Ben Affleck competes for the title of Hollywood’s most in demand director with two big gigs in the works, one featuring his old Good Will Hunting buddy, and another which marks quite a departure from his previous work.

Collider are reporting that the duo may reteam (it hasn’t been officially announced as yet) in a biopic of Irish crime boss Whitey Bulger, with Damon  playing the lead role and Affleck performing directorial duties. What’s more, Boardwalk Empire mastermind Terrence Winter is writing the script.

This all sounds very promising, but when (and where) this will fit into Affleck’s increasingly busy schedule is unclear. Currently filming and starring in (alongside an all-star cast) the comedy drama Argo, Deadline brings news that he has been chosen by Warner Bros. (who are behind the aforementioned George Clooney-produced picture, and Affleck’s highly-praised 2010 feature, The Town) to adapt and direct the long-awaited, big-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s post-apocalypse epic, The Stand.

This is certainly an interesting and welcomed choice (although wasn’t Harry Potter’s David Yates attached to this a mere month or so back) but due to the sheer size and scope of this production (which will undoubtedly dwarf his previous productions combined) if the Whitley Bulger feature is eventually green-lit, we could be still be waiting a considerable time yet for an Affleck/Damon reteaming.

Ron Howard may be having trouble trying to get his long-in-gestation adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower off the ground, but it’s not enough to deter two equally high-profile filmmakers who are now making plans to bring a couple of titles from the author (one new, one old) to the big screen.

Firstly, director Jonathan Demme has optioned the rights to King’s forthcoming novel, 11/22/63. A science fiction yarn concerning a teacher who travels back in time in an attempt to prevent the Kennedy assassination, Demme will also write and produce, with King receiving an executive producer billing if the project comes to fruition.

The second King feature (which is currently in the finalisation stages of a deal being made via Warner Bros.) will be a big-screen adaptation of the post-apocalyptic horror/fantasy, The Stand (which itself, was turned into a high-profile mini-series back in the mid-nineties). The epic story, which focuses on a small group of survivors following the outbreak of man-made biological weapon which has managed to desecrate the majority of the human race, entirely lends itself to a cinematic landscape, but perhaps surprisingly, it’s being brought to the big screen by “Harry Potter” duo, David Yates and Steve Klowes (director of parts 5, 6, and 7, and the series scriptwriter, respectively).

The material is hardly what you’d describe as child-friendly, but due to the truly phenomenal success of the boy wizard (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 now stands as the 3rd highest grossing film of all time!!) these two must have pretty much carte blanche in terms of their next project, and it’s nice to see that they’ve gravitated towards edgier, adult material.

This news must be particularly frustrating for Howard. It’s not as if his Dan Brown adaptations did modest business (The Da Vinci Code’s finally world-wide box office tally stands at just over $750 million), but that doesn’t seem to matter in this new, cost-conscious Hollywood era.

News via The Hollywood Reporter and Hit Fix.

After directing the first two films based on Dan Brown’s novels, The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, Ron Howard has decided that he’ll only be producing the third film, The Lost Symbol, and won’t be returning to direct, Deadline reports.

Howard directed the first two films to very impressive successes at the box office, turning a $125m. budget into $760m. on The Da Vinci Code and a $150m. budget into $485m. on Angels & Demons.

However, with The Lost Symbol bringing Robert Langdon back to the back screen, Howard felt that he didn’t want to do another film with a similar storyline and feel, and so is just going to be producing this one.

“Ron told Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton that he was not going to be directing Dan Brown’s novels anymore… He just didn’t want to do that thing over and over, the same character and the same stories.”

So now the search will be underway for Sony to find a new director to helm the third film in the series, which will see Robert Langdon (expected to have Tom Hanks reprising his role) in Washington, D.C. trying to save his mentor and uncovering the lost secrets of the Freemasons. The task is not an easy one, given the success of the first two films, so whoever takes the challenge on will certainly have much expected of them. The script was originally drafted by Steven Knight (Eastern Promises), but now Brown himself is working on the rewrite, which will be his first time writing for the big screen.

Howard recently had his ambitious Stephen King project, The Dark Tower, turned down by Universal Pictures, which passed on the opportunity to turn the seven novels into three films and two TV series, and left the project somewhat dead in the water. Ever the busy worker, however, Howard has since signed on to produce and direct Under the Banner of Heaven, and will be directing a live-action version of the comic strip, Spy vs. Spy, from Mad magazine. He is also set to direct Rush, the biopic of F1 racers Niki Lauda and James Hunt, and if/when the Arrested Development film comes to light, he’ll be producing that and no doubt narrating too, which is definitely something to look forward to.

We reported at some length back in September of last year on the audacious plans being hatched by Ron Howard, Akiva Goldsmith and Brian Grazer to turn Stephen King’s 7-novel Dark Tower series into a trilogy of feature films, interspersed with two seasons of a television series. Universal were considering funding the project, mindful of their relatively straightforward links with television (NBC/Universal), even though it was already looking to be an enormous and expensive undertaking.

