Sylvester Stallone

After 19 Years, ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ Exhumes Venerated Roots

HollywoodChicago.com — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:00:20 -0700

CHICAGO – After such a long respite from the beloved film progression, I was initially just as skittish about seeing Harrison Ford back in the Indy saddle as I was watching Sylvester Stallone back in the ring in “Rocky Balboa” in his 2006 comeback and then again in 2008 in his “Rambo” return.

Ultimately, though, I had faith in director Steven Spielberg not to royally torpedo the monolithically anticipated “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” which resurrects the Chicago-born, 65-year-old Harrison Ford as one of my favorite film characters of all time.

Spielberg delivers. Thank the heavens.

In grappling with Ford’s real-life age, David Koepp’s screenplay comically writes in subtle jabs to wrangle with the reality. Just like Stallone didn’t try to hide it in “Rocky Balboa” and he instead decided to honestly portray it, so did Ford’s character grow older.

Read Adam Fendelman’s full review of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” in our reviews section.

View our full “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” image gallery.

Of course, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is still a major Hollywood product and Indiana Jones is still Indiana Jones. He still flings through the air with bird-like grace, whips all obstacles in his way with laser-like precision and is imbued with the film’s classic and campy “kapow!” sound effects. I love ‘em to pieces.

While the character Indiana Jones has had an unfortunate television run by way of Sean Patrick Flanery in his young form from 1992 all the way through 2007, Harrison Ford as the real Indiana Jones we’ve all been enamored with last roughed it up in a major Spielberg production in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” in 1989.

Before that, it was five years earlier in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” in 1984 and three years earlier in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in 1981. Yes, that’s three years between the first and second, five years between the second and third and 19 years between the third and the fourth.

Shia LaBeouf (left) and Harrison Ford in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”.
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures

Harrison Ford in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”.
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures

Read Adam Fendelman’s full “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” review.

Stallone Sports Aggrandized Violence, Weak Storyline in ‘Rambo’ Revival

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 10:32:28 -0700

CHICAGO – The best quality about the fourth “Rambo” is its “Rambo” authenticity. The worst quality about the fourth “Rambo” is its “Rambo” authenticity.

Unlike the previous three, which released every three years in the 1980s (“First Blood” in 1982, “Rambo: First Blood Part II” in 1985 and “Rambo III” in 1988), “Rambo” exactly two decades later featured some commonalties and also broke some new ground.

Sylvester Stallone – who’s now 61 years old, and though he shows it, still looks the buff part – of course starred in all of them as John Rambo. In addition to starring in the films in 1982, 1985 and 1988, Stallone was also a scribe. The films were all directed by other talents (Ted Kotcheff, George Cosmatos, Peter MacDonald, respectively).

Click here to read Adam Fendelman’s full review
of “Rambo” in our reviews section!

Click here for our full “Rambo” image gallery!

News You Need: WGA Says Pencils Down, ‘Nailed’ Being Fashioned, Stallone’s Comeback

HollywoodChicago.com — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 01:25:20 -0700

Pencils Down: The Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike went official at 12:01 a.m. EST on Monday.

Eleventh-hour talks ended when the WGA, which has been fighting the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers) primarily for more residuals in DVD and extra media sales, refused to delay the strike past the start date set last Friday.

Variety has the rundown. Ultimately, movies will not have an immediate effect and most scripted television shows have a backlog of five episodes.

However, daily talk shows like “The Tonight Show” and “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” will go into re-runs. “The Daily Show” and host and executive producer Jon Stewart is reportedly showing a sign of solidarity by paying his picketing writing staff two weeks’ salary from his own pocket.

The WGA is expecting high-profile picketing. Some high-status writers including John August (“Big Fish,” “Go”) and Jane Espenson (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Battlestar Galactica”) have posted on their blogs where they’re picketing on Monday.

Members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) are expected to join the picket lines since their contract along with the Directors Guild of America (DGA) expires in June. Both SAG and the DGA’s prominent bargaining points are identical to the WGA’s.

In Chicago, ReelChicago.com says one casualty of the strike will be Lifetime’s planned series “Family Practice”.

Meanwhile, Greencine Daily has posted an interesting link to mark the occasion: a 1945 Atlantic Monthly essay on screenwriting by classic noir novelist Raymond Chandler (“The Big Sleep”). Chandler wrote:

To me, the interesting point about Hollywood’s writers … is not how few or how many they are but how little of worth their talent is allowed to achieve.

For among the best reporting on the strike, check out Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily. An immediate settlement is not expected.

8:19 a.m. update on 11/6/07: Illinois Sen. Barack Obama had this to say in reaction to the WGA strike:

I stand with the writers.

The guild’s demand is a test of whether media corporations are going to give writers a fair share of the wealth their work creates or continue concentrating profits in the hands of their executives.

I urge the producers to work with the writers so everyone can get back to work.

I Heart Political Satire: The great Class of ’99 member David O. Russell is in negotiations to co-write and direct “Nailed”. He’s making a noble effort to have more projects in the works than Steven Spielberg.

David O. Russell (on right).
Photo credit: Lester Cohen, WireImage.com
“Nailed,” which will star Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Biel, is about a bizarrely injured woman who crusades to Washington. It’s being co-written by Kristen Gore (the daughter of Al Gore and a former “Futurama” writer).

There’s currently no word on Russell’s proposed adaptation of Kristen Gore’s autobiographical novel “Sammy’s Hill,” the “The H-Man Commeth” (which is set to star Vince Vaughan as a radio host) or his proposed White Queen “X-Men” spin-off.

Let’s not waste an opportunity to link to Russell’s most recent bout with fame. That link, by the way, contains adult language.

Sylvester Stallone’s 468th Comeback: Stallone is in negotiations to direct and star in a remake of “Death Wish” probably because he ran out of old franchises to give a one-off revitalization.

Sylvester Stallone (on left).
Photo credit: Eric Charbonneau, WireImage.com
This “Death Wish” is not to be confused with the other recent unintentional “Death Wish” remake known as “The Brave One”.

By Shane Hazen
Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com