I still can’t get over how good Jason Segel looks without the usual oppression. This is one of the most surprising physical transformations of the 21st Century. It would have been rough on audiences if he’d done these Sex Tape scenes with his This Is 40 / The Five Year Engagement / I Love You Man girth. Hats off, genuine respect, different fella. He’ll relapse, of course, but it’s nice to see a beefy guy do the hard cockatoo thing. I know I’m repeating myself.
Craig Johnson‘s The Skeleton Twins is the third bang-slammer I’ve seen at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, the other two being Damien Chazelle‘s Whiplash and Lynn Shelton‘s Laggies. (If I had rushed to Saturday’s 9 pm screening of Maya Forbes‘ Infinitely Polar Bear I might have had a fourth, to go Justin Chang‘s Variety review.) Here’s Geoff Berkshire‘s Variety review of The Skeleton Twins — pretty much a rave.
An “ironic” American Hustle gold chain and pendant arrived today along with a soundtrack CD. A harmless little promotional nudge…fine. But what are you supposed to do with it? Certainly not wear it. Even in an ironic context ugly bling is ugly bling. There hasn’t been a lot of swag this season. Or at least none that I’ve been the recipient of. Where are the plastic bottles containing 25 or 30 fake Lemmon 714s from Paramount? That would be awesome. A great party item. Not that I want this stuff in my life. But whatever arrives, you want it to either (a) edible or (b) of some practical use or (c) aesthetically agreeable. Or a comination of all three.
For me (and, I suspect, for most of us), Relativity Media’s Romeo And Juliet (10.11) will hinge on how well Hailee Steinfeld and Douglas Booth can breathe life into William Shakespeare‘s prose. I’m presuming that Steinfeld, who turns 17 on 12.11.13 but who was 15 when during principal photography, has the chops to be at least pretty good as Juliet. Stellan Skarsgard, Damian Lewis, Paul Giamatti and Ed Westwick costar. Julian Fellowes‘ adaptation was directed by Carlo Carlei.
Notice that Josh Brolin is crawling out of a trunk, not a coffin. You know what I see in this? I’ll tell you what I see in this. I see an obvious resemblance to the attitude and stylings of Park Chan-wook, who directed the original Oldboy as well as the loathsome Stoker, and that scares the shit out of me. I see a nod to 1920s German expressionism and to a late 1960s R. Crumb drawing of Weasel J. Weisenheimer, the neighborhood drug dealer. Either way I see high style and black humor. Please, Spike…please turn down the Chan-wook. You’re better than that.
A Michael Fleming/Deadline story popped yesterday afternoon about Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks nabbing the rights to John Steinbeck‘s The Grapes of Wrath with an interest in basically remaking John Ford‘s classic 1940 adaptation. It was clearly stated that Spielberg won’t direct, just produce.
This struck me as odd as this is the kind of material Spielberg could rock his career with if he were to shoot this 21st Century Wrath in a plain, austere, dust-bowly vein with Dorothea Lange capturings and (a really huge IF) in a way that would simultaneously suppress his sentimental instincts.
Spielberg needs another Schindler’s List on his resume, something for the ages. He needs to direct a film with material that fits him as well as he fits it. He would do well to tap into his compassion for regular Joes and at the same time (a) pay tribute to Ford, a major career influence, and (b) demonstrate that he’s grown past his need to play his usual manipulative games. Spielberg-basher that I am, I believe that a Spielberg-directed The Grapes of Wrath could be (if he doesn’t fuck it up) a possibly phenomenal achievement.
A 4.19.13 quote from George Stevens, Jr. has been posted on Bob Furmanek’s 3D Film Archive site. It’s part of an intro to a definitive Shane aspect-ratio piece that will be posted soon. Here it is: “Dad’s definite preference was to have his films screened the way he shot them and framed them. He simply accepted the tradeoff to have a bigger screen in the competitive release climate in 1953.”
And yet on 3.15 Stevens, Jr. wrote me the following in an email about the forthcoming Shane Bluray, which Stevens Jr. had helped prepare: “Given the choice of having a 1:37 version placed in the center of a horizontal television screen with bars on each side, or a carefully configured 1:66 to 1 version that filled the screen, I am confident George Stevens would subscribe to the latter.”
