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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

BYOB For The Pre-Labor Day Weekend

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43 Responses to “BYOB For The Pre-Labor Day Weekend”

  1. Paul D/Stella says:

    Premium Rush was OK but nothing special. It’s so incredibly slight. A few hours after seeing it and I’m struggling to remember details. The stunt work is impressive and it’s exhilarating to see JGL dart through Manhattan streets. It’s pretty funny at times. Shannon is entertaining. But the story is weak, and even if it’s secondary in something that’s supposed to be a fun diversion, it’s still a problem. The mystery of what the ticket means isn’t very interesting; the melodrama with the girlfriend and the other messenger is pointless and distracting. It’s not bad, but it’s really not all that good either. Very disposable. I wish I had waited for cable.

  2. Aaron Aradillas says:

    KILLER JOE is a lot of fun. The movie doesn’t have a lot of resonance, except for McConaughey’s amazing perfomrnace. He’s so seductive and smooth that it takes us a minute to realize just how truly evil he really is. The way he says “Put it on” is absolutely chilling. Anyone know why Friedkin chose Clarence Carter’s “Stroking” as the closing-credit song? It’s a good gag, but it really doesn’t fit with what we’ve just seen. It’s like the punk rock music in CRUISING. Disco music was what was being played in those clubs.

    Has anyone seen the DP/30 with Spike Lee? It’s pretty awesome. Lee loses it for a moment, then he teases Dave about improvising. Lee strikes me as someone who tests interviewers to see if they’ll back down. If they don’t he’ll open up. I can’t wait for his OLDBOY.

    Pissiest interview remains Dave’s sit down with Charlie Kaufman.

  3. Tuck Pendelton says:

    Tom Hanks all-time favorite film is 2001: A Space Odessey. And my guess is the reason he were to make a film like Cloud Atlas is that the story and themes resonated with him from that film.

    Sure he’s a big star. One of the biggest. But I bet the idea that he could contribute to a film similar to the one he idolizes so, and what’s the point of having clout if you can’t use it, let’s make this crazy book into a crazy movie.

    My hopes are high.

  4. Paul D/Stella says:

    Wow 2016: Fear of a Black President might make more than Premium Rush in a third the number of theaters. They sure got the word out to the target audience.

  5. movieman says:

    Paul- I read somewhere that local KKK–er, Teabag Party–field offices were coordinating bus trips to “2016.”
    Kind of like with Kirk Cameron’s faith-centric movies, they’re buying tickets en masse and giving them to their followers.
    Of course, I’m sure there’s a big overlap between “Christian” and Teabagger demographics.

  6. Paul D/Stella says:

    Yeah that’s what I expected. Now are we in for a week’s worth of stories about the “shocking” box office of a right-wing documentary and the underserved audience for this type of movie?

  7. movieman says:

    Pity the poor Christian Teabagger whose only multiplex outings are courtesy of bus trips to “2016” and Christian fodder.
    No wonder they’re all nuts, lol.

  8. movieman says:

    …also note that a Mormon-owned NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City has announced they won’t be airing gay-friendly sitcom “The New Normal” this fall.
    And that Million Moms (which I’m assuming is a Christian Coalition type outfit) is calling for a boycott of the show’s advertisers.

  9. chris says:

    Churches were, apparently, working overtime to get the “2016” faithful into theaters. I asked several of the (elderly, all) people at the showing I attended and they each said they heard about it in church and were told specifically where and when it was showing.

  10. movieman says:

    Not surprisingly–if certainly depressingly–Variety’s headline for their Friday b.o. report leads with:
    “‘2016’ stuns with $2.2 mil.”

  11. Pete B. says:

    I don’t think that 2016 is “Fear of a Black President” so much as “Fear of a Lame Duck Socialist President”.

  12. anghus says:

    During the Bush years it was way too easy to get people into the theaters to see Michael Moore’s ridiculously biased propaganda posing as documentaries. So it shouldnt be surprising that Obama is in power and the other side hits the theater for some right wing biased propaganda.

