Monday Catchy Quote No. 263
A catchy quote from a movie, TV show or other source to brighten the beginning of your week:
Tony: You’re not a man. You’re nothing more than a maniac. I’m not afraid of you. No politics here: just good old fashioned revenge.
- Click here to learn the source.
-BAM
2013 summer movie preview: “Iron Man 3,” “Man of Steel,” “Star Trek into Darkness” and more on the slate for blockbuster season
“Iron Man 3″
This comprehensive look at the summer movie season was construction by The Oklahoman Entertainment Writers Gene Triplett, Matt Price, George Lang and yours truly. A version appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
2013 summer movie preview
As usual, the Hollywood studios are rolling out their potential blockbusters as the year heats up. Building on popular movie myths is a big part of their plans, with sequels to “Iron Man,” “Star Trek” and “300” mixing it up with the Superman reboot “Man of Steel,” the “Monsters, Inc.” prequel “Monsters University and a new incarnation of “The Lone Ranger.”
As usual, the Hollywood studios are rolling out their potential blockbusters as the year heats up. Building on popular movie myths is a big part of their plans, with sequels to “Iron Man,” “Star Trek” and “300” mixing it up with the Superman reboot “Man of Steel,” the “Monsters, Inc.” prequel “Monsters University and a new incarnation of “The Lone Ranger.”
“Iron Man 3” already seems to have the summer off to a marvelous start: The superhero sequel starring Robert Downey Jr. got a head-start on its domestic launch this Friday with a $195.3 million opening in 42 overseas markets last weekend.
That topped the $185.1 million start for Marvel’s “The Avengers,” which opened in 39 markets over the same weekend last year a week ahead of its record-breaking domestic debut of $207.4 million.
To ensure there’s a little something for all movie lovers — and perhaps to cut down on simulated explosions — the studios are even rolling out a few comedies, dramas and romances this season. Just remember to check your local listings, as release dates occasionally move around.
Today
“Iron Man 3”
Robert Downey Jr. slips back into the heavy metal suit of Iron Man to play billionaire playboy Tony Stark for the fourth time (or fifth, counting an “Incredible Hulk” cameo). This time, Shane Black takes the director’s seat to helm the superhero’s battle against Marvel Comics baddie the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and Don Cheadle as James Rhodes/War Machine also return. Jon Favreau, who directed the series’ first two installments, will appear as Stark’s driver, Happy Hogan.
“Disconnect”
Jason Bateman, Paul Patton and Alexander Skarsgard are among the stars of this drama centered on a group of people searching for human connections in today’s wired world. Norman native Mickey Liddell is among the film’s producers.
May 4
“Aquí y allá (Here and There)”
After working in the United States for years, a family man (Pedro De los Santos) returns home to his small mountain village in Guerrero, Mexico, and finds his daughters and circumstances have changed. In Spanish and Nahuatl with English subtitles, the film plays Saturday and Sunday at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
May 9
“To the Wonder”
Filmed in and around Bartlesville, Pawhuska and Tulsa — and Mont Saint-Michel, Manche, France — by reclusive and enigmatic film director Terrence Malick (“Days of Heaven,” “The Tree of Life”), this potential awards-grabber stars Olga Kurylenko as Marina and Ben Affleck as Neil, a couple who meet in France and move to Oklahoma to start a life together, but find complications when Neil renews a relationship with his childhood sweetheart Jane (Rachel McAdams). Javier Bardem co-stars as a priest struggling with his vocation. The film plays Thursday through May 12 at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
“The Great Gatsby”
May 10
“The Great Gatsby”
The fifth attempt to adapt F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most celebrated novel to film stars Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role of the enigmatic, nouveau riche playboy; Tobey Maguire as the Long Island neighbor, Nick Carraway, who is drawn into Gatsby’s dangerously decadent world; and Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, Carraway’s cousin and Gatsby’s old flame. The 1920s-period drama is directed and cowritten for the screen by “Moulin Rouge!” helmer Baz Luhrmann.
“Peeples”
In this comedy, an average guy (Chris Robinson, “Hot Tub Time Machine”) travels to the Hamptons to meet his girlfriend’s (Kerry Washington, “Django Unchained”) preppy family and tries to impress her father, a federal judge (David Alan Grier, TV’s “In Living Color”).
“Star Trek into Darkness”
May 17
“Star Trek into Darkness”
J.J. Abrams (“Lost”) returns to direct the second post-reboot “Trek” film, featuring Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock. Benedict Cumberbatch (“Sherlock”) is on board as a mysterious villain. In the film, the Enterprise is called back to Earth after a terrorist act, but Kirk strikes out on his own on a manhunt to capture a destructive force. The sequel opens May 15 in IMAX.
“Blancanieves”
Spain’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for 2012 centers on a 1920s female bullfighter, puts a twist on the Snow White legend and pays homage to silent films. It screens May 17-19 at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
May 22
“Wagner & Me”
To mark Richard Wagner’s 200th birthday on May 22, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art is showing this documentary, in which English actor and raconteur Stephen Fry delves into his passion for the music of history’s most controversial composer.
May 23
“Renoir”
Renowned Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet), in deteriorating health at age 74, and his son Jean (Vincent Rottiers), recovering from injuries suffered in World War I, both become enchanted with the free-spirited Andree (Christa Theret), a young beauty who becomes the artist’s last model. The period family drama, set in 1915 on the French Riviera, will show May 23-May 26 and May 30-June 2 at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
“Fast & Furious 6”
May 24
“Fast & Furious 6”
Agent Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) recruits Dom (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker) to help bring down a team of high-octane thieves led by former special ops soldier Owen Shaw (Luke Evans). Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and director Justin Lin return for the latest souped-up sequel in the long-running action series.
“The Hangover Part III”
The “Wolf Pack” reunites to console Alan (Zach Galifianakis) over a death in the family, and the party reignites in Las Vegas and accelerates in Tijuana. Todd Phillips directs and cowrites again, and Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Justin Bartha are back in their cups, as well.
“Epic”
Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Christoph Waltz, Colin Farrell, Pitbull, Steven Tyler and Beyonce Knowles lend their voices to the animated fantasy tale from “Ice Age” co-director Chris Wedge.
“Before Midnight”
Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy and director Richard Linklater reunite for the third film in their romantic drama trilogy, which picks up in Greece nine years after the events of “Before Sunset” and almost two decades after their first meeting in “Before Sunrise.”
“At Any Price”
Writer-director Ramin Bahrani’s (“Goodbye Solo”) family drama is set in the high-stakes world of modern agriculture. Dennis Quaid stars as an ambitious Iowa farmer longing to expand his family empire with the help of his reluctant and rebellious son (Zac Efron), who wants to become a professional race car driver.
“Now You See Me”
May 31
“Now You See Me”
A group of renegade magicians (played by Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher and Morgan Freeman, among others) are tracked by the FBI after they stage a series of bank heists and reward their audiences with the spoils. “Now You See Me” also stars Woody Harrelson, Melanie Laurent (“Inglourious Basterds”) and Dave Franco, and is directed by Louis Leterrier (“Clash of the Titans”).
“After Earth”
A father and son — Will Smith and his real-life progeny Jaden Smith — crash land on Earth 1,000 years after humanity has been forced to evacuate the planet in this sci-fi action-adventure from director/co-writer M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense”).
Harkins Bricktown 16 plans “Ultimate Iron Man Marathon” Thursday
On Thursday, Harkins Bricktown 16 will host “The Ultimate Iron Man Marathon” featuring “Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2,” and “The Avengers” in 3D, leading up to the 9 p.m. premiere of “Iron Man 3″ in 3D.
Tickets are $30 and are currently on sale at the box office or www.harkinstheatres.com/ironman. Showtimes for the marathon:
“Iron Man” (PG-13) – 1 p.m.
“Iron Man 2″ (PG-13) – 3:30 p.m.
“The Avengers” in 3D (PG-13) – 6 p.m.
“Iron Man 3″ in 3D (PG-13) – 9 p.m.
Marathoners will receive:
Admission to all four movies including the 9 p.m. premiere of “Iron Man 3″ in 3D
FREE 2013 Harkins Loyalty Cup (good for $1.50 soft drink refills through 2013)
FREE Small popcorn (to be enjoyed the day of the event)
FREE Commemorative The Ultimate Iron Man Marathon lanyard
For those who can’t attend the entire marathon, moviegoers can still be the first to see “Iron Man 3″ at the 9 p.m. Thursday first showing. Tickets are on sale at www.harkinstheatres.com. Regular ticket prices apply. For more information, visit www.harkinstheatres.com/ironman.
Harkins Bricktown 16 Theatres is located in lower Bricktown at Reno Ave. and Oklahoma Ave.
-BAM
Monday Catchy Quote No. 262
A catchy quote from a movie, TV show or other source to brighten the beginning of your week:
Ford: Time is an illusion. Lunchtime, doubly so.
- Click here to learn the source.
-BAM
Movie review: “The Company You Keep”
A version of this review appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman. 2 1/2 of 4 stars.
Actor-director Robert Redford recruits an excellent company for “The Company You Keep,” his thriller about former revolutionaries that is neither thrilling nor revolutionary enough.
For his ninth directorial effort, he assembles an unparalleled cast: Four of the players — Redford, Susan Sarandon, Chris Cooper and Julie Christie — are Academy Award winners, while five more — Anna Kendrick, Richard Jenkins, Nick Nolte, Terrence Howard and Stanley Tucci — are Oscar nominees. But the stilted storytelling dulls their sterling efforts.
The political potboiler opens intriguingly enough with well-heeled Vermont housewife Sharon Solarz (Sarandon) allowing herself to get nabbed by the FBI in upstate New York. It turns out that the wife and mother of two is an all-grown-up member of the 1970s radical left group the Weather Underground, whose Vietnam War-era efforts to overthrow the government included bombing government buildings.
Solarz, who has been living quietly under a false identity for the past 30 years, was among a faction of the Weatherman involved in a Michigan bank robbery that left a security guard dead. Since there’s no statute of limitations on murder, ambitious FBI Agent Cornelius (Howard) is eager to round up the other Weathermen suspected of participating in the botched heist.
After his beleaguered editor (Tucci) chews him out for failing to break the news, Solarz’s strange case also brings out the ambitious side of Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf), an overworked and underexperienced reporter at the Albany (N.Y.) Times. Ben is particularly curious when he learns that local hotshot attorney Jim Grant (Redford, who just barely pulls off playing a character actually 10 years his junior) has turned down the chance to defend Solarz.
Using his sharp instincts, dodgy tactics and former romance with a fledgling FBI agent (Kendrick), Ben uncovers that Grant is actually another wanted Weatherman, Nick Sloan. Just before the story gets out, Grant and his 11-year-old daughter Isabel (singer Jackie Evancho, surprisingly solid) slip up to New York City, where the widowed father leaves the girl in the care of his estranged brother Daniel (Cooper) and cagily eludes Cornelius’ team.
Instead of fleeing the country, though, Grant works inland, seeking the help of fellow former revolutionaries — Nolte, endearingly gruff as usual, as a still-shady lumberyard owner and Jenkins, appealingly careworn per the norm, as a still-resentful college professor — to track down his former lover and fellow suspect Mimi Lurie (Christie), who has kept her radical ways.
Meanwhile, Ben heads to Michigan and the scene of the long-ago bank robbery, crossing paths with an evasive former police chief (Brendan Gleeson) and his fetching daughter Rebecca (Brit Marling).
Working from screenwriter Lem Dobbs’ (Steve Soderbergh’s “Haywire”) adaptation of Neil Gordon’s 2003 novel, Redford unhurriedly delivers an engaging if utterly conventional thriller that isn’t nearly as surprising or thought-provoking as he, his cast or the audience wants it to be.
