September 08, 2008
Wrestler In The Searchlight
It looks like Rice, Utley, and Gilula found male ying to their female Bee yang as they picked up The Wrestler after a long night of partying on honor of Evan Rachel Woods' 21st birthday. Quite a present.
Posted by dpoland at 09:56 AM | Comments (3)
September 07, 2008
Waiting On The Wrestler
So here we go... The Buy Movie Of The Fest... The winner at Venice... The Wrestler.
Every major is in the house... major newspapers... major dependents... major actors... all want to see if this is The One. Of course, the best part is the wrestlers or wrestler-sized men who are not stars, but who are here with the film.
It's exciting. Exciting in a different way than many other great fest experiences. It's a real-time event. It's real-time excitement that makes grown men giddy, fearful, ready for a fight, ready to miss out (all eyes on Rice and Battsek if they get up during the film).
This is one part of TIFF. A rush. Not the heart of it all. But a piece we all crave.
And then... the movie.
Posted by dpoland at 02:54 PM | Comments (21)
TIFF - Catching Up A Little
I am discovering that using an iPhone to post updates is not unlike the early days of using Word... crashes and lost writing is a little infuriating...
But a poor craftsman blames his tools, right?
The Unexpected has become a theme for the festival. The expected films have been mostly mediocre or disappointing. But the little gems are beginning to sparkle. The hard part for you is that the media is understaffed and overmanned during this year's fest. If I had $1000 for the number of times I have heard about budget cuts having an effect on the coverage - from the journos themselves - I would have more than is being spent by any of the mainstream media outlets on the fest... perhaps combined. It's not pretty. And people who have jobs are appreciated.
That said, there is also a lot of whining at this fest. The local papers are complaining about everything from access to plus-ones to street closures. Bruce Kirkland took out the sledgehammer in the paper today.
Without smacking the festival around any more, I will say that the timing on becoming a facility owner at the same time as the North American indie movement is in the toilet and every festival in the country - including Sundance and other big ones - is suffering with money issues by way of decreased cash sponsorship, is unfortunate at best.
When I am asked to give advise to growing festivals, the first thing I always say is that they need to stay within their concept and not try to become "the next Sundance or Toronto." Festivals are, in the vast majority, not for profit. Many run with deficits. And of course, the bigger the machine, the more green coal is needed to keep the fires burning. But the financial possibilities of a film festival are finite. And it seems that TIFF - which is also on its second co-director in two years and its third press office topper in three, both after years of prior stability - forgot this. What makes this festival special is the support of the local community. It's timing also helped build it into one of the key fests in the world. But it was those hundreds of thousands of tickets sold that no one else had. But even huge ticket numbers are not enough to pay for any festival. Sponsorship closes the gap. But not so much in a recession.
Anyway... movies...
Fox Searchlight's The Secret Lives Of Bees actually plays... and not just for girls. It's in the spirit of Sounder and the Toomer story in The Great Santini and To Kill a Mockingbird. It's clearly Dakota Fanning's coming out party as a young woman, a stark contrast from Hounddog, which smelled of her exploitation by a well-intended by overreaching writer/director. Not so here. Gina Prince-Bythewood takes good care of Dakota and the entire cast.
It's the story of a young teen white girl in the deep south who is in the poor care of her father, her mother killed in an accident - in which she was involved - as a child before memories. She escapes, along with a black woman whose life is threatened for standing up for herself, to her mother's childhood hometown. They fall in with a family of three sisters who take the duo in like their own. The story, about love, redemption, and race (though I would not call it a film about race), continues from there.
Not Quite Hollywood may be my favorite talking-heads-and-clips movie ever. (That's Entertainment is not really a doc, but just a series of great clips from great musicals... different animal.) It is complete, and informative. Bur mostly, it's very, very entertaining, From the very beginnings of the Aussie film business to the sexual exploitation and self-mockery to the early car chase films to the uber-violent horror stuff to the combinations of both that changed worldwide cinema from Mad Max on... it's a party for your eyes and memory banks.
Magnolia is planning on a first quarter 2009 release for the film... we'll see what the theatrical life is like. But it is going to be one of those films you can turn on and watch over and over and over again, starting at any random point and walking away at any other point, knowing that you'll watch more of it later... and then some more...
