Skip to content
Dan Owen reviews
I s s u e # 2 83 1 J a n u a r y 2 0 0 3
DIE HARD 4’World of Britney.com’ claims to have more some information from aninside source about Die Hard 4: Die Hardest, which they say is set tostar Britney Spears as Bruce Willis‘ daughter.
Apparently, the fourth movie will be based in the Caribbean where JohnMcClane accidentally meets up with his daughter who’s now a cabaretdancer. Lucy McClane will be played by Britney Spears.
McClane will use just one gun in the movie, a German Luger, which hefinds in a World War II underwater plane wreck. The script states hewill only fire it twice, with the emphasis on fist-fights.
They producers are in talks with Willis’ ex-wife Demi Moore to star asthe villain, although someone of Japanese origin is preferred. Thevillain is described as athletic, spiteful, unpredictable and beautiful.
Make of this what you will? Britney Spears! Willis’ ex-wife as villain!Got the pinches of salt to hand?
BATMAN – THE FRIGHTENINGThe latest rumour has British director Christopher Nolan (Memento)attached as a possible director, with Guy Pearce (Memento) to don thefamous cape.
Nolan said: “All I can say is that I grew up with ‘Batman’, I’ve beenfascinated by him and I’m excited to contribute to the lore surroundingthe character. He is the most credible and realistic of the superheroes,and has the most complex human psychology. His superhero qualities comefrom within. He’s not a magical character.”
It’s not known if Batman: The Frightening is the big-screen ventureNolan is in talks to make, but it does look likely.
GREASE 3’Sky News’ reports the recurring rumour that Kylie Minogue is set tostar in Grease 3 as the teenaged daughter of Sandy (Olivia Newton John)- a role Newton John wanted her own 16-year-old daughter Chloe to play.
“Kylie definitely doesn’t look anything like her age (34) and shouldn’thave any problems playing a teenager”, said one inside source to ‘TheDaily Star’. Newton John, John Travolta and Stockard Channing are allsaid to be onboard for the next Grease which is moving ahead.
INDIANA JONES 4’TheRaider.net’ reveals that the February issue of ‘Empire’ magazine hasan interview with Steven Spielberg which includes some scoops on IndianaJones 4.
What’s known is that Spielberg will definitely shoot the film in 2004,saying: “We’ve finished our meetings. It’s a completely mapped-outstory, as mapped-out as what George, Larry Kasdan and I first mapped outwith Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Frank [Darabont, the screen writer] hasgone from lip service to pages. He’s now doing what most writers hate todo… which is write. It’s a very exciting movie.”
Spielberg also confirmed that the film will be shot on celluloid and notdigitally (as Lucas would prefer) due to the low amount of theaters thatcan use the new format.
SUPERMAN’Coming Attractions’ says that ‘Warner Brothers’ first choice for areplacement on Superman remains director Michael Bay, in case BrettRatner leaves the project.
The site lists five other candidates who are under consideration shouldRatner and Bay become unobtainable: Joseph Kahn (Torque), Antoine Fuqua(Training Day), Dominic Sena (Swordfish), Joseph McNally (Kangaroo Jack)and Tarsem (The Cell).
The site adds that the studio wants to start filming Superman this yearand that possible Superman actor Josh Hartnett won’t sign a contract tostar in three Superman films unless it’s with Michael Bay as director.
HOUDINIColumnists Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith reported on a possibleproject for director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) after hefinished with this year’s Hulk.
Beck and Smith suggest that a biopic of magician and escapologist HarryHoudini could be Lee’s next film. The film has been stuck in developmentfor an amazing 30 years.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3’LDJW Films’ talked to Kelly Brook about the rumours she will play TomCruise’s love interest in Mission: Impossible 3. Brook confirmed this,saying: “Yeah it’s true. I have signed up for Mission Impossible 3…all I know is that David Fincher is directing it and that it will bereleased sometime next year.” TERMINATOR 3An inside source has revealed two new facets to Terminator 3. The firstone concerns the female TX villain; apparently her ‘outer shell’ isliquid metal (as with the T-1000 in T2, but her interior is asuper-advanced version of the metallic T-800 endoskeleton). She willalso have inbuilt lasers and a retractable claw – weapons that survivethe time-travel process.
