Film (Production) Fatale
I will be taking a few weeks break from the Film-Fatale blog while I work on the production side of a film.
-JE
September 24, 2007
August 04, 2007
From J. August, For August 31: THE NINES
In THE NINES, Ryan Reynolds practically forces the audience to stare at his extremely ripped torso muscles. Will this visual ordeal never end?
One film I didn't get to see at Sundance 2007 was THE NINES, which gets a write up in Aug. 5 Sunday New York Times.
Screenwriter (CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, BIG FISH) turned writer/director John August -- well known to bloggers as friendly and informative blogger johnaugust.com -- has created a "very meta" film about a man (Ryan Reynolds, gratuitiously shirtless, thank you, John August) trapped within a mysterious house of plots. Film plots, it seems.
In the Times piece, August, 37, discusses his successful career and writing a film about a writer. Not once is the movie ADAPTATION mentioned. But Fellini's 8 1/2 is. Omigosh! John August confesses, "I've never seen 8 1/2."
Man, you've got to get out of your house more often.
June 18, 2007
SICKO Piracy: If Only Health Care Were Free, Too
Michael Moore's new documentary SICKO - an exploration of the US's health insurance mess - has been pirated and downloadable for free over the weekend.
Bad news for the Weinstein brothers, who have (as Miramax and now as Weinstein Co.) long supported Moore's non fiction films. But director Moore says he's more interested in getting people talking about health care solutions. The New York Times quotes him as saying, "I don’t agree with the copyright laws and I don’t have a problem with people downloading the movie and sharing it with people as long as they’re not trying to make a profit off my labor."
The film went over well at the Cannes Film Festival, and the issue is a hot one in the upcoming US presidential election. (My home state of Massachusetts has just begun a program of universal health insurance: it's better than nothing. But it isn't cheap.)
Read more about SICKO.
The New York Times: here
Movie City News: David Poland
June 14, 2007
Projectionist Framed! "Memflix" Sacked For Web Review
I am shocked - shocked! - to discover that there's a cinema projectionist out there who actually stays in the booth to watch the movie, even during a critics' preview screening.
Usually they just press 'start' and fall back to sleep or walk away, leaving the grouchy/whiney reviewers to wonder just how much more out of focus the print could get.
No, it seems Memphis' Malco Theatre chain had an actual movie fan in their employ, a dangerous person named Jesse Morrison who not only watched the films, but wrote about them for Ain't It Cool News under the none too subtle nom de plume Memflix. After working an early screening of Fox's FANTASTIC FOUR: SILVER SURFER, Morrison wrote a scathing review that was posted on Ain't It Cool.
As the Hollywood Reporter tells it, the studio got mad, found duplicate reviews on Morrison's blog, and made angry phone calls to Malco's management. Now he's been suspended.
Says the 29 year old film and video student, "I'm hoping to get a job as a professional movie reviewer."
March 29, 2007
RES. EVIL Anderson To Drive DEATH RACE 3000
Dread Central reports that RESIDENT EVIL Paul W.S. Anderson's next gig will be not CASTLEVANIA but DEATH RACE 3000 -- the remake of the 1976 action comedy about a no-holds-barred race through the desert -- and over pedestrians who get in the way. There is a videogame version, too: As in the Paul Bartel-directed movie, you rack up points by running down hapless old people, kids and wrecked cars with rival drivers inside: kaboom, splat, etc. (For some reason, the original DEATH RACE 2000 is mixed up in my mind with the cartoon show THE WACKY RACES (featuring Snidely Whiplash and his laughing dog Mutley)
Props to reporter Johnny Butane being for the exclusive ) and but boo, dude, for even quicker with a reflexive slam on Anderson's "entire career" (Douse the lighter, Butane and put away your little internet-sized pitchfork. Who died and made you the arbiter of "potentially cool movies"?
