BYOB – On The Road Again
Heading up to Seattle for a week… going for 3 or 4 movies a day… Salumi… Spike Lee… Hostel 3 dvds on the street…
I should be back online tonight…
April 26, 2024
BYOB
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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
Hostel 3!!!
SCREEEECH
(Drives at great speed to Amoeba. Discovers no such thing exists. Sucks on thumb).
Seattle looks great, would love to get a look at the OSS sequel or the Anders film. I never got around to seeing Adam’s Apples or The Green Butchers but I like Wilbur wants to kill himself and a few other things he’s written.
Lost in Rio doesn’t have a distributor yet, Does it?
Definitely make sure to check out That Evening Sun if it’s playing while you’re there.
And I think this is Opening Night of Lex’s Bonerfest. – http://www.bitchslapmovie.com/
SF Giants are in Seattle this weekend…..I was gonna head up but alas, I am broke.
Dave- can you get me a copy of “Dance Flick” off the streets of Pioneer Square? I’m too embarrassed to see it in public.
I have a question for anyone who knows about Cannes. Are the movies all subtitled in English? Due to all the different languages of the films and the journalists, all the films would have to have a common dubbing or subtitles. I was just wondering if that would be French or English or if there were different screenings in different languages.
hcat, I believe it’s both. It’s run dual-language. All films must be accessible through either French or English subtitles.
Though I could be wrong.
I remember reading an Ebert article where he said that all the French movies have English subtitles, all the English movies have French subtitles, so I assume that if it’s Iranian or Japanese or whatever it has both.
Actually, back in the day when I attended Cannes, they often showed “foreign-language” films with French subtitles — and provided, no kidding, simultaneous translation into English through earphones for those of us who weren’t conversant in French. Former Newsweek correspondent Joanne Harrison and I still joke about the time we sat through a Latin American film about street gangs. At one point, one guy insults another. Joanne speaks French, and told me the subtitle read, “Your mother is a whore!” But the English translator — who, I swear, sounded like a retired British schoolmarm, read it this way: “Your mother is a prostitute!”
Let me second djk’s suggestion: That Evening Sun is a wonderment. And if a savvy distributor gets behind it, Hal Holbrook could be an Oscar contender.
Hey, I know UP is showing in 3-D, and in IMAX…but is it showing in 3-D IMAX? Or are those mutually exclusive categories for it.
I missed the press screening. Wanna go for the ultimate if I’m paying for it, and I don’t mean the overpriced El Cap with annoying pre-show.
Anybody know?
Standard digital projection is 2K.
IMAX uses two separate 2K projectors on top of each other.
Regular 3-D screenings will be standard 2K, while IMAX will layer two 2K images.
Just got back from Terminator Salvation.
Yikes. There was so much to laugh at. The audience erupted into laughter at least 3 times. The dialogue is heinous. And the ending. Oh sweet baby jesus. Just awful.
Anyone who thought Salvation was going to outgross Night at the Museum 2 might want to quickly make a retraction.
Serves Warner Bros right for hiring MCG OF ALL PEOPLE.
Word of mouth is going to kill this one, quick. I hope they have a ginormous first weekend. I can’t remember the last big budget film i saw where people were laughing and cringing.
Man. What a dissapointment.
i haven’t seen it yet but my mate – the one who said mcg should be taken out back and shot – among other things bemoaned the lack of fiedel’s iconic terminator score music yet again in mcg’s retcon (T3 didn’t utilise fiedel’s music either, only in the credits); are the rights to the fiedel music not available for use in the post-cam flicks, or are the film-makers just stupidly deciding not to use it? just wondering, because imho the terminator score is amongst the most memorable and effective in the history cinema. just hearing it makes my heart go aflutter
Bum bum bum bum bum! CLANG!
Dadada…..dah dah daaaaahhhhhhhh…
AWESOME frankb
(do do dooo…doo doo do dooooooo…)
Yeah, the “dahs’ were translated to “doos” Down Under, kinda like the American accents dubbed into Mad Max. It’s a cultural thing.
dah doo doo doo, dah dah dah dah,
is all i have to say to you
the meaningless and all that’s true
Holy Jesus Christ! I already thought Southland was a great show. But tonight’s season-ender — fan-freakin’-tastic!
