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. This week saw all sorts of conversations about the horribleness of Wolverine and the promise that Star Trek would easily dethrone the big cat with claws at the box office this weekend.
***CONTEST – THE FALL AND RISE OF REGINALD PERRIN***
What was just a fleeting opportunity to promote another DVD turned into something of a curiosity to me.
I had never heard of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, for the most obvious reason that it was on the BBC in the late 70’s, but after watching a few clips I have to admit I am more curious to watch this and am wanting to give you rascals the chance to see what could be just the thing to get me going as all my other shows on television are dipping below the surface, not to return until the fall.
I have a few copies of the series on DVD. If you’d like a chance to win one just shoot me a note at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com and let me know your favorite BBC program. It’s as easy as that.
More about the show:
Michael Scott of “The Office” didn’t write the book on career disillusionment. Back in the “˜70s, Reginald Perrin was fighting his own demons at Sunshine Desserts. The BBC’s “The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin” starred brilliant actor Leonard Rossiter (Barry Lyndon, 2001: A Space Odyssey) and aired from 1976-1979 to great critical and popular acclaim. The darkly-comedic series featured an outstanding cast of Britain’s best ““ Pauline Yates (Darling, “Peacekeepers”), Sue Nichols (“Coronation Street”, “Crossroads”), and Geoffrey Palmer (A Fish Called Wanda, Tomorrow Never Dies). This spring, E1 Entertainment brings all 21 episodes, plus “The Reginald Perrin Christmas Special” to DVD for the first time. THE FALL AND RISE OF REGINALD PERRIN: THE COMPLETE SERIES arrives in-stores as a 4-DVD set on May 12 for $59.98 SRP.
The DVD release of “The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin” is sure to excite classic British comedy fans, as will the revival of the series by the BBC this fall. BBC One has announced that Martin Clunes (“Doc Martin,” Shakespeare in Love) will play the title character in “Perrin,” which will be written by the original series writer and creator David Nobbs with “Men Behaving Badly” writer Simon Nye.
Eccentric sales executive Reginald Perrin is disillusioned with his life and unrewarding job at Sunshine Desserts. As the stresses of his mundane life surface, he pushes the boundaries of acceptable behavior at work. Finally, Reggie reaches a breaking-point, his mid-life crisis leading him to an extreme attempt at escape. He leaves his clothes on a bench at the beach, and fakes his own suicide. Instead of starting a new life somewhere else, Reggie tours the countryside assuming a variety of disguises ““ from buck-toothed pig farmer to pompous explorer. In his attempt at finding fulfillment, he discovers he truly misses his wife, and he returns home to start a brand new life. But, will he fall back into the same old routine again and again?
STAR TREK – REVIEWED
“How often people speak of art and science as though they were two entirely different things, with no interconnection. An artist is emotional, they think, and uses only his intuition; he sees all at once and has no need of reason. A scientist is cold, they think, and uses only his reason; he argues carefully step by step, and needs no imagination. That is all wrong. The true artist is quite rational as well as imaginative and knows what he is doing; if he does not, his art suffers. The true scientist is quite imaginative as well as rational, and sometimes leaps to solutions where reason can follow only slowly; if he does not, his science suffers.” – Isaac Asimov
After thinking about the highest compliment I can confer on this film it would be this: I want to see this movie again.
Something I didn’t realize I’ve missed after all the films I’ve seen in the last year is the innate sensation after the credits roll when you know you could sit through another viewing. That moment when you honestly could sit back down in the theater and watch the movie all over again with the same pleasure as you did before it started the first time. What JJ Abrams has managed to create is a summer film that bridges the chasm between those who have simmered in the Star Trek universe broth for decades, and explains to some degree why the franchise was in such dire straits as the latter films sputtered towards extinction, and those of us who just want to be entertained by a thin story and giant explosions.
JJ delivers on all the elements necessary to crafting a great mass market summer film starting with an opening reminiscent of BAMBI, FINDING NEMO and any other Disney film when a child needs to learn the tragedy of life from the get-go. What the first 10 minutes feel like is JJ finding his groove and to lay the foundation of what’s to come; the sequence establishes the tenor and mood of the entire film. So many times you have an opening sequence that seems so well-crafted that the next hour and 50 minutes couldn’t possibly live up to the great first chapter when you realize there was never enough in the tank to go more than a mile. JJ seems ballasted by not only knowing what is needed for every moment to feel weighty, in that every moment feels like it belongs and adds something extra to the overall whole, but his world as he’s creating it feels real.
Now, reality as I’ve come to define it after seeing STAR TREK is one that has rules but has to convince others to believe the reality. Keeping in mind we’re talking about warping star ships, phasers, drills that are miles long that can burrow into the center of a planet, interdimensional time warps and scads of other nuanced things that simply are not real. However, JJ and Co. manage those observations in a delicate balance of delivering superb special effects but not leaning on them like a crutch, an awful disease that many directors have succumbed to as of late. It’s the actors, deigned with the opportunity to bring a fantastical script to an even more apparent reality, that deserve some notice and praise.