The second piece of info concerns the story itself. Apparently sourcessay that director Jonathan Mostow seriously rewrote the screenplay whenhe came aboard, so that parts of the new film will actually beflashbacks to both The Terminator and Terminator 2 – in a gimmicksimilar to Back To The Future II and how that film was both a sequel andgave you a different viewpoint on the previous film.
Sounds interesting!
THE MATRIX RELOADED’Latino Review’ asked Laurence Fishburne about the highly-anticipatedcar chase scene in The Matrix Reloaded. He said: “Ah, the freeway chase.The Matrix is going to be unstoppably watchable, you’re gonna get to seehow deep the rabbit hole goes, the technology is gonna be unlikeanything you have ever seen before.”
“They are going to release two animated shorts [Animatrix] in Februarythat you go to the website and visit for free and see them. I’m tryingto remember to the title for the first two, I think it’s calledRenaissance and they deal with how the world that we live in today gotto be the world of the Matrix.”
“And then when Dreamcatcher comes out, there is a nine-minute Animatrixattached to the end of Dreamcatcher, called Flight of the Osiris thatsets up the plot for the Matrix Reloaded. Then the day the movie [MatrixReloaded] comes out Enter the Matrix, which is the video game, comes outas well, and it’s in all platforms Xbox, PS2, etc, etc…”
In other news, TeenHollywood reports:
Generous actor Keanu Reeves has sacrificed a huge $38 million of his ownmoney to prevent the two new Matrix movies failing to make a profit atthe box-office because of their huge cost.
A ‘Warner Brothers’ insider says: “The special effects in the new movieare beyond belief – but hugely expensive. There was a real danger theprojects would be scrapped until Keanu offered to sign away his cut. Hehas kissed goodbye to a huge sum of money.”
STAR WARS EPISODE III *spoilers alert!*
The synopsis for “Episode III” has been leaked, and confirms mostpeoples’ ideas about what the final instalment of George Lucas’ prequeltrilogy will contain. Avert your eyes if you don’t want to know,regardless!
“Episode III” begins just a few years “Episode II”, near the conclusionof the devastating Clone Wars themselves. Anakin Skywalker and Padmeare still married, while Obi-Wan Kenobi is still investigating whoordered the creation of the Clone Army in the first place, and if it’sconnected to the evil Sith.
Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) is busy waging war against the Confederacyof Independent Systems across the Republic, destroying entire planetsand terrorizing the galaxy.
Chancellor Palpatine, trying to restore peace, creates a New Ordercalled the Galactic Empire in the aftermath of Dooku’s wantondestruction, to deal with the destruction.
Meanwhile, Padme gives birth to twins (Luke and Leia), and they areseparated to be brought up unaware of each other’s existence (this isnot yet explained why).
Anakin continues his descent into darkness by joining Palpatine’s forcesthroughout all of this (perhaps as Palpatine’s Jedi bodyguard?), wherehe is seduced and slowly turned to the Dark Side of the Force.
Obi-Wan tries to revert Anakin back to the way of good, but issidetracked by the destruction of the entire Jedi Order (except forYoda).
Anakin (after somehow suffering injuries that render him a cyborg)takes his place beside Emperor Palpatine as Darth Vader.
The last sentence of the prequel trilogy will be: “… a new reign ofterror is ushered in with the Empire’s rule and Palpatine’s move todeclare himself the Emperor.”
- a) In Ghostbusters the voice of the shrink-wrapped villainess Zuulbelonged to director Ivan Reitman!
- b) In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon actors Michelle Yeoh and ChowYun-Fat couldn’t speak Mandarin, so the script had to be writtenphonetically for them to learn parrot-fashion! The same technique isoften used with the English language for Arnold Schwarzenneger ;P
- c) In the Austin Powers movies Austin’s video-phone ring is exactly thesame as the one heard in 1965’s Our Man Flint!
- d) A Roger Rabbit toy and a Jaws video-game can be seen in the window ofthe antique shop in “Back To The Future Part II”. Director RobertZemeckis also directed Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and executive producerSteven Spielberg made Jaws.
- e) Writer-director Roger Avary’s co-writing credit on Pulp Fiction isonly due to his suggestion of Christopher Walken’s ‘Gold Watch’ scene.
