BBC - Films - High Noon - 18 October 2004

		Carlito Comeback Reluctant gangster Carlito Brigante is getting his own way again. But without Al Pacino. Universal Pictures have announced that they're planning a prequel to the 1993 smash hit Carlito's Way starring Jay Hernandez (who's currently grappling with hosepipes in fire-fighter drama Ladder 49) in the lead role. Entitled Carlito's Way: The Beginning (someone obviously didn't have enough caffeine before their Monday morning marketing meeting), the film focuses on the Puerto Rican gangster's rise through the ranks of Harlem's criminal underworld in the 60s. Rent-a-Latino Luis Guzman will be the only person returning from the original movie's cast, playing Cuban assassin Nacho (great name). Sean "P Diddy" Combs and Mario Van Peebles are also being tapped to make appearances. News of the prequel follows hot on the heels of Universal's decision to cancel plans for American Gangster starring Denzel Washington and Benicio Del Toro. That expensive outing came to a sticky end after the studio parted company with director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day).

		Rapper Gets Loaded Rapper 50 Cent is set to hit our screens next year as an inner city drug dealer who leaves gangster's paradise to pursue a music career in Locked And Loaded. That unlikely plot isn't half as weird as the news that Irish director Jim Sheridan (In America) has been tapped to helm the picture. Quite what 55-year-old Jim knows about rap, drugs or the realities of living the thug life is anyone's guess. Fortunately rappers Dr Dre and Eminem have already agreed to massage the project's musical score, while Sopranos scribe Terence Winter is penning the expletive-filled script.

		Isle Of Thesps Talking of In America, actor Djimon Hounsou is building on the success of that sleeper smash hit with a role alongside Steve Buscemi in upcoming sci-fi flick The Island. The imposing Oscar-nominated African thesp is playing the head of security on the eponymous isle where the story takes place. Helmed by golden haired golden boy Michael Bay (yes, he of the impossibly long mane), it follows the adventures of a harvested being who becomes self-aware and tries to escape the utopian island community where he's being held. Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor are already locked and will be trying to make their voices heard over Bay's usual roar of gunshots, explosions and helicopter gun ships.

		Shark Fights Puppets Wholesome family fun defeated goofy political satire at the US box office this weekend as those animated fishes in Shark Tale battled the marionettes of Team America: World Police - the new movie from South Park duo Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Retaining the top spot for the third week running, Shark Tale has now landed a running total of $118.8 million. Team America, a marionette movie satirizing Hollywood action films and (more controversially) America's War On Terror, pulled in a disappointing $12.3 million which was only enough to bag it third place after Billy Bob Thornton's high school football drama Friday Night Lights.

		Godzilla Returns And finally, Godzilla is getting educated. The monster mashing green lizard with a habit of stomping all over Tokyo is heading Stateside later this month as the University of Kansas holds a special conference to celebrate Godzilla's 50th anniversary. "I would like people to take Godzilla more seriously," says Bill Tsutsui, a history professor at the University of Kansas and author of the book Godzilla On My Mind. That no doubt explains why the conference will feature papers on American-Japanese relations after World War II, nuclear anxiety and a series of free screenings. Just don't mention the 28-foot inflatable Godzilla sitting on top of the movie theatre...