Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sports, Universal, Remakes and Sequels
Wrong Turn got one. The Lost Boys and Smokin’ Aces got one. Hell, American Pie spits one out every Tuesday: a direct-to-video sequel. Every time we talk about one of these movies, I feel I must defend the release strategy, but this time I’ll skip the schpiel and get right to it: if you liked the Paul W.S. Anderson Death Race flick from not too long ago, Universal Home Video has some good news for you. Principal photography has already begun in South Africa on Death Race 2.
According to a recent press release, the flick will be a prequel starring the likes of Luke Goss, Ving Rhames, Sean Bean, and Danny Trejo. Nope, no Jason Statham, but we are promised “even more outrageously outfitted muscle cars and death-defying stunts in a deadly driving competition.” Mr. Anderson will stick around as story contributor and executive producer, as he often does on the Resident Evil flicks, but the prequel screenplay will come from Tony Giglio (Timber Falls), and the director will be Roel Reine, whom you may remember from The Marine 2. (I said “may.”)
Say what you will about prequel this and low-budget video flicks that, but Luke Goss was pretty damn cool in Hellboy 2, and I always enjoy seeing Sean Bean in an action flick. I’ll include the press release’s plot synopsis after the jump, but the basic gist of Death Race 2 seems to be the backstory of the prison races and the early career of the “Frankenstein” speed demon. Sounds like a solid enough way to spend 90-some minutes, but then I seem to be a sucker for P.W.S. Anderson’s patented brand of techno-lunacy.
Continue reading Engines Have Officially Started on ‘Death Race 2′
Filed under: Action, Sports, Casting, RumorMonger
Move over, Sylvester Stallone. There’s a new Rocky in town, except this Balboa isn’t a lip-curled, meat-beating, fictional snarler — he’s the real-life source behind it all. MTV recently chatted with Liev Schreiber who says he’s prepping a biopic on Chuck Wepner, the Bayonne Bleeder. There’s no timetable in place yet, but the actor did say that Jeff Feuerzeig (The Devil in Daniel Johnston) will direct it.
Sylvester Stallone once talked about how he’d realized the only way he could prove himself was to write his own role in his own script. With no idea exactly what direction he’d go, he headed to the Muhammed Ali v. Chuck Wepner fight in 1974. While Ali remained the victor, Wepner lasted an impressive 15 rounds with the icon before being bloodied and beaten. “Wepner, a battling, bruising club fighter who had never made the big time, was having his shot,” Stallone said. Rocky Balboa was born.
It’s not the epic win sort of story, but a more gritty, real-life tale. And while not a prevalent face in the boxing world, Wepner did battle a lot of famous men over the years, from George Foreman and Sonny Liston to Andre the Giant in later years. Talk about a perfect project for Schreiber, who has got the toughness, but really thrives with deeper roles. What do you think? Are you ready for Wepner?
Filed under: Comedy, Sports, Casting, Deals, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
Though his career never exactly exploded following the American Pie films, Seann William Scott still managed to carve out a little corner for himself and, as such, continues to find steady work in some pretty funny films (The Promotion and Role Models, to name two recent comedies well worth your time). Now, not only has Kevin Smith seen enough to re-team with Scott on his next film, but there’s also talk of Stifler returning to the big screen in that American Pie sequel we told you about last week.
During the press junket for Cop Out over the weekend, Kevin Smith revealed to NHL.com that Seann William Scott will star in his next film, Hit Somebody, about a hockey player in the ’70s who’s more well known for his fighting skills than hockey skills. Meanwhile, Scott revealed the same thing to Coming Soon, saying “I grew up playing hockey, which is good because the character’s not supposed to be a great player, he’s a great fighter, so it’s a really amazing film. He’s writing it right now and he asked me about a month ago to do it and I’m like ‘for sure.’ I can skate okay, I’ll definitely have to practice… but I can fight.”
The film, which is based on the Warren Zevon hockey song, will mark a return for Smith to both writing and directing after only helming Cop Out off someone else’s script (a first for Smith). The filmmaker also revealed to Coming Soon that he’s “going for the Forest Gump of sports movies, but not in terms of visual effects, but it takes place through many different eras.” Knowing how passionate Smith is about the sport, there’s a very good chance this could turn out to be his best film in years.
Continue reading Seann William Scott to ‘Hit Somebody’ and Reprise Stifler?
Filed under: Drama, Romance, Sports, Casting, Deals, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Scripts, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand
What would it take for Ben Affleck (and possibly even Matt Damon) to abandon their Boston Red Sox jerseys and don Yankee stripes? Nothing less than a big movie at Warner Bros, their new first look home. According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, Affleck has become attached to direct and possibly star in The Trade, based on a true story about some sexually free Yankees.
Those of a particular age probably remember the 1970s scandal of the Yankees’ Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich who were best friends on and off the field. Especially off. Being the 1970s, everyone was experimenting in all kinds of ways, and the Peterson and Kekich family decided to wife-swap. (Ever wonder why they don’t call it husband swap? Wife-swapping sounds like it belongs in ancient Sparta. “Borrow my wife for sex, my good friend! Then you will bear a strong son!”) They never hid their new lifestyle from the public, provoking Family Day jokes from General Manager Lee McPhail, and boos from audiences. There’s a semi-happy ending to the story, as Peterson married Susanne Kekich and they had four children. Kekich and Marilyn Peterson split. Someone more familiar with the players will have to tell me if the men are still friends or not.
The Trade was initially bogged down by legal issues, but Dave Mandel is now penning the script. Richard Linklater was reportedly interested in directing, but Affleck has staked a directorial claim. He’s also interested in playing Peterson and DHD says that Damon may play Kekich. It sounds like a late night joke waiting to happen, but isn’t this just what you expected when their reunion became public?
Filed under: Music & Musicals, Sports, Fandom, Trailers and Clips, Scenes We Love
We’ve had some time to get used to the truly terrible idea of a 3D Stretch Armstrong flick with Taylor (Team Jacob) Lautner as the flexible hero in question. But on the upside, at least now I can hold out hope that maybe if Lautner’s busy getting all bendy, he won’t have time to ruin the memory of Louden Swain in a remake of the sports/teen drama Vision Quest — which brings me to today’s Scenes (Songs) We Love, and while most people focus on Madonna’s Crazy for You as the musical highlight of the flick, I thought I would offer up a pretty viable alternative: Lunatic Fringe from Red Rider.
Vision Quest was based on the novel by Terry Davis and centered on a high-school wrestler (played by Matthew Modine) who decides to take on the top dog in a fight to do something meaningful with his life — which I guess means rolling around on the floor with other guys. But, in the pursuit of his dream, he sacrifices his health and his love life with an older woman (played by Linda Fiorentino).
The song was written by the Tom Cochrane (and I’m sure my fellow Canadians know that name), and was originally released in 1981 before making its way onto the soundtrack, and even though the song is actually about the rise of anti-Semitism in the 1970’s, when I hear this tune I just think of Matthew Modine in a spot-lit gym.
After the jump: a slice of Canadiana…
Continue reading Scenes (Songs) We Love: “Lunatic Fringe” from ‘Vision Quest’
Filed under: Documentary, Sports, Cinematical Indie
Part of what makes the Oscar-nominated documentary The Cove so riveting is that the film is treated like an espionage thriller. And we can probably thank screenwriter Mark Monroe for much of its exciting narrative. Whether as a writer, director or producer, Monroe tends to work on documentaries with a sporting or adventuring edge. Prior to The Cove, he’d been involved with docs and series about soccer teams, boxing, basketball and sailing. His most recent film, Amir Bar-Lev’s Sundance hit The Tillman Story, tackles the story of a pro football player turned tragic war hero.
Monroe’s next sport to document is Formula One racing, according to Variety. He’ll write the currently untitled project for occasional collaborator Paul Crowder, a filmmaker who also has a background in sports documentaries, having co-directed Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos and edited Stacy Peralta’s Riding Giants and Dogtown and Z-Boys and Monroe’s own Morning Light. The duo doesn’t solely film sports movies, though. Monroe and Crowder just recently worked together, for instance, on a documentary about Silicon Valley pioneers William Shockley and Robert Noyce (titled The Real Revolutionaries).
Continue reading ‘The Cove’ Writer Mark Monroe to Document Formula One Racing
Filed under: Documentary, Sports, Cinematical Indie
Part of what makes the Oscar-nominated documentary The Cove so riveting is that the film is treated like an espionage thriller. And we can probably thank screenwriter Mark Monroe for much of its exciting narrative. Whether as a writer, director or producer, Monroe tends to work on documentaries with a sporting or adventuring edge. Prior to The Cove, he’d been involved with docs and series about soccer teams, boxing, basketball and sailing. His most recent film, Amir Bar-Lev’s Sundance hit The Tillman Story, tackles the story of a pro football player turned tragic war hero.
Monroe’s next sport to document is Formula One racing, according to Variety. He’ll write the currently untitled project for occasional collaborator Paul Crowder, a filmmaker who also has a background in sports documentaries, having co-directed Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos and edited Stacy Peralta’s Riding Giants and Dogtown and Z-Boys and Monroe’s own Morning Light. The duo doesn’t solely film sports movies, though. Monroe and Crowder just recently worked together, for instance, on a documentary about Silicon Valley pioneers William Shockley and Robert Noyce (titled The Real Revolutionaries).
