hbo Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I'm sure if you pick apart the themes and scenes from both films, you'll find that The Dark Knight and Fight Club have lots in common, though for the purpose of this post we're talking about a song called "Where Is My Mind?" from The Pixies. In David Fincher's Fight Club, the song played during the final scene as Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter lock hands and watch the city in front of them crumble to the ground. Remember? Well in honor of The Dark Knight's television premiere on HBO this Saturday, June 13, the cable channel is airing two pretty groovy commercials featuring the same exact Pixies song mixed with a bunch of those memorable (yet haunting) pieces of dialogue and scenes from last year's biggest film.

I couldn't have said it better than Brian over at MTV's Splash Page, who notes: "The shots of the burned out buildings and The Joker's hospital demolition scene are particularly effective with the music for anyone who has heard in the background during Tyler Durden's anarchist attack on civilization in "Fight Club." It's also a great match for an in intensely cerebral film like "Dark Knight" where the hero's sanity is constantly being picked apart as much as the villain's." So who's staying in with me on Saturday night to welcome Batman to HBO?

Watch both HBO commercials and the scene from Fight Club after the jump.

Maybe all roads do lead to Rome. According to The Hollywood Reporter and creator Bruno Heller, there's actually talk of continuing the brilliant HBO series on the big screen to wrap up all the historical loose ends caused by the series' abrupt cancellation. (Something which HBO now thinks was a big mistake. Between that and passing over Preacher, they're rather low in my esteem right now.)

Heller admits the talk is, at the moment, just talk. "It's moving along. It's not there until it is there. I would love to round that show off." Heller wouldn't discuss movie plot plans, but the next step for Rome was Augustus Caesar having to deal with a certain carpenter from Judea -- with a twist typical of the series.

Fans of the show will probably weep a little at Heller's unrealized plans -- Lucius Vorenus' off-camera fate wasn't as definite as we might have thought, and we would have gotten a whole season of Egyptian debauchery. "I discovered halfway through writing the second season the show was going to end," Heller said. "The second was going to end with death of Brutus. Third and fourth season would be set in Egypt. Fifth was going to be the rise of the messiah in Palestine. But because we got the heads-up that the second season would be it, I telescoped the third and fourth season into the second one, which accounts for the blazing speed we go through history near the end. There's certainly more than enough history to go around."

A Rome movie is probably nothing but a dream -- anything more than a whisper, and it will vanish, it is so fragile. But cancellation is no longer a death knell, and while they can't give me back the lost season of Antony and Cleopatra, I'm always up for more bread and circuses.

It really seemed like we were finally going to get Garth Ennis' Preacher this time -- the dark, funny, and controversial comic book series seemed perfect for HBO. Isn't that what they do, after all?

Apparently not. Mark Steven Johnson told Comics Continuum that they've passed on the series. "We were budgeting and everything and it was getting really close to going. But the new head of HBO felt it was just too dark and too violent and too controversial. Which, of course, is kind of the point! It was a very faithful adaptation of the first few books, nearly word for word. They offered me the chance to redevelop it but I refused. I've learned my lesson on that front and I won't do it again. So I'm afraid it's dead at HBO."

But, Johnson says that he's heard that someone is trying to obtain the rights for a big screen adaptation, and that he hopes it happens -- and that whoever nabs it can do the stories justice in a series of films. "Someone" doesn't narrow it down much, but shall we let our imaginations run wild? Frankly, in this world where the legendarily un-filmable (Lord of the Rings, Watchmen) is being made every day, I can't believe Preacher remains untouched. Isn't every studio dying for its own mature comic franchise? Isn't there a daring young filmmaker who's just dying to be boycotted, picketed, and harassed? Aren't we constantly hearing that all publicity, no matter how bad and hysterical, is desirable? Let's put it to the test. Whoever that "someone" is that's angling for the rights, may they succeed, and get Preacher on the big screen.

In a battle between East Coast gangsters and West Coast cowboys, a New York-based company has sided with the Mob. Erik has just posted about HBO's desire to make a movie based on The Sopranos, despite the reluctance of creator David Chase. However, HBO has shot down even the possibility of making any movies based on Deadwood, despite the past enthusiasm expressed by creator David Milch.

This might sound like old news. After all, Cinematical first broke the story last September that HBO had scrapped their plans to make two movies to wrap up the storylines explored in the show's three seasons. Fans -- and the actors themselves -- were not happy about the decision. HBO danced around it, with a publicist saying there were "no current plans." (Italics added.) In an effort to hammer the final nail in the coffin, Richard Pepler, co-president of HBO, now says "the likelihood of a Deadwood movie happening is slim to none," according to Zap2it. Michael Lombardo of HBO claims that talks never got past the "discussion stage." Milch, however, said in January 2007: "We have every intention of going forward."

The "slim to none" HBO statement may not be a big surprise, considering the two years that have passed since the unceremonious end of the show's third season, its setting in the Old West, and Deadwood's (relatively) low profile in modern pop culture, at least as compared to The Sopranos or Sex and the City.

Sorry we missed this earlier, but during that same press tour mentioned in the Sex and the City sequel post, Michael Lombardo (president of HBO's programming group) also said that HBO would be interested in a Sopranos film if David Chase is willing. The comments came about during an announcement that Martin Scorsese, Sopranos exec producer Terence Winter and the Entourage team of Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson will get behind a new series called Boardwalk Express, about the birth of organized crime in Atlantic City during the 1920s.

It's no surprise HBO is looking to head back to the land of organized crime, and of course they'd be behind a feature film based on The Sopranos -- especially after seeing the damage done by Sex and the City at the box office. But David Chase seems to have put this show behind him, and I personally think a feature film would be too much of a stretch. As is, the show gave us one of the best endings in the history of television -- don't go futzing that up just because you all want to make some more money. Let it go. I'm sure this Boardwalk Express -- with all the talent behind it -- will quench your thirst for more mafia. But maybe I'm in the minority.

Do you really want a Sopranos movie?

David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos -- you know, the greatest television show of all time -- has signed on to write, produce, and direct his first feature film, for Paramount Pictures. Calm down, fans of Tony and the gang -- this will not be a Sopranos flick. In fact, Deadline Hollywood Daily doesn't have much about the movie at all, other than that it's "an original drama," and that Brad Grey, Chase's Sopranos producing partner and CEO of Paramount, brought him on board. Chase says of their relationship: "Brad has always been adventurous as a producer and looked for different ways of doing things. I look forward to once again working with him, and now his team. For years, Brad has been a great partner, who helped enable me to do what I need to creatively."

Returning the love, Grey says "David is one of the great storytellers of our time, and his debut as a filmmaker is both highly anticipated and long overdue." I second that! "In truth, David has been creating cinematic-quality filmed drama for more than a decade – spanning nine seasons and 86 episodes of The Sopranos. Having worked with David as a producer, I'm delighted to be with him again and to bring his unique vision to the big screen." The Sopranos indeed delivered an hour-long movie each week, and each was better than 99% of films. I simply can not wait. And with the Sex and the City movie likely to be a big hit, here's hoping Chase can be talked into dropping that Sopranos movie on us and making my life worthwhile again.

Hell ... what if this "original drama" is the Sopranos movie and they're trying to keep it secret? There have been rumors swirling lately, and I don't stop believin'.

I am in no way a history buff. I like to think I know all I needed to know when I graduated fourth grade -- names, faces, places, dates and documents. It's not that I'm not interested in history, it's just that I never found time to dive into everything. I've enjoyed reading up on New York's history (where I'm from) and I'll enjoy the occasional historical flick (until everyone trashes it for not being accurate), but apart from that ... nada. However, lately I've been pulled into the first two installments of HBO's John Adams, starring Paul Giamatti as that legendary pimp (aka the second President of the United States). Should we just give him the Emmy now?

The mini-series is a great conversation piece; my wife and I stayed up late last night watching the second part, then looking up stuff on Wikipedia and discussing the events just prior to the American Revolution. In case you haven't watched it yet, the first two parts (which premiered this past Sunday) cover everything from the Boston Massacre up to the writing of the Declaration of Independence (loved the scene where Adams, Franklin and Jefferson are reading over the Declaration, sharing notes). Additionally, the cast is pretty awesome -- you have Laura Linney (as Abigail Adams, John's wife), Tom Wilkinson (as Benjamin Franklin), Danny Huston (as Samuel Adams), David Morse (as George Washington) and Justin Theroux (as John Hancock).

The only issue I was having was that the series jumps around in years, and you need to pay close attention to dialogue in order to figure out where we are in time. But other than that, I'm absolutely addicted already. It's intense, it's extremely well-acted, it's beautifully shot and it's definitely something you should watch ... if only to learn a thing a two about how we here in the United States came to be.

How about you? Early reactions?

Variety reports that HBO Films will bring the Barry Bonds story to their network. San Francisco Giant Bonds recently broke baseball's all-time home run record, "allegedly" lied to a jury under oath concerning his use of performance-enhancing drugs, and was indicted on federal charges. Say it ain't so, Barry! HBO has purchased the rights to Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO and the Steroids Scandal That Rocked Professional Sports, which is said to paint Bonds as "a gifted player who made a Faustian bargain to increase his power." Ron Shelton will adapt the book with John Norville (co-writer of Shelton's Tin Cup) after the WGA Strike. Shelton is also set to direct.

Ron Shelton is a terrific writer/director of sports movies when he's on, but he doesn't have the greatest batting average. Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump, and Tin Cup are classics of baseball, basketball, and golf film, respectively. But Cobb? Play it to the Bone? The dreadful Hollywood Homicide (not a sports film I realize, but so bad I had to mention it)? Hopefully the Bonds film will be one of his "hits." I always find it interesting when movies are made about figures who are not only still alive, but still going strong. It just seems like it'd be...awkward for all involved. Who do you think should play Barry Bonds? Shelton regular Kevin Costner? I kid, I kid. Do you think they should get a newcomer or go for a star? And which star?

I can't wait to check out American Gangster this weekend, and apparently Universal and Imagine are pretty high on it as well. They're already working on another true crime drama about men on opposing sides of the law. They have bought the rights to make "The Knife," an investigative article by Guy Lawson, into a feature film. The intriguingly-haired Brian Grazer will produce. "The Knife" will be published in the January issue of GQ. Lawson is quite the hot writer right now, HBO is making his book The Brotherhoods: The True Story of Two Cops Who Murdered for the Mafia into a mini-series produced by Dick Wolf.

According to Variety, the title of "The Knife" refers to "the code name given to a Crips member in South Central who became an informant and collaborated for a decade with FBI agent Tim Flaherty to crack murder, drug and arms-deal cases." Sweeeeet. I love crime movies. The gang member's identity is still being kept secret, apparently he's living a Henry Hill-style life. Who do you see in these roles? Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe are two of the best actors in the game, but they're somewhat safe choices for their roles in American Gangster. Let's say you're a casting director -- who would you cast as the gang member and Flaherty? I'd like to see a fresh pairing, maybe...Chris Tucker and Paul Giamatti? Check out James' American Gangster review here and Ryan's junket report on the film here.

Chicago Tribune television critic Maureen Ryan has done a follow-up piece on Cinematical's story about the decision of HBO to scrap the series-ending Deadwood movies it promised fans after the show's abrupt termination. Ryan, crediting Cinematical as a source in her article, contacted representatives at the network about the move and got a long-winded response. Here's the relevant portion: "There are no current plans to make the movies," the HBO publicist admits, before adding a never-say-never caveat. "The dismantling of the 1878 set is irrelevant because Milch has indicated that the story for a Deadwood movie would resume after the Deadwood floods and fires, which changed the face of the first settlement." As Hugo Jarry would say, the statement continues ... "HBO has renewed its deal with David Milch, who is currently developing another series for the network. It's a drama set in the New York police department during the 1970s, when the Knapp Commission was formed to ferret out corruption in the force."

In other words, 'please stop thinking about Deadwood and start thinking about Milch's new show'. And if you're holding on to that sliver of hope they tossed out, I've got a bridge to sell you. I would consider it unlikely in the extreme that, having dismantled the old show sets, HBO would shell out for new ones for any reason, although that's just a layman's speculation. In conclusion, I'll repeat what I said earlier: at this point, it's a Deadwood theatrical film or bust. If Sex and the City can get a theatrical film, why in the world wouldn't a show that's actually good get one?