Chris Pine (James Kirk), who up until this point charmed me in his turn as a twisted and demonic hillbilly in SMOKIN’ ACES, does a superb job playing the would be/will be Shatner. He carries himself with a hint, a whiff, of obnoxiousness that makes his role one that exudes a swagger rolled up with the classic underdog trope of a boy who needs to become a man. His boyhood mischief, his bar room brawls are nothing more than flimsy set-ups to show the depths of which he’s lost in his own PR and male bravado as a Lothario that never can seal the deal with Uhura (Zoe Saldana). But, and this is key, it’s the moment when Kirk meets Bones (Karl Urban) when you can feel the velocity of this film taking hold and never relenting. It’s also the time when we meet up with a young Spock (Zachary Quinto) who lives on planet Vulcan. What’s silly, of course, is to suppose this is all happening on a real planet removed from the safety of Earth’s natural berms and landscape but Abrams wills and makes Vulcan seem like a planet; the effects here are slight but rich in impact. He gives his situations, and all situations from start to finish, a polish, a thin veneer, of reality. Yes, Vulcan exists. Yes, cops of the future do ride motorcycles that fly. Yes, it is possible to beam from a ship to a planet’s surface; all the while, mind you, of never compromising the intentions of the actors in the scenes they’re in.
Kirk’s eventual rise to power as the ship’s captain is an intriguing one if not completely predictable, and there is a lot of goofiness to be had in the moments leading up to the logical blocks that are put in front of him from even being allowed ON the Enterprise, but these are all quibbles with the film’s focus on creating a summer movie. You could find yourself straining at wondering at the logical issues concerning the film’s villain Nero (a one-noted and camouflaged performance by Eric Bana) and his actions, however, this would take away from the sheer delight in wondering at the sight of John Cho (Sulu) kicking in some Romulan head during the film’s first real hand-to-hand combat scene, witnessing the fate of the first red shirt to go into battle and feeling the physics involved to make me believe that this all seems plausible as a viewer. Suspension of disbelief is not enough in this film as JJ takes the effects to a level that should cement this movie’s place as one of the more intensely enjoyable movies of the summer movie season.
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As well, when you consider all the personalities that need to be juggled, from introducing an entire ship’s worth of STAR TREK regulars to the plot that can get a touch convoluted if not completely unbelievable, Abrams manages to make you care about each one of them. Now, the depths to which we care can be debated but for the core cast of regulars there isn’t one throw-away moment for any of them especially when you consider the handful of characters that seemed to be much for lesser directors of recent summer films. It is important to give everyone the chance to be meaningful to the film’s progression, for if they weren’t why even be included in a script and, at that point, if they were I could guarantee a troubled film, and JJ does that. From Chekov’s minor miracles to Simon Pegg’s (Scotty) delightful and atmospheric comedic relief at a moment when the film delivers one of the more emotionally charged scenes STAR TREK is a record that knows what speed to play at without ever speeding up or slowing down unnecessarily. The movie is filled with enough crags and crevices which bring us to the penultimate moment but to explain them would spoil the fun of witnessing the birth of a franchise that finally is able to appeal to those like me who are familiar with the characters but aren’t beholden to the rigid back history of the iconic series. This isn’t to say, though, the film doesn’t have some issues.
The musical cues seem a little too ostentatious at times and threatens to take over the production and, unless you’re Ray Charles, there is no way not to notice the copious use the many lens flares that JJ seems to use as if he were a little kid just shown how to fire a gun; he loves using both almost to the detriment to the picture. The writing, as well, could be picked apart and dissected like a splayed open frog in biology class but, really, if you’re going to take issue with a summer film which is specifically designed to generate income and to be one of the few movies to help a studio make its annual nut you need to understand a few theories of basic economics. Which isn’t to say JJ has to make an inferior product, and he absolutely does not, but it’s important in understanding that the movie is not some artistic vision that can stand up to scrutiny if you were to compare it to a film like MILK. These kinds of films, these summer films, are made to entertain and to hopefully coming back for more. I already know this film is a special one in that I am already thinking about when I can see it again.
Forget WOLVERINE, STAR TREK is the real beginning of your summer.
ERIC LANGE of LOST
There’s this great Night Court episode that has always stayed with me ever since I saw it air decades ago. Harry, played by Harry Anderson, has to convince a very deranged woman who is brandishing a grenade in his court that what she sees on television is not reality. The blend of humor and the very not funny threat of someone dying was emblematic of a series that blurred the line of what a sitcom was. So, too, is my love affair of Lost.
A program that has dared me to leave it more than once and a program that keeps finding ways to bring me back, Lost provides audiences with the kind of drama that looks to challenge traditional methods of storytelling on television. So, it was with great anticipation that I was able to talk to Eric Lange, who you all know by the name Stuart Radzinsky and rocks a beard like no other on that show, wherein I was able to find out more about the man who has become synonymous with supreme jerkitude on the series. The “others” may be mysterious and wanton in their violence and malevolence towards others but Lange is just plain mean.
It was a pleasure, then, to talk to the actor playing Radzinsky. What I found was an actor just excited to be playing a role like this, in a series like this. His passion for the craft was something refreshing when you consider how far gone other performers can get when they stop seeing the ephemeral winning lotto ticket in their hand. Eschewing any question that even tiptoes the line of “What can be expect from the season finale…” I instead wanted to know more about him as an actor, a working actor, and what this opportunity means to his career.
From ditching the series as a viewer to realizing the importance of bug spray there couldn’t be a better jerk on television who I hope finds success after he finds his way off the island. The series finale airs this upcoming Wednesday, May 13th on ABC.
CHRISTOPHER STIPP: I’ve been reading a little bit about you as an actor and what led you here to Lost. I’m really just curious to find out, at least to start off things with what happened from 1998 and 2001 where there doesn’t seem to be much from you?
