May 4, 2024
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” ā 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 ā 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 ā he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” ā and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging ā I was with her at that moment ā 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 namedā” “Yeah, sure ā 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 Iām on the phone with you now, after all thatās 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 didnāt seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. Thereās not a case of that. He wasnāt using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had ā if that were what the accusation involved ā 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. Iām not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, āYou know, itās not this, itās thatā? Because ā let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. TimesĀ piece, thatās what it lacked. Thatās 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
THE DEBT is a quite solid movie with really strong performances (Chastain is amazing, and I was really taken with Worthington), a script that smartly dramatizes tough moral questions, and very nimble, intelligent, suspensful direction by Madden. The Fall/Winter movie season has started off on the right note.
I goofed by seeing “Apollo 18” one week after “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.” Two of the worst ‘horror’ movies I’ve seen in a theater. I can’t believe how interchangably awful they are. Guess I should’ve seen “The Debt.”
So my comment about liking THE DEBT was removed…?
That’s a first.
Devin Faraci busted out this winner in his APOLLO 18 review:
“In space no one can hear you yawn.”
Pete Hammond and Willie Waffle hung their heads in disgust.Lazy and lame, the sort of thing he would have pompously railed against before. I reckon “This HOUSE is no DREAM,” and “My face was RED over the STATE of this movie” are already scrawled on a Burger King wrapper somewhere in his apartment.
Nothing’s been removed in weeks, JKill
And still about 4 people who have ever had comments removed in here
DP, so either I thought I hit submit and didn’t or I’m just going crazy because I could’ve sworn I was the original comment on this thread.I wasn’t accusing you of anything to clarify. I just found it odd, and thought there might have been a technical problem or something.
Don’t see one. There is a Krillian post from yesterday’s box office post. But nothing I see in this thread.
Well I’ll just throw it out again (or for the first time if I’m slipping into a delusion, for which, I’m sorry…):
THE DEBT is a quite solid movie with strong performances (Chastain is amazing, and Worthington top-notch), a smart script that deals with complex moral questions, and intelligent, nimble, suspensful direction. It’s both exciting and thought provoking. A very promising start to the fall/winter movie season.
JKill’s not imagining things.
I saw the original post earlier today, and then it disappeared, with Chandra’s the only post visible for a while.
JKILL is if you keep on insisting writing incendiary opinions like that you will be banned for life.
For those who have seen both, is DBAOTD really as bad as A18?
Anyone here see the original Ha Hov (The Debt)? I was wondering if the Israeli version has the same contrived final five minutes as the otherwise excellent US remake.
Also saw your original comment earlier today JKill. We can be CRAZY together! š
Interesting that The Debt is finding some form of embrace. It was shelved for some time, no?
Found it in the spam filter. (God, we get a lot of spam… I never look… but went through around 500 spam e-mails before getting to 1:58p this afternoon.)
Maybe I did it when I was clearing spam with my iPhone. Not sure how else it would have happened. Sorry.
on the subject of Apollo 18 and Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.
I have seen 4 horror/scary movies this week
Red State
Attack the Block
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
Apollo 18
Don’t be Afraid of the Dark is one of the worst scary movies i’ve ever seen. It is laughably bad. Just atrocious. “Produced by Guillermo Del Toro” is becoming a warning side for really mediocre/bad horror.
Red State is one of the worst things i’ve ever seen. I’m reluctant to even call it a horror film. There was a scene of the Fred Phelps like preacher talking…. It was ten minutes long. Ten minutes of a guy at a podium talking. The whole film plays like a first time feature from someone who has never made a film at all. There are parts that are cringe worthy. The fact that the guy making it has made like 10 other movies seems amazing to me. It was like watching a guy trying to make an Eli Roth film. Zach and Miri make a porno was Kevin Smith trying to do Apatow. Red State was him trying to do Eli Roth. Awful. Painful. It would be tragic if Smith’s decline hasn’t been telegraphed so publicly. This whole Red State experience has been a lot wince inducing moments, and all could have been forgiven if the finished product was worth watching. I don’t mind a little PT Barnum if i get a good time at the circus. Sadly, that was not the case. Amateur hour nonsense for two hours of amateur filmmaking.
Apollo 18 is just a labor. I have hated every “found footage” movie i’ve ever seen. Cloverfield, Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity. The whole genre is just painful, flawed, and really fucking boring. I give Apollo 18 credit for a more interesting fundamental concept, but fuck beans if these things don’t start to drag so fast.
Attack the Block was a good example of B Movie fun. It reminded me of Dog Soldiers. Fun, cheap, lots of accents i didn’t understand. But i enjoyed myself.
Scary movies are really taking a beating this year.
I sort of enjoyed Apollo 18. If nothing else, it sure was short. And the grain looked nice. Even though it’s THE most ridiculous example of “Why would they keep filming the whole time?” ever, since all the shuttles and gear are equipped w cameras, but the two main dudes keep filming each other with Super 8s even in the middle of frantic fear situations.
It had a half-assed DARK STAR quality to it, though, that I enjoyed, even if the whole thing plays like a bad commercial for some crazy conspiracy site.
And Shark Night was a five-boner classic, between Paxton (Oh my God) and Kat McPhee, my favorite Idol of all time, LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK AT HER.
TONS of feet, too.
