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

Contempt

email this story
read comments (28)
post a comment

Some Came Running's Glenn Kenny feels that a certain James McAvoy line in Wanted -- "Six weeks ago, I was ordinary and pathetic, just like you" -- indicates that screenwriters have contempt for their audience. "What is this bullshit?," Kenny asks. ""Have screenwriters become so defensive /resentful on account of churning out quasi-nihilistic, faux-convoluted, graphic-novel-mytho-Babel tripe like this that they feel compelled to lash out at the audience that laps their nonsense up?" Uh, yeah...kinda.

A gaffe, as Michael Kinsley famously wrote, is when you blurt something out that everyone knows to be true (like Samantha Power calling Hillary Clinton a "monster") but which you're not allowed to publicly acknowledge. And in a way, Kenny seems to be saying, that Wanted line is a kind of screenwriter's gaffe -- a confession of loathing for the unwashed masses that kind of "slipped out" and wound up in the Wanted screenplay. (Which is attributed to Michael Brandt, Derek Haas and Chris Morgan.)

The Hollywood elite, trust me, think very little of ticket-buyers in general. Once you've made it to a certain level in the film industry and have begun to run with the truly cool and connected and earn serious dough, you don't relate to average stiffs. Big Talent tends to look upon regular moviegoers as prisoners of a sort, living in a comfortable penal colony that allows them to indulge in all kinds of perks but keeps them prisoners all the same. (You know...like the way things are in The Matrix.) I'm sorry if this sounds cruel.

Talk to talent on E.T. or Extra about the fans and they'll go "we love 'em all!" -- but that's public relations. Remember John Lennon's lyric about how "you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see"? That was another "uh-oh...a celebrity just said what he should have kept quiet about." The real truth about things only comes out when someone is tired or arrogant or involved in primal-scream therapy and the obiter dicta -- the words in passing -- just tumble out.

I was doing an interview in 1982 with actor Paul Land, who played the "Tommy Dee" character in Taylor Hackford's The Idolmaker. Land, whose people skills weren't that great, was talking about his life before he became a successful actor, and he said at one point, "I was like you back then!" Me, he meant -- a low-rent schlub, struggling to survive. I understood what Land was basically saying and I didn't take offense, but the publicist in the room noticably stiffened and went "aaahh."

Wait...Harry's Cool<< previous | next >>Prayer

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 3, 2008 at 2:02 PM

comment #1

George Prager says ...

At them same time, they think they are pandering to the delusions of grandeur that help get the fanboys through the day. In TRUE ROMANCE, this attitude is reversed: the world doesn't know that the fanboy is cool and is just waiting to catch up.

Posted by George Prager at July 3, 2008 2:46 PM

comment #2

JChasse says ...

It's the sentiments expressed in the last two pages of the comic book... oops, I ment to say "graphic novel". So, they were just staying true to the source.

Posted by JChasse at July 3, 2008 2:46 PM

comment #3

Alan Cerny says ...

Yeah, Jeff, it's straight out of the comic.

Go to a bookstore today and check out the last two pages. You'll see Eminem claiming he's fucking you in the ass.

It's not a very good comic.

Posted by Alan Cerny at July 3, 2008 2:48 PM

comment #4

p.Vice says ...

This is why someone (can't remember who) pointed out last week that the film plays like a mass-murderer recruitment video. I've never seen a film so eager to have the audience identify with a feeling of empowerment that comes with picking up a gun and shooting people.

The U.S. military will find a lot to value in this film.

Posted by p.Vice at July 3, 2008 2:55 PM

comment #5

btwnproductions says ...

Land (real name Paul Calandrillo) now works in construction in NJ, though an IMDb commenter says he's dead. But working in construction in NJ following a failed Hollywood career is perhaps a kind of death. He is like us all now.

Posted by btwnproductions at July 3, 2008 2:56 PM

comment #6

Mjs says ...

"Have screenwriters become so defensive /resentful on account of churning out quasi-nihilistic, faux-convoluted, graphic-novel-mytho-Babel tripe like this that they feel compelled to lash out at the audience that laps their nonsense up?"

That is by far some of the worst writing I've ever come across.

Posted by Mjs at July 3, 2008 3:08 PM

comment #7

Fien Print says ...

When all is said and done, the theme of the comic is very much, "If you're living your life in a consumerism-induced coma, you don't get to complain if a massive, evil supervillain conspiracy takes over the world and anally rapes you while you're snoozing."