ERIC LANGE: ’98 and 2001? Well, to be honest, when I first moved to LA I couldn’t get an agent or get anyone to represent me theatrically so I was doing a lot of theatre which is sort of my roots ““ theatre and commercials ““ and every now and then I got friends to come to a play I was in and toss me a job here and there. That’s what the Bold and the Beautiful is and my early, early jobs. But really they were just from people that knew me at the time.
So it’s really all I was doing.
Then after that it just of moved into commercials. I was doing commercials for about 7 years here and making a living that way and saying I was a working actor but I obviously wanted to be making movies and scripted television. So then I ended up doing another play years later and a friend of mine brought her manager to the play and he picked me up. After that things moved relatively quickly because I had all that time here doing commercials and theatre to just sort of marinate and get ready for the day I was going to be able to get into rooms and I would be able to work relatively quickly. So that’s sort of the reason for that gap.
CS: Certainly after that it looks like Lost is the longest time you’ve spent on scripted television.
LANGE: Yes. I had smaller recurring things on other shows earlier. LAX, the Heather Locklear/Blair Underwood show I was on for just a little bit and just prior to Lost I did a show called 26 Miles which was like a 6 episode pilot basically. It was made to be sold as a half season and then a network or studio would pick up the other half of the season. So, that was 6 episodes and that was my longest stint and now Lost is a little past that, so you are correct.
CS: So how did this come into your life? Was it one of those things where you were just out on auditions or were you asked to audition for it?
LANGE: Yes, my manager called and said you need to audition for this or that and I was particularly excited about this because I wanted to do something on that show for so long I just had the highest respect for it and wanted to be on there. The show I had done previously, the 26 Miles pilot, I had about 6 months before that started and I was going to do it and I had to change rather drastically. My hair was always rather short so I spent all this time growing my hair out and this beard and so I thought if I’m ever going to be on Lost, now is the time to do it. I got the beard, the long hair, I can pop out of the jungle. I could say I was on the plane, or I was an accountant, or something.
(Laughs)
So, I just went in to audition. It’s not a typical audition with them. Usually you go to meet the producers in an audition ““ and the writer ““ but with Lost because everybody is in Hawaii you’re really just reading for the casting director and somebody films you and they mail the tape off and you either get it or you don’t. So it felt like such a simple process for what became such a great job. You know?
CS: Yes, and an interesting character too. We all know how he ends up but it’s really interesting to see how he gets to where that finite end is. Could you speak a little bit about how… I read in a previous interview where there really wasn’t so much direction given to you regarding these origins of the character but you were allowed to make him up – as it were?
LANGE: The original audition ““ I know I’ve spoken about this before ““ but they didn’t even have the name Radzinski on the audition side it was this Marty Jankowski guy. So that’s who I was auditioning for initially. So, when I got the job they called and said you are playing Radzinski and the name sort of rang a bell. I wasn’t sure why it was so secretive but that’s how a lot of things are on that show. I ended up googling him and found all these web pages about him and immediately got very nervous about the shoes I had to fill.
It was evident that there were a lot of fans that were curious about him and what he knows and why he offs himself and all these different things and I though, boy, I have a lot of people to please. So I ended up calling my manager and said is there something they want me to know? Now, knowing where we are going to take him eventually, or if they will, knowing where he ends up in the bible of Lost, is there something they want me to know now that I could put in play and the answer was a pretty definitive no. They said, “No, if we want him to know something we’ll tell him.” It was good in a sense because I had the information about where the guy’s going to eventually go and I had the scripts and the words they give me are rather strong clues to what kind of person he is. But I did get to work a fair amount on my little back story and sort of create this guy from scratch. The guy we’ve heard about but never seen.
CS: And you mentioned something about Lost having something close to a bible. The pantheon of fans out there…that there’s no detail that goes unnoticed with the people who really dig this show. How was that knowing that every tick, every peculiarity is poured over? I don’t know if you ever now gone back to see what people are talking about and see if people are really on the mark or off the mark with about what’s to come later on in the season?
LANGE: You mean in terms of what they were picking up about him before him even being seen or since I started on the show?
CS: That’s interesting. I would be interested in hearing both. First of all, we caught glimpses of him and now that you are fully realized ““ what people are saying now about the character.
LANGE: Well, you know. Let me think. I just want to make sure about what you are asking. You are asking how I feel about what people are saying about the guy now that he’s out there?
CS: Correct. Now that people have had the chance to see you, what are they saying about you?
LANGE: Well, I don’t have a lot of fans. Let’s put it that way.
(Laughs)
I’m hoping people are enjoying it but obviously he’s a thorn in the side of our heroes at this point and it is interesting that he’s so hot blooded. That does contribute to someone who could put a shotgun in his mouth. He’s a wildly passionate individual and it was sort of assumed early on that the guy had some wild knowledge about a lot of things and now we find out that he was the architect of the Swan so he’s been credited with being a genius or scientist. But, no, the few things I’ve been sent from friends and from what I’ve seen on the internet is pretty hard to read sometimes.
(Laughs)
I’ve been called all sorts of names. He’s a problem child but in terms of my fears about living up to the expectations of the fans. I just said I’m going to make what I make and hopefully they can get behind it. The thing to me about playing people like that is as long as there’s justification for the way they act, people can get behind it. And with him, we are sort of catching him in the middle of a period for him. In the middle of building the Swan and his work with Darma and so I just created this thing in my head that he was sort of told a story that he was going to be this big deal there and when he got there there were all these other people running around and touching his stuff and running projects and he sort of wanted to run the show so that’s the place I’m taking it from now but there’s got to be ways to justify the way he’s such a complete pompous ass he is and certainly leaving people curious enough without just hating the guy and writing him off, which is a danger.
