BYO Back In LA
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April 23, 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
Been seeing a lot of that new Knight and Day TV spot lately. Cruise might as well be screaming “Please like me again!” in it. He looks to be trying oh so hard. Do people think it will work? Looks like a shitty movie to me, or more of the same for people who loved The Bounty Hunter.
It looks pretty bad to me too, but I can’t get around the fact that I’ve liked every single James Mangold movie to date. In particular, he seems to excel at making genre movies better than they ought to be.
It would almost be reassuring if he turned out a bad one, so I can stop waiting for the axe to fall. But I can’t count him out until he does.
Yeah I kind of forgot that James Mangold directed it until I saw the TV spot and checked IMDB. It sure looks generic and way too eager to please, like something, say, Andy Tennant would direct.
clash of the titans should not be seen in 3D …. Worthington is way wooden … the one saving grace was a cameo by Bubo
just saw the expendables trailer and the “its just a fun movie” argument can go to hell. Knight and Day doesn’t look THAT bad..berg, is worthington that big of a problem in clash?
I gotta disagree sammy. I find the bit with Cruise, Diaz and Blucas pretty grating.
TV spots for “Knight and Day” 3 months prior? Fox should be running adverts for “Date Night” — it comes out next week and it’s the only wide release.
My depression at the KaD trailer had more to do with the realisation that Cameron Diaz’s days of hotness are now over. Sorry, it’s been a good run, but MAN she looks haggard now. But it comes to them all – i remember To Die For / Batman Forever-era Nicole Kidman and then see her now and feel like weeping.
“Been seeing a lot of that new Knight and Day TV spot lately. Cruise might as well be screaming “Please like me again!” in it. He looks to be trying oh so hard. Do people think it will work? Looks like a shitty movie to me, or more of the same for people who loved The Bounty Hunter.”
I second this. Although bits and pieces of action show promise.
I love people who bemoan a woman aging. as if its some unexpected tragedy.
i pray youre sterile.
One day we’ll find a way to cryogenically freeze actresses while they’re hot to preserve said hotness, and the world shall weep no more. It’s not so much a dream as much as a moral imperative.
I agree that Knight and Day (what a terrible title) looks like a PR campaign. Its like the movie is providing marketing to its star and not the other way around. Given that, Cruises charm does have some moments in the trailer. I could just be a sucker who will see anything he grins and runs in, but for all the warning signs, Cameron Diaz, obvious Mr. and Mrs. Smith rip-off, I might actually see this in the theaters if I get the chance.
And though this will not be one of his better film, it could be so much worse. After the PR meltdown he went through any other hollywood star would have gone for an easy family hit like Night at the Museum or National Treasure, but Cruise has still made some interesting choices.
Worthington is the best thing about “COTT,” although if he continues making shitty movies like this he’s doomed to become the next Eric Bana rather than a new Gibson or Crowe.
The (single) worst thing about “COTT” is the 3-D; or should say, the dearth of any quantifiable 3-D imagery. Twice during the (mercifully brief) 106-minutes-including-beaucoup-end-credits run time I took off my (3-D) glasses and the image was actually brighter and crisper. Shows what happens when you retrofit a movie for 3-D that wasn’t supposed to be 3-D in the first place. A few more non-event 3-D “event movies” like this one and the hoi polloi just might start rebelling…particularly with the expanding pricetag for 3-D movies.
Gotta say that I actually preferred “The Last Song.” (Yes, shoot me now.)
As a fan of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, I think that Knight and Day looks looks there will be a good amount of fun to be had. Only in action scenes does it appear to mimic Smith however.
Clash of the Titans is something I’d prefer to watch in 2D at home on Blu-ray. God of War III beat them to the punch and because of the 3D debacle I actually feel like I should bother watching the widely available 2D print in theaters anyway.
DIAZ RULES.
Actually prefer Diaz being somewhat graceful about it all than shooting her face full of JohnnyHandsome-tox. Will say she hasn’t been the same since the nose-job, which apparently was done out of necessity rather than vanity, but she’s still hot. BOW.
