I’ll spare you the prose poetry, the demands that you drop everything instantly and watch “Some Like it Hot” — one of the few movie farces that really, really works — and simply let you know that a bunch of previously unseen photos of Ms. Monroe are up over at Life.com. By all accounts, she was no easy person to figure out, but staring at the picture of the actress who was both so easy (and wrong) to dismiss and so impossible to define, it’s a lovely thing to attempt.
And, below, a musical moment from a movie I’ll watch all the way through at almost any time. There is nothing perfect in this world, however….
* Nikki Finke has some big casting news, and perhaps bit of minor spoilage, on Oliver Stone’s real-world news inspired sequel to his long ago hit, “Wall Street.” It seems that Shia LaBeouf and Javier Bardem will be helping Michael Douglas — as an ex-con Gordan Gekko — illustrate the updated fiscal morality play. No mention if Charlie and Martin Sheen are going to scream at each other in an elevator again. (The great Sheen family act-off of ’87, I calls it.) As usual with Finke’s posts, avoid the comments if you don’t feeling like saying “meow” under your breath every two seconds.
* Good news for fans of 2-D animation, and parents and kids, over at Disney. Per the Hollywood Reporter, a traditional style animated edition to the “Winnie the Pooh” franchise is in the works. Aside from the fact that a CGI Pooh would be an atrocity, this is good news because 2-D animation is simply more appropriate for some projects than others – especially considering that only Pixar seems to have the knack for computer animating humans at this point.
* Around the cinephile blogs…Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule’s Dennis Cozzalio, who likes his horror at least as much as he likes his spaghetti western baseball, talks about “Drag Me to Hell” at length — and not only about his swell drive-in movie soiree last week — including some intriguing thoughts about that PG-13 rating (and an ensuing colloquy in comments, featuring…me).
I’m just about the last person to dismiss a movie at its inception. As Roger Ebert says, very correctly, movies are not what they’re about, but how they are about it. But still…well, here’s what Variety has to say:
Several studios were in on the search, but Universal and Illumination Entertainment were the ones who found “Where’s Waldo?”…Warner Bros. chased the property for Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne’s Unique Features banner…U and Illumination will seek to create a movie with strong global appeal.
Now, mind you this is not for a Saturday morning animated TV series (that’s already been done), but a feature length motion picture for which, presumably, people over six all over the world will be expected to buy tickets. I’m sorry, but I don’t really see a story here. In any case, I’m pretty sure next up the big screen rights will soon be gobbled up for Kilroy, the truck mud-flaps women, and perhaps the “Hang In There” kitten, last seen in “Drag Me to Hell.”
After what seemed like an avalanche of Blu-rays during the month of May, HD consumers can finally rest their pocketbooks. The lull isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds – after all, studios continue to release catalog reissues every week – but those looking strictly for new titles have fewer options. For instance, last Tuesday brought us only one new release (the Renée Zellweger comedy, “New in Town”) – which is also why there was no new column – but this week offers up a slightly better selection to choose from.
Though not quite an instant classic like Richard Curtis’ “Love Actually,” the Ken Kwapis-directed romantic comedy has a lot in common with the 2003 film. Both movies juggle several interweaving storylines (including some that end well and some that don’t), and both feature an all-star cast of actors. “He’s Just Not That Into You” isn’t as memorable, but it’s definitely better than expected thanks to a smart script and some standout performances by Ginnifer Goodwin and Justin Long. While the movie doesn’t appeal to the opposite sex in the same way as Curtis’ rom-com, it’s still an easier sell than most films like it due to the variety of male characters represented in the story. The Blu-ray release is far from extraordinary, but for fans of the genre, you could do a lot worse.
I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t love “Revolutionary Road” quite as much as the other critics, but it’s still a solid period drama with fine performances from the hugely underrated Leonardo DiCaprio and the slightly overrated Kate Winslet. While the story is just as depressing as most of the award films Hollywood is producing these days, there are small moments of happiness sprinkled throughout that helps make what can easily be conveyed as an anti-marriage tale a little easier to swallow. There’s obviously more to story than that, which is why anyone who might have strayed from seeing the film in theaters (and judging by its box office receipts, that’s a pretty big percentage) should definitely give it a go on Blu-ray. The book by Richard Yates has been called one of the greatest novels in the history of American Literature, and while that’s certainly not true of the movie adaptation, it’s still worth seeing once.
So, just to explain myself real briefly, for the time being you’re going to see the tiny little letters of my name a lot more often ’round these parts, as I’ll be blogging a couple of times a day, every day (or close to it), on movies and such. I’m going to try and keep things short and sweet but my record on those matters is a bit, er, mixed. It’s just very important to me that you know the whole story.
Anyhow, one interesting aspect of this gig is that I’ll be paying attention to things that before might have only gotten a cursory glance from me. Like the MTV Movie Awards.
Not surprisingly, as per Variety, “Twilight” won the most awards and “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” won stuff as well in the teeny-bopper friendly proceedings, while Andy Samberg and Will Ferrell performed a routine noting the ever increasing filmic phenomenon of movie tough guys who are so cool they refuse to look at explosions. (I haven’t seen the clip, which has already been pulled off YouTube, but that action film cliche goes back at least 13 years to “From Dusk ‘Till Dawn” and continues on into 2007’s “No Country for Old Men” and beyond I’m sure. Personally, I really would like to see Daniel Craig or Russell Crowe as a movie bomber pause to look at an explosion and go, “Wow…that’s so cool; I probably just incinerated a bunch of people, too. Sweet.”)
But none of that is the big news. That would be Sacha Baron Cohen, promoting his upcoming film starring his very, very gay character, Brüno, by doing what he always does — and his target was the rapper most frequently associated with the word “homophobia.” A video is worth a thousand words. (Via Nikki Finke.)
So, the big question is: Was the event staged and, if so, to what degree? Eminem looked genuinely surprised and angry to me and Nikki Finke’s commenters (those elusive “industry insiders” perhaps?) have theories on how some, but not all of it, might have been spontaneous. He might be an okay actor, but I don’t think his reaction, though somewhat understandable if all is as it appears, does anything for the extremely talented but seriously messed up Shady’s image, so why would he fake that? Also, if a hand-puppet could get him angry, a real Anglo-Israeli’s buttocks and barely covered private parts should really do the trick. Via MTV, Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, has already weighed in. (“I sat on Eminem’s face long before Brüno ever did.”) Any other thoughts?
Somewhat more “real” movie news coming later today.
