Maori Hollywood actor Cliff Curtis (pictured below) is getting married about now and Amber Rose and Kanye West give you the white romantic Christmas you always wanted in America this year. Christmas is about Love… go Cliff Curtis!

Here’s how you voted your top ten news posts in Hollywood today on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas beautiful people in America and worldwide. 

1. Amber Rose struts her good self to the movies with Kanye West for Avatar.

2. Live concert review: Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball Tour for Christmas.

3. Lenny Kravitz is a cheeky tweeter.

4. Rev Fred Phelps hates on Lady Gaga this Christmas.

5. Beyonce is a quadruple threat of US entertainment.

6. Vintage Lorraine Downes, Miss Universe 1984 from New Zealand. Cute.

7. Willow Smith is the ideal American child for the future of the USA.

8. Miley Cyrus breaks records at the O2 Arena in London. 

9. HOLLYWOOD’S 7 LEADING MEN CAST IN STUDIO FILM FRANCHISES 2010

10. Horiwood Humor: KANYE WEST MORPHS INTO AMBER ROSE IN THE FUTURE OF STEM CELL RESEARCH

Happy Christmas Eve America! From your favorite resident hori in Hollywood.

~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 12.24.09~

Hey Horiwooders and Maoris down in New Zealand. Tres exciting news!

Just got a call from actor Cliff Curtis who goes by the nick Happy Hori to all of us who know him.

Cliff is at LAX heading back to San Francisco where he’s filming the new ER medical drama, Trauma. He sounds the same: busy, humble, funny. 

Cliffie has been causing a bit of a stir on set, because like a true blue warrior hori, (think a grown up Taylor Lautner action guy) he wanted to do all of his own stunts for the series, which he did. 

To read more about Cliff Curtis and how he was trained in traditional Maori martial arts (Mau Rakau) growing up as a youngster, go here.

Oh… and yes, Cliff confirms that he’s all on for a Christmas wedding down in beautiful Rotorua New Zealand this Christmas.

Can’t wait to meet his beautiful bride when the newlyweds return to LA for their honeymoon. Go Mr & Mrs Happy Hori in Hollywood. How romantic! 

To all of you fullahs and fullah-esses going to Cliffie’s big day down under in Rotorua, happy Hori Christmas to you all. What an epically romantic Hori Hollywood Christmas down under. The legend of Hinemoa and Tutanekai’s great love in Rotorua springs to mind with Cliff’s desired location of Love.

Will post wedding pics on ze blog.

This pic of Cliff from the movie, Blow where he starred with Johnny Depp and Oscar winner Penelope Cruz. Cliff has a habit of making everyone else look better who he acts with. This is his X factor in Hollywood. He’s a great.

~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 12.17.09~

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone...

(Fox Searchlight) Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Cliff Curtis, Rose Byrne, Troy Garity, Benedict Wong, Hiroyuki Sanada, Mark Strong. Directed by Danny Boyle

Boyle is the director of such impressive films as 28 Days Later, Trainspotting and Millions, all of which I would highly recommend (his next movie after this one was Slumdog Millionaire, previously reviewed in this blog). A couple of years ago, I was in puppy heaven when I discovered that he was doing a science fiction film.

It is about 50 years in the future and the sun is dying – take that, you global warming alarmists! A mission was sent to re-ignite the sun with a kind of stellar bomb, but that mission failed and the astronauts aboard the Icarus were presumed lost. The situation on Earth growing more desperate, a second mission – Icarus II – is launched and with it goes the hopes of humanity.

Things seem to be going pretty well, but as they approach Mercury, they pick up the distress signal of the first mission. Logic dictates that the crew continues on their way, explode their bomb and then see about the other Icarus but no, they have to go there first. Hey, what’s logic when you have science fiction? Anyway, predictably, bad things happen when they try to change course, an EVA repair mission goes the way of most EVA repair missions in science fiction movies these days and things burn up, flash freeze, explode and so on. What’s an astronaut to do?

Where to begin? This is a wildly uneven movie. There are a lot of great visuals, some wonderful dramatic tension and Chris Evans darn near steals the show – yeah, I know, Chris Evans – and the soundtrack kicks bootie. To the bad, you’ll notice at no point in my synopsis did I mention a specific human character. That’s because they are so interchangeable and unmemorable. Not all of it is the fault of the generally solid cast – it’s just that they play mostly subdued, as you would expect highly trained astronaut/scientists to be in that situation. In going for realism, Boyle winds up giving his dramatic tension short shrift. With a cast that includes some very good actors like Michelle Yeoh, Cillian Murphy and Cliff Curtis, that’s a bit of a crime.

Surprisingly enough, I found the direction of Danny Boyle to be one of the movie’s weaker points. Boyle is a genuine talent – his resume is nothing if not impressive – but he falls prey to the “Look, Ma, I’m directing” syndrome, taking himself far too seriously, sacrificing story for overly-clever directing moves. For example, the villain – who is apparently fully human – is rarely glimpsed as anything more than an impressionistic figure. When the heroes engage in hand-to-hand combat with him, the results are nearly unwatchable and actually gave me a headache. One of the more interesting moves is that as the crew of the Icarus II board the Icarus I, faces (I assume of the first crew) flash onto the screen like some terrible subliminal ad gone awry. I’m not sure what Boyle is trying to accomplish here, but if a director needs to explain what you’re trying to get across, then he/she didn’t do a very good job in the first place. In the end, the movie breaks down in the third act, just when it should be picking up steam. You get the feeling that they were rushing things more than a bit – in any case, I think if Boyle had paid more attention to storytelling and less to style, he might have made a really super film.

While I complain a great deal here, there are some compelling reasons to see this. For one thing, it’s a “smart” science fiction movie – think Solaris and Event Horizon and those are rare enough as to be very precious. And yes, I listed a number of failings of the director, but in all fairness, he got more right than he didn’t, and that’s a plus too. This is not what you would call a popcorn movie, but at the same time the gorgeous visuals – the screen is constantly bathed in warm golds and yellows of the solar winds – beg to be seen on a big screen or at least an HD plasma home theater.

This is quite the disappointment; I was hoping this could be a sleeper hit, but the box office here in the States was dismal. That’s too bad – but I can understand why people aren’t warming to this movie, and considering how close it comes to the sun, that’s unacceptable.

WHY RENT THIS: Terrific visuals. Chris Evans gives an unexpectedly strong performance. Astronaut-cicle; need I say more?

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: Look Ma, I’m directing. Messy third act. Style over storytelling.

FAMILY VALUES: Violence and some icky visuals. A little bit of language too.

TRIVIAL PURSUITS: The helmet design for the space suits were based on the character Kenny from “South Park.”

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: The scientific advisor, Dr. Brian Cox of the University of Manchester and the CERN project provides a commentary track. There are also two unrelated short films that director Boyle included simply so that the filmmakers could be seen by a wider audience.

FINAL RATING: 6/10

TOMORROW: Noise

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

Theatrical Release:Feb 6, 2009 Wide

A riveting action-thriller, Push burrows deep into the deadly world of psychic espionage where artificially enhanced paranormal operatives have the ability to move objects with their minds, see the future, create new realities and kill without ever touching their victims. Against this setting, a young man and a teenage girl take on a clandestine agency in a race against time that will determine the future of civilization.

The Division, a shadowy government agency, is genetically transforming citizens into an army of psychic warriors—and brutally disposing of those unwilling to participate. Nick Gant (Chris Evans), a second-generation telekinetic or “mover,” has been in hiding since the Division murdered his father more than a decade earlier. He has found sanctuary in densely populated Hong Kong—the last safe place on earth for fugitive psychics like him—but only if he can keep his gift a secret.

