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Filmmaker Martin Scorsese is reported to be involved in an authorized documentary about the late George Harrison of, The Beatles. Harrison is often regarded as the lesser known member of the former rock n’ roll band, but a musician of great talent.  Harrison’s widow, Olivia will serve as Producer of the project which is expected to take several years to complete.  Former Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are also reported to have agreed to participate in the documentary which will cover Harrison’s time with The Beatles, his solo career and his involvment in eastern mysticism.

I was watching “Superman Returns” and it got me to wondering how many actors have played characters like Superman and Lex Luthor.  Now I’m not a big comic book reader but if you are and your interested to see who has played your favorite heros and villians over the years, check out Wikipedia’s page on this very subject.

Here is just three of the many actors who have played Superman.  Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh and Dean Cain.

Indiana Jones is BACK!

I’m so excited, do you remember the first one. I know I do. “Indian Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.” In theaters more then 26 years ago in 1981 sparked adventure all over the world. On May 22, 2008 Harrison Ford does it again with the latest I.J. Movie called “Indiana Jones and the Kindom of the Crystal Skull.”

Here is a small movie trailer to keep you I.J. fans content.

Some celebrities have really cool names that stand out.  Actually, some have shortened their names or even changed them completely.  Check out the comparisons.

Jennifer Aniston - Jennifer Anastassakis

Snoop Dogg - Calvin Broadus

Madonna - Madonna Louise Ciccone

Eminem - Marshall Bruce Mathers III

Faith Hill - Audrey Faith Perry

Carmen Electra - Tara Patrick

Demi Moore - Demetria Gene Guynes

Sting - Gordon Sumner

MC Hammer - Stanley Kirk Burrell

Pink - Alecia Moore

Portia Di Rossi - Amanda Lee Rogers

Whoopi Goldberg - Caryn Johnson

Winona Ryder - Winona Horowitz

Elle Macpherson - Eleanor Gow

Charlie Sheen - Carlos Irwin Estevez

Martin Sheen - Ramon Estevez

Tina Turner - Anna Mae Bullock

George Michael - Georgios Panayiotou

Jay-Z - Shawn Corey Carter

Dido - Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong

Vin Diesel - Mark Vincent

Marilyn Manson - Brian Warner

Bono - Paul Hewson

Goldie Hawn - Goldie Studlendgehawn

Alice Cooper - Vincent Damon Furnier

Macy Gray - Natalie Renee McIntyre

So in my previous blog about the “13 Best Sci-Fi Movies”  I mentioned the movie “Serenity.”  I also admitted that I had not seen the full length feature but watched the TV show “Firefly.” 

Over the weekend, I finally got to see the movie.  I have decided to keep in on the list.  This movie is worth a look.  It had me wondering what the main plot was and where the movie was going until almost the end when all the sub-stories come together.   The special effects are very good and the humor reminded me of the Indiana Jones character.   The actors, for me, where mostly unknown, but that did not take away from the acting.

Number one at the box office “Superbad”.  My teenager just saw it and said it wasn’t worth the price of admission.   The teenage comedy took over $18 million.  “The Bourne Ultimatum” with a take of $12.4 million.  “Rush Hour 3″ was close in third with a haul of $12.3 million.

When Jerry Seinfeld’s movie Comedian came out in 2002, the trailer for the film was unique.  It featured Hal Douglas, a man whose name you might not know, but whose voice you’ve probably heard thousands of times.  If you’ve never seen the trailer it’s certainly worth watching:

Now, there’s a spoof of the trailer that is actually a promo for a Vancouver morning radio show:

Spoof Of Trailer For Seinfeld’s Movie “Comedian” - video powered by Metacafe

 Sci-fi films are fun to watch.   Here are my 13 favorites in no particular order. What do you like?

• Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith
• Star Wars - Empire Strikes Back
• Serenity ( to be honest I still need to see this but based on the TV show, Firefly, it should be great )
• Back to the Future
• Innerspace
• Independence Day
• The Time Machine
• Men in Black
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• Minority Report
• E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
• Star Wars
• Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Number one at the box office, “Superbad”, this teen movie brought in $31.2 million.  Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan came in number two with “Rush Hour 3″, grossing $21.8 million.  “The Bourne Ultimatum” brought in $19 million for third place.  Fourth and fifth were, “The Simpsons Movie” and “The Invasion” in that order.

These days we seem to look up to famous people to be our role models.  But do you really know anything about them.  Of the 20 best-paid actors and actresses on our Most Powerful Celebrities list, only two, Adam Sandler and Cate Blanchett have a college degree.  Those 20 people in the course of 1 year, brought in over $529 million.   Reece Witherspoon who made $7 million of that, is a college dropout.   Stars now believe that a college education is an unnecessary item on their résumés, and may actually be a liability.

 For non-actors such as authors and directors, it’s a little different.  Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump, and Steven Spielberg all have degrees in speech, film and economics.  

Stars without a degree include,  Madonna, Tiger Woods, Tom Hanks, Ben Stiller, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Matt Damon.

Stars with degrees include, Jerry Seinfeld, Howard Stern, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Shaq, and Michael Jordan.

Stars like Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan are earning enormous paychecks by the time they’re teenagers, so the obvious question, no matter how smart they are, is why take time off to go to school?”

So if you ask yourself if the non-educated A-list will serve as poor role models?  The answer is no.  Because whether or not celebrities have attended college is rarely known, much less discussed.  Reality isn’t important. For fans, an actor playing an English major on television has more impact than an actor being an English major in real life.  When people want motivation from a celebrity, they focus on just the qualities that they’d like to follow,  and forget about the rest.

The Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker film, “Rush Hour 3″ took the number one spot at the weekend box office, grossing $50 million.

“The Bourne Ultimatum” took in $34 million and “The Simpsons Movie” was third with over $11 million in tickets sales.  Coming in with $9 million was “Stardust”

This video Vader Sessions on YouTube has to be one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while.  Using James Earl Jones voice from a variety of films, Darth Vader takes on a whole new role.

It’s nearly 10 minutes, but worth every second, especially toward the end when Vader is tuning the radio in his fighter!

Top five at the box office this weekend,

• $70.2 million - The Bourne Ultimatum 
• $25.6 million - The Simpsons Movie     
• $12.0 million - Underdog                                                   
• $10.5 million - I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry 
• $ 9.3 million -  Hairspray