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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

BYOB 3/28/11

And this happy anniversary celebration just landed in the e-mail box…

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89 Responses to “BYOB 3/28/11”

  1. Joe Leydon says:

    So this is how you intend to enforce the pay wall?

  2. sanj says:

    saw The Warrior’s Way – i liked this – Kate Bosworth and
    the rest of the cast were pretty good

    here’s the trailer

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6Qi9QaL0Lg

    saw Made in Dagenham – 30 minutes too long – easy
    ending – easily could have been 1 hour tv movie or special …

    saw Trust the Man – a comedy that i didn’t find funny
    – total waste for some actors like Eva Mendes ..

    trailer ..
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SGXGki_rSU

  3. leahnz says:

    i don’t get it, are we s’posed to pay now or something?

    re: portman’s dancing in black swan ‘controversy’, any nimrod can tell exactly when natalie is dancing and when it’s the proper ballerina who served as her double. actual ballerinas/dancers have an incredible ‘stillness’ about them when they move, an extreme grace, level glide and economy of motion that takes many, many years of rigorous study and performance to hone to a professional standard. natalie’s movement is strictly average; she needed to train rigorously for as long as she did just to be passable, and she did a perfectly competent job, but it’s glaringly obvious when it’s natalie and not her face on someone else, she simply doesn’t have the grace of a pro ballerina. whether this prevents one from suspension of disbelief for the movie is subjective. general rule of thumb: head/arm/torso shots: natalie. full-body ballet dancing for any length of time, or fancy footwork: the pro. i do remember one shot of natalie en pointe and it’s glaringly obvious it’s her.

    (that aronofsky has come out with shot counts to defend natalie is rather disingenuous, because he knows full well the vast majority of the ballet shots were of the close-up mediocre head/arms/torso variety. it does feel like a bit of skulduggery by the powers that be to make it seem like natalie did much more of the proper ballet dancing than she did, only because they made such a big deal about natalie’s training and supposed ability in promotion, esp. in the campaign for nat’s oscar. not that i give a shit, i’m only a mixed fan of the movie and never gave it a second thought until it ‘went public’)

  4. Don R. Lewis says:

    Pretty sure it was a joke guys…..sigh.

  5. IOv3 says:

    M1911 is one of those great pieces of machinery that has bailed out countless Americans time and time again. That aside, this Portman controversy is such bullshit. Who knew this many fucking people hated Natalie Portman.

  6. LexG says:

    It’s definitely a joke, but don’t ever get on Poland’s censor list, for real:

    He banned my two IPs about three weeks ago; One of them is clear since he sprung me, but the other I can post exactly ONCE before the post disappears into the ether and reads “Comment awaiting moderation.”

    It even blocked my hilarious alter ego “lesbnz” that I spent all of four minutes typing up a gem from.

  7. IOv3 says:

    Yeah I would have been back sooner last year, if I realized David just deaded my nick, and not my IP.

  8. leahnz says:

    christ what a couple of losers

    (i was genuinely confused re: the paywall thing; either DP’s ‘jokes’ aren’t very funny or i’m weirdly gullible, or both)

  9. LexG says:

    christ what a bitter old bisexual lush

  10. Joe Leydon says:

    You’re gullible, Leah? OK: You know, I would still respect you in the morning if… Oh. Not that gullible, eh? Damn. Well, it’s like my son says: You dribble and you shoot, and you hope you score.

  11. Joe Leydon says:

    IO: Of course the Natalie Portman haters are coming out of the woodwork. She’s successful.

  12. LexG says:

    I didn’t know Joe was so into older women.

  13. Joe Leydon says:

    Actually, Lex, I’m as much a borderline pedophile as you are. The thing is, it’s all relative. At 58, I’m probably older than Leah than you’re older than K-Stew.

  14. IOv3 says:

    Joe, but it’s fucking pithy bullshit that Natalie Portman, of all actresses, does not deserve.

    Oh yeah Leah, either treat me like shit or not. Seriously, if we are not cool then state as much because what you wrote the other day, made it seem as if we were cool, and now you are taking a fucking shot. Please let me know of your decision the next time you feel like throwing me under a bus, off a building, or off the hood of a car William Regal style.

  15. Joe Leydon says:

    Not pithy. Petty.

  16. LexG says:

    Leah’s 64.

  17. Joe Leydon says:

    So she could be Helen Mirren’s kid sister.

  18. IOv3 says:

    She’s probably at best in her early to mid 40s and a 40 year old to Joe, is like catnip to a… cat. Seriously you can’t make an analogy with catnip that works for anything but cats. Oh forget it.

