May 9, 2024
The Hot Blog
amit on: Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
Christian on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: Review: Marriage Story (spoilers only in the broadest sense)
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
YancySkancy on: Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
Hcat on: Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: I Should Be Doing Box Office
Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree
Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
Review: Marriage Story (spoilers only in the broadest sense)
see all »
[twitter-widget username="DavidPoland" hiderss="true" hidereplies="true" hidefrom="true" items="3" showts="60" title=" " targetBlank="true"][twitter-widget username="MCNTweets" hiderss="true" hidereplies="true" hidefrom="true" items="3" showts="60" title=" " targetBlank="true"]
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
Thoughts about Apple going forward?
I wonder to what extent Steve Jobs is responsible for the well being of the company and whether the Apple work culture is strong enough to maintain its innovation/output without him. Ever since JJ Abram’s Star Trek I’ve imagined Apple being the company that takes us not only into space but also into that utopian childish notion of the future (the jetsons, calvin and hobbes, Trek, Tex Avery’s ‘The House of Tomorrow’ etc etc etc) that we probably all have. You know the one: jet packs and flying boots, watches with face-time, flying cars, and so on.
it’s pretty common knowledge that tim cook has been steering the ship for a while now…my question would be, ‘is cook’s sexuality going to influence anything now that he’s officially in charge?’…..if this were any other company it might not be an issue but with this one, there might be an impact (on both a social and economic level)….
i want a dp/30 with Steve Jobs … less technology more
about movies … there are hundreds of other people wanting
to interview him so it’ll take a year .
there are billions out there who haven’t bought any apple products at all.. so this probably means very little to them…
people who are writing about Steve Jobs right now are writing from 1st world countries ..which are rich …
3rd world places like in Africa .. i doubt many peple
can afford an iphone .. buying that would probably cost half a years salary .. apple is probably not going to lower their 4g iphone to 99 bucks just for poor people in
Africa..
while everybody in LA or NYC has some type of apple product – i’m guessing 95% of people in major African cities don’t …
Apple is rich company but doesn’t truly have a global impact…
its probably not easy trying to be objective about apple when you use 3-4 of their products a day = which i don’t .
i totally expect DP to write a huge thing about how apple saved his life when he needed to do a dp/30 .
my favorite part of apple is how they can buy everybody.
here’s them using u2 to promote the ipod
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxv7iW7QU2U
i guess i compare Steve Jobs to Leonardo da Vinci ..the super old dude who invented cool stuff like 500 years ago.
the best thing i’ve seen all week ..
Jim Carrey wants to marry Emma Stone .. only a 2 minute
video. this reminds of me LexG – look at her!!! posts ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=S9lPEP2mGWw
The CARREY/STONE video is PURE GENIUS. Carrey is, as always, a GOD and one of the only funny people ever. The part about him being older than her is so awesome.
Only thing is, he’ll probably end up dating/banging her, so it’ll work. Life sucks.
Why did “scooterzz” drop the E in his name? Is he too coked up to remember his screen name, or trying to throw everybody off?
TELL US SOME MORE JOHN WAYNE STORIES, KEVIN FROM THE OFFICE.
HAS ANYONE ever read of heard of THE REYNOLDS RAP BLOG? MULTICHANNEL NEWS sounds like some low-rent tax write-off shit to me.
Funny how I asked 14 prominent critics bloggers via email or DM if they knew Scooterzz, and NO ONE knew who the fuck he was.
REYNOLDS RAP POWER KEVIN FROM THE OFFICE POWER
Wonder if he can help me find an estate on Craiggers
SCOOTRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRZ
Change it some more, Tim Conway Jr.
The King Nobody of the Junket Scene. What a fucking bitch.
REYNOLDS RAP POWER BFCA POWER.
3 minute video about..what if China took over and
USA became poor .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4pdedSOmnSI
Well, I’ve seen the new Superman suit pictures. The pro-panties people were right and I was wrong. I’ve always said “just drop the panties and he’d be much improved”, but the reality is he looks sillier without them. You win nerds! You were right all along. However, I’d argue they didn’t redesign the suit enough. They needed more to compensate for the design element they took away. Water under the bridge. Nerds win. Next time bigger shorts and smaller boots.
Top superhero costumes adapted to movies, in order:
1. Raimi Spider-Man. Perfection.
2. Iron Man. This is a cheat since it’s not really a suit.
3. Thor (and Loki and the rest). Silly costumes made to look majestic. Bonus points for the difficult source material.
4. Captain America. Looked surprisingly good.
5. X-Men. Biker wear. Lame and poorly done.
6. Batman. All versions. Only looks good when we are not allowed to actually see the suit. Weird contoured rubber thing.
7. Superman. All versions. Terrible and goofy. Donner had pajamas with panties. Singer had a scuba suit with panties. Snyder has a blue condom sans panties.