THE BAFTAs 2003This year’s BAFTA’s are to be held on February 23. The nominations areas follows:
1. BEST FILM (English Language)
- a) CHICAGO Martin Richards
- b) GANGS OF NEW YORK Alberto Grimaldi/Harvey Weinstein
- c) THE HOURS Scott Rudin/Robert Fox
- d) LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS Barrie M Osborne/Fran Walsh/Peter Jackson
- e) THE PIANIST Roman Polanski/Robert Benmussa/Alain Sarde
2. ALEXANDER KORDA AWARD FOR THE OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR
- a) BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM Deepak Nayar/Gurinder Chadha
- b) DIRTY PRETTY THINGS Tracey Seaward/Robert Jones/Stephen Frears
- c) THE HOURS Scott Rudin/Robert Fox/Stephen Daldry
- d) THE MAGDALENE SISTERS Frances Higson/Peter Mullan
- e) THE WARRIOR Bertrand Faivre/Asif Kapadia
3. CARL FOREMAN AWARD FOR SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT BY A DIRECTOR,SCREENWRITER, PRODUCER, IN THEIR FIRST FEATURE FILM
- a) SIMON BENT (Writer) Christie Malry’s Own Double Entry
- b) LUCY DARWIN (Producer) Lost in La Mancha
- c) ASIF KAPADIA (Director/Co-Writer) The Warrior
- d) DUNCAN ROY (Director/Writer) AKA
4. DAVID LEAN AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTION
- a) CHICAGO Rob Marshall
- b) GANGS OF NEW YORK Martin Scorsese
- c) THE HOURS Stephen Daldry
- d) LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS Peter Jackson
- e) THE PIANIST Roman Polanski
5. SCREENPLAY (ORIGINAL)
- a) AND YOUR MOTHER TOO (Y Tu Mama Tambien) Carlos Cuarón/Alfonso Cuarón
- b) DIRTY PRETTY THINGS Steven Knight
- c) GANGS OF NEW YORK Jay Cocks/Steven Zaillian/Kenneth Lonergan
- d) THE MAGDALENE SISTERS Peter Mullan
- e) TALK TO HER (Hable con Ella) Pedro Almodóvar
6. SCREENPLAY (ADAPTED)
- a) ABOUT A BOY Peter Hedges/Chris Weitz/Paul Weitz
- b) ADAPTATION Charlie Kaufman/Donald Kaufman
- c) CATCH ME IF YOU CAN Jeff Nathanson
- d) THE HOURS David Hare
- e) THE PIANIST Ronald Harwood
7. PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
- a) HALLE BERRY Monster’s Ball
- b) SALMA HAYEK Frida
- c) NICOLE KIDMAN The Hours
- d) MERYL STREEP The Hours
- e) RENÉE ZELLWEGER Chicago
8. PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
- a) ADRIEN BRODY The Pianist
- b) NICOLAS CAGE Adaptation
- c) MICHAEL CAINE The Quiet American
- d) DANIEL DAY-LEWIS Gangs of New York
- e) JACK NICHOLSON About Schmidt
9. PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
- a) TONI COLLETTE About a Boy
- b) QUEEN LATIFAH Chicago
- c) JULIANNE MOORE The Hours
- d) MERYL STREEP Adaptation
- e) CATHERINE ZETA-JONES Chicago
10. PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
- a) CHRIS COOPER Adaptation
- b) ED HARRIS The Hours
- c) ALFRED MOLINA Frida
- d) PAUL NEWMAN Road to Perdition
- e) CHRISTOPHER WALKEN Catch Me If You Can
11. ANTHONY ASQUITH AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM MUSIC
- a) CATCH ME IF YOU CAN John Williams
- b) CHICAGO Danny Elfman/John Kander/Fred Ebb
- c) GANGS OF NEW YORK Howard Shore
- d) THE HOURS Philip Glass
- e) THE PIANIST Wojciech Kilar
12. BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
- a) AND YOUR MOTHER TOO (Y Tu Mama Tambien) Jorge Vergara/Alfonso Cuarón
- b) CITY OF GOD (Cidade Deus) Andrea Barata Ribeiro/Mauricio Andrade Ramos/Fernando Meirelles
- c) DEVDAS Bharat Shah/Sanjay Leela Bhansali
- e) TALK TO HER (Hable con Ella) AgustÃn Almodóvar/Pedro Almodóvar
- f) THE WARRIOR Bertrand Faivre/Asif Kapadia
13. CINEMATOGRAPHY
- a) CHICAGO Dion Beebe
- b) GANGS OF NEW YORK Michael Ballhaus
- c) LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS Andrew Lesnie
- d) THE PIANIST Pawel Edelman
