NFL Draft Day today - Filming For A Theater Near You

Got this release and being an NFL Fan -- I'm intrigued... I'll share pieces of it below...but Mel Kiper Jr. is actually going to have a role here, so if you see Kevin Costner at the draft tonight, you know why!

p

SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT AND ODDLOT ENTERTAINMENT

KICKOFF PRODUCTION FOR DRAFT DAY ON APRIL 25, 2013

Principal Photography Starting in New York to Film during Actual

2013 NFL Draft and Will Continue in Cleveland

Santa Monica, CA  April 24, 2013 – Summit Entertainment, a LIONSGATE® company, and OddLot Entertainment announced today that principal photography of the co-production of DRAFT DAY will commence on April 25th.  Filming of the dramedy is starting in New York in time to film scenes during the actual 2013 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall. The movie, starring Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Ellen Burstyn and Denis Leary, is being directed and produced by Ivan Reitman from a script by Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman. The film will also feature Frank Langella, Chadwick Boseman, Terry Crews, Sean Combs, Josh Pence, Rosanna Arquette, Timothy Simons, David Ramsey, Wade Williams, Chi McBride, W. Earl Brown, Brad Henke, Griffin Newman, Kevin Dunn, Patrick St. Esprit, Arian Foster, Christopher Cousins, Pat Healy, Laura Steinel and Wallace Langham. Once filming in New York is complete, production will move to Cleveland.

Erik Feig, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group’s President of Production, said, “DRAFT DAY is that perfect movie with a little something for everyone – adrenaline, high stakes, laughs, and ultimately a fantastic group of characters brought to screen by a master director.

"We are very proud to be producing DRAFT DAY, a great screenplay we found and championed, which then went on to be the number one script on last year’s Black List,” said Montecito co-owner Tom Pollock. “For Ivan as a director, the project is reminiscent of DAVE, one of his best films, and for Kevin, it is in the spirit of FIELD OF DREAMS."

In DRAFT DAY, on the day of the NFL Draft, general manager Sonny Weaver (Costner) has the opportunity to save football in Cleveland when he trades for the number one pick. He must quickly decide what he's willing to sacrifice in pursuit of perfection as the lines between his personal and professional life become blurred on a life-changing day for a few hundred young men with dreams of playing in the NFL.

Kevin Costner – “Sonny Weaver Jr.”

Jennifer Garner – “Ali”

Denis Leary – “Coach Penn”

Ellen Burstyn – “Barb Weaver”

Frank Langella – “Anthony Molina”

Chadwick Boseman – “Vontae Mack”

Terry Crews – “Earl Jennings”

Sean Combs – “Chris Crawford”

Josh Pence – “Bo Callahan”

Rosanna Arquette – “Angie” (Ex-Wife)

Timothy Simons – “Marx” (Scout)

David Ramsey – “Thompson” (Scout)

Wade Williams – “O’Reilly” (Scout)

Chi McBride- “Walt Gordon”

W. Earl Brown – “Ralph Mowry”

Brad Henke – “Tony ‘Bagel’ Bagli”

Griffin Newman – “Rick” (Intern)

Kevin Dunn – “Marvin”

Patrick St. Esprit – “Tom Michaels”

Arian Foster – “Ray Jennings”

Christopher Cousins – “Max Stone”

Pat Healy – “Jeff Carson”

Laura Steinel – “Heather”

Wallace Langham- “Pete Begler”

The film will also feature NFL players Demario Davis, James Brewer, Ramses Barden, Zoltan Mesko, and Stephen Hill, as well as NFL and ESPN on-air talent Jon Gruden, Mike Mayock, Deion Sanders, Rich Eisen, Mel Kiperand Chris Berman.

Home Screening Room - The Gangster Squad will send you to the Promised Land

Let’s go to the Promised Land with Matt Damon. But not before the Gangster Squad tried to do the Impossible.

