AFTRA continues to be the piss in SAG’s coffee, driven by the avarice of wanting a bigger piece of the media landscape. Still… like DGA’s not- evil deal during the WGA work stoppage, this is likely checkmate for SAG and will quash any real chance of a strike.
And with that, off I fly…
Triple Option on: BYO Oscar
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BYOB: 235 Years Of Relative independence
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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
New Media Jurisdiction: SAG wants to cover ALL new media projects, no matter how low the budget. We should not allow major studios and networks to produce non-union new media projects without SAG actors because they have low budgets.
GET LEXG A SAG CARD ’08.
The campaign continues. Toward this end, I have done absolutely no actual “acting” in nine years.
Like, how do you audition and shit (or even go to classes) when you have to be at work?
Oh, well, I’ll get that down to a science after another decade in H-Town.
Who’s got the hook-up? LEX FOR SAG ’08.
Just thought I should let you guys know, Roger Ebert posted his belated thoughts on Iron Man over here:
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2008/05/iron_man_and_robert_downey_jrs.html#more
nevermind, that’s Jim Emerson.
I think that is Ebert, unless both Emerson and Ebert broke their hips at the same time.
SATC takes a pounding and George “I’ll just dump you after my birthday” Clooney skates? But he’s got a position in this fight, anyone remember what it is? I’m with Berg on this.
Well, I didn’t know Ebert broke his hip, but it says “posted by Jim Emerson” at the bottom, whereas the rest of the posts on that site say “posted by Roger Ebert”. But it sounds like it is Ebert, which is cool.
Also, I’m liking the new trailer for Choke. Nice to see that broad from Trainspotting is getting work.
There’s not much actual choking going on though, which was a very funny part of the book.
Speaking of choking, i saw Crystal Skulls last night . To those (if there are any here) who haven’t seen it, I envy you. Too bad greed, ego and a reeeaally bad script killed a franchise that ended with dignity 19 years ago.
Or, you could see it and read the terrific and thought-provoking reviews of Crystal Skull that are popping up on various movie blogs, showing that, like most of Spielberg’s recent movies, there’s a lot going on under the surface.
That was to “them”.
Finally saw “Sex and the City” last nite and, what can I say?, I loved it!
As a hardcore fan of the series, I (naturally) feared the worst and braced myself for a soul-crushing disappointment: how could it possibly live up to my dreams (and the Time Warner-generated hype)? Yet, Michael Patrick King somehow manages to pull it off.
If the worst thing you can say about the film is that it’s like an entire season’s worth of eps crammed together, well, that’s pretty much nirvana for any true “S&TC” junkie. For the faithful (and you can count me in), it’s like gorging on chocolate eclairs and cheesecake at an all-night dessert buffet: lip-smackingly decadent, (definitely) too much of a good thing and just about perfect.
Sure, it would have been nice if King had reimagined the series in “movie” terms (it still looks pretty much like a TV show), and hired a cinematographer who could have given it the lustrous sheen its fashion-savvy cougars deserve (one of Woody Allen’s ex d.p.s would’ve added a classy touch).
And Jennifer Hudson, sadly, is a bit of a bust. Her performance felt strangely amateurish coming from a recent Oscar winner (maybe Effie is the only role she can play).
Still, I can’t remember the last two-hour-plus movie that wore its length so comfortably..the darn thing just breezed by (and this was at a 7:30 P.M. promo screening that, predictably, started 10 minutes late).
Question: if this does as well as even a hater like Dave is predicting, could it possibly light a fire under HBO’s ass to rally the David Chase troops together for a big-screen “Sopranos” movie? Just asking…and hoping.
I haven’t seen “Raw Meat” in ages, but it was just on cable. What a truly underrated, fun, but grisly piece of early seventies Brit-horror. This and “Wicker Man” (which came out the next year) – both with cool Christopher Lee appearances in contemporary costume for a change – just tell you the English (well, “Raw Meat’s” director was American, though the film was Brit) were really into making dark little movies showing how just under the surface of the every day, crazy, century-old evil was happily churning away.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068458/
jeff – you’re kidding right? i think there was actually less, if that’s possible.
