Furious on Film Movie News Report 04.23.08

Posted by Arnold Furious on 04.23.2008

Transformers 2 non-news, Verhoeven wants Jesus project, State of the Studios ahead of the Summer, Sam Mendes, Michael Moore gets political, Christopher Walken reads 3 Little Pigs, the ending of a Better Tomorrow II rules you all plus two movie reviews and the Hollywood Whore!

Furious on Film Movie News 04.23.08

Transformers 2 non-news, Verhoeven wants Jesus project, State of the Studios ahead of the Summer, Sam Mendes, Michael Moore gets political, Christopher Walken reads 3 Little Pigs, the ending of a Better Tomorrow II rules you all plus two movie reviews and the Hollywood Whore!

Issue 136

I forewarn everyone right this minute that next week's column won't have a lot of content. I'll be drinking quite heavily over the weekend and there's a PPV so if I actually get anything done outside of the news it'll be a bloody miracle. I will certainly try. Lots of stuff this week though. News, a lengthy rambling piece about the last ten minutes of a Better Tomorrow II, there's some stuff on Christopher Walken, Emilio Estevez's Bobby and Robert Altman's last film. Plus the Hollywood Whore! Enjoy.

HERE IS THE GNUS



Secrets & Lies

Credit: DarkHorizons.com

"Transformers 2" director Michael Bay claims that, short of news that filming is taking place in Philadelphia, everything else that has hit the Net about the upcoming "Transformers" sequel is BS. He says on his official site that "Sorry everyone, everything you are reading (other then we are shooting in Philly) is false. We are going to give so much disinformation on this film to confuse everyone." Secrecy on a project is understandably important, and the respectable way to do it is simply keep quiet - denial or even no response is often the most effective way. Outright misinformation propaganda however is another thing.



Featuring Spidey perhaps?

I read a great review of the first Transformers film. It went a bit like this; I may be paraphrasing, "watching a Michael Bay film is like having an idiot shout at you for 2 hours". Transformers, although I know it was quite popular, was such a terrible film it actually made me hate all of Bay's previous movies because it makes his use of music and camera moves that much more obvious when you look back. Basically if there's ever been a style of film making that is suited to mass market consumption it's Bay's. Zero tact, maximum sales. I did used to like Bad Boys, The Rock and Armageddon but I've discovered that I can't watch any of those films anymore thanks to the Transformers movie. Way to go Mike. You actually degraded your entire catalogue with one film. Like I say, some people liked it but I hated it. I guess if you were attached to the source material (and I don't mean the cartoon series; I had a major love of the comic book series work from Simon Furman) the film never stood a chance but nevertheless it's still horrible. Especially that scene where Optimus Prime suddenly becomes a fucking clown and starts tripping over shit in the backyard. "Oops, my bad". No, Michael, your bad. My biggest disappointment was that the film made a load of money and will inevitably breed a series of bad films that I won't be watching. Well. Maybe I'll watch if the Dinobots are in it but if they screw that up then there's no hope for Bay ever again.

Verhoeven takes on Jesus

Credit: HollywoodReporter.com.

Dutch director Paul Verhoeven will publish his long-awaited biography of Jesus of Nazareth in September. Published by Amsterdam-based Meulenhoff, the book is the result of more than 20 years of research. Over the years, Verhoeven was a regular attendee of U.S. scholar Robert W. Funk's Jesus seminars, which call into question miracles and statements attributed to Jesus. Verhoeven claims to portray Jesus in the most realistic way in his book, co-written by his biographer, Rob van Scheers. One of his conclusions deals with the fact that Jesus was probably the son of Mary and a Roman soldier who raped her during the Jewish uprising in Galilee. Verhoeven also claims that Christ was not betrayed by Judas Iscariot. Verhoeven, who turns 70 in July, has had a lifelong ambition to make a film about Jesus, based on scientific research. Verhoeven decided to write the book to raise interest in the project. His publisher is in negotiations for an English-language translation.



