UPDATED!!! Spidey 3 Update

UPDATE!! Alright, so after those pics surfaced yesterday, rumor has it that Theresa Russell's character, Flint Marko's wife, is actually going to be Felicia Hardy, a.k.a. The Black Cat. If true, that means we'll be seeing Sandman, Venom, Black Cat, AND Hobgoblin, along with Gwen Stacey? Jesus that's alot of new characters. I have a whole lot of faith in Sam Raimi, but this is starting to sound a whole lot like X3, a comparison I really don't like making....

Hey guys, it's Donnie...Yeah, that's right, the first round of pics from the Spider-Man 3 set. As to be expected, they're grainy, poorly framed, from way too far away, and completely out of context, but it is...something. I'm assuming that Mary Jane Watson's acting career has taken off a bit since we last saw her, because if this isn't MJ filming a movie or performing in a play or something of the like, then I'd say that Raimi has lost his marbles and is giving us Spider-Man 3: The Musical. (By the way, I recently heard some of the music from the old Superman musical from the 1950s (I believe) and it's hilarious. Nothing tops Clark Kent singing "I'll Never Stop Doing Good" as he changes from Supes to Clark Kent.)

Click it here Mary Jane descend into song!

Anyway, the Spidey 3 news seems to continue piling up. We recently received word that Theresa Russell would be playing the wife to Thomas Hayden Church's Flint Marko/Sandman. More importantly, Bryce Dallas Howard, the lovely blind girl from The Village and daughter to Opie himself, Ron Howard, has been cast as none other than Gwen Stacey. In the comics, Gwen Stacey was an iconic early love interest of Spider-Man's who was killed when Green Goblin dropped her from a bridge (in a scene almost identical to the scene with MJ in Raimi's first Spider-Man film). Spidey grabbed her with his webbing, but when he pulled her up he found that she was dead. Whether it was from the shock of the fall from the sudden stop of him grabbing her was never determined and it tortured Parker for years.

No one really knows exactly what kind of role Stacey is going to play in the third film, but the early word is that she's not going to be killed...at least, not in this movie. Personally I really wish that Sony would finally just own up to the fact that Topher Grace is playing Venom and give us a cool Venom shot. It's pretty much common knowledge at this point, unless Raimi is pulling one of the greatest misinformation campaigns ever. But somehow I doubt that...

Oscar Nominations 2006...

Hey guys, it's Donnie...Not that I should have to point it out, but the 2006 Academy Award Nominations were announced this morning. What do I think? I think they are surprisingly pretty spot on. I'm ecstatic to see Terrence Howard and "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" getting nominations from Hustle & Flow. I'm glad that Clooney got a directing nomination, because he most assuredly deserves it. Crash is so completely overrated it blows my mind. I was so disappointed in the Screen Actors' Guild for giving it Best Picture and if the Academy does the same thing I'll probably spit on my TV. All three Animated Films are fantastic, although I'm obviously pulling for Wallace and Gromit.

I'm glad that Jake Gyllenhaal snagged a Supporting Actor nomination for Brokeback Mountain, although personally I think he deserved a Best Actor nomination for his work in Jarhead, which was truly phenomenal. I'm a little surprised to see Keira Knightly get the nom, although I didn't see Pride & Prejudice, so I can't really say anything. I will say that it's downright criminal that Maria Bello got snubbed for A History Of Violence, which was easily my favorite female performance this year. Cronenberg should have gotten the Directing nomination, but someone had the good sense to give William Hurt the Supporting Actor nod and that's pretty damn sweet. If only Fernando Meirelles and Ralph Fiennes got Directing and Acting credit for Constant Gardener...

