MCN Columnists
Noah Forrest

Columns By Noah ForrestForrest@moviecitynews.com

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As a film essayist, the question I get asked most often is, “so, what’s the last good movie you saw?” When I say something like, “well, I just saw Ophuls’ La Ronde and thought it was spectacular,” I’m inevitably met with blank stares. When most people ask about the last good film you’ve seen, they…

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Train Wreck

March 28 , 2010 Opening numbers for weekend freshmen How to Train Your Dragon and Hot Tub Time Machine fell below expectations and for the first time in two months frame revenues lagged behind the comparable 2009 session. Dragon topped the charts with an estimated $41.7 million while Hot Tub slotted third in the lineup…

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Reap What You Til

Til Schweiger is probably the biggest star in the German film industry today. He recalls the rugged masculinity of the likes of William Holden. Schweiger became a star with the release of the social comedy Der Bewegte Mann (Maybe … Maybe Not in the U.S.) in 1994 and has managed a career that has encompassed high and low brow…

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Wilmington on Movies: How to Train Your Dragon, Hot Tub Time Machine, Chloe, and The Eclipse

How to Train Your Dragon (Three Stars) U.S.; Dean De Blois/Chris Sanders, 2010 The visual flash and dash that the new Dreamworks animated saga How to Train Your Dragon pours into its panoramic 3D scenes of ferocious Medieval battle and Viking sea quests — and especially this movie’s Avatar-like flying sequences, with

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Kevin Smith vs. Film Critics

By now you’ve probably heard about this whole  Eric D. Snider, who Tweeted back thusly: “I don’t care what @thatkevinsmith thinks about movie reviews unless he paid to read them.” Let’s be clear here: attending free screenings is a privilege, not a First Amendment right, but it is a privilege that, generally speaking, benefits the…

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The Informant!

An appealing bait-and-switch tale, pretty much based upon true events, Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant!, has been released by Warner Home Video. Channeling William H. Macy, Matt Damonstars as an executive in a large food conglomerate who confesses to the FBI that he has been involved in a worldwide price fixing scam when he is called in on the…

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It’s an (Organic) Wrap

Las Vegas – There was a lot to digest at the recently concluded Showest convention, ranging from matters of life and death (digital conversion, access to diverse movies) to the frankly frivolous (healthier snack foods). On balance, one left with the sense that at least the distribution sector was 1) on relatively stable economic ground and 2)…

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Showest Serves Up Newsworthy-Lite Fare

LAS VEGAS — Exhibitor or journalist, one no longer attends ShoWest for its newsworthiness. Celebrity sightings are duly noted, as are the latest improvements in cookie-dough confections and sneak previews of tent-pole movies. The absence of any real news went out with the administration of the late, ever-quotable Jack Valenti. When Valenti was ringleader of the…

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Showest, cont’d

When ShoWest members couldn’t be found at a screening, seminar, buffet or banquet, they likely were strolling among the booths at the concurrent trade show, noshing on popcorn, hot dogs and soda pop. It’s here that exhibitors traditionally have been introduced to the latest in concessions, projection and other technical equipment, ticketing devices, lighting fixtures,…

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Remakes Galore

I generally shrug when I hear about this or that film being remade or “reimagined” or whatever buzz word that is supposed to make you forget that you’re seeing a retread. I know a lot of people get upset when they hear about one of their favorite films being remade and how it means that…

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Diary of a Wimpy Weekend

March 21 , 2010 There was good response for national freshmen releases Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Bounty Hunter but the third weekend of Alice in Wonderland prevailed at the top of the box office with an estimated $34.6 million. Diary, based on the teen lit favorite, ranked second with $22.1 million; followed…

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A Tale of Two Subtitled Mysteries

Although it’s difficult to argue raw numbers, statistics are only as good as the person interpreting them. Homicides and murders are especially tricky. For example, the rates at which such crimes occur can be slanted to reflect something quite different than whole numbers. In 2008, more than 14,000 “unjustified” homicides were reported to the FBI…

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It Was the Showest of Times, It Was the Showorst of Times

The film industry ought to be giddy. Box office is booming thanks to a pair of 3D movies; namely Avatar and Alice in Wonderland. Attendance is up; people, according to industry statistics, are going more often and rate the experience with four stars. Yet, apart from the rare instance of hyperbole, you’d have to characterize the mood…

