The Launch of TheBadandUgly.com!

I've known that this new site was happening for quite some time (and actually have been reading the site for a few months before its official launch) and while I'm not a fan of gossip or tabloid stuff in general, Dave (not sure if his last name is supposed to be secret) is a pretty cool guy who's really into movies but he also has his own very funny take on the movie industry. Heck, most of what he's doing on this new CS-affiliated site is kind of what I'm trying to do here but he'll probably do it much better and have more time to post regularly, cause I tend to be swamped with writing reviews, etc. But definitely go check it out if you're into the seedier side of Hollywood, because I probably will be pulling some punches here. After all, I still need to get invited to see movies and do interviews or else I'll have nothing to write about. Anyway, Dave has been posting stories there for a couple months now and there's lots to read so if you like this sort of opinionated news reporting then you'll definitely want to check it out every day.

Bond Gets His Girls--Pretty Faces, Hot Bods, No Names

Gotta love director Marc Forster for really going out on a limb with his first foray into mainstream franchise films with the upcoming "really-needs-a-better-title" Bond 22, because instead of going with a big-name popular actress as the latest Bond Girl, he's gone with two virtual unknowns. It's somewhat of an odd decision because back when they were talking about relaunching the franchise, all sorts of big name actresses were being mentioned--Charlize Theron, Angelina Jolie, etc--and recently, Abbie Cornish's name was being thrown around, but I guess that the Broccolis (the keepers of the Ian Fleming torch and producers of the movies) realized that they did fine with Casino Royale without a single big name except Judi Dench, and that they should allow Daniel Craig to continue doing what he's doing without having to pull in some hot actress to take the focus away from Bond.

Bond's latest (presumed) love interest will be MI6 Agent Camille Fields played by Olga Kurylenko---for anyone who didn't get to ogle her picture in the earlier article, you can see it here... I'll give you a few minutes to enjoy it. I never saw Hitman, but apparently, she was that stunning short-haired brunette in the posters that caused a lot of accidents on subway platforms from people slipping on the puddles of drool that formed in front of them. So at least she was in a movie that a lot of guys have seen, which should help. Gemma Arterton is also a brunette--gotta love Bond's taste in women--with very short hair going by her IMDB pics and her biggest credit seems to be Guy Ritchie's upcoming RocknRolla which should be his biggest release, since it's being distributed by Warner Bros. There's a lot of interest in these new actresses if Yahoo Buzz has anything to say about it from the spike in their search engines and I think they may even be hotter than the last two Bond girls, but we'll see if they're nearly as good at acting as Eva Green.

Kidman's Pregnancy To Help Poor Kate Winslet's Oscar Chances

While talking about Nicole Kidman's personal life will certainly be more for TheBadandUgly.com (Plug #2!), it's kind of big news when we hear that the actress has dropped out of the Stephen Daldry directed The Reader and been replaced by Kate Winslet. For those keeping track of these things, Daldry directed Kidman to her first Oscar win for the drama The Hours and The Reader would be Daldry's first movie since then, so many people must have been excited about reteaming him with Kidman. Winslet is no slouch when it comes to the acting department, having been nominated for 5 Oscars but never winning, and many people feel that she's been deserving for a few of those roles. (We certainly don't want to see Winslet turn into the new Peter O'Toole, although she's quite a bit younger and has plenty of time to win awards.) Anyway, the thought of pairing her with Daldry sounds very promising for both of them, and maybe Kidman needs a little time off with her family now so that when she comes back, she'll pick stronger projects. (But who knows, her next movie Australia, her second teaming with Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrman, might be the movie that puts Kidman back in the good graces of critics and moviegoers as well.) We'll see how it all pans out but it looks like both actresses have strong projects in the works.

"The Funniest Thing You'll Read All Year!"

