First Trailer for Angela Bassett's Whitney Houston Biopic isn't So Bad

The words "Lifetime Original Movie" come with a certain low level of expectation, or at least they should. There have been enough terrible biopics aired by the network that viewers should know what they are in for. And yet, as we saw in the recent case of the film on late R&B singer, Aaliyah, her fans thought it would...well, not be the total piece of crap it turned out to be. Clearly they haven't been paying attention. So there has been just as much concern over Lifetime's upcoming film on Whitney Houston for a number of reasons, but now that the first trailer has arrived it doesn't look all that bad.

Simply titled Whitney, the film has rising star Yaya DaCosta in the title role, and she's one of the reasons for optimism. She doesn't look like Whitney Houston, then again she doesn't have to, but her performance does appear to be a confident, strong one. The singing, of which there does seem to be plenty, is performed by Deborah Cox. Arlen Escarpeta stars as Whitney's husband, Bobby Brown, with the film centering on their troubled relationship. Houston's friend and Waiting to Exhale co-star, Angela Bassett, is making her directorial debut and she doesn't seem to be pulling any punches, which may be why the singer's family isn't happy about it. They should be happy she isn't out to make some sensationalist piece of crap like some other directors would have.

Whitney will air on Lifetime January 17th.

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Yaya DaCosta Alafia is Whitney Houston in Angela Bassett's Biopic

When Angela Bassett decided to make her directorial debut on a biopic of her late friend and Waiting to Exhale co-star, Whitney Houston, it made perfect sense that someone close to the singer would do it. The only question was if she would find an actress talented enough to fill Houston's shoes and meet what are probably Bassett's lofty expectations. But the search didn't last all that long as model/actress Yaya DaCosta Alafia is Bassett's choice to play Houston.

Yaya, who got her start on America's Next Top Model before making the move to acting in 2005, will star in the Lifetime Original Movie currently titled Whitney Houston. Yaya has been building up her resume quite nicely over the years, appearing opposite Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right, while also securing roles in Tron: Legacy, Mother of George, and Lee Daniels' The Butler. She'll be seen next in Rob Reiner's And So It Goes starring Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton.

The film is penned by  Shem Bitterman and Larry Sanitsky (both of Lifetime's Betty & Coretta) and will cover Houston's tumultuous relationship with Bobby Brown and the early successes of her career. Houston met Brown in 1989 when she was 26 years old and at the beginnings of her amazing career, which was threatened by her volatile marriage three years later.

Still no word on who will play Brown in what promises to be an extremely showy role, like Laurence Fishburne in What's Love Got To Do With It showy. This could be a star-making turn for Yaya, one that earns her Emmy nominations and greater attention from Hollywood.

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Angela Bassett to Make Directorial Debut on Lifetime's 'Whitney Houston' Biopic

If there's a perfect choice to direct a film based on the tumultuous life of Whitney Houston, it may be Angela Bassett. The actress was close friends with Houston, co-starring with her in Waiting to Exhale, and they had a relationship that went beyond just the movie. And Lifetime apparently agrees because they've just set Bassett to helm their upcoming Whitney Houston biopic.

Bassett will make her directorial debut on the network's original film, which will center on the rocky, comedic, and self-destructive relationship she had with fellow performer, Bobby Brown. Shem Bitterman (Betty & Coretta) wrote the script that will chart their first meeting when they were both at a career pinnacle, through to their troubled marriage and her time as a model, actress, and singer. No word on who will play Houston, or if Bassett is considering the role herself. Says Bassett on the project...

“I have such regard for both Whitney’s and Bobby’s amazing talents and accomplishments, and I feel a responsibility in the telling of their story. Their humanity and bond fascinates us all.”

