May 6, 2024
The Hot Blog
amit on: Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
Christian on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: Review: Marriage Story (spoilers only in the broadest sense)
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
YancySkancy on: Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
Hcat on: Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: I Should Be Doing Box Office
Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree
Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
Review: Marriage Story (spoilers only in the broadest sense)
see all »
[twitter-widget username="DavidPoland" hiderss="true" hidereplies="true" hidefrom="true" items="3" showts="60" title=" " targetBlank="true"][twitter-widget username="MCNTweets" hiderss="true" hidereplies="true" hidefrom="true" items="3" showts="60" title=" " targetBlank="true"]
Quote Unquotesee all »
It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
There’s three kinda of Amazing Spiderman reviews out right now. Average, sub par, and apologists saying that its great in spite of many many flaws.
From the article quoted on the front page: “Walt Disney was a bigot, and I’m not going to sit here on a panel and create a historical landmark for a bigot.”
This coming from a former alderman who a) ordered the construction of a 3-block fence, without authorization, down the middle of a roadway at the border of his district to keep his constituents from going to a shopping mall on the other side, and b) compared the voter fraud committed by two of his staffers to “spitting on the sidewalk.”
(Michigan is fighting to keep Asian carp from entering and destroying the Great Lakes, but keeps getting stonewalled by moronic and dickheaded Chicago pols like this. Future generations would thank us if we sent some bulldozers over and filled the canal by ourselves, without authorization.)
Disney was a product of his times, and judging by contemporaneous cartoons and movies he was no better or worse than anyone else. Sure, “Song of the South” feels icky to modern viewers, and yet while the movie has been taken out of circulation for daring to portray happy sharecroppers (remember, it takes place after the end of slavery), what’s shocking is that “Gone With the Wind” HASN’T been pulled, while offering up all the truly offensive stereotypes of happy slaves.
I’d be more reluctant to build a monument to a Nazi sympathizer.
That accusation seems odd considering “Der Fuhrer’s Face”, though he was definitely a right-winger, anti-labor, and an early supporter of HUAC (which may not have gone far without his eager testimony), but singling him out for racism is bizarre. You’d think maybe this former pol is trying to stir the pot, but considering the house is in a Hispanic neighborhood you do have to wonder what Stone’s game is.
Yes, you could go with naming names during the communist witch hunt.
If you do any reading on Disney you’ll find lots of innuendo regarding his attendance of and potential membership in the American Nazi party
Plus he formed a company that eventually made a bunch of Tim Allen movies.
I mean as long as we are talking about crimes against humanity.
Walt pushed lemurs over a cliff. This alone makes him one of the grandest bastards who has ever lived. Aside from that bastard, the sooner they kill off Gwen Stacy, the sooner this rebooted franchise can have Mary Jane, and then the romance will have some substance to it. Until then, Gwen Stacy is a ticking clock, and nothing that happens with her in this film matters.
Berny Stone was not averse to rank misogyny when losing the 50th ward to Debra Silverstein, either. By the time he was voted out of office, he had been in power as long or longer than Hosni Mubarak, Muammar Qaddafi, and Joe Paterno—quite a while even by Chicago standards.
Hcat for the win
“Walt Disney is the Hitler of children.” – Kenneth Anger
I was doing the Film Threat podcast with Mark Bell today and we talked about the new Spidey. I think it’s gonna tank….it just sounds like no one gave a shit. And as JS points out….we KNOW what’s going to happen to Gwen and we also know that if Peter is poking around Oscorp, at some point he’ll fight the Green Goblin. It just sounds like a lame reboot unless the reveal is that Norman Osbourne is Peter’s dad….and that’s just stupid.
I’m still going to see it but the glimpses of reviews I’ve seen and what I heard from Mark….not too excited.
Jennifer Lawrence Before And After Photoshop
Here’s hoping it does tank, if for no other reason than to make execs think twice about “rebooting” movies that aren’t even ten years old.
OK, I know this is going to sound like a flat-out silly comparison, but I don’t really care when a new Hamlet film adaptation appears less than 10 years after the previous one. Or if someone else takes a crack at A Christmas Carol after waiting less than a decade. So what’s the big deal about a Spider-Man reboot? Sure, it’s the same “origin” story. But a familiar story can seem newly fresh with a different approach, right? It’s like, there’s a lot about Mel Gibson’s take on Hamlet in Zeffirelli’s film that I really like — but I’m glad Kenneth Branagh gave us his version just 6 years later.
Joe: The critics are FUCKING TIRED of superhero movies. I thought A. O. Scott and Manohla Dargis dissecting what these films are selling was as tired as the genre itself — they can’t even get their critical acumen up to analyze why these movies happen to be the tentpole blockbusters at THIS PARTICULAR MOMENT (i.e., the people who grew up on these stories finally have disposable income, leisure, and families in need of distraction, rather than the totally half-assed “the studios are pushing this reactionary bullshit” cart-before-horse argument).
Anyway, they don’t think of the mythos of comic books as anywhere near the level of the Bard of Avon much less Dickens, worthy of reinvention and multiple takes, and they don’t think the genre itself is actually doing that, either (all of the films are basically “selling” the same thing, as if the genre were monolithic). There’s something bothering me about the way the lines in the sand have been drawn that probably boils down to elitism, but at the moment I can’t really put my finger on. I strongly suspect that the critics who don’t have any fun at these movies don’t really understand comic books as source material or the movies that interpret them, but they also don’t seem to think they have to (or admit they haven’t read the source material, as is de rigeur for every literary adaptation).
I’m rambling, but the fact that Spider-Man ain’t Hamlet is covering a lot of bullshit, I’m afraid.
Its more that we had three recent Spiderman films that did leave some resonance.
Multi versions of Hamlet is one thing, heck, if this latest Amazing Spider-man seemed re-imagined that might be OK but to me you could replace the word reboot w/rehash and you’d probably have a more apt description.
