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By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

BYOB: A New Month, A New Week, On We Go…

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117 Responses to “BYOB: A New Month, A New Week, On We Go…”

  1. Sam says:

    This is pretty cool. Every frame of a movie, compressed into a “bar code”: http://moviebarcode.tumblr.com/

    At a glance, you can see a lot about the color palette a movie uses. Nolan apparently likes drab colors, even though his movies feel more visually alive. Amelie uses a lot fewer primary colors than I remember. But mostly they feel right.

    Gone With the Wind and Traffic are particularly interesting: the former, because you can see where the overture, intermission, and exit music is. The latter, because the three story threads have their own color, and you can make out where all the segments are. Bambi is neat, too — you can tell right where the forest fire hits.

  2. York Durden says:

    VARIETY reporting that Mr. Sheen has been fired from the teevee show.

  3. EthanG says:

    Shocked that “Uncle Boonmee” didn’t at least make the Oscar short-list. A flat out masterpiece, though I can see why it would divide people. The most original major foreign film of last year…including “Dogtooth.”

  4. Triple Option says:

    Got “The American” via Netflix. I get the slow, methodical pace the movie was going for. It wasn’t that intriguing for me to really get into, though. And yeah, I can see why people would say it’s a safe alternative to Ambien or Lunesta. My chief complaint, they took out the big sex scenes everybody’s been harping about. At first I thought maybe I did fall asleep and missed it but then when I went through scene search menu, it wasn’t there. Uh, can you believe?!

    They had “deleted scenes” so I looked there thinking, ok, if anything, there’ll be MORE on the DVD. Nope! They disabled that for rentals. WTF?! It’s an R-rated film. I don’t think they let kids rent those?? And I’m pretty sure you have to be 18 to have a netflix acct. Maybe they thought “if you want to watch the sex scenes – and you know you do – then you’re gonna fork over the full price of the retail charge cuz we ain’t just givin’ it away now.”

  5. JKill says:

    Triple Option, I loved THE AMERICAN and found the sexual content really refreshing and crucial to the film. I’m really confused about an edited version even existing since I’m pretty sure the filmmakers would have to sign off on something like that, like on an airplane cut or something…

    In terms of sorta new releases caught up with George Gallo’s MIDDLE MEN which was a very entertaining, funny and exciting BOOGIE NIGHTS/GOODFELLAS-esq rise and fall story about the internet and porn. Luke Wilson gives a very good dramatic performance, and Gabrielle Macht and Giovanni Ribisi are insane and unhinged in it. Kind of a shame it got shuffled off, probably due to it being a Paramount Vantage movie…Really worth checking out.

    Also watched MONSTERS (impressed with the direction and the performances) and TAKERS ( a fun b movie a little hindered by its PG-13).

  6. LexG says:

    Middle Men RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULED.

    Especially that part where Wilson blows into that orgy and they’re blasting BODYROCK.

    YEP YEP. Awesome movie. AWESOME.

    TO, I highly doubt they sent you an edited copy of The American, or that one exists. Sure the disc didn’t skip?

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

    Speaking of Middle Men, interesting story about the guy whose life it is based on. He also personally financed the $30 million budget.

    http://www.details.com/culture-trends/critical-eye/201103/chris-mallick-middle-men

  8. Triple Option says:

    There was a disclaimer that came up when I tried to access the deleted scenes. “These options have been disabled. Purchase a copy of the American for these or additional features, blah, blah, puke!” Later, I noticed on the disc itself it said “rental version” or some crap like that.

    Sometimes I’ve gotten discs from Netflix and the special features like director’s commentary will be in play other times they won’t. I get how they’d have an edited version for airplane travel but for rental I’m a bit surprised they’d care if not send the unrated ones. Maybe like those two sided discs that have the R and unrated together.

    I’ll tell you what, it kinda reminded me of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, some naturally striking women in there.

  9. sanj says:

    Charlie Sheen – yeah i don’t want a DP/30 ..he’s on everywhere giving interviews to everybody else ..

    still waiting for DP/30 with Anna Faris / Amber Heard
    and like 100 other actors..

    my guess is 25% of the DP/30 2010 Oscar nominees are too busy to do more interviews this year ..

    so its time to find new people who haven’t done any DP/30’s ..

  10. Glamourboy says:

    My understanding, TO, is that the studios are leaving out the special features on rental copies to Blockbuster and Netflix. It is an incentive for people to see the movie but still have a reason to buy the disc. But I don’t think they are editing any movies for rental.

  11. JKill says:

    PaulMd, I had no idea the guy the lead was based on funded the movie. Good call on the article.

    Although that article is kind of annoying in how it implies the fact the movie didn’t make money is it’s fault, since it was barely released or advertised and a lot of movies aren’t profitable. I really hope more people check it out, because as Lex said, it’s pretty, pretty awesome. (Although I’m hoping the part where the real guy says PULP FICTION wasn’t a hint initially is some kind of a misprint because that couldn’t be more false.)

    And Lex, all of the soundtrack choices where pretty sweet. I appreciated the BIG and PAC, as well. It’s odd but also great that GOODFELLAS spawned an entire genre of movies about the rise and fall of a protagonist in a morally questionable occupation with wall to wall voice over and(or) rock/pop music. (LORD OF WAR, BLOW…) For some reason, I’m unabashedly a fan of all of them.

