Tom Skerritt Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Whiteout finally gets to come off my "Whatever happened to ... ?" list. According to ShockTillYouDrop.net, the Antarctic thriller finally has a release date of September 19th.
The movie stars Kate Beckinsale, Gabriel Macht, Tom Skerritt, Columbus Short and Alex O'Loughlin.

The film is based on the graphic novel by Greg Rucka (and I love that they mimicked Frank Miller's cover for the poster at right). It follows Carrie Stetko, a U.S. Marshall working at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, and her investigation of a murder that takes place there. The location is what makes this murder mystery good and tense, as she has to investigate around the deadly climate of Antarctica, and find the killer before Antarctica is plunged into its six months of darkness.

I saw the teaser at last year's ComicCon and thought it looked like a good thrill ride -- and I actually managed to hold the opinion despite seeing it played twice in a row. It's a little odd that it has been delayed so long, as it was obviously finished as of last summer. I'll hold out hope, though, because Beckinsale is one of my favorite action chicks, and she was hilarious at the Whiteout panel, handling the sleazy comments with aplomb. Hopefully, we'll get to see that teaser on the Internet soon. I will probably watch it and wonder why I thought it looked good. Oh well.

Bonneville, opening today in limited release after mostly sitting and stewing in its own juices since it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival way back in 2006, is another of those "do this before you die" flicks, melded with a road trip movie for spunky older chicks. Take the "great older actor" Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson roles in The Bucket List, replace them with a trio of "great older actresses" in the form of Kathy Bates, Joan Allen and Jessica Lange, throw them in an old Bonneville convertible for a road trip, and toss in the ruggedly handsome and ever-reliable Tom Skerritt as a love interest, and you've got all the makings of a flick that practically telegraphs being aimed at the older demographic.

Things get started with the death of Joe, husband of Arvilla (Lange). Arvilla and Joe had been together for 20-something wonderful years filled with travel and adventure; now Joe's daughter, Francine (Christine Baranski, who's not given much to do beyond being shrewish and shrill), wants her father's ashes back so she can bury them next to her mother. Arvilla wants to keep Joe's remains for herself, but Francine gives her an ultimatum: return my father's ashes, or I'll take away the house you lived with him in for all your life together.

A few years ago, a little film called Bonneville premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. A year went by, and then the film popped up at a few more festivals. Finally, SenArt Films grabbed the feature, and it's finally making its way to the big screen this year. You'd think that it must be some sort of super-indie to create pretty much zero buzz and not find any takers for well over a year after its premiere, but it's actually a film that has quite of few big-name actresses in it -- Joan Allen, Kathy Bates, Jessica Lange, and Christine Baranski. (On the male side of things, there's also Tom Wopat, yes that Wopat, and Tom Skerritt.)

Now that it will hit screens this February, The Hollywood Reporter has posted about the film's unique marketing campaign. You'd think with a road trip movie named Bonneville, they might have some sort of car promotion, or maybe even a big party in Bonneville, PA. Not in the least. Instead, they are teaming up with Princess Cruises and hosting sneak previews on a number of the line's ships. It will be shown on oceanic trips to destinations like Australia, Thailand, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and Argentina.

I don't get it, but nevertheless, even if you're not cruising around the world on a Princess ship any time soon, this is what you'll get if you go see the flick next month -- a woman named Arvilla (Lange) is faced with a big life decision, so she grabs her two best friends (Bates and Allen) and they take a road trip across the US in a '66 Bonneville convertible. Of course, this trip is a rediscovery, so I imagine it'll be a bit like Boys on the Side, but for an older generation. Limited release begins on February 29.

Movie folk usually don't put enough effort into naming their flicks. While there are a lot of great movies out there, many of them have the blandest and simple names you can get. The Spider-Man series is a group of blockbusters, yet they don't even get a secondary title. It's just "2" or "3" tacked onto the name. No one seems to be happy with the name "Live Free or Die Hard," but that won't stop anyone from going to see Bruce Willis kick some arse. So, when a title comes out that seems particularly witty, different, innovative or fun, there's a good chance I'll shell out cash to see what it's all about. If it has a good cast, that's all the better, and the upcoming Multiple Sarcasms seems to have both.

