April 19, 2024
BYOB
Triple Option on: BYO Oscar
Sideshow Bill on: BYO Oscar
Stella's Boy on: BYO Oscar
Pete B on: BYO Oscar
movieman on: BYO Oscar
movieman on: BYO Oscar
Stella's Boy on: BYO Oscar
Hcat on: BYO Oscar
brack on: BYO Oscar
iothereturned on: BYO Oscar
BYOB: 235 Years Of Relative independence
BYOB Weekend: Hop, An April Fool’s Gag?
see all »
[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"]
Quote Unquotesee all »
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
Did anyone see Ben Foster on the season premiere of My Name Is Earl? Good lord… even as a crazy bastard… he was hilarious. That’s all I got to share at the moment. Coming up later… The Pipettes debut album finally comes to the US. ABOUT DAMN TIME!
Lemme guess….Ben Foster did his “intense stare down” but in a funny way? Homeboy is a wee bit “one note” in my opinion.
It seems to me that Julianne Moore has made quite a few movies in the last 3 or 4 years, but they haven’t been released. She must hold some kind of record for Most Films Still Sitting on the Shelf. I would like to see about 3 per year, but apparently the studios don’t think I really would.
Julianne has 3 or 4 films on the shelf? That’s impressive and a bit sad. Hopefully those films are being classified as “STRIKE BAIT.” Yeah… that’s the ticket. Nevertheless, Peta; he was pretty good actually. He created a character that should be followed up at some point in Earl’s future. He also had some of the funniest moments on the show with all of the ways his character would kill Earl. Hopefully all of the outtakes will turn up on the season 3 set. Coming up… BRUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
The new Springsteen is really good. It took a few listens to grow on me, but I like it alot now. If that’s the BRUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
you were talking about.
What Julianne Moore films are we talking about, besides “Marie and Bruce”?
Am I alone in being underwhelmed by today’s “revolutionary” and “industry-shattering” news about Radiohead’s new album? It strikes me as a rather reactionary move for a band hailed as one of the most innovative in the last two decades.
Radiohead is pretty smart. They’re letting people set their own price as they release their new album through their website (in ten days). Or you can buy a crazy boxed set for 80 bucks.
New Bruce is too glossy but growing.
Sorry, I meant to write more. It is revolutionary because it completely cuts the record company out of the equation. It’s one thing when Nickelback does it, but this is one of the top bands in the world. There will be more to follow. Only an established act could get away with it, but going on the honor system is pretty industry-shattering if you ask me.
Blackcloud; there have been surveys taken about the price of music and some people want it to be 5 cents. I assume these people are thieving assholes that have no idea what RECOUPMENT means and tend to believe everything should be for free. So, Radiohead, are putting this into practice. Will people pay a cent? Will they pay 100 bucks? It doesnt really matter to them because wherever they play… they sell out. This leads to me giving them all sorts of dap for putting what people will pay for music into practice.
Maybe someone, somewhere saw Julianne Moore’s MIND-BLOWINGLY embarrassing, laughable, histrionic, wretched, shrill, mannered, moronic, wrongheaded, mugging performance in FREEDOMLAND and decided we’d all endured enough of this WORLD-CLASS fucking ham.
Or maybe they saw her giving the EXACT SAME idiotic woman-child performance in COOKIE’S FORTUNE on some kind of perverse “out-embarrass NELL for the worst female performance of all time” double bill.
Long as we’re throwing things out to see what sticks:
Commrnts on THE MIST, anyone?
For some reason that eludes me entirely, there seems to be some high level of anticipation for this on the Web (albeit mostly on genre-heavy horror and DVD sites), despite seemingly widespread mainstream indifference.
The geeks are boasting about how reverential Darabont is of King’s works, but I don’t think that’s a good thing; The best King adaptations were the earlier ones, where strong “auteurs” did their own thing with his early books. Apparently the author himself disagrees, as he’s still whining about Kubrick’s version of “The Shining,” and his novels now seem to only turn into blandly faithful Mick Garris TV movies and overlong Castle Rock-style movies with pink flesh tones.
The trailer for “The Mist” looked like a whole movie of old geezers standing around a small-town market arguing theology. Whoopty-doo.
Agree with you EXACTLY on the King adaptations, Lex. There is no reason for Darabont treating The Green Mile like Branagh’s full-text Hamlet adaptation. Did we really need three hours of that shit?