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Paris, Texas

Wim Wenders relaxed and off-center 1984 road movie, Paris, Texas, has been released in a two-platter set by the Criterion Collection. The transfer is outstanding. The picture is presented in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 1.78:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The image is vividly crisp and colors are precise…

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I Miss Jude Law

Jude Law has to be one of the most underrated and overexposed actors out there and the two go hand in hand; folks dismiss Law as just tabloid fodder with a pretty face and because of that, I think the public at large doesn’t appreciate him for being what he is. And what is he? …

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From Rapunzel to Tangled? Disney’s Dicey Decision

Hot on the heels of Kathryn Bigelow‘s historic moment as the first female to win a Best Director Oscar for making a decidedly “guy” film comes word via the LA Times from Disney that they’ve changed the title of their upcoming animated adaptation of Rapunzel to Tangled. Apparently someone at the Mouse House did a little research into why The…

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Whole in One

March 14 , 2010 Alice in Wonderland didn’t quite fall by half but its estimated $61.9 million was more than adequate to lead weekend movie sales. Four new releases followed the leader with the most potent being the Iraq War-set thriller Green Zone, which grossed $14.5 million. The beauty and the geek comedy She’s Out…

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Wilmington on Movies: Green Zone, Remember Me, She’s Out of My League, and Our Family Wedding

Green Zone (Three Stars) U.S.; Paul Greengrass, 2010 Green Zone is a sometimes hellishly exciting political war thriller about the

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Tim Burton: Sometimes Being an Auteur is a Bad Thing

As an elitist film snob, I subscribe to the “auteur” theory. I believe that the director is the true author of the film and that it is my job as a film writer to trace a filmmaker’s themes and creative tics through their filmography. When Truffaut wrote about the Auteur theory, he was speaking mostly…

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Thoughts on Oscar Night: Bigelow, Precious and a Screenplay Snub

Finally. History was made Sunday night when Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director. Surprisingly, there’s not been much posturing about whether Bigelow won the award because her work actually merited it above the work of the other nominees, or whether she won because it was “time” for a woman…

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Columns

Gary Dretzka on: The DVD Wrapup: Ophelia, Ambition, Werewolf in Girls' Dorm, Byleth, Humble Pie, Good Omens, Yellowstone …More

rohit aggarwal on: The DVD Wrapup: Ophelia, Ambition, Werewolf in Girls' Dorm, Byleth, Humble Pie, Good Omens, Yellowstone …More

https://bestwatches.club/ on: The DVD Wrapup: Diamonds of the Night, School of Life, Red Room, Witch/Hagazussa, Tito & the Birds, Keoma, Andre’s Gospel, Noir

Gary Dretzka on: The DVD Wrapup: Sleep With Anger, Ralph Wrecks Internet, Liz & Blue Bird, Hannah Grace, Unseen, Jupiter's Moon, Legally Blonde, Willard, Bang … More

Gary Dretzka on: The DVD Wrapup: Bumblebee, Ginsburg, Buster, Silent Voice, Nazi Junkies, Prisoner, Golden Vampires, Highway Rat, Terra Formars, No Alternative … More

GDA on: The DVD Wrapup: Bumblebee, Ginsburg, Buster, Silent Voice, Nazi Junkies, Prisoner, Golden Vampires, Highway Rat, Terra Formars, No Alternative … More

Larry K on: The DVD Wrapup: Sleep With Anger, Ralph Wrecks Internet, Liz & Blue Bird, Hannah Grace, Unseen, Jupiter's Moon, Legally Blonde, Willard, Bang … More

Gary Dretzka on: The DVD Wrapup: Shoplifters, Front Runner, Nobody’s Fool, Peppermint Soda, Haunted Hospital, Valentine, Possum, Mermaid, Guilty, Antonio Lopez, 4 Weddings … More

gwehan on: The DVD Wrapup: Shoplifters, Front Runner, Nobody’s Fool, Peppermint Soda, Haunted Hospital, Valentine, Possum, Mermaid, Guilty, Antonio Lopez, 4 Weddings … More

Gary J Dretzka on: The DVD Wrapup: Peppermint, Wild Boys, Un Traductor, Await Instructions, Lizzie, Coby, Afghan Love Story, Elizabeth Harvest, Brutal, Holiday Horror, Sound & Fury … More

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~ David Simon