Blog
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Oh yeah…reactions to those ‘Star Trek’ screenings
J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” is pretty low on my “to-do” list, I have to say. Ever since the CW/Young Guns approach was announced (not to mention an underlying disinterest in the material that goes back decades), it’s been a bit difficult to keep the yawns down. What can I say? I’m no Trekkie.But even I have to admit the positive notices, coming out of screenings in Austin (where Paramount has AICN in its back pocket and can offer up the goods in fanboyland) and Sydney (where the film held a world premiere at the Sydney Opera Hosue) have been getting my attention. Here are a handful of reactions…
Moises Chiullan, Hollywood Elsewhere:
…an unrelenting, slam-bang naval war movie that rarely catches its own breath. Shades of swashbucklers and submarine thrillers alike are all over the storytelling and smash-bam-kaboom stuff going on throughout. It’s packed to the gills with escapist heroism with a healthy dose of optimism. There’s plenty of room for interpretation for those who want to look for some allegory that is or isn’t intended. The key is that Abrams and his team have bottled that ’77 stuff of legend.”
Harry Knowles, Ain’t It Cool News:
There’s some powerful thoughts about the future of our people in STAR TREK. That we as a people could be those people in a hundred, two hundred, three hundred years. If we can put away childish notions of borders and differences. If we can culturally keep our differences and celebrate our commonalities. At our best, STAR TREK is our future. Not BLADE RUNNER. Not TERMINATOR. Not any other Science fiction that I’ve seen, but STAR TREK. It’s where I HOPE we’re headed.”
Neil Miller, Film School Rejects:
This is a big, fast-paced, sleek version of Star Trek that is unlike anything we’ve seen before — a new brand of space film that stretches what we thought possible in the realm of visual effects, and I don’t think that’s going to bother anyone.”
And Peter Sciretta at /Film wrangled up some early Twitterers on the Austin occasion. Dare I say it, my interest is piqued on a “Star Trek” movie.
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Must-read
The usual circles are running dry on this one and I rarely have such a determined desire to spoil myself by reading a screenplay, so if anyone — ANYONE — has gotten their hands on Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” and wouldn’t mind passing it along, shoot me an email. Final Draft, PDF, whatever you got.
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‘Julie & Julia’ teaser poster
I’m still hearing supporting from pretty much everyone on Meryl Streep’s awards hopes here, by the way. One of three Scott Rudin projects that could find itself in the running this year (the others being “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” and the new Nancy Meyers flick — four if “Margaret” ever finds its way to the screen):
(Courtesy: First Showing)
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Sort-of-new ‘Brothers Bloom’ trailer
Not significantly different from the one they put out way back in the mists of 2008, this one comes with not one, but two ringing critical endorsements from AICN. Make of that what you will.
From what I remember of my now 6 month-old viewing of the film, it’s a nice enough little trifle, elevated by a sly pair of comic turns from Mark Ruffalo and Rachel Weisz. (Adrien Brody, by contrast, looks a little uneasy with this sort of gossamer material.) And it looks terrific, with some award-level costume design in particular — but I found the film’s overriding tweeness a little oppressive.
All of which is to say I fear it might still struggle to find an audience, so I’m unsure if it stands to benefit from being pushed back so far. We’ll know next month.
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Take the money and run
Jackie Earle Haley’s recently resuscitated career is a textbook example of how true the banal platitude “the nomination is the reward” can sometimes be. Prior to 2006, the former child star hadn’t made a film for 13 years; one devastating performance (in Todd Field’s undervalued “Little Children”), a smattering of critics’ awards and a richly deserved Oscar nomination later, he’s a steadily working character actor with a reasonably high-profile slate of projects to his name.Sure, “Watchmen” may not have panned out all that well, but it was a pretty amazing get for a 47 year-old non-star — and his performance is deemed by many to be the embattled film’s brightest spot. And getting to work with Scorsese in “Shutter Island” is none too shabby either, I would imagine. So when people say that awards are inconsequential, I’m sure the likes of Haley might beg to differ.
So it was with mixed feelings that I read the news that Haley is taking on the role of Freddy Krueger in New Line’s upcoming reboot of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” franchise. On the one hand, it’s nice for the thesp to get to be the centrepiece of a project for a change, and a potentially profitable one at that; on the other, surely yet another remake of an iconic horror title is good news for precisely no one else. When will this particularly lazy trend run out of steam?
