Donald Petrie's "Grumpy Old Men" was released in theaters on Christmas Day in 1993, serving as that year's "take your parents to see it" film. Prior to "Grumpy Old Men," the film's two stars, Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, had appeared in five films together, including "The Fortune Cookie," Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple," "Kotch," "The Front Page," and "Buddy Buddy." The two were so well known for their chemistry, they were often considered one of comedy's great, prevailing duos. To this day, they are often mentioned together, and the two are buried not too far apart in the same cemetery in Westwood, CA.
While Lemmon and Matthau worked together regularly throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, there was a notable gap in their shared résumé. From 1981 until 1993, the pair did not work in tandem — even though they both appeared in Oliver Stone's 1991 film, "JFK," they had no scenes together.
While Lemmon and Matthau worked together regularly throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, there was a notable gap in their shared résumé. From 1981 until 1993, the pair did not work in tandem — even though they both appeared in Oliver Stone's 1991 film, "JFK," they had no scenes together.
- 3/3/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Novelist John Irving has signed with Gersh, The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively learned.
Irving won an Oscar in 2000 for adapting The Cider House Rules, his own novel. Other novels of his that have received the big-screen treatment include The World According to Garp, The Hotel New Hampshire, A Prayer for Owen Meany (adapted as 1998’s Simon Birch) and A Widow for One Year (made into the 2004 film The Door in the Floor).
Irving’s other accolades include three National Book Award nominations (including a win for Garp) and an O. Henry Award for the 1981 short story “Interior Space.” His...
Irving won an Oscar in 2000 for adapting The Cider House Rules, his own novel. Other novels of his that have received the big-screen treatment include The World According to Garp, The Hotel New Hampshire, A Prayer for Owen Meany (adapted as 1998’s Simon Birch) and A Widow for One Year (made into the 2004 film The Door in the Floor).
Irving’s other accolades include three National Book Award nominations (including a win for Garp) and an O. Henry Award for the 1981 short story “Interior Space.” His...
- 6/28/2017
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jan Hooks, best known for her eight years on Saturday Night Live, passed away in New York on Thursday at the age of 57.
Jan Hooks, best known for her eight years on Saturday Night Live, passed away in New York on Thursday at the age of 57.
Pics: Robin Williams and More Stars We've Lost
Hooks joined SNL in 1986 as a part of a cast that included Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz and Dennis Miller. She made a name for herself on the sketch show through her spot-on impersonations of Bette Davis, Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Sinead O'Connor, Jodie Foster and Hillary Clinton.
The Georgia native was nominated for an Emmy in 1998 for her guest role on 3rd Rock From the Sun and was most recently seen on television in NBC's 30 Rock as Verna Maroney, the mother of Jenna Maroney (played by Jane Krakowski).
After her appearance on 30 Rock, Tina Fey said in 2013 that it was one...
Jan Hooks, best known for her eight years on Saturday Night Live, passed away in New York on Thursday at the age of 57.
Pics: Robin Williams and More Stars We've Lost
Hooks joined SNL in 1986 as a part of a cast that included Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz and Dennis Miller. She made a name for herself on the sketch show through her spot-on impersonations of Bette Davis, Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Sinead O'Connor, Jodie Foster and Hillary Clinton.
The Georgia native was nominated for an Emmy in 1998 for her guest role on 3rd Rock From the Sun and was most recently seen on television in NBC's 30 Rock as Verna Maroney, the mother of Jenna Maroney (played by Jane Krakowski).
After her appearance on 30 Rock, Tina Fey said in 2013 that it was one...
- 10/9/2014
- Entertainment Tonight
Actress and comedian Jan Hooks, who was a Saturday Night Live cast member from 1986 to 1991 and who appeared on Designing Women, died on the morning of October 9th, according to TMZ. The cause of death has not yet been revealed. She was 57.
Hooks is best remembered for her impressions of Nancy Reagan, Ivana Trump, Sinéad O'Connor and the heavily mascaraed wife of disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker, Tammy Faye Bakker. She was also known for her own character, Candy Sweeney – one half of the lounge singers the Sweeney Sisters. "That show changed my life,...