Since then, there has been casting news aplenty, including Javier Bardem as the lead character of Roland Deschain. What there wasn’t and apparently what there will never now be, was a firm commitment from Universal, who have now backed out. What seems to have been at issue is firstly (inevitably) the budget for three films and two (albeit brief) seasons of a TV show and secondly the general upfront commitment to such a long-term project, when the likely success or failure of it would  not become apparent until much of the money had been committed. Of course Peter Jackson was able to persuade New Line to take a punt on a similarly audacious project with LOTR, but it seems Universal are unconvinced that they have a product of similar commercial viability on their hands.

It may be, as Deadline suggest, that Universal are over-committed on tent-pole releases, with Peter Berg’s Battleship and Keanu Reeves 47 Ronin both apparently clocking in with budgets in the region of $200m. In these constrained times, perhaps Universal cannot justify the risk of too many big-budget projects on their books. Universal, with its NBC partnership, seemed an obvious home for the project and its TV cross-over elements, but they are far from the only possibility available. WB, 20th Century Fox and Paramount all have ties to the small screen and so perhaps Howard et al will head out into the market place and see what support they can drum up.

For the time being though, this one is regrettably on hold.

Source: Deadline

The Stephen King Dark Tower franchise machine is starting to build up some exciting momentum with the recent news that Javier Bardem is very close to signing on for the project as the iconic lead character of the series, Roland Deschain. This mixed but widely approved casting news has now been followed up with the very positive sounding announcement from Deadline.com that Mark Verheiden has joined the solid looking talent forming behind the camera and will Co-Write and Executive Produce alongside Akiva Goldsman.

Mark Verheiden is a very talented and experienced writer with a proven track record for strong TV series contributions, it’s what the Dark Tower films and TV series need to give a voice to the stunning and complex source material that will hopefully stay true or as close to the seven Dark Tower books that the fans will expect. Verheiden has previously written and Executive Produced the likes of Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Timecop, The Mask and the upcoming Dreamworks show Falling Skies. Its quite a decent CV and one that has given me optimism for the Dark Tower’s future.

As previously reported, Ron Howard is directing the first film as well as the first TV series which is bridging the gap between the first and second films. Depending on the critical reception it receives, the box office takings and that the TV series avoids the dreaded Death Slot in the States, the franchise will become hot property and will then allow Howard, Goldsman, Verheiden and Universal to attract some further talented directors and actors to continue the journey to the Dark Tower and allow it to reach its stunning finale. Time will tell.

What fans need now is the casting news/rumours to really start flowing and give us Dark Tower followers something to debate over until the films release. In my opinion the selection of staff and casting for the Dark Tower will be as big and as important to the success of the adaption of the seven Books of the Dark Tower as when Peter Jackson and friends had to dauntingly select the right crew, actors and actresses for The Lord of the Rings films. It’s so important to get this right and signing Verheiden and Bardem is a great step towards success.
I’ll start my casting wish list by asking that if Aaron Paul or Michael Pitt are available, then get either of them signed as Eddie Dean now.

Would love to hear your thoughts on anything Dark Tower s comment below.

Roll on May 27th 2013 which is the intended start date for the first film.

Academy Award-winning actor Javier Bardem (Biutiful) is close to securing a deal to co-star in Universal Pictures’ feature film adaptation of Stephen King’s mammoth 7-novel series The Dark Tower.

Bardem is in line to topline the film as Roland Deschain.

Gunslinger Roland Deschain roams an Old West-like landscape in search of a dark tower, in the hopes that reaching it will preserve his dying world.

Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon) is attached to direct from a script by Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind).

Production is scheduled to commence in September.

Source: Deadline

This is a no-brainer (excuse the pun) if ever there was one. Master of horror Stephen King has confirmed that’s he’s in talks to write an episode of the TV adaptation of famed zombie graphic novel series, The Walking Dead.

In a welcome display of industry back-scratching, King’s possible involvement stems from his relationship with series executive producer Frank Darabont, a man who has previously brought three King stories to the big screen. The Shawshank Redemption director has apparently “expressed enthusiastic interest” in King lending his considerable talents to the second season or possibly the third one.

If this all goes according to plan, King’s son Joe (who writes under the surname of Hill) would co-write an episode with his daddy. King Jr. is himself a successful fantasy writer (with an adaptation of his own graphic novel, Locke & Key, heading towards production) and this would be a fun opportunity for father and son to collaborate.

News via Comicbookmovie.com

After strong whisperings of both Viggo Mortensen and Christian Bale being cast in the adaptation of Stephen King’s epic series The Dark Tower, news comes through that Javier Bardem has landed the lead part.

Deadline are reporting that the Spanish actor will play gunslinger Roland Deschain for director Ron Howard in the first of a projected trilogy of films. Scripted by Howard regular Akiva Goldsman, the story follows Deschain and his companions as they journeys across a post-apocalyptic, barren landscape in pursuit of a nemesis (The Man in Black) and on a quest to stop The Dark Tower from crumbling in order to save the universe.