Anwyay, here is the complete list of Nominees:

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
Good Night, And Good Luck.
Munich

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain
Bennett Miller - Capote
Paul Haggis - Crash
George Clooney - Good Night, And Good Luck.
Steven Spielberg - Munich

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
Terrence Howard - Hustle & Flow
Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix - Walk the Line
David Strathairn - Good Night, And Good Luck.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Judi Dench - Mrs. Henderson Presents
Felicity Huffman - TransAmerica
Keira Knightley - Pride & Prejudice
Charlize Theron - North Country
Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
George Clooney - Syriana
Matt Dillon - Crash
Paul Giamatti - Cinderella Man
Jake Gyllenhaal - Brokeback Mountain
William Hurt - A History of Violence

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams - Junebug
Catherine Keener - Capote
Frances McDormand - North Country
Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener
Michelle Williams - Brokeback Mountain

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana - Brokeback Mountain
Dan Futterman - Capote
Jeffrey Caine - The Constant Gardener
Josh Olson - A History of Violence
Tony Kushner and Eric Roth - Munich

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco - Crash
George Clooney & Grant Heslov - Good Night, And Good Luck.
Woody Allen - Match Point
Noah Baumbach - The Squid and the Whale
Stephen Gaghan - Syriana

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
Don't Tell
Joyeux Noel
Paradise Now
Sophie Scholl - The Final Days
Tsotsi

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
Howl's Moving Castle
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
Wallace & Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
Good Night, And Good Luck. Art Direction: Jim Bissell Set Decoration: Jan Pascale
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Art Direction: Stuart Craig Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
King Kong. Art Direction: Grant Major Set Decoration: Dan Hennah and Simon Bright
Memoirs of a Geisha. Art Direction: John Myhre Set Decoration: Gretchen Rau
Pride & Prejudice. Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood Set Decoration: Katie Spencer

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Batman Begins: Wally Pfister
Brokeback Mountain: Rodrigo Prieto
Good Night, And Good Luck: Robert Elswit
Memoirs of a Geisha: Dion Beebe
The New World: Emmanuel Lubezki

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Gabriella Pescucci
Memoirs of a Geisha: Colleen Atwood
Mrs. Henderson Presents: Sandy Powell
Pride & Prejudice: Jacqueline Durran
Walk the Line: Arianne Phillips

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Darwin's Nightmare
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
March of the Penguins
Murderball
Street Fight

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
Cinderella Man: Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
The Constant Gardener: Claire Simpson
Crash: Hughes Winborne
Munich: Michael Kahn
Walk the Line: Michael McCusker

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - Howard Berger and Tami Lane
Cinderella Man - David Leroy Anderson and Lance Anderson
Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith - Dave Elsey and Annette Miles

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES
(ORIGINAL SCORE)
Brokeback Mountain: Gustavo Santaolalla
The Constant Gardener: Alberto Iglesias
Memoirs of a Geisha: John Williams
Munich: John Williams
Pride & Prejudice: Dario Marianelli

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES
(ORIGINAL SONG)
"In the Deep" - Crash. Music by Kathleen “Bird” York and Michael Becker Lyric by Kathleen “Bird” York
"It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" - Hustle & Flow. Music and Lyric by Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman and Paul Beauregard
"Travelin' Thru" - TransAmerica. Music and Lyric by Dolly Parton

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - Terry Porter, Dean A. Zupancic and Tony Johnson
King Kong - Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek
Memoirs of a Geisha - Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell, Rick Kline and John Pritchett
Walk the Line - Paul Massey, D.M. Hemphill and Peter F. Kurland
War of the Worlds - Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Ronald Judkins

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
King Kong - Mike Hopkins and Ethan Van der Ryn
Memoirs of a Geisha - Wylie Stateman
War of the Worlds - Richard King

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - Dean Wright, Bill Westenhofer, Jim Berney and Scott Farrar
King Kong - Joe Letteri, Brian Van’t Hul, Christian Rivers and Richard Taylor
War of the Worlds - Dennis Muren, Pablo Helman, Randy Dutra and Daniel Sudick

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club
God Sleeps in Rwanda
The Mushroom Club
A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Badgered
The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation
The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello
9
One Man Band

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Ausreisser (The Runaway)
Cashback
The Last Farm
Our Time is Up
Six Shooter

Trailertown: Lots Of Catching Up To Do...

