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I cant wait for this film. Beyonce has put her brilliant music career on hold for this film. Eddie is a legend, Jamie is on fire, BRING IT ON.

This movie does sound pretty good but is it ever going to begin filming? How many times has Dave posted stories about the negotiations? More than a few. If Beyonce and Eddie and Foxx are all signed up then it must be a go picture but there is a sense of instability around it with every new story.

really terrific hire by variety. hiring the most irrelevant gossip person out there. maybe if this was 1968. i don't think people care too much about liza taylor and babs streisand anymore. what were they thinking?

Liz Smith was over in 1973. She's never even heard of Destinys Child. She's a 90 yr old gossip columnist who is still in the closet. Weird.

get ready for plenty of rosie odonnel and ellen degeneres stories now in variety.

Who's her source? This column from 6 months ago? She should sift thru the archives a little better and get the real scoops. Maybe she wouldn't be so out of touch.

If she's lucky she'll be able to tell us that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have broken up and Brad's now with Angelina Jolie. Cross your fingers.

Bill Condon is one of the few real geniuses in this business. He could cast kids off the street and make this good.

A real genuis? He did Kinsey and Gods and Monsters.

The requirements for Genuis in your book is really low.

Dukes of Hazzard just got 3 stars in the NY Post. I think I'm in shock. Is this movie actually fun? I may have to see it.

After seeing Super Troopers on video, I caught Broken Lizard's Club Dread opening night in the theater. And that was about the worst thing I saw in a movie last year (that or Troy), so I have no plans to catch this.

>A real genuis? He did Kinsey and Gods and Monsters. The requirements for Genuis in your book is really low.

Both of those films as masterpieces. He also wrote the screenplay for Chicago, right? Yep. Genius. Unlike the hack crap that has been pumped out this summer, he put flesh and blood up on the screen and makes you feel.

masterpieces?? now we are tossing around that term way too freely.
masterpieces. citizen kane. godfather. raging bull. not kinsey and gods and monsters. relax.

Don't forget he wrote the classic of American cinema, F/X 2. And also directed the masterpiece of horror, Candyman 2.

Not even the original, badass FX? The sequel was weak. Totally weak.

I agree, Gods and Monsters and Kinsey both have good things in them but both are FAR from being masterpieces. And how different was his screenplay of Chicago from the original version?

Resumes don't mean shit.

Lots of directors of really bad movies have gone on to make masterpieces. the list is endless. I've heard interviews of Condon on NPR, and he's a smart guy who likes tackling tough subjects. So one can hope.

His resume doesn't inspire any confidence to call him a genuis. Far from it.

Kinsey was a masterpiece? I think I've heard it all here. What did this guy think when he saw The Godfather for the first time? Was he stalking Francis Coppola?

Theres realy bad movies and then theres Gods and Monsters. We get it. Bill Condon is into gay themes. Thanks for the update.

If we're going to judge folks by their resumes, let's remember: John Logan, scriptwriter of "The Aviator," got his big movie break by scripting "Bats." And Francis Ford Coppola has "Dementia 13" on his resume. (Actually, I'm still very fond "You're a Big Boy Now," an early Coppola movie that Coppola himself appears to have more or less disowned.)

Gods and Monsters and Kinsey are dog whistle movies not masterpieces. Not even close.

I didn't know what was funnier. Liz Smith thinking she still matters and gets scoops or Kinsey being deemed a masterpiece.

Yeah Kinsey's a masterpiece?

That's Bull Shit and I hate that. Just let it go.

(at this point I'm throwing down my mic and walking away)

Joe E: Encore! Encore! (Stands up, lights cigarette lighter, holds it up in the air.)

You tell 'em Joe. Now sing Journey before you leave and really tell 'em.

Joe E, were you channeling Bob Novak?

I still want to know who in their right mind calls those movies masterpieces.

I thought it was worth mentioning. I've watched that clip like 20 times and laugh every single time. Carville's face is priceless.

It's absolutely fascinating how every single one of the people spewing venom against "Kinsey" here were leaping to the defense of Jessica Simpson a couple of days ago on a different thread. No doubt Kinsey himself (and Freud) would have had a lot to say about that.

As for "Kinsey," I'll stand up and call it a masterpiece. A flawed one, but a masterpiece nevertheless. As for "Gods and Monsters," I've sadly never gotten around to seeing it.

BTW, given the underlying homophobia so vividly on display here, "Dreamgirls" has nothing to do with gay people (unless you follow the stereotype that all musicals do). It is based on the rise and fall of Diana Ross and the Supremes.

Who wouldn't walk out on Carville? He's a jerk who just yells over people. Not a great way to debate.

I'm sorry Chester. I forgot that you can't think Jessica Simpson is hot and think Kinsey is overrated crap. What was I thinking? Actually is this better, WHAT WAS I THINKING? Am I clearer, Chester?

