April 27, 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” — 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
so i finally ended up watching Bobby Fisher vs The World
i liked it a lot – you don’t have to care about chess .
last 30 minutes of the movie was amazing .. Bobby had
some real problems ..
DP/30 Liz Garbus –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l5O1X774hY
hey DP – how many movies did you see at TIFF worth checking out in theatres vs a dvd rental / netflix ?
I really wish we could’ve seen Heath Ledger’s mooted directorial debut about chess with Ellen Page in the lead. After the comments Nolan made about his shorts/ vitality you just know it would’t have been paint by numbers.
Speaking of Nolan, the new catsuit… does it seem odd to anyone else that she’s wearing high heels when you consider the military/utilitarian nature of the batsuit?
I’m just happy to see that she’s got her own impossible-to-steer motorbike.
Saw We Need to Talk About Kevin last night. Can’t imagine seeing a better horror movie this year. Chilling, tense, horrifying, sad, and extremely powerful. Tilda Swinton is incredible. She has to be a lock for Best Actress. And Ezra Miller is terrifying. The structure works perfectly and it’s Lynne Ramsay’s best movie yet (love Ratcatcher, but found Morvern Callar to be so-so). Exceptional all-around.
Also saw The Interrupters over the weekend, with Eddie, Cobe, Ameena and Steve James in attendance. The 2 hours fly by and I could easily have watched 2 more. Remarkable documentary.
funny voiceover
low budget movie
The Bachelor Party Trailer
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi753638425/
also movie critics – does it bug you that Adam Sandler – Tyler Perry – Twilight and Transformers movies are critic proof – they will make millions of dollars if you totally hate them ? doesn’t it make you angry like the hulk ?
Sanj,
Nope. Good critics worth their salt don’t worry about box-office. That is not their beat. Good critics care for the artistic quality of the work, not its commercial prospects. Good critics hope for the serenity to accept the things they cannot change, the courage to change the things they can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Yes, I am saying that good critics are like St. Francis of Assisi.
why isn’t there a weekly movie pass for 25 bucks .
if you go 7 times per week = 3.50 per movie ticket or so …
the best time to start is last 2 weeks of Dec 2011
Sherlock Holmes 2 – We Bought a Zoo – MI4 – Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – Warhorse – Carnage – TinTin –
all those movies for 25 bucks … all theatres in major cities would be sold out all day if that happened ..
people who only go to movies 1 or 2 times a month would be forced to go 3-4 times per week because the deal..
thats the plan to save movie industry.
i wanna see DP in a movie theatre line try to stop teens from watching the next twilight movie. lets see how that would work out..
I would’ve loved a weekly movie pass in my single days. I would’ve done one week a month at the 12-plex and seen every single thing out there.
Oh man me too Krillian. I was seeing 3-4 movies a week in theaters between the ages of 18 and 27.
Cineworld are exhibitors in the UK and Ireland. For a number of years now they have been operating a swipe-card system. It charges the user €19.99 ($27.22) a month with UNLIMITED access. You are not limited in any way at all: any show, any time. Sure, you have to pay a little extra for the 3D, but adult prices for Saturday evening shows are €10.60, and matinees throughout the rest of the week are €8.50.
So after two screenings, I’m saving money.
The Red Sox are not good at baseball.
I still find it completely fascinating that two Spielberg movies are opening within the same five-day stretch. No matter if one’s animated and one’s not – Dave, can you explain the thinking behind this? Do they think Spielberg’s name isn’t a big enough draw any more, and that the audiences for both are going to be attracted to the content more than the name? I can’t see one not cannibalizing the other’s business.
Is War Horse a wide opening or one of those NY/LA Oscar qualifying runs?
In a weak 2011, Moneyball is my favorite film of the year
Does Thanksgiving seem a little kid heavy to anyone? With Happy Feet 2, Hugo, and the Muppets, in addition, Jack and Jill(God help us all) and Puss in Boots sticking around it seems like they will all cannibalize themselves. I am guessing that the Muppets will be a big success over the Thanksgiving weekend as the safe family movie. There seems to be a lack of a 4 quad film for that weekend. Expecially if you are an adult that doesn’t want to see Breaking Dawn or 3D eatin fish.
You will need to FACE THE DAWN over Thanksgiving, because it will render everything else irrelevant. You. Will. Bow.
*Even though Kristen looks SUPER haggard in the trailers. YIKES, what’s up with that? Bill Condon, as always, has no clue how to film hot chicks. Because he made the world’s most BEAUTIFUL WOMAN look like Zelda from Pet Sematary.
At least Ashley Greene is in it with a FETCHING haircut. I honestly don’t know if Dakota’s even in this one… But the other girls are definitely gonna need to pick up the slack since K-Stew is all badly wigged (seemingly with GRAY HAIR) and wrinkled and pregnant, which is NOT SEXY.
Boxofficemojo says War Horse is going wide on December 28.
With a November 4 release date, Puss in Boots will probably be winding down by Thanksgiving weekend. Same with Jack and Jill. Sandler movies tend to fade pretty quickly after strong openings. But you’re right that weekend is still pretty crowded with Hugo, Muppets, and Arthur Christmas plus the second weekend of Happy Feet Two.
Hugo = MORETZ = must-see.
I haven’t seen MONEYBALL yet (surely will in the next 5 days) so I can’t comment on it or its quality but would people here refer to 2011 as a “weak year” for films?
I surely wouldn’t. I mean so far I’ve got WARRIOR, DRIVE, CONTAGION, 50/50, TREE OF LIFE, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, CRAZY STUPID LOVE, ROTPOTA, BRIDESMAIDS, HANNA and JANE EYRE all clamoring for spots in my top ten, and it’s not even October yet.
I wonder how November will hold up with all the 3D films? I believe that my local 22 plex now has five 3D screens, is that pretty common. It just had two during the Avatar craze.
Having seen Drive, The Interrupters, and We Need to Talk About Kevin in the last week, I would not say this year has been weak.
We have 5 movies with $200M DM so far this year (some as total of 2008). 2010 and 2011 had 10 each. How many more $200M DM earners do people see this year? Twilight obviously, but after that, it is not so obvious. Holmes, perhaps, Mission Impossible? But then every sequel seemed to underperform this year (except for Potter).
I don’t think the Muppets were ever intended to be world-beaters. Its probably pretty cheap and will be making its money back quickly.
As for the rest, didn’t it seem that many of the Spring/Summer releases ate into each other’s grosses. Now we have about six months of kids releases coming out in two months. It could really be a bloodbath.
I’m thinking Chipmunks come out on top around 175, Puss in Boots gets first out of the gate with 140 and Tintin and Happy Feet following close in the 130’s with the former getting there completely on Speilberg’s name. I have no idea what Hugo looks like so its a bit of a darkhorse, but would be suprised with all the competition if Arthur Christmas or Muppets hits 60.
And something that doesn’t get addressed that much is that these big animated films would get to 200 not solely on kid audiences but with the date night crowds. But when there is actual competition for the adult eyeballs, family films seem to be coming up a little short this year.
I’m thinking 3 more 200’s. Twilight will dance past two hundred without breaking a sweat, Holmes will probably have a slight increase on its last go round, and then some family film could break out despite the heavy competition.
MI4 looks great to me, but doubt Cruise can still pack the house so its probably happy around the 140 mark, and also think Dragon Tattoo, and Zoo top the hundred mark as well. Which would be impressive to have four films released within two days of each other all cross that threshold.
MI3 didn’t even make $135 million domestic 5 years ago. No way MI4 comes close to $200 million. Both Chipmunks crossed $215 million. The third should definitely make at least $200 million. And my impression is that most people really liked Sherlock Holmes. I’d say the sequel is a lock for $200 million.
I agree Paul, but everyone really liked Cars and the first Panda.. of course those were animated and maybe shouldn’t be used in this comparison. (I guess I am still flumoxed why those 2 sequels underperformed.)
True, but unlike those sequels, the Chipmunks sequel outperformed the original (granted only by $2 million). Part 3 seems like a safe bet for $200M.
I think Muppets will do way more, hcat. It’s admittedly an unscientific, anecdotal sample size, but EVERYONE I know (which means mostly people late twenties/early thirties) wants to see that movie like the way most people I know will want to see a Pixar movie. That is to say, if families come in normal Big Thanksgiving numbers, it will probably also get a childless young people boost. I mean, I don’t expect it will do the Pixar $200 million minimum… but I also think it will handily pass the “well, it’s a family movie with a brand name” minimum. Hiring Jason Segel and Amy Adams isn’t a bad move if you want to pick up some extra hipster-ish business.
I think it’s sort of like the Lion King 3-D re-release: a lot of people who remember it from childhood would now like to take their own kids. That might be even more the case with the Muppets, since they were big in the eighties, while a lot of young Lion King fans from ’94 may not have moviegoing-aged kids yet.
I’m guessing the Muppets get to at least 125.
More fall box office predictions:
Puss in Boots will do, yeah, the DreamWorks 140 (which has become their version of the Pixar 200). Can’t see it really flopping, can’t really see it breaking out either.
Jack & Jill normally would’ve struck me as 125 easy, but I was surprised that Just Go With It barely got to 100 (you can say oh, but that one was really bad, but Grown Ups was even worse and was one of his biggest hits ever). Even so, at least 100 for this one, right?
Breaking Dawn might benefit from echoes of Final Harry Potter… but on the other hand, the last one did 300. Can this series go much higher than that?
Happy Feet Two really doesn’t feel like a big hit to me, but maybe it’s a DVD kids have been loving for the past five years. But like Jason says, if Cars 2 and Kung Fu Panda 2 can’t even come close to their originals, can’t imagine Happy Feet can either.