I wonder if the director was really tied by the studio’s constraints or if he isn’t just a hack. Love the talent in there but this movie flatlined from the gitgo. Not that it was complete garbage, mind you, it never got to an emotional core. The drive or internal dilemma never distinguished itself. Raimi obviously made it look easy but I watched it and really did feel a bit spiteful what comes across as another big studio money grab.
I just got out of a midnight Imax screening and I really enjoyed it. My wife thought it was the best superhero movie ever. I polled a few people after the show and most reactions were “not bad” or “pretty good”. Women seemed to like it more than men.
I thought it was better than any of the raimi films. Raimi was bringing a comic book to life. Webb made a character drama based on a comic book. I think I preferred Webb’s approach. I think you’ll have a very divided opinion. Fanboys will prefer the Raimi version. People who could care less about being faithful to the source material will prefer Webbs. It almost seems like a litmus test.
I already know certain types who will hate the film just for the reworked origin and gripes about using the fanboy loathed parent storyline. I liked Raimis first two Spiderman movies. But I felt a much stronger connection to the characters in Webb’s version.
I will add that Amazing Spidey pretty much negates every one of Raimi’s films. Nothing in those films compares to this film, which is superb. Go see it to have it wash away all of the bullshit Raimi put you through for three movies. The romance in this film alone, is worth you seeing it. Why? NO BULLSHIT. There’s no bullshit here. It’s straight up the first Spider-man movie, to actually feel like a Spider-man movie; and not Sam Raimi’s interpretation of what a Spider-man movie should be. There’s also not stupid ass musical cut-away.
That aside, the reasons why these stories are popular is… they are the stories we have been telling since we looked into a fire, and realized we could tell stories. They are the legends that fuel humanity century after century and now more than ever, we need them. This is one of the reasons why Amazing Spidey is better than all of Raimi’s Spidey films: it’s set in a world that appreciates superheroes, believes in superheroes, and needs superheroes. It’s not a forced thing like in Spidey 3, but a real tangible thing like the end of the Avengers. If critics want to ignore the obvious, then let them continually ignore this is how humanity rolls. This has been going on since Beowulf, and it will continue for years to come.
Was there ever any doubt?
Yes, up until I watched the movie. You folks live in that expectations world, but not me. I read the reviews, knew of the plot, and it did not excite me. Watching it all together though, it’s a tremendous film, but thank you for assuming I am just like you. When I’m not, as if the Invader Zim in Iron Man avatar did not give that away.
I haven’t read the article in question and I do believe eras have their own accepted behaviors, but there is little doubt that Uncle Walt was a racist, a sexist, and an anti-semite.
Besides Song of the South being out of circulation, there are shorts from the WW2 era that are so bigoted that they won’t even show the scholars the films from the vaults. Look at most of the princess films and you will see a man who was obsessed with evil women and paid little aesthetic attention to the good ones… they were barely defined and invariably served the whims of men.
Don – 85% or more of the people who saw the first series of Spidey movies have no f-ing idea what you are taking about, can’t differentiate between girlfriends, and don’t care. Those are the people who will make this a hit… or not.
True. And I also get that the fanboy/geek crowd doesn’t translate into box office success. BUT….I think the fanboy/geek crowd can propel a superhero movie father. Like, average people finally have a reason to ask weird uncle Jerry who still lives at home and spends all day in his room with his action figures, what he thinks of a movie.
Then again our own fanboy/comic geek JS loves it so we shall see.
The fact that women seem to like it could be a huge indicator of its success. Avengers scored an A minus with women. I dont think Avengers could have broken out like it did without the female component.
JS, claiming that a lifelong fan like Raimi didnt get SPIDERMAN is so silly. Hes one of the few comic book directors to totally get it. Hes the only one to rip the panels onto the screen.
For this weekend, it doesn’t matter whther Amazing Spider-Man is good or not, it’s all the marketing. And I’m curious to see if the marketing of a new origin story hurt or if audiences don’t care and thought the action looked good enough.
Christian, being a life-long fan does not mean he generated Spider-man movies. He generated his take on Spider-Man and to be honest, I never liked it all that much. Sure, Spidey 2 is the closest he comes to a quality Spider-man movie, but it’s still like a Burton Batman movie. It has more to do with the director than the character. If those films work for you, that’s cool. I just love living in a world where Batman and now Spidey, have finally gotten their due.
Also, David, why do you assume the audience lacks the ability to use google and wikipedia, or doesn’t know these things? The moment they learn what happens to Gwen Stacy, that’s the moment Webb and Co. are in a precarious position with what they can do with the character in the next two films. I’d let her live. The relationship between Gwen and Peter is one of the highlights of the film. Why not let her save her from the Goblin this time?
Oh yeah, one last thing: everyone gets that there is a lot of this movie they cut, right? The whole untold story has been trimmed down to what we have in the film, which is awesome, but they put out trailers with footage that did not make this movie. A plot description also found it’s way onto the net, that seemingly explains things that are not in the film.
JS, didn’t you just high-five me for pointing out how awesome SPIDER-MAN 2 was? And given that Raimi re-created ICONIC Marvel shots, how was it “his” take? J.K. Simons was born to play Jonah, torn right from the comic. Getting rid of Parker’s nerd frames and making Parker’s parent backstory important is a more radical take. You really throw your children under the bus!
Christian, Spidey 2 is the best of Raimi’s films, but his films have always rubbed me wrong. Having a true Spider-man movie in the world, makes it easier to forgo all of the nonsense Raimi threw into his movies, that I absolutely loathed. All the romance in those three movies, Spidey needing MJ to get in a relationship with him before he is comfortable with her in his life, and then the bullshit in part 3. Ugh. It’s the worse, seriously, that sucked as much as Raimi’s goofy little MUSICAL CUTAWAYS.
