Various sites are reporting that Quentin Tarantino is in talks to do a third installment in the Kill Bill franchise, possibly for a 2014 release. The word apparently comes from Tarantino himself, who revealed his plans on the Italian talk show Parla Con Me.

It has long been rumoured that volume three will pick up ten years after the first two installments. It will follow Nikki Bell (Ambrosia Kelley) on her own quest for revenge, years after she witnessed her own mother’s murder at the hands of The Bride (Uma Thurman).

The previous Kill Bill films were tremendously successful, grossing over $332 million combined.

Tarantino’s latest film Inglorious Basterds was released earlier this year.

I guess I’ve been living under a rock, because…

Roman Polanski was a wanted child predator for the last 30 years?

Apparently Roman Polanski had sex with a thirteen year old girl at Jack Nicholson’s house in 1977.

“He has argued that the sex was consensual, saying the girl was “not unresponsive”, though Gailey said he drugged her with painkillers and champagne before carrying out a ‘very scary’ assault.”

Not unresponsive? Does he really think that constitutes consent?

He pleaded guilty to the crime and was set to receive a reduced sentence, but he fled the US in ‘78 when it became clear that he was going to do some time. He had been on the run until this past Saturday, when he was finally arrested in Zurich.

Clearly none of this is news (it was even the subject of a 2008 documentary called Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.) I somehow failed pick up on this over the years, but I am never the less shocked to learn about it.

Polanski’s Chinatown is a certified classic and is one of my favorite films, and although I can not question his talent as a filmmaker, this revelation has definitely tainted my opinion of the man as a human being.

Maybe I shouldn’t be so shocked. This isn’t the first time in my life that I have been disturbed by the details of my heroes personal lives. It’s always difficult to come to terms with the fact that the people we idolize are indeed human and sometimes do some very nasty things — Michael Richards’ on-stage meltdown a couple years back is an example that comes to mind right away.

But it seems the world has forgotten, if not forgiven, Mr. Polanski’s crimes. I can’t help but feel disgusted when I recall the standing ovation he received after winning the Best Director Oscar back in 2002. Did the audience think of him as a political prisoner or something? It seems to me that he refused to attend because he would have been arrested the minute he set foot in the States, not for anything the least bit honourable or dignified.

Also, the majority of the reaction I’ve come across since his arrest has painted him as a victim. Granted, this all happened thirty years ago, but was what he did not wrong?  Does he not deserve to be held accountable for his actions?

Samantha Geimer, the woman he assaulted all those years ago, doesn’t think so. She sued Polanski and they settled out of court, and she has gone on to publicly forgive him. She has also filed to have the charges against him dismissed.

So  where does this leave us, the fans? Although I will always respect Roman Polanski as a filmmaker, I can’t help but think of him as a selfish man who violated a child and refused to be held accountable.

I believe in redemption, but I don’t think he’s done anything to redeem himself yet.

Swingers (1996)

Written by Jon Favreau

Every now and again I take a look through my DVD collection and pick out a film that reminds me exactly why I fell in love with the movies, and why I chose to pursue a career as a screenwriter. This time it was the 1996 classic Swingers, the film that launched the careers of Doug Liman, Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston, and more.

This is without a doubt one of my favorite comedies of all time. Favreau stars as Mike Peters, a struggling bit actor and stand up comedian chasing his dream in Hollywood while trying to move past the life he left behind in New York. His group of friends, including Vince Vaughn in a career-making performance as Trent, take him on a string of adventures from parties in the Hollywood hills to the casinos of Las Vegas all in an attempt to help him get over his ex-girlfriend and back into the dating scene.

The lingo is ‘niche’, the clothes are a throwback to a throwback, and the music is a pastiche of swing, guitar rock, and lounge, but the characters are so rich and the story so felt that you can’t help but be drawn into their world.

I really truly love this movie. And I was reminded of it when I saw a trailer for a new Comedy written by and starring Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn called Couples Retreat. They might be my favorite comedic pairing out there. From Swingers, to Made, and even The Breakup, these two have a great chemistry and a hilarious dynamic.

But Couples Retreat is getting some pretty harsh reviews, at least on its message board at IMDB, and is being compared heavily to Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I hadn’t heard anything about this pic until this past weekend, but the cast they put together is fantastic, and the premise is good. Favreau and Vaughn have always written funny, dynamic Comedies, and I’m optimistic that their latest collaboration won’t disappoint.

Couples Retreat hits theatres October 9th.

Swingers

Overall Score: 9/10

So, I caught the latest episode of the new Fox series Glee tonight. Last week’s premiere got off to somewhat of a rough start, but after getting settled I found myself curious to see more.

After tonight’s episode, I’m not sure I’ll be tuning in again.

The elements I thought were the pilot’s strongest points, the musical numbers, have here become awkwardly drawn out and cringe-worthy (the rendition of Kanye West’s Gold Digger with the rapping teacher was particularly hard to watch.) When a song was chosen for comedic effect, it ran too long and spoiled what could have been a good gag. I can’t help but think that Glee would be better as a half-hour, with these sequences cut down heavily.

Despite these issues, there are some good moments – Principal Figgins, played by veteran actor Iqbal Theba, is a fun character with some great lines, and there are some funny “Cut-To’s” throughout.

At this point,  it just doesn’t seem like Glee is living up to the hype.

This may have been announced some time ago, but this is certainly news to me. Troy Duffy is bringing us the sequel to the 1999 film Boondock Saints a solid ten years after the fact. Now while the original movie was alright, I never found it to be the classic action movie that it was hailed to be. I felt it was decent, and mildly entertaining.

What is really noteworthy for me, is the fact that Hollywood is, once again, relying on past successes to continue a franchise. Can’t Mr. Duffy write a new story that can compete in today’s feature film market? I’m sure he can, but the problem is with the big Hollywood studios: they don’t want anything new. At least that is how it seems to me, a Hollywood outsider.

I just wish the glory days of the early nineties’ spec script gold-rush would come back. The days where writing a good creative story was enough to get a sale in the ‘wood. Now it seems the only way to break in to the industry is write the tenth remake of the same old comic book story. Hulk, anybody?

Here’s a trailer: