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By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

BYOB 111711

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136 Responses to “BYOB 111711”

  1. sanj says:

    Kirsten Dunst liked this movie as she mentioned it in the
    latest dp/30

    The Future – Trailer

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_l05MZ9y8A

  2. movieman says:

    I was amused by all the fuss and fanfare over Fox deciding to sneak “Zoo” Thanksgiving weekend. You’d think they reinvented the wheel–or movie marketing.
    I’m old enough to remember a time when sneaks were fairly standard practice. Not that long ago, it seemed as if there was a sneak every other weekend.
    Fox themselves snuck “Cheaper by the Dozen” T-giving w-end eight years ago, and that “let’s-kickstart-the-holidays-weekend” has always been a favorite studio launching pad. Sony kind of patented the model back in the day.
    Hell, I can still vividly recall seeing “Kramer Vs. Kramer” at a T-giving
    w-end sneak in 1979. (And back then, you could actually stick around to see the regular feature whose screen was co-opted by the sneak title. With “K Vs K” it was–drumroll, please–Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty.”)
    Of course, even “national” sneak previews these days–on the increasingly rare occasions when they actually occur–are on such a limited number of screens they never make it to my neck of the woods.
    800 measly screens for the “Zoo” sneak? Ain’t gonna happen in Youngstown, Ohio.

  3. GexL says:

    Sneaks have a fond place in my heart. Saw ET on a sneak, maybe 2? weeks before the release, saw BREAKFAST CLUB on a sneak, tons of others. Back then, having seen a sneak felt like being in a secret club, esp. since there was a dearth of info about movies prior to release compared to today’s internet land of spoilers. Nothing annoys me more than bloggers like Wells spoiling bits of movies from festival screenings, films that won’t be seen by the great unwashed out here for months and months.

  4. sanj says:

    went to the xbox store – they’ve got like 14 huge big screen tvs and comfy seats .

    the whole thing is setup for advanced games coming out … play them a week early. can’t buy any games. they don’t give out free codes.

    basically i played for 10 minutes got free chocolate and left …

    this is place is built for bluray movies but they don’t show any.

    1 minute video of the store.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl-a4e0DfvU

  5. chris says:

    Is it safe to discuss actual movies in this thread or is it going to become a he-said/he-said that has nothing to do with movies, too?
    Anyway, was anyone else hoping Condon would do more with “Twilight” than he managed to do in that sucky piece of work?

  6. I have fond memories in the 1990s of ‘double-sneak previews’ where you’d see a new movie first, and then an already-playing movie usually from the same studio for free. Some (Father of the Bride/Beauty and the Beast) were better than others (Cutting Edge/Without A Clue), while most were along the lines of The Babe (terrific) and then Beethoven (awful). I remember being beyond thrilled to be able to see Mars Attacks! over Thanksgiving weekend two weeks early, and just two weeks after the first trailer dropped (attached to Space Jam). My friends actually preferred the movie they showed afterwards, Space Jam of course (which, to be fair, I did enjoy both times), which should have had me reexamining my $25m+ opening weekend prediction for Burton’s blockbuster deconstruction. Yes, I have many many fond memories of the double-sneak thing I still say that The Babe was a fantastic biopic and was shocked at how many critics couldn’t get over the whole ‘they are making my childhood hero look bad!’ thing.

  7. movieman says:

    GexL- I totally agree with that sentiment. Some of my happiest moviegoing experiences were at sneak previews as well.
    Also saw “E.T.” at a sneak. It was Memorial Day weekend 1982, two weeks before opening, and they actually passed out “I Saw ‘E.T.'” buttons (I still have mine today).
    Among the movies I saw at sneaks over the years: “Gremlins,” “Silence of the Lambs,” “Rocky 1,” “16 Candles,” “Carrie,” “Back to the Future 1,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Risky Business,” “There’s Something About Mary,” “While You Were Sleeping,” “The Big Chill”…..the list is seemingly endless.
    Good memories.

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

    I’m not sure if it was a double-sneak preview, but since both were released by Orion during the same summer, it’s possible. Anyway, I remember seeing Mystery Date and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey back in 1991. That was an awesome double feature.

  9. leahnz says:

    ‘sneak previews’ was the siskel and ebert show on PBS when i was a little kid, “see you at the movies”. aww

    (not exactly on topic but this thread made me think of it)

  10. Krillian says:

    My favorite was Singles / Husbands & Wives. Came of the first saying “I love being young and single!” and came out of the second saying “And I never want to get old and married!”

  11. LexG says:

    I hope any and every critic who gives BREAKING DAWN *anything* less than the four stars it deserves is literally fired from their jobs. Seriously, film critics should RECUSE (is that a word?) themselves from writing about Twilight if they’re just going to do that snark routine, act all condescending about it. If you can’t accept it on its own terms and have to mock it from a smirking distance, YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE, your review is lazy, your opinion is worthless, you shouldn’t be employed as a writer about film. I already know it’s a masterpiece and I haven’t even seen it yet.

    Any critic who doesn’t like it is on my forever shit list.

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

    Are you seeing it tonight Lex? And for you are the first three Twilight movies all four-star films? Or do you prefer one over others?

  13. LexG says:

    They are ALL four stars. I like them all equally, but for whatever it’s worth, I saw Twilight eight times in the theater, Eclipse 11 times, but I only saw New Moon four times. I have watched each DVD over 40 times (often in three- to five-minute increments, if you know what I mean…) I guess I like Eclipse the best, but K-Stew’s slow-mo run through the fountain in New Moon is my most-played scene in any of them.

    I can’t handle the midnights just because of the fan overload, so I’ll probably see it two or three times this weekend.

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

    This ties into someone’s comment above about wishing that Bill Condon had done a better job on the new one. Is there any discernible difference in the direction from movie-to-movie? How much freedom could a director really have on a franchise like this one?

  15. movieman says:

    Having to sit through “Norman…Is That You?” a second time (when once was too much) just to guarantee a seat at the “Carrie” sneak back in October ’76 wasn’t so great. But “Carrie” definitely made up for the pain.
    I also remember enduring a second viewing of Clint Eastwood’s BORING “Firefox” just to see “The Thing.”
    Or plugging my ears/eyes through a re-viewing of “Jesus Christ Superstar” because “American Graffiti” was the sneak.
    Or trying to sleep through the mediocrity of “Jaws 2” (a movie I never, ever wanted to see again) prior to an “Animal House” sneak.
    Retrospectively, it WAS kind of neat seeing “Silence of the Lambs” sneaked with “Dances With Wolves,” and “Annie Hall” with “Rocky” (two pairs of Oscar-winning Best Pictures).

