Happy Monday… do you feel the quiet? Everyone is tired of talking about who’s losing their job next, who will get along with who in hopeless intermarriages, and the box office for movies no one much cares about. Heck, even the politics are getting quiet, as we are back to a fight between a Republican and a Democrat… sigh…
Here’s a look at New MGM, Same As The Old MGM.
But after that, it’s on you…
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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
Just got back from seeing “Once”, it’s just as wonderful as a year ago!
I wonder what will the be the surprising little gem of 2008?
Now I’m going to go enjoy “Falling Slowly” playing around inside my head for a few hours… ;o)
The Mazur Collection in West Hollywood could use a thinkfilm. Jamie Stuart? It would be payback for the Sopranos thing you dug up.
Anyone going to CineVegas later this week?? I’m excited to be going if only for a few days (Thursday-Sunday). In actuality, a few days of Vegas (as opposed to say, 10) is better for me in the long haul.
Pretty great lineup of films and whatnot: http://www.cinevegas.com
Jamie Stuart dug up nothing on The Sopranos. That link was found at THND…
I am sorry to hear about your faux funny documentary Jamie, but you put your friends first, as you should.
And it’s then nicely contrasted by Matt Zoller Seitz’s response.
Can someone translate the first sentence of T. Holly’s post for me?
The first post.
What’s the jist of Matt’s response mcm? And I don’t know, in an apparent stream of consciousness, he said ThinkFilm wasn’t a Lesbian, so I thought he should do a video think piece on The Mazer Lesbian Archive Collection.
Who said what now?
MZS’s response was that thematically The Sopranos was always about lack of resolution/no easy answers/not getting what you want and an ending as simple as “Tony gets shot” would seem to fly in the face of that. It may make sense but it’s artistically unsatisfying.
“Just got back from seeing ‘Once’, it’s just as wonderful as a year ago!”
I just re-watched it last week, and I had the same experience. I think it’s the perfect example of what almost every bio-pic about musicians misses: it’s the song, and not the singer, that’s the real star. I understand that Once is bio-fic, not a bio-pic proper, but it still GETS IT. I never get bored or antsy during any of the performances in the film. And I still get shivers when Glen and Marketa play “Falling Slowly” in the music shop; and when the band is playing “When Your Mind’s Made Up” in the recording studio.
Extremely cute faux doc by Jamie Stuart, too obtuse to explain, got yanked, you missed it.
So Matt didn’t get into to the cut from Tony standing to a teletransported Tony sitting? You kinow, the one with flashing lights and an arrow pointing to the state of mind of the character and says “there I was” (more likely) or “there I will be” (optomistic, but less likely given what follows) -?
David — just fyi, as I’ve seen his name 4 times since Sunday — it’s spelled Yemenidjian, with a “J”.
You know, I’ve tried — really tried — to make sense of this thread. But I think I haven’t yet had enough Merlot this evening for my mind to be in the right shape. As Lloyd Bridges might have said: Looks like I picked the wrong week to cut back on my drinking.
lol, joe, again with the merlot! (i haven’t sampled any merlot since seeing ‘sideways’… i gather you’re not so easily influenced in your wine selection). i can’t make heads or tails of this thread either, but then again i can’t be bothered
Hallick, I don’t agree with you. Great music comes from a great song, great singer, great production, etc. I think that Once shows a distinct lack of understanding of this.
Then again, as a singer and songwriter I tend to get a little high-horse about that sort of thing 🙂
I’m curious about this: According to Variety — The Showbiz Bible, of course — What Happens in Vegas already has scored nearly $108 million in foreign release, about $35 million ahead of domestic. I admit, I liked the film a lot more than most (all?) other people on this blog, but even I am surprised by that performance. How did this happen? Seriously: Don’t US comedies (especially rom-coms) traditionally face an uphill battle while competing in foreign marketplaces? Or is that conventional wisdom obsolete?
Also — and I love this — 21 has already scored nearly $60 million overseas. Again, I liked this movie more than most. But that gross, along with over $80 million domestic? Cowabunga.
I know some people won’t be able to resist posting something along the lines of “Just because it made money doesn’t mean it’s good,” or, “Both movies are shite,” and blah, blah, blah. I would disagree with the latter judgment, but that’s almost entirely irrelevant. I’m throwing this out there not to debate aesthetic merit, but to ask: Why do you think these two movies (which, let’s face it, few people had high expectations for) caught on?