Knight and Day looks like THE movie of the summer. The GOD OF ALL back where he belongs– being AWESOME and charismatic and kicking ass. Best Actor EVER, Best Movie Star EVER. Cruise NEVER phones one in and makes sure everything he’s in has a certain integrity and quality. This will be no exception.
Also: LAST SONG looks incredible. MILEY POWER.
Dr. Wally: While I’m sure you have retained your irresistible qualities for women everywhere, right?
Diaz is a GREAT EXAMPLE that older women can still be SMOKING HOT (not that I think of her as remotely old, and I say that as a huge-time ageist; I just think of her as awesome.)
But the KEY to being a HOT OLDER CHICK is to ACT FLIGHTY AND CUTE and DRESS IN LITTLE OUTFITS. See also: Gwen Stefani, Gabrielle Anwar, and Elizabeth Banks, all of whom are BONETASTIC into their mid-30s-early 40s.
Meanwhile there’s a current crop of late-twentysomething actresses/former It Girls who SHALL REMAIN NAMELESS who don’t look a damn thing like they did in 1996, because they’re either frumped out or their head looks like Rocky Dennis.
Lindsay Lohan – the oldest 20something in Hollywood.
Dr Wally, are you really Jeff Wells in disguise?
Seriously, what a load of crap. Diaz and Kidman are older than they were 10, 20 years ago. No kidding. Big f-cking deal. No one stays in their 20s forever, and both those ladies still look great. Sandra Bullock looks hotter now than she did when she was younger.
Of course, I’m sure YOU have found the fountain of eternal youth and studliness and are, like a guy in an Axe commercial, forever evading all the women following you around wanting to jump your bones. *rolls eyes*
Fortunately for all of us ancient, decrepit women suffering the horrors of being in our 40s (40s?! God forbid!) there are plenty of men who think that women of that age are not just tolerable, but sexy. Oh, and sex is way hotter when you’re in your 40s and have 20+ years of experience to call on. Just saying.
HOLY SHIT, someone dropped some amusing sexism and is getting hell for it… and amazingly it’s not me. YAAAAAAY!
Disagree about Bullock though… DEMOLITION MAN POWER. And Speed. Her HIGH POINT of hotness, never remotely outdone.
But that DAUGHTER in Blind Side? YEP TO THE YEP. MORE PLEASE. Phil Collins’s daughter? SU-SU-SU-DIO!
NO JACK IT REQUIRED.
(GOOD JOKE. HOLY SHIT is that funny.)
HEY I know I’m overposting but whatever whatever this is pressing:
Between SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE and CROSSING OVER, one of my new favorites is that ALICE EVE CHICK, SOOOO HOT, so BONERTASTIC, makes me so excited and love her so much.
Did anyone see that STARTER FOR 10 movie? I need to know, is she NAKED in it, or at least AWESOME in little outfits with the bare feet or heels and ROMPING?
I NEED TO KNOW, because I’d like to give her a STARTER FOR FIVE, if you know what I mean. And what I mean by that is, I have a small dick.
But anyway, I’ve avoided it for four years because James McAvoy packs more douche than a bottle of Summer’s Eve, but if ALICE Eve is worth seeing in it, I NEED A FULL REPORT before I WASTE MY MONEY.
EXPLAIN please.
I have seen Starter For 10. No nudity if I remember correctly. I believe it’s PG-13. Don’t waste your money.
So I suppose it follows that women spend billions of dollars a year on “beauty” products/services in an attempt to resist becoming MORE BEAUTIFUL with age?
What Dr. Wally said was tacky (“haggard”?), but it shouldn’t be that controversial. I suspect that millions of men AND women who saw Diaz on the red carpet recently noticed that she doesn’t look like a girl in her 20s anymore. I hadn’t seen her in a while; I noticed it. I think its more noticeable because she’s succeeded in looking impossibly young for so long. What’s most sobering in seeing celebrities age is that it reminds us of our own aging.
While there are women and men whose looks have seemed to improved with age, eventually the tide will turn. If “fresh-faced” is a requisite for “hotness” in Dr. Wally’s view, so be it. Congrats if your criteria for something superficial like “hotness” are less superficial. How noble. 🙂
Seeing beautiful actresses age doesn’t depress me; seeing once-beautiful actresses deform their faces beyond recognition with “don’t know when to stop” plastic surgery does.
