In Contention

Tag: HBO

  • Indie Spirits, HBO and Weinstein party down on Oscar eve

    Yesterday was a bit of a whirlwind.  The Indie Spirits was a lovely affair, though they really need to figure out the show aspect because it kind of fell apart this year.  I didn’t see it on television so maybe it was edited into shape, but in the room, it just felt like chaos.

    I spoke to Aronofsky — for the first time since he finally made my list, he noted.  The guy is paying attention.  I wished him the best of luck tonight but he shrugged it off, knowing much of anything beyond Natalie Portman winning just isn’t in the cards.  Nevertheless, it’s been a long, wonderful journey for the film, especially when you look at those box office numbers.

    Mostly I was stoked to see an old college buddy, “Cold Weather” producer Brendan McFadden.  He and director Aaron Katz are still working on that werewolf buddy cop script we told you about recently, and there’s a western in the cards, too.  Here’s hoping those ambitious projects take off.

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  • Mann trying his ‘Luck’ with TV once again

    Doesn’t it feel like television is moving into a new golden age?  Everything from hour dramas to half-hour comedies is as impressive as ever and top filmmaking talent continues to make the jump.  We’ve already seen Martin Scorsese’s impact with “Boardwalk Empire” this year and if there’s one thing I’m looking forward to on the small screen, it’s the upcoming Michael Mann/David Milch horse race drama “Luck” on, where else, HBO.

    This is a powerhouse partnership by anyone’s measure, and that’s before you even get to the talent in front of the camera (Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte will star).  Both of these guys, Mann and Milch, are alphas, to quote one actor I talked to about the show at a festival last year (who has worked with both and who shall remain nameless).  But they’re also creative beasts.

    Geoff Boucher wrote a piece for this weekend’s LA Times and, of course, touches on that little nugget of intrigue.  He gets quotes from Hoffman, Mann and Milch on the matter, as well as HBO programming president Michael Lombardo (misidentified as David Lombardo).

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  • HBO’s ‘Boardwalk Empire’ quenches thirst for good TV

    Moving away from the big screen for a moment, I’ve been looking for a series to come along and take the place of “Deadwood” (RIP), and I think I may have found it.  It’s not that HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” is immediately up to the genius level of David Milch’s series, but it absolutely showcases the potential for a world as densely populated, one that I look forward to losing myself in week after week.

    The Martin Scorsese-directed pilot debuted last night, mostly to critical approval.  It was an event to say the least (fit with a pre-show) and Scorsese’s hand behind the camera was welcome on the small screen.  The cinephile’s film-loving little touches here and there (an iris-out and in to open and close the episode, a Fatty Arbuckle silent arbitrarily enjoyed by characters in one scene) were unmistakable, and even though he’ll be a creative force behind the scenes, I can already tell I’ll miss him after this opener.

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  • ‘Mildred Pierce’ trailer

    Okay, this isn’t theatrical coverage, but one of the projects I’ve had my eye on for some time is Todd Haynes’s remake/re-adaptation of “Mildred Pierce.” It has been developed as a mini-series and looks incredibly striking, if viewed through a much different prism than Michael Curtiz’s original film.  Check out new trailer for the event after the jump.

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  • ‘Mildred Pierce’: bring it on

    Mildred PierceThis is the first time I can remember a TV movie rising to the top of my “gotta see it” pile, but how can you not be excited for the forthcoming Todd Haynes four-hour “Mildred Pierce” HBO mini-series with Kate Winslet?  I forgot all about this project, which has been in the works for some time.

    The news is now official, however, as shooting is set to begin in April in New York.  I couldn’t be more excited.  Perhaps this, along with the Coens’ “True Grit” remake will help jump-start the engine on revisiting classic American genres.  “The Good German” was a failed experiment, and the Coens have been here before with “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” but have hope.

    Anyway, we can probably pave the way in 2011 for Kate Winslet’s awards run.  Talk about a collaboration that couldn’t be more right.  But I hope the filmmakers don’t feel locked-in to black and white.  I’d like to see Ed Lachman play with the darker hues of a color palette in what would be a grim but personality-ridden affair.

