In an interview on the Catholic cable channel EWTN, Estevez joked about the horror of making the pitch for this movie about a pilgrimage – no massive special effects, no parade of gore or bedroom scenes with nudity. It’s just an old man hiking across Spain with three people he meets along the way. It’s a small movie, made on a small budget. It’s about our humanity and our spirituality. It’s so easy to imagine Tinseltown’s eyes glazing over.

—–

But what Estevez said in that interview was still striking. “Hollywood is a very difficult place to be earnest and be heartfelt. And I am not interested in making films that are anything but. There’s a lot of vulgarity in films. There’s a lot of violence, casual sex – things that make me uncomfortable watching – and I’m not interested in perpetuating that message.”  …

Here’s how “The Way” unfolds. Sheen’s character, California ophthalmologist Tom Avery, is a widower who’s been angry at his son’s decision to forego a graduate degree to wander the world. While Avery’s out on the golf course, a French policeman calls to tell him his son has died in a storm in the Pyrenees. When Avery arrives to identify the body, the policeman tells him about the “camino,” and he resolves to travel the route with his son’s cremated remains. On this very long walk, he finds companionship with a burly Dutchman who wants to lose weight, an Irish writer with writer’s block, and a bitter Canadian woman trying to quit smoking – and ultimately rediscovers his lost faith.

The movie is beautiful travelogue of the sites along the route, from mountain vistas to beautiful old cathedrals. It’s a great backdrop for a subtle human story. After the Canadian woman cynically suggestes Sheen’s character is there to march on a self-absorbed baby-boomer journey to a James Taylor soundtrack, she’s embarrassed to learn the truth. Later she admits her own dark troubles. She was a battered wife and is haunted by an abortion she underwent because she didn’t want her husband to have two females to brutalize. She says she can hear her daughter’s voice. Estevez explained, “We give voice to the unborn, and again, that is another thing Hollywood doesn’t necesssarily celebrate.”

Full piece here. Below is an interview Estevez did withLaura Ingraham:

‘THE SUPER COPS’ FINALLY GETS DVD RELEASE

As a kid I used to be sure to stay up — even on a school night — to catch this whenever it played on the Late Show. With that ritual long dead, it’s probably been thirty years since I’ve seen this terrific, underrated, 1974 urban actioner that’s based on a true story and stars David Selby and The Great Ron Liebman.

What I mostly remember is loads of action and the fact that the entire production was shot on location. At the time, the burnt out buildings, vacant lots filled with trash, grit, grime and turtlenecks didn’t feel like a throwback. That was simply what Brooklyn looked like. It was still a cool look, though, and will look even cooler today. The reason for this is obvious when you realize “Super Cops” is directed by Gordon Parks, the man responsible for helming the timeless “Shaft” (1970) and its first sequel “Shaft’s Big Score” (1972).

For the life of me I can’t understand why Liebam wasn’t/isn’t a bigger star. You’ll probably recognize him from his recurring role on “Friends” or his memorable, Oscar-nominated role as the fish-out-of-water union organizer in “Norma Rae.” Besides “The Super Cops,” another showcase for this versatile actor’s talents is 1981’s “Zorro, the Gay Blade,” where he practically steals the show as the ruthless Captain Esteban. You can’t watch his hilarious work and ever hear the word “peoples” the same way again.

“The Super Cops” is available for purchase here, and is also a reminder of when Hollywood wasn’t afraid to put the word “the” in a movie title.

Good times, good times.

I GUESS THERE’S A ‘THING’ PREQUEL OUT TODAY

Dear Hollywood: I have this device that, whenever I want,  plays the “Thing” movies directed by John Carpenter and likely directed by Howard Hawks at home on my TV. Thanks for trying, though.

And you can wash, rinse, and repeat the above regarding your “Footloose” remake.

Brand whores.

MOVIE STARS GET PAID TO ATTEND BIRTHDAY PARTIES?

Hollywood’s attraction to tyrants isn’t news, but this caught my eye:

[T]he Oscar-winning actress will give fees that she received for attending a controversial celebration in Chechnya “to various charitable organizations.”

How pathetic.

