The 1988 Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey movie Beaches is deservedly beloved by many, but if you look at the basics of the plot, it is a bit like a Lifetime movie. Now it’s becoming one, with Lifetime remaking the film (or at least re-adapting Iris Rainer’s novel), with Idina Menzel and Nia Long.
Once more the movie will chart the relationship between CC (Menzel) and Hillary (Long), who meet as children and maintain their friendship as they age, despite coming from different backgrounds and their lives going in different directions. There will be some differences though, with THR saying that, the ‘remake will follow CC as she builds her career in Los Angeles, whereas the original took the young pair to NYC while CC made a name for herself on Broadway.’
The film will certainly trade on the earlier version though, with Menzel offering new takes on Midler’s classic songs that featured on the Beaches soundtrack, Wind Beneath My Wings and The Glory of Love. You can get a taste for Menzel’s Wind Beneath My Wings in the background of the new trailer for the movie below. Beaches will first air on Lifetime in January. [Read more…]
In the 1990s, Gus Van Sant liked the Phoenix’s, directing River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho and a few years later Joaquin Phoenix in To Die For. Both were seminal roles for the actors, and since then Van Sant and Joaquin have talked about working together again numerous times, but either their schedules didn’t work out, ot the movie they were working on together fell through.
Jodie Foster’s screen appearances are becoming increasingly rare. While she’s kept busy directing Money Monster and episodes of Orange Is The New Black, we haven’t seen her in a movie since 2013’s Elysium, and it was two years before that that she popped up in Carnage.
Just from watching this trailer, it’s a decent bet Fences will be lining a few Oscar nomination in a few months time. Indeed, Denzel Washington (who both stars and directs) and Viola Davis already look like shoo-in for noms.
One of the main complaints about Prometheus is that is was marketed as an Alien movie, but it didn’t have any of the familiar killer aliens in it (except at the very end, sort of). As a result they shifted the focus of the follow-up, changed the name to Alien: Covenant to underline that this would indeed include the beloved nasties, and now a poster has arrived to show up front that yes, indeed, the xenomorph will be back.
Martin Scorsese has been attached to Silence for years. However he kept putting it back, to the point where it briefly ended up in court as some of the backers felt he was essentially preventing it from actually getting made by never getting round to making it, but keeping himself attached to helm.
I think the thing I like about this new trailer for Passengers is Chris Pratt’s expression, where he largely looks like he has no idea how he got on a spaceship. Like most of what Pratt does, it’s oddly endearing and helps suggest that despite the epic visuals, this won’t just be a typical sci-fi action fest. There are also some interesting hints toward Kubrick – from 2001 to The Shining – that are rather intriguing too.
Director Ben Wheatley’s High Rise got a mixed reception this year, but it was clear from interviews that he and star Tom Hiddleston enjoyed working together. Now they may be getting back together, as 
American TV has found a new love of live stagings of musical, with the likes of The Sound Of Music, Peter Pan, The Wiz and most particularly Grease all having successful outings. This December Hairspray is getting the same treatment, and to help drum up interest, a teaser for the production has arrived – which certainly makes it look like this won’t stray far from the movie version, even if it has the stage version’s Harvey Fierstein in one of the key roles.
Many wondered why of all the Pixar movies, they decided to make a sequel to Cars. After that follow-up wasn’t as big a success as most of the animation studios’s film, it perplexed even more people that they announced they were making another Cars movie. There are two good reasons though – first, the franchise is dear to the heart of Pixar’s head honcho, John Lasseter, and secondly and perhaps more importantly, in merchandising terms it’s one of the biggest properties Disney has ever owned, making continuing it very lucrative proposition irrespective of the actual box office receipts.