News bits.

In other news...

Lots of obits on the 'net on the passing of Bob Hope this morning; a good one is Vincent Canby's in the NY Times. On the one hand, it was hard for me to feel sad because a) I kept thinking he had died a long time ago (but was continually wrong); b) was never a big fan; c) the fact that GW is leading a big tribute to him. However, a lot of people I am fans of swear by his earlier movies. Woody Allen claims his onscreen persona was influenced as much by Hope as anyone. And you can see this if you watch, say, Love and Death or Sleeper, and then watch Hope's The Road to Bali or The Paleface -- the irreverent, fearful character who wisecracks his way through nervousness. Woody, in a statement released after Hope's death, admitted that his fellow comedian was "not so funny" in television as he was in movies.

"But if you look at `Monsieur Beaucaire,' for instance, he's very, very funny," Allen declared in the 1993 book "Woody Allen on Woody Allen." "There are a number of films where he's allowed to show his brilliant gift of delivery, his brilliant gift of comic speech. He had a very breezy attitude, he was a great man with a quip. Those one-liners and witticisms they're just like air, he does them so lightly."

I highly recommend checking out some of Hope's earlier film work and forgetting about his TV-golfing-with-President-Ford persona, to get a sense of why he deserved the reverence.

Watched Miller's Crossing on DVD the other night -- first time since seeing it in the theaters -- and liked it more this time around. Pretty damned serpentine plot but it works on several levels. A great film. Anyway, made me wonder... what are the Coens up to now?

A lot, apparently. Including (probably old news but...) a remake of the Ealing Studios classic The Ladykillers. Tom Hanks, not Alec Guinness but he'll have to do, is starring in it. I can see Hanks in that, actually, just not in a film that demands multiple personalities (which Guinness and Peter Sellers were masters of). But Ethan Coen seems to be in a remaking frame of mind -- he also co-wrote the script for Barry Sonnefeld's Fun With Dick and Jane, and why anyone thought we needed a remake of that mediocre 1970's comedy is a mystery but with Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz now playing the bank-robbing couple it has potential (to either suck or be a smash). Bad sign: Ethan Coen is one of 4 credited writers. Good sign: Joel C is one of the others.

But then, there are 7, count 'em, 7, writers credited on the Coens' next film to be released, Intolerable Cruelty, with George Clooney. I guess we can officially stop calling them "indie auteurs" now, but whatever they come up with is usually worth seeing.

Random poll idea: Johnny Depp, over Christopher Walken or Michael Keaton? For Tim Burton's (speaking of remakes) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Personally, I'd vote Keaton, but maybe Depp would bring more depp-th, or shading, to the role. What do you think?

Speaking of Hollywood studio crap, David Poland wonders where have all the directors gone?

And speaking of indie directors shooting for more mainstream success (in order to bankroll some of their bigger-budget visions), try Richard Linklater on for size. In particular, his upcoming School of Rock, starring Jack Black. Harry from Ain't It Cool says it does indeed rock, but we shall see.

Lastly, a hilarious online viewing tip that comes courtesy of SignalStation: Bush vs. Bush, on Comedy Central's Daily Show.