This announcement has come a fortuitous time for Bardem who has only this week, became a father for the first time and received a Best Actor nomination for his performance in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Biutiful (which is out in UK cinemas this Friday).

The Dark Tower is finally being developed for the screen with Universal leading the multi-platform release of Stephen King’s incredible Seven novel fantasy adventure series. Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman are already onboard to create the first film and the following first season, with Howard Directing and Akiva Goldsman writing, this will be part of a planned Trilogy of films and a TV series that link the films together. Now that the production has well and truly started, the inevitable casting rumours have begun.

Indiewire.com has brought us the news of some suitable and some very unsuitable casting rumours, and they are incredibly creative rumours at this point, for the lead character of the Dark Tower series called Roland Deschain; the last Gunslinger on a life long journey to reach the mysterious Dark Tower and to save the world.

Those that don’t know about the character of Roland, ideally he needs to be an weathered man of about 40-50 with striking blue eyes and able to look bloody cool with two big irons on his hip, Stephen King compared Roland to ‘the man with no name’ as played by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone’s films. Now having said that, Ron Howard recently spoke freely with the LA Times about who could play Roland and the names mentioned were Daniel Craig, Hugh Jackman, Jon Hamm and Dark Tower fansite Roland of choice, Viggo Mortensen. Although Ron Howard didn’t confirm if they had actually started casting he did say that he doubted the named stars would commit to such a project due to other commitments. A fair point, the Dark Tower would end up being at least 7 years of someone’s career unless they condense the books and choose to ignore parts of the plot, and if it fails to make a financial gain at the boxoffice, the cost of tying one of these A-List actors down for the duration of the franchise would be a financial risk straight away.

This could mean that a lesser known actor could be chosen to fill the gunslingers boots which is slightly worrying as the film will need a big name to get the box office draw it needs to launch the Dark Tower to more than the fans of the books, however Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman would be terrible choices for the role and could never offer enough character to suit Roland’s personality, Viggo would be absolutely perfect but I agree he would unlikely commit to such a large franchise and Jon Hamm is likely to be committed to Madmen for a few more years, but of course these are just rumours but as rumours for castings go, The Dark Tower characters are the ones that interest more than any other film on the horizon.

I’ve just finished reading the Dark Tower series over a three year spell and it is one of the most engaging and incredible stories I’ve ever experienced and I, like many fans, expect the source material to be followed as closely as possible which would mean an adult rating has to be maintained to get the most out of Roland and his Ka-Tet’s adventures through parallel worlds and time travel. The look of the production and casting has to be completely right or instantly the fans will react negatively which is what the adaptation does not need.

Love to hear your thoughts on who you think should be cast, use the comments below.

Last week we reported on a well-known property from the 80s that was undergoing a 21st century polishing, ready for the remake-saturated market.

This is nothing new, and news of remakes, reboots and revisitings (revisitations?) are more and more commonplace as studio rummage through back catalogues for an idea or a name which will guarantee an element of infamy or nostalgia. Whether the films are remembered with imperfect or total recall they are being scooped up and thrown at the reboot wall to see what sticks.

When news broke that Universal wanted to remake the 80s film Firestarter, and to turn it into a franchise no less, eyebrows were raised and questions followed. How far would this reboot of the Stephen King source material, consistently described by the remakers are ‘edgy’, differ from the original, and what makes it worthy of this new attention.

Director of Firestarter and Commando, both of which are getting the reboot treatment, Mark L. Lester, kindly gave us his reaction to the news.

It’s a great compliment and proof the movies have become classics worthy of remakes. I hope they do a good job on them. It seems that Hollywood is continually redoing films from the past, sometimes it’s a success and other times it’s not.

I don’t think the industry has run out of original ideas; there is a lot of great material yet to be made. In this economic climate, I believe the studios feel that remakes and branded entertainment are less of a risk. It is the safer bet for them since there is already a built in audience. Commercial appeal has a lot to do with it.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a remake of ‘Class of 1984’ or maybe even ‘Armed & Dangerous’ starring Jack Black.

He also confirmed that he hadn’t been approached by the studios in connection with the projects, but if Jack Black signs up for Armed & Dangerouser I’m hoping Lester gets the call.

Remember Firestarter? The film based on a Stephen King novel about a pyrokinetic child, with the said child played by a post-ET Drew Barrymore? Thought so, well you’re not the only ones and Universal have set wheels in motion to restart the fire as a franchise.

Joining with the Dino De Laurentiis Company Universal clearly know something we don’t as planning a franchise before a single word has been written, cast member signed, nor director approached is a sure sign of confidence in the project. Mark L. Smith, the man behind the Vacancy films as well as Joe Dante’s The Hole, is scripting but there’s no sign of a director, and it’s not known if the other Mark L. in the equation (the original’s director Mark. L. Lester) is involved. So, what do we know so far?