Good on you Jeff. I finally saw it Monday and it’s my second favourite Indy film. Why? MARION FUCKING RAVENWOOD! I — unlike the rather single men of CHUD — got the message at a rather young age that she had a relationship with Indy that was unlike any other he had in the other two films. The fact that Steve and George actually remembered the importance of Marion, and ended this film the way that they did. Makes me forget that riding off into the sunset ending, and enjoy the one I always wanted to get.
“Jennifer Hudson, sadly, is a bit of a bust. Her performance felt strangely amateurish coming from a recent Oscar winner.”
Shocker.
Maybe someday David Archuleta will beat out amateurs like Tommy Lee Jones and Michael Caine to win Best Actor for MORMON DORK SINGS SAPPY BALLADS, and we can all feign surprise when he fails to parlay that into meaty roles for Soderbergh and the Coens.
I’m not normally a Lex fan but that was pretty damn funny.
Ditto, with an added “told you so” for everybody who didn’t get that her Dreamgirls performance – not necessarily the singing but the acting – was subpar.
Shocking that an American Idol finalist isn’t actually an actress!
And RAW MEAT is one my 70’s horror faves, a surprisingly classy and witty film given its odd plot. Plus, there’s one of the greatest tracking shots in the recent history of film in there.
“Toward this end, I have done absolutely no actual “acting” in nine years.”
Unless you count “acting out” here, Lex;]
I agree, Raw Meat is a terrific, unknown movie. Love that opening sequence with its porny music that perfectly sets the tone.
I just watched Phil Kaufman’s The Wanderers for the second time today. I’d never seen before today. (It was on HDNet Movies.) WOW!
How come this movie hasn’t gotten a proper Spedial Edition treatment on DVD? I didn’t know Ken Wahl could actually act. Also, a terrific soundtrack. It is beaten out only by Mean Streets and Baby, It’s You compiling a perfect oldies soundtrack.
BTW: Does anyone find it amusing that The Wanderers was released only a couple of months after The Warriors?
The Wanderers is a pretty awesome movie. It just happens to be one of those movies forgotten to time. The Warriors would have been forgotten to time. If it were not for TNT, MONSTERVISION, and JO BOB BRIGGS. The Wanderers simply never got that sort of rub, and has faded from memory. Which really really sucks because the DAD TRAUMA alone in that movie is worth checking out.
I’ve sadly never seen THE WANDERERS, though the VHS cover/TV listings picture of Wahl standing next to some bald-ass George the Animal Steel looking motherfucker has been ingrained in my consciousness for nearly 25 years.
Another KEN WAHL opus crying out for the DVD treatment is THE SOLDIER, an unpleasant, super-80s, cheese-tastic Bond knockoff he did, co-starring KLAUS KINSKI and directed by James Glickenhaus. It had this awesome one-sheet of a silhoutted man (Wahl, I assume) in a bad suit holding a machine gun at an odd angle.
And it has a score BY TANGERINE MOTHERFUCKING DREAM HELLZ YES GET THIS SHIT ON DVD.
Also it features pre-“stardom” roles for Alberta Watson and Joaquim De Alameida.
From La Observed: A young theater critic kills himself after being laid off.
Sadder than any individual critic firing to date.
The Wanderers has been in my top 10 since it came out.
I’ve based my life on Ken Wahl’s character ever since. Price’s source material was elevated by wunderkind Kaufman. I just wish he had gone back and made Ladies Man or The Breaks.. two Price books screaming for someone who gets them.
Don’t mess with the kid.
Elbow tittin champeen of the world.
How about a little cock and roll?
Oh pee wee !
18″ around – beats jimmy the greek!
Motherfucker chuck a spear up yo ass
Plus
Hands down – the sexiest poker scene ever shot.
