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Daily Smackdown: Movie Views and Commentary
Rap Star T.I. rubs movie journalists the wrong way
Unka Erk met T.I. the other day. I don't want to say Unka is, like, overly sensitive or anything, but the rap star clearly rubbed him the wrong way. Unka posted a piece on his movie site running down my man for being late to a screening of Takers, the crime movie T.I. stars in, and for keeping reporters waiting 90 minutes the next day, for wearing sunglasses during interviews, acting aloof and for refusing to answer questions about his movie.T.I. isn't just a star but also a producer of Takers, a fast-paced, good-looking crime movie that opens Friday. The other stars include Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Chris Brown, Hayden Christenson and Michael Ealy.
I get the impression Unka Erk liked the movie but thinks T.I. is a jerk. He's posted soundbites that I think he believes proves his point.
Does backlash threaten the '3D Revolution'
How real is the 3D backlash? As the Aug. 27 re-release date for <i>Avatar</i> nears, the website 3DMoviesOnDVD.com asks that question, noting that both the New York Times and David Poland's Hot Blog have joined the discussiion in recent days. The Times notes the number of filmmakers who spoke publicly at the recent ComicCon about their resistance to 3D. Poland, predicting a "3D bloodbath," notes that 28 3D movies are scheduled to be released next year. Some of them are bound to fail. Both Poland and 3D Movies On DVD discuss what that likely will mean.<< MORE >>
'Hurricane Season' blows past theatrical release straight to DVD
Movies starring well-known actors — even past-prime, Oscar-winning stars — get sent straight to DVD fairly frequently. Still, the fate of Hurricane Season
is
surprising. The movie set, set in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, stars Forrest Whitaker, Taraji Henson and the rapper Lil Wayne. Whitaker won an Oscar only three years ago for his starring role as Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland. Henson was nominated just last year for her supporting role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Tim Story, the director, isn't likely ever to win anything of significance for his directing work, but he did an admirable job with Barbershop (2005) and blasted off into the big ... << MORE >>
'Do you have a dog in this hunt?'
In Edge of Darkness, Mel Gibson returns to the screen for the first time since his supporting role in The Singing Detective in 2003 (unless you count his uncredited appearance as an anger management patient in 2004's Paparazzi), and it's his first appearance before the cameras since he was arrested for drunken driving in 2006 and, according to the police report, became belligerent and went on an antisemitic and sexist tirade.
So you'd think he would expect to be asked about it during interviews. I wouldn't expect him to welcome ... << MORE >>
Houston Film Critics Society name 'Hurt Locker' best movie of 2009
The critics also announced its bestowal of a lifetime achievement award to the late Patrick Swayze and presented G.W. Bailey with the humanitarian of the year award or his work with the Houston-based Sunshine Kids Foundation.
Bailey, a veteran character actor who appears on television's The Closer, joked that he first thought the award was late recognition for his work in the Police Academy movies, but he teared up while ...
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Mandela's long rugby fixation depicted in 'Invictus ' is 'poppycock,' says author
Invictus opened in third place this weekend (behind The Princess and the Frog and The Blind Side), but as one of the few feel-good adult dramas of the holiday season (and a likely Oscar contender on several fronts) there's a good chance it will have legs. Since it purports to tell the true story of how Nelson Mandela used the unlikely vehicle of rugby to unite his divided nation, it doesn't hurt to know what really happened.
Did Mandela really become as obsessed with rugby as he does in the film? Did he start poring over materials a year-out to determine who South Africa's team would play in the quarter-finals? Did he interrupt top-level meetings to learn game scores? Did he form a close personal bond with the team captain that pushed the young athlete (and therefore the team) to perform better during the long lead up to the 1995 World Cup?
Paul Ackford, a writer with Britain's Telegraph newspaper, says "poppycock."
You may read his brief account of how it actually occurred HERE.
And if after seeing the film you're moved to learn the full story behind it, here is a link to the factual book on which the movie is based.