    I find it amusing to watch all the worked up conservatives these days just as much as i did when the liberals were freaking out during the Bush administration.

    Every day i go online and suffer through a thousand facebook/twitter posts from people linking political stories and screaming SHOW US YOUR TAXES MITT ROMNEY or HEY OBAMA, I DID BUILD THIS!

    I like this country a lot better when political opinions werent broadcast every single day. I remember a time when who you voted for was a private thing and you didnt go around yelling about your political and religious leanings. I had a dinner party last week and a couple of people started regurgitating sound bites from the campaign and about five minutes in i declared “no more politics.” They looked so pissed off the rest of the evening. It was like they had watched all these shows and read all these articles and were just so excited to repeat it to a crowd of people. There’s this entire subculture of people i call poser-political. They read websites, watch their preferred cable news network of choice, and can only talk in bullet points. These are the people that will flock to a movie like 2016 because they need a fresh basket of talking points they can regurgitate to friends and family.

  13. Chucky says:

    Obama has governed just like the right-wing bullies who get worked up about him. What the right wing wants is a totalitarian America where nobody questions the government, the military or the police.

    @anghus: One theater chain banned “Fahrenheit 9/11” and at least two others slow-walked it. All 3 had executives who gave big money to re-elect Bush/Cheney.

    @movieman: “Million Moms” is a fake name for the American Family Association, whose agenda is pro-censorship, anti-gay and pro-theocracy. The AFA hates gay men, lesbians, the entertainment industry … and Jews. Naturally the liberal media go soft on these right-wing thugs.

  14. Paul D/Stella says:

    Well I haven’t seen it Pete so I was just making an educated guess.

  15. SamLowry says:

    Whoever put the link on the front page to Neil Armstrong’s death was faster than Google News–they had nothing when I checked. Good job, guys.

    Not once in Farmer: ‘It was the system that failed us’ do we see the words “global warming” or “climate change” to describe the devastation of dairy farms across the country, but one farmer does say he might move his cows to Alaska…because the climate up there’s becoming more like Missouri?

    And yet the right is still pretending this isn’t happening, therefore they don’t have to do anything about it. It’s like watching a team of firefighters show up at an engulfed home only to sit patiently on the lawn until someone admits to starting the fire.

  16. SamLowry says:

    After reading What’s the Matter With Missouri? I was bothered by one question: What sort of “flair” would progressives be forced to wear in Missouri?

    The place is starting to look like Germany in 1930. If you’re even slightly left-leaning and live within a hundred miles of Missouri, LEAVE. Leave now, while you still have a chance.

    You have been warned.

    (BTW, the author–a former Missouri senator–says this rampant statewide extremism is why Akin might still win.)

    I did find this article to be hilarious, though: The Hard Right Is Paranoid About the Wrong Things: “You almost get the idea that if President Obama were to order them killed they’d mind it more if he did it with an agency created by the New Deal than by using a good old-fashioned Predator drone.”

  17. sanj says:

    upcoming title i noticed .. which has oscar written all over it .. will Leo finally get an oscar from this ?

    The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) – Martin Scorsese

    A New York stockbroker refuses to cooperate in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street, corporate banking world and mob infiltration.

    Leonardo DiCaprio – Matthew McConaughey – Jonah Hill
    Jon Favreau – Jean Dujardin

  18. doug r says:

    Sam, the latest poll has McHaskill 48%, Akin 38%.