  16. LexG says:

    I didn’t understand that comment at all: Think about how everyone, from Cruise to every critic, boasts about the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE series being interesting because “every entry bears the stamp of its distinctive director”… The same argument has been made for the ALIEN franchise.

    It’s every bit as true with Twilight, each entry an AUTEURIST WORK with a different style, pacing– but nobody notices because they’re too busy smirking about it and being superior.

    Twilight has Hardwicke’s aching, chick-centric, pervy-old-lady-ogling-the-kids dynamic from Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown.

    New Moon is baroque, brown, all Vaticany and Godfather III-meets-Da Vinci Code meets Hannibal. None of these are entirely earmarks of the Chris Weitz style, if there is such a thing, but it’s more character based and tamped-down.

    Eclipse has David Slade’s soft-powder look and somewhat icy horror feel, reminiscent of Kubrick or the Cremaster Cycle, which was in full effect in Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night. He’s beholden to the material and the Stephenie Meyer ethos, but within that he combines his pulp-horror stuff and cold clinician clarity so it still feels like one of his movies.

    With Breaking Dawn, I’m assuming it’ll be a full-on Condon fest.

  17. LexG says:

    I swear, movieman name-checks “Norman… Is That You?” more than I talk about Tony Scott, Dakota Fanning and Megan Fox COMBINED. It’s like the greatest arcane reference ever, kind of DZ-from-HE to the tenth power, like if I randomly worked a “Harry Hamlin in King of the Mountain” or “Lee Majors in The Last Chase” reference into every fourth post.

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

    Fair points Lex. I guess because Twilight is such a lucrative franchise for Summit, and considering they haven’t been around for very long, I thought maybe there wouldn’t be much creative freedom for the directors. Overprotective of their baby and all that. But clearly not.

  19. Joe Leydon says:

    Once saw John Wayne and Rock Hudson in The Undefeated — so I could see a sneak preview of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

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

    Welcome to the American League Joe.

  21. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    Leah I thought you were some proud flag waving born and bred kiwi. All this time and now I find out you’re a kiwi through marriage? From some of your past patriotic posts, I thought your family line had discovered New Zealand.

  22. JKill says:

    Some of those double features are pretty awesome, movieman. The ROCKY/ANNIE HALL and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS/DANCES WITH WOLVES combos would be especially exciting. It’s been a long time since I saw FIREFOX, but I mainly remember the younger-me being kind of impatient.

    I’ve only seen TWILIGHT and NEW MOON, but I do think both movies bear the stamp of their directors. TWILIGHT is very much at peace with Hardwicke’s less outrageous female Larry Clark aesthetic, while NEW MOON is more of a character piece and the framing is more severe and precise. Also, if we’re throwing in our two cents about these movies, I enjoy both as over-heated, earnest melodrama filled with odd subtext and personal flourishes. In fact, I’ve seen the first one twice.

    WE BOUGHT A ZOO is up there with DRAGON TATTOO as my most anticipated winter release. I adore Crowe to an extent that I harbor towards very few modern day writer/directors. From his personal screenplays to his use of music to his skill with his actors to his criminally underrated visual talent, I think he’s so wonderful.

  23. Joe Leydon says:

    Paul: I have very mixed feelings about the switch. Now I guess we’ll be losing to dfferent teams — and staying up later more often to watch them lose. Sigh.

  24. Don R. Lewis says:

    Speaking of sneaks and other cool L.A. movie stuff…

    We’re taking a family vacation to Disneyland for Thanksgiving but my wife and kid and I will be in L.A. Sunday-Sunday. Anything cool going on? I checked the New Beverley and saw nothing. Per usual, whenever I leave town something awesome is happening and in this case, it’s Elliott Gould presenting M.A.S.H. a few miles away. I’m looking for a film related type of thing or, a Lex G sponsored penis measuring contest at the Hooters on Hollywood Blvd.

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

    Yeah Joe those start times are rough when playing on the West Coast. I have to say that I’m glad it’s the Astros moving and not the Brewers returning to the AL.

    I hope We Bought A Zoo is better than the dreadful trailer suggests. I wish I could see Dragon Tattoo today.

  26. Joe Leydon says:

    Don: It’s my understanding that Fox has only one really fine print of M*A*S*H suitable for film fest and revival screenings — and they only book it at events where someone connected with the film appears. That’s why I got the pleasure of doing an on-stage Q&A interview with Eliott Gould at the Starz Denver Film Festival last year. He rambles a bit, but he’s a real gent, and still very passionate about his work. He really admires Soderbergh, and enjoyed his bit in Contagion.

  27. LexG says:

    Hey Joe, I liked your Ethan Hawke Q&A… Big Hawke fan, surreal that he’s basically my age and up there talking about being in EXPLORERS in 1985, especially since he went to college across the street from where I grew up and was apparently doing all this theater…

    But honestly, actors kinda lose me when they talk about THE STAGE and THEATER. I’ve done theater and it’s BORING because you don’t get famous from it and you’re not on camera, and you have to go meet with the director and actors and REHEARSE and talk about your character– fuck ALL that, I just wanna be in movies. That’s one of the reasons I’ve always liked Cruise, he just basically says, “Nah, I loved movies and wanted to make cool movies.” Nick Nolte/Poland were talking about this the other day in that DP/30– that he’d be doing community theater if he weren’t a movie star.

    To me, community theater is like being an accountant. You’re not gonna get famous from it, so why do it?

  28. Joe Leydon says:

    Lex: The Ethan Hawke thing was a kick, because he was witty, gracious — and, as I’m sure you can tell from the video, forthcoming. I got the vibe early on that he was ready to talk about anything and everything. There have been other times…

    The other day, I was looking at my years-ago Q&A with Harrison Ford for The Devil’s Own, and while Ford comes across as very professional… Well, do you get the feeling that the last thing on earth he really wants to talk about is what it was like to work with Brad Pitt?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXgwd5vTK8Q

  29. I actually wrote about the director thing when Condon was hired, Lex. Long-story short, it is indeed interesting that the series has basically had a different director each time out. I’m the first to praise the Mission: Impossible franchise for being a director’s sandbox (which is why I love M:I2 more than most, it’s John Woo almost parodying himself), but M:I or the 007 films are pretty much stand-alone stories that have only a token amount of continuity between them. The Twilight Saga has one long story with rigorous continuity. This is actually closer to the Alien franchise, which had four different directors, but maintained a solid continuity between all four films. Having four directors helming five Twilight films isn’t a bad thing, but it is worthy of note and something that generally doesn’t happen outside of horror franchises.

