The Hot Blog

Are Caraco and Semone PR people?

I'm still curious to know what "The New T. Voice" meant if anybody would like to help a guy out.

Oh, I get it, never mind.

My name is Inigo Montoya...

Does anyone know what the content is on the Miami Vice Director's Cut DVD? I've read that there is 7 extra minutes but have also read conflicting reports as to what it is. I was glad to read it's passed 150 million, world wide. Obviously that is not a lot for many films, but I was glad for Mann. It's not the total miss that people are saying it is.

I'll still dream of a trilogy...

Why on earth would the Dodger's 3B coach send Delgado when Kent in front of him was clearly gonna be a close call at the plate?

Ron Howard is at the game, so I figure this post could qualify for a movie discussion board.

In the meantime Dave, have you written about Tideland yet? I can't remember.

I haven't heard the news about Inarritu/Arriaga break-up before.... Which magazine/newspaper had talked about this news?

Mary
I think David was pointing out that it wasn't news at all

I am Spam Dooley and why rip off my signout?

DP's phrase "just caught up with" suggests that he thinks they are late with old news. I don't see that he thinks it was never news.

And yeah, Marychan, it's news to me too.

Since we're doing a random thing...

I got my short documentary film STRINGERS into the Austin Film festival!!! I couldn't be more excited! They have a KILLER lineup of films this year and I'm looking forward to seeing them. And, their panelists are outstanding.

Here's a link to my trailer (I think):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvg504VFZn4

And here's the festival website:
http://www.austinfilmfestival.com/new/

If you're in or around Austin on October 20-24...come see me and my film.

I am Don, and I hate to self promote, but someone has to promote me.

Wells says it was news...back in Cannes early this year.

In other news, it's a pretty exciting weekend at the movies coming up. We get The Departed, Little Children, and Shortbus (at least I think LA/NY does). It's beginning to feel a lot like Oscar.

Don't forget Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Rehashing. At least Nispel isn't back to make this one so pretty.

The remake of the remake.

Petaluma,

Congrats on Austin. My company's film is in as part of the narrative competition category. I've never been to the city before, so I'm v. excited.

Oh my god, I'm so gay.

Dave, what about today's news of yet another Jim Carrey movie getting shelved just weeks before filming was due to start?

I've seen a few movies at the Vancouver Film Fest this week.

Saw Volver, Away From Her and Day Night Day Night on Sunday. Really liked Volver - good entertaining flick. I'd definitely go see it again. Away From Her is one of the best movies I've seen this year. Very affecting story and I got to meet director Sarah Polley afterwards. Scored a picture with her. :D
Day Night Day Night was interesting...Pretty tight editing wise, but in retrospect could have even been shorter than it's 94 minutes.

Last night I saw Close To Home which was pretty good. Could have been a little shorter near the end. Tried watching Iraq in Fragments, but it was kinda boring - plus the theater was pretty warm which put together equals me dozing off. I'd give it another shot though, since I was not the most attentive viewer there.

Define tight.

"Off to the latest screening I won’t be writing about. Funny how that works."

Yes it is, since you just wrote about it.

>Flags of Our Fathers screened for the first time for press last night at Paramount.

Nearly three weeks before it opens as well. Paramount must be pretty confident.

I think I'm the only one who isn't the least bit excited about FLAGS? I mean, I saw PRIVATE RYAN already, and THE THIN RED LINE, and dozens of other WWII movies, I just can't get that excited about another one...not that I don't think it will be solid, but I just don't care that much...

Do you have the same problem with any other genres? Romantic comedies or cop thrillers?

Tight = not a lot of wasted shots etc. Everything in its right place.

Sorry, scenes, not shots. There's not a lot of fat there. That's all.

I think Wells know that "Inarritu/Arriaga break-up was a Cannes news" from the LA Times
article....

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archives/2006/10/inarritu_vs_ari.php

ASD...Austin is the greatest city in the world if you like beer, movies, music and a real sense of cinematic community. It's like MCN in the flesh...only with less snarkiness.

So who watched Lost and what'd you think?

I thought it was pretty good. Really liked the opening. I take it they're done with Jack's wife at this point...

These are the kinds of moments that are hardest for me. I knew it was over in February. It wasn't exactly a secret amongst those of us who know either of the guys well enough to have a semi-legit conversation. But it is gossip, not news. And dragging this stuff out in the pages of the LAT kinda sucks.

I know that there are those of you who disagree with my sense of what is appropriate and what is not. And believe it or not, I respect that. But it doesn't make it any easier for me to make a big show of something really unpleasant. It should not be a significant part of the Babel conversation. It's unfair to the movie and to both of the men.

If we were having lunch (in real life), I would be happy to chat about this or the couple of other extremely successful writing/directing partnerships that have ended this last 18 months because of the ego of the directors, who all want every inch of credit. But printing it, even in a blog, changes the dynamic.

Same with who might be fired soon, who is definitely leaving studios, who is fighting with who on lots, etc, etc, etc. How much does this info do except titillate?