I've never quite understood why the fanboys recoil from Anderson -- when pressed, they'll acknowledge that EVENT HORIZON did scare the hell out of them, RESIDENT EVIL -- while it did not follow the strictures
Continue reading "RES. EVIL Anderson To Drive DEATH RACE 3000" »
February 16, 2007
Judge Smacks Borat's Frat Boys Out of Court
From the Hollywood Reporter Esq via Defamer:
A Los Angeles judge has thrown out of court a claim by two South Carolina fraternity brothers that they were duped into appearing in BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN. The Hollywood Reporter (Esq.) is first with the legal lowdown, while Defamer breaks with the best joke, suspects that the judge must have Sacha Baron Cohen's Golden Globe speech "secretly memorized."
On March 6, the unnamed fraternity brothers' comedy stylings ("Never let a woman control you! Never!") and those of so many other soon-to-be disappointed litigants can be yours to own -- as in, owned, bitch! -- for just $19.95. (Oh, look. What a coincidence. The Fox Store is open now to receive pre-orders)
Until then, enjoy David Poland's chat with Borat co screenwriters Anthony Hynes and Peter Baynham, who share a Best Screenplay nomination with Baron Cohen.
February 02, 2007
WONDER-Whedon News @ Cinematical
Cinematical's Erik Davis relays big news regarding Joss Whedon and Warner Bros. WONDER WOMAN -- fans of the lasso-swinging superheroine ought to fly over and take a look.
Go to Cinematical's main page and look for Erik's blog.
And here's a long interview with Whedon at GeekMonthly-- he discusses the launch of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer comic books, and the other projects he's working on. Worth a read.
September 27, 2006
Can Super 8 Filmmaking Survive?
Before even the youngest filmmakers made their kindergarden debut works on near-professional quality digital cameras, future movie maniacs tried out their skills on sturdy Super 8 cameras. Now the Guardian reports that an era in amateur movie making is coming to an end: Kodak is closing the Lausanne factory that processes 8mm film.
Though three-minute film reels, editing gear, projectors and restored Super 8 cameras sell like mad, fans of the format will have few places to get their work processsed. (A Kansas outfit called Dwayne's Photo can handle 8mm, says the Guardian.)
August 26, 2006
LA Times' Black Dahlia Archive
The Los Angeles Times has opened up its archive of lurid, fascinating coverage of the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, better known as still unsolved The Black Dahlia murder case -- just in time to prime audiences for the Sept. 15 release of THE BLACK DAHLIA, Brian De Palma's film of the James Ellroy novel.
The movie website has more photos (Mia Kirshner plays the unfortunate Miss Short) and a timeline of the initial investigation.
Ellroy's novel came out in 1987, and it not only launched his career as a modern hardboiled crime writer-- it reignited interest in the Short case. The book's cover carried a haunting, stylized image of Elizabeth Short, based on a real photograph.
There are numerous true crime books and other, lesser novels about the murder, and whenever people cast the role of The Black Dahlia in their minds, I'm pretty sure it's the ghostly goddess of the cover art that they think of, not the black and white photo. That Betty Short--a cute/beautiful girl trying to look older and tougher than she was, has a troubling expression on her face. Or in-trouble.
Because this stark photo looks so much like a mug shot, and accompanied the January 1947 Los Angeles Times coverage of the murder, I wondered if it was actually a police mug shot. However, a look at the numerous Black Dahlia-dedicated web sites out there told me that the front-and-side head shot was actually done as a work ID card when Short worked a civilian job on a military base. It was the first thing available to police and journalists after she was killed, and that's how most of us remember her.
THE BLACK DAHLIA premieres at the Venice Film Festival.
August 21, 2006
Kazahk Controversy Over 'Borat' Movie
If you know anything at all about Kazahkstan, most of it probably comes from its unofficial, fictional ambassador, Borat- one of Sasha Baron Cohen's most charmingly obnoxious alter egos.
August 20, 2006
Get Well, Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, who had surgery in June to remove a cancerous growth on his salivary gland, says that he'll be taking more time to recover. His home paper has the news and interview.
