WORTH THE HYPE?

Well, the summer season is in full swing now... the second big release has come. Memorial Weekend has given us the most expensive movie ever green-lit, a film called Pearl Harbor.

Hollywood's true treasures are its epics. Films like Gone With The Wind, Ben Hur, Ten Commandments, Lawrence of Arabia, Titanic, Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan, etc. The list is almost endless. Epics are what made Hollywood, plain and simple. The bigger the better.

In the last few years, we have seen many of these epics unfold onto the screen. With the digital age upon us, these films have more scope, and more realism (in certain cases).

The most successful film of all time is Titanic. Its historic significance, along with its grandeur, brought in hordes of people over and over again. The most successful dose of ingredient was the romance. That is what brought the women in.

So we have the action and special effects for the guys, and then the Romeo/Juliet romance for the gals. What do you get when you mix those together? A hit.

There were two directions that director Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer wanted to go. The looked at ole Titanic, and understood that that mixture brought in EVERYONE instead of just mostly men.

Then they looked at the recently (at the time) Oscar nominated film (why didn't it win again?) Saving Private Ryan, and saw that the historic realism of the film and its images were like a history lesson to all generations... so therefore everyone wanted to experience what it was like to be in that war.

Now, the question is: Which direction do we take. Do we go the Hollywood route, and make this film a romance? Or do we go the historical route and make this film REAL. Well, I'll tell you one thing... these guys are geniuses. They mixed those two molds together and formed a film that everyone could see over and over.... just like ole Titanic.

Enough bantering, let's get to business. IS Pearl Harbor a good film? Yes. Is it a great film? Close.

Allow me to explain. The first act of the story is a bit overdrawn. You can almost completely compare it with Titanic in the fact that the first act sets up the "big romance". Now, I'm not like most guys out there... I love a good romance. I appreciated the Titanic storyline. However, I think that Mr. Bay kind of pressed that idea a bit too much. The secondary characters tended to be a little too one dimensional, which made this love story a bit contrived. But as long as you REALLY dispend your disbelief for as long as this act lasts, then you will be fine. Keep in mind that it's a Hollywood film.

Ben Affleck... this is the best i've seen him since CHASING AMY and GOOD WILL HUNTING... which is a good thing because he's made a bunch films since then. Josh Harnett... this guy is going to be a star. I just hope that he doesn't take those cutesy teen parts (Freddie Prinze Jr.... I'm talking to you!). If he takes the route of Brad Pitt and goes for the gritty roles, he'll do just fine. He has a lot of charisma onscreen.

Kate Beckinsale as nurse Evelyn Johnson

Kate Beckinsale... did a terrific job here. But you know what? She doesn't stand out as far as other Hollywood actresses go. If i saw Kate Winslett on the street, I would know it's her. If I saw Winona Ryder on the street, I would know it's her. BUT, if I saw Kate Beckinsale walk by... nothing. I look forward to her future roles and hope that it was just the caked on 40's makeup that masked her.

I'll get to the next act of the film soon. Let's focus on the characters. Cuba Gooding Jr... he didn't have a part really. He played a real life character, yet they only focused on him for about 10 minutes of screen time, if that. But those few minutes were excellent! Same goes with Tom Sizemore, who also played a real life character. He was there, and then he was gone. But what a kickass little part!

Jon Voight played good ole President Roosevelt. Man, if this were just a little bit larger part, he would be a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination. He is SOO good in that role. Alec Baldwin... this is his best performance in years. It actually reminded me of his part in one of my favorite films, GLENGARY GLEN ROSS. He plays General Doolittle, a real life hero who led the first counter attack on Japanese soil.

So there's the main characters. Better performances than I expected. Only Kate's supporting female actresses were a little bland.

So, the romance is on. A surprise end to the first act... something which I will not ruin for you. Now comes the real excellence of this film. The bombing of Pearl Harbor.

This is an event that will always be the most important and tragic event in the history of America. It catapulted the U.S. into the war that we eventually won.

Bay sets up this attack perfectly, by showing the audience how ignorant our military acted at certain times before this bombing. So many clues were found, and we did nothing to prevent this attack. The film displays these mistakes perfectly.