Nick is forced out of hiding when Cassie Holmes (Dakota Fanning), a 13-year-old clairvoyant or “watcher,” seeks his help in finding Kira, (Camilla Belle), an escaped “pusher” who may hold the key to ending the Division’s program. Pushers possess the most dangerous of all psychic powers: the ability to influence others’ actions by implanting thoughts in their minds. But Cassie’s presence soon attracts the attention of the Division’s human bloodhounds, forcing Nick and Cassie to flee for their lives.

With the help of a team of rogue psychics, the unlikely duo traverses the seedy underbelly of the city, trying to stay one step ahead of the authorities as they search for Kira. But they find themselves square in the crosshairs of Division Agent Henry Carver (Djimon Hounsou), a pusher who will stop at nothing to keep them from achieving their goal.–© Summit

(Due to the especially problematic nature of this film’s third act, this review has minor spoilers in order to discuss it)

We’ve grown tolerant of science fiction over the years, letting it rape science in the name of awesomeness. Hilarious depictions of human exposure to vacuum, sound propagating in space, people walking around thanks to a rarely-explained “artificial gravity”, aliens who are just human beings with a different skin color and a few prosthetics, and so on.

But Science is awesome. There is no reason it should be ignored. When science fiction manages to respect actual science, the results are immensely satisfying. Stanley Kubrick did it in 1969 with his amazing “2001 – A Space Odissey”, a movie that, to make up for the lack of sound in space, used the nervous breathing of the astronauts inside their spacesuits, a brilliant move to create tension — not to mention how it depicted human exposure to vacuum with impressive accuracy, and it’s a forty year old film.

And then films like “Sunshine” come along, under a pretense of being “scientifically accurate”, and consistently laugh in the face of scientific fact in the name of entertainment, but treating the audience like dumbfucks.

I liked “Sunshine” when I first saw it a year ago. In fact, I loved it. But upon seeing it again, something fairly rare happened — a complete change of opinion. Opposite to my embarassingly well-documented (here, here and here, respectively) experience with “There Will Be Blood”, which I initially didn’t like, but eventually loved.

In this latest viewing of “Sunshine”, I couldn’t help noticing the carelessness in its construction and the constant exposition in the dialogue, not to mention set pieces built entirely around scientific innacuracies. There is a threshold to how much abuse I’ll let my mind take until I start disliking a film, especially when said film likes to think it’s clever. It wants to awe us with its “understanding” of science, as evidenced by the moment a character says “80% of dust is human skin,” for no reason, as if his brain is wired to wikipedia.

The sun is dying. After the failure of spaceship Icarus I for unknown reasons, Icarus II is sent with the same purpose — re-igniting the star with the use of a payload consisting of a powerful bomb . But nearing Mercury, they come across the distress signal of Icarus I, and physicist Robert Capa (Cillian Murphy) suggests a detour to add their payload to their own, increasing their chances of success since the bomb’s capacity of re-igniting the sun is entirely theoretical — which makes two bombs a safer bet. This starts a dangerous chain of events that puts the mission and its crew in serious risk.

And one of the film’s main problems is that this chain of events isn’t believable. It starts with one of the crew members, Trey, adjusting the ship’s trajectory but forgetting to adjust the huge heat shield that protects them from the sun — you’d think that would be hard to forget, but he does. Maybe it would have sounded more credible if it wasn’t for Trey’s interpreter, Benedict Wong, overacting to the point of embarassment upon acknowledging his mistake.

Then some crewmembers realize moving the shield to fix it will make them lose two comm towers due to direct exposure to the sun — they go ahead without consulting their captain, destroying a vital part of their ship without hesitation — someone even says “We’ll need the towers for the return trip,” to which someone hilariously replies in a stunning display of foresight and professionalism, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Finally, when two crew members are outside fixing the damage to the heat shield, right after they confirm they can do it and everyone cheers happily — the oxygen room just catches fire as though it’s saying, “SURPRISE, BITCHES”. And when narrative conflicts just happen like that, it’s a worrying sign of a schematic script.

Sunshine also suffers from a less than impressive art direction. While the Icarus at first seems very believable (being made out of segments like the International Space Station), the heat shield soon reveals itself so unstable that it makes the entire ship a major design fault — after all, the mission includes abandoning this heat shield, using it to protect the payload as it goes toward the sun — so how do they plan to survive the return trip with the much smaller, second heat shield, if the larger one could barely be moved without destroying the comm towers?

And why do the comm towers spin around the ship, protruding so far from it it’s no wonder the heat shield can’t protect them? Artificial gravity via centrifugal force? It doesn’t work that way, but well, at least they try to explain artificial gravity in this film, even though gravity itself is dubiously represented in it — the payload, which has the “same mass as Manhattan”, seems to generate Earth gravity (as seen later in the film) — yet somehow, this doesn’t seem to interfere with the artificial gravity inside the Icarus (both are clearly not the same, since if they were the Icarus crew would have to move around the ship vertically with ladders due to their perpendicular position in relation to the payload). But this latter point is admiteddly more of a nitpick, dubious science that shouldn’t hurt the film.

What does hurt the film, aside from the aforementioned dumb chain of events (which reaches unbelievably stupid heights in the film’s third act, as I will discuss in a moment), is the painful sequence when the astronauts have to make a jump from a destroyed airlock to an intact airlock and only one of them has a proper spacesuit.

Their major concern? Freezing instantly when exposed to “-273 degrees celsius”.

So, we have a bunch of astronauts who think the temperature of space is absolute zero and that people exposed to vacuum instantly freeze despite being in a fucking vacuum. And worse, one of them does freeze instantly — we even hear the sound of his skin hardening. In space. Not to mention there is no reason why the Icarus couldn’t have gotten a little bit closer to the destroyed airlock to, you know, make it harder for their colleagues to accidentally float away to their death. It’s a sequence so ridiculously full of inconsistencies it’s barely worthy of a “B” movie.

Relax. I babbled enough about this. The flaws of “Sunshine” are not down to a science advisor who apparently couldn’t get the filmmakers to listen. As a narrative, the film is equally flawed, not just due to its aforementioned schematic script but also because of the expositional dialogue: upon hearing a loud, continuous sound all over the ship, a character explains to the others that it’s just the sound of the metal in the heat shield expanding and contracting due to the change in temperature.

… at the point when he says that, they’ve been travelling together for sixteen months, yet they act like it’s the first time this happens. Even worse, Corazon (Michelle Yeoh) replies “I know what it is, flyboy”, making the exposition even more blatant.

Alex Garland, writer of the script, does try to hide the patronising nature of these lines, but he simply can’t — in order to explain how the bomb works to the audience, he has two characters discuss death in a vaguely-related fashion and one of them starts a simulation of the bomb, explaining it to his friend while actually explaining it to the audience, and finishing it with a line that tries to justify why he just did that, but fails to convince — it’s painfully obvious the film is trying to get its viewers to understand what it’s doing.

Why, instead of that, couldn’t the character have simply gotten into the room and started the simulation to admire it by himself? It could have been a nice, silent scene that got whatever information it needed to get through subtly and quietly, trusting the audience instead of patronising us.

And that’s another problem — it never feels like these astronauts have been actually travelling together for sixteen months. They rarely talk to each other with intimacy, and when they go out on a spacewalk, they act like it’s the first time they do that in sixteen months (speaking of which, let me add the spacesuits in the film look absolutely ridiculous).