Speaking of Robert “The Prince of Darkness” Novak: I wonder if he’s contemplating the possibility that he could be charged as a traitor – no kidding – for his role in outing a CIA agent during a time of declared war? Consider the delicious irony: Right wingers can scream “Hanoi Jane” all they want but, technically speaking, Jane Fonda never really broke any laws, so she could never be legally prosecuted for her anti-war activities. (I’m not 1,000-precent sure of this – any lawyers out there can help me on this? – but I think it had something to do with Vietnam never being an OFFICIALLY declared war. Otherwise, I’m sure the Nixon-era Justice Department would have pounced on her, much like they tried to do with Daniel Ellsberg.) But Robert Novak…. LOL.

You guys weren't just saying Simpson is hot. (To each his own.) You guys were saying - gulp! - that she's TALENTED!

...Ouch! I just banged my head while rolling on the floor laughing over that...

Just watched the opening minutes of "American Outlaws" on TV. (And, trust me, those few minutes were more than enough.) A Jesse James movie with Colin Farrell as Jesse James... a fine actor, but sorely miscast... absolutely no sense of period, and Moby's "Find My Baby" as the opening theme. I still can't understand: WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

Colin Farrel must have been paid A LOT OF DAMN FREAKING MONEY! Because it was just uncalled for.

Actually JoeFitz, you're right. I actually asked Farrell about it in an interview around the time of "Daredevil," and he said, in effect, hey, it was the first time I was ofered a lot of money for a lead role -- and I probably would have looked arrogant for turning it down.

But sweet Jesus, who made the decision to cast him in the first place? And even tho I like Moby: Who decided to use that freakin' song?

Panda Bear, Carville and Novak have both very respective resumes, they are both very rich. But when they are on CNN they don't debate, they just yell their party's message. That's it. If you watch these kind of shows (which I don't recommend), you know that both sides take low blows at each other, and neither is clean. But its fun to watch a very rich person lose his cool and storm off like a 12 year old girl who's parents won't give them a ride to the mall.

I can't watch those dumb shows like Crossfire. All the yelling and the screaming and the flying.

I suppose that's true, Sanchez. If I didn't know better, I would've sworn the show was produced by Dave Poland.

Me? Yelling and screaming?

Dave only yells and screams after 2 (count 'em) bottles of Malt liquor (and I aint talking about the miniatures). But then he can't walk anymore so he's really harmless.

Joe told me so it Must be true.

Since when does Dave schill for a crappy network like CNN?

Lota: Now you know I told you that in confidence. You blab about that, and Dave will tell folks about the time they had to carry me out of Eartha Kitt's hotel suite because I tried to keep up with her while drinking brandies during an interview. (Almost as bad a mistake as time I tried to keep up with Nick Nolte.)

Dave, I said "produced." (Sheesh, I hope I don't have to explain any further.)

Kinsey might be one of, if not the best, biopic ever written especially considering how godawful most of them are -- think "tv movie of the week." Not only did Condon capture the man in his entirety, but he provided the entire worldview/background of why this man was so important and how he changed the course of history through relentless dogged research. On top of all that, he gave us a spectacular fully fleshed-out portrait of his wife and, warts and all, the man himself. It's a stunning achievement. And when it was passed over for Best Picture Oscar, I was dumbstruck. Condon is a genius, pure and simple -- and Kinsey is a masterpiece.

I'm sorry Joe. AT least I didn't tell that Dave was trying on Eartha's shoes. oops.

At least you didn't try to out-drink Oliver Reed, but I am sure Nolte is just about as "skilled".

Oliver Reed can out drink you and hes been dead for 3 years.

Years ago -- back when I was at the Dallas Morning News -- I interviewed Oliver Reed, Anthony Quinn and Rod Steiger at the same time in a hotel suite. (They were in town for the world premiere of a forgettable movie called "Lion of the Desert.") All three guys were hammered to some degree. (Probably because they knew their movie was a moldy piece of cheese.) But Reed was.... oh, hell, there's no other word for it: He was ASTONISHINGLY drunk. No, you're right, there's no way I could have ever kept up with that.

whew that's some triumvirate to interview Joe. I am sure you felt alcoholicly-inferior.

I have a soft spot for Oliver Reed, who never got the recognition he deserved. He was a very good actor, but media focus was always on his drinking.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/weekinreview/07mckinley.html?

"Gods and Monsters" is outright genius. When you think of the ridiculous womb-to-tomb biopics of last year - "Life and Death of Peter Sellers," "Ray," "Beyond the Sea," etc. - I feel that you learned far, far more about the man James Whale was (well, the character created on screen) than you did about Sellers, Ray Charles or Bobby Darin in those ("Hey, Ray Charles astounded people by recording a country album!!" "Um, what the FUCK does that really have to do with the narrative thread?"). The score, the writing, McKellen's measured performance, the "Frankenstein" movies paralleled to the horrors of World War I, etc., it's just a truly great piece of filmmaking.

Gods and Monsters is brilliant, agreed, compared Beyond the Sea (Horrible), Ray (boring) and just about every biopic I've ever seen.

Biopics by their nature either assassinate a character or sweeten them to the point of unbeleivability OR...they are just plain boring. By the end of Gods and Monsters I forgot it was a biopic.

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