8. Blade. Screaming of 1990s cool.
9. Ghost Rider. Biker wear for real. Negative points for being simple to adapt.
10. The Phantom. Purple pajamas? Oh my.
The Finke is reporting that Wolverine 2 will probably split filming between Canada and Japan for Wolverine 2 instead of solely in Japan.
Lex, you will be happy for another return to The Fox Forest.
I’m a real big fan of the author Joe Hill who’s yet to make a misstep writing wise, in my opinion. I was PSYCHED to hear FOX was going to make a series out of his amazing graphic novel LOCKE AND KEY as well. Then, they got Mark Romanek to direct the series and it. Was. ON.
Then, FOX decided to cancel the series and man, that’s brutal. Have a great year, Mark Romanek. First NEVER LET ME GO gets unduly ignored and then this series eats it. Not fair at all.
But THEN the trailer for LOCKE AND KEY leaked and now I’m pissed off all over again. This looks like amazing, cinematic TELEVISION and scary too. And way different (for TV) which is what likely scared FOX off. Pussies. Anyway, here’s the trailer:
http://www.vimeo.com/27567586
Why air Locke & Key when you can repeatedly attempt to revive Breaking In and once again try to convince Americans that they want to see Christian Slater on their TVs weekly? I’m bummed too Don. I was psyched for Locke and Key. I hope American Horror Story is good.
Christian Slater would have killed if he was chosen to replace Charlie Sheen.
celebrites who dated each other ..
a few surprises here .. like Moby and Natalie Portman
In 2008 he (Moby) told Spin magazine, “… as far as the very brief affair that I had with Natalie, it’s made me a target of a lot of nerd wrath. You don’t date Luke Skywalker’s mom and not have them hate your guts
http://www.etonline.com/gallery/featured/110474_They_Dated_Surprising_Celebrity_Hookups/index.html?photo=1
David Cross marrying Amber Tamblyn took me by surprise. Hadn’t realized they were an item.
I admit it now after 21 years: when I first read that Graham Greene was nominated for best supporting Oscar in ‘Dances with wolves’ (1990), I thought he was the writer.
Moby and Portman? (Moby is STRAIGHT?) Cross and Tamblyn? Doesn’t this stuff make other guys angry at not being famous? Is there any woman in the world hotter than a famous one? Does it not KILL YOU INSIDE, the knowledge that the beautiful women in MOVIES and ON TV will never be banged by you? It is a tough pill to swallow, it upsets me every waking minute of my life… Bah I’ve done the rant too many times to rehash it and my 190/150 blood pressure can’t take the spike, but… Why do ANYTHING in this life if you’re not famous?
Also on a MORE PRESSING TOPIC: JOEL EDGERTON.
Where did this guy come from? Do they manufacture these guy in Australia, the barely known regional small-time actor who in a ONE IN A ZILLION move gets suddenly cast in a bunch of Hollywood mega-movies? Is he not this year’s Worthington or Alex O’Loughlin, or if we’re including UK, throw in Fassbender or McAvoy? How do American casting people even FIND these guys? How do the actors know ANYTHING ABOUT AMERICA? Could any of US get randomly plucked to star in Australian movies, and suddenly go down there and bust out a regional Perth accent to play an outback guy or something? Yet Edgerton knows how to play a Pittsburgh school teacher? How does an Australian even know what Pittsburgh or Atlantic City even ARE, yet they’re in movies about them, and we’re not in movies about them, and WE GREW UP HERE?
I just don’t know how these people get seen or discovered, or when this era of the NON-STAR began… Used to be actors would work their way up from tiny parts to supporting parts and attain a FAN BASE who wanted to see them in leads. Now it’s just, BAM! Joel Edgerton is a new MOVIE STAR, even though 99% of Americans couldn’t pick him out of a lineup.
Also true to form, like ALL these guys, you go and IMDB him, and of course he was in some Hollywood megamovies in little parts like ten years ago– this RAGS TO RICHES GUY was in Star Wars III and King Arthur, Tom Hardy was in Black Hawk Down, Sam Worthington was in Hart’s War…
How does this happen? There’s eight million auditioning actors in Los Angeles on the beat every day, who can’t get cast… then someone in power randomly plucks Alex O’Loughlin out of deepest Australia and makes him a LEADING MAN?
Edgerton did work his way up. Are you familiar with a website called imdb at all?
chris: Lex explicitly mentions checking Edgerton, et al., on imdb in the paragraph that begins, “Also true to form…”
Indeed. Does anything after that make any sense at all?