  19. Joe Leydon says:

    Meoooooooooooooooooooooooooooow!

  20. IOv3 says:

    JOE LEYDON… HOUSTONIAN TOMCAT!

  21. leahnz says:

    that ‘couple of losers’ line was actually mostly a joke (mostly) re: getting banned and then coming back as someone else and thinking it’s clever. harden up and do yer time, then come back a contrite and rehabilitated ex-con. or not.

    (hopefully i’m not being lumped in as a portman-hater, i’ve always like nat, she seems a good sort and a cool chick. the dancing thing is neither here nor there, she’s probably mortified by the kerfuffle)

  22. IOv3 says:

    Leah, David literally banned IOIOIOI and not me (Yes that’s detached but that’s what happened and I didn’t figure it out until like five months later). Poor IOIOIOI got shot, in a parking lot, but he’s recovering well in Glendale, AZ.

    That aside, I just find it weird that all of a sudden, after she wins the award, we have this whole thing with the dancing. Even if it’s what Sarah Lane stated, she could be wrong, but it just seems weird to be making hay at the expense of an actress whose supposed to be one of the good ones out there.

  23. bulldog68 says:

    For goodness sake, Joe and Leahnz, get a room already.

  24. scooterzz says:

    ” Well, it’s like my son says: You dribble and you shoot, and you hope you score.”

    and then, eventually, you just dribble…..

  25. IOv3 says:

    Unless you are Tony Randall, and you just keep on scoring. Seriously. He was like Gordy freakin Howe.

  26. LexG says:

    Same thing happened with FLASHDANCE back in the day, right? Beals’s body/dance double making a federal case out of her lack of credit, to the wholesale “who gives a shit?” of the entire world.

    Cut to 2011, Beals is still rocking it hard (and looking good) on Chicago Code, and no one can remember that other lady’s name.

  27. leahnz says:

    scooter: that’s pretty funny

    the difference with beals is that she wasn’t heralded as a serious oscar contender in a dance movie, and her dance training and ability wasn’t inextricably tied into an oscar campaign for her role (for which i don’t blame natalie, she was just being a dutiful daughter in talking about how she had to train and prepare, which she absolutely did).

    perhaps the most troubling aspect was the two differnt vis. effect reels that came out, one showing detailed footage of how nat’s face replaced the real dancer’s; but that effects reel was quickly scuttled and itself replaced by the ‘sanctioned’ reel, which is suspect. if the powers that be didn’t care if the world (or weirdos online at least) saw the truth about who was really doing the proper dancing, why not just let the more revealing reel ride?

  28. Joe Straatmann says:

    They’d better not push Natalie too far. She’ll kill their dogs just for fun.

    Speaking of which, I’m surprised that song/music video didn’t get more play during Oscar time…..

  29. LexG says:

    Natalie’s in Hotness Jail till she has that kid, divorces the douche, drops the kid off with nannies and gets back into shape.

    YEP YEP.

    All famous actors and actress should be LEGALLY BANNED from having children. Who wants a fantasy object who has KIDS?

    LAME.

  30. sanj says:

    i saw The Warrior’s Way – i liked this – Kate Bosworth and
    the rest of the cast were pretty good ..just didn’t enough promotion… no DP/30’s ..

    i wonder what happens when there’s a 50% a movie or actor can get an oscar but just doesn’t get enough promotional push..who’s too blame ?

  31. LexG says:

    Anyone cynical enough to wonder if this WHO CARES story about Natalie’s dancing double isn’t oh-so-fortuitously timed to bolster DVD sales this week, as it debuts? What better timing to drop a media meme that would encourage people to rush out and buy a copy they could go through frame by frame to check the dancer’s story?

    Nice going.

  32. IOv3 says:

    Lex, it possibly fortuitous, but this nonsense has been going on for three weeks. Also, Beals dance replacement in that film was a guy.

  33. Joe Leydon says:

    After reading the explanation for Leah’s “losers” crack, I can’t get out of my head the image of LexG and IO shackled together, like Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier in The Defiant Ones, on the run from a chain gang while David pursues them with bloodhounds.

  34. IOv3 says:

    Joe, god bless you for bringing up the Defiant Ones but a funnier joke would be referring to Lex as Lawrence Fishbourne and me as Stephen Baldwin in FLED. Now excuse me, I have to get on a skateboard, and preach about the JEEBUS!

