sean young Tagged Articles at Cinematical

At the age of 30, Jason Reitman has directed a half dozen short films, two narrative features, and an episode of The Office. He has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Directing. He is beyond the usual Hollywood definition of "hot": he is, thanks to the runaway success of Juno, superheated, like the molten core of the sun.

At the age of 30, his father, Ivan Reitman, had directed one short film and two narrative features (the immortal Foxy Lady and Cannibal Girls). At that point of his career, it is safe to say he was as far from "hot" as possible: he was as cold as the far side of the moon, at least as far as Hollywood was concerned. Three years later, the success of Meatballs, especially in relation to its budget and its recognition as the one that made Bill Murray a film star, warmed things up for the senior Reitman, in much the same way that Thank You For Smoking would later warm up his son's career, raising expectations.

Thus it's interesting to compare Ivan Reitman's follow-up, Stripes, with his son's follow-up, Juno. Strictly in financial terms, Stripes was comparable to Juno, earning $85 million in 1981, a year in which only nine films broke the $50 million mark. (To be fair, Juno's budget, at $2.5 million, was only 1/4 of Stripes' reported budget.) Stripes wasn't nominated for any Academy Awards and Ivan has never been nominated, so that gives a leg up for Jason, but that's more a reflection of the Academy's malleable taste than any intrinsic merit. Though Stripes is remembered as a broad, mainstream comedy, I'd argue that it's just as edgy and independent as Juno, and displays some of the same borderline reactionary leanings as the newer film.

You remember Sean Young, right? The actress who commandeered Cinematical's cameras back at ComicCon 2007 to tell us of her big plans to return to the "A-list?" Her other greatest hits include stalking James Woods, being fired from the role of Tess Trueheart in Dick Tracy and mounting a public media campaign in 1992 to secure the role of Catwoman in Batman Returns. Well, now she's got a new one to add to the collection: according to a number of sources, including Variety, the actress was forcefully ejected from Saturday night's Director's Guild Awards ceremony for loudly heckling Julian Schnabel during his award acceptance speech. On the way out, she tried to clock one of the security guards for good measure. Variety's report is a little short on the details, but thankfully Defamer.com also had a source on the inside and gives a much more colorful account of the goings-on. Before the main episode with Schnabel, they report, Young got off to a rollicking start by "screaming in French" at Marion Cotillard, breaking into song and yelling at a video montage of Michael Clayton.

When Schnabel finally made it to the stage, that's when all hell broke loose. Young yelled at Schnabel throughout his speech, urging him to "get on with it" and "move it on" finally prompting Schnabel to yell back that she should have another drink. She then made a big show of putting on her fur coat and apparently walked in circles around her chair before security came over and "grabbed her arm and yanked her through the tables to the side door and tossed her out." Say what you want about Sean, she was still pretty good in Blade Runner. They can't take that away from her!

Balls of Fury
Does anything more need to be said other than that Balls of Fury is a ping pong action movie co-starring Christopher Walken? Frankly, that's enough for me. But if you happen to be a Bruce Lee fan, the fact that it's a spoof of Enter the Dragon may entice you. The comedy details a former Pong phenom called Randy (Dan Fogler), who is sent on a special mission to nab his father's killer, Feng -- who just so happens to be played by Walken. With Maggie Q and a spiritual guide, Randy gets back into ping pong shape and heads to Feng's jungle compound and his ping pong tournaments.

This DVD includes an alternate ending, a small serving of deleted scenes, a comedy bit about, erm, ball handling, and a "Making Of" featurette that includes cast and table tennis guru Wei Wang, who also helped out this year's other ping pong movie, Ping Pong Playa.

Check out James' Review | Buy the DVD

Blade Runner
It has been 25 years since Blade Runner first hit theaters, and now we're getting one hell of an anniversary DVD gift just in time for the holidays. Originally stemming from the mind of Philip K. Dick, the film is a cyber-heavy vision of the future where replicants (human clones) are whipped up to work on colonies outside of Earth. However, when some escape and head to the planet, Deckard (Harrison Ford), a cop and replicant terminator, must put aside his visions of retirement and stop them. The flick also starred the likes of Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, and Daryl Hannah -- and of course, it's one of the biggest and most loved sci-fi films to hit the screen.