At RogerEbert.com, editor Jim Emerson is keeping up with new releases. A series of guest hosts will sit in for Ebert on the television show "Ebert & Roeper," but so far the only full time critic will be the Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips. Other guests include NBC Tonight Show host Jay Leno, director Kevin Smith, screenwriter John Ridley (who also hosts AMC network's "Movie Club" and "C.S.I." actress Aisha Tyler.
Get well soon, Roger.
Movie Ratings, Or Why Sex Gets The X
Above: Director Atom Egoyan (WHERE THE TRUTH LIES) meets Kirby Dick, the crusader behind THIS FILM HAS NOT BEEN RATED.
In the Observer, Mark Kermode writes about Kirby Dick's investigation/documentary THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED, a look at the MPAA's movie rating's board which has handed down some inexplicable and indefensible classifications over the years.
August 14, 2006
'WTC' Movie Locates Lost Rescuer
From the Associated Press:
Who was that mystery U.S. Marine who helped find New York police officers buried in the rubble of the World Trade Center? For five years, nobody knew. Until now.
The Associated Press has the story. The actor cast to play him doesn't look a thing like the real guy,
August 01, 2006
How The MPAA Knows You're Downloading
Slate's Explainer answers the tech question: How does the MPAA know who's downloading?
They join the most popular file sharing networks -- or they hire security firms to join -- and put live bait (say, a popular movie) out there and see who downloads it.
In a copyright infringement case, the MPAA made the movie MEET THE FOCKERS available through a BitTorrent filesharing network and has now accused a software executive named Shawn Hogan of sharing it. But he's fighting the charges, saying he did nothing of the kind. Slate's item is a short overview, but this is just the edge of a huge story. Read it.
July 24, 2006
'Pirates' Gets a Chilly Exit Poll in NYC
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHESThas been the most popular movie in the U.S. for three weeks in a row, earning $321 million at the box office. Can that mean that people are actually sitting through this movie more than once?
Maybe when the weather gets unbearably hot, ticket buyers don't really care which movie they're seeing, so long as it's funny (Johnny Depp, present and accounted for), attractive (Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, check), and mildly diverting (running time 151 minutes: check your watch. I did. Frequently.)
New York magazine's exit poll confirms that some filmgoers are satisfied simply to get out of the heat. For once, an overlong running time may be part of the attraction. That and Johnny Depp's eyeliner: nice.
July 20, 2006
Sacre Bleu! Will Luc Besson Retire?
In an interview with the Guardian, director-producer Luc Besson, 47, says he plans to retire. Is he serious?
And if he is, who'll point his camera up the skirts of little gun-toting gamines? Your work on earth is not not finished, Luc Besson! Cinema needs you. Pre-adolescent boys need you.
Until we get this madness sorted out, we'll have to live in hope of ANGEL-A, the story of a small time hustler who is rescued from suicide by his guardian angel. It's what reporter Xan Brooks describes as "Besson's remake of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, except the angel is a peroxide vamp who offers to solve the hero's money worries by prostituting herself in the nightclubs of Paris."
You know, like you do.
"As played by newcomer Rie Rasmussen, Angela proves a very Bessonian figure: leggy and lippy, a grungy euro-chick with a heart of gold."
US audiences won't see ANGEL-A till early 2007, but the Besson oeuvre is very much in evidence in DISTRICT B-13, the movie he produced. A martial arts and guns and jumping off buildings action story called BANLIEU 13 in French, it showcases the sport called "parkour" - that gravity defying bouncing you've seen in Nike ads. The inventor, David Belle, is the star, and it's really entertaining, like a human Roadrunner vs. Wiley Coyote movie, when he does his thing.
Unfortunately, director Pierre Morel permits frequent interruptions for dialogue, execution style shootings, and the patented Besson female character, the pouty, supposedly deadly yet actually quite helpless gamine, who is treated at least once to a camera angle that lets you see up her skirt, up her crack, and possibly well into her lower GI tract.
Send an encouraging word to Luc Besson at his official site.