  • 10/14 Oscarweb Round-up

    The Hangover• Dave Karger, in a slow news week, digs up the old “‘Hangover’ for Best Pic” notion.  No. [Oscar Watch]

    • Jeff Wells face-to-face with “Fantastic Mr. Fox” director Wes Anderson. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Susan King talks to editing legend Anne V. Coates, whose career was showcased at the Academy last night. [Los Angeles Times]

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  • HBO’s Spielberg-produced mini-series ‘The Pacific’

  • HBO ‘Dark Knight’ promos featuring the Pixies

    Last year’s box office hog (and Best Picture no-show) “The Dark Knight” premieres on HBO this Friday, June 13.  There is nothing particularly creative about using the Pixies’ “Where is my Mind?” on these promo commercials of course, but I love the juxtaposition anyway.

    (Courtesy: Superherpo Hype)

  • ‘Deadwood’ to re-air on DirecTV

    Ian McShane in DeadwoodDavid Milch’s “Deadwood” was, to my mind, the best show on TV until it was unceremoniously canceled in 2006.  It’s heartbreaking that its many complex plot threads were left twisting in the wind and that, in all likelihood, Milch will never bother with the feature films he once promised would close the chapter on his western yarn.

    As obsessed as I was with the series, I actually never picked up any of the seasons on DVD, though they were recently consolidated into a handsome set encapsulating the whole series.  Nothing on Blu-ray yet, but I’m sure I’ll buy it if it ever makes the HD leap.

    You might be like me, or you might have simply never seen the show and want to give it a look.  Well DirecTV is coming to your rescue.  Beginning May 31, the satellite company’s 101 Network will begin re-airing the entire “Deadwood” series Sunday nights at 9:00pm (the show’s old time slot at HBO).

    Here’s a brief synopsis from DirecTV:

    The town of Deadwood, South Dakota in the weeks following the Custer massacre is a lawless sinkhole of crime and corruption. Into this uncivilized outpost ride a disillusioned and bitter ex-lawman, Wild Bill Hickok, and Seth Bullock, a man hoping to find a new start for himself. Both men find themselves quickly on opposite sides of the legal and moral fence from Al Swearengen, saloon owner, hotel operator, and incipient boss of Deadwood. The lives of these three intertwine with many others, the high-minded and the low-lifes who populate Deadwood in 1876. At its core, Deadwood® is a western with modern-day sensibilities, encapsulating the birth of capitalism, democracy, justice, and Good vs. Evil.

    The 101 Network also came to the aid of “Friday Night Lights” last year, airing the third season before NBC finally picked the show back up (and subsequently re-aired that third season for those who don’t have DirecTV).  Stuff like this makes me happy.

  • ‘Grey Gardens’ redefines Drew Barrymore as an actress

    Drew Barrymore in Grey GardensIn a stunning, Oscar-worthy performance that redefines her as an actress, Drew Barrymore is nothing short of miraculous as Little Edie in “Grey Gardens,” the latest knockout from HBO. Nothing the actress has shown us before will prepare you for her transformation into the eccentric character she portrays in this fine film.

    I remember seeing her and Jessica Lange presenting at the Golden Globes, holding hands, both looking like they had the most amazing secret in the room. Obviously they adored working with one another on the film, and together they create two characters who could not exist without each other. Ironically, neither actress could do what they do on film without the other.

    The film is based on the famous documentary of the same name by the Maysles brothers, which chronicled the everyday life of a mother and daughter, once affluent and wealthy, now eking out an existence in a run down, vermin-infested 14 room mansion in East Hampton. The aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy, the odd mother and daughter became cult figures in New York’s underground art world. Their story, from wealth to abject squalor, is explored in the film.

    We have come to expect high quality work from Lange, though in fairness her better efforts have been sporadic over the years. She overcame the stigma of the terrible remake of “King Kong” in 1976 with a string of outstanding performances beginning with the Angel of Death in “All That Jazz” and Cora in “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” for which she deserved an Academy Award. Lange was electrifying in the film, all but blowing Jack Nicholson off the screen.

    One year later Lange was nominated for two Academy Awards, winning Best Supporting Actress for her lovely comic turn in “Tootsie” and astonishing audiences with her ferocious work in “Frances” as troubled actress Frances Farmer. More nominations would come for “Country” and “Sweet Dreams,” with attention for “Crimes of the Heart,” but no nomination, however deserving.