  35. Geoff says:

    Beals HAS aged well, indeed. But I think it’s a fair comparison – Flashdance was an iconic-freaking movie, probably moreso than Black Swan, though it’s too early too tell. Images of Beals dancing have been EVERYWHERE for decades, now. Think of the effect that movie has had: it freaking made Bruckheimer’s career, didn’t it?

  36. storymark says:

    If only Natalie has been doused with a bucket of water during one of the dance numbers.

  37. LexG says:

    Gotta fled.

  38. LexG says:

    I ask this with no disrespect intended, but… Glenn Kenny’s site informs me that Farley Granger died this week; Did ANYONE know he was still alive?

    Guess it’s because I always got him mixed up with Sal Mineo, but I would’ve thought he passed away in like 1969 at the most recent.

  39. Paul MD (Stella's Boy) says:

    I did not. Just watched Strangers on a Train a few weeks ago too. Wife had never seen that or Vertigo. Great double feature.

  40. Joe Straatmann says:

    Ah, Fled. It’s not so much the Baldwin brother or being a shameless ripoff of Midnight Run, or the completely dumb scenes that defy all logic, but it’s when their “deal is going down at a big sporting event….”

    “So, we have them meeting at a football game?”
    “Nah, too expensive.”
    “Baseball?”
    “Still too expensive.”
    “Hockey?”
    “Atlanta doesn’t have a hockey team [yet].”
    “Well, shit, what do you want us to do?! Slum it at a motocross race?!”
    “Wait…….. that’s PERFECT!”

    It’s that extra ounce of “We don’t give a shit.”

  41. Paul MD (Stella's Boy) says:

    Fled = Kevin Hooks = Passenger 57 = awesome.

  42. Joe Straatmann says:

    Thoughts on Black Dog, Paul? It’s no Roadhouse by any means, but I do find myself watching it when it’s randomly on things like AMC (AMC, you showed fuckin’ CATWOMAN. Time for a new name).

  43. LexG says:

    That basketball scene between Halle and Benjamin Bratt in CATWOMAN is amazing.

  44. Paul MD (Stella's Boy) says:

    Same here. There was a time when it seemed like AMC showed it weekly. I would always tune in when it was on. Like you said, no Roadhouse, but the Hooks ’90s action movie trilogy of Passenger 57/Fled/Black Dog is great.

  45. LexG says:

    I used to live next door to the black guy from Black Dog.

  46. Paul MD (Stella's Boy) says:

    Gabriel Casseus? Did you ask him about working with Dalton, Randy Travis and Meatloaf?

  47. LexG says:

    Nah, but he did lend me some quarters for the dryer. He wasn’t around much (filming BHD most of the brief time we would’ve crossed paths.)

  48. Paul MD (Stella's Boy) says:

    He used to be in a lot of stuff. Fallen. BHD. 15 Minutes. NY Undercover. Don’t recall seeing much of him lately.

  49. LexG says:

    He wrote (I think?) and produced Takers.

  50. Paul MD (Stella's Boy) says:

    Haven’t seen that one yet. Want to have a Takers/Armored movie night.

  51. JKill says:

    ARMORED and TAKERS are both really fun. They both have pretty great Dillion performances, and are just solid good times. Both exceeded my expectations.

  52. shillfor alanhorn says:

    In case IOv3 was still wondering whether or not TRON:LEGACY was profitable for Disney:

    http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118034622

  53. David Poland says:

    Shill… do you have to change your name this week?

  54. shillfor alanhorn says:

    DP: Ha! It was an homage to Patrick Goldstein. In honor of Robinov’s ascension, I may have to change it to “The Nikki Whisperer” (though I wouldn’t want anyone to mistake it as an homage to Rob Moore).

  55. nikki whisperer says:

    DONE

    R.I.P. Shillfor Alanhorn

    Long live Nikki Whisperer

  56. Ky says:

    I’m upset at AMC Theaters for discontinuing their Movie Watcher club. The new club sucks and they have a nerve charging $12 a year! What a nice way to reward loyal customers. I loved my free small popcorn on wednesdays.

  57. LYT says:

    “Cut to 2011, Beals is still rocking it hard (and looking good) on Chicago Code, and no one can remember that other lady’s name.”

    Marine Jahan.

    Didn’t have to look it up – I remember because Mad Magazine made a big deal of it in their parody version.

  58. sanj says:

    it’s been weeks since any new DP/30 … management is probably not happy – DP you better watch out before they replace you with a 18 year old video blogger who can crank
    4 of them a day …

  59. cadavra says:

    Luke beat me to it. Jahan was so hot in STREETS OF FIRE, especially before they hacked it down to a PG.