  19. cadavra says:

    Perhaps the most prescient thing spoken in the past quarter century was Karl Rove’s 2003 taunt to a NY Times reporter: “You people live in the reality-based universe. We create our own reality, and you will have to accept it.” At the time, it was dismissed as the ravings of a madman, but it turns out he was right. We now live in a country where literally millions, perhaps tens of millions, dismiss science, geography, history, mathmatics and even literacy as “leftist propaganda” and believe things that are patently, demonstrably false. Not long ago, a poll–Pew, I think, but not sure–found that 12% of Republicans believe that Hawaii is a foreign country. (Not surprising, given that Cokie Roberts and the rest of the media keep bashing Obama by calling it things like a “foreign, exotic place.”) And if Rush Limbaugh announced that he had “conclusive proof” that Al Gore had a hand in the bombing of Pearl Harbor, by nightfall 25% of Americans would believe it; the fact that he was born more than six years after would be of no consequence to them, because they know what they know, and no amount of facts will change their minds. You cannot reason with people like this, and that is why we are where we are today.

  20. hcat says:

    “that Million Moms (which I’m assuming is a Christian Coalition type outfit) is calling for a boycott of the show’s advertisers”

    Wow, getting people to not watch a NBC show, thats a tough bar to clear. Next they can claim that thier in-school lectures are what’s keeping the band kids abstinent.

  21. SamLowry says:

    Cadavra: Michele Bachmann Groupies Rush To Edit Her History Errors Into Wikipedia

    “Somewhere along the way, Internet nerd chat room Wikipedia became the keeper of Official American History, meaning that American History is now apparently just whatever Americans with Internet access and free time want it to be.”

    In other news, Tampa Authorities Empty Jail In Anticipation Of Mass Arrests At GOP Convention:

    “Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee has ordered the Orient Road Jail, a 1,700 bed prison in Tampa, emptied, relocating some inmates to another nearby prison and releasing others on bond. The entire facility has been transformed into a one-stop booking, detention, and bond-issuance center capable of handling large numbers of arrests, which begs the question: will Tampa police keep demonstrators on a short leash?”

    So if any of these early releasees commits a crime, can we hold the Republicans responsible for being too eager to kick out real criminals so they can lock up protestors instead?

  22. cadavra says:

    “So if any of these early releasees commits a crime, can we hold the Republicans responsible for being too eager to kick out real criminals so they can lock up protestors instead?”

    From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Willie Horton!

  23. sanj says:

    the first episodes of the fox tv series – Ben and Kate and the Mindy project are going to be on the internet streaming this week …

    the office star – Mindy Kaling got her own show cause she wrote it called the Mindy project … weird how nbc didn’t pick it up but fox did .

    both shows air next month on tv ….meanwhile i expect
    millions of people to watch these episodes on the internet
    first …

    nice to see Mindy is too famous for a dp/30 ..just like Tina Fey and Kristen Wigg…does DP not find these girls super extra funny like everybody else – shouldn`t they be part of the famous emmy watch dp30 series by now …

  24. Chucky says:

    Tropical Storm Isaac is doing what demonstrators couldn’t … make the Republican National Convention weak at the knees. Not only that, Isaac is forecast to become a hurricane and make a direct hit on New Orleans. Now that’s karma!

    @cadavra: Who was the first to bring up Willie Horton? It was the sainted Algore back in the ’88 primaries.

  25. SamLowry says:

    “Gore never mentioned that Horton was black; indeed, he never mentioned Horton by name. He merely drew attention, correctly, to the damaging fact that Dukakis had tolerated a furlough program for especially violent criminals in his state even after a horrific incident strongly suggested this was a bad policy.”

    It was Bush’s team that turned it into a racial issue, even putting out flyers implying Dukakis would choose Horton as his veep. Sayeth Lee Atwater:

    “There is a story about a fellow named Willie Horton who for all I know may end up to be Dukakis’ running mate. Dukakis is making Hamlet look like the rock of Gibraltar in the way he’s acted on this. [This was a reference to Dukakis’ search for a vice-presidential candidate.] The guy was on TV about a month ago and he said you’ll never see me standing in the driveway of my house talking to these candidates. And guess what, on Monday, I saw in the driveway of his house? Jesse Jackson. So anyway, maybe he’ll put this Willie Horton guy on the ticket after all is said and done.

    “As was noted at the time by Thomas Edsall of the Washington Post and others, Atwater was pretty clearly equating Jesse Jackson with Willie Horton because both happened to be black. Gore never did that. He never did anything close to that.”