Now putting iconic shots into a movie, does not make it a Spidey movie. Much like with Burton, Raimi’s take of Spidey is his take of Spidey. Webb and Co. have produced a SPIDER-MAN movie that this life time Spider-man fan has been dying to see for years. Also, the reason why Spidey wears glasses in Amazing Spidey, is one of the best touches in the entire movie. Hell, they even made mechanical web-shooters work. Go figure.
Raimi’s Spidermans are the only Marvel movies to date to really capture the somewhat dorky yet charming earnestness and optimism of 60’s and 70’s Marvel comics.
I agree wholeheartedly with Tim, I love the ‘upstanding young citizens’ vibe of the early Marvel Universe. Very space race/peace corp building the future feel to it. Look at the cover of the first Avengers, it’s three doctors, a socialite and a second generation millionaire industrialist. By day heros, by night the board of the Met.
Raimi has an unmistakable mischievious sincerity. He captured the joy and sorrow of the Spideyverse. And nobody has touched his action scnes from SP 2.
Yeah Tim, I have read those comics, and that’s not the case. Raimi’s films capture his interpretation of those comics. It’s not in anyway indicative what so ever, of the way Spidey reads in those comics. Seriously, Raimi and Burton need to do a podcast called “How To Get Superheroes Wrong.” It can be an hourly, where they explain how they didn’t get Spidey or Batman, let both of those characters kill somebody, and can have Skype call ins, from other director’s who have fucked up other comic book properties.
Yeah, Amazing Spidey touches his scenes, and actually has them be more practical than anything else. Seriously Christian, go watch Amazing Spidey and let it wash away the Raimi from you. Yes, I know you love Spidey 2, just messing around.
Saw SPIDEY today and found it totally passable at best. NOT good. Issues included:
Too all over the map in tone. I never really found it fun at all either. I thought the action was capably done but there was a real thrill with Raimi/Maguire when Peter learns to become Spidey. Here….blah.
Who IS this movie for? I’d say 8-10 year olds but then there’s all the kissing. If this was a kids movie, I’d be less harsh but it’s like a kids movie that kids will find boring buit adults find too childish.
Is Webb trying to be Webb, Spielberg or Michael Bay? All of these directors showed up at weird and different times. Who IS Marc Webb? The masked director of a new summer blockbuster?? Seriously. There were “bold choices” in there that served ZERO purpose. The first person POV, those loud piano chimes when Lizard is searching for Gwen. WTFFffff? Pick a direction and go with it, Webb.
Still…I didn’t hate it. I just found it totally forgettable. I liked ALL the actors but still managed to not really like the film all that much. It felt like a movie thrown together so Sony could maintain their rights which is probably exactly what it is.
Collection Of Famous Women In Patriotic Clothing
WTF?!?
Much to my consternation and dismay, the Katy Perry concert movie is actually getting mostly terrific reviews.
Guess I have no choice but to check it out this weekend.
…there goes my plan to wait for the dvd the way I did w/ the Cyrus and Bieber concert flicks.
It was odd listening to Katy Perry promoting the movie on BBC2 radio yesterday. Her version of the story is that it was mad, wild personal choice to shoot the film and she’s shocked that it’s become “such a mega thing.”
A) KATY PERRY RULES
B) Isn’t it more of a documentary about overcoming a HORRIFIC, stifling religious upbringing than some bubblegummer pop concert movie?
c) Also still MYSTIFIED that movieman acts like FIREWORK is the only KP SONG he’s ever heard, when her every single is beyond brilliant and BEYOND UBIQUITOUS. REALLY? California Gurls, TEENAGE DREAM, Part of Me, that ET ALIEN song with KANYE, WAKING UP IN VEGAS, I KISSED A GIRL?
You guys seriously don’t get these masterpieces every time you leave the house? She’s like the ONLY pop act of the last 5 years I feel comfortable saying I know almost every word to every song.
Sorry, Lex.
“Firework” is pretty much all I know from Perry’s ouevre.
Ever since MTV stopped playing music videos, my exposure to contemporary pop music fell by the wayside.
CALIFORNIA GURLS is pretty close to the most played pop song of the last 2 years.
It is statistically IMPOSSIBLE you’ve never heard it.
Maybe I’ve heard it (and would even recognize the melody if someone played a few bars), but apparently didn’t know the singer.
Jesus, Lex. It happens, y’know.
Apparently Aaron Johnson wants to give Tom Hardy a run for his money in the shape-shifting department.
I can’t believe the same guy played the lead nerd/superhero wannabe in “Kickass;” the young John Lennon in “Nowhere Boy;” Taylor Kitsch’s drug-dealing partner-in-crime in “Savages;” and the Russian prince (at least I think he’s some kind of Russian prince: only saw the trailer once) who has an adulterous affair w/ Keira Knightley in Joe Wright’s upcoming “Anna Karenina” remake.
That’s quite a talent, but you’d almost swear he didn’t want to be recognized from film to film.
Johnson is mystifying ‘cuz he has that NICK STAHL/ETHAN EMBRY thing where he jumped like TWO DECADES from one movie to the next.
In KICK ASS, Johnson is like a THIRTEEN YEAR OLD NERD GEEK, then in ALBERT NOBBS filmed ONE YEAR LATER, he’s suddenly 32 years old. I don’t get it.
It’s like how Nick Stahl was a SEVEN YEAR OLD KID in that Mel Gibson movie MAN WITHOUT A FACE, then SIX YEARS LATER he was banging Grandma Tomei in In the Bedroom.
Or Ethan Embry, 6 years old in DUTCH in 1991, 18 years old in EMPIRE RECORDS in 1995, then 47 YEARS OLD in DRAGNET and BROTHERHOOD in 2001 and 2003.
“overcoming a HORRIFIC, stifling religious upbringing…”
That explains a lot. Wonder if her folks borrowed a copy of whatever child-rearing book Madonna’s parents used.