On the flip side, I saw a pretty worthless midnight movie last night... Dead Girl... which aches to be a social satire a la Heathers while using the repeated rape of a dead/alive girl - who "looks like a porn chick" - as the central action conceit. Uhhhh... no. It's not as offensive as Hostel 2 because it is so much less professional and not nearly as smug. But it is pleased with itself and so was much of the audience last night... festival fever. If you stopped at any moment, like when the funny stoner dude who you like so much as a character happily grinds his hips, etc, into "dead girl," and think, "That young man is RAPING a living corpse that would kill him if she could," it just isn't that amusing. And the satire part is just not sharp enough to be worth the effort.
That's all for now... running... in the ran... ah, TIFF...
Posted by poland at 10:07 AM | Comments (6)
September 06, 2008
BYOB - Weekend
Posted by poland at 03:15 PM | Comments (36)
TIFF - First Real Surprise
There have been some good films so far, but with the talent involved, good shouldn't be a surprise. But the first "wow, didn't see that coming" for me is Nik Fackler's Lovely, Still... a tiny movie about age and love and family, small in scope, but movie stylized, with two home run performances by Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn.
I don't have much time to write about it now, but all of those "Boynton Beach Club" movies that get distribution... this is going to be the king of them. Maybe it's just $10 million in theatrical, but given the Academy composition and the very real love of these two actors, don't be shocked to hear award buzz around this one all season.
Posted by dpoland at 11:40 AM | Comments (3)
September 05, 2008
TIFF - A Theme Rises
Great cinema in times of war is rarely about war directly. I am not 100% sure whether this is the subtext or context for the wave of deep, rich, but lighter films about family in Toronto this year.
The finest example so far is Arnaud Desplechin's magnificent A Christmas Tale, which launched at Cannes in May. Two films from the sublime Kings & Queen, the film tells the tale of a family broken and mended by a loss and the very nature of the individual. Similar terrain as Rachel Getting Martied, but a lot closer (and far away from) Tom Bezucha's The Family Stone. (In a twist, Bezucha is currently working on a remake of the French film, Man On The Train, another example of great emotion-driven French filmmaking.)
More later...
Posted by dpoland at 01:46 PM | Comments (8)
TIFF - Grazing
Grazing movies is somewhat antithetical to writing about films. No matter how we feel about films, each is a work of artistic intent and demands more than a cursory glance..: and that's really what a 30 minute peek is... it's like looking at one-third of a painting and analyzing it based on that.
Of course, you can often guess from a third what you will feel about the whole, whatever the medium. But drama (in all its forms) has more of a built-in tendency to curve unexpectedly.
There is a distinct difference between a fest, like this year's, where there are so many unknowns and one where you have a parade of "musts.". So I spent more time grazing on Day One than I would have liked... which means that some of the "let's take a look" films just weren't quickly sticky.
Very sticky were All Around Us, 35 Rhums (good, but not exceptional Denis), and Everlasting Moments, which as a dark and tough tale of a woman commited (to marriage), made a good bookend for the day.
Posted by dpoland at 06:28 AM | Comments (9)
September 04, 2008
Hot Button Review - Rachel Getting Married
Rachel Getting Married is the best Altman movie in 15 years.
Of course, this film is not by Robert Altman, but by Jonathan Demme, one of America’s great filmmakers, of a generation that came up behind the Altmans and others of the early 70s, who made his first high profile film, Melvin and Howard, one decade after Altman’s M*A*S*H*. Twenty-eight years later, Demme pays tribute to Altman with the style of real-life over-talking, silence, and open ends that he has never really emulated before combined with his personal aesthetic of music, wild but loving characters, and unexpected performances that change careers.
Posted by poland at 05:39 PM | Comments (34)
TIFFed - Writing In Cabs
TIFF 08 is 3 hours old and I have already missed a key appontment and seen a great, unexpected film, All Around Us, a Japanese life comedy with strong scents of the American classic, Penny Serenade. More on that later.
For now, I am runnng to a meet with the magnificent Thandie Newton, who co-stars in Guy Ritchie's return to form, Rocknrolla, which, in a first, galas after the opening gala tonight... and then heads out of Toronto in a hurry. Lots of hit and run from the higher profile films this year. Wish they could all experience it as a festival and not just a press obligation. But so TIFF goes...
Posted by dpoland at 10:17 AM | Comments (31)
September 03, 2008
Just Say No
I don't really want to get into the laundry list, but after listening to Fox "News" this morning and now, reading the NY Post, I think it is important to suggest to everyone - not just those on the left - to speak out about the lies being spun in defense of the indefensable.
Politics might be as simple as sport... win or go home... it's not a foul unless it is whistled.
Blow the whistle.