    Oh, and lest we forget, the stinkiest poo flung at Obama came from the Clinton camp, and yet he somehow found it within himself to give her a job.

  26. SamLowry says:

    Hmm, I looked back at that quote and realized Atwater referred to Jackson as a “what”, not a “who”.

    Just sayin’.

  27. christian says:

    I was going to speechify about Rmoney’s racist Birther “joke” (which is what? “I’m a rich white guy who never got questioned by wacko racists!”) and how their ship has left Planet Reality and it’s all over baby blue but Chris Mathews — who I don’t care for — expertly calls out Rance Preibus. Morning Joe and Mika are left sputtering and feigning stupidity. This is awesome:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7ZWnyy6pAw&feature=player_embedded#!

    And what Sam said. The fact that Obama put her Hillary in his administration was proof of his outreach. The Clintonites were ungrateful as usual. The truth is the GOP met on Inauguration Day and said, “We Vill Do Nothing.” And they have. It worked briefly. I think the game is up.

  28. sanj says:

    watched the first episode of the mindy project – tv series …no laugh track – overall it’s average comedy – none of the cast really stick out – its got a basic story …this is the best Mindy Kaling can come up with ?

    its like the time she spent in the office learning
    about how comedy works just went out the window and she’s starting again… maybe it’ll get better.

    overall a 5/10 .

    you all can watch it now on streaming on hulu …

  29. samguy says:

    Damn, all this political back & forth and I just wanted to finally give my review of “When In Rome” which I enjoyed more than any Woddy Allen movie in a spell. Not that it’s one of his best, but for me it was such a pleasure to see him not lifting stories and plotlines from his other movies. (What, no Cole Porter?)

    Ok, maybe the young Americans talked a bit too oddly in that UES lexicon he used back in the 70’s & 80’s, but what the hell? It was fun to see Woody on screen in fine form with Judy Davis to match wits.

    Again, not great Woody, but pleasent enough to getting a gelato at Trescalini on the Piazza Navonna on a warm afternoon.

  30. SamLowry says:

    Oh crap: “Republican Platform Targets Porn

    “Republicans are taking a stiff stance on the dissemination of porn in America, a move that’s sure to arouse parts of their Christian conservative base.

    “Republican officials included language in this year’s convention platform calling for tighter controls on the distribution of pornography…”

    They hate Al Gore so much that they’re willing to destroy the entire reason for the existence of the internet?

  31. sanj says:

    seems like my 4th time trying to get DP to put up the Parker Posey dp/30 and the other Cannes dp/30’s up ..

    there must be some super secret reason why these interviews which are already done aren’t up yet .

    at some point the actors themselves must be a bit angry they wasted time doing something that won’t get posted anywhere ..

    the 2 actors from Beasts of the Southern Wild – also haven’t had their dp/30 put up yet … again…did
    they waste their time ?

    lots of complaints about Premium Rush not getting the attention it deserves – who’s got the power to do interviews ? DP – i really liked Michael Shannon’s last dp/30 ..figured maybe he’d show up again. he did not .

    still don’t know the actors / directors DP can call up personally to set up interviews instead of going through the hard way …

    plus youtubers with real talent haven’t shown up for dp/30 … some super funny people DP is missing out on ….

  32. sanj says:

    when i read this i thought about all the times LexG says stuff like this and goes a bit crazy .

    Sorry, Shia LaBeouf, but you won’t be having real sex in Lars von Trier’s movie

    Despite what Shia’s been saying these past weeks while promoting Lawless, he’s not going to have to put his naked boy-parts near any naked lady-parts in Lars von Trier’s upcoming movie, Nymphomaniac.

  33. sanj says:

    i kinda like Alonso Duralde movie reviews from thewrap … never really read him till this week ..

    his reviews are not that long – offer a lot of detail and he’s pretty honest on what he thinks of the films

    don’t think he actually interviews actors and directors ..