CS: Correct. And this is one of the, and I don’t want to say tightest written series on television for sounding too hyperbolic, but looking at the scripts you are being given week after week, how do you respond to something when you are used to going on some of these shows, doing an episode and then leaving. Looking at a script where you are not allowed to know some things but know others… how does that all work in a cohesive sense when there are so many things going on at once?
LANGE: It’s tricky because you don’t know anything really. You know that at the end of some episodes that if there’s a story line left untold you assume that they will come back to it. So you do see some sort of arch but don’t know exactly where it’s going to go but it’s actually kind of exciting. I remember being in Hawaii at the hotel and the day that the scripts would come out running down from the Lobby wondering what the heck am I going to be doing this week. It’s been exciting. When you do one spot on one show you are gone. You don’t get that kind of thrill.
Every now and then it’s a little jarring, oh my goodness the things they have me saying and doing, the character they are forming as I find it in the script week to week and sometimes I find it a bit jarring and I have to go into my justification pile as say why is this important to him. And the bigger picture that this is sort of like war to him. He’s sort of like a general in an army and there are possible enemies lurking around and gaining information and that’s life and death. A lot of things on Lost aren’t life and death. But it’s a pretty curious thing. I sort of see him as a policeman who is jus trying to protect what they built and what they are working on and he just happens to get quite agitated when things don’t go his way, if any of that makes any sense.
CS: It does. You are now the 4th person I’ve talked to from the cast in the many years it’s been on. You hit a central theme when you say it’s all a matter of life and death and everyone who I’ve talked to says life off the set and in the set while you are working on it couldn’t been a more congenial and open and warm place to be.
LANGE: Absolutely.
CS: How have you responded to that sort of climate as an actor?
LANGE: Coming from doing one show at a time, mainly a guest star here and there, you sort of get thrown into this family that you don’t know but they have been working together for years and you are trying to look like a seamless part of this giant machine they have created. Sometimes the families are friendly and sometimes because they know you are leaving that week there is really no attempt to make any conversation or environment where you might feel more comfortable. Going into Lost when I first got the job I only knew I was doing two episodes. That was the deal. So I thought, well two episodes but I was a little intimidated because of the size of the show and the scope of that show and I thought, “My God, what if these people are monsters? What if their ego’s have gone to their head because they are on this giant train that is Lost?” And I could not have found anything farther from the truth.
I mean, from day one they were the most down to earth, friendly, there was no ego involved, just acceptance and I felt like I was part of the crew right away. They were really wonderful in that way. And when you are comfortable like that you are just able to do better work. You feel better about yourself, you can trust in what you are doing better and it’s just nice to have that support. But throughout my entire stint there I just grew closer and closer to those people and have a huge amount of respect for them on their behavior on the set and their generosity really. And, the crew is the same way. The crew is a lot of Hawaii based people, very down to earth, very kind and really it is funny how sort of light hearted the set is. It’s not that anyone’s careless about their work but it really is like a very friendly place to be. I had an absolute blast there.
CS: And one of the interesting things about the show itself too, for how many years it’s been on, you don’t hear anything about any petty sort of in-fighting or anything associated with some programs that are on a very long time that most succumb to. Any ideas of how they’ve managed to avoid needless drama?
LANGE: I don’t know. I’m always amazed when I hear about the drama on these things. It’s like you think when you get a job on that level you would just be happy to do you job and go home. I think part of it has to be because they are so removed. Being there in Hawaii is like you own little camp. Like you go to Lost camp. And they are not right there in Hollywood hearing about the bickering that goes on or seeing the power plays that get pulled. I think to some degree everyone just really likes being on the show and happy with their jobs and happy to be a part of something that has such an impact on culture in television. But, I think the distance is a big thing because when you get there it’s not like Hollywood. It’s Hawaii ““ a much different environment and relatively laid-back, peaceful place to be. I think it engenders that on the set as well.
CS: One of the things that I think makes you a perfect representation of Lost is that I read that you bailed on the series for a little while and then came back to it as you boned up on your part. I would think that any Lost fan agrees that this season just outshines ““ the writing is better, it’s tighter…How do you think they found their groove back? What’s your take on why it’s so good this season?
LANGE: Well, my take is that ““ I did. I hate to say it but somewhere at the end of season 3 I thought, boy, they did such a good job the first two seasons at peaking interest and creating mysteries and things I was just so curious about and wanted answers to, and they kept stretching them out.
And now my belief about why they did that is because they didn’t know how long they were going to be on the air. They didn’t know how long they were going to have to keep these things a mystery.
So I think for a while there it sort of felt like they were treading water. I don’t know if this is the fact or not but I got the sense of having to keep these story lines afloat because what if we are doing this for 10 years. And now that they have given themselves an end point, now they see a finish line and they are saying, what do we need to get in before the finish line? And it’s much easier to plot and plan and really build things on a more detailed level I would guess, episode to episode knowing they only have this many to go. So I think they are really sinking their teeth in and challenging audiences and giving everyone a great run for their money and a great piece of television.
CS: One of the other things that you brought up was that largely, the production is very picturesque. It’s done outside in Hawaii. What kind of challenges does filming on a beach, in jungles, in that kind of humidity present from day to day?
