April 20, 2024
BYOB
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BYOB: 235 Years Of Relative independence
BYOB Weekend: Hop, An April Fool’s Gag?
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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 you know that this weekend is SAW WEEKEND? Seriously… the radio ads for this flick never cease to crack me up. If only this flick could be guaranteed to not make close to 40 million this weekend, that would be something.
I am getting royally SICK of all the “evil genius” pictures where the bad guy is so much smarter. Except Dexter, who seems to have some redeemable qualities.
Loved the opening of 28 Weeks Later-movie kind of lost momentum after that, though.
SWeeney Todd screening last night – reports sound very good – seems the can he sing question is answered – yes and it is being described by those who saw it as a “musical-horror-comedy” film –
Speaking of musical-horror-comedy, check out the trailer to “Repo! The Genetic Opera” starring Razzie winner Paris Hilton. Warning though, the trailer may make you homicidal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfJxCYTKOi8
When will we see the Congressional bill that designates Twisted Pictures as an officially recognized terrorist organization.
I bought my first Blu-ray flick (FF2) and used the PS3 (hooked up to a Samsung 1080p monitor) – man it looked amazing, I mean we’re talking 3-D beautiful. You can definintely see the difference between Blu-Ray and DVD – if you have a 1080p monitor.
So far I have refused to buy any Blu-Ray flicks simply because I didn’t think the difference in quality merited the upgrade, plus I don’t like using a PS3 for movies, but that copy made me seriously rethink what format I’m going to buy flicks in the future.
If only they could produce decent quality Blurays at reasonable prices, this format would seriously take off.
So I don’t expect there to be many fans here, but – are the kids really into the super-theatrical goth heavy metal rock operas these days? And if so, why isn’t KISS more at the forefront?
Seriously though, that trailer makes me want to find a way to make my head explode. However, Paris was supposed to be very nice to work with.
Unfortunately; Twisted Pictures were not found to be terrorist although their films do terrorize people. Arlan Spector — wearing a SAWIV hat — stated that; “Who cares if their film terrorize people? I am a big JIGSAW fan. Some of my collegues are JIGSAW fans. We are also a fan of the movie Phone Booth that SAW completely ripped off in terms, but that’s besides the point. SAWIV rules. Suck it bitches.” With that… Spector left the microphone, threw up a gang sign, and stumbled away trying to walk and grab his balls at the same time.
How is Rendition so bad? Production values are good, it has a great ensemble, and yet it’s a trainwreck. Either everyone mis-read the weak script or Gavin Hood has no clothes.
I havent’ seen Rendition yet but I could definitely see your last theory being correct based on Tsotsi.
Rendition simply looks hokey. Most of these WAR movies look or are HOKEY. Hopefully someone will get one right one of these days. If not… here’s to more crappy war movies to add to the collection of crappy movies about the Revolution, the war of 1812, the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.
Funny, I assumed Tsotsi was good. Thanks for saving me the 2 hours.
So where does Rendition fail? From what I’ve heard of the Arar case, it could make an excellent picture in the right hands.
Re: Rendition.
a) I don’t think people really want to see movies based on our current issues about Iraq, terrorism, war policies, etc etc. Especially if it’s not an action picture.
b) Maybe I’m cynical (“maybe”…) but seeing Witherspoon scream “WHERE’S MY HUSBAND?!!?”, or whatever the hell she says at the end of the trailer, made me want to hurl something at the screen. I don’t buy her, and no one else will in such an eye-rolling, overly-dramatic role.
I think people underestimate SUBJECT MATTER. Sure Reese can draw decent numbers for some films (biopic about a legend, or rom-coms), but in this role… shudder…
Speaking of shuddering, how will Lions For Lambs open? DOA is my bet.
Sloanish, don’t just go by my word – a lot of people seem to like Tsotsi. But I thought it was overly sentimental and sappy.
“I don’t think people really want to see movies based on our current issues about Iraq, terrorism, war policies, etc etc. Especially if it’s not an action picture.”
They don’t want to see them even if they are an action picture (The Kingdom).
jeff….that one HORRIBLE goth art rock band is quite big….I’m sure I’ll remember the name when I try to fall asleep. They’re basically Queen in goth garb…except they suck.
Aris P, I’m with you on all that.
Except Lions for Lambs. As little as I want to see it, I have trouble believing a movie with Cruise, Streep & Redford isn’t going to draw a certain older audience to the theater. It might not open to meet expectations, which have got to be huge, but I can still see it doing $14-15 mil and then having ok legs.
I cannot see it bombing like Rendition. But as you point out, it doesn’t have Reese Witherspoon doing that awful “Give me back my son” routine – ugh.
Before the Devil Knows Your Dead opens this weekend. That’s the ticket to buy. It ain’t likely to break any box office records, but the smart money pays to see that one.
I saw Devil Knows Your Dead a few weeks ago, and it’s fantastic. It’s definitely one of this year’s top 5 for me. Do yourselves a favor.
On another note, Deer Hunter is on right now, and I just watched the first hour, for the umpteenth time. What a BRILLIANT portrayal of love, friendship, community and impending loss. And it all takes place in basically four scenes. What director, let alone studio, can ever make a film like this again? I can’t recall when I’ve ever seen a group of actors act so lovingly and convincingly as friends, on screen.
That Reese scream doomed Rendition’s BO, but the movie itself fails because because it’s so scattershot. KINDA SPOILERS BUT NOT REALLY TO FOLLOW: Most of the characters are one-note, and half — at least half — of the movie isn’t even about “rendition.” And the rendition case itself isn’t compelling. Everyone always asks if you would torture one person to save five-thousand and it’s probably the basis as to why the movie was made. It’s a situation that Meryl Streep’s evil southerner even mentions. But at no point do we ever get the sense that guy being tortured has important information that could save lives. Instead, it seems arbitrary, so there’s no moral question at the end. It is unbelievably bad.
Well I haven’t seen Rendition so I’m asking something else. I know it’s been discussed before but I only just saw Bridge to Terabithia on DVD.
What the hell was that marketing campaign?
I really liked it the movie actually. It can rank alongside Freaky Friday and Holes as some of the very best younger-oriented fare of this decade. That AnnaSophia Robb’s gonna have a big future if she keeps smiling the way she does in that movie and stops being some sort of harbinger of death like it looked like she was in The Reaping.
Oh, and that Repo trailer? Umm… jesus christ! What the fuck is that? You can certainly tell it originated as a stage show, huh?
Is Paris Hilton the one is black?