Film Friday for 1/28

If it is Friday and the end of the month, it isn't just FILM FRIDAY here at 'Shouting' but FANTASTIC FILM FRIDAY!! That means we look at the latest batch of deals done in H'wood, particuarly if it is a sequel, a TV show being made into a film or a remake of a previous film. Remember our motto: No good film goes with out a remake, and no bad film goes without a sequel. On to the deals...

January is a fairly slow month for dealmaking, since the bigshots are still too hung over from their New Year's parties and too busy lurking around Sundance looking to scoop up work that they wouldn't greenlight themselves but someone else managed to make on little to no money. Still, some projects of note:

Harry and the Butler - A remake of a 1962 Danish film (boy, at least they went obscure on this one). Anthony Hopkins and Morgan Freeman will star.

Tron - remake of the 1982 film.

Spider-Man 3 - yet another franchise film. Sam Raimi, director of the first two, will direct this one also (so there's hope).

Toy Story 3 - Provided that they can find anyone in town who dares to risk never working at Pixar.

Yours, Mine and Ours - Remake of 1968 Lucille Ball/Henry Fonda film starring Dennis Quaid this time.

Not too bad this month. Of course, there were lots of novels snatched up this month for film treatments (the most well known probably being "The Corrections" by Johnathan Franzen).

Your viewing assignment this weekend, should you choose to see a film will be to see Hotel Rwanda if it is playing at a theater near year. I will be seeing Sideways so I can comment with some semblance of authority on whether Paul Giamatti was dissed for an Oscar nomination.

This man is a genius!

A man finds the perfect way to enjoy escaping from an avalanche. He drank 60 bottles of beers and peed his way out. This so sounds like something the McKenzie brothers would do...

Oscar Nominations are In!

I'll be commenting in detail later. I still have two of the "Best Picture" noms to see. Get the whole list at Oscar.com.

Let me just say, Hotel Rwanda and The Passion were two of the best films I saw last year and they were both left out of the Best Picture category.

A grim reminder

Thailand may look like a destroyed island paradise, but remember there are predators aplenty there. Numerous stories are reporting the disappearance of a tsunami survivor, a 12 year old Swedish boy. They fear he may have been kidnapped by the child trafficking industry.

And in countries where as many as 1 on 4 people may have been killed by the natural disaster, the U.N. feels that overseas adoption of orphaned children may not be appropriate and will most likely be blocked. God forbid many of these children be given an opportunity at a better life in Western countries with families who desperately want children. Instead, we'll let them continue to live without families in orphanages. Let's hope they don't fall prey to the traffickers.