FOOTAGE FROM STEPHEN KING MINISERIES ‘BAG OF BONES’

This was the last King novel I was able to finish. The good news is that Mick Garris, who adapted the superb television adaptations of “The Stand” and “The Shining,” also wrote this, and the star is Pierce Brosnan. To be honest, I don’t remember a whole lot about the story other than being pretty engrossed in it. But the pedigrees involved means I’ll give it a go… when it hits Streaming or Redbox. The days of suffering through 40 minutes of commercials over the course of a two-hour movie are long over.

—–

—–

SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINK-TACULAR

‘FOOTLOOSE’ STARS LOVE REMAKE’S NODS TO ORIGINAL

FIVE TRANFORMATIVE DANCE SCENES IN MOVIES

SCAMMERS SELL $60,000 FAKE MOTLEY CRUE TICKETS

HULU NO LONGER FOR SALE

‘NYPD BLUE’ CO-CREATORS BOCHCO AND MILCH REUNITE

WHAT LIFE RIGHTS DO I NEED TO WRITE A SCREENPLAY ABOUT SOMEONE WHO DIED BUT HAS SURVIVING FAMILY?

CHEVY CHASE WANTS TO MAKE ANOTHER ‘VACATION’

THING PREQUEL REVIEWS… NOTHING MORE THAN A BORING CGI REEL AND THE WARMEST LOAD OF SHIT ON SCREEN IN AGES!

ARE THESE ACTORS ARE UP FOR JOHN MCCLANE’S SON IN ‘A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD’?

JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME IN CAR ACCIDENT; STAR WALKS AWAY WITH NO VAN DAMMAGE (ED. NOTE: BLAME ME FOR THAT, NOT SCOTTDS. COULDN’T HELP MYSELF. — JN)

WOODY ALLEN CHANGES CONFUSING MOVIE TITLE

DESPITE FIRING, CHARLIE SHEEN HIGHEST PAID TV STAR

RED BAND TRAILER FOR NEW ‘AMERICAN PIE’ SEQUEL

JOHN SINGLETON IN TALKS TO DIRECT TUPAC SHAKUR BIOPIC

WATCH KELSEY GRAMMER’S NEW STARZ SERIES PREMIERE ONLINE

NEW MUPPET TRAILER INCLUDES FART SHOES

SETH MACFARLANE WANTS TO REBOOT ‘STAR TREK’ TV SERIES

—–

—–

LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

Finished “The Closer: Season Two.” Two of the last three episodes provided interesting contrasts. One involved the Catholic faith another Islamic terrorists. In the latter we were treated to lines of dialogue that made clear the Koran was being perverted and Allah was not our enemy. In the former, not so much of that.

Liberals ruin everything.

—–

—–

CLASSIC PICK FOR SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15

TCM:

2:00 AM  EST: Rome, Open City (1946) –  Towards the end of WWII, Italian underground workers stand up to the Nazis. Dir: Roberto Rossellini Cast:  Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani, Marcello Pagliero. BW-103 mins, TV-PG.

Fascinating Italian film literally pasted together by the director with whatever film he could purchase and shot wherever he could with little to no lighting equipment. Still, the overall impact is strong and the story compelling.

Magnani was never the beauty she was hailed to be, but she sure was a star.

—–

—–

--Please send tips/suggestions/requests/complaints to jnolte@breitbart.com

Charlie Sheen’s Apology Tour

Thus far, Sheen’s done both the “Tonight Show” and the “Today Show” and actually does come across as a guy who had some time to stare into the abyss. You never know, though. Sheen is an underrated actor, so it could all be a game to worm his way back into Hollywood’s good graces. No matter how talented you are, you can only be so much of a nightmare to deal with before you become unemployable.

On a human level, I hope everyone finds more peace in their life, but as a Charlie Sheen fan going back some twenty years, I’m eager to see what another phase in his career might bring. Hopefully more awesome B-movies like his epic ’90’s run and not “Major League IV.”

