I don’t remember Harrington’s film being even randomly amusing, but Liman’s is occasionally hilarious, especially during the last half-hour, a CG extravaganza that plays like a kind of aquatic Road Warrior.
Jake Gyllenhaal‘s Elwood Dalton is a kind of grinning, shoulder-shrugging Shane-like figure — a deadpan space-case with a dry sense of humor, and some guilt by way of Robert E. Lee Prewitt thrown into the mix — a soft-spoken Zen guy with a fear of his own rage — a dude with an undertow of depression who almost wipes himself out on a rural railroad track at the very beginning but then goes “aahh, maybe not.”
(1) I appreciate that both Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are known for having gone through periods of emotional volatity, and that this feeds into the hyper, wild-ass adventures of Detectives “Mike” Lowrey and Marcus Miles Burnett. But Smith and Lawrence were young bucks when they made Michael Bay‘s Bad Boys (’95) and now they’re in their mid to late 50s — Lawrence will be 58 next month and Smith is 55. It’s potentially funny when young guys do stupid, crazy shit, but when the same wild-ass guys are approaching 60….maybe not so much.
(2) I interviewed Lawrence in ’99 or thereabouts. I think it was connected to Ted Demme‘s Life, a prison comedy in which Lawrence costarred with Eddie Murphy. We sat at a metal dining table in the back yard of his Burbank home, shielded from the sun by a huge cloth umbrella. Lawrence was very cool to hang with, although I sensed that he was giving me pre-prepared schtick rather than spontaneous answers. I didn’t mind. He was settled and relaxed and “a good guy” as far as it went. I was happy to be there.
Alejandro Amenábar‘s Abre los ojos, a psychological horror film about self-loathing and self-mutilation and penance, opened 27 years ago. I was intrigued by it but less than a fan. It was definitely an odd detour flick if I’d ever seen one.. I pretty much decided “okay, first-rate film but too unsettling and therefore never again.”
And then along came Cameron Crowe‘s Vanilla Sky (’01), an English-language remake that creeped me out even worse. It’s been 22 years and change since my first and only viewing. In my head this wasn’t a film about Tom Cruise‘s youung publisher character going through all kinds of traumas and convulsions and suppressed freak-outs…it was about me and my selfishness and assholery and self-delusion.
To this day I can’t recall another 21st Century film that made me feel quite so awful as this one.
The quality of Vanilla Sky is/was undeniable — a haunting Manhattan nightmare vibe, first-rate direction, superb John Toll cinematography, powerfully acted by Cruise, Penélope Cruz, Kurt Russell (I don’t even remember who or what Russell played), Cameron Diaz, Jason Lee, etc. It’s definitely a stretch movie — Crowe and Cruise stepping outside of their safe zone and then some.
The more I think about it the idea of re-experiencing the commanding assurance of this film, the high-dive plunge of it all, is tempting, but I don’t want to drop into that pit of dread and anxiety ever again.
HE’s 15 Richest, Best Crafted, Most Compellingly Performed Tom Cruise Films (in this order and excluding all of his high-powered, robo-bunny formula action franchise films): Jerry Maguire, Collateral, Risky Business, The Firm, Born on the Fourth of July, Rain Man, Jack Reacher, American Made, The Color of Money, Tropic Thunder, A Few Good Men, Edge of Tomorrow, Losin’ It, Interview with the Vampire, Magnolia.
HE’s 14 Least Favorite Cruise Films (excluding all of his high-powered, robo-bunny formula action franchise films): Cocktail, Far and Away, Legend, Days of Thunder, Eyes Wide Shut (very well made, compulsive watchable but finally a curiously chilly experience), Minority Report (irritating Kaminsky bleachy-gray color scheme), Vanilla Sky, The Last Samurai, War of the Worlds (good film with atrocious ending), The Mummy, Knight and Day, Valkyrie, Lions for Lambs, The Outsiders.
Posted on 7.29.15: The basic thrust of Mark Harris‘s Grantland piece on Tom Cruise (posted as part of the site’s “Tom Cruise Week” tribute) is that his decision to become the dominant 50something energizer bunny of the action-franchise realm is unfortunate because he seems to have concurrently shut down his ambitious acting game.
Eight or nine years ago Mark Harris obxserved that Cruise’s peak acting years happened between 1988 and ’99, or the timespan in which Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire and Magnolia were released. That’s because Cruise’s performance in each landed a Best Actor nomination, but that’s not encompassing enough.
Cruise also delivered riveting, touch-bottom performances as a selfish, resentful younger brother in Barry Levinson‘s Rain Man (’88) and as Vincent-the-compassionate-assassin in Michael Mann‘s Collateral, and he delivered aggressively A Few Good Men (’92), The Firm (’93), Interview with the Vampire (’94) and Vanilla Sky (’01).
James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown would be wise to open later this year as 2024’s award season is looking a bit anemic…compared to ‘23 it’s a weak, mewing little kitten…hobbled by last year’s WGA and SAG strikes.
A boilerplate principle photography period is three months, so James Mangold’s film having begun filming a couple of weeks ago indicates a mid-June finish.
That would give Mangold a fairly comfortable post-production period — five full months — to finish A Complete Unknown for theatrical release…let’s say around Thanksgiving or thereabouts.
Joel and Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis (‘13), an early ‘60s folk-music period drama with similar visual elements, shot in the late winter and early spring of 2012. It could have been “rushed” into that year’s Oscar season but the Coens wanted to hang back a bit.
