Archive for June, 2008

Hooray! Amy Ryan, who was one of the funniest parts of the exceptionally funny season finale of The Office, will be returning to Dunder-Mifflin this Fall.

Ryan will reprise her role as Holly, the new HR woman replacing Toby (and possibly wooing Michael), for at least five episodes next season. I foresee so much more “special Kevin” that my stomach already hurts from laughing.

Ryan’s known for more dramatic fare (Gone Baby Gone, The Wire), but her performance as Holly was completely spot-on. And how much do I love her? Here’s what she told Variety: “It’s a funny thing to enter a show that you’re a great fan of — and it’s nice to tell lighter stories. I love the dark, grittier side of life, but it’s nice to take a break from that, put a skirt on and brush your hair.”

So, what happens with Holly now? Will Michael have finally met his match? Nobody’s saying, though Paul Lieberstein (who played Toby and is one of the show’s writer/producers) had this to say: “Amy gave the character of Holly an openness and matured innocence that exposed a new side of Michael. She placed her character right on his level.”

Whether it’s a love story in the making or not, I can’t wait to see what else the writers come up with for Holly’s story. Hey, maybe Michael will reject her and Kevin will get to “totally bang Holly” after all.

Photo courtesy of NBC

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“I think you’re so blinded by inconsolable rage that you don’t care who you hurt. When you can’t tell your friends from your enemies, it’s time to go.” — M (Judi Dench)

The James Bond in this latest installment seems darker, wearier, and more grizzled than we’ve seen him. The brand-new trailer for Quantum of Solace, the next Bond movie due to hit theaters November 7, is totally intriguing. It’s slow to rev up, with allusions to how rage-filled Bond is now, and only uses the signature horn-blasting 007 theme music toward the very end. There’s something somber and very dark about the atmosphere of this movie, and while watching it I can’t help but think of all the trouble this production has had.

I am insanely anxious to see the full movie and it’s strangely relieving to see Daniel Craig’s Bond back in action. I’ve missed him! Are you as psyched as I am for Quantum of Solace? To check out the trailer,

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Jason Schwartzman excites HBO.
No, the actor who was once Max Fischer isn’t yawning every time he channel-surfs past the network that once brought you The Sopranos (at least not that we know of). Bored to Death is just the name of the network’s new half-hour comedy pilot that just cast Schwartzman in the lead.

It doesn’t sound boring at all.
The show centers on Schwartzman’s character, Jonathan, a 30-something struggling writer living (and drinking heavily) in Brooklyn. After he breaks up with his girlfriend, he decides to refashion himself as a private detective in the vein of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett heroes. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Jonathan “takes out an ad pretending to be a private detective and starts taking cases — solving some and making others worse.”

Maybe it will be better than his last TV jaunt.
Besides being one of Wes Anderson’s favorite players, Schwartzman has tried TV once before — in a short-lived 2004 Fox comedy called Cracking Up, from School of Rock writer Mike White. The show, which also starred Molly Shannon, was a midseason replacement that didn’t even quite finish out its own season and was canceled after nine episodes. The show is scheduled to start filming in September in New York. If it became a series, do you think you’d check it out?

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• According to The Guardian, Naomi Watts will play one of King Lear’s daughters in the next film adaptation of Shakespeare’s play. Gwyneth Paltrow and Keira Knightley will take on the roles of the other two daughters to Anthony Hopkins’s King Lear.
• Matthew Fox is in talks to star in yet another one of Hollywood’s comic book-turned-movies, Billy Smoke, about “an elite hit man who’s nearly killed during a botched job and realizes that his only way to find redemption is to rid the world of all assassins.”
• Hollywood Reporter writes that Helena Bonham Carter will have a “small but pivotal role” in the fourth Terminator movie.
• A follow-up to 300 is officially in the works, with Frank Miller currently writing the graphic novel on which it will be based. Though he’s not committed yet, 300 director Zack Snyder is “definitely interested” to see what Miller comes up with. It’s unclear whether the new installment will be a prequel or a spinoff, Variety reports.
• Robert Rodriguez is casting his lady Rose McGowan yet again, this time for a new film version of Red Sonja, a story based on the fearsome woman warrior created by Robert E. Howard and later adapted for Marvel Comics, Variety writes.
• According to Hollywood Reporter, four more ladies (Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis and Zoe Bell) have joined Drew Barrymore’s directorial feature Whip It, starring Ellen Page. The movie is based on the novel Derby Girl.

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Hunter S. Thompson isn’t always associated with terms like “brilliant writer” or “inventor of gonzo journalism” or even “patriot.” By the time his famous work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was adapted for film in 1998, he was becoming a caricature and a symbol of a bygone era. Just as there is irony in one of history’s most complicated revolutionaries, Che Guevara, being boiled down to an Urban Outfitters t-shirt, it is equally reductive to oversimplify Thompson as some kind of drug-addled delinquent without a cause.

Now that I’ve seen what will likely be referred to as the definitive documentary about Thompson’s life by the Oscar-winning director of Taxi to the Dark Side, it’s clear that reducing him to a kind of hipster icon who lived only to push the boundaries of consciousness with extreme substance abuse is terribly simplistic and inaccurate. Through the folks who knew him well (Jimmy Carter, publisher of Rolling Stone Jann Wenner, George McGovern, his first wife, etc.) the picture that emerges from this movie is of a man who was a walking, talking challenge to the status quo.

To read what surprised me about the good doctor’s life and why this is an entertaining jaunt through recent history,

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It won’t be long now till there’s a change of leadership in The Tonight Show chair: Conan O’Brien is scheduled to take over the show from Jay Leno in 2009. With the transition time approaching, one of the biggest questions in showbiz has become what will become of Leno, who’s still on top of the late-night heap (even more so recently with David Letterman’s declining ratings).

Now, the Hollywood Reporter has weighed in on the issue, proposing seven options for Leno’s next career move:

1. Leno takes over ABC’s 11:30 p.m. slot.
2. Leno starts a late-night show on Fox.
3. Leno launches a syndicated late-night show.
4. Leno finds some way to stay at NBC.
5. Leno takes over for Letterman when his contract expires in 2010.
6. Leno joins CNN in a Larry King-esque position.
7. Leno does stand-up full time.

Their reasons that all of the various options could (or couldn’t) happen are definitely worth a read, so check out the story, and then let me know: What do you think Jay Leno should do next?

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The cutest robot to hit the screen in a long time, Wall-E, proved irresistible to audiences over the weekend, earning the top spot at the box office with an estimated $62.5 million. According to Variety, this is the third best opening for a Pixar film after The Incredibles ($70.5 million) and Finding Nemo ($70.2 million).

The Angelina Jolie-James McAvoy action flick Wanted nabbed the No. 2 spot with a respectable $51 million, and Get Smart stayed strong in the third spot earning $20 million over the weekend.

While most had adorable robots on the brain this weekend, some were still looking for some big panda fun and kept Kung Fu Panda going strong at No. 4, beating The Incredible Hulk which landed in the fifth spot.

Photos courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures