Vote for the STAR WARS character spinoff you'd like to see.

Since Disney is eager to maximize revenue from the formerly-George Lucas STAR WARS franchise, it should be no surprise that an announcement was just made re the first theatrical live-action spinoff movie (outside the main series) will be filmed in the UK:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27789638

Here's a select list of characters.  Choose which  one (or more) of them deserve a starring role.

A. BOBA FETT
B. LANDO CALRISSIAN
C. PRINCESS LEIA
D. DARTH VADER
E. DARTH MAUL
F.  BIGGS DARKLIGHTER
G. JAWAS
H. EWOKS
I.  HAN SOLO
J.  LUKE SKYWALKER
K. MACE WINDU
L.  YODA

Now vs. then: film critics/reviewers/watchdogs on the far edge of PG-13 violence.

"Even allowing that TLR's weirdness is "interesting" -- and I think it's just an overstuffed train wreck of multiple agendas, myself -- there is such a thing as a movie's implied compact with its audience, particularly when it's a supposed kiddie flick. I've read about droves of parents exiting with their tykes as soon as [SPOILER ALERT] one character cuts out and eats another one's heart. I'm with them, and remember: that's one hefty chunk of change for parents to burn off at the multiplex all of 1/2 hour in."--Tom Carson, veteran of publications such as L.A. WEEKLY and ESQUIRE, commenting on Glenn Kenny's MSN.com review of THE LONE RANGER.

"The film betrays no human impulse higher than that of a ten-year-old boy trying to gross out his baby sister by dangling a dead worm in her face."--Dave Kehr on INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, which had a heart-removal scene and caused the creation of the PG-13 rating midway through the summer of 1984.

And here's Ed Grant of Common Sense Media doing a years-after-the-fact assessment of Tim Burton's 1992 BATMAN RETURNS:
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/batman-returns

Critical tut-tuts, audience squeamishness in certain cases--and more broad-audience-friendly sequels with the latter two films.  Given the response to THE LONE RANGER (though the film has its critical defenders), it's not likely to get that far.

METHOD TO THE MADNESS: Jerry Lewis reshapes his career arc and talks shop about comedy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/method-to-the-madness-of-jerry-lewis-with-all-the-unhappy-stuff-left-out/2011/12/13/gIQAT69BzO_story.html
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-1217-jerry-lewis-review-20111217,0,6647783.story

I remember a date I had with a fellow drama student in 1974, when we were both in our mid-teens.  We both realized we didn't have a lot in common--and one of those unsympatico things was Jerry Lewis.  She (bringing up the example of 1968's now-mostly-forgotten DON'T RAISE THE BRIDGE...LOWER THE RIVER, directed by Jerry Paris) found him unfunny; I begged to differ.

And, to be honest, Jerry Lewis directing Jerry Lewis could often fit the description of the Woody Allen-written WHAT'S NEW, PUSSYCAT? found in one of Leonard Maltin's MOVIES ON TV books: "....one sits through a lot of misfired gags to get to a few undeniable gems."

At least the new Encore channel documentary METHOD TO THE MADNESS manages to highlight some of Jerry's better moments of auteurism (THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, THE BELLBOY, THE ERRAND BOY), as well as some priceless clips from the Martin and Lewis era.

Unfortunately, the commissioned-by-Jerry director Gregg Barson didn't seem to be able to get Lewis to acknowledge the directors who either helped shape the "zany idiot" persona or showed it to its best advantage on film.  To watch METHOD TO THE MADNESS, you might be led to think it was all Jerry--and people like George Marshall, Norman Taurog and (especially) Frank Tashlin never existed.

Time for me to be blasphemous and say that a lot of the best Jerry Lewis on film was when he allowed Frank Tashlin (someone who started in cartoons and knew a lot about physical comedy) to direct--ARTISTS AND MODELS, HOLLYWOOD OR BUST, IT'S ONLY MONEY, THE DISORDERLY ORDERLY, etc.

But there's a lot of commissioned documentaries going around these days.  Rock bands, deceased former Beatles, comedians (i.e. the recent Woody Allen tribute on PBS) all wanting to be portrayed in sunshine more than shadows.

And given today's allergy to actually reading detailed knowledge (both positive and negative) on someone's life and times, it's a given that future generations will only be able to know/evaluate certain celebrities solely by reverent hagiographies on film/video.

The next wave of 3-D post-LION KING: reissues/conversions of old movies.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/archived-blockbuster-films-to-get-3d-treatment-2361627.html

http://networkedblogs.com/nLUfJ
(Didn't see COMIN' AT YA! when it came out in the early 80s, but Tony Anthony--perhaps best known to filmgoers of a certain age for being an imitation of the Sergio Leone-era Clint Eastwood in films like A STRANGER IN TOWN and BLINDMAN; the latter featured Ringo Starr playing a stereotyped Mexican bandit--wasn't known for women-in-non-sex-object-roles filmmaking.  COMIN' AT YA! was criticized for sexism on its original release; it's safe to expect more controversy with the reissue).

http://collider.com/james-cameron-titanic-3d-cineeurope/99351/

http://disneydvd.disney.go.com/beauty-and-the-beast.html

RIP Leslie Nielsen and Irvin Kershner

Farewell to two class acts:

By now, you can turn on just about any media outlet and see/hear clips from Leslie Nielsen's appearances in the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker comedy classics AIRPLANE! and THE NAKED GUN series.