    I don’t think people are hating Portman per se, but perhaps the fact that she won an Oscar that some felt was undeserved is bugging folks a bit.

  60. yancyskancy says:

    Farley Granger had been a little higher-profile than usual the last couple years, promoting an autobiography. I think maybe he made appearances at a screening or two as well.

  61. cadavra says:

    Yeah, he came to the American Cinematheque a few years back. Very warm and friendly, considering he had put all that behind him.

  62. IOv3 says:

    Shill, it made more worldwide than Star Trek. SEQUEL… IN THE BAG… BOOYAH! CHALK ANOTHER LOSS ON THE BOARD FOR DEVIN FARCI!

  63. storymark says:

    Yes, by a relatively small margin, which can probably be laid entirely at the feet of the “3D bump”.

  64. hcat says:

    Non movie related but Justified was great tonight and looks like its going to kick it up the next few weeks. Olyphant was born to pistol whip some hillbilly while yelling “where’s the girl?”.

    They have renewed it and Archer for another season, sorry Lights Out fans I know it got a lot of love around here.

  65. LexG says:

    Lights Out RULES, but its being contained to one season isn’t the WORST thing that could happen. I know IO, for example, is the kind of guy who sticks with a Smallville or Lost til the bitter end. But when it comes to TV, unlike movies, first sign of losing interest or it becoming an obligation, I’m out. Even as much as I love Sons of Anarchy, there was a stretch of S3 when they were dicking around Ireland for 100 years when I came close to bailing.

    JUSTIFIED is right up my alley, but I got behind the eight-ball S1, was too broke to buy the S1 DVDs, and now it’s midway thru the season with only the last couple on OnDemand. So guess I’ll have to wait a year for S2 to hit DVD and start from scratch. BREAKING BAD always screws me over in the same way (DVD set drops the DAY BEFORE the new season, not giving me enough time to watch it, and by the time I catch up the current season is on episode 8 and fuck it…)

    Anyway, LIGHTS OUT: Lights’s hot older teenage daughter = YEP YEP.

  66. IOv3 says:

    Lights Out works better as one season sort of like Terriers, but Justified and Archer are ridiculously wonderful shows. I’m glad they both get another year.

    ETA: Lex, sticking til the bitter end is just something that I started doing way back with Barney Miller and Lavern and Shirley. I may have stuck with Dallas forever as well, I just can’t remember the 80s that well.

  67. Pete B says:

    Terriers is still missed. Donal Logue is a god (small g).

  68. IOv3 says:

    Donal Logue is tremendous and I thank him for getting me into the music of Greg Dulli.

  69. hcat says:

    Wasn’t Laverne without Shirly for the last year or two? Seems strange how long some of those old sitcoms ran when you think of today’s prove yourself in six weeks or you’re out schedules. Crap like Alice ran for a little over a decade (though I do think its funny that the two most successful movie to tv adaptions were based on Altman and Scorsese films, makes me think someone should make a sitcom out of There Will Be Blood).

  70. IOv3 says:

    Alice had a good five years. A show that’s completely and utterly forgot even though Bonnie Franklin lingers with me still… One Day at a Time.

  71. hcat says:

    You’re right I had forgotten One Day at a Time existed. Lear, Spelling, Cannall and Moore pretty much had the whole television schedule divided up amongst themselves.

    I catch adds for those Disney and Nick shows like ICarly and wonder what the hell are these kids watching, but is the quality really any worse than the steady diet of Happy Days and WKRP reruns we subjected ourselves to?

  72. IOv3 says:

    All of those Nick shows come from SAVAGE STEVE HOLLAND disciples, so those kids are pretty much getting a straight dose of subversive 80s comedy! They also have a better production budget than WKRP ever did. Happy Days at least would do a location shoot from time to time.

  73. yancyskancy says:

    I love LIGHTS OUT, but if the season/series finale manages some closure, I’ll be somewhat mollified. But I’ll definitely miss it. I feel like they had just scratched the surface with some of those characters, and I really liked the way the writers managed to find surprises and twists in a fairly straightforward narrative without getting too gonzo about it.

    Dying to catch JUSTIFIED, but like Lex, I missed the first season and couldn’t catch it before the second started. I’m sure I’ll get to it eventually (not many shows take place in my native Kentucky) — after all, I’m just now starting season 2 of the awesome DEADWOOD after catching season 1 On Demand. And I finally caught all the BREAKING BAD season 3 repeats, so I’m up to speed for season 4.

