Via Deadline:

Neal McDonough is a marvelous actor who elevates every role he plays…So when he was suddenly replaced with David James Elliott 3 days into the filming on ABC’s new series Scoundrels earlier this week, there had to be a story behind the story. The move was officially explained as a casting change. But, in fact, McDonough was sacked because of his refusal to do some heated love scenes with babelicious star (and Botox pitchwoman) Virginia Madsen. The reason? He’s a family man and a Catholic, and he’s always made it clear that he won’t do sex scenes. And ABC knew that.

I’m wondering if he had an official clause in his contract? Personally, I think there is some reverse sexism going on here. If he was a woman, they probably would have gotten a body double, but since he’s a man and men are supposed to be sex feigns they just got rid of him. It sucks, but I’m glad to see there are still REAL MEN floating around this town.

Neal McDonough, pictured here with his lovely wife.

Take that up your stupid tail Avatar!!

I finally saw a summer action flick worth the paper it was made on.

The Hurt Locker (2008) is an “Iraq movie” about the elite bomb squad of Bravo Company.  At the beginning of the film, Bravo Company has 38 days left until the end of its tour. Understandably, the three person bomb squad is being extremely careful on each mission until they can finally go home….that is until their staff sergeant played by Guy Pearce gets blown up within the first ten minutes of the film. Yikes.

Enter stage left Staff Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner) the replacement for Pearce. As it turns out, James is a bit of rebel, ignoring SOP by doing things like throwing smoke bombs and turning off his radio, thereby thoroughly pissing off his fellow squad members Sgt. JT Sanborn (played wonderfully by newcomer Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty).

For another 30-40 minutes the film positions James as the bad guy and antihero, Sanborn as the leader and patriarch, and Owen as the young rookie that apparently has some mental issues for which he is seeing the base’s psychologist. The story then becomes whether or not the squad can bond in order to perform their job effectively and most importantly…safely. Eventually they do bond (sort of), but that doesn’t change anyone’s personality. James is still wild and reckless, and the audience begins to ask, “Will James’s antics kill his new friends?”

I have to say I was surprised by how much I liked this film.  I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.  I appreciated the classic screenplay structure—just when I thought the characters’ situation couldn’t get any worse…oh…it did. I appreciated each character for his own merit, even James. Though The Hurt Locker is an action film, it does an excellent job of delving into each character’s past without the mushy nonsense that would take away from the main plot.  There are no flashbacks, just strong storytelling in the present tense.

I believe I’ve written before that I’m a Navy baby from a law enforcement family and pretty much the only one of my hometown friends that did not enlist or go on to some sort of military academy after high school. In short, I am hyper-sensitive to any and all anti-military bias, the reason why every other Iraq movie did not succeed at the box office.  I thought The Hurt Locker did a pretty good job of avoiding this. The film doesn’t make statements about the war, but rather tells the story of three men who despite being very different from each other must work together and take care of each other in order to go home alive.  And I think veterans will enjoy some of the darkly humorous inside jokes that only one versed in military culture would understand.

Coming from a citizen’s POV, the film appeared to do a great job of communicating the high stress level of the nature of the war in Iraq. Each mission the squad goes on is a response to an IED threat, suicide bomber, or car bomb. The second the squad steps of the base they are in danger. Everyone is a suspect, even children.  Curiously enough, the film doesn’t take an “us vs. them” approach. Action sequences contain shots of both our heroes and our bad guys, increasing the tension of the story and avoiding any political statements about the war.

One thing that did annoy me was the occasional slow motion shot. I don’t have anything against slow motion, but in the context of the film it seemed to be out-of-step with the otherwise realistic cinematography. And is it just me or is the title really random?

On another note, I’ve read some commentary about the “surprise” of some that the director is a female. Well as someone who has been in film school for quite some time, I am certainly not surprised because God knows sometimes—just sometimes—boys like to make things go Kaboom! so much so that the film is destroyed. (Exhibit A: That robot franchise.) Sometimes it takes a woman to navigate the subtleties. Just sayin…

Not sure how long The Hurt Locker will remain in theaters, but I totally recommend you see it at some point.

I’ve talked extensively about Mary Mother of Christ, but Origin is also producing a Fatima movie also to be written by Barb Nicolosi. Plus as I’m sure you’ve already read, there is a new Guadalupe film in development at MPower pictures:

The man who penned the screenplay for the racy 1992 thriller Basic Instinct is ready to tackle a subject of a higher power. According to Yahoo, Joe Eszterhas is writing a script based on the Virgin of Guadalupe. Yep, he’s going there. The Virgin of Guadalupe is a 16th century piece of art that features the impression of the Virgin Mary on a former peasant’s cloak. It can still be seen today in Mexico City, at the Basilica de Guadalupe.

