Chris Brancato
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Ethan Hawke and Vincent D'Onofrio Lead New NBC Detective Drama
September 15, 2011 8:18am ESTEthan Hawke is a man filled to the brim with street cred. He's made his mark in the worlds of Disney, Richard Linklater, Denzel Washington, Shakespeare, sci-fi, and trendy '90s misery. So anything that he signs onto has an immediate hint of promise. His newest venture is not in movies, though: the Hawke is changing his flights to television. Hawke and Law & Order: Criminal Intent's headcase headliner Vincent D'Onofrio will be teaming up in a new crime drama series, Blue Tilt. In the series, Hawke and D'Onofrio will be partnered homicide detectives, dealing both with their strenuous jobs and their equally trying personal lives. One of the characters will be a divorcee, and one a married man. Both are fathers. The title of the series suggests further internal unrest than paying alimony or marital disputes. The phrase "Blue Tilt" refers to the mental state a homicide detective can reach, as a result of his often traumatizing profession, wherein he becomes a danger to himself or others, and is therefore mandated to undergo psychiatric observation. It is not yet reported if this practice will be a recurring theme in the show, but it can be assumed that we might see Hawke and D'Onofrio taking part (willingly or otherwise) in some head-shrinking. The series will be written by Chris Brancato (creator of First Wave, and occasional writer for the Law & Order franchise, The Outler Limits and Beverly Hills 90210, among many other series, as well as the film Species II), and will air on NBC. Source: Deadline
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Terminator Salvation Review
May 20, 2009 7:56am ESTWHAT IT’S ABOUT? In this fourth installment of the durable Terminator series the year is 2018 and a nuclear holocaust has effectively ended civilization as we knew it. With Terminators snapping up what little remains of the human race a small group of survivors have gone underground in an effort to battle the controlling organization Skynet which shocked the world by triggering the apocalypse. Standing up against all odds is John Connor the one man who knew this was going to happen and Marcus Wright a death-row inmate who’s about to be executed when he’s given a new lease on life by Dr. Serena Kogan a scientist with big plans for this dead man walking. Though Connor is highly suspicious of Kogan’s creation he forms a precarious bond with the resuscitated Marcus as the two search for a way to infiltrate and conquer a very imposing enemy. WHO’S IN IT? Let’s start by stating who isn't in Terminator Salvation: Arnold Schwarzenegger star of the three previous installments is busy in Sacramento so except for his brief reappearance via the miracle of CGI this is a whole new ballgame. Taking on a beloved movie franchise — just as he did in 2005’s Batman Begins — Christian Bale steps into the adult shoes of John Connor who was previously portrayed in T2 and T3 by Edward Furlong and Nick Stahl respectively. As the one key link to the entire series Bale’s Connor is intensely serious and dedicated to the task at hand — even though he’s vastly outnumbered. As Marcus Wright Sam Worthington gets to play both sides of the coin as a hybrid of human and machine delivering the most unique and convincing performance yet seen in the series. Both Bale and Worthington carry on this legendary series in style but it’s Worthington who gets the big scenes bringing an ironic element of humanity to the whole enterprise. Also noteworthy: Helena Bonham Carter as the doctor who creates a modern version of Frankenstein’s Monster; Anton Yelchin as future time-traveler Kyle Reese Moon Bloodgood as Resistance warrior Blair Williams; and rapper Common as Connor’s second-in-command. WHAT’S GOOD? Director McG (Charlie’s Angels) tackles the daunting task of carrying on this series without its signature star and pulls it off with first-rate action set pieces flawless production values and a fascinating new wrinkle in Marcus Wright a character at odds with himself as well as John Connor. In the time-honored tradition of a classic cinematic showdown these are no ordinary heroes. They’re conflicted warriors faced with a task that is truly overwhelming in its scope. WHAT’S BAD? With such a strong story the filmmakers probably didn’t have to resort to so many motorcycle flips explosions and truck and plane chases — not to mention a pulsating soundtrack that’s amped up so high you may need earplugs. But with so much excitement on the screen it doesn’t really matter. Action fans will be wetting their pants. MEMORIES OF THE GOVERNATOR: Arnold appears briefly (in the nude no less) in what appears to be a CGI pastiche of his classic character. But don’t blink or you’ll miss him. FAVORITE DIALOGUE: Terminators won’t die and neither will its signature line. When Blair asks Connor what she should tell his men after he’s gone he replies in earnest: “I’ll be back!” NETFLIX OR MULTIPLEX? It will be movie theaters’ OWN salvation this summer.