Bay also shows the Japanese side of the story. Here's where things get a little personal for me. I am Japanese... 1/4 actually. My ancestry is close to my heart. My grandfather fought for our country in an all Japanese infantry called the 100th. Despite the racism, these men fought with pride for a country that hated their all being in their blood. Despite the fact that ALL Japanese-Americans who were 1/4 or more, were imprisoned in internent camps by America for the duration of the war (for no good reason... they lost their homes and business'), these soldiers fought harder than most out there. This infantry eventually became the most highly decorated in the history of the military... all for a country that was doing these horrible things to their families.

You can tell this is very near and dear to my heart. The reason I bring this up is that this film could bring a lot of bad feelings back in the hearts of many Americans towards anyone of Japanese ancestry.

So, needless to say, I was worried at how Bay would portray the Japanese. Thankfully, he did a perfect job of showing both sides of the story while NOT making the Japanese out to be the evil villains. War is war... and America has done much worse to many nations.

Photo ©Touchtone Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer, Inc.

The filming of the actual bombing is horrifically real and accurate. The special effects were superb and will NO DOUBT win the Academy award. I can't begin to explain how real those planes were, and how perfectly filmed this sequence was.

After the bombing, one of the most amazing sequences takes place when Josh and Ben finally get to their planes... and take on the whole Japanese air unit! Move over TOP GUN, we have some new hotshot pilots! These dogfights were so great to watch! The main thing is, they were realistic! Sure, it echoes Top Gun and Star Wars, but what a treat to see!

The third act of the film brings the romance back into play after the horrible two hours of bombing. It begins with the Japanese general deciding to NOT bring in their third and final reserves... something that would have changed the course of the war.

Doolittle is in charge of a suicide mission of sorts, to bring the war onto Japanese territory, deep in to the heart of it... Tokyo. This is where the film lags at times, but then again, didn't Titanic do that a lot?

All in all, I feel that Michael Bay was trying to make both a Titanic AND a Saving Private Ryan. It is a hard mixture when dealing with something of this scoop. Many will be upset by him disrespecting the story with some cheesy romance. But to those I say, WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD.

Bay continues to make hits. I believe that he wanted to graduate into the Ridly Scott/Steven Spielberg/James Cameron class of directing... and to be taken seriously. I believe he wanted to take the next step. I'll tell you one thing, in the second act of the film (the bombing), I saw that new and improved Bay. But he'll have to wait just a bit longer I think.

PEARL HARBOR is a great film... but not the kind of masterpiece it could have been. If Bay would have stuck to the history like Spielberg, and put aside the Hollywood romance, he would have won an Oscar. However, he will still have a film that is surely to become a HUGE hit... and he has the knowledge that he's taken a big step from films like Bad Boys, The Rock, etc.

So, when you go to see this film, just sit back and open your eyes. It truly is an amazing film to watch... and an important piece of history.

OUTER LIMITS
The Outer Limits science fiction TV series is getting the big screen treatment.

According to Variety, MGM has made a two-picture deal with the Victor & Grais Prods. company. The first film under that deal will be a feature film version of the TV series The Outer Limits. The project will be co-produced under the Trilogy Entertainment banner.

The film, of which no story details have been revealed, will eventually be produced by Mark Victor, Michael Grais, Pen Densham, Mark Stern, Guy McElwaine and John Watson. Mark Skelly will take exec producer credit.

While talking to the trade, MGM prez Michael Nathanson spoke of the project to come, saying, "The idea of an Outer Limits film is extremely exciting, and we look forward to seeing where these veteran producers take us."

Meanwhile, it's reported that a scribe is currently being sought to write the first film's script as soon as possible.

DAVID DUCHOVNY ON X-FILES
While talking to Ian Spelling's syndicated Inside Trek & Sci Fi column, Duchovny declares, "It had been enough. It was almost a decade of my life. It was a great series and a great opportunity for me. I was lucky enough to stretch as a writer and a director. Creatively, though, I'd reached the end of my rope as an actor.