And I forecast right now that no American studio will ever touch this, ever. There's a degree of controversy that sells. Like Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. But his film mainly stuck to religious scripture. Suggesting that the Virgin Mary was raped, regardless of how accurate it might be, is pretty much a slap in the face to the Christian church-going folk of the United States. And believe me there are enough of them to get a good strong boycott going to stop this film getting any box office numbers going. And because it's about Jesus he'll need the Christian's in order to make the movie a success. And that's not going to happen with him wandering away from the Bible. That said; I'd love to see the film made. I think Verhoeven would do a great job with tricky subject matter and would tackle the controversial points head on because he's too old to care one way or the other. He just wants to make his film. I hope it gets made but I guarantee him it'll be a labour of love not a box office success. I, for one, will watch it though sir. Bring on the controversy!

Big ‘state of the studios' update pre-Summer blockbuster season

Credit: Hollywood Reporter.com

With one weekend to go before the start of the year's most important box-office season, Fox is No. 1 in the domestic market-share race with 18.8% and $473 million in 2008 grosses, according to Nielsen EDI data. But No. 2 Warner Bros. -- boasting a 14.7% market share on $370.4 million -- will be gunning to overtake the leader on the strength of a turbocharged summer slate.

By contrast, Fox has charted a more conservative summer course. Its biggest releases include the Eddie Murphy comedy "Dave," bowing July 11, and "The X-Files: I Want to Believe," unspooling July 25.

Warners has films on its summer slate that potentially are higher-grossing but also pricier and riskier. Those include the high-profile film adaptation of "Get Smart" (June 20) and the Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" (July 18). But Warners gutsiest gambit comes May 9 with the release of the Wachowskis-directed "Speed Racer," a PG-rated action film based on a one-time Saturday-morning cartoon.

Sony is positioned third behind the year-to-date leaders, with 11.7% market share on grosses totalling $295.4 million. Its summer sizzle includes Fourth of July weekend opener "Hancock," starring Will Smith, and the Adam Sandler laugher "You Don't Mess With the Zohan," opening June 6.

Of Fox's six wide releases to date, the animated feature "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!" has been the most generous contribution to company coffers and represents the industry's only $100 million grosser this year with $145 million. Other winter hits included the Hayden Christensen fantasy "Jumper" ($79 million), and more recently Fox has seen spring success with the Jodie Foster starrer "Nim's Island" ($33 million).

"We have had this marvellously eclectic slate, which production has delivered and marketing has made the most of," Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder said. "I'm not sure at the end of the year that market share counts as much as profitability, but we'd like to lead in both." Warners' '08 releases have been topped by the $92 million performance to date of the prehistoric adventure film "10,000 BC." "We're in very, very good shape right now, and I think were going to have a record year," Warners distribution boss Dan Fellman said.



Fox has the big hit of Horton Hears a Who pushing up its average. That's been the big success story of the year so far. It also makes the producers of Cat in a Hat look stupid for not animating that film instead of putting Mike Myers in creepy makeup. Seriously that film just wigged me out. I only watched about 5 minutes of it. Christ knows what it did to the kids. Warners have an interesting line up this Summer. I still think Speed Racer has the potential to be a really big disaster but Get Smart and Dark Knight should both hopefully pay off. The worrying thing is that none of those films are original at all. One is based on a cartoon, one a TV show and one a comic book. But they do say that original films are the hardest to sell. Which is so very few people attempt them anymore. Dark Knight is up with Indiana Jones IV on my ‘must see' list of the summer. After all Batman Begins was really good.

and speaking of original…

Credit: Hollywood Reporter.com.