SIFF, eh? I hear they have 4K projectors. Also have 4K projectors at Lincoln Square in Bellevue and Southcenter.
None around here, 125 miles away.
You must see Star Trek again in 4K in my honor.
If Cannes was to fold, does that mean the SIFF would take its place?
Just askin’.
“If Cannes was to fold, does that mean the SIFF would take its place?”
If you mean, would David sigh and roll his eyes at their festival and ponder why everybody kisses its butt year after year when it doesn’t do anything any more special than any other film festival that deserves the attention more since it can actually launch a film in the US? Ummm….no.
Yeah, that’s what I meant.
Just checking.
Leah and/or Kamikaze: Which one of you do I have to blame for this Jim Jeffries dude who’s on my TV every 10 minutes, in HBO’s ongoing attempt to turn into some sort of Aus/NZ cable-access comedy channel?
For about the first half hour I was kinda liking this guy when he was bagging on religion and talking about sluts and getting drunk… but a little goes a long way and I defy anyone to make it through this endless, unfunny story about getting an vibrating egg stuck up his ass, which was sheer torture and I finally threw in the towel after 8 minutes of that.
On the flip side, DANE COOK’s new Comedy Central show is kind of weird in terms of format but shows TRUE COMEDY by the greatest comic of our age.
Anghus: your audience must have been about as much fun as that time Roger dressed as Billy Jean King to freak out a deceased Bobby Riggs.. Mine dug it. Easily better than T3, and this one I can watch repeatedly. I am just that much of a mark for Bale and now for Worthington as well. Easily a better movie then people like Tobakey Road would lead you to believe.
Dane Cook is the greatest comic of our age? That is, sadly, the most sorrowful declaration about the state of comedy today. No wonder I haven’t been to a comedy show since Garry Shandling (with surprise guest Robin Williams) in January 1991.
lex luthor, i’ve never heard of jim jefferies, so given there’s only 3 or so of us kiwis in high-profile existence at any one time, i doubt he’s from enzed (the only kiwis on US TV at the mo i’m aware of are the splendiferous anna p on ‘true blood’ (bonza!) and ‘the flight of the concords’ jermaine and bret and rhys, and lucy lawless on BSG – who was weirdly allowed to keep her kiwi accent in her role as diana – but sadly that’s all over now there, nearing conclusion here)
oddly, i’ve never liked dane cook in the least but ‘comedy central’ has been showing old stand-ap routines from back in the day and ‘best-of’ SNL, and i happened to catch one of cook’s really old stand-up routines (he looked super young) the other day and he was actually funny, ULTRA hyper, like adhd stand-up, i was surprised at how much he made me laugh; i think he’s a bit of a tosser now but at least i have a better perspective on where he comes from in terms of his comedic sensibility
I didn’t think it was better than T3. I actually cared about the characters in T3.
Never heard of Jim Jeffries either.
I worked on the Sarah Connor Chronicles for 2 years, and I can tell you that the music rights for that theme song is one complicated mess. Fox was only allowed to use the theme in the credits. Our work on the DVD was limited to credits as well. The entire Terminator franchise is one giant legal mess. I wouldnt be surprised if the filmmakers of T4 were bound by legal issues on the music as well.
Did Chronicles even use the theme in the credits? I only saw two episodes (the network took it off air because of disastrous ratings and never brought it back) and don’t remember it being there, but that show is fuzzy.
I keep running into great reviews for the Cannes film Police, Adjective and I swear I had read earlier this week that it was already picked up by a american distributor, but now that I am searching the web I can’t find who it was. Is anyone following the sales? Does any site have a running list?
Aris P,
What did you do on the Sarah Connor Chronicles? Can you say?
We loved it and thought that once they hit their groove it was a very intelligent and adult sci-fi show that earned its rights to the Terminator legacy. Lena Heady played Connor as a more sombre observer than Hamilton but felt right at home in the action scenes. After a while we realized Heady had played Connor more than Hamilton did.
Sorry it went off. It was a real unseen gem.
Upthread someone mentioned that Up will be screening in IMAX. It will not.
My time is OF A PREMIUM this weekend, so somebody give me a yes/no no-bullshit answer:
Easy Virtue, Boner or No Boner? If Biel’s gonna be wearing Flapper shit for two hours and not show off any leg or ab, I don’t want to feel like a douche going to see some Noel Coward bullshit with a packed house of chattering middle-aged/elderly white people at that Laemmle’s in Pasadena where no one is used to going to arthouse movies so they all yammer through the whole fucking movie.