—–

—–

SCOTTD’S EPIC LINK-TACULAR

TOTO RAVE: WITH ‘DRIVE’ GOSLING CHANNELS STEVE MCQUEEN

SMITH: ‘STRAW DOGS’ IS KENNY ROGERS’ ‘COWARD OF THE COUNTRY” WITH BAD SUBPLOTS

THE STRANGE CASE OF THE COMPETING SNOW WHITE MOVIES

“I FORGOT MY MANTRA”: 10 GREATEST ACTOR CAMEOS IN WOODY ALLEN MOVIES

35 THINGS WE LEARNED FROM THE ‘MEMENTO’ COMMENTARY

THE 20 MOST TYPECAST ACTORS

WHERE DISNEY DRAWS THE LINE WITH CLASSIC FILM RESTORATIONS

‘IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA’ TEAM HAS NEW SERIES IN THE WORKS

NO ASH IN ‘EVIL DEAD’ REMAKE?

SCREENWRITING 101 AND THE LATEST CHARACTER CLICHE TO AVOID: THE “MANIC PIXIE DREAM GIRL”

‘ZERO HOUR!’ AND ‘AIRPLANE!’: A VISUAL COMPARISON

INSIDE STANLEY KUBRICK’S ARCHIVES

CBS DEVELOPING A ‘SOURCE CODE’ TV SERIES?

50 BIGGEST ALL-TIME EMMY SNUBS

NICE: STARZ PLANS ‘SPARTACUS’ MARATHON TO HONOR ANDY WHITFIELD

—–

—–

LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

Edit Big Hollywood by day, paint my big-ass house by night, fall asleep about twenty-minutes into a “Rockford Files.”

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

But up here on my mountain the air is cooling, the leaves are just starting to change, and therefore all is right with the world. 

—–

—–

CLASSIC PICK FOR SATURDAY, SEPT 17

TCM:

8:00 PM  Mildred Pierce (1945) — A woman turns herself into a business tycoon to win her selfish daughter a place in society. Dir: Michael Curtiz Cast:  Joan Crawford , Jack Carson , Zachary Scott. BW-111 mins, TV-PG, CC.

When done right there is nothing like a melodrama and the film that finally won The Mighty Joan Crawford a well-deserved Academy Award is about as good as it gets.

I haven’t seen the HBO remake with Kate Winslet. I’m assuming there’s an “artistic” nude scene.

–Please send tips/suggestions/requests to jnolte@breitbart.com

“AUSTIN POWERS 4′?

I have nothing but love for the “Austin Powers” trilogy, especially the first act of  ”Goldmember” which makes me laugh harder than anything since Steve Martin’s rental car meltdown in “Planes Trains and Automobiles.” But it’s been nine years since the last “Austin Powers,” and while I wish Mike Myers the best and would love to see a worthy fourth chapter, unfortunately, the whole idea has a “Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles” stench to it.

You have a character that captured our pop culture imaginations for a time, but too much time has passed since and now the return reeks of desperation from an actor looking for a sure-fire hit and a studio simply cashing in. Could be wrong. Hope I am. The good news is how so very wrong I was about Rambo and Rocky.  

$250 MILLION FOR “THE LONE RANGER”?

The biggest news over a slow-news weekend was Disney pulling the plug on what looked to be a can’t-lose hit, “The Lone Ranger” starring Johnny Depp as directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. In other words, the creative trifecta that brought Disney billions of dollars with the original “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy.

The talk is that the $250 million budget is what (for now) killed the project. You could also look to the disappointment of “Cowboys and Aliens,” another high-concept Western that didn’t even open well. But then again the Coen Bros. “True Grit” practically printed money without a special effect in sight. Unfortunately, though, Hollywood is usually looking at the last hit or flop to spot a trend — not, you know, the actual trend.

What’s mind-boggling is that a “Lone Ranger” adaptation would cost a quarter-billion dollars. Do movies really need to be that expensive to become hits these days? Hollywood seems to think so — seems to think they need to compete with the spectacle of video games and the shortened attention spans MTV and the Internet have wrought.

Call me old-fashioned, but I still think a good story ultimately triumphs. Wouldn’t it be nice if while on the lookout for a “Western” trend , Hollywood took a good look at why “True Grit” was a hit and “Cowboys and Aliens” wasn’t?