  12. EthanG says:

    Middle Men, really? It actually made a movie about porn boring for me. I just loved how the central porn star figure apparently had a zero-nudity clause for the film. Also anyone notice how Luke Wilson’s chin expanded and contracted throughout the whole movie? Loved Giovanni Ribbisi’s scenery-gorging performance though. Best rampaging-through-movie perf since Cage in Bad Lieutenant 2.

    On the other hand, really enjoyed “The American” and “Monsters”…American deserved a cinematography nod.

  13. sanj says:

    Charlie Sheen has a way with words ..

    Charlie Sheen statement on being fired from his show –

    “This is very good news. They continue to be in breach, like so many whales. It is a big day of gladness at the Sober Valley Lodge because now I can take all of their bazillions, never have to look at whatshiscock again and I never have to put on those silly shirts for as long as this warlock exists in the terrestrial dimension.”

  14. IOv3 says:

    Triple, the rental dvd idea is just stupid and needs to go away. Not all studios are as truly fucked in the head to believe that it is a workable idea but Warners, Fox, and Disney are infatuated with the rental copy. Universal does it randomly, while Sony and Summit do not do it at all.

    Seeing as we are at a point where they are producing too many disc and this is causing BD production problems, I can definitely see this fucking ridiculous RENTAL disc idea going away very soon… god willing.

  15. Krillian says:

    Found Jimmy Fallon’s Charlie Sheen to be better than Bill Hader’s Charlie Sheen.

    Yeah, when did rental DVDs start cutting out the special features? Seems like it only started a couple years ago.

  16. Joe Leydon says:

    Fuck you, IO. I like being able to rent discs. I rented two just this past weekend from Redbox. Cost me less than downstreaming or VOD. So fuck you again. And thrice.

  17. IOv3 says:

    Joe, take a breathe, and realize that it’s THE DISCS… THEMSELVES! Those rental discs are a joke that cut out special features for no other reason than to just do it. It’s a stupid concept to make a rental version of a movie, a standard DVD of a movie, and a BD of a movie. They need to phase out that rental disc and just use the regular fucking DVD version of the movie again.

    Seriously man, JUST… KEEP… BREATHIN!

  18. Joe Leydon says:

    Not necessarily. If I’m renting a movie for one night — for one buck — chances are better than good I just want to see the frickin’ movie. That’s all. And if stripped down DVDs help make it possible for me to get a movie for one buck for one night — so be it.

  19. IOv3 says:

    Joe, all of this discs production is effecting BDs. If they got rid of the absolutely pointless rental disc and just let people rent the regular DVD like they used to, they will save a shitload of materials for BD production. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that they are also producing digital copy discs. That’s 4 version of one movie a lot of the time and that is utterly and unbelievably stupid.

    Good to know that you appreciate renting disc more than your interactions with people :P, Joe.

  20. Joe Leydon says:

    People will let you down. Movies never will.

  21. LexG says:

    I neeeeeeeeeeeeeever watch special features on a rental.

    Come to think of it, I haven’t really watched special features on any regular basis since like 2002, when all that seemed so novel: Storyboard-to-screen comparison! Deleted Scenes With Renny Harlin Commentary! Same Deleted Scenes With Sylvester Stallone Commentary! Worthless EPK footage of Kip Pardue and Burt Reynolds In the Pit!

    But with RENTALS, if it’s the first time seeing a movie, which a rental almost always is, I don’t wanna see any extras because that’s basically like a THEATRICAL FIRST VIEWING, for all intents and purposes. I want to soak in the FIRST VIEWING experience.

    I wouldn’t want to watch ADJUSTMENT BUREAU or UNKNOWN or BEASTLY or ANY MOVIE for the first time on the big screen and then as soon as the credits roll have to sit there an extra hour with the SPECIAL FEATURES playing on the same screen, watching how everything was done and immediately destroying the magic of the movie’s initial spell.

    So for most people, a RENTAL is a one-and-done of something they didn’t wanna pay 15 bucks for in theaters. I doubt anyone who has a movie for ONE NIGHT really wants to sit there and experience anything more than just the movie itself. The special feature stuff obviously is geared more toward a collector who felt compelled to buy and movie and wants to revisit it and learn more about it.

  22. leahnz says:

    sometimes movies let me down

  23. IOv3 says:

    Lex, it’s more about the producing an extra disc of a movie, when the standard DVD would do.

  24. christian says:

    UNDER THE RAINBOW really let me down.

    I love extra features, outtakes, deleted scenes, the works. The LIMEY commentary by Soderbergh and Dobbs. The BLADE RUNNER documentary is almost a work of art. etc.

  25. LexG says:

    That shit costs like 10 cents, seriously.

  26. LexG says:

    I didn’t even listen to the K-Stewentary on Eclipse.

  27. IOv3 says:

    Lex, it’s not about the cost. It’s about the materials. They need materials for BD discs and digital copies (and extemporaneous rental copies) are using those materials. If they want to crank out BD copies. It’s time to get rid of the rentals and just let the folks rent the standard DVD like they did for years!

  28. LYT says:

    I buy most of my discs used. So it sucks when SchlockSchmuster Video only re-sells an edited rental version, when I know an unrated one is out there.