    Having said all of that, I remain a fan of Hardwicke’s first Twilight picture, to the point where I think the series was artistically harmed by her removal (whether she quit or was fired is something that has been debated elsewhere – smells like ‘constructive termination’ to me). She gave the opener a wonderfully light and charming touch, giving the series just enough self-depreciation, reveling in the more absurd portions (Vampire baseball? Hell yeah!), and making sure that the supporting cast was entertaining enough to compensate for the somewhat ‘blank on the page’ leads. The next two sequels (haven’t seen part IV yet) were overly reverent and self-serious, to their detriment as entertainment. Regardless of the source material flaws and creepy gender politics, the first Twilight is actually FUN.

  30. film fanatic says:

    Don: If you’ve never seen it, the amazing “LA PLAYS ITSELF” will be showing at the American Cinematheque Egyptian the Friday after Thanksgiving. Also, UCLA Film Archive is showing a double bill of BARTON FINK and BARFLY that Wednesday at the amazing old Million Dollar Theatre in downtown L.A. You should go to that if only for the chance to see one of the last remaining classic ’30s L.A. movie palaces in full swing.

  31. chris says:

    I can’t even guess what a “full-on Condonfest” would be, but good luck finding his fingerprints anywhere on that movie, Lex.

  32. Joe Leydon says:

    Barfly is one of the greatest movies ever made.

  33. film fanatic says:

    JL: Amen

  34. movieman says:

    Really, Lex?
    I think I mentioned that Redd Foxx/Pearl Bailey groaner twice (admittedly both times in the past month–the last time was while referencing Dennis Dugan) in all my years of visiting the HB.
    You seem to drop a Kristen Stewart ref in almost every one of your postings.
    Speaking of arcane references, who else has seen “Corvette Summer”?
    Very cool movie.

  35. sanj says:

    some of you guys know way too much twilight info.

    you ever want to battle teens with twilight trivia ?

  36. Joe Leydon says:

    Movieman: Annie Potts was a smokin’ hottie in that one.

  37. movieman says:

    More esoterica:
    I always felt that Bill (“The Pom Pom Girls,” “The Van”) Adler could’ve had Dennis Quaid’s career.
    If he’d just had:
    (a) better luck
    (b) better management
    and
    (c) Quaid’s last name.

  38. Tim DeGroot says:

    Corvette Summer is available on Netflix streaming. It’s even in HD. I can’t believe Mark Hamill had a hard-on for such an ugly car.

  39. leahnz says:

    to JBD: i believe i’ve commented here numerous times that i was born in hawaii and immigrated here as a kid. sorry to have to once again dispel the notion you so desperately cling to that i’m not really kiwi, but you go right on ahead, i suspect nothing i say will dissuade you

    (and yikes, sorry not to just blindly go along with what the chosen one says here, but comparing ‘new moon’ and ‘eclipse’ to pretty much any of those movies he trots out along with “icy horror feels” and “reminiscent of kubrick” in a desperate attempt to claim auteur status for the twilight series is laughable — and i have seen them all w/my god-daughter (till now, it was a thing), who was a fan but grew out of it, thank christ. each movie is more insipid than the one before it, hardwick’s one has a certain dorky charm that evaporated in subsequent attempts. i don’t begrudge their existence but really)

  40. LexG says:

    How old’s your god-daughter?

  41. leahnz says:

    re: corvette summer, having seen it on release i couldn’t get over hamill’s ‘new’ face from his unfortunate car accident

  42. Krillian says:

    I thought Eclipse was better than New Moon, but I was distracted throughout by that fact they’d replaced Rachelle LeFevre with Bryce Dallas Howard.

  43. sanj says:

    K-Stew and the rest probably have 10,000 super fans .
    so how do they take advantage of them ? these people
    will buy anything. grab the money and run.

    also Demi Moore Files for Divorce From Ashton Kutcher

  44. Don R. Lewis says:

    Awesome, film fan…THANKS!

    and Joe- I’m such a huuuge Gould fan. I’ve always liked him even when I wa a kid. Dude feels like an uncle I love but hardly get to see anymore or something.

  45. movieman says:

    Leah- Yeah, I sort of remember the horrified reaction to Hamill’s “new” face when “CS” was released.
    Kind of like Monty Clift post-car accident way back when.
    (Although 1978 is probably “way back when” to contempo youngsters, lol.)
    I really liked Annie Potts, too, Joe. Was surprised she didn’t become a “star” (or at least achieve a comparable degree of Amy Adams-type hype).
    At least she pocketed some nice change later on while doing “Designing Women.,”

  46. JKill says:

    Gould is, for my money, one of the coolest leading men in the history of American movies.

  47. LexG says:

    The Annie Potts thing reminds me of one of my AIRTIGHT THEORIES: Critics love a firecrotch.

    I don’t know what formative, screwball-era, Classic Hollywood flashbacks it sets off in middle-aged critics, but they will bend over backwards to (over?)praise any new ingenue with RED HAIR — Amy Adams, Emma Stone, Jessica Chastain, Lindsay Lohan, Isla Fisher, etc etc.

    New blond and brunette “It Girls” come and go and most critics shrug them off, but a firecrotch, they’re ALWAYS on board from the jump. This year’s Chastain Fever among critics is proof positive.

  48. sanj says:

    Shailene Woodley is this years Hailee Steinfeld ?

    she hit the jackpot by being in a film with the Clooney.

    now DP could have found her first by watching teen shows but didn’t ..so all them other movie critics have interviewed her already.

    it might take some time but she’ll get her dp/30…

    since the Clooney will do whatever he can to avoid the dp/30.

    i haven’t seen he descendants – it’s probably good and stuff.

    also i haven’t seen warrior but isn’t Nolte’s role the
    same one has Mellisa Leo in fighter ? old parents
    helping kids do stuff and yelling a lot ?

    cause when your super old actor and you yell = oscar

  49. movieman says:

    JKill- I remember seeing Gould’s (very, very mediocre) “I Love My Wife” at a drive-in during Xmas week 1970.
    The snow was falling ever so gently outside the car windows, and it was (at best) 20 degrees outside. Yet I somehow managed to convince my father to take me to a drive-in because they had the only area “engagement” of Gould’s new movie (thnx largely to “M*A*S*H,” he was my then-favorite actor).

  50. JKill says:

    movieman, that’s great. I’m always charmed by stories of developing movie fans cajoling their parents into taking them to or letting them see odd things that they’re interested in, as it was something I did quite often growing up, and luckily my parents usually indulged me.

  51. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    Leah I actually completely missed those references. Can’t blame for speed browsing some of those loooong posts. Growing up in hawaii must have been very cool though. From Waikiki to Wellington. Now that’s one nasty weather transition.

