FRED Entertainment

By Christopher Stipp

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Get Him To The Greek – Movie Pass Giveaway

I am hoping this is the movie I need.

It’s almost June and I have yet to see a film that just wants to be funny. We’ve had countless blockbusters, animated films, chick flicks, but where has the comedy been? If MacGruber is any indication I know that a lot of people have stayed away from movies that only purport to be a fun romp. Here’s to wishing that the latest from Nicholas Stoller delivers on the idea that this will be the vehicle that properly channels Russell Brand’s unique comedic aesthetic.

For those living in Arizona I have a stack of passes to see Greek on Tuesday, June 1st at 7:00 p.m. at the Tempe Marketplace. If you want some just e-mail me at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com and I’ll make it happen for those who act swiftly.

About the movie:

Aaron Greenberg (Hill) gets things done. The ambitious 23-year-old has exaggerated his way into a dream job just in time for a career-making assignment. His mission: Fly to London and escort a rock god to L.A.’s Greek Theatre for the first-stop on a $100-million tour. His warning: Turn your back on him at your own peril.

British rocker Aldous Snow (Brand) is both a brilliant musician and walking sex. Weary of yes men and piles of money, the former front man is searching for the meaning of life. But that doesn’t mean he can’t have a few orgies while he finds it. When he learns his true love is in California, Aldous makes it his quest to win her back”¦right before kick-starting his world domination.

As the countdown to the concert begins, one intern must navigate a minefield of London drug smuggles, New York City brawls and Vegas lap dances to deliver his charge safe and, sort of, sound. He may have to coax, lie to, enable and party with Aldous, but Aaron will get him to the Greek.

Sex and the City 2 – Review

There is nothing at stake for any of these characters.

It’s the moment when Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) confide in one another about the trials of being a mother in Sex and the City 2 when it’s obvious this movie has absolutely no interest in being relevant. Once, this was a show that gave a voice to modern women who felt that they needed to have a program that showcased what it was really like to be a lady, post-feminism, in a world that still wanted to keep their musings to themselves.

Sex and the City, the television show, broke boundaries when it challenged the dominant male stranglehold on crass and crude depictions of sexuality. It was men who slept around, it’s was men who were always fumfering trying to find love, it was men who felt inadequate. The show was a fun examination that seemed to harness the many facets of the female psyche: the need to be glamorous, the pressure to succeed professionally, the ambitions to be socially accepted at any cost, the desire to be in control, sexually, regardless of age.

This film is amazing in that it completely fails to honor the values that made the series, and the first film for that matter, a wonderful hallmark for women everywhere to embrace as their own. They’d just as soon be better served to revisit their DVDs rather than to sit through this completely useless exercise which could be better classified as a throwaway curtain call that is obnoxiously too long, filled with monotonous and superfluous storylines that seem more interested in resurrecting characters than focusing on the ones in front of us, and is entirely ignorant of the irony that these women have now become an example of what happens when you put last year’s style up against what’s couture today. Anna Wintour, if she was being honest, would say this film has a style more suited to the tastes of those who find the fashion of Old Navy to be cutting edge.

The girls come together in this second entry for a film that shames Michael Patrick King’s earlier efforts as director/writer for SATC part 1, to say nothing of the work he did on the television show when it was on from 1998-2004. The crux, primarily, of this film is how Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) are dealing with marriage two years in but the problems they have are so far removed from the Carrie we all knew in the series and the first film that it never occurs to anyone that hers is now a life devoid of restriction. Besides a genuinely painful, and horribly written, exchange early on in the film when a couple at a wedding talk to Carrie and Big about having children, the idea of what’s considered normal small talk is obviously lost on King, and the forced realization that these two older individuals have chosen a life without kids ought to be one of personal contentment. They should be satisfied in their decisions but King
makes it awkward for all of us when he has the couple who realize Carrie and Big don’t see parenthood as a part of their master plan recoil from admiration to abject shame. Whether King is obsessed with more important things like getting tight shots of men’s pouches donning Speedos and slo-mos of them disrobing throughout the film I couldn’t tell you but what I do know is that this story plays out like a ham fisted attempt to cash in on a franchise that no one with a big enough checkbook wants to see go away.