Make sure you get a chance to see the long lost cut.
I’m still waiting for Lex and IO after seeing Redbelt to admit that Chiwetel is the true Pimp and Terry Howard is a phony with a chicks voice.
Chiwetel for War Machine in ’10…
And LexG, I have 9 unused SAG vouchers, I will gladly give you three if you can layoff the caps and the cheese for at least one year.
Except, I don’t think they’re transferrable.
But seriously man, if you have to beg or chortle here for SAG vouchers..so….sad.
That’s one of the easier things to acquire in this town and don’t do shit for you once you get them.
If you’re talented and have a castable look and put the work in, you’ll book.
But you don’t want to put the work in. You just want to stay a mysogynistic square virgin that scares every hot chick away with your banter.
I told you I’d hook you up with Reality, or SAG Vouchers.
Improv Olympic classes are at night and as I said before tons of people out of there book. Or arrange to for graveyard shifts.
Or just keep hitting the bottle and keep making excuses, cause that is working so awesome for you..
In Jennifer Hudson’s defence, the annals of film history are littered with bad performances by Oscar-winning actors who have been working for 5, 10, 25, 50 years. Hell, there are people like two-time Best Actress winner Hilary Swank who have more dogs on their resume than classics with performances to match.
Nevertheless, no, it’s not surprising that once she’s not – ya know – singing to the cheap seats, that her acting doesn’t exactly stand up.
I’m still waiting for Winged Creatures. Rowan Woods has been known to get some good performances out of people from time to time (he says knowing that “from time to time” actually means “all the time” and “some good performances” is actually “some bloody brilliant performances”).
THX, you only seem to be on once every few days, son, but if you see this, what reality shows do you have the hook-up on?
Yeah, I SERIOUSLY doubt your vouchers are transferrable, but nice thought.
Anyway, you can keep on dissing THE FUCKING LEXMAN, but my INCREDIBLE GENIUS displayed on the HOT BLOG is paying off; Tell me what’s better… hiding in bullshit acting classes never being seen by anyone — or making your genius known in a PUBLIC FORUM frequented by the HOLLYWOOD ELITE?
It’s a POSITIVELY BRILLIANT PLAN that cannot be denied. More A-list actors, writers, and directors read my INCREDIBLE AWESOMENESS here every day than would see me in 20 years of “auditioning.”
The LEX MYSPACE PAGE is a fucking INTERNET PHENOMENON. HAVE NO DOUBT, SON.
On a more terrestrial note, since you Aussies will no doubt derail this important discussion anyway…
Leah and Kami…
WHAT IS “NEIGHBOUUUUUUUUUUUURS”????
I swear, EVERY actor, actress, popstat, magician, gaffer and craft service person who’s ever even HAPPENED into Australia seems to have been on this shit.
What is its U.S. equivalent? How is it possible that seemingly EVERY Kiwi or Ozzie (Not METAL BITCH) thesp in the history of the fucking world was on some random Aussie soap opera? Isn’t there like a RIVAL SHOW that gets the other half of OZZIE/NZ actors? I mean, is it the ONLY thing on TV there? Not knowing the backstory, to me it’d be like if EVERY new U.S. actor who *****dropped***** was explained as having been on “General Hospital.” Like, wouldn’t SOME actors have to have at least been on “As the World Turns”?
Is NEIGHBOUUUUUUURS the ONLY show on Australian TV???!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?
Firstly, Leah is not Australian, secondly it’s Aussie, not Ozzie. I’m not from the magical land in The Wizard of Oz.
Neighbours:
Radha Mitchell
Alan Dale
Russell Crowe
Kylie Minogue
Jesse Spencer
Holly Valance
Home & Away:
Melissa George
Isla Fisher
Heath Ledger
Naomi Watts
Lisa Lackey
Isabel Lucas
Dannii Minogue
Neighbours is more known for it’s singing success (Kylie, Natalie, Delta). Although apparently even Leigh Whannel was on it?