Variety has released the cast list for the cheap, $2.5 million upcoming film -- Timothy Hutton, Mira Sorvino, Dana Delany, Stockard Channing and Mario Van Peebles. You can also add Tom Skerritt to that list, as Hutton listed him among the cast in a recent interview. The film is about an architect in 1979, played by Hutton, who decides to completely give up his career as an architect and become a playwright. He risks everything to write his play, and finds his life falling apart when he does so. His only support lies with his best friend, played by Sorvino. He finishes the play while damaging his other personal relationships and then gets it on-stage. Hutton describes it as "an interesting story of the choices you make and what you sacrifice along the way." I can dig it. I know someone who did something very similar, so it's definitely a believable story. Sarcasms will be the debut for Paramount alum-turned-writer/director Brooks Branch, and is filming in New York.

I must say, I hate when you get a cast list of newly-signed actors, and only some of the roles are described. That being said, I'm going to take assumption and run with it. In February, I confirmed Ryan's post that Kate Beckinsale was gearing up for Dominic Sena's upcoming, and quite literally chilling thriller, Whiteout. With Beckinsale signed on to play Carrie Stetko, the woman rushing to find a killer before winter strikes Antarctica, Variety reports that the other cast is slowly falling into place.

First, we've got Columbus Short. Star of Stomp the Yard and the upcoming The Great Debaters, Short will play Lt. Delfy, according to IMDb. Then there is modelizer-turned-Because I Said So love interest, Gabriel Macht. He's playing a U.N. operative who is investigating the murder with Beckinsale. And then... Then, there is Tom Skerritt. There is no word on who he's playing, so my over-active and hopeful imagination is crossing its metaphorical fingers that Skerritt will play the deranged killer, although I fear that he'll be playing some stodgy man in charge. Please, powers-that-be. The man from Ice Castles, The Dead Zone and Poison Ivy deserves a great part!

Unlike our own Scott Weinberg, I am not a fan of horror films. At all. Not only do they not scare me, they typically bore me like nothing else. That said, I will admit to being scared as a child by two films, Poltergeist and Poltergeist III. The former is not that surprising to you, I'm sure, but the latter may have you questioning my credibility once again. Sure, it isn't a good movie (evidenced by its 15% on Rotten Tomatoes and its 3.6 rating on IMDb, not to mention Scott's claim that it's, "easily one of the worst movies ever made"), but it is really creepy, and it still continues to hold a unique power over me. Every time I watch it, I do double-takes at mirrors for days -- I just have to make sure that my reflection doesn't stay behind when I walk away. Okay, so really it's just that early scene with Tom Skerritt and Nancy Allen that gives me the willies, and I admit that I often lose interest half-way in, but I really do love the premise and I can't say I never watch the movie all the way through.

The thing I don't understand is how Poltergeist 2: The Other Side is lauded as being the better of the sequels. That movie, aside from giving me an early fear of tequila, isn't scary, nor does it have an interesting plot. Yes, it introduces us to the whole Reverend Kane storyline, but only as a set up to part III, in my opinion. The thing is, you can't beat any pic that primarily takes place in a tall building, especially when it deals with frightening creatures. This was the '80s, and the time had come for the haunted house to become the haunted skyscraper. It works for Ghostbusters, it works for Gremlins 2 (which came later, in 1990) and it works for Poltergeist III. I know I'm not the only one who thinks so, either.

• Bee Season - Richard Gere as a rough-boy sailor in An Officer and a Gentleman? OK. Richard Gere as a singing and dancing attorney in Chicago? Convincing enough. Richard Gere as a Jewish husband (of Juliette Binoche) and father exploring the mysteries of God through the flawless spelling of his daughter? Oy. Many parts of this existential drama about the ways in which a brilliant 11-year-old (Flora Cross) affects her family are sketchy, as no one of the characters is well-drawn enough for us to care about them too much. Genius was captured far better in films like Little Man Tate and Searching For Bobby Fischer.