Hollywood Take 2: What We Believe (or Not)

With this website, Linked in Hollywood (or LIH), moving on from a series of articles devoted to spirituality it seems the greater Hollywood community may be following our lead.  For most of the stories this Hollywood weekly review seem oddly preoccupied with beliefs, incidents or systems of faith.  Whether we’re talking about our notions of what constituted the last four years of the last U.S. presidential period.  Our expectations regarding who or what will be competitive in next year’s Oscar race. When we should count out one of our pop culture’s reigning scribes. What constitutes an intelligent return of a biblical heavy weight? Regarding the life of a boxing champion, when should a Vegas act command our attention?  Our personal beliefs help us resist or help us to sustain our attention.

ESSENTIAL STORIES:

• HOLLYWOOD’S PROMOTIONAL BID FOR THE CURRENT COMMANDER AND CHIEF
• RACHEL WEISZ’ “DEEP BLUE SEA” FINALLY GETS IT’S OSCAR BUZZ
• AND YOU THOUGHT WE WERE FINISHED WITH STEPHANIE MEYERS
• ARONOFSKY FINALLY UNVEILS HIS PLANS FOR NOAH
• MIKE TYSON’S VEGAS SHOW IS SCHEDULED FOR THE STRIP

HOLLYWOOD’S PROMOTIONAL BID FOR THE CURRENT COMMANDER AND CHIEF

During the Super bowl, President Barack Obama made headlines trumpeting his belief that his presidency was successfully concluding it’s first act. Starring the gravelly voiced of Clint Eastwood, you may remember the ad discussed how though Detroit had “been on the ropes” yet it was now poised for a comeback.  Congratulated for both its urgency and stealth surprise amongst other wise non-presumptuous ads, the Obama-Biden campaign launched another retrospective election promotion last week.  Featuring the silkier voice talents of Tom Hanks this new 17-minute narrative appears to be more of a documentary than a commercial.  Titled “The Road We’ve Traveled” and discussed everywhere from Hollywood to Washington, this documentation narrative certainly attracted its share of admirers [1] and detractors [2] last week.

Here is the teaser trailer for the documentary:

Click hereto watch

For the actual documentary go here:

Click here to watch

RACHEL WEISZ’ “THE DEEP BLUE SEA” FINALLY GETS IT’S OSCAR BUZZ

Originally discussed on LIH as an impressive co-entry at a range of film festivals and other impressive Oscar favorites for last year “The Deep Blue Sea,” seemed to fall off the radar. Well actress Rachel Weisz’ and director Terence Davies’ labor of love seems to be back and is finally being championed by its fans. According to Deadline.com, with ratings like 84% from Rotten Tomatoes, there’s no doubt this film may have “Oscar legs”.  Terence Davies last movie 2000′s “The House Of Mirth” also starred Weisz, was well respected yet certainly well received yet didn’t provoke all of this potential for celebration [3].  To peruse this growing romantic powerhouse, see the trailer below.

YOU THOUGHT WE WERE FINISHED WITH STEPHANIE MEYER

With all of the discussion of how the “Hunger Games” was hoping to “eclipse” the Twilight franchise financially, artistically, marketing wise, etc.  Many of you may have forgotten that literary example that helped to refine the franchise formula that the Hunger Games was built on, and we’re not talking about the J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series.  In terms of inclusions, sure that series was exceptional for what it encouraged yet it was Twilight that really helped to refine the formula.  Though not always publically celebrated, many have wondered what author Stephanie Meyer’s next move was going to be.  We heard she had written another book and this week the film adaptation of her novel “The Host” was finally presented in trailer form at YahooMovies.com [4].  So what do you think; does this newer science fiction premise have the strength and potential to launch another mighty film franchise?  Please review and let us know.

ARONOFSKY FINALLY UNVEILS HIS PLANS FOR NOAH

After nine feature films [5], it would be a mistake to call Darren Aronofsky’s directorial career a fluke.  He certainly doesn’t feel that way.  In fact, after his possibly unprecedented Oscar success with “Black Swan” and before that “the Wrestler,” he’s is now making a bid to enter a very small society of Directors.  Yet let’s be clear, this self-motivated promotion is not an easy one, and the director is already receiving some criticism [6].  Casting Russell Crowe as the central character, Aronofsky’s is further along in his bid to place Noah, of the Biblical story “Noah’s ark” on screen.  You’re probably wondering what’s to worry about?  After a huge number of animal-centered movies over the last few years; “Twilight,”  “Warhorse,”  “Water for Elephants,” “The Artist,” “The Grey”, etc. shouldn’t managing this production be easy.  After all even if trainers are in short supply, one can always use CGI. Well, dear reader you would be correct; working with animals isn’t the challenge it used to be.  Yet the challenge of Noah isn’t so much the animals as it is the content.  With the potential to score as large as any other production, if we look at past performances, the Bible and its stories have a wider list of Hollywood detractors than one would easily recognize.  Demonstrating the some of the ease associated with Hollywood animal management, despite the difference in genre see the last time material associated with this topic was nationally distributed.

MIKE TYSON’S VEGAS SHOW SCHEDULED FOR THE STRIP

David Ng of the Los Angeles Times Culture Monster column warns: [7] “New York theater critics had better keep their ears protected if they’re thinking of panning the athlete who once took a bite out of Evander Holyfield’s right ear.”  That’s right though it has not opened yet, Mike Tyson has a one-man Vegas show at the MGM Grand that he hopes will eventually move to Broadway.  But readers why would you think this is so strange?  Think of all of the boxing movies and biopics that Hollywood has benefitted from “Gentleman Jim” (1942), “The Harder They Fall” (1956), “Somebody Up There Likes Me” (1956), “Raging Bull” (1980), “Cinderella Man” (2005), “The Hurricane” (1999), Ali (2001), [8] etc. Isn’t Iron Mike just cutting out the Hollywood middleman, and taking his product directly to the people?  Hard driving entrepreneurial move or not, if all goes well I imagine Broadway won’t be the last stop on this show’s schedule.  In other words, if we may be so bold, Hollywood here they come. As an aside, Tyson has been making himself at home in Hollywood for a few years now, explore below to see how appreciative he really is.

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Article references:

[1] http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/03/obama-film-the-road-weve-traveled/1

[2] http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/03/22/039the_road_we039ve_traveled039_with_obama_275965.html

[3] http://www.deadline.com/2012/03/rachel-weisz-and-director-terence-davies-team-for-early-2012-awards-contender/

[4] http://movies.yahoo.com/

[5] http://www.pjstar.com/blogs/religion/x1877371453/New-Noah-movie-to-be-edgy

[6] http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/03/21/why-darren-aronofskys-noah-will-disappoint/

[7] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2012/03/mike-tyson-wants-to-take-vegas-show-to-broadway.html

[8] http://www.empireonline.com/features/brief-history-of-boxing-biopics/p7

Tags: Obama, Stephanie Myers