  52. movieman says:

    JKill, you have no idea, lol.
    I actually coerced my mom (or dad) into taking me to drive-ins (where else?) to see early X-rated (“R” at best today) films like “The Killing of Sister George,” “Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness,” “Midnight Cowboy,” “Myra Breckinridge” and “Last Summer.”
    Guess my powers of persuasion–mostly on the level of, “I read the reviews: I’m totally prepared for this movie”–were pretty astonishing for a precocious 10-year old.

  53. Krillian says:

    So does Happy Feet Two explain away Gloria as dying from a drug overdose, or…?

    (quick imdb check)

    Ah, nope. She’s just voiced by Pink now.

  54. JKill says:

    movieman, MYRA BRECKINRIDGE!!! That’s hilarious. I can’t even imagine what was going through your parent(s)’ head, especially during a few key scenes…That’s so wonderful.

  55. JS Partisan says:

    Okay, how smashed does Happy Feet Two get by Breaking Dawn this weekend? Does it even get to 30m?

  56. sanj says:

    Ryan Gosling Fans Protest Outside People Magazine Headquarters

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/ryan-gosling-fans-protest-outside-people-magazine

  57. JS Partisan says:

    Breaking Dawn, like the previous Twilight films, is better than it’s predecessor. It’s a fine film, the saga is fine, but there will always be jagoffs out there giving it shit. Good for them but what folks like Drew McWeeney fail to realize is this: YOU CAN’T PRAISE SHIT HORROR FILMS THAT ADD ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO THIS WORLD AND THEN CRAP ON TWILIGHT! If Twilight is wrong then so the fuck is Drag Me to Hell, but oh lawdy Mr. Drew can’t get that through his head. It’s sad but you know, that’s how they are, and that’s why are continually less interesting then Poland.

  58. Drew McWeeny says:

    You want to have this conversation?

    Fine. Tell me what “Drag Me To Hell” is about thematically. Not the story, but what’s underneath. What fears does it play on or speak to, and what ideas are contained in the text?

    Then do the same, with clear eyes, with “Twilight.”

    If you can’t, then we aren’t even speaking the same language. Films are about more than the surface level, and treating them as if they matter is the point of real criticism. I suspect I’ve given your crappy “Twilight” films more thought than you have, IO, and that seems to be what really bothers you.

  59. arisp says:

    I’m not sure what kind of strict continuity the Alien films had (other than Aliens being a direct sequel, and brief mentions of Weilan-Yutani throughout the 4 films).

    Also, not being a dick, but why would any heterosexual male over the age of 20 (who is not a film critic) see any of these Twilight movies?

  60. movieman says:

    JKill- I actually saw “MB” with my mom, and she probably just assumed it was going completely over my head (which, in many key respects, it probably did).
    Weirdly enough, I remember it being on a double-bill (drive-ins always had double-features) with Huston’s “The Kremlin Letter.”

  61. JS Partisan says:

    Drew, I am call on Phelous to put you in your place: http://phelous.com/node/664 If you need more than Phelous then you apparently just need a JUMP SCARE! Seriously, you and your kind, rave about shit horror film after shit horror film, and then respond all shock when someone calls you on it. I am sorry but Drag Me to Hell is a vicious piece of middle class hating shit, that sends a bank worker to hell because she wants a promotion. What shit.

    That’s the thing: you usually morally repugnant to discuss the Twilight Saga, while loving films that really are morally repugnant and that is why you are full of it. You, Farci, and anyone who agrees with you have too much HORROR MOVIE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS for me to take your criticisms of Twilight or anything seriously.

    If you want to think that you are smarter than me, then go right ahead. I at least don’t come across like a horror fan goof. Enough of you and people like you, trying to come across like real REVIWERS, when your just a bunch of dudes, with your dude attitudes, and your dude hypocrisy. GOOD FOR YOU, DREW! GOOD FO… JUMP SCARE!

    Arisp, go watch a Valentino film, and there’s your answer. Apparently I should only want to see young people killed at the hands of slashers or some paranormal activity bullshit, but not a romance. OH LAWDY, NOT THE ROMANCE!

  62. anghus says:

    i find it weird how little drew engages in conversations on this board, yet the minute his name is brought up he appears like Beetlejuice.

  63. JS Partisan says:

    He must get some sort of google alert or something!

  64. arisp says:

    No one said you should only want to see slasher or paranormal flicks, but apparently you don’t mind seeing wolves and vampires portrayed by bad actors. But hey, Armond White loves it!

  65. hcat says:

    Haven’t seen any of the Twilight flicks but will defend the cast against the charges of being bad actors. Fanning, Kendrick and Howard (who was great in Hereafter) are all very talented, and I agree with Lex’s position that if not for the Twilight films the Into the Wild, Runaways, Welcome to the Rileys Stewart would be heralded as the next big thing. Now that she became a different big thing than people were expecting (movie star as opposed to indie darling) is not any flaw on her part.

  66. JKill says:

    So is The Playlist’s story about Soderbergh leaving THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. true? It seems plausiable (and depressing), but I can’t find it confirmed anywhere else.

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

    If Drag Me to Hell is about hating a middle class young woman and putting her through hell simply because she wants a promotion, is Breaking Dawn Part 1 about the joys of spousal abuse?

    From NPR’s review:

    “But when a saga popular with pre-adolescent girls peaks romantically on a night that leaves the heroine to wake up covered with bruises in the shape of her husband’s hands — and when that heroine then spends the morning explaining to her husband that she’s incredibly happy even though he injured her, and that it’s not his fault because she understands he couldn’t help it in light of the depth of his passion — that’s profoundly irresponsible.

    But romanticizing an intimate relationship that leaves bruises and scars is a particularly terrible idea in a film aimed at girls.”

  68. JS Partisan says:

    Yeah he injured her during sex. Not beating her but again, the Twilight Saga gets some of the stupidest shit hurled at it. My main problem with that scene is that it demonstrates that Stephanie Meyers never thought through the whole HE CAN CONTROL his power thing, which is an oversight, but it’s no big fucking deal.

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

    “It’s OK that you hurt me because I know you love me and didn’t mean it.” That doesn’t sound like “stupid shit” or a very positive message for young females.

  70. JS Partisan says:

    Apparently you nor the writer of that review for NPR have ever had sex with someone and accidentally hurt them, or had them accidentally hurt you. These things happen and acting as if they don’t to make up some bullshit message about spousal abuse, is you know, bullshit.

  71. arisp says:

    In capacity do you work on the frachise, JS?