Rather, what we’re given really is an insult to the fans who have supported the idea that these women who are all demure and exciting in their own way are reduced to shells of their former selves, drifting though life doing nothing more than complaining about their pitiful existence. As it stands, however, these women just come off as haggard old also-rans who live lives of privilege.

Charlotte rants and bawls at one point about her tough time as a mother, never acknowledging her privileged life with a live-in nanny who whisks her kids away at the first sign of trouble. She comes off as a selfish witch who would be better served to have her money taken away for a while before being allowed to complain about her circumstances.

Samantha Jones, played by the always interesting Kim Cattrall, visits Abu Dhabi with her three girlfriends as the guest of a wealthy man but ends up trying to let her freak flag fly as high as it can go, completely disregarding custom and socially appropriate etiquette on multiple levels. Instead of harnessing that energy and making something interesting, King treats it as a chance to toss in one of the more obnoxiously half-baked storylines ever to be concocted. Hers is a character that ends up looking more pathetic and embarrassing than she does as the representative of labial empowerment. It’s also insulting to the women of that emirate who see the invading hoards of high fashion to be seen as women who are in the need of rescuing. Oddly, we’re clued in that some progressive women are challenging the norms but, later in the film, we’re forced into a moment that makes us feel like this isn’t good enough, that male domination cannot be allowed
to stand one minute longer. It wants it both ways in this film and it ends up making this mess even murkier to wade through.

Carrie, as well, doesn’t fare well here either. Watching the working girl struggle to find ways in order to feed her need for fashion accoutrements in the series, the plateau of which was seen in the first film when she married a man who was now in the position to let her get her fix until the day she died, was one of the reasons people tuned in. Hyper analyzing her marriage two years in not only reeks of a writer desperate to find a chink in a gorgeous piece of armor but it doesn’t make for a very good story. When the worst thing that besets this celluloid power couple, and the whole movie for that matter, is an unintended kiss, only for it to be remedied with a black diamond offered up by the offended party, it smacks of stupidity and laziness.

Alas, it is Miranda who ends up coming off as the most interesting of the four but even there is an issue with her arc as a character. Her quitting of a job that was built up as a device that could have lasted the entire film within the first ¼ of the film, only to be brought up at the very end of the picture, represented the totality of her growth. Used as merely window dressing to move the plodding, lumbering plot forward, there could not have been a worse way to treat someone who always represented something special in this band of sisters.

Ultimately, no one was safe from their mishandling at the hands of King. Unable to comprehend that this comedy of multiple errors should have ended or have been edited down a half hour or even 45 minutes to make this a true 90 minute comedy King had his own plan and, unfortunately, the movie feels like a monetary cash-in, a fiscal decision, that truly wants to give the audience what they want. The problem is, a trip to Abu Dhabi, a stolen kiss from Aiden, a two year itch, problems with a nanny, these all are irrelevant to the genuinely amusing lives these women once had.

They say that money doesn’t change you, that it only enhances the person you are. If that’s the case, and judging by what was on the screen, I don’t think I knew these women at all and I don’t think I want to anymore.

Josh Holloway – Interview

For many years I have held this interview as one of the best experiences I’ve had with an actor. Way back in 2005, months after the first season came to an end and lit a fire in the hearts of many who saw this as groundbreaking television I had the chance to talk to Josh an immediately jumped at the chance to talk to the guy, never minding that I was green as could be when it came to interviewing.

Lost was a program I sometimes wavered from in the middle years, the story just growing and bloating to epic proportions, but it got me back in the last couple of years. The ending, for me, was a semi-satisfying one and a wholly satisfying one with regard to giving Jack some closure. I wanted to do something novel and I thought back to when I talked to Josh after the first season was over, when Lost fever was high, and when he was feeling the love from fans at San Diego Comic-Con, the nexus point, really, where the love flowed all too freely.

I’ll miss Lost so here’s one for the road…An interview that I still remember clearly almost 5 years later.

Josh Holloway likes to smile.

It would be completely clichéd and People Magazine of me to state that, of course, he has a lot to smile about but that’s not what struck me when I made this observation about him. What made the time I spent with Josh so memorable was the absolute sense of openness that he engendered in the twenty five minutes I spent with him discussing his own trajectory as an actor as a lead in his very first major motion picture.