—–

——

LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

The Tourist (2010): Finally caught up with this box office disappointment last night and can understand why, despite two at attractive stars, it failed to capture any kind of audience. The first problem is that, as attractive as they are, Jonny Depp and Angelina Jolie have zero romantic chemistry. A story like this requires sparks and eventual flames. Instead you have Depp’s Frank Tupelo, a Wisconsin math teacher, coming off like a wet rag and Jolie’s mysterious beauty so overpowering him in every scene that you don’t want them to be together. He’s such a wimp he doesn’t deserve her.

Obviously director co-writer Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (who brought us the INCREDIBLE “Lives of Others”) is aiming to bring back the exotic flair and intrigue of films like Stanley Donen’s “Charade” and Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief.” The Venice locations are plenty exotic, the stars are perfectly coiffed and “Usual Suspects” screenwriter  Christopher McQuarrie serves up all kinds of intrigue, spy-jinx, okay action, and wild plot turns (that mostly fail); but nothing can overcome Depp’s milquetoast character. He’s too submissive, allows himself to be pushed around too much, and the climax can’t rescue the film from the previous 100 minutes.

A little masculinity and a point where Frank attempts to take charge and control of the situation (even if he can’t) would’ve gone a long way. What makes “Charade” and “To Catch a Thief” so timeless has nothing to do with plot twists or locations. The stars are what shines through and most especially the dance of seduction that takes place between them. Women want to be seduced by Cary Grant and men want to seduce Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly.

There’s no romantic wish-fulfillment in “The Tourist,” no vicarious sexual charge.  

Such a waste.

——

——-

TODAY’S QUICK HITS

OUR OWN MARK BUTTERWORTH’S “A MAN WITH THREE GREAT GERMAN SHEPHERDS” IS NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE

AS EXPECTED: AMC RENEWS “BREAKING BAD” FOR 16 FINAL EPISODES

FROM ‘THE DARK KNIGHT RISES’ SET: BATWING, TUMBLERS, CATWOMAN FOOTAGE

PHOTOS FROM “MAN OF STEEL” SET

TEN UNDERRATED ACTORS WHO DESERVE TO BE MORE FAMOUS

YES! “FAST AND FURIOUS 6″ WILL HAPPEN

THE SHEEN LEGEND ONLY GROWS LARGER

TOTO: LESSONS LEARNED FROM SUPERHERO SUMMER

WHAT A RELIEF.

—–

—–

CLASSIC PICK FOR TUESDAY AUGUST 16, 2011

FMC:

3:30pm EST: HARRY AND TONTO (1974) — A seventy-two year-old New York widower (Carney) and his cat embark on a cross-country odyssey to Los Angeles when his apartment building is torn down. Cast: Art Carney, Larry Hagman, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ellen Burstyn, Chief dan George, Melanie Mayron Director: Paul Mazursky.

Art Carney shocked everyone taking home the Oscar for Best Actor in 1974, but time has been good to the film and Carney’s performance, both of which are understated and, at times, quite moving. Another reason to watch is the superb on-location, widescreen photography. New York and Los Angeles might not be as seedy as they were 37 years ago, but they had a lot more character.

Episodic, character-driven films are difficult to pull off in a way that holds your attention and the 1970s managed to deliver quite a few of them. This is one of the lesser-known entries, and well worth your time.  

–Please send tips/suggestions/requests to jnolte@breitbart.com

NEW YORK (AP) – There should be no shortage of material.

Comedy Central said Tuesday that Charlie Sheen has agreed to be the subject of its next celebrity roast. It will be taped in Los Angeles and air on Sept. 19.

That also happens to be the same night that Ashton Kutcher debuts as Sheen’s replacement in the CBS comedy “Two and a Half Men.” Sheen was thrown off the show after his hard partying forced a production shutdown.

The two programs won’t compete directly. The Comedy Central roast is scheduled for 10 p.m., an hour after “Two and a Half Men.”

Sheen says: “You could say I’ve been providing kindling for this roast for a while. It’s time to light it up. It’s going to be epic.”

We’ve just received word that negotiations have concluded, marking That ’70s Show co-star Ashton Kutcher’s return to television after a brief movie career. He is replacing Charlie Sheen in Two And A Half Men. The deal made sense for series producer Warner Bros which already had an overall with Kutcher’s Katalyst production banner. In fact, an hour later, Ashton announced he was joining the show by tweeting to his 6.7 million Twitter followers: “What’s the square root of 625?”