Just thank god
the chinese can’t do that
yet
americans arent gonna trust a male asian in a leading role
cant accept it
can you picture a guy like chow yun fat
in a movie like crazy stupid love
and just be like a guy
whenever hollywood puts foreign types in regular roles
it unnerves them
but americans are meaning less and less–
not just in theaters, but everywhere
and dont even get me started on the ambiguously racial types
taylor lautner? cmooon. THE ONLLY TOLERABLE ONE IS DWAYNE JOHNSON (though not of the people as he would like to think)
^ What the hell…? Someone imitating sanj’s prose stylings now?
‘it’s pretty common knowledge that tim cook has been steering the ship for a while now…my question would be, ‘is cook’s sexuality going to influence anything now that he’s officially in charge?’…..if this were any other company it might not be an issue but with this one, there might be an impact (on both a social and economic level)….’
How do you mean?
Citizen Kane comes out on bluray soon .. i’m guessing the super old movie critics take the day off and watch this movie like 6 times . i haven’t seen it yet …
now would be a good time for dp/30 with Orson Welles .. #1 question would be what’s up with crazy beard .. #2 question would be what do you think of twilight.
There probably aren’t a lot of Chinese romantic comedies centered on a transplanted American guy either.
#3 question: Do they have bacon in Heaven?
America is all about small strides. It’d be nice to have an Asian leading man, but let’s be realistic.
There are plenty of Asian leading men, in Asia.
Asians make up a small percentage of the population in the US of A. The leading men are mostly white, with a few black leading men in rotation.
The funny thing is how many leading men in American movies are white but not from America.
Maybe there will be a day when Hollywood has a more racially balanced rotation of leading men, but we’re still in a majority white country in a majority white studio system where the leading men are whiter than the recycled paper their contracts are signed on.
I’m more surprised with the burgeoning latino population that we don’t have more Hispanic leading men.
those rush hour movies brings people together .. Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker .. they could have done at least 3 more movies together … cause that stuff never gets old .
plus Jackie can sing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-bA9FYB8HY
Ironically, Sessue Hayakawa was the first Asian romantic leading man in Hollywood in the silent film era, when the country was far less diverse. For those who recognize that name, he was nominated for Bridge on the River Kwai.
Diversity is slowly happening. People like Daniel Dae Kim and John Cho can land major roles as leading or ensemble men on TV…but not quite in film yet. Sung Kang in Fast Five was the closest one this year.
I thought John Lone would be a big, big star, but…
I’m sorry. I didn’t realize Jackie Chan and Jet Li no longer count as “Asian Men”.
Do you guys have any idea how fucking insulting that is to both of them? Chris Tucker was not the selling point for the first Rush Hour.
…and does it really matter when every “hot” new director for the past several years has been an “Asian Man” from some region?
Lex – I just don’t know how these people get seen or discovered, or when this era of the NON-STAR began…
I’d say late 90’s. Hayden Christensen. IMO, if you’re a working actor and perpetually move closer to leading man awareness, so does your salary and negotiations. But, if you’re a bit player that has the possibility of playing lead, why not jump them past middle class? This way, how much can they demand because they have everything on the line. If it works, you’re Worthington. If it doesn’t, you’re Josh Lucas.
Look at Paul Bettany. Between him and Worthington, he was considered the better of the two talents. But Worthington got Cameron’s nod and Bettany came in second for the Joker. Now, Worthington is all over the map and Bettany is the voice of Iron Man’s android butler, an killer albino and star of epic disaster, Priest.
Bettany is married to Jen Connelly, so that’s a nice consolation prize.
My head is still reeling from seeing Heather Graham got picked up for another sitcom. I actually really like her, but she’s been a non-starter for years now. Her last sitocm was one of the biggest busts since Paul Reiser’s last disaster.
WORTHINGTON RUUUUUUUUUUUUUULES.
BOW.
Madam – I agree about the Supes suit. I think they were afraid of mimicking the Spidey two-tone if they blended the red beyond trunks region, but the solid blue looks odd. The boots needed to be reworked and the “S” insignia should have been huge as a way to break up the blue honeycomb. Maybe an “S” diamond that started at the shoulders like it connected to the cape and then v-cut down the torso as a way to accentuate his physique.
Martin, it’s tied to the NuDc and as we all know: the NuDc Suit sucks. It just needs that bit of red to offset all of that blue but Jim Lee doesn’t think so, and that’s why we get this craptastic suit.
“Could any of US get randomly plucked to star in Australian movies, and suddenly go down there and bust out a regional Perth accent to play an outback guy or something?”
Apparently, yes.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803061/
The reason all these Australians are getting major roles is simple – major studio productions are shooting in Australia/NZ. After you cast stars like Elijah Wood and Liam Neeson, you look at the locals.