I understand that an actor of Haley’s age, appearance and profile probably doesn’t have a wealth of tempting projects to choose from, but it’s a little grim that a gifted actor has to resort to this. Here’s hoping there are more Fields and Scorseses in his future yet.
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‘Iron Man 2’ insurers kept Rourke out of the ring at WrestleMania
UPDATED (4/7): An interesting story out of the UK’s Guardian newspaper today:
The flesh was willing, but the insurers were weak. Mickey Rourke, star of The Wrestler, was forced to abandon plans to enter the ring for real after being vetoed by the insurance company working on his new film Iron Man 2.
Rourke, 56, had been expected to display his acting, sorry, sporting prowess by taking part in yesterday’s WrestleMania 25 extravaganza in Houston, Texas. In the event, however, he was reduced to simply explaining why he couldn’t.
“My agents said it would be detrimental to my career to take the focus off of acting after making a comeback in The Wrestler,” he told reporters at the show. “Also, I’m doing Iron Man 2 now, and the insurance company said under no circumstances could I get into the ring.”
Here’s a clip of the showdown:
Covered in detail here.
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No comment on the tragic irony
Eugene (KMTR) – A man shot himself to death in a Eugene movie theater just after midnight Monday morning.
Police say about 10 patrons were in an auditorium at Regal Cinemas watching the movie “Watchmen.” About midway through the film some of the moviegoers told the manager they heard a “popping” noise like a gunshot. A 24-year-old man was found in the rear of the auditorium with a gunshot wound to the head.
Police say the man shot himself and was dead when they arrived.
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‘Sugar’ deserves a look
Chad didn’t bring up Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s “Sugar” in this weekend’s Sunday Cents column because, on 11 theaters, the film brought in a modest $71,000. And it probably won’t move the needle much throughout its run where box office is concerned. But I felt a need to put it back up on the radar since it will start expanding throughout the spring and hopefully find an audience of some sort. By year’s end, I expect “Sugar” to still be lingering as one of 2009’s finest offerings.Here is my short reaction to the film when I saw it at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in January:
Even though I never fully understood what it was trying to say, I fell in love with Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s “Half Nelson” follow-up “Sugar.” I missed the film at last year’s AFI Fest in Los Angeles, and it received a world premiere over a year ago at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, but a day after catching it at the Lobero Theatre here in Santa Barbara, I still find myself turning it over in my mind. It’s the lingering sort of cinema that I’m tempted to say will mean something different to you every time you watch it.
Algenis Perez Soto is the film’s revelation, a tender first-time performer who excels under the direction of Boden and Fleck, two filmmakers who have cornered the market on intimate indie filmmaking that actually resonates. The duo isn’t afraid of the natural awkwardness of relationships, but not in the pretentious sort of way that leaves you reaching for a barf bag at every step of the way. They trust their characters to be honest first, dramatic second.
That can also be a hindrance for obvious reasons. The narrative rarely escapes a sense of safety. Nothing is ever threatened along the way. Nothing ever seems truly at stake. But, in a sense, such is life. But “Sugar” is as much a departure from the themes of “Half Nelson” as it is an extension of them, and to be such drastically different films, that is fascinating.
Give this one your 10 bucks, not the car movie. Please.
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Not getting it
A little over six months ago, I saw “Goodbye Solo,” Ramin Bahrani’s highly regarded fourth feature film, at the London Film Festival. As I said in my capsule review at the time, I found several elements to like in this genial, commendably sincere work — not least a greatly moving performance from 71 year-old former stuntman Red West — but found the whole overextended and dramatically underpowered. Narrative parallels to Kiarostami’s masterful “A Taste of Cherry” did Bahrani’s film no favours in my mind either.Anyway, after being mildly appreciative while watching it, I promptly forgot about “Goodbye Solo” altogether. That is, until last week, when its limited U.S. release was greeted with such breathless critical adulation — Roger Ebert and A.O. Scott are just two of the poetically enthusing critics contributing to the film’s lofty Metacritic score of 88 — that I began to wonder if I had lost the plot altogether.