Unfortunately, what most people will remember them for is the drug use, reports of abuse, and of course the humiliating reality show they were a part of that exposed their troubles to the world. Hopefully Bassett can help turn perceptions of them around a little bit. Lifetime plans to air the film in 2015. [Deadline]

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Pierce Brosnan, Milla Jojovich, Angela Bassett, and Emma Thompson Join James McTeigue's 'Survivor'

Having worked with George Lucas and The Wachowski's on the Star Wars and Matrix franchises, James McTeigue has been in the spotlight since he first stepped behind the camera with V for Vendetta. While many consider that film a cult classic for some unknown reason, it's been diminishing returns ever since, hitting a rather embarrassing low with ponderous Edgar Allan Poe flick, The Raven. One thing he's never had a problem with is attracting big stars, and for his next project he's assembled quite a cast.

Millennium Films has tapped McTeigue to direct Survivor, with Milla Jojovich, Pierce Brosnan, Emma Thompson, and Angela Bassett starring. The script by Phil Shelby will call for Jojovich to play "a State Department employee newly posted to the American embassy in London, where she is charged with stopping terrorists from getting into the U.S. That puts her right in the line of fire and she is targeted for death and framed for crimes. Discredited, she is forced to go on the run while she tries to clear her name and stop a large-scale terrorist attack set for New Year’s Eve in Times Square"

Sounds potentially interesting, but with McTeigue on board expect it to be too dark and muddy to be properly enjoyed. He's one of the few who can make a simple film like Ninja Assassin unwatchable, so my expectations for this are pretty low.  He recently came aboard the long-developing Bloodsport remake, but it looks like Survivor will be first as filming is set to begin in January. [Deadline]

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Rumor: Possible 'Justice League' roster revealed

I expect there will be tons more rumors regarding the potential roster for Justice League in the coming weeks. We're rapidly reaching the point where some actual decisions are going to have to be made by Warner Bros., and so some of these rumors will end up being true, while others pure speculation. Recently we heard another rumor that Darkseid was going to be the villain, but that has yet to be confirmed by anybody. And of course there's all sorts of stuff about Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, and whoever else may be turning up. But now Cosmic Book News has what they say is the final roster for the team, and some interesting character descriptions to go along with it.

Here's what their "DC Entertainment source" has revealed....

• Superman is essentially the same character from Man of Steel, and Zack Snyder is consulting regarding the writing of the character.
• Batman: The strategist of the group. Batman doesn't really want to be involved with these super powered beings he considers too powerful. Easily the most complex written.
• Wonder Woman: She has only been in man's world a few short months. The Wonder Woman script Michael Goldenberg is developing will be set before the Justice League movie.
• Green Lantern: Will be Ryan Reynold's character from the Green Lantern movie, but will be freshly written with a more serious tone.
• Flash: The most popular hero in civilian eyes who loves media attention, but when called upon is very serious.
• Martian Manhunter: Alien who has lived on Earth in secret for over a hundred years who has knowledge of Darkseid and his reign. 
• Aquaman: Will be the King of Atlantis who has a key role in the film.
• There will also be a heavy military presence in the film which in future rewrites could include characters featured in Man of Steel or even Amanda Waller (Angela Bassett) of which neither are included in the first draft.
• Alfred Pennyworth is in the film in a minor appearance.
• Lois Lane is also in the film in a cameo.
• Darkseid's Elite will be featured who go up against the Justice League early on in the film.

Ok, so right out of the gate is the clear indication that Henry Cavill's Superman will indeed be carried over into the film, with the potential for other Man of Steel characters to turn up. Ryan Reynolds remaining as Green Lantern seems far-fetched, at least to me. This is a pretty traditional Justice League line-up, so seeing Aquaman and Martian Manhunter included isn't all that shocking. But the possible return of Angela Bassett as Amanda Waller is definitely surprising.

Take all of this with the usual helping of salt. I don't think I buy this for a second, but we'll see how it shakes out. Hopefully the new year will bring word on a director real soon.

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Angela Bassett joins Gregg Araki's 'White Bird in a Blizzard'

Two Angela Bassett stories in the span of a few hours? This is a very good day, indeed! The talented actress just saw her adaptation of Black Nativity get the long-awaited green light, and now she's revealed on her Facebook page her involvement in Gregg Araki's developing indie drama, White Bird in a Blizzard.