(And after taking a trip over to youtube I can now state that I’ve never heard “California Gurls” on the radio. Doesn’t have a whole lot to do with the Beach Boys, does it? But then “I Kissed A Girl” didn’t have much to do with Jill Sobule, either.)
I’d forgotten about “A. Nobbs.”
That’s another “Who IS that guy?” turn from Johnson.
Like Hardy, I admire the hell out of his talent (and ability to physically transform himself) from role to role, film to film.
If they keep it up, both should have long, fascinating, immensely varied careers.
Their chameleon-like ability sort of works against either one of them ever becoming a “star,” though, doesn’t it?
things i learn from wikipedia –
looks like something out a Nicholas Sparks book…
actress Natascha McElhone – ” After her husband’s sudden death, McElhone continued to write letters to him, sometimes documenting the daily trivia of life but also dealing with how she and their young children were coping with their loss. These letters and diary entries formed the basis of her book After You: Letters of Love, and Loss, to a Husband and Father”
Interesting how all over the map the “Savages” reviews are. Ebert, the trades, EW and Time are calling it a wonderful return to form for Stone…while other publications are aggressively trashing it. Either way I haven’t been this psyched since “Any Given Sunday.” Too bad the tracking for this is miserable…
The Savages ads are EVERYWHERE! It doesn’t seem like anything more than a generic country boys tangle w/drug lord tale to me. Maybe something I’d see Roddy Piper on Showtime in 1989. The fall maybe but early July??
I jokingly called it DESIGN FOR LIVING meets SCARFACE. It is, at bottom, a popcorn movie, but there are all sorts of dimensions to it. My only problem is that, unlike U-TURN, which basically treats its unlikable characters as goofball puppets a la Aldrich, SAVAGES doesn’t hit this tone until the third act, by which time the three young leads have worn out their welcome and we’d rather stay on Del Toro, Hayek, Travolta and Bechir, who are much more entertaining.
You’d rather hang out with John Travolta than Blake Lively?
funny
Nigel Minaj – Super Blargh (lipsync)
@Lex, as long as I’m not on a cruise ship, relaxing in a spa, or visiting a temple…
The TV ads for SAVAGES trumpet “From the writer of SCARFACE.” So no Oscar-whoring at least!
I am more excited about this than any movie since DRIVE, but the name Chon is SUPER fucking embarrassing.
Can’t wait to see Blakey all tied up. I have 20 major fetishes and looks like Lively’s gonna hit about 17 of them in this.
i’m gonna wait a few more weeks before watching spiderman ..
gotta wait till the theatre is half full …
i’m not a big fan of any movie over 2 hours.
everybody here is going to watch dark knigh rises like in the first 24 hours …i can wait like 3 weeks. maybe longer.
i’d force myself to go the first day if i got free tickets..but i’m not that lucky.
movie tickets just don’t go on tree you know.
movie critics have a special plant and when you feed it popcorn ..out comes movie tickets.
also i’m pretty sure i’ll be too stupid to understand
the bourne legacy movie so i’m gonna skip that.
Ever since Armond White did a review showering praise on the apparently post-modern Adam Sandler masterpiece “Jack and Jill,” an examination of the fragility and depth of 21st century Jewish sibling relationships (Jill is “rooted in Jewish comics’ proverbial self-deprecation,”) that we should be privileged to witness, and was subsequently removed from Rotten Tomatoes after being proclaimed a troll, RT has been looking for a new Armond.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Amy Biancolli, a formerly wonderful reviewer and new backup to Mike LaSalle at SF Chronicle, whose newfound love of course language and bitter insults dictates her reviews nowadays. A girl gotta make her stacks!!!
Savages: 0/4
People Like Us: 1/4
Rock of Ages: 3/4
MIB3: 3/4
She had some sadly rational reviews before the Chronicle…nothing like the gems she mines now as when she proclaims Tom Cruise’s “Rock of Ages” role as his best performance of all-time.
so its been 2 weeks since Kevin Pereira left G4 ..and now they have guest hosts ..and they are comics …
thats right – technology show hosted by comics …
its hard to replace a tv show host ..
wild on! had Brooke Burke for a long time – she was great…then they did a reality tv thing and picked from
dozens of models / actors an they picked Cindy Taylor and she was alright ..but where is she now / nobody knows. nobody seems to care ..but Brooke is doing dancing with the stars. so all her hosting a tv show actually helped her.
then you got Phil from amazing race ..pure reality show who’s been there forever.
Mary Hart was at ET for like 25 years. super old and now ET never mentions her or shows any clips of interviews she did with all the stars…
so i want more dp/30’s with tv hosts… some of them must have great stories to tell depending how long they’ve been there ….
any tv hosts you like or dislike ?
sanj – I tried to shoot Kevin and Olivia once. Comcast had too many layers of excrement.
Where did Kevin go? I’m a fan of his.
Kevin started his own company and is doing some game show hosting i think
the mainstream media didn’t cover it that much but there were thousands of messages about this ..
if you are a tv host and you leave – it usually takes a few weeks before the network stops all mention of you – sometimes they don’t leave up clips on the official site so all that exists are youtube clips – sometimes 100 + hours worth of video not found on netflix or other legit video sites ..
tv host nobody knows about …
Karina Huber has done several different hosting jobs – music – science – business – entertainment
Karina Huber Demo Reel
if your on tv for any hosting and you leave…the network stops promoting you and then
Kevin Smith doing actor / director interviews now
– he has his own show on hulu
Well, since there’s a dearth of other posts on the blog today, let me plat the role of proud papa.
http://www.movingpictureblog.com/2012/07/my-son-knows-when-to-hold-them-and.html
I f**king loved SAVAGES. I think it’s a major return to form for Stone; it has the kind of visual and kinetic verve that his older work had, and it’s a genuinely rough movie with the same sense of danger and edge and humor as a SCARFACE, for instance. The entire cast is uniformly excellent, and it has a playful, clever, and suspenseful screenplay. By far the biggest, most welcome surprise of the summer, for me, so far. It rocks.
