LaurenceFishburne Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Time hasn't necessarily been kind to the Wachowski Brothers sci-fi trilogy, The Matrix. Granted, most of the blame can be placed at the doorstep of the Wachowskis themselves, thanks to some rocky sequels, although, I know I'm in the minority when I say that I kind of liked the final installment, Revolutions. But that probably had more to do with a soft spot for William Gibson styled techno-babble than anything else. But for today's Scenes We Love, let's all think back to the the spring of 1999, when the world was new, and you didn't have a clue what the Matrix was.

Now, whether this comes down to my extraordinary powers of observation or I've just seen too many movies, I can usually spot a plot turn coming a mile off. But in a million years, I couldn't have guessed that when Keanu swallowed that red pill he was about to wake up in a pile of goo as a human battery in an A.I. ravaged world...so suffice to say, I never saw it coming. The movie might be full of philosophical gobbledygook and borrow from every anime and comic book you can think of, but I never cared, because The Matrix (whatever it's faults) wasn't just a tired rip-off, the Wachowskis distilled all that pop culture into a movie like no other.

The Wachowskis did the unthinkable (or at least the unthinkable to our spoiler-happy culture), they managed to keep a secret. The trailers let you see teases of all the kung fu, slo-mo bullets, and latex that was to come (we even got a trademark Reevesian 'whoah'), but all the shocks and surprises were kept until you were in that darkened theater and Morpheus (as played by Laurence Fishburne doing equal parts Yoda and Shaft) takes you down the rabbit hole...whoah, indeed.

After the jump; the red pill or the blue pill...

It's funny how you can get completely used to seeing a name, and then used to its absence, only to have it pop up again, years later, out of nowhere. Skeet Ulrich has been steering clear of the big screen (or the big screen has been steering clear of him) for a while now. The last time he had a movie out, it was the 2001 flick Chilly Dogs. There was also Soul Assassin, Nobody's Baby, and Takedown -- which was a Hackers sequel that somehow flew off the radar even with a jam-packed cast. But now things are changing for the Jericho star. He's got a new movie on the way, and maybe this will be his reintroduction to the wide world of film.

The Hollywood Reporter has posted that he has nabbed a role in the upcoming flick, Armored. This is that Matt Dillon gang of thieves movie that Peter Martin blogged about back in October -- the one that also has Columbus Short attached. Ulrich is taking on the role of Dobbs -- "a scruffy member of an armored truck company who plans to empty a truck of its $10 million." The thieves all somehow got themselves the armored car gig, so there's one HR person somewhere who is really, really crappy at their job . Sweetening the pot, I hope as thieves -- THR says that Laurence Fishburne, Fred Ward, and the best Professional to ever hit the screen, Jean Reno, will co-star.

Some things never change while others come and go, but no matter what happens, it's a comfort to hear that Skeet can still grab a scruffy role.

It seems like just a few months ago we were enjoying the sights, the sounds, the smells and the cinema of South By Southwest 2007, but guess what? Now that it's January, the festival's only about nine weeks away! Awesome! So today we caught some slightly early news on what SXSW is cooking up for this March, and I must say I'm pretty impressed with what they snagged for their opening night film.

And that film is: Robert Luketic's 21, which is based on the book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. (You may remember Mr. Luketic from flicks like Legally Blonde, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, and Monster-in-Law.) Adapted by Ben Mezrich's book by screenwriters Peter Steinfeld and Allan Loeb, 21 stars Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth and Jim Sturgess. (Check out the trailer right here.)

And if that world premiere isn't cool enough, festival chief Matt Dentler has also divulged the following titles for SXSW '08:

At the Death House Door (Steve James & Peter Gilbert) "A sobering and powerful story of the wrongful execution of Carlos DeLuna and the Death House Chaplain, Pastor Carroll Pickett, who spent the last day of DeLuna's life with him."

Dreams with Sharp Teeth (Erik Nelson) "A documentary portrait of acclaimed author Harlan Ellison, as he looks back on his fabled and influential career as one of the world's top science fiction writers."

Flawless (Michael Radford) "In 1960s London, a talented but overlooked diamond executive (Demi Moore) is convinced to participate in a jewelry heist when a veteran janitor (Michael Caine) hatches a plan."

Run Fatboy Run (David Schwimmer) "An out-of-shape divorced father (Simon Pegg) makes one last attempt to win back the respect of his son, his ex-wife (Thandie Newton), and the community around him. All he has to do is finish his first marathon."

Wild Blue Yonder (Celia Maysles) "Celia Maysles had no idea her father and his brother Albert were pioneers of verite documentary filmmaking. Determined to uncover the secrets surrounding her background, Celia sets out on a quest to rediscover her father by using his own artistic process."