LexG. I know you’re being facetious but those “unknown” guys work hard. It’s not all about agents and luck. It’s mostly about being likable, tough and smart most of the time.
Is that Mike Reynolds guy really Scooterrrrzzz?
He has godzilla size balls giving you shit.
LYT a good theory but not true I think. It’s building up an impressive body of work and then having a breakout role that gets a tonne of buzz at a high profile film festival. Then capitalizing with a major US title.
Fun with Marketing….
So the new ads for My Idiot Brother have abandoned the drug selling going to jail parole officer portion of the story. The new ads start with some line about how long it’s been since Paul Rudd’s character got laid, he replies ‘three years’ and then you see the female cast members talking about helping him find a hook up.
It’s weird. I’m not sure what kind of story repackaging they’re trying with the new ads or how helpful theyre going to be. But the new ads make it look like an entirely different movie.
The Colombiana ads have this wonderfully affected piece of acting where Zoe Saldana says “When i was 8 (PAUSE) My parents were murdered….. (EXTREMELY LONG PAUSE) ….. right in front of me.”
As if the entire violent revenge scenario could have been averted if they had killed her parents somewhere else and she didn’t have to witness it first hand.
jbd — i should let lex go on thinking he’s nailed it but that wouldn’t be fair to reynolds…i’m no more mike reynolds than i am kevin thomas (lg’s last brilliant deduction)…
i’m curious, though, why you’d think it takes ‘godzilla size balls’ to give him shit…he eats it up…
and, lest anyone think i’m ‘baiting’, i’m not…i just got around to reading the comments up-thread…
anyway, i promise you i’m not bright enough to be reynolds and i’m not storied enough to be thomas…jus’ sayin’…
Yes he hasn’t been to accurate with those predictions. I’m a producer of religious films apparently. Just meant that if I was ‘that’ Mike Reynolds, I certainly wouldn’t be throwing barbs at anyone let alone Lex.
JS – I know it ties in, but Lee didn’t get final say on design. A number of people had to give it their blessing.
Either way, as the stills shows, what may work in art strokes translate pretty blah. I hold out some reserve since the shots are not under Snyder’s control.
“The Colombiana ads have this wonderfully affected piece of acting where Zoe Saldana says ‘When i was 8 (PAUSE) My parents were murdered….. (EXTREMELY LONG PAUSE) ….. right in front of me.’
As if the entire violent revenge scenario could have been averted if they had killed her parents somewhere else and she didn’t have to witness it first hand.”
Hey, you know what they say: Out of sight, out of mind……..
this is gonna be a tv weekend for me…no less than another 16 hours of 9/11 anniversary specials…i had no idea the extant of what’s coming up…(although, some is pretty okay)…
Mr. S, this leaves me wondering if they are going to alter the costume in post? It’s not coming out until 2013, they will have time, and the NuDc era may have run it’s course. It just seems weird to hitch your wagon to something from the comics, that could be gone by July 2013.
g4 tv does all them interviews that DP doesn’t ..
Zoe Saldana Talks Colombiana – 7 minutes video
She talks about how she trained for the role, and how different it was from Avatar.
http://www.g4tv.com/videos/54957/zoe-saldana-talks-colombiana/
so computer crashed and couldn’t get it running . i take it to computer store and somehow it works .
glad i had the extedned warranty.
my last computer crashed and they couldn’t fix it for weeks so they gave me a brand new one .. again i had the extended warranty. those things aren’t that useless and it costs like 25 cents per day if something breaks .
i saw dozens of people at the computer store paying real money cause they were too cheap to get the extended warranty.
how many of you got extended warrantys for electronic products ..
Olivia Wilde and Malin Ackerman look like sisters .
hollywood make a movie out of that. steal my idea .
it could be a drama or a comedy. either way make it award
winning so dp can finally do a double dp/30 with both of them.
RE: Anghus
The only real hook for me and my friend when we saw the trailer in front of ‘apes’ was the “never forget where you came from” over and over— we were really into that, and not one utterance on the tv spots… missed opportunity… right now there is nothing distinguishing it from other boring ;a femme nikita ripoffs. it might as well be an aeon flux reboot.
and i hate to say it, because i’m all for female leads especiallly ones where they kick a lot of ass and stuff, but saldana as an assassin or revenge killer or whatever is totally unrealistic the way they’re making it look. That shot where she is in some foreign country with *cute* lil cowboy hat and linen shirt mugging here beautiful face for the lens-flaring camera— where is the drug cartel hit man who spots her from a mile away, or a group of locals who just try to beat her bloody and rape her. this isn’t a sexist comment either— think of tom cruise or will smith wearing their ‘just got off the carnival cruise and am goin to sandals resort yall’ get up and not being singled out whereever they go that isn’t a six flags in vineland new jersey. colombiana looks awful and that shot of her crying and telling the asshole father from one hour photo about her parents being killed: boohoo, i need a better reason from a movie these days. Especially, think of all the people who have had their parents killed in front of them, but aren’t beautiful and leggy like zoe saldana— I want to know about them, and their undoubtedly screwed up revenge fantasy actuated.
hooray. its hurricane time. god willing the power won’t go out and i can do some marathon criterion on hulu plus.