  72. JS Partisan says:

    Again, it’s a good romance. It’s ridiculously exaggerated but at it’s core, it’s about two people in love, and the lengths they go through for that love.

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

    Sadly, no, I have never had sex with someone in such a manner that their body was covered in painful bruises in the shape of my hands the next day.

    No beard and no tummy. But you got me on the third one. Drat! I’m a horrible person because I like the horror genre (though not all horror films). I like a good romance as well, because like most people, I like many genres of film. Imagine that.

  74. Joe Leydon says:

    Wasn’t the “spousal abuse” element brought up before by some critics regarding the Twilight series? Seriously: I vaguely recall some folks being upset that the human mate of a werewolf was badly scarred by her lover.

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

    I don’t recall that Joe. What I remember most is lots of commentary on Meyers and her depiction of teen sex.

  76. film fanatic says:

    I’ve never gotten all the hate toward TWILIGHT. Not personally my cup of tea (I’ve been dragged to see all of them by my stepdaughter), but clearly a lot of people love it. Hardwicke is a clunky, more or less graceless director (LORDS OF DOGTOWN is almost impossible to watch, IMO, and ruined some potentially interesting subject matter), but she got one crucial thing right with TWILIGHT, which was the tone. As silly as much of it was and in spite of that silliness, she convincingly adopted a teenage girl’s pov and I bought the central romance and and the emotions of longing felt real enough that it made the melodrama work (I think a lot of credit for this goes to Stewart’s underrated performance, too, as well as Pattinson’s). And because there was something tangibly human and emotional to cling on to, the silly hairstyles and Taylor Lautner’s wooden acting and ridiculous line readings and Peter Facinelli’s weird albino Tom Cruise imitator schtick and all the million other things that ordinarily would be easy to make fun of didn’t really matter because, despite it all, you still gave a shit. If she hadn’t sold that, there probably wouldn’t have been sequels, enormous fanbase of the books notwithstanding (ERAGON and PERCY JACKSON sell shitloads of books, too, but noone is clamoring for sequels to those, because the filmmakers botched the all-important first chapters). Was it elegant filmmaking? No. But it connected. And Hardwicke deserves more credit for that than she receives.

    Unfortunately, as the success of that first film turned the whole thing from lower-case “Twilight, the Movie” to “THE TWILIGHT™ SAGA: THE FRANCHISE MACHINE” and the entire enterprise has become such a cash cow, the subsequent films, while debatedly more stylishly and competently crafted, have become succesively more self-important and ponderous, losing a lot of the original’s charm and human touch. Again, it doesn’t really matter at this point, precisely because the first film managed to effectively get its hooks into enough people that they will now go no matter what, if only to see it through to the end and see what happens to characters they care about. Even my stepdaughter, now a high-schooler, considers the films to be something of a chore at this point, yet she still goes.

    But don’t make the mistake of chalking its success up to a bunch of mindless tweens who are slavish spoon-fed fans of the books and would have made it successful no matter what and use that attitude as a cudgel to hide behind while cynically snarking the movie. It’s successful for a reason; you just have to understand the right reason and not lose sight of it.

  77. anghus says:

    “He must get some sort of google alert or something!”

    ive never understood people like drew or don murphy who must spend endless hours looking at blogs and comments sections for sites they claim to despise for the mere mention of their name.

    what a strange way to spend even a minute of your time.

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

    I certainly don’t think Twilight fans are just mindless teens. My 25 and 30 year-old sisters bought their tickets weeks ago for a Breaking Dawn showing tonight. They love the books and the movies. Nothing at all wrong with that.

  79. JS Partisan says:

    Paul, you can get bruises during sex. Again, these things happen, and we all know about submission and domination. No need to exaggerate it any further but it’s not spousal abuse, it’s not portrayed that way, and reaching for that interpretation is just that a reach.

    Now, I love every genre of film, but I am not going to base it around one that’s so negative. Seriously, you guys base it all around that one genre, that’s your keystone, and everything else you like goes from there. It’s not my keystone, it never will be, and praising shit like Drag Me To Hell due to that keystone will forever be absolutely staggering to me.

    My real problem with McWeeney’s review is that he claims it to be morally reprehensible and the worst franchise ever. The fact that he can like such trash that has zero value and is nothing but JUMP SCARES, but slams Twilight as if it’s some diseased animal is simply bullshit. He also seems to be ignoring that several horror franchises that simply suck balls to make one of his WICKED BURNS on Twilight. 10 years reading the guy and there’s no fucking evolution what so ever. It’s the same shit. Different year.

  80. Joe Leydon says:

    Well, IO, maybe you have to tie up women to ever have sex, but….

    Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Lex! I think I’ve come up with an answer to your problem…

  81. JS Partisan says:

    Joe, come on, people play rough with one another. Acting as if this doesn’t happen is so fucking silly, that only the fine folks at NPR would apparently miss out on that level of fun.

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

    Sure it’s possible to get bruises during sex. I haven’t seen Breaking Dawn so I’m only going on what I’ve read. The idea that a young woman excuses being hurt by her husband during sex because he loves her and didn’t mean it is a little disconcerting because it sounds an awful lot like battered wife syndrome. Apparently people interpret what transpires in the movie differently. Doesn’t make the NPR critic or others who share her opinion stupid or mean they didn’t get it.

    I don’t compare Twilight to horror. I don’t consider it part of the horror genre in any way. And no doubt there are lots of shitty horror franchises and shitty horror movies IO. No argument here.

  83. Joe Leydon says:

    Lex G. Rope. Kristen Stewart. Consider the possibilities.

  84. film fanatic says:

    Joe: You forgot to add “feet” to that list.

  85. Joe Leydon says:

    Well, I figured once she’s tired up, the shoes come off…

  86. Sideshow Bill says:

    I don’t begrudge the fans or the movies, but I must say I’m glad my daughters (9 and 13) have no interest whatsoever in Twilight. I raised them to not like stuff that is fucking stupid. That’s where it all comes together for me. I don’t buy that anything about it is morally wrong anymore than I bought that Transformers 3 was morally bankrupt. It’s just stupid.

    The source material is garbage. Poorly written, idiotic garbage. But it’s garbage that makes chubby goth chicks wet, and the fact that Lex worships Twilight yet can’t seem to get laid is amazing. Male Twilight fans should be getting laid every night.

    JS Partisan, you’re as much an empty, bludgeoning cartoon as Drag Me To Hell is. It’s funny you bang on McWeeny when you remind me SO MUCH of McWeeny. The fact that a review made you angry is total McWeeny. Jackass.

