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25 agosto DVDs And Goldiggers
More obsessions and more DVDs to be released tomorrow including Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom," Anthony Mann's "Cimarron," the Errol Flynn Western Collection and David Mamet's UFC movie, "Redbelt." Also, check out Sept. 2 for the Fox noir titles Road House (a classic starring Ida Lupino, Richard Widmark and Cornel Wilde) on which I provide commentary with friend and "Czar of Noir" Eddie Muller. I also contributed to featurettes on "Road House" and the bizarre but beautiful "Moontide" (starring Lupino, Jean Gabin and Claude Rains). As always, you can read all my DVD and Theatrical reviews at Strange Impersonation and check out whatever else I'm thinking at Pretty Poison. Now here's one obsession: "Goldiggers of 1933" (1933) I can never get enough of this sexy, subversive picture. Though 1930’s Warner Brothers is renown for social dramas like "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" or the brilliant "Wild Boys of the Road" (you must track this down -- an under-seen masterpiece) and classic gangster films like "Little Caesar" with Edward G. Robinson and "Public Enemy" with James Cagney, they also provided some of cinema’s greatest musicals. My favorite being "Gold Diggers of 1933," directed by "Fugitive" helmer, Mervyn LeRoy and more importantly, choreographed by that mad genius, surrealistic artist Busby Berkeley. With a take on what Americans love most -- money -- the film showcases a bizarre-o number of the famed song "We're in the Money" wherein a comely Ginger Rogers sings it in both English AND Pig Latin. (My God, how I love Ginger -- The Major and the Minor alone). Amazing for its ability to be light fluff, fantastically inventive in terms of set design and costuming and seriously relevant, Goldiggers proves that musicals aren’t mere escapism. And by the time Joan Blondell ends the film with the haunting "Remember My Forgotten Man," in which soldiers from World War I are shown in bread lines, you'll again remember that even the oldest of musicals had something to say. Absolutely sublime. Read more obsessions at Sunset Gun. --posted by Kim
Midnight MadnessWatch me on Dailies, very briefly discuss why movie fans like to attend midnight screenings. And why studios looove making money off of them.
It all started with "The Empire Strikes Back" but really, with Tim Burton's "Batman" -- which I discuss but was probably cut for time.
On Reelz:
--posted by Kim 22 agosto Friday Night At The Movies Stephen Hunter's criticisms of "The Rocker" (via the Washington Post) almost makes me want to see the movie:
"The movie is so tepid and inoffensive: It reminded me of a '70s Disney live-action product, with clean-scrubbed 'hippies' like Johnny Whitaker chafing harmlessly under the wise ministrations of Suzanne Pleshette, whose job was to keep the kids in hand."
(Throw in Ruth Buzzy and I'm there.)
Michael Phillips (Chicago Tribune) gave it a near rave, but with reservations about something many of us can't get on board with -- vomit:
"It's a lot of fun. Its spirit is genuine and, even with the odd vomit gag, fundamentally sweet."
Paul W.S. Anderson's "Death Race" (the re-make of the Paul Bartel/Roger Corman subversive cult classic "Death Race 2000") has reviews that vary wildly.
Here's TV Guide's Ken Fox's positive notice:
"It honestly delivers the goods without all the preachy moralizing about violent entertainment and cultural ruin."
And here's Austin Chronicle's Marc Savlov's major pan:
"Anderson has neutered the original film's outrageously transgressive macadam mayhem and completely stripped the story of its pointedly political social satire, making this Death Race one of the most boring drags of all time."
Read more reviews of movies opening today at MetaCritic.
--posted by Kim For The Love Of Faris I'm all for Anna Faris (and without shame, Kendra, Bridget and Holly...those of you who know, know what I'm talking about, don't pretend you don't...). Anyway, I champion Ms. Faris but I have to say, "The House Bunny" looked like another step down. Not so for Variety's John Anderson who gave the fluffy comedy four stars and compared Faris to (gasp!) Marilyn Monroe (he'll get hate mail for that one).