It’s just that there aren’t as much productions down here so if you wanna be an actor you gotta take what they give and those two shows are two of the more popular ones. There are others who have appeared on them and gone on to better things down ehre, but those names up there are the ones you may recognise. I think I’m forgetting some big names though. Rachael Taylor (from Transformers) was on a spinoff of Home & Away that lasted a few months and go canned. Good career move, then.
There really is no American comparison. Your soap operas are like Bold and the Beautiful and Young and the Restless. Our soaps are more in line with the British ones like Eastenders.
How did we ever get to this discussion?
Wasn’t Guy Pearce on one of them? (I’m thinking it was NEIGHBOuRS.)
IMBRUGLIA was the 1998 HOTNESS. I wonder what she looks like now; Hopefully not all BOTOXED-OUT… Didn’t she hook up with the dude in Silverchair who had to be a decade younger?
NAOMI WATTS is of course THE GREATEST ACTRESS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, but also (*I’m sure this will be surprising***) a HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE Melissa George fan.
Australians are so weird and yet usually so awesome.
I meant to say *I’m* a huge fan of Mel-George.
And RACHAEL TAYLOR OWNS YOUR FUCKING ASS.
And ANNA PAQUIN is the MEGA-HOTNESS.
Maybe I should move to Australia.
Yes, Guy Pearce! He’s from my town. So is Portia de Rossi.
Anna Pacquin, however, is from NZ. We’re two different countries.
Oh, Lex! You really need to check out “The Wanderers”!
It’s an all-time classic: I started showing it in my “History of Motion Pictures” class last fall, explaining to students that it’s the missing cultural link between “Mean Streets” and “The Sopranos” (as well as the unloved bastard child of “Streets” and “American Graffiti”). And they totally ate it up! I’m a huge Kaufman fan, and “The Wanderers”–no disrespect to “The Right Stuff,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers ’79” or even “Henry and June”–is truly his masterpiece.
The first time I saw “The Wanderers” was at a public sneak preview in April ’79 at the old Loews Orpheum on 86th Street in NY (perversely paired with Dick Fleischer’s “Ashanti”). That was a (very) slightly different cut than the one WB released (dumped, really) that July.
When the film opened that July–to a collective yawn from critics, naturally–you really had to scramble to catch it. I did my part, though. In those pre-VHS/DVD days, I think I must have seen it at least a dozen times in theaters. The movie didn’t begin to pick up its cult following until frequent showings on HBO a year later. More than anything, that (then) nascent premium cable service was responsible for “The Wanderers” not getting sucked into the ether of time. I actually placed it #1 on my ’79 10-best list (in the slot ahead of “Apocalypse Now”!). Now that’s true “Wanderers” love.
A similar thing happened a year later when Floyd Mutrux’s sublime, ecstatic “The Hollywood Knights” opened (and tanked) a week before “The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Shining” bowed. Thanks to HBO, “HK” ultimately developed into another major–and deserved–cult flick from that era (the dying days of the “New Hollywood” which semi-officially ended in November of 1980, the month that brought the almost simultaneous release of “Raging Bull” and “Heaven’s Gate:” both, ironically, from UA).
you sure you’re 2 countries Kamel? Not according to a kiwi postcard I picked up that showed the 3 islands of New Zealand: North, South… and a much smaller “west” island… ;o)
Lex; you do know that there are a far share of US actours that got their start on soaps. So it’s not like the Australians are alone in this, but they do a more classy soap opera. It’s like an American night time soap with more sexuality, but lacking in overall general whackiness that makes American daytime TV so much fun.
THX: Joe Biden… HIT ME! “BULLSHIT.”
Terrance is playing a guy who is in awe of Stark in this film. Over time, Rhodey becomes more confident around Stark, and that leads to the interesting relationship they have in the comics.
So give Terrance another flick where he gets to play a more sure-footed Rhodey. Before you want the man replaced.
io — ‘actours’?…you type like margaret dumond sounds…..