  87. JS Partisan says:

    Paul, comparing rough sex to spousal abuse is fucking stupid. Sorry, it just is. It’s trivializing spousal abuse and it also ignores that rough sex happens. Edward doesn’t dismiss what happened to Bella but Bella wants her man, and Edward still stays away the best he can. Acting as if he beat her and she accepted it is not only grossly reaching for some sort of bullshit to throw at Twilight. It also ignores that ROUGH SEX HAPPENS EVERY FUCKING DAY. You fuck, you have a bruise afterwards, and it’s not like she meant it. Duh.

    Bill, you’re a blowhard who thinks his daughters are always going to like what he likes. How fucking out of fucking sorts are you? Don’t let them go away for college because they might get their own fucking ideas and lord knows you can’t have that, you ass.

    The fact that you think that I am like McWeeney is so typical of your general lameness on this blog. Seriously, his review of the film is pointless, it’s the other stuff that’s so grandiose and moronic, that is fucking insipid.

    Excuse some of us for being annoyed with rash generalizations. Apparently, not all of us have dads who yell at us and tell us what to think, and how to live.

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

    I don’t think people critical of the sex in Breaking Dawn are trivializing spousal abuse. They are drawing a different conclusion than you are. Maybe they don’t perceive the sex in BD to be just like a couple having a round of rough sex. Or maybe they’re overanalyzing it. I don’t know. It does seem that I’m not engaging in the right kind of sex since the kind I’m having never results in bruises.

  89. Sideshow Bill says:

    I agree with Drew.

    Wait…OMG!!! I HAVE HORROR BLOOD ON MY HANDS!!! HELP ME JESUS, FOR JS PARTISAN HAS MADE ME SEE THE HORROR BLOOD ON MY HANDS BECAUSE I DON’T LIKE A MOVIE SERIES AIMED AT TEENAGE GIRLS!!! I DON’T KNOW WHAT HE MEANS, BUT APPARENTLY I HAVE HORROR BLOOD ON MY HANDS!!!

    So ashamed of myself. But I’d rather have “horror blood” on my hands then be IO, who makes LexG look like a reasonable human being. Lex is amusing. IO is just an asshole who looks at McWeeny, sees himself, and then takes his rage out on his keyboard.

    Seriously. Dumbest motherfucker ever.

  90. yancyskancy says:

    The gf and I caught BREAKING DAWN PART 1 at a midnight show, and I thought it was easily the least of the series so far. It’s so talky I had trouble staying focused and interested. Not much of visual interest at all.

    I’ll be interested to hear Lex’s take once he actually sees it, because K-Stew spends about half the movie in a state of digital emaciation that may bring a horrified tone to any cries of “LOOK AT HER!”

    There is, however, a brief white bikini scene earlier on that should have Lex wearing out his pause and rewind buttons.

  91. Sideshow Bill says:

    LOL

    IO, thanks for educating me on what it’s like to raise children. You put words where there weren’t any. But that’s your whole schtick on this blog.

    My girls DO like stuff I don’t like. And that’s fine. But doesn’t change the fact that I am proud of them for resisting trends and making their own decisions. I’ve raised strong, well-adjusted children. I can understand why you wouldn’t get that as “well-adjusted” is the furthest thing from your mind.

    You ARE McWeeny. Not literally, but you have the same pompous rage that McWeeny has. It burns you up inside that he wrote Mortal Kombat 3, doesn’t it? You stay awake at night wishing you had co-written Pro-Life. And you funnel the rage here.

    It’ll be ok. It’s ok for people to disagree with you. It’s ok for people to not like what you like. Smile, big guy!

  92. JS Partisan says:

    Sideshow, could you stop being another rationalizing asshole. Seriously. I do love it when blowhard fuckwads like you state that I am asshole, and then post in a way the supposed “asshole” never would. Get over yourself and stop acting so damn superior.

    Yancy, she also shows her feet a lot and wears skimpy underwear. He’s probably in pig heaven watching that film.

  93. Sideshow Bill says:

    I don’t even think you like Twilight, IO. I think you just like fighting and arguing and being contrary. That’s how transparent you are. You talk about “stuff that’s so grandiose and moronic, that is fucking insipid,” which describes you to a tee. Nicely self-aware, you sly fox.

  94. JS Partisan says:

    Yeah… no, but thanks for your stupid rationalizations again.

  95. Sideshow Bill says:

    “Sideshow, could you stop being another rationalizing asshole. Seriously. I do love it when blowhard fuckwads like you state that I am asshole, and then post in a way the supposed “asshole” never would. Get over yourself and stop acting so damn superior.”

    There is no other way to have an exchange of ideas with you other than to rant and call names and act superior. You don’t act superior?

    The fact that YOU LET A MCWEENY REVIEW MAKE YOU ANGRY is the crux of my issue with you here. Good lord. And then you fly into a patented “McWeeny rage.” I don’t give 2 fucks about Twilight. Rock on. Enjoy. I agree that the constant attacks on it are lame. But equally lame are the folks like you going way way way too far to justify and defend it. Wasting even an ounce of your limited reasoning capacity to defend junk culture is kind of a shame. Especially defending it to Mcweeny and Faraci types.

    Here’s a tip. It’s something I do. When I realized that certain bloggers either pissed me off or no longer had anything worth saying….I stopped reading them. I exercised self-control and eliminated them from my life.

    You know what to do.

  96. Sideshow Bill says:

    You’re right. A self-aware person wouldn’t keep accusing others of rationalizing when all they ever do is rationalize their own rantings and outbursts.

  97. sanj says:

    i listened to a review of the skin i live in movie and i thought it was way better than the dp/30 … the review explained stuff way better than the dp/30 and they didn’t give out spoilers.

    watched Tilda Swinton dp/30 – shes in her own world.
    she seems like one of those elite actors who is better
    than everybody. i did like the interview.

    Gore Verbinski dp/30 was so boring … dude is super chilled out.

  98. storymark says:

    It’s always a laugh riot to see one poster trash another for saying things they never said, and then call them an asshole for pointing out the falsehood.

  99. JS Partisan says:

    Bill, I can defend whatever I want and you insult my reasoning, and miss me explaining I could give a shit about his review. It’s everything else that’s so fucking tiresome but again, you have your little dumb shit HOT BLOG answers to everything, and act like I give a fuck. I’m not in a rage, stupid shit from anyone is annoying, and you stating your overly simplistic and tired answers does nothing. It does nothing, I don’t care what you write because you think you understand me, but that’s the kind of person you are.

  100. Krillian says:

    1. Just answer Drew’s question about Drag Me to Hell’s underlying themes. As to Twilight’s underlying themes, Jeff Winger nailed it in a recent Community episode.