  29. sanj says:

    Frieda Pinto in Miral .. Oscar for Frieda ? – time for a DP/30…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=b1yXZKkui8k

  30. Rob says:

    “Same Deleted Scenes With Sylvester Stallone Commentary! Worthless EPK footage of Kip Pardue and Burt Reynolds In the Pit!”

    Yes! Driven power!

  31. EthanG says:

    Until streaming is up to the quality of discs, gotta say I prefer Redbox. It’s bizarre to me that pirate sites using a program like Divx offer a crisper picture than a legit service like Netflix or Itunes.

  32. Krillian says:

    I love Redbox, and even though their service isn’t great, Blockbuster Online. I rent about 80 DVDs a year between those two.

  33. anghus says:

    anyone know the tracking on Sucker Punch? the marketing is underwhelming video game chop-socky visual noise.

    feels like it’s going to land like the hindenburg.

  34. IOv3 says:

    “Underwhelming video game chop-socky visual noise.” Really? Did you get that from a manual? If only you got that Jon Hamm is in this movie from those ads. I also would bet the tracking is probably very soft since those ads really don’t sell what the fuck that movie probably is, at all.

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

    Boxoffice.com is currently projecting a $23 million opening and $55 million total for Sucker Punch. They say that Kick Ass and Scott Pilgrim had better pre-release buzz. Also, someone recently (I want to say LA Times) wrote about the studio being very concerned with negative early reactions to it. Easy IO. Just expressing his opinion. I happen to agree with him. Movie looks like a train wreck.

  36. anghus says:

    no, that was all me IO.

    The ads for Sucker Punch are seizure inducing. they do a poor job of selling the movie, in my opinion. lots of quick cuts featuring over the top visuals. Remove a few shots of the actors and you’d have something that resembles a video game cut scene.

  37. JKill says:

    All I know is I’m very, very excited for SUCKER PUNCH. Especially after several re-watches, I think WATCHMEN was really a huge achievement and terribly underrated. A great movie that didn’t get its due.

    Also, I’m confused on why people bunch up SCOTT PILGRIM and KICK-ASS together financially, when I think KICK-ASS did okay all things considered while SP was clearly a serious money loser. (I love both. I’m just talking about a bottom line perspective.)

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

    Watchmen is a great comedy, but if anything is overrated. $48 million is respectable for Kick Ass. Just got over-hyped.

  39. anghus says:

    Paul, i agree. I think Watchmen is laughable at times. One of those films that was taken down by the obsessive compulsive desire to recreate every detail. Watchmen was one of those movies where style killed substance. Casting didn’t help either.

    Not that i think many people could have tackled Watchmen without issue. I think the problems with Snyder’s take were conceptual. He was so desperate to recreate the look and feel that he strangled any chance at broadening the material for a wider audience.

    I thought Greengrass would have been ideal. He would have grounded it in a reality that the material desperately needed to work as a film. Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda….

    But anyone who tells me they think Watchmen is a great movie will have a hard time closing the sale.

    And Paul, you’re spot on about Kick Ass. It’s a violent comedy making fun of the concept of Superheros in the real world. The fact that it got to 50 million and sold a shitload of DVDs is amazing. Anyone who was expecting more had unrealistic expectations.

    Scott Pilgrim was a great film with the wrong lead. I liked Cera in the film, but he was given a lot of movies based on Superbad’s success and none of them really lit up the box office. Someone awhile back said they always thought Anton Yelchin would have been ideal as Scott Pilgrim. I think that model would have worked better. A young up and comer who is more a hearthrob than a comedy guy.

  40. Rob says:

    What the hell is Sucker Punch about, anyway? It just looks like young girls in schoolgirl uniforms cavorting in front of green screen.

    I’m thinking it’ll do the fanboy $50 million and then peace out.

  41. LexG says:

    SUCKER PUNCH. Hmm, let’s see…

    Hudgens (YEP YEP YEP YEP MMMMMMM.)

    Emily Browning (The early choice for Bella Swan; She and K-Stew should’ve had a sexy pillow fight to see who got the role.)

    Jena Malone (Awesome)

    Abbie Cornish (One YEP, watch the kankles)

    Jamie Chung (REAL WORLD YEP)

    …all in SEXY LITTLE OUTFITS hopping around and DOING THINGS WITH EACH OTHER and SHOWING THEIR FEET while BOUNCING UP AND DOWN in SLOW MOTION = YEP YEEEEEEEEEEEEP. A MUST SEE, guaranteed BONERTHON, although I fear that Snyder’s usual off-putting, ugly copper-black exhust fume sheen while muffle some of the hotness and shots of their body parts.

    But don’t anyone give me any Carla Gugino bullshit. Overrated and not sexy to me at all. Young stuff only, please.

    Plus Scott Glenn rehashing his role from THE CHALLENGE.

  42. cadavra says:

    SUCKER PUNCH looks like five hot babes whose stunt doubles fight a bunch of CGI monsters. Doesn’t exactly scream “must-see” for people over 24.

    As I mentioned at the time, the longer cut of WATCHMEN plays much better than the original release version. Give it a whirl and see if you don’t agree.