I’m definitely interested in Hugo but I feel like Muppets is going to beat that and Arthur Christmas pretty soundly. I get that Arthur Christmas is actually a Christmas movie and opening it around Thanksgiving makes sense, but yikes. Opening a family movie after DreamWorks, at the same time as Disney-backed Muppets and a new Scorsese For Kids, with just a few weekends until a Chipmunks juggernaut… I hope Sony is prepared to be happy if that movie passes 50, because they should be.
No one really believes that Piranha 3DD is actually coming out this year, right?
The big Christmas movies will Holmes and Dragon Tattoo. Tintin might pick up some family business. Not so sure about MI4 either, although I’m personally way more excited for that than Holmes 2. Zoo is another one where really they should be pretty psyched if it gets to 70 or 80.
Panda 2 underperformed because it went head to head with Hangover which stole a quadrant away. Same with Cars, it didn’t have the same appeal to the non-family crowd that UP and Toy Story 3 did.
The first Chipmunks was squaring off against a season with My Dark Materials and Mr. Magoriums Wonder Imporium. Squeakuel faced the Princess and the Frog, with only Christmas Carol and Planet 51 in November. With this much competition there has got to be some fatigue that will set in on family titles. I think the Munks will end up on top but not as high as before.
why isn’t drive or attack the block at 100 million ..huge scores on rottentomatoes …
so chipmunks 3 makes 200 million cause parents have to take their kids to this ?for a film that
will get a rt score of 25% …
how much money do they have to spend promoting
tintin ? should Spielberg be out now doing 1000
interviews for this …
Jesse, Zoo might be a suprise 100 because it is that Cross-generational ‘we need to see a movie with the family that wont make granny faint and bore the tweens’ film. Marley and Me, Bucket List, and earlier hits like Grumpy Old Men and Miss Congeniality (because granny fucking loves Bullock) benefitted from this spot. Kids and Animals, Guy raising his family, soft and easy love story, cute but not cutesy. Its going to be a winner.
I can see Chipmunks falling short of 200 just because good lord, how often can you make a relatively cheap-looking semi-live-action kid movie sequel and still get $200 million out of it? If Chipwrecked does as well as its predecessors, doesn’t this become one of the most successful franchises around? (Not that it couldn’t happen.) I see it doing more like 160, 170… which would still be pretty goddamned huge for such goddamned awful movies.
Hcat, I wonder if — as cheesy and obvious as people here would complain about the trailers looking — We Bought a Zoo isn’t going to be spoon-fed and stupid enough to fulfill that magical Marley and Me/Bucket List/Miss Congeniality/etc. spot. Crowe only tugging heartstrings, rather than full-on yanking, might turn out to be a drawback, especially if most of the family can agree that they like that Sherlock Holmes fellow.
That godawful trailer for We Bought a Zoo definitely gives off a Marley and Me vibe with the added benefit of a cute movie kid. Looks very family friendly and mainstream. Could be a breakout hit.
and also it’s got Matt Damon. Everybody likes Matt Damon. It’s just one of those things.
Does anyone have any idea why Elizabethtown flopped so hard?
I love ELIZABETHTOWN.
Anyway, you guys/gals are forgetting one of the key films of the season…
NEW YEAR’S EVE
Not forgetting so much as intentionally ignoring. Will it do more than Valentine’s Day’s $110 million?
Lex, just for you with my compliments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D9SvGk8wtY
And no, I wouldn’t want to see two straight people necking on a plane, either.
I’m sure she’s trying to blow this up into homophobia when it’s a simple matter of too much PDA. Do it in the lav like everyone else who wants to join the Mile High Club.
Does Southwest kick straight people off its planes for too much PDA?
I assume it will do less. If I’m remembering correctly VD had almost no legs and was bolstered entirely by virtue of opening on the holiday of its namesake. NYE opens weeks before the day and with all of the competition from the diverse, heavy slate of the season, I don’t see how it stays relevant. Plus, it can be construed as a sequel to the dreadful, tedious VD, which I’m assuming (I could be wrong…) a considerable amount of people also found painful.
I don’t know about Southwest, but I can testify that the lavs aboard Air France are eminently suited for in-flight activity.
INT. PLANE
(The following is to be shot handheld on black and white 16mm film.)
JOE, disheveled and sweaty, shuts the bathroom door behind him, and then sprints down the plane’s aisle to a FLIGHT ATTENDANT.
JOE: Avez-vous une sauce barbecue?!?
AH JKILL I’m laughing out loud at that one. barbecue sauce!
u think anybody involved from the fall movies is reading this …like Matt Damon .. “hey guys – some dudes on the internet projected we made 100 million bucks on our zoo movie” and Cameron Crowi is like ..”yes now i can make
Jerry Maguire 2″ and Scarlett Johansson is like ” yeah cool.. i’m still super hot i’m off to do my little comic book movie” and Thomas Haden Church is like ” i hope i get another dp/30″
Love Cameron Crowe, and some of his movies, but We Bought a Zoo looks so cornball I might take MY MOM to see it.
As far as weepy kids movies, I oddly think War Horse will fill that category.
RE THE RECENT PLETHORA OF COMMENTS ON ABOUT 100 DIFFERENT HOT BLOG POSTS BY A SEEMINGLY NEW COMMENTER WITH A NAME THAT WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO BE PRINTED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES:
You’d think someone who presumably made a lot of money on one of the year’s highest grossing films would be able to afford some decent psychiatric medication.
It seems like something Don might do… but I have no proof that it’s him or anyone else. Lots of IP addresses… many spellings of the phrase, etc.
It certainly seems like someone made an effort to spam the site, but I’d like to think Don was more skillful than that lousy showing.
JKill: FTW!
The only studio films to get a wide release between December 25th and New Year’s Day in recent(ish) memory are “Valkyrie” (’08) and horror/sci-fi cheapie “Ghost in the Machine” (’93).
I seriously doubt whether Disney will go wide with “War Horse” on December 28th, especially if it’s the sure-fire Oscar bait most folks are predicting.
according to my rep, ‘war horse’ goes wide 12/28…i suppose it could change but it seems unlikely…
singing a Britney song … wacky.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/girl-lip-synchs-toxic-while-showering-with-condi
I know this is against conventional wisdom, but War Horse seems like one of those non-starters that comes around every few years that we wait for with baited breath and then it drops and gets met with a shrug by critics and audiences. Now I am basing this on nothing more than the trailer which just had way too much staring wistfully into the sunset to be taken seriously.
The other omen would be Emily Watson, whom I normally love, but she always seems to be at her best in something more offbeat. Either the batshit crazy extremes of Hillary and Jackie and Breaking the Waves or in smaller projects like the Proposition or the Boxer. When she is in stuff that announces itself as important like Angela’s Ashes or Cradle will Rock the result is often —meh.
4 minute video about warhorse play ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpyD3ABIHI4
warhorse belongs on hbo .. but they spent like 50 million
making all these horses so it has to go to the big movie screen ..but the downside is the horses don’t transform like in the transformers …. so only old people will go to
this type of movie . teens just can’t handle old technology like a horse. so old movie critics will like this movie but the people who review movies on youtube will just laugh at this .
whats going to happen is like 25 movie people / critics will go on a 30 minute real horse ride. afterwards they
get to talk to Speilberg for 10 minutes …then they all give good reviews ..
shouldn’t a tv network just rerun warhose the play on tv ike a dozen times ..like bravo tv …it might get people into theatres ..
Hcat: Actually, I quite liked Cradle Will Rock.
http://www.movingpictureshow.com/archives/mpsCradleRock.htm
And, looking back, I find it amazing that just 12 years ago, a movie like this would get released by a major.
hey DP – get a super fan to do the twilight movie dp/30 ..the pressure would be on the fan not to screw it up ..
pressure is on you from picking like 1000 people to do this ..
you know what movie i’m really looking forward to that isn’t going to make a bloody dime?
Immortals.
Anyone here actually see ABDUCTION? JKill? Joe? Jesse? Movieman? I know a lot of people here have expressed enthusiasm for Singleton’s unpretentious brand of B action (Four Brothers, Shaft, 2 Fast), and thought this was pretty much on par with those… A lot of fun, a cool throwback type B-movie; If people didn’t have such a knee-jerk hate-on for Lautner– who’s not the best actor, but is at least earnest and enthusiastic and handles the fights and stunts well, in an early Cruise type way– I think this would be getting a fairer shake. Thought it was looser and more energetic than a lot of more expensive recent action movies.
And Lily Collins is fast becoming a new favorite.
firefox 7.0 is out ..surfing the internet is way faster.
worth upgrading too . totally free.
Hey Lex,
is Lautner’s dad Dermot Mulroney in Abduction?
I guess that’s a semi-spoiler, but that’s pretty much who I 99% thought it was.
You could very well be right, Scooter.
But it seems ill-advised to open another wide release film (especially one as potentially problematic to market outside of the major markets) in an already overstuffed post-December 25th marketplace when–if Gurus of Gold & their ilk are correct–a wide release timed to coincide with Oscar nods makes a helluva lot more sense.
I know that platforming is looked down upon by the majors these days, but “War Horse” seems like just the type of rarefied auteurist bait that would benefit from a slower-than-norm rollout.
That strategy has worked for Spielberg before (“Schindler’s List,” “Color Purple”). Except, of course, when it didn’t (“Empire of the Sun”).
(“Amistad” actually went “wide” before Xmas ’97; not that it really mattered in the whole awards season scheme of things that year.)
Idris Elba Talks Luther & Exclusive News About His Music
5 minutes
http://www.g4tv.com/videos/55447/idris-elba-talks-luther-exclusive-news-about-his-music/
Hey is anybody watching CHARLIE’S ANGELS?
Someone on Twitter told me it’s WEAK and it wouldn’t even turn me on… Is this true? Is it gonna get canceled?