It is my opinion, no offense, that DVD Beaver‘s Gary. W. Tooze would rather saw his nose off with a steak knife than deliver blunt criticism in his Bluray reviews. I’m not saying he automatically gives handjobs to each and every Bluray he reviews — I’m saying he gives them a wink, a kiss and a neighborly hug. And he does, to be fair, post excellent Bluray screen captures…except when he posts images that seem a little too dark, which happens from time to time with Blurays of older black-and-white films.
I’m mentioning my disappointment with Tooze’s reluctance to tell it straight and plain and let the chips fall because he’s apparently first out of the gate with reviews of some of the Blurays on Universal’s Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection, and in my opinion he’s wimped out on the controversial Vertigo Bluray.
“More particularly Tooze has decided to entirely sidestep the issue of James Stewart‘s brown suit on the Vertigo Bluray. He knew that was a front-and-center concern and he doesn’t touch it. Here’s how I put it to Tooze (who never replies to emails and hides whenever I reach out) this morning:
“Gary — You never seem to want to get in touch or respond to emails or anything, but could I ask you to please call (or let me call you) regarding your assessment of the Vertigo Bluray?
“I always have difficulty deciphering which version (new Bluray, most recent DVD) you’re writing about. The following (copied from your latest post) apparently describes the Bluray version, but one can never be 100% sure:
“In the title sequence opening (girl’s face) — it was originally meant to be in black and white (like the VistaVision logo) but in post production it could not be rendered in that manner. Unfortunately in the new release someone has taken it upon themselves to color this and it has now been brightness boosted to have a less accurate tinge (orange/sepia) than its theatrical appearance.”
I’m asking because your Bluray screen capture of this title sequence indicates a more correct monochrome rendering.
“Here’s how I described the credit sequence last month after seeing a DCP on the Universal lot: ‘The woman’s face in the opening credits before the camera goes in on her eye is supposed to be nearly black and white with a just a faint touch of sepia. (The above YouTube clip is a good representation of how it should look.) And they got it wrong again — the tint is definitely too orange.’
“I’m especially troubled, Gary, that in your review you didn’t address the color of Jimmy Stewart‘s brown suit. In the DCP i saw last August is was aubergine-tinted brown. As I wrote in the piece, ‘Jimmy Stewart’s brown suit is brownish violet or brownish purple (I can’t decide what to call it) throughout the first half or so. But it’s supposed to be plain brown. We all know what brown looks like. Brown is brown. It doesn’t have a violet tint.'”
I’m supposed to receive my Hitchcock Masterpiece collection sometime next week.
Moviefone‘s Christopher Rosen: “You got to work with Andy Serkis on Tintin and he gives this wonderful performance, his second of the year after Rise of the Planet of the Apes. There has been some Oscar chatter for his work in Apes, but there’s always that push-back against digital performances. Do you feel performance capture work should be looked at next to traditional acting with regards to awards consideration?”
Steven Spielberg: “I don’t know. I don’t ever get involved in the conversation about what should be eligible and what shouldn’t be eligible.”
Of course he “knows.” Of course he has an opinion. Spielberg wouldn’t be an exceptional director if he didn’t. And it’s inconceivable that he holds with the SAG members who are fearful that motion-capture acting is a threat to their livelihood. But he chooses not to “get involved in the conversation.” How admirable.
The about-to-pop Blurays of the original Star Wars trilogy “are, in a word, amazing,” writes Bluray.com’s Casey Broadwater. “If you grew up watching these films on VHS you’re going to be blown away. And I don’t say that lightly. When I popped in A New Hope and saw that first great close-up of R2 in all his worn-in glory — the scuff marks finely resolved in high definition — I knew I was in good hands. And I kept having moments like this.
“Seeing the weft of the fabric of Obi-Wan’s cloak as he tells the stormtroopers ‘these are not the droids you’re looking for. ‘ The level of detail inside the Millennium Falcon. The mottled facial texture of the Yoda puppet in Empire. The almost palpable ripples of Jabba’s skin in Jedi. You’ll notice background details you’ve never noticed before. Imperfections in the model work. Aspects of the costumes that previously escaped your attention.
