By George, I Think We’ve Got It
Over the past month or so, George Clooney has been getting a lot of attention in the media, and MCC is not about to put a stop to it.
I’m sure you can imagine the sheer joy this Clooney fan felt when the name was called for the first award on Oscar night, Mar. 5. Clooney, who was also nominated for directing and co-writing “Good Night, and Good Luck,” won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of CIA Agent Bob Barnes in “Syriana.” He was definitely deserving of the Oscar, not only for his brilliant performance in the film, but also for his work over the years that has gone unnoticed by the Academy.
Clooney also appears as the first celebrity in online public service announcements for the ONE campaign, “The Campaign to Make Poverty History.” In another successful attempt to be charitable, Clooney donated his Oscar swag bag to a charity, which auctioned it off for over $42,000.
In a completely unrelated auction, Profiles in History auction house got $92,000 for Clooney’s legendary “nipple” batsuit from 1997’s “Batman & Robin,” which some consider to be the worst “Batman” movie around. (They must not have seen “Batman Forever.”) The starting bid for the suit was $80,000. Now, I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t imagine seriously paying that much money for any single piece of movie memorabilia. I was talking about it with a friend, and she agreed with me, asking, “Would you buy George Clooney for $80,000?” My response: “If I had $80,000 to spare, you bet I would.”
One of the other things that have brought about buzz in the media for Clooney is the whole “Gawker Stalker” thing. Gawker Stalker allows random people to post random celebrity sightings on a blog. I really don’t see why this is such a big deal. Sure, it infringes on your privacy somewhat, but as a person who has been in the public spotlight for at least 10 years now, you should be used to it and just learn to not care so much. I am quite possibly one of Clooney’s biggest fans, but I just cannot agree with what he is doing here.
On a happier note, the powers that be will be releasing the “George Clooney Collection” on DVD on June 6. There’s no word on what specific movies will be in the set. Clooney has also recently agreed to star as Danny Ocean for the third time in “Ocean’s Thirteen.” It looks like, with the exception of Julia Roberts, the entire cast will be returning, in addition to Clooney co-producing the film with Steven Soderbergh, who will also return to the director’s chair. This movie will probably be a blast to make, as all the stars are old pals by now, but I do not know how well that will translate to screen, as “Ocean’s Twelve” wasn’t exactly the best sequel to grace the theaters. Then again, it wasn’t the worst either.
All right, that’s probably enough Clooney for you.
The Boys (and Girls) of Summer
For Summer 2006, moviegoers can expect to see some familiar faces - pirates, Agent Ethan Hunt, a fat cat, some X-Men, Superman, and two Miami detectives named Crockett and Tubbs - in addition to other highly anticipated films - an adaptation of that one Dan Brown novel, writer-director M. Night Shyamalan’s latest, Mel Gibson’s latest directorial foray. With less than a month to go before the official start of summer in the movie business, let’s take a look at the major players.
“Mission: Impossible III” will be gracing a Cineplex near you on May 5, with Tom Cruise portraying Ethan Hunt for the third time. Also returning is Ving Rhames as Hunt’s right-hand man. TV’s “Alias” and “Lost” creator-writer J.J. Abrams is making his feature film directorial debut with the film, and pulled a few casting stunts by hiring on his “Felicity” star Keri Russell as the female lead and three-time TV collaborator Greg Grunberg for a minor role. The one redeeming casting call may be having recent Best Actor Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Capote”) as the bad guy.
On May 19, the adaptation of Dan Brown’s best-selling novel, “The Da Vinci Code,” will hit theaters. With Ron Howard in the director’s chair and an international all-star cast including Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Alfred Molina, Paul Bettany, Ian McKellen and Jean Reno, this adaptation should have no problem being entertaining or making money.
A week later, on May 26, McKellen is back as Magneto, along with a few other familiar faces, for “X-Men: The Last Stand,” the third and reportedly final “X-Men” film. With the second film being better than the first, maybe the third can be even better.
A week after “The Fast and the Furious 3” terrorizes audiences (June 16), “Garfield 2” hits to instill more terror in the hearts of American moviegoers on June 23. I bet that some of you didn’t even know there was a first “Garfield” movie. My point exactly.
“Superman Returns,” complete with the cape and the Daily Planet, hits theaters on June 30. Newcomer Brandon Routh is the S-wearing hero, while Kate Bosworth plays Lois Lane and Kevin Spacey plays the one and only Lex Luthor. Also look for stock footage of Marlon Brando as Kal-El.
Now, if you thought “Fast and Furious 3” and “Garfield 2” sounded bad, be prepared for worse. When I saw the trailer for “Little Man,” I thought it was a cruel, cruel joke. It actually uses the line “From the people who brought you ‘White Chicks’” as a selling point.
Then comes, if done right, my high point of the summer and possibly of the whole year, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” on July 7. Captain Jack is back, and so are Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann. This is the sequel to “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” which was based on a Disney theme park ride. That made talented actor Johnny Depp available to the mainstream audience after years of entertaining those who knew how to find him. I still have mixed feelings about that, but that’s not the point. Go see it on July 7.
On July 21, writer-director M. Night Shyamalan brings us his latest, “Lady in the Water.” The movie is a fairy tale-like story that stars Paul Giamatti as an apartment building super who finds a young woman in the building’s pool while cleaning it.
The guns are blazing on July 28, as director Michael Mann’s adaptation of the ‘80s TV classic “Miami Vice” hits screens. Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx star as detectives James “Sonny” Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, respectively.
As the summer starts to come to a close, Mel Gibson’s latest foray into the film world as a director, “Apocalypto,” hits theaters on Aug. 4. I think this movie will finally be the proof that the once-beloved star of the “Lethal Weapon” films is off of his rocker.
“Meltdown” of a Slump
“Ice Age: The Meltdown,” sequel to “Ice Age,” raked in $68 million in its opening weekend, 3/31-4/2, signaling at least a brief pause to the box office slump. E! Online reported the movie to be the biggest ever March opener and the fourth biggest animated debut ever, behind “Shrek 2,” “The Incredibles” and “Finding Nemo.” Surprisingly, “The Meltdown” is actually a good movie, which is increasing my faith in the American public’s movie tastes. “Basic Instinct 2,” which was pretty horrible, opened the same weekend at the No. 10 spot, making only $3.2 million.