I love Shawshank as much as the next guy, but adapting 3 of your 4 films by anyone not named Shakespeare is pretty damned pathetic. I guess after The Majestic he had to go back to what he knew best.
Does anyone feel a little hypocritical for taking Darabont’s side against George Lucas with this whole rejected Indiana Jones script, when Darabont isn’t exactly an esteemed screenwriter?
The King films I like the most are the ones more reflective of their director. Even if Carrie, The Shining, Christine and The Dead Zone aren’t DePalma, Kubrick, Carpenter and Cronenberg at their best, they bring something more to the table with their own styles and obsessions.
Oh yeah, I loved Scott Hicks’ Hearts in Atlantis too, though I know I’m in a small minority on that one.
I’m looking forward to it, as one of King’s best shortish stories and because we’ve waited too long for Darabont to do a full-fledged horror movie. But Marcia Gay Harden’s character looks a little overly stereotypical.
Lazarus, I couldn’t agree with you more on Hearts in Atlantis. I thought it was a sweet and sentimental film that wasn’t saccharine at all. It’s an easy movie to fuck up, but I thought Goldman’s adaptation was great and the kids were fantastic. I remember seeing it on DVD for the first time when it first came out and being so surprised by how much I enjoyed it since all the critics seemed pretty indifferent to it.
‘the mist’ developed a very devout following as a result of an audio ‘staging’ of the novella….. deservedly so….. it was a really wonderful throwback to the stuff that made radio great…. i’m thinking fans of the recording are more anxious to see the film than fans of the book….. btw– while king has never shied away from product placement, ‘the mist’ (set in a market) raised the bar to a new level…. it’ll be kinda fun to see if that carries over to the film…..
Yeah, I like Darabont fine, too… and would hope this is closer in spirit to his earlier B-horror screenwriting credits like “Elm St. 3” and “The Blob” than it is to the THREE-HOUR “Green Mile.”
On the flip side of the auteurs-doing-King argument, though, I’d offer than some solid journeyman did some pretty sweet King movies also– Lewis Teague’s “Cujo,” Mark L. Lester’s “Firestarter.” And though I used to hate it, Mary Lambert’s severely unpleasant “Pet Sematary” definitely lingers long after it’s over.
And it’s worth mentioning that the last time an A-list director did King writ large, our reward was:
“I DUDDITS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
on Julianne: I saw Savage Grace at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Juli is great, the movie is a little iffy though. It’s absolutely bonkers and Juli isn’t getting anywhere near an Oscar nomination for it. Whoever distribs it will probably be lucky to get about $100,000 out of it. Still. It’s sad that it’s never going to be released or something.
on Bruce: I have to wait four more days for Magic and it’s killing me. Bruce is God.
on The Mist: Didn’t we sorta see this movie already a few times under the name The Fog or am I not seeing the subtle difference between every movie about a fog rolling through a town with mysterious stuff going on inside it?
My own topic: Wall-E. I wrote on my blog that I think the Disney/Pixar people are deliberately going for an ET vibe on this thing (mini adorable creature staring into the heavens?) From the beautiful poster to the near-wordless teaser released today I think it’s a movie that’s going to be massive like Finding Nemo. Families better get their tear ducts ready, I predict.
Oh, and:
on Ben Foster: Have you seen him in Hostage? It is because of that performance that I despise that man. Probably my least favourite performance of the last decade. Terrible.
KamikazeCamel,
You’re the guy who likes Paris Hilton, so unfortunately your opinion counts for…well…nothing.
wow!…kamcal, thanks for sharing….i love it when offensive assholes decide what’s best for everyone…. jus’ sayin’…..
“I Duddits!” was wonderful. I love that movie.
KCamel, The Fog was about vengeful ghosts in a fogbank and The Mist is about a secret government experiment that creates monsters and dinosaurs in a fogbank. They’re obviously completely different. Plus, The Fog remake was incredibly boring and awful.
Oh, and I thought Ben Foster was probably the best thing in Hostage. Take that for what it’s worth.
I know I’ve said it before but DREAMCATCHER is like, my favorite worst movie of all time. I bet I’ve seen it 20 times. It’s soooo frigging great and then just totally, totally goes off the rails. Donnie Wahlberg as Duddits! CLassic!