Arguments can be had about experience, values, positions. But this lie about anyone questioning Sarah Palin being a sexist and only questioning and reporting on her - when McCain created the need by not having her properly vetted, a fact the Rovians are now refusing address, calling the issue a media creation - is not debate... It is borderline facist... just as it sometimes is when the left argues that entertaining discussion about a subject makes one suspect for being politcally incorrect.
The response by some here will be to suggest this "gets to me" because I think it's working. Well... it is desperate and it will fail. Better, it is mobilzing the left and the majority that holds certain social issues dear. It took Sarah Palin to get Obama over 50% in the polls.
But what does get to me is that even one more person who is tricked into thinking that anything goes if you can spin it well enough is one more person who is being controlled by the system instead of thinking for themselves. An that disgusts me, from either side, whoever is in office.
Speaking truth to powerbos scary. (Just ask the former maverick known as John McCain.). But speaking truth to a bunch of mealy mouth spinners who look into camera and lie with conviction and passion and poise... nothing to fear there if you have the courage of your own convictions.
Do you?
Posted by dpoland at 09:11 AM | Comments (231)
Not My Birthday
I'm assuming that some social networking thing thinks its my birthday... and I thank everyone who is sending virtual cards... but it's a month early for me to be adding a number to the ever-growing "how old are you?".
Posted by poland at 06:04 AM | Comments (5)
September 02, 2008
First Do No Narm
When will the New York Times make the effort to make their movie coverage as well edited and considered as the rest of the paper?
Today’s latest embarrassment is Brooks Barnes’ summer wrap up, which is filled to the gills with misleading statements, conjecture posting as fact, and the kind of games playing with facts that should never be tolerated… but get a pass from most people because it’s the New York Times.
Let’s start with the entire premise of the piece, headlined “At Movies, Fewer Eyes, Bigger Haul.”
Here is a simple fact that is never mentioned. Ticket sales are not reported weekly. In fact, the only time the industry ever reports ticket sales is in the MPAA year end report… which doesn’t include the entire industry, but only the MPAA companies. All these people who get themselves quoted on ticket sales are making it up, based on history and projections of their own guessing. But here is the NYT, legitimizing the guessing (not unlike their unfortunate choice of building a story early in the summer based on an anonymous AICN “spy”).
Then we get into a parade of studio execs selling their success this summer. We get the pro-Paramount argument… but Barnes doesn’t do any math, figuring out how much the studio, said to have “reaped huge profits,” actually made. Yes, he points out the failure of The Love Guru… but he fails to note that the film may well have eaten as much of 20% of the money Paramount earned by distributing the three big hits that they had no profit stake.
Then there is WB, where Barnes adds marketing to the estimated cost of Speed Racer… something he doesn’t do to any other movie. (He also leaves out international, which brought the gross to a still sad $95 million… or the partnership of WB with Village Roadshow.)
Likewise, the only international gross mentioned in the entire piece is of Iron Man.
He also doesn’t get that The Incredible Hulk will lose money (not for Universal, but for Marvel), that every comedy this summer except for Step Brothers could well be sent to have underperformed because of the glut of comedies, that Hellboy II made about 30% more than the first… but also cost about 30% more to make and market, that while hyping Iron Man that Hancock made almost exactly the same amount as IM worldwide, and that Narnia II was disappointing compared to the first film but is nearing $400 million worldwide, amongst other gaffes.
None of this is life or death. But it is what reporters are supposed to do and what the NYT is supposed to be the best at doing. And it is not. A damned shame for a great news organization.
Posted by poland at 08:47 PM | Comments (20)
Snakes On McCain
So it finally hits me just how much like movie marketing the presidential campaign now is, as the McCain team pretends that pregnancies and in-state investigations and a lack of vetting and the problems of an unknown candidate trying to be bait for disgruntled Hillary "a lifetime of being vetted" Clinton will all just go away by calling those who raise legitimate (and occasionally, illegitimate) concerns "sexists."
And critics who don't praise half-ass, unambitious work are "out of touch."
McCain's situation really does mirror Snakes On A Plane.
A little imagination please...
It's pre-summer and Snakes On McCain is scheduled for late summer. There aren't very high expectations. The genre's kinda played out and the budget was kept tight so that profit is pretty much guaranteed after a modest release.
But then... it turns out that the only movie opening against it is a Denzel Washington movie. Yeah, he's a movie star and everyone seems to love him, but there also seems to be a glass ceiling when it comes to his grosses.
The tracking shows that the race for opening weekend is a lot tighter than some expected... though if you look closely, the bigger movie markets are dominated by Denzel. Maybe people are sick of Denzel... after all, when his last movie opened, it beat the Meryl Streep film and the NYT didn't write about Denzel's hit, but about how movies weren't being made for or by women. (Oddly, when Denzel and Meryl teamed up, it wasn't so successful... that won't happen again.)