Fans can choose one of 3 main sets -- the 2-Disc Special Edition, the 4-Disc Collector's Edition, or the mack daddy of collections: The Ultimate Collector's Edition. The 2-Disc set offers Ridley Scott's new, final cut of the film with three commentaries, plus a feature-length documentary on the film's creation. If that's not enough, you can up it two more discs and also get all the different cuts -- theatrical, international, and director's, as well as another disc with 90 minutes of rare footage and featurettes. Finally, you can add one more disc and store it all in a sweet, metal case. The extra DVD shares a "Workprint Version" that changes things up a bit (such as no Deckard narration and no happy ending) and includes one more featurette and commentary.

Check out Ryan's Review of the Final Cut | Buy the 2-Disc, 4-Disc, or 5-Disc DVD


Other New DVD Releases (December 18)
Stardust
Underdog
Halloween
Rush Hour 3
Evil Dead: Ultimate Edition DVD
Bring It On: In It to Win It
Cinderella II: Dreams Come True

*And apologies to Simpsons fans: The Simpsons Movie

Check out Peter Martin's Indies on DVD for even more new releases.

The newly restored and, at long last, director-approved final cut of Blade Runner is playing in theaters in New York City and I had the chance to see it with an audience a couple of nights ago. My initial reaction was relief that the dreaded voice-over was completely absent, as it should be. Once I was able to settle into my seat without having to hear "the charmer's name was Gaff" I knew the rest would be gravy, and so it was. I'm happy to report that this restored print of the film looks completely amazing -- the restoration is as clean and clear as any I've ever seen.There have even been some touch-ups and a bit of re-shooting, although to what purpose I don't know. The new end credits give a big thank-you to Joanna Cassidy for agreeing to do some kind of re-shoot work, but if no one ever told me it had been done, I'd never know, so it must be some little thing that had been eating away at Ridley Scott.

This final cut isn't just a restoration of the visuals, though -- it's a plot restoration as well, and one that I find completely stupid and unnecessary. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then I don't know where you've been for the last twenty years, so I have no compunction about spoiling it for you. Ridley Scott feels that Deckard, Harrison Ford's Philip Marlowe of the future, is a replicant, just like the replicants he's chasing. It was always his prerogative to think this, even though it doesn't fit into the framework of the story, but now he's made his interpretation of it the definitive one. Instead of the film ending with Deckard spiriting Sean Young to safety in the woodsy wherever, he now learns that a vision that had haunted his dreams, of a galloping unicorn, is known to his fellow Blade Runners. They know he's a replicant, and they'll be coming for him. As this realization dawns on Deckard at the end of the new cut, he grabs Sean Young and slams the door closed -- smash cut to end titles.

Although it was made forty years before I was born, Topper has remained one of my favorite, beloved movies over the years. A fun-loving and reckless couple, Marion and George Kirby, are killed in a car accident, but left on earth as ghosts. They decide to haunt Cosmo Topper, the stuffy president of the bank they were stockholders at, and loosen him up -- which throws a wrench in his marriage to the equally-stuffy Clara Topper. Now it seems that Sean Young wants to revive the story, but she isn't having much luck.

The Sun reports that she has been trying to get in touch with George Clooney to remake the classic, claiming: "I think our chemistry would match very well, and I'd give him a run for his money." This is just the latest stint in her push to make it back to the A-list, as she told Cinematical at Comic-Con, and I guess if that's your goal, there is no better guy to get in touch with than George. Unfortunately, Clooney isn't biting: "If he would just return my call and give me a shot, that could be really great."

Doubly unfortunately, I guess she hasn't heard that Adam Shankman is already trying to remake the film, although that project dates all the way back to 2003, so who knows if it will ever get off the ground? Honestly though, I'd much rather have the spotlight-yearning Young's plan, than the other, which would star Steve Martin. I love the comedian a lot, but he just doesn't have that Cary Grant vibe, and I'm sure it would be just as disappointing as The Pink Panther. But Clooney... While I have very little interest in seeing a Topper remake, he could sway me.