  43. JKill says:

    I don’t agree with the criticism that WATCHMEN too slavishly followed the book. It’s not like SIN CITY or those Stephen King ABC mini-series movies that just recreate what was on the page. There’s a lot left out and changed, and I think they were smart choices (especially with removing the squid…)

    Reasons I think WATCHMEN is a great film.
    1. One of the best opening title sequences of the last twenty years
    2. Fantastic peformances from Billy Crudup, Haley, Wilson and Morgan
    3. Classy, old fashion pacing akin to something more like the GODFATHER than WOLVERINE (Better in the Director’s cut, as Cadarva mentioned)
    4. Beautiful images and lensing. Just gorgeous.
    5. DR. MANHATTAN’S FLASHBACK and Realization that maybe life on earth is worthwhile afterall.
    6. Wilson and Ackerman screwing in the spaceship to the stylings of Mr. Leonard Cohen
    7. The bold choice to actually keep it period, and make it reflect on today, rather than make it really on the nose and current (like Greengrass wanted to do)
    8. The music
    9. The balls it took to make an expensive, three hour, odd ball, political superhero movie with only a few action scenes that’s basically a drama
    10. The ending which is so rousing and awesome and morally complex
    11. Numerous genius level set pieces (The Comedian’s death, The prison break…)

    Obviously to each is own on not liking it. I just find it so cinematic and refreshing and vital and entertaining. Everytime I’ve watched it, from the first theatrical viewing to repeats on HBO, I’m so impressed with what Snyder pulled off.

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

    That love scene is one of the most unintentionally hilarious scenes in recent cinema history. I almost choked on my popcorn due to convulsive laughter. I don’t think anyone gives what I’d consider a “fantastic” performance. It has some pretty images I guess, and a cool set piece or two, but overall I’d say it’s a pretty epic failure. And wouldn’t it be like 65 minutes long without the slow motion?

  45. JKill says:

    The love scene is pretty obviously supposed to be funny…I mean between the music choice and the fire shooting out of the ship when they cum, it is a stretch to think that’s unintentional.

  46. christian says:

    At least WATCHMEN was striving for something more complex. Not a fan of the whole thing, but Jackie Earle Haley was terrific as Rorschach, especially his “I’m not trapped here with you — you’re trapped here WITH ME.” A showstopping moment.

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

    The love scene is supposed to be funny and terrible? Mission accomplished.

  48. LexG says:

    The OLD-ASS MUSIC in WATCHMEN was BY FAR the worst part. What is that HORRIBLE old shit they were playing? Fuck the PERIOD SETTING, they should have made that CURRENT and played like wall to wall BIZKIT and STATIC X and STREET SWEEPER SOCIAL CLUB and CYPRESS HILL and EVERLAST and SOAD, not that BORING Bob Dylan shit or HALLELUJAH, aka THE WORST SONG EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVER.

    WATCHMEN should’ve been METAL, not folk music. NO earthly reason why they didn’t just update the setting, other than to avoid pissing off DORKS.

    SUCKER PUNCH MMMMMMM LITTLE HUDGENSY MMMMM LITTLE BROWNINGY LOOOOK AT THEM YAY LITTLE OUTFITS MMMMM MMMM SOOOOOO HOT.

    I am going to get a BONER during SP.

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

    Better sit in the back row when you see SP Lex.

  50. JKill says:

    I really can’t think of any movies where I like the use of metal to be completely honest…I’m really thinking hard but nothing comes to mind.

    It is interesting that, for the most part, the filmmakers we think of that are known for using pop/rock music stick pretty strictly to a certain time period and style. I wonder if there is a reason for this. Do directors think modern music “dates” movies too much, or that it comes off cheap? (I will say I hate it when a song is in a movie purely because it’s popular at the time. That never ages well, especially if the song is lame.)

    I personally think rap music is underused in movies. I loved in HANCOCK when Peter Burg busted out Ice-T’s “Colors”.

  51. LexG says:

    FACT OF LIFE: METAL makes any scene better. It certainly works wonders for 90% of the trailers ever cut.

    The movies themselves rarely use metal or hardcore rap because most directors are genial beardos who probably listen to Jimmy Eat World and Coldplay and They Might Be Giants. I mean, look at the people here or on Wells’ blog. Seem like the target audience that either IS or WANTS TO BE in the film biz. Their music tastes are strictly white-guy sock-stink thriftstore rock.

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

    Lex, favorite metal soundtracks? I remember listening to the Judgment Night soundtrack a lot back in the day, though it’s more rap/metal. Awesome movie and soundtrack though.

  53. JKill says:

    It’s funny because two filmmakers who I can think of who make metal music, Rob Zombie and Fred Durst, both rely on the same type of 70s/80s rock and pop referenced earlier and haven’t touched metal cinematically.

    I’ve got nothing other than “Master of Puppets” in OLD SCHOOL…And I remember thinking Marilyn Manson’s score for the first RESIDENT EVIL was effective.

    (And I apologize to Peter Berg for the typo in his last name above.)

  54. LexG says:

    WAR ZONE POWER.

    But, yeah, I’m always setting myself up for disappointment, because literally every single hard-action/blockbuster trailer has at least one METAL trailer scored to some idiotic CLICK CLICK BOOM/HERE COMES THE SLAM/OFF THE WALL Y’ALL! style rapcore shit that sounds hot off the OST of the SWAT movie, then 99% of the time I go see the movie and it’s like some canned Graeme Revell instrumental deal.