— BAM
Blu-ray review: “The Guilt Trip”
A version of this review appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
“The Guilt Trip”
Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen make a convincing and charming mother-son duo in the warmly funny road comedy “The Guilt Trip.”
Screenwriter Dan Fogelman (“Crazy, Stupid, Love.”) based the script on a real-life cross-country trip he took with his mother, which gives the film a cozy veracity. Director Anne Fletcher (“The Proposal”) clearly understands she has two seasoned comedic actors behind the wheel, and so she lets them drive, fuels the film with their easy, authentic chemistry.
Still, Fogelman’s story steers “The Guilt Trip” firmly into Streisand’s demographic; the film only occasionally sideswipes the kind of raunchy hilarity Rogen made his name with in “Knocked Up.” and “The Pineapple Express.”
Rogen plays Andrew Brewster, a Los Angeles-based organic chemist who has given up his job at the Environmental Protection Agency to developed a safe new food-based cleaning solution. His product may be revolutionary, but he hasn’t been able to peddle it to a single company because his strictly science sales pitches put the suits to sleep. Since he’s out of money and can’t afford to fly, Andy plans a cross-country trek to hit several potential retailers.
First, he dutifully visits his loving, long-widowed mother Joyce back home in New Jersey. Streisand could play this doting, overbearing and oversharing Jewish matriarch in her sleep, but she brings an enchanting tenderness and vivacity to the character that keeps her from getting too annoying.
When his mom reveals that she named Andy after the love of her life — the boy she dated before she married his father — the scientist is curious enough to look up her old flame online and discover her former beau lives in San Francisco. Eager to alleviate his mom’s loneliness — and assuage his guilt over moving across the country — Andy invites her to join him on his road trip.
The movie cruises through typical car comedy gags like wild weather, quirky regional attractions and battles over the radio (Joyce only wants to listen to the audio book of “Middlesex,” Jeffrey Eugenides’ acclaimed novel about a hermaphrodite man); fortunately, it also travels deeper into relatable relationship-driven humor.
The Blu-ray features several deleted scenes, five making-of featurettes, two alternate openings, an alternative ending and a gag real. Plus, Target is offering an exclusive “gift-wrapped” Mother’s Day edition that comes with a Streisand audio greeting card.
— BAM
Monday Catchy Quote No. 261
A catchy quote form a movie, TV show or other source to brighten the beginning of your week:
Phillipe: (gathering firewood) Look at me, Lord. I was better off in the dungeons of Aquila. My cellmate was insane, and a murderer… but HE respected me!
- Click here to learn the source.
-BAM
Ben Kweller joins Oklahoma-made film “Rudderless” as filming begins today
Principal photography began today in the Oklahoma City and Guthrie areas on “Rudderless,” a musical drama that will mark the directorial debut for Oscar-nominated actor William H. Macy.
As previously reported, Edmond residents Casey Twenter and Jeff Robison co-wrote the screenplay, with Macy helping them to hone it. They also are among the executive producers under their Oklahoma City-based shingles TeeRob Pictures and NoCoast Entertainment.
The film will feature Oscar nominees Felicity Huffman (who is also Macy’s wife) and Laurence Fishburne alongside big-name actors Selena Gomez, Billy Crudup and Anton Yelchin.
In addition, indie rocker Ben Kweller is joining the cast of the already star-studded film.
Crudup will star in “Rudderless” as a grieving father who stumbles across a box of his deceased son’s original music and forms a band, hoping to find peace in the wake of his tragic loss. Robison told me in an email that Kweller has been attached to play one of the band members.
Kweller took to Twitter (@benkweller) to announce that “Rudderless” marks his acting debut and to tweet out some photos of Bricktown and his co-stars.
Robison (@JMRobison) and Twenter (@caseytwenter) also have been tweeting quite a bit about the first day of shooting.
