Larry Ratliff

James Bond shaken, stirred and laid off?

Daniel Craig as James Bond in "Quantum of Solace."  (Courtesy:  Sony Pictures)

The uncertain economy has touched us all, and now it looks like it might do what no world-class villain has; disarm the historic "James Bond" franchise.

According to Bryan Alexander's post on The Hollywood Reporter Web site, there was some remorse in London recently when longtime Bond producer Michael G. Wilson led a gathering to launch the "James Bond 007:  Blood Stone" video game.

"'I wish we were launching a movie,' he quipped, bringing laughter from the audience.

"It was a rare public comment and an even rarer moment of mirth in the drawn-out James Bond-MGM saga, which has left the faithful feeling shaken. In April, Wilson and his half sister and fellow Bond producer, Barbara Broccoli, announced that development of the next 007 feature, known as "Bond 23," was suspended 'indefinitely,'" according to the Hollywood Reporter article.

Click here to read the full report.

'Return to Giant,' support Texas Theater

James Dean on the "Giant" set in 1955.

(Courtesy:  Kirby Warnock)

"Giant," an epic film that has proved true to its title for over 50 years, is the kind of larger-than-life classic film with interest and fascination that will likely be around as long as movies light up the end wall of a dark room.

Filmmaker Kirby Warnock knew that in 1996 when he took his camera to Marfa, where "Giant" was shot in the summer of 1955 and where the West Texas city was celebrating the Academy Award winner's (best director, George Stevens) 40th anniversary.

"Return to Giant," Warnock's documentary narrated by Don Henley, a native Texan and lead singer for The Eagles," screens Thursday (July 29) at 7 p.m.  The locale is almost as noteworthy as the film itself.

The one-time-only screening will held at Oak Cliff's historic Texas Theater, located at 231 W. Jefferson Blvd. For more info, check out the Texas Theater's Web site at http://www.oakclifffoundation.org/ or call 214.942.4905.

Tickets are $5 with proceeds going to the Oak Cliff Foundation, the charitable organization that owns and operates the Texas Theater.

In addition to offering a behind-the-scenes look at the classic film starring Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Dennis Hopper and others, "Return to Giant" will be followed by a question-and-answer session featuring filmmaker Warnock.

"It’s what they like to refer to as ‘the director’s cut,’" Warnock said in the screening's press release. "George Stevens Jr. thought we had too many interviews with the local Marfa folks, so he asked that we edit them from the final DVD version.

"I understand where he’s coming from, but at the same time I believe that the locals had better stories and they were just more entertaining. Come on out and judge for yourself." 

Lindsay Lohan's slammer jam: No tweeting

Ms. Lohan's temporary new home. 

(Courtesy:  Moondogsports.com)

Oh the inhumanity!

According to a People magazine article by Ken Lee, newly arrived Lynwood, CA jail resident Lindsay Lohan can't Tweet or smoke while she's serving a 90-day parole violation jail sentence that'll likely result in only a couple weeks of slammer time.

And, if the "Mean Girls" co-star was wearing hair extensions on the way in, they have been, shall we say, unextended.  The extensions, if there were any, would be returned to Lohan on the way out.

"According to a jail insider, Lohan will be housed in a 12-by-8 cell next to E! reality TV star Alexis Neiers, 19, who's currently at Lynwood on a six-month sentence for her part in burglarizing Orlando Bloom's house.

"But Neiers got the more famous digs: She's in the cell once occupied by Paris Hilton," the People magazine article adds.

Maybe Lohan can't Tweet, but that doesn't mean she can't communicate with the outside world.  Twitter dispatches can be passed along to others to post for her during visitations.  

And here's another major blow to the "dignity" of the formerly good actress ("Mean Girls," "A Prairie Home Companion") who has evolved for whatever reason (I have my theories) into a glam "bad girl" celebrity.  Name-brand products are banned behind bars.

For a semi-starlet who feeds on the ever-present glare of the paparazzi spotlight, that's the equivalent of being forced to seek out generic products on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

Jokes are flying, of course.  David Letterman said the other night that Lohan is already in trouble in jail for converting a shiv into a nail file.  I got a hearty laugh Wednesday afternoon during a speaking engagement at Richland College in Dallas.

After being introduced, I thanked the audience for coming out in the sizzling, near 100 degree afternoon heat "for the Free Lindsay Lohan from Prison Rally."

Jail time is no laughing matter.  So shame on all of us.  And how dare authorities lock up a "celebrity" like Lohan and deprive her of her smokes, her Tweets and her hair extensions.  (I'm not saying she was wearing any, but just in case she was.)

It could be worse, of course.  Virgil Starkwell, the bumbling petty criminal played by Woody Allen in "Take the Money and Run," was thrown into a dusty, solitary confinement hole for a botched escape attempt.  (He carved a gun out of soap./It rained on Escape Night./It happens.)

Prison guards put an annoying life insurance salesman in with Starkwell as the ultimate humiliation.

As far as I know, though, Virgil could have kept his hair extensions, if he was wearing any. 

  

We coulda had class; Hey, we still can!

Movie spoof pioneer "Airplane!" may not have been so original after all.  (Paramount Pictures)

(Courtesy:  Warner Bros. Pictures)

From the It's Almost Never Too Late Department:

It's hot, I know.  But don't let the Dog Days of Summer keep you confined at home.  You could be enriching your life, laughing a little and -- dare I say it -- learning something you might not already know about movies, yours truly or the answer to this question:

Why are there 5280 feet in a mile?

Actually, I can help you personally with the first two issues, and you're about to learn how to answer that pesky semi-math question.

The quick answer to all three is simple.  You still have time to sign up for emeritus summer classes at Richland College in Dallas, located at 12800 Abrams Rd, just off Greenville Ave. slightly north of Loop 635 (See map).

All the wit and knowledge I can muster about movies will flow in two linked sessions that take place Aug. 2 (Monday) and Aug. 9 (Monday) from 10 a.m. to noon.  My goal is to fill Room C102 for the two-parter titled "If you Can't Say Something Nice -- My Career As a Film Critic."

For a modest fee of $25, which includes both sessions, I'll use PowerPoint images and movie clips to reveal the side of celebrity interviewing you probably didn't hear about.  The time Rodney Dangerfield showed up for TV interviews in his pajamas, for instance, or the time Harrison Ford caught a tourist couple completely off guard by showing up in their New York hotel room.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.  I have lots of entertaining and informative yarns to spin about a movie reviewing career that began with the wacky pioneer spoof "Airplane!" and continues today.  To sign up for the dual session, call 972-238-6146.  Or, visit the Richland College Web site for more info.

Who doesn't love a sneak preview?

But wait, there's more, as they say on those TV infomercials.  I'll be at Richland College this Wednesday at 1:45 to celebrate the magic of "Casablanca," my personal favorite classic movie, with the "Casablanca -- The Happy Accident Movie Classic" presentation.

Among other things, we'll discuss -- with the help of PowerPoint images and "Casablanca" film clips -- the most unusual big screen love triangle between Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid. 

And, as a bonus, I'll tease the Aug. 2 & 9 sessions with the story about the first time I got fired as a film critic.  Hint:  It has more than a little to do with Albert Brooks' witty romantic-comedy "Defending Your Life," the self-proclaimed "First true story of what happens after you die." 

The fee for the "Casablanca" presentation is $14.  But since it's part of the four-lecture Richland College Enrichment II series, you can return July 28 for the "Why Are There 5280 Feet in a Mile?" lecture by Arnold Paddock, Ph.D. 

We're going to have a grand time talking movies Wednesday afternoon, so come join us.  And, oh yeah, we've got air conditioning!  Call 972-238-6146 to register or for more information.

'Sorcerer' for fun, 'Inception' for huh?

Disney might have a new franchise on its hands with Nicolas Cage out front in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."  (Walt Disney Pictures)

Before you line up at the movie box office this weekend, just know that you need to make some choices between the mass appeal fun of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and the technically superb cinematic over-indulgence of "Inception."

Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard as husband and wife in "Inception."  (Warner Bros. Pictures)

But that's not all.  With "The Kids Are All Right" you'll also need to consider an extremely unconventional family dynamic with two moms, two children from different mothers and the long-absent sperm donor of both kids who suddenly shows up at the front door.

For mainstream fun, I recommend "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."  It overflows with light-hearted action, highly effective special effects and a plot the folks at Disney conjured up from Walt Disney's "Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment of "Fantasia," circa 1937.

Nicolas Cage plays the thousand-year-old apprentice of Merlin himself and appears to be having a blast in a fast-paced yarn set mostly in modern-day Manhattan.

Click here to read my entire "Sorcerer's Apprentice" review.

Christopher Nolan, director of "The Dark Knight" and the memory-scrambler "Memento," dives into the technically wondrous concept of a dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream with "Inception," which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page of "Juno," Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

You'll have to concentrate pretty hard to stay with the dream-state logic of this one.  Frankly, I got a little bored with it all.

Click here to read my entire "Inception" review. 

Also, Annette Bening and Julianne Moore put on an acting clinic in "The Kids Are All Right," a very untypical romantic-comedy about family.  Mark Ruffalo excels as well, but his screen time is somewhat limited.

Click here A for my entire review of "The Kids Are All Right."

Enjoy the movies.  And, as always, I'd love to hear what you think about what you see.  Feel free to comment at the bottom of the reviews.

  

Jolie earns her big-bucks 'Salt'

Angelina Jolie as a CIA operative on the run in "Salt."  (Courtesy:  Columbia Pictures)

Something wonderful (if you ask me) this way comes.

When Angelina Jolie hits movie screens July 23 as CIA operative Evelyn Salt, she'll be breaking the glass ceiling on two barriers; star salaries for women and, more importantly, Hollywood's "good old boys" club.

"Salt," according to an item posted on the Hollywood Reporter Web site, "was written to star a man -- no less than Tom Cruise."