    Of course we all know JUDGMENT NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT is THE single awesomest soundtrack ever, with LOST HIGHWAY on deck (Manson, Pumpkins, Bowie RAMMSTEIN and Reznor in full 1997 glory), but neither of those are strict meathead metal, which seems to only get wheeled out for something like SPAWN or DRACULA 2000.

    Or UWE BOLL, who’s always cranking either some I AM FURY HOUSE OF THE VENGEANCE TO THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD canned Gone Guru-sounding tracks, or that weird German power metal.

    HUGE fan of the moment in TRAINING DAY where Alonzo and Hoyt go up those steps with an escalating crew of hardcore cholos mean-mugging them and Fuqua busts out the METAL version of Rock Superstar with that insipid two-note riff.

    SEMI-RELATED:

    BACK UP THE TRUCK! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJIIkfQX7tU

  55. LYT says:

    SUCKER PUNCH is apparently a musical (according to Drew McW at HitFix), which means it makes total sense that they’re not selling it as what it is.

    And also means DP will be championing it for an Oscar 😉

  56. LexG says:

    A musical? They better be singing some AWESOME shit like Paramore or Lacuna Coil or EVANESCENCE, and not any more of Snyder’s crappy Bob Dylan collection.

    Really, has there EVER been a worse thing EVER than Bob Dylan? Some old fuck singing in a stupid voice with that crappy sounding guitar? BORING. When they always said DYLAN WENT UNPLUGGED I thought it meant he cranked out some Pantera USE MY THIRD ARM type shit, not more jangly protest rock.

  57. JKill says:

    Dylan is amazing and a God. I have nothing more to say than that, nor should I.

    Lex, have you seen BELLY? I think between the way it’s filmed, its content (clubs and girls and strobes and slow mo and money) and the constant gangsta rap, you would love it.

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

    Lex my best friend is a Dylan fanatic. We lived together for a few years during and right after college. He worked nights a lot, but when he didn’t he’d sit up playing Dylan songs on his acoustic guitar for hours. He’d sing too. It was excruciating. Ah Pantera (Vulgar Display of Power!). Brings back memories. When I was in my teens we lived in a house that had a huge yard. I’d mow the lawn listening to Pantera and Megadeth and Metallica and Motley Crue. I thought I rocked so hard.

  59. LexG says:

    “Dylan is amazing and a God.”

    Yes, you’re right. JAKOB Dylan.

    SIXTH AVENUE HEARTACHE POWER. Better than his dad.

    BELLY is an AMERICAN MASTERPIECE, some of the cleverest DP work in film history courtesy of Spike’s one-time DP Malik Sayeed, who sadly doesn’t shoot much anymore because he’s been trying to launch a directorial career for some time. Method Man’s ridiculous cameo and the AWESOME JAMAICAN WARLORD scene with the laser scopes are beyond awesome… and even then not as awesome as THE GLOWING EYES. NAS’s performance is also the worst “acting” ever committed to film.

    YOU GONNA GET YOURS, B! YOU GONNA GET YOURS!

  60. JKill says:

    Yeah Lex, I hope Hype makes another movie because that’s a pretty crazy (in a good way) movie. It also has a great, almost (Michael) Mannian, opening sequence. I’m glad you’re also a fan.

    Rappers/muscians turned actors is always a weird proposition. Watched TAKERS and couldn’t decide what I thought of T.I. He had a strong presence and charisma but his line readings ranged from good to very unconvincing. I thought Chris Brown was also mixed, even more so, but his awesome scene of being chased by Dillion absolved him of any sins, in my eyes.

    Last night I saw TWELVE, and I just am not sure about 50 Cent either, although I will give him credit for playing a role where he engages in such a despicable act in one sequence that it’s hard to argue that he’s not serious about acting, if at least for how little vanity he shows. I think my problem may come from the fact that it’s hard for me to not be a little taken out of the movie by a muscians presence, or maybe I become overly critical and aware since I know acting really isn’t their main vocation…

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

    T.I. is decent in ATL. Tupac had a pretty commanding screen presence. He was good in Juice (love that movie), Gridlock’d and Gang Related, though I haven’t any of them in quite some time.

  62. anghus says:

    Sucker Punch is a musical?

    seriously?

    are we talking about it once being a musical like I’ll Do Anything before everyone realized what a nightmare proposition that is?

    And Drew is apparently dead on:

    “Music will play an integral role in the movie. “In the story, music is the thing that launches them into these fantasy worlds”, Snyder explains.[34] Music becomes the backbone of the film. They used actual songs for Sucker Punch that would create suitable moods. It plays an important factor in the film and will be used as it was in Moulin Rouge!, as Snyder says.[23] Dance choreography was spearheaded by Paul Becker, with Jeff Dimitriou as associate.”

    this does not make me any more confident.

  63. leahnz says:

    “Really, has there EVER been a worse thing EVER than Bob Dylan?”

    yes. limp bizzzzzkit for tools

    one of the best metal soundtracks:

    http://www.amazon.com/Crow-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/dp/B000002IWH

    also: (bloody silly movie but good metal)

    http://www.amazon.com/Last-Action-Hero-Original-Picture/dp/B00000297D/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1299622847&sr=1-1

    ‘sucker punch’ is a musical? hilarious (what a big fuck off poke in the eye marketing trick bait n switch)

  64. LexG says:

    CROW 2 is a better OST than CROW 1.

