DAILY SMACKDOWN
http://blog.60secondsmackdown.com
Higgy
Sponsored Link
Search the Web
Daily Smackdown: Movie Views and Commentary
Is Johnny Depp a star? 'Public Enemies' holds the answer
Is he a white hot super nova (as the performance of the Pirates movie has led some to believe)? Or is he more of a middling level ball of energy?
Or maybe he's not a star at all but a run-of-the-mill celestial body casting off a reflected glow?
Of course, gauging this may be complicated by the fact that Michael Mann, though highly regarded, tends to make ...
<< MORE >>
Attorney: 'Doctor did not give Michael Jackson Demerol'
As his attorney disputed allegations that Dr. Conrad Murray gave Michael Jackson Demerol before he died, the doctor this weekend was a hot topic in Houston's Acres Homes community, where he has operated a clinic for three years. No one in the poor, north Houston neighborhood knew the 51-year-old cardiologist traveled in such rarefied circles.
One Houston city councilman called Murray "a community doctor" and told the Houston Chronicle he was "always engaged" with local residents, despite having a license to practice in three states. Murray also operated a clinic in Nevada, which reportedly is where his wife and children live.
Murray first met Jackson in Las Vegas in 2006 when he visited Jackson's hotel to treat him. "I don’t know why he was called, other than he had a reputation ofbeing a good doctor, and someone referred him,” one of his attorneystold the Chronicle.
They developed a friendship, and Murray continued to treat the singer. He was at Jackson's home when he fell ill Thursday and administered CPR until paramedics arrived.
Police are said to be investigating a possible connection between Jackson's death and medications he was taking. There was speculation that he had been given an injection of Demoral an hour before he died.
"No, the doctor never prescribed nor administered Demerol to Michael Jackson, nor Oxycontin,” said Ed Chernoff, Murray's attorney. He said Jackson was unconscious and not breathing when Murray entered his bedroom and found him.
"He checked for a pulse," Chernoff told the Los Angeles Times. "There was a weak pulse in his femoral artery. He started administering CPR."
TMZ reports that Murray sent a letter to patients dated June 15 informing them of his decision to resign from medicine "indefinitely" because of a "once in a lifetime opportunity" - a reference to his being hired to serve as Jackson's personal doctor and travel with him on a planned concert series in London later this year.
Murray, who was interviewed for three hours on Saturday by the Los Angeles Police, contends the concert promoter owes him $300,000 for his services to Jackson, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Related Stories:
Attorney: 'Doctor has nothing to hide'
Doctor ran a clinic in poor Houston neighborhood
One Houston city councilman called Murray "a community doctor" and told the Houston Chronicle he was "always engaged" with local residents, despite having a license to practice in three states. Murray also operated a clinic in Nevada, which reportedly is where his wife and children live.
Murray first met Jackson in Las Vegas in 2006 when he visited Jackson's hotel to treat him. "I don’t know why he was called, other than he had a reputation ofbeing a good doctor, and someone referred him,” one of his attorneystold the Chronicle.
They developed a friendship, and Murray continued to treat the singer. He was at Jackson's home when he fell ill Thursday and administered CPR until paramedics arrived.
Police are said to be investigating a possible connection between Jackson's death and medications he was taking. There was speculation that he had been given an injection of Demoral an hour before he died.
"No, the doctor never prescribed nor administered Demerol to Michael Jackson, nor Oxycontin,” said Ed Chernoff, Murray's attorney. He said Jackson was unconscious and not breathing when Murray entered his bedroom and found him.
"He checked for a pulse," Chernoff told the Los Angeles Times. "There was a weak pulse in his femoral artery. He started administering CPR."
TMZ reports that Murray sent a letter to patients dated June 15 informing them of his decision to resign from medicine "indefinitely" because of a "once in a lifetime opportunity" - a reference to his being hired to serve as Jackson's personal doctor and travel with him on a planned concert series in London later this year.
Murray, who was interviewed for three hours on Saturday by the Los Angeles Police, contends the concert promoter owes him $300,000 for his services to Jackson, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Related Stories:
Attorney: 'Doctor has nothing to hide'
Doctor ran a clinic in poor Houston neighborhood
Attorney: 'Michael Jackson's doctor has nothing to hide'
As Michael Jackson's cardiologist prepared to meet with Los Angeles police investigators Saturday, his lawyer insisted the doctor has nothing to hide and has not been eluding police.
"He intends to cooperate," the lawyer, Ed Chernoff, told the Houston Chronicle of his client, Dr. Conrad Murray. "He has nothing to hide. He is going to help them in any way he can with their investigation.”
Murray, who operates a clinic that caters to the elderly in a poor section of Houston, has been in Los Angeles since Jackson's death, the attorney said.
"The police have known where he is and they’ve been in contact with him," Chernoff said. "He's been cooperative with them."
Murray was at Jackson's side when he was stricken Thursday and was administering CPR when paramedics arrived at Jackson's home.
The investigation into Jackson's death reportedly is centering on prescription drugs. Murray has been Jackson's personal physician for three years, ...<< MORE >>
"He intends to cooperate," the lawyer, Ed Chernoff, told the Houston Chronicle of his client, Dr. Conrad Murray. "He has nothing to hide. He is going to help them in any way he can with their investigation.”
Murray, who operates a clinic that caters to the elderly in a poor section of Houston, has been in Los Angeles since Jackson's death, the attorney said.
"The police have known where he is and they’ve been in contact with him," Chernoff said. "He's been cooperative with them."
Murray was at Jackson's side when he was stricken Thursday and was administering CPR when paramedics arrived at Jackson's home.
The investigation into Jackson's death reportedly is centering on prescription drugs. Murray has been Jackson's personal physician for three years, ...<< MORE >>
Michael Jackson's doctor ran a clinic in a poor Houston neighborhood
The missing cardiologist that Los Angeles police want to question in connection with Michael Jackson's death — the cardiologist was with Jackson when the star was stricken Thursday and who administered CPR until paramedics arrived, the cardiologist whose BMW has been impounded by police for investigation — that cardiologist...
He's from Houston. He operates a clinics in one of the city's poorist neighborhoods — Acres Homes.
Acres Homes, in north Houston, is an out-of-the-way community known to the rest of the city primarily for a couple of modest but locally famous barbeque joints and as home base for some of the city's rappers.
Dr. Conrad Murray's Acres Home Heart & Vascular Institute caters primarily to Acres Homes' elderly, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The BMW the police seized has Texas license plates registered to Murray's sister. On Friday, the police, reporters, neighborhood residents and local politicians were "holed up" outside the sister's house, hoping to gather information about Murray.
Murray had been Jackson's personal physician for the last three years, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Times calls Murray "the man tapped to assure the 50-year-old performer's health during thecomeback concert series that had been planned for next month in London."
Murray's Houston patients and people who knew him had no idea.
"No one knew he was Michael Jackson's doctor," a city councilman told the Chronicle. "Nobody. Everybody's shocked."
The reason everyone, including the police, were outside the sister's house is because she wouldn't open the door.
Residents inside the house "drew the drapes," the Chronicle said, "and refused to open the door, even for police who shouted from outside."
Related stories:
Attorney: Doctor did not give Jackson Demorol
Bruno is coming...No, wait - he's here!
You can watch the red carpet star arrivals for tonight's Los Angeles premiere of Bruno right here at the Daily Smackdown. Universal will be streaming it live starting at 8:45 p.m. Central Time, and the studio has given us access to the live feed.
Until then, check out clips from Bruno's colorful arrivals at the movie's premieres in London, Madrid and Paris after he jump.
Tonight's premiere will be at Hollywood's Grauman's Chinese Theater.
...<< MORE >>
Bay's first thought was right: A 'Transformers' movie was a 'dumb' (but very profitable) idea
When Steven Spielberg called Michael Bay to offer him the opportunity to direct the first Transformers movie, Bay agreed (no one says no to Spielberg), but privately he thought: "That sounds like a dumb idea."
At least, that's how Bay tells it in a New York Times story published last week. Bay changed his mind after he visited the headquarters of Hasbro, the company that created the Transformers toys, and became immersed in the mythology and intergalactic storyline behind the toy line.
His first impulse was right: It was a dumb idea and Transformers (2007) was a dumb movie, even if it did earn more than $700 million worldwide. The new one, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, opens Wednesday. It is, if anything, even dumber than the first. (I'll post my review shortly.) It wouldn't surprise me if it earns more money than the first.
Speaking of dumb, I like the way Dave Itzkoff insults Bay in the first sentence of his New York Times piece by observing that if Bay thinks your idea is lame, you've got problems. Itzkoff doesn't come right out and say it, but the point is clear: Bay specializes in dumb. His movies are sub-dumb. He's the king of dumb. If even he thinks your idea is dumb...
The smartest line in Revenge of the Fallen comes near the middle when John Turturro tries to get a near-hysterical character to speak lucidly.
Don't get so hyper that you lose the narrative thread, Turturro basically tells him. Remember good form: Beginning, middle and end. Give plot details. Keep it compact.
All advice that Bay hears from critics every time one of his overlong, bombastic, narratively inept epics hits the screens.
It is one of the few moments of self-awareness in the movie. Now if only he would heed this.
Scorsese's 'Shutter Island' trailer
I'd intended to post this new trailer for Shutter Island Friday when it became available, but...
Excuses, excuses.