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Sopranos’ Actor Cleared of Cop Killing
December 22, 2008 2:38pm ESTToday was a good day for Lillo Brancato. The Sopranos actor, who played an aspiring mobster on the HBO drama, was cleared of second-degree murder in the shooting death of an off-duty police officer. The actor and his accomplice Steven Armento broke into a Bronx basement apartment in search of prescription drugs back in Dec. 2005 after a night of drinking at a strip club. Officer Daniel Enchautegui, 28, came over to investigate the disturbance when Armento shot him in the heart with a .357 magnum. Armento was convicted of first-degree murder and given a life sentence without parole, while Brancato was convicted of attempted burglary. Although he faces a minimum three-year sentence, he could get credit for time served, since he has been behind bars since the arrest. "There was never going to be smiles," his defense laywer Joseph Tacopina told the Associated Press. "This is not a case that warrants that." Lillo found fame in 1993 with A Bronx Tale alongside Robert DeNiro and later with his recurring role as Matt Bevilaqua on The Sopranos. MORE NEWS: Murdered Bond Girl's Hubby Accused of Crime
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Primeval Review
January 16, 2007 10:01am ESTWith stories like this who even needs the “Inspired by true events” shield? Primeval tells of the world’s most prolific killer Gustave. You see Gustave is a crocodile and he remains at large to this day. His thirst for human blood goes unpublicized until he chows down on a white woman at which point an American newsman Tim Manfrey (Dominic Purcell) his cameraman Steven (Orlando Jones) and TV personality Aviva (Brooke Langton) head down to Burundi Africa where they hope to document the capture of Gustave. They’re joined by a wildlife preservationist of sorts (Gideon Emery)—a rare breed in a post-Steve Irwin world—who doesn’t want to harm Gustave. The deep jungles of Africa become a veritable obstacle course when the locals embroiled in a long-standing civil war and unwilling to have some damn Yankees televising their homeland stand in the crew’s way not to mention Gustave proving an evasive 20-foot-long um little bugger! The names might not ring a bell but you’ve seen these three stooges before--all on TV in fact. Purcell is currently enjoying about half the 15 minutes of fame of Wentworth Miller on Fox’s slipping Prison Break. Purcell plays Tim with steel and virility as he hides his Aussie accent for the most part but he’s still got a ways to go to reach Clive Owen’s caliber of acting--and more importantly Owen’s caliber of roles. Langton of The Net (the TV show adapted from the Sandra Bullock movie of the same name) and Melrose Place fame shows off the beauty that will afford endless opportunities to prove herself as a “real” actress—which is ironically similar to her character’s plight—but will never get there with roles in movies like Primeval. And Jones still best known for and plagued by his 7-Up commercials is in true negligible-sidekick mode here--worthy of a snicker approximately once out of every dozen times he tries overzealously to get one. Jaws may come to mind based on the water creature-stalking-man plot but well it’s tough to even mention those two in the same sentence. Director Michael Katleman a TV fixture himself at least doesn’t even aim high enough to reach that level. No from the get-go he’s shooting more for an Anacondas feel—and yes that’s the horrific sequel to the so-terrible-it’s-fun J.Lo “original.” Katleman almost reaches Anacondas-ian highs but not quite. Among other notable problems the director cannot for one moment strike the right balance between the aforementioned level of guilty pleasure-dom and genuine horror. Instead he catches us off guard with what are supposed to be the thrills—and also with the comedy. Finally once Gustave is revealed which should essentially be the moviegoers’ reward the croc looks more a prop sitting in a theme-park lot. And the script from John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris (Terminator 3 co-writers)—well let’s just hope with the story being uber-derivative and cheesy enough as it is Orlando Jones ad-libbed all of his unlaughable comedy!
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"Footballers' Wives" Imported to America
August 30, 2006 12:08pm ESTABC is bringing British hit Footballers' Wives to America. The U.S. version will take place in the world of professional football, rather than soccer, but will retain much of the over-the-top spirit of the original. Touchstone Television producer Chris Brancato says, "What we've been working on is taking the characters and giving them an American spin." He says many of the original storylines will be used in the U.S. version and that the format will be adapted as an hour-long primetime soap. Footballers' Wives launched on ITV in 2002, and focuses on three ordinary women whose lives are transformed by the celebrity and fortune that comes with marriage to soccer superstars. Executive producer Eileen Gallagher says the key to the success of the show was that it wasn't really about sports. She adds, "It's as much about football as Dallas was about oil. It's about ultimate celebrity, about too much, too young... and women who are stuck with each other." Article Copyright Entertainment News Network All Rights Reserved.
