HollywoodIdiocy.com

Well, at least the cast of Reaper won’t go on strike!

AFTRA and AMPTP burned the midnight oil Tuesday into Wednesday and today announced they had reached a tentative three-year deal on the dozen or so prime-time and cable shows over which AFTRA has jurisdiction.

The deal sees AMPTP giving way to AFTRA on the “actor’s consent” stipulation for use of movie clips online, which was also a stumbling block in SAG negotiations. While this clearly will put pressure on SAG to make a deal rather than strike, SAG’s fate is still up in the air as AMPTP and SAG are scheduled to resume negotiations this week.

For more details, I’ll be posting about this topic again, later tonight, in greater detail, over on my writing blog, ScriptSuperhero.com.

Despite pre-negotiation predictions that AFTRA would come to a quick deal with the AMPTP, to leapfrog SAG in making a primetime network deal for programming, in order to sign some shows away from SAG in order to keep those shows in production, is a scenario that has failed thus far to materialize.

AFTRA and AMPTP remain deadlocked over the issue of online clips licensing, with the key issue being over having to secure actors’ permission for the use of clips in which they are featured, an issue SAG also tangled with the AMPTP over. While the fees involved are not at issue as prominently, producers want to be able to use such clips online without first securing the permission of actors for each and every use; both AFTRA and SAG oppose producers on this issue, wanting to retain permission-granting powers for their members.

With the end of May approaching, time is growing short. Both actors unions have agreements that expire on June 30, and if agreement is not reached by then, Hollywood could be hit with a second production strike, this time by actors. The WGA writers strike shut down Hollywood for 100 days and robbed the entertainment industry of at least $1 billion in revenue, cost many people jobs, and the post-strike effect has depressed Neilsen ratings even after fresh programming returned to the air in April.

A second strike, by actors, could prove to be an industry-crippling blow, especially if it drags through the summer and postpones the start of the fall TV schedule, currently already regarded by many industry analysts as being essential to relaunch the network TV schedule in the hearts of viewers; if that relaunch is delayed, depressed Neilsens could linger well into the 2008-09 TV season and may never return to pre-WGA-strike levels.

If this labor dispute cannot be worked out without a strike, it could require a lot more than Austin Air air purifiers to remove the stench from the entertainment industry.

There are some Orlando vacations in the futures of all the folks involved in making Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The three-day total for Indy 4’s first weekend of release has reached an impressive $101 million domestically. With a Thrusday debut and a Memorial Day Monday added in, the film is set to make big bucks by the end of tonight.

With Monday total not yet in, Spielberg-Lucas-Ford action flick has so far grosses $126 million domestically and $146 million overseas, for a grand total of over $272 million combined; not bad for a movie that had a production budget of $185 million.

Prince Caspian, the second film in the Narnia Chronicles, based on the series of children’s stories by C.S. Lewis, did well enough to retain second place, but at $23 million, saw a huge, 58-percent dropoff from its debut week. Boasting a production budget of $200 million, Prince Caspian’s two-week total is $96 million domestically, and $22 million overseas, for a disappointing two-week total of only $118 million. This could make it difficult for the sequel to make its money back prior to DVD release.

That’s not a problem for Iron Man, which held on to the third spot in the box office race with an additional $20 million domestically. In release not for over three weeks, Iron man has taken in $257 million domestically and $228 million oveseas, for a staggering total of just inter $486 million; considering the film’s relatively slim $140 million budget, Iron Man stands now shoulder-to-shoulder with Spider-Man as one of Marvel Studios’ most profitable franchises.

What Happens in Vegas made just over $9 million in fourth place and then there was a huge dropoff as Speed Racer couldn’t even draw $4 million to take fifth place. Speed Races has only barely topped $36 million, contrasted to its $120 million budget, guaranteeing its stink-bomb status in this summer movie season; even with foreign box office added in, the film has barely made half of its investment back, at $61 million, and with business dropping like a rock, the best hope for producers to make their money back on Speed Racer is DVD/Blu-Ray sales.

This coming weekend is likely to be the least competitive of May, as Sex and the City and the thriller The Strangers are the only two new entries; both flicks seem unlikely to unseat Indy 4, and depending on the dynamics of the weekend, could potentially have trouble unseating Prince Caspian and Iron Man from the Top 3 spots as well.

