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Movie Reviews: 'Street Kings'
11 April 2008 (StudioBriefing)
Street Kings, based on a novel by James Ellroy -- Ellroy also receives credit for contributing to the screenplay -- is not the kind of film that will win much applause from the law-and-order crowd. It's the story of an ultraviolent gang of LAPD officers operating outside the law. Keanu Reeves plays one of them. Stephen Cole in the Toronto Globe and Mail calls it "a bad-cop, worse cop movie." Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune calls it "a shrill, brutal bash." But the film has numerous fans. Mick LaSalle in the San Francisco Chronicle calls Ellroy's story "a thing of beauty. It's satisfying and consistently surprising, and yet those surprises are always appropriate and right, and the directions Ellroy chooses are invariably better and wiser than anything anybody might have guessed." Chris Vognar in the Dallas Morning News says it's "the cinematic equivalent of solid crime-genre fiction. It keeps the visual pages turning for a couple hours and navigates the dark corners of corruption and dishonor among men." And writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times: "It's easy to laugh at Street Kings for its bigger than big emotions, its preposterously kinky narrative turns and overwrought jawing and yowling, but there's no doubt that it also keeps you watching, really watching, all the way to the end."

'LA Confidential' Sparks Two Sequels
2 March 2007 (WENN)
The creative team and original stars from cult movie LA Confidential are in talks to re-team for a sequel to the movie, going head-to-head with another sequel starring George Clooney. Director Joe Carnahan is also directing a follow-up to the film based on author James Ellroy's book White Jazz. According to entertainment website Tmz.com, another sequel is being planned by the film's original director Curtis Hanson. Hanson's version wouldn't rely on the plot of White Jazz and would instead pick-up where LA Confidential ended. The sequel would reunite original stars Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce and Kim Basinger, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in LA Confidential.

Actor James Doohan Dies at 85
20 July 2005 (IMDb News Flash)
James Doohan, the actor who became known the world over as the redoubtable chief engineer Scotty on the original Star Trek TV series, died earlier today. He was 85. Doohan passed away at his Redmond, WA, home at 5:30 AM, with his wife of 28 years, Wende, at his side; the cause was pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease. Born and raised in Canada, Doohan fought with the Royal Canadian Artillery during World War II, losing the middle finger of his right hand during the D-Day invasion. After the war, Doohan embarked on a career as a character actor in a number of films and television shows throughout the 50s and early 60s (including an appearance in an episode of The Twilight Zone), initially traveling between his Canadian homeland and New York. Soon he also began work in Hollywood, and in 1966 he was cast in NBC's new space adventure series Star Trek as chief engineer Montgomery Scott, aka "Scotty," opposite William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Reportedly, Doohan tried a number of different accents for the character, and felt the Scottish brogue for which he would become famous ("Captain, the engines canna take anymore!") was the most authoritative and commanding. Among his many contributions to the show was the then-nascent language of Klingon, which was said to be partly devised by Doohan, and was later expanded on in upcoming TV series and films.

Though the original Star Trek ended in 1969, Doohan was forever associated with the character of Scotty, as the catchphrase "Beam me up, Scotty" entered the pop culture lexicon, and after initial balking, he fully embraced his Star Trek legacy. In 1979, he joined the original cast for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and also appeared in the six sequels that followed before the series was fully handed over to the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. As the Star Trek films became more and more popular, Doohan attended numerous fan conventions and also lectured at various colleges; in 1996 he published his autobiography, appropriately titled Beam Me Up, Scotty. His health declined in later years, as he suffered from Parkinson's disease, diabetes and lung fibrosis, though the actor continued to make sporadic appearances, and received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame in 2004. Doohan is survived by his wife, Wende, and three children: sons Eric and Thomas and daughter Sarah, who was born in 2000, when Doohan was 80. --Prepared by IMDb staff


Writer/Actor Edward Bunker Dies at 71

Actor and writer Edward Bunker, a convicted criminal who became an acclaimed writer and co-starred in Reservoir Dogs, died yesterday in Burbank at St. Joseph's Hospital; he was 71. A young man with a genius IQ who embarked early on a life of crime, Bunker spent most of his teenage years in and out of prison and at the age of 17 earned the dubious honor of becoming the youngest person incarcerated at San Quentin prison. Though he briefly began writing after his parole, his inability to adjust to the outside world at only 22 led him onto further criminal activities, and the early 70s he was put on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, thanks to numerous drug and bank heists. While again in prison, Bunker wrote his first novel, No Beast So Fierce, which became the basis for the 1978 movie Straight Time starring Dustin Hoffman; he also had a small acting role in the film. Bunker also wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-nominated film Runaway Train, and had small acting parts in movies such as Tango & Cash through the late 80s. However, he earned cult status for playing Mr. Blue in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs in 1992 and when he published his memoirs in 1999, he took the moniker for the title, calling the book Mr. Blue, Memoirs of a Renegade. Bunker's writing and life experience earned him accolades from Michael Mann (with whom he worked on Heat) and crime writer James Ellroy, and he most recently appeared in the remake of The Longest Yard. --Prepared by IMDb staff

Author Defends Spacey's Privacy
11 May 2001 (WENN)
Best-selling crime writer James Ellroy is sick of being asked if Kevin Spacey is gay. The American novelist wrote L.A. Confidential, which was later adapted into the Oscar-winning movie starring Spacey and Russell Crowe. Ellroy says he'd proud of the film, but dreads fans trying to get gossip. Kansas-resident Ellroy explains he is most often hassled by obsessives in his local video rental store. He says, "These old grannies come up to me and say `Oh, you wrote L.A. Confidential, what a wonderful movie that was'. Kim Basinger' was so beautiful in that film, is she nice in real life?' I say, 'Yeah, she's all right', and then granny says, `Is Kevin Spacey really gay?'"

Wga Announces 1997 Nominees
5 February 1998 (StudioBriefing)
Writers Guild nominees, announced Wednesday, for best screenplays of 1997: Original screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson for Boogie Nights (1997), Mark Andrus and James L. Brooks for As Good As It Gets (1997), Simon Beaufoy for Full Monty, The (1997), Matt Damon & Ben Affleck for Good Will Hunting (1997), and James Cameron for Titanic (1997). Best adaptation: Paul Attanasio for Donnie Brasco (1997), based on a book by Joseph Pistone with Richard Woodley; Hilary Henkin and David Mamet for Wag the Dog (1997), based on American Hero by Larry Beinhart; James Schamus for Ice Storm, The (1997), based on a Rick Moody novel; Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson for L.A. Confidential (1997), based on a James Ellroy novel; and Hossein Amini for Wings of the Dove, The (1997), based on a Henry James novel.

Yet Another Award For L.A. Confidential
8 January 1998 (StudioBriefing)
Adding to its formidable collection of trophies, L.A. Confidential (1997) received the top Scripter Award from the University of Southern California Wednesday. The award went to James Ellroy, author of the book on which the movie was made, and screenwriter Brian Helgeland and director Curtis Hanson, who received credit for writing the script.