Combine that with a reported $20 million payday, and that should be enough to keep the actress-humanitarian/Brad Pitt significant other solvent for a while.

Sez the Hollywood Reporter piece by Jay A. Fernandez:  "The National Organization for Women should send Angelina Jolie a nice cheese basket (or vice versa)."

"'It's definitely unusual that a female has become an action star,' 'Salt' producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura told the Hollywood Reporter.  "But it's a funny thing. She's not a female action star; she's an action star. She's really the first female to transcend gender. I don't think it's occurred before."

This is no accident.  Jolie first got my attention when she held her own with John Cusack, Cate Blanchett and future (and now former) husband Billy Bob Thornton in the offbeat comic-drama "Pushing Tin" back in 1999.

That was an ensemble piece.  But Jolie pushed herself to center stage and soon broke into the action-star slot, which had been primarily geared for male star hunks.

"In the past 10 years, she has starred in five action-dominated films that have averaged $124 million in domestic grosses. Worldwide, those grosses total nearly $1.5 billion. Again, that's just her action roles -- 'Wanted' (2008), 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' (2005), 'Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life' (2003), 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider' (2001) and 'Gone in 60 Seconds' (2000)," the Hollywood Reporter piece points out.

During an interview for the first "Lara Croft" actioner in 2001, when Jolie was in action-star transition mode, she kiddingly (I think) challenged me to a fistfight.

All I did was ask Jolie if she thought Lara Croft runs like a girl.

'Despicable Me,' Mel

"Despicable Me" title star Gru, voiced by Steve Carell, had a big weekend.

(Courtesy:  Universal Pictures)

It was a big weekend for the lovably villainous animated family tale "Despicable Me."

Mel Gibson in "Edge of Darkness"

(Courtesy:  Warner Bros.)

Not so much for Oscar winner Mel Gibson, whose less-than-lovely accusations of yet another racial rant may have cost him representation at Hollywood's William Morris agency (WME).

According to an article posted on the Hollywood Reporter Web site, when WME dropped Gibson last week, it may have been a result of equal parts revulsion and monetary. 

"'There's nothing to do for Mel Gibson at the moment, a WME source said in the Hollywood Reporter post. 'No one will touch him with a 10-foot pole. He'll make his own movies, but you don't commission those anyway.'

"Hollywood has routinely overlooked reprehensible, even illegal behavior when there's money to be made. And observers -- including a studio chief and an insider at WME -- said the industry might even have gotten past Gibson's alleged assault on his girlfriend. (Consider Charlie Sheen.) But the repeated allegations of bigoted comments have left his relationship with the public in tatters, and that's a deal-breaker."

Click here to read the entire Hollywood Reporter story on Mel Gibson.

On a much brighter note, Universal's bouncy animated caper "Despicable Me" bounced those moody vampires and shaggy werewolves of "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" out of first place at the box office over the weekend.

According to our cinematic bean counting friends over at BoxOfficeMojo.com, "'Despicable Me' crushed even the most optimistic predictions by opening to an estimated $60.1 million on around 5,200 screens at 3,476 theaters."

Click here to read the entire Box Office Mojo take on how the story of a lovable villain compared to opening grosses for "Toy Story 3," "Shrek Forever After" and more.

Yo, Stallone's 64 and 'Eclipse' kills a guy

Actually, the news gets worse.  Cinderella is dead, too.

Are you sure this isn't a second Monday of the week?

Sylvester Stallone is back in action in "The Expendables." (Courtesy:  Lionsgate)

First comes news that Sylvester Stallone, the mushy-mouthed icon of "Rocky" and "Rambo" who's 64 today, is now one year away from Medicare benefits.  Then the news that Ilene Woods, the voice of golden-haired Cinderella in Disney's 1950 animated classic has died at 81.

Now word comes trickling in from the Risky Business blog at the Hollywood Reporter Web site that a 23-year-old New Zealand man was found, uh, expired in a movie theater after watching "The Twilight Saga:  Eclipse."

"Paramedics who arrived on the scene to resuscitate him found no obvious injuries, which can only mean one thing: 'Twilight' killed him," a Risky Business blogger surmises.

That, according to the Hollywood Reporter dispatch, left only one question to be solved:

"Was the unnamed gentleman a fan or critic of the beloved film franchise? Did he die in a burst of physiologically overpowering excitement, perhaps in the climactic battle between werewolves and vampires, or maybe just when Taylor Lautner first took his shirt off? Then again, he like so many male 23-year-olds outside the 'Twilight' target demographic may have literally been bored to death. We'll never know," sez the blog scribe.

My guess is that waiting for the autopsy report won't help much.  I'm pretty sure that if one could die from movie boredom it would have shown up as a killer long before this.

But back to Stallone for a sec.  The Oscar-nominated (as actor and screenwriter of "Rocky" in 1976) actor/filmmaker is hardly finished.

Stallone directs and stars in "The Expendables," which opens Aug. 13.  He'll share the screen with fellow hardened mercenaries of a certain age Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts and Steve Austin.

"Yo, Aleve!"