After reading about two years of depressing tabloids, I thought I would be more prepared for Patrick Swayze's eventual passing at the hands of pancreatic cancer. Instead, I'm a grown heterosexual man eating ice cream, near the stage of weeping, watching the 80's icon stand up to stodgy old Jerry Orbach. Swayze leaves behind a memorable body of work including Dirty Dancing, Next of Kin, Road House, Ghost, Point Break, Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, Black Dog, Donnie Darko and one of the better Saturday Night Live sketches of all time alongside Chris Farley among others. Swayze had the uncommon ability to balance carrying the Fabio complex of being manly to the point of comedy, self-parody and actual acting skills in a classy and memorable fashion. Rest in peace.
In an attempt to tear myself away from the proverbial tear-stained pottery wheel, a few decent news stories in the land of cinema to bring the spirits up comes our way... First, Access Hollywood interviewed Bruce Campbell recently in which the cult film icon spoke of the upcoming Spider-Man 4, which supposed to begin shooting early 2010. When asked about his role in this film, he responds that director Sam Raimi has a much bigger role in mind. The rumor mills have all been salivating at how plausible and obvious of a decision it would be to have Campbell play the villain Mysterio. One can only hope.
Also making rounds in the rumor circuit is Christoph Waltz of Inglourious Basterds fame. The actor, who has been heavily touted as a huge Academy Award contender, has been mentioned, via DeadlineHollywood, as the replacement for Nicolas Cage as the baddy in Seth Rogen's The Green Hornet. I said earlier in the week when it was announced that Cage would be dropping out of the picture that it could turn around to be a wondrous Stephen Chow to Michel Gondry type change, and if they can nab Waltz, who deserves all the praise he is getting from Basterds, Rogen's superhero flick will have pulled another good-to-great crew change.
I can't believe that 9 garnered just $10 million at the box office, landing behind Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All by Myself. At least it didn't flop as bad as Sorority Row, which landed a debut at the six spot with just slightly over $5 million.
Last night, despite the absence of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Ben Folds being nominated, the MTV Video Music Awards played a sinister trick in the pre-show on my heart by introducing the Muppets into the mix, as Kermit the Frog escorted Lady Gaga (clad in a costume fit for a background character in Hellboy, plus a performance that included dancing cripples, vaginal piano playing and Carrie-esque blood covered female, so I sickenly, disappointingly can't even call it a terrible happening). Anyhow, aside from the whole Twitter drama regarding Kanye West's douchebaggery, the award show focused on film a bit, by debuting trailer's for The Twilight Saga: New Moon and the Michael Jackson documentary This is It. Instead of displaying any of these trailers, I opted for a challenge to any readers that I have. In Janet Jackson's tribute to her brother that opened the show, much of the video for "Scream" was shown and I noticed that some anime is prominently displayed in the background. I can't find anywhere what anime it is, although the Answerman on AnimeNewsNetwork says that it is often claimed to be Akira, although there has never been confirmation. Happy hunting kiddos. Oh, on a side note that I find interesting about the VMA's, big names in film that have won in the technical awards include Steve Barron, David Fincher, Tarsem Singh, Mark Pellington, Spike Jonze, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Samuel Bayer, Dylan Tichenor and the Brothers Quay.
Finally, to close today's blog, a few of the most memorable Swayze moments.
No comments:
Post a Comment