Michael J. Fox Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Now that J.J. Abrams has reinvented, and especially, reinvigorated Star Trek for an all new generation of fake-pointy-eared fans, it would be unfair to let the filmmaker simply take time off to garden or crochet, much less celebrate the film's projected $72 million opening weekend. Especially since there are just so many other franchises and film series that deserve – or perhaps more accurately – need his golden touch. As such, we've thoughtfully assembled a short list of franchises that Abrams could and should take over, tackle, and reboot. And while we tailored our selections to suit the filmmaker's writing and directing strengths, we encourage you to leave your comments and suggestions which films and franchises you think might be better suited to Abrams' cinematic style.

In no particular order:

Talking with a friend after watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, we agreed it was time to retire some of these old classic franchises once and for all. Personally, I could live with a new Indy, a new Die Hard, a new Rambo and a new Rocky -- but once you touch my beloved Back to the Future franchise, well, we've got problems. Thankfully, according to BTTF co-writer-producer Bob Gale, a fourth installment in the series will not be happening anytime soon. BTTF.com reports back from a special screening/cast reunion last month in which Gale squashed sequel rumors right from the get-go: "Let me answer one question before anyone asks it, which is, 'Is there ever be a Back to the Future Part IV?'", Gale began, before answering, "No."

He continued, "Well now, wait a minute now. We've all seen sometimes where they make one too many sequels and you say, 'Maybe they shouldn't have done that.' I'm not going to name any names of movies, but you know what they are! But more importantly, as I'm sure you all know, Michael J. Fox is not in the best of shape with his Parkinson's. The idea of making another Back to the Future movie without Michael J. Fox - you know, that's like saying 'I'm going to cook you a steak dinner and I'm going to hold the beef.' You can't do that."

Amen to that! Fans, of course, moaned and groaned when Gale said there wouldn't be a sequel -- but if you're really a hardcore fan of this series, how could you want one? Seriously now ... let it go.

[via Moviehole]

Calm down, they aren't filming Back to the Future IV in Manhattan's meat-packing district. But what they are filming there, or were filming a week or so ago anyway, is a music video for an R&B artist named o'Neal McKnight that will feature both Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown and the DeLorean, to boot. Apparently this McKnight guy is a "huge fan" of the BTTF series and was somehow able to talk Lloyd into reprising his character to create a BTTF-themed video for his hit song, "Check Your Coat." Donning the fright-hair and jacket and tool belt for the first time in a long time, Lloyd as Doc Brown encounters McKnight, who is playing a coat-check clerk, and "the duo leap into the past and future, giving McKnight a glimpse into his life and relationship with a beautiful lady whom he meets while at the dance club." BTTF.com has a bunch of photos from the shoot as well as video and a detailed account of the goings on, and it's actually quite interesting to look at.

I'm not all that surprised that Lloyd would don the outfit again, frankly -- he's never struck me as an actor who is a) all that choosy in terms of what he does or b) one who is likely to avoid his most famous creation. In fact, I'd wager that if there were any opportunity at all to continue the adventures of Doc Brown on the big screen, he'd be there in a heartbeat. Never gonna happen, of course. Robert Zemeckis and Co. have said until they're blue in the face that they are not interested in continuing the series -- they would never want to and Universal would never be interested in doing future installments that would have to be sans-Marty. Oh wait ... Zemeckis is Mr. Motion Capture now ... hmmm ... interesting.

[via Moviehole]

While it wasn't so fun to get "Smoke on the Water" playing on repeat in my brain after our EIC Erik Davis sent me the idea for this double feature, it's been great to reminisce about two films from the early '90s that dealt with fish out of water themes -- My Cousin Vinny and Doc Hollywood. One is an Oscar winner, and the other is a fluffy comedy, but both perfectly embody that moment in time -- the beginning of a new decade and the next step for some of the biggest names of the 1980's. On the one hand, you have Ralph Macchio, and on the other, the unbeatable Michael J. Fox. One might be up for murder while the other gets to save lives, but in both cases, they're guys who prefer the city, but get ensnared in small town life.

Keep that popcorn in the cupboard, pick up some fish and chips, and enjoy!


