Friday, September 01, 2006
Double Dips We Really Need
Let's face it, there are a lot of discs out there that are pretty lacking, even in this day and age. Not everyone can be Warner or Criterion, and as a result, there are oodles of DVDs on the market that deserve much better treatment than they got. And as I can't sleep, I've decided to share my fantasies for everyone to see and hope in vain that some studio guy might read this and change the tide. Hey, one can hope.
Star Wars: It's not entirely unpredictable that this is the first on the list, considering I am not only an uber-fan of the series but also about the only person whose love of the movies hasn't been sullied by George's continuous efforts to alienate the people who built the franchise in the first place.
The 2004 box set wasn't bad persay, but considering how prestigous the franchise was, what we got wasn't great. Shoddy Photoshopped cases, Boba Fett's voice disappearing, and a bonus disc that could've been so much more. The one great thing about the set - apart from the amazing transfers and audio quality - was Empire of Dreams, the two and a half hour documentary on the saga, but even with the wealth of information contained within, it still felt like it wasn't enough. And the reminder every five minutes that "George Lucas epic saga not only changed the way movies were seen, but the way movies were made," which made it sound like films made before May 25th 1977 consisted purely of a drunken Fatty Arbuckle making shadow puppets.
Unsurprisingly, the first thing on the wish list is the original versions in anamorphic widescreen and 5.1. In terms of movies, I wouldn't say no to a six-film set, despite my near-hatred for the first two prequels, but I'll explain more in a second. One part of me would want to see seamless branching, not for the special editions persay, but to see some deleted scenes put back in the films in a proper context, the main reason for this being that I'd love to see the Biggs and Luke scene on Tatooine properly remastered and inserted into the film, because it's a really neat little scene.
I'd also like to see the original cut for The Phantom Menace, before Ron Howard and Spielberg told George he needed to recut it. I remember John Williams talking about it and saying it was better, and that said recut made his music get all the more fucked up.
Back to why I'd like the prequels in the box in the first place, well the main reason for that is to see proper documentaries on all the films. Ideally, a two-hour piece on each movie. I'm not talking about how they did the special effects, but a down-to-earth honest look at the saga, a no-holds-barred exploration with interviews with all the cast and crew, with what they think was good and what wasn't. We all know Ewan McGregor had some scathing things to say about TPM after it was released, so let's hear it. Hell, even get Marcia Lucas to explain why exactly she ran off with Skywalker Ranch's interior decorator while Jedi was being made.
The next thing is deleted scenes. This is one of the things that the prequels DVDs did well, going above the call of duty to present quite a bit of stuff that was cut out, and giving a sense of context with it. But there was still a ton of stuff cut out of the vintage trilogy that has yet to see the light of day outside of a few bootlegs, and even more that hasn't even got that far, to my knowledge. The aforementioned Biggs scene, more of the Tatooine scenes with Luke and his friends, the entire subplot with the Wampa creatures, Luke using his lightsaber in training on Dagobah, Luke, um, kissing his sister, the post-sail barge assault sandstorm scene, Vader choking the Royal Guards, all that stuff.
Finally all the archive stuff. The original three making-ofs (The Making of Star Wars; SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back; From Star Wars To Jedi), the absolutely awesome BBC documentaries Going Solo (which took a look at TPM while it was deep in pre-production) and A Long Time Ago, which had Scorsese and Coppola talking about how excited they were to see the prequels. All the trailers and TV spots ever released. Hell, why not put the Star Tours video on there. Also, every draft of the films ever written. I've always wanted to read the Leigh Brackett version of Empire which seems to be impossible to find, and that kind of thing would be a great DVD-ROM addition.
But will we ever receive such a set? Recently, uber-DVD site The Digital Bits posted a rumour of a 30th anniversary set containing all kinds of goodies. Whether that will be anywhere near what we want, who can say. It's all up to George and whether he can come back from the dark side. Who knows, maybe there is still good in him.
Alien 3: Before a certain reader starts throwing obscenities at me, don't get me wrong, this set is already great. This is more of a plea for the Fox execs to get off their high horses and release the original version of the documentary featured in the mammoth Alien Quadrilogy set, the piece that was released as The Making of Alien 3 but was originally called Wreckage and Rape, referring to the production of the film and Fox's treatment of director David Fincher, who understandably turned his nose up when Fox came calling to ask him to participate in the DVD. And after the way they sanitised the DVD, it seems he was right to do so.
Fight Club: Another Fincher DVD, another great disc that could do with a couple more additions. Firstly, DTS. I can't stress that enough, and seeing how Fox seems willing to throw it on almost everything they release right now, it's not a huge request. Also, a retrospective documentary. Not only by cast, crew etc, but by filmmakers, critics, all sorts of people. This was a film that stunned moviegoers, and also drew huge criticism, and it'd be great to go back and take a look at a film that made an undeniable splash which deserves commemorating.
The Indiana Jones Trilogy: I remember reading an interview with uber-DVD producer Charlie Di Laurizika about his dream production job, and he bluntly said Raiders of the Lost Ark. Thinking about that makes me weep compared to what we got, with a limp-wristed paltry documentary that was about as deep as a Michael Bay flick, the only thing really good on the set being the films themselves (shut up, I love Last Crusade) and the nifty sleeve artwork. There are rumours of a new set appearing, but it's unlikely we'll see anything before the end of next year, as they'll probably want to tie it in with the next movie, in which case expect it in 2024 with Indiana Jones and the Afternoon Nap.
The Incredible Shrinking Man/Tarantula: I suppose I could have done these for our What's Left? column, as they haven't officially been released in the States, so consider this a twofer. What I'd like to see is for Universal to continue their amazing Legacy sets, and have a special Jack Arnold edition with these two movies (hell, repackage Creature From The Black Lagoon with it if you like), one being one of the best giant bug movies around, and the other being a bonafide sf classic. I'll leave you to decide which is which.
