Discland
edited by Jonathan Doyle
Cloverfield [BLU-RAY] (Paramount Home Entertainment, 6.3.2008) Disguised under deliberately goofy, yet deliciously edible-sounding, aliases such as Cheese and Slusho, Matt Reeves' Cloverfield was produced and rushed into theaters under an equally appetizing shroud of secrecy. From last year's incredibly elusive Super Bowl ad to the film's viral marketing campaign, Cloverfield had everybody scratching their heads and drooling in anticipation. Aside from the as-yet untitled title and the Blair Witch-ian visual style, the film's biggest appeal was the enigmatic creature who was last (un)seen hurling the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty onto the crowded streets of New York City. All we knew about the mysterious beast was that it was big and angry. Now that the highy-anticipated project has come and gone, one question has fortunately been answered: Cloverfield was a major success. (continued)

Upcoming


August 27

Traitor

August 29

Babylon AD

College

Disaster Movie

Goal II: Living the Dream

I Served the King of England

My Mexican Shivah

Sukiyaki Western Django

Year of the Fish

Young People F*cking

September 3

The Pool

September 5

A Secret

August Evening

Bangkok Dangerous

Everybody Wants to Be Italian

Mister Foe

Ping Pong Playa

Save Me

Surfer, Dude



DiCaprio Chasing Leary...Again

What...another story about Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way hitting the gas on a Timothy Leary biopic? (Playwright Craig Lucas and Leary archivist Michael Horowitz have been hired to write a script.) As I've been noting all along, Leo's been half-heartedly stirring the Leary pot for the last few years and nothing's happened.


A trustworthy source told me a few months ago that "there's not a lot of focus" at Appian Way. "Leo is all over the map...he wants to work with Marty on this and that...[Appian Way] doesn't exactly have a center-of-gravity thing going on." The film will reportedly focus on Leary's life between his enrollment at West Point in the early 1940s and his escape from prison in 1970. I've mentioned this about 18 times, but now that Lucas is on the case he should definitely read a superb book about '60s psychaedelia called "Storming Heaven," written by Jay Stevens.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 29, 2006 at 4:37 PM

comment #1

gh says ...

I can't stand Leary as a writer or a human being. I hope the movie is critical of him, and not some retro fetish love letter.

Posted by gh at June 29, 2006 5:21 PM

comment #2

Daniel Zelter says ...

Jeff: I love the irony of you saying stirring the pot in regards to Leary.

Posted by Daniel Zelter at June 29, 2006 5:29 PM

comment #3

graig says ...

Craig Lucas is a very gifted writer...His directorial debut, the dying gaul, is in that catergory of deeply flawed films that I none the less am utterly riveted by -- like The Rapture, Killing Zoe, Dancer in the Dark, etc. My interest in this project just shot up.

Posted by graig at June 29, 2006 7:22 PM

Post a comment