Why do they bother w new tv shows, in general? It was OBVIOUS TO ANYONE that most of this season’s new shows would suck/and/or/tank… Every year they spend a zillion dollars to put WHITNEY (of all HACK COMICS THAT NOBODY CARES ABOUT) on bus stop benches, or to plug PLAYBOY CLUB, and yet EVERYONE IN AMERICA knows this stuff will FLOP and be gone in two weeks.
Honestly, I mostly know about film more than TV, but is there ANY point to NEW TV SHOWS and PILOTS? 99% of them suck, they all get canceled immediately. Is there anything more pathetic than NEW TV SHOWS? They come on so eager to please and try to SUCK YOU IN, but it’s SO FUCKING OBVIOUS that no one will care AT ALL.
Anyway, is Charlie’s Angels gonna be gone in six weeks, or what? Also is Minka Kelly still hot? I didn’t know she was MIDDLE AGED. I thought she was a cheerleader, not a grandma.
LexG – Charlie’s Angels .. first episode is weak
there’s like 1000 Minka Kelly pictures online so search for those …
discussion about Whitney ads – they don’t like them
http://splitsider.com/2011/09/can-whitney-survive-its-ad-campaign-a-discussion
Lex, no I haven’t seen ABDUCTION yet. I have no problem with Lautner, have a good deal of affection for Singleton, and think it looks like goofy b-movie fun. I’m kind of behind on my moviegoing but the releases slow down a bit for the next month or so, so there’s a chance I’ll check it out. I’ll keep your recommendation in mind. I like giving less acclaimed stuff a shot. For instance, I’m one of the few people here who REALLY liked the STRAW DOGS remake.
I find “new shows” kind of frustrating because when I like one (“The Chicago Code”), I get the feeling it’s not going to stay on and be quickly yanked away for something else. I greatly prefer the model that cable (especially pay cable) has where they renew stuff towards the beginning of the show’s run to display their confidence and commitment. On network TV they’ll pull something off the air after one episode, like that Adam Goldberg show from several years back…
And yes, Minka Kelly is still hot.
Oh, since you asked elsethread, I also really dug the new STRAW DOGS. Seriously, Lurie showed Bosworth’s feet more than even *I* would have, so I was in my glory, plus add in WILLA HOLLAND as a jailbait cheerleader with an inexplicable yen for the town perv, and it couldn’t get more awesome.
But lechery aside, it’s pretty hard material to fuck up, a natural audience-rouser, anchored by Marsden’s IMPECCABLE performance as the ultimate condescending douche, all rolling into town in sailor shoes and pink shirts just ITCHING to get housed by LORD SKARSGARD, who’s in great form… Somehow the trailers had managed to conceal the presence of awesome gods James Woods, Walt Goggins, RHYS COIRO and Dominic Purcell, and while the movie almost inherently cleans up some of Peckinpah’s queasier bits, still thought it was powerful and somehow even more character-driven than the original.
It’s Screenwriting Convenience Ahoy in the last act when concerned dad WOODS is more concerned about OWNING THE TOWN RETARD than actually finding his BEAUTIFUL daughter, but once Marsden starts unleashing hell, it’s impossible not to be sucked into the visceral charge of that stuff…. I’m sure ppl have issues with Lurie’s conflation of red state culture with the movie’s atmosphere of violence, but it’s more ambiguous in its viewpoints than a simple anti-hick tirade… and really can’t say enough about Marsden and Bosworth.
Especially Bosworth’s PERFECT FEMALE BODY.
Lex, those new shows feed the beast. Sure, Playboy Club will probably not get a back nine order, but NBC at least tried. That’s the point of network TV at least: to try. They try with Whitney, they try with Person of Interest, and they try with Pan Am.
That’s Network TV these days: they try. ABC is really going to try with Once Upon a Time and Pan Am, CBS doesn’t need to try because old people love their shit no matter what, NBC is a comedy network and that’s good for fourth place, and FOX succeed in spite of themselves. So, yeah, network TV can be frustrating, but it can also be worth it given the right show. I am just curious what the first show to be cancelled will be this year. If they were smart, which they are not, but if they are smart they will at least let this shit run till sweeps or through the front 12. That way, they can truly see the depths of fan interest, and have more solid justifications to kick some of this crap off of the air.
With original series and exclusive hit films, Starz has a brighter future
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/09/24/3160703/starz-may-be-the-real-netflix.html#ixzz1ZFV5V3vp
We’re basically in agreement, then, on STRAW DOGS 2011. Marsden, Bosworth and Skarsgard are wonderful in it, and while I think the movie has other positive attributes (the fine ensamble, the handsome lensing, the provoking, if muddled, socio-political stuff, the visceral nature of the proceedings), it’s worth seeing for that alone. Without dipping into blasphemy, I would also agree that it feels more character driven, particularly in regards to the “townies” who, to be honest, I find pretty one-note, empty and souless in the original.
This is the second time in the last couple of years that Marsden was flat-out GREAT in an under appreciated thriller, the first time being THE BOX. The guy has a lot of range.
Charlie’s Angels ratings were decent. I watched it, and it wasn’t something where I’d watch episode 2 (I actually though Bionic Woman was a better reboot, lack of charisma of the lead notwithstanding). But it did better than Community/Parks & Recreation, two of the best comedies on TV, so ABC has to be happy with that.
Playboy Club dropped below 4 million viewers for week 2. If CBS or ABC had those ratings, it’d already be cancelled.
Pan Am was like Mad Men reimagined as a nostalgic comedy. Actually a good fit to follow Desperate Housewives. And it beat CSI: Miami in the ratings.
Person of Interest was pretty cool. It was more violent than I was expecting (not a bad thing), but I liked the work between Caveziel and Emerson, and I expect Henson and Kevin Chapman (Brotherhood) to have their roles flesh out more in the weeks to come.
Though I still have Terra Nova and Person of Interest on my DVR, I think that the other new network shows are terrible. I think that Pan Am is getting a pass from a lot of critics because “Well at least it is better than Playboy Club.” I kinda wonder if the writers of Whitney and Up All Night are even grown adults. It appears that it was writtem by immature teenagers writing what they think adults act like.
The best network television I saw last week was the first half hour of the Modern Family premiere and Parks and Rec.
Why doesn’t iTunes carry episodes of Boardwalk Empire? That’s a huge bummer. Not sure when I’ll get to see season 2. Can’t wait for season 2 of Luther. Not sure if any of the new network TV shows are worth paying for. Waiting for Dexter and American Horror Story. Sad that Breaking Bad’s season is almost over.
watched into eternity .. documentary about nuclear waste.
basically they are taking nuclear waste and putting it into
deep tunnels underground in Finland …
except its made for 100000 years – if people from the future open it they die. so they have to seal that shut
and give warnings . they can predict 300 years from the future but not 100000 years …
trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoyKe-HxmFk
2 minute version from bbc ..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4948378.stm
I am sure that Boardwalk is not offered on Itunes to pressure people into buying HBO. HBO probably sees it at four episodes a month will get them eight dollars while at least in my market HBO is 15 dollars a month. Trust me I would have bought individual episodes of Treme last spring if I could because I think that was the only show I watched then. But with Bored to Death(I think HBO’s most underrated show) and Boardwalk, I keep it turned on till December.
That really sucks. When canceling cable and getting Apple TV, just assumed iTunes would have Boardwalk Empire (they carry almost all other HBO shows).
Hey, Lex. Re: “Abducted.”
shortbus-friendly Lautner’s slack jaw, vacant eyes and expressionless line readings spoiled what might have been a goofy/dumb fun “B’
actioner (see “Eagle Eye”) for me.
If dude is serious about becoming an action star, he should move to Thailand and do stuff like “Ong Bak.” And if he/we’re lucky, the U.S. distributer will dub him like the Thai locals in the cast. (I’m not even sure whether his voice–so squeaky and girlish–has changed yet.)
P.S. to JKill: glad to know there’s another “Box” fan out there. I think I’m probably the only critic who put that on my 2009 10-best list.
As for a weak year, I just make that comment based on the fact that I don’t think I’ll be purchasing any 2011 films on Blu-Ray, with the exception of Moneyball. There has been good(and a few great) films but nothing that I would be overly anxious on watching again.
Wow…. All TV is pathetic…. but Abduction is good. Well, nice to have Lex back, I suppose…
i got 3 of the songs from drive movie stuck in my head – i had to listen to the songs 10 times to finally get it out of my head …like 95% of the time i don’t pay attention
to the songs but i guess these were totally new to me and i liked them.
why isn’t there a dp/30 movie music every 6 months …
the best and worst songs in movies ….
getting musicians are hard cause they are always on drugs and doing bad things that are against the law.
they use the millions they get from movie soundtracks to buy even more drugs and booze. yeah thats it.
has there been 1 musician/band ever to do a dp/30 this year ?
Colbert report had 1 hour special with Radiohead .. they sung like 3 songs and had a super funny interview ..
Been beating the Drive soundtrack to death. Good stuff.
Has Once Upon a Time aired yet? How prominently featured is Jennifer Morrison? Is she still blonde in it?
I’m personally relieved at the run of terrific movies in the past few weeks:
“Contagion,” “Drive,” Moneyball,” “50/50” and “Ides of March.” (“Drive” and “Moneyball” both feel like 10-best list locks at this point.)
I’d love to say that 2011 has finally turned the corner, but October’s wide release slate (minus “March” and potentially “In Time” because I’ve got a soft spot for Niccol) doesn’t look especially promising.
The first show canceled will be that Hank Azaria sitcom, it is always the Hank Azaria sitcom. Isn’t this like his fourth try at network television and he always gets pulled in the first three weeks? Its almost ceremonial.
Joe: There were aspects of Cradle will Rock that I really enjoyed. Mostly Murray and Cherry Jones. But the earnestness of it really rubbed me the wrong way, the music swelling before everyone’s big speeches about art and commerce and freedom. I do have to say that he did absolutly nail that final scene with the funeral procession, accomplishing better with images than any of the text he had written for his symbolic characters.