    DP should steal him for MCN …. DP get on that.

    or you link to some of his interesting reviews you don’t agree with …

  34. sanj says:

    just watched Guy Pearce dp/30 …DP finally got around to putting that up.

    standard dp/30 even for 15 minutes – he actually gave answers to questions. Dp missed out on some big movies he’s done that had critical success .. but he did talk
    about The Proposition …and right after i checked out the trailer to that film.

    lets see if he comes back next year… doubt he’ll be back this year… unless DP really wants him back.

    August 2012 was a good month for dp/30 unlike July 2012 which sucked for dp/30’s .

    for a good time call dp/30 had a really crappy background. you were like 10 seconds away from some real sunlight…

    my expectations for tiff 2012 dp/30’s are pretty high …
    lots of interviews with better locations and no sound problems… if actors want to go beyond 30 minutes let them…don’t cut people off at the end in a weird way.

  35. BilboBagginsFan says:

    Sanj wtf

  36. Yancy Skancy says:

    So the MCN home page has a headline about “Zero Thirty Dark” (sic). Is this someone’s way of ‘proving’ it’s a bad title? 🙂

  37. Ray Pride says:

    Pesky English alphabet. Thanks, YS!

  38. SamLowry says:

    Before the official DVD was released in Region 1, someone uploaded their own translation of The Raid: Redemption and, well, it didn’t turn out as well as planned:

    “So wait, the villain’s name is Darkness, and his sidekicks are Besni F**king Dog Enthusiast and Andi Brain Tamovog Business? Do Indonesian people name their babies by whipping dictionaries at passing helicopters and collecting whatever bits float down?”

    And…”After he realizes a raid is underway, Darkness gets on the intercom and offers every tenant in his building free rent if they bring him a dead policeman. Because rent control is a terrifyingly different thing in Indonesia. There’s our premise: A building full of murderous hopeful first-time home-owners versus child-hating policemen. Hey, if we rolled with The Hunger Games’ ‘teenagers kill each other because it’s funny’ premise, we can roll with this.”

    And finally “Look at Lt. Login’s face: That is a man that just found out somebody has been f**king a pillow over his face while he sleeps. That is exactly what my face would look like, if I were to receive that same information: Shock, shame, a little disbelief, some confusion as you try to figure out the logistics of it – do they f**k the pillow first and then put it over your face? Or do they put the pillow down and kind of leverage their legs against the bedframe to – no; no it’s better not to know.”

  39. sanj says:

    watched spike lee dp/30 for third time ..first 15 minutss – half it’s DP fault for asking the same question ..half of its Spike’s fault for not answering it …

    what we get is some super weird interview for first 15 minuts.

    maybe one day some big name media company will pick it up and put it on tv …

    so do i want another dp/30 wit Spike … probably not .

    same thing with Jennifer Lawerence and Todd Phillips …awesome dp/30’s that won’t get repeated in the same way.

    yes i watch way too many of these dp/30’s and yet i try really hard to stay objective about these things.

    you all laugh at me but there are people watching the same episode of seinfeld for the 100th time ..

    some stuff never get boring . some stuff does.

  40. sanj says:

    the little birds dp/30 was one of my favorites and now this …

    indiewire –
    Review: ‘Little Birds’ Has All The Insight Of An After-School Special

    DP your thoughts on this movie since you actually saw it

    also taken 2….whats the point since the trailer gives away the whole thing ? this seems like cash grab.

  41. sanj says:

    another lawless dp/30 … where are the actors for the dp/30’s … DP run out and get Tom Hardy and Jessica Chastain … Jessica should be super easy to get and Tom Hardy might punch you out first…

    i still want a dp/30 for bullet in the face – ifc tv …. its 6 episodes . 2 hours total. its got a kick ass story .
    DP you missing out on some new great actors if you don’t .

    also DP – any new updates on Brit Marling – Liz Olsen …
    and the rest of the sundance actors who kinda make it big but never seem to come back fast enough for more interviews.

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