The first trailer released for Brett Ratner‘s new film Tower Heist was very obviously a trailer for a Ratner film, complete with pumping music, flying shots of the tower in which the action takes place, and a jokey introduction to the story and cast. (Which features Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Matthew Broderick, Téa Leoni, Gabourey Sidibe, Casey Affleck, Stephen Henderson, Judd Hirsch, Michael Peña, and Alan Alda.)
This second trailer is much more focused on the crazy stuff the cast gets up to as they try to rob a Wall St. power broker who has defrauded the staff of his high-rise building. Check out the wacky action — which is also very recognizably Ratner — after the break. Read More »
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This spring we heard that the long-shelved Eddie Murphy dramedy A Thousand Words would finally see release in January 2012. Shot in 2008 under the direction of Brian Robbins (Norbit, Meet Dave), the film has Eddie Murphy playing a guy with only 1000 words left to speak before he dies.
When the release window was announced in April I asked, “will that stick?” Turns out it won’t, but there’s a pretty good reason. Eddie Murphy will now host the Oscars in February, and Paramount has realized that could be a better free publicity bump than A Thousand Words could ever hope for. So the studio has moved the film to March 2012. Read More »
Briefly: The big Oscar news over the weekend was that telecast producer Brett Ratner wants his Tower Heist co-star Eddie Murphy to host the 84th Academy Awards ceremony when it takes place on Sunday February 26, 2012. There may be some small deal points to work out, but this is now looking like a done deal, as Murphy has agreed to host.
It could be a good deal, at that. I’ve been hoping that the dormant Eddie Murphy of old — the funny one — might be revived. While the trailer for Tower Heist didn’t convince me that we’re in for a prime Murphy performance, that film seems like a watchable one compared to his other live-action comedies of the past decade. (That’s not saying much, I realize, when considering the watchability of Norbit or Meet Dave.) Murphy is a natural on the stage, and anything that pushes him toward his stand-up roots is a positive force as far as I’m concerned.
Deadline also says that Billy Crystal, one of the most popular hosts of past Oscar ceremonies, “will almost certainly be incorporated into the show in some marquee way.”
Posted on Sunday, September 4th, 2011 by David Chen
I’ll admit to feeling some degree of surprise when I first heard that director Brett Ratner would be co-producing the upcoming 84th Academy Awards, but at the same time, Ratner’s career has always been one of surprising success. For instance, using only a modicum of skill, Ratner was able to turn out three Rush Hour films, which went on to gross almost $1 billion worldwide. And the huge returns of Ratner’s X-Men: The Last Stand only ensured that this guy would not be going away anytime soon.
So maybe Ratner’s Oscar gig will be similarly successful to mass-market audiences. Turns out the director has an ace up his sleeve for the upcoming ceremony: he wants Tower Heist star Eddie Murphy to host it. Read More »
In the ’70s, the animated fighting kung-fu dog Hong Kong Phooey was a minor television favorite, in part thanks to the work Scatman Crothers did voicing the character. Now the mutt is set for a hybrid live-action/animated big-screen revival, in which the late Scatman will be replaced by Eddie Murphy. Read More »
Watch the trailer for Tower Heist, below, and see how long it takes to guess who made it. (Assuming you don’t already know.)
The film follows a group of people who work in a wealthy New York City high rise building. When the building’s penthouse resident (Alan Alda, playing a Bernie Madoff-like scumbag) defrauds everyone in the building, the motley crew (led by Ben Stiller and including Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick, Téa Leoni, Michael Peña, and Gabourey Sidibe) recruits a criminal (Eddie Murphy) to help them steal their money back. Read More »
After making Norbit and Meet Dave, Eddie Murphy reunited in 2008 with the directorial mastermind behind those two films, Brian Robbins, to make a film called A Thousand Words. The film is about a guy, played by Eddie Murphy, who discovers he only has 1,000 words left to speak before he dies. Reportedly savaged in test screenings (the film has a 3.6 IMDB rating based on 32 votes) the film has been bounced around on Paramount’s schedule for a couple years. Now it has been given a January 13, 2012 release date by Paramount. Will that stick? Read More »
Briefly: We just saw a behind the scenes photo from Brett Ratner’s Tower Heist in Page 2 this morning, but here’s a real still, scanned from Entertainment Weekly. You probably don’t need the rundown on the lineup here, but from l-r that’s Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, Michael Pena, Casey Affleck and, yep, Eddie Murphy. They’re the crew that works in a high-rise building where the penthouse is occupied by an unscrupulous businessman under house arrest. (He’s played by Alan Alda.) The Wall St. crook has taken the crew’s pension, and they aim to steal it back.
Not pictured are Téa Leoni, Gabourey Sidibe, and Judd Hirsch. It’s a hell of a cast, and my generally dismissive views of Brett Ratner notwithstanding, I’m hoping for something good here. Would be so good to see Eddie Murphy in a film that was worth a damn. Dreamgirls was a recent positive blip in an otherwise dismal late career. [via The Playlist]
