America’s Secret Weapon
London’s Sunday Times has recently reported that actor Sylvester Stallone is working on a script for a fourth installment of Rambo. This time around, the former Green Beret will be setting his gunsight on the members of the Taliban.
According to the Times, the newest sequel will have Rambo parachuting into Afghanistan and possibly capturing Osama bin Laden alive. Stallone’s publicist Paul Bloch, however, denied the rumors. “Sylverster Stallone has an idea for a new Rambo movie,” Bloch commented, “but he hasn’t written it yet.”
If Stallone does go with this idea, it wouldn’t be the first time Rambo has brought his particular brand of violent vengeance to Afghanistan. 1988’s Rambo III featured the one-man army aided by Afghan rebels against soldiers of the former Evil Empire, the Soviet Union.
Family Entertainment Indeed
The official website for Star Wars: Episode II recently released images of the first promotional banner. The banner features Anakin Skywalker and Princess Amidala facing away from each other. The image is nearly identical to an image leaked over the internet a month ago, aside from some minor graphical corrections such as the logo, the lighting on Anakin’s face, and the removal of Amidala’s shoulder strap. I guess LucasFilms is trying to recreate the Leia “Slave girl” outfit effect with that last change. Drooling fanboys will be able to purchase the poster version of the banner through the film’s Web site later this week.
Give ’til It Hurts
The United Way recently confirmed that 240 of the one million pledges made during the America: A Tribute to Heroes telethon were missing decimal points. For instance, one caller who pledged $100 was contacted to verify a pledge for $10,000. People probably should’ve seen this coming, given that actors like Tom Cruise were taking the calls. Intelligence issues aside, most of them probably haven’t dealt with numbers as small as $100 in a long time.
Witch Hunt
Harry Potter is already facing controversy and it hasn’t even been released. The detractors include dieticians, and, ironically, both real-life witches and conservative Christians.
Consumer watchdog groups have protested Coca-Cola’s $150 million marketing deal to use Harry Potter images to hock their products. Web site www.SaveHarry.com is asking people to write Potter author J.K. Rowling asking her to pop the pop deal and donate the money earned so far to nutrition campaigns. The film itself does not include placements for Coke or any other food product, unless you count things like Chocolate Frogs and Cauldron Cakes.
British witches, meanwhile, are upset over the Hogwart’s kids broomstick-riding style. “Warner Bros. claims the film is an accurate portrayal of things that happen in witchcraft, yet woodcuts from the 16th and 17th centuries show broomsticks being ridden with the brush part in the front,” said Kevin Carylon, a high priest of British White Witches.
“There are critics and naysayers of everything. There was a story about the broom being the wrong way round. Well, I’m sorry about the broom,” producer David Heyman responded. “I mean, those people can make that film. We chose to make a film with the broomsticks going the other way.”
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