edited by Jonathan Doyle

Mafioso (The Criterion Collection, 3.18.2008) Nino Badalamenti is a supervisor in a car manufacturing plant who hasn't taken a vacation in over two years. On his way out the door to visit his beloved childhood hometown of Sicily -- with his blonde wife and daughters -- Nino is handed a package by his boss and asked to deliver it to a powerful and influential Sicilian gangster named Don Vincenzo. Once in Sicily, Nino has a hoot seeing friends and family, but his wife has trouble fitting in and is unfairly dismissed as a snob by Nino's family. Even more worrisome, Nino finds himself entangled in an intricate web of secret mafioso dealings and is eventually sent on an unexpectedly... elaborate errand. (continued)

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Second wave of Sundance '08 titles

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A fresh slate of Sundance '08 titles were announced again today -- premieres, spectrum, etc. The pop-through titles are Martin McDonagh's In Bruges (opening nighter), Bernard Shakey's CSNY Deja Vu (closing-nighter), Brett Simon's Assassination of a High School President, Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind, Steven Schachter's The Deal, Rupert Wyatt's The Escapist, Sean McGinty's The Great Buck Howard, Mark Pellington's Henry Poole Is Here, Sharon Maguire's Incendiary, Tom Kalin's Savage Grace, Bill Maher's Sleepwalking, Noam Murro's Smart People, Alan Ball's Towelhead and Barry Levinson's What Just Happened?.

HFPA comedy/musical nominees<< previous | next >>"Sweeny Todd" review

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 29, 2007 at 01:12 PM

comment #1

Mike Schaefer says ...

"Sleepwalking" is by Bill Maher the director, a different guy than Bill Maher the comedian -- speaking of whom, whatever happened to *his* movie about religion?

And when did the Alan Ball movie revert to the "Towelhead" title?

Posted by Mike Schaefer at November 29, 2007 02:01 PM

comment #2

facls says ...

Bernard Shakey, a.k.a. Neil Young

Posted by facls at November 29, 2007 02:02 PM

comment #3

lipranzer says ...

A friend of mine worked on the crew of ASSASSINATION OF A HIGH SCHOOL PRESIDENT. Didn't have an opinion of it one way or the other.

Posted by lipranzer at November 29, 2007 02:07 PM

comment #4

actionman says ...

Very curious about What Just Happened?

Posted by actionman at November 29, 2007 02:08 PM

comment #5

Sean says ...

Schaefer - when the "older guy boinks a high school girl" plotline proved to be so old-hat as to not be controversy-courting enough, I'm guessing.

Posted by Sean at November 29, 2007 02:30 PM

comment #6

thatmovieguy says ...

Actually, the girl was supposed to be 13 -- so I guess she'd still be junior high. I would be surprised if any theater is bold enough to put that title on a marquee. Of course, there are probably a few that won't be bold enough to put the film on the screen, either.

Posted by thatmovieguy at November 29, 2007 02:47 PM

comment #7

George Prager says ...

What about HELL RIDE?

http://imdb.com/title/tt0411475/

Posted by George Prager at November 29, 2007 04:11 PM

comment #8

p.Vice says ...

The change in the name of Ball's movie is appalling -- as Sean suggested, it's an obvious bid for for controversy now that the sex plot proved to be nothing doing up in Toronto. They should have gone with "Sandnigger" if they really wanted to put a few asses in the seats.

I especially love how they do it -- dropping it nonchalantly in at the bottom of a press release, trying not to attract attention but obviously knowing we're going to be sitting here and posting about it on Hollywood Elsewhere. I'm surprised that Wells didn't bite.

Posted by p.Vice at November 29, 2007 08:07 PM

comment #9

Bilge says ...

Let's face it - TOWELHEAD was the original title of the novel, and NOTHING IS PRIVATE is one of the worst titles, like, ever. I'm not surprised they changed it.

Posted by Bilge at November 29, 2007 10:56 PM

comment #10

thatrader says ...

Wow. Sundance is such a bastion of hope for independent filmmakers... just as long as they have independent names like Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, or Robert DeNiro in their film... or your last feature won 6 Oscars including Best Picture... or if we wanna go back a few years, just as long as we have the story of a woman blowing a dog or feature a scene of a woman getting puked on topless.

Posted by thatrader at November 30, 2007 02:08 AM

comment #11

Terry McCarty says ...

Re George Prager's HELL RIDE question:
Guessing from what little I've read that it's Larry Bishop (WILD IN THE STREETS, MAD DOG TIME, KILL BILL PART II) doing an AIP motorcycle (or, as Pauline Kael called it--"wheeler) film homage with a dollop of Sergio Leone on top.

Posted by Terry McCarty at December 1, 2007 12:45 AM

comment #12