LANGE: That’s where I give props to their crew. I see these guys in season 5 and a lot of these guys are Hawaii based so they are used to working in that and used to working some adverse conditions and they are incredibly adapt at it. It’s amazing to watch how quickly and with such economy they can get these major shots set up and pulled off. And people running around the jungle with a steady cam. They are not running on boards. It’s dirt and mud. We had a couple days where it was very rainy and there was just mud everywhere. It’s so humid. I was there at relatively decent conditions given the time of the year. But it was 85 ““ 90 degrees and very humid and you got the bugs in the jungle. There were days I came off the set with many mosquito bites and I learned very quickly to take the bug spray when they offer it to you.
(Laughs)
But it was kind of fun. It feels very genuine as an actor. You are out in that. It’s not a sound stage with a bunch of plastic trees. You are in the jungle. It’s really exciting that way. But, it’s not a show for the faint of heart. There’s not always a trailer right next to where you are shooting but it makes it kind of fun. I always felt bad about complaining about anything because I’ve watched the show and know the things they have been through and this is nothing.
CS: I am amazed when I read an interview when someone from Lost says they are always trying to ply them for information about what’s coming next ““ to the extent that everyone dodges the question. It makes me feel uncomfortable, must make you feel uncomfortable. But, as the series now trends toward the end, do you feel, now that there is an end in sight, that we can expect more of the same of what we’ve been given this season?
LANGE: Oh yeah. My sense of it as it gets from this the new episode forward would be the variable forward the last episode Some Like it Hot was relatively, some themes in there, but it was relatively lighthearted for an episode of Lost. I think it’s partly because from here on out it ups the ante all the time. It becomes a great roller coaster ride. I think that the rest of the episodes to come and the finale should be some stupendous television. It really is quite an action packed end of season from this point forward.
CS: Having already taped the finale, when you reflect on it, how do you see your time on the program itself and what it’s done for you professionally and as an actor?
LANGE: My time on the program? I can’t say anything other than it was a dream job. It really was. To be on a show that you are already a big fan of and to have it go as well as it did for me ““ great challenge as an actor and befriend the people that work on that set ““ it was just nothing short of spectacular for me. And professionally, it really is amazing the difference between working on one level of show (and I won’t name names) and then working on Lost.
When my third episode aired, and I hadn’t really heard anything on the street and I went out over the weekend there must have been 10 different people that came up to me and said, “Are you Radzinsky? Lost is a great show.” So out of the blue people are starting to come up to me and things like that. It’s just a testament to the audience and kind of impact that show has.
You never know where your career is going to go or what opportunities are going to come to you or not but it certainly in terms of it’s stature I think it’s the biggest thing I’ve been a part of. I hope it does great things for my career, obviously but I’m already getting a sense that it is a bit bigger than you in some ways.
CS: I have to imagine ““ I know everyone talks about acting ““ “It’s just a job…It’s just something I do” – do you get some sort of thrill when you get recognized for being on the show?
LANGE: Yeah. I went to some art fair this guy walked by me and just yelled, “Radzinsky!” Like that’s my name, you know? And I turned around and said “Yeah?” and he said “I’m such a fan of the show” and he was with a friend and they introduced themselves and just the nicest people. Coming from theatre you do a role, you do a show and you get instant audience feedback. You get applause, you get laughter, you get validation that what you did meant something to somebody. But on television you never really get that. It just airs and who knows what anyone really thought of it. So it’s always nice to have people come up to you and say, “Hey, I dig the show” or “Dig what you’re doing.”
It’s just confirmation that you are on the right path in some way. It feels good that whatever it is you do makes somebody a little happier than they were before, I guess to put it simply. So yes, it’s a great feeling.
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.
There isn’t a whole helluva lot that follows which is mine.
All of mo-fo’s did, apparently.
Me? I was giving alms to my press pass and just making sure I had my batteries charged.
QUESTION: What’s something interesting that our fans would want to know about? [Journalists, asking the hard hitting questions!]
TAYLOR KITSCH: Hey, how are ya?
QUESTION: How are you doing?
I don’t need to see this film again, nor do I have the need to ever own it.
Who here loves Battlestar Galactica? Now, who wants something to take the edge off the series’ abscence from television?
Zach Levi and Josh Gomez are friends of this site.
Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn’t.
For those of you not in the know, PFF stands for Phoenix Film Festival, the largest film festival in the state of Arizona. It might very well be one of the friendliest in the nation for true independent filmmakers. This is the buzz that was going around the eight-day event amongst auteur young and old. A professional and friendly (from both staff and film folk) atmosphere abounded. There was more of a sense of camaraderie than of competition. Encouragement and goodwill spilled over into the audiences as well.
The music industry is dying a slow and protracted death. Note well that I am obviously not indicting the artists who are scraping by as their corporate overlords are wondering what ingenious scheme can wrest away more money from an audience that seems to be under the delusion that the $9.99 they’ve just spent at Best Buy for the latest Young Jeezy album is making its way back to young Jeez. What’s more is that their death is being expedited like a nurse smothering a patient looking to die by suffocation by 
Quick announcement for those readers living in Phoenix (surprisingly, there are a lot of you out there) there is a screening of Kevin MacDonald’s (ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND) solidly casted film, STATE OF PLAY. The movie boasts the talents of Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren and Robin Wright Penn so at the very least it’ll be pretty to look at.
As well, I’ve got a screening for SIN NOMBRE this week for Arizona dwellers.
Alan Moore writer, artist and performer is the world’s most critically acclaimed and widely admired creator of comic books and graphic novels. In The Mindscape of Alan Moore we see a portrait of the artist as contemporary shaman, someone with the power to transform consciousness by means of manipulating language, symbols and images. The film leads the audience through Moore’s world with the writer himself as guide, beginning with his childhood background, following the evolution of his career as he transformed the comics medium, through to his immersion in a magical worldview where science, spirituality and society are part of the same universe.