Yeesh, i seemed to have caused a diplomatic incident here. Let me backpedal a bit – i don’t equate youth with hotness at all, i just feel that Diaz and Kidman haven’t looked after themselves as well as some other actresses of their generation, and that’s whats sad. Bullock looked after herself (at 46),so has Julianne Moore (47), Michelle Pfeiffer is still a goddess (at 52), i adore Rachel Weisz (age 40)and the single hottest turn in a major movie for me over the last decade or so was Rene Russo in Thomas Crown (47 at the time). And in 2009, my charts are topped by Macadams, Cottilard, and Portman(ages 29-34). I was a teenager when Diaz walked into Jim Carrey’s bank at the start of The Mask, and when Kidman danced in the rain infront of Joaquin Phoenix’s car in To Die For, so you can imagine the reaction. I guess i was just bemoaning the fact that time marches on, and some deal with it better than others. An as for my ‘irrestible qualities’ Joe, i’m not one to judge – but when i renewed my passport it was noted that i sure didn’t look ten years older. The key, apparently, is two pieces of fruit a day and bottled water.
Stewart, Fanning, Fox, Swift, Seyfried, Cyrus, Taylor Momsen, Emma Roberts = YEP YEP YEEEEP.
But I like some older chicks too, like Jessica Biel.
“NO JACK IT REQUIRED.
(GOOD JOKE. HOLY SHIT is that funny.)”
Wholly crap. I LOLd like a fool.
You get lifetime pass from me, for what it’s worth (very little), just for that. My credo has always been “when in doubt, go for the laugh.” Well done.
I’m gonna steal it, though.
I went from Opening Weekend to DVD on CLASH OF THE TITANS. The near universal opinion on the 3D has turned me off. I have tried to defend 3D as more than a gimmick, but I’m not sure I can any more.
Or more accurately, it’s a gimmick if you treat it as such. Like COTT. Anything can be a gimmick, but anything can also be a genuine tool. AVATAR is as close to that as we’ve seen. Genuinely successful? That’s open to debate.
This has to scare the HARRY POTTER people. Or maybe not. It’s HARRY POTTER. They have nothing to worry about.
Even so, I like 3D a lot but find myself getting less and less interested. My wife is sick of it, I know that much.
I can understand the desire to make more money and jack up the tickets by making COTT 3D. But in these economic times does it make sense to RAISE your prices in order to get people through the door? Movies have normally been the one reliable form of entertainment during times economic struggles. Maybe my history is wrong there. But every family needs entertainment, and it’s still cheaper to take them to a movie than it is a Cubs game, or a concert. Hell, I actually have not bought or tried to by any Cub tickets but I am seeing 2 concerts before June is out. Cheaper tickets (Jakob Dylan w/ Neko motherfucking Case and Kelly Hogan in April, and The New Pornographers –with even more Neko Case– in June). But I sacrificed movie money for those tickets. I can be sure to still see COTT when it limps to dvd in, say,….July? I have just one shot to see those shows.
Hollywood is dumb. And, for the record, Neko Case blows K-Stew out off the planet in terms of hotness.
Conversion can be okay if it’s done properly; ALICE looks fine in 3-D. CLASH was a rush-job by some low-rent company, and the results apparently speak for themselves. The previous Potter movies were conversions and also looked great, even on a giant real-IMAX screen.
Those higher prices are for all movies, not just 3-D.
In non 3D-related stuff, I just got back from Waking Sleeping Beauty, this afternoon. REALLY enjoyed it – much more fair-minded than I would have expected, considering it’s supposedly a Disney-sanctioned doc.
Real nice examination of the different layers that it takes to pull off an animated feature and just how EXPENSIVE it can be – did you guys know that The Black Cauldron cost $44 million 28 years ago??? Wow.