Standing out in a problematic cast, the talented Cillian Murphy is convincing as Robert Capa, and his growing fear in the third act of the film helps the absurdity of it all feel less stupid. The other cast member who does a surprising job is Chris Evans, intense as the cold and practical Mace. Hyroyuki Sanada plays Captain Kaneda with charisma, but Rose Byrne doesn’t get any room to shine as the unidimensional Cassie, neither does Michelle Yeoh as Corazon, who suffers from having to say some of the film’s worst lines (the “-273 celsius” bullshit and “I know what it is, flyboy”). Troy Garity is also sabotaged by a very unremarkable character, Harvey, and Cliff Curtis plays an equally uninteresting crewmember, Searle. Finally, Benedict Wong, as I said, overacts constantly and Mark Strong embarasses himself by playing the film’s most implausible and ridiculous character.

Finally, there’s director Danny Boyle. After starting the film with a beautifully realized shot, Boyle succumbs to over-direction. Insisting on countless exterior angles exposing the Icarus, he also goes for obvious symbolism. When Searle is trying to explain two sides of an argument, the camera moves to the other side of a glass screen, illustrating that he’s now talking about the other side of the argument as if we’re all a bunch of retards who can’t understand the basics of conversation.

And as the film progresses, Boyle exaggerates more and more and suddenly decides he wants to do an Alien film. Working with a horrendous editing work that makes Tony Scott look like a genius, the film adds a villain that would have seemed much more interesting if it wasn’t for his putrid dialogue, the pathetically exaggerated way he’s filmed (always out of focus, with the image shaking) and his amazing stealth abilities that make no fucking sense. And at the very end, Boyle goes as far as adding freeze frames and horribly overdone camera movements to try and create some tension.

However, it’s still Danny Boyle, which means “Sunshine” does have some highlights (aside from Alwin H. Kuchler’s exceptional cinematography and John Murphy’s memorable soundtrack): namely, the beautiful scene when the crew of the Icarus II is hypnotized by the sight of Mercury orbiting around the sun, and the moment Robert Capa needs to jump from the Icarus to the payload — a masterfully-shot moment with excellent music that offers a glimpse of the great film “Sunshine” could have been if Garland had revised his script and respected Science, and if Danny Boyle had done the same plus restrained himself.

However, with this much pseudo-science, pretensiousness, inconsistencies, plotholes and badly-developed characters, “Sunshine” is weak science fiction. An interesting premise that needed way more pre-production work before being filmed.

Believe it or not, I do try to do some good in the community.

– Alonzo Harris

Director Antoine Fuqua made a big splash with Training Day. The movie was largely ignored when it initially came out in theaters, because the quality of movies in the year 2001 was not that good. It got an extra boost when Denzel Washington won the Oscar for Best Actor over perennial frontrunner Russell Crowe. This is a different take on the cop genre, but a good take on it.

As the title suggests, this movie chronicles the day in the life of a rookie cop, Jake (Ethan Hawke) on his first day on the beat. He is nervous about impressing Alonzo (Washington) who might give him leg up in the chain of command.

Jake wants everything that he needs to know about the beat. Alonzo wants to give the noob a reality check about what it’s like to be a real narcotics cop in Los Angeles.

They drive all day in Alonzo’s tricked out black Cadillac. Alonzo’s numerous lessons to Jake are to unlearn what the textbook protocol from the academy. Think with his gut and not with his mind. Not bring his personal life into his job. Have a keen eye on how to handle a shakedown.

The more that Jake gets to know the work ethic of Alonzo, the more he realizes that Alonzo is not a good role model of what it’s like to a narcotics officer. Some of his tactics doesn’t rub Hoyt the right way. If you want to be a good undercover narcotics officer, you have to know what it’s like to be drugs. You have to bends the rules a little bit.

Jake thinks that maybe doing what Alonzo would get him in his good graces, but going against Alonzo might be him killed.

There are two strong performances here from Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. The movie deals with the duality of what’s right and what’s wrong. Denzel’s Alonzo character is morally reprehensible that you don’t feel any sympathy for him. This is the biggest flaw about the movie.

Judgment: If you want to see Denzel be villain, watch this movie.

Rating: ***1/2

A Scottish singer rules the world tonight in Hollywood on Horiwood.Com. Actor Cliff Curtis is rumored to be dancing down the aisle in love and Lou Sulola Samuel is the cutest little angel to arrive in Los Angeles ever. 

Here’s your top ten celebrity and entertainment news post today. Thanks for voting and for your fun and eclectic choices.

1. Scotland’s SUSAN BOYLE is queen of album sales worldwide.

2. NIKKI REED of the Twilight Saga is a true rising young Hollywood star.

3. KATHERINE HEIGL continues to romance US as an all American sweetheart.

4. LADY GAGA doing her JLO tumble impersonation in Montreal entertains.

5. LOU SULOLA SAMUEL says hello to the world. Too cute.

6. COLIN FARREL takes a vacation in Mexico.

7. TIGER WOODS gets a traffic fine for “Careless Driving”

8. Hollywood Maori actor, CLIFF CURTIS just might be getting married.

9. Footballer GRADY SIZEMORE loves himself and his iphone just a little.

10. ANGELINA JOLIE reigns as the Queen of Magazine covers.

BONUS POSTS: 11. RICHIE MCAW makes sporting history being named world rugby football’s player of the year for the second time. He’s #1.

12. Chinese model, LIU WEN represents fashion on the runway in the USA.

13. The Trowenna Sea is a must read for all who love epic Hollywood period films.

14. MICHAEL JACKSON beats BRITNEY SPEARS for Yahoo’s most searched.

15. NINA WARREN, GEORGE CLOONEY’s mom is red carpet ready.

~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 12.1.09~

Hollywood actor Cliff Curtis is rumored to be tying the knot in beautiful Rotorua New Zealand, very soon. Cliff is the ‘happiest hori’ who works in Hollywood that I know of.

Cliff Curtis is a funny man when he’s not doing intense method-acting character roles that Hollywood requires of him. This is the talented actors forte and he effortlessly excels at it for Tinsel Town.

Love is in the air. Along with master storyteller Professor Witi Ihimaera of The Whale Rider fame, Cliff  Curtis is a reigning Maori King of Hollywood entertainment.

Congrats bro… At Last.

~Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 11.26.09~

Neil Jackson shows Djimon Hounsou that he's a rising star.

(Summit) Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camilla Belle, Djimon Hounsou, Cliff Curtis, Ming Na, Joel Gretsch, Maggie Siff, Neil Jackson, Scott Michael Campbell, Corey Stoll, Colin Ford, Xiao Lu Li, Paul Car. Directed by Paul McGuigan.

It is said there is no limit to the potential of the human mind. It is also true that there is no limit to the human desire to control and exploit anything with the potential of limitless power, and no limits to how far some would go to gain that power.

There have always been humans with special abilities. Telekinetics, called Movers. Precognitives, called Watchers. People who can exert control over others, called Pushers. People who can sense the location of others, called Sniffers. These are controlled by a sinister government agency known only as Division. One of the most fearsome agents of Division is a pusher named Carver (Hounsou).

A mover named Nick Gant (Evans) has been eking out a miserable existence in Hong Kong, far away from Division. He’d watched his father (Gretsch) murdered by Carver ten years earlier. His powers have never really developed properly. His disastrous attempts to influence dice games have landed him deep in debt to the sorts of people who aren’t about installment plans. On the positive side, Division hasn’t really felt a need to go after him seriously.

However, two Division sniffers (Stoll, Campbell) are waiting for him in his apartment after a run-in with some dice players. They’re looking for Kira (Belle), a pusher who escaped from Division’s medical labs with a syringe filled with a formula meant to increase the abilities of the psychically endowed, but usually winds up killing them. In fact, Kira is the only one who has survived the shot and could be the key to Division’s plans of assembling an army of enhanced psy-soldiers.

