite cartoon series from back in the day, The Smurfs, has been in the planning stages for seven years, so I honestly didn't think anything would ever come of it.  Then, out of the blue, a title design for the movie was revealed at the Licensing International Expo in early June.  And now today comes word that director Raja Gosnell has signed on to oversee the little blue creatures' big-screen adventures.  So I dare say this thing is gonna happen, folks!

The bigger question is, of course, will it suck?  Gosnell has been around the block with similar types of films, including Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo 2 and Beverly Hills Chihuahua.  He's also directed Never Been Kissed, Big Momma's House, Yours, Mine and Ours and Home Alone 3.  Hmm... not the strongest resume in the world, but then again, I don't think anyone was expecting the likes of Scorsese to clamor for the job.

Which leads me to my next point: who exactly will star in The Smurfs Movie?  Because, let's face it, it could be a huge flop.  The most obvious character to be given the live-action treatment is Gargamel, the evil wizard who is always trying to destroy the Smurfs.  To me, there is one actor and one actor only who I could see as this black-robed, crotchety sorcerer, and that is Alan Rickman.  But I think he's probably tied up playing another black-robed, crotchety sorcerer, Professor Severus Snape, in the remaining Harry Potter films.  Since Rickman's most likely out of the question, do any of you redblog readers have any ideas for who could portray Smurf Enemy #1?  On message boards I've seen everyone from John Lithgow to "the dude who played Squiggy on Laverne & Shirley" (David Lander) to Jon Lovitz to Danny DeVito to Paul Giamatti mentioned.  Because of the "this could be a disaster" factor, I think Giamatti's at a place in his career where he'd politely decline if approached -- but then again, he made time for Fred Claus...

Since the film is scheduled for a December 2010 release (there will naturally be a 3D version, too, as that format's all the rage right now), I'm sure we won't have to wait much longer to learn who's been casted.  Although I'm usually fraught with despair over these sorts of projects (I tend to be protective about anything that's associated with positive childhood memories), I'm -- for some inexplicable reason -- feeling kinda optimistic about this one.  Maybe it's because I just listened to the happy-happy Smurfs theme song again and its positivity has affected me.  If nothing else, the movie better make use of that sprightly little tune or there's absolutely no hope for it to be a success!

The Rocchi Files: Bruno and Shock Comedy

Even the most casual observer of pop culture must be able to agree that we live in a golden age of filthy, insane comedy. Bruno has more of the same maniacal button-pushing as Borat (even if, to Bruno's detriment, it feels like more of the same), and past years have seen everything from the sticky biology of There's Something About Mary to the puppet-porn of Team America: World Police, from Sex and the City's digestive disasters to American Pie's re-interpretation of the phrase "dessert lover." And some of this stuff works, and some of it does not. But what separates the success of one over-the-top comedy from the failure of another? I know that analyzing comedy is as Mark Twain said, like dissecting a frog -- not much fun, and you kill the subject -- but still, with Bruno about to blow minds at theaters all across America, it might be a good time to step back and look at what makes one joke a flailing failure and another an jaw-dropping moment of true hilarity in the world of extreme laughs. ...

1) Leave Something to the Imagination

Much of modern extreme comedy is all about the shock reaction -- "I can't believe they went there!" -- but, it's interesting to note, a lot of those "I can't believe they went there" moments ring the bell and run away from the door before it opens. There's plenty of moments in Bruno where the worst of the worst is blacked out by on-screen censorship-shapes -- which not only helps the film hang on to an R rating by the skin of its teeth (or rather, frankly, other parts) but also lets you fill in the blanks -- and your imagination is capable of coming up with things far more startling and shocking than even Bruno mastermind Sacha Baron Cohen. But it's not just imagination's power that keeps some modern shock comedy more restrained than you might think; laughter's a matter of degrees, and it's worth noting that there are plenty of recent 'scandalous' comedies (The Sweetest Thing, Good Luck Chuck, My Best Friend's Girl) that go so far over the top they fall apart. There's an old saying among comedy writers: "If it bends, it's funny; if it breaks, it isn't." Successful shock comedy isn’t about breaking taboos, but, often, about bending them -- and knowing when to stop.