Anyone else not big on the idea of Brett Ratner making Beverly Hills Cop IV?
Dave,
I received a large package from DHL today filled with tons of Topps brand candy (Baby Bottle Pop, Pro Flip Pop, Bubble Juice Bubble Gum, and Juicy Drop Pop) in a SPEED RACER paperboard display. Did I win this from you/MCN? It was sent to my home address but the DHL guy knows where I work so he brought it here. The return address is Hayden Ave in Culver City, CA.
Lex,
Any in the Tila Tequila vein. The shit you love.
Show me where the MySpace profile page of you is so I can get a look at your shit before I start throwing you around to my contacts.
Who needs acting classes?
Oh man, you are soooo naive. Do you know how many fucking A-Listers still get a coach on set for movies?
And you sit around in your Al Bundy beer buzz talking shit saying you don’t need classes…
Tell me “son”; when we’re outside losing the light, and you only have five minutes to get the shot off of you pulling the most honest fucking tears in the emotional climactic closeup of the movie as you hold your dying loved one in your arms…
Are you going to be able to pull it off and “Own”?
Or are you going to just run out the film, lose the shot, have us have to schedule reshoots and put us over budget?
But who needs craft right? When you can make really stale puns about how hot every actress with a vagina is in an attempt to convince us and yourself of your heterosexuality.
Going by your logic Lex… Because I play Rock Band Drums and listen to music, if I was just given the shot, I could replace Stewart Copeland or Neil Peart or Alex Van Halen or Stephen Perkins on any stage. Craft or lessons or practice be damned!
Come on man, four college degrees and this is still your logic?
The reason you hook me with your troll shit is you can see some potential genuine talent underneath all that douchery (which is why you’re perfect for reality)
And speaking of reality, fuck son. How hard is it? It’s R-E-A-L-I-T-Y…
All you need is a headshot and resume and check the reality version of Actors Access or whatever that reality casting website is, and submit.
I mean seriously, the fact that all the Hollywood elite knows this and you don’t. It doesn’t mean they’re loving your shit, it just shows how pathetically you come off like the court jester because it so easy and simple to get into Reality.
I mean, you must be either incredibly lazy, or just naive.
But I still throw you that bone, because if we can get you on a reality show, than you’ll be too busy to bother us here.
IO, nice try. But Terry Howard sucked hard in that movie and deep down in your soul, you know it.
I, too, groaned audibly when I read the news about Ratner directing a new “Beverly Hills Cop” movie, Bartholomew.
Another “BHC” after 14 (16 when/if it opens) years is bad
enough–particularly after two sub-par sequels already destroyed the integrity of the Marty Brest original–but entrusting the franchise’s rebirth to a whoremonger like hack extraordinaire (ok, maybe not so extraordinaire–that’s Michael Bay) Brett Ratner makes me wince in agony.
I’d like to think that Ratner’s upcoming Hef biopic, especially if Downey agrees to star, might help redeem some of his cinematic abominations (the “Rush Hour” trifecta, his egregious “Manhunter” remake, “X-3,” ad nauseam).
But let’s just say that I’m not holding my breath.
THX, forget I ever asked. Christ. What a rambling, condescending post. “Uh, yeah, Lex, you suck and you’re a drunk and a square, but, yeah, I totally have the hook-up… like, go check out Craigslist or something.”
That’s some regular CAA shit there.
And it’s THREE college degrees. You don’t even know your facts.
BHC 4: Ratner is fine… though I wonder sometimes why such an A-list director wants to keep doing remakes and sequels to other people’s movies.
But the issue here is the “franchise”: Can you see ANYONE getting excited for a return to this material? Really? (Other than Judge Reinhold.)
Axel Foley completely lacks the “geek” factor that kept Indy, Terminator, Star Wars, even Die Hard in consistent rotation during the long, lean years before the belated sequel(s). Do people really go around quoting Beverly Hills Cop 24 years on, collecting merchandise, watching the movies every few months and wondering what Serge is up to these days?
