These stories just keep getting better. On the heels of Israeli municipalities apparently banning the display of the word "sex" on Sex and the City billboards (a claim that's been disputed) and Russian communists calling for a boycott of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull because the Soviet Union did not, in fact, seek to use alien technology to practice mind control on US citizens during the Cold War, comes the news that Sharon Stone has annoyed the owner of the leading Chinese cinema chain to the point where he's pledged not to show her films.

What did she say? She said that the recent earthquake in China may have been "karma" -- cosmic justice for the way China has treated the Tibetans. That's stupid, but the theater owner -- Ng See-Yuen -- wasn't angry at the manifest silliness of Stone's statement so much as the fact that she's politicized a devastating natural disaster. Which is kind of a good point too -- at least, she's politicized it in a way that's really weird. And it's important to note that, at least on its face, this doesn't seem to be a case of the Chinese government censoring Stone's films, but rather an exhibitor making a choice not to show them. Of course, with the way the Chinese government operates, who really knows.

Sharon Stone seems to have no "big" films in the pipeline, so it's not clear what effect, if any, the boycott will have on revenues.

Indiana Jones -- he's got to be Harrison Ford, doesn't he? Okay, we had young Indiana Jones characters -- River Phoenix in the opening sequence of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Sean Patrick Flanery in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles -- but I never really thought of Indy as a character who could be cast in any other way. You know, you figure the part in Raiders of the Lost Ark was practically written for Ford, who'd been in a couple of George Lucas films before that anyway (Star Wars and American Graffiti).

However, that assumption couldn't be more wrong. I've been digging around on that great source of reliable information, the Internet, and reading all kinds of stories about the casting of Indiana Jones. The general gist is that Steven Spielberg was interested in Ford, but Lucas didn't want to be one of those directors who cast the same guy in all his movies. So they tested a bunch of other actors, and were seriously interested in one who had to back out ... and then ended up with Harrison Ford after all. We are all profoundly grateful. But let's take a look at some of those actors allegedly under consideration, and a few more that I threw into the mix just for fun. (I picked only actors who were alive and the right age at the time, which is why you don't see Steve McQueen on the list.)

... and they say to the bartender, "Bet you never expected the three of us would team up on a film?" The bartender takes a good look at the three, goes back to cleaning a glass and replies, "Nah, I kinda expected it." Then Dylan McDermott, Brian Presley and Charles Winkler (son of Irwin Winkler) walk into the bar, and go, "Now what if we told you the three of us were involved too -- with Charles directing! And it's called Streets of Blood!" The bartender, tending to his glass, simply replies, "Nah, expected it." Fed up, Charles Winkler throws down his fist and shouts, "And it's gonna be a damn good film too!" Bartender drops his glass in a fit of laughter, looks up and cries, "Now THAT'S something I did not expect!" Everyone laughs and Erik will never become a comedian. The end.

Variety tells us the film centers on two cops dealing with "the lawlessness of New Orleans in the post-Katrina environment." Production begins next month. Another post-Katrina story, huh? Is it just me or is Hollywood really milking Hurricane Katrina? Perhaps I see more of it because I attend a lot of film festivals, and currently there are tons of Katrina docs and narratives on the fest circuit. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you, it just seems like a lot and we're getting close to overkill. This one, however, does sound like it has promise. Plus I've always wanted to see Kilmer, 50 Cent and Stone together in one film. Why not, right?

Get your ass to Mars ... again. According to Moviehole, there's a new Total Recall movie in the works, but it is hard to really tell if it's to be a sequel or a remake. Apparently The Weinsteins have owned the rights to the original TR for years and they had plans to do a follow up. Then Spielberg's Minority Report happened. Huh? Aside from also being adapted from a Philip K. Dick story, MR has nothing to do with TR. Except that it was originally scripted by Ronald Schusett and Gary Goldman as Total Recall 2. Of course, the end result bears no resemblance to that draft, in which Tom Cruise's character was actually Arnold Schwarzenegger's Doug Quaid, the Precogs were mutated humans (from the Martian atmosphere) and all the action took place on Mars. Still, Moviehole claims Minority Report beat The Weinsteins to the punch and so this new Total Recall project will in fact be a remake.

Personally, I don't see how Minority Report keeps The Weinsteins from doing a sequel. Dick's story had no relation to his "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale", which was the inspiration for Total Recall, and really the movie makes no reference. Sure, Schusett and Goldman's idea for a sequel is no longer possible, but there is certainly other ways to do one. However, the fact that Schwarzenegger isn't exactly an actor these days also contributes to the problems with producing a sequel. Doing a follow up without him, though, would not be that surprising. In fact, it is particularly common with Paul Verhoeven movies to do a sequel without the stars of the first film (Hollow Man II; Robocop 3; Starship Troopers 2). At least Sharon Stone is interested in a Total Recall sequel. Certainly it would be more ridiculous to go the remake route, considering how popular Verhoeven's original was -- and still is.

Bobby is a Palm Sunday story, about a group of strangers congregating in a place where a Christ-figure is expected to pass through and bless those lucky enough to lay eyes on him. The Christ-figure is Robert Kennedy, former attorney general of the United States and presidential candidate until he was felled by assassin Sirhan Sirhan in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles during a primary stop. As the time of his arrival draws near, the gathered begin to whisper about miracles Bobby will perform if elected, but no one ever delves into specifics about the man. Instead, it's generally accepted that if you are one of the travelers who has made your way to the Ambassador on this night of nights, then you know what he stands for, and no instruction is necessary. In that regard, Bobby is 'Ben & Jerry's presents Grand Hotel'. It's aimed at only two conceivable audiences: over-50, true-believer, 'it ain't fair, John Sinclair' liberals and 80s-movie buffs who will thrill at seeing Emilio Estevez and Demi Moore reunited on screen.