"There comes a time when you have to move on. The show could very well keep on going for 15 years, you know? I'd love to continue to do X-Files movies, to come back every now and then, but not as the sole focus of my professional life...I think it was time for me to step away."

The actor also admits that a part of him had hoped the series might end with his exit. Duchovny explains, saying, "But the more mature part of me realizes that this is a business, and everybody wants to continue to make money and be creative and do more shows and introduce new characters. So you just have to talk to that 6-year-old inside you that's going, `It's my ball. I'm taking it and going home.' You have to say, `Well, it's everybody's ball at this point. Good luck to them.'"

CURTIS ON HALLOWEEN 8
Jamie Lee Curtis has been talking about the currently shooting Halloween 8, while also shedding light on her role of the much stressed Laurie Strode.

While talking to the Vancouver Sun, the actress seems to have easily come to terms with doing a Halloween movie after all these years, saying, "[For] me that's an oddity, and it's certainly in a genre of films that I don't particularly like, but there's a very strong audience for that genre of film. I certainly don't look down my nose at it, I'm proud of the work that we do and I commit myself 100 per cent. But it's bizarre to me."

Curtis also spoke of her character in the film, Laurie Strode, who was last seen decapitating Michael Myers... or so she thought. That, of course, has taken its emotional toll on the character. Curtis explains, saying, "What we're going to be able to look back on, if you ever look at all these films put together, is a film version of post-traumatic stress syndrome. It is the accumulation of the kind of trauma that this woman has been through. It played itself out in alcoholism and drug addiction in H2O (Halloween H20: 20 Years Later), and by the time we now find her, she has lost it, seemingly."

The Sun reports that at the film's beginning, Strode has placed in a mental institution after the events of H20. Curtis continues, saying, "She is truly at the end of her mental life. She's really gone into a place that's very hard to reach. You would hope that it's a perfect place for a meeting between them, and as far as I know, he shows up at some point, I don't really know when, or how or in what guise, but it'll be an interesting meeting."

TAKEI RIPS ON TREK
Star Trek veteran George Takei doesn't seem to think the coming Enterprise TV series will be all that good.

While talking to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the TOS actor took issue with the way the franchise has been handled, in general, saying, "It seems that people who took over [Trek] don't have the feel for the show as Gene Roddenberry. Each subsequent spinoff keeps going down in the ratings."

Takei also feels that each program is getting further away from Gene Roddenberry's "values, his sense of adventure. Deep Space Nine was the polar opposite of what Gene stood for: our creativity, our ability to work together with diversity."

With Enterprise coming, Takei seems to be taking a shot at those involved in its creation, saying, "Every artist likes to have their imprint...their creative genius." Takei suggests, without naming him, that franchise head honcho, Rick Berman, should "go off and do something original. It is Gene Roddenberry's creation he's working within. Gene was always forward-looking.....the shock of the new....the new technology."

NO GHOSTBUSTERS 3
Dan Aykroyd is declaring that there will not be a third Ghostbusters movie.

While talking to Cinescape Cindy Pearlman, Aykroyd initially dismisses talk of another sequel, saying, "No, we can't do another one--the rights are all tied up."

When pressed a little further, the actor/writer admits, "It's the Ghostbusters. It would be nice to get us all to agree, but impossible."

Aykroyd then says, "Well, there's a reason Bill won't agree. Someone once didn't agree with him. Now he doesn't agree with someone.

"Listen, Bill is a friend of mine and just because he doesn't want to explore this concept is no reason to impair our friendship. He wants to move on to new work and new things. I can't blame him."

EASY RIDER 2... GOOD LORD
Yes, that occasionally mentioned Easy Rider sequel is still in development.

While talking to syndicated columnists Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith, Martin Landau, whose production company, Miracle Entertainment, is producing the flick, gave the latest word on the developing project.

Landau revealed some of the film's plot, saying, "It's basically a sequel 30 years later. It's about the sons of Peter Fonda's and Jack Nicholson's characters, who wind up together... Fonda's character has been in jail, wrongly accused of Nicholson's murder, and word comes to both sons that the real murderer is still out there.

"One is a biker and the other a lawyer in New York. They go on the road and cover the same tracks as their fathers did in trying to track down the real murderer, so it deals with the changes of the times."