Erik Childress from EFilmCritic is one of my favorite online writers and a super nice guy to boot who I've admired quite a bit for the amount of stuff he writes every year. Heck, the guys is almost as fanatic and prolific as I am, even having written a weekly box office column for a few months before he realized that anyone who does that for a living must clearly be insane. (Present company included.) Erik's main niche for many years has been his Criticwatch column where he goes after the "Quote Whores" whose names always seem to show up in print and TV ads, usually for the worst of the worst movies. Erik's been at the forefront of uncovering the frauds and fakes used in studio marketing for many years with Earl Dittman of the fictitious "Wireless Magazines" being Erik's "Moby Dick"--I'm going to resist making the obvious jokes about Dittman's legendary girth. Dittman has slowed down in the last year which means that Erik has had to find new fish to fry and fortunately, whenever there's a chance to get your name in print or in TV commercials, a lot of people will jump up and down with their hand raised ready to step in. One of those is Pete Hammond formerly of Maxim Magazine and by the luck of the draw, he was fired from that position just as Erik's annual column was being written. That aside, I'm not kidding about it being the funniest thing you'll ever read, especially if you haven't read some of Erik's previous pieces exposing how the quotes in those print and TV ads are assembled. Just the section "Five Adjectives to Retire for 2008" had me laughing out loud, just to see how easy it can be to write quotes for the studios to use in advertising.

Now apparently, being called a "whore" of any kind is still considered an insult--unless of course, you work on the docks, in which case it's just like someone calling out "Waiter!" Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel who syndicates his reviews all over the South took exception with being considered a "Whore to Watch" and in his own blog, he went back after Erik, questioning what makes him the authority on critic watching. The funny thing is seeing someone more associated with the print world like Moore going after Erik in his own territory, the internet. I seriously wonder how many of these print critics/journalists who suddenly have blogs in the last year are actually having their stuff read by those who'd normally read or watch them in other venues, but it's kind of annoying that they snub their noses at internet critics but then are willing to enter our turf to try to prove their better than us. Okay, I've kind of gone off on a tangent there, but still, you should read what Erik has to write about fellow critics because he does put a funny take on the job.

Greengrass Adds Cast to the Next Big Iraq Movie!
Scarlett's Mary Queen of Scots Gets Noyce-y

Two semi-big bits of news regarding the latest projects from two highly-regarded globally minded directors, the most recent one being Paul Greengrass signing on Amy Ryan and Greg Kinnear for his Iraq drama Imperial Life in the Emerald City (actually, the name is a LOT longer than that but I'm kind of over these ridiculously long hyphenated titles... give us writers a break, Greengrass, and shorten the title just to "Emerald City", please?)... anyway, the big news about this is that this is Amy Ryan's first big casting having wowed so many critics for her work in Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone which has put her on the short list to win the Supporting Actress Oscar. Although Ryan has been working for many years as an actress, having been nominated for two Tony awards, she's being seen as an "overnight sensation" because she's really been flying under the radar for years.I got to interview Ryan a few months back which you can read here and she really was quite down-to-earth, but she's definitely worthy of the accolades she's been getting and Greengrass is wise to cast her opposite Matt Damon in the movie.

The other big news is that director Philip Noyce has been brought on board to direct Scarlett Johansson in her turn as Mary Queen of Scots. The five people who saw Elizabeth: The Golden Age might remember Samantha Morton's turn as the Scottish royal who plotted against Cate Blanchett's Queen and ended up... well, I don't want to spoil it for the millions and billions who might want to see the movie and don't know much about history. Anyway, Philip Noyce is a great director, having helmed movies like Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, Dead Calm (with Nicole Kidman), The Quiet American and the sadly overlooked South African drama Catch A Fire. Taking on a historic figure and a British royal like Mary Queen of Scots is certainly a departure for the filmmaker, but it should be an interesting pairing, because Scarlett is seen as such a Hollywood actress in every sense of the word. That wasn't always the case, and this might be the role that returns her to her earlier pre-Woody days of The Girl with a Pearl Earring where it was more about the quality of her acting than about whom she was wearing or dating.

Cloverfield! Cloverfield! Cloverfield!

Nope, I have nothing to add. I refuse to comment until I see the movie next Tuesday night... and I'll be saving most of my thoughts for next week's Weekend Warrior column. Sorry! :)

I'll talk about some of the news from last night like Lionsgate reviving "Conan" early next week.