They know there is a limit to the number of people who will support Denzel and "the kind of star he is" but the hope from Denzel's camp is that in the way Bill Clinton went from being a Lee Majors candidate to Elvis once in office, Denzel will ascend to the Will Smith level once he is in office... uh, theaters.
So the studio starts to work to excite the McCain On A Plane base. They go and start spending money to re-shoot to add the kind of material that the base really loves. They encourage all kinds of talking points that may be utter bull, but sure get that base excited.
And then they add one more re-shoot... to add both Britney & Jamie Lyn Spears to the cast... because as successful women, they surely could capitalize on the sexism questions about Denzel. And heck, they are young and sexy, like Denzel!
But what they forget is that the base may be excited by the move to the edge and the addition of two popular women to the cast, but the audience that doesn't normally want to go see McCain On A Plane isn't going to be turned by that. In fact, they are likely to be turned off by the additions, which seem to be pandering... especially when the sisters keep ending up in the tabloids, whether for being pregnant as a teen or getting out of the car without the panties on... and how sexist are those paparazzi for taking those shots?!?!?!
But damned if the "studio" doesn't just keep selling the same line, no matter what the movie really is, no matter how tired the audience is getting of the same old stuff... they just keep selling... when bad stuff happens, they just keep moving forward. They have no choice. Once you commit to a strategy in marketing something with a limited window of opportunity, if you change direction with your pitch, you inevitably die. Movies can overcome all kinds of bad buzz... but they can't overcome a bad or inconsistent sales job.
And of course, the industry keeps thinking, "those guys might have something... Denzel might be vulnerable... people are suckers... the media is spending so much time promoting McCain On A Plane... maybe Britney Spears really is the same as Meryl Streep for audiences..."
And that great tag line... "Get those muthafucking liberals out of my muthafucking POW cell!" It's powerful stuff. And the studio doubled the ad budget.
The irony of all of this being that S.O.A.P. is remembered as a commercial disappointment, ticket buyers voting with their money, but the movie was not as bad as the excessive selling and fear of the showing the film suggested. Had they just stuck to what they had, not increased their budget, and rode the web buzz, the film would have been a relative success.
The McCain who actually was a maverick would have been a real possibility this year. But they just kept changing the formula and no matter how hard you try to sell New Coke as "better," people make up their mind for themselves... but that's another column.
Posted by dpoland at 08:04 PM | Comments (18)
September 01, 2008
BYOB - Apolitical
Toronto begins in a few days and the movie coma will begin... no doubt, to the relief of many of you.
Here is some space to get the conversation moving in a movie direction...
Posted by poland at 09:33 PM | Comments (44)
Ack!
Unbelievable.
I... uh... oy...
I am actually beginning to feel bad for McCain.
Someone suggested to me the other day that, perhaps, McCain was actually committing political suicide, not just making an absurd choice for VP. I followed that thread of an idea and thought, perhaps he has eaten so much shit from the Rovians that the only way to get them back was to bring aboard the extreme right's "candidate of choice" and to watch the party burn.
But... dear God... can it get any worse? (Unfortunately, I feel another dropping shoe or three coming.)
It's all well and good to scream bloody murder about Kos giving a platform for the not-new rumor about where Palin's most recent baby came from. I knew about it. I didn't mention it. No legit journo did, nor did any mainstream outlets I know of, until Andrew Sullivan. But who could have imagined the McCain response?
To be perfectly honest, I still see this as an undetermined situation. Sorry. But all the coincidence - newly, the five month pregnancy that "rules out" giving birth five months ago - sets off my bullshit meter. I don't want to push the story. However, I do expect that some reporters with stronger stomachs will follow through on the story. For me, one or two confirmable, dated images of Palin pregnant this spring will shut the door on the conversation. But I still cannot find a single one. It is equally true that I have no firm reporting on whether the younger Palin actually skipped months of school or if anyone noticed the pregnancy or not. The problem with reporting on it now is that there will be endless and loud accusations of crucifying Palin simply by asking. As always, the loudest screamers are usually the least likely to be telling the truth.
Still... putting aside the more heinous rumor, Obama is scoring points all over this one. He is taking the highest road possible, getting even James Carville to say that this is all a non-issue. He is, of course, a politician. He knows this will be the end of the McCain effort. But he also knows that he doesn't need to be trying to shove McCain in his grave when he is doing a splendid job of doing it himself.
