Day: October 11, 2013

Eccentric and intemperate as this sounds, I’m going to London for three days next weekend in order to catch a BFI London Film Festival debut on Sunday, 10.20 of John Lee Hancock‘s Saving Mr. Banks — presumed to be a major factor in the awards race (certainly in terms of performances). This will be the first time it’ll be shown to critics. Two and a half weeks later it’ll open L.A.’s AFI Film Festival on 11.7 and then open commercially on 12.13, but it’ll be fair game eight days from now. Disney (which is very high on the film) will be screening it next week for select Los Angeles elites (but not critics). I get their strategy. They want the presumably positive reviews and the buzz to start with the AFI debut, and that’s fine. I haven’t been to London for a few years…what the hell. I’ve been in the tank for Kelly Marcel‘s screenplay for months, and I totally respect Hancock for his special touch. I even liked The Alamo.

This refers to a two-day-old discussion of Russ & Roger Go Beyond, Christopher Cluess‘s screenplay about the making of Russ Meyer‘s Beyond The Valley of the Dolls, which was written by Roger Ebert. I wondered aloud “what Ebert — fat, brilliant, bespectacled, desk-bound — could have possibly known about hot lascivious chicks and the charged sexual atmosphere of the late ’60s.” I said I didn’t know what Roger was up to in the ’60s “but I don’t believe he was up to very much.” Well, I’ve heard some hilarious second-hand stories since I wrote that and…uhm, I’m taking it back. Roger wrote brilliantly and apparently never missed a deadline but he also led quite the ribald life. During the Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations, at least. Let’s leave it at that.

I’ve never wanted to attend those Jason Reitman “Live Read” presentations at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. That’s because they always read scripts of already-released films that everyone knows. Why not some hot, not-yet-produced scripts? The cream of the current Blacklist, for instance? Is it Reitman’s presumption that people won’t show up for readings of works they’ve never heard of? Timid thinking. Paul Thomas Anderson‘s Boogie Nights was read during last night’s opener. Taylor Lautner, Don Johnson, Judy Greer, Nick Kroll, Jim Rash, Nat Faxon and Kevin Pollack.

Spike Jonze‘s Her (Warner Bros., 12.8), an operating system love story costarring Joaquin Pheonix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams and Rooney Mara, will close the New York Film Festival tomorrow night. Credentialed New York journalists will see it tomorrow morning at 10 am, and their L.A. counterparts will set tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 pm (i.e., 7:30 pm Manhattan time). The official embargo ends at 11 pm Eastern/8pm Pacific.

This is some kind of come-on for Kimberley Peirce‘s Carrie (MGM/Screen Gems, 10.18), although it’s basically a rigged telekinesis stunt a la Punked. (Or is it? The people freaking out seem like they’re performing. Too much footage, way too many angles.) I don’t know anyone who’s seen this Chloe Moretz film. Even a guy I know who sees everything hasn’t seen it. And I still haven’t heard about any screenings next week. Doesn’t that usually mean something?

George Clooney‘s The Monuments Men (Sony, 12.18) was research-screened Wednesday night in Sherman Oaks. A guy I know attended. Here’s an excerpt: “I don’t know how else a Hollywood treatment of this subject matter could have ended up. Clooney’s job was to direct an efficient film that was entertaining and convincingly dramatic, and he accomplished that. Judging from the responses around me, people were…moved and filled with laughter…enjoying the experience and touched at times.” This also: “Cate Blanchett’s French-accented performance stuck out…her hardened, mistrusting art historian was quite funny at times. Clooney gives himself the best scene towards the end when he sits down with a Nazi and explains the futility of an individual who fought on the wrong side.”

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