“Anyone here see the original Ha Hov (The Debt)?” – I could only find it available Stateside via Sundance’s online streaming catalog here: http://www.sundancenow.com/film/the-debt/311
The ending is identical, but doesn’t come off quite as goofily as it does in the remake.
Unfortunately, I can’t see Sara Paxton without thinking of that lame Discovery Channel show she starred in, DARCY’S WILD LIFE, every episode of which I had to watch back when I was writing FCC reports for NBC. The uber-cheesy theme song (a white girl rap) is burned in my brain.
I did enjoy Paxton in SYDNEY WHITE; she fully committed to her cliche rich bitch role. I’ve only seen a few clips from the LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT remake, but it looks like she rather definitively puts DARCY behind her in that one.
She and McPhee RAP after the end credits of SN as well.
PAXTON POWER: What women are supposed to look like.
Unless they look like McPhee
I dig McPhee, especially if she’s put that unfortunate bottle blonde phase behind her.
She’s back to Classic McPhever look in Shark Night, no worries.
In addition to showing her feet at great length, I also noticed she has maybe THE best belly button I’ve ever seen on a woman, except maybe Keira Knightley.
I’m not that steeped in the lore of navels, but I think maybe they both have what are considered “outies”? Whatever it is, OMG is it hot, WAY hotter than standard navels. I need to find a chick with this kind of navel. Does anyone know the terminology or what I mean?
THREE movies have been DESTROYED FOR ME in the last week by THEATER HOPPERS.
This shit should be a CAPITAL FUCKING CRIME. Like you’re 110 m into enjoying a movie, and some fat swarthy GREASEBALL just slips in with his KID and plops down next to you?
TELL ME this isn’t an excusable homicide?
I’ll never be able to enjoy Nick Nolte’s OSCAR MOMENT AGAIN without thinking of some tubby Mexican kid going, “DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE, he’s all DRUNK N SHIT.”
If SHOWTUNE POLAND would just get me into PRESS SCREENINGS, I wouldn’t have to see movies with brown people, and my life would be SO MUCH HAPPIER.
The button in question.
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/still/shark-night-3d-still02.jpg
And that shit gets posted EVERY FUCKING TIME this prick shows up acting ALL MY FRIEND AND SHIT.
Like, seriously, JBD, it’s been 2 years and yeah we all have better things to do, but what kind of passive aggressive bitch posts something like THAT then has the sack to act like some kind of chummy friend like I wouldn’t REMEMBER that shit?
Post a photo of your room covered Se7en style with my posts please. Chummy?
It’s a blog dum dum. It sounds like you want me to bitch slap you daily. Passive aggressive is your middle name.
You’ve battled with everyone on here, then SUCKED UP TO THEM STRAIGHT AFTERWARDS you fucking hypocrite.
Like seriously.
Goodnight Sweet Prince.
I’m going to guess that LexG is doing some hard drinking this Labor Day weekend.
Wooo, boy … Lex, you scare me sometimes. If that’s how you react to some faceless internet dude who insulted you two years ago, I’d hate to see what you’d do to a WHITE WOMAN with NICE FEET and a CUTE BELLYBUTTON who breaks up with you. Is nuclear war an option at that point?
Relax, Lex. It’s not worth it to get this worked up over internet bullshit.
The heck with Apollo 18 — take a look at the real thing!
http://austin.culturemap.com/newsdetail/atx-09-03-11-16-56-iapollo-18i-lacks-the-right-stuff-found-in-al-reinerts-ifor-all-mankindi/
i wish i could grow a beard like that Joe. seriously, that is awesome.
went to sneak of Warrior last night — AWESOME FILM
for those who are interested:
http://actionman-nickspix.blogspot.com/2011/09/brother-vs-brother-vs-father.html
I finally caught RED STATE and couldn’t disagree more with anghus. It’s by NO MEANS a perfect film but there’s alot to like about it. I thought the direction and acting were awesome but the film is just waaaaaay too fast. It feels rushed and moves along so fast you get very little character development. Then it goes into hyperdrive and that adds to the disjointed feeling you already have of not knowing WTF is going on and 3-4 separate stories unfolding at once. In a bad way, not in a “holy shit what’s happening way.”
Still, there’s much to like here. I’m a fan of non-traditional, shifting narratives and I liked the way RED STATE played out. I don’t want to get into too many specifics as I really hope folks give it a chance, but there’s an ending scene that had it played out the way it started would have made the movie spectacular. However, I loved the very final scene and it really made me think.
Again, I am a Smith fan to a further extent than many but I honestly avoided the hype on this and knew very little going in. As such I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. I get the Eli Roth comparison, but I thought this has more weight to it. Parks’ preacher character is simply awesome. Brilliantly acted and well written– well, the sermon and his character are. I still am unclear of his motivations which gets back to the films biggest flaw, character development. I think Smith has shots or a cut that explains a bit more about the family but in his haste to get to the shoot em up, it got waylaid.
Also- as I mentioned, it’s not available on my cable provider and I didn’t get to catch it over the weekend on our families Direct TV so I opted for downloading it through my PS3. Dude….it took THREE HOURS to download. I felt like I was back on AOL dial-up and wanting to download porn. I didn’t realize PS3 downloads take so long. I let it run to about 40% completion (100 mins left for full download) and then hit the button to watch it while it was downloading and had no issues. But still, had to wait a good 90 mins to get it going to where I could watch it.
Lex, press screenings of big studio movies often have the general public in them as well. And EVERY SEAT gets filled.
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