(Courtesy: /Film)
Category: Daily
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Merry Christmas
For those who celebrate today’s festivities, enjoy the day. We’re checking out for a spell. Feel free to chat about whatever you like in this space.
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The reindeer droppings just hit the fan — Fox wins ‘Watchmen’ battle
It won’t be a Merry Christmas in Burbank this year:In a surprise ruling, a federal judge in Los Angeles said he intended to grant 20th Century Fox’s claim that it owns a copyright interest in the “Watchmen,” a movie shot by Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures and set for release in March.
The decision was disclosed in a five-page written order issued on Wednesday. Gary A. Feess, a judge in the United States District Court for Central California, said he would provide a more detailed order soon.
Fox has been seeking to prevent Warner from releasing the film. The superhero adventure, based on the “Watchmen” graphic novel, is being directed by Zack Snyder (who also directed “300”) and has shaped up as one of most eagerly anticipated releases for next year.
A Warner spokesman, Scott Rowe, declined to comment on the ruling and the studio’s plans…
“Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the ‘Watchmen’ motion picture,” the ruling said.
The rest. And catch up on the story as it’s been reported here and here.
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The Bagger on the Joker
I missed this earlier this morning, but it looks like The Carpetbagger is going back to the “Dark Knight” well this holiday eve:But regardless of what goes into it, what came out of Mr. Ledger in “Dark Knight” was stone amazing. If part of acting — and it’s clear we are just guessing here — is making what is inside a character visible on the outside, then Ledger hit one hard in that movie. The Bagger doesn’t care from “Batman,” but what Ledger did in that film, taking a malevolent clown’s rococo world-view and exposing the gears, was something to behold. We all believed that Joker in the movie, we all understood his vicious take on the world. There’s been more than a few times in the last few days when the Bagger has heard that maniacal laugh in his head and thought of the man who inhabited on a movie set.
Check out the rest here.
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Why (and how) I became a film critic
I think this is important to state right now. Why do Kris, Guy, Gerard, Blake, Brian and I do what we do? How did we get on this path? Obviously, I cannot speak for them, but here’s my story and some insight into why I love film, and how deeply that love goes.Though my education on film began at the age of seven in a small Ontario village called Seagrave (where I live now), the actual “eureka” moment came in August of 1979, 10 minutes after walking out of the first Toronto showing of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now.” For the previous three hours I had sat and watched Coppola’s surrealistic exploration of Vietnam, its images haunting me throughout. I was numb as I sat down on the street bench a few feet from the theater entrance.
At the age of 20, I was an acting student hoping to become a film actor, but at that moment I had been galvanized in some way I could not fully explain. For years I had consumed all things cinema, seen everything I could, set my alarm to watch the late, late shows and wrote my own reviews, which I kept in a large binder. Somehow I knew right then that acting was not for me (I was never really any good). I wanted to write about film.
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12/24 Oscarweb Round-up
• “The Headless Woman,” “Night and Day” and “Tony Manero” head up a list of the year’s best undistributed titles. [indieWIRE]• Speaking of lists, here’s one of cult and campy holiday flicks. [Cinematical]
• Josh Horowitz goes toe-to-toe with David Fincher. [MTV]
• Slow down, Hoss. Lou Lumenick thinks Dev Patel is going to beat Heath Ledger to the Oscar punch? Anything for the clicks I gues. [Lumenick on Film]
• David Edelstein considers nine Oscar contenders, from “Revolutionary Road” to, uh, “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” [New York Magazine]
• Dustin Hoffman storms out of an interview with Dave Karger…all in good fun. [Entertainment Weekly]
• Rachel Abramowitz spends some time with the actor as well…my own interview should be on the way soon enough, by the way. It’s been ages since we sat down together. [Los Angeles Times]
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‘Button’ on the rocks?