With every interview I’ve done there is always a little something I’ve built up about a celebrity, for a lack of a better word. It’s either I’ve seen their work and I secretly hope the interview is a little bit of them appeasing me with the questions I ask and a little bit of that charisma that so many of the “stars” people see on stage or screen seem to exude. I think there’s a lot of fan boy in me that I have to keep in check like it’s a caged animal that needs to be restrained but there’s also the inquisitive other half of me that wants to throw out the kinds of inquires some celebs have never been asked.

My goal, my only goal, with Josh was to not ask a damn thing about Lost, Season 2. I didn’t want to know anything about the show that he wasn’t going to volunteer. I didn’t care to ask anything about the meanings of his back story and what it meant to all that’s happened to him on the show, I didn’t give a rat’s ass about where he thinks his relationship with Kate’s going and I really didn’t want to know whether he and Sayid were going to have it out again this year. After listening to dozens of Entertainment Tonight, Extra and all sorts of other tabloids and radio interviewers speculate and fish for answers whenever they managed to corner one of the stars of Lost, one excruciating interview was one I heard with Naveen Andrews and even though Naveen’s role on the show and real life resume is one of the most interesting all the radio host could ask about was how he ended up with Barbara Hershey and what secrets he could let the world in on, I just realized how sad it was that the actors on this show were part of one of the biggest successes to hit the free air and all anyone could do was talk about the most meaningless thing they could think of.

So, if you’re looking to know what’s coming in season 2 of Lost, whether or not Sawyer is going to get it on with Freckles, what the hell is up with the polar bear and what seems to be his predilection for the George Michael 2-Day stubble look he’s rocking on his face week after week, you can stop reading right now and skip to next week where other celebs shamelessly gladly pimped their wares with me. This isn’t an act of pomposity on my part, I assure you. I think the dalliances of any Hollywood actor as I hear how their lives are so much better than mine are completely engrossing. I watch Cribs, I read Entertainment Weekly, I steal a peek at the National Enquirer; I’m shallow, I admit that. But what I didn’t want my short amount of time with Josh to be was everything that I eschewed about the press surrounding the show and I wanted to give you, the audience, a good look at the person behind one of the best played bad boys this side of the Pacific.

I wanted to actually talk to Josh. Have a real conversation with him. Find out more about where he’s come from, where he’s planning on going. I just hoped he wouldn’t have an attitude. It was a short list of hopes and aims, sure, but when I first stepped onto the brightly lit sundeck on a warm July afternoon in San Diego I was greeted with what I can only describe as a force that I can’t begin to genuinely describe because of its oddity. As soon as I was formally introduced Josh seemed genuinely pleased to meet me as I got a look at a smile I would be seeing a lot in the time I would be spending with him. Like a complete gentleman he, himself, introduced me to his wife who also seemed to be happy to meet me, a feat not too many strange women have ever accorded to me in a non-inebriated state. She was lovely. The two of them not only didn’t seem to mind when I asked to take their picture together but they seemed, as they stood next to each other, like a couple who honestly seemed happy to be with one another. If there ever was a Bizzaro world episode on Lost where Sawyer had to meet his doppelganger, I think I know who should play him.

All superlatives aside, there isn’t much more I can say about the man who has the left the greatest impression on me as an interviewer; even more than getting to talk to Stan Lee, even better than asking Natalie Portman a couple of questions face-to-face, Josh just seemed grateful for everything he’s been given. When you’re talking with him you just want to think that of all those people who you see struggling to make it in Hollywood you’re happy that someone like him is one of those who did. Josh likes to laugh, no question about it. His stories of struggling to give his career one last shot of everything he has are the kinds of things you’d want to listen to while having a beer with the guy at a party. He’s just plain interesting and engrossing as a subject while being one of the nicest strangers you ever could hope to meet.

Class act doesn’t begin to describe him. It embodies him.

CHRISTOPHER STIPP: So, how was it to walk on that stage and seeing all those people?

JOSH HOLLOWAY: That was exciting. That’s the reward of doing as well as we have. I’ve never done a convention. No one ever wanted me at one; it’s a little different. I find panels, though, to be a lot of fun.

