1. The Arrested Development Movie is Off?
Since 2007 rumors have been flying about a possible Arrested Development movie. If you’re not familiar with the show, it was very easily the smartest and funniest show on television … for the three years that it aired. People loved Arrested Development. How much love? It’s ranked as a 9.7 out of 10 over at the Internet Movie Database. And yet, it only lasted three years. Why? Because not enough people watch smart and funny shows. We’re all too busy watching people try to sing, or be a top model, or dance with the stars. It’s a sad state of affairs. But the one thing we all held out hope for was one more ride on the AD comedy train, one last hurrah to enjoy the smirking genius of Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor, and Ron Howard. One. More. Round. But the news has been percolating this week that it’s probably not going to happen. David Cross was quoted as saying:
“Way too much time it’s been (since the show ended),” he told me. “I mean, there’s so many people involved. Everyone’s doing their own thing, you know. And everybody’s aged. It’s just not going to happen. I’m sure I speak for everybody when I say we’d love for it to happen, we’d love to work on it, but just I don’t think… not going to happen.”
What. The. Hell?
This has to happen. Needs to happen. Not for me, but for the children, the ones who didn’t get to see Arrested Development way back in ’03. Everyone involved here needs to be a buddy. Make us an Arrested Development movie! Don’t mention it again until it’s done. We’ll pay full price, we’ll buy popcorn, we’ll drag our friends to the film. Just don’t hang us out to dry. If there’s not a place for smart and funny on television or at the movie theater then I don’t know what we’re fighting for. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go get my animal crackers back from Liv Tyler.
2. Bill Condon and Breaking Dawn.
Deadline New York is reporting that Bill Condon might be the guy tapped to direct the final two Twilight Saga films, both based on Breaking Dawn novel by Stephenie Meyer. It’s an interesting choice, but definitely not the splashy name they were looking for. Was Sofia Coppola not up for the gig? Condon has done nice work on Kinsey, Dreamgirls, and Gods and Monsters — but there’s nothing in the portfolio to suggest he’s going to be adept at bringing vampire wars with heavy CGI work to the big screen. The story of Breaking Dawn deals with the repercussions of a half human, half vampire baby, one that grows about a year per week.
Bonus Random Thought: Perhaps this is just a trial balloon, and they’re awaiting the public response, but it’s looking more and more like the artistic high point of the series will be New Moon. Chris Weitz brought a tremendous visual eye to the project, one that clearly isn’t a priority going forward.
3. Gal Gadot, Just in General.
If you blink you might miss her in this weekend’s Date Night, starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey. She plays Mark Wahlberg’s girlfriend in a couple of scenes, and she’s only got a few lines of dialogue (all of which are in Hebrew). Still, she makes a big impression in her limited time on-screen. She was also solid in last year’s surprisingly good Fast & Furious as Gisele Harabo. Can we get Gal a starring role in something? Gal Gadot! Rolls off the tongue, right? We need more 5’10” stars with fun names who were former fitness instructors in the Israeli Defense Forces. If not now, when?
4. Winona Ryder: Don’t Call it a Comeback.
If you’re looking to help people forget a few of your crazy escapades you could do worse than enlisting the directorial help of Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, The Fountain) and Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon, A Beautiful Mind). She’s already finished Aronofsky’s latest, Black Swan, a film that is already receiving Oscar buzz based on pedigree. The project for Ron Howard is called Cheaters and also stars Vince Vaughn and Kevin James. It sounds like a romantic comedy. But Ron Howard? He doesn’t really do that sort of thing. So we can expect it to be quality, as long as Tom Hanks doesn’t show up looking for ancient Catholic clues.
Even though Tron Legacy is six months away Disney is already looking to throw another Tron into production. This means one of two things:
1. The film is really good, they are very confident, and they want more Tron action.
2. They’ve all lost their minds.
I prefer to think it’s the former, and the anticipation is definitely there. At Comic-Con 2008 a 30-second clip of a potential Tron was the story of the weekend. At Comic-Con 2009 the Tron Legacy panel received glowing reports. The core audience is ready, and any sort of decent film is going to capture a whole new generation of Tron fans. So why not? Heck, order up a couple more of those bad boys while you’re at it. It’s not like we could get overstocked on potentially quality films starring Jeff Bridges. That’s like having too much love! Or ice cream! Or an Arrested Development movie!
On that note, I hope you all have a solidly entertaining weekend, with no CGI employed whatsoever.
Check out last week’s Movie Musings here
Laremy is the lead critic and senior producer for a website named Film.com. He’s also available on Twitter.
