Too lazy to read all the wonderful news our insightful crew scours the globe to bring you every day? Too outmoded to have an MP3 player for the podcast? Shame on you all! However, being the generous lot we are, welcome to news:blended, your weekly guide to the most interesting stories reported on Cinema Blend over the last seven days.
You probably heard both the big news stories of the week, Heath Ledger and the Oscar nominations. They both fell into the category of “things that have no impact in our life but still make us upset and/or angry.” Ledger’s death and the nomination of Atonement for best picture resulted in people wondering why god or allah could let something like this happen.
SATURDAY
And we danced, like a wave on the ocean romanced.
WGA realizes that no one pays you to not write.
Although CB’s Sundance coverage technically started running on Friday the 18th, we only put up one measly story. It was Saturday that intereviews and film reviews began to flow like frozen milk and honey from Utah. Josh and the rest of the staff that he must like better than me filed 23 articles in all over the next five days, the most completest coverage you could ever hope for and still stay warm. The writer’s union and producers are trying to make sure there are actual movies at Sundance next year by actually, you know, NEGOTIATING a new deal. Who would’ve thought that in order to agree on a contract, you must speak in the same room. They are doing it informally for now, but things are looking good. Get your parka ready for next January, Josh.
SUNDAY
I named the dog Indiana.
Another headless Statue of Liberty.
Are you dying to see the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull trailer. If you are then the fact it is being released on Valentine’s Day won’t matter much to you, since you probably don’t have a date anyway. Indy is going to bring us all of his old man adventurer goodness on that day for lovers. Then get ready for the marketing onslaught, it won’t be pretty. Neither will another Cloverfield movie, but there will probably be one of those as well. The movie made about $40 million smacks and that says sequel to anyone who puts money grubbing before art. Which describes everyone in Hollywood.
MONDAY
Katey picked more Oscar nominees than you did.
These are the trailers of the starship, Enterprise.
Katey continues her Oscar column and even went so far as to predict the nominees the day before they were released. She did a damn fine job, damn fine. If she’d written Juno a couple more times and Into the Wild a few less times, she would have been right on the nose in almost every major category. I guess there is something to paying attention to what’s happening in the world. I’m sure most of you aren’t paying attention to anything since the new Star Trek trailer is online. You can even see it in high def, which is a much higher def than any of the monitors in my home.
TUESDAY
Heath Ledger died, in case you hadn’t heard.
Something about the Oscars happened on Tuesday, too.
The Academy Award nominations are not usually upstaged by another entertainment related story, but news of the unexpected death of Heath Ledger immediately dropped all Oscar news off the radar. If they had it to do over again, the Oscar guru’s would have probably picked another day to announce that No Country For Old Men was a lock to win the best picture award in late February. Most of the comments related to Ledger’s death here begin with an “I’m stunned” variation. It is pretty stunning. He was a young, good looking guy with a great career ahead of him and contrary to repeated evidence to the contrary, we think those types of people are immortal. I know somewhere there must be a place where we can swap a Ledger death for a Jerry Lewis passing. It’s time for that guy to go.
Josh remembers Heath and his rock star middle ages movie.
Somebody on Wolverine set has a camera.
Wednesday was the day after Heath Ledger died. As such, not a lot of movie news was out and not many people wanted to cover it anyway. Josh got back from Sundance and wrote what he remembered about Heath. It’s not the gay movie, it’s the movie which had jousts set to Queen music. Actually, that sounds kind gay, too. To show how much Heath dominated the news, the second biggest story from that day was some on-set pictures of the filming of Wolverine. That’s really not a big deal, when you think about it. .
THURSDAY
For God’s sake Will, do something new, will ya?
I’m really getting tired of Will Ferrell and his my-hair-is-funny-so-this-movie-is-funny output these days. Go more in the Stranger than Fiction route, Will. Tube socks are not that hilarious. He does sing a song to pimp Semi-Pro that is kinda funny, though. It’s not as funny, of course, as the name of the new James Bond movie. It will be called Quantum of Solace. Yea, that’s a great name. I guess they thought Days of Nothingness or Poetry of the Outer Dusk sounded too pretentious.
FRIDAY
The circle of life, it moves us all.
I knew the Rambo movie was going to blow chunks. The trailer made me and everyone in the theater I saw it with snicker or laugh out loud. That’s right, I’m a 41 year old man and I LOL’d. Still, if you want proof, check out the 4 video clips that were released. If that doesn’t sway you, nothing will. The week ended on the upbeat note that Heath Ledger’s body didn’t even have time to grow cold before people figured out who would replace him in his current movie project. You say your star has OD’d (possibly) on pills and his masseuse called Mary-Kate Olsen before the ambulance, get Johnny Depp.
That’s all for another week of news blending. It’s like what you get at Jamba Juice, but cheaper and not quite as healthy. If you liked it or didn’t, leave some feedback.
