Month: January 2007

An Envelope podcast chat (recorded Thursday afternoon) between myself and Tom O’Neil about Sundance ’07 — Once, Black Snake Moan, Grace is Gone, The Savages, etc. Plus L.A. Times critic Kenneth Turan talking about same — Once, Grace Is Gone — plus Hounddog, Away From Her, In The Shadow of the Moon, et. al.

This TMZ video of Nicole Kidman‘s auto crash on the set of The Invasion, which appeared on the Drudge Report yesterday morning, shows Kidman grimacing for a very brief second, but then walking away from the banged up vehicle a few seconds later in a relaxed, we-be-cool way. I like that quality in a woman. This was a definite image-enhancer. (Apologies for putting in the wrong link yesterday — “Leo jeered by Spanish press” — which, by the way, is pretty funny, the apparent lesson being that it’s rude to keep press people waiting.)

Today is Paul Newman‘s 82nd birthday, which reminds me that a respected big-name critic is hard at work on an ambitious Newman biography (he’s been operating under-the-radar for the last several months). Let’s hope everything’s jake when the book finally comes out, which may be next year. Meanwhile, Turner Classic Movies is airing a kline-up of Newman films this week — Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Hud, The Hustler, The Rack and The Prize. The latter two aren’t available on DVD.

This is bad, very bad, for the image of George Clooney. Good Night and Good Luck, Darfur and Pamela Anderson don’t mix. I’m hoping it’s not true; in fact, I’m going into arbitrary denial right now and presuming it isn’t. One should always either fuck “up” or fuck laterally, but never, ever beneath your station.

Leaving Salt Lake City this morning for Los Angeles, then driving right up to Santa Barbara for Roger Durling‘s hot-shit film festival, which kicks off tonight with a screening of Factory Girl. No more posts until day’s end, at best.

After much waiting, the Los Angeles memorial gathering for the late Robert Altman has been scheduled. It will happen on Sunday, 3.4.07, at the main Directors Guild theatre, at 2 pm. The New York version will happen about two weeks earlier, on Tuesday, 2.20.07.

“And then the Best Picture category was announced: Babel, The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine, he Queen and Letters From Iwo Jima. Wait…are they nominating six [films] this year? The hundreds of reporters in the [Academy] auditorium were leaning heads together, making sure that they did not hear the name Dreamgirls.
They did not.” — from David Carr‘s Oscar nomination piece in the N.Y. Times.

“David Geffen‘s Dreamgirls was snubbed because Hollywood is jealous of him. So what that the Motown musical led with eight Oscar nominations (three of them for Best Song)? That tally may be a promotional wet dream, but trust me, DreamWorks and Paramount, who’ve been pimping this pic since those disgusting $25 movie tickets during the first 10 days of its theatrical run, are having dry-hump nightmares.
“Shut out for Best Picture. Shut out for Best Director. Shut out for Best Actor/Actress. Among the big nominations, it made do with only Best Supporting Actor and Actress. There was too much hype and it came too early for this musical to survive even the shortened awards season without the inevitable backlash. So it was bitch-slapped by the Academy’s nominating formula, which gives the advantage to films with a small but passionate following vs. films with broad lukewarm support.
“Clearly, those spiteful Academy members are sending the message to Geffen that no matter how rich and powerful he is, they will deny him what he most desires: to exit the movie industry accompanied by Oscar. Individually, none of the Oscar voters would dare take on David. But there’s safety in numbers, so they figure, what the hell.” — from Nikki Finke‘s Oscar nom anlaysis piece, “Ther Scars of Oscars.”

Park City is dead, the festival is dead…it’s over, emptied, drained. Figuratively speaking, of course. I’m outta here tomor- row and totally fine with that. I’ve been calling Paramount Vantage publicists to get tickets to the Black Snake Moan screening at 6 pm this evening, and they’re not calling me back. I’m half inclined to shine it, but L.A. Weekly critic Scott Foundas is sitting next to me and sayng I have to give it a try, “it’s your job,” etc. I’m seeing Once a second time this evening at 8:30 pm, and that’s all she wrote.

I too sat through yesterday afternoon’s press screening of Hounddog, and I agree with everyone else that it’s nothing. Nothing to see, nothing to release, nothing to rent, nothing to get shocked or stirred about…just another neo-Faulknerian Southern gothic wallow with a tasteful, non-inflammatory Dakota Fanning rape scene. I’ll say this: Fanning is a very skilled, super-readable scene inhabitor. That may have been obvious to others previously, but this is the first film she’s had to “carry” as the star. Here’s an excellent rip-job review by Screengrab’s Mike D’Angelo, and another negative review by N.Y. Post critic Lou Lumenick.