It was a rowdy week at The Playlist. In addition to gaining a clearer picture of Quentin Tarantino‘s Spaghetti Western-tinged slavery drama, “Django Unchained,” we saw the return of Warren Beatty, while we checked out the Oscar race, brought you new trailers and said goodbye to a living legend.
–Warren Beatty has returned, inking a deal to star in and direct an untitled comedy for Paramount said to focus on the later years of Howard Hughes. Hey, whatever wipes the taste of “Town And Country” out of our mouths is fine by us.
-To celebrate the 35-year anniversary reissue of “The Man Who Fell To Earth,” as well as last week’s Criterion release of “Insignificance,” we took time out to revisit the mercurial works of the great Nicolas Roeg. Catch the praise here.
-“The Man Of Steel” has added another cast member, but no one seems to know who “Law And Order” actor Christopher Meloni is playing. Celebrate by fondling some sweaters making fondue with cheddar.
-There’s spanking, there’s emotional abuse, there’s Viggo Mortensen — David Cronenberg is BACK. The kinky trailer to “A Dangerous Method” has surfaced, and it looks every bit as licentious as we expected. In other trailer debuts, “The Killer Elite” announced it will “Rock You Like A Hurricane” while we got one last advance peek at “Captain America: The First Avenger.”
-“Noah” is coming, with director Darren Aronofsky toting the $130 million-budgeted picture as his “event film.” Christian Bale‘s involvement remains a rumor, though one that Aronofsky acknowledges with a “no comment.” Which obviously means they’re sleeping together.
-Is the line drawn here? “Green Lantern” landed softly at the box office in its opening frame, leading to a discussion on whether the big superhero boom is now showing fatigue. They should have gone with the Robert Smigel version.
-Chit-chat: Bob Hoskins still has fever dreams about “Super Mario Bros.” Nicolas Winding Refn pitches his Christina Hendricks-led “Wonder Woman” to no one in particular. And Martin Campbell throws Marc Forster under the bridge by trashing “Quantum of Solace.”
-Djangooooooo! Jamie Foxx has come a long way from “In Living Color” and is now a Quentin Tarantino leading man. Foxx will play the lead in “Django Unchained,” joining a cast that already includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson. The gorgeous Kerry Washington was also later rumoured.
-We took a brief look at some of the best movies of the year so far. In addition, our Oliver Lyttelton took a sideways look at how the early Oscar race is shaping up.
-“Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” is now one of the ten highest grossing films of all time. Hooray for garbage!
-Finally, we mourned the loss of Peter Falk, who passed away at the age of 83. You can find a number of his films on Netflix Instant. Do so.