You think COP IV will totally break from the relatively realistic action mold of its predecessors, and feature Eddie in like six roles, as Axel, the villain, John Ashton (in whiteface), a random Chinese guy, and Axel’s heretofore unseen, overweight mother? Actually, I think KLUMPING/NORBITING it up would be the best and maybe only way to get younger audiences to show up.
It seems okay to me; Brett Ratner and Eddie Murphy deserve each other. And now there’s twice as many reasons for me to not see it.
Lex, I do have those hookups. I didn’t say you sucked, I said your attitude sucked that it should just be “given to you”..
But the point was, how easy it is to break into reality and how it’s amazing that you’re willing to do the very little work it actually takes.
Now, if you still want, you can email me your MySpace shit if you want to stay private with the rest of the Hot Bloggers and I’ll check it out.
I mean, do you really think I’m going to throw my contacts a reference based on my correspondence with you here? Really? Is that wise on my part?
I’m not going to risk douching some good college friendships and contacts because you want me to submit you based on what I know of you here.
(And if you want to doubt my veracity about my contacts fine. But I’m sure JeffMcM and anyone else that attended would tell you never to underestimate what you can get to through the USC mafia…)
Or you can choose to cuss me out and let your pride get in the way of opportunity..
Though I do want to say, It’s amazing when you get put in your place how fast that smart intelligent guy comes around compared to the shirtless, Tom Cruise loving closeted alpha male persona you usually weave..
I leave it open to you.
I watched THE WANDERERS every single time it was on HBO. And Karen Allen OWNS YOU ALL. The film did make it into one of Danny Peary invaluable Cult Movies books.
And I watched THE SOLDIER every time it was on HBO. Just a balls to the wall bloody action flick.
Was THE WANDERERS the movie where they had an initiation scene where guys had strings tied to their weenies with a big rock on the end and they had to drop the rock off a bridge? I know they did a parody of it in OLD SCHOOL…but was it in THE WANDERERS too?
And I too don’t get the Ratner/BH Cop thing. Didn’t he basically already DO BHC with the RUSH HOUR movies?
Lex got his little weenie feelings hurt again. What a fucking girl!
You just keep dropping my name, Big Perm.
It’s the most interesting you’ve ever talked about here, anyway.
Yep, that’s “The Wanderers,” Don.
Btw, the actor undergoing the gang initiation in that particular scene was (current SAG prez?) Alan Rosenberg.
Lex, you don’t have a name. You’re an anonymous avatar on a blog. You could be a 16 year-old kid, or a 90 year-old Chinese-American, or Ashton Kutcher.
Ka-ching.
Name-checked again.
Paging Chucky.
Forgive me. Just as David Poland has been christened “Heat” by IOI, maybe we should come up with an equally meaningless, hopefully more insulting nickname.
Beverly Hills Cop 4 = Eddie Murphy needs the money.
On the internet, no one knows you’re a dog.
kam, lex probably got the ‘ozzie’ thing from me (australia is often called ‘ozzie’ here for short, and australians ‘ozzies’…perhaps kiwis find ‘aussie’ too prim-soudning, dunno…) sorry, didn’t intend it to spread into the LEXicon.
done hijacking your thread, lex, ya gasbag moron. three uni degrees my ass, you can’t even tell one country from another
(big perm, calling lex a fucking girl is pretty harsh on us chicks, mate)
Sorry, I was going to call him “unfunny lame blowhard untalented loser douchebag,” but I’d hate for that nickname to stick since I’m too lazy to type that every time.
Maybe an acronymn, like ULBULD?
The MIAMI HEAT, McMAHON! THE MIAMI HEAT. Follow your thoughts through to conclusion, son.
Big Perm, that shit was lame. Say something interesting for once. I dare you. Not even about me… say something on here about movies or Hollywood or sports or politics that’s in any way remotely interesting, reveals a distinctive point of view, a sense of humor, some passion… anything.
