So, I was able to sit down for a couple of years and pump out a book. It’s got little to do with movies.Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight†right HERE for free.
And now, you can follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp. Some weeks you get lucky with the kind of information that people are talking about.
ADVENTURES OF POWER – REVIEW
The moment that solidifies THE ADVENTURES OF POWER as a film that is far more than just a movie about a guy, Power, who has dreams of being a great air drummer is when Michael McKean, who plays his father, stands up to a pack of riot police. His father heads a pro-union force looking to hold the line for union workers who toil at a local copper mine; they walk off the job, force its obnoxious, caricature of a boss hoss to shut the normal mining operations down as McKean tries to elevate the working lives of those who live in a tough and shattered city that almost could be classified under Ghost Town categorization by New Mexico standards.
It’s hard to believe that this movie actually is an amusing farce of a film but it is.
Led by the air drumming talents of actor, writer and director Ari Gold as Power himself the movie has two things on its mind: 1) Tell a story about a man who dreams of being so much more than the incompetent miner that everyone else pegs him to be. 2) Take a shot at films where events cumulate in any kind of great event where our hero needs to become the winner of it all.
Knowing these two things, the film is free to spread its thoughts across a wide palette of events that take Power from the destitute city where many dreams have no doubt died. But not Powers’. The film’s opening with Mr. Mister’s “Kyrie†sets the tone for the rest of the film in that we’re exposed to a lot of classic music where the focus is on songs with rich drum sound. What’s funny, or duly noted, about this is that not only does this movie bring together sounds from the past which let drummers express their presence in a band but the story is shaped by the music that I remember meant something more than some of what’s being made today. Power is that man, trapped in the years far in the past, trying to bring together his passion for being his own individual and trying to make those around him respect his abilities as a superior air drummer.
The premise is absolutely ludicrous, it should be said, but Powers’ walkabout that finds him first in an underground air drum contest far away from his home and then under the tutelage of a former master of funk, Carlos, played by Steven Williams. What transpires in the hollows of Newark, New Jersey is a fantastical tale of a man who is taught how to become an even greater air drummer within a cast of absolutely bizarre band mates who air drum themselves. The mere transcribing of their efforts baffles even me why it’s funny to watch and take in but a lot of that credit should go to writer/director Ari Gold. His talent for writing a story that’s funny is one thing but you could virtually watch this film without the sound on and soak in the deliciousness of his direction. The cinematography only adds another layer to what makes this film special; it’s far too beautiful for how simple the story is but it couches the events of this film in a place that feels absolutely real. It’s not like an over lit comedic showpiece that is made specifically to accent the performances of the talent on the screen, this movie makes the places inform its action.
Dallas Houston, played by Entourage’s Adrian Grenier, is also a wild card into this mix of craziness. Playing a overly hackneyed version of a superstar that is, himself, a walking caricature of arrogance we see that Houston also has dreams of being a great air drummer, a sinister behavior that he must keep hidden from his copper mine owning father (how coincidental!) but that’s the idea. The movie sends up films where these tropes exist but ADVENTURES OF POWER gets it right. It knows where to put the musical interlude during our hero’s training and it even knows every hero needs a lady to fight for. Segue to Power falling in love and wooing a deaf girl (played by the adorable Shoshannah Stern) and you have yourself the other piece to this cinematic puzzle.
Even though the events that lead up to ending and resolution of the film is as predictable as the movies it lampoons the real treat is experiencing the potential in Ari Gold’s filmmaking. His previous effort in the short, short CULTURE have proven him to be sharp, thoughtful and quick to understand the patterns that exist in modern cinema and this film is no different. The satire here is sure to be lost on those who don’t see through the superficiality of what makes this movie such a small gem in the land of independent film which seems cluttered with films looking to spread heady and heavy messages. Ari Gold’s vision is fully realized in a movie that blends place and theme, and a wicked ass soundtrack, wonderfully.
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE – PREMIERE IN TEMPE, AZ
There isn’t a whole helluva lot that follows which is mine.
An Internet contest that was vying for the World Premiere of X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE got underway weeks ago. Hugh Jackman had a pre-recorded video message that asked fans from all over America to try and get the star studded event, he mentioned bringing a whole cadre of his actor buddies with him to help celebrate, in their town.
I, being of sound mind and not giving in to such ploys to generate market interest in the movies, didn’t vote. Of all the places, who would want to bring a movie premiere to my backyard, to Arizona?