Expect a few more flashy surprises before the full SXSW slate is announced on February 5! Until then, feel free to browse through the SXSW website and decide if THIS is the year you're finally going to take my advice and attend the dang festival. (You do know it's a movie AND music fest, right? Interactive, too, and I do believe I've mentioned the indigenous BBQ more than once.)

With Ike Turner dying yesterday, most of the obituaries felt obliged to lead with the wife-beater stuff and then sort of follow up with the 'helped invent rock n' roll' part.' Some papers are also making a lot of hay over the fact that Tina Turner released a statement last night that more or less pissed on Ike's grave, saying that, yeah, she heard he was dead and she has nothing to say about it. In other words, the guy was fated to go down like a monster. He probably realized that more than anyone in his final years. And who knows, maybe he deserves the scorn he's receiving in death as well as what he got in life -- I know almost nothing about his personal history except what I saw in What's Love Got to Do With It? but that's the whole point. Did one performance actually change the tide of public opinion against a musical pioneer?

Laurence Fishburne's performance in the film garnered an Oscar nod, and deservedly so -- he paints a portrait of a very scary guy with practically no formal education and no way to control his erratic and violent impulses. In particular, the cake scene in the restaurant -- Eat that cake, Anna Mae! -- is now considered one of the classic scenes of the 90s. It's the kind of out-there scene with dynamic, gut-wrenching acting that sticks with you for years after you've seen it. But what if it didn't happen that way? What's Love Got to Do With It? admittedly fictionalized a large number of things, and I can't imagine Tina Turner was so concerned about giving Ike the benefit of the doubt when it came down to the details of their fights. Again, I'm approaching this as a curious devil's advocate -- maybe Ike deserved it all.

At this point, I'm starting to think that it's contractually obligated that if either Kevin Spacey or Kate Bosworth appears in a film, the other automatically gets a part. OK, so maybe I'm exaggerating just a little, but you can't deny that the two seem to really enjoy working together. Yahoo Movies is now hosting the trailer for their latest collaboration, 21, the real-life story of six M.I.T students who develop a foolproof plan to win at Black Jack. The film is based on the book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich (and I guess I don't have to explain why they chose to go with the new title 21 -- I doubt Sony wanted their audiences getting the film confused with a C-grade Queen Latifah comedy).

The story centers on a group of M.I.T math students who along with their 'mentor' come up with a new system of "counting cards" -- if you haven't read the book and don't mind a little math in your light reading then I would definitely recommend it. Although I wouldn't recommend trying out their system, unless you don't mind the idea of getting roughed up by pit bosses.

The film was directed by Robert Luketic, who isn't exactly a household name, but is probably best known as the director of Legally Blonde. The book was adapted for the screen by Allan Loeb (Things We Lost in the Fire) and Peter Steinfeld (Analyze That). Joining Spacey and Bosworth are Laurence Fishburne in what looks like the role of a casino boss (better known as "the Heavy" in the flick) and Jim Sturgess as the newest member of the gang. 21 is set for release on March 28th, 2008.

New Orleans is filling up with cast members for Black Water Transit and the latest one to be added is Aisha Tyler. The list already includes Laurence Fishburne, Stephen Dorff and American Dreams star Brittany Snow, and no longer includes Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, who were attached and then dropped out. There's a limited amount of information available on the plot but the story is known to take place in post-Katrina New Orleans and revolves around a man -- maybe Fishburne? -- who is on a crusade to release his drug-addicted son from jail. IMDB describes the film as being about the convergence of law enforcement, criminals and lawyers over an illegal shipment of weapons into America as one man tries to find a safe harbor for his family's illegal firearms.

So in other words, it's about the relationships between cops and criminals. Black Water Transit is written and directed by Tony Kaye who gave us American History X -- thank you for that, Mr. Kaye. As for Aisha Tyler, I have to confess that I'm amazed by her work. I always found her to be terribly annoying as the Talk Soup host, but she's gone about building up an impressive resume since then. Also, we know that she will be playing a police detective, à la her roles in CSI and 24.

A book about the dilemmas of following ones dreams in order to ensure happiness or to wade in the waters of familiar security has Laurence Fishburne working from his own ambitious heart. Fishburne, who is one of the most strikingly gallant, authoritative, vulnerable and adorable (Pee Wee's Playhouse anyone?) actors has penned his own adaptation of The Alchemist. The book was written in 1988 and is probably on every high school reading list around the world.

Warner Bros. backed the actor, writer and producer by obtaining the rights to the book four years ago. From Hollywood Reporter's analysis it seems that despite the finished script, the project was stagnate. Thus, Fishburne teamed up with A-Mark Entertainment (they produced Alpha Dog, which starred Justin Timberlake and received mixed reviews) in order to give the film its much-needed legs. So far, Fishburne will only have writer and director credits, but who will play the main role? Not sure, but they must fit the bill of a young Spaniard.