Featuring interviews with hundreds of fans, movie executives, and high profile celebrities, A GALAXY FAR FAR AWAY delves into the franchise that has made household names of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, R2-D2 and C3PO. As a new wave of Star Wars mania was being induced in “˜99, Jalal brought his cameras to Star Wars conventions, to boisterous nationwide premieres, into the homes of devoted fans showing off their treasures and collectibles and captured those who spent 42 days on line, just to be first to see The Phantom Menace. 
Sometimes it’s just good to sit on something.
CHRISTOPHER STIPP: Tell me, what is it about this show ““ it’s one of those shows that has been shrouded in mystery with only a vague idea of what it’s about. What can you tell me?
CS: Are they shooting this cinema-style or doing it kind of vérité like a documentary?
So, stop me if you’ve heard this: on April Fool’s Day eve the word went out that a leaked version of Fox’s X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE had made its way to the Internet. Those who have been around these parts for a while have come to expect a bit of juvenelia from those in the online community be it in the form of fake stories, fake rumors, fake DVD releases (I still remember the one that mentioned the existence of a PEARL HARBOR preview on copies of THE ROCK) and basically stupid shit that still surprises me that webmasters everywhere think is amusing to perpetuate. However, that said, and like Sally Forth’s daughter wondering whether her mom would bite the ears off of her chocolate Easter bunny in the Sunday funnies, it always amused me to see what would come up next however lame or uninspired.
With that out of the way I wanted to give a shout out to a most strange but entrancing series that hit television this week: The Mighty Boosh.
Now, first things first: Is there any among you living in Arizona who believes in the redemptive power of empty action?
When a crime brings them back to L.A., fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto (Diesel) reignites his feud with agent Brian O’Conner (Walker). But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmaneuver him. And from convoy heists to precision tunnel crawls across international lines, two men will find the best way to get revenge: push the limits of what’s possible behind the wheel.
This is one of the most progressive things to happen in the home entertainment market. Say what you will about the battle between whether we’re all going digital or whether it’s better to stay safely in the DVD or Blu-Ray camp because Disney has just released last year’s BOLT, featuring the vocal stylings of John Travolta and Miley Cyrus, in handy Blu-Ray/DVD combo packs.
Good, but not great. If you’re being honest and your crap detector is plugged in anyone watching the new film, MONSTERS VS. ALIENS, should have some kind of reaction along these lines.
Secondly, I always like to promote those who were more than complimentary when I had the chance to interview them. Christian Oliver talked with me last for the hotly debated topic of “Is it good?”/”Is it crap?” for his turn in SPEED RACER so when I heard he had a new film coming out I just felt it polite to return the nicety.
CHRISTOPHER STIPP: How did this project come about?
CS: I haven’t seen the movie but I go back to the trailer with the Surgeon General ““ how does the government factor into this problem? Are they aware of it or are they complicit in it or, like you said, you had a hard time trying to track down some information. How do they factor into this issue?
GREENSTREET: Yes, in the film we do a history lesson. Back in the 70’s the Nixon Department of Agriculture Secretary Earl Butts decided that farming will not be a mom and pop type of business but should be more of a corporate conglomerate and he told the farmers plant as much as you can of corn of soy and we’re going to put you in a world market. What’s happened is that we have created a surplus of corn and soy, an over abundance of it and hence it’s become extremely cheap. Corn is put in more than 75% of things you buy at the grocery store. That McDonald’s meal that you buy, it’s in the bun, it’s in the burger because it’s a corn-fed cow, it’s in the ketchup, it’s in the mustard, it’s in the French fries, in corn starch in the chicken nuggets and in the high-fructose corn syrup in the soda.
CS: What are people saying after you show them this finished film?
CS: Did any candidate that is out there now that is in a position to vote on something is there anyone out there that has a so-called food policy?
Before we get started with the interview I thought I would begin with giving away some free stuff.
SARA JEAN UNDERWOOD: He called me out and said I was rude at one point, so…
I think the big thing that was kind of the idea that made us think that maybe we could make this something that would be worthwhile for us to do, was the idea of instead of having both characters being obsessed with getting laid ““ which is in every road trip sex comedy, we thought we’d have it just be about putting sex on a pedestal and having an unhealthy viewpoint on sex. So it happens on both ends of the spectrum. The Eugene character is terrified of sex and he is put up as this thing that it starts to hurt his relationship with his girlfriend. Then he begins to hold past partners against her. Then on the other side of that coin, we have the Tucker character who has a good girl, a girl that is probably right for him but he can’t accept that because he doesn’t think he’s lived enough yet, or doesn’t have enough notches in his belt. So, it’s really about these two, completely opposite, but also, completely wrong viewpoints on sex and finding a middle ground in the middle of probably where they both should be.
CS: How did you know she was right?
CS: And that part, the moment in the movie when Hugh talks about the ugly girl next door, how many takes did that take because it looked, for a comedy, it looked very natural for him. I can see that if he delivered that it could seem kind of stilted, or awkward but it seemed very natural, very easy.
MOORE: We wrote it together so by the time that you are shooting, we already voiced the characters while we were writing it. Kind of like acting it out as we were writing it. So, there’s not a whole lot left up to discussion by the time we are on the set, except for angles and camera equipment and stuff like that. So the beginning of each day we just walk though and set that up and it was pretty good.
