To start off with there is this movie that SONY is going to try to push with Sharon Stone as ... well, you'll see. I can tell you from personal first hand observation, taken at ShoWest (the theater owners conference), that Sharon Stone really did seem to be as bad as this person says she is. I couldn't believe how bad this looked. In fact it was so bad that I struck it from my memory, only to be brought back by this spy's scoop about actually seeing an early test screening of the film. Do note that there are most likely other, less harsh, views on the film. I just haven't seen them yet, and a lot will change before this film hit's your local theaters. So here's the scoop on GLORIA...
L.A. spy Macguyver here. I've been a little too busy to attend many screenings for the last month or two, but when I got a chance this Monday to catch "a thriller" starring Sharon Stone I took it. The movie is called Gloria and involves the title character (Sharon with a not just bad but also incredibly annoying New York accent) protecting an orphaned kid from mobsters trying to kill him. Let me say that there is nothing the least bit thrilling about this movie. 75% of the movie is Sharon dragging this kid around New York, whining and complaining about having no clue she's going to do with him. 15% concentrated in the beginning and the end involve her dealing with the very generic "bad guys," and the final 10% is spent on scenes that try to convince you that "Gloria" really does have a colorful past, as if that should make up for her bland presence in the movie.
This movie was so bad that while I usually take my time to fill out the NRG (note these are the bad guys) survey after the movie, this time I just wrote the word BORING in big black letters across the paper and walked out.
Whew... That sounded painful. However, not all is bad in the world of test screenings. Neil Jordon's THE BUTCHER BOY seem pretty good. What's interesting is that Neil is actually going to have 2 films out in the same year. First this one, then later a horror suspense film starring Annette Bening and Robert Downey Jr. When I saw the footage from this film, called IN DREAMS, I was stunned. Beautiful cinematography, emotionally raw acting. This film looked to be a keeper. But then, that's a Neil Jordan film for ya. But first we'll see how THE BUTCHER BOY is....
Caught this movie last night and thought I would pass the word. New movie by Neil Jordan (Crying Game, Interview with a Vampire) about a kid growing up in Ireland. Wild accents abound. This movie is kind of twisted in a "Little Drummer Boy" way. I laughed through the whole thing, but a more sophisticated person might think it was gross. I am, alas, not very sophisticated. It had a few slow parts, but the ending is wild and hilarious. Sinead O'Conner has a small role as the Virgin Mary. Man Harry, she is hot (I think it's her grown out hair that does it for me).
WHOA!!! Someone is falling in love with Sinead again. Cool. Apart from her terribly ill advised picture tearing habits, she has moved forward gracefully, and I'm sure her turn in as the Virgin Mary, will set people a talking.
Next though, I had a spy infiltrate Warner Brothers, as part of their regular tour package, and lo and behold, they saw some cool stuff on SOLDIER, the new film shooting with Kurt Russell. This script was pretty killer, dealing with an elite killing machine placed amongst regular folks, and ultimately not fitting in. Very human story, with a testosterone edge. Here... read about the set....
harry. this probably isn't news to you, but here goes. I was in L.A. over the weekend and took the Warner Brothers tour. this is by far the coolest touristy thing I did while I was there. they really let you onto the sets to look around instead of pointing through darkened doorways and saying, "look through there and you might see something cool" as you wizz by in your tram (like the guys at universal did). we were taken onto the set of a new Kurt Russell flick tentatively titled SOLDIER. it's set in post-apocalyptic times in which all of the world's trash is sent to a garbage planet. most of the action occurs on the planet after Russell's character is banished there. the set was pretty cool. it definitely had the Mad Max sorta feel to it. the background was all reddish haze and dusty greys. the floor of the studio looked like dry, cracked earth. and filling more than half of the space was trash piled high to the ceiling - dozens of bicycles, car parts, missile casings, computer parts, pipes, scrap metal and the occasional strategically placed SONY digital tv disc. the tour guide said there was to be a number of fight scenes carried out on the trash pile and that it had taken two nights-worth of constant dump truck-dumping to bring in all the stuff. anyway, I'd hate to be the one having to clean it up. keep up the cool work!
Wow, sounds like a job for the New York City Sanitation Division. Seriously though, this film has Kurt Russell in it, so I'll be there opening day. Anyone who played Snake Plissken deserves at least eternal devotion...
And then lastly, the behind the scenes report from my guy THE SWEDE and his pet goose Gertrude on some cool work in this summer's forthcoming mega-film, ARMAGEDDON....
Sup Harry! This is The Swede, reporting in with some Armageddon news. A couple of friends of mine are working on the effects for the movie, and I've seen them first hand. Effects wise, this movie is going to kick booty. Dream Quest Images has done some incredible work for this one scene, which they apparently spent several months working on. Spoiler ahead: The scene they have been working so hard on, is an asteroid hurdling towards earth. On the screen it says "65 million years ago". The Asteroid hits earth, and it has incredible effects that just has to be seen to be believed. On the dark side of the earth, you can see fire at the edges. Really awesome stuff. The other couple of shots I've seen, involve the shuttles launching. Some incredible computer generated smoke has been created for these shots that are photorealistic. You gotta love those blue shuttles. Anyway, not much, but at least it's something. I personally can't wait till I get to see this movie.