All of mo-fo’s did, apparently.
The masses spoke and thanks to this being a lead story in broadcast and online news (yeah, not much was happening that day) on the last day of voting Tempe, Arizona pulled out a win. Hugh again delievered a taped message a week ago last Monday to regale people with the good news. Again it was reported on as if Jesus Christ himself was about to appear at the local Dairy Queen.
Days leading up to the event only meant more hoopla, more mentions of the fact that the last premiere to come to Arizona was BEN HUR, decades ago, and even the day of, this Monday, lines stretched around the theater the night before to try and get tickets or to at least jockey for a good position to see Hugh Jackman and company up close and personal. Hugh did the crowd a solid and sent muffins and coffee for the die hards in the wee hours on Monday morning, spending $4,300 on breakfast items for the crowd.
Me? I was giving alms to my press pass and just making sure I had my batteries charged.
What was to follow later that day, that night was pretty neat even from all the years I’ve spent covering events at places like the Comic-Con. The level of intensity from the crowd who were simply happy to be there, to see Jackman working the event like the emcee he’s so good at being, was inspiring simply because these were people who don’t work in the movie field and are just happy to indulge in a little superficality for an evening. It was good to reinvigorate myself to see how much people dig these sorts of things. Even though there’s no way in hell there will ever be another premiere in Arizona for quite some time it was still nice to talk to Wil i Am, Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Liev Schreiber and Hugh Jackman. I even got to have a very pleasant talk with Wolf from American Gladiators which was a surprisingly interesting and warm exchange.
Not all the questions below I was able to ask personally. I take minimal responsibility for some of the more innane inquiries, especially the ones asked to Hugh, so I hope you enjoy the rapid fire pace of what follows.
WOLVERINE Interview Questions and Answers
LIEV SCHREIBER
LIEV: That’s me.The bad guy from Scream. And I am Naomi Watt’s baby daddy.
QUESTION:How are the kiddies?
LIEV: They’re good. They’re good. They’re at home.
QUESTION [Christ, I don’t know what I did to get saddled with these people]:What do you look for in a woman?If Namoi would say have at it.
LIEV:I don’t believe I could answer that question in good conscience.
QUESTION:Here’s an easy question.When you watch a movie are you a popcorn or candy kind of guy?
LIEV:It depends on what they got. But, generally, I’m a popcorn kind of guy. If the movie is good, you never make it past one handful.
[Want to know why some actors hate junkets? Wait for what comes next.] QUESTION: Is Hugh Jackman everything we think he is?
LIEV: He’s awesome. Hugh’s pretty good. Ryan Reynolds said it best. He said Hugh is so nice he makes ice cream look like Hitler.
(Laughs)
STIPP: You have a strong theater background.What kind of movie does this represent to you when you look at the jobs you’re going to take? Do you make a difference between theatre and big budget action pictures?
LIEV: The plain simple fact is that I don’t think men mature past the age of 22. Physically we can become 90, 100, 120 but mentally most men don’t go past 22 so when they say to you do you want to come to the movie and be the giant mutant cat that flys around the buildings and whips Hugh’s ass, I said yes.
STIPP: There’s no hesitation?
LIEV: No, there’s no hesitation. I don’t think there’s any hesitate for any man in that situation. Wouldn’t you do it?
STIPP:Of course.
LYNN COLLINS
QUESTION: What’s something interesting that our fans would want to know about? [Journalists, asking the hard hitting questions!]
COLLINS: What’s interesting to me is that one day Hugh came to me and said that the producers had gotten together and said that I needed to be wearing an outfit that may be more skimpy. So I walk into my trailer and there is the tiniest little silver dress I had ever seen in my life. So I put it on and went outside and they all said April Fool’s. It was a big joke. So I was standing there in front of the producers and Hugh Jackman in the tiniest dress that didn’t fit me.
QUESTION:Sounds like fun. [Sounds like mental retardation…]
COLLINS: That was fun. Humility. Humility baby.
STIPP: As a theatre actress, and I’ve read about how you and Liev already have worked before in that capacity, this is obviously something bigger than you have ever experienced before.
COLLINS: Right.
STIPP:How was it going from theatre to big budget action movie?How does that translate for your performance?
COLLINS: You know, I found it very interesting when I was working on this process that I was really able to utilize all my experience and training at Juliard because we are dealing with such sweeping emotions because we are working on stages with a green screen.