After the sniffers leave, Nick is visited by a precocious little watcher named Cassie (Fanning) whose mother remains captive in a Division facility, drugged into a stupor. She informs him that the syringe is the means of bringing down Division and to freeing Cassie’s mom. Oh, and the two of them are doomed to die. However, the good news is that the future is constantly changing and Cassie isn’t always accurate. The bad news is that a Chinese gang led by a much better developed watcher (Lu Li) is also aware of the syringe and what it could mean, and they’re gunning to find Kira and her precious cargo. Carver and Victor (Jackson), a mover far more advanced than Nick, have arrived in Hong Kong to personally supervise the operation.

Nick assembles a team of friends and rogue psychics to try and help save himself, Cassie and Kira from what is increasingly looking like a fatal ending. The odds are overwhelming, but the stakes are high…and time is ticking inexorably towards a conclusion.

This is a nice looking movie, which takes advantage of its Hong Kong milieu nicely. There are kinetic action sequences with plenty of CGI lighting effects and wire work. There is also Fanning, who tends to elevate every movie she’s in.

The problem here is that the script is overly complex and hard to follow. I consider myself a fairly savvy moviegoer and I had problems keeping up with who is able to do what and where they stand. The movie is based on a Wildstorm comic series, for which this material is better suited. The world created by McGuigan and the other filmmakers is over-the-top and convoluted, which works in a four-color medium but not so much on the big screen.

Evans, best known as Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four movies (he must have a thing about comic books), is an attractive enough lead but Nick Gant is essentially Johnny Storm without the libido – or the flames, for that matter. While his powers progress nicely through the course of the film, his character changes wildly without a whole lot of explanation. Either far too much was left on the cutting room floor, or the script was not as well-written as it should have been.

The rest of the cast – many of them veterans of the Hong Kong action movies – range from competent to forgettable. The most surprising of them is Hounsou. He plays the movie’s main heavy with an odd lack of energy or fire. I think he’s going for menacing in a quiet way, sort of like a cobra ready to strike. However, he comes off merely wooden and bored and not nearly an object of fear that he should be.

I tend to be far more forgiving of comic book movies than most because I do love comic books, and I do love movies that are made from them. After 2008 gave us Iron Man, Wanted and The Dark Knight, I was looking for comic book movies to become more of a serious art form. This isn’t the movie that’s going to accomplish that. What McGuigan has crafted, however, is an unnecessarily convoluted but good looking movie that I can recommend with reservations, but looks to fall below the radar of the vast majority of the movie-going audience, and it doesn’t take a watcher to see that coming.

WHY RENT THIS: Exciting action sequences reminiscent of some of the better Hong Kong-made action films. Dakota Fanning is a solid actress who delivers a performance better than this movie deserves. Scenes filmed in and around Hong Kong are fascinating.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: Convoluted plot that’s hard to follow. Script occasionally ignores it’s own internal logic. Hounsou isn’t nearly menacing enough as a villain and comes off as surprisingly wooden.

FAMILY VALUES: Somewhat violent, although no worse than most comic book movies. There is also some teen drinking here. Otherwise, suitable for most teens and above.

TRIVIAL PURSUITS: In order to deal with the bustle of the Hong Kong locations, director McGuigan decided to film guerilla style, out of peepholes and in the back of vans. In fact, during a scene where Kira is kidnapped at gunpoint with no crew members visibly in sight and no prior advertisement that there would be filming there that day, passers-by didn’t react or move to help.

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: None listed.

FINAL RATING: 6/10

TOMORROW: Slumdog Millionaire

A-List celebrities, billionaire brothers, children’s book authors and even a hori actor in San Francisco made headlines today in Hollywood. Here’s the top ten news topics on Horiwood.Com today:

1. KATHERINE HEIGL is a gracious queen of Hollywood who is a total team player say all of her crew and peers around her. She’s a proud mom too.

2. ALEX MERAZ packs a punch with girl fans as his Twilight New Moon publicity duties increase. Alex Meraz is an intense performance artist.

3. KATIE PRICE & PETER ANDRE of Australia & the UK rate today in Hollywood. Something about a bridesmaid made them headline news.

4. BRAD PITT goes purple for a Japanese audience’s amusement. What next?!

5. JENNIFER ANISTON & JOHN MAYER’s romance is much loved in Aussie land.

6. CRABBY OLD FART blogger brings on a case of the chuckles for Halloween. Too funny!

7. LISA NIEMI & MARIA SHRIVER of California & MARGI WOODHOUSE of New Zealand do the best grief coaching in the biz!

8. RICHARD CHANDLER is a star of Billionaire Philanthropy. Step it up Oprah!

9. MISS TESSA’s Little Miss Ellegant book series is set to be a winner!

10. Ten Things about billonaire CHRISTOPHER CHANDLER, but let’s start with… ‘innovation creation’ as a hallmark trait.

Horiwood’s quick riser pick: Michael Jackson’s THIS IS IT is tipped to make $100 million at the box office. That’s one heck of a documentary film! AEG says $250 million in first 5 days.

horiwood’s latest tweet on twitter is: “What’s Hollywood Maori Actor Cliff Curtis up to? In San Francisco filming on the Trauma TV series, apparently. Maoris are everywhere in California. Diggin that!”

Let’s Think Green like our happy hori brotha Cliff does for Green Peace. Thankfully Cliff doesn’t have to play terrorists opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger’s fireman hero these days. lol! Thankfully, the times are a changin.

Cliff is an original Maori in Hollywood and forerunner of hori American entertainment. Props! People who act with Cliff get nominated for Oscars (Ethan Hawke and Keisha Castle-Hughes), or become Governor (Arnie). The brother is a Hollywood star maker.

When will it be Cliff’s turn for an Oscar nod, Hollywood?

Vocês já sabem do meu amor pela animação Avatar – The Last Airbender por este post que fiz no blog anterior. Também sabem que estou super animado com as gravações do filme pelo amado e odiado M. Night Shyamalan. Pois bem, eu havia feito um post sobre o filme e agora tenho mais nomes para divulgar!

Clicando na foto dos atores você será direcionado para a respectiva página de cada um no IMDB.

É a primeira atuação do guri e foi uma bola dentro no quesito características. Pelo que andei lendo nos fóruns da vida, o filme também mostrará a infância de Aang, só que o ator que fará a infância de Aang com a Nação do Vento ainda não está escalado.

.

.

Katara

.

Pois é, nada a ver com a personagem na animação, porém é bem parecida com o ator convidado para interpretar o irmão dela…

.

.

.

.

Jackson Rathbone

Sokka

.

…que por sua vez ficaria ótimo no papel de Zuko, que será interpretado por…

.

.

.

.

.

Dev Patel

Zuko

.

…Dev Patel, que ganhou o Oscar por Slumdog Millionaire.

.

.

.

.

.

Shaun Toub

General (tio) Iroh

.

Não sei se o ator Shaun Toub se dá bem como tio Iroh, um personagem super carismático. Além do que, o tio Iroh é gordinho… Shaun já é um ator experiente, que já atuou em vários grandes seriados, como E. R. e Lost. Pra mim ele combina mais com personagens de maior força, e não carismáticos como o Tio Iroh, que na animação é tanto dócil como forte. Mas não sou eu que estou cotando, né?

.

.

Cliff Curtis

Senhor do Fogo Ozai

.

Super ponto positivo. Olha só essas imagens? Separados no nascimento!

.

.

.

.

.

Aasif Mandvi

Comandante Zhao

.