    GOLD DUST WOMAN POWER.

  65. JKill says:

    I’m probably the only one here with a soft spot for the Eric Mabius/Kirsten Dunst THE CROW: SALAVATION…

  66. LexG says:

    And since the movie GANG RELATED is not likely to make another appearance in a BYOB anytime soon: Yes, that movie kind of rules, gritty and efficient and a POWERHOUSE Jim Belushi performance (yes, such a thing is possible). And while I CANNOT imagine what The Belush and Pac had to talk about between takes, they have good chemistry on screen there. Tupac seriously had the goods as an actor. A lot of rappers can bluster and play streetwise pimps and cops; Not many would let their guard down enough to be as vulnerable as Tupac in Gridlock’d or Poetic Justice.

    But all that’s nice and all, but my main question is, Why the HELL was Dennis Quaid in THAT movie, fifth-billed with a nothing part as some crazy homeless man who cleans up to be a business bigwig? Was he THAT anxious to relive the magic of SUSPECT only in the Liam Neeson role? It wasn’t like there was some HUGE fall-off in Quaid stardom circa 1995 either; He was always squarely in that Bridges/Russell zone of no-bullshit pros. I’d love to know what his motivation was in signing on there.

  67. movieman says:

    The only pre-release “screening” of “SP” in Cleveland is a promotional on Thursday the 24th at 10 P.M. WTF?!?!
    Will somebody (Scooter?) please tell me that WB is actually showing this to press a tad earlier in bigger markets?

  68. Hopscotch says:

    Watchmen is just an ugly, nasty film. By Ugly I mean it’s definition of “unpleasant” and “causes discomfort”. The slo motion, the CG violence. The scene where they chop the guys arms off. Where young Rorscach bites of part of someone’s face. The insane ending. I mean did anyone not know who the villain was. The music to that was fucking bonkers. The Leonard Cohen, the “Ride of the Valkerie” during vietnam sequence. THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE during a funeral!!! Seriously??

    I just hope Sucker Punch doesn’t derail Jon Hamm’s movie career.

  69. anghus says:

    John Hamm has a movie career?

    (ftr, i love John Hamm but last year i remember him making a cameo in A Team and his role in The Town. Not a lot to derail)

  70. LexG says:

    It says a lot about Jon Hamm’s Selleck/Danson/Bronson Pinchot-level “big screen” pull that they’re not even SHOWING HIM in any of the Sucker Punch trailers.

    Really, you guys weren’t BLOWN AWAY by his powerhouse leading-man role in DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL? I’m sure the guy’s great on TV, and that scene with Blake Lively in THE TOWN is a small masterpiece… But I’m not sure the guy’s a movie star yet.

    Plus Hamm is right alongside Alec Baldwin and Steve Carell as “Guys Who Look Like They’d Have Foot Odor.”

  71. Krillian says:

    I loved Watchmen, but one of my complaints would be they made it obvious from his first scene who the real bad guy was.

    Hamm was solid in The Town, but not as good as some others in there. We’ll see if Bridesmaids and Friends with Kids do anything for Hamm. My guess is not much.

  72. Drew McWeeny says:

    They shouldn’t show Hamm in the “Sucker Punch” trailers. It’s a very, very, VERY brief appearance.

    And while it is true that the film was conceived as a musical and shot as one, in its final execution, I would not call it a musical. Music is still all over the movie, but they’ve relegated it all to the soundtrack now with almost none of it part of the actual world of the movie.

  73. David Poland says:

    The CG I’ll Do Anything?

  74. leahnz says:

    i see ‘red riding hood’ is being released there this week; they should do the damage and release it as a chalk-n-cheese leading lady double feature with the best, most caustic, twisted, badass take on the little red riding hood fairly tale ever, ‘freeway’ (also reese witherspoon’s best ever against-type perf, classic, and k sutherland as the perfect big bad wolf)

    (anyone remember hamm as the only dude detective in the chick cop series ‘the division’ with bonnie bedelia as the capt? probably not)

  75. IOv3 says:

    Jon Hamm’s voice is audible in one of the trailers, so I would at least want to see what he looks like in the film. That aside, Watchmen is a tremendous film, and Sucker Punch MAY play with the kids. Possibly not, but someone has to go and see this film, and it sure as hell isn’t going to be you old foggies :P!!!

  76. anghus says:

    im going to see it, because i take chances on films. even when they look like potential trainwrecks.

  77. LexG says:

    Dude I’m gonna see THE PUNCH like six times in the first week alone.

    I am also THROWING DOWN THE GAUNTLET BOX OFFICE WISE with a bit of a prediction you can TAKE TO THE BANK:

    RED RIDING HOOD is going to open to 50 mil or more this weekend, and none of you bloggers are seeing it coming. It’s basically TWILIGHT 3.5. Even if half the Twilight fans go, it’ll do 50-60 mil.

    How are you not seeing this coming? It’s TWILIGHT with Amanda Seyfried from the director of, oh yeah, TWILIGHT.

    50 MIL MIN WEEKEND. BANK. LEX.

  78. leahnz says:

    oh and fassbender in ‘jane eyre’

    FASSBENDER

    i hope he wears BIG OUTFITS and gives his horse a BONER

    mmmmmmm fassbender. i hope he rubs swords with JAMIE BELL like ALL MEN do in the country. YAP YAP

  79. christian says:

    that’s a bingo!

