Tom Tapp has been covering the entertainment industry for over a dozen years as an editor and writer, both online and in print. He was the West Coast Editor of Tina Brown's The Daily Beast, as well as an editor at Variety for seven years, where he created the paper's lifestyle publication, V Life. As an entrepreneur, he created and ran Hollywood WireTap.com, which was named one of the 100 "Sites to Bookmark Now" by Entertainment Weekly before being sold to Hollywood Media Corporation. Tapp was on the launch team of E! Online in 1996 and later became the Editor in Chief for Hollywood.com. He has worked as a writer and consultant for such outlets as the Los Angeles Times, Starz, and Surfer Magazine.
Tom Tapp
‘Terminator Salvation’ Revelations
by Tom TappThe final trailer for “Terminator Salvation” has hit the blogosphere. It’s four minutes long and some are saying it reveals too much. Peter Sciretta of Slashfilm.com complains it “basically squeezes the entire film into 4 minutes.” I’ve embedded the trailer below so you can judge for yourself.
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I say, after three previous movies, if anyone’s going to this film to be surprised, they’re probably going to be disappointed. If a film creates a compelling world, knowing the plot does not matter. Call it “The Godfather Effect.” I’ve seen those films (”Godfather I” or “II,” take your pick) dozens of times, yet I’ll always stop and watch them while couchsurfing.
Why? Great characters and a fascinatingly rich world centered on power and family. (more…)
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JJ Abrams’ ‘Star Trek’ Victory Lap
by Tom TappEven before “Star Trek” launches into the stratosphere this weekend, director JJ Abrams is taking a victory lap.
With the film hogging 81% of all ticket sales at Fandango.com as well as the covers of Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly and Wired (which Abrams guest edited), the director has just done a great sit down with Charlie Rose.
Now Rose can be an enormous chucklehead when interviewing Hollywood types (especially pretty ones), but that doesn’t matter. Abrams is smart enough to make it interesting on his own.
He talks about the influence of Richard Donner’s “Superman,” which he says gave “a kind of legitimacy” to comic book subjects they’d never received before. Donner “respected the characters as much as the audience,” Abrams says. “They were funny. They were real.” (more…)
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‘Angels’ Not So Demonic?
by Tom TappThe first review of “Angels & Demons” hit the streets today and apparently director Ron Howard took a different tack with his second adaptation of Dan Brown novel.
The Hollywood Reporter says the “Da Vinci Code” prequel treats The Vatican “as a fairly ‘normal’ nation-state, and not as some all-powerful SMERSH-like nemesis.”
THR:
And in the end, most of those who attacked the film before seeing it on grounds of its being anti-Catholic will have to eat their words, as the warm-hearted ending casts a rosy glow around the College of Cardinals, the papacy (sic.) and the faithful throngs in St. Peter’s Square.
The Vatican itself seems to think the film is less a threat than “Da Vinci” was. Or maybe humor is now part of its press strategy. (more…)
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On Set With Stallone and ‘The Expendables’
by Tom TappNew behind the scenes footage from Sylvester Stallone’s star-studded “The Expendables” has been posted on the film’s official blog. Pretty cool stuff.
It contains some action sequences, including one where Steve Austin and Eric Roberts outrace an explosion, shots of Sly directing gunplay and a very low flyover from what looks like a disabled seaplane.
While the blog says Stallone has “lost 32 pounds since Rambo and currently weighs in at 180,” I don ‘t believe it.
The guy’s arms are still as big as my legs. And if you look at them closely you can see some of the faux tattoo work his character sports in the film poking out from underneath his sleeves. (more…)
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Bruce Willis: Our Die Hard Action Hero Returns
by Tom TappAfter flirting with smaller, more squishy roles in recent pictures like “The Assassination of a High School President” and “What Just Happened,” Bruce Willis is returning to action. The 54-year-old actor is interested in a slew of projects that will have him playing a former CIA agent, an FBI informant out to bust up the mob, a detective and both funny and serious cops.
Based on the Wildstorm/DC comics series, “Red” could see Willis playing a retired CIA black-ops badass who is forced to take action when an assassin threatens both he and his girlfriend. The film is being produced by Summit Entertainment, the studio responsible for the “Twilight” series. Willis’s deal has not been finalized, but it could be a sweet one since, as Summit production chief Eric Feig told me a few weeks ago, he sees “Red” as another potential franchise.
Not many fifty-something actors get those kinds of offers. (more…)
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Cameron Soon to Be King of Universe
by Tom Tapp
James Cameron, Oscar-winning director of “Titanic” and self-proclaimed “King of the World” has found a new planet to conquer.
His next picture is “Avatar,” due in December. It’s the story of an ex-marine who is sent to settle and exploit an incredibly bio-diverse planet and ends up leading its indigenous inhabitants in a fight for survival.
