Day: June 26, 2014

It doesn’t matter if I’ve ever regarded Taylor Swift as even vaguely foxy (I’m obviously far afield of the target demographic) but I never have. Sharply cut nose, too tall and ostrichy, the bland blondeness…a “pleasant” appearance as far as it goes but a vibe that’s hardly fetching. But her Giver appearance is different. Now she’s got something going. Sometimes when you remove the makeup and darken the hair…I’m sorry that I wrote this because now I sound like LexG. I’m just saying that it works, this thing. I’m going to leave it right there.

All I want from the 2014 Oscar season are a couple of films that end as well as No Country for Old Men and A Serious Man. At least a couple. Is that asking too much? Those Coens, man…they know to end a movie on a cold, bracingly clear note. Think about it, mull it over, let it sink in.

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Honestly? This doesn’t look half bad. A satire of disaster films with at least a semblance of meteorological realism. Who remembers Twister? Who remembers Philip Seymour Hoffman‘s performance in Twister? Who remembers Jan De Bont? Directed by Steven Quale, Into The Storm (Warner Bros., 8.8) has all the basic ingredients plus a self-mocking attitude. You can tell this was at least somewhat influenced by the success of Sharknado, which aired 11 months ago. Are you telling me that the producers of this thing said, “Naah, let’s not go too Sharknado territory here…let’s tone it down and keep it real”?

The junket-whore crowd has arrived in San Francisco for a big Dawn of the Planet of the Apes press encampment (screenings, interviews, etc.). A big whoop-dee-doo premiere screening at the Palace of Fine Arts happens tonight at 7:30 pm. I’m presuming that tweeted reactions will start flying around sometime around 9:30 pm or 10 pm. A select few attended a Tuesday night screening on the Fox lot. I’m ready to share reactions when everyone else jumps into the pool.

Yesterday morning (i.e., Wednesday) I mentioned a response from a film critic friend about the apparent indifference being expressed by MGM honcho Gary Barber about the deteriorating 70mm elements for John Wayne‘s The Alamo (’60). “This ridiculous Alamo situation seems to have reached the point where an effort should be made to rally the big boys — Scorsese, Spielberg, Fincher, Cameron, Lucas, Nolan, whomever else — to speak out about this and hopefully embarrass the hell out of Barber and anyone else at MGM who might be standing in the way,” he said. Soon after I began writing several heavy-hitter directors and their reps, and am pleased to report that six have personally told me they’ll sign a letter to Barber that asks MGM to support a restoration of The Alamo that would be funded independently.

The six supporters of Project Alamo are JJ Abrams (director of the currently lensing Star Wars, Episode VII), Matt Reeves (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Rian Johnson (Star Wars, Episode VIII), Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim), Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman).

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I spoke yesterday with Joe Berlinger, director of Whitey: United States of America vs. James J. Bulger (Magnolia, NY/Boston/VOD, 6.27). Everybody knows Bulger, right? Notorious Boston Irish mob boss during the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s. Vague inspiration for Jack Nicholson‘s gangster fiend in The Departed. Went on the lam for 16 years, got arrested in Santa Monica in 2011, currently doing two life terms for multiple murders and other crimes. The focus of Berlinger’s first-rate doc, of course. Currently being portrayed by Johnny Depp in Scott Cooper‘s forthcoming Black Mass (which costars Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson, Juno Temple, Sienna Miller, Joel Edgerton, Corey Stoll, Julianne Nicholson). Again, the mp3.

(l.) Johnny Depp as Whitey Bulger in Scott Cooper’s Black Mass; (r) Whitey Bulger sometime in the early to mid ’80s.

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