Also, all this T3 and Salvation discussion has reminded me that James Cameron has extremely utilitarian taste in cinematic women; I know everybody likes how he has STRONG HEROINES (not fucking really — see TRUE LIES), but this dude provides like literally NO eye candy.
All his leading ladies are like ball-busting, blowsy professional “broads,” and I think that’s why much as I like Cameron, his movies don’t depict a world *I* would want to occupy. Too sterile, too icy and blue, too colorless (HOW ABOUT SOME GODDAMN OVERSATURATED COLORS, sir), and again, he doesn’t GET OFF on photographing women. I mean, Linda Hamilton? Mary Elizabeth Frizzhead? All wearing like workman’s clothes and unsexy outfits. Winslet was a step up, but she’s still not exactly the kind of glazed mannequin cipher that makes me want to occupy the world of a Cameron movie.
This alone should be Reason #5,682 why Bay wipes the floor with anyone else, because every frame of a Bay is alive with some idealized, near-fascistic bit of all-American adrenalized insanity. Cameron’s like the spectacle movie version of Michael Mann: Dead serious and vaguely asexual even when he’s filming romantic or sex scenes.
I love all those guys so it’s not a diss on anyone, but I’m assuming I can discount the possibility that Avatar will feature Zoe Saldana slathered in fake-sweat oil and lit against a BLAZING SUN while wearing big sunglasses and showing navel.
No, Cameron’ll probably put her in a fucking jumpsuit with her hair tied back, all doing action scenes on par with the men and shit.
NOT SEXY.
Oh, and GOOD POST.
“Easy Virtue” = no boner, Lex. Biel is bad in it but, just in case this matters to you, turns out she’s a pretty decent singer.
Those are all reasons why Bay is a _worse_ director. That said, I’d pay $12 to see him direct Sasha Grey in a $200million-budgeted 140-minute porn where there’s a helicopter battle against giant robot dinosaurs in the distant background of her doing something with five guys and a donkey, shot by John Schwartzman and featuring a Jon Voight cameo.
Teen girls didn’t go to see Titanic 40 times in a row because the film was “asexual.” LexG fail.
I didn’t mind the color pallette, though it seemed to be lifted straight out of Fallout 3. Then again, what is a post apocalyptic world’s color scheme supposed to be. “bleached out and bright” seems kind of right.
The greatest sin of this film was the script. the second sin was the casting. The girl playing Marcus’ love interest was awful. The third was emasculating John Connor who i’m still trying to figure out why exactly he is so pivotal to the resistance.
It was hard to get past those glaring flaws.
The ending was ridiculous.
Not really, Wrecktum. Lex said Cameron doesn’t enjoy photographing WOMEN, but there’s homo-eroticism a’plenty in his films. Cameron really seemed to love giving us shots of Arnold’s ripped body in The Terminator films.
Plus, all those girls went to see Titanic because of Leo, not Kate.
When you have an actor with one of the greatest male bodies in the world playing a killing machine, I’m not sure it’s homoeroticism to show it off.
Also that way that BAY LIGHTS WOMEN where takes a coltish brunette and gives her super bright lips and sets her against sun while wearing an Asian print dress is AWESOME.
Tyler, Beckinsale, and Fox are lit the same way, and his Bay flesh tones really make the colors pop…. It’s so vibrant it’s like looking at the greatest porno magazine ever, except it’s not porno, it’s better than porn, because it’s actual A-list actress chicks dolled up and fetishized for maximum hotness.
Every single shot of every Bay movie (mild exception for the ’95 Bad Boys, which looks almost mundane today when it plays on Encore every six hours) is postcard perfection, brilliantly lit and eminently representative of a particular world. He’s as true an auteur as you can get even if he works in popcorn movies.
BAY IS AMERICA. BAY IS YOUR GOD. If I ever met him, I would drop to my knees and BOW as if the MIGHTY ZOD himself were before me.
Bay is shit. And I don’t use that word lightly because of my tender sensibilities.