July 18, 2006
Samuel Jackson: Voice of God
How I love these random news items about projects said to be in the works. So often, the casting announcment, when it emerges from someplace other than a major industry trade paper, turns out to be wishful thinking on the part of fans or some wheeler dealer with a big idea and no money.
Here's a big idea that actually sounds promising: an audio version of the New Testament read by popular black actors and musicians. To play the Man Upstairs, the producers -- unnamed -- say they've called upon Samuel L. Jackson.
But don't you hear Jackson as more of an Old Testament God, all smiting and vengeancing? In Pulp Fiction, he put the eek back into the Book of Ezekiel. ("And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.")
The New Testament God?
More of a Morgan Freeman role.
July 09, 2006
Max-imum Casting Call
How many boys out there are named "Max" because of Maurice Sendak's illustrated children's book WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE?
Now the producers of the movie version are holding nationwide casting calls in search of a boy aged 7-11 years old to play the movie Max. The message boards at IMDB are abuzz with discussions of long lines and who was and was not called back.
To aspiring monster-pals (and stage parents), all I can say is: if you've missed a casting call in your city, might as beat the queues, do some Googling to find out the name of the casting director (it's out there) and make a homemade DV or VHS of your best Max-impression, and send it off. It couldn't hurt.
June 28, 2006
Familiar FLOWERS: Screenwriter Accuses Jarmusch of Theft
The Boston Globe has an interview with New York University instructor and screenwriter Reed Martin, who believes that Jim Jarmusch lifted his idea--his whole screenplay--for BROKEN FLOWERS (2005).
Reporter Joseph P. Kahn gives Martin an uncritical hearing of the charge that Jarmusch saw his screenplay, which was being circulated by an agent, and used it to write his own. Of course there's money involved: Jarmusch scored a $40 million hit with this road movie about an emotionally closed-off man (Bill Murray) who learns that he might have fathered a now-grown son with one of four ex-girlfriends.
Continue reading "Familiar FLOWERS: Screenwriter Accuses Jarmusch of Theft" »
June 26, 2006
'Peter Pan' Heirs Hate Moore Wendy Porn
To most of us, the words "cartoon girl-on-girl action" spell nothing but harmless delight.
Not so for those who own the rights to Peter Pan, the most popular English-language children's drama and novel of all time. Writer J.M. Barrie, who died in 1937, gave the profits of his work to London's Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. As the Galleycat publishing news blog reported recently, hoo-boy, were they pissed when they learned that V FOR VENDETTA's Alan Moore had plans for a graphic (really graphic) project called LOST GIRLS, a "porno-graphic" novel in which Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz meets Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Wendy from Peter Pan, and (as near as [Galleycat] can make out from the descriptions) they tell each other X-rated versions of their stories while having hot sex with each other."
The Pan heirs response to Moore: Think again, perv.
Peter Pan and friends aren't in the public domain. Though the Great Ormond Street trust has given its blessing to recent, critically acclaimed movies PETER PAN (2003), with Jason Isaacs as a swinging, sexy Captain Hook, and the Oscar nominated biopic FINDING NEVERLAND, there's no way that a slash-fiction 'toon will fly with them.
Moore, the subject of a recent cover story in Publisher's Weekly, takes a different view: he can't believe that permission is needed to write about such well known characters. Creators of satire, historial fiction, fan fiction and other forms of literary and artistic appropriation agree with Moore's "fair use" argument.
I don't think Moore will be deterred by any legal injunction. And Moore's fans, who are legion, will manage tto get their hands on the finished product no matter how much of a fight the Peter Pan people wage. But it makes you wonder: who owns a fictional character, when that character far outlives the copyright of its creator?
June 24, 2006
Q&A With NY Times Culture Guy
Got issues with the New York Times Arts and Culture section?
Now's your chance to mix it up with new editor Sam Sifton, who's taking questions from readers who care, dammit, about which film reviewers review which film, how (and why) the paper of record covers gossip and celebrity culture, and why the Monday arts and business sections bother to print weekend box office numbers on Monday morning.