Hey guys, it's Donnie...Welcome back to Trailertown!

In my prolonged absence a number of really excellent trailers have debuted. There have been really too many to go through them all, but here are the big ones from the past week or so...
Silent Hill: Think all video game movies suck? Think again. This trailer is nothing short of badass and scary as hell. Director Christophe Gans (Brotherhood Of The Wolf) seems to have pulled off the impossible. Let's hope that the film lives up to it's trailer.
Click it here for creepy street signs and creatures...

Winter Passing: I Love Zooey Deschenel, I really do. I will watch just about anything she's in ever. (I've also got a thing developing for her sister Emily, who is really pretty fantastic in the Fox show Bones.) The chemistry between Zooey and Will Ferrell in Elf was really quite lovely, so I'm glad Adam Rapp had the good sense to put them together in a serious movie. Add a little bit of cantakerous old Ed Harris and a lot of snow and you've got what looks like something really special.
Click it here for serious Will and seriously cute Zooey...

Special: What the hell is this and where did it come from? I don't have the faintest idea, except it reminds me why I love Michael Rappaport. Is he crazy? Is he for real? More importantly, when can I buy a ticket?
Click it here to have an awesome costume...

Dave Chapelle's Block Party: Hey, remember Dave Chapelle? He's the guy who very quickly became the funniest guy in America, worked a monstrous deal for about $50 million dollars from Comedy Central, and then literally dropped off the face of the planet. Seriously, he just up and disappeared and nobody, including everyone at Comedy Central, knew where to find him. Well the man is back with a concert film where he throws a giant block party in Brooklyn featuring all his friends and favorite musicians. Did I mention that it's directed by Michel Gondry?
Click it here to remember why you liked Chapelle to begin with...

Duck Season: I like this trailer a whole lot. It's simple, it's quirky, it's interesting, and it just seems like a lot of fun. Yeah.
Click it here to have fun sans electricity...

The Notorious Bettie Paige: Hey, remember Gretchen Mol? She was Matt Damon's girlfriend in Rounders (I heard she only got that role because she was banging one of the producers) and then pretty much disappeared. The only thing I've seen her in since was The Shape Of Things, in which she was mediocre at best. Well she's back and she's back with a vengeance, STARRING in The Notorious Bettie Paige. I have to say...she certainly looks the part. Let's hope she can really carry a feature film, because I'd really like this not to suck.
Click it here for fun with whips and leather...

Flight 93: The first of two major "9/11 Films". While Oliver Stone is busy digging Nic Cage and Michael Pena out of the rubble of the World Trade Center, Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremecy) will be bringing us the story of the fourth plane, the one that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, told in real time. This is a really great teaser trailer, and after reading a couple of really great interviews with Greengrass (one of the smartest directors working today) I'm really expecting greatness from this film.
Click it here for my new favorite teaser...

The Tennants: Dylan McDermott and Snoop Dogg. There's an odd couple if I've ever heard it. I actually kind of like this trailer, a gritty story about two writers who each live alone in run down apartment building. We also get a little peek at Rose Byrne, who may or may not be playing the newest Bond girl Vesper Lynd. I think Dylan McDermott chooses his film projects very well and I'd love to see him really break out with a great film. This isn't it, but it looks like a nice stepping stone.
Click it here to see Dylan with awesome glasses...

Casino Royale Begins!

Hey guys, it's Donnie...Good news for all you 007 fans! Yesterday marked the first day of filming for Casino Royale, the next installment in the long running James Bond franchise.

Filming will take place in the UK, Prague, Italy and the Bahamas. Daniel Craig will be taking over as James Bond and, after rewatching Layer Cake for the first time since I saw it in theaters, I'm really extremely excited to see what he does with it.