“[And the] lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 surround tracks are perfect. Not perfect like, ‘Yeah, they seem generally true-to-source and, no, there’s no muffling or anything,’ but perfect like, ‘Yes…hell, yes…this is what sci-fi should sound like.’ Perfect as in completely exemplary in all the ways you’d hope they’d be. Superlative. Grade-A. Certified Gold.
“If you’ve yet to experience John Williams‘ Star Wars theme in glorious 6.1 channel lossless audio, you’ve got quite a treat coming. Williams’ cues are some of the most recognizable and hummable in the known universe, and they sound spectacular here, from the lilting and quiet heartswelling of Leia’s theme to the balls-out, brash militancy of Vader’s unstoppable death march, which feels like the brass section of the orchestra is clubbing you in the face with their instruments. In the best way imaginable.
“All of the music is grand, filling every channel, with distinct placement of the instruments in the soundspace. Rich, dynamic, full — you name it, that’s what these scores are.
“And that’s before we even get into the good stuff — the sound effects. Sound design has been a part of the movies since the late 1920s, but the Star Wars series emphasized it in a way that few films had previously done. The audio really is integral to the storytelling. Think ‘Star Wars sounds’ and what do you hear? The electric hum of swinging lightsabers. The crisp pew-pew of laser blasters. The low ambient, oscillating rumble inside the Death Star. The high-pitched language of the Jawas. Darth Vader’s heavy, respirator-assisted breathing. You could go on and on. How many films can claim to have made noises iconic?”
There are no prequels The prequels doen’t exist. I never saw the prequels.
I’ve been hearing for years about technology that can break down the sound of a person’s voice into an array of vowels and consonants and digitally assemble them and make that “voice” say anything. I was hearing about this 15 or 20 years ago. Roger Ebert’s talking “Alex” is cool for what it is, but he needs to sound like himself. There are thousands of hours of tape of him talking. It can’t be that hard.
Last night Julia Roberts hosted a screening of Biutiful at CAA’s Century City offices (and not at her home, as a Huffington Post rewrite person has written) on behalf of Best Actor contender Javier Bardem. During the after-event she spoke to Entertainment Weekly‘s Dave Karger, who’s one of the columnists (along with myself and TheWrap‘s Steve Pond) carrying the Bardem torch.
Biutiful star Javier Bardem posing with Julia Roberts during an Eat Pray Love event last summer.
Karger: “What is it about Javier’s performance in Biutiful that you’re so passionate about?”
Roberts: “He’s so raw and completely open to sharing every emotion this character has. I was telling him at dinner tonight, when I watched it I had to keep stopping and saying, ‘Okay, this is not actually happening to Javier.’ Because it’s his face and his big eyes. I think it’s unexpected for a man to expose himself so deeply. And it’s incredibly agonizing in its subtleties. I just have a great appreciation for what he went through to show us all this. I know it had to hurt.
Karger: “So why hasn’t he gotten more recognition? There was no SAG nomination, no Globe nomination, not even a critics award.
Roberts: “I think the movie hasn’t gotten the exposure. You don’t know where it is. It’s like this hidden little jewel. Especially in this particular season, people don’t hunt for things. They just take what you throw in their face.”
Wells interjection: Roadside Attractions doesn’t have marketing money to burn, but I think a lot of people know where Biutiful is. They just don’t want to watch it because they’re sensing “downer,” and some people are so downer-averse it borders on a form of neuroticism. Roberts will tell you Biutiful isn’t as easy sit — everyone knows this — but there’s so much more going on in this film other than “sad,” and almost all of it found in Bardem’s performance.
Back to Karger/Roberts…
Karger: “I know of at least one Academy member who put the Biutiful DVD in the player and took it out after the first half hour because it was just too bleak.”
Roberts: “I don’t know how you couldn’t want to know what happens. I hope that person is haunted until the end of time wanting to know what happened.
Karger: “So is there any hope for Javier? Can he score enough No. 1 votes to get a Best Actor nomination?”
Roberts: “If there’s not hope for talent, then we’re fucked.”
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