This is unexpected but not totally unsurprising news in light of today’s third horse death on Michael Mann‘s HBO show Luck. Which is now officially canceled, after the American Humane Association halted all production yesterday.
Full memo below: Read More
Critics have already been effusive in their praise for Luck, the new HBO show created by David Milch. Executive produced by Michael Mann and by star Dustin Hoffman, the series sets out to expose the seedy underbelly of the thoroughbred racing scene.
But eagle-eyed viewers may notice one detail missing from the pilot episode, as well as one additional installment: the American Humane Association’s usual seal of approval certifying that “No Animals Were Harmed” during the filming of the show. Instead, those two episodes state merely that “The American Humane Association Monitored the animal action.”
That’s because while Luck takes a hard look at those who exploit animals for money, the show itself has come under scrutiny after two of the horses used in the production broke their legs during filming and had to be euthanized. Read More
Yesterday, when HBO announced that they were going ahead with a series order for Luck, most of the internet met the news with a collective shrug. Not because Luck isn’t poised to be one of the most highly anticipated shows of 2011 — spoiler: it already is — but because of course HBO picked it Read More
What’s Austrian for “not as good as we thought?” It was a tale of two weekends for Sacha Baron Cohen’s Brüno. On the one hand, the guerrilla comedy pulled down an estimated $30.4 million in ticket sales to pace the field; on the other, the total gross came in well below the Read More
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Michael Mann’s Public Enemies is suffocated by historical accuracies, coming as it does from such a notoriously detail-oriented director. Not so! Mr. Mann’s script, co-written by Southland’s Ann Biderman and Ronan Bennett, is chock-a-block with dramatic license. For example: F.B.I. agent Melvin Purvis (a decidedly underused Christian Bale) Read More
Ladies and gentlemen: We have a draw! Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs each pulled down an estimated $42.5 over Fourth of July weekend to tie atop the charts, meaning a winner won’t be decided until the final numbers are tallied later today. (Our money is Read More
Public Enemies
Running time 143 minutes
Written by Ronan Bennett, Michael Mann and Ann Biderman
Directed by Michael Mann
Starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Channing Tatum, Stephen Graham, Giovanni Ribisi, Billy Crudup
America’s enduring obsession with the folk-hero outlaws and gangsters of the 1930s is about to get ratcheted up a few notches. Read More
Break out the SPF 50! The summer movie season starts in earnest this weekend with the openings of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and, frankly, we could not be more excited. Bank on the next four months being filled up by superheroes, stunted man-children, teenage wizards and an unusual amount of killer Read More
Proving that it’s never too early to peer into the future, the Times Online has published their list of the 50 most anticipated films of 2009. We’re onto next year already? We still have to catch up on all the things we missed this year! (When is Eagle Eye coming out on DVD?) A Read More
Four months ago, it looked as though Don Winslow’s aging hitman saga, The Winter of Frankie Machine, was going to be the (potentially) perfect coda to the Martin Scorsese/Robert De Niro mobster trio of Mean Streets, Goodfellas and Casino. Alas, it didn’t work out.
But, in a semi-inversion of what went Read More