Joe, I was having a bit of fun with the first pic, he looks like he’s in such deep thought. I bet the caption would read,
“I gotta win, I gotta win. The longer I play, the longer I don’t get to watch Dungeons and Dragons again.” 🙂
@Jkill..orgasms..wargasms.
I think Del Toro deserves a nomination. I liked it too though the ending is gonna cause some debate.
I too really liked SAVAGES. Although it felt to me like a play on “money is the root of all evil” idea it turned into something, well, less. Which sucked.
What I’m saying is I felt a theme and an almost screwball comedy in the guise of a thriller but then it’s like Oliver Stone toked up and rewrote the ending based on his high. Like any person (read: EVERY person) who’s ever written something they thought was genius while high or drunk only to realize in the sober light of day that whatever muse they had at that moment, that was the final 10 mins of SAVAGES.
Still, I totallllly agree with JKill…there’s some truly suspenseful and comedic turns in the film. And as much as I think the screenplay is wonky, there’s some truly outstanding scenes where characters are dealing with each other like poker players and Stone (et all) don’t show all the cards to the audience which is nice. It truly added to the suspense. It’s alot of fun and pretty gory to boot. Awesome.
Still…great fun. Del Toro, Travolta and Hayek are DEVOURING scenery in the best way and Kitsch and Johnson are also kinda laid back, but excellent. Blake Lively was…meh, I think. Granted that’s my inner pig talking because I wanted T&A but alas…she does everyone with her top on. To each their own.
Great adult, fun flick….go see it!
Del Toro’s Lado likes his sandwiches just so… Such a hambone-vs-hambone scene.
Bulldog: Hey, whatever works to make him a better player.
He has something against the Dungeons and Dragons movie?
(or should the question be, “Who doesn’t have something against the Dungeons and Dragons movie?” Speaking of which, there’s a 3rd…)
saw a quick preview for this movie on g4 tv
scfi / drug movie …
beyond the black rainbow trailer
Eva Allan – LOOK AT HER!
Foamy and Bulldog: http://www.movingpictureshow.com/archives/mpsDragons.htm
Joe’s affection for D&D is like mine for My Blue Heaven. Everyone I know hates that movie, but for some reason I love that piece of shit movie.
they still haven’t found a replacement host for Regis ..for that morning show they have .
hard to replace tv hosts that have a general knowledge of everything ..DP should take over….you only have to work for an hour interviewing people . seems easy …
easy to predict – when Phil Keoghan leaves amazing race or Jeff Probst leaves survivior – people will freak out … they’ve been at it forever ..
Maury Povich and Jerry Springer are still around – they pretty much do the same show every day ….
as for cable tv news – its easy to switch networks ..happens all the time … the only person who might find
it hard is cnn’s Wolf Blitzer …he’s been around forever
carrying those papers around looking all serious . he could jump somewhere else but he would have to shave his beard off and stop talking politics .
Blitzer is all that is wrong with the tatters of CNN.
guess i should be glad i switched my friday to saturday:
So comparing Beasts to Katrina is a taboo subject? I’m just wondering how you can portray a Southern black city inside a protective wall that’s about to be flooded and NOT have it be about New Orleans?
Alternately, could you transpose an all-white Bathtub to an alpine valley about to be wiped out by an avalanche and still make the same movie?
Love how Travolta seems to have adopted a “F**k it” attitude re: his looks/body, and has apparently embraced gravity taking its inevitable toll.
He must realize he’s not a pretty young thing anymore, and has decided to just make this “Character Actor” schtick work for him.
And it definitely does in “Savages.”
Bravo.
(P.S.= Am I the only one who didn’t know that Emile Hirsch was even in this movie?)
Daily Grace talks about the internet pretty fast …
not everybody will get these references ..
200 THINGS THE INTERNET TAUGHT ME
Movieman: Saw his name in the opening credits–Yay for opening credits!–but not 100% sure I actually spotted him. He’s the computer geek, right?
I think Travolta looked at the career Baldwin’s been having since he gave up being a leading man and figured it was the right course for him as well. If only Harrison Ford had done likewise about a decade ago…
Cad-
Yeah, Hirsch plays the computer geek in the Hawaiian shirt who transfers their money around.
Travolta has always seemed pretty savvy about reinventing himself (he’s certainly done it enough times).
watched Salmon Fishing in the Yemen 2011 –
– didn’t think the love story was strong enough
– its 30 minutes too long
– Amr Waked – really liked his acting in this …
he needs a dp/30 ..
still waiting for DP to put up the Cannes dp/30’s
watched Patrick Doyle dp/30 – old dude is boring .
sucks that most actors only do a few dp/30’s a year if they are lucky . DP should make them sign an exclusive contract that gives them 4 dp/30’s a year ..
Travolta looks kind of awesome and macho with his hair buzzed down short like that sans rug. I am usually pro-rug or wig, would absolutely rock one if I knew where you buy a hairpiece, but Travolta looks fucking COOL all letting it hang like that.
His performance was riotously awesome, too… And man is Hayek good. Anyone ever see LONELY HEARTS, which also had both Hayek and Travolta (and Leto/Gandolfini)? Kind of a dumped movie nobody saw, but they’re both great in that– Hayek can be terrifying in these villain roles.
Sanj: But Emily Blunt gets a LOOOOK AT HER!
Travolta is really wonderful in SAVAGES. movieman, I also appreciated his look in the film, particularly his hair (or lack thereof).
SPOILERS, KINDA
That late scene with him and Benicio in the kitchen, the one where he attempts to worm his way out of the sticky situation he’s in, was a real joy to watch – just two great actors going head to head with juicy material. Don’s description of the film’s characters as poker players is dead on, and a big part of why the movie is so engaging.
END SPOILERS
Also, I can’t think of a single film I’ve seen where Hayek is better than she is in SAVAGES, nor of a film where she has as great a character to chew on. I’ll have to check out LONELY HEARTS now, which has been in my Netflix queue forever.