I hope that I am answering the questions intelligently enough but I like the comedy of it. I like a panel for the banter with the fans. I love the energy. I’m having a blast.

CHRISTOPHER STIPP: The Comic-Con crowds with their questions can sometimes be a little different. I am thinking of the person who asked you in the panel discussion about whether you like to swim in the nude.

(Josh laughs)

Did they warn you that “You know, there are probably going to be questions”¦”

HOLLOWAY: No, but I figured, and it’s so funny, because that’s been going around for a while. Just because when we first arrived in Hawaii everyone was like, “Look at our office! This is ridiculous.” Everyone was, and it wasn’t everyone, just the brave ones, it was that Hawaii inspired us and it was just like, “Let’s go swimming naked!” I haven’t skinny dipped in years and it felt good.

CHRISTOPHER STIPP: In Ohau?

HOLLOWAY: Yeah, and it’s just amazing. My wife and I just bought a house there and so we’re really loving”¦melting into the Hawaiian culture and hope to be there a few more years.

I mean, it’s paradise; it’s the best place in the world to be working and just existing. You only work so much and you’ve got to live in the place. It’s better, than say, Siberia. There are much worse places you could be working.

CHRISTOPHER STIPP: Now, your movie WHISPER. Give me a quick synopsis. It’s your first real lead, right?

HOLLOWAY: Yes, yes, which is really nerve wracking, actually.

I’ve just gotten Sawyer, and I am developing that, and to take the step, to take a role and to do a movie is exciting and nerve wracking. The movie, WHISPER, basically is about a group of people who are really down on their luck, not being given a chance anymore, by society because of past records. The old story is that when you’re a convict you can’t get a job, no one will give you a second chance. So, what these people decide to do, essentially, is kidnap this kid for ransom. Aaaand, it goes badly. We get a lot more than we bargained for with this kid.

But what excited me about this role was that my character doesn’t want to do it. He’s trying to start a new life because he’s fallen in love and he wants to provide for his woman and start a new life, a good life, with this woman. Everything that motivates him is love when what he’s doing is horribly wrong and I liked the dichotomy of that. And the fact that the kid is supposed to be the innocent one and, when it flips, there is a beautiful transition there. That’s what excited me and made me say, “Wow, innocence is evil and evil is innocence.”

CHRISTOPHER STIPP: I’m curious to know about your first day on the set of WHIPSER. I just think back to every first job I’ve had, regardless of what it was I was doing, and I remember how it emotionally felt to just try and get a footing, a handle on things. How was it for you?

HOLLOWAY: It was a whirlwind.

Because of scheduling, of course, they were pushing the movie, pushing the movie, they already started filming the movie, so I wrapped Lost and the very next day I am on set so there was no break in moving from one character to this one.

And it takes you a minute before you hit your stride. So, that first day is nerve wracking and, also, I am kind of used to having a family in Hawaii. I mean we’ve all become a family over the season. The comfort level of going to work and experiencing that”¦and then the first day of the movie is like you have to introduce yourself to all these new people and then having to feel the pressure of it being on that level, a movie. It’s awesome but you have to be ready and everyone is expecting. And I’m thinking to myself, “Oookay, I’ve got to deliver.” So, it’s the usual pre-game jitters but once the game starts, you’ve got no room for that. It all goes away.

It’s just what we put ourselves through before the game that’s torture.

And it was such an honor to work with Michael Rooker as he’s been in so many things: DAYS OF THUNDER, HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER and I have been watching him for years so it’s definitely an honor to have worked with him. And Stewart Hendler, a first time director, that was actually a nice bond because him and I were both awe struck by it all but then the balance to that was Dean Cundey, a masterful filmmaker. He did the original FOG, he did the original HALLOWEEN, THE THING, he was the orgininal DP on all of those. And of course he went on to win the Academy Award for APOLLO 13 but he wanted to come back and get his hands dirty and do a classic thriller/horror kind of movie and that’s what I loved about it and what he loves about it. It’s very simple. Not a lot of tricks. It’s kind of like your old school horror movie which is great.

CHRISTOPHER STIPP: And those kinds of films are making a resurgence”¦

HOLLOWAY: Yes, they are.

