Archive for August, 2008
August 22nd, 2008
Here’s a short-but-classic bit from DR. STRANGELOVE (OR, HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB). As the B-52 bomber “The Leper Colony” prepares to attack the Soviet Union, its commander, Major Kong (Slim Pickens) goes over the contents of the Army-issue survival kit. As he says, “Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff!”
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Originally, he said “a pretty good weekend in Dallas,” but DR. STRANGELOVE was released in 1964, and with the Kennedy assassination still fresh in everyone’s minds, the line was changed.
August 21st, 2008
Last week, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY released its “Fall Movie Preview” issue. (You know, the one with the big picture of Harry Potter — whose movie isn’t coming out until summer — on the cover.) Though it’s tough to get out to the theater with a three-year-old at home, I still like to plan some autumn cinema going. Here’s what looks good to me:
MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA — Spike Lee’s World War II epic holds promise, his self-indulgent sniping at Clint Eastwood aside. With THE 25TH HOUR, THE INSIDE MAN and WHEN THE LEVEES BREAK on his recent resume, Spike’s on a bit of a roll. Let’s hope it continues.
BURN AFTER READING — Naturally, the Coen brothers follow their dark, Oscar-winning drama NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN with a wacky comedy. The cast is great — Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and John Malkovich. If it’s less INTOLERABLE CRUELTY and more RAISING ARIZONA, it’ll be great.
RIGHTEOUS KILL — DeNiro and Pacino, together again for the almost first time (they had that one diner scene in HEAT years ago). It looks like a fairly standard cop drama, but just watching these two powerhouses chew the scenery should be an entertaining way to pass two hours.
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 — Just kidding.
BODY OF LIES — Here’s the rule: Fat Russell Crowe (THE INSIDER, MASTER AND COMMANDER, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL) equals good. Fit Russell Crowe (GLADIATOR, A BEAUTIFUL MIND ) equals less than good. He looks pretty chunky in this one. Plus, Leonardo DiCaprio is costaring.
W. — I’m as curious about Oliver Stone’s Bush biopic as anyone. And Brolin is coming off a hell of a year (NO COUNTRY, GRINDHOUSE and AMERICAN GANGSTER). Plus, Richard Dreyfuss as Cheney? Brilliant!
SYNEDOCHE, NEW YORK — Charlie Kaufman, screenwriter of ADAPATION, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH and a personal favorite, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, directs his first film. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a theater director who builds a life-sized (well, almost) replica of New York City in a warehouse. Advance word is it’s difficult, confusing and no crowd please, but I think it sounds brilliant, and I’d watch anything Kaufman wrote.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED — Barry Levinson directed this adaptation of producer Art Linson’s hilarious Hollywood tell-all. The names have been changed, but the stories should still be funny. (Bruce Willis, incidentally, is playing a guy based on Alec Baldwin. Read the book — it’s worth it.)
AUSTRALIA — I liked Baz Luhmann’s lush, over-the-top MOULIN ROUGE. This could be a similar cinema feast.
THE ROAD — Viggo Mortensen stars as the dad in this beyond-bleak tale of a post-apocalyptic journey of a father and son. My wife read the book and loved it — even if it was an Oprah selection. I’m curious enough to wait for the movie.
QUANTUM OF SOLACE — After the greatness that was CASINO ROYALE, I’m dying to see where the new Bond goes next.
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD — Sure Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet starred in the biggest movie of all time. But you know what else? They’re also arguably the two best actors of their generation. This period drama set in the 1950s doesn’t have a big sinking ship, but it’s guaranteed to have at least two great performances.
THE SPIRIT — Um, I still can’t decide how I feel about Frank Miller’s take on this classic comic book. Check back with me sometime in November.
THE CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON — This might be the movie I’m looking forward to most of all. David Fincher, coming off the completely brilliant ZODIAC, reunites with his SEVEN and FIGHT CLUB star Brad Pitt for a story about a guy who ages backward. The scope looks epic, and the effects look nothing less than amazing.
OK, that’s my take. What are you looking forward to?
August 21st, 2008
Here’s a map from the Chicago Tribune marking the locations where various scenes were shot.