Hooks is best remembered for her impressions of Nancy Reagan, Ivana Trump, Sinéad O'Connor and the heavily mascaraed wife of disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker, Tammy Faye Bakker. She was also known for her own character, Candy Sweeney – one half of the lounge singers the Sweeney Sisters. "That show changed my life,...
- 10/9/2014
- Rollingstone.com
Following his turn in Jurassic Park, young Joseph Mazzello continued acting in films like Star Kid, Simon Birch, The River Wild and of course, a small cameo in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. As he's grown up, Mazzello has taken on roles in "The Pacific" and films like The Social Network and G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Now he's looking to get behind the camera for the first time with Undrafted, a baseball drama starring a young cast including Aaron Tveit, Matt Barr, Chase Crawford, Tyler Hoechlin, Manny Montana, Philip Winchester, Billy Gardell and James Belushi (son of comedian Jim Belushi). More below! Deadline says Mazzello will also star in produce the film along with Crawford executive producing, and he wrote the script based on his brother's experiences as a college baseball player who ended up being skipped over for a chance to play in the major leagues. Following his disappointment, an...
- 9/26/2013
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
Newsarama reports that Kevin Feige (President of Production at Marvel Studios) has confirmed that the Daredevil rights now belong to Marvel/Disney.
In August, it was reported that the rights to Daredevil would return to Marvel, if Fox (the previous owner) did not put a new film into production by Oct. 10.
At an Iron Man 3 press junket Monday, Newsarama asked Feige whether the rights had returned to Marvel. Feige replied, “To Daredevil? Yes.”
Daredevil was made into a film in 2003 starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. It was written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson (Simon Birch, Ghost Rider) and received poor reviews.
Jennifer Garner, who played Elektra in Daredevil, went on to star in her own film Elektra (2005), based on the comic book of the same name.
Do you want a new Daredevil film? Who would be the ideal star?
Source: Newsarama...
In August, it was reported that the rights to Daredevil would return to Marvel, if Fox (the previous owner) did not put a new film into production by Oct. 10.
At an Iron Man 3 press junket Monday, Newsarama asked Feige whether the rights had returned to Marvel. Feige replied, “To Daredevil? Yes.”
Daredevil was made into a film in 2003 starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. It was written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson (Simon Birch, Ghost Rider) and received poor reviews.
Jennifer Garner, who played Elektra in Daredevil, went on to star in her own film Elektra (2005), based on the comic book of the same name.
Do you want a new Daredevil film? Who would be the ideal star?
Source: Newsarama...
- 4/23/2013
- by Alex Corey
- LRMonline.com
From the creative mind of action-director Mark Steven Johnson, the man behind films such as Daredevil, Simon Birch and When in Rome, comes a movie called the Killing Season. Johnson, using a script written by Evan Daugherty (Snow White and the Huntsman), already has brought Robert De Niro and John Travolta to star, which marks the first time the two have acted together in one film.
According to the press release (via Slashfilm) the premise of the film is
an action movie set in the Appalachian Mountains about an American military veteran (De Niro) who has retreated to a remote cabin in the woods. When a rare visitor, a European tourist (Travolta), appears on the scene, the two men strike up an unlikely friendship. But in fact the visitor is a former Serbian soldier bent on revenge. What follows is a tense, action packed battle across some of America’s...
According to the press release (via Slashfilm) the premise of the film is
an action movie set in the Appalachian Mountains about an American military veteran (De Niro) who has retreated to a remote cabin in the woods. When a rare visitor, a European tourist (Travolta), appears on the scene, the two men strike up an unlikely friendship. But in fact the visitor is a former Serbian soldier bent on revenge. What follows is a tense, action packed battle across some of America’s...
- 11/1/2011
- by Mike Lee
- FusedFilm
Mark Steven Johnson, the director of the first Ghost Rider film, as well as of Daredevil, Simon Birch and When in Rome, is now set to direct a movie called Killing Season. This will be the first film to team Robert De Niro and John Travolta, and the two actors will face off in a pretty classic adventure scenario. A press release from Millennium Films says that the script is by Evan Daugherty (Snow White and the Huntsman) and that Killing Season will be, an action movie set in the Appalachian Mountains about an American military veteran (De Niro) who has retreated to a remote cabin in the woods. When a rare visitor, a European tourist (Travolta), appears on the scene, the two men strike up an unlikely friendship. But in fact the visitor is a former Serbian soldier bent on revenge. What follows is a tense, action packed battle...