That’s what I get for getting the spelling of an MGM press release… thx.
re: 21 and WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS:
It tells me that Vegas is a commerical setting for a movie these days, particularly overseas. Oceans 11, 12, & 13 did better overseas, too. Probably a combination of the city’s iconic status and, in a sour economic climate, get-rich-quick wish fulfillment.
Does this mean that Francis Ford Copolla is going to raid his library and give us a 25 years after the fact “ONE FROM THE HEART REDUX”??? (God help us all….)
Does Diaz, one of the world’s biggest stars and sexiest actresses, trudge through the entirety of WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS in frazzled hair, 1988 OP shorts, no makeup, and flip-flops?
I still haven’t seen it, but the trailers make it look she’s not in a romantic comedy, but rather dressed to go out and grab the morning paper off the lawn.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/photos/la-et-directorfeuds-2008-pg,0,751128.photogallery
Someone needs to get this up on the frontpage.
NM, I just read through it and it’s actually pretty tame.
TERMINATOR 4. I’m suprisd no-one’s mentioned Moriarty’s huge spoiler of T4. Other sites – EG CHUD, have the same info. If true, it’s almost as big as finding out Darth Vader is Luke’s dad a year before Empire was relased.
Hopefully it’s not true. because it makes a mockery of T1 and T2. Hell, even T3.
So do people believe it ? Or does no-one care enough about T4 to give a shit?!
In fact, Vicuna, Coppola actually did do a “One From the Heart Redux” a few years ago–he recut the film a little and it received a modest art-house release before hitting DVD. And quite frankly, I would happily take that one over pretty much anything I have seen so far this year.
Mmmmm. . .Nastassja Kinski in a martini glass
RE: Terminator 4
I just read the so-called spoiler and I don’t believe one word of it. It’s too insane. Regardless, I never liked the idea of making another trilogy.
I don’t give a shit what anybody says. I liked One From the Heart and you can all suck it.
T3 and T4: dealt with in the alternate ending to T2. I guess the studio didn’t like it.
One from the Heart is one of my all time favourites. I have the DVD and the soundtrack and I even wrote a school essay about it. It’s actually my favourite Coppola film, believe it or not.
AICN isn’t loading for me (for whatever reason) so I can’t get on there to read this hilarious T4 rumour. I take this as a sign to not got to AICN. I’ve gone there maybe 5 times in the 10 years I’ve had the Internet. My internet browser is telling me to not start making a habit of it now.
Meanwhile, I’ve had the theme song to The Trap Door in my head all day. I’m slowly going delirious (but good delirious if you remember The Trap Door and it’s theme song!)
Doug R – what’s the alternate ending to T2? My DVD doesn’t have any alternate ending (it’s zone 3 – Thailand)
Kamikaze – if you want to read the spoiler, you can also visit CHUD. I like that one better because it gives more info than the one on AICN.
I wish people would really take the time and read what Spike Lee said. He was just observing that the 2 Eastwood movies didn’t acknowledge the presence of African-American soldiers at Iwo Jima. He in no way suggested that Eastwood should’ve made one of the men raising the flag an African-American.
One of the things that critics were quick to praise Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima for was the bold way it didn’t sentimentalize the historic moment. The way it showed how the moment was manipulated to boost the war effort and the affect it had on the men who raised the flag. This is all good. The problem isif you are going to amke a movie that tells it like it is, then be prepared for peoplie pointing out that you didn’t go all the way with your vision. There isn’t even an African-American PRESENCE in either film. I think if Eastwood had gone a little further with his casting of background players, Lee would haven’t much to complain about.
As it stands now Eastwood revealed a real nasty side by not thinking about Lee’s observations and resorting to some kind of John Wayne stance and telling a grown man to “shut his face.”
There isn’t even an African-American PRESENCE in either film.
Except, oops, there is.
Heh….whoops. Derned facts getting in the way.
Spielberg plans a billion dollars for DREAKWORKS REDUX?
Could this be true or just a DRUDGE newspaint splash?
Spike’s upset because he feels irrelevant. The drop in impact this guy had from the early/mid 90’s compared to today relegates most careers to pilots and HBO. But because he was able to make himself a celebrity, unlike Robert Townsend or Matty Rich, he still gets financing, though not at the level he wants. So he has to takes gigs like Inside Man to show he still has appeal.