Landau adds, "We have a dream cast list, but we want the script to be really good before we submit it to the actors... [The script] is coming along nicely."

Landau says that the project is looking to ramp up as soon as the potential actors strike is settled.

JURASSIC PARK 4
According to NY Daily News columnist Mitchell Fink, Steven Spielberg is looking to extend the JP franchise even further into a fourth film. Fink reports that Spielberg has already sent the word down to the folks at Amblin to start developing ideas for a fourth film.

The columnist also spoke to Spielberg's spokesperson, Marvin Levy. Levy commented on the rumor, saying, "I've heard rumblings to that effect. From what I understand, Steven is very happy with what he has seen of Joe Johnston's work in III. If there is a IV, Steven would again produce it. But Steven is definitely not going to direct any more Jurassics."

T3 SOON TO BE?
Now that the writers strike has been resolved, the Terminator 3 project is moving forward again.

According to USA Today, it looks like Arnold is going to have it battle it out with at least two bad Terminators. The paper is reporting that there will be a male baddie, with word that Vin Diesel's name is being tossed around for the role.

In addition, it's looking less likely that WWF wrestler Chyna might be playing a female Terminator. The paper is reporting that the production is now thinking of the female robotic menace as being played "as more babe, less big and bad."

Director Jonathan Mostow and scribe Tedi Sarafian are said to be still working on the script.

NO "V" RETURNING?
Even though Ken Johnson might want to see his V series revived, and even has new ideas on how to do so, it's sounding very unlikely something will be happening any time soon. While talking to Ilana's V Page, Johnson is reported to have told the site that he has spoken to Warner Bros. about bringing the series back. Johnson then says, "I mentioned a notion to Warners and got a ho hum. What else is new."

GIBSON WITH SHAYAMALAN?!
Mel Gibson has moved beyond the mulling stage to fully negotiating to star in M. Night Shyamalan's next film, Signs.

According to Variety, Gibson finally read the script for the film last week in the midst of filming We Were Soldiers Once - And Young. Word has it that the script convinced the actor to take on the film's lead role after he had been mulling doing so prior to the reading.

Regarding the script, the trade reports that Disney studio brass that they forged the previously reported deal with director/writer M. Night Shyamalan immediately after reading it over the weekend.

Though, once again, a veil of secrecy has been placed over the coming production, word has had it that the film, which has supernatural overtones, will tell the story of a farm in rural Pennsylvania that has been the location of mysterious crop circles.

• Mel Gibson is in official talks to star in M. Night Shyamalan's SIGNS for Disney. The project centers around the appearance of strange crop circles at a farm in Pennsylvania.
• Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey and Fairuza Balk will star in the indie pic ENTER FLEEING for writer/director Rebecca Miller (ANGELA). The project is based on PERSONAL VELOCITY, Miller's forthcoming book of short stories and centers on three women's attempts to leave the men who hinder their personal freedom.
• Bonnie Hunt will play the female lead in STOLEN SUMMER for director Pete Jones, Miramax and Project Greenlight about an Irish Catholic family whose son defies them to help a dying Jewish friend get into heaven. Aidan Quinn, Max Weinberg, Kevin Pollak and Brian Dennehy also star. Shooting begins this month in Chicago.
• Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones will star in the period drama SMOKE AND MIRRORS for John McTiernan, who is in talks to direct. The project is based on the true story of 19th century illusionist Jean Robert Houdin, who was sent by the French government to Algeria to investigate a sorcerer who was trying to tridder an anti-colonial revolution. Along for the ride with the magician, was a young female sidekick.
• Tim Allen is in negotiations to star in the comedy STARCHILD for director Peter Segal (NUTTY PROFESSOR 2: THE KLUMPS). Dan O'Dowd wrote the script about a socially challenged CIA agent who must avoid an interplanetary war on Earth by sending a friendly alien back to his home planet.
• Magali Amadei will co-star with Christopher Wiehl and Jennifer Gareis in the romantic comedy THE GROOMSMEN for director Lawrence Gay.
• Joseph Lawrence (URBAN LEGENDS: FINAL CUT) will star in PANDORA'S BOX, currently shooting in Atlanta.
• Mel Rodriguez (upcoming DEUCES WILD) is in talks for roles in both PANIC ROOM for Columiba as well as the Warner Bros. pic SHOWTIME, starring Eddie Murphy and Robert DeNiro.
• Queen Latifah is in talks to star in and executive produce IN THE HOUZE a Disney/Hyde Park Entertainment comedy about a guy who develops an internet relationship with a woman in jail. However, when she gets out, she turns his life upside-down.
• Devon Gummersall, Gina Phillips, Katharine Towne, Dylan Bruno, John Savage, Steve Van Wormer and Johnny Whitworth will star in the indie pic THE ANARCHIST for director Jordan Susman. It's a dramatic comedy about a band of young anarchists who face danger when a seductive troublemaker joins the group.
• Ben Affleck is in talks to star in SURVIVING CHRISTMAS about a guy who must spend Christmas alone and heads back to his childhood home to cheer himself up, trying to persuade the family who now lives there to take him in. Betty Thomas and Jenno Topping will produce for Columbia Pictures and Tall Trees Prods.
• Martin Henderson, Piper Perabo, Joe Pantoliano and Andrew Keegan will star in the indie feature A PIECE OF MY HEART for director Matt Cooper, based on his stage play, and his company the Vault. It's about two college grads in the Midwest who move to L.A., where their love is tested for the first time.