O Comandante Zhao é um dos primeiros a perseguir Aang e sua turma. O ator Aasif Mandvi (que é irmão do Shyamalan. Mentira.) atuou em Jericho. Série super recomendada.

.

.

.

Jessica Jade Andres

Suki

.

Suki, a brava guerreira que faz par romântico com Sokka será interpretada por Jessica Jade Andres. O IMDB diz que ela já atuou no seriado Gossip Girl. Eu não assisto, então, caso alguém se lembre dessa belezura atuando, por favor, nos comentários.

.

.

Seychelle Gabriel

Yue

.

A linda Seychelle Gabriel atuou em The Spirit. O filme é terrível, mas ela estava boa. Entenda como quiser.

.

.

.

.

Lauren Mary Kim

Guerreiras Kyoshi

.

As guerreiras Kyoshi são as fiéis companheiras de Suki. Ou seja, fará uma ponta. Uma dó.

.

.

.

.

.

Katharine Houghton

Avó Kanna

.

A avó da Katara e do Sokka é quem conta para os dois sobre a lenda do Avatar. Ou seja, fundamental para a motivação dos jovens.

.

.

.

Keong Sim

.

Keong Sim, que já esteve em Law & Order, fará um mestre da Dobra da Terra. Será que ele vai ser um dos lutadores da arena onde Aang encontra a Toph? Só esperando pra ver.

A previsão de lançamento é para Julho de 2010. E claro, assim como a animação possui três temporadas, o filme também terá. Dá uma olhada no trailer:

P.S.: Coisa chata tentar deixar tudo alinhado no WordPress, hein? Aff!

Ed, Frankie and guest co-host Tony Figueroa weigh in on the premieres of Cougar Town, Modern Family, Community, Hank, The Middle, The Good Wife, Trauma, Mercy and other new network series, while David Krell looks back at The Tony Randall Show, thirtysomething, Shannon’s Deal and other network series set in the city of Philadelphia:

http://media.podcastingmanager.com/9/3/5/3/3/142636-133539/Media/100509tvc31_1.mp3

Hey, it’s been awhile. After a brief hiatus, due in large part to family and professional obligations, and in small part to the lack of interesting news, we’re back in the saddle again. Time to catch up!

Shaun Toub spoke with Thomas Attila Lewis on the red carpet at the Emmy’s briefly about his experience working on the film. He believes it’s ‘an incredible film’ and ‘visually unbelievable.’ Toub went on to describe how the world is ‘full of mystique’ with a really complex protagonist.

Cliff Curtis (Fire Lord Ozai) spoke on The Last Airbender with CraveOnline.

Cliff Curtis: How was shooting The Last Airbender?

CraveOnline: It was wonderful. It was really great and it’s also great that I’m going to be able to work the two. I’m not giving up film. I’m just doing another job that happens to be on television.

Cliff Curtis: Are you playing a character from the animated series?

CraveOnline: Yes, I am. I’m playing fire lord Ozai.

Cliff Curtis: Did you take anything from the animated form?

CraveOnline: I’ve not watched it. I didn’t want to watch the animated form because I knew the director, M. Night, was going to depart from that.

Cliff Curtis: You must be dealing with a lot of pyrotechnics. How do you deal with that?

CraveOnline: Fire, well, that’s a good spin. Is there anything in particular about fire? Yeah, just don’t touch it. I don’t know, don’t touch it, you’ll get burned. In particular, I’m so in the world of making a movie. They have safety meetings before anything is done and all the safety people gather around, so I’m so protected from the fire, I don’t even get near it.

Cliff Curtis: Do you have a visceral feeling when the explosions go off?

CraveOnline: No, because both of my characters, whether it’s Rabbit or the fire lord, actually are very comfortable in those situations. So I pretty much just ignore it.

Cliff Curtis: Both this show and the Airbender movies, this will be the first time you’ve played the same character more than once. Is that a different approach?

CraveOnline: I’m yet to discover that. I don’t really know. You’re right, I haven’t done that so I’m about to figure out what that’s like. I think the big difference so far that I’ve discovered is that in a film, it’s very contained. So we know before going in to make the film what the film’s going to be, and then when the film is completed, we find out what it is. Whereas television, as far as I’m discovering, it evolves. As the show evolves, everything’s fluid. Characters can disappear tomorrow as you see in the pilot.

Cliff Curtis: What is M. Night like on the set?

CraveOnline: He’s very deliberate and predetermined, extremely. He’s planned everything. Storyboarded to the frame.

Cliff Curtis: So you’ve seen the movie already pretty much?

CraveOnline: No, he doesn’t show those to you unless he’s trying to explain what he wants in a scene, so I only get a portion of that, that’s relevant to what we’re shooting.

Finally, Entertainment Weekly brought us an exclusive look on the set of The Last Airbender, with four new photos of Noah Ringer, Shaun Toub, and Dev Patel. Click the images below to view in high resolution.

Monday, October 5, 2009
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Jupiter Retrograde
Uranus Retrograde
Sunny and cool

Busy, but good weekend. I worked on site — cable and internet were both out, which mean I had no intrusions on my workday. It was kind of nice. I did have to dash out to the Greenwich Library briefly to pick up an email from an editor, but, other than than, Saturday was almost entirely consumed with work on the essay. I gutted and restructured it, building the whole beginning section from the ground up, adding in the information from the two newest books, and rearranging the rest of the information.

In between bouts of essay work, I also started developing a new project– I’m not exactly sure what it is, but it’s a big one, and requires a lot of thought. It feels right — like I can cover a lot of ground on a lot of issues and concepts that matter to me and that I want to explore. Part of me wants to develop it during the Muse Conference, and part of me feels it’s still at too delicate a stage so to do. I was practically in a trance during the times I worked on the information for it, which is how I like to be — if only I could sustain that for the duration of the project! Several of my main characters (it has a large, ensemble cast) are very clear to me and are revealing relevant information. Several more are still around the shadows, in the sidelines, not quite ready to step forward. I have to be patient with this, let it unravel at its own pace, and not drop any of my other deadlines while it reveals itself.

Over the weekend, I also watched more television than usual. On Friday, I flipped between STARGATE UNIVERSE, GHOST RIDER, and NUMB3RS. I missed the denouement of NUMB3RS, so I’ll have to see if I can go back and watch it online. I have mixed feelings about STARGATE UNIVERSE. I thought it was well done, in a lot of ways, but I missed the oddball humor that then turned on a dime and went straight to the heart that STARGATE ATLANTIS had. I haven’t quite warmed up to the cast yet, but I’m willing to give it a little more time. The ATLANTIS cast had an amazing chemistry and a lot of charismatic individuals in it, something that’s unusual to put together from Day One, so I need to give this some time.

I was surprised by GHOST RIDER — I’d heard such awful things about it, and it wasn’t as bad a I expected. I would have handled the material differently, both as a writer and a director, especially when it came to pace — the pace was off. And why do most actresses wash out up against Nic Cage? Angelina Jolie and Diane Kruger hold their own and have chemistry with him, but most others — ick. Cage, as usual, has an endearing quality and can pull off dialogue that would sound ridiculous coming out of anyone else’s mouth. I love how he physicalizes his characters — Johnny Blake’s kind of twitchy and then grows into Ghost Rider, while Ben Gates from NATIONAL TREASURE moves with the grace of a dancer. Sometimes when he gets twitchy, I want to shake him and say, “stand still. Be strong in the silence”, but twitchy worked for Johnny Blake, at least early on. And seeing Sam Elliot on screen just always makes me happy — talk about a solid performer who can communicate more with the tilt of a head and the glint of an eye than most other actors do with their entire bodies. Definitely an actor who knows how to use stillness. I prefer those actors to the ones that have to bounce around all over the screen.