That last one's an excellent question--the "win/lose" horserace reporting is reductive, the Monday AM numbers and rankings are unofficial and often unreliable. Besides, Variety has the real numbers on Tuesday afternoon--why not report those?).
Scroll down to read Mr. Sifton's praise for Jennifer Aniston. "Well, here's the thing," says the Timesman, she's "kind of a good actress. I can say that without being a board-certified critic. She is. (Rent "Office Space" and see if you don't agree.) She is also ridiculously famous. And I think it's just plain interesting to see how she negotiates that divide, to understand how she is forced by circumstance to make real artistic decisions at the same time that her personal life is undergoing dissection at the hands of tabloid editors and the paparazzi. (And at the same time that she is, at one level or another, courting the attention.)"
Times employees are hereby invited to tell Movie City News whether Mr. Sifton has Our Jen's image as a screensaver. Your anonymity will be assured.
June 19, 2006
Uwe Boll: The Beatdown
From House of the Dead to Alone in the Dark to BloodRayne, Uwe Boll's been Hollywood's go-to guy for adapting a videogame into a dull, unscary movie. Now the director whose forename has provided the defaul review for entire oeuvre of shitertainment is itching for yet another critical beatdown. But this time he wants to film it.
The Ain't It Cool reports that Boll's thrown down a challenge to his most outspoken critics to face him in a boxing ring -- in a 10 round match to to be filmed for his next movie POSTAL.
So who wants to make Uwe Boll walk into their fist? For the purposes of the challenge, pretty much anyone can go mano a mano...as long as the man-o weighs between 140 and 190 lbs.
I'm in.
Film Threat has already set up a poll and volunteered one of its writers to take on the House of the Dead-wrecker for this publicity stunt.
Boll's last attempt to court favorable 'Net coverage was to invite all and sundry to the set of House of the Dead and invite reporters to be extras the rave-turned-zombie bloodbath scene. (The last thing that movie needed was more maniac extras. Try a few more 2nd A.D.s and production assistants with cattle prods to stop them from spazzing all over the place. Try another script. And another director. And never making it in the first place, because it bad even by Boll standards.
Despite the excitement of wearing corpse makeup and eating lots of free crafts services food in sunny Vancouver, the junketing zombies still slammed House of the Dead.
June 14, 2006
'Tard Next To Ebert Thinks He Invented Blogs
Wait, you're telling me it wasn't the The Onion's sharp-as-a-tack columnist Jackie Harvey who invented blogs! And that blogs aren't influenced by Larry King, whose random, scattered thought-emissions were assembled into space-filling USA Today text>
Now the 'Tard Who Sits Next to Roger Ebert says he thought up the blog years ago--but never did anything about it. Too modest apparently. Richard Roeper, in another bid for feedback for his feeble Chicago Sun-Times column, writes, "Many years ago, before anyone heard the term "blog," I came up with the idea of running multiple items in a single column."
Don't bother with the rest of his topics du jour. Most of Roeper's column's are lists. Read Rick Zorn's response in the Tribune.
"Roeper seems to lack the humilty gene," writes Zorn -- "The capacity for modesty that makes insufferable overachievers sufferable. Just an observation. If you can find a self-effacing passage or a joke at his own expense in Roeper's ouvre -- and the rumors are true, he does have one! -- it will be one I've missed."
Zorn also points out that the "many subjects in one column"-column-which Roeper falls back on about twice a week--can be traced to journalist Jack Mabley, who wrote for the Chicago Daily News, the American, the Tribune and the Daily Herald. (He's got a scan of a 1981 column that hits upon five disparate issues.)
Tribune readers with long memories point out that there were many earlier columnists who did the same.
June 02, 2006
When Print Critics Get Erased
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When daily print critics get erased, do movie audiences disappear, too?
Or does the average daily newspaper critic (see photo at right) using the time-honored critical method (see photo at right) offer anything more than a predictable Friday beatdown of whatever genre movie wasn't screened early enough for them to respect?
Isn't everybody who cares about what critics think already turning to the many excellent alt-weekly and online film critics -- professional and non-professional -- who post informed, funny, vibrant, sometimes deranged opinions?