Glad someone else thinks In Time looks good.
Storymark, I didn’t quite say that. I just said I get sick of the yearly onslaught of NEW SHOWS, all those embarrassing pilots trying so hard to please, all those obnoxious unavoidable expensive ad campaigns; Last year in LA they were flying airplanes over the Valley nonstop to promote MY GENERATION, a shitty generational drama that ended up getting canceled after its FIRST episode. They spent probably 20 mil to promote something that sank after 44 minutes of network time.
But I watch PLENTY of television: Pretty Little Liars, Victorious, iCarly, Secret Life of…, Gossip Girl (WHERE’S MOMSEN????), and this Secret Circle thing looks WAY up my alley.
The NYC subway trains were full of My Generation ads. Entire cars with nothing but ads of all shapes and sizes for that show. Most of them had lines like “Whatever happened to her?” or “Should I follow in my dad’s footsteps or carve my own path?” Not hard to see why that show failed.
And the most annoying shit is how, when these shows inevitably get canned, the cast members all just get moved over to pre-existing shows or the next pilot for the same network– ie, Kelli Garner was on MY GENERATION, it flopped, somehow ABC puts her on PAN AM… Kyle Maclachlan had some courtroom show that tanked, so they moved him over to DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES… Julie Bowen and Nathan Fillion and Lana Parilla have literally been on EVERY NETWORK SHOW of the last decade via this… I don’t understand, do the networks literally OWN the actors?
Similar to Morris Chestnut being in every Screen Gems movie.
Lex is right about the networks only working from a very small talent pool. Doesn’t it seem like more people are moving to television from disappointing movie careers than moving to film after making a splash on TV. It’s like the networks are so terrified about not giving the audiences someone familiar in the shows that they keep recycling the same people year in, year out.
Look at how many failed teen 80s actors have found success in primetime (Sheen, Cryer, Sutherland, Spader, Lowe). Now the 90’s squad has come around with O’Donnel and Ricci. Television doesn’t seem to be the place to break new talent anymore but to store Hollywood’s leftovers.
Little late on this, but Lex, yep, saw Abduction, snuck into it after Moneyball (quietly and discreetly!). Wish I liked it as much as you, or even that it had been stupid enough to be hilarious instead of, well, okay, it was occasionally hilarious. I know it’s easy to hate on Lautner for his good looks and wooden acting, but both he and Pattinson are just so fucking BORING! I mean, Paul Walker can occasionally be interesting in a movie (Running Scared what what!); Patz and Lautner make him look like Cruise. What I really didn’t get about Abduction is if they’re trying to turn Lautner into an action star, why don’t any of the action scenes really last longer than a minute? Statham at least made a couple of awesome junky action movies (two Transporters and a Crank?) before doing WAR, a major entry in the WTF-is-this-an-action-movie-or-not genre. I feel like THRILLERS in the right hands tend to make for some of the most vital filmmaking around (Children of Men or Zodiac or what have you) but go far far worse when placed in unsteady hands. I mean, I’ve enjoyed some vaguely incompetent action movies just for the spectacle, but poorly executed thrillers are like poorly executed action movies with all of the cool stuff cut out. And more scenes of people on phones.
Anyway, if there’s any interest, I reviewed Abduction:
http://bit.ly/rg9rcj
PaulMD, try Cam Gigandet. The weirdest-looking, least-charismatic, douchebaggiest actor of the past DECADE and I have to watchim EVERY TIME I see a Screen Gems movie. I see like ALL of their stupid movies. Screen Gems, it’s like you’re punishing me for going to see your own crap! I want to help you! But you just keep putting Gigandet in movies: Easy A, Burlesque, The Roommate, Priest. Did his mere appearance in Twilight convince you guys that he’s BOX OFFICE? Sub-question, have you noticed that of those Gigandet pictures, the ONE that crested $50 million at the box office was the one with Emma Stone and a whole supporting cast of real actors offsetting the Gigandet Factor??
In other words, keep Gigandet out of Resident Evil and Underworld, at least. Please!
Very true re: Gigandet. Watched Priest a few weeks ago. He is, ah, not very good.
all this talk about Pattinson and Lautner had me thinking.
Would the Twilight Movies have made any more money if they had cast better actors? Or is the talent level irrelevant?
i want a Cam Gigandet dp/30 – dude is good at being creepy all the time …he just didn’t land that super creepy huge horror movie 100 million dollar movie role yet .
any chance of this guy getting an oscar at anypoint ?
or 10 more years of being creepy.
Anghus, no. Twilight is what it would always be. The casting has absolutely no say in changing that what so ever.
Hcat, they aren’t leftovers. They are actually talented actors who get paid more to do TV, and they could always flip TV into a reborn movie career. That’s what TV does for people these days.
Also, Lex, those people get moved around because the networks usually have some sort of talent deal with those actors, or they just like them. It’s like that kid from 21 that Sony liked for two minutes. Execs get enamored with talent and that’s why certain actors of course keep popping up. This is probably why Amber Heard will be doing something else for NBC/UNI after Playboy Club is cancelled.
Oh yeah, the DRIVE soundtrack? Really? I had no idea that there were so many Phil Glass like loving nerds in the world!
the 3 local news stations recycle the news anchors . one day you work for one news station for 20 years + then your gone and somehow the competition wants you.. like 5 different news anchors have flipped networks ..
no loyality in news . old news people don’t care. they just
want people on their twitter feeds.
From what I’ve seen, the new shows have a high-gloss sheen to them but absolutely no soul. The TV execs must feel they’ve got it all so figured out on what a show has to be and what the model has to look like that creativity is immediately jettisoned because it doesn’t fit into the equation.
One thing I will say about Whitney was that the show delivered the backstory and re-occurring character traits rather naturally and organically. The exposition on 3-camera shows can be brutal. Although I’m not overly familiar w/her work, I won’t try to argue there aren’t funnier comics out there, I will say there are also plenty w/prominent careers who aren’t as funny, also.
I want to see Person of Interest. I will probably give Pan Am another shot cuz I’m not sure where it’s going. ABC loves to put on shows w/a buncha pretty people sleeping w/other pretty people in the same tight knit circle of acquaintances and trying to keep it on the hizzhush because someone will always throw a hissy if word gets out but yet some other pretty person will inevitably feel validated after throwing the tantrum and then sleep with that pretty person. It’s “drama” in the narcissistic, over-reacting histrionic teen girl since of the word not classic understanding as defined by Plato or Aristotle. I never feel engaged or compelled to watch just shut it off and wonder who could stand those shows??
I don’t have HBO. I have had it in the past and enjoyed some of their shows. Most of the times when I hear people talk about their shows, they’re all these smug, prius driving, trend chasing, Hollywood types who act like they’ve got a bigger stake in the race than any other yahoo who goes to the Kentucky Derby and buys a $2 ticket for every horse in the field.
Finally ready to shut off my TV but all the bookstores and libraries are closed. Baaaahhhh!!!
“I had no idea that there were so many Phil Glass like loving nerds in the world!”
[groan]
On the flip side, I saw a few 10-worst list worthy movies in the past few weeks as well, two of which starred poor Mandy Moore (“Swinging With the Finkels” and “Love, Wedding, Marriage”).
Anyone who bitched about “I Don’t Know How She Does It” should be forced to sit through a continuous loop of those two all-time rom-com stinkers for 24 hours straight.
I really like Moore, too. She was my favorite thing in the first “Princess Diaries” where she impressed me as the second coming of Shelley Fabares, and kinda/sorta blew me away in “Saved” and the otherwise meretricious Christian porn “A Walk to Remember.”
Does she simply have atrocious taste in scripts, or are crap movies all she can book these days?
Sad.
Gigandet.
UGH! Is there a more unctuous poseur (regularly) working in films today?
I can’t believe Schumacher cast him opposite Kidman and Cage in “Trespass.” (Could that be why it’s headed straight to dvd?)
I heard Gigandet just signed to star in a new TV series, so soon we’ll be able to ignore him every week!
Movieman, I’m also a big Mandy Moore fan. I think part of it is just not great luck for picking parts (given that she’s never been a HUGE star in movies or music) (btw, her last two albums, where she’s writing her own songs, as well as her covers record before those, are all pretty good). Many of her choices make sense on paper; she just hasn’t ever been in a movie that was actually really good. She did a couple of teen-oriented movies that seemed smarter than average — How to Deal and Saved! — that turned out not to really work (I know a lot of people like Saved! and she’s very good in it, but I always thought it was kind of bogus and lazy. Both that and How to Deal suffer from the schoolyear-timeline problem, compressing way too much into a 100-minute narrative). So, OK, she tried some stuff with a little more satirical/stylistic edge: Romance and Cigarettes, Southland Tales, and American Dreamz. I even like the first two, especially Southland, and I think she’s excellent in American Dreamz, but none of them took off as offbeat ensemble comedies. Same deal with Dedication, with her and Billy Crudup… I like both of them a lot and they’re both kind of blah in a very blah, tone-deaf movie.
Then she tried some grown-up-ish romcoms, but they turned out to be Because I Said So and License to Wed. Both have good casts, and on the balance, aren’t WAY worse than your average Heigl-ish romcom… but they didn’t hit like those (though neither did poorly), so it didn’t give her a career bump. Then she did some more music stuff, and some TV guest spots. So I can see how it never really happened for her, movie-wise: she’s never really had a bona fide hit.
But yeah, it IS weird that Finkels and Love Wedding Marriage (neither of which I’ve seen, though my wife watched LWM for a DVD review, and said it was lousy) are both pretty low-rent, barely-released indie-rom-coms-that-are-probably-as-bad-as-studio-versions. I guess probably if she wants to be the *lead*, that’s where she’s at, career-wise. But they seem like the kind of movies where if she was going to do them at all, they probably don’t pay that much or take up that much time, so why not just pursue a smaller part in a better movie?