- e) ROAD TO PERDITION Conrad L Hall
14. PRODUCTION DESIGN
- a) CHICAGO John Myhre
- b) GANGS OF NEW YORK Dante Ferretti
- c) HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS Stuart Craig
- d) LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS Grant Major
- e) ROAD TO PERDITION Dennis Gassner
15. COSTUME DESIGN
- a) CATCH ME IF YOU CAN Mary Zophres
- b) CHICAGO Colleen Atwood
- c) FRIDA Julie Weiss
- d) GANGS OF NEW YORK Sandy Powell
- e) LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS Ngila Dickson/Richard Taylor
16. EDITING
- a) CHICAGO Martin Walsh
- b) CITY OF GOD (Cidade Deus) Daniel Rezende
- c) GANGS OF NEW YORK Thelma Schoonmaker
- d) THE HOURS Peter Boyle
- e) LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS Michael Horton/Jabez Olssen
17. SOUND
- a) CHICAGO
- b) GANGS OF NEW YORK
- c) HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
- d) LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
- e) THE PIANIST
18. ACHIEVEMENT IN SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
- a) GANGS OF NEW YORK
- b) HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
- c) LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
- d) MINORITY REPORT
- e) SPIDER-MAN
19. MAKE-UP/HAIR
- a) CHICAGO Jordan Samuel/Judi Cooper Sealy
- b) FRIDA Judy Chin/Beatrice D’Alba
- c) GANGS OF NEW YORK Manlio Rocchetti
- d) THE HOURS Ivana Primorac/Conor O’Sullivan/Jo Allen
- e) LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS Peter Owen/Peter King
20. SHORT FILM
- a) BOUNCER Natasha Carlish/Sophie Morgan/Michael Baig-Clifford/Geoff Thompson
- b) CANDY BAR KID Benjamin John/Shah Khan
- c) GOOD NIGHT Yoav Factor/Chun Sun-Young
- d) THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MAN IN THE WORLD Hugh Welchman/Alicia Duffy
- e) MY WRONGS 8245-8249 AND 117 Mark Herbert/Chris Morris
- f) RANK Andrew O’Connell/David Yates/Robbie McCallum
21. SHORT ANIMATION
- a) THE CHUB CHUBS Jacquie Barnbrook/Eric Armstrong/Jeff Wolverton
- b) THE DOG WHO WAS A CAT INSIDE Andrew Ruhemann/Siân Rees/Siri Melchoir
- c) FISH NEVER SLEEP Gaëlle Denis
- d) SAP Lucie Wenigerová/Kim Hyun-Joo
- e) WEDDING ESPRES
US TOP 10 (CINEMA) (starring Emma Caulfield, right)
** TRAILERS ** 1.) BRUCE ALMIGHTY
What is it?
A new comedy vehicle for Jim Carrey (Ace Ventura) who this time plays awhingeing suburbanite who is given Divine powers over his neighbourhoodfor 24 hours by God (Morgan Freeman).
Sounds fun! Will it be?
The good news is it’s directed by Tom Shadyac, who guided Carrey throughtwo of his best comedic movies (Ace Ventura andLiar, Liar).
What’s the bad news?
He also directed Robin Williams in Patch Adams.
Ah. But how can they stuff up a high-concept winner like this?!
Well, the trailer certainly looks funny enough – Carrey can walk onwater, makes his wife Jennifer Aniston’s breasts bigger, makes his doguse the house toilet, etc.
Suddenly it doesn’t seem quite so funny…
Well, how about the more promising aspects – like Carrey receivingthousands of prayers in the form of computer e-mail.
Ah, that’s more the spirit I was after. When’s it out?
This summer. Amongst the comic-book-style adventures of Matrix, Hulk andX-Men 2, this is practically the only big-name comedy. It should do wellfor those a little jaded by the special-effects overload.
Final thoughts?
I was a huge fan of Carrey when he topped the charts almost constantlyin the mid-90’s (Ace Ventura, The Mask, Dumb & Dumber). I also thoughthe showed true acting ability with The Truman Show. I hope this is areturn to form for him after the disasters of Man On The Moon and Me,Myself & Irene.
Click here for trailer
2.) HULK
What is it?