I was glad to be making one that wasn’t gimmick, gimmick, gimmick, you know what I mean? This one really works on the original principals of horror movies and the unknown, and all that kind of stuff, a little bit of demonic stuff brought in there, a little DAMIEN kind of thing.

It’s good, It’s simple and it’s spooky.

CS: One of things I wanted to do before meeting you was to get an idea, professionally speaking, of the roles you did before landing Sawyer on Lost. One of the first things I saw was that you were billed as “Good Looking Guy” in an episode of Angel.

(Laughs for good reason)

HOLLOWAY: That’s right!

My very first job was Good Looking Guy. That’s what they said as the description, I just thought it was funny. My next job I think I got was Bartender. It took me a while to get a name on my trailer.

So, you do what you do. I did seven indies. True indies with no money, guerella shooting. I did some television spots for Angel, Walker, Texas Ranger, CSI, a couple more.

But, those movies, doing those independents on that level, was such a great experience and growing time for me as an actor because the nature of it being a true indie, everyone’s disorganized, you’ve got 18 days to get this thing in the can, and it’s only so much money but you’re busting it, getting it done. But, in that, you’re allowed a great deal of creative freedom. Because people are like runnin’ and gunnin’ as they’re saying, “This isn’t making sense. Can you make it work?” Yeah, I can make that work. You’re able to work with the writers and you create as you go. It also taught me to think on my feet. It’s made me available for any twists that may come and that’s what really made it such a good experience. I also did a diverse type of characters. I did a comedy, two comedies. In one I played this bodybuilder who was this complete innocent guy that was being hit on by a homosexual man the whole time and he was just so happy just to have a friend and there was a lot that went on there. Then, I played the opposite of that where I played the Obi-Wan of sex, if you will. That was a lot of fun. I moved on to a western, a crazy, psycho guy, so I got to do a lot of stretching as an actor which I think has helped me a lot because I love character work.

I don’t just don’t get up and say, “I’ll just go be me.” I try and put me in every character and just blow that aspect up but I just don’t play an idea.

CS: I think that comes through because the character of Sawyer, to anyone who comes upon him, they know exactly what he means and where he’s coming from, the intensity of it all. It’s a character that’s been infused with a history.

HOLLOWAY: Yes!

And that’s what I love about this craft. For me, a lot of the things that I see in character work is an idea. You can tell when someone is playing an idea or if they’re emboding it and it’s so important to find that aspect within you, that’s truly you, and blow it up. That’s what makes it real.

(Josh turns his head quickly as his wife tries to sneak through his jeans to steal a cigarette. He starts to ask her what she needs before she puts a finger to her lips and points down to my recorder. Josh laughs anyway as the faux noises of passionate love embed themselves into my digital device; it is funny. She absconds with what she wants from Josh.)

CS: How long have you been married?

HOLLOWAY: Since October 1st.

CS: Congratulations.

HOLLOWAY: Thank you so much. 1 year. We’ve almost been together 7 now.

CS: Really?

HOLLOWAY: Long time.

She has seen me at my worst.

CS: I was just going to say that I heard something about real estate.

HOLLOWAY: Oh yes.

CS: Were you getting to the point where you were thinking about giving it all up?

HOLLOWAY: Again. I think that was the 3rd time the town broke me. But in 8 ½ years of busting it and constant rejection and getting close and never quite getting to work, to do the work you’ve been trained to do that’s in you. It just burns you up. And, yeah, right before I booked Lost I had just got my real estate license, I was making my exit again, and I had t have the conversation with my wife who was then my girlfriend, I hadn’t yet proposed, I just didn’t have anything I could bring. I couldn’t support her. It’s part of being a man I guess. My feeling was, “If I can’t provide anything then what am I doing?”

And that was it. I needed to move on in my life. Just for my soul I had to do something. So I went into real estate. I got my license, I got Lost and promptly filed it away.

(Laughs the kind of laugh only people who really do know what it’s like to no longer be indentured to a 9 to 5 existence.)

CS: Did you realize how big this job was going to be when you saw that J.J. Abrams was attached to it?