Here’s a worrying quote from the Variety report,

Plot details for the reboot are being kept under wraps. It’s expected to be loosely based on the original King book, but the main character is to be reinvented with a little more edge.

Luckily Martha De Laurentiis is on hand to clarify the vision,

We see this as a unique, character-driven thriller with a supernatural edge, based on a timeless concept and enhanced by recent visual effects advances,

Universal’s Debbie Liebling fuels the fire,

Firestarter has a great mythology and with Martha and Lorenzo’s vision we believe the franchise can be extended in a new and exciting direction.

Excited, or are Universal lighting fires with spent matches?

Here’s the trailer for the 1984 version for you to get your nostalgic kicks to,

The IMDb250. A list of the top 250 films as ranked by the users of the biggest Internet movie site on the web. It is based upon the ratings provided by the users of the Internet Movie Database, which number into the millions. As such, it’s a perfect representation of the opinions of the movie masses, and arguably the most comprehensive ranking system on the Internet.

It’s because of this that we at HeyUGuys (and in this case we is myself and Barry) have decided to set ourselves a project. To watch and review all 250 movies on the list. We’ve frozen the list as of January 1st of this year. It’s not as simple as it sounds, we are watching them all in one year, 125 each.

This is our 38th update, my next five films watched for the project. You can find all our previous week’s updates here.

No. 118 – Fargo (1996) – Rating 8.2

The Coen Brothers make another appearance in the list with one of their greatest films from their wonderful collection of movies and it was Fargo that started my love affair with the Coen Brothers over 14 years ago. Fargo is one of those films that hits all the right buttons for me as a viewer, the story is sublime, it’s perfectly performed by a truly wonderful cast, the dialogue is glorious, the characters are so memorable and when ever I watch it I always feel completely satisfied with it. It’s a masterpiece.

The basic story is about Jerry Lundegaard (William H Macy) who arranges for his wife to be kidnapped by some hired third party guys, ones kinda funny looking and all goes to plan to begin with. The ransom is to be paid by his wealthy father-in-law and Lundegaard then plans to take the money himself to invest and split a percentage to the kidnappers. However things start to get out of hand when his henchmen start to bungle things up and when three dead people appear on a main road the police, lead by the pregnant Marge Gunderson (an Oscar winning performance by Frances McDormand), start to investigate which eventually leads her to Jerry and eventually to the kidnappers hideout where a bloody mess is being made out of the kinda funny looking one. It’s a wonderful story of a crime gone wrong and it’s never been done better.

The film opens by saying the story is based on events that actually took place which instantly casts a spell over you, of course it’s a red herring and they didn’t really occur but the claim it does is enough to get you emotionally hooked from the start when watching for the first time. The film plays out at a wonderful pace with wonderful exchanges of dialogue mainly between Marge and the people she meets and between Carl Showalter and his kidnapping colleague Gaear Grimsrud played by Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare respectively, their deteriorating friendship is the key to the downturn in events in the kidnapping saga and it’s also one of the many highlights of the film as Stormare blankly stares as Buscemi’s rants and slowly descends into madness and what a way to cap off the insanity than to fill a wood chipper with Steve Buscemi, a timeless classic scene.

There is just so much to love about Fargo from the wonderful score, the dark humour, the visually stunning photography, the way that Frances McDormand and her husband are always eating or lying in bed when they are in a scene together, the way William H Macy stutters his way through scenes with the brilliant American-Swedish accent and the way people still apparently hunt for the suitcase full of money buried in the snow thinking its really there. Fargo is an absolute joy to watch and in my opinion deserves a higher place in the list.

No. 192 – Ed Wood (1994) – Rating 8.0

The Oscar winning performance from Martin Landau is so damn good as Bela Lugosi, Johnny Depp captures the essence of Ed Wood perfectly and Tim Burton directs my favourite film of his as he recreates scenes from Ed Wood’s films with stunning accuracy, this is the story of the worst film director in history and it’s an absolute triumph.

Those that don’t know who Ed Wood was, Edward Davis Wood Jr was a screenwriting, director, producer, actor, author, and editor most notably during the 1950′s where he made what is regarded as the worst films in movie history that led to him being award the Golden Turkey award for Worst Director of all time. He befriended a ageing drug addicted Bela Lugosi who helped give his films some success and Ed Wood was a heterosexual cross dresser to add extra substance to an incredible story.

The film covers the period regarding Wood’s relationship with Lugosi and his creation of his most notorious films and it’s the relationship between Wood and Lugosi that steals the film. Landau really does put in a stunning performance as Lugosi and straight after watching the film I YouTubed Lugosi’s films that featured in Ed Wood to compare the performances and it really is worthy of the Oscar he received. What also has to mentioned is the perfect production of matching scenes and props from the original films which also assist Landau’s performance and those that were angered as to why Samuel L Jackson didn’t get the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Pulp Fiction will understand why after watching Ed Wood.