What resonance have I missed in Bahrani’s slight, bittersweet narrative? Why does the minimalism of “Goodbye Solo” strike me as self-conscious, where the similar approach of, say, “Wendy and Lucy” feels wholly organic? Is it a film that might repay the effort of multiple viewings? All are questions that have run through my head. I was interested, however, to read this Huffington Post piece by Marshall Fine that suggests I’m not the only one scratching my head over this. Calling the film the most overrated of 2009 so far, Fine continues:
Turgid and uneventful, built around two characters of opposite demeanor whose paths temporarily reach a confluence, Goodbye Solo is another under-paced, under-dramatized film that falls into “neo-neo-realism” category that A.O. Scott went on about at such great lengths in a recent Sunday Times magazine piece.
Say what you will about the so-called mumblecore school of filmmaking — with its slapdash aesthetic and endless self-regarding conversations — but at least those movies seem to have something on their minds, beyond creating a mood. Goodbye Solo, however, is a thin character study over which critics wank themselves into a state of ecstasy at all the meaning they can superimpose on the film — sort of the way people imagined that the emperor was wearing beautiful clothes.
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Rourke ringside at WrestleMania
Yeah, I shelled out the cash this evening to see WrestleMania 25, which might mark some skewed end to the 2008 Oscar season with Best Actor nominee Mickey Rourke’s decision to participate after all (news reported last month). First pay-per-view in a decade. Guilty.Anyway, I haven’t been keeping up with the WWE so forgive me if you have and are very much up on the story, but it seems the whole thing has been spun into a pretty good (as sports entertainment angles go) Chris Jericho versus the legends of wrestling kind of thing. Tonight Jericho finds himself in a one against three handicap match with “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka. Three dudes who wear their nicknames on their sleeves. Jericho is valiant.
Rick Flair is in their corner, by the way.
So Rourke is at ringside. He gave a few hugs to the vets on their way to the ring but he looked a bit agitated with the whole scene right before that. Maybe a run-in was in the cards…
Piper and Snuka were eliminated pretty fast. But Ricky Steamboat held in there, which to an old fan of these shenanigans (and as a guy who grew up in North Carolina where Steamboat is kind of the shit), was kind of cool to see. But Jericho won out in the end, fair and square. Flair, of course, ran in to avenge his buddies but was also made short order of.
On cue, Jericho grabbed a mic, mouthed off to the audience about “erasing the Hall of Fame wash-ups forever” and called out Mickey Rourke point blank. Well, he demanded an apology, which he didn’t get. Further mouthing got Rourke out of his seat and into the ring. The old boxing stuff came out and Rourke got a few quick pops to start before landing a left hook that decked Jericho and…
…that was it. Flair hopped into the ring, raised Rourke’s s hand, Jericho slumped off and that’s the victory lap on this performance I guess.
(Oh, and Rey Mysterio Jr. came out with a mask and face paint in homage to Heath Ledger’s Joker from “The Dark Knight.”)
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SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Fast’ cash
I have recently unearthed an internal industry memo. It reads:Dear Studios,
If you’d like us to pay to see your franchises, you must bring back all the cast members that starred in the original. Do not worry about changing the plot too much, we liked what we saw that first time. You don’t even need to change the title, just get rid of those definite articles that waste marquee space. If you follow our demands, we will show up in droves.
Signed, America
That explains how “Fast & Furious” was able to make $72.5 million over the weekend. That’s stronger than both the $50.9 million of the original and the $60.1 million debut of its first sequel. It’s better than any other film from 2009 so far and any other film that’s ever debuted in the month of April. By a mile. For Paul Walker and Vin Diesel, what seemed like desperation now looks like smart business sense. Legs will be atrocious but it doesn’t matter. $300 million worldwide seems like a certainty at this point and Hollywood may start looking at April a little differently. Anybody that shelled out $10 to see this has no right to complain about anything Hollywood puts out ever again.
A film with good reviews opened as well but since there were no car chases in it, sixth place and $6.0 million is all it could muster. The film is “Adventureland” and despite Miramax’s attempts to market it like a raunchy, broad teen comedy, audiences saw through all that and the film performed like a coming-of-age drama. Legs could be decent but they’ll have to be tremendous for the film to even reach $20 million.