SPOILER ALERT
Really good stuff about the animators being uprooted for the burgeoning Touchstone cavalcade of stars back in the late ’80’s, the calm that was Frank Miller, the intensity of Howard Ashman, etc….but the real focus is on the deteriorating relationship and one-upsmanship of the big three involved: Katzenberg, Eisner, and Roy Disney. What’s most shocking is that considering this is Disney-sanctioned, Roy Disney comes off by far the worst – a true figurehead that was always looking for attention, culminating in an amazing moment (can’t believe they caught this on film) where he gets uppity at the funeral service of Frank Miller. It’s about an awkward a moment as you are likely to see on any movie screen, this year. Sure, Katzenberg and Eisner are easy to villify and the movie does not let them off the hook for being strong personalities eager for attention, but at least you got the sense they were both workhorses to boot, not afraid to get knee-deep in the minutae of what it took to pull these films off.
Very compelling stuff about what is probably one of the more influential runs of movies in recent years – Disney animated features from The Little Princess until The Lion King. Literally 16 years later, studios are still falling over themselves to duplicate that kind of success. And yes, I think it’s obvious that this laid the groundwork for Pixar’s recent run.
Highly recommended, check it out – eager to hear what other folks thought of it.
AWESOME ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DAY:
Anna Paquin just released a video statement saying she is bisexual.
LexG just released a statement saying he would like to see video of this.
Hottest coming out since Portia De Rossi. YEP YEP.
GIMME A B…
dude, how could Anna not be bi
I saw ‘Waking Sleeping Beauty’ yesterday and kinda loved it. Sure, some of the tidbits can be found on the dynamite ‘Treasures Untold’ documentary on The Little Mermaid DVD, but the archival footage is astonishing and the film is surprisingly moving (you know you’re old when stuff you vividly remember when growing up is being treated as ‘ancient history’).
Having said that, it feels like the film was merely scratching the surface of that time period (with next to no comment on the films themselves), so it made me want to immediately toss in the DVD supplemental material for the films in question (apparently the Waking DVD will have 85 minutes of extras itself). I was most amused by the (unintentional?) way that the film positioned Pixar as the sleeping giant and/or the ‘big bad’ in the 1994-2004 sequel. I suppose this is as good a place as any to ask, but did anyone ever write a book on this history (or better yet, the less-told the Pocahontas to Home on the Range period)?
Still, it’s a wonderful slice of (recent) history and well worth seeing if you live around the five theaters showing it.
IS THIS THE MOST RECENT BYOB?
Poland HATES when I talk about chicks, but this needs saying…. (not that any of you gaylords will care.)
KRISTEN BELL on Ferguson. Anyone watching this? She is HOT and sort of AWESOME and I like her a lot as an actress, but what’s with this thing where she tries to pull off this “one of the guys” humor??? UGH, it’s so repulsive. It’s in FULL EFFECT now on Ferguson…
And to be honest, anyone else kinda ANNOYED WITH CRAIG FERGUSON? This sleazy, grubby, antic, annoying middle-aged spazz case with a PHONY ACCENT all hyped up? Like, aren’t you 60 YEARS OLD? What’s with bouncing around like Ashton Kutcher on a SPREE BENDER? Fucking settle down, dude, I thought you were SOBER now. Annoying host, him and his stupid mug, the show should just be called I’M CRAIG FERGUSON AND I’M A P-HOUND AND I WANT TO BANG THESE CHICKS.
They’re BOTH guilty in this scenario, K-BELL oozing up to this GREASY, SLEAZY OLD MOTHERFUCKER, and Ferguson SO OBVIOUSLY HORNED UP. Maybe masturbate on your own time, Craig, and try being semi professional.
You’d never see K-STEW or Megan or Amanda on this stupid show EMBARRASSING themselves to flirt with this old man and his STUPID FAKE FUCKING SCOTTISH ACCENT.
Like, you’ve lived in America TWENTY YEARS???? DITCH THE ACCENT, Bale-style, dude. What are you, fucking BILLY CONNOLLY?
If I moved to TOKYO TOMORROW, I’d be rid of the American accent by 5PM. It is astonishing to me how bad some people are as mimics and linguists.
I thought you were going to move to Tokyo six months ago? I guess you’ll get to it around the same time you ‘abandon the Lex G persona’, ha ha ha.