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  • David Gordon Green catches his stride in comedy

    (from left) Danny McBride and David Gordon Green on the set of Eastbound & DownIt has to be doubly sweet for my southern brethren to take in HBO’s “Eastbound & Down” every Sunday night, but even if this country detail or that passes below your radar, or heck, even if you don’t know a blatant Ric Flair gag when you see one, I can’t imagine anyone not laughing their ass off at this thing week after week.

    Then again, maybe I’m wrong.  The Danny McBride brand of humor might be seen as an extension of the Apatow/Rogen trajectory we’ve been on, toilet humor a bit too low on the brow for some.  Not me.  I’m eating it up.

    Strikingly, I think the last three episodes (plus last year’s “Pineapple Express”) prove that David Gordon Green should stick to comedy and prepare to make his mark there, because this seems to be his calling.  I’m all for the era of artistic stretching he’s been interested in since “George Washington” leaped off the neighborhoods of North Carolina and onto Roger Ebert’s top 10 list, though 95% of all of that never worked for me.  And I’m sure he’ll go there once again.  But as long as he wants to stick in this vein, I’m game.

    Not only is the timing something special (and just take a look at the editorial choices made in “Pineapple” by flipping between the extended and theatrical cuts on the Blu-ray or DVD for evidence there), but the mundane is represented like never before.  Last July I wrote of “Pineapple” the following:

    Yes, the man who staked a claim on the mundane mumblings of children and the love-struck in films like “George Washington” and “All the Real Girls” has applied those sensibilities to a niche genre that roots itself in same.

    And it works! It works so well it’s a shame Terrence Malick never tried his hand at “Up in Smoke.” The pieces slide into place and find a cohesive fit that couldn’t have been more unexpected.

    And that’s the case with “Eastbound & Down.”  100%.

    Of course, plenty of credit is due to co-creators McBride and Jody Hill (directing this summer’s “Observe and Report”), but the guidance behind the camera is exceptional.  I only hope I’m not the only guy taking this stuff for more than surface level, however, because it deserves more — whether it knows it or not.

    (And hel-lo Katy Mixon.)

  • INTERVIEW: ‘Appaloosa’ composer Jeff Beal

    Jeff BealLike a number of film music composers, Jeff Beal makes his home north of Los Angeles in the rocky, canyoned city of Agoura Hills.  One feels a sense of the old west before even seeing the ranch-style houses in his neighborhood and the tail-flipping horses tied out back.  Questions about his work on “Appaloosa,” Ed Harris’s latest entry in the western genre, seem to manifest out of thin, dusty air by the time we make it downstairs to his efficient but Spartan studio.

    At the beginning of the process, Harris told Beal he was not interested in anything overly romantic or mythic.  The mandate was the relationships, the conflict they bring about and the intimate world the characters inhabit.  It was a unique vision for Beal, but one he was more than willing to explore.  He had his share of wells to draw upon, but his work in high-end television projects really stuck out.

    “The only thing I can think of that was sort of similar was [HBO’s] ‘Rome,’” Beal said.  “It was a similar approach creatively because you were dealing with a historical genre, a genre that’s been done a lot, sometimes with a lot more overt flare.  And this was more like the ground view of these people.”

    To that end, Beal set about constructing a theme with little harmonic movement, something that would carry the feeling of the audience being visitors in the world of Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch.  Spring-boarding off a life-long interest in folk music (American or otherwise), Beal wanted to make the music reflect the story-telling nature of the narrative.

    “There was actually a second half that became more of a traditional piece of music because at the end of the day we decided we don’t need that because it’s better to have just a clean, simple statement,” he said.  “These guys are men of action.  It’s all about a process, one step in front of the other.  It’s a journey.  One of the phrases Ed gave me when we were starting was ‘rough elegance,’ which I loved.  A lot of the music sprang from that inspiration.”

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  • Retro

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1NKoMNy5bY

  • On the posterity of history

    I forgot to mention below that there were two specific moments in last night’s closing installment of “John Adams” that struck a definite chord with me. Both regarded the perception of history when it is given to interpretation and glorification, as Adams accosted a painter at his artistic license and as Giamatti read his warning in the closing monologue of the mini-series.

    I was reminded of a book I’m flipping through lately, one that I recommend whole-hearted: “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong” by James Loewen. Pick it up some time.

  • John Adams rides off into the sunset

    Well I held back on talking about HBO’s “John Adams” after viewing the second episode last month, but now that it’s over, allow me to speak up on what has become a very popular mini-series event.