Among the fastest post-production turnarounds in Hollywood history are Robert Webb‘s Love Me Tender (‘56), Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder (‘59), Oliver Stone’s W. (‘08) and Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers (‘19) — all were edited, fine-tuned and finished in the vicinity of 11, 12 or 13 weeks.
Mangold would have 20 weeks to finish and present A Complete Unknown by mid November. If he finishes principal by mid June, he could even pull a Preminger and have it ready to screen at the New York Film Festival by late September or early October.
“Someone who still is trying to convince Americans that this election stuff, it doesn’t really work.”
“Take a minute, acknowledge that maybe it wasn’t the right call [to hire Ronna McDaniel]. It is a sign of strength, not weakness, to acknowledge when you are wrong.”
HE agrees that Timothee Chalamet‘s simulation of Bob Dylan, as revealed in Entertainment Weekly‘s shots of recent filming of A Complete Unknown, is agreeable.
Earlier today homeland security (HSI) officials raided two homes owned by Sean “P. Diddy” Combs. They were apparently responding to (a) concerns about alleged sex trafficking or (b) possible concerns about a music producer’s allegation that Combs and his son were involved in a 2022 shooting at a Los Angeles recording studio, or (c) something else.
Combs’ home in Holmby Hills (a huge white mansion on So. MapletonDrive, south of Sunset and right next door to Humphrey Bogart‘s former home) and another super-pad in Miami Beach’s Star Island were targeted.
May I ask a stupid question? Combs is extremely wealthy, and we all know that loaded guys rarely have difficulty persuading beautiful women to shed their clothing and submitting to whatever. (Not that HE in any way approves of sexual predation under any circumstance.) So why would Combs, 54, or any associates or employees or even his sons, Justin and Christian, be so stupid as to engage in sex trafficking, which would obviously be idiotic from a legal standpoint?
Wiki defines sex trafficking as “a form of reproductive slavery and/or commercial sexual exploitation…the transportation of persons by means of coercion, deception and/or force into exploitative and slavery-like conditions.”
Over the past several months four women have accused Combs of sexual assault and similar allegations. Some dude has also complained about aggressive behavior from Combs.
Last November Combs was accused of sexual assault by a woman in a lawsuit filed in New York County Supreme Court. A month later (December) a Jane Doe accused Combs of sexual assault, sex trafficking and gang rape. Another Jane Doe has alleged that Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall took turns raping her and a friend in New York City more than 30 years ago (i.e., early ’90s) Another accuser, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, reached a settlement with Combs right after she filed a lawsuit against him for allegations of rape, sex trafficking and domestic violence in November.
Because…think about it…the Jurassic franchise peaked roughly 30 years ago (1993’s Jurassisc Park + 1997’s The Lost World) and there’s obviously nothing classy or even exciting about making one of these godawful things, which currently appeal to the absolute lowest common denominator…the dregs of megaplex culture.
It would seem that Johansson’s current game is largely or significantly about wanting to keeping living in the lap of luxury and having to occasionally hold her nose when she makes certain films. Paycheck gigs are a fact of life. Nobody likes them, but almost everyone accepts the fact that appearing a well-paying dreck is an unfortunate necessity.
Plus Johansson is pushing 40 (she was born on 11.22.84) and a voice is probably telling her “you’ve had a great 20-year run and although you’re sure to make many more smart and edgy films, your highly-paid glory period is winding down and so it’s probably wise to snag as many hefty-paycheck roles as you can, regardless of quality….get it while you can.”
HE is passively into discouraging or diminishing interest in Proof of Concept Accelerator movies…no offense. I simply wish to align myself with the tens of millions of relatively slender, well-educated squares out there (i.e., those who are not obese or MAGA or who don’t wear whitesides)…an alignment with the 95% of the Americans who don’t live inside the progressive woke-trans-nonbinary bubble…Americans who inherently don’t love the idea of white-male-hating narratives.
Nor is HE “against” PoCA’s eight-person committee — i.e., Chloé Zhao, Emma Corrin, Eva Longoria, Greta Gerwig, Jane Campion, Janicza Bravo, Lily Gladstone and Lilly Wachowski.
HE just wants to stay as far as possible from movies inspired or influenced by any kind of girl-boss, white-male-hating, trans-nonbinary lobby or community. All power to them…just leave me out of it…thank you & God bless.
I’m ranking these by the measure of “which Best Picture winners would I most like to see again?” As I will never, ever watch Oppenheimer again (I’ve seen it twice and that’ll do), it’s not near the top of my list, and if you don’t like that, too bad.
1. Birdman
2. Spotlight
3. Green Book (I was there when Peter Farrelly‘s film premiered in Toronto, and the crowd went nuts. I don’t care if you don’t like that this happened, even though it did. Not a great film, but a warm and gentle one. Some people hate Green Book — I hate Green Book haters)
4. Nomadland
5. Oppenheimer
6. Parasite (letting the fired maid in during the rainstorm…very bad)
7. Moonlight (The Trevante Rhodes chapter doesn’t work or certanly underwhelms…he’s too muscular to be the wimpy skinny kid who got that handjob on the beach).
8. The Shape of Water (Sally Hawkins was great but for me, Michael Shannon’s psycho nutjob all but ruined this film).
9. CODA (basically an ABC AfterSchool Special)
10. Everything Everywhere All At Once (Michelle Yeoh did a very good job, but otherwise this is easily the most loathsome film to win a Best Picture Oscar. I hated Jamie Lee Curtis‘s performance.)