August 20th, 2008
Here’s something fun — a Batman film dating way back to the silent era of cinema …
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Of course, Batman wasn’t actually created until 1939, but that didn’t stop Andre Perkowski from cobbling together bits of various silent films, adding some convincingly dated intertitles and giving us an intriguing peek of what a silent film Batman might look like. Want to see more? Check out his You Tube site. Part 2 features The Joker, making great use of clips from the silent film THE MAN WHO LAUGHS — which was actually a big inspiration for the Joker’s look.
August 19th, 2008
There’s trouble in legal-ville involving Warner Bros. much-hyped graphic novel adaptation, WATCHMEN, which is slated to open in theaters next March. At issue is a suit from rival studio 20th Century Fox that it never actually gave away the rights to the property. That lawsuit was upheld, meaning the legal battle can go forward.
Here’s what Variety had to say in Monday’s edition (click link for full story):
“At the heart of Fox’s suit, filed in February, is the contention that it never ceded rights to the property. And according to the federal Judge Gary Allen Feess, Fox retained distribution rights to the graphic novel penned by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons through a 1991 claim. Furthermore, Feess appears to agree that under a 1994 turnaround deal with producer Larry Gordon, Gordon acquired an option to acquire Fox’s remaining interest in “Watchmen,” which was never exercised, thereby leaving Fox with its rights under the 1994 agreement.”
Normally, like most things in Hollywood, this could all be settled by a big pile of money changing hands. Trouble is, in this case (and probably after seeing the stratospheric success of Warner Bros’ last comic book adaptation, THE DARK KNIGHT — second all-time U.S. box office champ) 20th Century Fox doesn’t want money. It wants the release of WATCHMENT to be stopped.
A “source close to the litigation” was quoted in Variety thusly: “When you have copyright infringement, there are some damages you never recover.”
To be continued….Â
August 19th, 2008
For several months, my daughter was obsessed with the movie CARS as only a three-year-old can be. She’s since moved on to MULAN, POCAHONTAS and other releases from the Disney stable, and that’s probably a good thing, because it lessens her chances of seeing the image that lurks below.
If you’ve seen CARS (and, if you’re a father like me, you’ve probably seen it dozens — nay, hundreds — of times), you’ve noticed that the cars, while seemingly built in a factory and running on gasoline, nevertheless have some distinctly human features — notably, their windshield eyes and front-fender mouths (complete with tongue and teeth). So what, artist Jake Parker asked on his blog, would these animal-machine hybrids look like on the inside?
Here, my friends, is the horrifying answer. It’s not for the weak of heart — or stomach:
August 18th, 2008
Here’s a video look at Guy Maddin’s wonderfully strange bit of surreal black-and-white autobiography, BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! Maybe it’s not for everyone, but it’s great stuff nevertheless…
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And, if you want to read a textual take on the movie, my written review can be found here.
August 18th, 2008
That’s the tagline for Oliver Stone’s Bush biopic, W, which arrives in theaters Oct. 26. Here are the posters that go with it, featuring Josh Brolin in the big chair. (Images courtesy of Hollywood Elsewhere.)
 
In case you were wondering, “misunderstimated” is a word (or non word) our president has used. More than once.
So what do you think of this ad campaign — and, more generally, this movie? Obviously Stone is no Bush fan, but I thought his underrated 1995 biopic NIXON was surprisingly sympathetic. NIXON, by the way, arrives on DVD tomorrow in a new edition, and is worth another look. I’ll probably review it in the next few weeks.
August 15th, 2008
… because it’s a sure bet that Entertainment Weekly feels worse. Here’s the cover of their Fall Preview Issue, hitting the stands right about now:
That’s Fall Preview Issue. As in Fall. As in movies opening sometime before, oh, say, next July.
As Sean Smith says in the EW Blog, “EW and Warner Bros. share a parent company, but they clearly do not share, you know, important friggin’ information.” Â
August 15th, 2008
Whether you agree with the politics behind this film (and frankly, I don’t), this looks bad. Really bad. Yes, Jerry Zucker was one of the guys responsible for AIRPLANE! and THE NAKED GUN! (and, before that, KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE), but apparently the mighty have fallen. The jokes are nothing better than something you’d see on an old episode of AMERICA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS or one of those awful “parody” flicks Tinseltown keeps churning out, like EPIC MOVIE or MEET THE SPARTANS. There are funny guys out there with a conservative viewpoint — writer P.J. O’Rourke, for example – but apparently none of them were involved in this movie.
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