Jeff, let me ask you a question: What do you actually want to do in life? I mean that in the broader sense… You work in the film industry. Toward what end? To be boring, hang out with one or two other dudes in dive bars and drive an OK car and listen to jangly acoustic music and be basically mundane and boring?
Or do you want to work in the film industry because IT IS A VISUAL MEDIUM where you can create A WORLD OF PERFECTION with BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE and ADRENALINE and EXCITEMENT and INTENSITY. I ask again, you’d prefer listen to Catherine Keener yammer on about ennui? Instead of watching OILED WOMEN IN BLACK HIGH HEELS SHOWING GLAZED LEGS with POPPING RED LIPSTICK while some cipher action hero IS SHOOTING PEOPLE and there is DESTRUCTION and HUGE EXPLOSIONS and SUNGLASSES and the SUN IS SCORCHING?
You actually prefer some BORING, BULLSHIT BROWN-TINTED, NO COLORS, NO EXCITEMENT, SNIDE, IRONIC, JON BRION SCORED SADSACK fucking BULLSHIT over some FERRARI-DRIVING, CHICK-FUCKING MANIAC lighting shit in a GOD-LIKE FASCISTIC VISION of WHAT THE WORLD SHOULD BE AT ITS BEST?
Bay’s universe is FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE AWESOME, as opposed to most filmmakers, who make movies for all the aspiring little Frodos out there who want to hear that “EVEN THE LITTLEST PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE” in some underdog story. FUCK THAT. Bay isn’t for underdogs, he’s for OVERDOGS who don’t wanna hold hands and drink a malt and go to the sockhop with Patricia Clarkson, they want to BANG 17 MAXIM CHICKS IN A ROW all while filmed against CLEAR BLUE SKIES with some AMIR MOKRI GRAIN in a WORLD OF POSSIBILITES, then spike a ball in the fucking end zone and TNT a 200,000-dollar car just for the hell of it.
ADRENALINE. OVERKILL. EXCITEMENT. VISCERAL. STIMULATION. These are apparently words that have no resonance for McDouche, with his snide, boring, beige-hued vanilla sensibility. Bay celebrate the power of kicking ass, fucking chicks, looks being more important than some bullshit, and the fascistic awesome power of AMERICAN FUCKING MIGHT. Now get down on your knees and fucking BOW or take that shit to fucking SOHO.
BAY MAKES MOVIES FOR GODS. Not for PUSSIES.
You keep using that word fascistic. I do not think you know what it means.
Lex, that’s your next column: “Michael Bay, Film Auteur of the Nietzchean Ubermensch.”
Michael Bay’s upcoming biopic of Mussolini will FUCKING OWN YOUR ASS.
Leydon, I got three fucking college degrees, sir. Now go back to singing my praises like the old days and stop busting my balls. I don’t know where this new animosity came from, ’cause it’s certainly not from my end.
I’m using it in the John Milius, Nietszchean, MAN IS GOD, Conan the Barbarian, fuck-the-collective, Harry Callahan, MAN MAKES HIS OWN DESTINY, Han Solo “better her than me” sense. I don’t like snoozy collectivist claptrap about quirky characters and their little up-with-the-people bullshit. I like BIG STUPID FUCKING ACTION and GUNFIRE and VAGINA, though not in that order. Bay destroys all but ONE OTHER DIRECTOR working in contemporary film, all you supposedly learned film world assholes with your “chronically unenthused” snide, smartass bullshit always HAVE TO BE ABOVE EVERYTHING, always have to feel smart and prove how superior you are to everything.
I don’t give a shit anymore. Life’s too fucking short to watch BORING MOVIES by BORING DIRECTORS. I want stimulation, not to fall asleep in my fucking seat.
Anyway, I’ll never win this fucking battle, but at the end of the day I have the MORAL HIGH GROUND because I KNOW WHAT I WANT and I don’t put on any goddamn AIRS. I like some pretentious bullshit as much as the next guy, but even MANHOLA DARGIS straight up admits that when she WATCHES MOVIES FOR FUN, she turns to Bay, Bruckheimer and Scott.
I mean, I don’t sit around my apartment drinking medicine for fun, why the fuck would I want to actively watch some movie that ISN’T VISCERAL.
WE WATCH MOVIES TO SEE AN IDEAL VISION OF WHAT WE WANT OUT OF LIFE, not to watch mats in a boring maze or to see mundane shit WE COULD ALREADY DO.