  74. hcat says:

    Goddammit IO, anytime I see the name Savage Steve Holland, the Honeymoon Suite song from One Crazy Summer pops into my head and stays there for two days. Thanks. I now have 48 hours of “If I could grow wings i would do anything to keep you with me, can’t you see”

  75. hcat says:

    Was a big Deadwood fan but the end was a complete disappointment. I know they were hoping to continue the story but even from a season finale standpoint it was weak. All buildup, no delivery.

  76. IOv3 says:

    Random statement about F1: those Pirelli winner hats really clash with everything. Pretty cool looking but clash with everything.

  77. LexG says:

    Three words:

    THE PAUL REISER SHOW.

    Feel the hype.

  78. LexG says:

    Can anyone ever GET ON THE FUCKING HOT BLOG at 2am PST ANYMORE? This bitch used to be JUMPING at this time, between McDouche, Leydon, Leah, IO, whoever else would drunkenly happen in. Every night I’m up and itching to go with A-game material…. Every night this place is a fucking TOMB, then I wake up at 11am PST and it’s the Storymark/IO/PaulMD show. Which is cool, but where’s that enthusiasm when I need some AMUSEMENT on my dime?

    Fucking bullshit. Between this and Wells being PREDICTABLE AS FUCK all the time and his place getting NOTHING after 8pm, EVER… I wish I had a 2am venue.

    FUCKING BORING. Poland, give me an MCN blog that you can’t moderate or control in any way whatsoever.

    Wells offered me a column, but he’d have say over what I could or couldn’t post. He banned me from mentioning FEET or HOT ACTRESSES. Yeah, WAY TO MISS MY ENTIRE SHTICK, dick.

  79. LYT says:

    Second the idea of a Daniel Plainview sitcom. I should star in it.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAcxgP077rw

  80. LexG says:

    YESSSSSS THE GREATEST YT VIDEO EVER, endlessly referenced by me and watched two dozen times. It inspired my whole Lou From Caddyshack meme re: LYT, and I used to crack up at that and pass it along to a few people, who NEVER thought it was 1/800th as funny as I did.

  81. Paul MD (Stella's Boy) says:

    Lights Out has been good but not great for me. Some really excellent episodes mixed in with ones like this week’s, with the return of his mother. That was awful and not at all what I was interested in seeing so late in the season. I’m glad it’s coming to an end. Seems like it’s for the best. Pales in comparison to Justified. Looking forward to The Killing. Wife wants to watch The Borgias.

  82. LexG says:

    REBECCA BLACK POWER.

    What is the hateful meme with this CUTE song? Why is this so hated? IT’S FUNNY AND FUN. I like it.

    Nice kid.

  83. yancyskancy says:

    Lex, I’d say it’s ’cause the funny is not intentional. And her nasal voice is pretty grating. That said, funny is funny, so I don’t mind it (as long as I don’t have to hear it too much).

  84. LexG says:

    I’ve been listening to it all night. It’s silly and cute and not REALLY that much worse than anything else out there. TRUST ME, I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Vanessa Hudgens, and the idea that she wrote a WHOLE SONG about HER SHOES is a whole plane of Lexian wonder… but NO WAY this FRIDAY song is that much worse than Van-Hudge’s SNEAKERNIGHT.

  85. sanj says:

    i posted the Rebecca Black video link when it was at 2 million views – now it went up to 70 million views .

    everybody has made parody videos and lots of commentary – except for DP … what does DP think ? compare her to
    any other tween actor..is that fair ? would this qualify
    for a special DP/30 ?

    i like the fact that Black wasn’t created by Disney but is getting Disney hype .

    i give Black one month till everybody forgets about her ..

    also Stephen Colbert announced on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” that he’ll sing teen pseudo-songstress Rebecca Black‘s YouTube hit “Friday” ..

  86. sanj says:

    i remember the good old days when Lindsay used to
    act in movies …when is she getting a DP/30 ?
    she’s been in 4 super bad reviewed movies – that needs
    some explaining … plus i have lots of unanswered questions about herbie fully loaded …

    Lindsay Lohan Explains Fall

    http://www.tmz.com/2011/04/01/lindsay-lohan-falls-down-pictures-response-statement-not-drunk-sober-nyc-new-york/

  87. Don R. Lewis says:

    This is Criterions April Fools Day joke, right?
    http://www.criterion.com/films/27656-c-h-u-d

  88. IOv3 says:

    Don, that would indeed seem to be the case. I also love the Source Code. Here’s hoping that’s not raining on your day.

Quote Unquotesee all »

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