I also happen to think Guillermo is a great guy -no small ego there either - and as someone who will offer an opinion on the film, I have to push the personal off of my list of considerations.

You are all welcome to have an opinion about my dilemma. Try not to be harsh. I honestly find the whole thing awkward.

Also - Haven't seen Tideland. And would be honored for MCN to be as cool as Austin, though I’m not sure it really isn’t snarkier in that low key cool Texan way.

While I am going to see the two Eastwood movies, I too am not that enthralled over Flags (I'm much more interested in Iwo Jima because we rarely see things from that side). I'm sure it's a well-made movie and all that, but... WWII is just not a topic that I want to see at the movies constantly.

Who's seen the new trailer for Blood Diamond? Pretty solid, methinks.

I would think that the sudden ending of an artistic/business relationship is newsworthy. The reasoning behind it maybe personal or petty or gossipy, but if it impacts future collaborations then that's inherently of interest to people - if it's not 'movie news' that person X and person Y won't be working together anymore, I don't know what is.

Why are people so interested in WWII? I know it was big, but like others here have said, it's been done so many times on so many different angles, especially from the American POV. Having said that, I'll still see Flags and Letters from Iwo Jima but I'm more eager to see the latter than the former, simply because it's from the Japanese view.

And about Jeffmcm question about other genres, I don't think WWII is a genre in itself (I think they fall into War movies). To the best of my memory, I haven't seen two rom-coms taking place at the same place in history like Saving Private Ryan, Thin Red Line, Pearl Harbor, etc... Rom-coms are about people falling in laugh, but no two of them happened during, say, the Great Depression at a bankrupt factory, for example. That's not the case for WWII movies.

How was "Home of the Brave," Dave?

Wait, he can't talk about it.

LOST was so awesome. If D-Po here insults that show like he did with Studio 60, I swear I'd go find him and go kung-fu fighting all over his badly shaven and unattractive mug.

I do think an Inarritu/Arriaga split is news for film fans, even though any explanation as to why the split occurred does amount to gossip. If David knows either of the two, though, you can't blame him for his discomfort.

DP, I think you handled this just about right-- don't break the news, but feel free to discuss it once it's known. That really shouldn't cause any problems as long as you're fair to both sides in talking about it.

I think DP handled the situation well too except that with his comment

"I would be happy to chat about this or the couple of other extremely successful writing/directing partnerships that have ended this last 18 months because of the ego of the directors . . ."

it certainly appear that he's laying the blame on Inarritu for the split.

What were some of the other splits you mention? I really like Inarritu's films but I think artistically the split could be a good thing for him to not get stuck in a rut. It will be very interesting to see what he does next.

^^^Yeah, there's an inconsistency - "I'm not going to discuss it, except for when I make an offhand smackdown of Inarritu."

Dave, on the Inarritu/Arriaga, I think it's quite simple:

If you define yourself as a critic, then it amounts to gossip, and you shouldn't print it - you should really focus on the films themselves.

But if you define yourself as a journalist covering the movie industry, it's a scoop and you should most definitely print it, because it is relevant, and it is big news. If Jack and Meg White broke up The White Stripes, a smart journo would write about the second they heard about it. And probably get a raise for it. And deservingly so.

I don't know enough about how you define your job, and in this day and age I imagine it's tough, especially in the movie business, where journos are much more cuddly with the people in their news because they want/need to get access, interviews, get invited to the parties, etc.

But I don't think there's any question that when a professional relationship breaks up, it's news.

Flags of Our Fathers exhibitor screening was on Wednesday. Very boring film with no emotional resonance. Watch this one drop off of Dave's Gurus of Gold list.

Austin has plenty of snark to spare. And we also have Alamo Drafthouse - truly the happiest place on Earth.

waterbucket, oh my gid, you are so giy: I swear I'd go find him and go kung-fu fighting all over his badly shaven and unattractive mug.

make that gey.

Aladdin, Vancouver, my gid. Are you coming to LA for AFI fest? Good of you to change your comment to scenes from shots. Shots in their right place is defining patterns in cutting, and there are many wrong cutting patterns, a few right ones and one or two best, which are discovered. But changing it to scenes, puts you into defining structure. Tight editing defines pace, specifically re-pacing, particularly dialog, from the pace it was performed at. Performances are almost always built and pacing is one of the most difficult things for a director, actor and editor to deliver. Pacing action is too. Disagree if you must.

Scenes _and_ shots should be functional and waste-free. It's not an either/or thing.

mc, poor reading comprehension.

How can you begin to address function and leave out art? I'll go as far as to say that there is no functional point to anything without the art part.

I don't see what I could have miscomprehended - you're the one who said "good of you to change your comment to scenes from shots" implying that one is more important than the other.

Second, I didn't 'leave out' art. It's implied. I was being concise.

TH, I'll have to stick by Vancouver for this year. Maybe if I win the lottery, plans would change.

Finally saw Babel tonight... definitely an Oscar contender, but I had a few issues with the format for telling the four semi-interlocked stories... my favorite was the Tokyo story and Rinko Kikuchi is a MAJOR find (much like Gael Garcia in Amores Perros)

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