  80. leahnz says:

    oh landa you sweet talker you

  81. LexG says:

    Sam Worthington >>>> Michael Fassbender in EVERY CONCEIVABLE WAY. Better actor, better looking, more charisma, better resume.

    Fassbender has fucking RED HAIR.

  82. scooterzz says:

    movieman — i’ve got an l.a. screening on the 19th followed by interviews with pretty much everyone on the 20th…

  83. LexG says:

    Boring as all fuck on here tonight.

    What, did you guys get some pussy or something?

    Signs point to no.

  84. yancyskancy says:

    Lex: Peering into the magic blue ball?

  85. LexG says:

    SIZZLE LOSING BYE.

    SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN

  86. Foamy Squirrel says:

    Red Riding Hood looks teeeeerrible. The purple prose, the obvious attempts at baiting the Twihards, and the suspense reveal… my audience last night burst out laughing when the title came up.

  87. LexG says:

    RIDING HOOD POWER.

    I’d like to have Seyfried RIDING my HOOD if you know what I mean.

    ZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING. What I mean is SHE GIVES ME A BONER, especially her DREAMY BJ EYES.

  88. LexG says:

    LOOK AT HER BEING A LITTLE SEYFRIEDY

    MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM BONER I LOVE HOW HER EYES LOOK LIKE SHE’S GIVING HEAD YILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL YEAH

    SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP SHALLLLLLLLLL

  89. LexG says:

    CHET HAZE is gonna be at SXSW.

    FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKING AWESOME.

    GET HAZED. Poland, you HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVE TO COVER THIS.

  90. LexG says:

    I saw a WHITE WOMAN in Burbank yesterday. WHITE. AS IN CAUCASIAN.

    You don’t see attractive CAUCASIANS in L.A. every day, mostly just 10 zillion chicks who look like Imelda Marcos. I got so fucking horny just from seeing WHITE FLESH I almost pulled over and jerked off in my car.

    WHITE MEAT

  91. LexG says:

    The DATING LAWS OF LOS ANGELES:

    WHITE MEN cannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnot date WHITE WOMEN.

    EVER. Unless they have money.

    WHITE VAGINA is like the motherfucking DRYLAND of Los Angeles and most white guys are The Mariner.

    Think of ALL YOUR FRIENDS IN LOS ANGELES. If I know 100 MEN IN THIS CITY, 99 of them have ASIAN OR MEXICAN GIRLFRIENDS.

    WHERE THE WHITE PUSSY AT

  92. LexG says:

    God I am so so so horny I don’t see a point to going on.

    There is absolutely NO WOMAN who would EVER fuck me again as long as I live, except for Asian chicks and women over 30, neither of which is my preference. I will never ever get WHITE VAG as long as I live.

    Why go on. I am old and life sucks and EVERYONE IN MY AGE RANGE who is famous has BEEN famous since 1991– Affleck, Damon, PS Hoffman, McConaughey, Favreau, Vaughn, Terrence Howard, Giamatti, Jamie Foxx, Sandler…. ALL somewhat in my age range, ALL legends for like 20 years.

    What the fuck am I gonna do, GET MY SAG CARD at age 38 with thinning hair and a big fat beer gut and bitch tits?

    I want to kill myself.

    I really do. I won;t. But THERE IS NO PURPOSE TO MY CONTINUED EXISTENCE. I don’t want to be anything BUT famous, but I don’t have the look, and I have writer’s block and social anxiety and I work at a SHITTY fucking subbing job that is SOUL CRUSHING.

    Could ANY of you deal with seeing this weekend’s new movies 17 TIMES in the next two weeks because you have to QC every aspect ratio, transcription, sub and transfer of the SAME FUCKING MOVIE the week of its release? WHAT KIND OF LIFE IS THAT?

    WHERE’S THE RESPECT IN THAT?

  93. LexG says:

    And I don’t want anyone here to take this the wrong way, but in general I am smarter than most people here, can write better than ANYONE here, and love movies as much as Tarantino or Scorsese. So why am I one of 15 people in Los Angeles stuck working at shitty subbing/transcription jobs that SUCK THE SOUL OUT OF CINEMA by rendering it all MEANINGLESS DICTATION of great movies?

    Is there at least ONE OTHER JOB in Los Angeles that DOESN’T consist of TRANSCRIBING the BIG AUGUST RELEASES in BLACK AND WHITE in early March?

    Would ANYONE want to see INSERT BIG TICKET MAY MOVIE PREMIERING AT CANNES for the first time in BLACK AND WHITE starting at minute 77 and typing it all out over the course of 2, 3 days?

  94. JKill says:

    What are people’s thoughts on Stallone deciding not to write and/or direct THE EXPENDABLES 2? In keeping with the old school theme, who should direct then?

    I vote Walter Hill or John Millius.

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

    I wish Stallone would retire from in front of and behind the camera.

  96. movieman says:

    Glad to hear that WB is screening “SP” somewhere prior to opening day, Scooter. Not that I ever had any serious doubts.
    As I’ve said repeatedly on here, the Cleveland market is essentially dead to the major studios these days.
    And the negligent and/or inept film coverage in the Plain Dealer (Cleveland’s only daily) is the principle culprit.

