pride Tagged Articles at Cinematical

72 days can seem like a long time. It's what, about two and a half months? That's like from today until Thanksgiving. And that seems far off to me, because we're cooking a turducken this year and I can't wait. To someone else, though, not so long. Say if you had to go to prison in 72 days, you might think it was not enough time. And if you just met the love of your life, well, you might be sorry that you don't have longer to spend with him or her. According to Variety, this scenario (not the one involving turducken, but the one with the prison and the love) is the idea behind Seventy-Two Days, a pitch made by J. Mills Goodloe (Pride) that Castle Rock will produce, likely for Warner Bros. More specifically the story involves a Wall Street trader who gets busted for insider trading. And yes, before heading off to that luxury complex for white collar cons, dude falls in love.

The drama probably lies in whether or not he should tell the woman that he's going to jail. Maybe he can lie and say he's dying. But then I guess she'd want to attend the funeral, and that won't be possible. He could be honest and hope they can make the best of their short time, but who knows if she'd be OK with having a short romance with a criminal. Maybe his sentence isn't even that long, and she can wait for him (I have to admit that when first reading the plot, I thought he was only going away for 72 days). Anyway, I'd like to see Barry Pepper cast in the lead and have this be a sort of sequel to 25th Hour, in which it's the character Frank's turn for a last moment (or many moments) before losing his freedom. Or, Goodloe, himself, should get the role. That scruffy photo of him (provided by Variety) could definitely serve as his mug shot.

Based on the description, I'm going to go out on a limb and say this one is like The Sandlot ... but for swimmers. With swimming slowly becoming the next go-to sport for big-screen "feel good" films, Disney has decided to hop in the water with Pool Rats; a new comedy to be directed by Andy Fickman. With a script being written by Fickman, Nichole Millard and Kathryn Price, project reunites the same creative team (writers, directors, producers) behind Disney's The Game Plan -- an upcoming family comedy staring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. While the filmmakers would like to produce a film that's in the vein of Meatballs or Little Darlings, expect the flick to still project Disney's family-friendly vibe (which kind of stinks, because I'd love to see a Sandlot-type film featuring a bunch of foul-mouthed knuckleheads).

Based on Fickman's own real-life experiences, the film will revolve around the "wild times" one man has while coaching a neighborhood league swim team during a summer that changes both his life and the lives of his swimmers. Pic follows in the footsteps of the Lionsgate film Pride, which received decent reviews, but failed to make any kind of splash when it hit theaters this past spring. For my money, I'm a huge fan of the little-seen indie The Big Bad Swim -- starring one of my favorite up-and-coming actresses, Jess Weixler (Teeth). That film is about a group of local folks who sign up for a swim class and, in turn, learn a lot about themselves and help change the lives of those around them. I'm not sure whether the film was ever picked up (I know it played a ton of film festivals), but if you ever get a chance, I highly recommend it. As far as Pool Rats goes, there's no cast or production start lined up yet; expect it to arrive at some point next summer while most of us are looking for a way to cool off during those ridiculously hot days.

After having seen a thousand feel-good sports dramas -- Rudy, Remember the Titans, We Are Marshall, Glory Road and so on ad infinitum (and in many cases ad nauseam) -- you'd think that I'd be inclined to sneer at Pride. Or dismiss it as hokey, old-timey, sentimental, manipulative. Well, I actually want to celebrate Pride for being hokey, old-timey, sentimental and manipulative in the best possible way -- and also for being well-made, smarter than it has to be, packed with pleasures and full of rousing depictions of both the pleasures of competition and the hard work it takes to achieve excellence. Plus it's got an amazing Philly soul soundtrack, a steadfast-but-never-dull lead performance by Terrence Howard and Bernie Mac in what I'll call, for lack of a better phrase, the Ernest Borgnine role. Yeah, Pride is a standard-issue production-line sports drama. But Jaguars come off production lines too.