• Chris Koch (SNOW DAY) will direct the comedy A GUY THING for MGM and producer David Ladd. It's about a man who thinks he has cheated on his fiancee when he wakes up with a woman in his bed the morning after his bachelor party. Wackiness follows when he tries to cover up the supposed affair while getting ready for the wedding.
• Michael Nickles will helm THE LAST LANE from his own script for Cineville and Edward Burns and Aaron Lubin, who will produce through their Marlboro Road Gang company. Burns is also attached to play a supporting role in the pic which chronicles the lives of several islanders as a devastating hurricane threatens to destroy the town one summer.
• Henry Jaglom will direct the indie pic SHOPPING from a script he penned with his wife Victoria Foyt, who will also star. This is the third pic in Jaglom's "women trilogy" which includes 1990's EATING and 1994's BABYFEVER. Lee Grant, Pamela Bellwood, Cynthia Sikes, Marcia Strassman and Robert Romanus also star.
• Bob Balaban will produce and possibly direct for USA Films a feature based on CONFEDERATES IN THE ATTIC, the 1998 Tony Horwitz book about Civil War buffs and their battlefield re-enactments. Balaban is also producing KISS THE BRIDE about a young Midwestern couple who are getting married and find themselves on a game show; as well as DANIEL MARTIN based on the John Fowles novel about a playwright in his mid-50's who has become a Hollywood writer but realizes happiness is to be found in marrying the person with whom he was truly in love.
• Writer/director Aki Kaurismski will direct IRTOLAINEN (VAGRANT), a sequel to his 1996 pic DRIFTING CLOUDS. Kati Outinen, Sakari Kuosmanen, Markku Peltola and Esko Nikkari will return to star.
• Mimi Hare and Clare Naylor's romantic comedy spec ACCIDENTAL HUSBAND was purchased by 2K Media/Original Voices Prods. as a starring vehicle for Uma Thurman will will also produce. The story centers on an engaged female psychologist who finds out she is already married while registering for a license. When she finds her alleged husband, she falls for him only to discover that things are not what they seem.
• Christopher Scott Cherot is directing G, a hip-hop contemporary take on THE GREAT GATSBY, for producer Andrew Lauren. Richard T. Jones and Blair Underwood star in the dramatic film about a rap mogul who built his vast business to win back the woman of his dreams.
• Cary Bickley and Yuri Zeltser will rewrite the thriller DEMOLITION ANGEL for Columbia Pictures and Laurence Mark Prods. The project is an adaptation of the Robert Crais novel and center on a female bomb squad officer who uncovers a conspiracy after her parnter/lover is killed in a bombing.
• Italian rock star Luciano Ligabue (RADIOFRECCIA) will return to directing with FROM ZERO TO TEN. Production begins this summer.
• Lasse Hallstrom is in talks to direct Leonardo DiCaprio in CATCH ME IF YOU CAN for DreamWorks. Shooting is planned for a March start. The pic tells the true story of Frank Abagnale Jr. a teen impostor who made the FBI's 10 most wanted list in the mid '60s. By the time he was apprehended, he wrote $6 million in bad checks in all 50 states and 26 foreign countries.
• Eriq La Salle will direct CRAZY AS HELL, based on the Jeremy Leven novel SATAN. Leven has written a script with a rewrite by La Salle, who will co-star with Michael Beach, Ronny Cox, Steven Weber and Tix Texada. The story follows a psychiatrist who agrees to film a documentary about psychiatry and mental illness. Early in the production, a patient who claims to be the devil becomes the focus of the film.
• Artists Production Group and StudioCanal have together bought THE GOOD SAMARITAN, a pitch from Matthew Cirulnick that follows a married couple who buys a yacht to sail around the world and who get entangled with contemporary pirates after they rescue a dying man from the South China Sea.
• Miramax Films grabbed Matt Burch's script THE UPGRADE with Chris Moore, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck attached to produce. It's about two jewelry store security guards who get caught up in a scandal by the store's owner who wants his shop burglarized for insurance money. Burch was one of the 10 finalists in Project Greenlight and produced a three-minute clip based on his script that appears at http://www.projectgreenlight.com.
• Peter Osterlund and Amy Baker's romantic comedy script DATING NICK MCBRIDE was picked up by producer Mark Canton. It's about a young woman who must fill in for her identical twin, who is a popular TV personality, to interview the world's most eligible bachelor.
• Columbia Pictures grabbed the romantic comedy script THE LAST FIRST KISS by Kevin Bisch for Overbrook Entertainment to produce. It's about a New York man who has a secret identity moonlighting as a dating doctor who specializes in prepping and planning dates for lovesick men. However, when he falls for a tabloid journalist, his romantic outlook is challenged and his secret is threatened to be revealed.