This is exactly the kind of thing, which Obama has displayed repeatedly, that makes me confident about the man's leadership. I believe he wants to be on the high road. And I think he also knows when saying nothing says everything. Anyone who really understands power knows that this is the most profound way of showing your power... by not showing it.
The simple reality is that we are looking at a VP option who got pregnant 6 months into her first statewide job on any level... and whose 17-year-old daughter has followed in her footsteps. Pat her on the back all you like for sticking to her anti-abortion principles, but this is not a show of good judgment. And it would not be a show of good judgment by a politician of either sex... since men are responsible for sex decisions too, right? Would you want any President dealing with 9 months of a pregnancy and a newborn while in office? Cry sexism if you must, but we aren't talking about the old saw about having a period or PMS once a month with her finger on the black box trigger. We're talking about a major life experience that, I would suggest, becomes a primary focus for all intimately involved, male or female.
And will the media ask the hard questions about the Bristol Palin pregnancy that was announced today - 3 days late, semblance of sanity short - like what position Sarah Palin takes on premarital sex, birth control, hands-on parenting, 17 year olds marrying, etc... with real follow-up questions, preferably by Gloria Steinem.
We should also be pushing hard on Palin's work with a 527 (specifically with Ted Stevens), Alaskan secession, what she actually has done as Gov (aside from selling a plane on eBay), TrooperGate, and even her reported support - unlike McCain - of windfall profit taxes on the oil companies.
The #1 issue remains... how could John McCain make this call without proper vetting, knowing or not knowing about some of these issues, and surely being aware of the most obvious issue... that without tap dancing a bullshit dance about "executive experience" versus experience, that this is the least qualified person ever to be on a major party ticket by a long, long shot.
This is the only issue that the Obama campaign will raise against Governor Palin. The rest will be left to a nation of people who really don't want to be a joke everywhere in the world... but especially in America First.
And you folks who have done so much heavy lifting for the right in other comment sections... thank you... and I will not mock you for sitting this one out. You really don't have to put yourself through it. We can discuss our disagreements about politics some other time. But the utter failure of John McCain's judgment here really isn't your fault, even if you will vote for the man in spite of it. You are, of course, welcome. But the McCain camp outing a 17-year-old's pregnancy days after nominating her mom - apparently without McCain's knowledge at that time - is just so rancid on so many levels... sorry... really...
But if you want to follow Tucker Bounds on the "I have nothing good to say here" debate team, you are welcome to...
Posted by poland at 08:30 PM | Comments (70)
August 31, 2008
PS The Hurricane Is A GOP Blessing
No uncomfortable comparisons to the Dems... they can't be blamed for an act of god.
No Bush. No Ahnuld. No problem.
Posted by dpoland at 02:55 PM | Comments (18)
Following In The Footsteps Of Giants
(Yes... I know... but a guy gets to have a little fun on Labor Day, no?)
Posted by poland at 01:38 PM | Comments (3)
The Watchmen Mess Continues...
Michael Cieply's report on the latest salvos in the Watchmen mess contains only one item of real interest... unless you have no interest in the simple legal reality that "you shoulda known" is no defense of an abuse of contractual rights.
"Fox, moreover, was paid $320,000 by one of Mr. Gordon’s companies for rights to “Watchmen” as early as 1991, Warner lawyers said in the report. Fox has said that agreement was superseded by a later deal, under which Mr. Gordon was supposed to deliver a much larger buyout price that has never been paid."
Right there is the entire case. Either $320,000 was paid as prescribed... or not. Either more is due... or not. Simple.
Neither company is asking to go to a trial on any of this before the release date of the film... which continues to suggest that the request for an injunction is just a power game. However, that doesn't mean it won't be granted.
Once the judge decides - he may have already - whether Fox is owed money or not, he might grant the injunction just to move the settlement along... but more likely, he will tell the lawyers, in chambers, to settle the damned thing before he settles it for them. If he agrees that Fox was paid $320k and they deserve another $320k, he will hint and suggest that WB should pay and that Fox should take a small win. If he feels they have been aggrieved beyond this, he will indicate that Fox better settle it or their movie might get stopped and he'll give for Fox their percentage against net (which has been in every document that I have ever read on this case, from the very first quitclaim on, so I don't know what Cieply left that detail out).
This is not a complex case. Really. Judge Judy could have it done in under 30 minutes. She would either bitch out Fox for knowing and not saying anything before awarding them the full amount and a share of the profits or she would yell at Warners for not being more careful before handing Fox their interest payment and maybe legal fees and throwing them out. And as silly as that sounds, it's pretty much what's going on here. Either the pawn ticket was paid or Gordon/WB/Par threw a 20 on the counter, grabbed the property that was once theirs, and ran off with it, hoping not to be chased.