Michael Bay's Victoria's Secret Commercial
Looks like somebody strung together a bunch of outtakes from the Transformers' movies, except that I don't see the Fox dame. Maybe Bay saved that for his private collection.
... << MORE >>
Patrick Swayze, dead at 57
and Ghost has died. Swayze not only outlived his six-month prognosis but went on to star for a full season in the A&E series The Beast while undergoing chemotherapy. He was 57.
Swayze's publicist said he died with family members at his side. Read the story.
Long-forgotten masterpiece about American Indians finally to be released on DVD 48 years after it was made
Milestone Cinematheque has done it again. The distribution company that rediscovered and released Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep and My Brother's Keeper now has restored another long-overlooked masterpiece — 48 years after the movie was completed.
Kent MacKenzie finished The Exiles in 1961 while still a student at the University of Southern California. The starkly realistic portrait of the lives of young American Indians living in downtown Los Angeles premiered at the Venice Film Festival that year and won some critical acclaim. Sadly, it never found theatrical distribution.
From the trailer, the movie looks magnificent.
MacKenzie met the subjects of his movie while making a student short about LA's Bunker Hill neighborhood in 1957. After making friends and winning their confidence, he persuaded the young people to portray themselves in the movie, which was entirely written based on interviews with them about their lives. You can read more about the movie, the upcoming DVD and about how Milestone's release of the film is coming about HERE on the movie's website.
MacKenzie made only one other feature film — Saturday Morning (1971). He died in 1980.
I haven't yet seen either film — I only learned of the existence of The Exiles today. I'm looking forward to seeing it.
The DVD will be released November 17th.
'New Moon' trailer to be unveiled Friday, but you can watch the trailer's trailer now right here
When did it come to this? When, exactly, did people begin mistaking advertising for entertainment? Did marketers somehow conspire to create this phenomenon or did they merely rush in to fill the need once they recognized that it exists?
Whatever. Summit Entertainment would like you to know that its unveiling the new trailer for The Twilight Saga: New Moon on Friday. The trailer will preceed Summit's new Bandslam movie, which I gleefully will miss (just looking at the poster makes me ill). But if you can't wait until Friday, Summit also would like you to know that it started airing a 10-second tease today. Even trailers get trailers now.
That's right: Summit is announcing the unveiling of a trailer for its upcoming trailer of a new movie that doesn't open until November. And people like me are helping them do it. And then, because people like me are whores hungry for your greedy eyes, we will run the 10-second tease on our blogs. And people like you will click on it.
I guess I can live with that.
But if you run out and buy tickets for Bandslam just so you can be the first on your block to see the full trailer...well, I don't want to know you.
(Oh, but if you do decide to see Bandslam, click on this link and buy you ticket from Fandango. That way, you avoid standing in line, and this hungry whore gets to pocket a few cents.)
New Apparition company to release next Malick, Campion films
Bob Berney, who used to manage an art house movie theater in Houston before he went on to found and operate such film companies as Picturehouse,
NewMarket and IFC Films and release such works as Pan's Labyrinth,
Memento, The Passion of the Christ, The Whale Rider and Y Tu Mama
Tambien, has launched a new company. The company's first releases will
be doozies.
Berney is partnering with Bill Pohlad, who has produced such films as Brokeback Mountain and Into the Wild.
Apparition's initial slate includes David Malick's The Tree of Life, which stars Sean Penn and Brad Pitt, and Jane Campion's Bright Star, which premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
“Working with filmmakers like Terrence Malick and Jane Campion right out of the gate is a great indication of the kinds of relationships that we hope this company will be built on,” Berney said in a press release.
"Bill and I are creating a company where the art of filmmaking is truly a priority," he said. "The birth of a new company that works in concert with artists while employing creating marketing strategies is a winning combination and is the essence of Apparition."
The Tree of Life will be released in 2010. Bright Star is scheduled to be released Sept. 18
Berney is partnering with Bill Pohlad, who has produced such films as Brokeback Mountain and Into the Wild.