The supporting cast are also perfectly matched to their real life characters with Bill Murray, Jeffrey Jones, George Steele and Lisa Marie standing out. Murray and Jones in particular stealing scenes they appear in with Murray as Bunny Breckinridge, Wood’s openly gay friend who performed in his films and suffered a failed sex reassignment therapy and Jeffrey Jones flawlessly captures The Amazing Criswell a psychic Tv entertainer, actor and producer of Wood’s films. There are other notable performances from Patricia Arquette as Wood’s girlfriend then wife Kathy O’Hara and Sarah Jessica Parker in a decent turn as Wood’s first girlfriend Dolores Fuller who failed to accept Wood’s transvestism and delivers a classic line of “Do I really have a face like a horse” after a scathing review. It’s a wonderful assemble cast that adds so much to a truly great film and it’s a film that fully deserves its place on the IMDb250 list.

No. 49 – The Shining (1980) – Rating 8.5

I watched The Shining with big sound reducing headphones and it was quite possibly one of the scariest things I’ve ever done.

Jack Nicholson stars as Jack, a writer who takes a job as caretaker at the Colorado Overlook Hotel for the winter. He is warned by the hotel’s manager that  winters in the mountains are dangerous and that heavy snowfall closes up the roads for months. Jack along with his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and their young son Danny (Danny Lloyd) are left alone at the huge empty hotel and as  weeks go by the snow grows heavier and Jack begins to get a bad case of writer’s block, slowly begins to go crazy.

It becomes apparent that the hotel is haunted and as Danny rides his bike through the iconic corridors he starts to get really freaky visions like an elevator opening up to a tidal wave of blood, the most terrifying set of twins (who completely freak me out) that keep appearing to Danny and also his really strange imaginary friend Tony and that “Red Rum” scene. The reality of he situation starts to reveal itself and things start getting worse for the family as Jack starts to loose it until he picks up an axe and goes about stalking his family to kill them, “Here’s Johnny”, the maze scene and the reveal that Jack’s soul always returns to the hotel to caretake and murder is a wonderful conclusion to the film and proves itself as easily one of the scariest movies ever.

“The Shining” is a brilliantly paced, incredibly creepy and at times a truly horrifying film. Watching it alone with my headphones turned up quite loud added a remarkable atmospheric experience I have never experienced before watching a film and when possible I’ve used my headphones to watch as many films since. The haunting instrumental music score by Herbert Von Karajan was one of the reasons for the frights I suffered and it fits the film so well. Nicholson’s performance is probably his best, his change in character is nothing short of stunning as he stares blankly over his typewriter as his mental state deteriorates, it’s all in about his voice and eyebrows and the change of facial expressions he can pull off to look like a bloody crazy man!. Shelley Duvall is also excellent as the sympathetic wife, she’s a proper movie screamer when she has to be and this really helps particularly during the films climax. Scatman Crothers also performed exceptionally as the cook of the hotel, he tells Danny that he has the “shine,” which is the ability to see the future and also comes face to face with Jacks axe towards the end. His voice is captivating (he voiced Jazz in the animated Transformers and Hong Kong Phooey) and his performance is really underrated.

Overall The Shining is a stunning film. Kubrick is an utter genius delivering everything you could want from a horror film with slowly building and rather unsettling momentum, psychological scares mixed with some of the most visually stunning shock moments in horror movie history that have been forever parodied or copied. The Shining fully deserves its place in the Top 50 films from the IMDb250 and will no doubt hold its place for many years to come.

No. 92 – The Elephant Man (1980) – Rating 8.3

I didn’t like Mulholland Drive, which is also on the IMDb250 list, and I’m not a big fan of David Lynch and his films so it’s fair to say I wasn’t looking forward to seeing the Elephant Man again for the first time in many many years when I was at an age I didn’t really understand films too much. However this is one of Lynch’s more accessible films, it’s a very moving and incredibly well made film with some of the finest performances, astounding makeup and glorious black & white cinematography from the IMDb films so far.

The Elephant Man stars John Hurt as John Merrick, a victim of a disease that has left him grotesquely deformed whose spent most of his life travelling in a carnival freak show. Eventually Merrick comes under the care of Dr. Treves (outstandingly played by Anthony Hopkins), who locates Merrick into his hospital where he studies him, helps him to conquer a restrictive speech impediment, and gives him back his human dignity. Treves introduces Merrick to culture, finery and things he’s only dreamed of experiencing but the question is he exploiting his friend for personal gain torments him.

Word about Merrick’s existence starts to spread and Bytes (Freddie Jones) his former owner at the freak show, the press and curious locals all try to get a piece of him and exploit his affliction. This eventually leads to Merrick being kidnapped and taken to France by Bytes and put on show again as The Elephant Man and even though his escape back to England is triumphant it leads to the final days of John Merrick. He visits the theater with Treves and his wife where the performance dedicated to him and then that night he discards all pillows from his bed and is determined to lie down like everyone else to sleep and he does for the final time.

