FRED Entertainment

By Christopher Stipp

The Archives, Right Here

I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

Are there too many movies out there right now?

I just read a piece in the Arizona Republic about the flood of movies that are entering the marketplace looking for your dollars. One of the movies the article makes note of is MY MOM’S NEW BOYFRIEND, a Meg Ryan/Antonio Banderas film, was opened internationally to good acclaim but only saw the light of day here in the U.S. in the form of a direct to DVD release. I know, I know, it would be an easy joke to point a finger at a piece of rom-com fare but the implications about a vehicle like that only making it to store shelves and bypassing the silver screen altogether raised my curiosity. The piece goes on to talk about how films that seem to have such a good chance to make a dent in the theatrical market are being financially slaughtered when given to the public to see them. SON OF RAMBOW was another statistic thrown out as a film that had such great promise after its favorable critical reception and audience indicators that this would have been the one to break through only died a pathetic fiscal death, only grossing $1.78 million.

What does this say about modern theatrical releases? Well, the article does the job in explaining what this does mean, the idea that we are only at the epoch of a long line of releases thanks to the rush to get films under production prior to the writer’s strike, and if you have some time read about what could be the portent of things to come to your local megaplex.

Read it and post some of your thoughts below. I’m curious to see what some of you Monday Morning Quarterbacks have to think.

2. NPR recently did a story about ways theater owners are getting people back into the theater.

Something that has been used here and there is now being looked at as a viable way to get fresh butts in seats. After listening to the story, and how productions like Broadway plays and concerts by contemporary artists that don’t suck, are being shown in limited release and are actually extricating home dwellers from their enclaves where DVD is the only form of entertainment that they know.

Sure, smaller DVD windows are helping people make the choice to stay inside, that’s the businesses fault for allowing that to happen, but when some dude thought “Shit, I’m barely making anything exhibiting the latest turd from Sony, why don’t I toy with the idea of finding ways to show something other than a movie?” that was a brainstorm that deserved a lot of credit. No longer can you expect Hollywood to the harbinger of great entertainment; some promoters got wise and found out that Dick and Jane might make a date night out of the chance to see a simulcast of a performance for Cirque du Soleil’s latest without having to pay $140 a ticket and without having to fly to Vegas. Lord knows I get all the shit road productions that appeal to Arizona’s finest golden oldies (No joke, but you realize I once sat at a play where there wasn’t just handicapped seating but areas that were cordoned off for those with oxygen tanks?) and if I had the chance to see something fresh on Broadway and not pay the full fare, you’re damn right I would be there.

Anyway, the story is quite interesting and I hope that some look at this as a new way of how to engage those who are finding other things to do with their time.

3. Darren Aronofsky won an award.

Ok, this isn’t so much about Darren’s successful outing at the Venice Film Festival, winning the Golden Lion for his flick THE WRESTLER. I, additionally, want it known I was one of the few lonely hearts pining for what should have been more attention to THE FOUNTAIN but who the hell cares in the grand scheme of things. Yeah, it’s great he won that silver tiger, whatever. What has been lost in the shuffle of things is Mickey Rourke.

God damn, sweet Jesus!

What hell on earth befell that poor man’s face? It’s like someone stuck a candle too close to his lips and melted his cheekbones.

I have heard this movie is awesome. I have heard that this will really be a departure from his usual fare. But the way he has Darren in that headlock in the picture above I cannot believe he wasn’t fearful for what would happen if Mickey decided to pop his neck right then and there.

Everything about the way women and men have to keep themselves pumped up, quite literally, from their lips to their eyes to their boobies, and anything else that might end up sagging. Lord knows we’re just years away from testicle/elephant sack tucks. I don’t spend enough time exploring this issue so I can’t speak about it on any great authority but just seeing Rourke walk down the aisle, ready to collect the award with Darren, I was just struck by a small sense of shock at what that man has wrought to his face.

Can’t wait to see this one.

4. As I write this, it’s the 7th anniversary of September 11th and today I spent an hour with former governor of Minnesota,  Jesse Ventura. I will be furiously whipping up those transcripts immediately but I will absolutely go on the record as saying that the hour I spent with him was the highlight of my year. Without question, without having to explain myself any further. The man has so much to say and on such a poignant occasion there was much political talk about Palin, McCain, Obama, the political process, how a death threat wasn’t going to interrupt his golf game, the war in Iraq vis-a-vis Vietnam and so much other mind-blowingly funny stuff that you absolutely have to tune in to that interview. Last year on September 11th was Henry Rollins. This year is Jesse. I can’t wait to see what next year brings.

