Furious on Film Movie News Report 06.25.08

Posted by Arnold Furious on 06.25.2008

Mark Millar’s next, Salvation Boulevard, Linda Lovelace, Brian Clough, third Ace Ventura, double shots of Jodie Foster and a review of Day Watch!

Issue 145

I have a horrendous hangover today. It was so bad earlier on that I had to go back to bed. I don't even remember the last time that happened. So I ended up getting up around 5pm.

HERE IS THE GNUS



Mark Millar lines up next project

Credit: ComicBookResources.com

Mark Millar is already knee-deep in his next movie adaptation, a live-action version of he and John Romita, Jr.'s Icon series "Kick-Ass" which is heavily rumoured to be co-written and directed by "Stardust's" Matthew Vaughn.

"I'm working as a producer on ['Kick-Ass'] as well, so I've been involved for about eight months, believe it or not," the writer said. "The comic didn't come out until February, but we made the deal on the movie back in December. The script was finished six months ago, and it starts filming on location in New York in August. So it's moving really fast."

In terms of the talent involved, Millar played coy, but did note that all the pieces had fallen into place to make "Kick-Ass" er...kick-ass. "The casting's all been done, and everything's all in line now with that. There's two big names attached, which I can't mention so we can get on the cover of 'Variety.' And now we've got everyone. The kids who show up at the end of issue #3 - we just cast the girl, and that was a really tricky one because we needed to find someone who could do martial arts stuff. So the whole movie's ready to role."



The world of comic book adaptations is becoming increasingly viable, which is leading to some of the comic book world's best writers getting involved in Hollywood. Frank Miller started this trend by working with Robert Rodriguez on Sin City. Mark Millar is clearly looking to follow in his footsteps. And who can blame him? There's big money in these adaptations. Just this month we have Millar's Wanted coming out. We just came off Ironman and Hulk movies. Dark Knight is this coming month and so is Hellboy 2. It seems every week is loaded with new news about future comic book adaptations. The great thing with the writers actually getting involved in the adaptations is that we should see improved writing in the movies. After all some of the worst adaptations of recent years have been down to the original writer not wanting to get involved. In particular Alan Moore. His work has been pretty badly butchered. Although next year sees his best work, Watchmen, get the big screen treatment. Here's hoping all this geeky coolness continues.

Salvation Boulevard already optioned

Credit: Variety.

Mandalay Independent Pictures has acquired screen rights to "Salvation Boulevard," the upcoming mystery novel by Larry Beinhart. George Ratliff will write the script and direct.
Mandalay will finance, produce and develop the project.

"Salvation Boulevard," to be published in the fall by Nation Books, has a satirical bent targeting organized religion.

The story revolves around a private detective who investigates the killing of a professor. The exercise proves to be a clash of faiths: The detective is a born-again Christian, the dead man an atheist, the accused killer an Islamic foreign student and the D.A. is Jewish.



Beinhart's last book conversion was Barry Levinson's Wag the Dog in 1997. That was based on his 1993 book American Hero. He's written seven books but this forthcoming eighth may be his most controversial yet. He's a very political writer but he references the Blues Brothers in his blog so I have big hopes for how this book and movie will turn out. If it's as clever as Wag the Dog it should be a good read/watch.

Lovelace biopic going ahead

Credit: MTV News

"You might remember a little while back when one of our favourite funny women, Anna Faris, broke the news to MTV that she was making plans to get dramatic with a biopic about porn actress Linda Lovelace entitled "Inferno." Naturally, when we caught up with the "Scary Movie" star recently, we had to ask her for an update on the intriguing project.

"We're still trying to put it together," explained the affable actress, who will reportedly be appearing opposite Sam Rockwell in the flick. "I'm going to do ['Observe & Report' with Seth Rogen] first, and then hopefully we'll get together for the summer."



Interesting choice of role for Anna Faris. She's been mostly in lightweight comedies so far. The Scary Movie franchise and My Super Ex-Girlfriend among them. She's also had bit part roles in Brokeback Mountain and Lost in Translation. Playing a lead in a movie about a porn star turned bitter anti-porn campaigner should be interesting. Especially if they don't just cover Deep Throat and go into some depth. After all Lovelace had hepatitis, claimed Deep Throat was like being raped and died penniless in a car crash in 2002. All I can say to Anna Faris is; good luck. After all playing a lead role in a serious drama isn't something you just drop into. It could easily go one of two ways. I actually hope it's the making of her.

Ace Ventura Jr?

Forgive me if this is old news but I happened to notice the release date had been set for September this year and I looked at the title and said "really?" Well, I guess if they can do Son of Mask they can tarnish the name of another Jim Carrey comedy with a straight to DVD sequel that no one wants to see. Given both Son of Mask and Dumb and Dumberer were so stupendously awful I really can't conceive of how bad this will be. 13 year old Josh Flitter will play Ace Ventura Jr, probably doing a really lousy Jim Carrey impression along the way. What is with studios wanting to do these sequels no one wants to see?

Old Big ‘Ead biopic on the way!

Credit: Variety.