Posted by poland at 01:07 PM | Comments (1)
BYOB - Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?
Posted by poland at 03:03 AM | Comments (21)
Im-Palin
After almost 200 comments on my hastily written Sarah Palin entry yesterday - I was on a plane, saw her speech on DirecTV just before take-off and posted - I thought I would start fresh with a new entry.
The most fascinating thing about the story, to me, was that the whole thing turned in less than 12 hours.. maybe less. Those on the right want to attribute this to the left-wing media, but the real culprit is John McCain. The only thing left to know about Governor Palin by Wednesday will be anything that the Alaska media was too afraid to report. There is nothing good about this person that is going to be lingering beneath the very light bushel of her public career.
In the comments on the earlier post were the expected accusations of fear driving the smart ass response to Palin. Sorry. Any fears I harbored were relieved by her "Meet Your Surprise Choice" speech. She seemed very bright, attractive... and way out of her depth. Think Ben Lyons.
The talking points for a clearly surprised GOP base were "maverick, pro-green, executive office, female."
Sadly for the Republicans, the "maverick" tag went out the window before the details even started piling up... the far right part of the party was "overjoyed" by the choice. In other words, she takes McCain farther to the right, not to the center, where he once was, and has given up completely during the election cycle to shore up the GOP "base." And he really did shore that up. And in the process cut his odds to win from the 57/43 area he was working and improving slowly on (at least before the DNC Convention) to something more like 60/40, reflecting the choice to go with one of the few women who could motivate disgruntled Hillary voters not just to vote Obama, but to campaign for him.
Not only is Palin anti-choice/anti-Roe v Wade, but she is a gun-loving, animal-killing, pro-refuge-drilling, newly minted careerist.
Some brought up my mention of her Down Syndrome newborn as a form of sexism. Uh, bull. I would have brought up the same issue had any male candidate from a small place more than 4000 miles from Washington DC decided that it was more important to be VP than to deal with the very real challenges of supporting the family with a newborn, who also happens to be a special needs kid. There is a reason we have not seen many toddlers, much less infants, in the White House ever.
When Jackie Kennedy had her young children in the White House, things were very different. Men were not expected to participate in the hands-on day-to-day of the family and women were not expected to participate as much more than goodwill ambassadors now and then.
God bless Governor Palin and her likely unexpected pregnancy six months into her new job and her choice, based on her faith, to keep the child. I have no opinion that matters in any way about that. But what does it say about a person that they so arrogantly think that jumping at the chance to be second-in-commander-in-chief of this nation makes sense for their family when having a baby in the house is overwhelming to working parents who carry nowhere near that level of responsibility? Male or female, the issue is the baby that they chose to have, not which parent is giving up most of their responsibility in parenting it.
The other sexism issue that's been thrown out there is the "beauty queen" stuff, which I had not mentioned. The problem is that with a paper-thin resume of a politician who was an out-of-nowhere winner in the only major job she's had, in Alaska, "beauty queen" will stand out as much as Mayor of Town Smaller Than Most Major State Universities and... is there anything else?
First person who mentions the PTA gets smacked.
What was most interesting to me about the comments on the last entry were that the detailing was so intense that people - especially those trying to sell the idea that she was a good choice - seemed to be missing the forest for the trees.
The comparisons to Dan Qualye don't fly, since Bush 1 was the incumbent VP when Potatoe-Man was chosen. Unless you want to parse percentages of poll inaccuracies, Obama is still ahead in most polling, especially state-by-state. McCain is not the front-runner. So the wildcard choice is much more problematic.
My more complex take on the choice, however, is that if Palin turns out to be interesting, it is way too late to be bringing her on board right now. Had McCain decided to go Govs Gone Wild back in May, say, there would have been time to deal with all the public vetting of Palin and for her to start to build a real image. However you want to game her experience vs Obama's, Obama was not an unknown national figure going into this election. And many people are still working to get comfortable with him after a year of electioneering. We saw that in the late primaries in which Clinton used her familiarity to smack Obama in states that were whiter, older, and poorer than other states which had gone for Obama. Palin has 2 months to take her beating and to build a real constituency. She would have to be one of the all-time greats pols to turn that trick. A real savant. And there is no indication that she is. She might have been an interesting choice, but we will never really get to know her. There just isn't enough time.