Sayeth Mr. Anderson:
"It's a little stroke of genius: Make a female-empowerment movie and cast it with Playboy Bunnies. Elevated via a strong script by 'Legally Blonde' scribes Kirsten Smith and Karen McCullah Lutz, 'The House Bunny' is a blissfully broad comedy that should catapult Anna Faris into a singular kind of stardom -- she's funny, she's sexy, and her movie distinguishes itself grandly from a mostly gore-and-groin-fixated summer comedy season. Titles are sometimes dumped in mid- to late August, but good buzz could help this Fred Wolf-directed laffer break out beyond its young-femme target audience.
"That the script was written for Faris (who shares exec producer credits with the pic's scribes) is evident: Shelley is a guileless tomato-with-a-heart-of-gold, and Faris dances delicately between her pure sweetness and hilarious ineptitude, never making the character an object of ridicule but never pretending she's a genius, either. The easy comparison is to Marilyn Monroe -- Faris, a bombshell, effects the same soft voice and endearing cluelessness. But Shelley has a lot more angles than most of Monroe's characters, and the place Faris has carved out for herself is inseparable from her own particular talents and personality."
Wow. He luuuurves her. I just want to know what my beloved Final Girl Stacie Ponder thinks. I believe we both adore Faris. We also love Lindsay, Ida Lupino, "Black Christmas" (the original!) and the underrated "Wrong Turn," which, by my estimation officially makes us soul mates. Stacie?
--posted by Kim
21 agosto True Blue Kentucky Girl Oh...Loretta and of course, Sissy. I love them both.
One of my favorite country singers, one of my favorite biopics, one of my favorite pairings with Conway Twitty and a major movie for me as a child -- "Coal Miner's Daughter" -- it's near perfection. And if you don't like it, you can go to, as Loretta sang, "fist city."
Michael Apted’s biopic "Coal Miner’s Daughter" is a work of lovely contradictions that tie together so seamlessly, one is almost surprised by just how affecting it is.
Among the contradictions: The movie is refreshingly honest yet wonderfully mythic; it’s gorgeously filmed, at times glamorous, yet down-home, gritty and grindingly real; and it’s rags-to-riches conventional yet incredibly unique, avoiding easy hillbilly stereotypes and folksy Southern niceties.
In fact, the movie’s a lot like its subject, legendary country singer Loretta Lynn, a young woman from the Appalachian Mountains who remained married to her first, troubled love and sang to the good-old-boy country music establishment with womanly candor while creating some of the genre’s most feminist-oriented songs. Take a listen to her controversial "The Pill” (about, yep, birth control) or "Fist City" (about beating up the woman running around with her real life philandering man) or, years after the 1980 picture, her album “Van Lear Rose” -- made with assistance from White Stripes' Jack White ("Portland Oregon" is such a great song it makes me miss my old stomping grounds) -- and you perceive a woman of singular passion, cleverness, will and mystery. And she's still going strong.
Read the rest of my ode here.
And enjoy a little of Ms. Lynn's "Fist City."
--posted by Kim Nice NewsIf you want to feel better about people, here's a nice piece of movie news:
"As most of you probably know, Heath was filming Terry Gilliam's 'The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus' at the time of his death. Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell stepped in to complete Heath Ledger's role, playing different versions of his character 'Tim.'
"When the three actors learned that Ledger's will had not been updated to include his daughter [Matilda], the generous trio decided to donate all the money they earned from the film to little Matilda."
--posted by Kim 20 agosto Pour Some Movie On Me... One of my favorites, the wonderful Nathaniel R. over at The Film Experience asks readers: "What film do you want to rub all over you?"
Damn...that's a tough question. It has to be beautiful so..."Badlands"? "Out of the Past"? "Bonnie and Clyde"? "Goldiggers of 1933"? Any movie with Tuesday Weld including "Falling Down" (wait, I could not rub that movie all over me), "La Dolce Vita"?
I have to think about this more...
Make sure to check out others answers here.
--posted by Kim By A Longshot Fred Durst directed a movie with Ice Cube? Huh? Anyway, ComingSoon interviewed the Limp Bizkit frontman turned director:
"There comes a point in some interviews when you wonder whether you just asked the wrong question and everything's going to go downhill, and when ComingSoon.net talked with musician and filmmaker Fred Durst, it was when we made a couple of jokes about his reputation as the frontman for metal band Limp Bizkit and how odd it was for him to be making a family-friendly movie like 'The Longshots.'