QUESTION: How was it working with Hugh?
COLLINS:He was the charismatic leader on this film. Everyone worked so hard and he was really the catalyst and shared that energy with all of us.
TAYLOR KITSCH
TAYLOR KITSCH: Hey, how are ya?
QUESTION:Welcome to Tempe.
KITSCH:Thanks for having me. It’s a pleasure to be a part of it all.
QUESTION:Is this your first visit to Tempe?
KITSCH: It is. I have driven through but actually my first time to take it in.
QUESTION:Where’s home for you?
KITSCH:Austin, Texas.
STIPP:What’s it like to take a comic book character to screen.You have those internet geeks who love to rip apart everyone saying, “He’s not right, he’s not good, he’s not…whatever.” How did you approach this character?
KITSCH: The only way is you have to dive into it man. It’s all or nothing. You have to just commit to it 150%. So from learning the tools he has to the cars, to his accent, to his posture, to his cadence, to everything else, that’s how you do it.
STIPP:Did you get to the point where you just say, “What the hell?This is a comic book.What am I doing?”
KITSCH: No. Because the more I dived into him the more passionate I became, the more I understood the fans. I want to go another round with him at least. To go darker.
STIPP:Really?
KITSCH: Absolutely.
STIPP:You said you wanted to introduce him.Where is the Gambit we get in this movie?
KITSCH: You get a few pieces of him. He loves to fight and play around. You have to remember who he is against. Who Wolverine is to him at the time is a lot different than if you had Gambit earlier on which is something I would love to explore. How did he get to the point where he’s at his own poker table and he has that smirk. What made him have that, you know? I think a lot of that would be fun to explore.
WILL I AM
QUESTION: How are you doing?
i AM:I’m 21 and older.
QUESTION:Hey, for all the brothers and sisters out there, what should they know about this film?
i AM: It’s a brother super hero, you know… You know what I’m saying? Obama’s in the White House, first Black super hero…
(Laughs)
Nah. It’s a great film.
QUESTION: What’s the biggest challenge you had doing this film?
i AM: It’s my first movie ever so that’s a challenge. Dealing with professionals. Look at that poster. Check that shit out!
STIPP: Are you thinking of hanging one in your house?
i AM: No. That looks weird to me. I can deal with Black Eyed Peas…that’s normal but this is not normal.
STIPP:Does this represent something to you now, like this is where you always wanted to be, a multi-talented artist?
i AM: It makes me say, WOW. What I can do and what anybody is capable of doing. It’s not what you want because a lot of times you don’t dream it. You’re afraid of getting your world crushed. So that represents dreaming because you can be it. To any youth out there, to any kid, it’s like look at me. You can do it. Three years ago I never thought that was possible. To me, it’s a little kid in the projects or a girl that’s going through a lot, you can make it happen. Just dream big. Anything is possible. White, brothers, Chinese, Korean…anybody. You can do it man. I am freaking out looking at that poster.
QUESTION:What’s going to be next for you? Any more movies?
i AM: No. Next I’m going to release the Alicia Keys album and get back to what I am a pro at …. And I’m not a pro even at that because Herbie Hancock is a pro.
STIPP: If you’re not a pro then what are you?
i AM: I’m a fan that has equipment. At the end of the day, really that’s what it is. I’m a fan, I’m bored and I entertain myself. And people like it.
HUGH JACKMAN
Hugh started off things by talking about his most generous gift of caffeine and pastries that morning to those waiting to get in to see the premiere.
HUGH JACKMAN: Were you here this morning?
QUESTION:No, but the fans were.
JACKMAN: Oh yeah. My pleasure.
Boy, when I rang Arianna at the bakery. I didn’t even know what the bakery’s called, but I think there was a 10 second pause when I said, “This is Hugh Jackman and I need 800 muffins and 800 cups of coffee.”
It went quiet.
“Is this a joke?”
(Laughs)
QUESTION:How are you liking Tempe?
JACKMAN: I’m loving it. What a way to come here too. The time of year and the fans are insane. I love that. That’s how these fans are. I’m telling you, I’ve been living with this character and these fans for maybe 9 years and that’s why I wanted to show it to them first.
QUESTION: And Hugh, everyone wants to know how did you get your arms in this kind of shape?
JACKMAN: As a producer I should have gotten a little more money from the visual effects budget but I didn’t. I just went to the gym and did it the old fashioned way.
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