We really haven't heard too much else about casting. There have been numerous reports about various villains, but nothing very concrete. As far as Bond girls go...Vesper Lynd is still up in the air, although the latest rumor had young Rose Byrne taking that role. There are also unconfirmed reports of a female baddie and that Natasha Henstridge was in consideration.

I expect now that filming has commenced, we'll start getting some casting confirmations soon.

Right Turn Dwayne....

Hey guys, it's Donnie...Right now this is completely and totally 100% a rumor with nothing remotely resembling any kind of confirmation anywhere.

Then why am I running it?

Because it's awesome, that's why:

A remake of Any Which Way But Loose starring The Rock.

You heard me. The Rock and a monkey.

I'm sure there's a Walking Tall/The Rundown joke to be made there somewhere...

The Return Of The Booth

Hey guys, it's Donnie...Well, look's who's back in town?

Or, more accurately, looks who's in a new town?

Yes, that's right, the Movie Booth has relocated to warmer climates, currently working out of Culver City, CA and loving every minute of it. What can I say? I guess I wanted to be closer to the action.

I know we've been gone for a while, but between the holidays and packing everything up for the move, it's been pretty hectic of late. But we're settled in, we have a lot of free time and no transportation, so you should be able to expect all sorts of juicy content in the coming weeks. I've updated all the sidebar content for the new calendar year, eliminated my Top Ten of 2004 list (cuz it's now two years old) and begun the chronic-what-cling of this year's cinematic adventures. I'll have a summary of 2005, all the films I've seen and my Final Top Ten as soon as I see two last films that eluded me at the end of the year.

Let the mayhem begin...

Serkis Gets Prestigious....

Hey guys, it's Donnie...I've pretty much run out of ways to express my excitement for Chris Nolan's upcoming film The Prestige. Everytime someone else gets added to the cast I somehow get happier. At this point I might as well just give Nolan a blowjob, but despite my college alma mater, I really don't swing that way. Really.

Confirming some rumors from last week, Andy Serkis (a.k.a. Gollum and King fucking Kong) is now officially onboard as the assistant to David Bowie's Nikola Tessla. Serkis obviously gets all kinds of noteriety for his breathtaking motion capture work, but his Lumpy The Cook was one of my favorite character's in Jackson's Kong. I'd love to see the guy get a little more attention for his actual onscreen work and this sounds like a great opportunity.

For those of you who haven't been paying attention, the film is about dueling magicians at the turn of the century whose rivalry grows so intense it soon turns to murder. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman play the magicians, Michael Caine and David Bowie play their mentors and Scarlett Johansson and the ever delicious Piper Perabo are their beautiful assistants/love interests.

Seriously, how can you not be excited for this movie?

Soderbergh's Bubble Doesn't Burst

Hey guys, it's Donnie...It's a sad day for theater owners.

This past Friday, HDNet Films and Magnolia Pictures released Stephen Soderbergh's not quite 90 minute film Bubble in the first major "day-and-date" release. That is to say that the film played on 32 screens at a handful of Landmark Theaters, it ran on the HDNet television channel Friday night, and it'll be released on DVD this Tuesday. (It would have been released on Friday, but new DVD day has traditionally been Tuesday.) The film cost $1.6 million to make, and yet between theaters sales, DVD pre-sales and television revenue, the film brought in an estimated $5 million in it's opening weekend. That doesn't even account for whatever tangible DVD sales take place when the movie is in stores tomorrow.

So why should theater owners be upset? Because out of the $5 million, only an estimated $72,000 came from theater sales.

Yeah.

So there's really no longer any debate as to whether or not this sort of release strategy can be profitable (like there was really any doubt) and it's now just a matter of time until we start to see major studio releases following the same strategy.

Hey, theater owners, did you hear that?

I think the Fat Lady is warming up. You better figure out some way to get asses in the seats toot-sweet.

And The Razzie Goes To...

Hey guys, it's Donnie...In case there was any doubt, we are back in the midst of Award Season once again. The Golden Globes have come and gone and last night the Screen Actor's Guild chose to champion hollow bullshit "importance" in the form of Paul Haggis's Crash. How someone ever chooses crash over Goodnight and Good Luck I'll never understand.