I'm not reading anything into it. The comic pretty much says that in the end. It's not very, um, subtle.

But the point is that we're all complacent and unaware of the dark powers ruling our lives. The comic doesn't really offer any alternatives to being a sheep except that when you find out your dad was a super-assassin for said evil supervillain conspiracy, you should find a way to destroy the conspiracy. Otherwise, you're SOL.

The movie has its own different weird morality wherein it's completely acceptable to kill one person or 50 people or 1000 people if there's a societal good. The only problem is if you start disobeying the Fruit of the Loom of Destiny.

Posted by Fien Print at July 3, 2008 3:17 PM

comment #8

gruver1 says ...

Wells to Mjs No, it's not -- it's fine. You have to let go to write well.

Posted by gruver1 at July 3, 2008 3:18 PM

comment #9

Mjs says ...

"No, it's not -- it's fine. You have to let go to write well. "

Oh, forgive me. I didn't explain that I was writing my own opinion, and wasn't worried about yours on that particular issue. And yes, that is some horrendous writing. It's not fine, it's shit.

Posted by Mjs at July 3, 2008 3:20 PM

comment #10

MPNeeb says ...

""It's the sentiments expressed in the last two pages of the comic book... oops, I ment to say "graphic novel". So, they were just staying true to the source.""

Yeah, those last two pages made up my mind that, if I ever wanted to read / watch Wanted ever again- I'd use extra-legal means to do it and not spend money for the experience.
One of the main problems with the comic is, with its conceit as being set in a world where evil won, none of the characters never really engage in evil activities. It's evil as imagined as a spoiled brat smoking a weak joint in between classes at Crossroads, who may have heard about Hitler on the internet, but couldn't find Poland on a map.
But then I didn't get "super-powers" from my daddy so I guess I'm just like the rest of you. (Another conceit from the comic and movie that fits America in 2001-09 far more uncomfortably than we admit).

Posted by MPNeeb at July 3, 2008 3:24 PM

comment #11

StoneFan1 says ...

Who the fuck is Paul Land?

Posted by StoneFan1 at July 3, 2008 3:26 PM

comment #12

mitchtaylor says ...

Why is everyone acting like Wanted is worse or more callous than Iron Man or every other comic book movie that features an all-powerful ubermensch whose powers allow him to transcend "normie" morality? At least Wanted is honest and not, aw shucks, about it.

Posted by mitchtaylor at July 3, 2008 3:28 PM

comment #13

George Prager says ...

"Oh, forgive me. I didn't explain that I was writing my own opinion, and wasn't worried about yours on that particular issue. And yes, that is some horrendous writing. It's not fine, it's shit."

Princess and the fuckin' pea over heah...

Posted by George Prager at July 3, 2008 3:30 PM

comment #14

T. S. Idiot says ...

"The Hollywood elite, trust me, think very little of ticket-buyers in general. Once you've made it to a certain level in the film industry and have begun to run with the truly cool and connected and earn serious dough, you don't relate to average stiffs."

Isn't this true of anyone in show business, the arts, big business, academics, politics, etc.? Who anywhere relates to ordinary folk?

Posted by T. S. Idiot at July 3, 2008 3:38 PM

comment #15

corey3rd says ...

no matter what you say, somebody will become ugly and claim it's a slap in their face.

Posted by corey3rd at July 3, 2008 3:56 PM

comment #16

Richard_Stone says ...

I'm sure the majority of the target audience for Wanted already has a deep well of self-loathing. The "just like you" line is more pandering than contemptuous in my estimation.

Posted by Richard_Stone at July 3, 2008 4:08 PM

comment #17

LYT says ...

At the same time, Hollywood is also busy churning out movies about how horrible it is to be successful because you're neglecting the family back at home.

Just saw Jersey Girl on TV the other night and that really rubbed it in. Ben Affleck's character is a great publicist, and he's going to give it all up to be a garbageman just because his father doesn't want him to move out of their house in Jersey, and his daughter's afraid of moving to New York.

Posted by LYT at July 3, 2008 4:08 PM

comment #18

Shane says ...

The last two pages of Wanted the comic.

Posted by Shane at July 3, 2008 4:34 PM

comment #19

MilkMan says ...

Paul Land looked like a cross between Travolta and Richard Ramirez, and acted like it too.