Also, I think we need a moratorium on comedies about people in relationships deciding that maybe they want to spice things up with one-night stands or swinging or whatever only to find out that it’s their original partners who they truly love. I can only assume this is what happens in that Swinging with the Finkels movie. They’re all so cutesy about being sex comedies. Blech.
The best thing Mandy Moore ever did (and I’m a big fan) is the “Candy” video. YEP YEP. YEEEEEEP.
Also I was a huge fan of her FETCHING haircut in How to Deal, plus it BEGINS with her doing a handstand with her feet in the camera lens. yay.
Hopefully it’ll be one of those utterly pre-fab cop procedurals or singleton sitcoms that run for a decade on CBS/FOX/etc. that I somehow manage to successfully ignore (proud to say that still haven’t seen a single episode of “Two and a Half Men”), Cadavra. And with a little bit of luck, Mr. Cam will be so busy with his tube duties he won’t have time to stink up any more films.
Glad to hear that I’m not the only one with a Mandy crush, Jesse.
I’d completely forgotten (not sure how because I liked them both: especially the Kelly film) “Romance and Cigarettes” and “Southland Tales.”
Also thought Moore was the best thing in the ham-fisted “American Dreamz,” but “How to Deal,” “Because I Said So” and “License to Wed” are
nearly as dreary as “LWM” and “Finkels.”
I’ve always regarded MM as the talented Jessica Simpson–both as an actress and singer. Too bad her career seems stuck in second gear.
Maybe she should have her agent be on the lookout for a classy network (or cable) sitcom.
Everyone knows that the writing on a “Modern Family” or “Parks and Recreation” is infinitely better (wittier, more sophisticated, flat-out funnier) than in most of the comedies/rom-coms stinking up today’s multiplexes.
She’s doing better than Vitamin C and Willa Ford these days.
Best thing about Modern Family is that PIPING HOT daughter who looks like Lucy Hale Kunis. She is SMOOOOOOOOOOOOKIN’.
Eh, I wouldn’t say Modern Family has such exceptional writing, though it’s mostly well-executed and nicely performed and funny enough. I watch it most weeks, but I don’t think I’d miss it if it disappeared. But yeah, sure, her being on a show like that would be better than most of her movies. And Modern Family does seem to be about the level of her TV gigs in terms of popularity and/or quality: Scrubs, How I Met Your Mother, Entourage, Grey’s Anatomy (OK, my sense is that it’s awful but I’ve only seen bits) (for that matter, I’ve never seen Entourage either, but it’s a bit tonier than these indirect-to-DVD movies). And if Zooey Deschanel and Christina Ricci are hightailing it out of indies into TV, Moore could do the same.
Filmwise, she should do a musical, if anyone actually wants to make a non-remake musical. Tangled and Romance & Cigarettes and American Dreamz all come close, but I mean like a real-deal live-action musical.
Why didn’t Dracula 2000 make Vitamin C a star? Her gratuitous nudity is super.
IO, sure some are talented, and I meant leftover in that their film careers either never caught fire, or have cooled to the point where they don’t get interesting work. For Ricci getting a gig on an expensive show in a plum spot is certainly a giant step up from Bucky Larson’s romantic interest, and Olyphant gets to be cooler on television than he ever got to be in the movies. But I guarentee that if the films were coming their way they would not agree to series work.
And as far as repositioning themselves for more film work, I can’t think of a single person that went from films to television and then back to significant staring roles in film. Possibly Garner but I don’t think he was ever really a-list after Rockford Files.
You know who I hate on MODERN FAMILY is that Jason Mesnick-looking DOUCHE who plays the main guy. O’Neill is solid gold, Eric Stonestreet is funny, but that Ty guy seems like an annoying improv tool. Like, if he’s a COMEDY GUY, why is he in shape? That’s annoying right there.
Plus I HATE those “confessionals,” it’s so stale, it’s usually DEAD AIR when they do some push-in after Phil makes some stupid comment.
And Sofia Vergara is the unsexiest thing EVER.
I think “Modern Family” is hilarious, the cast is great, and I’m pretty impressed with the writing, especially how clever their sense of structure is in keeping track of and contrasting the different characters and plots. The episode with the kid’s birthday party from the first season is a prime example.
“Parks and Recs” gets my vote for the best sitcom on TV period.
I also really like Moore, and was a substantial fan of both SOUTHLAND and R&C. AMERICAN DREAMZ was a movie I was actually looking forward to, and other than remembering I didn’t find a whole lot to like about it, I’m at a loss for any real detail. She was really funny on “Scrubs”.
This Cam Gigandet thing is hilarious to me. I had no idea who you all were talking about it, imdb’ed him, and was like, “Duh, that guy!”
Though I love Ty Burrell on the show, I do kind of hate the documentary style confessional stuff, because they’re rarely the best part of the show. On The Office and to a lesser extent Parks & Rec, there is an actual conceit that someone is filming those characters for some kind of documentary, and they’ve gotten used to having the cameras around, and it’s just sort of unobtrusive and can be used as needed (OK, on Parks & Rec it’s pushing it a little bit, but it makes more sense as a doc subject than the Dunder-Mifflin offices, so I’ll let it pass).
But on Modern Family, it sort of makes no sense — there’s a vague implication that there’s some kind of documentary going on, sort of, but not really, because it’s a family and there isn’t anything that the cameras don’t capture (on the other two shows, it’s also a clever device to keep the show from going too far into the characters’ personal lives — a lot of stuff is left offscreen in a pretty cool way, making it more underplayed)… so, what, there’s a doc crew that’s just spending 24/7 with three families and occasionally interviewing them? It just seems like a shortcut to be able to do the talking-head stuff that’s much, much funnier on P&R and The Office.
I’m sensing that they do them a little less (on Modern Family) now; would love it if they phased it out entirely. The show’s strength isn’t really in Carell-style awkwardness or Poehler-style earnest weirdness, so the talking head bits add nothing.
That’s sort of how I feel about the show as a whole: it’s actually pretty traditional and sitcommy, and funny within that realm, but nowhere near the level of actual writing craft that goes into even a lesser Office episode, much less the currently on fire, best-show-on-TV Parks&Rec. (Or 30 Rock, which MF resembles less.) (Or even, really, How I Met Your Mother, which plays with its format way more than MF does.)
I always assumed the documentary was supposed to be about the modern American family, kind of like an updated version of the show that CINEMA VERITE was just about. But yeah, it’s not used that often other than the interviews. I love the way (the U.S.) “The Office” uses it. I loved the grace note with that in Michael’s exit. That was wonderful.
Did everyone catch the mockumentary episode of Community? It sent up the Office/P&R/MF devices brilliantly.
If any of you are Nielsen families, turn all your TVs on to Community and Parks & Rec tomorrow, even if it means you go across the street to actually watch Charlie’s Angels.
Love Mandy Moore, ever since CHASING LIBERTY. She clearly doesn’t have her pick of great projects and must make do in some pretty dire circumstances (to be so appealing and true in a stinker like BECAUSE I SAID SO is a real achievement). Unfortunately, being associated with so many box office non-starters probably keeps her off the studios’ wish lists.
I think it’s a safe bet she’s been pursued for a series lead by now, and probably an even safer bet that she’ll accept one within a couple of years if something doesn’t break for her theatrically.
Cam Gigandet seems like the guy who should be on a reality show .. but just plays creepy guys . Mandy Moore alawsya plays the nice girl / disney girl.
Cam should show Mandy how to be a creepy girl and Mandy should show Cam how to be a nice guy.
Mandy just needs a really good tv show … she’s only doing 1 or 2 projects a year ….
Mandy Moore needs her very own “Chicago.”
How about Glinda in “Wicked”? That is, if it ever gets out of development hell (and she’s not too old by then).
“P&R” is my favorite network sitcom, hand’s down. Love the entire cast, but Chris Pratt is possibly my favorite ensemble member.
He’s also terrific in “Moneyball.” And it was as pleasant a surprise to see Tammy Blanchard playing his wife as it was discovering the fabulous Jennifer Ehle as Clooney’s missus in “Ides of March.” (Ehle had the single best scene in “Contagion.”)
Those are two more actresses who should be getting a LOT more film work.
You know how I know that “Modern Family” is exceptional? They strung two episodes together last week for the season premiere, and I didn’t get bored (or impatient) at the half-hour mark the way I normally do when most sitcoms run tandem eps. (Even my beloved “Office” can get a tad wearying when they piggyback eps.)
Movieman, see, I could probably watch Modern Family for an hour, but that second episode is still sitting on my DVR. Just not as urgent to me as seeing a new Parks & Rec (or Office/30 Rock/Community).
Jennifer Ehle KILLS in Contagion. I loved the scene I think you’re referencing so much, movieman. It was a crucial piece to making that movie as effective as it was.
Initially, from what I learned of the development though this was not heard from a first-hand participant, there was supposed to be a Swedish (I believe) documentary team there to capture the “All-American Family,” but it turned out setting that all up was cumbersome and too difficult to explain logically all the time, so it was dropped.
I really like the show but they’ve had a couple of misses in there where things got sloppy and appeared to be sorta slap dash constructed. Then there are times when it has too strong of a 1980’s sitcom whiff from some of the jokes. Though it is one of my favorite shows over the past several seasons.
Julie Bowen has a great face and Sophia is hella sexy.
Jennifer Ehle should have been on the poster for Contagion only then would DP notice her and give her a dp/30 .
plus that ape from apes movie really needs a dp/30 as well.
Movieman: Actually, Gigandet’s new show is a TNT western called “Gateway.”
Jennifer Ehle is Broadway royalty–her mother is Rosemary Harris.