Today we got the nominations for one of my favorite award shows: The Razzies. For those who don't know, the Razzies are given out to the absolute worst movies and performances of the year. While the "best of" shows tend to be pretty subjective and debatable, the Razzies tend to be pretty spot on.

This year's nominations for Worst Picture are:
The Dukes Of Hazzard
Son Of The Mask
House Of Wax
Dirty Love
Deuce Bigelow: European Gigalow

I have to take exception to some of these. I mean, I can't say definitely because I haven't actually seen any of these movies (for good reason obviously) but I heard that Dukes of Hazzard and even half of House Of Wax had some aspects that were enjoyable. Whereas pretty much everyone on the planet seemed to agree that the remake of The Fog was just absolutely and utterly without merit. (Although, again, I can't say for sure because I didn't see it. Again, with good reason.)

Also Tom Cruise is nominated for Worst Actor for War of the Worlds, something I also have to protest. His performance is by no stretch of the imagination Razzie worthy, and I think that this is instead a backlash reaction to him going absolutely batshit crazy for about three or four months this past summer. That's really too bad. That's almost as unfortunate as the Academy giving out Oscars to people like Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington not for their actual performance in a particular film but because they're good actors and they hadn't gotten an award yet.

Oh well. At least Tara Reid got a nomination for Alone In The Dark. Come to think of it, where was THAT nomination? I think it's saying something when you can come up with five major theatrical releases that were worse than whatever steaming pile of fecal matter Dr. Uwe Boll managed to smear onto screens in a given year...

More Doom and Probably Gloom

Hey guys, it's Donnie...You know, Fantastic Four was a really painful film for me. I SO wanted greatness out of that movie because that's what the property deserves. One might think that I took some kind of evil glee in writing article after article tearing the film to pieces all throughout it's production and promotion, but it really did hurt me to have to sit here for a few months and slowly realize that what should have been one of the best movies of the summer would instead become the pinnacle of comic book movie mediocrity.

And so you can imagine my dismay when I learned that director Tim Story and writer Mark Frost were returning to beat up on the franchise some more. And today we get word from the boys at Latino Review that Dr. Doom will be returning and, according to Story, "He will be back in full DOOM, not like we had him in the first film." I'm not really sure exactly what that means. Maybe that means that he'll be an actual villain with a plot to carry out evil deeds, instead of just being kind of a dick with tin foil mask and non-descript superpowers. Maybe it means he'll carry around a BFG. I don't know.

Anyway, my desire to see a great Fantastic Four movie is going to force me to keep following this project. I might as well just put my nuts in a clamp right now and turn the crank once every day. It would probably be a lot less painful...

Please Pardon Our Appearance...

Hey guys, it's Donnie...To all of you who have been checking in here despite the marked lack of content over the past few weeks, my most sincere apologies. Between the holidays, leaving my job and moving out of my apartment, things have been fairly hectic here at The Booth.

But fear not! All this is merely in preparation for The Booth to relocate to bright and shiny new offices in Los Angeles! In fact, I'm getting on a plane tomorrow afternoon.

So to all my faithful readers, check in for new content soon. We're gonna kick off 2006 with a bang...even if it is a bit late.

The Films Of 2006

The following will be a chronicling of all the movies I've seen in 2006. I'm not counting the countless DVDs I'll consume (because why would you count something countless?) but instead restrict myself to the new releases of 2006 that I actually travel to a theater to watch. I'll also include a rating of 1-5 stars.

Let the mayhem begin...


The Films of 2006

The Black Dahlia **
Brick ****
The Hills Have Eyes *** 1/2
Nightwatch ****
Running Scared ****1/2
Silent Hill ** 1/2
Thank You For Smoking ****
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story ****
Ultraviolet ***
Underworld: Evolution ***
United 93 *****
V For Vendetta **** 1/2