- 11/1/2011
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Mark Steven Johnson Now Directing Instead Of John McTiernan It's not the "Face/Off" reunion we were hoping nor will it be the John McTiernan comeback vehicle. Instead, it will be the next film from the guy who directed "Simon Birch," "Daredevil," and "When In Rome." Good grief. Originally titled "Shrapnel," the movie now called "Killing Season" was going to be a pair up between Nicolas Cage and John Travolta, in another film that was promising pit them against each other with the "Die Hard" and "Predator" director at the helm. Well, with the American Film Market kicking off next week,…...
- 10/30/2011
- The Playlist
Adapting books to the big screen is a challenge. Adapting John Irving's novels, which often span entire lifetimes, can seem impossible. Many films have attempted adapting Irving's work to varying levels of success. The World According to Garp snagged two Oscar nominations for John Lithgow and Glenn Close, while Simon Birch strayed so far from the original book A Prayer for Owen Meany that the credits read “Inspired by the novel” as opposed to “Based on the novel.” The Cider House Rules is the most faithful adaptation of Irving's work because of Irving's direct role in adapting the screenplay. It also manages to be the best film based on his work because Irving and director Lasse Hallstrom understood what works for novels and what works for films. They do not sacrifice what makes a film work as a medium in order to accommodate everything that people love about the book,...
- 10/24/2011
- by Rachel Kolb
- JustPressPlay.net
You know what Romeo said to Juliet in William Shakespeare’s classic musical, Romeo & Juliet: Havana Nights? He said: I just wanted to let you know that I think you’re all the way beautiful. Not just pretty, but, you know, smart and kindhearted. And if I were a lot younger, I would marry you, and we would have chubby little freckled faced kids. We’d laugh all day long and go camping and play Yahtzee and tell ghost stories by the fire. And the sex? [Makes weird face] Just kidding. Romeo didn’t say that to Juliet in medieval times. Actually, Jim Carrey said those words in a YouTube video he made, in which he publicly professes his love for actress Emma Stone, who is 27 years younger than Jim Carrey, meaning she is a year younger than his own daughter! Remember when Jim Carrey didn’t get an Academy Award for the...
- 8/25/2011
- by Eliot Glazer
- BestWeekEver
Mark Steven Johnson has a pretty interesting filmography. If you check out what he’s done, you’d be hardpressed go pigeon hole him. The guy started his career with “Simon Birch” in 1998, before segueing into comic book movies “Daredevil” and “Ghost Rider” in the mid-90s. He then directed the romcom “When in Rome” with Kristen Bell last year. How do you go from a guy with a flaming skull riding around on a motorcycle to a romcom starring Kristen Bell? I have no idea, but Johnson did it. His latest sounds a little bit more like his speed (ahem) — Johnson is attached to direct the high-concept actioner “Autobahn”, which will be set around the famed Germany speedway where speed limits are for chumps. Johnson will direct from a script by Greg Russo, and the film will follow “a washed-up ex-Formula One driver who wakes up trapped inside a...
- 8/4/2011
- by Nix
- Beyond Hollywood
Inferno Entertainment acquired “Autobahn,” a high-speed thriller, with Mark Steven Johnson attached to direct the project. Johnson directed last year’s romantic comedy “When in Rome.” He has a few films under his belt including “Ghost Rider,” “Daredevil” and “Simon Birch.” “Autobahn” is about an ex-Formula One driver, who woke up inside a BMW in Germany’s Autobahn. A kidnapper gave him instructions to deliver the car to his target within 90 minutes or else his family will be killed. The film was previously known as “I-95.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, the setting was also changed from the United States freeway to the German highway to attract an international marketplace. The script was written by Greg Russo (“Black Ice”).Source: The Hollywood Reporter...
- 8/4/2011
- LRMonline.com
I'm sure you sit around once or twice a week and muse on a very important question: where is Mark Steven Johnson? The Ghost Rider writer/director half disappeared in the past few years, surfacing only with the forgettable Kristen Bell romcom When in Rome in 2010. But now he's got a new project, and not one that brings him back to his Grumpy Old Men and Simon Birch roots. Autobahn is the name of this one, and the film, written by Greg Russo and formerly called I-95, sounds like some combination of Speed and Taken. More info awaits below. THR [1] reports that the film is about "a washed-up ex-Formula One driver who wakes up trapped inside a BMW on the side of the Autobahn, Germany’s famed high-speed roadway, which has no general speed limit. He answers a phone ringing in the glove box, only to be told that he...