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DVD Review: Arrested Development - Season 3
Arrested Development is, without a doubt, the best TV show to come along since a little new classic called Futurama. It was intelligent, creative, witty, well-cast, well-written and packed with so many in-jokes, references and callbacks that you could watch each episode four or five times before you caught every hilarious joke. And even after you found them all, the episode would still be uproariously side-splitting, possibly moreseo. It was almost universally critically acclaimed, and merely being a fan of the show was enough to possibly qualify a person for membership in Mensa.
Naturally, it was cancelled after two-and-a-half seasons.
Fortunately, in our modern times we have television shows available at our fingertips, thanks to the magic of DVD. Now, those fuckers at Fox have released the final half of the Bluth family’s misadventures, for all fans of quality entertainment to enjoy.
“It was Arrested Development.”
Season 3 started out somewhat contentiously with fans of the show. Aside from the season-opener “The Cabin Show,” which introduces a family vehicle even more outlandish than the stair-car (“You’re going to get live-ins.”), the first half of the season is devoted to Michael Bluth’s (Jason Bateman) pursuit of free-spirited English woman Rita (played by the stunning Charlize Theron) who may or may not be a spy working to bring down the Bluth company for the mysterious Mr. F (“Mr. F!”). The full story arc lasts five whole episodes, which is easily the longest back-to-back plotline in the show’s tenure. Fans were upset that time was being taken away from characters like Gob (Will Arnett) and Tobias (David Cross) for a sort of half-baked James Bond parody that didn’t seem to be building to anything.
Of course, we were all dead wrong. It’d be a crime to reveal the identity of Mr. F (“Mr. F!”) as one cannot watch the first half of the season but in only one way when one knows how it ends. The reveal of Mr. F (“Mr. F!”) is as an audacious and risky plot twist as any in the history of television, yet it’s done so well that comes across as neither cruel nor contrived for the sake of shock, and is very much in the spirit of the show. The arc is unfortunately somewhat bereft of the family interplay that is the backbone of the show, but taken as a whole, it’s probably the best subplot of the series.
After the Rita arc, the show gets back into the main story and we’re treated to some of the best episodes of the series. “S.O.B.s” may be my favorite episode of the whole series (which is currently “Afternoon Delight”), largely for it’s hilarious meta-references. By this time, it was only too apparent that the show was not long for network television, so the episode utilizes a variety of “gimmicks” poking fun at other cheap ratings ploys. Included are 3-D sequences (Gob throws a tomato at the camera for no apparent reason), celebrity cameos (Andy Richter playing five different characters) and a “live” ending. The episode is a simultaneously hilarious and tragic reminder of why so much TV is monstrously crappy and why this show was so good. “Exit Strategy” and “Family Ties” are both up there with the best of the series – really the only weak one of the whole set is “Prison Break-In,” but this is completely relative, of course. “Break-In” is still funnier than every episode of many, many TV shows.
The finale episode “Development Arrested” is as good as a send-off for the series as I could hope for. Not satisfied to just wrap up all the loose ends, the series creators actually throw in some new revelations, including one about the parentage of one of the Bluth children that is wild even for this series. It’s obviously truncated – many of these plot points and resolutions feel crammed in, and it was likely that several of them would have been the main story arc for the second half of the season had those rat bastards at Fox not cut down the show order from 22 to 13. The end is satisfying, but frustrating because there is so much more that we want to know about these people that we probably never will.
Honestly, if Futurama didn’t get to live up to its potential, Arrested Development barely got to show it’s off. In another, happier alternate dimension free of war and Brett Ratner, Arrested Development continued for 6 seasons before the writers and staff agreed that the show had run its course and it would be better to quit before the show got stale like The Simpsons which went on to 35 seasons (in all universes, The Simpsons runs overlong).
It was Arrested Development. And it was glorious.
Special Features
For this 2-discer of a season, we get treated to three commentaries – on “Forget-Me-Now,” “The Ocean Walker” and “Development Arrested.” It’d be nice to have more, but since these commentaries have every cast member on them except for Jeffrey Tambor – whose absence becomes a running joke on the 3 commentaries – I’d imagine it was hard to get them together for more than a few, especially since the show was over by that point. I’d rather have all of the cast members on a few than a smattering of members on all episodes because they’re all too funny as a group to split up. Try telling that to Fox.
We also get a fairly profane blooper reel and a documentary about the last day of location shooting, with a choked-up goodbye from Will Arnett (“Taste my sad, Michael!”) The extras don’t set a new standard for TV show DVD packages, but face it, they could sell this show with no extras and it’d still be worth purchasing.
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News Round-Up: 9/1/06
Prestigious posters, prequels involving Halflings, and David Hasselhoff gets let down gently... all in today's round-up!
First up, the good Aussie at Dark Horizons scored the first look at the one sheet for Christopher Nolan's upcoming magician cage match film, The Prestige. The sheet itself is classy looking enough, if a bit dull and not indicative of any real magical-ness. I just hope Warners considers my alternative one sheet featuring Hugh Jackman pulling Scarlett Johansson out of a top hat by her stems. Also, she would be nekked. Obviously.Source: Dark Horizons
Next up is a bit of minor hullaballoo regarding the phantom Hobbit project that many a nerd are both looking forward to and cringing at. A spy from TheOneRing.net thus spoke:"I was in New Line's NY offices to discuss upcoming projects when I clearly saw something very intriguing on a year planner. 'The Hobbit' was clearly marked on what looked like July 2007. I couldn't exactly take a moment to investigate the calendar with my audience in the room, but it definitely said 'The Hobbit'. Lets hope this is a Peter Jackson project!".
Something tells me that planner hasn't been updated. Or is wrong. Or right. What am I, a Hollywood Born Douchebag? Anyway, it's just the kind of thing to throw minor boners out to fans clamoring for more Hobbit on Dwarf action. I guess it would be nice if The Hobbit got made (God knows The Silmarillion won't), provided it's made by Jackson and his team. But honestly, I would much rather the slimmed down Kiwi and the Wetaneers tackle something new and fresh. Or zombies.