Howard plays Jim Ellis, and in a pre-credit sequence we see Ellis's swimming career as a youth -- and how a meet in 1964 North Carolina spoiled swimming for him. As the credits begin -- lettering that looks like it was pulled off the side of a Chevy van over scenes of '70s Philadelphia while the soundtrack roars with the O'Jay's "Back Stabbers" -- it's years later, and Ellis just wants a job. Any job. He tries to get a gig coaching at the local academy, but the headmaster's indifferent, and as Howard stands in a polyester suit in front of retro-atheletic banners, Pride looks like a scene from The White Shadow. And the white shadow is in the room -- Ellis's job application is pretty much rejected outright by the snotty headmaster -- Tom Arnold, who puts a few spins on a rote role throughout the film. Ellis gets a job down at the unemployment office, preparing an inner-city recreation center for demolition.

Intertwining stories set in urban jungles are hot these days; Crash and Traffic both thrived on the big screen, and now Buddy Giovinazzo is adapting his own collection of short stories, Life is Hot in Cracktown. Evan Ross, Michael Rapaport, Kerry Washington and Victor Rasuk have signed on to star in the pic, which follows the lives of several people living in a crack-infested neighborhood. But will it feel fresh? Young drug dealers, distraught parents, kids getting killed on the streets -- it's all been done before. Here's hoping the talented cast helps to ignite a flame that lasts throughout.

In fact, the storyline isn't too much of a stretch for the four; Washington recently starred as a prostitute/addict in The Dead Girl; Rapaport has dabbled in a slew of urban dramas; Rasuk first crashed onto the scene in the little indie drama Raising Victor Vargas; and Ross -- son of Diana Ross -- broke through with ATL and has also signed on to another drug-related flick, Brooklyn to Manhattan. And speaking of Ross (who stars in the upcoming Pride), he's been wrapped up in a bit of controversy as of late after the MPAA banned a poster for Pride that featured Ross in a pair of "tight-fitting" swimming trunks. Perhaps the best response came from the Lionsgate spokesperson: "Apparently the MPAA accused us of enlarging his bulge. He's just naturally well-endowed. That's the long and short of it." Shouldn't we all be so lucky ...

This Sunday, most of us will be watching the Superbowl. Out of those folks, at least half (myself included) will be watching solely for the commercials ... and maybe for a tiny bit of actual football. Let's face it, the Superbowl commercials have grown in popularity over the years, to a point where they're more appealing than the actual game. Crazy. While the Coke and Pepsi commercials are great and all, when I was growing up it was all about the movie trailers -- or, more specifically, which summer blockbusters would unleash their first TV spots during the big game.

At $2.6 million for a 30-second spot, this year the major studios have decided to steer clear from promoting the big summer monsters, in exchange for those films that desperately need eyes from a mass audience. Those of you looking forward to catching a Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End trailer will have to wait till a later date -- all Disney is giving us is a trailer for Wild Hogs and (most likely) Meet the Robinsons. Shrek the Third and Spider-Man 3 will also be absent from the big game, all you comic book geeks are getting is a TV spot for Ghost Rider ... and during the pre-game, no less. Other than that, Lionsgate will debut a trailer for the film Pride during the first quarter ... and that's it.

While we're only a few months away from one of the biggest summers ever, you'd think we'd get a little bit more than Wild Hogs, right? Back in the day, the studios always debuted the trailers for their big films during the Superbowl -- and that's why I watched -- but now with internet marketing so cheap and effective, it looks like those days are long gone. Sad, ain't it?

In case you're interested, here's a list of spots we'll be getting during this year's Superbowl.

[via Coming Soon]

Back in February, Martha Fischer had news of Terrence Howard's upcoming sports drama titled PDR. Well it's almost a year later, and the film is now called Pride, and the new teaser poster and trailer are available online.

JoBlo.net has the teaser poster with a link to the official site and trailer. The film is the true story of Jim Ellis, who turned inner-city teens from a local park and recreation center into a championship swim team. The film also stars Bernie Mac, and is being directed by first-timer Sunu Gonera. Sure, the whole thing sounds a little tired, and this is a movie I think we've all seen plenty of times before. All the clichés of an uplifting sports flick seem to be there and watching the trailer pretty much confirms it. On the upside, it looks like it might have a great soundtrack. And, I have to admit that Lionsgate pulled off a pretty slick poster for the film. I love a good movie poster, and Pride's one-sheet has a nice combination of 70's kitsch and simple graphics. It's pretty eye-catching, even if the movie itself seems like nothing special.

Lionsgate is planning on a spring release for the film, so there is still some time to drum up some interest. If nothing else, at least they managed to make an original poster. ...