Two Weeks

So on vacation for last two weeks and after spending days and nights having fun with old friends, going to countless places to eat, talking in cars and restaurant booths, on my second to last night in Chicago, my friend asks me what I want to do. I turn to him and say: I want to stay in and watch a movie. We do, we watch The Visitor. Then the next day I went to the great Century 12 in Evanston and watched State of Play by myself. Then last night when I came back to LA, I watched 3 DVDs before I went to bed. My batteries are slowly recharging.

State of Play

3 ½ stars I don't have a favorite genre, but if I am allowed a type, that type would be intelligent films. All the President's Men, Zodiac, JFK. Movies with intelligent people, doing intelligent things, saying intelligent things, that's it for me.

Ben Affleck plays Stephen Collins, a comer congressman whose top aide is killed/committed suicide at a subway platform. Russell Crowe is a top reporter at The Washington Globe (really the Post) who leads the investigation for the paper. They were college roommates, and the story goes from there.

It's a smart film with a cast of heavy hitters, lead by the always remarkably strong Russell Crowe. Who knows what makes someone a movie star. There are better looking people (Crowe didn't bother to lose his Body of Lies weight for this role), there are funnier people, there are more charismatic people, but the camera respects certain people and he is one of them. He's also one of the few alpha actors out there, and from the moment he appears on screen, downing Cheetos in his crappy 1990 Saab, the character is there, whole, and someone to spend 2 hours with.

Affleck continues his turnaround after directing the very good Gone Baby Gone and is surprisingly up to the challenge, always right there with Crowe, never seeming the least bit over matched. I've always liked Affleck, but his choices have been poor to awful. And his off screen likability (check out his hilarious commentary on the Armageddon DVD) doesn't seem to translate onscreen. But no more action films and he should be okay. The rest of the cast is solid with Helen Mirren, Jeff Daniels, Rachel McAdams, and Jason Bateman, memorably unsettling in a supporting role.

I watch plenty of thrillers/films with mysteries and I find that the biggest commonality is that I usually don't care about anything that's going on. Characters scream and yell but I could care less about who the killer is. Here I was with it at every moment. I genuinely wanted to know what was going to happen next. It's about the death of the aide, it's about corporate conspiracies, and it's about the sad slow death of the American newspaper. It's a lot of great things put together.

Director Kevin MacDonald previously directed the underviewed The Last King of Scotland and the documentary Touching the Void. He's part of a new batch of fantastic veteran Britsh filmmakers who are beginning to do movies over here. Among them Paul Greengrass (Bourne 2&3), Danny Boyle, and Michael Winterbottom (A Mighty Heart). This film sadly isn't getting a lot of buzz. It's based on a wildly successful BBC mini series, but I guess that doesn't mean much here. It just came out in the wrong decade. The 90s loved thrillers. The Firm, Seven, Crimson Tide, Ransom, even the first Mission:Impossible is more of a thriller than anything. The monster sleeper from that decade was The Usual Suspects.

Go check this one out. It's a good one.

Weekly Recap 4/24/09

DVDs Watched this Week: On vacation and haven't watched much of anything
The Good: The Reader, Pulp Fiction, The Untouchables
The Bad: None
The Ugly: Passing Darkness(15 minute short film I was a production assistant on) Best/Worst Line: "I'm not hungry. I want my daddy."

Trips to the Theater: None. What's going on? 4 weeks. Fully intend to see State of Play, The Soloist, and maybe Tyson
Actors of the Week: Ralph Fiennes, Kate Winslet
Directors of the Week: Stephen Daldry
Where'd They Go?: Tiffany Amber Thiessen

Good: Soderbergh and Brad Pitt teaming up for a new film, Blago's reality show dies (if they make a TV movie Bill Pullman should play Rod), Philips 21:9 Widescreen TV http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/13886/philips-21-9-tv-impressive-commercial/
Bad: Transformers 2 human footage looks terrible, Step Up 3D
?: Spider-man 4?

TRAILERS/CLIPS of the Week:

Any Given Sunday

The Reader

3 1/2 stars. The first 30 minutes started not very compelling and I was seriously wondering if I was going to just end it and press eject. The beginning has a lot to do with the May/December romance that was featured heavily in the trailer. It isn't bad, it just isn't that special. I say May/December since "cougar" seems very inappropriate for this film. High school boy, 30 year old woman, he reads to her, they sleep together. Then the hearing starts putting 6 female former Nazi prison guards on trial, one of which is Hanna Schmitz, and the movie took off in a big way.