If the power goes out i might have to….. read……
i don’t know if anyone gets email from inktip. over the years its become a wonderful dumping ground for a hard drive filled with old spec scripts. They send out these newsletters with production companies looking for scripts, and today i saw this:
“We are looking for completed feature length low-budget sci-fi, thriller (no horror or gore) or action/adventure scripts. Submissions must be high concept, meaning material that can be pitched in a single sentence and which has broad audience (young and old, male and female) appeal. Cowboys vs. Aliens is a good example of a high concept film in that you know what it’s about from the title (doesn’t even need a logline, it’s so high concept) and it doesn’t alienate any single audience demographic.”
I don’t know which part i find more amusing. The fact that they got the title of Cowboys & Aliens wrong, the fact that they refer to Cowboys & aliens as “high concept”, or asking for scripts that don’t alienate a single audience demographic.
I love this graph from the LAT review of WIZARD OF OZ in 1939:
“Those who remember the olden golden days of Hollywood with their courage and experimentation will be heartened anew and will, perhaps, even hope that ‘The Wizard of Oz’ will put an end to the deadly dull routine of formulae.”
formulae. A word so old it no longer registers in spellcheck.
and did you mean ‘paragraph’?
are we calling them ‘graphs’ now? did i miss a memo.
Watched The Beaver last night. I liked it. But that thing had no chance of being a mainstream hit, even if Mel Gibson didn’t have his scandals.
Graphs is what we call em in da hood! Let’s indent this ****ing graph!
anybody catch louie ? it was 1 huge episode where louie travels to war zones . i thought it was weak episode…
but a lot of people liked it ..
the episode of louie i totally would hate i kinda liked which was the joan rivers episode … joan and louie talk
about showbiz…
also i want a dp/30 about somebody who knows about conspiracies .. lots of documentaries have been made but
no dp/30’s .. i wanna know DP’s thoughts on at least dozen conspiracy theories .. now that’s entertainment.
I caught the first showing of the day of DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK and it’s awesome. A delightful, terrifying time. I would be shocked if it doesn’t get stellar word of mouth.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize Jackie Chan and Jet Li no longer count as “Asian Men”.
Do you guys have any idea how fucking insulting that is to both of them? Chris Tucker was not the selling point for the first Rush Hour.”
As far as Chan and Li getting starring roles in Hollywood films, they (not surprisingly) have been limited to films in which they show off their martial arts prowess. So it’s not like they’re breaking down the door for Asians to play leads in a wide variety of Hollywood genres.
As far as the Rush Hour films, I’m sure Chan enjoyed his paychecks, but I bet privately he’d like to go Drunken Master on Tucker for all the dimwitted racial cracks in those films.
Chan and Madea (Tyler Perry ) would be good for Rush Hour 4. comedy gold. hollywood make it happen.
does afraid of the dark have one of those twist endings ?
how’s the ending ? seen enough bad horror films.
@anghus: I’m not on the inktip distr list but I’ve seen those kind of ads all the time. I think it’s the oxymoron of high concept/low budget that generally cracks me up. One thing though, based on the title I’d say Cowboys and Aliens is high concept. Though I have not seen the flick, I think it’s something quite different than what one would initially expect.
@sanj: I try to avoid paying for ext warranties. Stores make thing more complicated than they need to drive the warranty business. For a lot of things, electronics especially, if they break, it’ll happen under the manufacturer’s covered period.
When I got my flatscreen a couple of years ago, I bought it. As the prices have come down and the technology come up, chances are on my next one I won’t. About a dozen years ago, I bought a Sony Trinitron. I had done my research. Shopped for features. These guys all harped on how good the set was and then when it came time for me to pay and I said I didn’t want to get the ext war, it was like you could hear the needle being ripped off the record and everyone froze. They could not believe I wasn’t going to get it and said I was making this huge mistake. Well, what happened to quality and dependability you were forcing on me like perfume samples at Macy’s? Then they trot out the horror stories of people who didn’t get it and rue the day. The tales are more sordid than a chain letter. It’s like I half expect to find a bloody hook on my door handle when go to leave.