The Alchemist, written by Paulo Coelho, is about a young Spanish shepherd who embarks upon fantastical journeys throughout his country and into the Egyptian deserts. The boy is seeking great fortune and hidden treasures that could change his life; if that's what his heart truly desires. The boy meets influential characters within his journey that add to the magic of the book. The script is described in the Hollywood Reporter as "Harry Potter meets Indiana Jones." There is no news on when the film will go into production, but with Fishburne's new team behind him, it will definitely take less than four years to get the cameras rolling.

James Denton and Jon Cryer -- two guys who have found enormous recent success on the small screen -- are heading to the bigs for the psychological thriller Tortured. The film starts production on Monday, Erik brought you a bit of news on it last week. Denton is best known for his nuanced portrayal of hunky plumber Mike Delfino on Desperate Housewives, a role that I'm sure has led to countless saucy jokes involving the words "pipe," "tool," and "plumbing." Cryer plays Charlie Sheen's brother on the smash comedy Two and a Half Men, but to an entire generation, he will forever be known as "Duckie" from Pretty in Pink. The guy could cure cancer and I'd still think of him lip-syncing to Otis Redding to impress Molly Ringwald.

Tortured stars Morpheus himself Laurence Fishburne and Cole Hauser. (I have this theory that Hauser and Josh Lucas are the same person, but that's a discussion for another time). Tortured is about "an FBI agent (Hauser) who goes undercover as an organized crime enforcer. When he's ordered to undertake the weeklong torture of an accountant (Fishburne), he begins to question his roles." For his first feature film since 2001's Glam (missed that one), Cryer will go against type to play Hauser's (wisecracking?) partner. Denton will play their supervisor. Nolan Lebovitz (Dr. Benny -- missed that one, too) wrote the script and will direct. Denton's next film is Undead or Alive: A Zombedy, which co-stars Chris Kattan as "a cowboy with a broken heart." My prediction on that one? $100 million easy.

A few excited websites got the news half-right a couple days back: Yes, it's true that the man who played Morpheus will provide a voice in Fox's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. But no, that voice will not belong to "Galactus, Eater of Planets." Mr. Fishburne will voice the title character himself. Silver Surfer: Body by Doug Jones, Powers by Weta Digital, Voice by Laurence Fishburne.

You'd think that with a voice like his, Mr. Fishburne would be a veteran when it comes to voice-over work, but as far as I can tell, his only experience in this arena lies as the narrator in TMNT and with some material for the Matrix video games. (How has he not been given a job by Pixar or DreamWorks Animation yet? The guy's a natural!) Needless to say, the addition of Laurence Fishburne to any project raises both the Geek Quotient and the Bad-Ass Factor -- exponentially.

But the important question (and by "important" I mean "really nerdy) is this: Does Laurence Fishburne possess the appropriate pipes to play the platinum powerhouse? I ask the old-school Marvel fans: As you read the Silver Surfer character, does his voice sound anything like Larry Fishburne's? I don't know much about the character, but I always figured he'd sound something like C-3P0.

The cast of Bobby exercised their right to Freedom of Speech at the Dubai International Film Festival where they voiced their discontent with today's political climate. The film, directed by Emilio Estevez, chronicles the lives of 22 people who were at the Ambassador Hotel when Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated on June 6, 1968. The film has been making its way through the festival circuit, as well as a limited theatrical release, and was just recently screened in Los Angeles at the AFI Film Festival. (Oh, and we should also mention that it was nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Motion Picture category.) The film's subject, obviously a political one, has given the actors a platform in which to discuss the world's current political turmoils.

Actors Laurence Fishburne and Joshua Jackson were the most vocal at the Dubai's festival junket. Hollywood Reporter quoted Fishburne and Jackson expressing their embarrassment by the current state of affairs and that the American public needed to be more vocal about their discomfort in these affairs -- much like the public in the sixties -- as demonstrated in the film.

The inspiration for Gary Michael Waters -- executive producer of Bobby -- to make the film was "to revive the Kennedy legacy for a new generation." The legacy isn't a bad one to revive. Robert Kennedy is remembered for his incredible work during a volatile period in America's history. One of his most applauded efforts was his direct contribution to the Civil Rights Movement.

Bobby isn't the only film with a political agenda; rather it seems making a statement -- even if controversial -- is the inspiration for many films these days; Fahrenheit 911, Syriana and even the surprise hit documentary An Inconvenient Truth have their own agendas. Filmmakers tread in dangerous waters as politics becomes a touchy subject for most...but then it isn't art if it doesn't offend somebody, right?