What was it like for the second generation that came after Nazi Germany? Even if they were too young to have experienced it, what about their parents? What did they know? What did they do? What didn't they do? How can you condemn someone you've had such an intimate relationship with? Does it matter if you learn and analyze, if the people still remain dead? This movie is not about the Jews. It's not about the victims and their suffering. It's about the country who did and has to live with this.

All that being said, it is still very much about the relationship between Hanna Schmitz, played magnificently by Kate Winslet and Michael Berg played by a wonderful German actor David Kross as the younger version and giving another stellar performance, Ralph Fiennes as the older. The movie covers about 30 years in their relationship. But more than anything, I took so much pleasure in having no clue where in the world the story was going. That is a rare and great thing.

Stephen Daldry is a very good director, probably strongest in terms of actors and editing. I enjoyed and admired The Hours and will make a point to finally see the embarrassing to rent Billy Elliott. Screenwriter David Hare is famous more for his stage work, but he's one heck of a screenwriter, writing compelling dramatic films, which let's face it, are very few and far between.

One last note about Ralph Fiennes. He is a monster actor. Schindler's List, Quiz Show, Red Dragon, In Bruges, as well as Voldemort in HP. It's certainly the range, but it's more the commitment to the role. It's full commitment. I can't wait to see what he does next.

Weekly Recap 4/17/09

This poster is ridiculous.

DVDs Watched this Week:
The Good: The Wrestler, Ordinary People (still top 5 of all time), Mission:Impossible, Friday Night Lights Season 1, The Simpsons Season 4&5
The Bad: The Life Before Her Eyes, We Were Soldiers, Notorious
The Ugly: Deep Blue Sea

Trips to the Theater: None. What's going on? I haven't been to the theater in 3 weeks.
Actors of the Week: Evan Rachel Wood, Derek Luke, Timothy Hutton, Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Sutherland
Directors of the Week: Robert Redford
Where'd They Go?: Timothy Hutton

Good: Star Trek will have shows starting at 7pm a day before release, William Hurt joins Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, Parks and Recreation pilot is promising, Terminator the TV series is cancelled
Bad: Rod Blagojevich gets a reality show, PG-13 Red Dawn reboot, Donnie Darko straight-to-video sequel
?: Kal Penn (House) puts his acting career on hold to join the Obama administration?

TRAILERS/CLIPS of the Week: Soderbergh and some 90s.
The Girlfriend Experience


Strange Days. I clearly remember seeing this teaser trailer in the theater back in '95. It is so well put together. The movie is overlooked and not appreciated. Screenplay by James Cameron.


Heat. The Godfather of crime films. Epic and glorious. The gun battle in downtown LA, the infamous coffee shop scene (shot at Kate Mantilini in Beverly Hills), and two monster performances by De Niro and Pacino. The huge supporting cast includes Ashley Judd, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, and Natalie Portman. Michael Mann puts everyone else to shame. You gotta see this one again.

April 2009 Reviews 2 (The Wrestler)

The Wrestler 3 stars. Second time around, it's still brutal. The post-match staple removal might be one of the top most painful scenes in any movie ever. Mickey Rourke is still heartbreaking in a great performance, but the real standout is Evan Rachel Wood (Across the Universe, Thirteen) who is phenomenal as his estranged daughter Stephanie. She hits every beat exactly right and from the moment she walks out of her front door, you can sense years of disappointment and resentment she's lived with. Their relationship is the best part of the movie, although the pull no punches wrestling is pretty good too. Warning that the film is not an uplifting Rocky Balboa. It wants to be truthful about everything, even if that means it not being so pleasant. Definitely a must rental. Out on DVD 4/21.