  97. sanj says:

    the gurus of gold critics know that sucker punch and battle: la won’t win any oscars – so they won’t be covering them in detail …

    so that leaves 1000 people on youtube to video review these films and beat out the gurus of gold .

    who cares if they only get 100 views or 1000 views
    – it’ll be better coverage than the gurus of gold.

  98. storymark says:

    I’d love to see McTiernan do Expendables 2. When does he get out of the clink?

  99. JKill says:

    Good call, storymark. When he was on, McTiernan was a great.

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

    McTiernan was given a one-year sentence in early October. Not sure when he started serving it.

  101. LexG says:

    You guys NEVER cease to amaze in terms of NEVER GIVING UP on certain guys who are TWENTY YEARS past their sell-by date. Which in McTiernan’s case was MEDICINE MAN.

    And has John Milius directed anything since 1991?

    Don’t get me wrong, both those guys are gods, but they’ve been out of commission and pleasantly irrelevant for AGES… Who else you got in the queue? Peter Hyams? Tobe Hooper? Lawrence Kasdan?

    It’s unfortunate but that late-career Altman/Frankenheimer “second wind” we all wish on our heroes is a nice thought, but it almost never happens. Doesn’t mean I won’t stop wishing Hill or Carpenter or Landis or John Badham would hit one more out of the park, but it’s much likelier that McTiernan will be joining them in directing occasional TV and the former-shell B-movie once a decade.

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

    What about Dwight H. Little or Rowdy Herrington?

  103. LexG says:

    Is Jeannot Szwarc still alive?

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

    Yes, and according to his IMDB page, directing a ton of TV shows.

  105. LexG says:

    They should get CLARK JOHNSON and make it EXACTLY like SWAT, the most perfect action movie since McTiernan’s heyday.

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

    Or Benny Boom, director of the new direct-to-DVD sequel SWAT: Firefight.

  107. JKill says:

    I liked SWAT quite a bit, and I’m surprised that Johnson has been out of commision film-wise since because it was a sizeable hit (over 200 mill ww).

    I would bet, however, that the director for E2 will probably be some young commercial/music video director guy. As for younger directors, Louis Leterrier (wouldn’t do it) and Lexi Anderson (can’t remember if she had falling out with Lions Gate) would be great.

    What’s Kaos doing these days?

  108. LexG says:

    Clark Johnson did The Sentinel, but mostly has been busy directing every episode of The Shield, The Wire and Chicago Code ever…

    SWAT is better than The Wire. Lexi Alexander ROCKS. One of only five competent female filmmakers in the world.

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

    Or what about Neveldine/Taylor after they finish Ghost Rider 2? Those guys are pretty hot right now.

  110. Joe Leydon says:

    And you know what, Lex? Lexi could kick your ass, and make you like it.

  111. yancyskancy says:

    “Don’t get me wrong, both those guys are gods, but they’ve been out of commission and pleasantly irrelevant for AGES… ” Which is why they’d be perfect for THE EXPENDABLES!

    I bet Mark L. Lester could clear his schedule.

  112. LexG says:

    LG will keep it in-house.

    If it’s not N/T, it’ll be BOUSMAN.

    YEP YEP.

  113. JKill says:

    Neveldine/Taylor is a good call and plausible because of their relationship with LG. But I wonder if they’re too ironic and detatched. I look forward to GHOST RIDER 2 because it’s either going to be insane and brilliant or a f’n trainwreck. I love the saga of Chev Chelios, but GAMER was such a hateful, unpleasant movie, wrapped in such a suffocating level of irony. When it ended, I was just baffled and depressed.

    That said I think they have original voices, and the mind boggles at the way they’d conceive the action scenes. That would be one gory movie!

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

    I watched the first 10 or 15 minutes of Gamer on Epix the other night. Just unrelentingly stupid. I’ve seen more compelling gun battles in Syfy Channel originals. And the interview between Michael C. Hall and Kyra Sedgwick is hysterically awful. I quit watching after that.

  115. LexG says:

    The half of GAMER with Butler stuck in the combat game is fairly standard issue; But the half with Amber Valetta as a slave inside of sex game is RIVETING. All that stuff works and is sexy and creepy and hard-hitting, even if it’s almost THE SAME MOVIE as ‘Surrogates,’ which came out within a week or two of GAMER.

    More and more, I see so much stuff that I wish movies dealt more with the sex trade or hookers or porn or THE ABILITY TO CONTROL WOMEN, because I am GUARANTEED to be fully alert and invested when that stuff comes up in a movie. I don’t even look at my watch when there’s stuff about selling hot women as slaves (Taken, Trade, Gamer).

    More movies should use that kind of thing. It’s FASCINATING in a way almost no other screen material is.

  116. LexG says:

    Poland, there should be a NEW MCN BLOG called THE VAG BLOG that would have like a BLUE BACKGROUND and it would be my blog to rant about pussy and how weird it is when you see an Asian guy with a White woman.

    Think on it. I would also like 70,000 dollars a month to perform this function.

    The world needs a blog devoted to how there are NO WHITE WOMEN IN LOS ANGELES.

    And the few there are don’t date white men.

  117. Onie Kofoed says:

    Well-written arguments, keep it up!
    I will visit you again in the future 😉

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