The Elephant Man is a stunning film. The makeup is incredible and was taken from casts of the real John Merrick and adds an incredible sense of realism to the look of the character that is equalled by John Hurt’s perfect performance that was cruelly not given the Oscar it deserved although you can say that Robert De Niro’s Raging Bull is equally as impressive, I feel Hurt’s performance is far more complex and worthy of more recognition. The black & white photography shows Victorian England in remarkable stark realism

No. 182 – The Killing (1956) – Rating 8.0

Another first time viewing film for me and another one that has cemented its place my personal favourite movie list. This the second Kubrick film I watched for this week’s reviews and it couldn’t be more different. Kubrick  has directed such a wide genre of movies with various degrees of success with Sci-Fi, Horror, War, Action Romance and many have made an appearance on the IMDb 250 list and The Killing is his earliest film to have made it and this one is a heist movie.

Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) is a veteran criminal planning one last heist before settling down and marrying girlfriend Fay (Coleen Gray). His target is the money counting room at a racetrack during a featured race and to steal two million dollars in the process. He recruits his team consisting of corrupt cop Randy Kennan (Ted de Corsia); track cashier George Peatty (Elisha Cook Jr.); sharpshooter Nikki Arcane (Timothy Carey) whose to shoot the race favorite horse during the race causing a distraction, a wrestler called Maurice who provides a distraction for the police by starting a fight at the track bar, and the race course bartender (Joe Sawyer). The heist goes pretty much as planned but it’s the aftermath that creates a problem with double crossings, revenge killings, death, a little dog and a old suitcase full of money that isn’t quite strong enough to withstand a bump and then the whole plan is ruined.

Kubrick shows what a wonderful eye he had for film making early on in his career, the film noir feels right and look amazing with some wonderful scenes (see above) where just a bunch of guys, great dialogue, loads of cigarettes and a darkly lit room is all you need to make a scene work incredibly. The heist is carried out with wonderful precision and intelligence and with Sterling Hayden as the lead character everything about the film works like a charm as he gives orders and leads the team with assured authority making everything seem believable and precise. It’s a shame Kubrick didn’t make more films like this in his later years.

Overall The Killing is a wonderful movie, slow paced but excellently executed with a cast that all performed magnificently delivering one of my favourite films from the list.

You can find Barry’s next update next week, catch you in two.

Don’t forget, you can follow our progress on Twitter at  http://twitter.com/baz_mann and  http://twitter.com/Gary_Phillips

Deadline are repoting this morning on what appears to an unprecedented deal between Universal Pictures, NBC/Universal Television, director Ron Howard, producer Brian Grazer and author Stephen King for a feature and television adaptation of King’s acclaimed series of novels, The Dark Tower.

Deadline reports that it has taken several months of negotiations, with both Universal and Warner Bros interested in the property, but now Universal have clinched it and will move ahead with their elaborate plans. Ron Howard will direct the initial feature film, as well as the first season of the television series that will follow quickly afterwards. Brian Grazer, Howard’s producing partner at Imagine Entertainment, will produce the project and Akiva Goldsmith will draw up the script.

If Deadline are correct in their report, then “ambitious” is the word for this project. The Dark Tower is a series of novels about Roland Deschain, the last-surviving member of an order of “knightly gunmen” and the only hope for the saving of civilization, which will crumble if he cannot find the eponymous Tower. Considered by many to have a scope and sweep on a par with Tolkien’s Middle Earth novels, Howard and Goldsman describe King’s world as being like “an alternate Americana, part post-apocalyptic, part Sergio Leone”. Howard intends to proceed as follows:-

The plan is to start with the feature film, and then create a bridge to the second feature with a season of TV episodes. That means the feature cast—and the big star who’ll play Deschain—also has to appear in the TV series before returning to the second film. After that sequel is done, the TV series picks up again, this time focusing on Deschain as a young gunslinger. Those storylines will be informed by a prequel comic book series that King was heavily involved in plotting. The third film would pick up the mature Deshain as he completes his journey. They will benefit from being able to use the same sets cast and crew for the movie and TV, which could help contain costs on what will be a financially ambitious undertaking.

Goldsman, having written less acclaimed films such as Batman & Robin and Lost In Space has since progressed onto better-quality fare, such as A Beautiful Mind and Cinderella Man. Howard, for his part, is an Oscar-winning director of such prestigious films as Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind and Frost/Nixon. Deadline have drawn parallels between the ambition of a project to be run on two platorms (big screen and small) and what Peter Jackson achieved in filming three features simultaneously with Lord of the Rings so that they could be released in more rapid succession. Howard explained to Deadline:-

“What Peter did was a feat, cinematic history. The approach we’re taking also stands on its own, but it’s driven by the material. I love both, and like what’s going on in TV. With this story, if you dedicated to one medium or another, there’s the horrible risk of cheating material. The scope and scale call for a big screen budget. But if you committed only to films, you’d deny the audience the intimacy and nuance of some of these characters and a lot of cool twists and turns that make for jaw-dropping, compelling television. We’ve put some real time and deep thought into this, and a lot of conversations and analysis from a business standpoint, to get people to believe in this and take this leap with us. I hope audiences respond to it in a way that compels us to keep going after the first year or two of work. It’s fresh territory for me, as a filmmaker.”