I can beat the same drum all fucking night but it’s not worth the frustration, but JEFF “BASICALLY WRY” McDOUCHE will never get it. Ever.
Also: MICHAEL BAY HAS BETTER HAIR than Jim “Henson” Cameron.
Lex – the problem is your description of the Bay’s aesthetic is better than the aesthetic itself
Observation: I don’t hang out here quite as much as some, although I check in most days. Is it just me, or has the endless back and forth between Lex and Jeff ever so subtley been shifting from annoying and pointless to kind of interesting and entertaining?
You guys could be the new Siskel and Ebert. I’m not joking. There’s real chemistry here. I’d watch a tv show where you two went head to head.
Hey, I liked the big robot movie. As for Bay’s other movies, well, they’re a mixed lot…
http://www.movingpictureshow.com/archives/mpsTheRock.htm
http://www.movingpictureshow.com/archives/mpsArmageddon.htm
The major flaw in all of your hyperbole Lex is this.
Everything that you drone on about; POPPING RED LIPSTICK, SUNGLASSES, FILTERS – all of these things that gives you BONERS are just tools for the advertising industry. You are fixated on the tricks of the trade. Your whole spiel was amusing at the start but now seems really tired and pretty limited.
Did you notice no one even cared about you having a drunken hissy fit before removing your youtube clips? Not one person mentioned it. You need to evolve the Lex. He’s just not working for your fans anymore. You say you crave stimulation but you appear to want it on a passive level only. That’s kind of bizarre. You’d rather rent THE ISLAND and slap little lex raw over Scarlett’s tight white catsuit than actually do something exciting in your spare time. Why the love for BAY? He’s the jock that tormented you all through highschool Lex. There’s a rampant homoerotic undercurrent for your desire to be or be close to your childhood tormentor. The truth lies behind the desire for SUNGLASSES, THE POPPING LIPSTICK, THE FILTERS.
You want to fuck BAY not FOX.
in your words..
“If I ever met him, I would drop to my knees and BOW as if the MIGHTY ZOD himself were before me.”
Gulp.
‘I worked on the Sarah Connor Chronicles for 2 years, and I can tell you that the music rights for that theme song is one complicated mess. Fox was only allowed to use the theme in the credits. Our work on the DVD was limited to credits as well. The entire Terminator franchise is one giant legal mess. I wouldnt be surprised if the filmmakers of T4 were bound by legal issues on the music as well.’
thanks for sharing that, aris p! exactly what i was wondering about
(me thinks michael ‘the smarm’ bay grew up playing with too many barbie dolls; big jim knows real women)
“I’m using it in the John Milius, Nietszchean, MAN IS GOD, Conan the Barbarian, fuck-the-collective, Harry Callahan, MAN MAKES HIS OWN DESTINY, Han Solo “better her than me” sense. I don’t like snoozy collectivist claptrap about quirky characters and their little up-with-the-people bullshit.”
Lex, you realize that fascism is predicated on collectivism, right? It’s pro-state, pro-collective, and anti-individual. In other words, it’s the opposite of what you’re saying it is. It’s also quite far from the principles of Nietzchean morality, though that’s a rather thorny issue. Maybe you’re really a closet Objectivist?
Oh, and who cares if you’ve got three college degrees? I’ve got more, including a doctorate. You never hear me bragging about it. And you won’t. So enough already about your sheepskin.
Breedlove:
…thanks?
And I sort of halfway did like the first Transformers, but that was more because it was Transformers. Give the same movie to any other director and I would have liked it more-or-less the same amount.
Lex, to answer your question, from up above, I don’t listen to acoustic music AT ALL, if I can drive an OK car for the next ten or twenty years that’ll be a triumph for me because I will never be able to afford a new/nice one, and my overall life goal is basically to not go bankrupt because of my massive debt load.
And Lex, go back to the top of the thread to get a reminder of the kind of beige sadsack underdog movies that I think I’m primarily known for enjoying around these parts.
As for Bay, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with enjoying his movies as cinematic junk food. I do think there’s something wrong with developing an entire ethos around his brand of cinema, and it goes something like this: if watching a Bay movie is a form of idealized wish-fulfillment (which is what Lex is saying), then watching his movies A LOT is a form of cinematic self-medication, the same way that sugar or chocolate or booze habits develop. A crude emotional need exists and a Bay movie, with its seductive lies, makes everything seem all right.