    2. It makes sense that Edward bruises up Bella during sex. This is why he’s waiting so long to get down with her, becuz he knows how hard it is to control himself. Because he is a vampire. All non-vampires here don’t know what it’s like to try to control yourself in that state. Again: he is a Meyer-rules v a m p i r e .

    3. I am more concerned about what Bratz teaches girls than Twilight, but that’s just me paternally condescending. Let more women speak out as to how bad this franchise is. It’s aimed at them. Guys railing on Twilight is as pointless as WASPs whining about Tyler Perry. My wife takes me to each Twilight opening weekend and they’re not that bad. And there are post-movie benefits.

    4. There are many worse franchises than Twilight. But there are so many that are better too. And I’m more bothered by good first movies ruined by terrible sequels than a series of movies where we know what we’re getting the whole time.

  101. JS Partisan says:

    Drag Me to Hell’s underlying theme? JUMP SCARE! FACED!

  102. chris says:

    What the hell? No “Interrupters,” maybe the best film of the year?

  103. JKill says:

    Not that anyone seemed to care, but the Soderbergh story was confirmed. Bummer.

    Especially since documentary and foreign films have seemingly grown in their availability to reach wider audiences, the academy should make the voting more along the lines of how it is in the other major catergories.

  104. Sideshow Bill says:

    It’d be easier to get anywhere with IO if I could understand what the hell he was on about half the time. “Horror blood on your hands.” What does that even mean? He get’s so riled up he makes no sense. Riled up over one non-significant person’s opinion of teen vampire stories. Jeez Louise. This is why I don’t post much here. I enjoy the reading but it’s tough to contribute to discussions when they are derailed by cartoon posters.

    Near as I can tell he’s REALLY REALLY MAD that a few reviewers have formed personal opinions on the themes in Twilight. The rest of it is attacking anyone who takes him to task or tries to engage. Yea…what a valuable contribution he makes to this blog.

    Carry on, IO. I will stay out or your little dysfunctional sandbox you have here. But could you at least try and be funny? Lex at least is funny.

  105. storymark says:

    I care. And yeah, bummed.

  106. Sideshow Bill says:

    The biggest mistake I made was trying to engage with IO. It’s not possible. I came on all snarky and bitchy, which didn’t help. I’ll cop to that. But I’ve seen others try and engage him in very level-headed ways and it ended up with the exact same name calling and “You are”/”No, YOU are” that I got into. So I will take something away from this: never try to talk sense with an internet blog demagogue.

    I sincerely apologize to the other posters if I derailed any sort of reasonable discussion.

  107. sanj says:

    i really like the another earth movie poster

    http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2813378304/tt1549572

    DP should give out autographed posters. it takes actors
    like a few minutes to sign …

    DP – you and Brit Marling should go to staples and get 1000 posters printed. then hand them outside any theatre and get another dp/30 out of it. now thats a better way
    to sell a small indie movie.

  108. sanj says:

    looks like sci/fi / comic book moviea are super bad
    for actors .

    Five Once-Promising Actors and the Franchises That Ruined Them

    1. Kristen Stewart
    2. Ewan McGregor
    3. Halle Berry
    4. Tobey Maguire
    5. Elijah Wood

    http://www.nerve.com/movies/five-once-promising-actors-and-the-franchises-that-ruined-them

  109. Don R. Lewis says:

    I took my 4-year old daughter to see HAPPY FEET 2 today and we had to leave about 15 minutes in as it was too scary/intense for her. Granted, she’s pretty damned sensitive, but it was admittedly a little freaky. The scene where the krill are being chased by the whale and sharks was what did her in. Poor kid. The way the film was shot for 3D (we saw the parts we saw in 2D) didn’t help either the way everything is coming AT the audience.

    To be honest, *I* wasn’t all that bummed to leave early as it was looking to be a pretty annoying film and the theater was cool about a refund. But it remains next to impossible to find a decent kids movie to take my kid to, aside from WINNIE THE POOH.

  110. movieman says:

    Yeah, JKill.
    I googled “Soderbergh ankling ‘Uncle'” earlier today (after reading your post: thanks for the head-up), and a half-dozen (or more) articles came up confirming such.
    Oh, well.
    At least he’s still got “Liberace” for HBO. Hope it’s half as good as Todd Haynes’ “Mildred Pierce.”

  111. JS Partisan says:

    Whatever.

  112. JKill says:

    On a more positive note, I watched GAMBIT (1966) on Netflix Instant. It’s one of the best and most fun heist films I’ve ever seen, and it contains two great movie star performances by Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine. The screenplay is brilliant and clever, and it’s the type of film you want to go into very cold. For those who haven’t seen it, I would suggest a watch. It rocks.

  113. Joe Leydon says:

    JKill: I agree. Hope they can strike the same note of humor and suspense in the upcoming remake. As I recall, it was Caine’s US breakthrough after Ipcress File and Alfie.

  114. Triple Option says:

    Man, my heart goes out to Oklahoma St right now.

    Sanj, that topic of sci fi/comic book movies ruining careers has come up before here. Heck, look up thread. Not sure I agree. Especially not that list. Ewan Mac, I’ll give you, his career post Star Wars makes you wonder if he wasn’t on the cover of MADDEN. But like Woods and Tobey, those franchises raised them to the stratosphere. You can’t blame them for “ruining” their careers as well. As for Halle, where else was she going to go? I actually thought Storm was good for her. There’s just no way to stay the sexiest woman alive for very long. Demi Moore and Sharon Stone were both there before her. Sure, Halle has broader range but for her to stay at that level would’ve taken a mid-sized miracle or a Spielberg/Jack Ryan-esque type franchise. Who male or female gets opportunities to knock something out of park movie in and movie out? Streep? Caine? I dunno. Overall, I wouldn’t think of talking my client out of doing a sci fi or comic book movie based on genre alone out of fear of not being respected afterwards.

  115. Pete B. says:

    Sideshow Bill, you have no reason to apologize. Any longtime reader of the blog knows that if you see several consecutive IO posts, you just scroll past them as it’s usually a mindless rant or some pointless generalization.

    And IO, as for your “ROUGH SEX HAPPENS EVERY FUCKING DAY” comment – you can’t really call it ‘rough sex’ just because you ran out of hand lotion.

  116. Joe Leydon says:

    Triple Option: You mention in passing Caine. Like, yes, of course, Caine — he’s one of the greats, everybody agrees, right? But trust me: I can remember a time when he really wasn’t that widely appreciated as an actor. As a star? Sure. But as an actor? Well…

    I will keep saying this, even though I know it’s a minority report: Michael Caine is the greatest film actor of his generation. Period.