And as far as Sofia Vergara’s sexiness goes: Lex, you are now officially insane.
Jennifer Ehle is sexier than Sofia Vergara, who’s like a camp nightmare… Anyone notice that was her soundalike sister in the new FRIGHT NIGHT as Tennant’s wife/assistant? I’d know that honking Vergara voice anywhere. Sofia is like the polar opposite of my type.
Lex is dead to me.
Also, I’m not feeling Ashley Greene’s Breaking Dawn pixie haircut. Compare:
Pixie
vs.
Biker chic
Ashley Greene’s pixie cut is FETCHING.
“Jennifer Ehle is sexier than Sofia Vergara, who’s like a camp nightmare… Anyone notice that was her soundalike sister in the new FRIGHT NIGHT as Tennant’s wife/assistant? I’d know that honking Vergara voice anywhere. Sofia is like the polar opposite of my type.”
Sofia Vergara is the 21st century’s answer to Carmen Miranda, or Colombia’s answer to Fran Drescher. Either way the question should not have been asked. (Nothing against her as a person, just a persona).
Sorry Foamy, I vote pixie cut. The biker chic cut is sorta blah.
“Modern Family” is so goddamn chained to learning its own life lesson at the end of every single episode without fail…and it’s like the same five revolving life lessons are put on shuffle in the writers’ room. The dude ranch season premiere had some GREAT comedy in it, but man am I tired of the structure at this point. That feel-good, everybody is laughing and playing together in the end stuff is noxious. Who was the showrunner that had the motto “NO HUGS!”? They need that guy.
“And as far as repositioning themselves for more film work, I can’t think of a single person that went from films to television and then back to significant staring roles in film. Possibly Garner but I don’t think he was ever really a-list after Rockford Files.”
Patrick Dempsey has gotten higher profile film work since doing “Grey’s Anatomy” (Enchanted, Transformers, Valentine’s Day, etc) than he had just before it.
At least it’s better than her “Raggedy Ann” cut:
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Dude, she is ASHLEY GREENE. She is in TWILIGHT. AKA, she is HOT. I liked her old nose better, but at the end of the day, she is pure hotness. Pixie, long hair, stupid fucking scarf as she races Bella to the Vatican in New Moon, whatever.
TWILIGHT is the greatest collection of HUMAN HOTNESS in the history of time: Stewart, Fanning, Greene, Kendrick? There is only BOWING. I’ll even throw in Nikki Reed, even though she’s kind of a Gertzian Yenta (plus she and KSTEW allegedly used to be LITTLE FRIENDS, which is AWESOME.)
We’ve all got different tastes – heck, you just flicked off Sofia Vergara who Maxim has ranked no. 29 and your beloved KStew doesn’t rank at all. My personal preferences lean towards someone who would be up for rafting down the Mekong or going on a dirtbike race, but your mileage may vary.
I’m sure Leydon has his collection of woodcuts and tapestries that he holds up as icons of femininity too.
The hottest women alive, by LexG:
Kristen Stewart (by ten zillion miles and hotter than ALL the rest COMBINED, she is EVERYTHING I think is hot, I may have mentioned this once or twice), then Dakota Fanning, Emma Stone, TAYLOR MOMSEN, Amanda Seyfried, Megan Fox, Taylor Swift, Anne Hathaway, Carey Mulligan, Amber Heard, Mila Kunis, THE T-MOBILE GIRL IN THE PINK DRESS, Emma Watson, Emily Browning, Emma Roberts, Kate Bosworth, Blake Lively, Jennifer Morrison, Teresa Palmer, Yvonne Strahotski, Mia Wasikowska, Rachel McAdams, Willa Holland, Lucy Hale, Sam Worthington, Lily Collins, Kate and Rooney Mara, Angelina Jolie, Elisha Cuthbert, Natalie Portman, Mandy Moore, Selena Gomez, Leighton Meester…
once twilight is over in 2 years the only superstar big name actor is Kendrick. could pull off another oscar. the rest of the cast no so much.
Bullshit, Sanj…. Kristen and Dakota will be racking up Oscars like Streep and Foster for the next four decades (though I won’t really care about them after they hit 35.)
I’ve loved Ehle since seeing her in “Sunshine” (opposite her real-life mom, Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz) at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. One of the first things that struck me was how much she resembled the young Meryl Streep. Still does, in fact.
I figured we’d be seeing a lot more of her in the years to come, but apparently she’s happier doing theater than film or television. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Is anyone else psyched about “Margaret”? Unfortunately, I have the pronounced feeling that Searchlight is dumping it (e.g., marginal theatrical release that never extends to northeastern Ohio; no “awards consideration” campaign/screeners) like a bad first date you can’t wait to end.
Btw: “War Horse” is apparently now opening Xmas Day rather than December 28th (which never made sense anyway), so I’m guessing it may very well be a wide release after all. Personally, I still think it makes more sense to go wide after the Oscar nominations in late January.
The “Tinker Tailor” trailer is further evidence that Tom Hardy can never become a star because nobody will ever be able to recognize him from film to film. I had to watch the damn thing twice just to I.D. him with his new blonde locks.
Consider: “Bronson,” “RocknRolla,” “Inception,” “Warrior,” et al. None of those dudes look like they even came from the same gene pool.
just watched the take shelter dp/30 – Mike Shannon is funny .. and DP interviews Jessica for the 25th time this year … which puts the pressure off Greta Gerwig cause
she did like 10 dp/30 already .
Shannon might have a shot at oscar ..which will upset Clooney and Pitt cause they want one of those … so he’ll have to fight those guys and when he wins he’ll have to fight Leo cause he also wants an oscar cause
they didn’t give him one for inception .
take shelter trailer 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B6VleLDh0I
Movieman, I saw Margaret a few days ago — it’s really interesting and worthwhile even though it’s also kind of sprawling and messy for what seems like a small-scale, intimate movie. I just wrote this in my review that’s not yet up, but it much more resembles a novel, or a play, or a TV series than it does a normal feature film, but it also makes it kind of thrilling — unpredictable, even, in its way. The actors are all excellent. I did get the feeling that Lonergan was pushing up against his alleged 150-min running-time cap for spite, though; there are lots of lingering establishing shots, and some slow-mo credits, that easily could’ve been cut for time, if it was such a precious commodity. I would be interested in the three-hour version he supposedly put together at some point. It could be even better; it could be worse. Definitely a worthwhile movie, though.
I definitely to plan to see it, Jesse. It just may take some time if it never goes beyond New York and L.A. since chances of F-Searchlight mailing
“a-c” screeners are marginal at best.
“Margaret” sounds just like the occasional “auteurist train wreck” we used to see back in the days of the New Hollywood.
Movies that got pissed on at the time for their perceived hubris (“1941,” “At Long Last Love,” “Luna,” “New York, New York,” and “Heaven’s Gate” being some of the more prominent examples), but which now seem infinitely more interesting–and vastly superior to-than 95% of the crap being mass-produced on the H’wood assembly line today.
I had a pretty intense reaction to YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, so I’m looking forward to MARGARET. What Jesse describes above makes it sound pretty great to me, although I too doubt I’ll have a chance to see it for a good while.
HEAVEN’S GATE is sooooo gorgeous. It’s not an absolute masterpiece like THE DEER HUNTER but it’s not surprsing its reputation has risen over the years since its release. There are not many movies that visually stunning.
For those of us in L.A., both MARGARET and TAKE SHELTER are only at the Landmark, not the Arclight Hollywood, where I would’ve assumed they’d also play. For me this is TOTAL BULLSHIT, since Landmark’s way on the Westside and inaccessible to those with actual jobs and crappy cars that can’t handle a two-hour commute overheating on the 405, so even as a denizen of the MOVIE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD, I’ll have to wait for dvd or till they expand (heh) to a Hollywood/Valley venue.
Not being able to see MARGARET opening weekend:
White People Problems.
Also I asked this on Twitter and it’s vaguely cruel but I think fair to ask:
CAN an actress be awarded in 2011 or a performance she technically gave in 2006, when she had an entirely different face and body?
Movieman: I don’t know about Luna. Granted, I haven’t watched it again since its initial release, but I remember it mostly as the movie that brought Jill Clayburgh’s career momentum to a screeching halt. Indeed, I was at the NY junket for that one. The morning after the NY Film Festival premiere, Bertolucci, Clayburgh and the kid who played her son were at the round robbin interviews. And you could sense the stench of disaster in the air — just about all the journalists (myself included) wanted to talk about anything but Luna. Clayburgh caught on to this right away, and tried to shift the conversation back to the new film while people kept asking about An Unmarried Woman, Starting Over, Semi-Tough, even The Terminal Man. But to little avail.
I haven’t seen “Luna” since 1979 either, Joe–although I did see it twice (at the opening night of the NYFF, and during its brief NYC theatrical run).
Back then I was totally smitten with Bertolucci, and I remember loving the film’s rococo ballsiness. The fact that the “establishment” critics were pissing all over it probably only enhanced my ardor (naturally I was in college at the time, lol).
Interestingly, the teen actor who played Clayburgh’s son is now a highly respected casting director in H’wood. His acting career, however, went nowhere after “La Luna.”
http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=44404
Has anyone seen this one yet? It’s a remake of one of my favorite French films of the past decade. And while that alone is enough to make me dubious, the idea of seeing Donald Sutherland in a role originally played by Jean Rochefort is kinda-sorta intriguing.
Movieman: I remember Bertolucci being a bit touchy when he introduced the opening night screening. Mainly because the NY Times had panned Luna that morning.
re: Margeret. I really want to see the cut Scorsese called a masterpiece. And I’d be very curious to compare the different versions put together by all these great editors, it’d be really interesting to see the differences.
Joe: And U2’s drummer as Sutherland’s co-lead? Wow. Always wanted to see the original (I like a lot of Leconte films), but didn’t know this remake was being done. Interesting.