Big Releases from Theaters

The Central Park Five – Not Rated (Directed by Ken Burns)

Gangster Squad – Rated R (Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Sean Penn)

A Haunted House – Rated R (Marlon Wayans, Cedric the Entertainer)

The Impossible – Rated PG-13 (Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts)

Jurassic Park 3D – Rated PG-13 (Sam Neill, Laura Dern)

Promised Land – Rated R (Matt Damon, Frances McDormand)

A really diverse group of titles come home this week. There’s the classic Jurassic Park now available in a 3D BluRay combo pack that will explode off the screen. A solid documentary by director Ken Burns about the case in 1989 that found a group of young men accused and arrested for a crime they didn’t commit. The Impossible and Promised Land were two titles that had big Oscar hopes and went different directions dealing with two heavy issues (the tsunami and fracking). Throw in the comedy A Haunted House and the drama Gangster Squad and you’ve got something for almost everyone.

Also New This Week

Any Day Now – Rated R (Alan Cumming, Garret Dillahunt)

Assassins Run – Rated R (Christian Slater, Cole Hauser)

Family Weekend – Rated R (Kristin Chenoweth, Matthew Modine)

God’s Country – Not Rated (Jenn Gotzon, Daniel Hugh Kelly)

It’s In The Blood – Not Rated (Lance Henriksen)

Maverick: The Complete Second Season

Pawn – Rated R (Nikki Reed, Ray Liotta)

Touched By An Angel: The Seventh Season

Two older series add to their sollection and a variety of interesting selections. Maybe they aren’t all award winners but they will cause for an interesting different group of releases. For me, looking to see Family Weekend…maybe??? And Ray Liotta and Cole Hauser mean eyeballs. What will work out of this group? Or how about a Christian title, God's Country. It looks like that might be the one some are searching for. Cool trailers, cool movies, but I'm TIRED of the COOL Weather...give me some warmth! 

Final Score

Jurassic Park 3D would be a nice enhancement to any collection. The others are perfect for fans of very specific niches but even if you won’t be purchasing them for you collection…they are worth checking out.

Pop Popcorn, Do the DietDew, and Bust out the Blu and remember to Save Me A Seat!

Harrison Ford Loses It on Jimmy Kimmel

I've been a fan of Jimmy Kimmel for years. Since his show's launch he has been outside the trends of late night and generally doing things his way. In the beginning, he struggled for A-list talent to visit

his show. But that has changed. The new, earlier time for his show and the way he has developed has brought in A-list talent many times over.

But is that about to change?

His show on April 17 featured Harrison Ford promoting his role in 42 (the number one movie in the country last week). As the interview neared a close, Kimmel began a line of questioning around Star Wars and Ford seemed uncomfortable with the questions. So Kimmel stopped and Ford agreed to take some questions from the audience, with the caveat....no Star Wars questions...

What happened next...

Well watch the video!

It's embeded below!

Trailer - Man of Steel

Well...I guess there was a birthday present for me after all - (well of course other than spending the evening with Tom Cruise and the new movie Oblivion) It's a new trailer for Man Of Steel --- enjoy!

Home Screening Room - Django, Nothing But Django

My birthday and not much new big being released…but we do have one big one that many have loved, and some haven’t….and a lot of interesting smaller titles to choose from so let’s do it!

Big Releases from Theaters
Django Unchained – Rated R (Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson)

A truly slow week this week as Django Unchained pretty much has the store shelves to itself. Coming off of a couple of MTV Movie Awards wins, Django will be in high demand and I can anticipate big things for the Quentin Tarantino film.

Also New This Week

Alice: The Complete Third Season

The Colombian Connection – Rated R (Tom Sizemore)

Crazy Enough – Rated PG (Chris Kattan, Brooke Anna Leedy)

Disneynature: Wings of Life – Rated G (voice of Meryl Streep)

Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Ninth Season

Future Weather – Not Rated (Perla Haney-Jardine, Amy Madigan, Lili Taylor)

The Great Divide – Not Rated (Tichina Arnold, Darrin Dewitt Henson)

The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia – Rated R (Katee Sackhoff, Chad Michael Murray)

A Monster in Paris – Rated PG (Voice of Vanessa Paradis, Sean Lannon, Catherine O’Hara)
Save the Date – Rated R (Lizzy Caplan, Alison Brie)
Small Apartments – Rated R (Juno Temple, Rebel Wilson)
State of Emergency – Not Rated (Jay Hayden, Andy Stahl)

A variety of smaller titles this week include a comedy from Chris Kattan, a sequel to The Haunting in Connecticut and Lizzy Caplan and Alison Brie together in what looks to be a fun comedy. DisneyNature comes to the table with Wings of Life with the amazing Meryl Streep doing the voice over. Oh and we get some lower budget interesting titles are always around every corner…take a look at a couple of trailers below and you be the judge.