The kitchen scene is like a master class starring two world-class AWESOME hams just having a blast… You know what else rules is Benicio’s getup when rolls into that bloodbath crime scene all casual and slinging around this awesome-looking giant Starbucks with a big cross medallion on.
Also even though I thought Aaron Johnson had more to play, more of an arc, and even though this isn’t gonna make much money, can critics ease up on Kitsch a little? Thought he was perfectly fine in this.
Loved Hayek so much in “Savages”–she has virtually all of the best scenes–that I was quite frankly bummed to see her prominently featured in a trailer for the (idiotic-looking) new Kevin James comedy.
Can someone explain to me why smart critics like A.O. Scott and Gleiberman gave sky-high raves to the Katy Perry flick?
As a vanity promotional tool (which is all that it is), it’s decent enough, I suppose.
But as a piece of filmmaking, it really isn’t appreciably better than the Bieber, Cyrus and Jonas Bros. concert “docs”/marketing tools from recent years.
Perry seems to be a likable kook and a pretty decent singer/songwriter. (She reminds me of a cross between Zooey Deschanel and ’80s MTV staple Julie Brown-the brassy, red-headed Julie Brown, not “Downtown” JB). Too bad we only get snippets of her music in the film.
Madonna’s 21-year-old “Truth or Dare” remains the benchmark for this sort of movie.
I’ll do you one better and say that I thought Kitsch was great in it. He was believably badass but also damaged and sad and world weary. Yeah, Johnson (who was perfect) does have more of a dynamic character, in the sense that he evolves and changes more, but Kitsch complimented him in a way that made that performance better. I loved their chemistry.(If I was writing an essay on the film, I’d probably argue that the two characters represent both halves of Stone’s psyche – the aggressive, stoic, action-oriented veteran who can never leave the war behind and the peace loving intellectual/artist who wants to change the world.)
Interesting take on the two characters, JKill.
As someone who’s been defending Kitsch since March–I still believe that “JC” and “Battleship” were two seriously underrated popcorn movies–his solid “Savages” job didn’t come as a surprise.
My only real criticisms of the film were that, pace “Magic Mike,” the ’70s version would have been a lot gnarlier/sexier.
And (B), I sort of wish that Stone had just written the whole thing himself.
The dialogue rarely pops and crackles the way it does in, say, “True Romance,” a similar movie in a lot of ways.
Victor Lucas hated savages – he gave it 2/10 –
watch 3 minute video review
http://epdaily.tv/all/spotlight/savages-theatrical/
Fox got the LOOK AT HER!!! Erin Andrews for just that.
this is something LexG would write about …
Erin Andrews and Fox: A TV reality show ripe for implosion .
“The Erin Andrews Effect, as sports media phenomena, is attracting more female communications majors into taking as many shortcuts as possible to grab a coveted sideline reporting job or studio host instead of risking the time and challenge necessary to try play-by-play, game analyst, or even what’s still referred to journalism at a magazine, newspaper or website.”
strange and funny – 4 minutes
Spider-Man VS Batman in Toronto FULL VIDEO
Sanj, thanks for the heads up on Eva Allan
LexG – Eva Allan – pretty new actor – first major movie . could be big star … i find it strange to find actors that super important oscar bloggers haven’t heard before.
oscar bloggers got Shailene Woodley only cause of Clooney really and now no new interviews – she’s pretty
good … DP should get on that.
figured you like Rachel Perry – 15 minutes
fun video
everybody on the internet turned into LexG today …
tennis guy Andy Murry lost but but Kim Sears girlfriend is hot
LOOK AT HER!!!
Jenna Marbles – my #1 pick for funniest girl on youtube
i asked a long long time ago for a dp/30 –
yeah she should be a big star like Tina Fey on tv ..but on
youtube she gets way more freedom to say what she wants.
Jenna is keeping it real – DP if you dp/30 her she’d be one of the most viewed .. just watch at least 2 hours of videos she’s done ..- if you watch at least 10 of her short videos and don’t find it funny at all and you reject her for a dp/30 i’ll be fine with that too.
i hope some big time comedy director gets her in a movie …then magically she’ll get a dp/30 .
Hey, Poland, can u run it by me again why I CAN’T MAKE MONEY to WRITE ABOUT MOVIES, but EVERYONE ELSE here does?
How come you and Wells or whoever are like WRITE FOR FREE AND PROVE YOURSELF, but JESSE and JKILL and GILCHRIST and DON KAYE and GABE TORO all get PAID?
I’m smarter and funnier than ANYONE who writes about movies, why won’t you pay me?
I am asking in earnest? I need 100,000 dollars/ Why do Gilchrist and Yamato get PAID when I’m a WAY BETTER WRITER, ACKNOWLEDGED BY LITERALLY EVERYONE ON PLANET EARTH, but you won’t actually pay me?
THANKS IN ADVANCE.
Knight of Cups (2013) – Christian Bale – Natalie Portman – Cate Blanchett – Freida Pinto
writer / director – Terrence Malick
so this should get some awards buzz … lets see if DP
can get any dp/30’s out of it …be the first one to
get the entire cast ..you know the oscar bloggers
are going to fight each other just to get Bale and Portman.
Sanj, wire me some money, you Dev Patel looking Indian bastard.
LexG – your funny – get those guys from funnyordie to give you 100k to make silly movie review videos . also you and
Kevin Smith should do something together ..
also – HBO should give DP 10,000 bucks per dp/30 … DP can get to more movie festivals.
Lex, just start your own website. 20 quid for a domain name, free websites abound. Then monetise it when people start visiting. You have an online following. Get off your ass.
IDK anything about domains or HTML or any of that shit.