I keep saying I need to establish a fund of all the money I save on warranties. Like find out what it would cost me, stick it in an account, then use it pay for any needed repairs should one come up or pay for towards the replacement. It’s not like I’ve never had anything break after manu war and before a probable ext war but certainly not enough to warrant paying for them. A few years ago, I bought a thin Casio camera. I didn’t use it that much. Luckily I tested it right before I was to go on vacation. Thing was busted. Like 13 mos after purchase. But here’s the thing that would’ve rendered my warranty useless had I purchased one. They have to try to fix the thing first. So they would’ve sent the thing out or put it in a stack for one of their geeks to work on it for maybe a week or two. But I was boarding a flight in 24 hrs. I needed a camera right then! That money would’ve been down the drain and I would’ve been twice as pissed.
I don’t feel more assured when I get them but upset for letting myself get suckered into them. I get it for some motorized things that are subject to wear, but even then it’s subject to percentage of price. There can be a false economy in protecting midrange products. Like in Blackjack when the dealer has an ace showing and you get insurance to protect 17. I have to know going in if I’m gonna buy it and what’s my ceiling. In most cases I think you’re better off setting aside the money for your replacement in a few years, which most likely will be superior to the model you’re having fixed.
sanj, i caught louie last night. i think the show is brilliant, but will admit it’s got a very surreal tone. it’s unconventional but that’s what makes it so interesting.
“so dp can finally do a double dp/30 with both of them.”
God, does that sound dirty…
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize Jackie Chan and Jet Li no longer count as “Asian Men”.”
Yes, they were Asian men, but they were not leading men. Could you honestly see them courting a woman successfully in a romantic comedy or drama? I mean, in Romeo Must Die, Jet Li infamously ends the film holding Aaliyah’s hand. He f-ing hand…no kiss…That’s NOT a leading man there. But when it comes to kicking ass, sure.
The difference is Daniel Dae Kim, John Cho, and Sung Kang can and do get the girl. They ARE leading men who happen to be of Asian descent.
“High concept is a term used to refer to an artistic work that can be easily described by a succinctly stated premise.”
i guess it is. i always thought high concept implied something intelligent. the fact that you could pitch Godzilla vs King Kong and call it “high concept” feels…. wrong.
I’m seeing DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK today too….pretty psyched! But as someone pointed out when talking about FRIGHT NIGHT: why release “above average” horror films in late August with Halloween just around the corner? Makes no sense.
Palmtree, when you’re always the star of a movie, by definition you’re a leading man. Jackie Chan is eighty times the leading man John Cho is.
well most warranty are like 90 days to 1 year .. after that things break down you gotta pay computers are different cause like 50 different things can go wrong … when my computer broke i didn’t back up the data and that cost a bit of money . now i got external hard drive.
which are totally worth getting. so far it hasn’t broken
down but i got an extended warranty on that … i figure the power supply or some cord will break down at some point…have no idea what those cost.
its crazy how much computer stores charge for hard drive recovery ..
I’d agree, external harddrives are important but I wouldn’t pay for an extended warranty on one of those. You can get a decent sized one for like $50-$60. So, after my ext harddrive fails, which, I’m assuming is my data backup, what good is another one going to do at that point? You’d be better off buying a thumbdrive with the money you spent on the warranty to have a backup of your backup.
I can see getting a warranty on a computer but it depends on what it’ll pay for. Some may be for hardware malfunction but if they don’t cover it for virus or malware, then forget it.
EDIT: Unless an extended warranty on my ext harddrive would pay for the loss of data. E.g. the $500 worth of downloaded songs I’ve purchased over the years.
I expect palmtree meant “romantic leading man.” Offhand, I can’t think of an American romantic comedy or drama with an Asian or Asian-American leading man. I think there was an opportunity with John Lone back in the day.
Other than the previously mentioned Sessue Hayakawa’s matinee idol run in the pre-talkie era, I can think of James Shigeta’s brief leading man heyday in such films as THE CRIMSON KIMONO and BRIDGE TO THE SUN, the latter of which depicted him in a biracial marriage with Carroll Baker. Even so, Shigeta was Japanese by ancestry only – he was a Hawaiian who didn’t even speak Japanese until he was in his 20s. Younger folks probably only know him as Takagi in DIE HARD.
warranty cost like 20 bucks for 3 years for external hard drive .. works out to 55 cents per month ..worth it to me
Worth it to the warranty company too.
I’m glad someone brought up James Shigeta in this context… in terms of his television presence he was the Daniel Dae Kim of his era, appearing at some point as a guest star on every huge series. Takagi was the cherry on top of his career.
John Lone, yeah… and Jason Scott Lee in MAP OF THE HUMAN HEART and DRAGON (yes, I know, a biopic) made a pretty good run there in the 90’s.
And where is the love for DUSTIN NGUYEN?!?
They all labor in the shadow of Clyde Kusatsu.