Eszterhas has been well known for his notorious smoking and drinking habits back in the day, but when he was diagnosed with throat cancer he overcame his afflictions and found God. Therefore his jump from sinner to sanctified isn’t that far fetched. “This is a labor of love for me,” Eszterhas said. “I have been hoping for some time to write a film that is both entertaining and inspiring.” The untitled Guadalupe film is being written for Mpower Pictures, who also backed Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.

There’s also another Fatima film called the 13th Day allegedly to be released at some point this fall, but I don’t know too much about it so I can’t really comment on its content.

In other more girly news, the role of Joseph has finally been cast for Mary Mother of Christ. Diogo Morgado is a Portuguese actor that according to reports is very popular in Portuguese TV/film. I’ve never seen him in anything, but my oh my is he a cutie…I’m sure the Blessed Mother approves. LOL

The Ugly Truth

A fake orgasm never looked so fake…
In this romcom, Katherine Heigl plays Abby, an uptight TV producer forced to confront her rules about love and dating when she begins to produce “The Ugly Truth,” a show for women hosted by a misogynistic and disgusting playboy named Mike (Gerard Butler.) When Abby becomes interested in her new neighbor, Mike promises that if she follows his rules, she will have Colin eating out of the palm of her hand. These rules include sexing up Abby’s wardrobe and eating “phallic” shaped objects. (Errm…ok…) In the end, Abby does get Colin, a seemingly stereotypically nice guy with a fake tan and cheek bones I highly suspect have been surgically enhanced, but then realizes she’s lost herself.

Being an advocate of modesty in dress, I found the film’s approach to the topic to be full of mistakes at best. Mike explains to Abby that men are visual and therefore she needs to dress much sexier to garner the attention of men. OK, but then later on in the film he tells her she needs to keep some of her mystery to keep a guy’s attention. Well which is it Mike? Mystery or boobs on display?

The storyline continues with this battle of the sexes, and in the end the message of the film is a little fuzzy…which of course is a social commentary on dating in and of itself.

500 Days of Summer

The plot of this film can be surmised with the phrase, “the guy who wasted his time on the girl who just wanted to have fun.”

500 Days of Summer is the story of Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is your typical average Joe—he works in an office, lives in a grungy studio apartment, goes to bars with his friends on the weekends, etc. When Tom meets Summer (Zooey Deschanel) he is convinced that she is “The One”…despite her clear statement that she isn’t looking for anything serious. (I think the audience heard it and Tom just missed it. Poor thing…) Director Mark Webb then takes us on jumps through time to see the various stages of the couple’s relationship. Signals get crossed, sex ensues, break ups and drunken karaoke songs abound…

Critics keep ranting and raving about this one, but quite honestly I found it boring most of the time. This was due large in part to the lack of character development in Summer. We spend most of the film on an emotional roller coaster with Tom, but the film never really shows the audience why we should be so in love with Summer too, only that Tom sees something phenomenal within her. Admittedly she’s got great fashion sense, but other than that, I didn’t really get it. I sat with my apathy for a while and determined that perhaps this confusion is what Webb wanted?

I found the third act of the film to be the most satisfying. The plot twist elicited a general WTF? from the entire audience. Though it wasn’t an exhilarating ride through horrible dialogue and bomb detonations, I would recommend this one.

Paper Heart

In a pseudo-documentary that isn’t (or perhaps is…or something…) Charlene Yi (played by herself) embarks on a cross-country quest to make a documentary about the definition love. Through her trek, Charlene meets Michael Cera (played by himself) and the two fall in love…or do they?

Pressured by the camera crew that now wants to include her dating life into the film, Charlene must continue to confront her pessimism about love while simultaneously falling for the quirky nice guy.

Although I have been looking forward to seeing this film since the beginning of year, I was surprised by how much I liked it. I was literally holding my stomach laughing in some areas, and can I just say I’m glad to see a film in which a normal girl gets the guy?

As a filmmaker myself, part of what I found so hilarious was the ongoing behind-the-scenes comedy within the film crew—standing in the rain, running around in grocery stores—hey it’s all for the integrity of the film man!

Charlene’s interviews of random couples were also incredibly heart-warming and give a reality check on love and marriage not often seen in films. What is love? Is it a feeling or a decision? Charlene seems to take the opinion of the former as she doesn’t think she could ever “feel” so strongly about someone, but the stories of the couples seem to support the latter. (Duh!)

All that being said, the ending was awful…like…God-awful…and I say that because I don’t think it had enough substance for the subject matter the film was trying to undertake. Despite this, I still recommend you go check this movie out.

BTW, Charlene Yi is the co-writer of the film and only two years older than me…quite inspiring for the soon-to-be senior in film school.

Pax Christi, Rebecca.