Sounds like some bullshit to me. TODD GILCHRIST doesn’t have some wack-ass BLOGSPOT, DON KAYE doesn’t have some WORDPRESS, Gabe Toro doesn’t have a TUMBLR…
No, an OFFICIALLY SANCTIONED BUSINESS pays them money. I’m not doing this shit for my health. My GOING RATE is 100,000 DOLLARS A YEAR.
Lex, I know you’re probably mid-binge or whatever, but your idea that anyone in the online movie-reviewing game is or could be making 100 grand a year is one of your weirdest obsessions, as is your idea that you NEED 100 grand a year to be comfortable.
My wife and I live in New York City, one of the most expensive places in the U.S., and she even needs a car for work, which most people in NYC do not. We don’t make 100 grand combined from our day jobs and I certainly don’t make more than a pittance from my part-time reviewing gigs. I get some free screenings and DVDs, and I get a little bit of money so that I don’t feel bad about what I spend to go to the movies for fun.
It doesn’t seem fair, and I certainly have my share of financial worries, more related to the future than right now. But this MY GOING RATE BLAH BLAH BLAH shit is ridiculous even by the standards of trying to make a point about not being able to support yourself this way.
Uh, dude, here’s a concept: We all have DIFFERENT DEGREES OF DEBT. Some people still have student loans. Or car loans. Or CC debt. Or exorbitant rent. Take your pick.
It’s entirely possible for a human being living in a major city to owe 4,000 to 5,000 a MONTH in bills, straight up. I’m not saying that’s me and I’m goddamn sure not opening up my RECORDS TO YOU for argument’s sake, but I absolutely cannot live on less than 60 or 70 THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR. And even that would barely be breaking even.
I need 100,000 dollars a year. And not being an ass, but I kinda am… I have a HUGE internet following a shit-ton of fans, haters, passersby, whatever… A lot of you guys GET PAID MONEY TO WRITE REVIEWS, and you’re fairly noncontroversial and anonymous.
Like, just to pull a name out of a hat of someone I think is A GREAT GUY, but I never hear SCOTT MENDELSON talk about going to some stifling DESK JOB. He seems to ONLY REVIEW MOVIES on a BLOGSPOT. How does he make ends meet? How do you pay 1,700 dollars a month in rent, or 2,000 a month in student loans, REVIEWING MOVIES?
I’ll beat this drum forever because other than a MCWEENY who has SCREENWRITING MONEY, I genuinely don’t know how all you NEBULOUSLY EMPLOYED PART-TIME HAM-AND-EGGER WEBSITE CRITICS pay your 3,000 or 4.000 a month in bills off a handful of quickie 100 dollar reviews.
Also, you just said: YOUR WIFE. GEEE, JESSE, IDK, do you think MAYBE that you and a wife COMBINED might just have an easier time paying expensive big-city rent than a guy who lives by himself?
Say your rent is 1,500. Say my rent is 1,500. WOW, here’s some BRILLIANT MATHEMATICS… If you have a WIFE splitting the rent, you only owe 750 a month while I’m on the hook for all 1,500.
Lex, Jesse is right. Most people don’t make a great living at the online film game. I know a few people who work in publicity and marketing for the studios and there’s apparently an ongoing in joke about certain online film site people who are always complaining about being broke.
There’s one story I heard about a critic who very notably and publicallt called out the founder of a popular site for paying his writers “slave wages” while drunk at a studio funded event.
And lex, I contribute op ed pieces to a site that uses blogspot and gets 100 thousand uniques per month and has built up a respectable audience using the most simple of layouts.
Ang/Jess…
Then how come I read all this shit about ELVIS MITCHELL not leaving the house until he gets PAID, living the high life, rolling like a MILLIONAIRE?
Some fair points, Lex, but I was also specifically referring to your GIVE ME 100 LARGE shtick. I’m saying, my wife and I don’t make that much put together. So yeah, easier to pay the rent with two people. But I’m not talking about whether paying rent sucks and whether it’s more expensive to live on your own (totally does, totally is). I’m talking specifically about your I NEED 100 GRAND thing. I’m saying that seems like a crazy figure to me because we’re not making under 100 grand EACH. We’re making under 100 grand TOTAL.
Fair point about debt, sure. But some of that stuff (CC bills, overpriced rent) is not entirely out of your control (and that’s the hypothetical “your” — you’re right, I don’t know you financials and wouldn’t ask to!).
And dude, I don’t know Scott personally but I would be surprised if he didn’t have a desk job of some sort, just based on his screening schedule and stuff (that is, from what I see, he goes to a lot but doesn’t see EVERYTHING, and writes mainly for his own site, and definitely catches up with some stuff via regular moviegoing, as I do). I dunno, some of us don’t talk about our desk/day jobs that much because we’d rather ignore them, or they don’t have anything to do with our movie-nerd stuff. I could bore you with the tedium of my job, but I don’t see the point (and I say that as someone who finds the glimpses into your post-house job, as tedious as it sounds, interesting in its way). Or maybe his wife has a better-paying job and he fits in film critic stuff while taking care of his kids. Who knows? Just based on what I’ve seen in my relatively limited experience, it’s unlikely Scott lists “film critic” as his job on his tax forms. Maybe he does! If so, I would join you in puzzlement.
Elvis Mitchell can get speaking engagements, TV and radio shit, stuff that’s based on his personality, I guess (though I have no idea how much he makes). You know what Elvis Mitchell doesn’t seem to do very often? WRITE MOVIE REVIEWS. He’s the one percent. I’m sure A.O. Scott is paid handsomely, too. But they’re not really internet guys, are they?
And quickie 100 dollar reviews… I WISH. If I got paid $100 for every piece I wrote, I wouldn’t be able to quit my day job, but it would count as a major income supplement and not just a hobby.
I don’t know who Elvis Mitchell is.
Elvis Mitchell supplements his income…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/14/elvis-mitchell-former-emn_n_118865.html
speaking of writers –
Ted Casablanca, longtime journalist and gossip columnist for E! Online, has ended his column, “The Awful Truth.”