A big-screen adaptation of the comic-book “The Incredible Hulk”, by’Marvel’ – the guys who created “Spider-Man” and “X-Men”.
I’ve already seen this film!
No, no, you saw the various TV-movie spin-offs of “The Incredible Hulk”TV show from the 80’s starring the late Bill Bixby as Bruce Banner, ascientist who is exposed to Gamma radiation and transforms into greenspray-painted bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno when he gets mad.
Ah right. So why will this film be different?
It’s directed by Ang Lee, who last made “Crouching Tiger, HiddenDragon”, so he’s not your expected helmer of a comic-book adaptation!This, the studio hopes, will give “Hulk” an appeal beyond thevisual-effects because Lee has been expressing his emphasis on thecharacters. But before you ask, the movie is unlikely to be a simperingmelodrama like the TV series. This will feature more of the massdestruction seen in the comics
Is this trailer any good?
Not bad, but not great. This is a leaked commercial that will playofficially between an advertisement break during America’s Super Bowl.It’s a TV Spot that lasts 45 seconds and gives us our first proper lookat the Hulk himself.
And how does he look?
Personally, I was a little disappointed. I found the Hulk looked overtlyCGI; like an animated action figure. We are only seeing glimpses here…but maybe after the impressive work achieved with Gollum in “The TwoTowers”, ILM may have been left floundering with their Hulk effort. I’llreserve final judgment until more footage is released.
Worth a download, though?
Oh yes! I’m in the minority by lightly whining about the visuals, so youmay be more impressed. Or not.
Final thoughts?Just trying to guess the tagline: “When He Sees Red, He Goes Green!”?
Click here for trailer
3.) THE JUNGLE BOOK 2
What is it?
Duh! A cash-in sequel to one of Disney’s most famous cartoon adaptations- The Jungle Book. That’s right, Mowgli, Baloo, Shear Khan and the gangall return – er, minus King Louis for contractual reasons!
Will it be good?
About as good as you’d expect. The fact it’s not straight-to-video ispromising, but as those who saw Return To Neverland (last year’s sequelto Disney’s Peter Pan) know… being on the big-screen doesn’t meanquality.
Who do the voices?
John Goodman does his best, er, John Goodman impression as Baloo. Expectkids to scratch their heads when the voice of Monster’s, Inc’s Scullycomes out of his mouth! Oh, and Haley-Joel Osment (the kid from TheSixth Sense), continues his downward spiral post Sixth Sense and AI.
Final thoughts?
Any other unnecessary sequels the Mouse-House want to make? Bambi II?Snow White & The Eight Dwarfs? The Hunchback Of Notre Dame: A New Hump?
Click here for trailer
4.) THE MATRIX RELOADED
What can I say? This is a simply glorious appetiser that should have allardent Matrix fanatics creaming their pants in anticipation. Phenomenal!
It’s similar to the recent Japanese commercial, but with far more newsequences and a proper energy behind it. Want to see Neo fly and fightdozens of Agent Smith’s with a ninja stick in bullet-time? Trinity on amotorbike being chased by an Agent who demolishes the traffic he leapsonto? Download this sucker NOW! NOW I SAY! Summer can’t come soonenough!
Final thoughts?
Oh, just watch the damn thing! 2003 is officially The Year Of TheMatrix.
Click here for 7MB (Lo-Res) trailer
Click here for 23MB (Hi-Res) trailer
5.) PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
What is it about?
Well, what do you need to know beyond the fact this is a rip-roaring,high-octane, thrill-ride full of pirates and skulduggery mishaps at sea.Starring Johnny Depp, Lord Of The Rings’s Orlando Bloom and, er,McKenzie Crook (Gavin) from BBC’s The Office…
Where have I heard that title before?
Ever been to Disneyland? Yes, then you may well have gone on the ridethis movie is based on! First books, then video-games, now theme-parkrides? What next – games? Monopoly: The Movie, coming soon in 2004…
Will this be good?
Actually, I think it will. The multiplexes have been missing a trulyenergetic and enjoyable matinee-style pirate adventure. I mean, we hadHook just over a decade ago, but… least said.
Final thoughts?
May be perceived as somewhat old-fashioned once thrown into the Summermix with the marketing might of Hulk and the street-cred of Matrix. Butshould satisfy those kids of a certain age.
Click here for trailer
Note that these are US release dates.
Email Dan Owen
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.