Adam Resurrected, adapted by Noah Stollum Stollman from the book of the same name by Yoram Kaniuk and directed by Paul Schrader, is a darkly abstract and haunting film featuring Jeff Goldblum in his finest, most layered performance ever. Goldblum portrays Adam Steiner, a tragic clown shattered by the horrors of the Holocaust. A clown and ringleader of his own highly successful circus act in pre-War Berlin, Adam finds himself, his wife, and their two young daughters caught in the roundup of Jews. Ironically, his audience was once full of soldiers in Nazi uniforms; now the very people Adam spent his life making happy are just as happy to see him and his family exterminated.

Adam in the present is a prisoner of his memories of those terrible years, and now resident ringleader of a fictional asylum for Holocaust survivors in the Israeli desert. He's a man with a fractured soul, and as a result of his unrelenting anguish and guilt, he astounds the doctors in charge of the asylum by the ability of his mind to make his body bleed and even grow malignant tumors as he repeatedly dies and is reborn.

In August, I posted that Jeff Goldblum's mockumentary called Pittsburgh was finally getting released. The flick focuses on Goldblum as he takes a role in The Music Man for the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera "out of love, both for the venerable musical and for his fiancee, Catherine Wreford, a Canadian actress who must get a job or risk losing her visa." Now Jam! reports that one of the women in the movie is trying to stop it from airing on cable or being distributed unless her scene is cut from the movie.

Debbie Sue Croyle is a stagehand who rubbed some alcohol on Goldlum, and then blew on it to dry it so that she could tape a microphone to him. She says she was humiliated because of a double entendre/sexual innuendo he used in this scene -- certainly not the most incendiary reason to start a lawsuit. She reportedly asked the producers to either donate money to an organization that helps the mentally handicapped, or cut the scene. Since they never got back to her, she's suing for $4 million in damages.

That's one heck of an expensive innuendo! If anyone of you have seen it, please tell me what this so-called humiliating comment is, because I can't think of anything worth $4 million, especially after she signed a release for the movie. I wonder how much she would have sued for if he made the joke and accidentally spilled hot coffee on her.

The original The Fly (1958), directed by Kurt Neumann and starring Vincent Price, is a fairly routine sci-fi programmer with one or two inspired moments. Years later, when David Cronenberg found Charles Edward Pogue's updated screenplay, he saw that there were several ways to rethink and improve upon the original story (written by George Langelaan) and to include his own favorite themes. Moreover, it was a way to deal with one of Cronenberg's own personal problems: motion sickness. In the new film, inventor Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum -- who deserved, but did not receive, an Oscar nomination) spends all his time working on teleportation pods so that he'll never have to ride in a car ever again. It was also Cronenberg's most seamless exploration of the changing of the human body via the introduction of outside elements, a theme he has very recently attempted to expand and deepen with Spider (2002) and his gangster films A History of Violence (2005) and the new Eastern Promises.

The Fly (1986) opens at a kind of science convention where inventors gather to discuss (or hint at) their latest findings. A sexy reporter, Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis), is there, hunting for a story. Somehow Seth's kooky enthusiasm intrigues her and she agrees to accompany him back to his lab to see his work. He gives her a cappuccino (from a real cappuccino machine with the eagle on top), and teleports her scarf across the room using two "pods." The pods, of course, are designed to look like huge, metallic beehives or cocoons. Seth decides he likes Veronica, but doesn't want her to write an article about his as-yet-unfinished invention, so he persuades her to hang around and work on a book instead. Together they work on the final hurdle: sending living tissue safely through the pods. In one horrific scene a lab monkey gets turned inside out. In another intriguing sequence, he teleports two slices of steak. The steak looks the same, but the teleported piece tastes wrong; it's the first time Cronenberg really dealt with food and the way the human body perceives and absorbs it. (Eastern Promises goes a little into this as well.)

Honestly, all I need to hear is Jeff Goldblum and "mockumentary," and I am there, but just in case you're not as into the Goldblum as I am, read on. Over the past few years, the actor has been putting together the part-true, part-fictional mockumentary called Pittsburgh, celebrating the works of Christopher Guest, of course, as well as John Cassavetes and Robert Altman. Goldblum says: "It's not like we've discovered a new planet, but I thought the way we tried to skin it is a little bit different than anybody else. The tone we hit and somehow the way it came together and what we tried to do, I thought, was pretty nifty." Gotta love a man who uses the word "nifty."

Pittsburgh boasts a pretty interesting cast that includes: Ed Begley Jr., Illeana Douglas, Moby, Alanis Morissette, Conan O'Brien and Craig Kilborn. It follows Jeff as he takes on a role in The Music Man for Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera -- "out of love, both for the venerable musical and for his fiancee, Catherine Wreford, a Canadian actress who must get a job or risk losing her visa." How do the others fit in? Well, for one, Douglas and Moby play a couple, and the latter says that while he hasn't seen Goldblum's work, he is a film buff. Moby explains: "I like amateur porn." That should give you an idea of what the flick is like. (You can also check out video clips over at IMDb.)

Although Martha Fischer gave it a solid review from Tribeca last year, and The Hollywood Reporter speaks highly of it, the film isn't getting a wide release. Instead, you can catch it on Starz this Sunday, and on DVD next month. If you do check it out, let us non-Starz people know what you think!

The filming has now wrapped on Adam Resurrected, the movie which I last posted about back in December starring Jeff Goldblum (Adam Stein) and Willem Dafoe (Commandant Klein), and the buzz is beginning. The film is about a clown who is taken to a camp and must entertain the victims who are going to be killed -- he plays the violin for them. While this sounds like never-released The Day the Clown Cried, it's a bit different -- his time in the camp is only the start of the story. He survives his internment and after the war, he goes to Israel. After suffering a nervous breakdown while trying to find his last surviving family member, he enters an asylum for Holocaust survivors.

The latest word is that the film, which also stars Run Lola Run's Moritz Bleibtreu and Munich's Ayelet Zurer, is that it's planned to premiere at the Berlin Film Festival next February. While it might seem like any other Holocaust movie, Resurrected is a pretty big deal because it's said to be the first time that German and Israeli filmmakers have come together to film the subject. It's also considered quite risky; a German critic wrote that it is a "risky tightrope walk which, if it is too funny, is in danger of mocking Holocaust survivors, if it is too serious, misrepresents the character of the book." Personally, I love the mix of the story and the cast, and can't wait to see Goldblum and Dafoe on-screen together. Hopefully it will have a better initial reception than Yoram Kaniuk's book originally did -- it had flopped: "At that time no one in Israel wanted to hear victims' stories."

We're finally a month and a few days away from the limited release of Fay Grim, Hal Hartley's sequel to Henry Fool. The first was a mellow, quirky tale about James Urbaniak's strange garbageman Simon Grim, and the rogue Henry Fool who inspires him to become a poet when he hands over a crisp, black and white speckled notebook. Parker Posey played Fay Grim, Simon's sex-crazy sister who ends up marrying Fool. This sequel, which Kim Voynar reviewed during TIFF last year, deals with Fay ten years later -- just a bit amped up.

The film still revolves around Henry and his notebooks, but now he's disappeared. Jeff Goldblum's CIA agent convinces Fay to help him find the notebooks, because they're believed to hold information damaging to US security. IGN has gotten a slew of images from the feature that show how the world of Fooling Grims has changed over the years. There are some shots of Hartley, as well as scenes from the film. We've got Liam Aiken, the same little boy from the original film, showing Simon something on the computer. In another, Saffron Burrows is wielding a gun and looking fairly unhappy. And then there's my personal favorite -- Parker Posey looking like a tough arse-kicker. If you're anxious for some media of the moving variety, I linked to some last month. Go out and see it! Go, go, go!

Ever since they announced there would be a Jurassic Park IV, the first question on my mind was: Who from the original will they get to return for a fourth adventure? Sure, it's possible to produce a new sequel with a fresh cast, but the franchise wouldn't feel complete without a few familiar faces. Jeff Goldblum did his part for The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Sam Neill was somehow convinced to take on the lead role in Jurassic Park III. Since there's a good chance neither one of those guys are coming back for another round, it appears all the attention is now heading in the direction of Laura Dern (who, as we all remember, played Neill's longtime girlfriend in the original dinosaur flick).

While at a press junket for Year of the Dog, Dern spoke openly about the fourth installment and revealed that she had just recently received a special phone call from the man himself, Steven Spielberg. Says Dern, "Well a certain fellow is the one that called me and it's hard to say no to him cause he's always got something totally genius up his sleeve so we'll see what they have in mind. But I don't know anything about it at this point. I'm told it's happening and I'm told they're calling me. I'm told that Ellie Sattler is involved in it." As far as when we'll get to see it in theaters, Dern felt that they want to try to somehow get it done for 2008. However, with all the effects work that needs to be done for this bad boy, I can't see it arriving in our laps until summer 2009. So, does Spielberg really have genius up his sleeve, or is he simply running out of people to throw money at?

Contrary to what you may have heard, Sam Neill has officially debunked those "internet rumors" that suggest he will once again return to the land of dinosaurs in the upcoming Jurassic Park IV (aka The Dinosaur Sequel We Could Live Without). The actor, who portrayed Dr. Alan Grant in both Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, claims he hasn't "heard from anyone" about the project and says he currently has two back-to-back films (one in Australia and one in China) lined up. Basically, he's done fighting with dinosaurs ... and I don't blame him.

If Neill is out, then who does director Joe Johnston and producer Steven Spielberg have in mind? After all, at least one actor from the original has appeared in both sequels -- so does that mean Jeff Goldblum will somehow be talked into appearing in the fourth installment, making it so he and Neill rotate sequels? Or will we get an entirely new cast? The good news is that Oscar winner William Monahan (The Departed) penned the script, which means chances are pretty good we'll get a decent story. But, will audiences flock to the theater if none of the original stars are in the flick? No word yet on what the film will be about, but early rumors alluded to it revolving around Lex -- granddaughter of billionaire investor John Hammond -- played by Ariana Richards in the original film.

Having penned films adaptations like Raging Bull and Mosquito Coast, it wouldn't be a jump to assume that writer and director Paul Schrader would have his hand in the adaptation of Israeli writer Yoram Kaniuk's Adam Ressurected. However, he hasn't picked up the pen this time around. Instead, he is settling into the director's chair to head the adaptation, which was written by new screenwriter Noah Stollman. His great track record bodes well for this interesting story, and the cast is making it all the better.

Adam Ressurected centers on Adam Stein, a man who was once a leading clown in Europe. During World War II, Adam is captured and taken to a death camp, where he survives by taking on the job of entertaining victims as they are sent to the ovens. After the war, he travels to Israel and enters an asylum for Holocaust survivors. Adam will be played by Jeff Goldblum, which will be a nice change of pace for the actor who has had recent delightfully quirky roles, but none very challenging. Now, Variety reports that Willem Dafoe has signed on as Goldblum's co-star. His role has not been released yet, but it would be interesting if he takes on the role of Adam's asylum friend -- a man who thinks he is a dog.

While no further word on the cast has been released, there is a big discussion amongst Helen Slater fans on imdb. You might remember her as Supergirl, the legendary Billie Jean, or more recently in a number of stints on television. Maybe the filmmakers will visit the message board and make some fans' dreams come true before the movie begins filming next Spring.

The biggest problem with Man of the Year is that, much like American Dreamz, which came out earlier this year, it simply doesn't seem to know what genre it aspires to be. It's not quite thrilling enough to be a political thriller, nor is it dark enough or funny enough to be a black comedy or political satire. My viewing partner at the screening the other night made the observation that it's almost as if somebody figured that Jon Stewart is hot, people aren't happy with our politicians (are we ever, really?) and that a film about a political humorist like Stewart running for and winning the presidency would get butts into seats.

Toss in little intrigue around a glitch in the spandy-new computerized voting system designed to replace the Era of the Dangling Chad, add Robin Williams, mix with some "serious" cred from Laura Linney, Christopher Walken, and Jeff Goldblum, and what's not to like? Unfortunately, a lot of interesting cinematic ingredients all tossed together don't always make for a delectable, filling meal, and such is the case with this tepid film.