Another new face appeared in the top 10, bringing up the rear. Overture expanded “Sunshine Cleaning” to 479 theaters and earned a solid $1.9 million. The Sundance pick-up has set itself up to finish slightly better than Overture’s indie-that-could from last year, “The Visitor,” but don’t count on any Oscar attention. The grosses aren’t near enough to wipe away the mediocre reviews.
In its second week, “Monsters vs. Aliens” dropped an understandable 44% and crossed the $100 million mark today. Despite a slower start, it should have no trouble fending off “Fast & Furious” and lay claim to the title of highest grossing film of the first quarter by the time May rolls around. As for the film most had pegged for that honor, the news gets grimmer and grimmer. Already out of the top 10 and struggling to double its debut, “Watchmen” is being met with shrugs throughout the world and has amassed only $67 million overseas. “Bride Wars” has made $54 million so you do the math.
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Thoughts on ‘The Burning Plain’
I’ve been meaning to review Guillermo Arriaga’s directorial debut ever since I saw it two weeks ago, but for some reason, my thoughts on the film just won’t settle into place.It’s not a case of the film being particularly challenging or impenetrable — it’s Arriaga’s most structurally simple work to date, and arguably his most middlebrow too. I am, however, having trouble gauging precisely what the renowned screenwriter’s aspirations for the project were.
If his intention was to make a searching character study for an arthouse audience, one that examines the occasionally mirroring intricacies of mother-daughter relationships from opposite ends of a slow-burning narrative candle, I’d have to deem the film an ambitious misfire, one that is too transparent in structure and thin in characterisation to bear the weight of its literary tropes.
It is possible, however, that for his first outing in the director’s chair, the creator of such opaque, thematically dense narratives as “Amores Perros” and “21 Grams” was looking to safely downshift gears by making a tasteful, intelligent mainstream melodrama, one that operates more as an actors’ showcase than a writer’s (or filmmaker’s) platform. If so, the “The Burning Plain” — a generally compelling, well-crafted piece graced with a focused, charismatic trio of female performances — largely fulfils such a brief.
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Fox shows Friedman the door after ‘Wolverine’ review
As stunning as it is, the studio has made the right call regarding gossip columnist Roger Friedman’s decision to publicly admit to downloading the recently leaked copy of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and, worse, review the film in his Fox 411 column.
Nikki Finke has the scoop:
I’m told that Fox News’ actions were swift and severe. Roger Ailes, who overseas Fox News, deleted the offending post after he was contacted by 20th Century Fox, and then fired Friedman as a freelance Fox News entertainment writer. I hear the move was done with the full support of News Corp. “He promoted piracy. He basically suggested that viewing a stolen film is OK, which is absolutely intolerable. So we fired him,” a source told me Saturday. “Fox News acted promptly on all fronts.”
Let’s hope the source holds water. Finke has come under considerable online peer scrutiny over the past two weeks.
Read more about the commotion here.
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Fox condemns Friedman’s ‘Wolverine’ review
The following statement was issued by the studio:
We’ve just been made aware that Roger Friedman, a freelance columnist who writes Fox 411 on Foxnews.com – an entirely separate company from 20th Century Fox — watched on the internet and reviewed a stolen and unfinished version of X-Men Orgins: Wolverine. This behavior is reprehensible and we condemn this act categorically — whether the review is good or bad.
What’s humorous to me is the amount of people calling for Friedman’s job due to the “criminal” nature of his actions who actually downloaded the film themselves and have admitted as much, more or less, in print. Double standards all over the place. You know if your conscience is clean or not.
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Questionable to say the least
Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that earlier in the week, a work print of Fox’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” was leaked online and downloaded hundreds of thousands of times.
The story hasn’t gone away for many reasons, chief among them the slow news week, I’m sure (which David Poland bemoans here). But even with that having been said, New York magazine’s decision to post images from and commentary on the work print is deplorable to say the least. I understand the blog’s desire to stay “hip” and maintain that characteristic snarkiness, and sure, it’s a funny post. But how is this okay?
Worse, Fox’s own Roger Friedman had the balls to actually review the film. It’s already unbelievable that guy has a job to begin with, but Jesus.