Martin Scorsese is teaming up with Leonardo DiCaprio again for this adaptation of the Dennis Lehane novel, which means Leo gets to do another Boston accent like he did in The Departed.
Lehane has been lucky with the movie adaptions of his books. Mystic River and Gone, Baby Gone both were good flicks and Shutter Island looks like it's going to be an entertaining ride when it opens Oct. 2.
The cast certainly is impressive. In addition to DiCaprio, it's got Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer, Michelle Williams, Max Von Sydow, Jackie Earle Haley, Patricia Clarkson and Elias Koteas.
...<< MORE >>
Excuses, excuses.
Martin Scorsese is teaming up with Leonardo DiCaprio again for this adaptation of the Dennis Lehane novel, which means Leo gets to do another Boston accent like he did in The Departed.
Lehane has been lucky with the movie adaptions of his books. Mystic River and Gone, Baby Gone both were good flicks and Shutter Island looks like it's going to be an entertaining ride when it opens Oct. 2.
The cast certainly is impressive. In addition to DiCaprio, it's got Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer, Michelle Williams, Max Von Sydow, Jackie Earle Haley, Patricia Clarkson and Elias Koteas.
...<< MORE >>
'Hangover' had a party weekend, but the headache belongs to Will Ferrell
Weekend box office numbers suggests that audiences are as tired as I am of Will Ferrell's dopey comedies. Land of the Lost, which reportedly cost $200 to make, only earned an estimated $19.9 million, coming in third behind The Hangover ($43.3 million) and UP ($44.2 million).
The Numbers reports that this is the worst summer opening of Ferrell's career.
"We didn't do the business that we hoped," a Universal suit remarked to the New York Times, declining to discuss it further.
Disney treads carefully, but first black cartoon heroine still sparks controversy
In December, Disney plans to release The Princess and the Frog, its first animated feature with an African American lead character. In part because of the company's preimminent role in creating entertainment for children and in part because of its rich history of propagating racial stereotypes on screen, Disney faces intense scrutiny whenever it treads into new ethnic territory.
Disney already has changed major elements of the movie in response to early criticisms, but the New York Times reports that controversy is continuing, despite the company's attempts to tread lightly because of racial sensitivities.
In the interest of 'art' (yeah, right), Higgy tracks down an early Sasha Grey porn clip...He finds it...enlightening.
Last week, when I wrote my review of The Girlfriend Experience, I noted that I'd never seen the erotic work of its star, Sasha Grey, who makes her mainstream movie debut in the Steven Soderbergh snoozer. I observed, however, that I found her so uninteresting in the movie that I couldn't imagine why anyone would pay to see her in anything.
Well, in the interest of art and understanding, the Higster found one of her clips on the World Wide Interwebs...<< MORE >>
Oh, no, another film about a homeless black genius and his white savior
Well, maybe not. A review of The Soloist on MoviesBoston.com notes that when Denzel Washington made Cry Freedom more than two decades ago, Hollywood crafted the tale about a black South African martyr so that Kevin Kline, playing a white journalist, is the central figure.
What does that have to do with The Soloist?
The review argues that the homeless classical musician played by Jamie Foxx is a fascinating and complex character whose story needs more time to be properly developed. It doesn't get the time, however, because the film — like the book on which it is based — is framed around the white journalist who becomes the homeless man's champion and benefactor.
This is done, the reviewer argues, because Hollywood rarely trusts black stars to carry major motion pictures without an at-least co-equal white presence to attract audiences that otherwise might shy away from a "black" film.
<< MORE >>
Does 'State of Play''s $14 million opening mean Crowe is once again a star?
<< MORE >>
Sirk's 'Imitation of Life' 50 today
is 50-years-old. I agree wholeheartedly with this Films in Focus item about the movie.
To mark the occasion, here's a link to Unca Erk's 2000 Los Angeles Times profile of Juanita Moore, the black actress who won an Oscar nomination for her performance only to fade from view not long afterwards.
Great film. Wonderful lady.
'State of Play': Valedictory tribute to old-style news values and a profession on the ropes
State of Play starts off like a pretty good murder mystery crossed with a political thriller. Before long you realize that, while it remains a a pretty good murder mystery and political thriller, it's really a journalistic fantasy and valedictory tribute to old-fashioned newsroom values and a profession that is on the ropes.
<< MORE >>
<< MORE >>
Batdude meets Superguy
This very funny animated short actually is a sequel to a College Humor piece from last year, but I think it's funnier so here it is. Go check out the original if you're so moved. It sorta asks the question: How might The Dark Knight have ended had Superman entered the picture. Thanks to Slash Film for hipping me to this.
View the 'Bruno' red-band trailer
Sasha Baron Cohen is at it again. Bruno, his follow up to Borat, opens July 10. I've got the red-band trailer after the jump. Enter your age to learn the answer to all of life's important questions, such as "how do you defend yourself against a man with two dildos?"