I have to admit, the reunion scene is a doozy and sure to warm the heart cockles of those who are patiently awaiting a two-disc director's cut of Wisdom. Moore and Estevez play a fringe-showbiz couple, he a manager type, she an over-40 singer who is now reduced to playing hotels like the one that is hosting the Kennedy campaign stopover on the night in question. In their one legitimate scene together, Moore staggers from booze and juts her neck out at the pint-sized Estevez like a dominant hen, while he does that move where his small, round-as-nickels eyes seem to come together another inch or two when he's considering how he's going to get the bottle away from her. Other revelers wandering the hotel during the film include Sharon Stone as a hair-dresser in unkind period make-up, Elijah Wood and Lindsay Lohan as a draft dodger and his hot girlfriend, and Christian Slater as a kitchen manager who openly despises the illegal Mexican workers in his kitchen.

Our original plan was to mount a weekly series in which we'd applaud a different character actor with each new column. But it seems that this was SUCH a good idea that someone else beat us to the punch ... by about six years. So the Cine-Squad decided to take our "J.T. Walsh Award" and morph it into a feature called "Scene Stealers," which will celebrate great actors and actresses who have A) stolen entire movies with their awesomeness, B) popped up in a particularly juicy cameo or supporting role, or C) salvaged a failed movie simply by being a member of the cast.

For our inaugural Scene Stealers feature, I chose to celebrate Mr. Gene Hackman, mainly because he's my very favorite actor, but also because ... well, have you guys ever actually seen Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead?

For those of you who caught Basic Instinct 2 over the weekend and left the theater wondering who the real killer was, well today we finally found out that answer when the box office numbers were announced. Yes folks, the box office was behind the whole thing. Bet you saw that one coming! Even with the sleazy leaked footage and Sharon Stone parading all over the place promoting her film, the thing barely managed to move an inch.

Though Stone isn't exactly pitching a third installment just yet (better wait for this puppy to hit a crisp 5 mil before that happens), she is running her mouth off about some other sequels she'd love to be a part of. According to Contact Music, via the always reliable "Internet buzz," Stone is set to reunite with Sylvester Stallone for a sequel to their 1994 film, The Specialist. As if that's not enough, she also would love a role in a sequel to Total Recall (if one ever gets made), but feels that's kind of a long shot since her character was killed off in the original. Yeah, something tells me her character was eliminated for a reason. I wonder what that could be?  Is it just me or does it seem she's scrolling through the vault, searching for which films had the biggest stars attached? I hate to say it Sharon, but they're not the biggest stars anymore ... they're the oldest. Good luck!

Released in 1992, the first Basic Instinct was a glossy, disposable piece of erotic-thriller trash that combined sex, death and stupidity. San Francisco cop Michael Douglas had to figure out if bad-girl novelist Sharon Stone was next in line for a killer's wrath – or if she was dispensing it. Directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by then-hot screenwriter Joe Eszterhaz, Basic Instinct was pilloried by gay and lesbian activists and roundly mocked by critics; it also made a not-unhealthy $117 million in the US alone. …

So, 14 years later, we get a sequel, which has the stupidity and comes short on the sex and death. Stone is back, but not Douglas; director Verhoeven has been replaced by Michael Caton-Jones (The Jackal, Rob Roy) and the script is not from Esterhaz but from the husband-and-wife duo of Leora Barish and Henry Bean. The action's moved from San Francisco, as well; Basic Instinct 2 starts in the streets of London, where Stone's Catherine Tramell is racing through the streets with footballer Kevin Franks (Stan Collymore) in the passenger seat, his hands all over what can be only called 'the swimsuit area,' when the car goes off the road and into the Thames. You might say the movie goes with them.

Sharon Stone says after she saw a rough cut of Basic Instinct 2 she pushed for more of the wild sex scenes that had been cut to be put back in the film. "I wanted a lot of sex in the sequel, and I wanted more nudity," Stone said in an interview with The Telegraph. "I was coming from a really kinky place." I suppose if the sex and nudity are there because they make sense from a standpoint of story arc and character development it makes perfect ... oh, come on, who are we kidding? 

Basic Instinct made Stone famous more because she flashed her hoo-hoo at the camera than because of her acting. Her post-Basic Instinct film career has been decidedly uneven. She got the Oscar nod a decade ago for her role in Casino. Since then, we have Diabolique (yawn), The Mighty (a decent enough film that bombed at the box office), The Muse (meh), and a bunch of crapedelic filler (voice acting the "blind art teacher" on Higglytown Heroes? Did she have a high credit card bill to pay off or something?) 

Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction – the long-delayed sequel to the over-the-top "erotic thriller" that made Sharon Stone a superstar – has been slapped with a "hard R" by the MPAA. It's a victory for director Michael Caton-Jones, whose first cut originally earned an NC-17. According to the ever-reliable Lloyd Grove, the MPAA objected to "some scorching orgy scenes" – which sort of begs the question: "What kind of script makes room for orgy scenes, plural?" Though, as Martha reported on Monday, Stone is apparently interested in stretching her acting muscle elsewhere, Basic Instinct 2 is about proving a different kind of stretch is still well within her repertoire: the 47-year-old Stone reportedly refused to use a body double in any of the film's sex scenes. According to an on-looker who spoke to Grove, the aging looker has nothing to worry about: "Believe me, she's still hot."