"Here comes my love," said Paul Land.
"Sweet little lover be mine, ooh baby, little lover let your heartlight shine," said Paul Land.

Paul Land was in Spring Break. Didn't have a lot of lines. I think he took the job so that he could have an excuse to go to Spring Break in Daytona.

My sister had a crush on Paul Land. I couldn't understand why she liked him over Peter Gallagher. She used to play the Idolmaker soundtrack over and over and ask tell me about the boys down the street who drove tricked-out Scirocco's and wanted to rub her vagina.

Ray Sharkey was the Italian Kevin Spacey, if Kevin Spacey used to be a dance instructor and wore a Hebrew National in his pants to auditions, which, incidentally, is exactly what Patrick Swayze (God Rest His Soul?) did when he met with Oliver Stone back when Oliver Stone was going to direct Evita.

No, no, Ray Sharkey was the Italian James Woods, who, as we all know, does not need to stuff his pants with anything, as James Woods' pants come "pre-stuffed."

If you don't know that the people in the entertainment industry hate those that aren't in the entertainment industry, then you have not lived in Los Angeles long enough. I was born and raised here and I can tell you with dead certainty that not only do they hate me and you and everyone we know (FYI: Miranda July gives the best blowjobs of any female filmmaker, ever), but they would run you down with their Range Rover if they thought they could get away with it, which, one day, if they get their way, they will.

The question is: would they run down Paul Land? Ilan Mitchell Smith? Ken Wahl? The question is: once you've been given a pass, does that give you and exemption from certain death?

Beats me. How the fuck would I know? I have a sore throat and I have to go to the supermarket.

Posted by MilkMan at July 3, 2008 5:25 PM

comment #20

Joe Leydon says ...

It's not just in showbiz. I forget what sportwriter said it, but: If the average fan knew how much he's despised by the players he cheers, it would frighten him.

Posted by Joe Leydon at July 3, 2008 5:29 PM

comment #21

bb says ...

Saw Wanted today in a theatre full of Marines by chance. That was an experience.

First question, did you see Fight Club? What did you think of that? How is that different from this?

The line you refer to doesn't indicate a loathing of the audience. It is more of an identification with the audience. But Jeff, I wouldn't expect you to get it. It would be useless to try.

I also happened to catch Wall E (which was great). I guess you could argue it shows a loathing of its audience as well. I mean, won't that audience be buying all the Wall E toys, junk foods etc. that make them fat consumerists?

Posted by bb at July 3, 2008 6:17 PM

comment #22

Terry McCarty says ...

T.S. Idiot wisely wrote:
"The Hollywood elite, trust me, think very little of ticket-buyers in general. Once you've made it to a certain level in the film industry and have begun to run with the truly cool and connected and earn serious dough, you don't relate to average stiffs."

Isn't this true of anyone in show business, the arts, big business, academics, politics, etc.? Who anywhere relates to ordinary folk?

I write poetry and, from my experiences in that microsubculture of L.A. literature/spoken word art, there exists (among some) a contempt for mass audience tastes (and a fear that poetry "standards" will be negatively affected by anyone who breaks through to a wider audience than poets reading to each other).

Plus there's a self-defeating desire to keep the scene small and insular--to the point where civilians who might want to go to readings are unaware such things exist.

Posted by Terry McCarty at July 3, 2008 9:58 PM

comment #23

Bocephus says ...

Wall*E would have been much better if the cute little robot had turned to the screen and said "This is you, you fat capitalist fatbags" and then proceeded to anally rape the captain of the ship with one of those giant sippy cups.

Posted by Bocephus at July 4, 2008 7:33 AM

comment #24

Terry McCarty says ...

Elaborating on my comment above:
If anyone is curious about the under-the-radar poetry subculture, www.poetix.net lists local readings and www.poetry.la is a resource for LA/OC poets who appear on YouTube.

Posted by Terry McCarty at July 4, 2008 1:19 PM

comment #25

Nick J says ...

Glenn Kenny left a funny comment on Emily Gould's blog yesterday suggesting she kill herself. I second that!

Posted by Nick J at July 4, 2008 2:31 PM

comment #26

Glenn Kenny says ...

The Gould comment was an ill-advised overstatement. What I meant was, she ought to hook up with Spencer Pratt and make a YouTube series out of it. My mistake.

Posted by Glenn Kenny at July 5, 2008 9:56 AM

comment #27