"The real-life football drama reunites Durst with once-rapper Ice Cube who Limp Bizkit toured with in 1998 during the intentionally ironically-titled 'Family Values Tour.' Now they're making warm and cuddly PG movies together like this one, which stars Cube as a down-and-out football player asked to watch over his niece Jasmine, played by Keke Palmer of Akeelah and the Bee, whom he teaches to play football to the point where she's good enough to be quarterback for the local high school team, taking them to the Pop Warner Super Bowl.
"Fortunately, things quickly recovered after our jokes bombed, but it's obvious that Durst, once the scourge of the rock world with his controversial lyrics and antics, is very serious about his career as a filmmaker and that he isn't too appreciative about people (i.e. journalists) making jokes or presumptions about his intentions considering his notorious past. Maybe after people see this or his first movie The Education of Charlie Banks, which won an award at last year's Tribeca Film Festival, they'll finally be able to separate 'Fred Durst, Filmmaker' from 'Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit."
Read the interview minus the "jokes" (why take out the embarrasing junket jokes? Why not allow others to live the pain of these things?) here.
--posted by Kim Sibling Cinema From Sean Axmaker's What's In Your DVD Player? This time John and Joan Cusack:
What's so funny about war profiteering and foreign policy dictated by corporate interests? "War, Inc." replays the American invasion and occupation of Iraq and the selling of the war on terror as a sarcastic, surreal satire. The film has divided critics with its politics and darkly comic tone but has found an audience in its limited release in New York and Los Angeles. On June 13, it opens in Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston and Austin, Texas. "War, Inc." star/co-writer/co-producer John Cusack and his co-star/older sister, Joan Cusack, were on separate continents when I talked with them, but through the magic of the conference call, I heard a little of their sibling byplay as we discussed "War, Inc.," making movies and what they were watching on DVD.
MSN Movies: What's in your DVD player? John Cusack: You mean movies? Right now, I'm making a movie ["Shanghai"], and I'm talking about one so much that I'm not really watching any right now. When I make one, I don't usually watch one. Does watching films get in the way mentally? John Cusack: I just do it all day, and I only have a couple of hours off each night, so I don't want to think about another movie, I guess. What about you, Joan? Joan Cusack: I believe we were watching "National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon." Read the rest here. --posted by Kim 19 agosto Kind And The Coen BrothersRichard Kind and the Coen's --- this seems perfect:
"The Coen brothers have hired Michael Stuhlbarg, a Tony-nominated actor, and Richard Kind (ABC's "Spin City") to star as brothers in their new period black comedy, 'The Serious Man.'"
Set in 1967, the story centers on Larry Gopnik (Stuhlbarg), a Midwestern professor whose life begins to unravel when his wife sets out to leave him and his socially inept brother (Kind) won't move out of the house.
"Shooting is set to start at the beginning of next month in Minneapolis.
"Working Title is producing, and Focus Features will distribute. Joel and Ethan Coen wrote the screenplay and are sharing producing duties. Working Title's Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner executive produce."
--posted by Kim Summer 2008: Winners and Losers
From MSN Movies: Years from now, when 2008 is referenced in Hollywood, it will no doubt be referred to as the summer of the superfan. Most prominently, "The Dark Knight" stunned even its most ardent supporters with awards buzz and an astonishing box office take. What moviegoers told Hollywood is that if they can't wait to see a new flick, they are going to plan their lives around it when it finally opens. Whether it was "Sex and the City," "Indiana Jones," "Iron Man" or "Pineapple Express," online ticket sales and the demand for more midnight screenings proved film fanaticism still rules. Taking that into account, here is a look at some of the movie industry's big winners and losers over this superhero summer season. Winner: "The Dark Knight" Duh. Threatening to break the $600 million U.S. box office record of "Titanic" and becoming a pop culture phenomenon isn't enough. Now, the monster hit is setting its sights on Oscar. Of course, that's assuming the conjectured "curse" of appearing in the film (Heath Ledger's death, Christian Bale's assault allegations and Morgan Freeman's car wreck) still finds anyone in the cast standing by next March. Loser: "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" There are probably millions of people who would like to see a great "X-Files" movie. Shoot, the first big-screen incarnation had the appropriate scope, aliens and marketing campaign. Ten years later, nothing Fox did made "Believe" look anything more than a direct-to-DVD release. Audiences were smart and stayed away in droves. Read the rest of the winners and losers here. --posted by Kim 15 agosto Harry Potter Ruins Thanksgiving Oh no, no, no! Thanksgiving just won't be the same for rabid Harry Potter fans. Or rather, parents who want to get their kids out of their hair (and pumpkin pie) for a few hours. What to do?