I watched what Spike said and it would have been very simple for him to say “for as good/interesting as FOUF is, there’s still other stories as interesting and more unknown than what Clint covered”. Instead, he lays the groundwork for bigotry as a way to garner attention for a movie no one had any idea was being made. That’s the real message and Clint got it, because since they are both writer/directors Spike knows quite well how development and preproduction works.
I’ve known about Spike’s new movie for a while now. Inside Man is a really fun movie and his Katrina doc is outstanding. He is still doing great work.
I loved “One from the Heart,” too (it was during my “Francis-Coppola-Can-Do-No-Wrong”-post-“Apocalypse-Now” phase), but haven’t seen it in years.
“Inside Man” was easily Spike’s best since “Malcolm X” (regardless of whether or not he was a “director-for-hire”). It’s also the first time he displayed real “entertainer chops,” proving that he could make popcorn movies as satisfying as a Spielberg, Cameron, et al.
And his HBO Katrina doc was a flat-out masterpiece: destined to become one of his most enduring achievements.
Having said all that, I’m not really looking forward to Lee’s WW II film. His public battle with Eastwood felt like one of his tired old race-baiting p.r. stunts simply to drum up interest in his new movie. Tacky, tacky.
Personally speaking, the next WW II flick I want to see is Tarantino’s–if he ever gets around to making the damn thing. (Does anyone know whether Peter Bogdanovich is still involved with the project? I’d read somewhere that he was helping QT write the script.)
Caught the re-booted “Hulk” last nite and found it to be an utter waste of time (and somebody’s $150-million). The (overused) CGI is so bad that nothing in the big action setpieces has any “reality” to it whatsoever. It also features the fakest, phoniest “New York” street scene in recent memory. Leterrier’s reductionist “Hulk 2.0” looks more like a second-rate videogame than a movie. The only thing I really enjoyed was Downey’s cameo as Tony Stark: probably because it reminded me of how much better–and more enjoyable–“Iron-Man” was.
“Hellboy 2” can’t come soon enough for Marvel: this is practically in the same league of “bad” as “Daredevil” or “Ghost Rider.”
Of course, I should have probably have prefaced my “Hulk” remarks by saying that I was a huge fan of the Ang Lee version, and never saw the crying need for a do-over.
Inside Man “easily” the best since X?
I think Clockers and 25th Hour are two of the best things he’s ever done… I’d rank the latter right up there with Do the Right Thing, and it’d handily make my Best of the 00s list.
That last act where Brian Cox outlines the life Norton could have on the lam is about the best thing Lee’s ever done.
I also found myself in awe of the sheer brazen out-there-ness of She Hate Me, one of the angriest, most energized and underrated movies Spike’s done.
Summer of Sam and He Got Game both leave a pretty bad aftertaste, but I find both fascinating and incredible to look at… I loved Inside Man, too, but in the end I think it’s akin to Scorsese’s Cape Fear – an accomplished piece of pop filmmaking, but without the fascinating messiness of his personal movies.
I agree with 25th Hour. Inside Man is an entertaining, serviceable genre pic, but 25th Hour is a real, blood-and-guts-and-heart film.
I have to jump on the 25th Hour bandwagon. It’s easily one of my favorite movies of this decade. Good assessment of Lee there Lex.
Lex: You OWN, sir.
http://www.movingpictureshow.com/archives/mps25hour.htm
http://www.movingpictureshow.com/archives/mpsClockers.htm
curse you kam and that ‘trap door’ diddy, i got it BAD!
ok, back to regular scheduled programming
Lex, I would take your comments about She Hate Me and apply them to Bamboozled, which is a very underrated picture. But you’re absolutely right and 25th Hour, the more I watch it, feels to me like the movie of the decade; it is remarkable in its audacity and its ability to hone in on smaller character arcs while making wide-ranging points about New York City (and this country) post-9/11. The scene at the end is absolutely jaw-dropping, but the “Fuck You” scene and the scene at the club are equally incredible.
Clockers is a wonderful film as well and I hate that Jungle Fever (another masterpiece) always seems to get left out of conversations about Spike’s career. The last shot of that film gives me goosebumps every single time and the sequence where Wesley Snipes goes looking through crackdens trying to find his brother while Stevie Wonder’s unforgettable “Living for the City” thumps on the soundtrack is in my top ten of the most riveting sequences in the last thirty years of cinema.
Damn; how could i have forgotten “Clockers”? That actually made my 1995 10-best list. OK, “Inside Man” is Lee’s best–or at least my favorite “joint”–since “Clockers” (not “X”).
I was so distracted by the annoying camera work in “25th Hour” the first time I saw it that I could barely concentrate on the characters or story. I liked it a lot more on a second viewing (the Cox monologue/montage you mentioned IS killer), but it still doesn’t come anywhere close to my favorite Lee movies (“Do the Right Thing,” “Malcolm X,” “Clockers,” the Katrina doc).
I get what you mean re: “Inside Man,” Lex. Yeah, it’s essentially a frivolous popcorn entertainment without the substance of a “Right Thing” or “X.” Yet, viewed within the context of so many of the failed, pretentious botches that Lee made between ’95 and the release of “IM” (I’ll grant you that “She Hate Me” is kind of a fascinating train wreck, but “Bamboozled” is practically unwatchable), its skill/craftsmanship and stylistic assurance felt downright tonic.
And I loved the sexy, vixenish performance that Lee got out of Jodie Foster in the film: it was easily her strongest, most interesting work in years. She should definitely play Charlotte Rampling-type roles more often.
Both “He Got Game” and “Summer of Sam” are particularly depressing to me because they should (and could) have ranked with Lee’s masterpieces. And the less said about “Girl 6,” “Get on the Bus”–and probably a few other clunkers that I’m blocking out–the better.
…and I forgot to include “Jungle Fever” in my list of Lee favorites, too. Geez.
It’s either the heat, the humidity or I’m just getting too ****ing old!
I’ve always thought that “She’s Gotta Have It” was as overrated as “School Daze” was underrated; and “‘Mo Better Blues”–while an interesting, and certainly ambitious, attempt–simply doesn’t work.
But “Right Thing,” “Jungle Fever,” “Malcolm,” “Clockers” and “When the Levees Broke” are all indisputably great films.
Let me clarify – I’m not implying what he’s doing is bad work, some of it is really good as pointed out, it’s that what he does has nowhere near the media heat he once had, and the downhill started with X which was not seen as a masterpiece. It’s no coincidence that this happened at Cannes where a 78 year-old white guy won a special award and stirred up a lot of noise with another new film while Lee was trying to work the press.
Here’s the T2 alternate ending:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cig1x3ZOxAU
Movieman, I dig you so I say the following with no disrespect intended because you’re obviously a fan, but….
You’re kidding about Malcom X right?
The movie that he yanked away from Norman Jewison, Director of A Soldier’s Story, because Jewison was white? (And a Jew?)
The movie where Spike chooses to do a foolish Zoot Suit Dance number sequence for 30 minutes, but Malcom’s spiritual journey to Mecca that changes his life is a five minute montage?
The movie where at the end they get Bill Cosby and Michael Jordan and every black celebrity to wear an “X” hat and turn the message of the Malcom X movie into one of the very type of capitalism he so preached against?
That movie?
You’re kidding right?
If not, than I am picking you up at 4:20 and you’re going to give me a hit of whatever you’re on…
Spike Lee is the most racist motherfucker in Hollywood, and he uses Al Sharpton tactics to get his films made because his skills cannot draw box office.
And let’s be clear, Spike has been getting at Clint ever since “Bird”, because Clint made a better film about Black Jazz musicians than Spike’s bullshit movie “Mo’ Better Blues.”
Spike Lee is the Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson of Hollywood. He uses race and reverse racism to bully his films into getting made; rather than letting his artistry speak for itself.
The only good thing this black thrash has done is out the down low to middle America.
Thank God, our new black president is going to put filmmakers and politicians like him out of business; people who always play the race card to get someone to write them a check.
Sorry, I was wrong about Jewison, he is not Jewish.
But he was arguably more than suited to direct Malcom X as much as Spike after In The Heat Of The Night and A Soldiers Story.
I do come off hard on Spike, he’s not untalented, but man he’s a racist.
I like Malcolm X, don’t think it’s Spike’s best but also don’t think it’s as terrible as you make it out to be THX. But, I think your view of the man is coloring your view of his films. I am not a fan of Spike Lee, the person who is a shameless self-promoter and can be borderline racist in his commentary; but I am a huge fan of Spike Lee, the filmmaker.
I think his movies have a compassion and a wisdom and a humanity that he might not convey when he talks to the press, but he sure as hell brings that point home in films like Do the Right Thing where he shows how everybody is racist (from the white cops to Buggin’ Out) or Jungle Fever where he shows how dark-skinned blacks can be bigoted against lighter-skinned blacks or 25th Hour where he aims his camera at a primarily white cast.
