lucy lawless Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It sounds like a can't-miss concept: a Disney movie about a guy who tells wonderful, fantastic bedtime stories that actually come true in real life. And when the guy is Adam Sandler, how can this possibly be a bad movie? Aren't you buying tickets online for your entire family right now, even as you read about this possible cinematic land of delights? Except that watching Bedtime Stories is about as delightful as peeking into your Christmas stocking and finding it empty except for a few lint-covered peppermints.

The movie opens with a little tale narrated by the most stereotypically folksy voice you can imagine, a distillation of Wilford Brimley and Roy Rogers ... and it's Jonathan Pryce, setting up the story of Sandler's character Skeeter. Seeing Pryce at this time of year made me think of Brazil, thus triggering nostalgia for a movie that is the diametric opposite of this one. Pryce's character, Marty, has to sell the hotel to a Brit who gets to keep his accent, Barry Nottingham (Richard Griffiths), who promises that someday Marty's little boy Skeeter can earn the chance to run the hotel himself. (Marty's daughter is SOL, one presumes.) Barry agrees, then replaces most of the homey motel with a snazzy high-rise hotel.

Love it! Cinematical just received this poster and a whole slew of photos from the upcoming flick Bitch Slap, which will definitely have a presence at this week's San Diego Comic Con. Described as "a post-modern, thinking man's throwback to the "B" Movie/Exploitation films of the 1950's - 70's as well as a loving, sly parody of the same," Bitch Slap stars folks like Kevin Sorbo, Michael Hurst, Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor, as well as Julia Voth, America Olivo and Erin Cummings.

Bitch Slap was inspired by films like Dragstrip Girls, Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill and Kung Fu Nun, and a cool fun fact is that the very awesome Zoe Bell (Kill Bill 1 & 2, Grindhouse) did all the stunt work on the film. Check out the flick's official website for more information and a trailer, and definitely check out the totally rad photos in the gallery below with the synopsis after the jump. (Warning: Lots of cleavage in below gallery. Might be NSFW.) All three of the main girls will be at The Con along with the filmmakers, so we'll try to get you some more sweetness later this week.

Who's ready to get slapped?

Geek news I found while laughing at Cotterpin Doozer, who has the smartest toes in all Doozerdom:

• The official blog for Hellboy: Blood and Iron has been updated with some new information about the direct-to-DVD animated flick. As always, it looks gorgeous and sounds exciting. Hellboy is such a great property that, to me, it does well in all mediums. Well, all appropriate mediums, anyway.
• Ghost Rider director Mark Steven Johnson dropped by the Superhero Hype boards to note AMC theaters will be playing a few minute "first look" at his Marvel flick with their PG-13 and R rated movies throughout December. Wonder what we'd have to do to get him commenting on one of our posts? Probably stop criticizing his film, for a start. Although in my defense, I continue to be really hopeful.
• IGN offers an interview with Frank Miller and Zach Snyder for your consideration. Naturally, it is all about 300, which we at Cinematical continue to lavish praise upon. This probably makes our scoffing at Ghost Rider seem even more mean by comparison.
• Sci Fi Wire talks to Lucy Lawless about her upcoming film The Darkroom. I'm not interested in such things, but if you are, you can check it out.
• If you missed the Spidey event of the year, a spoiler trailer was obtained displaying ... Venom. Check out our own Monika Bartyzel's coverage of the piece.

Some movies feel like they've been on the way since the Revolutionary War. Perennial rumors occasionally renew hope, new writers are assigned, new directors express interest, new studios pick up the license ... but these hopefuls just can't seem to make it out of what the business refers to as "development hell." One such film has been a Dragonlance project, based on the popular fantasy setting. Rumors ranging from a Canadian film to a Henson Co. film have cropped up and subsequently died over the years, but it appears as though we've finally found one which is going to stick, because vocal work has already been recorded for it. Yes, recorded -- it's going to be a CGI 2D/3D animation film this time.

If you swing on over by Lucy Lawless' website (holy cow, I never thought I'd find myself typing that phrase), you can read her somewhat interesting thoughts on doing voice work for Dragonlance. Says Lawless: "I played a character called Goldmoon, a Native American.  We played around with accents awhile.  I didn't know she was Native A till I got there and so didn't have time to research the accent (not many of those where I come from).  More staccato!  More commanding!  More warm!  Less disjointed! . . . Ummm, do you just want me to do Xena?  Ahh, yes!  That's it, do Xena!  The voice is perfect!  So warm, so commanding, so . . . yeah, yeah, let's get on with it." Wait? You mean to say Lucy Lawless doesn't have tremendous acting range? Who would have ever guessed?

In other comments, Lawless also felt the need to share that this project has no lesbian subtext. I'm not sure why she felt this was significant to mention, nor exactly what her thoughts on the matter are ... but you can rest assured your Dragonlance will be lesbian free.