Brit thesps Stephen Graham ("This is England"), Martin Compston ("Sweet Sixteen") and Peter McDonald ("When Brendan Met Trudy") have joined the cast of "The Damned United," a biopic of legendary English soccer coach Brian Clough adapted for the screen by Peter Morgan. Michael Sheen (previously announced) plays the egotistical and eccentric Clough in the film, which examines his ill-tempered and short-lived tenure as topper at Leeds United in 1974.

Graham plays Leeds United captain Billy Bremner -- Clough's chief nemesis. McDonald and Compston will kit up as players Johnny Giles and John O'Hare, respectively.



Ah, Brian Clough. One of the best managers the game has ever seen. He took Nottingham Forest to the giddying heights of European champions. They've never been the same since his departure. This has potential to be that rare, rare commodity in films; a good movie about football (soccer to the American audience). Not including Escape the Victory movies about football usually suck. But this has two things going for it; 1. An enormous character in Clough, one of Britain's most beloved and outspoken managers. 2. An actual storyline arc that's self contained and doesn't cover a long period of time.


That's the news for this week.

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 Peter Jackson. But what's that? You've never seen…

#15 Meet the Feebles (1989)



Peter Jackson started out life making low budget films that generally were gory, violent and helped him become a figurehead for low budget horror nerds along with Sam Raimi. After cutting his teeth on 1987's Bad Taste the New Zealand director had a pop at something a bit more challenging. Meet the Feebles is one of those films that if you've seen it and it connects with your sense of humour then it'll always stick with you. Described as "the Muppets on acid" it contains no people whatsoever with all the characters appearing being puppets. And what a collection. The cast of characters are all performers in a variety entertainment show with acts like singing, knife throwing and so on. It's basically the Muppets…except for all the violence, drugs and foul language. Everyone has their own favourite character but for me it has to be Wynyard. The smack addicted Vietnam veteran whose got a serious case of the shakes thanks to Trevor (a rat, drug pusher and maker of pornography snuff films) refusing to sell him anymore drugs until he gets the money he's due. The hero of the piece is new boy Robert (a hedgehog who can't pronounce his R's) determined to win the heart of a poodle chorus girl. Meanwhile we follow the fortunes of the other major cast members. Heidi (a hippo) is the star of the show but has a serious weight problem thanks to binge eating because of her failing relationship with producer Bletch (a walrus). Bletch himself is running drugs on the side along with other shady deals. The host of the show Harry (a rabbit) has been struck down with myxomatosis and has less than 12 hours to live. All on the day of the show going out live. I remember when I first saw Meet the Feebles in high school and was amazed that such a film even existed. It's a mesh of about a dozen genres crossing over from musical to puppet exploitation to monster movie to love story at will. It contains a ridiculous amount of vomit, sex (in one scene a cockroach fucks a cow) and violence (the carnage that is the films blood soaked conclusion is one of the great cinematic endings). I find women don't care much for it because it's cheerfully sexist, not to mention racist, and yet it's so hard to be offended by the movie. I personally love it.

BEST BIT – "The Frogs of War". A mix of parody, racism and violence it's like watching a tiny movie within a movie. LYNDON JOHNSON IS VERY BAD EGG!



THIS WEEK'S REVIEWS

The Brave One, Day Watch

The Brave One (2007)



EXPECTATIONS – Neil Jordan is a really hard director to pin down. There's not really such a thing as a Neil Jordan film. His most famous film is Interview with the Vampire or perhaps the Crying Game depending on how your memory works. And those were two vastly different flicks. He's also run the gamut of production from Mona Lisa to ghost movie High Spirits to cross-dressing gun running in Breakfast on Pluto. You never know what you're about to get with a Neil Jordan film. Perhaps the only constant is a modern day setting but even then he shot Michael Collins. With the Brave One it seemed easier to pin down his target audience with this vigilante movie.

PLOT – When talk radio DJ Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) and her fiancé David (Naveen Andrews – killed off after about 5 minutes of screentime) are attacked by happy slapping muggers near Stranger's Gate in New York she spends three weeks in a coma before transforming herself from mild mannered and softly spoken to quietly confident vigilante. On the trail is Detective Mercer (Terrence Howard) who forms a relationship with Bain based on the killings.