    I was happy to see that the Alien and Sedition Acts finally made an appearance last week, albeit a sweeping one designed to show Adams’s supposedly intense personal anguish at the bills. Of course. But before I dig into the issues I took with this 7-part event, let me point out the obvious praise-worthy elements.

    Laura Linney is at the tip of any such list. Her removal from the story in tonight’s denouement was felt deeply. She carried this project through some of the rougher points and brought quite a vibrant characterization to the screen. Not so much Paul Giamatti, who gets his due praise over at Awards Daily. Personally I felt his entire portrayal a stretch throughout.

    When the Emmys roll around, I think we’re guaranteed an appearance by both, though I wish Tom Wilkinson’s brilliant turn as Benjamin Franklin had more meat on its bones for some potential notices. Maybe he’ll still show up in some quarters.

    HOWEVER…the final moments of tonight’s installment were dead on for the actor. Despite a stilted, choppy and over-long (like much of this mini-series) structure of the sequence, Giamatti’s portrayal of Adams’s final moments was a massive high mark in his repertoire so far, the clip they should save from “John Adams” for posterity, if any.

    Mainly, I took issue with this series from the start because a 7-part fold-out didn’t make much sense to me. The structure milks certain elements for all they are worth, and for the better, in a precious few instances. Some scenes do feel like short films unto themselves with currents of subtext and meaning…but they are few and far between. For the most part, each sequence needed substantial trimming that might have brought the series all the way down to maybe three films, but that clearly wasn’t the intention of director Tom Hooper in company.

    Even at this robust level of play, it is quite the accomplishment to maintain such thematic complexity, even if the script does hit the nail a bit too firmly on the head from time to time.

    But enough of 18th century presidential shenanigans. Bring on “Recount!” And “Generation Kill,” I must say, has a lot of promise.

  • Almost there

    shepherd.jpgRobert De Niro’s “The Good Shepherd” has been running on HBO this month. I stopped flipping to watch some of it this evening, kind of caught up in the brief year-ago nostalgia, but mostly transfixed with a film that is so close, yet so far.

    I remember when I first saw the film at the Clarity screening room in Beverly Hills in December of 2006, surrounded by a typically judgmental crowd of HFPA members. I had high hopes. It was, after all, the year’s most anticipated would-be Oscar film, much like 2007’s “Charlie Wilson’s War.” There was a hell of a crew assembled for what sounded like it could be a solid, dense, but meaningful effort. The catch was that I had read Eric Roth’s screenplay some months prior, and “dense” didn’t begin to cover it. I knew this was a script that demanded some sort of device to dig a story, not necessarily bogged down, but still somewhat abstruse, out of the literary and onto the screen in an authoritative manner.

    I had also just finished up a profile of Roth for The New York Times and had grown as fond of the man as I had his work throughout the years.

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  • Don’t tread on me

    I’m starting to wonder if a 7-part mini-series was the best way to go on “John Adams.” While there were some great moments with Tom Wilikinson in last night’s third installment, I have to confess, it was largely boring on the whole. Who would go back and re-watch something that tedious?

    The history, thankfully, was accurate enough but they are still hanging their hat on that “Adams sacrificed so much for the country” ho-hum. Four episodes to go. I better see the reasons to hate him and but fast.

    And I want more David Morse. Sure, he was kind of — awkward as Washington. But Washington WAS awkward, so it’s a weirdly perfect fit. Can’t wait to see the story pick up with him once again.

  • HBO’s “John Adams”

    John AdamsI must say, I’m slightly agitated by the approach HBO’s latest mini-series, “John Adams,” seems to be taking.

    Granted one cannot build a 7-part event around a hero too clearly flawed, but the fact remains that Adams wasn’t exactly the most noble of our founding fathers. Being a journalist, I can’t personally celebrate he of the Alien and Sedition Acts without considerable pause, for instance.

    The first part has been a typical conception: building the main character as an outcast set on the law first, and last. I’m not overly familiar with Adams’ early professional years, but ultimately he was a part of a paranoid Federalist sect that was more terrified of the notion of true freedom than not. The specter of the guillotine had better hang heavy over other portions of the mini-series if I’m to personally take it seriously as accountable in its history.

    And Paul Giamatti’s Adams had better see a swift fall from the grace of this initial entry. (more…)