Guy Ritchie bouncing back? Maybe...

Could it be? Could the Great Britian gospel of gangster still have some gasps of life and garner some gold under the direction of godfather Guy?

It's been 10 years since Ritchie and producer Matthew Vaughn brought a new face to the British Crime dramedy genre with LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, the low budget film that launched the once-promising careers of Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones, and Guy Ritchie as a young and innovative director. When Ritchie and Vaughn followed two years later with SNATCH, making their first big splash in the US market, the sky seemed to be the limit.

Enter Madonna and SWEPT AWAY. It seems that Guy's creativity and career was to go way of the title. He and Matthew Vaughn parted ways (a good move on Vaughn's party, who went on to produce and direct LAYER CAKE). Ritchie took another shot at the British Crime caper with REVOLVER, but missed horribly. Most of you probably have never even heard of REVOLVER as it had an extremely limited release Stateside after garnering low box-office numbers and atrocious reviews during it's domestic UK release (I had been living in London during it's release in 2005, and I must say that Jason Statham with long hair is just not a good look).



It seemed that Ritchie was through. Without Vaughn at his side as producer, his return to familiar territory had failed with REVOLVER. But now, three years later, Ritchie is back with ROCKNROLLA, another highly stylized, heavily postured Limey gangster flick, but from the reaction at festival screenings, this one might actually not be a stinker.

If ROCKNROLLA succeeds at coming at all close to the popularity of SNATCH, Ritchie will certainly be back on top of his game. The industry seems to have some faith in the return of Ritchie, as he's been picked up to direct the 2010 release of SHERLOCK HOLMES, a script which he also penned. No, this is not the 'other' 2010 Sherlock project staring Sacha Baron-Cohen as Holmes and Will Ferrel as Watson. Ritchie's SHERLOCK will be an action-thriller flick staring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as a less-than-bumbling Dr. Watson.

So, is Ritchie's career back on track? Possibly. But I'm holding my breath until this weekend when ROCKNROLLA hits US theaters.

CAPRICA, spin-off movie or prequel series?

The BATTLESTAR GALACTICA franchise continues to flourish since Ronald D. Moore and David Eick's 'reimagining' of the series in 2004. What initially began as a four part mini-series has now grown into one of the most critically acclaimed sci fi dramas of our generation (and without a doubt the best thing to ever grace the Sci Fi Channel's lineup).

A prequel movie event, entitled CAPRICA, has been in the works for some time now and is slated for release in December. It centers around the conflict between two families, the famed Adamas on one side, who are ideologically pitted against the Graystones. From what we can tell from rumors and the bits of leaked information, the Graystones' will become the creators of the first humanoid Cylons. Aesthetically, CAPRICA will be even more retro than BATTLESTAR before it, giving it a distinctly 50's look. The aesthetic allusion to our own 1950s has strong thematic implications, lending the 'loss of innocence' of our own invention of the atomic bomb to the Caprican's invention of Cylon technology (which eventually becomes their own doomsday device). The show seemingly also centers around Philip K. Dick-esq issues of identity and definitions of humanity, and also seems to have a sensibility that lends itself to 1997's GATTACA.

The teaser trailer for CAPRICA was released recently, check it out below:


The question is; will CAPRICA be solely a prequel BATTLESTAR movie, such as RAZOR? Or will it develop into a full fledged spin-off series?


Like RAZOR before it, which told the (slightly) prequel-ish story of the Battlestar Pegasus following the Cylon attacks on the 12 Colonies, both it and CAPRICA are stories of inevitable doom. In RAZOR, we already know that the chief officers of the Pegasus will be killed off (sooner rather than later) to make way for the Galactica crew and plot-line. Likewise, in CAPRICA, we know that eventually the Cylon uprising must occur and doomsday will arrive. However, with a story like CAPRICA, we have at least 50 years and a generation of characters for breathing room, more than enough space for a series.

Industry rumors would support this. CAPRICA began casting in May and went into production in June. By July, it was reported that they had already ordered two additional CAPRICA scripts from former BATTLESTAR writers and even one from a former BATTLESTAR writer's assistant (good for you, Ryan Mottesheard!) The general consensus is that things are looking good, and a full CAPRICA series will be green-lit shortly before the movie/pilot airs in December.

In other news, I need to get a job at NBC-Universal and try to ride this franchise into a career in quality sci fi dramas. ...Yeah, and after that I'll become JJ Ambrams protege and Executive Produce the future STAR TREK franchise with Bad Robot ...in a perfect world, maybe.