Daily Smackdown: Movie Views and Commentary

'Hurricane Season' blows past theatrical release straight to DVD

The Editor — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 18:10:00 GMT

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 leagues with Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The two comic book pics had a combined worldwide gross of $620 million.

So he steps away from the comic books and makes a film about real people that has an outstanding cast, a poignant backdrop and even a sports theme...and it goes straight to DVD?

The Weinstein Company slipped it quietly into video stores last month, according to the Los Angeles Times. The studio wanted it kept so quiet that when a reporter from the Times called last week to ask when it would be released into theaters (it was supposed to come out last year), the reporter was told that no hard release date had been set yet.

Whitaker plays a real-life a high school basketball coach in Marrero, La., who leads a team of players who all had been displaced a year earlier by Katrina and leads them on a path to the state championship.

'Do you have a dog in this hunt?'

The Editor — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:07:00 GMT

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 the questions, but most actors in similar circumstances make a brief, prepared statement of contrition and then assert (as gently as the interviewer will allow) that it's time to move on.

But this is Mel Gibson, who doesn't seem to know the meaning of contrition. He seems to enjoy bullying interviewers.

Remember, how he reaacted during his interview with Diane Sawyer before the release of Passion of the Christ when she pressed him about charges of antisemitism and mentioned his father, who like Gibson belongs to a very conservative Catholic sect and reportedly is a Holocaust denier?

It would've been easy (for most people) to simply say, "I love my father, dearly, but I disagree with him about this." That is, it would've been easy for someone to say this if, in fact, they did disagree. Failing this, it also would've been smart merely to say, "I'd prefer not to discuss my father."

Instead, Gibson acted as edgy and wired as his Lethal Weapon loon issued a warning like, "Leave it alone, Diane...Leave it alone."

In the above video clip, when a TV entertainment reporter asks about the drunken driving arrest and antisemitism allegation, Gibson leans in and asks questions as if he doesn't know what the reporter is talking about. Then he asks of the reporter: "Do you have a dog in this hunt?" That seems like another way of asking the reporter if he's Jewish, but Gibson elaborates differently: "Do you have a dog in this hunt, or are you impartial?"

Impartial? Impartial about an actor/filmmaker who already was widely suspected of antisemitism going on a drunken, antisemitic tirade because he thought the cop who arrested him was Jewish?

Do you really expect decent people to be impartial about that, Mr. Gibson?

And if you don't want to be asked about antisemitism, instead of trying to intimidate reporters into being docile you should consider foregoing interviews. Or possibly restricting your publicity appearances to like-minded venues, assuming neo Nazi groups have newspapers with movie reporters.

Houston Film Critics Society name 'Hurt Locker' best movie of 2009

The Editor — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 08:56:00 GMT

The Houston Film Critics Society honored The Hurt Locker as the best movie of 2009 on Saturday and named George Clooney and Carey Mulligan as best actor and actress for their work in Up In the Air and The Education, respectively.

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 accepting his award and discussing the foundation's work.

The Sunshine Kids was founded in 1982 to improve the quality of life for children with cancer by involving them in activities and travel. Bailey, who did volunteer work for the foundation for years, has served as executive director since 2001.

The Museum of Fine Arts hosted the awards presentation, which was liberally sprinkled with clips from the nominated movies.

The Houston critics group awarded two other awards to The Hurt Locker Saturday. it was honored for its cinematography, and its director, Kathryn Bigalow, was named the year's best director.

Up In the Air also won three awards. In addition to Clooney for best actor, Anna Kendrick won for best supporting actress and Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner were awarded the award for best screenplay.

Other awards went to The Cove for best documentary and to Sin Nombre for best foreign language film.

Other winners included Christoph Waltz as best supporting actor award for his work as a sadistic Nazi in Inglourious Basterds, and Up for best animated feature. Up’s composer, Michael Giacchino, received the award for best score.

The other music award went to by Jarvis Cocker, Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach for composing the year’s best song, Petey’s Song from Fantastic Mr. Fox.

The society handed out one other special award – an outstanding achievement award to Margaret Stratton, a veteran Houston film publicist who retired this year.

2009 Best Picture - The Hurt Locker

2009 Best Director - Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

2009 Best Actor - George Clooney, Up in the Air

2009 Best Actress - Carey Mulligan, An Education

2009 Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

2009 Best Supporting Actress - Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air

2009 Best Screenplay - Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

2009 Best Animated Film - Up

2009 Best Cinematography - Barry Ackroyd, The Hurt Locker

2009 Best Documentary - The Cove

2009 Best Foreign Film - Sin Nombre

2009 Best Original Score - Michael Giacchino, Up

2009 Best Original Song - Petey's Song by Jarvis Cocker, Wes Anderson &

Noah Baumbach, The Fantastic Mr. Fox

2009 Outstanding Achievement Award - Margaret Stratton

2009 Humanitarian of the Year Award - G.W. Bailey

2009 Lifetime Achievement Award - Patrick Swayze

Mandela's long rugby fixation depicted in 'Invictus ' is 'poppycock,' says author

The Editor — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:16:00 GMT

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

The Editor — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:22:00 GMT

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.

Patrick Swayze, dead at 57

The Editor — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 05:08:00 GMT

After a 20-month battle with pancreatic cancer, the Houston-born star of Dirty Dancing 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.

'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' - new trailer

The Editor — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:20:00 GMT

Long-forgotten masterpiece about American Indians finally to be released on DVD 48 years after it was made

The Editor — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:57:00 GMT

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

The Editor — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:11:00 GMT

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

The Editor — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:23:00 GMT

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