OPINION – The Brave One is far from original. In fact it sits amongst a throng of new age vigilante movies that seem to be coming thick and fast all of a sudden. UK film Outlaw (which is terrible) and Kevin Bacon's Death Sentence released around the same time. It seems there's a market for such scripts as once again people are ready to feel afraid to walk the streets at night. There have been incidents of late where kids on the streets have gotten out of hand and someone has ended up dead. That part is believable. Erica's sudden urge to get revenge is fine. What isn't quite so fine is the streak of coincidental meetings that allow Erica to run into other scum on street corners and pick them off. How many wrong turns can one woman make in a week? She even questions this herself saying she finds trouble attracted to her…or maybe it's the other way round. The film isn't particularly plausible. Thanks to the directing of Jordan and the acting skills of both Jodie Foster and Terry Howard its not a bad film though. It's well paced and although the script is flat the performances aren't. Foster gives a meaningful performance in the lead giving her character shaded rather than black and white. She ended up nominated for a Golden Globe, which is saying something when you consider the exploitative nature of the film. It's almost like the film was shot in the 1970's. It has a retro vibe and seems to hail from a darker time. I know there are people out there who believe the world is going to hell and there's a great phrase that "every liberal is a mugging away from being a conservative" but this just doesn't seem like a real world. It's like the whole movie is Erica's nightmare and she's due to wake up at the end with Naveen Andrews getting out of the shower. Considering they were due to be married David and Erica have next to no chemistry. I don't think the marriage would have lasted. Jodie Foster is great onscreen with Terry Howard though. Probably due to that actor's personality and charm. He's recently appeared in a string of successful roles following his breakthrough on Hustle & Flow and his work here is exemplary as always. As if the weak subject material doesn't really matter. He just wants people to remember how good he was when they leave the theatre. Like Gene Hackman. And while he doesn't overshadow Jodie Foster, as he's aware that she's the star and backs off when she's onscreen somewhat, every time he shares a scene with someone else he's head and shoulders above them. I just wish he got more starring roles. He always seems to be the buddy.

BEST BIT – There's a really well shot scene where the paramedics are checking Erica's body for damage intercut with David caressing her spine in a flashback. Really great imagery from Neil Jordan.

RATING - **1/2. The performances and direction save a potential turkey from occurring. Quite why anyone involved in this wanted to shoot the script is beyond my comprehension. The clunky screenplay hinders the film from reaching higher ground but kudos to everyone else involved in making a dumb movie seem more bearable.

Day Watch (2007) aka Dnevnoy dozor



EXPECTATIONS – I reviewed Night Watch for 411 way back in Furious on Film #65. We had to wait several years for a follow up but Timur Bekmambetov returns here. He's now moved to Hollywood and shot his first flick Wanted this year. If it has anything like the level of excitement he usually throws out there it should be gold. The planned third film in the series (Dusk Watch or Twilight Watch) doesn't look likely to go ahead because there's no script. Timur himself said so when interviewed about Wanted.

TRAILER –



PLOT – Night Watch cop Anton returns after the film Night Watch. This time he's in pursuit of the Chalk of Fate. A piece of chalk that can change reality. Meanwhile dark leader Zavulon is using Anton's own son Yegor against the side of light in order to kick-start the war again. Anton finds himself in middle of all this and framed for murder.

OPINION – I didn't realise how attached I was to the characters from Night Watch until I saw this movie. Anton, Olga, Geser and Svetlana are all back. Yegor has turned into a right little shit since deciding to join the dark side at the end of Night Watch and the world is generally going to hell with mosquitoes everywhere. The film is at least as dark as Night Watch although it has some serious pacing and storyline issues. It's 35 minutes before a lot of the supporting cast turn up and then they own huge chunks of screentime. Especially Olga who takes over the lead for about 15 minutes. During which Anton, the actual lead, appears only once. It's also visually less striking than Night Watch in many ways although it seems they saved the entire budget for the film's conclusion. That budget; $4.2M. Less than the original and it still looks almost as good as some American films that cost $150M. It makes you wonder why they didn't bother dubbing it to make it more US friendly. It took $37M in Russia alone and had a lot of crossover appeal due to the huge action sequences. Although most of those aren't a par on the original. Where it does kick into a higher gear is around the 2 hour mark where Bekmambetov gets a little tired of not destroying stuff and obliterates the entire of Moscow…with a yo-yo. The apocalyptic conclusion is great stuff and makes up for some sub par and puzzling plot beforehand. The maguffin is frankly ridiculous but it does allow the film to come to a neat conclusion, which explains why the opening film ended up on such a downer. The third film seems unlikely to happen and based on this one it'd be pointless to boot. I think both films played back to back would make one big excellent film.

BEST BIT – Yegor's yo-yo attack on Svetlana that leads to a supreme amount of carnage. All because he couldn't handle his Dad having a girlfriend.

RATING - ***. Not quite the film that Night Watch was but it's just as inventive with it's action sequences. I'd recommend watching them both together.


HOLLYWOOD WHORES

Jodie Foster. Taxi Driver.



Jodie Foster starting acting at the age of 2 and made her TV debut before she was 7 years old. By the time she appeared in Disney flick Napoleon and Samantha in 1972, aged 10, she was a veteran of 12 TV shows and 3 TV movies. She first appeared in a Martin Scorsese film in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore in 1974. She must have impressed because Scorsese cast her again in Taxi Driver.



Just barely into her teens she played a hooker under the guiding pimp hand of Harvey Keitel. Robert De Niro played cabbie Travis Bickle, potentially an assassin, who uses his anger and gunplay to ‘save' Iris (Jodie Foster) from her lifestyle.



Despite her long career Taxi Driver remains one of Jodie's most famous roles. Perhaps only outdone by her turn in Silence of the Lambs.




Jodie Foster, ladies and gentlemen.



You stay classy…Planet Earth.