Sometimes people will ask me why I put so much time into blogging. If you listen to the so-called experts, blogging can lead to poor social development, mental illness, violent outbursts and a peculiar itch that just won’t go away. Know what I call that? It’s a Hebrew word my messianic rabbi taught me:

First syllable: BA

Second syllable: LO

Third syllable: NEY!

BALONEY!

If anything, blogging increases mental health because it gives people an outlet for their thoughts, fears, hopes and frustrations - mental energy that, left to build over time, could result in honking your horn in traffic for no good reason, or worse!

OK, so I’m not taking the criticism of blogging that seriously, am I? Nope. That’s because the arguments against it hold no more water than the arguments in the 1950s against EC Comics’ Tales of the Crypt. Most bloggers I know do a lot more than just blogging; it only stands to reason… after all, if they didn’t, what would they have to blog about?

I blog for one simple reason, and I put a little video up to explain it, HollywoodIdiocy.com-style: Blogging Makes Me Happy! To me, that’s more than enough reason to blog. It’s fun. It releases stress. It’s a way to write and have an immediate audience.

And in times like these, with gas soaring and the economy crashing, what could be more fun than making fun of rich, spoiled celebs. Am I right? Of course I am… because I’m certainly not a liberal!

All in fun. Enjoy the video!

Anyone with decent bathroom lighting can see that The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian has the goods to burst to a powerful debut in the weekend box office, but some folks weren’t sure the film would best the ultra-powerful Iron Man, now in its third week of release.

The good news for Hollywood is that Prince Caspian did beat out Iron Man to get a rock-solid grip on first place, but Iron Man did quite well, too, for its third week of release. Estimates are that Prince Caspian debuted at $56.5 million for first place, while Iron Man showed good staying power by taknig in an additional $31.2 million, bringing its domestic take to $222.4 million, and a startling $378.5 million combined between domestic and foreign box office totals.

Bouyed by good word of mouth, What Happens In Vegas took third place with a $13.8 million weekend, and the stink-bomb that is Speed Racer sank to a depressing fourth-place in its second week of release, luring in only $7.6 million. Speed Racer has a huge $120 million budget and thus far hasn’t even topped $30 million. As Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog might say, Speed Racer is a very warm, exciting movie… for me to poop on! (Apologies to Triumph creator Robert Smigel and Conan O’Brien.)

The star right winger of the Montreal Canadiens, Alexei Kovalev has released a two-DVD set of hockey tips and techniques that, allegedly, help give the NHL star his edge on the ice. Born in Togliatti, Russia, Kovalev was drafted 15th overall in the 1991 NHL draft and has been tearing it up on the ice ever since. A journeyman who has played for the Rangers, Penguins and Canadiens, Kovalev was a key component on the Rangers’ 1994 Stanley Cup-winning team. Kovalev is the first Russian to ever be drafted in the first round in the NHL, and along with three Rangers teammates, was one of the first Russians to ever have their name inscribed on a Stanley Cup.

So, the upshot is, Kovalev’s a sufficiently experienced NHL pro to turn to for hockey tips and techniques. There are two DVD’s in the set; one is split between on ice hockey tips and off-ice training and the other is background on Kovalev and the Gift of Life Foundation.

There’s nothing world-shaking about Kovalev’s tips and techniques, though he thoroughly explains his methods and style of play while covering everything from skating, stick handling, shooting and some situation-specific scenarios. What is a bit more impressive is the off-ice training video, which clearly shows just how hard Kovalev (and anyone else who wants to be great at this sport) has to work to make those tricks and techniques look so easy.

The documentary on Kovalev’s life is entirely hockey-focused and isn’t going to beat out even an average episode of A&E’s Biography, but proves interesting since he spent some time in the Russian leagues before making the leap to the NHL. The piece on the Gift of Life Foundation is pretty much a standard promotional video for a worthy charity that is dedicated to fighting the spread of heart disease in children. Proceeds from the sale of this package go toward this foundation, which is why Kovalev got involved in the project. (In other words, save your Target coupons for some other product; this one benefits a worthy cause.)