That’s why I want Bay to just speed things up already and make a multi-million dollar porn with hardcore fucking amidst CGI space spiders and lasers shooting out of 36DD nipples. He’s already a porn director but puts on airs and refuses to admit it.
JBD FTW.
One other thing –
I think the thing that bugs me about Bay more than anything else is his terrible pretentiousness, which might sound strange, but it’s true. Other directors of big dumb noisy movies, like Stephen Sommers or Brett Ratner, are content to just make dumb fun movies. Bay actually seems to be laboring under the delusion that his movies are works of quality – that’s why he insists on his lame, terrible jokes and the godawful drama and heartstring-pulling, with Pearl Harbor positioned as his magnum opus that I’m sure he thought would be that year’s Oscar-sweeping Titanic. Wipe away all the intentions towards middle-brow art in his movies (by taking script approval out of his hands) and Bay might actually be capable of making a movie that doesn’t aim for things he can’t deliver.
Jeff, I posted this elsewhere but it sort of addresses what I LIKE the overwrought Bay emotions and sense of import. I usually like my action movies to be earnest and dead serious… There’s a time and place for a Ratner or Sommers type of silliness and lack of pretension (or a scorched-earth bit of mania like Crank 2), but I dig Bay’s ambition and scope.
And besides, aren’t we talking about BAY in relation to JAMES CAMERON? Perhaps I missed the part where MR. TEN ENDINGS was cranking out little 87-minute Chris Tucker movies of low ambition.
Anyway, here’s the reprint part from JW’s blog but applies: Armageddon = American masterpiece. I sit there (usually drunk) and cry like a bitch through the awesome, corny, all-American, heroic and powerful last half hour. That’s kind of what IS awesome about Bay is he’s this pussyhound Ferrari-driving cynical maniac, yet when he ladles on that overwrought jingiostic earnestness, it somehow totally works because his mis en scene and montage is so indelible. Somehow the fact that you’re getting this swelling music and bullshit notion of sacrifice and Americana from a guy who probably just banged six models while laughing all the way to the bank makes it MORE effective than if it came from a middle-brow milquetoast preach-meister or even a Lucas, Cameron, Zemeckis, Howard, Spielberg.
On two other notes:
Leydon and Blackcloud (and Webster’s Dictionary) were right, I was kinda wrong… “Fascist” so often gets lumped in with some sort of “rising hero/ass-kicking lone wolf” kind of imagery, it’s become one of those words like “hack” and “forte” that everyone popularly misuses.
Jeff Boam’s Doctor: Eh, sorry you’re finding it one-note or whatever… That’s actually kind of a bummer, because when there’s someone on here that I genuinely like or admire or find amusing, I always give props. So when JBD says something complimentary, it’s usually kind of an honor because his humor is something I enjoy and he clearly knows his shit. Yeah, he’s a ball-buster, so that makes a few kind words seem all the nicer; I know it’s the Internet and a culture of extremes, and the dude’s very name should be a giveaway… I just don’t know how you go from being a little anarchic and encouraging one day to mildly critical (above) to YOUR COMEDY IS FUCKING TERRIBLE I AM EMBARRASSED FOR YOU I PITY YOU, YOU ONE-NOTE MOTHERFUCKER WAAAAAAAAAAAAH YOU ARE A DISASTER OF A HUMAN BEING BURN IN HELL.
Like, even people I don’t get along with in here, be it Jeff or Perm or THX or Kamikaze, if they in earnest shared some creative entity they were proud of, even if it sucked I’d try to be constructive and semi-supportive… or I’d bust their balls in a harmless manner. I wouldn’t rip their very fucking soul and being to shreds.
Whatever.
If Bay shot a Paris Hilton video I’d blow a load like a .44 magnum.
Lex, I understand what you’re saying, but I find all of Bay’s efforts at creating ’emotion’ to be really hollow and insincere, the the point where it’s hard for me to believe that he actually believes in the images that he’s putting up except in terms of cinematography. You used the word ‘cynical’ and I think that sums it up.
Cameron, on the other hands, makes serious action movies that also function at drama, and succeeds where Bay fails in terms of story, character, etc.
