CHiPs Round Up
Dax Shepard as Jon Baker
Michael Pena as Frank “Ponch” Poncherello
Thumbs Down: I’m not against a film adaptation of CHiPs whatsoever, but these are not the guys to take us there. I’ve never been remotely impressed with Dax Sheppard, and I know a lot of people like Michael Pena, but he’s underwhelmed me so far. This is also supposedly going to take a serious take on the material. Are you kidding me? CHiPs? Listen to the theme song for crying out loud! How do you not make this a comedy? It’s a no-brainer! You do what 21 Jump Street did. I’m not saying you have to copy the same style of humor, but it needs to be primarily funny. A serious CHiPs take with these actors? No thanks. (DC)
Thumbs Down: The idea of taking old shows and turning them into comedies has had way more misses (Starsky and Hutch, Land of the Lost, Dragnet) than hits (21 Jump Street), so my interest in this is starting off pretty low. They haven’t helped their case by casting the always mediocre Dax Shepard as the motorcycle cop who wasn’t Erik Estrada, and the not-very-comedic Michael Pena as the motorcycle cop who was Erik Estrada. Shepard has just never done anything for me in any comedy he’s ever been in, and Pena’s comedy roles are so minor, I am still puzzled where the casting decision for him came from. (JM)
Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam (Shazam!)
Thumbs Up: Sure, why not. Shazam is actually a really cool character, and I’m interested in the Black Adam angle, as he is traditionally a villain. I like Dwayne Johnson a lot, but I think we need to calm down a little bit with this guy. He gets way more praise than he deserves. He’s a decent actor with a lot of charisma, but that’s it. (DC)
Thumbs Up: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is perfect for this part. For years I have seen comic book fans name him as the best example of someone who might be able to play the nemesis of Captain Marvel, so for the dream casting of fans to come true for a film version is especially exciting. Johnson definitely has an image and stature that would easily translate to a comic book adaptation, and his years of playing an antihero of sorts for the WWF almost directly matches with Black Adam’s personality. (JM)
Ted 2 Round Up
Morgan Freeman as a civil rights lawyer
Liam Neeson in an unspecified role
John Slattery in an unspecified role
Thumbs Up to All: A Million Ways to Die in the West might end up being a good thing for Ted 2. Think of all the hype that has evaporated with this film because of that one movie. As far as this casting goes, they’ll all be really funny in this type of situation. The concept of Liam Neeson in a Ted movie is guaranteed to work, otherwise something must have gone horribly wrong. (DC)
Thumbs Down: I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that most of the laughs these cameos were going to get would be from the surprise of seeing these actors in the movie. By announcing what basically amounts to stunt casting, they’re already actively ruining jokes for you. Or alternatively, this news is letting you know what all the good jokes in Ted 2 were going to be so you don’t even have to go through the trouble of seeing it for yourself. (JM)
Ben-Hur Remake Round-Up
Jack Huston as Judah Ben-Hur
Toby Kebbell as Messala
Morgan Freeman as Ildarin
Thumbs Go Away: Toby Kebbell is a good up and comer, Morgan Freeman is obviously great, and while I haven’t seen Boardwalk Empire, it’s probably a good idea to get someone not super well known like Jack Huston for the title role. At the end of the day though, I’m ultimately against this endeavor. I get it. Hollywood is a business, and if there’s a remake they feel can make money, it’s going to get made. Can’t there be a few exceptions though? You would think this would be one of them. It’s Ben-Hur, winner of 11 Oscars! Charlton Heston! And I know you can simply ignore the remake and watch the original, but the idea of a future generation of moviegoers seeing this as their first Ben-Hur experience is really sad. Some things just shouldn’t be tried. (DC)
Thumbs in the Middle: I am very behind and have not seen Boardwalk Empire so my experience in seeing Huston is very limited, as is my exposure to Toby Kebbell in any of his roles. But they both certainly have the established acting pedigree to go along with the two lead roles in such a prominent film. The 1959 Ben-Hur is a benchmark of modern cinema, so there is already a massive amount of pressure involving this remake. Freeman’s casting is nice but nothing significant, not exactly a groundbreaking casting choice or role of a lifetime. This will be a film I’ll be cautious with my feelings on until more is known. (JM)
Leslie Mann as Audrey Griswold (Vacation re-launch)
Thumbs I Don’t Care: Sure. From what I remember about Audrey, this isn’t at all who I pictured playing the character as an adult, but fine. With each bit of casting news, I lose more and more interest in this film, not that I had much to begin with. (DC)
Thumbs Up: I’m still very leery about this Vacation re-launch, but Mann has always been one of my favorite comedic actresses in Hollywood. She also has excelled in her experience with ensemble comedy through her work with husband Judd Apatow’s movies, and the ever expanding cast of Vacation plays right into that. I might not be excited for the overall idea of Vacation, but they are certainly putting the right parts together for it. (JM)
Matt Damon returning as Jason Bourne (Untitled Bourne sequel)
Thumbs Up: While not official, this pretty much feels like a done deal. I’ve only seen a few minutes of The Bourne Legacy, but that’s all I needed. I’ve always contended that Jeremy Renner is a great actor, but when he’s in a franchise project, he sleep walks through it. Matt Damon’s return needed to happen, otherwise the franchise should be scrapped. And don’t do this Aaron Cross crossover crap. Just bring Matt Damon back, and call it day. (DC)
Thumbs Up: While I was not opposed to Jeremy Renner in the last Bourne film Bourne Legacy, it’s nice to see Damon has not completely given up on one of the biggest roles of his career, and one of the most consistently entertaining action series of the past 15 years. Also good is that Renner will apparently still have a role in the series’ future, although whether that will be as a co-star to Damon or in his own separate titles remains to be seen. (JM)
Tom Hiddleston as the unknown lead (Skull Island)
Thumbs Down: I’m just not a big Tom Hiddleston guy. Sorry. He’s solid, but I think this movie is going to need a really strong lead, and I don’t see it from Hiddleston. To be perfectly honest, Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong scared me off from all future King Kong related projects, so there’s also that. Speaking of movies that should be held sacred, that was certainly one of them. (DC)
Thumbs Up: Hiddleston has most prominently played Marvel villain Loki for a large part of his career, but if anyone could switch to playing a leading hero, easily my money would be on him. He has a style about him I feel will lend itself to the role of a classic swashbuckling hero very well, as that will certainly be the sort of role he’ll have to take on in this King Kong prequel. (JM)
