Reel Facts & Opinions

FACT: Republicans tried to use a clip from 2010’s THE TOWN as a rally cry during debt-ceiling debates this week, playing a scene that has riled up Democrats. In the scene played, with Jeremy Renner and Ben Affleck, one tells the other that he needs his help to “hurt some people”.

OPINION: This Blogger just hates it when morons give good movies a bad name. It takes two to tango, and there are idiots on both sides here. Maybe they should have played DUMB AND DUMBER or JACKASS.

FACT: Ron Howard has bowed out of directing the film adaptation of author Dan Brown’s third Robert Langdon novel, THE LOST SYMBOL, but may still produce. Howard directed the previous two films, THE DaVINCI CODE and ANGELS AND DEMONS.

OPINION: The series could probably use some new blood; while this Blogger enjoys CODE immensely, DEMONS came across as a soup sandwich. On top of that, SYMBOL is generally held to be the weakest in the series. This third film would need a strong shot in the arm, and this Blogger still says Viggo Mortensen would have been the perfect Langdon.

FACT: It was confirmed this week that four of the original cast members of the 1960’s gothic soap opera DARK SHADOWS will make cameos in Tim Burton’s upcoming feature adaptation; this includes Jonathan Frid, who played the main character/vampire Barnabas.

OPINION: Newcomers to the DARK SHADOWS universe will likely have no idea who these old dudes are when they appear on screen, so Burton needs to hopefully give them something important to do other than serve a “wink wink” moment. But cameos are supposed to be fun (like Stan Lee popping up in the Marvel films), so it should be neat to see.

What say you?