5. I saw BURN AFTER READING last night. It was good. Not A+ grade Cohen brothers good, not LEBOWSKI good but it was good. George Clooney was average, Frances McDorman was brilliant, Brad Pitt was flat out funny, John Malkovich is a lightening rod of talent and J.K. Simmons ties everything together like a big fleshy bow. My initial reaction was that it fails to live up, if there is such a thing, to the likes of ARIZONA and LEBOWSKI for one pivotal reason: those people were fuck-ups that could never ever exist in our reality. In READING these are hopelessly fractured humans who we can almost imagine living among us based on the small pieces of humanity that could be reflected by any one of us. Again, it’s a knee-jerk response to seeing the film 2 hours ago. Take it for what you will.

See it but don’t expect to see brilliance thrust upon you; let it steep for a while, like a fine Earl Gray, and allow it to soak into your brain. There is a payoff.

Now, on with the show…

MAX PAYNE (2008)

Director: John Moore
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Beau Bridges, Mila Kunis, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Donal Logue, Kate Burton
Release: October 17, 2008
Synopsis: Coming together to solve a series of murders in New York City are a DEA agent (Wahlberg) whose family was slain as part of a conspiracy and an assassin (Kunis) out to avenge her sister’s death. The duo will be hunted by the police, the mob, and a ruthless corporation.

View Trailer:
* Large (QuickTime)

Prognosis: Smells Like A Morgue That Lost Its A/C. First, a word about what Mark “Marky Mark” Wahlberg had to say about this role:

Mark Wahlberg Calls Max Payne The Most Complex Character He’s Ever Played

Mark Wahlberg has faced grief (“The Lovely Bones”), war (“Three Kings”), a wave the size of a skyscraper (“The Perfect Storm”) and nothing less than the apocalypse. Twice (“The Happening” and “Planet of the Apes”). But his most draining, emotionally charged role to date? Would you believe a video game character?

“Two weeks out I was just dying,” Wahlberg said of his titular role in the upcoming video game adaptation “Max Payne.” “I wanted my life back.”

The film-noirish, John Woo-esque “Payne” was a huge hit when it premiered for PCs in 2001, spawning a sequel and selling more than 7 million units. But its success comes not just from gameplay, which is untranslatable to the big screen anyway, said Wahlberg, but from a surprisingly adult, sophisticated, and yes, complex lead character unusual for the medium.

“I read the script and said either somebody got really creative or it’s actually more like a movie than most games,” Wahlberg enthused.

“Max Payne is not a one-trick pony. It’s probably one of the edgier roles I’ve played but also the most layered. Here’s a very happy guy who worked a dismal job, had a beautiful family. But the beauty in his life was taken away. He just goes on a rampage. It’s all driven by emotion.”

Hahaha! Really? You serious?

This is the kind of film that goes into the category of Let Me Try And Talk About This Project In Ways That Mask some of the more horrific signs that this is going to flame up like the Human Torch in ways that, if you haven’t figured it out by now, expose how hyperbole in interviews by some actors only serve to deceive you, the people who pay upwards of ten bucks to see this pile of crap.

I’ve watched this trailer a few times and each subsequent viewing only makes me titter more and more. What, ostensibly, is the line of bullshit they’re trying to make you buy into, literally, is that this is a movie based on some kind of revenge and that this is some hard-boiled dude who is out to stop at nothing to blah, blah, blah, shoot guns, blah, blah, blah.

What the beginning of this trailer proves, however, is that the video game that has now come to life should have just stayed a video game. I mean how can you not point and finger and laugh at the gravely voiceover where Marky Mark is trying to sound all serious as he talks about becoming fodder for fish, his body drifting slowly to the bottom of a river. It’s funny because the monologue is something that is better suited for an Antonio Sabato DVD release than it is something someone would plunk millions into making a reality.