Did anyone see the EW Avengers cover?
Oh man, it’s so terrible.
Mark Ruffalo looks like Zoolander attempting “Blue Steel”. Oh man, i laughed for like 20 minutes. If you haven’t seen it, seek it out.
I had no idea they remade Man on the Train. I love that movie. Also a huge Leconte fan.
Dear god anghus you weren’t kidding. Ruffalo does appear to be doing Blue Steel/Ferrari/La Tigre (or he’s constipated badly) and the cover is indeed terrible.
ew avengers pictures + cover
http://hatak.pl/aktualnosci/filmy/16486/The_Avengers_na_okladce_EW
God, that is some bad photoshop work. Guess the X-Men: First Class poster team is still working.
I wonder: Can Hulk turn left? Perhaps that’s the trade-off…
Why does Ruffalo have Main Villain hair?
Man, I wish they’d kept Norton.
Nicole Kidman & Cam Gigandet: ‘Trespass’ Kiss
http://justjared.buzznet.com/2011/09/29/nicole-kidman-cam-gigandet-trespass-kiss/
Why have I never heard of this “Man on a Train” remake before?
Since it’s being released by Tribeca Films (usually the last resort for most indies), I’m guessing it’s probably….not great?
Also loved the original, Joe. But I’ve been a Leconte enthusiast since “Monsieur Hire.”
I don’t remember Bertolucci’s testiness intro-ing “Luna” on opening night.
But I definitely recall Canby’s NYT roasting.
Canby had originally been one of Bertolucci’s most fervent U.S. cheerleaders, but the only post-“Tango” Bertolucci film Canby liked was “Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man” in ’82. (He even dismissed “The Last Emperor.”)
Also noteworthy about that EW Avengers cover – Johansson is apparently going to blow Downey’s and Hemsworth’s brains out, and Evans is thinking about dead puppies or something.
So I saw KILLER ELITE, and I thought it was decent. I probably liked it more than most here said they did, although I wasn’t over the moon about it. Jesse was pretty dead-on when he said it’s kind of in a no man’s land between a b-action picture and a classier espionage film. It was fairly well made, and the scope of it was much larger than the trailers insinuated. Statham was in fine form, but Owen gave my favorite performance and kinda made the movie for me, seemingly both having fun and bringing gravitas. DeNiro doesn’t have a whole lot do, but he has one pretty nifty scene near the end. Once it got cooking about half way through, I had a pretty good time with it.
useless cnn anchor news ..
Piers Morgan Wishes Erin Burnett ‘Total, Abject Failure’ After Celebrity Apprentice
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/piers-morgan-wishes-erin-burnett-total-abject-failure-after-celebrity-apprentice/
watching person of interest ..arg. acting is okay but there is too many people on the show that just seem random..its made to make things more complicated ….
hmmm..criminal minds doesn’t seem too bad right now .
also the drive movie would make a great tv show – DP make it happen – you know the movie studios – call them up and make some deals …they’ll give you a super exclusive dp/30 for this . 13 episodes on hbo … with same actors and director .
hey DP – how quickly do you want average people to forget about the dp/30 after people have seen them ? if these were on tv the answer would be never but there’s so much stuff on the internet that people go on …
even real movie fans will probably forget in a year ..
do you get a lot of feedback from any interviews you did 3 years ago or longer ?
Lex: K-Stew will win an Oscar 15 minutes after my marriage to Sofia Vergara.
Sanj: Clooney already has an Oscar. He’s not the kind of guy who’d be salivating for a second so soon, if at all.
LEGIT QUESTION that nobody will answer”
I know nothing about PARKS AND REC or COMMUNITY, but why are they always getting talked up by the least funny people ever? It’s a guarantee, if I’m on some movie or TV site or blog, and someone’s ALL about either show, it’s some SUPER HOSTILE dickhead who’s all ANGRY about every movie, all cynical and detached and hateful about ALL pop culture, just the meanest, snidest motherfucker EVER…
Then they’ll drop some COMMUNITY or PARKS reference. See it ALL the time on AV club, see it on Twop, on the movie blogs… If there’s a poster who I think is unpleasant, hostile, mean or unfunny, it is a GUARANTEE they are a Community/Parks fan. Someone who HATES EVERYTHING, is SNIDE about EVERYTHING, always negative, always disillusioned cynical…. yet these two Night Court-ass Thursday Night NBC shows seem to tickle their funny bone. It’s a weird phenomenon you can all but take to the bank.
Again, i don’t even watch them, for all I know they’re brilliant (I doubt it), but… why are they fans always so colossally UNPLEASANT?
And isn’t Amy Poehler just kind of repulsive? Who thinks she’s funny? She’s EMBARRASSING.
“Evans is thinking about dead puppies or something.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak0_fa1DDpc
Lex, I would say that Community and Parks & Rec both appeal to people with good taste and/or taste that’s maybe too respectable for their own good? I have friends who are far less enthusiastic about most movies than I am who love both of those shows unreservedly. But I also love both of those shows (well, love P&R, like Community a lot) even if I can’t get down with the this-is-so-much-better-than-all-movies complaining. It’s like Radiohead or something: a lot of people you might find annoying love it, but it’s also because it’s great.
I don’t think the AV Club guys/gals are all cynical/disillusioned/hates-everything types of people, though. I think it’s more of a problem that they all seem to fancy themselves experts on most areas (movies, TV, music, etc.). I tend to prefer reading a critic who specializes in one of those.
Anyway, you wouldn’t like Parks & Rec or Community because you don’t really like comedy… actually, you might like Community pretty well. But Parks & Rec is fantastic, really sweet and hilarious with great sense of character for their entire ensemble. Nice mixture of Office style sorta-realism, Simpsons-style absurdity,
You wouldn’t like it because it’s not about sixteen-year-olds. But Poehler is hilarious — an improviser’s quick wit with an actress’s sense of character.
But I think when you say that NO ONE will answer you, you really mean no one will say “hey dude your baseless observation is CORRECT! BOOM!”
Poehler is great, but Lex even you might like the awesome and amazing and spectacular Ron Swanson. Really the whole cast is marvelous. Chris Pratt has really surprised me. Initially he was a weak link, but when they gave him more to do, he started killing it. I can see how P&R gives off some kind of hipster-certified, too-smart-for-its-own-good vibe, but shows can’t pick their fans. Most of the shows I watch are pretty serious dramas, so P&R is a nice change of pace. It’s like Arrested Development though: a critical darling with somewhat weak ratings.
PaulMD, did you see that horrible, ill-timed, defensive, all-around misconceived rant from a Whitney producer basically saying that the single-camera sitcoms on NBC are snobby and all about being too “cool” to do jokes and impressing you with their pretentious restraint… I mean, wow. I mean, it was so wrongheaded and stupid that I almost felt bad for her, and it doesn’t really require much comment but as someone who watched the pilot of Whitney (and meant to check out the second episode just to see if it improved, but forgot to set the DVR), the idea that that show has MORE jokes than P&R or Community or The Office or 30 Rock, for Christ’s sake, is insane. Unless she really is one of those people who doesn’t think it counts as a joke unless it follows the setup-punchline-audiencelaughter formula of every awful show ever.
I did see something about that. Reminded me of the Creature director who lambasted critics for their bad reviews of the movie. Or Kevin Smith. I know it’s unfair to judge a show I haven’t seen, but the promos for that show are absolutely awful. Painfully unfunny. I’ve read plenty of interviews with her recently, and she just isn’t funny. At all. And NBC has certainly produced more terrible sitcoms than good ones in recent years. But no, the show couldn’t possibly be bad. It must be snobby and pretentious critics hating on it, because, ah, it films before a live studio audience.
just watched whitney 2nd episode ….the jokes fall flat – the other characters seem generic and the backgrounds seem fake.
how does something this average make it to air ?
this show looks like it cost 10,000 to make per episode ..
there must be real funny people that never get on network tv .
this is the best nbc could find ?
i don’t totally hate this show but just so average…
also my heyboard broke . somehow the z key wouldn’t work .. so i had to get a new keyboard . they need to sell those by the 12 pack so i can change it every month.
everybody should get a backup keyboard / mouse …
makes surfing the internet nicer.
upgrade browser + keyboard + mouse ..its like having a new computer for 20 bucks .. totally worth it
First thing Whitney’s need to do is write
more than 3 laughs per half hour.
Sanj’s new advice on how to upgrade your computing experience (and his advice on the new version of Firefox (spoilers, he’s for it)) are my new favorite element of the hot blog.
True dat, DP! I wanna like Whitney but it’s gotta get much funnier, like with a quickness. I can’t really tell if they’re being too restrained for their own good, i.e. pg humor/dilute her edge, or if she’s just a likeable comic some people can relate to but not really able to bring the house down. Seinfeld before his show was always very clean and TV friendly but his observations were so spot on and hide in plain sight obvious that you’d be doubled over laughing.
There have been comics over the years, Kinison, Hicks, Paul Mooney, even Bernie Mac before he was on that just slay but then you think, “I wish TV were even remotely that funny but how the hell do you put them on the air??” With Whitney, I feel like I’m waiting for the joke or punch and it’s just not coming. Which, it may not seem like much of a net difference but I find it less annoying or draining than watching someone where I know what the punchlines or laugh points are to be but they are just stupid or unfunny. Not-funny-enough doesn’t draw my ire like unfunny.
Sure, Parks and Recreation is good, but it’s no Kristen Stewart’s feet.