  117. sanj says:

    Triple Option – Halle hasn’t done any major movies in a long time. wonder if all the critics even notice her now..
    Demi has her own personal problems with her divorce ..and thats all people will talk about .. Sharon needs a few good movies.

    i’m waiting for Jessica Biel and Jessica Alba to do something award winning …they are getting older.

    Halle Berry dp/30 … for everybody who missed this .

    http://moviecitynews.com/2010/12/frankie-alice-actorproducer-halle-berry/

  118. sanj says:

    i’ve now watched most of these movie reviews …thats like 40 videos . most are 7 minutes.

    watch a few you just might like them ..

    Breakin It Down! catherinereitman’s Channel

    http://www.youtube.com/user/catherinereitman

  119. sanj says:

    movie critics – do you ever laugh at people in the theatre when you’ve seen the movie like 2 weeks before they have..

  120. JS Partisan says:

    The repetitive shit up in here, is ridiculous.

  121. Joshua/CaptainZahn says:

    Does anyone else here love this girl?

    Criss reviews The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

  122. sanj says:

    whats up with Danny Boyle …i always like his interviews and yet he’s been missing for like 6 months or more.

    there’s so many award winning people in movies that go missing. so whats the point of the award ?

    once twilight is over how many actors will go missing for 6 months . will movie critics remember any of the actors ?
    the fans will never stop watching these movies.

    real popularity vs critics awards . whats better in the long term ?

  123. yancyskancy says:

    JKill: I see that Netflix’s GAMBIT stream is one of those StarzPlay deals. Does that mean the aspect ratio is wrong?

  124. movieman says:

    Did a morning promo for “Muppets” today, and I haven’t seen that much aisle-hopping among bored rugrats in years. I’m guessing the parents were more interested in the movie than their kids.
    As somebody who never really warmed up to Jim Henson’s menagerie of sock puppets–it’s a generational thing: I was 11 when “Sesame Street” premiered, and the Henson critters felt inordinately “baby-ish” to me after having seen “MIdnight Cowboy,” “The Wild Bunch” and “Last Summer”–I can objectively state that it’s probably the best Muppet big-screen outing to date. But their charms continue to elude me.
    Also thought that it was strange how it seemed like nearly every actor from an NBC Thursday night sitcom made a cameo appearance.
    ****SPOILER ALERTS****
    Biggest chuckles belonged to Emily Blunt goofing on her “Prada” role as Piggy’s exec assistant in a Parisian fashion house. And Neil Patrick Harris has an amusing one-liner while manning the phone bank during the climactic telethon.
    Otherwise, it was pretty much a shrug for me.
    And the Pixar ‘toon that precedes it has one funny bit (a group therapy session for abandoned toys), but is greatly over-extended at eight long minutes.

  125. JKill says:

    Yancyskancy, yeah it’s panned and scanned from its original 2:35:1 aspect ratio. The picture quality is pretty solid though, and while I hate not seeing films the way they were intended to be, the movie is so great and relatively hard to find (it’s only availabe on DVD through Amazon’s manufacture on demand line), I would still strongly suggest watching it. It’s fantastic.

  126. chris says:

    So “Cars 2” probably won’t (and shouldn’t) get Pixar a feature Oscar nominee. But that brilliant “Toy Story” featurette that precedes/outclasses “Muppets” oughta get them in the animated short race.

  127. sanj says:

    Kurt Sutter Explains Why Many TV Reviews Suck

    “But the fault isn’t with the reviewer, it’s with the process,” he wrote on his blog. “More, more, more, faster, faster, faster. Online journalism demands instant, catchy coverage. There is no time for in-depth, thought-provoking process. It’s all flash, snark and a catchy headline.”

    http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/kurt-sutter-explains-why-many-tv-recaps-suck-32905

  128. LexG says:

    Shailene Woodley = OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK AT HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER.

    THE NEW K-STEW, well NOBODY can EVER top K-Stew, but SHA-WOOD is the first credible thread since 2005, and also has THE. BEST. FEET. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVER.

    WOODLEY POWER. OH MY GOD. Was already into her ’cause I watched Secret Life of an American Teen, but she played a big fat pregnant fatty there despite having THE BEST FEET, but now in her NONSTOP BIKINI and CUTE FEET and WINSOME INNOCENT EARNEST AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME quality, she is The New Hotness.

    WOODLEY POWER.

  129. JS Partisan says:

    The Hot Blog: Where People Shit On The Muppets. SHAME!

  130. movieman says:

    I just noticed that Paramount has greatly reduced the screen count for “Hugo” (1,200 versus 3,300 for “Muppets” and “Arthur”).
    Does anyone else think that’s maybe a bad idea?
    Considering the glut of product in December (Para. themselves have three wide releases next month: “Young Adult,” “Tintin” and “MI4”), do they really think a sizable expansion is even remotely possible?
    While November 23rd was never an ideal date with all the competing family-oriented titles in the marketplace (an early October slot might have made more sense), this sounds a bit like “Anonymous” Redux, albeit on a slightly larger scale.

  131. sanj says:

    why isn’t there an unlimited daily movie pass …

    16 bucks – watch as many movies as you want .

    a lot of people will watch 2 movies …but some people
    could stick around all day and try to watch 4 movies.

    theatres can make more money off the junkfood.

    theatres aren’t trying to get more people in the seats .

    also history chanel is showing the mummy. cause thats pretty historic. Rachel Weisz is looking good and making
    millions of dollars off the history chanel ..plus it
    shows that Brendan Fraser could still act.
    but the bald evil guy Arnold Vosloo is still acting. he needs a dp/30.
    it might take 5 years but the social network should show up on the history channel.

  132. Krillian says:

    They say if you look in a mirror and say his name three times, he appears.

    Drew McWeeny
    Drew McWeeny
    Drew McWeeny

    *click!*

  133. sanj says:

    since Regis is retired now ..he should do some dp/30’s with old people. he’s got the experience of doing interviews.

    yeah a dozen dp/30 with Regis with actors over 60 years old.
    they could tell us about how awesome black and white movies are.

    DP get on that.

  134. sanj says:

    watched Restitution 2011 … not good cause the story starts going all over the place after 50 minutes.
    the last 2 minutes of the ending …what the hell is going on.

    Restitution Trailer

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4JvMIYWc9s

  135. sanj says:

    Arrested Development Is Coming To Netflix In 2013

    good news but will netflix be around in 2 years .

    also i want to see it now. DP use your movie critic powers
    and get this show up next week.

The Hot Blog

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon