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).

Cutting Room for May 3

by Ryan Syrek

• What’s better than having a special event with Steve James, director of such classics as Hoop Dreams? Why, it would be having two events with Steve James! On May 13, Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater (filmstreams.org) will host James for a screening of Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game at 7 pm. Then, on May 14, James will be there for a screening of his film The Interrupters at 7 pm, with a Q&A to follow. James does a lot of work in Chicago and went to college in Illinois too. This means a bad question to ask would be “How about them Cubs” or “Aren’t brats overrated?”
• Space is dark and cold. Maybe that’s why Christopher Nolan is filling his next flick, the hardcore sci-fi Interstellar, with bright hot people. We know the lead is Matthew McConaughey, whose well-defined abs will likely form a new constellation in space. And we also knew that Anne Hathaway would be in orbit, preferably not singing in close-up this time. Now comes word that Jessica Chastain is boarding the ship, making for the most attractive space crew since Barbarella. We know nothing of the plot, but at this rate, who cares.
• Steven Spielberg’s next will be American Sniper, based on the autobiography of the man with the most recorded kills in US history. The star will be Bradley Cooper. What’s sad is that, if Cooper is in a movie, I’m usually rooting for him to be on the other end of the scope.
• Michael B. Jordan (the “B” stands for “because I’m not that Michael Jordan”) may reunite with Chronicle director Josh Trank for the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot. Rumor has it that he may play The Human Torch, and Allison Williams (of HBO’s “Girls” and “being Brian Williams’ daughter” fame) may play his sister, the Invisible Woman. Of course, the Internet being the last refuge of unbridled racism and ignorance, countless commenters are outraged. Not outraged enough to spellcheck their hate-filled statements, but outraged nonetheless.

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 Bling Ring

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