Continue reading ‘The Cove’ Writer Mark Monroe to Document Formula One Racing
Filed under: Sports, Cinematical Seven
(Today we’re digging into our past and bringing back some of our favorite Superbowl Sunday posts. Here’s one by Erik Davis, originally posted in 2008.)
This particular Cinematical Seven took awhile to sort out. First, I needed to decide whether I would focus solely on women who play sports in film or if I should open it up to women who play sports and/or appear in sports films. As you can see from the photo above, I went with the latter. Then I needed to decide whether I would only select drop-dead gorgeous women, or if there was room for the girl next door in the list as well. I’m sure you sympathize with the tough choices I had to make this afternoon. Anyway, in honor of Superbowl Sunday (Go Colts/Saints!), here are my picks for the hottest sports girls on film (a title which took me all of about an hour to come up with — after all, there are so many different ways to write it):
Kelly Preston as Avery Bishop in Jerry Maguire — She’s harsh, she’s intimidating and she doesn’t exactly use those legs to kick a long field goal. Before Jerry (Tom Cruise) had his moral epiphany and wound up wooing the adorable Dorothy (Renee Zellweger), he was attached at the hip to the cunning, yet super sexy Avery. She’d come a long way from Space Camp, and after watching Jerry Maguire, I was extremely jealous that John Travolta got to spend every boot camp with this gal.
Continue reading Cinematical Seven: Hottest Sports Girls on Film
Filed under: Sports, Cinematical Seven
Today we’re bringing back some of our favorite Superbowl Sunday posts. Here’s one from Monika Bartyzel, originally published back in 2008.
I must have had too many cups of coffee when I agreed to take on a Cinematical Seven covering the hunks of sports films. (Erik had the easy job, picking the Hottest Sports Girls.) Trying to pick the studs is like having hundreds of 4-star, wonderful movies thrown on your desk and being asked to pick the 7 best. Yeah, right! No problem! To make the task easier, I decided to pick a range of sports, and never double up on one particular type. That cut out a whole slew of possibilities, and what I came up with is what you see below.
What have I learned from picking the Seven Sexy Sporting Studs from cinema? The best of the best (pun intended) were in the ’80s and ’90s. I also learned that you should never share the list with a friend beforehand — they’ll remind you who you’re forgetting, and that’s why you’ll find one tie down below. Enjoy!
The only thing I knew when I took on this assignment was that Eight Men Out was going to be featured. Bull Durham is great and all, but this is the baseball movie. It’s John Sayles, and it has the best baseball team to ever make it on the screen. They might have let their morals loosen a little, but they still kept their looks. Foolishly, I tried to pick between John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, D.B. Sweeney, and David Strathairn. Forget that! I’m taking the easy way out. Cusack’s Buck Weaver was super cute as a “future jailbird,” Charlie was always tasty in those days, and it’s beyond me why women weren’t falling all over David Strathairn the minute he jumped into film with Return of the Secaucus Seven, or any of the bigger movies that were soon to come. And Sweeney was cute, too, in that dorky way.
Filed under: Sports, Cinematical Seven
Today we’re bringing back some of our favorite Superbowl Sunday posts. Here’s one from Scott Weinberg originally published in 2008.
Ah yes, Super Bowl Sunday. And the Philadelphia Eagles are not involved. Sigh. I suppose I can try to create some sort of vested interest (nice to see an NFC East team in the big game, plus “David & Goliath” is always fun to watch), but the truth is that I’m mostly looking forward to all the new movie commercials. Don’t get me wrong; I freaking love (American-style) football, but the Super Bowl seems more like pre-packaged spectacle than an actual gridiron battle. (Give me an Eagles / Redskins game any day!) And so, logically, my thoughts turn to movie-land…
Ask someone to name a great baseball movie and you’ll get nine different answers. Ask someone to name a great (American-style) football movie and you’ll get nine puzzled expressions. But while the NFL waits for something as lyrical as a Natural or a Field of Dreams, there’s definitely some solid football flicks out there. And by “football,” I mean “not soccer.”
Any Given Sunday (1999) — It’s garish and indulgent and more than a little scattershot, but Oliver Stone’s pulpy exposé of the American Football Machine is pretty undeniably entertaining.
The Longest Yard (1974) — Long before it became a flat vehicle for Adam Sandler and Chris Rock, The Longest Yard was a rough, tough, and admirably gritty prison/football flick from Robert Aldrich. Try watching the two flicks back-to-back and you’ll plainly understand why (and how) most remakes suck.