The drama is set to shoot in the Oklahoma City and Guthrie areas over the next five weeks.
“I’m very proud to be from Oklahoma. I love this state. I just really would like to kind of showcase some of it,” Robison told me in a recent phone interview. “Casey and I would love to make films here for the rest of our lives. That’s our dream.”
-BAM
Lou Diamond Phillips and Wyatt McCrea to co-host Western Heritage Awards tonight at National Cowboy Museum
Lou Diamond Phillips
With spring comes the excitement of celebrities, writers, Western musicians, directors, producers, actors and photographers who travel to Oklahoma City to accept the prestigious “Wrangler Award” at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s annual Western Heritage Awards.
This year’s award banquet will be at 5 p.m. today in the Sam Noble Special Events Center. Actor/director Lou Diamond Phillips and Wyatt McCrea, grandson of the late actor Joel McCrea, will co-host the gala. Celebrity presenters include Lynn Anderson, Bruce Boxleitner, Robert Fuller, Robert Knott, Rex Linn, Michael Martin Murphey, Dean Smith, Eddie Spears, Michael Spears, Red Steagall, Anita La Cava Swift, Patrick Wayne and Luke Wilson.
Phillips’ versatile career has allowed him success in theater, television and feature films as well as directing, writing and producing. He can currently be seen on the Wrangler Award-winning A&E series “Longmire” opposite Katee Sackhoff and Robert Taylor.
Phillips first came to the public’s attention when he starred as Richie Valens in “La Bamba.” He then solidified his reputation in “Stand and Deliver,” for which he won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor and received a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe nomination. Western enthusiasts remember Phillips for his role as Chavez in “Young Guns” and “Young Guns II.”
He earned a Tony nomination for Best Actor for his performance as the King of Siam in the Broadway production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “The King and I,” which received six Tony nominations in all. He recently starred in the national tour of “Camelot” as King Arthur. As a director, Phillips is currently filming “Tao of Surfing,” based on the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book by Michael A. Allen.
Phillips, originally born in the Philippines, was raised in Texas. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife Yvonne, and he has four daughters.
McCrea is the oldest grandchild of the late actor Joel McCrea and his actress wife Frances Dee. He is the co-owner of
Wyatt McCrea
Third Point Productions, which produces television content, commercials and music videos. He is an associate producer on the television series “Gen’s Guiltless Gourmet.” He serves as executive producer for several television projects currently in pre-production including, “Shootin’ the Breeze,” “Cars Undercover,” “A Racer’s Life” and “The Joel McCrea Story.”
McCrea has been featured in both print and internet advertising, appeared in the cable series “Call 911″ and portrayed various Western characters in a variety of reenactment productions.
In an ongoing effort to preserve the history of his film making grandparents, he gives presentations on the subject around the country. McCrea is a founding member and Board President of the Joel and Frances McCrea Ranch Foundation; serves on the Board of the Directors for the National Cowboy Museum; past member of the Executive Committee of the Gold Boot Awards; is a Board Member of the Will Rogers Ranch Foundation; a Board Members and past Board President of RideOn Therapeutic Horsemanship; a member of the Rodeo Historical Society; the American Quarter Horse Association (Life Member); New Mexico Military Institute Alumni Association (Life Member); and a member of the Advisory Board for the Boys and Girls Club of Camarillo, Calif.
Western Heritage Awards honors the best Western movies, television, literature and music. Inductions into the Hall of Great Westerners and the Hall of Great Western Performers also are observed. The Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award is presented to a living person for a special contribution to the West. For more information on the black-tie event, go to publicwww.nationalcowboymuseum.org.
See the honorees for this year’s Western Heritage Awards after the break.
Oklahoma-made faith-based film “Home Run” seeks honest approach to addiction and recovery
Scott Elrod stars in the faith-based baseball drama “Home Run.” The movie was filmed in Okmulgee and Tulsa in 2011.
From Saturday’s Life section of The Oklahoman. For more on the Oklahoma-made movie “Home Run,” click here.
