Lautner stronger than Steel

Saw "Twilight" heartthrob Robert Pattinson's new movie, "Remember Me" yesterday. Didn't quite know what to expect - though the apt support cast (Pierce Brosnan and Chris Cooper in particular), and Allen Coulter's ("Hollywood") anointment as director, indicated that it might be something less mush and more meat. And that's exactly what it was. It's Pattinson riding in Coach, as opposed to First Class (the smooth, trouble-free ride that offers a prettier, but not always stunning, view), and you know what? I think he proves his worth here. He's actually pretty bloody good. And nothing against the film adaptations of the Nicholas Sparks' novels (in fact, I've enjoyed every one of those bar "NIghts in Rodanthe", which sucked worse than a toothy hooker in a butcher's strike) but I sure as hell believed the romance at the center of this pic - between Pattinson and co-star Emilie de Ravin ("Lost") - a lot more than the slightly manipulative passionate plays of say, "The Notebook" or "Dear John", "Remember Me" just plays a lot realer. I'll review the flick down the track, but for the moment, let me just say I'm truly convinced at least one of the "Twilight" 'hunks' (that's what you gals call 'em, right?) has some legitimate acting ability.
Taylor Lautner, on the other hand, hasn't really proven himself yet. I liked the guy in "New Moon", in fact, I think he was one of the better things in the film, and I'll admit he does seem to have 'something', but cinema's former 'Sharkboy' hasn't really done enough for anyone to really warrant screaming in the streets 'Next Redford! has he? And yet, every Hollywood studio seems to be knocking down his door to get him onboard their flicks. Of course this has more to do with getting bums on seats (Hollywood knows that if they build it, they will come - Lautner's the 'it guy' at the moment) than crystal ball's recognizing head-turning performances in the future. It's actually quite amazing - but solely on his involvement in the popcornish "Twilight" pictures, Lautner has been thrown huge bucks to star in some fairly major movies (It's funny that Lautner seems to be taking the 'Blockbuster' route, whereas Pattinson seems to be following the substance-over-style indy flicks). One of those films, up until last week, was a feature film adaptation of the toy line (!) "Max Steel". The Mattel film, set up at Paramount, and produced by Joe Roth was to tell of "an orphan exposed to nano-technology becomes imbued with superhero powers".
Vulture dropped us a line this morning to let us know that Lautner has exited the project. Why? seems that 'other' toy-inspired project he's attached to, Universal and Hasbro's "Stretch Armstrong", is moving considerably faster than "Steel" has been - in fact, like a couple of the other films Mattel has in the works (like "Matt Mason" starring Tom Hanks; announced nearly a year ago), the project's essentially immobile. As a result, Lautner's cut ties with the flick.
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~Robstenfan