'Dark Knight' director's brother arrested for murder
Chicago police reportedly were investigating him in connection with an unrelated $700,000 bank-fraud scheme at the time of the arrest. Matthew Nolan, 40, lived on Chicago's South Shore.
Nolan allegedly met with a Florida businessman, Robert C. Cohen, in a Costa Rican hotel in 2005 under false pretenses of wanting to do business with him, according to authorities. Instead, an accomplice kidnapped Cohen.
Nolan and the accomplice, Douglas Mejia, allegedly tried to extort money from Cohen's family, then killed him when the scheme failed.
Mejia has been convicted. Nolan is awaiting extradition to Costa Rica to face trial.
Released last July, Dark Knight has grossed more than $1 billion worldwide and $533 million domestically, according to Box Office Mojo.
The film, which starred Christian Bale, the late Heath Ledger and Maggie Gyllenhaal, was directed by Christopher Nolan, who also directed Batman Begins. Christopher Nolan wrote both scripts with a third brother, Jonathan.
<< MORE >>
Will '3D Revolution' be the biggest thing to hit cinema since color or is it just a fad?
Over the next three years, Hollywood will release a whopping 45 movies in 3-D.
James Cameron, the director of Titanic, is making a new version of the movie in 3-D and tells Time magazine: "Every film I'm planning to do will be in 3-D."
And Dreamworks Animation, starting with Monsters vs Aliens Friday, will produce nothing but 3-D movies — a huge leap of faith from the company that made such hits as Kung Fu Panda and Shrek.
Hyping the coming "3-D Revolution", Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks Animation likens the technology to the landmark cinematic advances of the last century.
"There were two major developments in cinema during the 20th century," he tells the London Daily Telegraph. "The first came in the Twenties when silent movies became talkies. The second came in the following decade, when we went from black-and-white to colour. Now, 70 years on, we're in the third great revolution: the new generation of 3-D.
"I honestly believe that," he insists. "I really don't think this is an exaggeration."
Separately, he tells the Wall Street Journal: "This (3-D) is going to bring theatergoers back to the theater."
Of course, it's in Katzenberg's interest to sing the glories of 3-D — his studio has a lot riding on the technology. And one industry watcher says that how well Dreamworks' Monsters vs. Aliens performs when it opens Friday wil be "vital to the long-term potential of 3-D."
The number of 3D-equipped screens in the United States has grown from 100 in 2005 to more than 2,000 today, but that number is less than half than what Katzenberg had projected when he initially committed Dreamworks to an all-3D slate.
Still, so many major releases are planned for 3-D — Cameron's coming Avatar chief among them — that there's no turning back. Some exhibitors who had been slow to join the bandwagon now are convinced that — even if 3-D proves to be a fad — there will be enough high-quality 3-D product in the short run to recoup their expenses...even if enthusiasm wanes in a few years.
Monsters vs. Aliens trailer
<< MORE >>
On Duplicity, Gilroy could've used a little help from his friends this time around
What does this have to do with Duplicity? Probably nothing.
But Tony Gilroy, who wrote and directed Duplicity, also wrote and directed Michael Clayton. You get the feeling watching his new movie that Gilroy might've found time in Toronto to take in some flicks and that he might've liked Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. A lot.
What Duplicity has going for it: Smart dialogue, an intelligent, twisty, complicated espionage plot full of double- and triple-crosses, a predictably fine and committed performance from Clive Owen and generally fine acting all the way around (if you don't count the predictably adequate performance from Julia Roberts).
Going against it: (Again, putting aside the mere adequacy of Roberts' performance) Gilroy twirls his already twisty plot into something that'll leave you scratching your head in bewilderment — not so much because the story is so complicated (though it is) but because you can't figure out why so gifted a writer felt compelled to needlessly muck up a good story...
<< MORE >>
See 'Sunshine Cleaning'
You should see it. But before you do, take a look at this photograph.
If you know anything about the plot, you can imagine what these two women (Amy Adams and Emily Blunt) are staring at. Everyday, middle-American underachievers (one has been a maid, the other a waitress at a cheap restaurant), these quietly desperate sisters have started a company that cleans up crime scenes. Accident victims, suicides...
They clean up after a lot of suicides.
This is one of them. Their first case, in fact.
They arrive at the scene after the police and medical examiner have finished their work. Bodies have been bagged and carted away. What's left is the aftermath. Blood. Scattered body parts. Devastated survivors.
The sisters arrive. They push open the door. They think they know what awaits them, but they never know. Not really. Each case is new. Each death is real.
Sunshine Cleaners is a comedy. Sort of. Really, it's a lot more.
<< MORE >>