The Screengrab : second skin

Morning Deal Report: Harrison Ford and Rachel McAdams Wake to “Morning Glory”

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:30:00 GMT

Harrison Ford will play a “grizzled old-school anchor in the Ted Koppel mold who quits in disgust with the gossip-heavy direction of the evening newscast” in Morning Glory, per The Hollywood Reporter. “He is then recruited by a hot up-and-coming producer (Rachel McAdams) to help revive a morning talk show, only to be paired with his rival.” J.J. Abrams is producing under his Bad Robot banner.

Gore Verbinski is developing a project based on a 2007 Wall Street Journal article “about the online fantasy role-playing world and its detrimental impact on the real lives of players,” Variety reports. “The article by Alexandra Alter focuses on a married man who spends as many as 20 hours a day on a computer, existing through an avatar who is a thriving, musclebound entrepreneur. In reality, he is a diabetic, chain-smoking 53-year-old.” Verbinski needs a title. How about Second Skin?

Cheech and Chong aren’t ready to put down the bong anytime soon. In addition to the live concert movie already announced, the duo will join forces for Cheech and Chong's Smokin' Animated Movie, based on their library of classic comedy routines. “"It's great to be doing a movie where Cheech and I never have to get out of bed or be on camera," Chong said.

Related:
Indiana Jones 5: Marauders of the Bronze Hip Replacement
Cheech and Chong Re-Lit

Independent Film Festival of Boston Reviews: Song Sung Blue, Second Skin, Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie

Andrew Osborne — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Song Sung Blue: In this documentary about “Lightning & Thunder,” a husband and wife Neil Diamond/Patsy Cline tribute band, the appeal of the group’s success is attributed to the fact that, like Diamond, they and their Milwaukee fan base are “normal.” That adjective, however, may not be the first that springs to mind when viewing this quirky, moving and often harrowing depiction of the rewards and hard realities of low-level show biz dreams. Director Greg Kohs makes the most of his (sometimes uncomfortably) intimate access to his subjects’ lives, capturing a real world soap opera of triumph, tragedy, and the unexpected magnanimity of Eddie Vedder.

Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie: And while we’re on the subject of seemingly whimsical but ultimately depressing depictions of American eccentrics, this barely feature-length documentary follows a pair of hard-luck backwoods Sasquatch enthusiasts who invest so much of their time and self-esteem in pursuit of the titular monster that I began to wonder if the whole movie was not actually some kind of giant Blair Witchy scam. If not, then the likeable, desperate true believers depicted here by director Jay Delaney (more or less without exploitive condescension) really need a more productive hobby (but then again, as an underviewed, D-List blogger, I suppose I’m hardly one to judge)!

Second Skin: And speaking of questionable hobbies, this interesting but seriously overlong documentary by Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza utilizes geek-tastic computer graphics, talking head experts and a likeable ensemble of misfits to offer a relatively comprehensive survey course on the positive and negative societal and individual aspects of spending way, way, way too much time online playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) like World of Warcraft and Everquest. But, like a marathon session playing actual video games, the initial enjoyment factor here eventually gives way to numb-ass claustrophobia and a nagging awareness that you should probably be doing something better with your time.

(For a second opinion, be sure to check out Scott Von Doviak’s SXSW review of Second Skin.)

SXSW Review: Full Battle Rattle

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Second Skin, reviewed here last week, is a documentary about MMORPG: Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. Full Battle Rattle is also about a kind of MMORPG: let’s call it a Massively Multiplayer Outdoor Role Playing Game. The film documents the U.S. Army’s Iraq Simulation in the Mojave Desert of California, a gigantic make-believe war designed to prepare soldiers for the real one.

Yes, it’s yet another Iraq documentary, but just when you think every possible angle of the war has been covered, filmmakers Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber have infiltrated a new one. The army has set up a massive simulation in the desert, consisting of thirteen villages populated largely by Iraqi-Americans. Full Battle Rattle tracks one battalion as it attempts to keep the peace in the town of Medina Wasl.

The simulation may not have the special effects budget of a Hollywood blockbuster, but it is surprisingly comprehensive if not always executed to perfection. One of the participants likens the whole production to a big reality show, and he’s not far off – particularly when you think of the sort of “reality” shows that clearly have scripted elements and pre-ordained conclusions. While the soldiers preparing to ship out are given a taste of what to expect, recently returned servicemen are cast as Iraqi insurgents. The actual Iraqis are given roles to play as well, such as the politically ambitious deputy mayor whose storyline (like all the others) is worked out by a team of on-site writers.

Fake wounds, mannequin corpses and mock executions are all utilized to heighten the reality. It all adds up to a somewhat surreal experience, particularly for one soldier who has already done two tours of duty in Iraq and is gearing up for a third. He admits to having ill will towards the Iraqis in the simulation for a few days after returning, and his hard feelings intensify as his deployment nears.

For the most part, Moss and Gerber aren’t interested in editorializing; if you want to draw any conclusions about the ethical implications of treating war as a game, you’re free to do so, but the documentary is generally observational in style. Often you hear about a potential fictionalized feature version of a good documentary and it rarely sounds like a good idea, but in the right hands Full Battle Rattle would be an excellent candidate for such treatment. As it is, it’s a standout in an increasingly crowded field.

SXSW Review: Second Skin

Scott Von Doviak — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:00:00 GMT

In a way, Second Skin is the dark flipside of last year’s SXSW hit, The King of Kong. Both documentaries are about people who spend way too many hours playing videogames, but this one is a much more downbeat, dispiriting and at times tedious account. Say what you will about the denizens of the Funspot arcade in Kong, but at least none of them came to believe they were Mario or Pac-Man, and a few of them actually saw daylight on occasion.

Second Skin concerns a much newer, more sophisticated form of computer gaming, awkwardly abbreviated as MMORPG: Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. These are vast virtual environments populated by people from all over the world, in the form of elves, knights and various strange beasties. The most popular such games are World of Warcraft (or “WoW,” as its residents term it), Everquest and Second Life. All players start out with nothing and must gradually build up their skills, arsenal of weapons, magic spells or whatever else it takes to improve their standing in the virtual world. Most players belong to guilds, some of which consist of hundreds of members who communicate with each other through the game, sometimes meet in person and even fall in love.

That’s the happy side of Second Skin: a lot of different kinds of people play these games and aren’t swallowed alive by them. Kevin and Heather meet through the game and strike up a romance, but the strains of a long-distance relationship and incompatible lifestyles that jeopardize their love story have little to do with battling dragons or raiding caverns. The “Fort Wayne boys” hole up in a house together and play for days on end, until real-life relationships and obligations start to take precedent for some (but not all).

Then there’s Dan, a gamer who becomes so addicted he loses his job and everything he owns; his only goal is to keep the electricity on so that the game never ends. He considers suicide and eventually he ends up in a rehab center for gaming addicts, but a bad back and worse attitude make his slow climb back to reality a painful one.

Second Skin grows repetitive and numbing after a while; it could easily lose thirty minutes or so from its running time. There’s a lot of pontificating about what it says about our world that so many people would prefer to live in a virtual one. The real problem with the film probably stems from the fact that these people spend so much time in their game personas; for the most part, their actual personalities aren’t that compelling. Second Skin isn’t without interest, but in the end it’s a movie that makes you want to go outside, see the sun and get some fresh air.

In Other Blogs: SXSW Roundup

Scott Von Doviak — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Once again it’s that time of the week for us to acknowledge, however grudgingly, that there may occasionally be a reason or two to check out film blogs that aren’t the Screengrab. While our SXSW coverage continues, we must admit we can’t be everywhere every day, so here are a few of our imaginary Internet friends who are picking up the slack:

Cinematical has a wide assortment of coverage, from tales of misplaced luggage and other airline horror, to a plethora of reviews, including some we missed (Super High Me), some we disagree on (Wellness) and some we’ll write about soon (Second Skin).

At Beyond the Multiplex, Andrew O’Hehir runs down his SXSW discoveries, including Yeast, Living with the Tudors and Nerdcore Rising. "There's no point even bothering to attend the South by Southwest Film Festival if you're not open to discovering movies you haven't heard about — and may never get the chance to see again," he writes. "Sure, I was plenty glad to see Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay a month before the rest of the world, but that's not what I'm talking about. Despite the Indiewood premieres, the ever-larger hordes of attendees and the expanding media presence, SXSW still feels like a showcase (and trade show) aimed at people who love movies more than the movie business, and whose definition of 'independent film' still includes some elements of anti-Hollywood subversion and rebellion."

GreenCine Daily has podcasts for your listening pleasure. Here is a chat with Brittany Blockman and Josephine Decker about their documentary about the "changing sexual landscape of America," Bi the Way, and here is "a frank and honest discussion with Greta Gerwig and Joe Swanberg about their frank and honest film, Nights and Weekends."

Indiewire’s On the Scene blog runs down the best in documentaries, from Audience and Grand Jury winner They Killed Sister Dorothy to We Are Wizards, "about several so-called 'wizard rock' bands — groups that write and play music that's in some way related to the world of Harry Potter." There truly is something for everyone at SXSW.