Jeff Daniels and Catherine O'Hara have joined the cast of helmer Sam Mendes' romantic comedy for Universal's Focus Features, which starts production this week in Connecticut. The as-yet named film, which stars Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski, follows the journey of an expectant couple travelling the U.S. in search of the right place to put down their roots and raise a family. Mendes is directing off an original screenplay by Dave Eggers ("Where the Wild Things Are") and his wife, novelist Vendela Vida. Allison Janney, Cheryl Hines and Toni Collette also star.



Where possible always try and remember people in their best light. Mendes is an acclaimed director, and with good reason, having bagged an Academy Award for American Beauty. He also directed the Academy Award winning Road to Perdition. His only film to date that hasn't scored at the Oscars was Jarhead, which was also decent. You can read my review here. Plus this is a fine cast although rom-com's do tend to be quite hit or miss. I don't really know Krasinski but I do like Maya Rudolph. Even in films that aren't great, Idiocracy for example, she comes off as a reasonable talent. And of course the additions of Jeff Daniels and Catherine O'Hara should do the film no harm at all. Should be a good one and a change of pace for the serious Mendes.

Michael Moore adds backing to Obama

Credit: Hollywood Reporter.com.

Michael Moore wants voters in Pennsylvania to cast their ballots for Barack Obama.Moore endorsed Obama in a 1,100-word posting on his Web site Monday. It includes praise for the Illinois senator and harsh words for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party and the Bush administration. Lamenting the lack of a valid primary in his home state of Michigan, Moore writes that Obama's experience and voting record aren't as important as his "basic decency" and ability to inspire. "What we are witnessing is not just a candidate but a profound, massive public movement for change," Moore writes. "My endorsement is more for Obama The Movement than it is for Obama the candidate."

The Oscar-winning filmmaker was hardly as kind to Clinton. "Over the past two months, the actions and words of Hillary Clinton have gone from being merely disappointing to downright disgusting," he writes, saying that she has tried to "smear" Obama -- "Like you were nuts. Like you were a bigot stoking the fires of stupidity."

Most of Moore's ire is directed at the Bush administration "and the permanent, irreversible damage it has done to our people and to this world. I, like the majority of Americans, have been pummelled senseless for eight long years," he writes. "That's why I will join millions of citizens and stagger into the voting booth come November, like a boxer in the 12th round, all bloodied and bruised with one eye swollen shut, looking for the only thing that matters -- that big 'D' on the ballot."



I know a lot of people dislike Moore because of his political views and the way he corrupts facts to suit his arguments. But when he made Sicko he went from being a funny guy who likes to take shots at Republicans to a guy who really cared about his country and everyone in it. He has a lot of belief in what he's doing. He believes he's right and from what I've seen of his work I can't really argue with that. He's better informed and has done far more research into guns, politics and health care than I have. So yeah, sue me, I like Michael Moore. I like Barack Obama too although it does concern me he doesn't really know his politics as well as those he's up against. Of course he's young and idealistic though and that counts for a lot. It'd be a similar breath of fresh air that Tony Blair was to the UK. Even if his vision didn't quite work out in the end he made people feel better about themselves for a while. I think Obama could do that. And it'd certainly help America overcome some it's more deep seeded issues. Like racism. And if the worst comes to the worst it's been a long time since we had a good old fashioned assassination.

SHILL – I, like the majority of people, am a big fan of Christopher Walken. His delivery is superb and I even enjoy his ridiculously hammy turns because it's still Walken and just being Walken makes everything great. Like when he was in Gigli and despite only appearing for about 3 minutes owned the entire film. In fact I've started compiling my own Walken Collection. I already have some of his major performances but now I'm starting to add others. I have to keep them separate from my other DVD's in case they stab them up. And so I present to you Christopher Walken telling the story of the Three Little Pigs…



What do you mean you've never seen…?

