The Screengrab : jay roach

Morning Deal Report: You’ve Got to Be Focking With Me

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:15:00 GMT

Someone might describe the third installment in the Fockers series as “long-awaited,” but that someone would not be me. Nevertheless, Reuters is reporting that Little Fockers is on the fast track at Universal, with Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and Owen Wilson all set to reprise their roles. “Jay Roach, who directed the first two films, will produce Fockers but not helm the picture. He's concentrating on the comic romp Dinner for Schmucks for DreamWorks.” Of course he is. Contenders for the director’s chair include Paul Weitz (About a Boy) and David Wain (Role Models).

Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher are running from Five Killers. “Film reteams Heigl with helmer Robert Luketic, who most recently directed the thesp in upcoming romantic comedy The Ugly Truth. Story kicks off when a woman meets the man of her dreams while on vacation. Married bliss is turned upside down when they discover that their neighbors may be assassins hired to kill them,” Variety reports.

The Michael Lewis baseball book Moneyball is already slated for the big screen, and now his football book The Blind Side is scheduled for adaptation with Sandra Bullock aboard. It “tells the true story of football player Michael Oher, who is projected to be one of the first players selected in this year's NFL draft,” per The Hollywood Reporter. “Oher was a homeless black teen from a broken home who was taken in by a well-to-do white family that saw extraordinary promise in him. Oher, however, faced a new set of obstacles once in his new environment. Bullock will play Leigh Anne Touhy, the affluent matriarch of the conservative suburban household that takes in Oher.”

Related:
Soderbergh Plays Moneyball
Robert De Niro in "The Return of Rupert Pupkin"

DVD Digest for August 19, 2008

Paul Clark — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:00:00 GMT

The seemingly endless run of crappy spring releases continues unabated this week, as I reach into last week to select a noteworthy release I somehow overlooked.

Belated DVD of the Week: With Criterion still digging into film history to bring cinephiles the best of classic cinema, it’s easy to overlook what’s going on at their kid-sister company, Eclipse. To wit: I was so caught up last week’s in Criterion’s impressive DVD of Guy Maddin’s Brand Upon the Brain that I completely forgot to mention the release of Eclipse Series 11: Larisa Shepitko. As with Eclipse’s previous box sets devoted to William Klein and Raymond Bernard, Eclipse has rescued a worthy if unsung filmmaker from semi-obscurity, this time by releasing two of her greatest achievements on DVD. This Shepitko set includes the war films Wings and The Ascent, two key films in her all-too-brief filmography, and which gives some insight of what a major director she might have become had she not died in a car accident at the age of forty. As with Shepitko’s husband Elem Klimov’s masterpiece Come and See, both films in this Eclipse set are hardly cheerful entertainment, but like Come and See they’re indispensible viewing, and I’m glad Eclipse has taken the care of releasing them.

Meanwhile, Criterion this week has new DVDs of Powell and Pressburger’s The Small Back Room and Keisuke Kinoshita’s Twenty-Four Eyes. Also in classics coming to DVD: Oliver Stone’s Nixon: Election Year Edition (Disney, also Blu-Ray).

New releases coming to DVD this week include: Frances McDormand and Amy Adams in Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day (Universal); tween-bait Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds 3-D Concert (Disney, also Blu-Ray); Jay Roach’s funny/depressing HBO film Recount (Warner); yet another horror remake in Prom Night (Sony, also Blu-Ray); Keanu Reeves as a crooked cop in Street Kings (Fox, also Blu-Ray); and the grief-porny The Life Before Her Eyes (Magnolia). Also, two notable direct-to-DVD releases: My Sassy Girl (Fox), a remake of the Korean cult hit starring thespian extraordinaire Elisha Cuthbert; and mixed martial arts champ Randy Couture taking over for The Rock in The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (Universal, also Blu-Ray).

This week’s TV on DVD releases include: Dexter Season 2 (Paramount); Gossip Girl Season 1 (Warner); House Season 4 (MGM); Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 1 (Warner). And in Blu-Ray only news, this week brings the release of Justice League Season 1 (Warner).

Austin Powers 4. Seriously.

John Constantine — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:58:00 GMT

Dear Mr. Myers:

There is no blood in that stone. Please cease squeezing the stone.

Sincerely yours,

The Screengrab

It’s clear that Mike Myers, the one-time Gen X comedy staple come animated franchise emperor, needs to stop going back to the well as the well is full of nothing but annoying silly voices and midget jokes. As we pointed out just a few weeks back, The Love Guru is evidence of this truth. However, it looks like Myers is going for the gusto in returning to character comedy. A story over at Boston.com that comes to us via AICN says that there is a finished script for Austin Powers 4. Myers and director Jay Roach are apparently chatting with Gisele Bundhcen about her playing this entry’s femme fatale.

Police Academy taught us all important lessons about how long a comedy franchise is viable, Mike. Yes, I’m comparing you to Gutenberg.