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Catwoman Review
July 23, 2004 3:02pm ESTCompletely stripping Catwoman of her "Batman" connections the geniuses behind this comic-book movie--at least as bad as Spider-Man 2 is good--also stripped it of any pleasure. Neither campy a la Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt of the old TV series nor sexy vamp like Michelle Pfeiffer of Batman Returns Halle Berry's Catwoman is well one lost little kitty in the big city. Actually she's Patience Philips--an annoyingly mousy graphics designer for a top cosmetics firm who despite her job has no fashion sensibility no self-confidence and no boyfriend. (Yeah riiiight!) She is befriended by a mystical Egyptian Mau cat which--courtesy of lousy digital effects--often looks disturbingly like Toonces and sounds like Linda Blair in The Exorcist when it meows; moreover its way of befriending Patience is to lure her into a suicide attempt--one of many plot points lacking a rationale. When Patience discovers that the cosmetics firm's villainous owner (Lambert Wilson) and aging supermodel wife (Sharon Stone) are marketing a toxic disfiguring facial cream she is killed--flushed through a drainage system into the ocean. But here comes that darn cat again to revive her as she's lying in sludge and mud. Next thing she knows she's sleeping on her apartment's bookshelf eating tuna by the caseload looking longingly at Jaguar hood ornaments as if they're long-lost relatives and jumping about walls basketball courts and whatnot faster than a speeding bullet. She also takes to wearing a pointy-eared black-leather dominatrix outfit along with too much makeup but at least no whiskers. She also starts sniffing around that foul cosmetics firm which leads to a martial-arts showdown with Stone. What the Oscar-winning Berry doesn't do regrettably is get a CAT scan to see what kind of ailment convinced her to make this lamebrain movie. I've seen better acting on 7-Eleven surveillance videos than in Catwoman. Berry is cloying in the film's early stages when she's playing insecure lonely Patience and she's more pathetically childlike than anything else. Once she's Catwoman though she's really terrible tilting her head for endless close-ups and giving lots of wide-eyed stares meant to conjure feline curiosity but that more recall George W. Bush's "deer-in-the-headlights" gaze. The screenplay makes a few lame attempts to observe the duality of women in the way Patience changes to Catwoman but it's not there in the performance. Yet Berry's turn is a career-peak gem compared to Stone who can't decide whether to play the power-mad Laurel Hedare as a broad cartoonish send-up or as someone connected to reality. Looking like a vampiric Susan Powter and barking sarcastic lines without a hint of emotional connection to her character Stone is just awful. On the plot's fringes Benjamin Bratt does his best as a police officer (gee what else) who is both infatuated with Berry and suspects her of murder. The one-named French director Pitof (short for "pitoful"?) supposedly is a digital-imaging expert who has worked with City of Lost Children's Jean-Pierre Jeunet but you'd never know it here. Either he doesn't know much about directing actors or maybe he only gives directions in French. The effects--especially action scenes involving a digitalized version of Berry--move at such a chaotic breakneck pace that she looks completely phony. Plus there's absolutely no sequential logic whatsoever to where Catwoman moves and when--apparently invisibility is one of her superpowers. These awkward clumsy scenes are usually accompanied by distractingly loud music. Pitof's only other directing credit is some obscure French flick starring Gerard Depardieu…one hopes Catwoman will be his last.
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Stealing Harvard Review
September 13, 2002 7:01am ESTLet's just say there aren't any surprises in Stealing Harvard. You pretty much know what you are in for when you sit down. John Plummer (Jason Lee) is a good-hearted fellow who just wants to marry his longtime fiancée Elaine Warner (Leslie Mann). He works hard for her father (Dennis Farina) at a medical supply store but Mr. Warner is less than happy with his future son-in-law. Still John finally gets his wish when he and Elaine reach the $30 000 mark she made them save so they could marry and buy their dream house. That's it? We can go home now? Alas no. A snag in their plans comes when John's niece Noreen (Tammy Blanchard) gets accepted to Harvard and his trailer-trash sister Patty (Megan Mullally) reminds him of his promise to help pay for Noreen's education--to the tune of $29 800. D'oh! Since John can't disappoint Elaine and Noreen he asks his best friend Duff (Tom Green) to help him try to get hold of another 30 grand. Duff agrees of course but accomplishing this feat legitimately is simply not an option. As Duff's plans to turn them into petty criminals fail each and every time John becomes increasingly desperate. What will he do? And more importantly do we care? As an actor Jason Lee has made some curious choices. Sticking with director Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy Dogma) has been a smart move as well as scooping up a choice role in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. But he's made some pretty bad choices as well--Kissing A Fool Big Trouble and now Stealing Harvard. The material is way beneath him. John is too milquetoast for Lee's smart-ass style and it doesn't suit him at all. There is another reason Lee should have just walked away from this one--being in a movie with Tom Green. Green's Duff does manage to elicit a few laughs here and there but the comic actor who once touched a very eclectic funny bone in many people has now become a parody of himself. And an annoying one at that. Mann (George of the Jungle) does some interesting things with her character Elaine. You don't really like the uptight daddy's girl much in the beginning but then she blossoms and changes showing Mann's comic abilities nicely. John C. McGinley as the detective who goes after the two boneheads and Mullally as the slutty Patty both turn in funny performances. Farina however is completely wasted which is a shame. OK so there are a few times in Stealing Harvard where you actually laugh out loud. You've seen most of them in the trailer but they are funny nonetheless. Duff and John trying to choose their code names Duff getting smashed up against the window John dressed as a woman. There are also a couple of moments you don't see in the trailer that kind of make you chuckle like when McGinley's detective explains what he actually uses the toothbrush for that Duff put in his mouth and pretty much all the scenes with Mullally. They are however few and far between. For the most part Harvard sticks to its insipid and completely ridiculous script and run-of-the-mill direction by Kids In the Hall alum Bruce McCulloch. For us hardened critics it's hard to have our intelligence insulted even for a forced laugh. But for some out there this could just be the kind of mindless entertainment they crave.