Source: TheOneRing.net
Lastly, a bit of non-news really that just made me LOL a little bit, Orlando Bloom being the gentleman that he is told David Hasselhoff, "I play GARTHE Knight's son or nothin', homie!":"I was approached by David in Los Angeles. He'd heard I was a big fan of the old show and said, 'We're doing a movie version and I'd love you to play my son in it.' "I replied, 'Er, well, that sounds great but you'd need to speak to my manager about it'".
Source: Contact Music
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More Tits In PG Movies
TFL's exclusive research has revealed that the collapse of morality in modern society is not down to violence in video games, free Internet porn, terrorism or American Idol. It's all down to there not being tits in PG movies anymore. As proof, here some examples of boobs back from when life was perfect and nothing bad happened (Read first installment here). Obviously, this is very muchly NSFW.
Looker: This is a barely remembered movie written and directed by Micheal 'Jurassic Park' Crichton, but it has models, death, conspiracies and thunkingly obvious jabs at how emptily addictive the television experience is. We all nodded dumbly as we looked at the boobies.
Classy:
Cock-eyed:
Airplane: In the best film-parody film ever, lampooning the air-disaster films of the 70's, a stewardess tells the passengers that there's nothing to worry about but the captain is sick and they are all going to die. Everybody then panics and, in a moment defining gratuitous nudity, a large breasted lady shakes her breasts at the camera. Comedy.
Sixteen Candles: The 80's were not sexy. Partly because of big hair, shoulder pads and terrible music but mostly because of Molly Ringwald. Her teen comedy, Sixteen Candles, is allowed to exist, however, for this scene where an extremely beautiful young woman exercises her inalienable right to shower in front of a film camera.
Movie Trivia: These breasts belong to Haviland Morris, who's other big movie role was as the career-minded, red-headed Peltzer-poacher, Marla Bloodstone in Gremlins 2. Congratulations, Haviland, not only do you have the most beautiful breasts ever, but you starred in the greatest movie ever. Yay you!
And yes this film was a PG. Here's the proof.
It's small and pixellated but you can see the PG in the bottom right hand corner.
The Beastmaster: This week's Tanya Roberts appearance comes from this mostly daffy 1982 fantasy film who's most emotional moment comes when a ferret dies.
Clash of the Titans: This 1981 fantasy movie is mostly remembered for being Ray Harryhausen's stop motion swan-song, featuring Krakens, flying horses, Harry Hamlin and an annoying clockwork owl. History will remember it as being full of tits.
Here's a young Perseus being breast fed in a scene of natural beauty that no-one would watch for vicarious thrills, would they.
Here's sexy minx Medusa getting her head chopped off by Perseus, possibly after waking up next to her.
Here's pretty-but-dull Andromeda having a bath.
Bonus Nudity Round: Her bottom.
I remember loving Clash of the Titans when I was a kid. But what I remember about it is the monsters and the fighting and the scary bits. I don't think I was traumatised or turned into a sex monster by seeing some skin (or however much got through the British censors). Wouldn't it be a better world if, in order to make kid's movies interesting to the parents forced to sit through them, instead of shoving them full of awful and immediately dating pop-culture references, they shoved them full of pretty ladies taking baths? Nothing filthy or sordid, mind, just pretty young ladies being pretty and young without their clothes on. This would make the world a better place.
And now, because you are good, here's why Return of the Jedi is better than the prequels.
Thanks to Bill Nolen (our DVD guy) for most of the pictures.
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Trailer: Deliver Us From Evil
This documentary appears to be treating what has been a veritable gold mine of internet "humor" with due gravity and unflinching honesty. Oliver O'Grady, "the most notorious pedophile priest in the modern history of the Catholic Church", victims, and their families tell their stories. Through them we'll see how the Church allowed him to remain in his Parrish and that this whole mess is apparently nothing new.
Producer/Director Amy Berg has produced a number of documentary segments for CNN and CBS. She and her team have their work cut out for them. I think getting the priest's "side" shows that they want people to hear some sort of explanation. I know that aspect of it fascinates me.
I'm also interested in what they have to say about the Roman Church's history in this regard. The list of subjects include a theologian, an expert in Canon law, and the Vicar of Stockton and I'm guessing this is where we'll get the meat of the stuff that goes back to the earliest centuries.
Source: Disarming Films
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Wishful Thinking?
Britain's Channel 4 is engaging in a bit of speculative fiction with their new film Death of a President. It uses digital trickery, archive footage and actors to imagine the murder of Mr Bush and the descent into national paranoia that follows. The movie will premiere at the Toronto Film Festival next month and they hope to sell it to US broadcasters.
The film is directed by Gabriel Range, who made the BBC drama The Day Britain Stopped, which imagined a chain of events that could paralyse the transport system.
Range denied accusations of sensationalism. "The film is based on meticulous research and interviews with FBI agents and people on the other side of the war on terror," he said. "It's a serious, sensitive film. There is no way it would encourage anyone to assassinate Bush."
Peter Dale, the head of More4, said the film combined a "gripping detective story" with a thought-provoking critique of contemporary US society.
It sounds interesting though I would think that if they wanted to avoid sensationalism as much as they say then they would have fictionalized it more.
But John Beyer of Britain's TV watchdog MediaWatch, told the Daily Mirror: "There's a lot of feeling against President Bush and this may well put ideas into people's heads."
No more so than the administration has.
Source: The Australian
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Trailer: Curse Of The Golden Flower
Watch the trailer for Zhang Yimou's latest wuxia epic, Curse of the Golden Flower here!
It looks great, of course, has lots of great people in it, doesn't have Zhang Ziyi in it for shame, and proves that Zhang Yimou can not only make incredibly beautiful kung-fu epics, but can bang them out every year or so. He's made Hero, House of Flying Daggers in the last half decade and he also has Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles being released in the US soon, which is, unsurprisingly, getting excellent reviews. That one doesn't have flying ninjas though.
Complain about the order I put their names in, then watch the trailer again.
Source: curseofthegoldenflowermovie.com
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Review: Crank
Looking for an image to use for this review, I came upon the above. I love it. I love it because it sort of encapsulates in a very simple manner what Crank, the latest Jason Statham actioner, is all about: intensity, silliness, and flagrant use of narcotics.