This year’s first screening for the faithful legion of QuickStopEntertainment readers living in Arizona is for 
The hipsters of the world will have you believe that Comic-Con is a big bloated mess of a convention and that it’s better left to the overweight Chun-Li, Slave Leia, and Wonder Woman impersonators of the world who want to show off their well-deserved muffin tops and cottage cheese thighs. I say “pshaw!” to that as this convention, really, always ends up being the highlight of my summer. I get to go back and see the people who I identify with the most and it allows me to get the hell out of Arizona in order to get moments like this.
Alan Moore, from a recent interview which makes his take on the adaptation of his graphic novel
Okay, so I have been away for a while without a good excuse to bring something to the table.Never mind that I have been wowed by the likes of “Son of Rambow,” “Let the Right One In” and “Gran Torino”.If you have not seen them rush to the nearest video (when they are released) store (or NetFlix) and rent them because they are far more articulate, artistic and deeper than the choice for Oscar’s best picture, director or adapted screenplay, “Slumdog Millionaire”. Mind you, I did appreciate director Boyle’s picture and I was touched, but Oscar, once again, missed the big picture.They missed it by a mile, especially not recognizing Boyle’s efforts with a far better earlier picture, “Millions”.
So, stop me if you’ve heard this one before: I’m in a hotel bed with three ladies…
Now, before I begin today’s interview this week’s DVD Giveaway is being brought to you by SWING VOTE on DVD. I have five (5) copies of this film to give out and if you’re interested in being considered for one just send me a note to Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com and just put SWING VOTE in the subject line. Good luck and for those who would like to know about this film here is the synopsis:
VINESSA SHAW:
The Wizard of Oz in a way, a physical way, going to another land and coming back but I think Leonard is dealing with the traumas he’s had of losing his fiancé and he’s kind of exploring the different sides of his character and some of it’s dark and not pretty and he has to deal with the ramifications of having that dark side to him.
SHAW:
Now, before we get into the interview with Julian Morris of DONKEY PUNCH I have some things to give away.
CS: I’m hoping to be able to watch it tonight. I’ve just culled a bunch of information about it and now I’m really amped to see it at least after reading everything about it.
CS: The old adage of you never shoot on water
MORRIS: Because it’s very real and realism works in a number of ways. It works well for the horror. The horror is this fantastic imagined horror. The baddie isn’t some supernatural being with crazy feet. It’s us. We’re the enemy. The other characters are the enemy. We are each other’s own worst enemy. My character is his own worst enemy. Because it’s so real, the audience can associate with them far more. And in that sense, the experience for them is more haunting and exciting. And the last thing is that it’s real. When these kids are on the boat, and they are young people, they are doing what any other young person would be doing or would like to be doing with their best mates, gorgeous girls, drinking a little bit, skinny dipping in the Mediterranean as the sun’s setting. It’s a crazy orgy. And up until the point of the donkey punch it is really the best of youth or the best of any fanaticized youth. After which these real people are confronted with an extraordinary situation and how they deal with it is probably how many young people would deal with it and try to get away with it. And it all goes wrong and leads to this bloodbath. Does that make any sense?
Aaron Yoo is the funniest person in FRIDAY THE 13TH. It’s not a distinction that serves him well in this regard but Aaron provides some short and snappy comic relief before coming face to face with the homicidal maniac looking to kill everyone. The genuinely nice thing about Aaron’s performance, though, is that he represented one potential kill in this movie about, well, murder. As I mentioned in my review of the film this entry stands heads and shoulders (ones that haven’t yet been decapitated) above its peers if you were to stack it against the “horror” entries of the 90’s. Back then it seemed to be all about irony and not so much about the killin’. This FRIDAY THE 13TH, though, is all about the killing and I couldn’t have been more delighted. The screams are great, the creativity that went into the kills was inspired and you have what is a rock solid reboot of a film.
CS: Well, what was it like seeing it last night finally all put together?
YOO: Awesome. Awesome. It’s really interesting to see ““ a bunch of us are trying to see opening night screenings Friday ““ just to see what’s that like. The photographers at the premiere were wearing Jason masks. I was recently traveling out of the country and anywhere I went people knew Friday the 13th. They couldn’t speak any English at all and I’d say Friday the 13th in their language and they would say “Jason”, “hockey mask” and it’s incredible. So, I’m really curious to see what opening night audiences will be like for this movie. Should be a lot of fun.
YOO: Absolutely. We had such a good time working together. Last night I meant to tell him ““ I’m not sure I ever told him ““ that there’s this thing about my death scene with Jason where people say it’s just crazy with this certain thing I’m doing and I basically got ““ Derek and I were riffing between takes and he said this one thing and made me think of this other thing and I tried to do something in the take but it totally failed but in trying to do it, it made the take longer than it was meant to so I died for a really long time and it got really messy, my accident, not intentional at all. I was trying to do something and it wasn’t working but somehow my failure made it a keeper take. I love that how movies and scenes sometimes weird things happen. You’re trying to do something and makes this other thing happen which is what should have happened and everything comes together by mistakes.
And now, for those still reading, who would like to win some FRIDAY THE 13TH swag? I have 6 FRIDAY THE 13TH branded hoodies to give away and if you’re interested in winning just jot me a note at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com and just write somewhere in that e-mail what your favorite entry is of this series. These things are L and XL, have a red little swath on the front saying FRIDAY THE 13TH and a pimp looking Jason mask that will always be looking behind you. They’re pretty pimp so big thanks to the sponsors who tossed some my way.
CHRISTOPHER STIPP: You’ve made it really hard on me to try to find any kind of question to ask of you based on your many films. 