- 8/4/2011
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Every comic book movie fan knows who Mark Steven Johnson is, but I guarantee every single one of them wishes that they didn't. Though he also directed 1998's Simon Birch and the 2010 comedy When In Rome, Johnson's claim to fame is directing Daredevil and Ghost Rider, two of the worst comic adaptations of the last decade (not to mention the fact that he also produced the Daredevil spin-off Elektra). Now the filmmaker has found his next project and fortunately it's story is one that didn't start on pages published by Marvel. THR has learned that Mark Steven Johnson is now attached to direct Autobahn, an action film written by Greg Russo and produced by Inferno Entertainment. The project, which was originally titled I-95, changed its setting from America's east coast to Germany in order to have more international appeal. The story begins with a Formula One racer waking up inside...
- 8/4/2011
- cinemablend.com
Mark Steven Johnson is set to direct the action feature, Autobahn for Inferno Entertainment. The high-concept story was written by Greg Russo, and involves "a former professional racecar driver who, after waking up in a car on Germany's Autobahn, is told that his family is being held hostage and he has just 90 minutes until the car he's in will detonate. If he's not at an assigned target by then, they'll be killed."
Johnson wrote Grumpy Old Men in 1993. His first directorial feaure was Simon Birch, and then he directed Daredevil and Ghost Rider. He most recently directed the comedy When in Rome, which starrred Kristen Bell. This sounds like a cool concept. Hopefully it will be better than the past films he has directed. What are your thoughts on this news?
Source: THR (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/inferno-taking-ride-autobahn-218784)...
Johnson wrote Grumpy Old Men in 1993. His first directorial feaure was Simon Birch, and then he directed Daredevil and Ghost Rider. He most recently directed the comedy When in Rome, which starrred Kristen Bell. This sounds like a cool concept. Hopefully it will be better than the past films he has directed. What are your thoughts on this news?
Source: THR (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/inferno-taking-ride-autobahn-218784)...
- 8/4/2011
- by Tiberius
- GeekTyrant
Mark Steven Johnson has signed on to direct Autobahn for Inferno Entertainment, says a story at The Hollywood Reporter . Written by Greg Russo, the high-concept storyline involves a former professional racecar driver who, after waking up in a car on Germany's Autobahn, is told that his family is being held hostage and he has just 90 minutes until the car he's in will detonate. If he's not at an assigned target by then, they'll be killed. Johnson launched his career as a writer with Grumpy Old Men in 1993. He then made his directorial debut in 1998 with Simon Birch , before heading into two Marvel comic book properties, Daredevil and Ghost Rider . Most recently, he directed the Kristen Bell romantic comedy, When in Rome . (Photo Credit: Pnp / WENN)...
- 8/3/2011
- Comingsoon.net
Kurt here. For those of you just tuning in, Cinema de Gym is an experimental series in which I give my two cents on movies that play in an in-house theater at my local gym, where I'm attempting to shed "writer's pounds." Instead of seats, this screening room has treadmills and such, and plays a daily film on a loop. For the first installment, we chatted about Barry Levinson's Bandits. Today, inspired by Nathaniel's "Mutant Week," the subject is Daredevil, the 2003 handicapped-hero flick and the third big comic book movie of the Aughts (following, of course, X-Men and Spider-Man).
This is an easy movie to belittle for a whole mess of reasons. Box office clout be damned, Ben Affleck makes for an unwieldy superhero, especially since he was nowhere near his lean Town physique when this film was shot (directing just literally takes it outta ya, I suppose). That...
This is an easy movie to belittle for a whole mess of reasons. Box office clout be damned, Ben Affleck makes for an unwieldy superhero, especially since he was nowhere near his lean Town physique when this film was shot (directing just literally takes it outta ya, I suppose). That...
- 6/9/2011
- by Kurtis O
- FilmExperience
Did anyone bother to see Mark Steven Johnson's 2007 adaptation of Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider? Anyone? You, in the back?