Sasha Stone over at Awards Daily points us to Roger Ebert’s two-and-a-half star review of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” and I have to say, it’s a pretty rough assessment. Scattering his piece with notions like “[t]he movie’s premise devalues any relationship” and “[g]iven the resources and talent here, quite a movie might have resulted,” Ebert finally closes with this swipe at the film:According to the oddsmakers at MovieCityNews, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is third among the top five favorites for best picture. It may very well win. It expends Oscar-worthy talents on an off-putting gimmick. I can’t imagine many people wanting to see the movie twice. There was another film this year that isn’t in the “top five,” or listed among the front-runners at all, and it’s a profound consideration of the process of living and aging. That’s Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York.” It will be viewed and valued decades from now. You mark my words.
I can’t help but consider the fact that Ebert’s tastes are typically comparable to the Academy’s. Might this reaction and some of those “it lacks a soul” quips begin to eat away at the armor? Or can it sustain with voters siding with, say, James Rocchi’s opinion that the film “isn’t about a man who lives backwards or a woman who lives forwards … Get past the plot, the pitch, and the technique, and you can see it as a reminder that all we can do is live now.”
Personally, I have a lot of respect for the film and certainly the effort. After a couple of viewings, I saw it as one of the year’s best. But I completely understand the arm’s-length feeling some viewers are taking away from it and, again, can’t help but wonder what, if anything, that might ultimately mean for Oscar.
It’s an intriguing question popping up this season.
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‘State of Play’
I saw this trailer go up on Yahoo! Movies earlier tonight but I’ve been waiting for a YouTube copy. Well, here it is, and despite a somewhat pedestrian feel, I’m really looking forward to it. Kevin Macdonald is a promising talent (and he went through his share of trouble on this shoot, I gather). Hopefully it shapes up:
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A couple of Bat bites for the geeks
Perusing Bill Ramey’s Batman-on-Film website today (a must-read for any Bat-fan), I cam across two interesting nuggets regarding Christopher Nolan’s franchise.The first was actually a link to this Backstage piece from Halley Bondy, kind of a question and answer session with “The Dark Knight” producer (and Nolan’s wife) Emma Thomas strictly focused on Heath Ledger. Here’s a bit about buzz of a posthumous Oscar for the actor:
It would definitely be a triumph for us if Heath wins an Oscar. Obviously things have changed in that he’s not here, but nothing has changed in that we hope he’s going to be recognized for his work. I think Heath really enjoyed what he did on the film, so I don’t think awards are that big of a deal for him. Knowing that he was doing something great was, I think, enough. We certainly told him how great he was, so I hope he knew it.
The second item was an original piece of reporting from a Batman-on-Film reader regarding the five deaths connected to Harvey Dent at the end of “The Dark Knight,” something I, frankly, have never thought about before. From a recent screening and Q&A session:
Big fan of the site. Just to give you some feedback on the event, I..asked…‘Towards the end of the film, Com. Gordon mentions covering up 5 deaths in relation to Harvey Dent. Who are these 5 people, including the 2 cops?’ Mr. Nolan’s response was ‘I will answer this question. Just not today.’ Which I must admit was amusing and frustrating at the same time.”
Hmmm…
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POLL: Does ‘Revolutionary Road’ deserve the precursor shaft?
We need a new poll. The last one might have helped turn this place into a “Dark Knight” vs. “WALL-E” battlefield, but with that in mind, I should point out the results were “The Dark Knight” by a hair.
But with John’s recent piece on the season’s snubbing of “Revolutionary Road,” aside from some notices here and there from critics groups and the HFPA, and with the film opening in two days (so you’ll all have your own opinion on it), I thought I’d ask the readership: Is the film getting the shaft this Oscar season?
This is the time for a film that is dwindling to turn on the afterburners and leap back into the thick of it, so give your answer some serious thought. Does “Revolutionary Road” deserve more consideration than it’s received or does it belong in the also-ran column it seems to be headed toward? Tell us in the sidebar poll!
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Voila! Viola Davis the talk of the Internets
Like I said in yesterday’s “Off the Carpet” column, despite my feelings for “Doubt,” I would never take anything away from Viola Davis’ stunning performance, coming into her own as an actress to reckon with after putting out solid work for years.
