Friday Wrap: A Transformers Title, a Peyton Reed Kehrfuffle, and More
5/26/2006 6:00:00 PM
- Michael Bay’s Transformers movie has a real title. Transformers: Prime Directive. And there was much…head-scratching.
- The storied film critic (and New York Times DVD columnist) Dave Kehr posted on his blog earlier this week about the strange discrepancy of middle-aged film critics having to write about teen-oriented movies and the like. (This was a follow-up to the feedback for an earlier post about the dismissal of Jami Bernard from the New York Daily News. I hadn’t checked the blog for a few days, so imagine my surprise at finding out that the “Comments” section had degenerated into a discussion of Le Cinema du Peyton Reed.
- Morgan Freeman is joining the cast of Ben Affleck’s directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone. I don’t understand why this is news. Isn’t there a law in Hollywood stipulating that your movie can’t go into production until Morgan Freeman joins your cast (or, at least, narrates)?
- Andrea Arnold’s well-liked Cannes title Red Road has been picked up by Tartan USA.
- Al Gore’s been on a publicity tear this week for An Inconvenient Truth (which you should all run out to see, btw). LA Weekly’s Judith Lewis has one of the better profiles that have appeared.
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Sofia, Marie, and the Myth of the French Boos
5/26/2006 3:58:58 PM
Some more words about Marie-Antoinette’s boos. Everybody’s been propagating this silliness about the French booing Sofia Coppola’s film. (Dave Poland seems to be the only one who is admirably skeptical.) I noted briefly earlier that the idea of the French becoming suddenly enraged by this film didn’t make sense, since a number of French critics had already seen the film before Cannes, and registered their admiration.
Let’s explore this a bit more closely. First, take a look at Mike’s posted averages of the Screen Daily and Le Film Francais critics’ ratings. Notice anything interesting? Marie-Antoinette is not too far from the top. And as of this writing, on the Film Francais poll, it’s virtually neck and neck with widely-acknowledged fest fave Volver for the top spot among competition films. Sacre bleu! But I sought zose cwazy Fwench hated theez feelm!
Let’s also look at the box office numbers. Marie-Antoinette has already opened in France, where it premiered this week. (That’s why the French critics saw it early.) Needless to say, it was beaten by X-Men: The Last Stand, which was to be expected. But it’s still doing brisk business, right up there with a juggernaut like The Da Vinci Code.
Unfortunately, the media loves to latch onto a story, and when it does, it just will not let go. The idea of the French wanting to guillotine the Goddaughter and Mary Jane Watson is just a lot more compelling (and simple-minded) than the fact that Marie-Antoinette might actually be a successful, if flawed, film that people are genuinely interested in seeing.
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Reviewing the Reviewers
5/26/2006 1:15:00 PM
Wherein we turn the tables once a week and give some of our more notable film critics a taste of their own medicine...
| Critic | Review | Quote | Analysis | This Week's Verdict | | Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly | X-Men: The Last Stand | "Exemplifies what can happen when movies are confused with sandwich shops as franchise opportunities: More items on the menu — or in this case, an even greater variety of superheroes with specialty-act powers — is not the same thing as originality of recipe." | Not particularly distinguished, especially given the generally uniform nature of X-Men reviews this week (begrudging acceptance of its professionalism, mixed with laments for the newfound soullessness of what was once Hollywood's most poignant superhero franchise). | | | Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times | X-Men: The Last Stand | "'Mutant' is the champagne of teen insults, and X-Men holds a special place as the paragon of teen misfit angst dramas." And: "With this trio [Rogue, Phoenix, and Mystique], X3 enters new-ish territory, diving headfirst into the mythos of the femme fatale. Together, they're the Furies for the Hollywood Age. | Has the balls to make a case for a Brett Ratner movie. The best of this week's bunch. | | | Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly | An Inconvenient Truth | Misstating the obvious: "Global warming has its roots in '60s environmentalism — or, as it was known then, ecology." And: "Be warned, for I am about to write seven of the scariest words ever to confront moviegoers: This is a documentary starring Al Gore." Zzzz. | Phones this one in. What happened to all the cute compound Owen-isms and the adverbs stacked so delicately atop one another? | | | Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times | Army of Shadows | "[Jean-Pierre] Melville, who was himself a member of the Resistance, is not interested in making an action film. Action releases tension and makes it external. His film is about the war within the minds of Resistance members, who must live with constant fear, persist in the face of futility, accept the deaths of their comrades and expect no reward, except the knowledge that they are doing the right thing." | It's like he's been taken over by his younger self. Reviewing a throwback has brought out Ebert's inner film buff once again, reminding us of the days when he was one of the more insightful critics in the country. | | | Armond White, New York Press | X-Men: The Last Stand | "Ratner's clichéd exposition (like Ron Howard's) suggests visual slang; doggerel people mistake for exposition. That's why they can't grasp the progressive syntax of Chen Kaige's The Promise." And, speaking of Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart: "They're two kinds of ham: chops and hindquarters." | Gets in his patented digs at other movies while reviewing this one, but is that creeping sense of exasperation the result of a reduced word count? Also, attacking the audience even before the movie has been released is so damn tacky. | |
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Coming Soon to License-Plate Slogans Near You
5/26/2006 12:00:00 PM
The Independent names the city of Los Angeles “film noir’s most enduring star,” offering up a timeline that runs from 1940’s Double Indemnity, via Chinatown and Reservoir Dogs, to this year’s Brick. The article, however, neglects to mention the other cities that inspired their own genres.