• Nanni Moretti's film LA STANZA DEL FIGLIO (THE SON'S ROOM) took the top prize, the Palme d'Or, at the 54th Cannes International Film Festival. THE PIANO TEACHER, directed by Austria's Michael Haneke, won the Grand Prix, plus best actress for Isabelle Huppert and best actor for Benoit Magimel. The best director award split between Joel Coen (THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE) and David Lynch (MULLHOLLAND DRIVE).
• Alec Baldwin has apparently refused to take part in post-production on his directorial debut THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER until conflicts with the film's financier have been resolved. Prinicipal photography on the pic wrapped March 13.
• Director Reginald Hudlin, who has dropped out of the Jackie Chan supernatural thriller HIGHBINDERS due to creative differences and doubts about the film's financing, has been replaced with Gordon Chan (FIST OF LEGEND), while Sammo Hung will take on the role of action director. The story is about an immigration officer who is killed but returns from the dead with superpowers. The film is the most expensive project in Hong Kong cinema history.
• DreamWorks Pictures will sell half its stake in THE ROAD TO PERDITION to Twentieth Century Fox due most likely to the project's big budget and to help release Steven Spielberg out of a film commitment to Fox (the studio was given the option on a future pic from the director during the MINORITY REPORT deal). Sam Mendes directs Tom Hanks, Paul Newman and Jude Law in PERDITION.
• Dimension Films and RKO Pictures will co-produce a remake of the 1941 Alfred Hitchcock suspense thriller SUSPICION from a draft by Michael Browning (SIX DAYS SEVEN NIGHTS). It's based on Francis Iles novel BEFORE THE FACT and tells the story of a reserved young woman who marries a man that she later suspects is trying to kill her for her money.
• Propaganda Films has purchased the feature rights to HELTER SKELTER, the 1975 book by former L.A. District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi that chronicles the Manson Family murders as well as Bugliosi's prosecution of Charles Manson. The book was adapted into a CBS TV movie in 1976 and centered on Manson's trial, whereas the new feature will focus specifically on the actual investigation of the murders.

Ken Miyamoto