The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia – Rated R (Katee Sackhoff, Chad Michael Murray)



Save the Date – Rated R (Lizzy Caplan, Alison Brie)

Final Score

Django Unchained is worth adding to many collections – especially Quentin fans.




Pop Popcorn, Do the DietDew, and Bust out the Blu and remember to Save Me A Seat!

 

 

Thumbs Down for the Passing of Roger Ebert

Today as I ate lunch, I got a text message from a friend.

"Did you hear Roger Ebert died?" :-(

Immediately my heart skipped a beat.

Sure I had read the article only days earlier that said he was taking a break due to deteriorating health it didn't come as a huge shock, but yet I wasn't expecting this kind of turn this quickly.



This is the image at rogerebert.com running with the
statement from Chaz, the way I will always remember Roger.

Roger Ebert is an icon in the business of film criticism. I'm sure by the time you are reading this you will have read a million stories about the man that Roger Ebert was, but allow me to take a couple minutes to talk about what I know.

It is one of the regrets that I have that I never had a chance to meet the man. He was only 90 minutes to my south and yet I never gor a chance to sit down and chat with him about the thing that we both love, movies.

I'm jealous to have friends and colleagues that have met him,talked with him and enjoyed a moment with him.

Whether you have agreed or disagreed with his opinions on movies throughout the years, Roger Ebert is the name that everyone knew.

I grew to know him, as many did, with Siskel and Ebert. It was a show that even in my younger years I found enjoyable to pacify my love of movies. At a time when there was no proliferation of voices to be found on a national basis, Siskel and Ebert were talking about the thing I loved.

I grew up without the internet in my youth, so the ability to get the best information on the most curent films was like gold. It was my lifeline to movies that played in parts of the country that I knew I never would be able to see theatrically.

I found myself yelling in disagreement ast some of their thoughts and it drove me nuts at time. They hated some films that I loved., or Roger loved it and Gene hated it, or vice versa...but they always had an opinion and brought out my passion.

While I grew, I worked at video stores, and started to share my opinion, always watching my two role models and using that movie passion that burned inside of me. I took to the young growing medium of the internet and established commonguy.com to add my voice to the mix. It was 1997 and the wild west of the internet. I grew quickly in a market that was rapidly expanding. And it was all because of Siskel and Ebert and the example of passion for the movies that they led with.

In 1999, when Gene Siskel passed, I shed a tear as one of my role models in the business was gone. I waited with all others to see what would happen with Roger on a national level and was very pleased when he was back on my screen with Richard Roeper. Sure I disagreed with Ricahrd a lot but I still watched religiously.

Roger kept the show coming in different incarnations with some talent I loved, and some I was lukewarm on but always with personalities front and center. The personalities they found always popped with a passion for the medium that I love.

Always putting his wife Chaz at the forefront of his life. He fought against the illnes that eventually took him from us and reinvented himself behind a different screen, the computer screen. He was always passionate with what he does and the internet was no different. Even his political thoughts came through on his twitter and whether you agreed with him or not, there was immense passion in everything he wrote.

Roger Ebert influenced me. He influenced most of us that talk about movies today. He probably will be influential for years to come. There will never be another Roger Ebert although there will always be those that talk about the movies. He used his mediums in the paper, on television and online to tell us the story and we all listened and learned.

For now Roger will have to go back to hanging out with Gene again. Siskel and Ebert will be back for another run. I'm jealous of the talent that heaven will get to experience. Although his time with us here on earth is done, he won't soon be forgotten.

Thumbs down on the loss of an icon. Thumbs up on the life of an icon.

And for now, in an era without movie palaces, the balcony is closed.