Black Dog Films

When the box office fire cools, what are actresses like Gwyneth Paltrow and Cameron Diaz to do?


So far, my search for intelligent chicks in the summer movies is proving to be a bust.

Last week, I went on opening day to see "Made of Honor" with my friend Jodie, a recovering romantic-comedy writer. It had been a rough week. We needed our Friday afternoon guilty pleasure -- as I suspect did the almost entirely female audience. "Made of Honor" is a gender-reversed retelling of the Julia Roberts 1997 hit, "My Best Friend's Wedding"; in this case, the rueful hero is a womanizing cream puff played by "Grey's Anatomy's" McDreamy Patrick Dempsey.

About 10 minutes into the movie, we were all but hurling our popcorn at the screen.

Here's the range of female characters: slut, nasty slut, stupid slut, mean slut and fat friend. Our heroine, played by Michelle Monaghan, was allowed to be . . . a cipher, with no discernible personality other than an ability to guess what dessert would most satiate McDreamy. I'll take the Judd Apatow world of "Knocked Up" and "40-Year-Old Virgin" any day -- the men might be schlubs, but the women are faster, smarter creatures. I'll take crumbs if I have to.

Is it me or is it a little depressing to see Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow slumming it as pretty Pepper Potts in the "Iron Man" juggernaut? At 35, the svelte Paltrow is playing what some directors call the handbag part, the accessory, the girlfriend role, a warm-body-type role usually assigned to the likes of Jessica Alba, Katie Holmes or a legion of interchangeable Bond girls.

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Craig Cove

Black Dog Films

`Indiana Jones': Real archaeologists don't have whips

Indiana Jones managed to retrieve the trinket he was after in the opening moments of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." He pretty much wrecked everything else in the ancient South American temple where the little gold idol had rested for millennia.

Though he preaches research and good science in the classroom, the world's most famous archaeologist often is an acquisitive tomb raider in the field with a scorched-earth policy about what he leaves behind. While actual archaeologists like the guy and his movies, they wouldn't necessarily want to work alongside him on a dig.

Indy's bull-in-a-china-shop approach to archaeology will be on display again May 22 with "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," in which he's sure to rain destruction down on more historic sites and priceless artifacts.

Real experts in antiquities acknowledge that the movies are pure fiction that present archaeology as blockbuster adventure, yet they cannot help but cringe at the way Indy manhandles the ancient world.

"There are codes of ethics in archaeology, and I don't think he would be a member. Not in good standing, anyway," said Mark Rose, online editorial director for the Archaeological Institute of America.

"It wouldn't be quite as much fun if you followed protocol, I think," said Karen Allen, who is reprising her "Raiders" role as Indy's old flame Marion Ravenwood. "Crystal Skull" reunites Allen with Harrison Ford as Indy, director Steven Spielberg and executive producer George Lucas.

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The Beverly Hills Playhouse

'Sex and the City' mania hits London

Chris Noth plays Mr. Big and Sarah Jessica Parker is Carrie in "Sex and the City."

It is one of the most hotly anticipated movies of the year and after years of feverish speculation, Sex and the City the movie, premieres in London Monday night.

The film has been dogged by controversy in the four-year lead up from small to big screen-- rumors abounded about squabbling over pay, editorial control and even outfits, among cast members Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Catrall, who plays maneater Samantha.

There have also been protests that the film will open in London. Not surprisingly, American fans believe its spiritual home is in New York and that it should be seen there first.

It will not be shown in New York until May 27.

Such is the secrecy surrounding the plot of the film that the four actresses -- Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis -- will give a speech before the curtain goes up Monday asking the audience, not to disclose the plot, London's Daily Telegraph reports.

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Black Dog Films

Child 'Forrest Gump' actor leaving Army

As a boy, Michael Conner Humphreys made a splash on the silver screen as "Young Forrest Gump." As an adult, he somewhat mirrored the life of his movie character: He joined the Army and fought in an unpopular war.