I'm sorry.
Because it's a goddamn atrocious movie, one that cemented Mark Steven Johnson as not just one of the worst comic book movie directors of all time (he also directed the horribly miscast and misguided Daredevil -- one of my favorite comic characters ever and a source of great rage for me now), but perhaps one of the worst directors. Period. Which is impressive for a guy who's only directed four movies -- he also directed the blandly terrible When in Rome, and, strangely, the pretty decent Simon Birch. But Ghost Rider is easily the crime he stands most guilty for.
It's a shame, because it's actually a pretty good Marvel property that, if done with the right amount of violence and grim, gallows humor, could make a pretty entertaining film.
I'm sorry.
Because it's a goddamn atrocious movie, one that cemented Mark Steven Johnson as not just one of the worst comic book movie directors of all time (he also directed the horribly miscast and misguided Daredevil -- one of my favorite comic characters ever and a source of great rage for me now), but perhaps one of the worst directors. Period. Which is impressive for a guy who's only directed four movies -- he also directed the blandly terrible When in Rome, and, strangely, the pretty decent Simon Birch. But Ghost Rider is easily the crime he stands most guilty for.
It's a shame, because it's actually a pretty good Marvel property that, if done with the right amount of violence and grim, gallows humor, could make a pretty entertaining film.
- 6/16/2010
- by TK
The Pacific is the latest blockbuster mini series from HBO and executive producers Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman, the creative team behind the Emmy-winning 2001 HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. The show is set to premiere in the UK tomorrow at 9pm on Sky Movies Premiere HD, and in celebration of its debut we have interviews with the three leading cast members: James Badge Dale, Jon Seda, and Joe Mazzello. Our final interview is with actor Jow Mazzello, who you may remember as the little kid in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park…
Mazzello’s most notable role was as Tim Murphy in the 1993 film Jurassic Park and it’s sequel, he also starred in Star Kid and Simon Birch before putting his career on hold to go back to school, graduating from the University of Southern California in 2005. The Pacific, in which he portrays Eugene B. Sledge (whose book...
Mazzello’s most notable role was as Tim Murphy in the 1993 film Jurassic Park and it’s sequel, he also starred in Star Kid and Simon Birch before putting his career on hold to go back to school, graduating from the University of Southern California in 2005. The Pacific, in which he portrays Eugene B. Sledge (whose book...
- 4/4/2010
- by Phil
- Nerdly
When in Rome (2010) has all the makings of a date-night winner, and here's hoping that it lives up to expectations. So much about it sounds right. Kristen Bell is a wonderful young actress: talented, funny, grounded, adorable, and yet not so supermodel gorgeous as to threaten the ladies out there or make guys feel she's unattainable. It's a rare package. And yet she's never quite exploded the way she should have after Veronica Mars (TV). Her co-star in the film, Josh Duhamel, found fame on the small screen in Las Vegas (TV) and on the big screen in Transformers (2007) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), but no one considers those Duhamel vehicles. Together, Bell and Duhamel could emerge from this one as bona fide movie stars. Even the ever-so-simple plot sounds charming: Bell plays Beth, an unlucky-in-love New Yorker who flies off to Rome, accidentally ruins her sister' s wedding,...
- 1/27/2010
- by ianspelling@corp.popstar.com (Ian Spelling)
- ScreenStar
Touchstone Pictures sent us this brand new movie clip from the upcoming comedy “When in Rome” by director Mark Steven Johnson (Ghost Rider, Simon Birch) and starring Kristen Bell (Couples Retreat , Burlesque), Josh Duhamel (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Romantics), Anjelica Huston (Tinker Bell: A Winter Story), Will Arnett (Jonah Hex, 30 Rock) and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite, Alive and Well). Synopsis: Beth (Bell) is a young, ambitious New Yorker who is completely unlucky in love. However, on a whirlwind trip to Rome, she impulsively steals some coins from a reputed fountain of love, and is then aggressively pursued by a band of suitors. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the [...]...
- 1/16/2010
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
'It gave Spike [Jonze] room to create and to try to find something new,' Forest Whitaker says of director collaborating with Maurice Sendak.
By Larry Carroll, with reporting by Ryan J. Downey
Max Records in "Where the Wild Things Are"
Photo: Warner Bros.