Joining Shailene Woodley, Eva Green, Christopher Meloni, Gabourey Sidibe, and Shiloh Fernandez, the story centers on a young woman whose life spins out of control with the disappearance of her mother. Bassett will play Dr. Thaler, but that's really all we know about her character right now. The whole story is being kept largely under wraps, but given Araki's past credits we can probably expect it to be much more complicated than it sounds.

Bassett will be seen next in Antoine Fuqua's White House invasion flick, Olympus Has Fallen.

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Angela Bassett the latest to join 'Olympus Has Fallen'

With Roland Emmerich and his White House Down getting the casting jump on Antoine Fuqua's rival Presidential thriller, Olympus Has Fallen, the last few days has seen the latter furiously playing catch up. With Gerard Butler(*yawn*) already on board, Aaron Eckhart joined just a couple of days ago. And now they've added another piece with Deadline noting that Angela Bassett(Waiting to Exhale) is along for the ride.

The story's a pretty simple one, with Butler playing an ex-Secret Service agent who comes to the rescue when terrorists invade the White House. Eckhart is set to play the President, with Bassett as Secret Service director Lynne Jacobs. I'm guessing she'll be the tough as nails sort, because that's what she does. Few have quite the commanding authority on screen that Bassett does, so this seems like good fit, and she has a little bit of experience in a similar role. She played the hard-nosed Amanda Waller in Green Lantern, and I'm assuming when the Suicide Squad movie happens she'll play the role there again, as Waller runs that team of reformed villains. But I digress. Bassett was most recently seen wasting away in the terrible action comedy, This Means War.

Production on Olympus Has Fallen should begin soon as the film has been fast tracked.

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Review: 'This Means War', starring Reese Witherspoon and Tom Hardy

Perhaps the best part about following movies from birth to completion is that you get to see every single step along the way, both for good and ill.  For instance, This Means War, which had a script that had been floating around Hollywood for years, along the way going through so many changes that it no longer resembled the original concept. Initially titled Spy vs. Spy like the eternally bickering agents from Mad Magazine, Sam Worthington, Seth Rogen, and even Bradley Cooper saw the writing on the wall and hightailed it away from a potential disaster. McG, who remains popular because his name sounds like it should be on a fast food menu and because he made a lot of money with two flicks of hot chicks doing crazy stunts(how'd he make that work!!?), has been in love with the film since the beginning even while nobody else has.

Now after what seemed like an eternity of trying to find a release date weak enough for the film to quietly settle in, we get This Means War, featuring the promising trio of Captain Kirk(Chris Pine), Bane(Tom Hardy), and Tracy Flick(Reese Witherspoon) and the results are decidedly unpromising. Hardy and Pine play Tuck and FDR Foster(seriously that's his name), two best friends and CIA agents who are like a less interesting, somewhat homoerotic version of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys. When we meet them they're undercover investigating a case that involve a global terrorist(Til Schweiger), but don't get too invested in it, because the rest of the film sure as heck doesn't.

What matters is that Tuck and FDR are buds, joined at the hip. They're like The Beatles of the black ops set, until a Yoko Ono by the name of Lauren(Witherspoon) jams a monkey wrench into the spokes.  Lauren is the stereotypical rom-com hot chick who can't find a date, but for once it's pretty clear why: she's got all the personality of a sack of hammers. Her married and bored best friend, Trish(Chelsea Handler), puts her on a dating website, where she instantly meets Tuck, who as a single father can't make heads or tails of the singles scene. After the success of their first date, she hooks up with the smooth, charming FDR in a video store(they still make those!!?), and soon she's stringing both guys along like puppets.