While this is definitely a narrow-market specialty video, it’s certainly a DVD package than any hockey mom would be proud to give to their hockey-playing sons and daughters. Beyond that audience, however, there’s little of note for anyone else.

British drama has always been a bit slow paced with typical English reserve, and My Boy Jack, a BBC production, is no exception to that general rule. The tale revolves around Rudyard Kipling and his son, Jack, with the latter being portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. However, anyone picking up this film expecting anything like the action and adventure of, say, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be bitterly disappointed. There is no magic, no cloak of invisibility, not even a laptop computer to be found; it is a straightforward historical drama. Sorry, kids.

David Haig portrays Rudyard, a full-on British patriot who happened to work for the War Office’s Propaganda Department as World War I broke out. Based on Haig’s stage play and screen adaptation, My Boy Jack tells the tale of how Kipling’s son, Jack, struggled to gain entry into the British military despite severe near-sightedness and then went missing in battle one day after his 18th birthday. The story effectively portrays the terrible human cost of war without betraying genuine patriotism the pro-War Kipling embodied.

As Jack’s mom Caroline, Kim Catrall of Sex and the City fame makes an appearance and skillfully disappears into her character, rather than standing out like a sore thumb among the otherwise all-British cast. Virtual unknown Carey Mulligan makes a good first impression in the role of Jack’s sister, Elsie.

The best thing that can be said about Radcliffe’s performance is that it stands resistant to Harry Potter comparisons; he captures the spirit of his character and immerses himself in it for the entire 90-minute running time. And although he is the actor most likely to be recognized on US shores, it is Haig’s performance as the great British author that steals the show. He portrays a broad range, from comedy to sorrow, almost exclusively with amazing reserve and understatement.

The main trouble, however, is with Haig’s script, which builds to a satisfying climax but even at just over 90 minutes, feels slow and drawn out. While this is in the classic tradition of British moviemaking, the pace may come off a bit too slow for some US audiences. Nevertheless, it is a noteworthy film that marks Radcliffe’s maturity as an actor outside of the Harry Potter franchise.

Nauseating, pretentious, self-important, annoying, holier-than-thou. All these words, unfortunately, aptly describe the excremental proceedings awaiting viewers unfortunate enough to rent or, horrors, buy the DVD known as the Crave Film Series. A series of three short films, all under 10 minutes long, comprise the thankfully-brief collection that seems packaged to be marketed specifically to only the most obnoxiously self-righteous and smug of Christian churches.

OK, perhaps I’m being a bit unfair. The films themselves, for as long as they last, are not necessarily terrible, although their brief running time reduces them to little more than character sketches than anything significant. All three films are unrelated to each other, nor do they even comprise an overall story arc; only the loose theme of “crave,” as in “craving human and spiritual connections,” binds the package together.

Still, “Midnight Clear,” “Pop Star” and “Nameless Moment” are, in and of themselves and taken alone, mildly inoffensive. Of these, “Nameless Moment” has probably the best twist ending, while “Pop Star” is the most effective character study. Had they all been collected together without additional material, the collection might barely be tolerable.

Unfortunately, each film is bookended by commentary courtesy of Erwin Raphael McManus, lead pastor of the Mosaic Church and founder of Awaken, a group of Christian artists, poets and the like. That is where the pain begins. Pain the likes of which might drive you to want to hang yourself with a theater rope.

Now, although I’m not the same brand of believer as McManus, I am a person of faith and, that being said, I could not discern one lick of coherent thought in McManus’ self-important, pretentious ramblings that rob any enjoyment the short subjects might otherwise have rendered the viewers.

A blend of artistic pretentions, pop psychology and pseudo-spirituality all go into the mix of McManus’ pointless ramblings, but taken as a whole, he came off more effective than a politician at streaming off an endless supply of words without communicating one iota of meaning or real content in the process. His segments are simultaneously hyper-intellectual while at the same time coming off as insulting, demeaning and superior.

Perhaps the real miscalculation is in balance; by offering up both an introduction and an afterword to each film, McManus’ undesirable presence and contributions nearly rival the films themselves in running time, which is probably what makes matters so painful to endure.

The whole experience comes off like a bad concert performance by a drunken pop star who rambles on for 10 minutes about what each three-minute ditty means to her as a protest of the Bush presidency, the Iraq war, global warming or whatever other pop-culture obsession Hollywood is embracing at the moment. Eventually, you are just itching to scream at them, “Shut up and sing!”

The same urge applies to the Crave Film Series DVD… you’ll be best served by watching only the films themselves and skipping McManus’ pretentious prattle. Believe me, by doing so you may just be saving yourself years of therapy bills.

After watching several Fox Faith films, I was ready to screen something a little more gritty, yet without having to endure endless profanity, blood and guts. Fortunately, Resurrecting the Champ fit the bill quite nicely. Samuel L. Jackson does well in a surprising turn as a homeless man, Champ, who wanders wine racks and claims to be former boxing near-legend Bob Satterfield, a man nearly everyone thought was dead.

That is, until enterprising and ambitious sports reporter Erik Kamen (Josh Hartnett) stumbles across him coming back from covering a game, just as Champ is being beaten up by a group of young thugs. The two form a quick acquaintanceship, and Kamen is quick to recognize the story potential of a once-notable boxer now living on the streets of Denver. Despite using Champ’s story to launch his own writing career, he nevertheless forms a friendship with the man.

However, Kamen makes a rookie reporter mistake and wants so desperately to believe Champ’s story, he doesn’t properly check it out and only after the story run and his success starts overwhelming him does he begin to suspect that Champ may not be Satterfield after all, and that’s when the really interesting exploration into ethics takes over and drives the remainder of the drama.

Cold Case’s Kathryn Morris appears as Kamen’s estranged wife, but is little used throughout the film, which is a waste of good talent. Alan Alda and David Paymer fare better as Kamen’s superiors at the Denver Times, earning good screen time and some nice moments. Peter Coyote is almost unrecognizable in his cameo as a long-time boxing journalist, and Teri Hatcher appears as a Showtime Sports promoter, interested in hiring Kamen.

Overall, the Rod Lurie-directed drama, based on an actual LA Times magazine piece by J.R. Moehringer, is a solid mix of boxing action, human drama and empathetic performances. The story has some nice turns and its exploration of ethics, truth-telling and lying is clear-eyed and honest on all sides. As a bonus, there’s little in the way of profanity and Kamen actually turns down more than one chance to cheat on his estranged wife, so it’s nice to see a film character make smart choices in a film that isn’t bent on selling a specific religion.

While Resurrecting the Champ doesn’t rank up there with Rocky Balboa or Raging Bull as a boxing movie, it is solid family entertainment, without religious pretensions weighing it down. A solid film, worth seeing especially for Samuel L. Jackson’s atypical, noteworthy performance as Champ.

Although released under the Fox Faith banner, Ace of Hearts is a heart-warming family film that could easily take its place alongside such standard children’s fare as “Eight Below” and “Old Yeller.” The movie features Dean Cain (“Lois and Clark”) as the human half of a K-9 police unit whose partnership with a police dog, Ace, is causing him to neglect both his wife and his daughter.

Despite his neglect, both wife and daughter remain unswervingly loyal to Cain’s Officer Dan Harding, especially when a controversial take-down by Ace seems to prove him uncontrollable and a biter; Cain doesn’t want to believe it, and his daughter only wants to see him happy again, so she launches her own unlikely investigation into the crime in which Ace allegedly bit a criminal.

Even though he was apparently euthanized shortly after the biting incident, Ace makes his escape an tries to reunite with his family in time to keep them safe from the criminal Ace took down. Like most children’s movies, the daughter has the surprising ability to be a better investigator and fact-finder than her experienced, well-trained father, and whenever danger threatens, a rescue never arrives too late to save the day.

Despite this, the film has just enough action to appeal to boys and well as girls, and the film is entertaining enough to make watching it enjoyable for adults as well, even though the film lacks much edginess. Of course, few films in the Fox Faith family sport much edginess, so no surprise there.

Cain’s daughter is ably portrayed by Britt McKillip, who Showtime watchers might recognize as Reggie Lass, the “invisible” sister of Ellen Muth’s George Lass on the cable drama Dead Like Me (which is soon transforming into a major motion picture, barring any of the principles undergoing drug treatment, by the way). As Julia, she fits the young female heroine role well, and shed of her Dead Line Me classes and ponytails, is almost unrecognizable in this role.