We don't even have to get into her suggesting that Hillary Clinton was "whining" about how she was treated in the media... or the rumors in Alaska... or what she has actually done in 20 months in Alaska... or whether her first big claim of stopping the "bridge to nowhere" was an outright lie ("Asked if she was in favor of continuing state funding for the project. 'Yes,' she responded, noting specifically her desire to renew Congressional support. 'Yes. I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now–while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist. '")...
All that said, everyone who says that people vote for the President, not the Vice President, is correct. But this choice actually says much more about McCain than it does about Palin. And that's the problem. You can hurl stuff at Joe Biden and get into why he hasn't had a strong run at the Presidency, but no one can say that he is not as experienced, if not more experienced, than anyone in this race or who could actually be in this race. His experience, in fact, blows Hillary Clinton's experience right off the map. But his appeal has limits. Still, no one can say that Obama was making a wacky, dangerous pick by calling Biden.
McCain chose his VP candidate with just two meetings ever... one by phone. McCain chose a woman whose potential presidency would be too wild a subject for a film by Rod Lurie or a book by Irving Wallace.
The details are IRRELEVANT unless they are terribly damaging. What is relevant is the conversation at the dinner table and the water cooler. "Who the hell is this girl and if McCain dies, would she really be The President?" The stench of "crazy" now sticks to McCain. First it was all the childish attack ads that, even if effective, people didn't want to admit worked on them. Seven houses. Pandering to the PUMAs. And now, Phyllis George after 20 months in an unexpected office, with politics that push the McCain ticket further right when he's trying to appeal to disaffected Dems and Independents.
The reason this feels so much like a "hail mary" pass is that it represents yet another change in the "strategy" of the McCain campaign. And Palin herself is a mixed message... Charlton Heston with a vagina. Ms Smith Goes To Washington... and leaves his family behind in Bedford Falls so he can fight for the rich. Dave II, where the guy who tricked the nation admits the real president is dead and the employment agency owner loses the next election because even though he is a really good guy, he has no real experience in Washington and people would rather have a fool from a famous political family with his finger on the button than some boring rich guy from Tenn or Mass who never seems to be able to give a straight answer.
But mostly, it is the end of the road for a guy who was once a maverick, but who sold his soul to get a shot at the presidency vs a black guy or a woman, but who could never tie up his base well enough to stop begging them so he could go get other voters to get behind him... the ones who could have elected him. So in his biggest decision pre-election, he chooses to throw away his value as The Safety Pick against the black newcomer and to actually pick a much bigger question mark, who actually does have Republican base support (ain't that desperate?) because she is so much farther to the right than the top of the ticket, pushing all those people who were still dubious about Obama, but who are not into far right political positions to get off the fence.
Obama really couldn't have asked for more.
Posted by dpoland at 01:02 AM | Comments (145)
August 30, 2008
Box Office & Stuff
So Klady has Babylon AD and Tropic Thunder dead even for Friday. I have to agree with Steve Mason that TT should be the easy winner by Monday. Zzzzzzzz...
Just wondering why we aren't having rousing fights about the massive accomplishment by Thunder... after all, it was such a critical proof of Dark Knight as a cultural event, right?
My point is, stats like this are meaningless, much like box office share. They are worse than just being obsessive details... they lie. For instance, WB and Par are fighting for top slot in summer market share, but WB will have a summer return on box office, based on domestic box office only, of about triple what Par will have... And international will make the gap even wider.
Speaking of WB, The Bat will pass $500m domestic by Monday.
Woody Allen is looking at his third highest grosser of the last decade, at least.
Babylon AD, which stiffed in spite of being MK's cut in France, will stiff here too. While busy raging at Fox, you might want to see if you can find out details of what actually happened on the production from more than one side/source... Just hintin'...
In other stuff, I am pleased that Obama realized that McCain made his campaign a fish in a barrel yesterday and will allow nature to take its course without more prodding. No one needs the spots of Vogue Gov vs Paris Hilton to get this joke.
Also, I had the misfortune of opening the Baltimore Sun this morning and seeing that Zell!!! has already got the 50/50 content to ads split in full force here, with lots of wire service coverage about politics and everything but local sports (50/50 in that section too) in spite of being the biggest city this close to DC. The future of out LA Times is bleak.
Posted by dpoland at 11:46 AM | Comments (40)
August 29, 2008
Thanks, Crazy Old Guy
Wow. And I thought Lieberman was a bad idea.
Two years in as Gov of Alaska... Parent of a 4-month old special needs child... Had her sister's ex fired...
This is who America wants to be a heartbeat away from the presidency of our oldest president ever.
Game over.
