Much like yourself, I was just sitting here drinking my coffee and thinking about how Hollywood needs to make more movies based on videogames. And lo and behold, here it is in Variety: Warner Bros. is going ahead with an adaptation of Lost Planet, a Japanese videogame that “revolves around an expedition to an ice planet that harbors an energy source with the potential to save mankind.” The game is by Capcon, which has already seen its Resident Evil turn into three movies with another on the way.

At the other end of the cinematic spectrum, a long-lost screenplay by Gabriel Garcia Marquez will finally go before the cameras if Mexican actor and producer Rodolfo de Anda has his way.

Read More...

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR

For a movie about a couple of well-placed rogue elements helping to kick the Soviets out of Afghanistan, Mike Nichols' latest looks about as glossy and middle-of-the-road as a movie of this sort can be.  But homogenization aside, is it just me, or does something about Charlie Wilson’s War seem a bit familiar? Let’s see: two of Hollywood’s biggest stars top-line a comedy in which they find themselves in the middle of a war being fought in a Muslim-dominated country. Wait a sec. . . could this turn out to be Nichols’ Ishtar? Come to think of it, that would be kind of awesome, considering that (a) Nichols’ former comedy partner Elaine May hasn’t directed a single film since that 1987 flop, while Nichols’ career thrives despite turds like Regarding Henry and What Planet Are You From?, and (b) the studio is intent on selling the movie as prime Oscar material. If my suspicion pans out, no amount of hot-fudge love or cherry-ripple kisses could help endear this to the Academy.

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA

You know, it’s bad enough when Hollywood makes mincemeat of good books by popular authors.  But to see the work of a Nobel-prize-winning author like Gabriel Garcia Marquez sold like a Hispanic Nicholas Sparks adaptation. . . no, it’s just too much. I despair that this will be the first taste of Garcia Marquez for the majority of moviegoing audiences, and that in all probability the movie won’t give them any reason to discover his books. I’m also not a big fan of the credit "original songs by Shakira," but that’s a relatively minor quibble. The big problem here is this: just because it’s a novel doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to adapt it. My only hope is that the inevitable surge in popularity for Doris Lessing following her recent Nobel won’t suddenly prompt Hollywood to green-light a film version of The Golden Notebook starring Scarlett Johansson.

— Paul Clark