Names like Woody Harrelson, Rob Lowe, John Stamos, and Jeremy Piven circulated in the blogosphere as possible replcements. But until this week, with Deadline’s scoop that the show was in final negotiations with Hugh Grant, there had been nothing concrete going on with any specific actor. Co-creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre only wanted to continue the show “if he can find the right actor and get excited about that,” sources told Deadline. What mattered most to Lorre was that Sheen’s replacement be “somebody Chuck can work with” after butting heads with Charlie for years in a situation that escalated into a very public and nasty feud this spring.

All along insiders at Warner Bros and CBS had been saying that they were going after “an A-lister” as the new star of the top-rated sitcom after Sheen was fired. The feeling was to contract with “an exciting actor who’d never done TV before,” and CBS chief Leslie Moonves especially was encouraging Lorre et al to “swing high”. As one insider told Deadline, “Everybody wants show back and to support Chuck creatively and to do something the advertising community will feel good about. The only issue was whether everyone could get the show up and running and right fast enough to make this fall’s schedule.”

Because Kutcher is both a producer as well as an actor, he has a good reputation as a responsible showbiz professional. Sure, the producers’ top choice, Hugh Grant, would have been a swing for the fences — a real coup that could have bought the aging comedy series another 3 or 4 seasons on the air. By contrast, Ashton, whose movie career went from warm to ice cold in just a few years, is a solid base hit.

Full article here.

Meet the woman who moves into Oprah’s studio this fall:

—–

You have to love freedom of speech, if for no other reason than how it allows us to see who these people really are.

Heckvua choice there, Oprah!

OWN is foolish to gamble millions on a woman who is obviously too full of herself and her own insane ideas — fire can’t melt steel – to sustain any kind of following on daytime talk again. Rosie shorted out sometime during this 1999 Tom Selleck interview and has only gotten worse in the decade since. She’s toxic to anyone not living within 4 square miles of downtown Manhattan and Los Angeles.  Unfortunately, the people who make most of our pop culture decisions never leave that bubble and are unable to grasp that Rosie is a slow motion train wreck already in progress and a long way from stopping.

OWN would be smarter to go with Charlie Sheen.

There’s simply no upside for either party not to work this out.

Post-firing, Sheen’s played it pretty smart. Thanks to his, uhm, antics, he’s a bigger star after the firing than before. He obviously understands the power of celebrity and how to maximize it and in the process quite deliberately made himself more valuable to the network today than while the show was in production. The publicity surrounding his return to a sitcom that’s already one of the most popular on television would be the stuff of legend. If the report below is true, my guess is that everyone’s sobering up (for lack of a better word) and looking at the win-win involved with getting back to work.

Fox News Online:

The president and CEO of CBS was working Monday toward bringing disgraced TV star Charlie Sheen back to “Two and a Half Men,” RadarOnline reported. …

The source added, “The core issue is, as he put it, the volatile relationship between Charlie Sheen and Chuck Lorre. He believes that if CBS and Warner Bros. TV honchos can find a way to get Chuck and Charlie to speak again, cooler heads will prevail.”

Sheen, whose recent bizarre public pronouncements and enforced spell in rehab led to questions of his mental state, was cashing in on his infamy with a rant-inspired 20-date concert tour.

Sheen’s been awfully quiet lately, as well. Which might be another sign negotiations are in play.

I’ve never seen an episode of “Men,” and though I’m a big fan of Sheen’s under-appreciated and under-rated B-movie run in 90s, I really have no dog in this fight. But I do find the political and business maneuverings of Hollywood endlessly fascinating — especially at this level.

During the raid, Sheen calmly ate burgers with friends. No machete was found (he says it was a friend’s) and no arrest was made for the guns and ammo. Sheen’s cool, calm response is the kind of thing likely to only burnish the legend:

I’m not sure he’s winning, but at least he’s not whining.

—–

Both ‘Funny or Die’ and Charlie Sheen should do more of this, especially FOD who always lay an egg when they try to tell us how to vote. But that’s because intellectual dishonesty isn’t funny.