Oklahoma faith-based film “Home Run” seeks honest approach to addiction, recovery
The feature film, which was shot in Okmulgee and Tulsa and opened in theaters nationwide Friday, follows a fictional major league star who enters the Celebrate Recovery Bible-based 12-step program to deal with his alcohol abuse.
For the creators of the faith-based baseball drama “Home Run,” making a movie that was real meant more than ensuring their lead actor looked right swinging a bat and running the bases.
“It’s in the faith genre but it’s a true life story,” said Tulsa-based producer Carol Spann Mathews.
“It’s about not only addiction and recoveries, but it’s about past hurt and how that passes down from generation to generation. It’s about fathers and sons; it’s about single parents. When people watch the film, we hear over and over again that they relate to a character and it’s different for everybody.”
The movie, filmed in Okmulgee and Tulsa in 2011, opened in theaters nationwide Friday.
Addressing addiction
Mathews, an award-winning television and film producer whose work has been featured on ESPN, The Family Channel and Trinity Broadcast Network, co-produced and worked as executive producer on “Home Run” with fellow Tulsan Tom Newman, whose credits include the Max Lucado adaptations “Resurrection” and “Christmas Child” as well as the 2005 missionary drama “End of the Spear.”
“That’s really his passion … telling positive, life-affirming messages and gospel-oriented messages through movies,”
Carol Spann Mathews
Mathews said in a phone interview from New York, where she was promoting “Home Run.” “We just began to pray and consider what topics would be important. If you’re going to spend the time to do a movie, let’s make it worthwhile. Do something good for the world.”
“Home Run” focuses on professional baseball star Cory Brand (Scott Elrod, who had a small role in the Oscar-winning drama “Argo”) whose alcohol abuse upends his life and career. After he is arrested for driving under the influence and suspended from his team for eight weeks, his agent (Vivica A. Fox, the “Kill Bill” movies) ships him off to his hometown of Okmulgee, where he reluctantly enters a 12-step Celebrate Recovery program and takes over coaching a local youth baseball team.
“In Major League Baseball — in fact, just professional sports overall — you see a lot of problems where these young players are put in these high-pressure situations and end up becoming addicts of some kind,” she said.
Celebrate Recovery is a “biblical and balanced” program that helps people overcome their “hurts, hang-ups, and habits.” Offered in more than 19,000 churches nationwide, it is based on the words of Jesus rather than psychological theory.
“On Sunday mornings every now and then somebody from that 12-step program would come up to our pulpit and share their story of recovery, and it was always so powerful. So I thought how interesting that it would be to have those kinds of stories in a film and those stories moving our main character along,” said Mathews, who attends Believers Church in Tulsa.
Taking the steps
As they embarked on the project, Mathews, Newman and associate producer Micah Barnard, along with two of the movie’s screenwriters, decided to go through Celebrate Recovery themselves, which gave them invaluable insight into the program.
“We just got a lot out of it, walking through the 12 steps and personally kind of inventorying our own lives. It was a really positive thing for us. And it highly influenced the story and the trajectory of the character,” she said.
“I think it created a very honest script. We put it in front of people who’ve had similar struggles like our main character, and they said it looked it exactly like them. They could really relate.”
For Mathews, making a movie that was honest about the real-life struggles Christians often face was vital. Programs like Celebrate Recovery maintain strict confidentiality because “we’re only as sick as our secrets,” she said.
“We tend to sometimes think that just because we’ve made a decision in our faith journey that everything needs to be neat and tidy. So we’re embarrassed or ashamed if something in our lives isn’t quite right, and we kind of hide. I’m hoping that this movie gets church people to begin to talk to each other more honestly about things that are plaguing them, so that they don’t have to kind of live in shame and disappointment but can get better,” she said.
“It’s important in the Christian church that we begin to talk about our real issues and that things don’t get better all the sudden just because you become a Christian. That everybody — even Jesus followers — still have issues in their lives that they need to work out.”
-BAM