Yeah, yeah, I’m sure you have such a rockin’ personal life that you don’t need to unload your bullshit on some guy’s movie blog. I know I’d surely expect you to have an expansive entourage, what with your sour demeanor, complete lack of a sense of humor, zero personality, penchant for never bringing anything unique whatsoever to the table, and incredibly stupid and dated handle.
So, Lex, what’s your 9 year old screen credit?
I was background on Black Fox: Good Men and Bad.
Anyone else not big on the idea of Brett Ratner making Beverly Hills Cop IV?
Posted by: Bartholomew Richards
Anything’s better than that souless, lifeless piece of crap directed by asshole John Landis.
After seeing what Ratner did with X3, BH4 should be WAAAAAY better.
Beverly Hills Cop and II have been run on cable for close to 20 years straight. If you do not think there’s a built in audience clamouring for a new sequel — that does not suck — you would be mistaken.
If they actually bring everyone back, ignore 3, and respect those first two films. The 4th could be worth a damn, or it could be a clusterfuck. Whateverthecase; I am just happy to spend another 2 hours in a theatre watching Axel Foley.
I don’t know, Lex…some people here have commented that I’m funnier than you. How does that make you feel, that you try and try and try so hard, and still suck? And I, with my angry sourpuss personality-free life, OWN you constantly?
Shit dude, I have a woman giving me a blowjob RIGHT NOW.
What are you up to this evening?
I’m with IO on this one (surprisingly). Beverly Hills Cop and its sequels have been staples on TBS since I got cable.
I don’t necessarily think Brett Ratner is a bad director (unlike some people), but he already ripped BHC off for his Rush Hour series, it just seems silly to sign on someone who’s known for a rip-off to helm the original.
As for LexG, I hate it when people respond to him. Even when he’s not mildly amusing (which he usually is), he doesn’t take up that much space on his own, but the haters take up way more with a bunch of useless responses that obviously don’t bother him in the least.
Actually, Lex takes up a shitload of space. I hate having to scroll through it.
Why would it be silly to sign a director who’s done a rip off of a series to direct PART 4 of a series? This way he has practice! It’s not like part 4 will be made with an aim to be really good anyway, so what difference does it make? I think Ratner is a perfectly competent director who can shoot scenes of people talking just fine, and I’d rather have him direct useless sequels than fuck up something like Red Dragon again. How the fuck did that movie come out so bland, with that cast and script and cinematographer? Give that to a real director, and they’re winning more Oscars.
“say something on here about movies or Hollywood or sports or politics that’s in any way remotely interesting, reveals a distinctive point of view, a sense of humor, some passion… anything.”
I think you should have to go first.
Oh, and RIP Harvey Korman.
Some may notice that with people who come correct — movieman, scooterzz, Petaluma, Leydon, doug r, etc — I respond in kind and enjoy perfectly insouciant banter… funny how they’re perfectly intelligent and likable regulars who either find me amusing or just know how to skim over the ranty indulgent shit.
To BP and Jeff I’m nails on a chalkboard, and that’s not likely to change… but if the all-caps rage rants are so unfunny and styleless, how come my work here has been quoted in LA Weekly, Defamer, and Vanity Fair online? I got guys doing textual imitations of me on Wells and A-listers FRIENDING ME ON MYSPACE. Yeah, it’s an idiotic plan, I’m a faceless name on a blog comments section, but the buzz is getting out there… slowly but surely. And again, the point stands, even the haters here cannot not talk about it after I drop some gem.
All that bullshit aside… movie question…
Did anyone catch REDACTED?
The two lead psychos give the most hilariouly awful performances in the history of cinema. Yes, the entire history of cinema.
It’s this slurry-voiced Cole Hauser type and a fat guy WHO LOOKS LIKE CHRIS FARLEY, and the latter SHOUTS every line of dialogue in a rage that makes my trademark posts sound calm.