He does dare to make films about what it’s like to be black in America and what it’s like to be an angry black man in America; some may find that off-putting, but I don’t we would find it off-putting if his commentary were less antagonistic. Anyway, what I’m saying is: I think it’s okay that you don’t like Spike Lee, but you shouldn’t let his personality get in the way of the fact that he’s an incredible filmmaker.
You’re right Noah,
One should always separate the Art from the Artist.
but I have a hard time getting into the Art of someone who uses racism and guilt to pull projects away from others, or as a means to get his own projects financed.
I do like some of his films, but I have a hard time respecting him when he pulls the kind of manipulations he pulls to get projects made.
Now to make a point about “Summer of Sam”:
Back in the summer of ’99, after “Phantom Menace” and “Eyes Wide Shut,” SOS was my next most-anticipated movie. Spike is an all-time fave, and the milieu just promised to be so exciting… an impassioned artist like Lee aiming his gaze at the summer of ’77, NYC, a disco- and punked-out panorama of urban paranoia and sexual liberation.
And this was coming right on the heels of “Boogie Nights,” so I was fully expecting another masterful, epic look at that very specific time and place.
What I got was shaky period detail with nary a convincing ‘stache or hairdo in sight, THE WHO as the kings of punk rock, guidos straight outta ’89 shouting 89 variations on “GET THE FUCK OUTTA HEEYA!!!!!!,” and a soundtrack comprised almost entirely of tunes that had already been used a million times over.
I’ve gone back to SOS repeatedly in the years since, always wanting it to be this masterpiece, and of course always finding it to be frustratingly uneven and severely unpleasant; It’s material that should fit Spike like a glove, a seemingly surefire path to a PTA/Scorsese-styled home run. Leguizamo, Sorvino and Brody are all game, delivering fine performances… and the movie does have a sweaty, ugly, harsh quality…
But that harshness extends to the characters, most of whom are unlikable and unsympathetic; Under the right circumstances, I have no problem with certain films where the director has contempt for his subjects, and indeed Spike’s misanthropy has been exhilerating in certain cases; Here it’s just like a bunch of horny, mean, paranoid, violent assholes, much like the cynical opportunists of the previous “He Got Game.”
Again, another INTERESTING Spike movie, brilliant in flashes, but HGG and SOS are ultimately SO unforgiving, grim and jaded… even if you respect the artistry anf ambition, you feel like you need a shower when they’re done.
I get where you’re coming from re: “Malcolm X,” THX.
But I was absolutely floored by the film’s level of ambition (and yes, achievement) back in 1992, the same way I was the previous year by Oliver Stone’s “J.F.K.” As tough as it is to separate the films from their directors’ massive hubris–and predilection for toying-with-the-media p.r. stunts–it’s what’s on screen that counts. And for me, they’re a pair of thorny masterpieces.
Do you really think that Norman Jewison could have made a better X bio? On the basis of “The Hurricane” (a movie that I found downright insidious on myriad levels despite a typically strong DW performance) I seriously doubt it. Anyway, I’ve always thought that Jewison did his best work in comedy (“Moonstruck,” “The Russians Are Coming,” “Send Me No Flowers,” etc.)
And Lex, I feel your “SOS” pain. Like you, it was one of the movies I most looked forward to seeing nine summers ago (the whole ’70s fetishization thing; the true-crime aspects of the story; the wildly eclectic cast), but the thing just refuses to gel in any coherent fashion. Agree that the film has some individually striking, even brilliant moments–I seem to recall a lengthy scene between Leguizamo and Sorvino in a parked car–yet it’s too sloppily assembled to ignite in the way (“‘Boogie Nights’ Meets ‘Do the Right Thing'”) you’re expecting it should. A truly wasted opportunity on so many levels.
And I could never get beyond the purposefully inflammatory sexist/racist aspects of “He Got Game.”
Summer of Sam is one of my favourite Lee films, actually. This with my love of Coppola’s One from the Heart an entry or two back and I really do think I have a thing for much maligned films by great directors.
I adore CROOKLYN. One of Spike’s best films.
doug r – thanks for the link to the alternate ending of Terminator 2.
I’m glad they decided not to use that ending.
ditto, doug r, i’ve not seen that before. weird.
kam is t2-boy…have you seen that before, kamikaze? whatdya reckon
i liked ‘summer of sam’, too. hello, adrien brody
I don’t think it needed that extra coda.