Apparition's initial slate includes David Malick's The Tree of Life, which stars Sean Penn and Brad Pitt, and Jane Campion's Bright Star, which premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
“Working with filmmakers like Terrence Malick and Jane Campion right out of the gate is a great indication of the kinds of relationships that we hope this company will be built on,” Berney said in a press release.
"Bill and I are creating a company where the art of filmmaking is truly a priority," he said. "The birth of a new company that works in concert with artists while employing creating marketing strategies is a winning combination and is the essence of Apparition."
The Tree of Life will be released in 2010. Bright Star is scheduled to be released Sept. 18
Can Sasha Baron Cohen do it again?
We'll find out Friday when the movie opens in the US.
Cohenplays an Austrian gay fashionista who claims to be an Austrian TVreporter and worms his way into a succession of hot spots.
This week's other wide release is I Love You, Beth Cooper, a teen romantic comedy directed by Chris Columbus (Rent, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Home Alone).
'The Cove' trailer
I have a knee jerk skepticism about documentaries that strive hard to convince you that it's really more like a thriller or detective story or comedy than documentary, My skepticism goes into overdrive when a doc bills itself, as The Cove does, as "part Flipper, part Bourne Identity."
The trailer for The Cove flashes that description across the screen as dramatic music builds to a crescendo and a series of quick cuts tries to persuade us we're watching something dangerous and exciting. In the face of something like that, I automatically start to wonder how much of what I am seeing is restaged reenactments, how much of the scary-looking stuff would seem benign without all the trappings.
Still, I look forward to seeing The Cove. It's about an important subject and the "ecological crime" at its core deserves attention, even if the filmmakers do seem determined through their hyperbolic ...<< MORE >>
The trailer for The Cove flashes that description across the screen as dramatic music builds to a crescendo and a series of quick cuts tries to persuade us we're watching something dangerous and exciting. In the face of something like that, I automatically start to wonder how much of what I am seeing is restaged reenactments, how much of the scary-looking stuff would seem benign without all the trappings.
Still, I look forward to seeing The Cove. It's about an important subject and the "ecological crime" at its core deserves attention, even if the filmmakers do seem determined through their hyperbolic ...<< MORE >>
Robert S. McNamara, 1916-2009
Robert McNamara was 93.
'Ice Age' and 'Transformers' tie for first place
The July 4th weekend top two box office draws tied. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Tranformers: Revenge of the Fallen each earned 42.5 million according to preliminary figures. Public Enemies came in third with $26 million. More to come
...<< MORE >>
...<< MORE >>
4th of July Weekend
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen took in an estimated $17.8 million Friday, beating both of this week's new wide releases on the first day of the hotly contested 4th of July weekend.
It's battling Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs for the top spot. Ice Age earned $17 million Friday.
Public Enemies appears likely to finish third. It earned $10.1 million Friday, according to figures published by Box Office Mojo.
The Proposal and The Hangover are still hanging in there, several weeks after opening, coming in 4th and 5th with $5.1 million and $4.5 million respectively.
Ice Age and Public Enemies both opened Wednesday. Ice Age led on Wednesday with $13.8 million, followed by Transformers with $10.9 million. Public Enemies came in third with $8.1 million. It's a respectable showing for the crime drama, which targets adult audiences rather than the youngsters who make up the majority of ticket buyers.
...<< MORE >>
It's battling Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs for the top spot. Ice Age earned $17 million Friday.
Public Enemies appears likely to finish third. It earned $10.1 million Friday, according to figures published by Box Office Mojo.
The Proposal and The Hangover are still hanging in there, several weeks after opening, coming in 4th and 5th with $5.1 million and $4.5 million respectively.
Ice Age and Public Enemies both opened Wednesday. Ice Age led on Wednesday with $13.8 million, followed by Transformers with $10.9 million. Public Enemies came in third with $8.1 million. It's a respectable showing for the crime drama, which targets adult audiences rather than the youngsters who make up the majority of ticket buyers.
...<< MORE >>
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 >>