Hollywood history is overflowing with sad tales of storytellers unwilling or unable to share their vision with someone else. And when you look back on barely speaking "collaborators" like Mark Steven Johnson and John Irving ("Simon Birch"), Tom Clancy and Phillip Noyce ("Patriot Games") or Zack Snyder and Alan Moore ("Watchmen"), it's no wonder that such unusually matched folks had trouble finding common ground. Much like the classic children's tale "Where the Wild Things Are," however, the behind-the-scenes story of Maurice Sendak and Spike Jonze had a happy ending.
When now-81-year-old Sendak originally published his beloved tale of a boy named Max and his adventures, it...
By Larry Carroll, with reporting by Ryan J. Downey
Max Records in "Where the Wild Things Are"
Photo: Warner Bros.
Hollywood history is overflowing with sad tales of storytellers unwilling or unable to share their vision with someone else. And when you look back on barely speaking "collaborators" like Mark Steven Johnson and John Irving ("Simon Birch"), Tom Clancy and Phillip Noyce ("Patriot Games") or Zack Snyder and Alan Moore ("Watchmen"), it's no wonder that such unusually matched folks had trouble finding common ground. Much like the classic children's tale "Where the Wild Things Are," however, the behind-the-scenes story of Maurice Sendak and Spike Jonze had a happy ending.
When now-81-year-old Sendak originally published his beloved tale of a boy named Max and his adventures, it...
- 10/15/2009
- MTV Movie News
Yahoo! Movies has debuted the trailer for upcoming romantic comedy “When in Rome.”
An ambitious young New Yorker (Kristen Bell), disillusioned with romance, takes a whirlwind trip to Rome where she defiantly plucks magic coins from a “foolish” fountain of love, inexplicably igniting the passion of an odd group of suitors: a sausage magnate (Danny DeVito), a street magician (Jon Heder), an adoring painter (Will Arnett) and a self-admiring model (Dax Shepard). But when a charming reporter (Josh Duhamel) pursues her with equal zest, how will she know if his love is the real thing?
“When in Rome,” directed by Mark Steven Johnson, the writer/director of “Ghost Rider” and “Simon Birch,” opens January 29th, 2010.
Download “When in Rome” trailer:
HD-quality 1080p [1920 px] − 252 Mb (QuickTime)
HD-quality 720p [1280 px] − 170 Mb (QuickTime)
HD-quality 480p [852 px] − 70 Mb (QuickTime)...
An ambitious young New Yorker (Kristen Bell), disillusioned with romance, takes a whirlwind trip to Rome where she defiantly plucks magic coins from a “foolish” fountain of love, inexplicably igniting the passion of an odd group of suitors: a sausage magnate (Danny DeVito), a street magician (Jon Heder), an adoring painter (Will Arnett) and a self-admiring model (Dax Shepard). But when a charming reporter (Josh Duhamel) pursues her with equal zest, how will she know if his love is the real thing?
“When in Rome,” directed by Mark Steven Johnson, the writer/director of “Ghost Rider” and “Simon Birch,” opens January 29th, 2010.
Download “When in Rome” trailer:
HD-quality 1080p [1920 px] − 252 Mb (QuickTime)
HD-quality 720p [1280 px] − 170 Mb (QuickTime)
HD-quality 480p [852 px] − 70 Mb (QuickTime)...
- 8/15/2009
- by Allan Ford
- Filmofilia
Yahoo! Movies has debuted the first trailer of "When in Rome" which serves as an introduction to Beth, her potential soulmate Nick and the band of odd suitors. Three minutes long, the trailer teases on how her admirers do everything to win her heart and how their existence complicates her relationship with Nick.
Never been the one who is lucky in love, ambitious young New Yorker Beth takes a whirlwind trip to Rome to attend her sister's wedding. After a night of disastrous wedding party, she defiantly plucks magic coins from a reputed fountain of love and finds herself to be the object of affection from an odd group of suitors from a sausage magnate to a self-admiring model. And, when charming reporter Nick pursues her with equal zest, she starts to wonder if his love is the real thing.
"When in Rome" is a romantic comedy coming from Mark Steven Johnson,...