Saturday night, I watched the re-run (I refuse to call them “encore presentations” — they’re re-runs set in the first week so they don’t have to pay production costs on having a full roster of shows) of TRAUMA. The show needs to find its feet, in a lot of ways, but I loved the work of Cliff Curtis. He was pitch perfect with a character who could have been an arrogant ass of a messed up individual. Instead, he came out of the gate with a complex human being, and I’m interested to see where he goes from here. I found the writing a little uneven and the emphasis more on the disasters than the aftermath. I’m not going to stress if I’m not home to see an episode, but if I happen to be home when it’s on, I may watch it, just for Curtis’s work. I also liked Aimee Garcia’s work a lot, but the rest of the cast has not yet enchanted me.In fact, some of them annoyed me, and not in the right way.

I slept in on Sunday until nearly 8 — bliss — read the paper, and didn’t get to work until about 10. Spent some time on what I’m calling The Challenging Project, and then spent the bulk of the day finishing the Anita Blake essay. I’m much happier with this version — although it’s far too long. I’ll go over it again this morning and shoot if off to my editor — if she likes the overall shape of it, we can take out the red machete and cut.

Got back from the site last night, unpacked, hung out with the cats. They all wanted attention.

Up at 7 this morning. No Prague diary yet — sorry, just haven’t had time to write it up properly. I need to get out the essay and rewrite a short story that an editor’s interested in, provided I do a rewrite with some cuts. Also have to do a new bio for the relaunch of the SDR site.

I want to do some work on The Challenging Project today, and on the Jain Lazarus Prague story, and then get back to work on AMENDS.

Busy day.

Devon

The angle of NBC this year is reinvention. With the introduction of Jay Leno, the network is trying to change the landscape but this path sometimes peppered with obstacles. Kinks still need to be worked out as the process continues.

Exec Sessions – NBC President Angela Bromstad With the impact of Jay’s moving to 10pm, Conan’s beginnings on “The Tonight Show” and the letting go of “Medium”, the tension in the room was palpable as the focus of the progression of the network continued. Talk first turned to “Heroes” and the specificity of Brian Fuller’s quick hire and then his departure. Bromstad indicates that Fuller was simply brought in to put the series back on track. When that was done, he turned his focus back to development which is their deal with him anyway.

Exec Ben Silverman’s departure Bromstad said was always part of “his” plan which drew some unintentional laughter which she seemed annoyingly puzzled at by saying that he wasn’t planning on being there for a long time anyway. In regards to Leno, she kept pushing off her perception but says that she hopes for a 5 cumulative rating which by structure is a little misleading. She confirmed that they be producing 6 “Weekend Update” specials this year and also admits that this fall with be the true test of Conan’s staying power as “The Tonight Show” host. There seems to be a little bit of tension in the transition as evidenced by an earlier marketing ploy dubbing him the new “King Of Late Night” which they agree was a little premature. They seem much more reserved now in terms of outlook.

Bromstad also speaks of the new series “Day One” which unlike “Heroes” tends to look at more narrow drama. However, any possibility of a second season will obviously hinge on its success in the first.

Another ambitious series: “Kings” (since canceled) was discussed as an experiment. Bromstad said it was an “amazingly big swing” and was “a great production”. However, in a crowded marketplace where you have to sell something, she says that it was ultimately not the right sell. She even admits that when they first developed it with Susan Lancaster, they thought it was a bit too highbrow.

In terms of the new series “Community”, it has been placed to premiere after “The Office” at 9pm which is why the “SNL Update” got the 8pm time slot. In response furthermore to “Southland” which is entering its sophomore season, Bromstad emphasized that the show needs to be more focused, especially on the cop angle of the story coming together.

“Medium” is another angle addressed (in that CBS picked it up after NBC declined to renew it). She says that they were thinking of picking it up until the very end. On an up note, she says that the new season of “Chuck”, which was saved despite lower ratings than expected, is on a great track creatively.

Community This new comedy follows a guy who basically scams his way into a job at a community college as teacher but finds out that he something to give to his students. Dan Harmon, the creator of the show, got the idea from actually going to a community college in Glendale when he was 32. He went to do it with his girlfriend at the time so they could do something together other than sex. His interaction with the different people there is what gave him the idea and jokes that it has the musings of something like “A Charlie Brown Christmas” He says that community colleges to him are funny but sardonically adds that he also thinks farts are funny.

Joel McHale, who stars as the would-be embodiment of Dan, says that he will continue to do “The Soup” on E! but warns jokingly that it will take a lot of uppers and downers to maintain his productivity. He admits that he can’t look at clips at that show the way he used to. He looks over at Chevy Chase (who makes his first venture into television here) and admits that the legendary comedian is “more god than man”.

Chevy, for his part, gives the advice back that “if you are going blind, then you are doing it right” which is a very sinister but subtle quip showing he still has it. He effuses in his Griswold way apologizing for the fact that he is a comedian. Seriously, he admits that right now films are not as good as TV. He, for one, never thought he would be in a situation comedy but the great writing hooked him. The reality he admits is that he doesn’t improvise a lot with his style of comedy. However, he also says, in good natured, ironic, self imposed ignorance on his part that he knows nothing about pop culture from 20 years ago until now.

Trauma By comparison, this view into the emergency response angles of the first response units comes off more “Die Hard” than “ER” simply by the aspect of its teaser footage. There seem to be too many explosions but not enough character traits. This however might only be sizzle and part of the initial pilot run to get viewers interested but, if they have to keep up that level of production value (especially with the bigger chopper explosion that ends the teaser), then the show might become quite expensive.

Exec producer Peter Berg says that the key with shows like this is always to up the ante. He makes the point that medical dramas will always be relevant, saying also that his personal experience on “Chicago Hope” as an actor was a great one. His fellow exec producer Dario Scardapane follows this up emphasizing Peter’s point that the legacy of a medical show lies in the characters. Some of the episodes will revolve around MCIs (which are Mass Casuality Incidents). Dario points to the fact that in the footage we saw, the pile up was such an event. The question he poses (which was my concern) is keeping up the production value which he hopes they can. This, however, is an obstacle from the start, ambitious but also a battle to be fought. The key is that with this show, you increase the pace because you are seeing the action 20 minutes before it hits the hospital doors. It is about working outside of the box although the specter of “ER” still looms large over many medical shows as to what can be done. How do you up the ante for the next generation of medical shows? Bigger is sometimes an option but that can quickly get out of control.

Dario mentions that they shut down the 280 Freeway for the pilot for five days, which is something you would do for a feature (and one that was most assuredly not cheap). The area explore with “Trauma” lies in the fact that “paramedicine” does what the doctors cannot. He says it takes a long time to get to this job but there is a burn out factor. People never step down but sometimes they are asked to leave because the pace and pressure become too much to handle.

Anastasia Griffith, who plays Nancy Carnahan, says that her character is the drug pusher of the clan. She went to medical school but she wants to work on the ground. She has a big heart and wants to connect to the individual which at times is very detrimental to her because it leaves her feeling very isolated in her personal life. She ends up self-medicating with sex.

Cliff Curtis, who plays Reuben Palchuck, angles to the endurance of a second archetype. His character, while being confidant, exudes a coldness in his personal life because he is serving an overall kind of ideology in the essence of service to humanity without judgment. The pilot, he says, serves a certain set up in that they go in like gangbusters on this certain event but a lot of the team dies which causes repercussions in the emotional and physical lives of the surviving members. Curtis says that the series is intense but if they can keep it grounded, it will be a great ride.

