Go Into The Story

Someday when Hollywood studios have succeeded in their grand distribution scheme and we all have digital download implants in our brains, scheduling movie debuts in a limited number of theaters won’t be a zero-sum game anymore. Until then, it’s a chess game: In the Harry Potter stories,

Burn After Reading (Focus) Daily Variety (Todd McCarthy) Los Angeles Times (Kenneth Turan) Newsweek (David Ansen) New York Times (Manhola Dargis) Rolling Stone (Peter Travers) Righteous Kill (Overture) Daily Variety (Justin Chang) Hollywood Reporter (Luke Sader) Los Angeles Times (Gene Seymour) New York Times (Manhola Dargis) Towelhead (Warner Bros.) Daily

“Whichever arm you have full of packages will be the arm attached to the hand above the pocket that contains the key you need to open your front door.” © 2008 Kurt Brown & Scott Myers

I don’t often pimp documentary films — after all, this site is primarily about screenwriters — however, since I am a huge soccer fan and this is just a great story, allow me to promote the movie Kicking It which airs tonight on ESPN. Here’s a description: In the summer

In light of all the angst surrounding the collapse of the ‘specialty film’ market, as noted here and here, the NY Times had an interesting article yesterday featuring former Beastie Boy Adam Yauch and his entree into the indie film world: “What I really liked about indie record labels — the

“I wrote at least 20 different step outlines–long, long step outlines, that got me about 70 percent of the way through it. Finally, after the 20th I said, ‘Well, this is far enough. I know where it’s going to end. Now, I’ll just devote myself to the

“The presence of oranges in all three Godfather movies indicates that a death or a close call will soon happen. The Senator is framed for murder after playing with oranges at the Corleone house, and Johnny Ola brings an orange into Michael’s office before the attempt on Michael’s

Former Monty Python member Michael Palin, that is! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf1y9s73Nos By the way, in addition to 46 writing credits for the TV series “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” Palin also co-wrote the following movies: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian

Coverage of TIFF 2008 from three sources. First, Indie Wire clocks in with this report, including some choice quotes from Religulous creators Larry Charles and Bill Maher: “Borat” director Larry Charles and comedian Bill Maher take on the final sacred cow by tapping their irreverance to stroke the slippery slope

“Learn where you came from, who you are, and where you are going. Travel in healthy and intelligent company. Immerse yourself in music. Enjoy good food and learn how to prepare it yourself. Take full responsibility for your own behavior. Live skillfully. And never watch television.” – Russell Chatham

That’s what the trades reported this week. First, the Hollywood Reporter: Who’s Sony going to call to pen its reboot of “Ghostbusters”? Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg. The studio has recruited “The Office” writer-producers to work on a new installment of the 1980s franchise that starred Bill

That’s what Daily Variety says: Universal — which has a three-year first-look deal with the helmer inked in June ’07 — and del Toro are making a long-term commitment by setting up four directing projects, including remakes of “Frankenstein,” “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “Slaughterhouse-Five.” Not

Barefoot in the Park (1967), The Odd Couple (1968), The Heartbreak Kid (1972), The Goodbye Girl (1977), Seems Like Old Times (1980), Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986), Buloxi Blues (1988) — these are just a few of the movies written by the incomparable screenwriter and playwright Neil Simon. I’ve read many

He’s brought us movies such as: Regarding Henry (1990) Armageddon (1998) Mission Impossible III (2006)  But it’s on the TV side where J.J. Abrams has really made his mark: Felicity Alias Lost Those are three big hits.  Courtesy of the fantastic lecture resource website TED, here is

Courtesy of one of my favorite websites The Writers’ Almanac, I was reminded that today is the ‘birthday’ of a very famous book: It was on this day in 1957 that Jack Kerouac’s book On The Road was published. His inspiration for the book came ten years earlier. He

This bit of comic book angst courtesy of Geoff Boucher and his LAT “Hero Complex” blog. Speaking of the 1978 movie version of Superman, Boucher opines: It was by nature a sunny film, sentimental and playful, never embarrassed while soaring with its John Williams score and (literally) with its special

Bangkok Dangerous (Lionsgate) Daily Variety (Jordan Mintzer)