Never been the one who is lucky in love, ambitious young New Yorker Beth takes a whirlwind trip to Rome to attend her sister's wedding. After a night of disastrous wedding party, she defiantly plucks magic coins from a reputed fountain of love and finds herself to be the object of affection from an odd group of suitors from a sausage magnate to a self-admiring model. And, when charming reporter Nick pursues her with equal zest, she starts to wonder if his love is the real thing.
"When in Rome" is a romantic comedy coming from Mark Steven Johnson,...
- 8/15/2009
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
- Did anybody else besides me pitch a heterosexual admiration tent in their pants solely from David Strathairn’s performance in Good Night, and Good Luck? I didn’t know Edward R. Murrow personally, but after watching that movie I felt like he became a part of me. That older part that smokes on live television and accuses senators of instilling fear into the nation. God bless America. Strathairn has quite a few projects on his plate. He’s signed on to the thriller Fracture, written by Daniel Pyne (Pacific Heights, Doc Hollywood) and Glenn Gers (Mad Money) which will be directed by Gregory Hoblit (Primal Fear). Ryan Gosling (The Notebook) plays an assistant district attorney who wants revenge on Anthony Hopkins (The World’s Fastest Indian) who killed his wife but is freed on a technicality. The film also co-stars Rosamund Pike (Pride & Prejudice). He will also next be
- 2/3/2006
- IONCINEMA.com
Adapting John Irving novels to the screen is a tricky bit of business.
When the elements come together successfully, the results can take the generally pleasing forms of The World According to Garp and The Cider House Rules (for which Irving himself handled screenplay honors).
When they don't, you're stuck with the lumpy Hotel New Hampshire or the treacly Simon Birch, which was loosely based on Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany.
Breaking the tie, The Door in the Floor -- taking its cue from the first part of Irving's A Widow for One Year -- falls satisfyingly into the plus category.
A tragicomic rumination on life and death and love and sex (but not necessarily in that order), the production is graced by bold performances, lyrical visuals and, most notably, Irving's own words, which have made the transition quite intact thanks to a faithful but still filmic adaptation by writer-director Tod Williams.
With its tragic emotional underpinnings and complex characters, the Focus Features release would have seemed more at home in the fall release schedule rather than taking on potential blockbusters like I, Robot and King Arthur, but the counterprogramming gambit could work in the picture's favor, giving it a neat jump on all those upcoming awards hopefuls.
As with the earlier section of Irving's 576-page novel, Door chronicles a fateful summer in the splintering lives of an East Hampton couple still struggling to cope with the tragic deaths of their two sons.
While free-spirited Ted Cole (a terrific Jeff Bridges), a successful children's author and illustrator, has seemingly moved on from the mourning process by indulging his weakness for infidelity, his wife, Marion (Kim Basinger), remains in a troubling state of withdrawal.
The pallor over their seaside household has forced their 4-year-old daughter, Ruth (Elle Fanning, Dakota's equally capable little sister), to grow up fast.
But a coastal disturbance soon arrives in the form of Eddie O'Hare (Jon Foster), a young man who's ostensibly hired on as Ted's intern but quickly develops a major crush on Marion. Much to his surprise, his feverish sexual yearning is reciprocated, though their steamy affair doesn't exactly lead to a tidy emotional recovery for the damaged family unit.
Williams, who made his feature debut with "The Adventures of Sebastian Cole" and is working on a remake of To Have and Have Not for Benicio Del Toro, does a careful job of extracting and reshaping the Irving material, never shying away from the book's more overtly sexual elements, without detracting from the film's own separate identity.
Key to that success is a strong ensemble playing flawed characters that essentially dare the audience to like them.
The fundamentally likable Bridges gamely pushes all that goodwill to the far edge as the unorthodox Ted, logging one of his best performances in the process.
Basinger, meanwhile, who shared the screen with Bridges in Robert Benton's Nadine, really immerses herself into her character's complex layers with similarly impressive results.
Also doing gutsy work is Mimi Rogers, who has been given very little to hide behind as the needy, hot-blooded object of Bridges' daytime affections.
Behind the camera, cinematographer Terry Stacey (American Splendor) is responsible for some truly lovely compositions, movingly underscored by Marcelo Zarvos' eloquent music.