Anne Thompson of the The Hollywood Reporter writes today about the effect that critics can have on specialty (meaning arthouse) films, and mentions the recent ousting, or re-assigning of some prominent film critics. Three of the best are:
Jami Bernard, New York Daily News.
Michael Wilmington, the Chicago Tribune.
Charles Taylor, one of Salon's original film critics, and one of the most knowledgeable and passionate writers about the arts.
Anne Thompson mentions the buyout/retirement of Kevin Thomas. I don't believe his departure has undercut the arts coverage in the Los Angeles Times. For years, Thomas rarely encountered a movie he couldn't summarize and, like a proud godparent, say something far too nice about.
Sony Classics executive
Tom Bernard says the changes have effected ticket sales for arthouse and specialty films in Boston, Seattle and Miami.
"When audiences lose faith in a paper," says Bernard, "they end up doing something else."
Yes, they stop reading and subscribing to the print edition of the newspaper. And they don't want to go to the movies because 1) the theaters, no matter how new they are, reek of human funk, Cheez Wiz and microwaved popcorn (see this Sunday's Observer: Peter Bradshaw goes off on movie "munchers") and 2) even if the some movie sounds interesting, it's not so interesting you can't wait three months to see it on DVD.
I'll leave it to David Poland to talk about whether or how much theater attendance figures are down. Surely it can't help that big cities have fewer screens showing art and true independent films.
If your hometown has anywere to see decent movies, where do you go?
Who do you read?
May 30, 2006
The 411 on IMDb
How many times a day do you visit IMDB?
How high up is http://www.imdb.com on your list of bookmarks?
To settle a movie trivia question or film credit query, IMDb is the first destination for most movie fans. It's free, it's easy to navigate (when those annoying Flash ads on the home page aren't crashing your browser.
The New York Sunday Times, in its Business pages, explores IMDb's past (it began in 1990 as Usenet bulletin board called rec.arts.movies) and its future (more prominent search-result placements on Google and Yahoo and downloads, downloads, downloads).
Amazon bought IMDb in 1998, and the site's sales links (found in the upper right hand corner of the screen) are damnably convenient for online buyers. If the site takes on more movie ads, Please, IMDB, don't take those Flash-and-Java heavy ads that suck up and crash web browsers.
What is good about IMDb:
1. It's free
2. It's fast.
3. The Search functions (particularly the People Working Together search).
4. Those "Star of Tomorrow" ads: As they say on Mystery Science Theatre 3000, "Introducing...and saying Goodbye to.."
What is not good about IMDB:
1. WENN: Celebrity News and Studio Briefing
Something had to in the right-hand column. Unfortunately for George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Sienna Miller and Jude Law, it's WENN, the online source for vaguely or completely unsourced gossip.
More...
May 19, 2006
What Ever Happened To Whit Stillman?
The last I'd heard, Whit Stillman, director of Metropolitan and Barcelona and auteur of the Urban Haute Bourgeoisie, was going to adapt the novel Red Azalea by Anchee Min. But after an announcement in the trades in 2002, nothing
He wrote recently in the Observer about where he's been. The project he'll be talking up at the festival would be his first feature film in eight years (The Last Days of Disco came out in 1998) and will involve his passion for Jamaican music and culture - until now, he's been protective of the idea.
"Silence is one of the greatest and least used weapons in the film business arsenal," says Stillman. "The best rule seems to be: when a project is completed or nearly so, don't shut up about it. But when it's still in its early stages, don't say a word."
April 18, 2006
Important Entertainment
What is your idea of important entertainment?
A movie that's worth ten bucks and two hours of air conditioning? Or a movie that once looked like a dream and still haunts like a ghost, even now, years after it was made, chopped up on TV or seen on a computer screen?
If there's anything important in the smash up of art and commerce, it's hard to find in what passes for entertainment news. Most of it looks a lot like this:
http://www.panopticist.com/archives/the_magazine_covers.html
sendup by Andrew Hearst.
I promise I will do better than that.