It isn't long before the two old friends discover they're dating the same girl, coming to a gentleman's agreement to see who can  win her heart. Of course it goes disastrously wrong, with both abusing the government's surveillance assets, wasting our taxpayer money, and shredding the Constitution at every turn to make sure the other doesn't ever round third base with Lauren. There's actually some good mileage that can be had from that idea, but the script is genuinely awful, and feels like it's been re-written by a bunch of folks over a number of years. Oh wait, it was. Almost from the beginning the film feels dated, with ancient jokes about the dangers of online dating, and a soundtrack that sounds like it was ripped right out of someone's Walkman™.

It's a shame to watch two such talented stars wasting away in such throwaway material. Two, because Chris Pine is about as bland of an actor as one can be, with his helmet hair and John Doe face. He's like leading man clip art, and his character's swagger is never believable for a moment. Without the benefit of J.J. Abrams' writing, Pine disappears from view. Hardy shows some of the same ferocity he showed in Inception, but mixed with at ouch of playful goofiness that occasional works. He actually has the film's one big laugh, during a paintball game in which his CIA skills are put to lethal good use against a bunch of weekend warriors. Then, in what is basically a microcosm of the film's mediocrity, that scene is ruined by some lame genital humor that goes nowhere.

The one to feel sorry for is Witherspoon, who just can't seem to find her niche anymore. Romantic comedies are usually where she butters her bread, but she's struck out wildly with the last few, only finding mild success in the period romance, Water for Elephants. McG knows how to emphasize her greater attributes, she remains beautiful and perky, but her personality makes her the equivalent of a MacGuffin. What are these two guys fighting over exactly? She's not that much of a catch. Surprisingly, it's the usually irritating Chelsea Handler who comes out unscathed, because basically she's just doing a watered down version of the routine she's been doing for years, that of the drunken skank. It's easy to knock McG for his two Charlie's Angels movies, but they were intentionally frivolous and tongue in cheek. Terminator Salvation was a disaster that killed an entire franchise. He showed some skill with his decent but forgettable football drama, We Are Marshall, but whatever he had then appears to have been flushed down the toilet.

Then again, every one is pretty horrible in this movie. Tuck and FDR lie. Lauren lies. Nobody really pays for it because...well, everybody is so darn good looking. Unfortunately, This Means War isn't, so it might be a good idea to raise the white flag of surrender a little early.

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Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively

By comparison, DC Comics has been lagging behind their distinguished competition Marvel Comics when it comes to getting their superhero icons on the big screen. Where Marvel seems to be cranking them out at a dizzying pace(3 this year alone!!), DC has taken a more measured approach with the aid of their big bro, Warner Brothers. Christopher Nolan's Batman films are on the verge of ending, and so it's imperative that a new standard be established. Enter Green Lantern, one of the world's most recognizable heroes with his emerald costume and mystical green power ring that allows the wearer to make anything he can imagine. With Ryan Reynolds's physique and charm tackling the role of the fearless Hal Jordan, and veteran director Martin Campbell(Casino Royale) at the helm, Green Lantern should be the superhero film to watch for the summer. Sadly, as if it was struck by the fear inducing enemy of our hero, the film turns tail and runs away from every opportunity to be something epic.

  Green Lantern is fortunate to have a rich and wonderful origin, but it's also terribly complex. Rather than streamling it down, we're greeted to a ponderous introduction that kills any hope for momentum. One of the things that make Green Lantern special is that primarily his adventures take place in the far reaches of space, and so that's where the story begins with a history lesson on the powerful Green Lantern Corps. An intergalactic police force, basically, they protect the over 3000 sectors of the known universe. Their power comes from a massive battery on the distant planet Oa, charged with the energy from the will power of every living creature. Think of it as the Force, only green and visible.

They use this energy to battle forces of fear, or rather a being comprised of pure fear, a creature called Parallax. Readers of the comic won't recognize the creature at all, having been altered to look like a grey smokey blob. Parallax goal is to destroy the Green Lantern Corps, their Guardian masters(who hover in the air like mad gods), and then the universe.  After the greatest and strongest member of the Corps is killed, his ring seeks out a suitable replacement and find him in Hal Jordan, a courageous but risky fighter pilot who has never met a challenge(or a woman) he couldn't conquer.  Blake Lively is his best friend/lover/boss Carol Ferris, who secretly longs for her guy to learn the meaning of the word "responsibility". Go ask Spider-Man. He knows what it means.

The film immediately goes from super cool to super hokey as Hal fumbles around with his new found powers. Establishing that the character isn't an instant expert in such remarkable abilities is essential, but the script by Greg Berlanti and a host of others shows absolutely no subtlety at all. That's a big problem when dealing with a character like Hal Jordan, who walks the tightrope between arrogant blowhard and lovable scamp. All of the earthbound scenes suffer from this lack of attention. It's like someone figured out that the only cool aspect to any Green Lantern story is when he's in outer space, so the stuff on the ground can be made to look ridiculous or pointless. There's a whole subplot with a creepy scientist named Hector Hammond(Peter Sarsgaard) who gets a taste of the fear power and mutates until he looks like Sloth from The Goonies. It might as well not even be there other than to give Tim Robbins and Angela Bassett someone to fritter time away talking to. I will say that Blake Lively is solid, and made Carol a far more interesting character than the dialogue she was given would have you think.

Considering the massive $300M budget(that's with marketing), you'd think the special effects would be where this film really can tip it's hat, but you'd be mistaken. For a film with such a potential for grand, galactic spectacle, the outer space component is strangely lacking. The only planet we get to visit is Oa, which is just a hunk of rock with a million Green Lanterns crowded around looking vaguely bored. It's not terribly impressive. The great promise was that this would be the comic book movie that took our imagination to whole new worlds never before seen, but we get none of that. Even the more alien characters we're introduced to don't work out so well. Michael Clarke Duncan voices the massive GL drill sergeant, Kilowog. Geoffrey Rush is the bird/fish creature Tomar-Re, who serves as a sortof Jiminy Cricket for ol' Hal. Neither has much to do, and when the CGI creatures move around they are blocky and stilted. It's not pretty. If there's anything that makes the Corps worth paying attention to at all it's Mark Strong as their imperious leader, Sinestro. Fans of Green Lantern know what path he's headed down, but I like the way the seeds of his future self are planted about this story. They blow it in the end with a predictable post-credits sequence, but if I were you I'd just leave early and pretend it doesn't happen.

Of all the problems Green Lantern has, Ryan Reynolds isn't one. One of Hal Jordan's greatest traits is his charismatic, winning personality. Reynolds has that in spades. Even if the jokes in the first half of the film fall flat, he gets points for completely buying into them, which makes the audience want to like him even more. It couldn't have been easy since the vast majority of the characters he had to converse with were added later in post-production.

The real problem with Green Lantern is the character itself. What is it that makes him so special? He's brave? Indomitable? Able to conquer his own fears? So what? That's what every superhero can do, from Batman on down to the little mutants of X-men: First Class. Only Green Lantern tries to make a big deal out of it, and it's not particularly compelling stuff. In the comics, all that bold talk about having an unbreakable will reads just fine, but on the big screen it's a crashing bore.

Trav's Tip: Hal Jordan is the first human to be selected as a Green Lantern, a fact just touched upon in the film. Earth would ultimately be the birth planet of five members of the Corps: Alan Scott, Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner.

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Angela Bassett Joins Green Lantern

 
 Because every comic book film needs a tough as nails government douche, Angela Bassett(Strange Days) has signed on to play Amanda "The Wall" Waller in DC's upcoming Green Lantern film. The veteran actress joins Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Saarsgard, and Mark Strong in the already impressive cast.

In DC Comics continuity, Waller is the abrasive leader of the Suicide Squad, a government super-team comprised entirely of criminals. She's mainly been a thorn in the side of forces such as the Justice League(Batman in particular), mainly due to her attitude and "by any means necessary" approach to completing missions and general lack of respect for the superhero universe.

I've always found Angela Bassett to be one of the sexiest women in Hollywood and an amazing actress. While she doesn't have Waller's look, she's perfect for the part. 

You can read more of Variety's coverage of this story here.

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