The story, unfortunately, is thin and predictable stuff, but not so much as to be insulting. While hardly a classic, “Ace of Hearts” makes agreeable, if not exactly memorable, family viewing.

Love’s Unfolding Dream is the sixth movie in the Love Comes Softly series, based on the popular Christian historical romance novels penned by Jeanette Oke. The series, initially directed and now only written and executive produced by Michael Landon Jr., has featured a series of tales centered around three generations (so far) of the same pioneer family. Romantic enough to draw in the female audience and just slightly Western enough to keep the men from fleeing the room, the series is as squeaky-clean as you might expect it to be, avoiding profanity and excessive violence in much the same way as Daddy Landon’s “Little House On the Prairie” NBC TV series did.

Despite remaining mostly true to the series, the latest installment veers furthest yet from the plot of the book after which it is titled; in the print version of “Love’s Unfolding Dream,” there are three young women, lifelong friends, vying over the attention of the same young man, but that subplot is missing in action in this film. Also, one of the main story points of the movie is Belinda’s ambition to become a doctor (not a nurse), yet in the novels, Belinda’s biggest ambition is to be a nurse.

The most notable change, however, is that the movie version of Love’s Unfolding Dream has Belinda (played capably by the appealing and spirited Scout Taylor-Compton) nursing an elderly matron suffering from the after-effects of a stroke back to health, only to be offered a chance to return with her to the East Coast to pursue her medical dreams. Unfortunately, in the books, that is the entire main plot of the seventh novel, Love Takes Wing. (There are a total of eight books in the series to date, ending with Love Finds A Home.)

How borrowing the main plot of Love Takes Wing to power through Love’s Unfolding Dream will affect the final two installments, which seem likely to be made (as were the rest of the films) for the Hallmark Channel prior to being released on DVD, I’m not sure.

Scout’s Belinda is a refreshing mixture of a woman of faith who nevertheless is an advocate of equal opportunity for women, and her character is given plenty of opportunity for emotional growth as well as some comic moments in the film. Of course, Dale Midkiff returns as the patriarch of the family, always handy to lend some sage advice about the nature of love, just when it feels like a couple may never find each other past the barriers in their way.

Sure, it’s slightly-sappy family-oriented stuff, but it mostly achieves that in a good way, ala Little House On the Prairie, rather than the saccharin-sweet family entertainment that has less substance and gives a bad name to the genre. In the early films, the matriarch of the clan was appealingly portrayed by 27 Dresses’ Katherine Heigl, but she only stuck around for the first two films and has been replaced for the past few films by Samantha Smith.

Despite feeling a bit too made for TV, Love’s Unfolding Dream is certainly family-safe entertainment that comes off as a couple rungs above After School Specials about the best acne treatment. Instead, it’s more of a callback to the sort of stories Little House On the Prairie featured, and that’s not an entirely bad thing, and certainly offers a welcome respite from the Quentin Tarrantino’s Grindhouse-style moviemaking that too often dominates release lists of late. Like father, like son.

Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man proved an immovable object at the top of the box office books this weekend, grossing an estimated $50.5 million in US box office and bringing its domestic total to over $177 million. Worldwide, the superhero actioner has surpassed $276 million.

Iron Man’s total take was still two and a half times that of box office rookie, Speed Racer, which banked a mere $20.2 million; for a flick that cost over $170 million to make and was expected to gross $40 million in it’s opening weekend, Speed Racer has become the first box office bomb of the summer … and it’s not even technically summer yet.

Although “What Happens In Vegas” was only a hair behind Speed Racer at $20 million, that flick only cost $35 million to make, putting it on track to make its money back. Made of Honor and Baby Mama rounded out the top five. Iron Man is the only film in the Top 12 to go over $100 million at the box office so far, although Dr. Suess’ Horton Hears a Who boasts $150 million to date, down at number 14.

In fact, aside from Iron Man, the only movies in the top 12 to go over $50 million in box office is the gambling drama, 21, at the 12 spot with $80 million over seven weeks in release, and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” with just over $50 million.

The next movie to challenge Iron Man’s box office dominance is the family-friendly “Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” next weekend, though some industry analysts don’t expect Iron Man to day until the weekend of May 23, when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull makes its debut.