Oh, and good call, jesse, on the Radiohead comparison. I definitely like the group. Know some very talented musicians who can explain a lot of the intricacies of what they do, but, heaven forbid I’m ever in a room alone with one of their elitist fans or I will pop ‘em right the chops to cut them off at word one. It’s not the diehard fan who’ll make the roadtrip across country to see them at some festival they’ve planned a vacation around that I mind. I can respect that. I’m talking the neon green Beetle driving, PBR sipping, take my “rescued” retriever to the Silverlake dog park while my Roomba twirls around on an only 8’ x 8’ piece of fake hardwood floor, organic mushroom picking from a weekly farmer’s market to accompany their pinion nut topped Sunday brunch salad having, “ooh, I only listen to Kid A on vinyl on my vintage turntable” obnoxious, wrinkled shirt wearing fan that needs to be shot into outer space. Every time I want to make it a point to turn into Parks & Rec, this is exact person I hear bemoaning the lack of respect the show gets because the collective stupid conscience of America doesn’t get it that makes me decide it’s really not worth the effort to make home on time to watch.
Well, TripleOption, Seinfeld not only had a better act than Whitney’s (from what I’ve seen), you look at his show, and while there’s plenty of conversational translation of stand-uppy routines, it also has Costanza, Kramer, and Elaine… three amazingly well-written, funny personalities. Is Whitney surrounded by anyone like that? In the pilot, people just sort of stood back and let her do stale mini-stand-up riffs. The show is weirdly premisely for such a thin vehicle; I guess it’s all about her relationship with her boyfriend? OK, and in the third episode, what do you do? A lot of TV comedies seem like they’ve seen people get involved in the romantic sides of Friends or The Office and think “OK, we’re going to do even more of that! It’s going to be like a romantic comedy as a series!” Except… why would you watch a slowly developing romcom every week? The Office worked the Jim-Pam relationship well by (a.) often shying away from melodrama, (b.) keeping a lot of stuff offscreen, and (c.) rarely making it the only thing going on in an episode.
I only saw the pilot of Free Agents, but it also seemed like something that might make a totally charming, funny 90-minute movie that they’re vaguely thinking, oh, this will go for 100 episodes (although it will probably be canceled by January). Just not a great use of the medium, I don’t think. Develop characters! New Girl, for all of its overhype, seemed to be doing that in its second episode.
Triple Option, yeah, I know what you mean… although that said, when you look at the ratings day-to-day and see that almost EVERY comedy series on a major network gets more viewers than Parks & Rec, it’s hard to not think, wow, the popular taste is really, really wrong on this. I wouldn’t expect it to be in the top ten or anything, but this past week alone it’s been bested not just by The Office and Up All Night and How I Met Your Mother (fine!), but Whitney, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Modern Family, 2 Broke Girls, How to Be a Gentleman, New Girl, Raising Hope, Mike & Molly, Suburbatory, The Middle…. not to say all of those are bad, or all of them are hits, even, because they’re not. But it does get frustrating when there’s a totally warm, likable, funny, not at all eggheady comedy series that somehow gets trampled by EVERYTHING. I watched the second ep of 2 Broke Girls and it was sooooo fucking clunky and slow and stupid!
So while I get the core of Lex’s feeling that it’s a show liked by a few people who hate a lot of stuff… I mean, if you gave me a fan of Two and a Half Men and a fan of Parks & Rec and said I had to follow them around, listenig to their music and watching what they watch, eating what they eat, for a week… well… I don’t want to make assumptions, but I think I have a pretty good idea of which experience would be more intolerable.
Whitney is god awful. Like most shows, i gave it a watch and just sat their dumbfounded at how this shit came from concept to reality. She’s annoying. The writing is terrible, like final season of Night Court bad, and the guy playing her boyfriend might be the least charismatic guy i’ve ever seen on network television.
I realize if you’re casting a strong female lead the guy has to be a little more reserved, but the guy barely has a pulse. Can we cancel it and get 30 Rock back?
I think 30 Rock is being held for Tina’s pregnancy as much as anything, anghus (bet it would be P&R again or Community waiting in the wings for January if NBC had more of a choice in the matter). In the meantime, it would be great if they could just stick Up All Night with the other three good NBC shows and keep it to a two-hour block of comedies that don’t suck. You can tell NBC wants to make that block suckier and more “appealing” but luckily the likes of Outsourced, etc., haven’t caught on. Not that it really matters when Up All Night airs given DVRs and the like. But honestly, I feel like Up All Night is also way more compatible with The Office: not just for not being terrible, but because it’s about young-ish people starting a family rather than young-ish people protesting too much about getting married or not getting married or who the fuck cares.
Doesn’t 30 Rock start late every year, usually November? And yes Up All Night should be on Thursday nights.
that makes sense. i was wondering what the hold up on 30 Rock was. Community, Office, Parks and Rec, and 30 Rock are a great block of comedy.
I have not watched Up All Night. It does seem odd that you describe the show as young-ish. Aren’t both leads in their 40’s.
I never thought of Job as ‘Young-ish’, and Kelly Bundy ain’t exactly a spring chicken.
You know, I guess they aren’t really that young age-wise — IMDB says they’re 41/40 — but I had been assuming their characters were supposed to be 35 or so; it’s their first kid, and a lot of the show is about how they used to be at least semi-“cool” and are trying not to become lame old parents (and also it seems implied that the kid was at least somewhat unplanned), etc. It’s just a more young/hip attitude than several shows about younger and supposedly hipper characters (as my wife pointed out, 2 Broke Girls is about two twentysomething poor kids in Williamsburg. Up All Night is about two new parents in the suburbs. Guess which one made more subtle, effective, and funny uses of music references?
But even if their characters are in their forties, it feels more like an honest attempt to do an interesting, funny show about making the transition from hipster-y couple to new family… rather than just pander to how executives think twentysomethings want to be glamorized for TV.
Oh and yeah, 30 Rock often starts October/November; this year, it’s coming back in January to accomodate Fey’s second kid. So it should be running more or less uninterrupted when it does come back.
Whitney Cummings was born in *1982*?
Do you mean because she looks older? If so, you’re not the only one. A friend of mine intereviewed her a few years ago, and based on that, was swearing up and down a few weeks ago that she was not possibly younger than us. But she is (albeit not by much).
Charlie’s Angels is apparently circling the drain already.
Who saw that coming?
Oh wait, EVERYBODY.
Has there been any show relaunches in the last decade that have gone well? The only one i can think of that didn’t die almost instantly is Hawaii Five O.
Knight Rider
Bionic Woman
Charlies Angels
Dragnet
There has to be more than this, but these are the first that came to mind.
And though this is anecdotal I have never come across a single person who has ever watched Hawaii Five 0. Who watches that show? Old people?
Poor Minka!
(Mind blower: Minka Kelly is two years OLDER than Whitney “Not McNulty’s Wife/Rescue Me Chick” Cummings????
I don’t watch H50 regularly but I watched the first handful of episodes last year, and it’s actually a pretty good, fun procedural. Instead of each week being an hour-long mystery, as is expected, it’s like a mini Bruckheimer buddy action-comedy for television.
Other failed TV reboots include THE NIGHT STALKER, KOJACK, MELROSE PLACE
The only hit one I can think of is BATTLESTAR…
There’s no way on this green and lush earth that Whitney Cummings is not 40. Seriously, it’s mind-blowing to me that she could lie about her age that hard and have people believe it. Absolutely mind-blowing but not as mind-blowing as her having two network shows, and the one she’s not on being the better of the two. You would think that would be the other way around!
since Tina Fey has all this time – DP should run down to 30 rock and get a dp/30 … plus find out what Tina thinks of Whitney and the rest of the new shows ..
also i saved 10 bucks on a computer mouse cause it was
lime green. i tried getting another color but it was for the lime green one . it works fast. i like surfing the internet fast. i dunno is everybody stuck with old wired mice .
Calling back to our “re-used network actors” discussion the other day: When Charlie’s Angels inevitably gets canned in the coming weeks, do the two white girls just get moved over to Pan Am?
Calling back to our “re-used network actors”
I noticed Benjamin Bratt is on Private Practice. He used to be on Law & Order on NBC and some other military espionage show which was also on NBC.
Now he’s on ABC. Maybe the talent pool is jumping networks.
Ha, true, but I see he also did a turn on Modern Family… Same deal with Christina Ricci, she did a guest spot on Grey’s Anatomy, now has her own ABC show. Get on that network in any capacity, you’re set for life. Ask Elizabeth Mitchell, who they’ve moved around to every show dating back to 2000’s short lived “The Beast” (which starred Jason Gedrick, though he’s usually an NBC company man, basically the Peacock Network’s version of Fillion.)
Saw the PAN AM premiere. Was surprised that among the female cast, Ricci, though first-billed, plays like fourth fiddle to Kelli Garner, her sister, and the French girl (I think maybe even the British girl had a bit more to do, or at least as much). Mike Vogel had a bigger part, too. I presume the balance will shift at some point.
Gedrick recently had a run on NECESSARY ROUGHNESS, a USA show, which I guess keeps it in the NBC family.
Don’t most USA shows get better ratings than their network counterparts?
anghus: That’s my understanding. They’ve definitely found a big niche. I don’t follow most of their shows, but they all look pretty entertaining. I did watch SUITS, which was just about my favorite show of the summer, other than genius level stuff like LOUIE and BREAKING BAD. Glad it got picked up for season 2.
The people who actually watch TV–i.e., those older than “The Demo”–have been largely abandoned by the broadcast networks, who concentrate on chasing kids who don’t watch TV and cutting their losses by programming low-cost reality crap (a direct result of the last writers’ strike). So cable has picked up the slack, and folks like me go there to watch the kind of show the networks used to program when they were still run by people and not corporations (pace Mitt Romney).
if people in the US don’t find Whitney all that funny – do you think people around the world will ? maybe it’ll be a huge hit in the uk or asia …
if Whitney gets cancelled how long till nbc quickly removes her off the internet .. plus no more nbc late night talk shows …
Whitney will be alone …who’s going to save her ? Katy Griffen ? Bob Saget >
does it matter if nbc paid her millions anyways ?
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