Rather than seemingly biting off more than they can chew, this looks like the plans of a production team that know exactly what they are doing and precisely how best to present the material. The Green Mile was condensed from 6 novellas into one film and felt like it might have benefited instead from being a mini-series. Likewise, one of the reasons often given for the fact that television is enjoying a new golden age is that across 20+ episodes for 3, 4 or more seasons, the audience has time to get to know the characters and the writers can build much more depth and nuance with the space to breath afforded by the small screen format. It stands to reason that 60 hours of The Wire will be able to create a more immersive, elaborate and engaging world than, say, 2 hours of Training Day or Narc.

It feels like a master stroke to plan the project from its outset as a piece for cinema and television, rather than trying to artificially squeeze it into a different format once it has gained popularity. Like I said above, “ambitious” is the word, but it looks promising that it will pay off in the end. Howard and Goldsman have confirmed that this will be their next project, once they have finished up on The Dilemma, so we will let you know as soon as we hear any more news on this fascinating project.

In a somewhat inevitable move (given his productivity in television and his love for meticulously storyboarding his own films) it looks like the great man himself, Mr Steven Spielberg is jumping aboard the comic book live-action adaptation bandwagon.

News has come in via Vulture that Hollywood’s hot scriptwriting duo Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and Josh Friedman (part of the creative team behind Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) are teaming up to bring supernatural-themed graphic novel Locke & Key to the small screen through DreamWorks TV.

Created by Joe Hill (Stephen King’s son, no less!), Locke & Key is set in a New England mansion which is filled with a series of magical doors that transform the individuals who choose to walk through them. Oohhh!

No channel has bought the series as yet, but surely with the calibre attached, it’s only a matter of time before someone puts a bid in.

More as we get it.

Thanks to Bloody-Disgusting, we have some news regarding the remakes of two of Stephen King’s best loved stories, It and Pet Sematary. Unfortunately, along with Misery, these two are also probably the best King horror adaptations to have hit screens (but only because Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption dont count). They are certainly the two that scared the holy bejeezuz out of me the most when I first saw them, and every subsequent time. So news of a remake for both is something of a double-edged sword- part of me welcomes a new take on the stories, but the other part will always be suspicious of the Hollywood remake machine when the originals were good enough. The sad fact is that modern horror remakes largely don’t work.

Bloody-Disgusting have today reposted an interview that originated at fan-site Lilja’s Library with David Kajganich, the scripter charged with bringing both remakes to the screen. First Kajganich spoke of the Pet Sematary redo:

After I turned in my first draft, Paramount went through a top-down regime change and I was given a new executive who had creative ideas I just couldn’t stand behind. They wanted to appeal to younger audiences, so there was talk of making a teenaged Ellie the main character, and etc. It was really heartbreaking, but that’s how the process works sometimes. The studio was gracious enough to let me out of my contract and the project was dormant at the studio until very recently.

Hang on, a teen thriller remake?! Is he kidding? Thank God the project is dormant… but wait, he has more:

The current news is that Paramount has restarted the process with a new producer and writer (Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Matt Greenberg; both previously announced. I wish I could tell you something about their approach, or how it’s going, but I’m entirely out of the loop now.

Oh, no. Hopefully Paramount have the sense to kick out the executive’s “creative ideas” before the remake begins to circle the drain already. Everyone who has heard Kevin Smith’s Superman story knows that film execs and creative ideas just don’t mesh!

There is one scene in particular in the original Pet Sematary that still really gets to me- for everyone who has seen it, it’s the knife to the Achilles tendon moment. It is easily the most disturbing piece of cinema I have ever witnessed, and I still feel the tiny icey fingers of fear walk up my spine when I think about it now. The whole film just works for me as a good old fashioned horror flick.

So to be told that the remake was originally conceived by Paramount as a teen horror, with a teenage Ellie as the lead is a bit of a kick in the teeth. Hopefully the attachment of genuinely scary King adaptation 1408′s scripter Matthew Greenberg will indicate that it will in fact by a more mature project than Kajganich was lead to believe.

Forgive me if I’m wrong, but in my opinion it is pretty damaging to only cater to a specific demographic within the horror genre- if it is scary it works, and having a more universal appeal means it will be seen by more audiences. The box office succes of Paranormal Activity has at least proved that.

The second, more exciting looking news from the interview is that Kajganich wants to give the original It adaptation a faithful and respectful remake for Dan Lin and Roy Lee (who will also oversee the new Lego Movie) at Warner Bros:

In all of my talks with the studio, it has only ever been discussed as a single feature film. The book’s length is clearly more suited to a mini-series—and I understand very well why they went that route the last time around—but I think the book’s content is really more appropriate for cinema. I told the studio from the beginning that I felt I needed to be able to write for an R rating, since I wanted to be as candid as the novel about the terrible things the characters go through as kids. They agreed and off I went.