LexG – you can get more famous by posting movie reviews videos on youtube .
does DP think his writing movie reviews is worth 100k ?
cause he should stop giving it away and put them up on NY Times and they should kick that A.O Scott guy out .
I think lex could build a following of like minded misanthropes. The haters alone would be enough to build a respectable audience.
Michael Fassbender Signs On for ‘Assassin’s Creed’
– this is based on the popular ubisoft video game ..
– the video game geeks will spend months trying to figure
out if this is a good movie or not …
take a tour of ubisoft with Jade Raymond …
i dunno if Jade will be part of the movie since she
was part of the game ..
Uncharted might be a movie too…
it’ll take a year or longer but finally get to see something new – something thats not spiderman / batman /superman everybody here is going on about …
now is good time for movie critics to get ahead and
check these video games out and predict if they make for good movies or not …
watched the forger with Josh Hutcherson..
i was expecting a lame teen movie with predictable ending … i got something worse . dialog is super bad. story is bad. the acting is bad. just a big waste of acting talent.
Forger Movie Trailer
hey DP – when is John Travolta going to get a dp/30 ..
you missed out on grease dp/30 ….the lamest musical everthat everybody loves.
he won a reality show on food network and got his own show …
food network – Anthony Sedlak dies at 29
http://life.nationalpost.com/2012/07/09/anthony-sedlak-was-a-talented-chef-with-a-big-personality/
hey DP – you mentioned about me pushing for the dp/30 guests ..
i asked for Michadel Pena for 30 Minutes or Less ..
cause he was the best thing in it .
now he’s in End of Watch and i want a dp/30 of that whole cast …Jake Gyllenhaa – Anna Kendrick and David Ayer
David Ayer is interesting cause he keeps making movies with cops …
i asked for Rachel Leigh Cook for Josie and the Pussycats now she’s a FBI agent on Perception tv series …but she’s done tons of voice over for animated …
i doubt she’ll get emmy for perception .. her character is just average .
i know there’s like 100 other actors ahead of the line for a dp/30 – i just hope you don’t forget about these people ..
and if you want to give K-Stew 12 dp/30’s this year for all the twilight fans and LexG – go for it ..
you don’t talk about the dp/30’s on a weekly basis so nobody knows nothing about who’s coming ..
also nerdist got bought out – i kinda predicted this 6 months ago on here .
this is totally worth reading …
http://www.nerdist.com/2012/07/the-legendary-thing/
God, apparently Poland is in a Nam POW camp or some shit (like SERIOUSLY, I know our hunble site-runner loves to pretend LA LA LA I don’t pay attention to hit count, but CHRIST your blog is DEAD)…
That asked… Is today the first Friday in like, IDK, foreeeever, where NOT ONE MAJOR RELEASE THEATRICAL MOVIE COMES OUT????
When’s the last time it was a FRIDAY and there wasn’t a single ACTUAL MOVIE being released?
What gives???
I think this was Ted’s weekend before it got bumped up. And talking about lack of product what the hell is with Parmount taking the summer off? I know they postponed Joe but that was their big tentpole with Dictator and Katy Perry in support and then nothing until Halloween? Its like they have decided just to go seasonal concentrating on October on and putting things in mothballs the rest of the year.
Lex, I know you don’t see cartoons and even I, a big animation fan, have zero interest in this movie, but Ice Age 4 is a major theatrical release. Three thousand-plus screens.
Is Red Lights coming out in L.A.? That has stars in it, at least. A little surprised it didn’t warrant a medium-wide release at least.
But yeah, it’s weird that no one bothered to put out a clear one-weekend wonder on 7/13 (Ice Age is kid-niche and could come out anywhere that’s at least a week or two off from another kid movie). I know people are afraid of Dark Knight Rises, but really, plenty of movies get crushed in the second weekend anyway; does it really matter THAT MUCH if Batman opens to $200 million? When The Avengers came out, sure, most stuff dropped 50%+ but lots of summer movies do that anyway. I guess no one wants to admit that they’re a one-weekend movie. I wonder if Rock of Ages would’ve done better in this slot, like how Mamma Mia grossed a ton in Dark Knight’s shadow in 2008… although my theory as to why Rock of Ages flopped (unexpectedly, at least to me) is that Magic Mike somehow took a lot of its audience away. The ladies who would’ve been all about Rock of Ages went to Mike instead (and fair enough, Magic Mike ruled).
But yeah, I think either of those June flops — Rock or Sandler — could’ve at least made some cursory extra money, maybe gotten to 60 or 70 instead of collapsing under 50, if they took 7/13 instead of 6/15.
Not to mention the fact that only one pre-Batman movie (that’s pretty much for kids), then a Batman-only weekend, pretty much assures most things that aren’t direct competition with Batman will have a decent shot at doing well enough on DKR’s second weekend, no matter how big it is.
Also, Lex, WTF is with going private on your Twitter? I wasn’t following you ’cause you tend to post a LOT, but I’d read your feed individually blog-style most days.
What about Easy Money? Is that just a NYC release or is it playing in LA this weekend? Looks pretty good. Apparently Red Lights and EM will only be playing in 2-3 theaters this weekend. Oh and The Imposter sounds good, too. Not sure where it’s playing this weekend.
Red Lights appears to be on one whole screen in NYC (again: how is a supernatural thriller with Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver, and De Niro that’s actually getting at least some half-decent reviews getting dumped like this?). I’m seeing it tonight, and catching up with People Like Us. Maybe seeing the Katy Perry documentary (with medium shame) if I get out of work early. Then catching up with Beasts of Southern Wild and Take This Waltz tomorrow. So it’s actually a busy movie weekend for me, albeit mostly for movies I wasn’t excited enough about to catch earlier.
Do-Deca Pentathalon looks like it might’ve done a one-week disappear — from NYC, where even movies that seem to be officially closed in terms of box office receipts (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World) hang on to a handful of screens.