If there's one thing on my must-buy list this holiday season, it's the mega-multi disc version of Ridley Scott's classic Blade Runner. They've crammed everything except for an actual Replicant into this set, and with any luck it'll be sitting on my shelf soon. That is until they release the Ultra 3D High-Def Download Only Version, Complete With Harrison Ford Commentary. Until then, I can dream.

Ridley's vision, complete with the legendary work of Syd Mead, helped turn this science fiction classic into a look at a dystopian future that still influences the look and feel of science fiction films to this day. As far as my lack-of-sleep-addled brain (Comic-Con really saps your strength, like Kryptonite) can tell, this is the first time Ridley has ever been to a Comic-Con. We were lucky to talk to him about Blade Runner, and the massive amount that's gone into this edition.

While he's calling it more "correcting" than "revising" the film, he does make a few key changes like making Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) tell Tyrell (Joe Turkel) "I want more life, father" rather than the burned into your brain "I want more life, f**ker." Sure, it's a minor change, but it really changes Batty's tone in that scene. Thankfully they didn't mess with the "tears in the rain" speech, or there would have been a massive fan uprising, the likes of which haven't been seen since the whole "Han shot first" incident.

I was able to catch up with Sean Young during the special Blade Runner: The Final Cut DVD event where she says the rumors about her and Harrison Ford not getting along on set are false, talks about some upcoming projects, and wants to get back on the A-list.

She also wants to return to comedies like Ace Ventura, and wouldn't mind meeting guys like Will Ferrell. Will, are you watching? Maybe she needs to star in a Quentin Tarantino comeback vehicle as a leather-clad vixen who offs loud cell-phone talkers or something. I'm just saying.

Anyhow, check out the video above, and let us know what you think would be Sean's best shot at climbing back up the alphabet onto the fabled A-list.

It's been known for a while now that Warner Bros. is doing something huge for the DVD release of Blade Runner: Final Cut sometime in fall 2007. The details have been left purposefully vague -- we only know that it's big enough that Joanna Cassidy had to do freakin' re-shoots for this thing, and that it will be a five-disc set that comes in a briefcase, and it will have a state-of-the-art digital print, and it may play at the Venice fest. And that Sean Young will say something crazy around the time its release. I can't even imagine how many bonus features this package will have, but to be totally honest, I hope it won't be total overkill. DVDs that comes with 99 hours of extras usually fall into the category of 'things that will never be watched by me." Anyway, here's an extra tidbit that was just thrown to me. Warner Bros. tells me to expect the Blade Runner "plans" to be announced at ComicCon. Okay. That's all I've got, folks.

As for the other issue of the day -- Blade Runner's inclusion on the Top 100 list is valid, even if it's also totally random. I mean, we're talking about a list that now includes Toy Story, people. Don't put too much stock in it. Blade Runner is such a unique and amazingly watchable movie -- I've seen it dozens of times, but never in a theater! -- that I would argue that it deserves a place in the top thirty or maybe even top twenty films of all time. It's unquestionably Ridley Scott's masterpiece, and knowing this will be his final statement on the film makes me want to get my hands on it as soon as possible. Hopefully ComicCon will answer all questions.

Check out this cast: Roy Scheider, Daryl Hannah, Eric Roberts, and Sean Young. In an indie flick, for which each is probably earning about $30/day, plus meal money. How crazy is that? I mean, if it was, say 1987, this would be a huge studio picture, complete with lots of posh trailers and personal assistants, glamorous magazine layouts for the ladies and talk show appearances for everyone except, possibly, nutso Sean. Ah, memories.

Anyway. This new, cheapie-flick is a thriller called Dark Honeymoon, and sounds like it could easily be either over-the-top terrible, or subtle and creepy. The story is about a man who marries a hot woman he barely knows, only to "[uncover] the terrible truth about her as those around them begin to die mysterious and violent deaths." Me, I'm worried mainly about the men here: despite the fact that Scheider played a nearly impossible part perfectly in All That Jazz and was wonderful in Jaws, the horror of his performance in Romeo Is Bleeding has never left me - and you never know what the hell Eric Roberts is going to get up. Do you see what I'm saying here? The chances for a lot of screaming and yelling are dangerously high. That said, I'm intrigued in spite of myself.

Shooting is due to being in May.