Kajganich goes on to compare making the remake to the original  TV mini-series:

I think the biggest difference is that we’re working with about two-thirds the onscreen time they had for the miniseries. That sounds dire, I know, but it doesn’t necessarily mean two-thirds the amount of story. I’m finding as many ways as I can to make certain scenes redundant by deepening and doubling others. To me, this is an interesting process because it has the effect of thematically intensifying the whole, but it can lead to dramatic surprises. Certain scenes I thought would be crucial to the coherence of the whole ended up cut, while other scenes, which were somewhat cursory in the book, ended up being pivotal in the script.

I know I’m being vague, but there’s not a lot I can tell you at this point about the specifics, since we’re still very much in development on it. I’ll just say for now that we’re really swinging for the fences.

At least Kajganich’s passion shines through in his responses: if he is indeed the man to redo It, I’m happy enough- I don’t think there can be a better choice at this point. The writer had already gone on record at Dread Central to confirm that the new adaptation will honour the original King text:

The remake will be set in the mid-1980s and in the present almost equally- mirroring the twenty-odd-year gap King uses in the book- and with a *great* deal of care and attention paid to the backstories of all the characters. I think the real twist here is that my pitch to WB- which they’ve assured me they’re on board for- is that this will not be PG-13. This will be R. Which means we can really honor the book and engage with the traumas (both the paranormal ones and those they deal with at home and school) that these character endure… I plan to be very protective of the book… The reality, though, is that WB wants to do this as a single film, so I will have to kill a few darlings to make that happen. You have my promise, though, that I will do this with the utmost humility and respect for King’s work. He’s the King, after all, and I intend to continue to pledge to him my allegiance.

Obviously, the real sticking point is the casting. Tim Curry was insanely good as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, partly thanks to his almost unbearable theatricality, but mostly because he looks so darn odd. What price on someone like Jackie Earle Haley getting a call this time around? He certainly has the voice. Or perhaps a more left-field choice- Jim Carrey anyone?

It is penned for release in 2011.

It is a marketing department’s dream, and it marks the first collaboration between Steven and Stephen in twenty years, as Variety are reporting that the duo are working to bring a mini series adaptation of King’s recently published novel Under the Dome.

Dome has garnered some serious praise, and it is hoped that it will mark the return to form for an author whose prolific nature has lead to an inevitable variance of quality – though there is no-one who can spin a yarn quite like Stephen King.

The central plot of Under the Dome, which will be developed into a mini-series by Dreamworks TV, revolves around the drama that unfolds after an invisible force field suddenly descends on a small vacation town in Maine. As the locals fight for their survival, the town descends into warring factions led by enigmatic characters, according to the paper, and comparisons to the often overlooked 90s mini-series of King’s The Stand are inevitable.

Key themes in King’s work are seemingly perfect for Spielberg to bring to the screen: small town panic, families and the supernatural and could see the first decent King adaptation in a while.

Eyes and ears, as always, to the ground.

I hate clowns, yet I love Tim Curry. This presents a problem for me as I sit down to watch the mini series of Stephen King’s IT, as Pennywise the clown is one of the most terrifying screen villains ever seen.

Think Krusty the Clown bitten by a werewolf and you’re nearly there. Give him the moral centre of a serial killing talk show host and we’re done.

Cast Tim Curry and give him a group of kids to freak out and you’ve got IT to a tee.

The 1990 tv movie follows a group of kids, each of them a self confessed outsider or loser, growing up in the sleepy Maine town of Derry. As you would expect the kids form a tight bond and fight back against vicious parents, school bullies and enjoy the simple camaraderie of childhood. Of course, there is a child killing monster stalking them, killing one of the Loser’s brothers. So far, so Stephen King.

The manifestation of the evil monster is, as I’ve said, a clown called Pennywise, personified by TIm Curry with such relish he can barely contain his maniacal glee in tormenting the children. The sight of a red balloon and the sound of a grim, scratchy laugh is enough to send a torrent of shivers through you. There is a scene with a photo album you’ll need to pack extra trousers for, and you’ll never eat a fortune cookie again.

Tim Curry is majestic. Sinking his clowny teeth into every scene and delivering a genuine feeling of terror in what is a tired scary monster cliche. The killings are vicious, the shocks are inventive and the device of splitting the action between the character’s childhood and their present, adult lives, allows a greater depth to the movie.

Childhood is a scary time, yet conversely when we are most looked after, and most safe; as adults we are more aware of our world and our strength in dealing with it. IT takes these contradictions and beats them around the head with a spiky stick.

IT is great, it is terrifying. See it with friends, old friends if you can and revel in the wonder that is Tim Curry.

This is not happy time viewing. If you want a smile on your face watch a Sandra Bullock film. You’ll have more fun, you’ll smile, you’ll laugh, you’ll jump, you’ll feel like you’re walking on air.

You’ll float.

You’ll all float.