Even in China Jackie and Jet didn’t really do love interest stuff. And if we’re going to count “kissing a girl” as leading man material, then I guess David Spade is an awesome leading man in movies because he usually got a hot chick by the end, didn’t he? Vincent Price was definitely a leading man and his role usually ended with him burning to death in some stock footage.
What, Anita Mui running around screaming “JACKIEEEEEE!” like she’s Olive Oyl in the Max Fleischer Popeye cartoons doesn’t count???
Clyde Kusatsu! That’s hiliarious, Desslar.
Better add Pat Morita while we’re at it. He was on HAPPY DAYS, after all.
Sorry to do this Perm, but…
Leading man is not defined by the role an actor has in a movie. It’s defined by the types of roles he has in films in general. An male actor who stars in a movie once is not a “leading man” although he may have played the leading part in that movie. A leading man is someone who is considered a viable candidate for leading men roles, i.e. roles where he is capable of being paired romantically with a leading lady.
I would say even though they have not been given leading men roles in America, Ken Watanabe and Chow Yun Fat are leading men, because they are capable of playing leading men parts…EVEN THOUGH they are not getting those parts.
I’m sorry to be so long-winded about this, but Jackie Chan, while a big star whose movies I’ve loved more than the average fan, does not fit that bill. He’s an action star, a martial artist, a brilliant comedian, etc.
Not trying to blow this issue up out of proportion, but just to be clear about definitions.
Perm, yeah, Jackie’s not known for his romantic relationship plots, but there are a few in there…
In the Police Story movies, Jackie Chan was the leading man opposite Maggie Cheung.
In Gorgeous, he was the leading man opposite Shi Qi.
But just watch The Tuxedo, where in any other movie with a leading man, Jackie Chan would have kissed Jennifer Love Hewitt. But same deal, just…friendship.
But again, he’s a great action star, just not one who you can call “leading man”…
Chan was also the leading man opposite Owen Wilson and Chris Tucker… or did I read too much into those films?
Okay, palmtree, if you want to get totally clear about definitions:
I assume you are referring to Asian actors who have appeared in major studio (i.e. AMERICAN) releases, who in some measure have proven their marketability, but who nevertheless are not getting the “leading man” roles they have already played in Asia and are capable of playing in the United States? Even in that case, you’d really have to make the argument for Ken Watanabe — in what film is he going to play the Cary Grant or even the Alec Baldwin?
Otherwise, the conversation could be expanded to any viable leading-man actor in Asia, like Tony Leung.
And, in what way is Chow Yun Fat NOT the “leading man” in a film like THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS (a film I hate, in part because of its criminal waste of the talents of Til Schweiger, but still)?
Damn, the case of Chow Yun Fat is perplexing. From HARD BOILED to ANNA AND THE KING in seven years is downright meteoric, but the slide from CROUCHING TIGER to BULLETPROOF MONK is just depressing.
couple of years ago i got some pre-owned computer speakers on sale …they sound great …i’ve dropped the top speaker on top of the monitor several times and it works ..cause it seems to be built good …
i’m actually okay with my computer breaking down . i’m worried about my data on the external hard drive ..
i wonder how many people got extended warrantys on their ipads and iphones .. those things might be built good but
things do break ….
Ken Jeong – the dude from Hangover movies – why didn’t he get leading man .. he don’t do drama..but would be a nice change .
Hayden Panettiere charges 30 bucks autograph — 45 bucks if you want a photo with her ..this is from fanexpo / comic-con type convention
http://img133.imagevenue.com/initial/loc218/90344_HaydenRy2_122_218lo.jpg
she’d probably charge DP like 5000 bucks for a dp/30 .
i’m not saying she’s not a nice person but business is business and actors need to get paid mad money…….
but those guys from harry potter and twilight movies
have to give away free autographs for fans .. otherwise
they’ll appear too greedy and piss them off .
Desslar, LOL.
Not David B., haven’t seen Replacement Killers yet. The Ken Watanabe argument is weak, I agree, but that’s why I chose him to illustrate the point that it’s not about the roles they have been given, but about the types of roles he’d likely be cast in, his “type” if you will.
And yes, Tony Leung is a leading man. No question about it.
Oh man, palmtree, do not bother with REPLACEMENT KILLERS, unless you really admire the work of Antoine Fuqua. I only mention it because Chow Yun Fat “gets the girl,” Mira Sorvino, and otherwise behaves like a stud. In other words, if you remove “action vehicle” from the equation, he’s like a leading man.
well there are a dozen parody videos of Jim Carrey / Emma Stone … so 50 videos x 2 minutes = 100 minutes .
i wonder if Emma Stone even has the time to watch all of them.. it’s comedy / she might like most of them…hard to tell. its time for a real journalist like DP to call up Emma Stone and get her reaction .. sure its not breaking news but i think this might be news and by news i mean it is on real news sites.