Notorious 1 1/2 star. I gotta ask, what's the big deal? He was 25, he had one album out when he was shot. His music is great, but his life is hip hop soap opera. Dealt drugs then became a rapper. That's pretty much it. No big obstacles, no memorable triumphs. He has a problem staying faithful to women? Yeah, that's exciting. He had a kid when he was young that he didn't take care of? Woohoo. The only real character is Faith Evans who seems to be a smart, nice talented person who had this strange opposites attract relationship with him. Actress Antonique Smith is very good in the role. Still, everything, including their relationship, feels glossed over. East Coast West Coast, his friendship with Puffy, his relationship with his mother, we don't even get to really experience the creation of his music. And the two most interesting real life characters are pushed way into the background. I don't know if it has any truth, but Kimberly Denise Jones' transformation from department store worker to Lil Kim is much more interesting than anything going on here. And what about P.Diddy? This guy started out as an intern at a record company and built this multi-million dollar empire. Why isn't there a movie about him? Why not a movie about Tupac who is infinitely more charismatic? One strong positive is Derek Luke's hysterically dead on performance of Sean Puffy Combs. The dancing, the speech rhythm, the insane ambition, the narcissism. It's all right on the money. People love Biggie's music, but this movie's not about the music, and it's not about any compelling drama. It's a VH1 behind the scenes special. A bad one at that.

Frost/Nixon 3 1/2 stars. I like Ron Howard. He makes enjoyable films, but with all of his talent and resources, he always seems to make nice/everything is okay in the end movies. None of them stay with me. He's the Boston Market of filmmakers. You like it while you're eating it, but it's not like you look back and say what a great meal. This one is an exception. I saw it twice in the theater. It is way out of left field for him, with the movie having nothing to do with family or marriage being middle class. It's about an incredibly charming, superficial British talk show host going against Richard Nixon. It's an all out prize fight. When you're watching a movie and you are dying to know what's going to happen next, that is always, always a good thing. A great script by Peter Morgan(The Queen, The Last King of Scotland) and strong supporting performances by Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon, and Rebecca Hall. And for all the notice Frank Langella got, I think Michael Sheen is the real strong performance as David Frost. The charm and superficiality just lie on the surface. There is so much going on inside. On DVD 4/21.

The Simpsons and Once

Weekly Recap 4/10/09

DVDs Watched this Week:
The Good: As Good as it Gets, Sphere, Mumford, 2 Days in Paris, The Simpsons Movie, Evolution, 24 Seasons 3&5, The Simpsons Seasons 3,8,9,10,11. The Simpsons has been on TV for 20 years.
The Bad: The Replacements, Go Fish, Thirteen Days, Fist of Legend, The Prophecy, 24 Season 4
The Ugly: The Spirit, storylines involving Kim Bauer

Review
The Spirit 0 stars. Frank Miller must have a thing for eyelashes. All of the women in this movie have these enormous fake eyelashes that probably cause slight breezes every time they blink. That's all that really stands out. It's a bad movie. Bad noir dialogue, bad acting, bad set design, bad casting. Gabriel Macht(The Recruit) is ripped to shreds, but he's one boring leading man. And despite Sam Jackson being one of my favorites, all he gets to do here is do annoying evil Mr. Burns laughs and play dress up with Scarlett Johansson. It's quite something to see a black man in a SS uniform. One nice thing was seeing Dan Lauria who played Kevin Arnold's dad on The Wonder Years in a small role. But the movie has none of the wit of Sin City, and none of its style. And I'd say it's always a bad thing when you don't care about anything that's happening. My city screamed for this movie to end.

Trips to the Theater: None
Actors of the Week: Jack Nicholson, Samuel L. Jackson, Harry Shearer(Mr. Burns, Smithers, Ned Flanders, Rev. Lovejoy, Kent Brockman, Dr. Hibbert, Lenny, Principal Skinner, and Otto)
Directors of the Week: Lawrence Kasdan, director of photography Rodney Charters who shoots 24
Where'd They Go?: Loren Dean, Helen Hunt

Good: Early screenings of Star Trek are very positive, Anil Kapoor from Slumdog joins the next season 24, my top 5 favorite actor Don Cheadle starts filming Iron Man 2
Bad: Potential Butch Cassidy remake, The Brothers Bloom trailer still looks bad
?: Dicaprio producing a live action version of Ninja Scroll?

TRAILERS/CLIPS of the Week:
Tyson


Extract - From Mike Judge, director of Office Space

Weekly Recap 4/3/09

(That DVD cover is for real by the way.)

