Cutting Room for May 17

by Ryan Syrek

• Even the movie news this time of year is all block-blustery: Avengers 2 in peril? With reports of Robert Downey Jr. making a play for more pay (not just for him, but for his co-stars too), people are freaking out! They are failing to realize that, come hell or high water, a film that makes $1.5 billion gets a sequel. No matter what, it looks like Jeremy Renner is out as Hawkeye, as he’s been badmouthing his role, which is a Marvel Comics no-no. Finally, South Africa is going to be a shooting location, which has sparked rumors of the Black Panther showing up; meanwhile, the Pink Panther stares at a phone that never rings.
• Not content with basically turning Batman into James Bond, director Christopher Nolan has entered into informal negotiations to direct the next 007 outing. This news is good, but it makes me wonder what “informal negotiations” take place around a Bond film. I’m going to assume the involvement of martinis and a production assistant named “Hope Youmakethefilm.”
• After many, many years, we’re finally getting Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II: The Green Destiny. The original choreographer Yuen Wo Ping is directing, and Michelle Yeoh is returning. It’s based on the fifth book in the series “Iron Knight, Silver Vase,” which makes sense since the original film was based on the fourth book. Personally, I would have called the sequel Tiger with Back Pain Finally Finds Dragon.
• For a movie I have no desire to see, Into the Woods is putting together a hell of a cast. This week, Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Pine joined Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp aboard the musical directed by Rob Marshall. Why am I not excited? Well, in addition to my problem with Broadway adaptations, Marshall’s last film was the most recent Pirates of the Caribbean movie. So…   

Cutting Room provides breaking local and national movie news … complete with added sarcasm. Send any relevant information to film@thereader.com. Check out Ryan on Movieha!, a weekly half-hour movie podcast (movieha.libsyn.com/rss), catch him on the radio on CD 105.9 (cd1059.com) on Fridays at around 7:30 a.m. and on KVNO 90.7 (KVNO.org) at 8:30 a.m. on Fridays and follow him on Twitter (twitter.com/thereaderfilm).

Movieha! Your Favorite Movie Podcast

by Ryan Syrek

On Your Radar: The Kill List

Netflix Roulette: Ticked-off Trannies with Knives

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Cutting Room for May 10

by Ryan Syrek

• On the cutting edge of a new genre we’ll call “Mom-rotica,” Fifty Shades of Grey is the bestseller that challenges adaptation. Oh, not because the story is too dense, but because an accurate depiction is basically porn. Enter Joe Wright, who has the credentials for directing an S&M movie after making Anna Karenina (painful) and Pride and Prejudice (has a conjunction in it). Clearly the move to court a high-profile name like this is an attempt to get some wayward actress to believe that what she’s doing is art and forget that it started as Twilight fan fiction (for real).
• Adding Benicio Del Toro alongside Joaquin Pheonix in mega-brilliant director Paul Thomas Anderson’s upcoming adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice made sense. Getting star of You, Me and Dupree, Owen Wilson, makes a bit less sense. Then again, PTA was the one living human who pried a great performance out of the spectacular waste of evolution and DNA that is Adam Sandler (Punchdrunk Love). So he’s earned my trust.
• Taking any chance to talk about “Game of Thrones” means telling you that Richard Madden, who plays the dour and pale “King of the North” Rob Stark in the HBO show, will be downgraded to prince in Disney’s live-action remake of Cinderella. So long as they don’t get the writers of “Game of Thrones” to pen the script, as my heart can’t take what Gus-Gus would do with that cat.
• If we’re not in the 80s or 90s, trading a John Cusack for an Adam Scott is a deal I’d make. Sadly, the deal involves Hot Tub Time Machine 2. Cusack’s busy schedule of making direct-to-streaming-service movies won’t allow him to reprise the role of “what’s his name” from the original. So Scott is stepping in as the new lead, although as different character to preserve continuity. Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson  and Clark Duke are all back, so the box office should be fine, as the world can’t get enough of the Corddry, Robinson, Duke triad.

Cutting Room provides breaking local and national movie news … complete with added sarcasm. Send any relevant information to film@thereader.com. Check out Ryan on Movieha!, a weekly half-hour movie podcast (movieha.libsyn.com/rss), catch him on the radio on CD 105.9 (cd1059.com) on Fridays at around 7:30 a.m. and on KVNO 90.7 (KVNO.org) at 8:30 a.m. on Fridays and follow him on Twitter (twitter.com/thereaderfilm).