I also think that Bay is incredibly insecure and does a lot of stuff out of fear. He can’t risk losing the audience’s attention for ONE MINUTE! So he ramps up his pacing and sticks in a needless joke and basically smothers the life out of his movies. And he generated that nonsense last year about how his movies had made a billion dollars at the US box office in a shorter career than any other director. Who needs to brag about that?! Just spend the money and enjoy it! I bet he stuffs his pants too.
By the way, anyone who either loves or hates Bay might get a kick out of this YouTube video (especially the On the Lot bit is brilliant, even if some stretches run a little long):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN25hFa1rms
Lex you are correct, I come from a background where friends bust each others balls non-stop and when praise comes, its always honest and direct. I don’t think I tore your soul to shreds by saying you recent youtube effort was unfunny. I feel let down by the promise of you and when I said you dribbling out the same worship at the altar of all things SHINY, FOXY, FLURO-Y again and again and again.. it pisses me off no end. We’ve heard that BAY rant countless times and it expresses absolutely nothing new. Its just not amusing to me anymore and I actually do want to be entertained by you you sweaty tape-op. Your last youtube effort was a step back but I didn’t mean for you to delete the fucking thing. Others would have dug it I’m sure. With skin this thin how could you ever have considered stand-up. I’m going to continue to bust your balls whenever I see you slacking off and not living up to potential. So stretch yourself. Anything but the BAY sermon.
“I actually do want to be entertained by you, you sweaty tape-op.”
Ditto
Well, my god-fucking-awful “video” of Entourage imitations (apparently recorded after running the 400-yard dash) is still up on the ‘tube if you wanna watch something TRULY unfunny. (Though my Kevin Connolly impression is ACES.)
Is a Tape-Op anything like the Continental Op?
Someone’s gotta tell Bay that a movie is more than a bunch of cool looking shots put together. I for one am getting sick and tired of the rotating dolly and chase scenes with way too much bullshit thrown in. Too much coverage=crappy chase. Bullitt used most of the footage shot- we can sense the timing and geography of a scene. Michael Bay cannot.
JBD probably delivered the mildest soul shredding in the history of ever. Good God.
How does one get three degrees but have to look up word like “fascist?” Where are those degrees from, clown college? I guess not, because then Lex might be funny.
Ha ha, I’ll be here all night! Don’t anyone heckle me!
in the spirit of byob….. i’m watching the big, fat ‘summer of love’ woodstock 40th anniversary release and it’s GREAT……super extras…. you really hadda be there….
i was there, scoot! but i was 3, and all i remember is grass, sitting on my aunty’s lap and someone twanging away in the background on the electric guitar (i’ve always hoped it was hendrix but i really can’t be sure)
and on a musically related note, i forgot to say this earlier today after realising i’d got it wrong in my earlier post: an apology of sorts to frankb and ‘the police’ for butchering their lyrics, i should never do lyrics off the cuff because i royally suck at it. so without further ado:
dah do do do, da da da da,
is all i WANT to say to you
(skulking away in shame now)
Ok, the early results are in for Friday box office and it’s a mixed bag – both Terminator and NATM grossed about $15 million yesterday, which means NATM is going to easily win the weekened. Those matinees are going to push it over the top.
After our heavy debate last week, looked I was right about NATM beating Terminator, though I was also wrong – I thought this thing had a shot at a $100 million 4 day and Terminator, but it’s going to probably end up between $60 and $70 million. Nothing to sneeze it, but I doubt it’s going to even top $200 million now, which has to be a disappointment for Fox.
Terminator is also going to be a disappointment too – no way this thing is even passing $150 million now. Still going to see it this weekend, though, but now I am a little on the fence about seeing this or Brothers Bloom which amazingly is at the River East in downtown Chicago – which would you choose?
This weekend had breakout potential and it just didn’t happen – get ready for weeks of “slump” talk, because the year-to-year comparisons are going to be very tough over the next two months. Look at June and it looks kind of weak – it seems like the studios got really scared of Transformers. And as big as that’s going to get, it’s not going to come close to Dark Knight numbers.
Only real positive in this is that Star Trek barely dropped 50%, which against this competition and losing all those IMAX screens, really is not that bad – it’s got an outside shot at $250 million, now.
I’d say almost all of those estimates are low, Geoff. I guess it depends on how potent this weekend’s second Sunday is.