Beyond that, though, it’s a weird amalgam of shots that I guess are supposed to be spooky, compelling or both. It does nothing, not an absolute thing, to give us any kind of narrative structure to follow. I don’t know why some chick is standing in the middle of an alley with a lot of fake snow falling around her, I don’t know why Marky Mark is standing at an open window with even more fake snow billowing inside his office and I sure don’t know why some dude is making reference to the devil building an army.

What do any of these things have in common? In the immortal words of Pee-Wee Herman in PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE: I. Don’t. Know.

So, Payne wants to find something that wants to stay hidden (huh?) and, seriously, there is a moment when I think there’s going to be something profound. It’s a moment when some nameless dude says, “Remember when you were a kid and you would hold your breath when you went past a graveyard? Just leave that man alone.” This is the part of the trailer where I contemplate suicide, knowing some guy made more money writing that line than I did all last year.

Next we get the same old, tired, boring, hackneyed, unoriginal premise that the guy’s family was taken away from him. Seriously, from the PUNISHER to LETHAL WEAPON it’s just lazy storytelling at this point. Revenge murdering and the introspective, dark and brooding kind of character has just been done again and again.

We lots of gun play, lots of shit flying everywhere, as our one man with a gun is able to blow through everyone’s defenses. Leaping and bounding over crap, trying to mimic the game play of the video game (which was pretty wicked when it came out), it just doesn’t jive.

There’s an obvious grasp at trying to titillate as some whore takes her top off, some chick with a gun starts spraying lead everywhere and there is a lot of screaming by Marky Mark that has no context whatsoever. Not to mention all those fucking birds everywhere.

Yeah, Marky, one of the hardest roles you’ve ever had to take on.

###

Recently, I was able to chat with an actress who is set the Los Angeles Film Festival afire with her performance as a girl named Cleo in an indie called HottieBoomaLottie. The film deals with a much maligned outsider who just wants to get with one of the most popular girls in high school. The quick synopsis, sure, doesn’t sound like something original but thanks to its reception when the film played a couple of months ago the film was applauded for being more original in its execution than many directors or writers who seem intent on defining the adolescent experience in the exact same way.

Lauren McKnight plays Cleo, cousin to our man trying to make something positive happen with the girl who should be unattainable to many mortal men, and it is my hope that this film breaks out of its festival shackles and surfaces where other people can partake of a comedy that seems to be more funny than it is “quirky.”

CHRISTOPHER STIPP: I have not seen the movie, so start me out by telling me what the movie is about.

LAUREN MCKNIGHT: It’s about a high school boy named Ethan who is definitely a social outcast. A bit of a high school underdog and he has been infatuated with the hottest girl in school, Madison Sweet. Ethan actually has an older brother Clay who is the exact opposite of Ethan. He’s really cool and definitely socially accepted. He also has an interest in Madison but Ethan doesn’t know that. Anyway though, Ethan spends the majority of the movie trying to get Madison’s attention in different elaborate ways and she doesn’t even really know that he exists.

And within those attempts to try and get her attention he gets in trouble with him mom and she send him off to live in California with his cousins, Asher and Cleo. Cleo, which is my character, is a very tomboy kind of girl. She doesn’t really put much effort into her appearance every day. But after Ethan comes to visit her in California, it prompts her to become more feminine so that Ethan will notice her. Anyway though, in the movie Clay, his older brother, actually ends up hooking up with Madison. So Cleo actually helps Ethan to try and break them up because really she just wants Ethan to be happy. So, I don’t know, it’s kind of a strange predicament.

CS: I’ve noticed going through your resume that it’s really been, with the exception of one project, it’s all been film. And most of the times when I’m talking to actresses in films, they have a lot of television work because that seems to be the progression. Television ““ then movies. But you seem to be just”¦

MCKNIGHT: Film oriented?

CS: Yeah. Was that a conscious choice to just focus on that exclusively?

MCKNIGHT: I don’t know. I’ve auditioned for television stuff before but I think I’m more into movies. Television is a long, drawn out process you know. Filming episodes ““ even if you are just in one episode ““ I like being able to go through the entire story. It really hasn’t been my choice to stay in film it’s just what I have been cast in is film. I love movies. I would definitely prefer it over television.

CS: And a film like this ““ you get a script with a title like it has ““ Did you at first roll your eyes and say, “I’m not so sure about this?”

MCKNIGHT: Well, it fits it. It’s an extremely quirky comedy. It’s awesome. It’s definitely unique. After I read through the script I knew it was definitely something I wanted to do.