Remember in High Fidelity where the potential record buyer is confronted by Jack Black? "Don't tell anyone you don't own Blonde on Blonde?" Well, if you were to enter a serious film buff's rental place, which sadly doesn't exist nowadays thanks to Blockbuster and online rentals, and happened to make a comment about liking movies then I like to think somewhere out there that a clerk still exists who would chastise you for not having seen certain movies. Seeing as that place doesn't exist you'll just have to imagine you're walking into my rental place and happened to mention John Woo and how you saw Hard Boiled after Face/Off and were blown away. But what's that? You've never seen…

#6 A Better Tomorrow II (1987)



I was lucky in the sense that I'm old enough to have seen John Woo movies before he came to the States. So I ended up being really excited when Face/Off came out because they'd given Woo a bit more licence than on Hard Target and Broken Arrow. The first John Woo movie I ever saw was a Bullet in the Head. I must have been about 16 and I was just completely blown away. It was incredible. I saw A Better Tomorrow and the Killer inside of 6 months and later added in Hard Boiled as Woo started his conquest of America. To say I was a fan would be an understatement. It was around the time that Quentin Tarantino was getting really inspired by Hong Kong cinema and there was a good reason for that. It was just so fucking cool. Woo's slow-motion gunfights and Chow-Yun Fat just strolling around with shades on a matchstick hanging out of his mouth would inspire any director to do something cool. City on Fire is often quoted as being an inspiration for Reservoir Dogs but the black suits and buckets of blood were also heavily present in a Better Tomorrow. When Tsui Hark approached John Woo about making a sequel to the hugely successful film he said he wasn't interested but eventually got persuaded to do it. Hark is all over the script, which results in ABT2 losing much of the character work present in the first film but he replaced it with the kind of firefights that Woo was so good at filming. While he probably wouldn't admit it Woo excelled at stylized violence.

The second film is almost a parody of the first. The deceased character played by Fat in the first film is replaced in cliched Hollywood style by his previously unmentioned twin brother. The body count rises from 65 in the first film to a whopping 199 (134 in the last 10 minutes) in ABT2. Chow Yun Fat, who doesn't even appear in the opening 25 minutes, kills 78 people on his own. Most of them in the blood drenched finale. Fat waxes lyrical about death by saying "it's not like in the movies where the dead rise again", clearly making fun of his character's resurrection. The combination of Fat (sometimes yelling obscenities in badly dubbed English) being even cooler than in the original and Woo enjoying a rare opportunity (before coming to the US) of jettisoning most of the plot in favour of good old fashioned firefights A Better Tomorrow II is an outright winner. It's slick, blood drenched and wildly entertaining. The finale at the mansion where the white walls are covered in thick red blood is a crazy visual and just when you think the fight can't get anymore violent out comes a samurai sword. Even though he doesn't get to use it Fat still clips 60 gangsters during the course of the scene. It's overkill heaven to rival the most bloodthirsty of film conclusions and would probably have John Matrix kicking back and saying "that seems a touch excessive". If you've not seen Hard Boiled then watch that first. As in immediately because one of, if not the best, action films ever made. Then rent this for sheer Woo carnage. While his slower moving character based films (A Bullet in the Head, The Killer) are better films A Better Tomorrow II is a great movie. Invite your mates around, crack open a few beers and witness the carnage. Be warned though, you cannot play a "drink when someone gets shot" drinking game with this movie or you will die.

BEST BIT – The ending. For those who can't be bothered to rent it or buy it, which incidentally is a mistake, here's the final 10 minutes of the movie courtesy of YouTube. 134 kills people! Look out for the shotgun kill at 1.35. Awesome. 3.40 "100,000 to the first man to kill one of them". 4.48. Chow Yun-Fat's controlled demolitions company. 5.22. He shot this guy 32 fuckin' times. 6.33. Samurai sword. Also watch out for Chow Yun-Fat crapping himself when the grenade explosion behind the door is far too large.

Sidenote – Every time there's a firefight in a movie I now feel the urge to wave my arms about and shout "there was a FIREFIGHT". Thanks for that Willem Dafoe.