White Collar Building off a certain penchant in both “In Plain Sight” and “Breaking Bad” which made them so relevant, USA’s “White Collar” builds from two people who seem to have respect for each other and are more water than vinegar than they would like to relate despite some severe past incidents. It all comes down to an agenda. Like “48 Hrs”, one is a cop and one is a criminal who are working together towards a common goal. How it works is within a state of thought.

Jeff Eastin, the creator of the show, says ultimately the show is about these two guys and their interaction. Two aspects of the story hit him that were important as he was developing it. One, you don’t want one of the guys to look dumb and the other one smart. Tim DeKay’s character Peter Stokes, however, doesn’t want to show that his cards like that yet it shines through. These have to be guys you want to hang with. The key crux for them within the series is based in trust issues. Eastin also relates that when he talked to Tiffany Thiessen about her role as a wife, he told her to look at Abigail Adams (as the “John Adams” miniseries premiered to acclaim at the time they were developing this). Dihann Carroll also makes an appearance in half the episodes of season one as a recurring character called June who adds a delicious edge to the proceedings.

Matt Bomer, who plays Neal Caffrey, the erstwhile criminal serving a different agenda, says that his character is humanized by the fact that he comes from a quixotic place. Ultimately in the overall picture, he is searching for a girl Kate (a lost love) which dominates all his thoughts. The fact that the show is shot in NYC also gives the series, he believes, a distinct mood and tone, which is something that DeKay, who plays his nemesis Peter (who is on the right side of the law), echoes in sentiment citing a scene they shot with Dihann Caroll [on a roof] with the Empire State Building in the background. DeKay admits that Peter, even as a good guy loves a good con but he also likes to solve a good con which points to the fact that the character internally might enjoy working with this guy. But, as DeKay puts it regarding any criminal, “like any 4 year old, you have to hold their hand in the parking lot”.

Stargate Universe This telling attempts to reinvigorate the Stargate franchise by creating more of a “Star Trek” base with an almost “Lost In Space” theme. The selling point on a lot of this is bringing in Robert Carlyle who is mostly known as a film actor. More of these kinds of actors are entering this space because of the increasing production value and acceptance of television as an accepted form in terms of career path.

Robert Cooper, one of the exec producers who has shepherded “Stargate” through its many incarnations on TV, relates that he was a big fan of Joss Whedon’s “Firefly” which set the pace for the world of “Universe” in bringing in a visual style of say “The Shield” or “Friday Night Lights”. When conceiving this new series, they thought in paradox of terms to “SG1” and “Atlantis” in making it less referential. The angle that comes up quite new and fresh is the ability for some of the characters within this new structure to switch consciousness with people on Earth, which can be a “suspension of belief” deal breaker if it is not done right. The crux of the story of “Universe” is that there is not really good guys or bad guys, simply different agendas. Cooper also reveals that the forst episodes will examine different elements in terms of thematics like earth, wind, fire, etc.

Lou Diamond Phillips, who plays Colonel David Telford, says that when was approached, he saw that Robert Carlyle was attached to the property which raised the bar and Ming Na, whom he had known for years, was also involved as an actor. He says he always looks at new things as a life experience and thought this might be a different angle. He sees a series like “Stargate” as comfort food for the American public. Like any genre based show, it works within an unknown or, at least, partially alien setting. The angle with “Stargate” in his mind has iconic characters who are very real and relatable which negates the impact of the setting.

Robert Carlyle, who plays lead character Dr. Nicolas Rush, says that Robert and [co-creator] Brad [Wright] had contacted him around a year ago (September 2008). He was initially caught off guard by it and asked them if they, for sure, had the right guy. When he read the first script “Air” (which is the two hour pilot), he saw it as a challenge and it brought him to a place of enjoying science fiction more. He says that his character is a very dangerous man because, as an audience member, you are not sure what he actually is. He does some dodgy stuff which would probably make some of the other characters want to airlock him. The rub is that he is the one who knows how the technology works.

Alice This new miniseries from ScyFy comes almost in tandem with the feature version that Tim Burton is telling next spring. While that film is a more a telling of the traditional story, this version is more the neo-gothic portrayal using the urban city and casinos as a backdrop instead of the forest.

Nick Willing, who directed this fusion of worlds like his earlier “Tin Man”, said the key was to make the approach both funny and fresh but also with a strong visual flair. The base of the story is that the Mad Hatter is bringing over people from the real world to play at the Queen’s Casino in Wonderland. Like Pleasure Island, if you lose, the Queen gets to take your essence. The people of Wonderland can then drink it for a variety of intents including lust. The thought is that just as we have evolved in the modern world so has Wonderland. The question is what would it be like now as a real place but also how would it be relevant to us today?

Caterina Scorsone, who plays Alice, says that her reaction to the material in the way it was approached here was a bit more visceral. When you are growing up, in her words, you see the real world as not always logical. For her, the illogical here became part of the draw because the whimsy itself then isn’t as threatening. Beneath the surface though, for her, this “Alice” is a compelling love story even though right now it is heavily in the zeitgeist

Kathy Bates, who makes one of her first forays into the fantasy genre, plays the Queen Of Hearts which had always been a dream of hers. The key for her in terms of challenge was to have something psychologically compelling within the character but also to be able to perform without feeling that you have one leg tied to the floor. The key in understanding the Queen within the confines of this world is that she is fascinated by the ideals of feelings and emotions but is, in fact, terrified by her own.

Matt Frewer, who recently appeared in “Watchmen”, said he couldn’t turn down playing The White Knight who, according to the script, is “as crazy as a box of frogs”. The vision of the future as shown in this “Alice” is one where people are innoculated and tranquilized by gambling and the Queen Of Hearts’ nefarious ways. This, in many ways, he says, mirrors some of themes covered in “Max Headroom” in terms of turning large populations into blank canvasses.

Harry Dean Stanton, who plays the Caterpillar, describes this “Alice” as a well defined acid trip. This mirrors some of the production thought of legendary TV producer Robert Halmi who says that this world was mostly built because no locations like this exist. Hence most of it was against green screen in Vancouver. In the computer you can fly with flamingos over the Alps so it just becomes a question of vision.

Mercy This new medical series, which premieres September 23rd (8pm), follows the element of nurses in a less subversive way than say “Nurse Jackie”. Liz Heidens, the creator of the show, wanted to represent a real female friendship where the girls can be wild together. Nurses, as a rule, tend to pick up the pieces in the hospital but they also happen to be heroes and save lives, according to Heidens. For her, this felt like a way to depict real working women. They don’t have martinis in Manhattan…they drink beer in New Jersey. She also says that they will make sure to examine stories about people without health insurance. Her interest primarily lies more in characters that are wrong…and these women are still trying to figure out who they are. Women are usually played with kid gloves on TV and she wanted to change that.

Michelle Trachenberg, who plays Chloe, relates her decision in connecting to the show saying that once when she was in the hospital, the first person to hold her hand was male nurse who had a tattoo of a unicorn on his arm. He did her IV and made sure the ice pack was cold enough. That really made her feel safe. Chloe, for her, is an adult. The character went through nursing school and has the credentials. But, according to her, unlike her in real life, Chloe is shy and quiet. The challenge for her is in keeping it realistic. In her perspective, so many many women are scared by the situation they are in. Chloe looks to the other girls in the hospital (specifically Jamie and Taylor) to support her.

Taylor Schilling, who plays Veronica, says that in researching for this role, it became clear to her that nurses are the backbone of our hospital system. She was interested by this character in that Veronica had just returned from an uncontrolled environment (Iraq). It made her feel like a streetfighter. This world she has come back to is corporate and might feel a little contrived which makes this character almost like a bull in a china shop. In her mind, it is usually the most self protected people who are the most vulberable.