Make no mistake, Crank is easily one of, if not THE, craziest films you'll see this year. The film straight away tosses you into a glory of epileptic visuals (and with a clever pixellated title card that pretty much tells you exactly what you're getting yourself into for the next rapid 87 min.) that never really let up, but are never so bad as to make you literally sick. It's a break-neck film. A "Hard R" that'll make violence loving nerds hoot with joy. Limbs are lost, Mexicans are suffocated, even a poor caged parrot randomly gets what it so didn't ask for.
And yet, you can't help but smile at the insanity. This is where Crank wins and wins big. It's able to be completely violent yet never grotesque and totally absurd without ever being unbelievable (well, except for possibly a moment here or there, but never enough to put a damper on the proceedings). Crank is a gleefully ambivalent film when it comes to what's right and wrong, but it nevertheless ensnares its audience thanks in part to a rather sick and twisted sense of charm that permeates it. Also, Jason Statham, who suprisingly gets to add effective bits of comedy to his already badass sense of action-man self is absolutely terrific as our gruff, brutal, and oddly charismatic protagonist.Oh yeah, the synopsis. Simply put (and it is a brilliantly simple premise), Chev Chelios (Statham) is a hitman. He wakes up one morning to find something terribly wrong with him. He finds out he's been pumped full of a special poison that's essentially slowing his heart rate down to nothing. The only cure? Adrenaline, the one thing to counteract the poison. With that knowledge in place, Chev spends the remainder of the film destroying Los Angeles, clobbering innocent bystanders, and killing the shit out of bad guys everywhere.
(Completely unrelated aside but fun to consider: Chev Chelios is the man that exchanges briefcases with Vincent at the start of Collateral. That almost works in a bizarro world sort of way.)
What I love about a set up like this for a film that's unafraid to be nothing more than a balls to the wall actioner is that it gives the filmmakers free reign to be as inventive as they can when putting our man Chev Chelios (btw - best name since, I don't know, Chest Rockwell) in situations of peril or amusement. I don't really want to give away any of the moments because they really are something a viewer should experience for his/herself, but suffice it to say, you will be grinning for the vast majority of the runtime.
And what of Jason Statham? As I already mentioned, the man is great. Fans of his know this already, as Statham is sort of becoming this generation's Chuck Norris at the moment. I don't want to say someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger because Schwarzenegger has starred in at least one genuinely classic film (i.e. The Terminator) and Statham has yet to.
Crank, while very good, is also a film about reactionary impact I fear. It's a film that's completely audacious, not so much in what it shows but in how it shows it. It's a visual assault, full of every camera and editing trick known to man. But as such, it makes everything about initial or gutteral reaction. Is that something that holds on subsequent viewings? Sometimes, and I guess the same question could be posed to any action film, but I'm not really sure in this case because of how off-the-wall everything is. I mean, I sure hope it holds up because it really is an unapolegtically fun action film that's that sort of rare but great apéritif in between bouts of "heavier" cinema.That's not to say Crank is a dumb film either, because it's not really. It's a film that's fully aware of its genre and does everything it can to make it fresh again. Two other films did that this year: Running Scared and District B-13. If I were to pick the best of these, I think I'd say District B-13 because there's something about GREAT physical choreography in an action film, that for me, can never be outdone by any sort of visual trickery. Running Scared is very good because, like Crank (a sort of close cousin visually to Running Scared), it delivers its action with a hardcore recklessness that's rarely seen and too awesome to dismiss. But, as briefly mentioned, what Crank has in abundance, thanks really in huge part to Jason Statham's performance, is a wonderful, almost childish charm. Moreso than than even the Transporter films or the junk made with Guy Ritchie, Crank is the film that really showcases Statham as "Charismatic Action Hero", not so much because what he does is particularly charismatic, but because he's able to win you over despite the insane and sometimes questionable shit he does.
Perhaps that's what will ultimately give Crank rewatchabilty. That, or watching Amy Smart go at it with Statham in the middle of Chinatown. Either way, I know I want to go back and see this again with a big group of friends right away. And maybe that's the best compliment I can give this arguably brilliant film.
9 shots of epinephrine out of 10
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Boldly Going Where George Has Gone Before
Well, this is something that seems to have come out of the blue. Or the blue nebula that's really a silicon-based lifeform, if you like. Starting September 16th, US TV viewers will be able to watch the original Star Trek in a way you've never seen before: in Lucas-Vision! Not only will all original three seasons be presented in the first time in high definition, they'll also be spruced up with all-new CGI visual effects and a new bird singing the main title theme.
Yes, according to Paramount, "Star Trek redefined science-fiction and constantly pushed the envelope with concepts that were ahead of their time. By giving the series a digital upgrade using the best technology available today, it will continue to be a leader in cutting-edge television programming as we introduce the series to a new generation of viewers."
Which generally means that they think younger people won't watch it unless it has special effects like a circa-2006 blockbuster. However, this is also very possibly linked in to J.J. Abrams upcoming Trek movie, which was thought to be a reboot until news floated around earlier this week that Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner had been contacted to possibly film some flashback sequences. Maybe they want to acclimatize people to this uber-Trek to prepare them for what Abrams has in mind.
Here's a list of what Paramount's computer nerds have been up to:
The most noticeable change will be redoing many of the special effects, created with 1960s technology, with 21st century computer-generated imagery (CGI). Upgrades include:
Space ship exteriors – The Enterprise, as well as other starships, will be replaced with state of the art CGI-created ships. The new computer-generated Enterprise is based on the exact measurements of the original model, which now rests in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Show opening – The Enterprise and planets seen in the main title sequence will be redone, giving them depth and dimension for the first time.
Galaxy shots – All the graphics of the galaxy, so frequently seen through the viewscreen on the Enterprise's bridge, will be redone.
Exteriors – The battle scenes, planets and ships from other cultures (notably the Romulan Bird of Prey and Klingon Battle Cruisers) will be updated.
Background scenes – Some of the iconic, yet flat, matte paintings used as backdrops for the strange, new worlds explored by the Enterprise crew will get a CGI face-lift, adding atmosphere and lighting.
The refurbished episodes also feature higher quality sound for the famous opening theme. The original score by Emmy Award-winning composer Alexander Courage, has been re-recorded in state-of-the-art digital stereo audio with an orchestra and a female singer belting out the famous vocals. A digitally remastered version of William Shatner's classic original recording of the 38-word "Space, the final frontier..." monologue continues to open each episode.
As a proud long-standing Trek fan, I'm not sure how I feel about this. I regularly revisit the old show, and indeed, last night the woman and me took in "Balance of Terror" (which will open the new series) and "Shore Leave." But while for the most part, the effects that were rejiggered in Star Wars - I mean the Death Star battle stuff, not the SlimFast Jabba - fit very well because the film has a very timeless quality, bar the hairstyles. Star Trek, to put it politely, doesn't.
It still has a very quaint 1960s style, and while this is by no means a bad thing, one part of me still thinks that by turning it into a big CGI-fest, it's still going to have the 60s action and the 60s dialogue and all the other things that made Star Trek what it was. In effect, it's hard to see anyone really having any more of an interest in it because it has more advanced effects, because it's not the quaint effects that were ever a stumbling point. After all, we can still accept 1933's King Kong.
Still, whatever happens, I'll still take an eager gander at what the brand-new Star Trek has to offer, assuming it ever makes it to UK shores.
Source: StarTrek.com
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Thursday, August 31, 2006
The Big Screen: 8/29/06
The dregs of summer. A long weekend, and a pretty lame crop of movies playing at the local moronplex. If only you could go out and see a great movie on the big screen this weekend. Well, maybe we can come up with a few options for you.
Los Angeles:
The Egyptian Theater in Hollywood is taken over by Cinecon for the Labor Day Weekend. An event for the hardcore enthusiast of American Cinema, they will be screening some 30 rare films dating from the 20's to the 50's, including dramas, comedies, musicals, westerns, cartoons, shorts, whatever.
Meanwhile, at The Aero in Santa Monica, it's all-singing, all-dancing, starting with a second chance to catch Frank Zappa's 3-hour freakout Baby Snakes on Thursday, and following up with a tribute to Vincente Minelli through Labor Day Weekend, including screenings of An American in Paris, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Bandwagon, and more.
At The New Beverly Cinema, there's a double-shot of hardboiled noir with This Gun For Hire and The Blue Dahlia on Wednesday and Thursday, then a twofer of lavish Gene Kelly musicals, On the Town and Singin' in the Rain, on Friday and Saturday.
On Saturday night, Cinespia invites you to come out and play at Hollywood Forever Cemetary, as they screen Walter Hill's The Warriors "above and below the stars."
The Nuart's midnight show this Friday is something that strikes me as incredibly stupid: a colorized print of Plan 9 from Outer Space. Why would they colorize a movie reknowned for its cheapniss? What would Vincent Chase say? Well, regardless, hardcore Wood fans might want to show up for a program of Ed Wood rarities before the feature: home movies (including Wood modeling the famous angora sweater), commercials, some bit of wackiness entitled Lost Plans 1-8 From Outer Space (narrated by the MST3K guys)...and actor Gregory Walcott in person (scheduele permitting--because you know Gregory Walcott is a busy, busy man!).
Anyway, starting Friday, The Nuart is also hosting Kirby Dick's new documentary on the MPAA, This Film is Not Yet Rated. Friday night, Dick and producer Eddie Schmidt will both be on hand at both screenings. This is likely to be "one of the most talked-about movies of the year," as they say, so it's probably worth the effort to attend.
At The Rialto in South Pasadena, Saturday's midnight show is Michael J. Fox's lycanthropic classic, Teen Wolf.
Down in El Segundo, The Old Town Music Hall hosts Maurice Chevalier in the 1930 romantic comedy The Playboy of Paris. Come get your fill of French accent!
New York City:
At the MoMA, the Huston Family tribute is wrapping up while the festival of Global Queer Cinema gets underway, resulting in movies like The Maltese Falcon, Chinatown and The Royal Tennenbaums rubbing up against Forbidden Fruit, The Salivation Army and Johanna D'Arc of Mongolia.
Hard to imagine a better way to kick off the weekend than with an outdoor screening of the Brazillian classic Black Orpheus, with live music and food, at the Museum of the Moving Image. Celebrate Brazi's independence day! But first, tomorrow, a double feature of Nicholas Roeg's Walkabout and Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries in the sculpture garden. Friday and Saturday will kick off a Mary Pickford series, as well as hosting screenings of Louis Malle's Murmer of the Heart.
San Francisco:
Tonight, The Castro is showing a double-feature of Robert Bresson's films Au Hasard Balthazar and Mouchette. All through September, the Castro is rocking the Almodavar. This week (September 1-7), it's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.
Cleveland:
The Cleveland Institute of Art gives its returning students and arriving frosh a nasty welcome with Terry Zwigoff's and Daniel Clowes' depressing satire Art School Confidential. Beyond that, though, they really have one of the most interesting programs anywhere: I've never heard of most of the small, foreign films they're showing. The African documentary Sisters-in-Law, in particular, sounds fascinating, profiling two Cameroon women, a prosecutor and a judge, using the courts to wage war on domestic abuse, rape, and patriarchal bullshit. And if you're looking for some sword action, there's Toshiro Mifune in Samurai Saga.
Austin:
The 60's film Bunny Lake is Missing features a brief cameo by The Zombies. So the Alamo Drafthouse has arranged to have The Zombies appear live alongside a screening of Bunny Lake. Also this week: a Chuck Norris Mania, an Arrested Development DVD release party with George-Michael and Maeby in person, The Wizard of Oz with Dark Side of the Moon synched up, and a free outdoor show with RJD2 spinning turntables and video artists creating live projections. Insane.
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RIP Glenn Ford
(1916-2006)
Having been in ill health for quite some time and following a series of strokes in the last decade, actor Glenn Ford was found dead in his home in Beverly Hills. I would like to imagine that he gave Death a sock on the jaw and a kick in the nuts on his way out. A career that spanned fifty years with more than a hundred movies to his credit just flat out amazes me.
As a young man he turned out a film every five days, was a Marine that fought in World War II, and romanced Rita Hayworth. He continued to work into his sixties and seventies and even learned to hang glide. Not to mention that he starred in some absolutely classic movies, including Gilda, Blackboard Jungle, 3:10 To Yuma, and even played Superman's adoptive dad!
At his 90th Birthday tribute, Shirley Jones, who co-starred with him in the comedy The Courtship of Eddie's Father, called Ford "one of the cornerstones of our industry, and there aren't many left."
Source: BBC
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Princess Die On Film?
German director Christoph Schlingensief has decided to do a film I'll call The Passion of the Princess as it will follow the last hour of Princess Diana's life. The woman pictured above is Jenny Elvers-Elbertzhagen who will be playing the much beloved Lady. Talk about a difficult tiara to fill.
According to Buck, the actress, who Berlin audiences can see in the role of Diana in a play by Schlingensief on September 13, has a similar aura to that of the princess.
In an interview with German daily Bild, Schlingensief disclosed that the first scenes (12 hours) of The Last Hours of Lady Diana had already been filmed at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. Shooting is to continue in secret in London, as that is where Diana actually spent her last days, according to the hypothesis that the director aims to propose in his film after researching the topic.
Garth's source (which I couldn't track a link down to) says that the film will include the actual car crash as well. All of this strikes me as a pretty gutsy move, but according to his wiki entry, this guy is a button pusher so I don't suppose this will be a straight up bio.
Source: CinEuropa, Dark Horizons
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Scott, Crowe, And Good Wine
For some bizarre reason the only Russell Crowe movie I've seen in its entirety is Gladiator and in my opinion it was one of the finest (if not the finest) movie that came out that year. Testimony to the combination of Crowe and Ridley Scott (most of whose movies I have seen thank you). Well that magic is happening again in the form of A Good Year (hit the poster for a trailer).
There are no warriors, robots, or aliens in what would seem to be a quiet movie. Max Skinner (Crowe) plays a greedy stock broker who receives an inheritance from a favorite uncle, in the form of a vineyard. In the process of checking it out he seems to fall in love, revisit his boyhood, and leave his old life behind. Ultimately it comes down to deciding between the vineyard and his career. I think we all know how that's gonna turn out.
In spite of the fact that it doesn't seem to be heading in any new directions story wise I think it will be excellent to see what these two extraordinarily talented men do with a subtler film. I definitely will be putting this on my calendar. And I think that this weekend will be a good opportunity to have a Russell Crowe film fest. I doubt the missus will object.
Source: Collider
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Weta Bomb
Peter Jackson has decided to produce a remake of British wartime adventure The Dambusters, about the development of the 'bouncing bomb' used by the RAF to blow up evil Nazi dams during World War 2. Apart from this further marking Jackson's transformation into the modern Speilberg (who seemingly produced every geek-friendly kid film of the 80's), it will be the first directing job of Weta's (Jackson's own fx company) animation director, Christian Rivers.
Both the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong were not only fx heavy, but the fx were often integral to the story-telling and character creation, leading many to wonder when Weta would just lose those other annoying people on the productions and make their own films. The Dambusters may well be the film to see if the immense talents within Weta are actually capable of doing it by themselves and also, possibly, whether we are getting tired of endless sweeping CGI shots.
The story of the 1954 original follows the scientists beavering away at the designs, the military pressuring them for results, the pilots preparing for the bombing run, and their politely attractive wives. The film ended with the mission, in which the huge, lumbering Lancaster bombers had to fly low to the ground, following river valleys towards the dams then drop the bombs that would then skip along the water so as to hit the dams at the right point for maximum damage. The remake is budgeted at around $30-40m so, though we can't expect wall to wall fx porn, this final mission should be spectacular.
Then again, no-one was ever in doubt as to the rockingness of the fx. The questions lie in how they update the drama, considering all the stiff upper lips on show, and whether, what with our own wars to hold our attention, anyone cares about a bunch of Brits working in a shed 60 years ago.
The Weta film geeks were getting (more) sweaty over was the live action version of Neon Genesis Evangelion, the giant robot/awkward teen/loads of pretentious shit Japanese cartoon. Although artwork was released on to the Internet last year, there hasn't been any movement on it in ages, meaning we'll have to see The Dambusters to find out if the Weta guys are incredibly talented film-makers or just incredibly talented technicians.
Source: The Guardian
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Wednesday, August 30, 2006
DVD Invasion - Week Of 8/29/06
Welcome kiddies. Ready to be invaded again? Even for some of you with seemingly unlimited funds, it could be a fairly painful experience for the old bank account. Lots of new diversions and old favorites on the shelves this week. Let the spending spree begin...
The SentinelMichael Douglas has been away from the thriller business for a few years, it seems. With an insanely gorgeous wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and young children at home, it's not surprising that the 61-year-old actor would want to take it easy for a while. After all, the man has played every kind of fiery, drug-addled and sex-crazed cop, business man, doctor and "lone nut on a rampage" imaginable in films like Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction and Falling Down, to name a few. Now Douglas gives another go at the ambiguous hero role he made famous in The Sentinel, co-starring Kiefer Sutherland (in full Jack Bower mode) and Eva Longoria (in not undressed enough mode).
Douglas plays a White House secret service agent who is wrongfully accused of killing one of his fellow agents. The frame-up is a way of getting him out of the way so an assassin planted in the White House by a Neo-Nazi terrorist group can make an attempt to kill the President. Sutherland and Longoria play fellow agents who end up chasing after Douglas while he tries to foil the assassination plot from outside the system. Oh, and Douglas's character is having an affair with the First Lady (played by Kim Basinger), which only complicates things further. It sounds like a familiar formula, very similar to In the Line of Fire. That's not to say it isn't a good formula, but you know what I mean.
Politically-intriguing features include commentary by Director Clark Johnson and Screenwriter George Nolfi, an alternate ending and deleted scenes with optional commentary by Nolfi, "The Secret Service: Building on a Tradition of Excellence" featurette and an "In the President's Shadow: Protecting the President" featurette.
Arrested Development: Season 3One of the great tragedies of the television medium is that some amazing shows get cancelled before they can reach their full potential. The success of a given show is often a matter of chance, a mysterious combination of factors that can't be replicated in a reliable way. If TV execs could do that, we wouldn't see nine different variations of Law & Order and CSI, they would make different shows to reach out to every possible demographic. The fact that Arrested Development barely managed to limp its way into a third season is a real shame. I discovered the show on DVD at about the time the second season ended, so I didn't get a chance to be a supportive viewer until the third season started, and by then it was really too late.
I'm rather pissed that the show ended so abruptly, therefore I'm going to say that Fox didn't give this series enough of a chance to endure. The first season had a full run of 22 episodes, but the second and the third were trimmed to 18 and 13 episodes respectively, meaning that the show lost precious weeks of exposure in those two seasons that could have allowed it to find a dedicated audience. If you have never spent time with the hilarious antics of the Bluth family, by all means, go back and start from the beginning. I guarantee with all certainty that you will be as enraged as I am that Fox didn't spend one tenth of the money it has dumped into so many worthless seasons of The Simpsons to keep a boldly written and highly entertaining show on the air for a little while longer.
Frozen banana features include commentary tracks on 3 episodes by creator Mitchell Hurwitz and some of the actors, 19 deleted and extended scenes, a blooper reel and "The Last Day on Location" featurette.
Friends With MoneyI really like Jennifer Aniston. She's one of the world's sexiest people, but she's also the kind of woman that you wouldn't feel stupid inviting for a friendly round of bowling and beers. In other words, she's no Angelina Jolie. In fact, I like Aniston so much that I don't watch any of the movies she stars in. All liking aside, I don't think she's a very strong actress. She works best in an ensemble cast, which is probably why she seemed to thrive on Friends for ten years among other fairly weak actors (except for Lisa Kudrow, who frankly was slumming on that show). All of which leads me to Friends With Money, another star vehicle for Aniston that I will probably skip. Her role is that of a down-and-out house cleaner who maintains friendships with a trio of wealthy women played by Frances McDormand (Fargo, North Country), Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and Joan Cusack (High Fidelity, Grosse Pointe Blank, every other movie her brother John is in). The movie is a sometimes uplifting, sometimes somber study of the inner workings of friendship. Aniston's character is the glue that holds the group together, as her friends strive to help her out of her loneliness and financial troubles as a way to distract themselves from their own superficial lives. We should all be so lucky to have three rich friends to work out our woes for us. Or at least to buy us a few cars everytime we get depressed.
For richer or poorer features include commentary by Writer/Director Nicole Holofcener and Producer Anthony Bregman, a look behind-the-scenes and featurettes on the film's premiere in Los Angeles and at the Sundance Film Festival.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Theatrical and Extended Limited Edition)If you find yourself in a quandary as to whether you should own this new incarnation of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, please stop worrying about it now. The answer is simple. If you already own the separate 2-disc theatrical and 4-disc extended editions of all three films, you'll not be improving your collection all that much by grasping desperately for these. If you don't own any of the previous sets, what the hell is wrong with you? You wanted to get them but didn't have the cash, right? Okay, no more judgments on you. My point is that if you are okay with having both versions of the films without all of the supplements of those versions, these new sets are probably for you (and you don't have to buy the box set. Get the individual titles here, here and here). Sorry I lied about the simplicity of the situation.
I can't reason out why I should own three individual releases of these films, even though I love them. I'm also a bit leary about the infamous DVD-18, which is a double-layer, double-sided disc that has been known to be subject to production glitches. Both versions of the films, glued together by a high-tech term known as seemless branching, are split in half over the two sides of the "dreaded" DVD-18. If you can get past that little design quirk, you may be happy to know that there is a second disc with each film which contains some exclusive content. Peter Jackson hired filmmaker Costa Botes to document in great detail the entire production of the trilogy. None of this material, amounting to a feature-length doc for each film, was part of the special features for the other sets, so it seems reasonable to assume that the triple-dip was in the plans all along. Most likely, a rental would be sufficient to appreciate these new documentaries, but if you feel a nagging itch to own every shred of video concerning your beloved Hobbit adventures, please buy away. Since when does logic enter into fandom?.
The Tick Vs. Season OneAlthough it is about time this hilarious, appropriate-for-all-ages cartoon series finally made its debut in the digital realm, the form of this release is a bit scattered. The first season of The Tick had 13 episodes, but here you will only find twelve. Episode 11, "Tick vs. The Mole Men", is strangely absent. Whether the episode's exclusion is due to rumored rights issues or the officially stated "creative concerns", you can decide for yourself how much an incomplete season means to you. The other odd feature of this set is that there ARE no features. I sometimes wonder if studios give in to consumer demand and rush out a mildly cultish release like this, not understanding that we don't want merely a set of episodes, but also to know that the producers or owners of our favorite properties are interested in promoting them with the proper care and attention. In the fantasy world, where all things are done right the first time, such respectful attention would be paid. In the real world, we take what we can get. It's enough for most people to be able to spend some time with the big bag of blue-suited muscles, his sidekick Arthur (The Moth) and their bizarre super friends without succumbing to the temptations of the shoddy, DVD-R copies that have been floating around the usual auction sites for years.
More:
Like I said in the beginning, it's a heavy week for those who need to buy everything on release Tuesday. Personally, I'm beginning to think that is a bad idea, as price drops are occurring much sooner these days (especially on older titles), so that discount of two or three dollars in the first week doesn't mean much anymore. Still, depending on your tastes, there are at least three or four nifty titles pictured above. Serve yourself more prime Douglas in the two classic adventures he starred in with Kathleen Turner, or experience the underappreciated genius of Gregory Hines in two of his dance pictures. Or just give in to your baser instincts and fill your shopping bag/cart/pockets with Chuck Norris, he of the "jokes". Until next week...
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"Character" Based Comedy
Anna Faris (Scary Movie 1-4) will be starring in an untitled comedy that Paramount recently picked up. Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith who wrote Legally Blonde and She's the Man developed the script from a character created by Farris.
It is being described as a fish-out-of-water comedy about a naive centerfold model who loses her job and takes the only one she can find, that of a "house mother" at UCLA's lamest, dorkiest sorority.
Sounds like a lame and dorky idea to me. I'm not sure about the intelligence behind developing a character and then building a movie on it. I mean look at the SNL movies. No, don't.
Gotta say this about the woman though, she works hard and makes big bucks for her studios. So maybe I'm wrong.
Source: Backstage
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The Indians Vs. The US Cavalry
There hasn't been a good old fashioned slaughter of the US Cavalry portrayed on screen in a while. That's about to change thanks to an adaptation (I've typed that word a lot this week) of Andrew Huebner's novel, American By Blood. It opens with three horse soldiers who are the first to discover the slain 7th Cavalry after the Battle of Little Big Horn.
The novel, Huebner's first, follows the scouts as they try to track down Crazy Horse. The spec script was written by Matthew Sand whose work we'll see in Beowulf next year. The producers, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, will also bring us The Talisman, Jurassic Park IV, The Bourne Ultimatum, David Fincher's Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Indiana Jones IV.
I read a review of the novel and by that account this will be an epic undertaking. There are several large battles, quite a bit of gore, and vistas everywhere you look. Being a big fan of the Western that's exciting stuff to me. It seems that all of the films in that genre lately (what few there've been) have been pretty small scale, personal films.
Source: FilmForce
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Addicted To Gellar
Man do you ever have to be careful when typing this woman's name into Google Image search. There are all kinds of freaks out there Photoshop and waaaaay too much time on their hands. Anyway, on to the news. Sarah Michelle Gellar will be starring in yet another Asian horror film remake. This one will be called Addicted and is America's take on the 2002 South Korean movie Jungdok
In the original, two brothers get in an accident and wind up in a coma. One brother wakes up after a year and claims to be his brother. Unfortunately, his brother was married and SMG will be playing the wife. So now she has to decide if her husband's spirit is inhabiting her brother-in-law's body or if he's just a freak and wants to get on the Jerry Springer show. This doesn't sound so much scary as it does wacky. Maybe the brother-in-law will look like/be played by Steve Buscemi?
Source: Life Style Extra
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"Show me the money!"
Well it looks like someone is willing to put up with some Cruise craziness if it brings in the heaps o' cash. That someone is Daniel Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins and all around insanely rich guy.
He and Cruise/Wagner Productions have signed a two year renewable contract that will keep them in beer and skittles.
"Financial details have not been made public, but Cruise's previous 14-year deal with Paramount had garnered as much as $10 million per year for salaries, expenses and discretionary spending -- and he and Wagner had shunned the latest $2 million offer from the studio."
Snyder has been able to practically double what he invested in the football team in seven years. He also owns Six Flags, whose CEO, Mark Shapiro, will be overseeing the new production company.
Source: Forbes
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Cronenberg Makes Kiddie Flick
David Cronenberg is moving forwards on his next film, which is as good a reason as any to do a happy dance. The film, called Eastern Promises, is about Russian prostitution rings in London, already stars monkey glove, Naomi Watts (who plays a nurse, you perv, investigating the death of a Russian girl) and throbbing stare, Viggo Mortensen. Vincent Cassel has just been signed to play a character with the awesome name of Petrid who will play someone attached to the illegal activities. As this is Cronenberg, any confusion and unease arising in geeks when their Naomi-lust is thrust up against their man-love for Viggo is almost definitely deliberate.
The interesting information here is that the script was written by Stephen Wright, who wrote the excellent Dirty Pretty Things, about London's human organ market and the illegal immigrants who provide the spare parts. This proves Wright knows his stuff and that his subject matter is almost preternaturally suited to Cronenberg's sensibilities. Frears did an excellent job with Dirty Pretty Things, but imagine the icky joy if Cronenberg got his hands on organ harvesting.
We can look forwards to a frank, explicit and clinical exploration of sex-as-product, humans-as-property and how smelly London can be that will almost definitely stir up controversy and cause thousands of 14 year olds to watch it in the hope of wall to wall naked-sex. Hopefully, after they've stopped crying, some of them will become Cronenberg fans.
We do not know what the plot is yet. If it was an erotic-thriller (remember that Cronenberg was attached to Basic Instinct 2 for a while), the nurse would be sexually repressed, then have to pretend to be a prostitute, then get sexually liberated by a saxophone solo and lez up. If I was writing it, the russian prostitutes would be illegally testing experimental sex toys, and then a dildo would become self aware and go on a murderous rampage.
As it is, we are going to have to wait until next year to find out how the professionals do it.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Kamikaze Pilot
We don't usually cover TV news on TFL, but this will be an exception given its movie connection. A pilot for The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been given the go ahead by Warner Brothers. For those one or two of you that can't put a face to that name, it's Linda Hamilton's character in The Terminator. It will follow her and her son John post-Judgment Day.
This idea doesn't immediately want to make me vomit. The director, David Nutter, has done good work in TV. Among his credits are the pilot episodes of Supernatural, Smallville, Without a Trace, and Dark Angel all of which are pretty strong (okay I may be the only fan of the first around here).
I suppose it all gets down to who they cast and how strong the writing is. So given that I will withold my right to puke at a latter date.
Source: Variety
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Attack Of The Remake
Okay I don't suppose that I should get too awful broken up about this but David Ondaatje (yeah me neither) is remaking The Lodger. Apparently it's a silent film that Hitchcock made in 1927. The original is based on a novel by Marie Adelaide Lowndes and is a "a fictionalised version of the Jack the Ripper killings".
Ordinarily remakes get me a little hot under the collar. They're rarely even close to being as good as the original and almost never do anything to improve on it, inst