What the FUCK was up with the scene where DePalma stops the movie dead for like eight minuts so not-Hauser can deliver some horribly written and delivered monologue about his criminal brother and a Teamster scandal?
What was with the war-protest chick at the end? Has DePalma entirely lost his marbles? What about the camera-wielding dude who films everything, ranting about how filming crimes he’s an accessory to or committing will somehow GET HIM INTO FILM SCHOOL?????
oh, that’s so sad, i loved the ‘carol burnett’ show as a kid…maybe sydney and harvey will make some entertainment magic together in whatever afterlife there may be
You’re not amusing, and the lesson is that any douchebag can get attention if he acts loud and douchy enough. Congratlations on being the new Kato Kaelin.
And yeah, I saw Redacted. Bad acting for sure, but that was never DePalma’s strong suit. I think he was so angry in making that movie that he allowed himself to get away with stuff that he would’t ordinarily.
The first act was pretty decent… The French doc segment at least.
I was actually surprised by how much it followed “Casualties of War’s” story beats– to diminishing returns, of course, and curiously shot almost precisely using techniques from “Hi, Mom!”
I’d sort of disagree that acting isn’t his strong suit. Yeah, most if not all of his films operate at a heightened, melodramatic level that encourages over-the-top performance, but so many of those were just so damn entertaining– Pacino, Penn, Lithgow in multiples movies, even Cage in “Snake Eyes.”
But when it goes wrong, you somehow get Aaron Eckhart’s bizarre bloviating in “Dahlia” or 450-pound PRIVATE FARLEY here.
(Travolta’s serious, dynamic yet subdued work in “Blow Out” stands as a sterling example of great, naturalistic work in a DePalma movie.)
So maybe he’s better with established actors; I agree that there’s great acting in his movies (Piper Laurie, Spacek, Travolta, Pacino, Lithgow) but each of those there’s also a movie like The Fury or Wise Guys or Penn in Casualties of War where the acting is passable at best.
So what’s the Myspace address? You realize that your hecklers at at least half your act, right?
Try googling “LexG myspace”.
Technically, it should be BHC5, since METRO was essentially #4.
Lex makes fun of Silverlake hipsters with goatees and he has a frickin’ fat dude beard?
Changing topic away from the Lex/Jeff pissing match for a second:
Was driving on Highland and saw a cringe-inducing billboard for “The Love Guru.” Upon further examination, while stopped at a red light, I suddenly burst out in laughter — no, not at Mike Meyers’ smug expression and “isn’t he cute” raised eyebrow; rather, at the fact that the title/logo block actually had a tiny TM next to it. Which leads me to think that at one point someone (wonder who?) delusionally thought this was going to be a merchandising extravaganza on the level of Austin Powers and Wayne’s World. I’m betting the talking Pitka dolls will be at the Reseda 99
We now continue with our regularly scheduled Lex/Jeff pissing match.
Uh… Jeff? I don’t think someone who would actually use a whopper of a douchebag-revealing phrase like “the intellectual, avant-garde, post-modern side of me” in a blog review when post-modernism hasn’t actually BEEN avant-garde since the mid-’80s should be criticizing anyone for their fucking FACIAL HAIR of all things….
Lex may talk smack, but he clearly loves movies and knows his shit.
My 2 sheckels…
I was talking about Speed Racer, so I think sloppy talk is appropriate.
“at the fact that the title/logo block actually had a tiny TM next to it.”
This is referencing an actual gag in the film.
If I just looked at the page that I think is LexG’s MySpace page (considering under “Who I’d like to meet” there is Jerry Bruckheimer and Olivia Thirlby on there, I think it’s a safe bet to assume it was his) then – and forgive my immaturity – you only have THREE comments? Dude, I got more than three comments in my first hour on MySpace (not that I use that shit anymore).
And only 49 friends?
And I am 100% certain than people like Rob Zombie didn’t add you.
/childishness
You’re a loser.
Sorry, i guess I wasn’t quite done yet. My bad.