Humphreys' enlistment ends June 4 and Hollywood is already calling. He's landed a role in an independent film, playing, of course, a soldier.

It's a route similar to that of Tom Hanks, who won the Oscar for playing adult Forrest Gump.

Hanks later starred in "Saving Private Ryan" and produced "Band of Brothers," a series about the men of Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II.

"I guess I'm following in his tracks," Humphreys said.

The film is called "Pathfinders," the story of the men of the 504th Parachute Regiment who jumped into Normandy early on D-Day to disrupt German activities and find the way for the coming invasion force. He heads to Oregon later this year for filming, playing the part of Eddie Livingston, one of the original pathfinders.

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Black Dog Films

"Babysitters" falls short of intended satire

Attempting to be this generation's "Risky Business," "The Babysitters" is the sort of ribald morality tale that manages to feel sleazy and decorous at the same time. The tale of a high school girl starting her own prostitution ring relishes the amorality of its central characters even while purporting to be an incisive depiction of suburban sexual mores. Although artfully executed, this film, written and directed by David Ross, never manages to overcome its exploitative aspects.

The story centers on Shirley (Katherine Waterston, daughter of Sam Waterston), who works as a baby sitter for married upper-middle-class couple Michael (John Leguizamo) and Gail (Cynthia Nixon). His marriage having settled into a dull routine, Michael longs for a little excitement, and he finds it unexpectedly in the form of a torrid affair with Shirley.

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Black Dog Films

Comedy Central nabs Weinstein trio

"Superhero Movie" is blasting its way onto Comedy Central, which has agreed to pay the Weinstein Co. $2.7 million for cable rights to the picture as part of a deal that also includes pre-buys of two unreleased titles: "Fanboys" and "The Promotion."

Comedy Central will end up paying TWC about 11% of the final domestic box office of "Fanboys" and "The Promotion."

Dave Bernath, senior VP of programming for the net, said pre-buys are unusual for Comedy Central but locking up a movie before it opens in theaters "is becoming a trend among cable networks, which are aggressively going after big pictures."

Comedy Central tries to keep as many as 300 movies in its inventory, Bernath said, to fill the slots for the two pictures it schedules every weekday afternoon and the day/night wall-to-wall lineup of movies on Saturday and Sunday.

When it buys a cable premiere of a picture like "Superhero Movie," it will promote it heavily, playing it multiple times during the first weekend. The network also buys shared-window deals of big hits like "Wedding Crashers" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," which it gets after the movies have premiered on a bigger network such as TNT, USA or FX.

The Weinstein Co. doesn't have a pay-TV output deal, but the company has included in the contract a clause allowing it to sell "Superhero Movie," "Fanboys" and "The Promotion" in the pay window before the movies become available to Comedy Central. Weinstein regularly sells movies to both Showtime and Starz.

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Osbrink Talent Agency

Marvel Announces 3 New Movies - Expect New Games

You can go ahead and count on three more games based on Marvel superheroes as Marvel Entertainment announced today that they already have planned releases for an Iron Man sequel, Thor movie, and the Avengers movie hinted at in Iron Man.

Following the $100-plus-million domestic opening for "Iron Man," Marvel announced an upcoming schedule that includes a July 2011 release date for the long-awaited "The Avengers" that is hinted at following the credits in the theatrical release of Iron Man.

"Iron Man" was Marvel’s first self-produced feature, and has already pulled over $200 million worldwide in only five days of release. The company now plans to turn its attentions to the release of "The Incredible Hulk" later this summer and "Punisher: War Zone" in December.

While 20th Century Fox is producing the Marvel related "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" for release on May 1, 2009, Marvel Studios will sit out 2009, prepping for what will be an extremely busy following few years.

What does this mean for videogames? Marvel has stepped up their relationship with Sega in recent months, licensing both the Iron Man and Incredible Hulk properties for videogames to the house that Sonic built. And if history in games has taught us anything, games will be made based on any movie possible.

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