The Door in the Floor
Focus Features
Focus Features and Revere Pictures present a This Is That production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Tod Williams
Based on the novel A Widow for One Year by: John Irving
Producers: Ted Hope, Anne Carey, Michael Corrente
Executive producers: Roger Marino, Amy J. Kaufman
Director of photography: Terry Stacey
Production designer: Therese DePrez
Editor: Affonso Goncalves
Costume designer: Eric Daman
Music: Marcelo Zarvos
Cast:
Ted Cole: Jeff Bridges
Marion Cole: Kim Basinger
Eddie O'Hare: Jon Foster
Eleanor Vaughn: Mimi Rogers
Ruth Cole: Elle Fanning
Alice: Bijou Phillips
Eduardo Gomez: Louis Arcella
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 111 minutes...
When the elements come together successfully, the results can take the generally pleasing forms of The World According to Garp and The Cider House Rules (for which Irving himself handled screenplay honors).
When they don't, you're stuck with the lumpy Hotel New Hampshire or the treacly Simon Birch, which was loosely based on Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany.
Breaking the tie, The Door in the Floor -- taking its cue from the first part of Irving's A Widow for One Year -- falls satisfyingly into the plus category.
A tragicomic rumination on life and death and love and sex (but not necessarily in that order), the production is graced by bold performances, lyrical visuals and, most notably, Irving's own words, which have made the transition quite intact thanks to a faithful but still filmic adaptation by writer-director Tod Williams.
With its tragic emotional underpinnings and complex characters, the Focus Features release would have seemed more at home in the fall release schedule rather than taking on potential blockbusters like I, Robot and King Arthur, but the counterprogramming gambit could work in the picture's favor, giving it a neat jump on all those upcoming awards hopefuls.
As with the earlier section of Irving's 576-page novel, Door chronicles a fateful summer in the splintering lives of an East Hampton couple still struggling to cope with the tragic deaths of their two sons.
While free-spirited Ted Cole (a terrific Jeff Bridges), a successful children's author and illustrator, has seemingly moved on from the mourning process by indulging his weakness for infidelity, his wife, Marion (Kim Basinger), remains in a troubling state of withdrawal.
The pallor over their seaside household has forced their 4-year-old daughter, Ruth (Elle Fanning, Dakota's equally capable little sister), to grow up fast.
But a coastal disturbance soon arrives in the form of Eddie O'Hare (Jon Foster), a young man who's ostensibly hired on as Ted's intern but quickly develops a major crush on Marion. Much to his surprise, his feverish sexual yearning is reciprocated, though their steamy affair doesn't exactly lead to a tidy emotional recovery for the damaged family unit.
Williams, who made his feature debut with "The Adventures of Sebastian Cole" and is working on a remake of To Have and Have Not for Benicio Del Toro, does a careful job of extracting and reshaping the Irving material, never shying away from the book's more overtly sexual elements, without detracting from the film's own separate identity.
Key to that success is a strong ensemble playing flawed characters that essentially dare the audience to like them.
The fundamentally likable Bridges gamely pushes all that goodwill to the far edge as the unorthodox Ted, logging one of his best performances in the process.
Basinger, meanwhile, who shared the screen with Bridges in Robert Benton's Nadine, really immerses herself into her character's complex layers with similarly impressive results.
Also doing gutsy work is Mimi Rogers, who has been given very little to hide behind as the needy, hot-blooded object of Bridges' daytime affections.
Behind the camera, cinematographer Terry Stacey (American Splendor) is responsible for some truly lovely compositions, movingly underscored by Marcelo Zarvos' eloquent music.
The Door in the Floor
Focus Features
Focus Features and Revere Pictures present a This Is That production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Tod Williams
Based on the novel A Widow for One Year by: John Irving
Producers: Ted Hope, Anne Carey, Michael Corrente
Executive producers: Roger Marino, Amy J. Kaufman
Director of photography: Terry Stacey
Production designer: Therese DePrez
Editor: Affonso Goncalves
Costume designer: Eric Daman
Music: Marcelo Zarvos
Cast:
Ted Cole: Jeff Bridges
Marion Cole: Kim Basinger
Eddie O'Hare: Jon Foster
Eleanor Vaughn: Mimi Rogers
Ruth Cole: Elle Fanning
Alice: Bijou Phillips
Eduardo Gomez: Louis Arcella
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 111 minutes...
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