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The trouble with the movies

By CHASE SQUIRES
Published July 19, 2005

	Times critic Chase Squires shares his musings on television. Go to Blogjam: TV

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - There's been a lot of talk about movies this summer, most of it pondering the demise of movie theaters and big films.

Who better to weigh in than a panel of distinguished film and TV directors? Joe Dante (Gremlins), John Landis (The Blues Brothers , Animal House ) Mick Garris (The Stand ) and Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator ) on Saturday were pitching a new series of one-hour shows called Masters of Horror , coming in October on Showtime, when questions arose about contemporary film and why audiences aren't going to the theater.

"The movies are in a sort of trouble because they're (lousy) lately," Garris said.

"They're doing too many remakes and sequels, taking bad television shows and turning them into films," Gordon said.

Landis said that the real bad guys are the multinational corporations in charge of production. "Not one major (studio) today is in the movie business," he said. "They're all small little pieces of enormous international conglomerates. ... They try to do what they think is safe, and movies (stink) at the moment."

The answer is better, cheaper equipment for young directors, Landis said.

HBO buzz

- Speculation is that the sixth season of The Sopranos , debuting in March, won't be the last one after all, because creator David Chase really isn't ready to end the show.

HBO chairman Chris Albrecht said he honestly doesn't know if The Sopranos will be back. But it sounds more and more like it every month, he said.

"(Chase) was so charged after last season and the response to the show from last season, and he's so happy with what he's doing now that I honestly believe that he feels like there's more to tell than just what he's got planned for the season," Albrecht said. "On the other hand, David has always been most concerned about leaving the audience feeling great about the show."

- As for canceled Carnivale (which I never really got), "Never have we gotten besieged the way we have been besieged by Carnivale fans for deciding to not go on with the third season of that show," Albrecht said. "I mean, literally 50,000 e-mails over a weekend. It is so over the top, not just in terms of number, but in terms of things that they say and threaten."

No, it's not coming back.

- Albrecht said Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are working on a series sort of like Band of Brothers but about World War II in the Pacific, a "war of cultures."

- To promote a documentary/interview piece about Kirk and Michael Douglas, called A Father A Son: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, HBO had a panel discussion with Michael in person and Kirk (89 and recovering from knee surgery) live on a huge screen via satellite. It was funny, warm and touching.

- The network also previewed a movie called Yesterday, which its producers say is the first film done entirely in the Zulu language (with subtitles). It's about a woman whose husband infects her with AIDS, dies and leaves her to raise a child. A critic next to me was weeping at the end of the three-minute preview. I think it's going to be that good.

EEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

- The E! network is what it is. If you watch it, you know what you're getting. I won't judge. So I'll just say that among its new shows are Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive , in which the offspring of selected celebrities go West (including Robert Blake's son, Noah, reality TV veteran Brittny Gastineau and Anthony Quinn's son Alex) and a reality series chronicling the life of Hugh Hefner at home in the Playboy mansion.

[Last modified July 19, 2005, 01:08:15]