My Cousin Vinny



On the one hand, you've got the story. Two "youts" -- Billy Gambini (Ralph Macchio) and Stan Rothenstein (Mitchell Whitfield) are traveling through Alabama when they forget to pay for a can of tuna. They leave the store and soon find themselves in jail and awaiting trial when the store clerk is shot and killed. One can never underestimate the power of familial connections, and Billy's cousin Vinny (Joe Pesci) comes to save the day -- a fish in a very unfamiliar pond. He looks to be just a spastic Brooklynite with a saucy girlfriend (Marisa Tomei). However, first impressions aren't all they're cracked up to be, and it turns out that Vinny is just what the two guys need to break free.

On the other hand, you have the cast. It's just plain great. You've got Pesci, who rocks as Vinny, Tomei, who won an Oscar for her performance, and Macchio, who shows that there's more to him than his time as a karate kid. But that's just the first layer. There's greats like Austin Pendleton and Bruce McGill, but best of all -- Fred Gwynne, in his last performance, plays Judge Chamberlain Haller. Really, what else do you need?

Mona Lisa Vito in her god-awful, super-tight, floral body suit talks about what she's nervous about.

Vinny plans to go hunting, and Mona Lisa mourns the future slain dear.

The Judge feels mocked.

Owls aren't safe when Vinny is around.

I don't know why everyone keeps referring to 17 -- the Zac Efron movie in which a 40-year-old guy is suddenly a teen again -- as Big in reverse. Or, as The Hollywood Reporter writes today: "turns the concept of Big on its head." I guess nobody remembers the George Burns-becomes-Charlie Schlatter comedy 18 Again! Either that or it's simply easier to reference Big because it's a million times more well-known. Anyway, there's another movie 17 will make people think of: Back to the Future. Apparently, Efron's character (aka Matthew Perry's character as a teen) becomes the object of a crush -- from his own daughter! Playing the poor girl, who obviously doesn't realize her own Electra complex, is Michelle Trachtenberg. Also joining the cast, which includes Leslie Mann as Efron/Perry's wife and Trachtenberg's mom, is Melora Hardin ("Jan" on TV's The Office) as a high school principal.

So here's what I find strange about the new plot revelation: how is it the daughter doesn't recognize her own father as a young man? Hasn't everyone seen photos of their parents from when they were younger? At least with Back to the Future, in Lea Thompson's defense she hadn't yet birthed Michael J. Fox, and she had no way of ever having seen his face before he traveled back in time and became the object of her desires. In both scenarios, it is pretty gross to think about seriously. According to the main plot synopsis for 17, the reason Efron/Perry enrolls in high school is to be closer to his kids (hey, another movie this reminds me of: Mrs. Doubtfire). I guess he truly gets his wish in a terribly sick sort of way. Production on 17 begins this month.

Now don't you go and get too excited -- it's not like the three boys are coming back together for Back to the Future 4. But, as Jim Hill reports, Zemeckis wants to reunite with good friends Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd for the first time since Back to the Future Part III in the recently-announced Christmas Carol remake thingy. Keep in mind this won't be a straight-up live action film; instead, it will be shot similarly to the way Zemeckis did The Polar Express and the upcoming Beowulf; a performance capture sort of thing, and the first project to be produced by ImageMoversDigital (the performance capture company set up by Disney with Zemeckis). Additionally, Hill also reports that Zemeckis hopes to cast Tom Hanks in the film as well.

As we previously told you, Jim Carrey has already signed on to play a number of parts in the film, which actor Bob Hoskins first broke the news on when he told Empire that Zemeckis wanted him to play Mr. Fezziwig. Apart from the ultra creepy Ebenezer Scrooge, Carrey will play the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet-to-Be. If all goes according to plan, Hanks would play Bob Cratchit, Lloyd would play Marley's Ghost and Fox would play -- get this -- Tiny Tim. Hill later goes on to discuss how some execs are already worried about both Fox (because of his illness) and Carrey (because he's a troublemaker), and so the way it is now might not stand. I mean, Fox, Lloyd and Hanks haven't even been officially announced yet as part of the cast, so don't go geek out until things are final. But it would be cool to have Doc and Marty back together again on screen, even if it is this performance capture stuff. I think it would also be remarkable if Fox can make it through the entire production without any major problems, and still deliver a fine performance. Until we hear more ...

It's either that, or save the clock tower, it's your choice. Granted, if you help save the clock tower, then future generations may forget when it was struck by lightning, and of course that'll strand Marty McFly in the past forever, but we digress.

There is a massive and mind-bogglingly complete Back to the Future timeline on Wikipedia that is the effort of some seriously fanatical fans. It details events that were cut from the original scripts (for instance, did you know that Doc Brown and Marty met in 1983 when Marty showed up to sweep the Doc's garage?), the animated series, and meticulous picking apart of the films themselves. It's a real labor of love, and it's in danger.

Wikipedia has some pretty strict policies regarding verifiability, and that leaves the BTTF timeline somewhere between limbo and a hard place. Check out the discussion page where people are chiming in on whether to keep the article or not. So far is a resounding "keep it!" but if you want to give your own opinion on the matter, roll up your sleeves and dive right in. Wikipedia is by the people, for the people.

My two cents on the matter is "keep it." But it goes a bit deeper than that. I've probably seen Back to the Future at least 20 times, and it's ingrained into the folds of my brain (perhaps that explains a lot). This timeline is really an amazing work of fans that detail everything you could possibly want to know about the history of Mill Hill Valley, Doc Brown, the McFly clan, and anything that even comes close to being touched on in the films (Pepsi Free? Invented in 1955, thank you very much). It's a tribute to the appeal of these movies, and a great demonstration of how fans can keep something alive long after the last bits of popcorn have been swept up.

By now, everyone on planet Earth has seen the new video campaign ad featuring Michael J. Fox, shaking uncontrollably from Parkinson's tremors as he endorses Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill of Missouri. Fox, like McCaskill, is a vocal supporter of embryonic stem cell research and in the ad he lays into incumbent Republican Jim Talent for not wanting to cough up the dough for more funding. Now get ready for the "answer ad" that's been thrown up as a rebuttal, featuring none other than the Light of the World himself, James Caviezel. This ad begins with Caviezel directly addressing the viewer in unsubtitled Aramaic before handing off to some sports notables and television personalities, each of whom lay out reasons why the viewer must not to be fooled into supporting the measure.

Caviezel returns to close the show, gazing at us like the filthy sinners we are and warning us "don't do it." Whether you support the stem cell measure or not, you have to wonder if this kind of thing represents a taste of what's in store for us in the future -- candidates coming up with a message and then shopping for a celebrity who will endorse it on television. One day politicians will wake up and realize that our votes can't be bought so easily, right? Yeah, I know -- don't be so gullible, McFly.

So anyway, who do you think would win in a street-brawl-for-it-all between The Savior of Man and The Man Who Will Not Be Called Chicken? On the one hand, Jesus can probably time travel without having to get up to 88mph, but on the other hand, Marty can walk on water if he has the hoverboard with power.

So I'm sitting here writing this week's Cinematical SmartGossip column, wondering which celebrity news items are worth mentioning, and how to fit them all in one column in a fun way. I figure I should test the gossip somehow, so I shout out some of the news to my husband, who's in the next room on his own computer.

"Honey, did you hear that Scary Spice is pregnant and that Eddie Murphy may be the father?" "Did you know that Lindsay Lohan wants a husband and an Oscar before she's 30?" "Hey, Jessica Simpson's going to Shreveport to film --"

"Stop it! Aaagh! What are these gossip columns doing to you?"

"I'm just trying to share interesting celebrity news with you, sweetie. Don't you want to know what's going on in the entertainment world?"

"No."

After some discussion, in which he asked me to please never tell him anything about Paris Hilton again, he pointed out that it was in fact possible to discuss less frivolous celebrity news. He even contributed a link himself, via Metafilter: You can watch Michael J. Fox's campaign ad for Claire McCaskill, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat in Missouri. Fox (pictured above) points out that McCaskill's opponent is against stem-cell research, which the actor, who has Parkinson's disease, wants to promote.

If you're still interested in who's hiding out in other countries, however, or want to see scary celebrity photos, I've included that news after the jump.

Before they introduced the world to Eric Cartman and friends, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were hired by Universal to create a "training video" geared toward boosting team moral after Seagram's company bought the studio back in 1995. However, at the time, no one knew who Parker and Stone were, let alone the fact that they were complete maniacs. What followed was a hilarious (and, as far as Universal was concerned, unusable) training video starring folks like Steven Spielberg, Sylvester Stallone, James Cameron, Michael J. Fox, Demi Moore and Angela Lansbury, among others.

If you're one of those people looking for a few laughs on a crummy Monday afternoon, then this is sure to do the trick ... if only to watch Speilberg act as a tour guide traveling through the Jaws attraction. Enjoy! (Note: Due to foul language, this video is potentially NSFW.)

[via The Movie Blog]