As for director Irvin Kershner, he's fated to be eulogized as the director of numerous franchise sequels--such as RETURN OF A MAN CALLED HORSE, ROBOCOP 2, NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN and, especially, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (probably the most gripping and adult STAR WARS entry--then George Lucas decided to pull the series back towards a more family-friendly approach from RETURN OF THE JEDI through the prequel trilogy).

Kershner's earlier work included THE HOODLUM PRIEST, UP THE SANDBOX (Barbra Streisand as a dissatisfied housewife), A FINE MADNESS (Sean Connery as a nonconformist poet) and THE FLIM-FLAM MAN (George C. Scott as a Southern con artist).

SLATE.com on the comic book HOWARD THE DUCK--and the fowl movie made from it.

Some essential reading from Keith Phipps, who writes for THE ONION's AV Club section: http://www.slate.com/id/2214067/

The cinematic HOWARD THE DUCK, along with 1984's snide, sour, deservedly-forgotten BEST DEFENSE (which at least had a good David Rasche supporting performance), offers ample explanation as to why Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck (who deserve a positive place in film history for their work on the screenplay for George Lucas' AMERICAN GRAFFITI) won't be remembered for their on-their-own spasms of auteurism.

HOWARD THE DUCK should be remembered for waste and misuse of its human actors--such as Tim Robbins (who, as Phil Blumburtt, plays the Missing Link between Dan Aykroyd and Rainn Wilson), Lea Thompson and Jeffrey Jones.

Don't forget the hideous duck suit and the yuppie-izing of Howard's anarchic-in-comic-books character as well.

William Friedkin becoming George Lucas: color-altered Blu-Ray DVDs of THE FRENCH CONNECTION and THE EXORCIST.

Thanks to Jeffrey Wells of HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE for his coverage of William Friedkin's soon-to-be-released altered-color version of THE FRENCH CONNECTION on Blu-Ray DVD next Tuesday: http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/02/harris_on_re-vi.php and
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/02/wank.php

For the most part, I was okay with George Lucas' 1997 revised versions of the original STAR WARS trilogy because Lucas had the chance to make alterations to include digital effects/enhancements unavailable to him when the original films were released. And, to his credit, Lucas has included the original release prints alongside the revised ones on recent DVD issues.

Unfortunately, it looks as if Friedkin and/or 20th Century Fox won't give the home viewer a chance to compare the original FRENCH CONNECTION and the revision. Only the "new" version will be available on Blu-Ray.

And it appears that Friedkin will try the same apporach with THE EXORCIST (due for Blu-Ray release late this year). Rumor has it that the "version you've never seen" which was released theatrically almost a decade ago will receive the recolorization treatment.

[UPDATE 2/18/09: Critic Glenn Kenny, best known for his stint at PREMIERE magazine, offers his opinion on the revised FRENCH CONNECTION on his SOME CAME RUNNING blog: http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2009/02/what-hath-friedkin-wrought.html]

[UPDATE 2/25/09: Owen Roizman, the cinematographer of THE FRENCH CONNECTION, is upset over Friedkin's visual alterations for the Blu-Ray disc: http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/02/atrocioushorrif.php]

[UPDATE 3/3/09: Friedkin rebuts Roizman's negative opinion: http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/03/full_of_it.php]

Trey Parker and Matt Stone can't quit their hate-on for Lucas/Spielberg.

I'm one of the few people who thought INDIANA JONES AND THE CRYSTAL SKULL was a decent-enough coda to the 80s action-adventure trilogy. And I hope George Lucas and Steven Spielberg leave well enough alone and not try for a rumored fifth entry to the series--unless it's a spinoff with Shia LaBoeuf's Mutt Williams character as the lead.

But, regardless of the general lack of true love for INDY 4 and George Lucas' recent CLONE WARS pilot-as-big-screen-movie (which I didn't see), it's rather pathetic to see Trey Parker (of the ginormous ego--someone who should never be allowed around interviewers) and copilot Matt Stone do a SOUTH PARK episode featuring Indiana Jones being....let's say, physically violated...by Spielberg and Lucas (didn't see the entire episode, but saw the scene in question--edited in a way recalling the trimmed-for-ABC-on-first-network-broadcast version of Ned Beatty being assaulted in DELIVERANCE).

Admittedly, Lucas (parodied before by SOUTH PARK) and Spielberg are plutocrats who don't always make the best decisions in terms of what they offer as art and/or commerce. But this is just mortifyingly stupid (rape, regardless of parody/metaphor, just isn't all that funny) and crass of Parker/Stone--and safe safe safe from any retaliation as well since Spielberg and DreamWorks (with David Geffen apparently leaving the company to Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg) are leaving the Paramount lot.

Irony alert: Spielberg helped to bring about the current DVD restoration of THE GODFATHER I and II--which, in one making-of documentary, features, among others--Trey Parker.