CS: What was it about the writing? You look at it and it’s fairly standard ““ it’s got it’s moments of little twists in there as you were explaining it to me but as you were reading it what really drew you into the idea?

MCKNIGHT: I really just fell in love with my character, Cleo. She’s just me in so many different ways and she’s such a deep character. I don’t know. I love her. Playing her was the perfect role for me to play.

CS: How long was your time on the set? Were you prominent enough that you had to be there for the duration of the entire shoot?

MCKNIGHT: Pretty much. Of course, some days are longer than others but I was there most of the time. It was about a month long shoot.

CS: Really. 4 weeks and that was it?

MCKNIGHT: Yeah. A lot of the locations were pretty convenient we did have to fly out to San Francisco for part of it but other than that, most of it was filmed in Utah. So the locations were convenient and close together. It was easy.

CS: Taking a part like this ““ not the biggest budget in the world but it seems to be doing pretty well in it’s circuit ““ is there any kind of hesitation that maybe the script is good but it’s not as big a profile ““ does that ever come into play of how big of a film financially it is or is it really about whether the part is any good?

MCKNIGHT: You know what. That’s never really seemed to bother me. I’ve worked with Warner Bros. and stuff before and I like the feel you get from an independent film. It’s such a laid-back, casual, intimate experience and you are all there because you want to be there. I don’t know. I read scripts and if it’s a good script and a good movie and something that I want to be a part of, if it’s something that I want to do, I’m going to do it regardless of what the pay is, or it’s not going to get that much attention. Really, if it seems like it’s something for me, I like to do it.

CS: Like I said, going over your resume, it’s not like you’ve been in this business for a long time. Years ago, what spurred you on to the idea that I really want to make a go of this as a professional actress? Where did you cut your teeth to get that bug?

MCKNIGHT: Well, ever since I was little I was an actress. I just pretended to be other people. It was just something I had a passion for even when I was a little kid. And later in my life I started getting into plays in drama classes at school and those were fun, but I didn’t fit in with those kids. I felt like I was the outcast and I was actually kicked out of two drama classes because I just wasn’t like very body else. So it was kind of funny. The director for HottieBoombaLottie actually met me in my high school drama class. He asked the teacher if I’ve done film before and if I would like to work with him on a film and he said, “Oh yeah, she does film but I wouldn’t hire her because she never shows up for class.” Because I wasn’t serious about drama class my teacher just assumed I wouldn’t be good for film.

CS: Geez. Something like that, I would think, would deserve a punch to the ear to the person who said it.

MCKNIGHT: It’s kind of funny and ironic that I got kicked out of my drama classes. But I’m doing what I like to do now ““ got into film and really fit in there and think it’s definitely my industry.

CS: So, after doing a project like this, do you find that this is your sole income? When you look at certain projects do you weigh the financial income and say, “Well, this will help.”

MCKNIGHT: It’s definitely an issue ““ if it’s going to end up costing me money rather than earning money ““ which has happened a couple of times ““ but I definitely do weigh that a little bit. A goal that I have for myself is to be able to get to the point in my acting career that I will be able to support myself and family solely by acting. And I will be happy with that. I don’t want to have to take on a second job. I just want to be able to do acting.

CS: I am always curious about the life of an actor of how you can go from one project ““ like this project you said was 4 weeks – so after 4 weeks are the crickets chirping in the background saying which project is next? Do you always have to be planning your months out, your years out?

MCKNIGHT: Sometimes. I’ll usually take on jobs in between that are flexible. I am also a photographer so I’ll do head shots for people. I’ve done pictures for bands ““ that’s flexible for me. So in between that, there is something for me to do. I paint, I do photography, there are things that I can control in my career and in my life and provide me with other sources of income and keep me busy until the next project comes along.

CS: And how do you keep that sense of that this is just a job after all? Are you finding it a difficult thing to think about or do you really just have to devote your entire sense thinking that it’s either this or it’s nothing?

MCKNIGHT: I really do think of it more as just a job. I feel like acting is my life and it’s my goal in life to become a successful actress and I’m going to push for that as hard as I can.

CS: When you read a script and say “Yeah, I really like this part” or “That part makes me laugh” in your history of doing films do you find that you are surprised that something doesn’t work out the way it does on the page but when you actually act it out, are there any surprises?

MCKNIGHT: Definitely. I mean all these script movies that are really iffy to me but then sometimes end up coming together extremely well. I read through the HottieBoombaLottie script and it was really funny to begin with but after seeing the actual part being played out it was just that much better.

CS: Right. Obviously it is filled with comedy and one of the things I always seem to ask ask about is when actors do comedies, and when you have to take multiple takes, does it start to loose it’s spontaneity or are you able to recreate it no matter how many times you have to do it?

MCKNIGHT: I think the different takes are extremely helpful. In some of the more serious parts that I have, I find after the first take I’m OK about it but I keep going deeper and deeper into the character the more times you go through it. As far as the comedy goes, they try it tons of different ways and that always helps to find out which one will be successful and plenty of caffeine in your system helps.

(Laughs)

We were all just pretty happy and all over the place.

(Laughs)

C: Based on that ““ this is a comedy, UNACCOMPANIED MINORS, that was a comedy, do you ever think that maybe you should mix some drama in there or is that ever a consideration? At the end of the day, if the script is good, the script is good and if it just happens to be all comedies, c’est la vie?

MCKNIGHT: Yeah. I’ve done a couple of serious roles. Not really ones that are known very well but I feel like I will be able to get a good mixture in there. Especially with Cleo. She has some extremely deep, serious parts in the movie. She’s a very full character. She definitely is a likable character because of that, I think, because she has so many emotions and shows so many emotions in the movie.

CS: And do you find, the way it’s being described, I saw a tag line where they are comparing it to JUNO and NAPOLEON DYNAMITE…

MCKNIGHT: Oh yeah, I’ve heard a lot of people say that. Even people who haven’t heard anybody else say that are saying that. I definitely feel like the comedy is closely similar to those movies. It has the same feel to it. Which is a good thing.

CS: Exactly. They’re good movies to be compared to at the end of the day. Does the quirkiness really come out on the page? I know that if you were going to read the script for NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, it doesn’t seem that odd but the director’s really made it a point to make it feel like it was it’s own world. After seeing the final product, did they capture what you thought you had read on the page?

MCKNIGHT: Yes, that and more. Some of the parts in the movie I didn’t really thoroughly understand until I actually saw them being played out and I think it definitely came together better than I expected it would.

CS: So now, going forward, are you finding people responding to it ““ does a movie like this garner better scripts in your mailbox, does performances like this help the quality of work that comes in? When you are first starting out you kind of take what you can get but is there a selection process where you can now say, “I can be a little more selective in what I pick?”

MCKNIGHT: Yeah. I think there really is. I mean I definitely only want to be a part of things I want to be a part of. I’m not picky. But it’s exciting for me because now I can be. I won’t just end up doing those independent films where they say, well, we’ll give you good food and that’s about it.

(Laughs)

CS: If I had one more question it would be, watching this film, what do you hope people take away from having seen the film?

L: You know what, the film in general just leaves you with a happy feeling. Coming out of movies that are similar to this – you are lifted up by the movie and it really is just a feel good movie.

By Christopher Stipp

The Archives, Right Here

I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

So, I met Simon Pegg last Friday.

Let me preface this by saying not a lot of people of varying celebrity comes here to the desert in Arizona. When you’re here long enough and you literally head out of town, no more than a hour’s drive from any one point in the Valley, you realize Phoenix and its Podunk suburban satellites are the modern day Las Vegas just without pretty lights or pretty ladies. The West is indeed the new South and if the meth labs are any indication, I am hip deep in a hillbilly haven.

So imagine my surprise last week when I was asked to see his new film, HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE, with the opportunity to get up close with the man most celebrated for SPACED, SHAWN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ. I was ecstatic with pleasure and, thankfully the film, which starts Kirsten Dunst, isn’t that bad. It’s pretty damn good and if you had to choose a film where there was something for the ladies and for you dudes this will be the one you will want to see come October 3rd.

However, it was the process of meeting the man that was at both odd and wonderful. Even though I’ll explain further when I run the interview as we get closer to October 3rd I was intrigued by Devin Faraci’s, of CHUD fame, column on the whole SPACED phenomenon as it relates to where they are now should they go back to the well. I was, and am, of the mind that just like the British version of THE OFFICE which was brilliantly done and, much like SPACED, obscenely too short as a series. They both had a lot of say and it’s only our sense of nostalgia and wanting more (it’s the American way!) we want to just to perpetuate what was incredibly wonderful. But, what’s a person to do when the fans want another season or another movie? Pester the shit out of those involved and tell them that they HAVE to do it because YOU want it?

I asked Simon about this very phenomena, tossing the idea that I wasn’t looking for him to tell me if he planned on taking another crack at these characters but just wanting to know if he had plans to go back and collaborate with these same folks. He was rather excited to say that, even regarding SPACED, he did say that there were things he wish he could have tied up better. Further, the story, if he was to go back to it, would be entirely different because it simply would not start up from the last episode (the whole show was about a reality of their shared experiences) but it would be a reflection of the reality of their shared experiences at their current age. What would that SPACED look like? If I had my druthers, and I sure as hell don’t because it’s not my call, they wouldn’t even touch it. Simon did mention that he absolutely wants to go back and collaborate with everyone but to keep this from heading into Oh Don Piano territory I just left it at that. Even if he was absolutely, positively doing something I can 100% guarantee he wouldn’t share the details with some Podunk Arizonan journalist dickhead who was just pleased as punch to meet the man behind one of the greatest shows made for my generation.

2. My Own Picture Of The Weak:

3. Phil Yeh needs some attention and I’m here to pass along some awareness.

As a father of a girl who has now entered kindergarten, as a schmoe who graduated with an English degree and a master’s in Education and as a complete hater of those who are in much higher positions than me, wanting to use our language as an opportunity to disseminate their misspelled ramblings, making me work like a Navajo code talker to figure out what in the world they’re even saying, I want to erase illiteracy in our society.

It’s a given fact that we have over 20-25 million Americans who are functionally illiterate in this country and even though I am a bad ambassador for perfect grammar usage I am a fan of anything that helps kids, exposes them to art and of anyone who wants to make our youth a little smarter. Now, many of you don’t live in Arizona but Phil Yeh, the brilliant creator of DINOSAURS ACROSS AMERICA, a book that exposes children to not only geography but to the graphic novel format, will be in Glendale on September 21st and 22nd to come paint a mural with one of the Simpson’s own principal artists, Phil Ortiz. The man has had a 23 year history of traveling across this land to promote the arts and literacy and here he is to explain what’s behind this. I normally never run these things but, like I said, this is near and dear to my own values as a human being so I thought I would share:

Phil

And an excerpt from the press release:

The artists [will] head for Kidsfaire in the University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Saturday and Sunday, September 20 and 21. Special guest artist Spill will join the two Phil’s and hundreds of kids who will help create another work of art. The mural in Arizona is sponsored by Kidsfaire and by the Renaissance Glendale Hotel and Spa and will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House or the Phoenix Children’s Hospital after the event. Yeh, who founded Cartoonists Across America & The World in 1985, is now in the 23rd year of his 25 year long world tour promoting literacy and the arts with humor and cartoons. Since the band was founded, they have painted more than 1800 murals in 49 states and over a dozen countries with hundreds of artists and thousands of kids of all ages. Yeh’s partner on the new “Two Phils Tour” is five time Emmy award-winning cartoonist Phil Ortiz.

So, any desert dwellers who might be around, and who might have some ankle biters at home might do well to patronize this event. I will.

4. Don LaFontaine – R.I.P.

As many of you who frequent this column know that I have always been an advocate or a detractor of Voiceover Guy. This invariably means that I am either pro or con to the creation of a trailer that has a narrative audio track over the action of the piece.

Don, if any of you keep up with this kind of thing, was THE man when it came to the “In a world…” goofiness that has been inexorably linked to some of the most obnoxious trailers ever put into theaters. He made trailers something more than just music videos to sell records, he made them entirely his own. In fact, I attended The Hollywood Reporter’s Key Art Awards ceremony, something to celebrate the best in movie marketing and an absolute blast to attend, where Don was awarded for all the work he’s done in the medium. He made large amounts of money, was THE go-to guy for a lot of these trailers and was revered for being a consummate professional. He absolutely will be missed by me, I know if I didn’t do this job I would never have been so attuned to his influence, and I’ve included a link here to FIVE MEN IN A LIMO which explains everything in a way I can’t begin to describe.

5. Jennifer Goldberg of the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix

This woman deserves a round of applause for a few reasons and one of them being that not only did I forget to bring a camera to the press round table, more like a press round the couch with cookies on the table, for Simon Pegg’s HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE but after the poor girl was trounced in the ensuing scrum to ask Simon and director Robert Weide as many questions as possible in our alloted 20 minute time (it was truly vicious and I am partly to blame for said trouncing) she took a picture of Simon and I with her camera AND sent me the copy of the picture the same afternoon. I don’t, and have never, taken a picture with any of the people I’ve interviewed with the exception of Josh Holloway from LOST and Missy Peregrym of HEROES/REAPER. Simon was someone I at least wanted to get a moment of posterity captured with as long as he was crazy enough to visit Phoenix. The girl had every right to slice me out of the frame and after the fracas was done I wanted to let everyone know she was an excellent person to have in the round table (there are some out there I wish I never have to spend time with again) and if you have a moment visit her work over at Jewish News. What can I say, it’s the Catholic guilt…

Now, on with the show…

WHAT JUST HAPPENED? (2008)

Director: Barry Levinson
Cast: Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis, John Turturro, Robin Wright Penn, Stanley Tucci, Catherine Keener
Release: October 3, 2008
Synopsis: What Just Happened? is a winningly sharp comedy about two nail-biting, back-stabbing, roller-coaster weeks in the world of a middle-aged Hollywood producer — as he tries to juggle an actual life with an outrageous series of crises in his day job. Academy Award® winning director Barry Levinson reunites with Academy Award® winning actor Robert De Niro and leading producer Art Linson, who wrote the screenplay based on his bestselling memoir. They all join with an all-star cast in this rollicking, shrewd tale of a man besieged by people who want him all to be sorts of things — a money maker, an ego buster, a bad news breaker, an artistic champion, a loyal husband, an all-knowing father, not to mention sexy, youthful and tuned-in ““ everything except for the one thing he and all the preposterously behaved people he’s surrounded by really are: bumbling human beings just trying to survive by any means necessary.

View Trailer:
* Large (QuickTime)

Prognosis: Positive. I love films like this.

Any kind of satirical look at the entertainment industry’s preoccupation with childish behind-the-scenes antics could keep me entertained for hours on end. What the problem with this is, though, is that 95% of the rest of Middle America could give a shit. As long as everyone involved in the making of this picture knows that a film like this is going be middling at the box office, and that’s best-case scenario, then we’ve got a winner. However, I think this film will take on a meta quality when the same elements that befall Robert De Niro will also befall some real idiot as this film tracks closer to release.

It’s not that people don’t want to know the snarkyness, pettiness and every other ““ness you want to toss in there, they do, but unless you’re the talent and you’re being featured on Access Hollywood you aren’t really of much concern to people, And that’s what concerns me about this movie and, subsequently, its trailer.

Many people levied the attack against TROPIC THUNDER that it stopped short. That it had so many other opportunities to really skewer the system it was trying to dress down. I would assert that it didn’t need to insofar that the kind of box office returns it is experiencing is due to its storytelling. Any further, you see, and you risk alienating those who “wouldn’t get it.” You cannot make a movie too insider and TROPIC THUNDER should be applauded for knowing how thin that satirical line really is. This flick, though, knows it but obviously doesn’t care.

I love Robert in the opening. Even though having someone in their bed, having your character start off in their bed is about the laziest device you can employ, Bobby makes it work as he begins his day lying. I completely get it right from the start and it’s nice to see how sharp things get from here.

From the detached father who can’t seem to do anything right but fuck his own life up at the expense of moving pictures. His blow out in a therapist’s office is enough to know that we’re not getting FOCKERS De Niro but a De Niro that seems genuine.

I equally adore Catherine Keener’s quip to the tortured director who has his own vision for what his film should be only to have her threaten to take the movie back and cut it herself if he doesn’t capitulate to the studio’s demands. It’s downright thrilling to see it dramatized like it is.

There’s something to be said, as well, for bringing real actors into the mix. When we hear a phone call to Robert about Bruce Willis, a star of a production that he’s bird-dogging, being fat and donning facial hair, all of which could constitute a lawsuit against Bobby for misrepresentation you can’t believe this would be the thing that people get litigious about.

Add into the mix the kind of personal backstabbing and infidelity that you would expect out of your high school buddies, not those running and developing multi million dollar projects, and you have something volatile but so attractive. As you have Bruce Willis talking about the base and depraved maniacs who are responsible for running the asylum that is Hollywood there are certain feelings of unease that you should start feeling. This is a rough place that is only understood by taking the approach that this is indeed high school and there is nothing that seems sacred to any of these desperate people.

How this will play to those who live in Kansas, however, is something I can already foresee as an issue that Magnolia Pictures will have to overcome if they expect anyone besides me to pay for a ticket.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (2008)

Director: David Fincher
Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Elias Koteas, Jason Flemyng, Julia Ormond
Release: December 19, 2008
Synopsis: “I was born under unusual circumstances.” And so begins “Benjamin Button,” adapted from the classic 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards. A man, like any of us, unable to stop time. We follow his story set in New Orleans from the end of World War I in 1918, into the twenty-first century, following his journey that is as unusual as any man’s life can be. Directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett with Tilda Swinton, Taraji P. Henson, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas and Julia Ormond, “Benjamin Button,” is a time traveler’s tale of the people and places he bumps into along the way, the loves he loses and finds, the joys of life and the sadness of death, and what lasts beyond time.

View Trailer:
* Take Your Pick (QuickTime)

Prognosis: Positive. I won’t even bother to find out anything more about this movie until an English trailer comes out.

One of the benefits of being a dude like me is that I’m woefully inept at keeping up with whatever project this guy or that guy is doing. Sure, I have my regulars who I keep tabs on, Aronofsky, the Coens, Nolan but Fincher is someone who I try not to read too much about for the simple reason that he’s best left to do what he does. ZODIAC was a surprise to a lot of people, and if you think it wasn’t you’re a liar and a thief, myself included, but I’ve always loved to see what else he comes up with next.

One of the problems with filmmakers like Bay or Shyamalan is that they’re completely niche guys who will never really move out of their wheelhouse; they’re comfortable in it, and no one really should be that disappointed with where they’ve decided their strengths are, but there’s nothing to them that would ever get me excited because it’s going to be a take on a very similar theme with these dudes.

With Fincher, though, he’s willing to experiment with different things, although I would kill to see a comedy directed by that guy, and this film just has me hooked from the very first moment I saw it. I’m not one to enjoy period pieces, Lord knows how much energy it takes for me to give up my sense of disbelief when I know everything on the screen was manufactured to look the way it does but this film just has a different taste to it.

It’s that music in the beginning that is at once haunting and alluring.

It’s the twinkle twinkle of the keys, reminiscent of something you would hear out of the Nutcracker suite, and the close up of the clock, its hands moving back one notch, which is quite effective.

Now, the backward motion of the video, where once there was forward movement I almost took exception toward but it’s the baby being left on some steps that had me wondering what was going on. The baby itself seemed to provoke something visceral in the people who it was left with but I got it. I understood that this trailer wants me to start thinking in terms that aren’t necessarily straightforward but it absolutely rewards you for looking at this thing with a little but of openness.

I’m not certain about a lot it but there is a moment where there is a boat at sea, a bucket of feathers fills the air and it seems like it’s a fairly innocuous moment but it’s drenched in some heavy cinematographic spookiness that you hardly believe this wasn’t helmed by Tim Burton. Further, Fincher surprises with a “battle at sea” moment that honestly. for the few seconds we’re treated to it, seems like something genuinely thrilling.

Again, I’m usually all over a trailer if it wants to be too arty in its presentation but I don’t think that’s what afoot here. Fincher, perhaps, knows that to get people to buy into, one, a period piece would be difficult, two, try to explain a story that was at once a novel in a trailer would be damn near impossible without befuddling Ma and Pa Kettle and, three, having Pitt shown in the most un-sexual sort of way, his obvious transition into younger manhood would take a while to get to. Hence, what we get here is a lovely mix of opaque confusion about the story but getting a dollop of excitement to swallow it all down with.

In so many ways I am willing to spend whatever it takes to see this film. Fincher has thankfully not followed the ways of so many of his equals in churning out movies that have that sheen of their watermark; he is constantly trying to stretch his abilities and experiments with the process of film making. Hopefully he’s got the right combination of both aptitude and execution.