Noël Wells’s message to Jim Carrey’s Message to Emma Stone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ApTmE6-Yho
The problem with getting so hung up of definitions like that for me, Palmtree, is it just gets weird…so Chow Yun Fat is a leading man even though he’s never been given a leading man role, although he’s been the lead of dozens of movies.
Also, Jackie Chan has played “leading man” roles, like Miracles…he even wears a tuxedo! He doesn’t do it a lot because he doesn’t want to, but if he wanted to just play Cary Grant parts in Hong Kong, he certainly could.
But I think everyone can agree that Replacement Killers sucks balls…and I’m a huge fan of Chow AND I think Fuqua can be pretty great.
Actually, I thought Replacement Killers was lots of fun. And as I recall, Mira Sorvino was pretty smokin’ hot in it.
But Chow Yun-Fat is a god primarily because of The Killer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEinGFqAyjU
BTW: As much as I like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOoNcDkJhsI&ob=av2e
Don’t you think he’s sampling this:
http://youtu.be/ZHwVBirqD2s
“Outrageously exhilarating. Guaranteed to tingle the most jaded moviegoer’s palate.”
Jesus Joe, what is this, Carson?
And I seriously don’t know what to make of someone who finds FRIGHT NIGHT disappointing but THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS “lots of fun.” I basically had exactly your reaction to the former, to the latter.
And OF COURSE he’s a god for THE KILLER.
Johnny Carson?
I can’t believe a gentleman of your generation even has to ask that question, Joe.
And I hope you realize that my perplexity does not equal criticism. As a professor and a film buff, I hope to reach your level of satisfaction with your life’s achievements some day. And if I’m ever in Houston, I will be sure to audit your course.
Trust me: I will never be satisfied.
Have you heard David Bowie’s album REALITY? “Never Get Old” encapsulates your sentiments precisely.
russell mulcahy directed “I’m Still Standing”
i saw the debt dp/30 … some new director guy i haven’t heard of . so woo hoo. DP got a world exclusive and you other movie critics did not..
where are the super bad british movies at ….does DP not see them ? also if your from the UK it seems you get an automatic pass and the movie is aweome and the actors are all awesome like Michael Fassbender whos from germany but close enough and Carey Mulligan who is awesome .
DP just go to london and do dp/30’s all day long on that giant ferris wheel thing … 8 hours going round and round while the biggest uk actors tell you amazing stories about how amazing they are at acting…and how they can out act every US actor in minutes…and if a US actor tries to sneak on to the ferris wheel you can throw them out and they’ll land in that big river .
sanj: John Madden is a promising youngster. I hear good things about his SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE.
tbunny’s U.S. Open preview:
First of all, fuck the organizers of this corporate debacle. Thank’s a lot for making a day at the open an extortive merry go round superior even to a day at disneyworld.
So Men’s side:
D-money’s been layin the smack down. Playas betta muscle up if they think they gonna run with him.
Barring any gluten issues and difficult matches in heavy sun that is
Women’s side:
The only hope is that Serena’s dietitian dials up a healthy hunger so that she eats the field. I mean, Serena’s the best, but women’s tennis is pretty barren without Clisjters in this tourney. Shit, Vera Zvonareva could win a title in this competitive era.
i will never watch SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. cause i hate Shakespeare. not even DP can force me to watch it.
watch the island on cable tv again..Scarlett Johansson was great. she can act … she needs to crank out some award worthy films not this comic book avengers stuff .
she needs a dp/30 . hurry it up DP..
watched Beautiful Boy 2010 .. boring . they needed flashbacks to make it more real .. this is a tv movie .
i figured out why everybody likes movies from the 1980’s – its cause there were only 10 movie directors that made everything ..now in 2011 there are 100 movie directors that make everything ..in the 80’s people had 3 months or more to say stuff about movies . now its opening weekend and people move on to the next movie .. in 2020 there will be 150 movie directors that make everything but peoiple will only remember movies for 3 days…then move on to the next movie
“in the 80′s people had 3 months or more to say stuff about movies . now its opening weekend and people move on to the next movie .. in 2020 there will be 150 movie directors that make everything but peoiple will only remember movies for 3 days…then move on to the next movie”
Yes, it’s true: A stopped clock can be right twice a day.
Riki Lindhome does 1 hour podcasts with actors .. so far i like all of them ..
so far 6 episodes = 6 hours .. my favorite is Martin Gero and Diora Baird – these are up to dp/30 standards …
they tell the most interesting stories .
http://makingitriki.libsyn.com/
why isn’t anybody talking about the mtv music awards . some stupid stuff happened …