Sasha Stone has collected some positive marks for the actress over at Awards Daily, while Tom O’Neil chats it up with Ms. Davis at Gold Derby. Here’s a video:
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Sam Mendes: he didn’t f#$% it up
In light of John’s recent praise piece on “Revolutionary Road,” I thought it a good time to shine a light over on indieWIRE and Peter Knegt’s recent interview with director Sam Mendes. Here are a few power quotes from the helmer:The most common comment from friends of mine who had read the book was, ‘don’t fuck it up.’ That was basically all they said, ‘don’t fuck it up.’ And the biggest compliment I get now is, ‘thank fuck you didn’t fuck it up.’ That’s all I get! Thank god I didn’t fuck it up.
Retrospectively, it seems to be the beginning of a sort of genre of suburban literature that went into John Updike, Tobias Wolff, Rick Moody with ‘The Ice Storm’ and Tom Perrotta who wrote ‘Little Children. Yates is the granddaddy of all of that. Looking back, he sort of began that whole movement.
It’s a sad film. It’s a tragedy. If a tragedy works, like ‘On The Waterfront’ for example… You leave it exhilarated. You don’t leave it depressed. You’re glad to be alive. You know, it’s a cautionary tale. And it was the same thing working on it. You’re plumbing the depths but you’re aware at all times how lucky you are not to have to go there in your real life.
Read the rest here.
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‘Revolutionary Road’ — snubbed today, sure to be remembered forever
One of the biggest surprises of the awards season for me is the fact that “Revolutionary Road” is being all but forgotten by many critics groups and has certainly slipped off the Oscar radar as a result. Is the film deserving? Absolutley. I think it is one of the best films of the year and among the finest I have seen this decade, but for whatever reason — and who can explain these things — it has not gotten a great deal of press.This is a major accomplishment, a work of art superbly directed by Sam Mendes who in eight years has become one of the most exciting directors in modern cinema. Though I count myself among those who though his breakthrough film “American Beauty” was very good but also radically over-praised, his follow-up, “Road to Perdition,” was superb and should have been among the nominees for Best Picture and Best Director in 2002, vastly superior to “Chicago.”
His third film, “Jarhead,” was darkly beautiful to look at but didn’t quite work with audiences who are still not interested in films about Afghanistan or Iraq (whichever installment). Mendes possesses a gift with actors, one of those directors like Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and more recently, Paul Thomas Anderson. He’s able to bring out their best work. It seems no surprise he married an actress.
He is also patient with a narrative, allowing it to unfold with the knowledge the audience connects with the actors. With “Revolutionary Road,” he has cranked out a crowning achievement in a career just getting started, and yet like so many other masterworks, it may slip through the cracks, barely noticed.
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Ideas for a poll?
That well has run dry for me lately. Anyone intersted in what the readership might have to say about this or that?
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12/23 Oscarweb Round-up
• Julian Sancton samples and gives some commentary on his top 11 film scores of the year. [Vanity Fair]• David Poland spends 30 minutes with “Nerakhoon” director Ellen Kuras. [The Hot Blog]
• Tom O’Neil and Dave Karger fight over the Best Actress frontrunners. [Gold Derby]
• Karger, meanwhile, spends some more time with the cast of “Doubt.” [Entertainment Weekly]
• David Carr’s “Marley and Me” mea culpa. [The Carpetbagger]
• Kim Voynar goes deep this holiday season with a look at sex with teenagers on the big screen, and she has a hell of a point. [Movie City News]
• Patrick Goldstein spotlight’s the year’s worst. [The Big Picture]
• A trio of films go into production depicting the epic Battle of Hastings. [Daily Telegraph]
• Paralleling the careers of big screen heartthrobs Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio. [MSNBC]
• Michael Cieply digs into the clash of movie moneymakers Jom Carrey and Will Smith this weekend. [New York Times]
• Brad Brevet lists the top 10 assassination movies with an inspired #1 and a #6 that has no business on any top 10 list. [Rope of Silicon]
• Speaking of lists, how about the top 10 balliest singing performances? [Premiere]
• Andrew O’Hehir on how indie film thrived in 2008. [Beyond the Multiplex]