(Leaked supposed early concept drawings may hint at why the marine feels attracted to the cause – or may just represent a fanboy’s fantasy.) (more…)
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‘Wolverine’ vs. ‘Star Trek’
by Tom Tapp
The summer kicks off in earnest on Friday with “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” It’s followed quickly by “Star Trek” the next week.
Both franchises are beloved totems of my youth.
I remember biking down to the 7-11 to get the latest X-Men comic just about as fondly as I do seeing “Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn” 13 times one summer at the local Edwards theater.
That makes me wonder which I want to see more.
There’s been very little, review-wise, on “Wolverine,” even given the workprint leaked online. But yesterday, Ain’t It Cool News posted a psuedo-review that sheds some light. (more…)
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‘Straw Dogs’ Remake: Fight or Flight?
by Tom Tapp 
James Marsden
Here’s one that could go really right, or really wrong.
James Marsden (”X-Men’s” Cyclops) has been cast in a remake of “Straw Dogs,” Sam Peckinpah’s 1971 classic about a mathematician who moves to his wife’s hometown for some country seclusion – and gets very little.
The film is incredibly complex and filled with controversial social commentary. Dustin Hoffman’s timid lead character is forced to confront not simply his social awkwardness but his own impotence as a cat and mouse game with a band of blue-collar locals intensifies.
They flirt with and then rape his wife (Susan George) before attacking his home. Hoffman’s character must face his own passivity and relationship to violence. (more…)
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First ‘Star Trek’ Reviews Roll In
by Tom Tapp
The first reviews of JJ Abrams’ “Star Trek” hit the web today and they should please fans of the series, if not fans of Matt Damon.
How did Damon weasel his way into this?
After denying it for months, Abrams revealed to Life magazine recently that Damon was his first choice for Captain Kirk:
“…it would have been great to work with Matt – but at the end of the day, it was such a better move to cast the movie with unknowns.”
The reviewers agree. (more…)
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Patriot Sweepstakes: Stallone or Tarantino?
by Tom TappWho will wreak greater havok on the enemies of America, Sylvester Stallone or Quentin Tarantino?
Each has written and is directing an action-laden ensemble piece about a group of misfits battling a foreign dictator.
Stallone flexes, fires and wreaks havok on a South American despot
In Stallone’s case, he has an all-star lineup of B-movie badasses – including Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lungren, Steve Austin and Eric Roberts – playing mercenaries on a mission to overthrow a South American dictator.
The born-again Stallone has certainly earned his patriot’s stripes with the Rambo and Rocky films.
In a leaked character still from the film, he’s also looking more badass at 62 than most of us look at 22. (On set pics have also been released, one of which is above and the rest of which can be found at Empire.com.) (more…)
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‘Hurt Locker’ May Do Iraq Right
by Tom TappFor those who’ve agonized over Hollywood’s portrayals of the Iraq War, I give you “The Hurt Locker.”
The film’s second trailer hit the Internet today and, as I sit here wearing my (apparently passe) Camp Liberty t-shirt, I must say it looks pretty good.
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YouTube "Hurt Locker" trailer 2
Billed as the “first non-political Iraq War film,” “Hurt Locker” follows the story of Staff Sergeant William James, a maverick bomb removal expert who leads a team trying to save lives – including their own.
It was directed by Kathryn Bigalow, who is herself something of a maverick.
Bigalow has made her name in Hollywood as one of the only female directors of action films. Her credits include “K19: The Widowmaker,” “Point Break” and “Strange Days.” (more…)
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Jessica Biel: Respect or Bust
by Tom Tapp
Jessica Biel plays a hard-luck stripper in “Powder Blue”
It ain’t easy being pretty in Hollywood.
New clips went up this weekend from “Powder Blue,” Jessica Biel’s latest film, which premieres May 8. It’s a “Crash”-type ensemble piece about the intertwining lives of unhappy people just trying to get by.
But, as Collider.com notes, it will probably always be known as the “movie Jessica Biel is topless in.” (The site also has clips and an interview with the actress.)
Biel plays a stripper in need of money to support her child, who has medical issues. It’s a well-worn trope and has garnered the indie film a lot of what might be the wrong kind of attention. That’s a shame because “Powder Blue’s” trailer hints the film, which comes out May 8, might actually be good. (more…)
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New ‘Star Trek’ Footage: Thoughts?
by Tom Tapp
Is Kirk a jerk?
Two new “Star Trek” clips have hit the web and I like one, but not the other.
The first is called “A Shot of Love,” and it debuted over at MTV. It has Kirk (Chris Pine) hitting on Uhura (Zoe Saldana) before mouthing off to some barroom degenerates.
Kirk comes off as a spoiled brat and, from the cut on his face in other video that’s been posted, it doesn’t look like he comes away unscathed. (MTV also has some exclusive “Star Trek” video from the film’s set.) (more…)
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