HOLLOWAY: Just because I had been beaten as bad as I did for 8 ½ years I knew, statistically, and knowing my past, I knew I was going to have to go the Clooney path which was that I was going to have to do 16 pilots before one goes. So I was just happy to get the first level for what I thought was going to be a really long road. I was praying, of course, that it would work but, statistically, they were telling me it was going to be one of the most expensive shows ever, and that’s when I was like”¦

CS: Were you thinking, “I can’t believe this is happening?”

HOLLOWAY: The one thing that goes through your head is, “Oh my God, I better kick it. I better be on the level with this one or they’ll kill me quickly.” And that was a bit intimidating at first, working with actors that I had been watching through the years like Harold, who did ROMEO AND JULIET, Naveen who was in the ENGLISH PATIENT and Dom who was in the LORD OF THE RINGS movies, and Matt Fox who was in his series forever, and I was like, “Oh boy.”

CS: Was the experience like thinking, “These guys have so much experience”¦”

HOLLOWAY: Yes and the knowledge that, “You’re damn right I’m ready and I can certainly be on the level.”

But of course you’re worried about it until you actually get in the game.

That’s what amazing, too, is that we’ve become such a family of friends and that rarely happens with a cast. Even with a small cast that’s rare but a large cast? For us to get along so well”¦I want, as much as I want to be on the show, I want to be able and continue these relationships with these wonderful people, my new friends. That’s been a huge gift.

And we get together on Wednesdays, whoever’s flashback episode it is, we go to their house and, whether they like it or not, it’s their responsibility to host the party. So, every Wednesday we get to touch base because a lot of the time we don’t get to film together. We’re all off shooting different parts. So, every Wednesday we pull it back together, we have some laughs and get inspired by each other and inspire each other.

CS: You never hear these kinds of things.

HOLLOWAY: No, you don’t.

CS: To go with the ABC angle, Desperate Housewives have been doing so well but on the US magazines of the world it’s all about who’s fighting with who, who’s asking for more money”¦

HOLLOWAY: Yeah, which is the norm, from what I’ve been told and that this is extremely rare. And I’m like, “Really? This is awesome.” And what’s difficult is that you get so close and Ian Somerhalder is no longer there and he’s a very good friend and it’s, “Argh!” I was getting into our fishing together.

CS: And on the subject of finding work, what really got you through the day when you were looking for that one job or that one break which would’ve helped you out? Everyone says it’s believing in yourself, it’s perseverance, but self-help garbage aside, what really carried you through your days?

HOLLOWAY: I couldn’t stop my dreams.

I couldn’t stop my daydreams or night dreams or my dreams of what I want out of life. I don’t know, I didn’t know what I wanted out of life. I didn’t know what I wanted to be, I wanted to be everything. Acting would provide that. I could taste what it would be like to be a secret agent, I could taste what it would be like to be a contractor, a lawyer, whatever, this or that. That really”¦I didn’t want to let that go because I wanted to experience what movies and the like would allow you to experience. And it’s still”¦it’s what got me up in the morning. It takes everything you have, emotionally and physically, just to keep going. You’re constantly nervous or excited, really happy or really sad, and it’s just a constant plethora of emotions that you’re faced with in this job.

I mean, I’m a cancer, I’m emotional and that’s what kept me in: the magic. You hit those moments and you have that magic happen it’s freeing. And when I was about to leave I’d hit the magic again. And it would reel me back in. But I can’t. It’s so all-encompassing for me. And that’s what inspires me in life; I want to inspire and be inspired.

CS: 23 episodes. That’s tough enough on a writer but what you have to go through to get it all in as an actor?

It’s difficult to get it all in and filmed in 8 days. They write such amazing little movies each time. To get it all in that amount of time we’re moving at a ballistic pace and thank God we have the kind of actors we do as we’re handed scripts and pretty much told, “Here you go. You have five minutes. Good luck.” And they all do it. And they knock it out of the park. Begrudgingly, because it’s so nerve wracking, but you do it and that’s been amazing. That we’ve been able to keep up the pace but keep the bar up.

And you know”¦I’m looking forward to doing more scenes with people I didn’t get to do many scenes with during the first season. I didn’t get many scenes with Emily. One scene with Jorge; can’t wait to do more scenes with Jorge. I love the casting because you get to work with so many actors that are awesome and each one is a different flavor and adds a different dimension to your character. How you deal with them and what they bring out of you and what you bring out of them.