THIS WEEK'S REVIEWS

Bobby, A Prairie Home Companion,

Bobby (2006)



EXPECTATIONS – This week I thought I'd take a look at two films that have amazing ensemble casts. Bobby's cast is enormous featuring 12 or so genuine Hollywood stars (and that's not including Ashton Kutcher, Joshua Jackson or Shia LeBeouf). I thought a compare and contrast with Robert Altman's "A Prairie Home Companion" might be a nice idea. I saw the trailer for Bobby on another film recently and was staggered to see quite so many stars in one place. And even more amazing is the director; Emilio Estevez. Who knew he had so many friends?

TRAILER –



PLOT – The events of June 4th 1968 as seen by an array of fictional characters at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Robert Kennedy is shown in documentary footage.

OPINION – The biggest uphill struggle that Bobby faces as a film is that they don't have anyone cast as Robert Kennedy. It's a powerful role and one that, given the right actor, could have given the film a gravitas that it lacks. The film Estevez has made contains a lot of fluff like Helen Hunt talking about shoes or Lindsay Lohan getting loved up with Elijah Wood or Shia LeBeouf getting stoned. While all of this would have come together very well had the film had a central focal point that existed outside of documentary footage. It's like ordering a steak and just getting the garnish. A potato and some salad. A political question if there ever was one for Emilio Estevez…where's the beef? Emilio clearly thought the documentary footage carried a far greater weight than anything he could create. It's that lack of faith in his own ability, and that of any actor he could have cast in the role, that hurts Bobby ahead of any other decisions he makes. Emilio isn't completely inexperienced behind the camera directing several films earlier in his career (including Men at Work) but the fact he spent 7 years preparing for Bobby suggested it was so much more to him than just a film. Some of the characters are superb. Laurence Fishburne, for example, excels in his role as a chef and his interaction with Miguel (Jacob Vargas) contains the best dialogue in the film. Especially the Malcolm X adapted border line from the trailer. "We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us". Freddy Rodriguez is also very good in his role as a busboy. The kitchen is where Kennedy was shot and oddly enough seems more alive than the rest of the world Estevez has created for Bobby. Maybe it's just that the majority of the cast seem to only get glimpses into their lives and most of them don't have anything of significance to do during their time. Worse still is the film really doesn't have anything to say other than the Vietnam War was bad and ethnic minorities get mistreated in America. Lengthy excerpts from Bobby Kennedy speeches are included and they're more riveting than the dialogue provided by Estevez. It's like he's torn somewhere between Robert Altman and Oliver Stone. And ultimately you can't have both. There are some very strong performances in Bobby (Anthony Hopkins is really good), which prevents it from disappearing entirely into the background of Kennedy's assassination but because that's the focal point and there's no actor to play Kennedy there's not the emotional attachment there should be to the event.

BEST BIT – The bizarre acid trip between Shia, Brian Geraghty and Ashton Kutcher. It's totally out of place and the casting of Kutcher is way off base but the tennis match and the TV out of the window are entertaining. I think Shia's reputation has risen because he stands out in this kind of company.

RATING - ***. It's not as smart as it hopes to be and makes Bobby Kennedy an untouchable liberal icon instead of a human being. The refusal to cast anyone as RFK in particular seems like a foolish move in retrospect. After all people have played God in movies. The cast delivers where it gets the chance to though and with that sheer number of stars onscreen you know someone will eventually hit a home-run.

A Prairie Home Companion (2006)



EXPECTATIONS – Robert Altman. One of the great directors of all time. Director of MASH, the Long Goodbye, McCabe & Mrs Miller, Short Cuts, the Player and Gosford Park. This was his final film before passing away late in 2006. He was near the end while making a Praire Home Companion. So much so Paul Thomas Anderson was on standby to finish the film if Altman died during filming. I'm glad he got the chance to make one final film. I have the benefit of watching A Prairie Home Companion and knowing that it was Altman's last film.

TRAILER – I don't have one but here's a clip from the film featuring Woody Harrelson & John C. Reilly making the most of the ‘final show'.



PLOT – It's the final show of A Prairie Home Companion. Host Garrison Keillor has the usual show lined up as the Axeman (Tommy Lee Jones) drives in from out of town to close them down for good. Doorman Guy Noir (Kevin Kline) has become especially nervous after seeing a woman dressed in a white trenchcoat (Virginia Madsen) hanging around the set. The rest of the cast (Woody, Reilly, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin) just get ready as per usual telling old stories.

OPINION – It's appropriate that Altman's final film is dedicated to saying goodbye in a funny way. Going out with a smile and making light of the Grim Reeper knocking on your door. It has his offbeat humour in spades and flows so smoothly that it should be a lesson for any potential filmmaker on how to capture a slice of life. The whole film is practically one scene and the 105 minute run time just flies by as a result. We open with Molly (Maya Rudolph) trying to persuade Keillor to go onstage but she's heavily pregnant and can't force him out of his make-up room. Especially not when there are stories to be told and John C. Reilly is taking an interest. This is interspersed with Kevin Kline doing an assortment of prat falls with a comic timing few actors have mastered. His description to the stage manager of Virginia Madsen is so brilliant. Here's a sample; "She had a Mount Rushmore t-shirt on, and those guys never looked so good. Especially Jefferson and Lincoln. Kind of bloated but happy." Unlike in Bobby, the director knows his talent and plays them to their strengths. Lily Tomlin as the short tempered sister while Meryl Streep plays the hippy chick opposite her. The combination of the two provides the film was some great moments as does Woody Harrelson & John C. Reilly. Reilly's assertion that he met Harrelson when playing back-up for Johnny Cash in San Quentin prison, where Harrelson was an inmate, is one of the funniest bits in the film. The comedy is constant and light-hearted. It makes it easy to let the movie just wash over you. I started counting how many times Kevin Kline caught his fingers in a door. His noir-ish character seems like it dropped out of a different decade and yet it's Kline's best performance in years. The film had strong support on release from reviewers but in retrospect the film is even better. It's a final goodbye from Altman. Going out with style and leaving the audience with a grin. One of the last shots in the film sees Kline alone playing a piano while movers take out the set in the background. Seeing as Kline's character narrated the film it felt like Altman himself was saying goodbye. Rolling out his movie set and taking it in one last time before getting up and heading for the door. I know the film won't appeal to a lot of people (some people flat out don't like Altman because of the way everything overlaps and people talk over each other) but I'm not a lot of people. I'm me. And I loved it.

BEST BIT – Kevin Kline accidentally involving Altman in his own film by hitting him in the head with a champagne cork. "Sorry" he responds, in character, and carries on with the scene.

RATING - ****1/2. A whimsical conclusion to a wonderful career. Altman's final film is as much about the joy of life as its inevitable conclusion but Altman doesn't stray away from death. He's staring it in the face and smiling. Right up to the bitter end. While it can't compare with his best work it has all the traits of it. A pleasure to watch although a love of Altman's particular style is required.


HOLLYWOOD WHORES

I have a weird thing about tying stuff together. I started work on a feature this week for a future column about an entire series of films. I started it, yesterday in fact, by writing about the Pink Panther (the original one). The idea being that I'll re-watch the entire Panther series and vent my opinions on them in one big column somewhere down the line. Well although there are no whores in the Pink Panther one of the stars of the film is Claudia Cardinale. She has played a whore. And a rather famous one. Although technically she's a former whore in her role she appeared in Once Upon a Time in the West as a prostitute (ex).



And you'd better believe that qualifies her. She's known for having her accent heavy voice dubbed repeatedly and claims to have never gotten naked on film. MrSkin disputes that claiming the "Professionals" as being a decent flick. It's got tits but no bush.



That's Hollywood Whores this week. Six lovely ladies are now in the books with many, many more to come.



You stay classy…The World.