Posted by dpoland at 07:45 AM | Comments (191)
BYOB - Travelin'
The floor is yours... for the moment...
Posted by dpoland at 01:09 AM | Comments (27)
August 28, 2008
If You're Right, Why Lie?
On May 18, in Pendelton, Ore., Obama said that "strong countries and strong presidents talk to their adversaries. That's what Kennedy did with Khrushchev. That's what Reagan did with Gorbachev. That's what Nixon did with Mao. I mean, think about it. Iran, Cuba, Venezuela -- these countries are tiny, compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet, we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying, 'We're going to wipe you off the planet.'
"And ultimately, that direct engagement led to a series of measures that helped prevent nuclear war, and over time, allowed the kind of opening that brought down the Berlin Wall," Obama continued. "Now, that has to be the kind of approach that we take. You know, Iran, they spend one-one hundredth of what we spend on the military. If Iran ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they wouldn't stand a chance. And we should use that position of strength that we have, to be bold enough to go ahead and listen. That doesn't mean we agree with them on everything. We might not compromise on any issues, but at least we should find out other areas of potential common interest, and we can reduce some of the tensions that has caused us so many problems around the world."
And this morning... the elementary school playground stuff continues...
To: Interested Parties
From: Brian Rogers, Deputy Communications Director
Date: August 27, 2008
Re: Proper Attire For The Temple Of Obama ("The Barackopolis")
Today, workers at Invesco Field are putting the final touches on the newest wonder of the modern political world -- The Temple of Obama ("The Barackopolis"). It is upon this pulpit that Barack Obama will tomorrow night address thousands of screaming, adoring fans.
There may be some confusion among the press about the venue and appropriate dress code for Barack Obama's big speech. To help out, we wanted to provide the following tips on appropriate attire. The toga may have gone out of style centuries ago, but after Obama's temple speech tomorrow night, they're sure to be flying off the racks.
The memo - here in pdf - goes on to suggest methods of dress. It ends with a twist that defines McCain's campaign as well as any.
At the Temple of Obama, reporters are expected to observe a level of decency and decorum demanded by the import of the moment and the presence of The One. No "Animal House" behavior permitted. Specifically, no "Toga" chants.
Watch Here For Examples Of Inappropriate Conduct
The "here" is this YouTube link... which demans the question be asked... how out of touch and literally old do you have to be to not recall that in Animal House, the Deltas, not Dean (John Mc) Wormer and the uptight idiots at the Omega House we the heroes?
But more importantly, is this the kind of thinking anyone should be allowed to bring into the White House? The Dems are having a big event, so mock it, not on substance, but on style? Try to suck the air out of the closing night by dangling your VP selection in front of the media for 48 hours? Keep making lies up to fill your ads and then become reduced to the fear tactic of showing bombs going off on a loop while repeating electioneering attacks from the defeated candidates?
Of course, John McCain sent his wife to Georgia, so we understand the depth of his diplomacy, right?
Believing Repubican dogma is one thing... being a scallywag and a liar is quite another. John McCain's behavior makes it clearer than ever that he is not fit to be in this office... unless this kind of stuff is what you think America should be all about. "America: Soccer Hooligan To The Wold! Vote McCain!"
Posted by dpoland at 08:39 AM | Comments (44)
August 27, 2008
And Now, Australia Puts Itself On The Turkey Day Barby
Fox Press Release -
BAZ LUHRMANN’S HIGHLY ANTICIPATED EPIC, AUSTRALIA, TO BOW THANKSGIVING
LOS ANGELES, CA (August 27, 2008) __ Twentieth Century Fox announced today that it now will release AUSTRALIA – Baz Luhrmann’s epic adventure motion picture, starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman – on November 26th in the U.S., Canada and Australia. The rest of the world follows at Christmas as originally scheduled.
The move takes advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday play period in the U.S. – always one of the biggest moviegoing times of the year – made available by the absence of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
“Recent shifts in the release dates of other pictures created an opportunity for us to move AUSTRALIA to November 26, which is a big win for us and for this amazing film,” said Bruce Snyder, Fox’s President of Domestic Distribution. “It’s only a 12-day move, but the new date is an ‘event’ weekend – one of the busiest moviegoing periods of the year – and one truly befitting this Baz Luhrmann motion picture event.”
Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman star in Luhrmann’s epic and romantic action adventure, set in Australia on the explosive brink of World War II. Luhrmann is painting on a vast canvas, creating a cinematic experience that brings together romance, ACTION, adventure and spectacle.
Posted by dpoland at 11:21 PM | Comments (16)