Jamie Lee Kirschner, who plays Sonya, says that her character is a hard worker who gets the job done. Playing the “brown” girl, for her, highlights that. Nurses, in her estimation, are the ones that deal with you freaking out. Her character is still searching for identity but maintaining her focus.

Lloyd Braun, one of the exec producers along with Gail Berman, believes that the big influx of medical shows is just coincidence. He relates that when he was at ABC, and they first were discussing Grey’s Anatomy, the thought was “not another medical show” since there were three other pilots vying for the slot. Every show was tonally different. Here he thought “Mercy” worked the same as well as did “Anatomy”. The key was connecting these people to this moment in time.

Exec Sessions – Rick Ludwin Before Jay Leno came out to discuss his new 10pm show, late night executive Ludwin discussed basic facts to optimize the time with Jay. His points initialized with the thought that 10pm is still prime time. Jay’s show will be on without fail for 52 weeks as a judging basis and that NBC won’t be putting it on a yardstick. Ludwin says that they did three separate studies which said that the audience would be looking forward to this kind of comedy as an alternative at 10pm, specifically in the fact that it leads into the late local news. He adds that music will be a factor in the new show but only twice a week. Comedy, of course, is the “X” factor. There will be “pretty actors” but Ludwin says that it will be more than just talk. In terms of relationships and parallels of booking with “The Tonight Show”, he says that there is a good working relationship. Ludwin stresses that this will be an “important show” but also also makes the point that they are not disappointed in Conan at all. The ratings, of course, is how they will keep score.

They will also be incorporating more advertising/product placement in Leno’s show with Lexus being the initial participant. He defends this thought saying this kind of interaction is in the DNA of television going back to the 50s. Ludwin, for his own part, says that he loves live commercials and would be shocked if the audience liked Jay and didn’t like these commercials.

The Jay Leno Show The big dog came into the house looking svelt, very rested and ready for anything. The first elements out of his mouth was, of course, his impressions on the news of the past months since he has been off the air. For example to the Michael Jackson death and the resignation of Sarah Palin, he says that they go “hand in hand” but that “the Palin thing cheered me up”.

Returning to TV like this was like training for him. For the new show, he got in shape. When he first started “The Tonight Show”, he said that everyone said they hated him (since he was taking over for the great Johnny Carson). For him, comedy is specific because it plays to a certain audience. Leno says he grew up in the era of Jack Benny, Johnny Carson and Bill Cosby. Politics are always in play as well as everything else across the board.

Leno talks about the physical representation of his new show. He finds the new set interesting and says that it is a lot bigger. He has a whole desk but he stresses that this new show will not be a talk or variety format. For example, he has spoken to Brian Williams about doing a segment about pieces that are not good enough for The Nightly News. DL Hughley, by contrast, will be reporting on politics. Rachel Harris (who was just in “The Hangover”) will also be doing some segments.

Leno also progressed into the sardonic considering all the controversy of the past two years which he could really never speak about before. He thinks that he hasn’t changed a whole lot. He is still married to the same woman and drives the same car. His nugget of advice relates to his acronym for “NBC”: Never Believe your Contract”.

He will also have some new cool segments which he could never have done on “The Tonight Show”. Leno relates that one of his favorite TV shows is “Top Gear”. As a result, he built a race track outside the studio. He had these fast electric cars built to race. He says Tom Cruise actually asked if he could get in early and practice.

For him, he thinks 10pm is the new 11:30. The kids in their 20s and 30s don’t stay up as late as they used to (in his perspective). Television, for him, now needs to be about immediacy. His example is that “The Today Show” got the airliner as it was landing in the Hudson. Does he expect to beat CSI? No. But he will catch them in the reruns.

Leno also slips that Kevin Eubanks came up with a new theme song. His Jay Show will start in as quickly as ten seconds. His quip is that it is “good food at sensible prices”. He comments on musical guests saying that it will get you a good studio audience but sometimes not a great TV audience. He will not have three guests. He will have one…maybe two, and then the racetrack. He also reminds everyone that, with “The Tonight Show” when he came in, it was number one and when he left it was number one. “The Jay Leno Show” in his estimation will have something for everyone.

He offers a peak at his competitors saying that there are good scripted dramas out there (he specifically highlights “Burn Notice”) but says also that he is very proud of his writers saying he has “the top five guys in the guild”.

When asked about his feeling about NBC and if he thinks he is coming into save them, he responds: “The networks are on their own. Screw them. There are things I like about it. There are things I don’t like about it”. He admits towards the end of his run, he was getting complacent at “The Tonight Show”. He adds that though, that if this new show goes down in flames, “we’ll be laughing all the way down”.

He unashamedly says that his confidence (exuded here) comes from the point now that he is rich. He doesn’t need to do this. He wants to. He also wants to make the point that there is no tension between Conan and him. He says that “when you play, this is how you play”. He admits that there will probably be booking wars between them. Jay then makes a General Motors reference saying that different engines make a difference. His point: “It is a game…and you play to win.”

He makes reference to David Letterman in terms of how he had a show on the same network and moved away. He says that one thing that kills people in Hollywood is bitterness. Leno says he “got it” when they wanted to take him off “The Tonight Show” when it was still number one and he admits that “there is only so much pie you can eat”. In all seriousness, he did say he had no desire to ever go to ABC because that, in effect, would create that “bitterness” which he says is so destructive.

NBC TCA Party With the Jay pinnacle ending the day, the party headed outside to the main garden area behind the Langham where the food smelled great and the open air concept truly encouraged interaction.

After proceeding to the Patron Bar, which held everything in account (especially the new coffee version), the life of the party spread out. Across the way there was a Dutch Bar set up with chocolate and golden lagers of exquisite taste. A compatriot of mine and I proceeded over to talk to Jay with the beer girl in tow before I was able to relate to them that, in fact, Jay does not drink. After conversing briefly with Hayden Pantierre (there to support “Heroes”), the day faded into night as a content looking Chevy Chase watched over the grounds with food in hand.

After failing to light up with Robert Carlyle near the beer bar, the late conversation proceeded with the creators of “Stargate Universe”, Brad and Robert, while a couple of the cast members and I did shots of whiskey. The relation of the reboot of this series stuck very clearly in my mind with the emphasis that in re-angling the franchise and making it seen through the eyes of a civilian gives it an almost mythic quality. Although I had not seen the pilot, the casting of Robert Carlyle was genius in that he (like Tim Roth) has so much to bring to this game if they let him go and roar through the screen. It has the possibility to transcend a genre and bridge certain gaps. This critic holds high hopes for the show as they disappear into the night, heading to Vancouver in the morning to begin shooting anew.

NBC as a network has been awash with controversy in the past year but also takes chances. In actuality, its cable siblings are doing some of the best work seen on television in years, specifically USA with “Burn Notice” especially but also with “Royal Pains”, “In Plain Sight” and now “White Collar” in the mix. There just seems to be a never-ending stream of good material from that specific net. Of course though, times change fast. ScyFy is also doing well with “Warehouse 13” opening to good numbers and “Caprica” on the way along with the aforementioned “Stargate: Universe”. NBC proper is the only one not entirely surefooted. While shows like “Chuck” and “Heroes” show the possibilities at times of good writing, the overemphasis on new medical shows and an erstwhile non-studio sitcom might have trouble gaining traction along with the loss of the 10pm hour.

The biggest gamble of course is “The Jay Leno Show” which has no guarantee to work despite good pedigree. It is the move that everyone is watching. It simply becomes a wait and see game.