This was the perfectly normal request from Universal Studios upon being invited to see The Kingdom three months before release. I was not alone in the theaters. Other writers will soon speak up. And there will be at least three more screenings before we get to a month before its September 28 release.
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[twitter-widget username="DavidPoland" hiderss="true" hidereplies="true" hidefrom="true" items="3" showts="60" title=" " targetBlank="true"][twitter-widget username="MCNTweets" hiderss="true" hidereplies="true" hidefrom="true" items="3" showts="60" title=" " targetBlank="true"]
It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
Way to not review it.
AWESOME.
After AMERICAN GANGSTER, this is easily my second most-anticipated movie not just of the fall, but of the rest of the year. I know serious critics in general are a tweedy, stuffy, un-streetwise bunch who have to sing the praises of that Meryl Streep & Meryl Streep Jr. douchefest that comes out next weekend, but how can anyone NOT be pumped for that Mann-template genre of hardcore testosterone crime/international espionage shit with a procedural bent and wailing sufi music and tight close-ups of aviator-glassed badasses?
I was psyched for this when it was supposed to be an April release, but now I’m positively ecstatic after that 2nd trailer, scored to U2’s “Bullet the Blue Sky” and featuring a perfect blend of Mann and Berg stylistics and intensity.
And mark my words and pay me royalties, because right here and now, courtesy of LexG, aka Lex M of several DVD review sites, I am coining and want copyright of the phrase SYRIANA VICE, which from here on out should be the marketing pitch-line of this flick.
Berg has gotten better with each movie and is a debonair, awesome motherfucker as an actor; I’d rather see a two-flick “double feature” from he and equally suave ex-actor John Stockwell any day of the week than QT and RR. I can only hope this is wall-to-wall ambient synth droning and sunglasses and green-tinted lighting and swami riffs and METAL and good-looking people doing it right.
Anything else is for people who aren’t awesome.
Ah, I probably covered my orgasmic enthusiasm properly enough in the last post, but just a further query:
Why do “geeks” cream their pants for sci-fi/fantasy stuff and arch smartassery, but something like THE KINGDOM is barely a blip on the radar for them?
I’d appreciate any light that can be shed.
HOW CAN ANYONE NOT HAVE BEEN PUMPED FOR THIS ALL ALONG???????
The trailer is for shit. This is on my “do not see” list.
I saw the movie last week, and it is pretty good. My one main qualm is (possible spoiler warning, just to be super-safe)…
For much of the film, for whatever reason, Jamie Fox’s character is the only one who is particularly competent.
He makes all the big speeches, he does all the right things and has all the right ideas. And, during a major third act action scene, he is the only one who effectively accomplishes daring do. Remember that bridge shoot-out in MI3, where Ethan Hunt was the only one who could shoot a gun or protect bystanders? Well, the whole movie kinda feels like that and it was very distracting.
Fair or not, I could just see the meetings where Fox pressured the makers to give him all the cool lines and all the cool action beats.Just my thoughts, but it’s certainly not a deal-breaker, just something that bugged me.
Scott Mendelson
“I can only hope this is wall-to-wall ambient synth droning and sunglasses and green-tinted lighting and swami riffs and METAL and good-looking people doing it right.”
I just wanted to give this line the emphasis that it deserves. Because I really hate movies like this description.
So, jeffmcn, I assume then that you didn’t like Miami Vice and Black Hawk Down either?
I guess in an hour flat we’ve found out that chronically clueless and un-self-aware Wrecktum and jeffmcn and bitch-ass, unobservant, no-testosterone losers…. but then again, we already knew this, didn’t we all?
Anyway, jeffmcn and his pathetic, look-at-me, I just moved to LA and I’M GOING TO BE A FILMMAKER poseur-ness and beneath even acknowledgment…
but Wrecktum, who ought to at least know a LITTLE better, your snide dismissal of the TRAILER just boggles the mind. Did you read David’s appraisal or were you just smugly waiting to drop that gem all along? Do you even know how much of pussy you are to not be pumped for INTENSE, GRITTY, PROCEDURAL ACTION? Christ, POLAND is a show-tune lovin’ Music Man, and he was able to appreciate THE VICE and now THE KINGDOM. Why are you all better than it all, Mr. I NEVER SEE A MOVIE TWICE and I’M SO UNOBSERVANT I DON’T EVEN NOTICE WHEN HALF THE THEATER AT THE ARCLIGHT IS TALKING ALL AROUND ME?
I hope you’re both fat and your wives leave you.
Hey, Jeffmcn, how does it feel to know you are absolutely never, ever, eeeeeever going to be a FILMMAKER or a SCREENWRITER????
I’m sure you hang out at a STARBUCKS in Los Feliz waiting to get noticed and making a BIG PRODUCTION of your laptop, but really, either change your OUT OF STATE PLATES, lose some fucking weight and shave the goatee, or MOVE BACK TO FUCKING KANSAS.
But, oh, yeah, I guess hardcore MICHAEL MANN SHIT isn’t as cool as fucking COEN BROTHERS BROWN-O-VISION irony.
Jeff, if you’ve even ENTERTAINED the idea of writing a SCREENPLAY, then I’m 1000000% on what a joke of a human being you are. You’re so despised here it’s almost not funny.
Alao, Jamie Foxx is a trillion times better looking and fucks hotter women than ANYONE on this blog, so if you fatbodies don’t show some respect, you’re only fooling yourselves.
Again, POLAND loves this movie. You sycophants FLOCK to his blog daily. WHY are you suddenly better than it all when it comes to a movie like this?
Do even your parents like you? And answer this one HONESTLY. I know you think I’m a dick and all, but really, all regular posters of this blog:
Do you even have a SOUL? Or have you entirely sold it to suck so much ass and be so ruthlessly negatively and proactively ignorant just to protect your own pleased-with-yourself credentials?
I have now looked at the trailer and I have to say, it is 100 times more trite than the movie, which almost never is. I would not have expected this movie from that trailer.
And I hear you Scott, but I disagree. I think each player gets to work through what they do. (And without giving anything away, the scene you are talking about is specifically not just his to win or lose.) And even Foxx, who is clearly the lead, is not the lead the way, say, Bruce Willis is in a Die Hard movie. I had no problem with what you are talking about.
Thank you LexG. You made my day with your duel tyrades. You’re amazing.
I’m still trying to understand how you open with the fact that the estudio doesn’t want you to review a film and then review the film. Baffling…
Seriously. If someone else did this, you’d blast them.
I saw The Kingdom last week as well and I got to say Poland is right. This was deffinatley one of the most entertaining films of the year. I usually can’t stand Jamie Foxx, but he gives his best performance since Collateral. I agree the trailer is a little misleading, it gives away way too much info about the third act, but the movies is also more and intense and action packed then the trailer suggests. It’s like an Ed Zwick movie only good.
Lex, just to answer your questions: No, I don’t like Miami Vice or Black Hawk Down. I have lived in Los Angeles for six years, but I’m from Colorado, not Kansas. I don’t have a goatee, nor am I fat. And for your question “Do you even have a SOUL?”, I’m an atheist.
I also want to point out this quote again because it amuses me: “amie Foxx is a trillion times better looking and fucks hotter women than ANYONE on this blog, so if you fatbodies don’t show some respect, you’re only fooling yourselves.”
Now that that’s out of the way, Lex, I actually am looking forward to The Kingdom. The trailer looked good to me I’ve liked most of Peter Berg’s movies for the most part. But your description of the ideal movie was basically Domino, which pretty much sucked.
Oh yeah. I’m not a “fatbod[y]” Click my name for proof. So that gives me free reign to abuse Jamie Foxx as an egotistical prick, right? Cause that was the only criteria you were basing it on. Whether we were fat or not. Right? And I’m not even going to get into my sex life. That’s just rude.
Uhh…the real question here (aside from David reviewing a movie he was asked not to review) is why do you guys read and then respond to Lex. Come on….
Hey Dave, thanks for clarifying that the trailer – which really hasn’t done it for me – is quite different than the film. It would be wise for the studio to cut another trailer as most people I’ve spoken to are not responding at all the current one.
Lex, you’re a scream. Seriously, I’m laughing like a madman.
But you’ve still not convinced me to see this movie. I refuse to see any Peter Berg movie unless the Rock’s in it.
What are you, some kind of a snob?
LexG: In your earlier post… have used the word “and” a couple time when you really meant “are”? Just wondering.
quick correction: Ashraf Barhoum, he was also excellent in Paradise Now.
really looking forward to this one.
What the hell, Poland? This is a fucking REVIEW. They told you not to yet, and you went ahead and did. Don’t bother with your verbal semantics. I’m hanging the “HYPOCRITE” sign squarely around your lying neck.
Actually, it’s a lot more detailed and intelligent than much of what passes for film critcism in many venues these days. (But, alas, that’s not a glowing compliment as much as a sad commentary.)
I was at the screening last night as well, and though I usually disagree with much of what Mr. Poland says, he pretty much nails it on the head here…
Wrecktum, I have to say I’m in disagreement with you about Foxx’s performance, I thought he came off the worst of all the actors in the film. He’s given too much to do and I just didn’t think he had “it” for this role – and I’ve loved him in some of his supporting turns. I think Foxx is one of those actors that just works better as a strong supporter rather than as the lead. Granted, calling him the “lead” in The Kingdom is perhaps a bit of a stretch, but I didn’t think he handled himself well.
And for those judging this film based on its trailer, all I can say is DON’T – the movie is far better and significantly smarter than its action-loaded trailer would have you believe.
Also, kudos to the filmmakers for using a FANTASTIC opening credit sequence – it was a great way to set up the story and get the audience hooked right away, really impressive stuff.
I was at the screening last night as well, and though I usually disagree with much of what Mr. Poland says, he pretty much nails it on the head here…
Wrecktum, I have to say I’m in disagreement with you about Foxx’s performance, I thought he came off the worst of all the actors in the film. He’s given too much to do and I just didn’t think he had “it” for this role – and I’ve loved him in some of his supporting turns. I think Foxx is one of those actors that just works better as a strong supporter rather than as the lead. Granted, calling him the “lead” in The Kingdom is perhaps a bit of a stretch, but I didn’t think he handled himself well.
And for those judging this film based on its trailer, all I can say is DON’T – the movie is far better and significantly smarter than its action-loaded trailer would have you believe.
Also, kudos to the filmmakers for using a FANTASTIC opening credit sequence – it was a great way to set up the story and get the audience hooked right away, really impressive stuff.
Can’t wait for this. Almost without anyone noticing, Peter Berg has become the one of the best guys around right now for smart commercial studio movies that also entertain. The Rundown was terrific fun that inexplicably didn’t perform, and Friday Night Lights is a little masterpiece.
I like Friday Night Lights, but let’s put a stop to the “underrated The Rundown” talk, spare me. It’s a buddy-action movie with a couple of laughs and a terrible ending and the “Option A, Option B” thing was retarded, and I forgot the whole thing on the drive home leaving the theater.
Apologies to all for the double post, my bad…
This is a review. You were asked not to review it. You acknowedge you were asked not to review it (in the headline), and then go right ahead and review it anyway.
AICN would be proud.
Somehow, I don’t think Universal is going to be pissed. And Dave has held his tongue appropriately on films he found disappointing or downright bad.
Sadly, I like Peter Berg, the Coen brothers and Michael Mann. I feel like I have nowhere to direct my hatred.
Of course they won’t be pissed, Dave didn’t give away any plot points and loved the movie. It’s still a review on an embargoed movie though.
FWIW, I think embargoes are stupid and pointless. But much like the fired projectionist, if you’re outwardly asked or even silently expected to adhere to a level of confidentiality, you should do that.
Is Lex going to don a loin cloth and start kicking people into bottomless pits?
A slam-bang OPENING SEQUENCE??? Grr. I always cringe when I hear that. You know why? Because half the fucking theater is still filing in and munching their popcorn and looking for seats.
I appreciate the energy and effort that goes into mounting a killer opening sequence, but for those of us who have to see things not in a respectful critics’ screening, but rather with the unwashed general public, SLAM-BANG OPENING SEQUENCE = OPENING SEQUENCE THAT LOOKS LIKE IT MIGHT BE COOL BUT LOSERS ARE STILL TALKING, SHUFFLING IN, AND ANNOYING THE FUCK OUT OF ME.
Even with 15 minutes of trailers, audiences STILL come into movies as much as a reel late.
Also, question:
To the people underwhelmed by the trailer, are you referring to the original trailer that ran with Breach and Good Shephered this past winter when this was originally intended as an April release? The initial trailer was very techy and all business looking. Or are you referring to the current trailer with the U2 song?
Because that U2 trailer, I think, is masterful and exciting, energetic and gritty– very Mann, very Greengrass. Obviously I have different tastes than most here, but I can’t imagine not thinking that’s a solid trailer.
Side question: Who does Jeremy Piven think he’s fooling? Dude was bald as hell in HEAT twelve years ago. Now on Entourage and in this, he’s sporting the full head of hair. I want the name of his Bosley doctor or toupee maker, because he pulls it off, but the fact that he was in movies and shows for DECADES with a receding hairline and pattern action on top renders it all Heston-obvious.
“To the people underwhelmed by the trailer, are you referring to the original trailer that ran with Breach and Good Shephered this past winter when this was originally intended as an April release? The initial trailer was very techy and all business looking. Or are you referring to the current trailer with the U2 song?”
The original. It was grim.
The Kingdom was originally buried in April and now it’s buried in September. Not that much faith from the studio, huh? I’ll pass.
It was moved to September because it was testing well, not to bury it.
It’s up against the Rock. If only Berg and the Rock combined forces…I’d be first in line.
Sadly for Berg, when 9/38 rolls around, it’s going to be ten dollars to the Rock and a middle finger to the Kingdom from this particular moviegoer.
September 38th?
“What the hell, Poland? This is a fucking REVIEW. They told you not to yet, and you went ahead and did. Don’t bother with your verbal semantics. I’m hanging the “HYPOCRITE” sign squarely around your lying neck.”
Oh, go a grip, Nordling. You best get several of those clever Hypocrite signs so you can pass them around to you owners at AICN. Big baby. Living proof of what LexG was saying in regards to you pathetic, over the hill AICN toadies.
Well done, Poland. Berg has a load of potential. Friday Night Lights gets more compelling everytime I see it. How he put you on the football field outdid Oliver Stone’s attempt tenfold.
“September 38th?”
Tell me where the edit button is and I’ll change it.
“My review is not a review.” — David Poland
“Even though I am not part of the Executive Branch, I have the right to invoke Executive Privilege.” — Dick Cheney
Lewis Carroll would be very proud.
Or Orwell.
It’s weird how people comment so different about your post.
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