I’m a big King fan (his sons books are really good-Joe Hill wrote a cool horror book called “Heart Shaped Box” and Owen King’s got a book of short stories called “We Are All In This Together” and the first story in it is my favorite story of the year) but I cannot WAIT for THE TALISMAN. God, I hope they don’t screw it up. It’s going to be a miniseries on USA (I think) so I don’t have high hopes. But still.
And what, no mention of Stephen Kings directorial debut, MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE!?!
Jeff…arg…is that what The Mist is about? I’m sure that’s some kind of massive spoiler, but I could be wrong. It certainly makes me less interested in the film. And IOIOIO, even if people pay $0.05 per song for the Radiohead, the band will recoup more per album sale than almost any band makes.
I think the most exciting thing about it, is that the short lead time allows me to be frikkin’ excited about a new album that is suddenly coming in 9 days! It is roughly equivalent to Peter Jackson saying, “Hey, The Hobbit is coming out in two weeks. Want to go see it?”
Jeff, that’s not what it’s being marketed as. it’s being marketed as a movie about a fog filled with mysterious creatures (mostly large bugs, by the looks of it).
Glamourboy, huh? When have I said I liked Paris Hilton? Just because I think she gets a bad rap sometimes doesn’t mean I like her. Geez.
“wow!…kamcal, thanks for sharing….i love it when offensive assholes decide what’s best for everyone…. jus’ sayin’…..”
huh? What exactly did I say that brought that outburst on. It’s not like I said an opinion and forced everybody to agree with it. I had an opinion on something (I am assuming the Ben Foster comment but, quite frankly, I have no idea what you were on about) and, *gasp*, I shared it.
Here IS something that I think you should take on board personally – I would suggest that you don’t get so offended and angry every time someone says something your disagree with. That’ll lengthen your life span by a good 2-3 yars. Especially something as tiny as someone’s preference (or non-preference) of a particular actor.
Unless your comment was related to something else I said. Something about WallE perhaps? Or Julianne Moore?
years*
Kambei: Not exactly a spoiler — the info is available in the trailer.
In that case, apologies are in order! And I need to catch that trailer…
VARIETY reports that ROME’s James Purefoy is to star as Solomon Kane, CONAN creator Robert E. Howard’s grim 17th Century Puritan swashbucker from the 1920s and ’30s. Here is a remarkably faithful fanmade word-for-word adaptation of “The Return of Sir Richard Grenville”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF3boH7047E
i’ve read “the mist” script (although they cut out the ending, so i don’t know it). had a similar reaction about “the fog” similarities til i read the script. much different, much better.
without giving too much away.
it’s about a group of people in a small town market that gets trapped when a mysterious mist rolls into town. there are things in the mist. they don’t know what’s going on in the outside world. it’s about surviving in that kind of situation.
Yes, dinosaurs, bugs, same difference, the real point of the King story was how people cope with the end of the world happening all of a sudden. Like a shortened, compacted version of The Stand, perhaps.
yes, that’s it
Today is new DVD day, so I rented “The TV Set” and “Jindabyne.” The former is not nearly as sharp and biting as I was expecting. The latter is very good, especially Laura Linney’s performance. Again, I have to ask what I usually ask: Did either of these films get any kind of wide release?
And yes…whatever became of “Marie and Bruce”?
Radiohead is really, really smart because they’re trying to get “something” which is better than “nothing.” People who don’t illegally download music now have a chance to put their money where their mouth is and pay $10 or more for the new album. Or, they can wise the hell up and realize paying anything more than $10 is a total ripoff and it’s money that goes to the record company and basically, who needs record companies these days?
Record companies are dead. D-E-A-D in the water. BUT….Ticketbastard and other promoters (ie; CLEAR CHANNEL) are taking over the ass raping record companies have been giving us for years by charging no less than $40 (for the shitty seats) a seat for any “big” tour.
Granted, the artists make a nice chunk of change out of the ticket prices (so Radiohead will be in the double digit millions for this tour) but it still hoses the fans. The difference is, there’s no way for artists to do big tours without getting in bed with ticketmaster or clear channel, etc. They still have their niche.
darabont is a genuinely great guy and THE MIST is the king movie to beat, but the trailer doesn’t work fer me. THE MIST is about one thng only: the most vile creepy critters ever attacking a supermarket. the trailer seems to turn it into some sort of grand philosophical debate amid horror. it should be balls to the wall scary and freaky, not o’ sweet mystery of strange life…
“I DUDDITZ!!”
Love that movie…..
THE MIST sounds like it’s going to be a hoity toity version of that Project Greenlight horror film FEAST (which was awesome!).
What would be a truly big deal would be the Beatles (and heirs) doing this.
And, PF, you point out where Thom Yorke and co. will really be getting their money: from touring. That’s where bands rake in the cash now. And I’m sure they also know that most “fans” of the band (at least the ones commenting all over the Intertubez yesterday) will be ponying up their L40/$80 for the fancy box set version of the album. Since, if you’re a true fan, you’d want everything, all the extras and bonus features (they must have hired a DVD marketing guy). The Radiohead guys seem your stereotypical progressive artsy types, but this move is straight from the pages of Adam Smith. Supply and demand and all that. Capitalism, still radical after all these years. Who’d have guessed it? (Not Hollywood, but that’s another story.)
I have all six Radiohead albums, and will get number 7 both digitally and in regular CD format next year. But to paint this course of action as pioneering and groundbreaking strikes me as naive. It’s a great marketing move that generated lots of favorable publicity and good will. In other words, what everyone who has anything to sell hopes for. In that sense, it’s business as usual. It’s about as radical or progressive as those morons at Stanford protesting Donald Rumsfeld. Which is to say, not at all.
Only on the hot blog could you find people who like the freakin Dreamcatcher. Good lord… I hate that fucking movie to the point, that I would use to film to wipe my ass with it. Easily one of the more painful experiences that I have ever had in a theatre to SEE A FREAKIN ANIMATRIX SHORT!
Only here would you get someone like Blackcloud support a scumbag and totally missing the point on what Radiohead are doing. Which… again… is a rather trippy development that PEARL JAM should have jumped on sooner.
I still don’t know why Radiohead couldn’t have offered a third option without the vinyl for like $50. Most people don’t have a record player, and don’t give a shit about that kind of retro aural fetishizing. While I admire the idea of letting anyone have it for however much they want to pay for it, it seems that they’re attempting to let all the sycophantic or moneyed fans pay for everything. I would love to have a book with the lyrics and artwork, but $80 is just way too much for what they’re giving you, especially when ALL the profits are going right to them.
Is anyone watching BBC WORLD NEWS AMERICA, the new BBC America international news hourlong that started Monday? I’m never watching network news again; it’s like a t-bone steak in place of day-old french fries.
The Mist sounds like the final sequences of The Birds where they’re trapped inside with no word from the outside. Which means it could be scary. It won’t be hard to be better than The Fog though. I just hope Marcia Gay Harden doesn’t do there thing that she does in almost every performance.
Adorian, Jindabyne was my #1 film of last year. I thought Deborra-Lee Furness (Hugh Jackman’s wife) was stunning, and Linney and Gabriel Byrne were magnificent – and I’ve never been a Byrne fan. It’s always good to hear people say they like movies from your home country. Needless to say it didn’t get much of a release at all in America, which is a shame because Ray Lawrence’s last film Lantana did quite well on the arthouse circuit I believe.
Oh, what do people think of the Iron Man trailer?
or, what DID people think? I know it’s been out a while but I don’t remember anyone talking about it.
I thought it looked seriously crappy and lame, KC. I was almost sort of sitting on the fence of “is this decent or lame” then they actually PLAYED Iron Man by Black Sabbath and that was it. Lame.
Peta, don’t blame the filmmakers for the sins of the marketing department!
Yeah, don’t be another Chucky in Jersey.
I’ve never read the Iron Man comics but is the role that RDJr is playing meant to act like that? I know it was meant to be cocky and arrogant but also charming but it felt cocky and arrogant but also annoying. Hmmm.
Hey KCamel! I wanted to thank you for being so active in recommending Jindabyne! I might have skipped it otherwise. I caught it in the cinema a couple of weeks ago and truly enjoyed it (even the creepy ending). Thought the actors did some great work, especially Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney.
Camel; stop fawning over hoes like Paris and read a freakin comic! 😉 Yes; Tony Stark is arrogant and cocky. The only thing that humbles him… is becoming… THE IRON-MAN!
I agree, it’s the marketing…but as a somewhat avid comic reader…I absolutely do not trust Favreau with this material. I would prefer the darker Iron Man origin story and I think Stark’s alcoholism will be totally glossed over and it’s an awesome allegory for the reasoning Stark becomes Iron Man.
My understanding is that they will be holding off on the alcoholism until Iron Man 2.
Oh, great…then what? Tim Story or Mc G take over as directors?
i thought the whole point of robert downey, jr. was the alcoholism of tony stark.
on a separate note, did you enjoy your “moonlight” IO?
I thought the IRON MAN trailer holds promise but the one shown at Comi-Con was better. I love that Favreau is insistent on using live ation and Stan Winston. And to NOT use Sabbath’s “Iron Man” somewhere in there is ridiculous. Sabbath RAWKS.
Hogan; Moonlight represents the most BIZARRE CONCEPT EVER for a procedural. So… I love it because the Vampires are so freakin secondary to the detective story.
That aside; Peta, keep your “DARK ORIGIN STORY” ridiculousness off of my Iron-Man. Iron-Man does not have a DARK ORIGIN STORY. He has a very basic origin story that involves his own tech saving him for a fatal heart injury. That’s all there has ever been for Tony. The alcoholism comes into play later.
If Favreau had any damn sense about him. He would try to bring aspects of CIVIL WAR IRON-MAN into the future Iron-Man films. He at least will use War Machine. That’s something!
just looked at the ratings, IO. i think it’s in trouble. people watched the hour before and the hour after, but tuned out at 9pm.
also in trouble, looking at week one, “journeyman,” “big shots,” “dirty sexy money” (which is a shame cause i really liked that pilot)
those with a little more leeway (but not much): “k-ville,” “cane,” “gossip girl”
as to iron man origin, it seems the movie has the whole captured by warlord to build weapon and stark makes armor to save himself aspect. what other “dark origin story” is there?
Is it just me, or would anyone else find hendhogan’s posts easier to read and even take seriously if he were to apply proper capitalization?
I know it’s the Web and as such informal and all, but your all-lowercase posts inherently read as less intelligent than they would if properly capped and punctuated, even if the content were identical.
Just the nitpicky ex-English major in me; But as someone who I believe once described himself as some sort of professional writer, should proper caps really be that much of an issue?
i’m not a professional writer and did not describe myself as one. do you have the same problem with ee cummings (not that i’m comparing, just curious)? not looking to annoy, just something i do. is it really that big of a problem?
CAP IT, DUDE! CHRIST!
Just kidding; Thought I’d throw it out there, but if it’s some personal style, then have at it. Personally, I find it just enough of a minor eyesore that I sometimes glaze over some of your more salient points, but that’s just me.
I tell you what. I’ll try to remember when I think I’m saying something important.
I appreciate you thinking I have some salient points. Thank you.
(Wow, that was a lot harder to do than I thought it would be)
in addition to cummings, hend’s also in the good company of archy & mehitabel and fred allen.
Hogan; those shows will be fine. They will at least get through six episodes. Nevertheless; my gal who knows numbers did a breakdown on Moonlight ratings, and the show will be fine on Friday. Since it’s on CBS and CBS owns FRIDAY NIGHT. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo!!!
oh, you optimist, IO. it goes up against “friday night lights” tomorrow. if it doesn’t win the time slot, there will be talk, my friend. and a guarantee of six episodes is hardly a lock. i offer up “kidnapped,” “vanished,” “daybreak” as examples
While I have not seen any Moonlight, I have a hard time believing it’s a better show than Friday Night Lights.
it’s not. but quality doesn’t necessarily triumph in tv.
Jeff; you only have a hard time believing it. If sports are not your thing like some guy at Chud’s review about FNL. Nevertheless; it’s a damn fine show and one of the best on TV. Give it a shot and 20 bucks. If you feel so inclined.
IO, jeff is saying “friday night lights” is a good show. he has a hard time believing “moonlight” is better
That is correct. FNL is excellent and I hope it makes it through the season.
Sorry Jeffy Mac; I was having an allergic reaction to a tomato. So I apologize for being loopy. Nevertheless; Moonlight is not that good of a show. It’s just a silly show that’s worth the time on a Friday night. May FNL last the season because I got 10 bucks riding on it!