Harry Potter's half blood has been moved back:
"'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,' the sixth installment in the blockbuster film franchise about boy wizard Harry, is moving from its planned Nov. 21 release to July 17, 2009, distributor Warner Bros. said Thursday.
"The move was made to take advantage of an open weekend in Hollywood's busy summer season, said Alan Horn, Warner Bros. president and chief operating officer. The film had been on schedule, and the change was not due to any production snags, he said.
"'The picture is completely, absolutely, 100 percent on schedule, on time. There were no delays,' Horn told The Associated Press. 'I've seen the movie. It is fabulous. We would have been perfectly able to have it out in November.'"
Hmm...methinks he protest too much? Read the rest of this (gasp!) drama here.
--posted by Kim Billy Bob's Coming For YouThis can't be true:
"Billy Bob Thornton will star as FREDDY KRUEGER in a new NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET movie.
"The 53-year-old actor will take on the chilling role in a remake of the 1984 original.
"Robert Englund, who played the part in eight films, revealed that Thornton will star in the horror films and is an 'excellent choice' for the role.
He adds, 'A big budget should mean the film will look a lot better than some of the old movies.'"
What's wrong with Englund as Freddy? Isn't this when being typecast comes in handy? Since Michael Bay is involved, I have no idea why I'm surprised by any of this...
--posted by Kim
14 agosto Oh My Marty!'Tropic Thunder' Reviews Reviews for Ben Stiller's "Tropic Thunder" appear to be all over the map.
Here's a balanced take from Todd McCarthy at Variety.com:
"A smart-alecky send-up of Hollywood in general and action films in particular, 'Tropic Thunder' undeniably provokes quite a few laughs, but of the most hollow kind. Ben Stiller's star-laden farce makes every effort to be outrageous as it pokes knowing fun at a troupe of spoiled, self-centered actors who get more than they bargained for making a 'Rambo'-like rescue drama in Southeast Asia. "But, apart from startling, out-there comic turns by Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise, the antics here are pretty thin, redundant and one-note. But that note will strike a chord with a substantial, comic heat-seeking audience, particularly of the fanboy and combat-ready stripes, making for hefty late-summer biz." Read a few different takes here. And, as always, decide for yourself. --posted by Kim Bale Ordeal OverChristian...cleared!
"Batman star Christian Bale will not face charges relating to an alleged assault on his mother and sister at the Dorchester Hotel on July 20, British prosecutors said Thursday.
"The country's Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement that there was insufficient evidence to afford a 'realistic prospect of conviction' and ordered the police not to take any further action in the case.
"British media had reported that Bale's mother and sister told police he assaulted them at the hotel a day before attending the European premiere of his film 'The Dark Knight.' Bale has denied the accusation." --posted by Kim 13 agosto Sterling Spies Of all the things that could link my favorite chef, Julia Child and one of my all-time favorite actors, Sterling Hayden together -- WWII secret spy ring is not one of them.
And yet...check out this story:
"Famed chef Julia Child shared a secret with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg at a time when the Nazis threatened the world. They served in an international spy ring managed by the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA created in World War II by President Franklin Roosevelt.
"The secret comes out Thursday, all of the names and previously classified files identifying nearly 24,000 spies who formed the first centralized intelligence effort by the United States. The National Archives, which this week released a list of the names found in the records, will make available for the first time all 750,000 pages identifying the vast spy network of military and civilian operatives.
"They were soldiers, actors, historians, lawyers, athletes, professors, reporters. But for several years during World War II, they were known simply as the OSS. They studied military plans, created propaganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and stirred resistance among foreign troops.
"Among the more than 35,000 OSS personnel files are applications, commendations and handwritten notes identifying young recruits who, like Child, Goldberg and Berg, earned greater acclaim in other fields — Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a historian and special assistant to President Kennedy; Sterling Hayden, a film and television actor whose work included a role in 'The Godfather'; and Thomas Braden, an author whose 'Eight Is Enough' book inspired the 1970s television series."
--posted by Kim
A Glorious Inglorious BastardI ignore most celebrities I spy walking around L.A. (well, aside from the great Faye Dunaway but she started that) but when Fred Williamson (a.k.a. Black Caesar and all those "Charley" movies that'll never be released solely for their titles) is just standing there on the sidewalk, you have to say hello. Added bonus, I now own one of the Hammer's personal silver lighters designed as...guess? A fist clenching a hammer (I should post a picture of that actually). Right on.
And dig this...the man is over 70-years-old. With respect to his police Captain in "Starsky and Hutch," he sure as hell doesn't look "too old for this shi*." Damn. And if Mr. Tarantino is reading this...give him his "Inglorious Bastard" cameo at least. --posted by Kim 12 agosto A Penny For My Thoughts I love Penny Cruz. Love her. Enough to call her Penny with ease. If her union with Javier Bardem wasn't so perfect (seriously, forget Brad and Angelina, these two are the hottest couple on the planet), I might actually be jealous (I always wanted something more to happen with BFF Salma Hayek but alas...). Anyway, where the hell was I? Oh yes, I also love this story of Woody Allen actually hiding from Ms. Cruz while filming a movie I'm thrilled to see and could give a fig if it's any good ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona" which I hear is indeed very good). But good or not, it has both Cruz and Bardem in it for chrissakes. I'm there.
OK, so back to the story from Gregory Elwood's Hollywood Hitlist:
"Every actor in Woody Allen's fine new comedy 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' found working with the legendary filmmaker to be quite an adjustment. It wasn't that Allen required hours of rehearsal or critiqued every nuance of their performance. The problem was that he was completely the opposite. His cast was allowed a tremendous amount of freedom, and the director insisted on very few takes, liking to keep a very un-movie-like 9-to-5 shooting schedule. Unfortunately, that scared the living daylights out of Penelope Cruz, who plays the film's key comic relief, semi-psycho painter Maria Elena. The fact that the Spanish actress loves to bug her directors to shoot multiple takes didn't help her cause.
"'I drove him crazy with that,' Cruz says. "The last day I think he ran out of patience because he was so sweet and so kind and he always said yes to one more take."
View more MSN videosGo to MSN Movies "But on the last day of shooting Cruz had a very difficult scene and asked Allen for one more take. 'And then we finished the last take and we were going to check the gate and he was nowhere in sight,' she says. 'I was looking for Woody and he was hiding from me.'"
--posted by Kim
'Tropic' Thunderstorm Now I haven't seen Ben Stiller's Hollywood spoof "Tropic Thunder" yet (and I can't wait to see it) but I'm taking an educated guess in thinking that Stiller's "Simple Jack" has more to do with lampooning how an actor's vanity of winning an Oscar will override any sensitivity he might have for the developmentally disabled character he's portraying. The joke's on the self absorbed actor, not the actual "touched" person.
Others, however do not share this opinion:
"A coalition of disabilities groups is expected as early as Monday to call for a national boycott of the film 'Tropic Thunder' because of what the groups consider the movie's open ridicule of the intellectually disabled.
"The film, a movie-industry spoof directed by Ben Stiller, is set for release on Wednesday by Paramount Pictures and its DreamWorks unit.
"'Not only might it happen, it will happen,' Timothy P. Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, said of the expected push for a boycott. Speaking by phone, Mr. Shriver said he planned to be in Los Angeles with representatives of his group and others to picket the movie's premiere on Monday evening in this city's Westwood district.
"A particular sore point has been the film's repeated use of the term 'retard' in referring to a character, Simple Jack, who is played by Mr. Stiller in a subplot about an actor who chases an Oscar by portraying a mindless dolt."
--posted by Kim |
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