I’m way, way behind on Sundance 2014 assessments, but at least I spoke to a buyer this morning about the Dramatic Competition slate. He’s most excited about the following, he says: (1) John Slattery‘s God’s Pocket, an adaptation of a mid ’90s Pete Dexter novel, about the cover-up of the particulars that led to the death of an arrogant hell-bent type. South Philly-flavored, possibly Mystic River-ish. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Christina Hendricks, Richard Jenkins and John Turturro costar; (2) Damien Chazelle‘s Whiplash, adapted from Chazelle’s same-titled short and described as a kind of “Full Metal Jacket at Julliard as applied to drumming,” costarring J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller; (3) Jeff Preiss‘s Low Down — a portrait of legendary jazz pianist Joe Albany (John Hawkes) by way of a father-daughter saga, produced by Nebraska‘s Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, written by Topper Lilien and Amy Albany, and set in the L.A. jazz scene of the late ’60s and early ’70s (period trappings are expensive!); (4) Kate Barker-Froyland‘s Song One, an Anne Hathaway-starrer said to be a “nice, gentle, woman-friendly emotional drama” about a dreamy (shoe-gazey?) relationship within the Brooklyn music scene; (5) Craig Johnson‘s The Skeleton Twins, a kind of indie Beetlejuice-sounding deal costarring Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig and Luke Wilson; and (6) Kat Candler‘s Hellion, which is supposed to be “very good,” the guy says.
Month: December 2013
Hot Nutso Lezzy Glenn Close-y
How many films have been at least vaguely inspired by Adrien Lyne‘s Fatal Attraction, all in? I’m having a little trouble acknowledging that this Michael Douglas-Glenn Close sexual stalker flick came out 26 years ago. Jesus. No defenseless animals were harmed during the making of Nurse 3D.
Smell of Last Night’s Pizza in Garbage Can
I recently noted that Sidney Lumet‘s New York-based Serpico (’73) was filmed when Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn were much grimier and grittier places than they are today. No Starbucks, no corporate franchises to speak of. Anyway I watched most of the just-out Warner home Video Bluray last night and it’s wonderful, really wonderful, to re-immerse in this exotic, never-to-be-seen again realm through Arthur J. Ornitz‘s cinematography, which looks flavorful but not especially grainy. I know this will be a tremendous letdown to the grain monks, but Serpico looks refined and pleasingly natural. And better than I’ve ever seen it look, like a nice wet print, straight out of the lab, untouched by human hands. It’s perfect. And the actors look so young! Even Judd Hirsch and M. Emmet Walsh seem wet behind the ears.
Waterworld
Beware of spoiler after the jump: It’s been observed that J.C. Chandor‘s All Is Lost ends on a note of ambiguity. Does Robert Redford‘s “Our Man” come through or not? Is he saved by some guy in a boat or does the white light signify something? Today I read Chandor’s original 31-page outline. The ending is different than the one in the film. If you’ve seen All Is Lost, click through.
Hiyeeee!
Olaf, the buck-toothed snowman from Disney’s Frozen, arrived today. Along with a Frozen screener, of course. Okay, maybe I’ll watch it but no promises. I’ve also been sent the screener for Hayo Miyzazaki‘s The Wind Rises. God, I find animation so tedious. Almost oppressive in a sense. It’s a tiny bit curious that Rises, the critically preferred among the two, has a Rotten Tomatoes rating (84%) that three points lower than Frozen‘s. Olaf is voiced by the revoltingly peppy Josh Gad.
Copenhagen Or Bust?
Lars Von Trier‘s two-part Nymphomaniac (Part One lasting 110 minutes, Part Two lasting 130 minutes) will open commercially in…I don’t know where exactly, the Netherlands or Denmark or somewhere in that region, on 12.25 — less than 20 days hence. I would naturally like to review along with the trades so I’ve asked Magnolia reps if they’ll be press-screening the English-language film in NY or LA prior to the Christmas Day opening.
A source confides that the trades “will be expected to review out of Denmark“, although there’s a rumor about a possible L.A. screening. I’ve told these reps that if Magnolia won’t let me see Nymphomaniac in at a NY/LA press screening, I’ll do a Banks and fly to Copenhagen to see and review it.
