December 2007 News
December 28 DVD Talk: Chancer Series 2 - Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Like a Shakespearian tragedy wrapped around a Dickensian serial, and fitted into a modern soaper framework, Chancer: Series 2 surpasses the first season, deepening the emotional impact of con man Derek Love's odyssey through a rapidly crumbling 1990s England, and his devastating personal journey through true, real love - and absolute, final loss. Starring the hypnotic Clive Owen, Chancer: Series 2 is flat-out one of the best British serials I've ever encountered. - Thanks, Steph December 27 Live Journal - Live Life 2 the Max -- The Boys Are Back In Town - Thanks, Steph TVShowsonDVD.com: Chancer DVD News -- Acorn Media announces the January 29, 2008 DVD debut of Chancer, Series 2, offering the final seven episodes of movie star Clive Owen's (Children of Men, Inside Man, Closer, Croupier) breakthrough role. In the early 1990s television role that made him a huge star in Britain, Owen is positively magnetic as con man Derek Love, a.k.a. Stephen Crane, an irresistible rogue who makes up in moxie what he lacks in morals. Series 2 finds Derek released from prison and scheming to save not only the estate of his former romantic rival, but also the orphaned child of his late love. Packed with devilish plot twists and double crosses galore, Chancer's complete second series features returning faces from Series 1 as well as a new romantic interest played by Louise Lombard (The House of Eliott, CSI), a woman on the run from her own dodgy past. - Thanks, Steph December 25 Best wishes to Clive and all of you - today and throughout the new year.... December 24 DVD Talk Review - Shoot em Up: The DVD - A one-disc release, the DVD is packed in a standard keepcase with an embossed, uv-coated matte-finish slipcover that thankfully strips away the usual back-of-the-box content for a nice design. The disc features a stylish animated anamorphic widescreen menu with options to play the film, adjust languages, select scenes and check out the special features. Audio options include Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and 2.0 and DTS-ES 6.1 Discrete tracks, while subtitles are available in English and Spanish, along with closed captioning. -- The Quality - The anamorphic widescreen transfer on this film is excellent, capturing all the action and stylish visual tricks beautifully. The level of detail is extremely high, the color (an important element of the film's look) is spot-on, and the image is clean and clear overall. There are no issues with dirt and damage or digital artifacts, though a few of the opening trailers are oddly blurry. The only note of problem with the main feature is with the detail and clarity of the image, which reveals some of special effects, an unfortunate byproduct of the video quality. - Thanks, Steph December 22 Seattle p.com: Articles of Faith: An unexpected, powerful retelling of Nativity story - My nominee for a Christmas movie probably won't make any lists. It doesn't reprise the biblical account like last year's "Nativity Story." It isn't a sentimental favorite like "It's a Wonderful Life." Nor does it provide seasonal guffaws like "Home Alone." Still, I don't recall ever seeing a more powerful depiction of awed adoration of a newborn child than in director Alfonso Cuaron's "Children of Men."December 18 Variety: The Satellite Awards: "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" won a set of honors for art direction and costume design. December 17 Popcorn Junkies: ROBTRAIN's bad asses of 07 - Mr Smith is #6 -- "Over the years, Clive Owen has portrayed men with subtle performances that touched our hearts and minds, as his characters sought to get a handle on emotional relationships or tried to fight for the very survival of humanity. In Shoot 'em Up, Owen's character, Mr. Smith, introduces himself to this movie by shoving a carrot through the back of a man's skull, then shoots about ten people, delivers a baby, cuts the umbilical chord by shooting it, then blows away about 12 more bad guys. This is all in the first ten or so minutes of the movie." - Thanks, Allison You Tube: Speed painting of Clive Owen. Done in about 3.5 hours in Photoshop on 2 layers. Colors taken from Paul Gauguin self portrait. The song is "Everything Hits At Once" by Spoon. - Thanks, Steph December 16 The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal: Humor and vitality keep Chandler's works fresh - Q. So many fine actors have played Philip Marlowe over the years. Chandler lived until 1959, long enough to have seen Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart and Robert Montgomery play the part. Who was his favorite, and who is your own? -- A. Chandler is on record as saying that he thought Dick Powell (in "Murder My Sweet," an adaptation of "Farewell, My Lovely") made the best Marlowe, but that was before he saw Bogart in "The Big Sleep." He did say that Bogart was "the genuine article." ("The Big Sleep" came out in 1946, two years after "Murder, My Sweet.") It's a tough call for me as to which Marlowe I prefer. I loved both Bogart and (Robert) Mitchum. I thought Eliot Gould was great, too, in "The Long Goodbye," the first actor to capture that sense of Marlowe's sexual ambivalence. It'll be interesting to see what Clive Owen does with the role in the upcoming film of the Chandler short story "Trouble Is My Business." In any case, it's clear that Marlowe will never die, and he provides a very malleable suit of armor for an actor to slip into.December 15 The LA Times: Gervais Holiday Special review -- "...Howling at the despicable vagaries of fortune, Andy takes steps. Right over the backs of his few and needy friends -- including the dear and adorably dim Maggie, who falls on very hard times after refusing to be humiliated by that same Clive Owen. How Gervais manages to get A-list stars to portray themselves in such exquisitely bad light is one of the seven wonders of the modern world. Kate Winslet, Ben Stiller and Patrick Stewart have all provided hysterical self-send-ups, but Owen may top them all (though George Michael makes an appearance that apparently surprised even Gervais)." December 13 The SMH: Cash Reeled In -- The brooding Clive Owen is one step closer to appearing in a big-budget Australian film after the Film Finance Corporation approved funding for The Boys Are Back. Director Scott Hicks, who won an Oscar nomination for Shine, was thrilled by news that his film was one of 22 projects given the nod. - Thanks, Steph December 12 Kansas City.com: The Extra Extras -- "It also has some shrewd cameos from George Michael, Gordon Ramsay and Clive Owen as themselves, and Gervais says a scene involving Owen, a cocktail and co-star Ashley Jensen (“Ugly Betty’) is the funniest thing they ever did in the series." Variety Review: The Extras Special Series Finale (December 16 HBO)-- "The special finds Andy still mired in that unhappy malaise, while his friend Maggie (Ashley Jensen) watches her career as an extra implode after a hilariously brutal run-in with Clive Owen -- the latest celebrity to seemingly relish playing himself as a complete prick. (Frankly, nothing will ever equal Kate Winslet's foul-mouthed performance in a nun's habit or Ben Stiller rattling off his box office results, but Owen quickly vaults into the "Extras" top five.)" December 11 Related: Variety London Stage - Othello Review: Get me some poison, Iago." Finally and fatally convinced of Desdemona's iniquity, Chiwetel Ejifor's magnificently held and hurt Othello shimmers with the desire for vengeance. Tightening agonizing tension still further, Ewan McGregor's lethal Iago takes his time. "Do it not with poison," he replies, gently. Taking a stealthy step towards his victim, he pauses for a beat before lowering his voice to almost a whisper: "Strangle her." The chill that grips the theater is testament to the throat-clutching tension of Michael Grandage's brilliantly calibrated Donmar Warehouse production. Shakespeare's masterpiece of cunning is revealed as a breathless, three-hour thriller. December 9 Cossacks breaking news: It's a Man's World, Clive Owen -- "Actor Clive Owen hits the gym hard when preparing for a film and isn’t afraid of getting old and wrinkly. Just don’t expect him to moisturize I’m pretty damn faithful to Giorgio Armani. I think his clothes are really classy, very simple and understated. His stuff stands the test of time. One of the Oscar highlights for me was flying to Milan to be fitted for my tux by Armani himself. I’ve been a fan of his clothes for years, so I couldn’t believe it when I got a call saying he wanted to do it personally. As a teenager I was crazy about David Bowie. He was a huge inspiration for me. I dressed a little bit crazily in school and dyed my hair every colour under the sun. At one stage my hair was five different colours. My headmaster just gave me a puzzled look and asked, ‘Is that for a play?...’" December 6 USA Today: Ricky Gervais says goodbye to 'Extras,' hello to 'Ghost Town' -- Gervais says a pivotal scene in the finale, in which Clive Owen petitions perennial background actress Maggie Jacobs (played by Ashley Jensen) to smear the nastiest of special effects cocktails on her face, is the series' funniest. "I think the sketch with Clive Owen is the most perfect comedy sketch ever," Gervais says. "He's brilliant in it." Empire: The Sexiest Movie Stars of all time December 4 SpoilerTV blog: Duplicity (With plot spoilers) Thanks, Steph delibratepixel.com: Notes on Chandler December 1 From Lui: Last wallpaper for 2007 |