HARRISON FORD IN EARLY TALKS FOR ‘BLADE RUNNER’ SEQUEL

If Ford plays Deckard 30 years in the future, that would answer the question of whether or not he’s a replicant. Hard not to be excited about this, especially if Ridley Scott returns. There are so many possibilities, so many places to go with the character and the world.

Knowing Hollywood, they will muck it up immediately by casting Shia LaBeouf, or something.

HUGE NEWS:  VERIZON, REDBOX TO LAUNCH STREAMING SERVICE THIS YEAR

One cannot overstate how big of a deal this is or how symbolic it is within the context of Hollywood standing at the station not even knowing they’ve missed the train:

The joint venture plans to introduce the product portfolio in the second half of 2012. It will offer subscription services and more in an easy-to-use, flexible and affordable service that will allow all consumers across the U.S. to enjoy the new and popular entertainment they want, whenever they choose, using the media and devices they prefer. Additional brand and product information will be revealed in the coming months.

Redbox understands that New Product is no longer king. Hollywood can’t hold Redbox or the customers hostage by withholding this product because the product is so unappealing. People want the value and convenience of streaming — and people will watch whatever is provided via streaming.  The bottom line is that Hollywood can either go to where the customers are (and are headed) and try to better monetize that reality, or they can continue to pretend they hold all the cards with their lousy product.

Everyone complains about Netflix Streaming lacking in product, which I find absurd. What’s happening is that my wife and I (and, I think, millions of others) are discovering programming to enjoy on streaming we might have otherwise dismissed. Right now, she’s hip deep in British television imports and I’m finding that without commercials, all kinds of Discovery Channel programming is truly addicting.

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This year was actually a good year for movies, as I’ve written repeatedly.  The King’s Speech was great; so was Toy Story 3; Inception may go down as one of the most creative films of all time.  The Fighter was excellent as well. 

Then there were the overrated films.  Black Swan was atrociously awful, another Aronofsky masterpiece of self-aggrandizing bullcrap.  The Kids Are All Right was a TV movie masquerading as a prestige film because it was about lesbians.  True Grit was a remake.  

Which got me to thinking: what are the most overrated films of all time?  There are plenty of them, of course – we can all remember hearing from everybody about some terrific movie that defied the laws of physics by both sucking and blowing simultaneously.  For some of us, it was My Dinner With Andre.  For others, it was The Pianist.  For still others, it was anything with Diane Keaton other than Godfather I and II (me!).  As a movie addict, I can name dozens of overrated movies off the top of my head.  So I’ve decided to compile my top 20 overrated films of all time.  Remember, unless I say that I think they’re terrible, they’re overrated, not terrible (that point got me into trouble last time with my overrated directors list when people overlooked the distinction). 

Without further ado, here we go: 

20. Blade Runner:  I’ve watched it three times, hoping to understand the hubbub.  The concept is interesting, as all Philip Dick concepts are.  The pacing, however, is glacial, and the plot is amorphous.  I don’t hate this movie, I just don’t love it the way some film geeks do.  Minority Report is a better movie, and an underrated one (aside from copious amounts of snot). 

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Okay, so as I looked over IMDB’s list of films released in 1994, struggling to look for a movie to write about this week, I realized my proclamation that 1994 is indeed the best year ever, was not mere hyperbole. It is, in fact, complete horseshit. I love most of the movies I’ve written about, and recognize some level of importance (movie importance, not change the world importance) in the ones I don’t love (Clerks, Natural Born Killers). Weeding through the vitriolic responses to my posts, I’ve been reminded of great ones I have not and will not write about at length, for various reasons.

For example, In the Name of the Father featured great performances from Daniel Day Lewis (shocker) and Koboyashi, but honestly, that’s about all I remember. I certainly don’t recall debating the movie in any manner that approached “you gotta see this movie” excitement or “you’re nuts, that movie blows” bewilderment. Yes, it was nominated for 7 Oscars, but I honestly don’t remember that much about the movie and the desire to see it again has never crept into my brain since my first viewing.

And what about The Professional? I liked it. I really did, but I never embraced it. In fact, over the years, working in movie theatres and video stores, I have debated this movie with co-workers, and have come away thinking I saw a different movie than they saw. I wish I loved it, but…sorry, I just don’t, and I’m tired of the debate because it always ends with, “You need to see the director’s cut,” which I will never do. Director’s cuts are boring non-events, I grew tired of them upon the re-release of the “Ultimate Remastered Double Official Director’s Cut of Blade Runner.” There’s really no need for me to debate The Professional anymore, least of all on the Internet, where there is no such thing as a matter of opinion. I’m comfortable being wrong about it. (more…)

William Sanderson says he likes to fly under the radar. The in-demand character actor’s resume just won’t let him get away with it. Sanderson‘s career has brought him to the past (“Deadwood“), the future (“Blade Runner“) and a few surreal points in between (the long-running “Newhart“).

The actor is currently co-starring in HBO’s vampire drama “True Blood,“ set to begin its second season at 9 p.m. EST June 14. Sanderson plays Sheriff Dearborne, a character whose normalcy stands apart from the show’s menagerie of shape shifters, neck biters and mind readers. “You can hide when you have beards and mustaches. I don’t have a lot of that,” he says of the straightforward sheriff.

What he and his colleagues do have is the respect of HBO’s higher ups. HBO executives “trust the creators of their show,” he says. “They set the tone. If they’re under pressure, Lord, it’ll reach us,” he says.

The 65-year-old actor is at a loss as to why the vampire genre cannot be killed, adding even show creator Alan Ball (“Six Feet Under”) can’t break down the appeal of the undead. (more…)

The United States Navy is in the news and on my mind lately. The events off the coast of Somalia are surely one very good reason for this. Heroism and service. Ordinary people under extraordinary circumstances. Another not nearly so dramatic, but nonetheless exciting reason, for me at least, involves the very recent honor I’ve had of contributing my prose to a citation to confer on Mr. George Herbert Walker Bush the degree of Doctor of Social Science, honoris causa.  His own history, his willingness to serve, to sacrifice and risk everything for a cause, for others, is something we should never underestimate. It’s something we, as Americans have always been good at.

It’s also something our movies used to portray well. We don’t get to see too many of these kinds of movies anymore. Nope, they don’t make them like they used to. That can be said of both the men and women of Bush 41’s generation, as well as the films of that era. But sometimes, in more recent times, we’re graced with shining examples of tarnished excellence, of battered beauty in our citizens and in our favorite art, the movies.    (more…)