Examples:
Paris: The “quirky gamine finding love” genre (Charade, Beauty and the Beast, Amelie)
Chicago: The “running from the law in a creative manner” genre (Some Like it Hot, The Blues Brothers, Risky Business, The Fugitive)
Philadelphia: The “creepy things are lurking everywhere” genre (The Blob, 12 Monkeys, The Sixth Sense)
Dallas: The “trampled-down hero” genre (Bonnie and Clyde, Silkwood, Born on the 4th of July, Boys Don’t Cry)
Detroit: The “fix your relationship by shooting things” genre (Grosse Point Blank, True Romance, Out of Sight)
Got a contribution to the list? Leave it in Feedback. — Gwynne Watkins
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Morning Deal Report: Cannes Winds Down, the MPAA Busted (Again), and Spidey 3 Rolls Into NYC
5/26/2006 10:00:00 AM
- Cannes is slowing down, sez everyone, without any real breakouts in sight. (They say this every fucking year, btw.) Then, practically in the same breath, they mention the frontrunners: Almodovar’s Volver is the clear favorite, followed closely by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Babel, and then maybe Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Climates, (probably too low-key to be a real Palme contender) and Nanni Moretti’s Le Caiman (probably too topical and slightly dated, also Moretti’s won before). And good word seems to be circulating about Pan’s Labyrinth as well. I wouldn’t count out Sofia for an award either, actually: Jury prez Wong Kar Wai has heavily influenced her work, and those notoriously divisive Cannes movies have been known to snag a prize or two in the past.
- The MPAA, in its pursuit of hackers, has been accused of hacking. This is, of course, typical MPAA behavior. Who can forget the hilarious news item earlier this year when they were caught pirating a copy of Kirby Dick’s excellent MPAA-skewering documentary This Film is Not Yet Rated. Next up: The MPAA attempts to reduce America’s obesity problem by hogging all the jelly donuts.
- Quite possibly the lamest article I’ve ever read on book-to-film adaptations.
- Today is the day Spider-Man 3 starts shooting in New York City, apparently filming in spots like Central Park and Times Square. Oh good. More traffic problems.
- This just in: Mike D’Angelo isn’t the only guy who regularly walks out on Cannes movies.
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Thursday Wrap: The Southland Shuffle, X-Men's Bewildered Reviews, and More
5/25/2006 7:10:56 PM
- Jeff Wells reports that the makers of Southland Tales had to rush to finish the film on time for the Cannes date, and are probably going to go back into the editing room. I have sympathy for them, and this may well turn out to be a case similar to Brown Bunny, which lost a good chunk of footage and suddenly became critically-acclaimed. At the same time, rushing to finish in time for the festival isn’t exactly an excuse, guys. I mean, this is different from what almost every other filmmaker goes through how? Let’s not forget that back in the day Francis Ford Coppola won the Palme d’Or with a rough-cut of Apocalypse Now.
- A.O. Scott takes on the politically-themed movies at Cannes this year. The title suggests the article will be about political films from America, but read the article and see if you agree.
- Let me be frank. Given that Brett (Rush Hour) Ratner has now taken over the franchise, I am somewhat amazed that the new X-Men movie evidently does not suck. And even the reviews seem to be expressing that same puzzlement: “Eventually gets the job done,” says Variety. Brett Ratner “isn't as competent behind the camera as Mr. Singer, but such niceties can be irrelevant when it comes to industrial products like these,” says Manohla. “Diminished,” but “not without its wow-inducing, SFX-driven moments,” says the Reporter. It’s like they’re all vaguely annoyed that it’s not a complete stinkbomb.
- Scott Foundas hearts what he’s seen of Dreamgirls.
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Sssomebody ssstopped them!
5/25/2006 2:00:00 PM
The big news story that everyone’s been linking to today is a pretty fascinating piece in The New York Times by Sharon Waxman, about Fox’s pulling the plug on the Jim Carrey-Ben Stiller sci-fi comedy Used Guys, which was set to go into production next month, under the direction of Austin Powers and Meet the Parents maestro Jay Roach. Apparently, the budget was around $112 million, and the studio began to get cold feet. Roach appears to be quite heartbroken over it: “How could this happen? I keep asking myself that every second,” he’s quoted as saying. Waxman’s sources argue that the film’s main talent had so much financial participation that the film would have had to have been a truly gargantuan hit for the studio to even begin seeing money on it. And believe it or not, not all Jim Carrey and Ben Stiller movies wind up being gargantuan hits.
David Poland over at The Hot Blog has a good set of “footnotes” to this story that are worth repeating. First is that Waxman’s story makes no mention of the previous Stiller-Carrey collaboration The Cable Guy, which was also a genuine financial disaster. (I happen to think it’s a pretty good movie, btw.) Granted, it was before Stiller became a huge draw (and he didn’t star in it -- he directed and had a cameo). He also notes that only tangential mention is made of Ben Stiller’s other in-production Fox comedy A Night in the Museum. It’s safe to assume that if the Fox suits were jumping for joy over what they were seeing coming out of that production, then they would have been a lot more hesitant to pull the plug on Used Guys. Also, there’s that small matter of sci-fi comedies not really doing all that well to begin with. It just doesn’t seem to be a genre people are gonna hop in their SUVs to drive miles and miles to see. (I am personally hoping that all changes with this.)
One other thing I’d like to note: While $112 million is a lot of money for a comedy, it’s not that above and beyond what was originally budgeted for this film: $90 million or $102 million, depending on your source. In other words, while this project was over budget even before shooting, it doesn’t appear to have been a runaway production. Which suggests that part of the story here might be that the execs have at long last decided to really take a long hard look at the numbers they’re working with on these films. George Lucas recently predicted that by 2025, movie costs will plummet down to the mid-teens. Either way, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a major (and way overdue) correction sometime soon.
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Perfect Pitch: Jack Hill Enters the Building
5/25/2006 11:46:51 AM
So, this is the first installment of what we hope will be a regular feature, detailing some of the more notable and/or ghastly pitch meetings various screenwriters, directors, producers, and execs have had to endure over the years (or in this case, arranged). Since a lot of these folks are still working in the biz, I’m keeping the names anonymous when requested. I’ll have some more outrageous ones in the future, but for now, this one is short and sweet, and comes from an indie producer, concerning an exploitation legend’s short-lived Hollywood comeback.
“Years ago, in 1994, I was working as an assistant to a talent agent. One day, I was digging through a drawer of material that had been submitted previously to her for consideration, and I found a stack of tapes and a letter from someone that caught my attention: Jack Hill, the director of such exploitation classics as Foxy Brown, Switchblade Sisters, and Spider Baby. At this time, Quentin Tarantino was the hottest new director in Hollywood, and I knew Jack Hill was one of his idols. Although I wondered what Hill had been doing for the last 15 years, I was enthusiastic, and convinced my boss to meet him.
“Jack Hill came into the office to see us. He was so much more delicate physically, and a lot more intelligent and refined than one would imagine the director of aforementioned titles to be. I liked him very much. We told him we'd let him know if we found any opportunities for him. Not long after that, I mentioned the meeting to a young up-and-coming executive at New Line, one of the really nice guys in Hollywood. This executive got excited, knowing Jack Hill's films and his influence on Tarantino, and asked if he could meet with Hill. So I set it up. It wasn’t supposed to be a pitch session – just a general meeting, letting the executive chat with the artist and get to know him.
“So imagine my surprise the next day at finding out, from a very shaken executive, that Jack Hill spent the whole meeting pitching a long, convoluted idea about a drunken doctor and several nurses with very large breasts set inside a seedy hospital –- in short, a Jack Hill exploitation masterpiece. Knowing how intensely scrutinized all of us newcomers to the film industry were as we scratched our way up the ladder, I tried to imagine this young executive sitting in that meeting desperately watching his bosses walking by outside, praying that none of them peeked in to hear what he was listening to. It has probably provided him with a great story to tell people over the years, though. And I have no regrets either; I'm glad I made the time for him, however briefly, during the era Tarantino made Jack Hill hip again.”
Got a good pitch story to tell us? Send it to screengrab@nerve.com
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Morning Deal Report: Spring Break in Bosnia (Really), Korean Monster Flicks, and Wanker's Glasses
5/25/2006 10:00:00 AM
- Believe it or not, this is not a National Lampoon movie. Richard Shepherd, he of The Matador fame, is next making a film called Spring Break In Bosnia, starring Richard Gere and Terrence Howard. Apparently, it’s about “three journalists looking to make their name in the hunt for a Bosnian war criminal who get mistaken for a CIA hit squad.” Oh.
- This little cycle is always fun to watch. Some hotly anticipated titles don’t show up at Cannes, either because they’re not ready in time (David Lynch’s Inland Empire was probably one of those this year) or because they were rejected (Brokeback Mountain was one last year), and they show up at the Venice Film Festival later in the year and clean up. The Reporter has a good roundup of which missing-from-Cannes titles are in play this year for Venice. At the head of the list, of course, is Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center, which may well wind up benefiting from major press at both festivals, thanks to that well-received twenty-minute tease at Cannes.
- Craig Brewer, last year’s Sundance conqueror with the indie rap drama Hustle & Flow is set to make his next movie, Maggie Lynn, a country-music melodrama, for Paramount. And Brewer has already finished Black Snake Moan, a blues story featuring Christina Ricci, Samuel L. Jackson, and Justin Timberlake. There’s something really invigorating about the speed with which Brewer has been working; many Sundance phenoms wind up shooting themselves in the foot by waiting years and years before making their next films. (See also: Richard Kelly.) Of course, it also helps that Hustle & Flow was not Brewer’s first feature; that would be 2000’s The Poor and Hungry, a low-budget DV-shot melodrama that did quite well on the ultra-indie festival circuit.
- Forget about Volver or Babel. The one film at Cannes that everyone truly seems to be wowed by is Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s monster movie The Host. Unfortunately, it’s not playing in the main competition; it’s in the Directors’ Fortnight, now considered a Cannes sidebar but actually a festival in its own right. Anyway, Magnolia Pictures has now secured US, UK, and Australian rights for it, which means we’ll all be getting to see it soon.
- Many film buffs have wondered, and now we have the answer: Wong Kar Wai “wears those glasses because he has sensitive eyes… He's not trying to be cool or anything."
- Fuckin’ A. Outlaw Vern, the finest working critic in English, reviews The X-Men.
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Wednesday Wrap: Cannes Gets Divisive (Again), Linklater Keeps Working, and Borat Rules
5/24/2006 4:00:00 PM
--I guess by now everyone’s caught up with the news that Sofia Coppola’s much-anticipated Marie Antoinette got booed at Cannes, setting it up to be the fest’s most genuinely divisive movie. (This time for real: Check this out. Then this. Then this. And this.) I haven’t seen it, but I’d like to add one thing here: A lot of the coverage seems to be suggesting that it’s the French who are the film’s most vociferous opponents. But this film actually screened for the French press some time ago, in view of its impending release there. (It’s hitting screens, like, today, in France.) And the word then was generally positive. Cahiers du Cinema loved it, as did several other notable publications and critics. So I think some of those accented boos might have been coming from elsewhere. (The long-suffering Austrians, perhaps?)
--Man, that fucker moves fast. Richard Linklater has signed on to do a film about “one day in the life” of jazz legend Chet Baker before he became famous. Let it be noted that this will not be a standard-issue Chet Baker biopic. (Bruce Beresford and Josh Hartnett are already working on that.) Let it also be noted that Linklater’s already got two completed films, A Scanner Darkly and Fast Food Nation (both currently at Cannes) forthcoming this year. [One final additional note: I will eat the oldest pants in my closet if either of these Baker projects turns out to be even half as good as the definitive Chet Baker film.]
--Irreversible director Gaspar Noe is set to make his English-language debut. Be afraid. Be very very afraid.
--This filmmaker has a reputation for being solid, but this might just be the most dismissively scathing review I’ve ever come across in a major industry paper.
--Dude. Three words: A Borat Movie.
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