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.
And now, you can follow me on Twitter. Find me here, my oh so original name on the thing is Stipp so come on and follow my stray ramblings. The nice thing you should know is that I don’t machine gun blast with the number of tweets I put out there, I’m fairly mellow….
As well, pick up the latest Geek Monthly magazine. I have an article profiling the antics of Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn on Attack of the Show. You’ll only be able to witness my greatness or awfulness, depending on where you fall on the issue, for another week or so before I’m whisked off the shelf and replaced with next month’s issue.
I dig being a part of the Screen Geeks podcast. For every week they have me on it’s nice to be able and actually verbalize what has been richocheting off in my head all week when it comes to what is the latest in film; it’s cathartic in a way.
I know there are a megaton of podcasts devoted to what’s happening in film but how many of them have me in them? Only one, friends. If you have an inkling to listen to the lastest ramblings of a non-drunken idiot please give this a spin online or download it for your audio pleasure. This episode is devoted to the worst films of 2008 and it was an episode that just left me angry. Talking about what was wrong in cinema last year could only enrage a person and indeed it did. Hopefully some people will check it out and enjoy the Ray Romano-ish voice stylings of yours truly. As well, where else could you find Keifer Sutherland attacking a Christmas tree in a true drunken rage? In real life. It’s great.
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THE ROCKER INTERVIEW
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.
No knock to Jason Sudeikis, because this is the honest truth, but his parts in this film were the best thing about this motion picture. He’s a witty dude and knew how to make something out of his cliched, tired old character that we’ve seen dozens of times in pop culture. The other bright light was the light and airy Emma Stone. Quickly surpassing her peers as the go-to gal as a funny lady who can hold her own against her comedic male foils (Superbad being one, natch). Much like Sudeikis, she isn’t given much to do and that’s another crime that, thankfully, was punished by audiences everywhere unlucky enough to witness this waste of everyone’s time.
This interview, which I have been holding onto like a Bob Dole’s Bic ballpoint, in a messianic death grip of sorts because I wanted *something* positive to come out of this experience, was even plagued by disaster: it was a roundtable. You had your usual suspects of film writers in the valley descend to a swanky hotel in Phoenix to talk to this native Arizonian, Lord knows I would have come down with food poisioning had I known that before I showed up (I’m still smarting from bailing on the Seann William Scott roundtable for ROLE MODELS but I’m not regretting having to parse through everyone else’s quotes just to get my stuff out of there) but oddly enough there was a representative from Spawn.com. For those who don’t know or are unfamiliar, Spawn is a comic book franchise built on the ginormous ego and talent of Todd McFarlane. I don’t begrudge the local boy (his empire squarely rests in a local suburb in Arizona) from doing what he does, I interviewed him to boot, but go ahead and look at the man’s site. It’s about Todd. All about Todd. I have no clue why I was jockeying for questions with a rep for Spawn.com but it is what it is and it’s why I really don’t like to be reminded of how bad I suck whenever I do a roundtable.
THE ROCKER is coming out on DVD next Tuesday. And I hear that every purchase comes with a zip tie that you can fasten around your neck just in case you get too despondent after realizing you rented, or worse, purchased this film. For those brazen enough to actually wade through this interview I hope you see that even though there might be some harbored feelings that I genuinely, homogeneously suck at doing interviews I don’t stray afield into the land of Insipidness as some of these people. Be thankful…
QUESTION: What was it like watching the movie with an audience? Did you get to do that before?
[Ed. note – Yeah, these guys are really bringing the heat right out of the gate.]
EMMA STONE: It was awesome. This was the second time I’ve seen it with an audience. The first time was CineVegas which was the film festival in Vegas but this was so cool because it’s my home town. It’s cool to be at the Esplanade. It was fun.
QUESTION: It was cool to be at the Esplanade?
[Ed. note – Fuck…me. Seriously? A follow up to this shitty question?]
STONE: Houston’s. Morton’s. It was great.
QUESTION: Do you have any resemblance to your character? Your character in the movie described yourself as kind of punk. Based on what I read, you like Beetles and Simon and Garfunkel, is there any sort of musical resemblance to you two?
STONE: No. That’s what I liked about it. She felt different than me. She’s not a smiler and looks at the dark side of things more often and I’m a little more silver lining in my life so that’s what kind of drew me to it ““ especially in a comedy. Finding a character like that in a comedy that is so sardonic ““ a challenge of not smiling and not cracking jokes”¦
QUESTION: Did you have to do a lot of research?
STONE: Not really. She’s just a creation ““ she’s not too dark ““ she’s very teenage ““ teenage angst. I learned to play base ““ that was a big part of it because that’s where she puts all her passion.
QUESTION: Did you pick it up pretty quickly?
STONE: Yeah. Relatively quickly. I went to bass lessons everyday in Toronto but I learned all the songs for the movie and just practiced until I had it down.
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QUESTION: Do you play another instrument?
STONE: I dabble ““ not well no. I played a bit of guitar, a bit of piano.
QUESTION: But you sing? You are musically inclined.
STONE: Yeah. In a sense, but I’m by no means a musician by trade. I will not be making an album.
QUESTION: How much free reign did you guys have with the script? Jason Sudeikis would come on screen and just fire off stuff ““ like there’s no way all that stuff was scripted.
STONE: Yeah. The majority of Jason’s stuff was improved. There were hysterical things he said and did that were not scripted and he had us dying. I’ve been really lucky to have a bit more reign like in House Bunny and Superbad ““ this one was quick ““ we knocked it out pretty quick ““ two lines I wrote for this movie but that’s about it. That was my free reign.
QUESTION: At least you had a little something.
STONE: Yeah, it was great. Amelia is not too funny by any means. She’s not really coming up jokes all the time so what was scripted was good.
QUESTION: Did you guys rehearse for this?
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.
QUESTION: Were you a temporary little band?
STONE: We were a temporary little band.
QUESTION: Did Rainn have to learn to play drums too? He looked natural on screen but you could tell”¦.
STONE: Yes. He had a drum coach named Stu and he was hysterical and picking up chicks all over the place.
(Laughs)
QUESTION: So the movie was about him?
STONE: Yeah ““ the movie was about Stu. No, No, he was awesome. He taught Rainn how to do drum fills because you can’t really fake drum fills so Rainn practiced his ass off and Walter, his son who looks exactly like him ““ looks like Rainn in that poster, wants to be a drummer, so he passed it on to his child. He had to really learn and buckle down.
QUESTION: Do you think he might do a show out here?
STONE: Hopefully. Rainn and Walter together. Drumming it up.
QUESTION: Coincidentally there is a metal punk band out here called ADD.
STONE: Are you serious?
QUESTION: Totally serious.
[Ed. note – Just shoot me. Please]
STONE: Who knew?
QUESTION: I did.
[Ed. note – Aaaand that makes this guy a douche bag for bringing it up.]
QUESTION: What was it like making a movie like Superbad and Rocker without being 21? Everybody else party without you or how did that go?
STONE: Um, well Superbad was ““ oh man, I was 17. Chris who played Fogell was 17, Michael was 18, Jonah was over 21 but they are not really partiers as they say so it wasn’t too bad. And the Rocker ““ Teddy was young and I was young and I’m not really big on the scene so it wasn’t too bad.
QUESTION: Keep out of the tabloids that way.
STONE: No complaints there.
CHRISTOPHER STIPP: You started your career locally here in Arizona, you moved from Scottsdale to Los Angeles and obviously you got a big break with Superbad and House Bunny and now The Rocker. How is life been as a working actress now that you seem to be on an ascent of sorts?
STONE: Different than it was the first 3 years I was in LA and not a working actress. There is a lot of rejection for many years. I convinced my parents to let me move out there when I as 15 and you can probably imagine what it was like. I was not really working and I should have been in high school and I was just auditioning and auditioning and nothing was happening so I’m incredibly grateful at this point that this much has happened and I don’t have a job lined up next.
But as a working actor that is just what comes with the territory, so you never know after movie. Working actor. But, I’m not really working right now. It’s interesting.
CS: How did you convince your parents to let you go?
STONE: The power of my presentation. I made a PowerPoint presentation.
QUESTION: Do you still have that?
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.
QUESTION: What was the most funny, memorable part of making the movie on or off screen?
STONE: One night when we were shooting the arena scene at the end when we open for Vesuvius, we shot from 4:00 PM until Noon the next day so it went from light to dark to really bright and three of us hallucinated. We saw a little boy and we know we were going to talk about it later on. Maybe it was Walter running around drumming ““ yeah, who knows. It was really bizarre.
QUESTION: Did you actually get to perform in front of 20,000 people?
STONE: It was about 700 extras and then with cg they just multiplied, and multiplied, and multiplied. It wasn’t quite 20,000 but it was still pretty nerve wracking to be in front of 700 people playing base which I am sub par at.
QUESTION: So would you rather be a movie star or a rock star?
[Ed. note – Why didn’t this asshole just ask if she could be a tree what kind of tree she would be? Seriously, this is killing me.]
STONE: Oh man”¦well I don’t really know too much about either quite yet but I don’t really know how much I’ll know about rock star but it was pretty awesome to be in rock stardom for a day.
QUESTION: Have you seen the Vanity Fair shot yet?
STONE: Yes.
QUESTION: And you tell us you are not a movie star? That’s big, young Hollywood right there.
STONE: Man, it was pouring rain and 30 degrees. What you don’t know is that Olivia’s dress is completely soaked in the back. Yeah, it was sweet. I can’t believe you can’t tell that it’s raining but if you look at the background ““ that was pretty cool.
QUESTION: Who had the biggest fear of heights?
STONE: We were all just freezing and it was raining ““ we were just ready to get out of the rain.
QUESTION: You did a lot of touring in the movie, do you do much traveling as an actor?
STONE: Well, I haven’t really traveled too much for acting. We shot Superbad in LA, Rocker in Toronto, House Bunny in LA and The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, which I just finished, in Boston. I know a lot of actors that say, “I went to New Zealand”. My roommate, Martha, who is the other girl in Superbad just went to Cape Town, South Africa and now she’s in Vancouver so she’s getting to go all over the place so hopefully I’ll get to travel more.
QUESTION: There are big name actors in the The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past movie. Were you excited about that?
STONE: Yeah. It was pretty cool. The only person I really worked with because I play a ghost and the only person I was doing scenes with was Matthew McConaughey and he’s great. He’s funny.
QUESTION: Did he keep his shirt on?
[Ed. note – This was perhaps the best question of the bunch]
STONE: Everybody always asks that! “Did he keep his shirt on” and, “What’s he going to be like as a Dad?” Yes”¦and great.
QUESTION: In the movie, Fish likes to rock out, anything you like to do to get pumped up before you go out to perform?
STONE: Probably drink a Red Bull or some water. There’s some seriousness going down.
QUESTION: As an out of work 15 year old actor what is the worst advice anyone gave you in LA?
STONE: Not some bad advice but some pretty bad auditions definitely. I was pretty lucky.
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?
STONE: I, thankfully, have never had the mentality that I have to do this because I need the money for this. I have to find aspects that I would love to be able to do it. However, the next script I do, I absolutely have to love it or I will go crazy. I’m going to hold out as long as I absolutely have to and it probably won’t be a studio comedy. I think I’m excited to get into the more human and relatable the better ““ like Harold and Maude ““ I love that stuff.
It taught me so much in my life. I would like to be able to do that for other people. So the next thing that comes along that makes me feel the way those movies made me feel, that’s what I’d like to do.
QUESTION: You have a lot of fans in the comic book industry”¦
[Ed. note – Woah! Guess which guy asked that question?]
STONE: Seriously? I didn’t know that.
[Ed. note – She didn’t know that because we were all pretty sure it wasn’t true.]
QUESTION: So I guess any kind of comic book related movie is not a part of what you are looking for in the future?
[Ed. note – This was one of those awkward red carpet/Tiki Barber moments but it was in full living color.]
STONE: No. Not necessarily. That would be awesome. I know there is some graphic novel that they are making soon that sounds pretty cool. There is some cool stuff coming up ““ The Jetsons. But that’s a cartoon. Why comic books?
QUESTION: Because you are a hot chick.
[Ed. note – Douche bag. Seriously, it’s this kind of shit that makes every Internet “journalist” suspect as skeevy wretches.]
STONE: Man, that is so funny. I had no idea.
QUESTION: Any character you can think of maybe?
[Ed. note – Akward moment #2]
STONE: I would have loved to have played Mary Jane. That would have been really cool.
QUESTION: What makes you an Arizona girl? What have you brought from Arizona to LA?
STONE: It’s hard because I’m really bad with the heat. Growing up in Arizona I really struggled with the heat. So I guess I just stayed inside and watched movies. So all those movies just came with me and continued on. Who knows, if it wasn’t so hot out I wouldn’t have stayed in and watched movies so”¦.
QUESTION: There are some really interesting one line pick up lines in the movie. Can you remember any that you received?
STONE: I don’t really get pick up lines.
QUESTION: Are you a fan of The Office?
STONE: Yes. That was one of the main reasons I wanted to be involved in The Rocker for sure. He’s just hysterical and Fish is so different than Dwight so it was fun to see him branch out into that territory. Because Dwight is not crazy at all.
QUESTION: When he was the naked drummer did you get to see more of him than the audience got to see?
STONE: No, that was a closed set and I was reacting to nothing. I was reacting to the idea of him being naked on screen. But it worked out.
While I have great affection for the flawed remake starring Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, the original Ernst Lubitsch To Be Or Not To Be (Criterion, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$ SRP) is an indisputable classic, newly remastered in high definition and starring the legendary Jack Benny and Carole Lombard as the married thespians in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Bonus materials include a brand new audio commentary, a 2010 French documentary on Lubitsch, a pair of radio adaptations, and a 1916 German silent short directed by and starring Lubitsch.
There have been many books that purported to present the definitive history of the original Star Trek. Much like Roshomon, many presented a perspective on the show’s genesis. But we’ve finally got the overview that incorporates all of those memories plus original memos, documents, and interviews and places them in a comprehensive context – These Are The Voyages (Jacobs Brown, $39.95 SRP), the first volume of what will eventually be a trilogy, each focusing on a season of TOS. Author Marc Cushman has done the if not impossible, then very nearly improbably feat of remaining neutral while presenting the facts, tales, anecdotes, and recollections behind one of the most enduring pop phenomenon of the 20th century – and beyond.
And speaking of Star Trek, explore the golden age of trading cards with Abrams ComicArts’s Star Trek: The Original Topps Trading Card Series (Abrams ComicArt, $19.95 SRP). It’s a lovely little tome that features every card and card back from the trading cart set, plus additional trivia and even a set of bonus cards. Though, sadly, no bubble gum.
Hey! Are you an Adventure Time fan, desperate for some kind of book to keep you company? Then, HEY! Get The Adventure Time Encyclopedia (Abrams, $19.95 SRP)! But it’s not just any old boring book of facts – because it’s written by the Lord Of Evil himself, Hunson Abadeer… Who just so happens to be Marceline the vampire’s dad. So yeah, it’s goofy, it’s funny, and it’s decidedly odd. Great, right?
Every so often, I’ll get a lovely surprise in the mail from John Swartzwelder (the brilliant writer behind 59 episodes of The Simpsons). I’ve said it before, and I shall continue to say it as long as he continues to write them – If you’ve not yet read his series of brilliantly comic novels starring dim detective Frank Burly, than you do not deserve to be literate. So yes, do catch up, and also pick up the latest – Detective Made Easy (Kennydale Books, $15.95 SRP) – or just walk away and never read again. But hey, I recommend you read them all.
After publishing quite wonderful volumes collecting the Mickey Mouse newspaper strips by Floyd Gottfredson in black & white, the fine folks at Fantagraphics have released the first volume in glorious color – Mickey Mouse Color Sundays: Call Of The Wild (Fantagraphics, $29.99 SRP). As with the previous must-have tomes, there is plenty of supplemental materials within the volume, including essays, rare articles, photos, and more.
For more years than I can recall, the amiable scholars at Twomorrows have been publishing a wide range of magazine and books chronicling every nook and cranny of the comics, creators, characters, and companies fans know and love. Earlier this year, they took that love and scholarly approach to the next logical step, by launching a must-have document of four-color history in the American Comic Book Chronicles (Twomorrows, $40.95 SRP), which will eventually chart from 1940 to today. The debut volume covered the 1960’s from 1960-1964, the second release jumped ahead to the 1980’s (covering from 1980-1989), and the latest volume leaps back to the 1950’s – a decade when the medium came under attack and was forced to censor itself. Get this book, as well as the previous volumes, and then start setting aside shelf space for the rest – which can’t come fast enough.
While it started on somewhat shaky ground, now that we’ve arrived at the third season of Boardwalk Empire (HBO, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$59.99 SRP), the little show about Atlantic City in the roaring 20’s has matured into a brilliant character piece for Steve Buscemi’s Nucky Thompson just as Prohibition makes alcohol a booming business for organized crime. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, featurettes, and newsreels.
To expect anything from Baz Luhrmann but a bloated technicolor extravaganza is to have a poor memory of his filmic inclinations, so it should be no surprise that his take on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, 3D Blu-Ray-$44.95 SRP) – starring Leonard DiCaprio as the titular roaring socialite – is exactly that. And, like every other flawed Lurmann film, it’s worth watching just for the spectacle alone, even if it all collapses under its own weight. Bonus materials include a clutch of featurettes, deleted scenes, and an alternate ending.
I have no problem summing up my experience of watching the Oscar-winning drama Amour (Sony, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP) with the term “depressingly beautiful”. Its portrait of a couple who’ve spent a lifetime together facing the end if heartbreakingly poignant. Bonus materials include a Q&A with director Michael Haneke and a making-of featurette.
Find out the ultimate punchline when a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost cohabitate in the fifth and final season of the original UK version of Being Human (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP), which finds Hal, Tom, and Alex as the government comes calling, as does the need to pay bills. Bonus features include interviews, deleted scenes, and featurettes.
Make a rip-roaring adventurous mashup between A Bug’s Life, Fern Gully, and Fantastic Voyage and you get the appropriately named Epic (Fox, Rated PG, 3D Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP), about a young teenager that finds herself suddenly very small and caught up in a big battle to save the noble Leafmen from an army of evil warriors. Bonus materials include a clutch of featurettes.
Time has not made Star Trek: Enterprise (Paramount, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$129.99 SRP) a better show. Granted, it’s still a far sight better than JJ Abrams’ popcorn abomination, but the real tragedy of Enterprise is the sheer amount of wrongheaded decisions… Frankly, starting with the prequel premise of the show itself. But even if I dislike the show, I enjoy the new Blu-Ray editions immensely, due solely to the unbelievably candid bonus materials. The second season set follows up on the brilliant first season documentary with a pair of documentaries featuring an overview of the second season and its difficulties, and a cast reunion that acts more like a confessional for co-creator Brannon Braga. Perfect.
If you’ve got kids in your life, do them a favor by giving them the gift of the latest pair of Scholastic Storybook Treasures releases – the Mo Willems collection Don’t Let The Pigeon Stay Up Late and the 4-story collection Children Make Terrible Pets… And More Stories About Family (Scholastic, Not Rated, DVD-$14.95 SRP each).
I’m not as terribly big fan of Disney’s cash-grab direct-to-video sequels from a few years back. Some of have been tolerable, most atrocious, and very rare is one that is somewhat good. The Peter Pan sequel Return To Neverland (Walt Disney, Rated G, Blu-Ray-$36.99 SRP), making its debut in high definition, has enough enjoyable moments – mostly with Captain Hook and Mr. Smee – to make the affair a decent watch before it is stashed back in the Disney Vault. Bonus materials include deleted scenes, previews, and more.
It’s refreshing to see Keifer Sutherland in a more nuanced and adult portrayal of a post-9/11 world in The Reluctant Fundamentalist (IFC, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$29.98 SRP), a tale of the kidnapping of an American academic in Pakistan that sets in motion a domino effect casting suspicion on a young Pakistani professor. Bonus materials include a making-of featurette and a trailer.
What the Warner Archive has perfected, particularly with its animated releases, is a very clever and utterly successful manipulation of nostalgia which makes purchasing their releases inevitable. They know they have us with the Hanna-Barbera collection releases of the complete Captain Caveman And The Teen Angels and Help! It’s The Hair Bear Bunch (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$29.95 SRP each). Heck, they’ve even got me with the release of the complete first season of Marine Boy (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$24.95 SRP).
This week’s TV sets bring both NCIS series and the still sparkling courtroom tales of Alicia Florrick. First up, we’ve got NCIS: The Tenth Season (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$64.99 SRP) and NCIS: LOS ANGELES – The Fourth Season (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$64.99 SRP). Bot sets contain audio commentaries, deleted scenes, featurettes, and more. And finally, there’s the 4th season of The Good Wife (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$64.99 SRP), which sports featurettes and deleted scenes.
I’m not entirely sure what happened to David Zucker, but the man behind sublime spoofs like Airplane! and Police Squad is almost entirely absent from the ham-fisted Scary Movie V (Anchor Bay, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP). Maybe it’s because in the desperation to keep references near-current it makes the whole affair terribly dated right out of the box. Bonus materials include deleted/extended scenes.
It’s no Tango & Cash, but what Pain & Gain (Paramount, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) – starring Dwayne Johnson, Mark Wahlberg, & Anthony Mackie as a trio of personal trainers get caught up on the wrong side of the law – manages to remind viewers is that director Michael Bay used to know how to make fun, funny action films that weren’t senseless bastardizations of licensed properties.
It’s still not my cup of tea compared to the sublime Sherlock, but it seems CBS’ own take on a modern Holmes, Elementary (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$55.98 SRP), has gained traction with viewers. Enough traction, anyway, to guarantee a second season. The 6-disc set contains all 23 first season episodes, plus featurettes and webisodes.
After a shambling second season, hopes were high for the third season of Walking Dead (Anchor Bay, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$79.99 SRP) – especially with the arrival of David Morrissey’s Governor and zombie pet-owner Michonne – but there were more legitimately confusing WTF moments than genuinely enjoyable WTF moments. Shame, really, because there were some bright spots to be found. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, deleted scenes, and featurettes.
One of the marks of a good documentary is it makes you care about a subject you hadn’t considered giving a second thought to, and that’s certainly the case with Scatter My Ashes At Bergdorf’s (E1, Rated PG-13, DVD-$24.98 SRP), which looks the fashion industry’s mecca, the luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman.