DVDs Watched this Week:
The Good: Yes Man, Doubt, American Psycho(1st time. Excellent), Notting Hill, Kingpin, Dumb and Dumber(pretty bird, pretty bird, polly wanna cracker?), I Shot Andy Warhol, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Sideways(still great), Something's Gotta Give, Far From Heaven, 24 Season 1, 24 Season 2(the nuke in LA. still the best season)
The Bad: The Day the Earth Stood Still, What Women Want, White, The Notorious Bettie Page
The Ugly: Seven Pounds

VIDEO STORES (there are no more videos, but I still like to call them video stores)
For the Champaign readers, if you don't already know, one of the best places I've ever been to rent DVDs is Rentertainment on 6th Street. Their selection is ridiculous. They have everything. They even have Region 2 special edition British versions of DVDs. I use to do the pre-pay $100/for 100 DVD rentals. That lasted me about a semester.
For Chicago, Facets on Fullerton is so well known they even talk about it out here in LA.
For LA, it's of course Interact in Pasadena or Videotheque in South Pas or Lazer Blazer on West Pico

Trips to the Theater: None
Actors of the Week: Keanu Reeves, Zooey Deschanel, Jeff Daniels, Thomas Haden Church
Directors of the Week: Mary Harron
Where'd They Go?: Jeff Speakman

Good: An Eastern Promises sequel
Bad: Wolverine work print leaks online
?: Screenwriter John Logan(Sweeney Todd, The Aviator) is writing the screenplay for the video game adaptation of Bioshock?, Julie Taymor director of the stage production of The Lion King is directing the stage production of Spider-man?

TRAILERS/CLIPS of the Week:
Zooey Deschanel and Munchausen by Proxy in Yes Man - I'm not your late night booty call.

Fox Stinks Part 2

I was one of the buyer's this happened to yesterday. April Fool's on us.

Fox confused by its own two-tier DVD plan? - April 1, 2009 Twentieth Century-Fox Home Entertainment angered a lot of video rental dealers last month when it announced a new program to distinguish between "sale-only" versions of its DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases, and stripped-down "rental" versions which lack many of the bonus features typically found on major releases. Under the plan, wholesalers are only supposed to sell the rental version to video rental shops, while the sale versions are reserved for "retail" outlets like Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target.

Confused? Apparently, so were Fox's own distribution folks. Deadline Hollywood's Nikki Finke reported late last night that Amazon has been fielding complaints from buyers of Fox's "Slumdog Millionaire" that the discs lack the deleted scenes and making-of featurette promised on the package.

Sounds to me like things went awry at the replication plant and Amazon was shipped "rental" discs in "retail" packaging.

By this morning, Amazon had posted an alert directing consumers to a Fox hotline for replacing the bare-bones discs: DVD Alert: We are aware that special features were missing from a number of Slumdog Millionaire DVDs. Fox has set up a hotline telephone number (1-888-223-4FOX) for those consumers who may have purchased a version that does not contain special features. Upon calling the hotline, these consumers will be able to have their disc replaced for one containing special features. Fox regrets any inconvenience this has caused.

Keanu Reeves Lives

I saw Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure in the 5th grade. I remember lots of girls like my friend Jasmin Hortiliano going crazy for him with pictures all over their lockers and carrying around those embarrassing teen magazines like Bop or Tiger Beat. Of all the actors I thought would still have a career now, 20 years later, I would not have listed Keanu Reeves. He was a doofus in Bill and Ted's and in Parenthood, then he does My Own Private Idaho with Gus Van Sant, then he stars in a really good action movie Point Break, and then an even better one in Speed. This guy's a survivor. I'm astonished he's still around. I think a lot of it has to do with never being pidgeon-holed. He does the action thing, then he does The Devil's Advocate, then a small but scary supporting role as an abusive husband in The Gift. Then of course The Matrix. Who knows where he was on that list, but they went to Cruise, Will Smith, and Brad Pitt initially. For whatever reason, he's perfect as Thomas A. Anderson. His no specific ethnicity thing is so appropriate for the character and for the film. Is he Asian? Is he Native American? What is Keanu Reeves? What land does he come from?

Certainly not all of the movies are good such as Sweet November(blah) or Chain Reaction(ugh), but he's got a good sense of what works for him. Like his nice turn as a love interest and strangely credible doctor in Something's Gotta Give or utilizing the kind of thud nature of his voice in things like A Scanner Darkly, The Day the Earth Stood Still, or Constantine(a movie I think he's really strong in). There's a genuine mysterioso to the guy. Don't know much about his personal life, yet he comes off as a serious person. There's always something going on inside and that is the absolute key to being interesting onscreen. I don't know exactly what brought this on, but it's amazing who survives. Sorry Val Kilmer. Some other big actors around his age during that early 90s time were Emilio Estevez, Christian Slater, and Chris O'Donnell. Where are any of them now?