CS: How is that process of actually having to muster up the fortitude to look scared and panicked when in fact it’s rather so planned out and staged?
CS: They say to never shoot on water. It’s one of the first things they say…
For anyone wanting to know the bottom line on this film here, verbatim, are the notes I sent to the studio rep about the movie:
I’m not one to begin with a quote so I apologize in advance. It’s gauche, I know that, I hate it when I see it in other publications, but it’s completely appropriate and relevant to what follows. It comes from SUMMER SCHOOL:
And now, for those still reading, who would like to win some FRIDAY THE 13TH swag? I have 6 FRIDAY THE 13TH branded hoodies to give away and if you’re interested in winning just jot me a note at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com and just write somewhere in that e-mail what your favorite entry is of this series. These things are L and XL, have a red little swath on the front saying FRIDAY THE 13TH and a pimp looking Jason mask that will always be looking behind you. They’re pretty pimp so big thanks to the sponsors who tossed some my way.
I know I usually run DVD Giveaways in this space without much regard to the film but CHOCOLATE is the exception to the rule in that I pursued the opportunity to have a couple copies for our site to give to our readers because I dug it as much as I did.
A lot of this film is very meta.
The action moves are wonderfully captured on the screen while the physical odds and ends and detritus that all needed to be in place for these fight sequences to go off, not to mention exact placement of human beings in order to make all of these things happen, is impressive when you consider all the time it takes to get it right.
I am a fan of romantic comedies.
And the stories! This movie spins yarns on top of sticks like plates, trying to keep them all going, and here is a run down of what each has to do with the other:
This movie was damn terrible. It really was a painful experience to have to sit through this film. Strangulation by a plastic Ralph’s bag would provide for more entertainment than I got out of this beast.
STONE: Yes, we did. All the band. Absolutely. We needed to have the camaraderie of the band so about two weeks before we started shooting we rehearsed as a band in a big empty warehouse in Toronto. Pretty much every day.
STONE: It was on a virus running computer. It’s been extracted by an IT guy at my dad’s company. So I have a loose outline ““ all the text is there.
CS: Based on where you are now in your career, the kinds of scripts you are being offered now as opposed to 3 years ago, being a working actress, how picky are you regarding things you are looking for? Do you do things as a way to keep money coming in or can you afford to be choosy?
You’ve just to meet the twins.
QUESTION: Before this did you go to a bunch of different matches?
QUESTION: You refer to your films as wild style. How would you refer the Wrestler?
CS: When you were writing this script and coming off The Fountain where your head was at after it got the reception that it did, how did you know that The Wrestler was going to be the one? The only reason I’m asking this question is that I’ve read about you wanting to make a tent pole, that you have the ambition that you could. It’s not that you want to be an independent guy for the rest of your life. This is a $6 million dollar picture and not a tent pole, was there any impetus for wanting to go the tent pole route or get back to basics with this?
Now, as for this special edition of Trailer Park I have to start with a question: How many times do I come out and shill for something?
The chemistry the two of them share transcends the page when you hear the inflections and manner in which they talk about one another but thankfully it also came across in their seriousness about what they value more than anything when it comes to the program: honesty.
When people mention classic monster/horror movies, usually Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy and The Wolf Man come to mind.
The story, if you are not familiar with it, involves Edward Parker who is thrown overboard while getting into a fight with the captain of a ship that makes deliveries for a nefarious doctor on an uncharted island.
Bela Lugosi gives his best performance since Dracula as the Sayer of the Law.
Darren Aronofsky got jailed in East Germany. I had no clue. The arrest and the subsequent punishment made the press day all that more hilarious…From hiking mountains, his honest view of The Matrix and the latest Star Wars entries, what got Marisa Tomei in tip top shape to play a stripper, why we re-named a mountain because of its derogatory implications, why he’s angry about the digital releases of his films and oodles of completely useless but fascinating information.
ARONOFSKY: We finished filming in March. It was really quick work. We started filming in late January or early February. It took a long time to get the money ““ about two years. And during that time we kept working on the script.
ARONOFSKY: That’s cool. It was one way of doing it. But at some point I’ll get enough power to put that out in the right way.
ARONOFSKY: So, there you have it.
ARONOFSKY: For stealing an East German flag. I was there on May Day and there were flags everywhere and I told someone I was going to steal a flag. So I lowered a flag and stuffed it down my pants and I hear, “Passport!”
BEST FREE T-SHIRT GIVEN AWAY AT COMIC-CON: THE WATCHMEN
This was a much maligned movie. Some people have problems with it but I don’t share that opinion. The movie was a real gas for what it was and I enjoyed all the incredibly unbelievable and impossible things that went on it. Jason Statham proves why he is the go-to man for these movies and for anyone else to say different has something against genre flicks. Since this is the holidays, I’ll make this really easy for you. E-mail me your name at Christopher_Stipp@Yahoo.com. I’ll choose at random some readers who haven’t already extorted free stuff from me in past few weeks.
I don’t read any newspaper writer whose musings deal with the mundane or observational, I depend on the comedians of the world to skewer day-to-day life in the way that the successful ones can, but I certainly don’t believe that a newspaper columnist’s sense of wonderment at the “ah, shucks” level of life warrants a cinematic envisioning.
The sooner you realize that Kenneth Branagh isn’t really in this movie the better you’ll be off in realizing what is at issue with this film.
When was the last time you sat in a movie theater and found that you discovered something special? A future talent that could get you excited again to go to the movies rather than wait to see it on DVD. Someone who you could look forward to screaming out, “Ya gotta see this person’s work!”