LexG: Drop whatever you’re doing and tune in VH1 Classic. It’s an all ’80s video day. AWESOME. Just heard “Dude Look Like a Lady.”
And who ever thought “Terminator Salvation” would come anywhere “close to ‘Dark Knight’ numbers?” “Batman Begins” numbers seem like a more reasonable hope/expectation.
What ever happened to Eddy Grant? Damn, but “Electric Avenue” is a HOT song. And speaking of HOT…. here comes The Bangles with “Eternal Flame.”
I have some random thoughts for the random thread. I realize I’ll get as much response as saying it aloud in my empty apt but somehow writing stuff out over teh internets is so much more validating. Wunder wy dat is???
Though I wanted to see Terminator more, I somehow have already managed to see Night/Museum 2. I did laugh and did think a couple of time, “oh, that’s kinda clever” but not much. Not nearly enough I should say. I know it’s a family film but that shouldn’t preclude it from being funny. I remember as a kid watching cartoons where I laughed, my sister laughed, and my parents genuinely laughed and it wasn’t from shameful, tsk-tsk naughty things. When we dumb down the humor, kids lose, studios lose, the schools lose, parents lose, the future loses and I don’t know, the terrorists win.
Disappointing to hear the neg reviews on Term 4. I was in and out on the Sarah Connor Chrons. Lena Headey was a little too good looking for the role. How are you supposed to be hiding from Cyborgs from the future when in everyday life you’re gonna have every dude’s from the Smart & Final to KFC eyes follow you, even the attendant at 7-11 trying to hit on you all the time? Ask the florist where she lives, bet he’s over there twice a week.
For as much as I detest the wings, I thought Kornwall’s hit on Havlat was clean. Overall, the NHL would be lucky to have half the battles that have been going on in the NBA this playoff season. The ratings have been phenomenal but ESPN can’t hide their bias for a LaBron-Kobe finals. Watch for Kobe to do something worthy of a jailable offense and they’ll prolly only call a fragrant foul but definitely not technical because they will not risk having that guy miss one minute of camera time.
And for all the hype and love The Girlfriend Experience has been getting here, why is it only on one screen in Los Angeles? Is it actually worth seeing? I can’t even use my AMC discount passes. Are we looking at some individual awards next season? Is there some particular breakthrough in concept or execution on this? Is the film too hip for the room or some unwarranted porn love?
Option: Girlfriend Experience is at more than one place: It’s at the Landmark (SASHA GREY IN PERSON TONIGHT YEP YEP) as well as the Sunset 5 and a handful of other Laemmle’s around time, I believe.
Actually, not so sure that MEET SASHA GREY! thing is gonna work for THIS particular movie. Like, I want to go see it for the movie and know already what the score is… But do you guys think like all her PORN FANS are gonna show up all horny and wearing raincoats expecting like a strip club night where a porn star features… only to sit there all bored and angry during an 80-minute arthouse talkfest?
Lex – Chances are that the bishop bashers who would normally never be seen at an erotica expo will take the opportunity to see an X rated starlet under the guide of seeing an arthouse pic and turn up in droves. The two groups (porn fans & soderbergh fans) might not be mutually exclusive. You going? Report back as we’d all appreciate your insight on this. Especially if the Q&A brings up some awkward questions.
Wouldn’t it be awesome if T. Holly decided to go to this screening and stir things up? I would LOVE a firsthand report of that scene.
That would indeed be a great circus, Jeffmcm, but I’m fairly sure the nuthouse where T. Holly lives locks the gates too early for her to attend tonight.
Seriously, I picture her strangling a thesaurus and doing whippets every time she posts. I have no idea what a good 75% of what she says is supposed to mean.
T. Holly is of the XX persuasion? I always thought she was a he.
Watching the WWII movies on TCM this weekend reminds me of what a phonus-balonus movie the remake of Thin Red Line really was. Think it was “innovative” to have characters express their thoughts about war? Folks, have you ever seen A Walk in the Sun?
Fortunately that’s not the only thing going on in that movie.
Nicol — I, and another producer, created/produced all the special content for the season 1 and season 2 dvds/BD. I have lots of opinions about the show, and its demise, but I’ll have to leave it at that. It was a great little gig, and I too, am sad to see it go…