“But that probably won’t be necessary, right?,” I wrote in one of my e-mails. “I mean, you’re not really going to make me do this, right? Nymphomaniac looks crazy and radical enough to see it ASAP, but I don’t want to blow $1500 bills or whatever to fly to Copenhagen and stay in a hotel…c’mon.”
Heart Full Of Soul
Yeah, Nelson Mandela, man….trending! Some FinkeObit tweets resulted. I’ve pasted three on the jump.
Rubbed The Wrong Way
N.Y. Times “Carpetbagger” columnist Melena Ryzik is a sharp operator and a first-rate journalist. And every year she earns the column’s reputation by stepping into award-season coverage late in the game…fine. But for whatever reason I felt more than slightly irritated by her 12.4 post called “Eyes On the Prize: Oscar Season Preview.” Hardcore awards-tracking watchers and handicappers like myself and Sasha Stone and Scott Feinberg have been riding the rails for over seven months now (i.e., since the 2013 Cannes Film Festival) and humping it extra-hard since Telluride, Venice and Toronto (or for the last 13 weeks), and then Melena comes breezing into the room with her video crew and writes, “The Oscars are not until March but the jockeying for position has already begun.” Early December is “already”? If you count Cannes the jockeying for position has been going on since last spring or certainly since Labor Day, and Melena knows that. And yet she’s….what, dumbing her coverage down because she has to keep it brief and simple because the typical N.Y. Times reader doesn’t want award-season coverage to sound too complex?
The White-Haired Locomotive Known As Bruce Dern
“I don’t look at the whole Oscar thing at all. I don’t know what campaigning means. I’m not here campaigning. I’m not on the road to campaign. I’m on the road to get people to see the movie. Because we’re kind of the little engine that could, if you would.” — Nebraska‘s Bruce Dern to HuffPost‘s Ricky Camilleri. Mr. Dern knows exactly what campaigning means and how the game works, trust me.
Mandela Belongs To Ages
For any of us to discover or develop even a portion of the cojones, character and conviction that Nelson Mandela showed throughout his life…by any yardstick that would represent a kind of fulfillment or spiritual completion that would any of us would be proud of and grateful for. I had my Nelson Mandela moment 23 and 1/2 years ago at the L.A. Colisseum. Me, my ex and the two kids (aged 2 and 8 months) sitting on the concrete stands, gazing at the bandstand about a quarter-mile away, speeches and more speeches, singers and celebrities and hip-hop groups, etc.
Pill Popper
I saw August: Osage Country for the second time last night, and it played a little better than when I caught it in Toronto about three months ago. Meryl Streep‘s performance as Violet Weston seemed funnier, flintier, a bit sadder. There’s a portion of the fabled dinner scene in which Chris Cooper‘s character offers a rambling and digressive grace, meandering to little if any effect, and Streep’s exasperated expressions are flat-out hilarious. I actually laughed out loud, which is more than I did during the Toronto screening, probably due to festival fatigue. Here’s a taste of this scene via an Entertainment Weekly exclusive video.
Bar Chatter
I don’t know who Cubeyou.com is but they’ve offered “new consumer research comparing fans of the Hunger Games, Thor and The Hobbit.” One tidbit is that 67 % of Hunger Games fans are under 21 and female (no shit?), and are also “hardcore gamers and basketball fans.” Another is that Hobbit fans are “socially conscious, [and attuned] to documentaries and news.” Another is that Thor fans are into “fine art as well as action movies.”
I need to re-process this: “Thor fans are into fine art as well as action movies”? What kind of fine art would that be exactly?
My favorite part: “All of these movie fans are predominantly empathetic and loyal as ISFJ personality types (i.e., Introverted Sensing with Extraverted Feeling), as measured using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).”
If I were drinking and into hitting the clubs, I would probably use this line. “Yeah, I’m one of those ISFJ guys, more or less. I’m sensitive but large of spirit. I have multitudinous realms living inside me.” Unless, of course, the woman is a hardcore gamer and basketball fan. In which case my interest levels would plummet if not evaporate altogether.