Film School Rejects

Summit Reinvigorates Weitz Into Making More Films

Dr. Cole Abaius — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:05:15 +0000

Two weeks ago, I got to talk with Melissa Rosenberg, the screenwriter beyond Twilight and New Moon who had a lot of positive things to say about Summit and the way they do business. Apparently they make movies instead of talk about making them, give their talent a lot of room to grow, and offer freedoms that most other studios don’t. Which probably explains why they are growing (even if most of that growth comes on the backs of a brooding vampire and his anti-feminist love interest).

But Neil Miller will be glad to know that Chris Weitz, director of New Moon, has decided not to quit filmmaking and instead, according to Variety, will be making more movies after his next with Summit.

In that next project, he’ll be tackling the story of an immigrant worker trying to raise a son with Gardner.

The money quote here:

There are no werewolves or vampires, just a Mexican gardener in Los Angeles,” Weitz said.

We reported last week that Weitz would be doing the project, but apparently he’s claiming he won’t be leaving the directing chair even after finishing this next flick. That should be great news for anyone who thought he was smug for wanting to quit.

Of course, Weitz’s frustrations with the industry stemmed completely from the studio overhauling his vision for The Golden Compass, but it looks like a solid relationship with Summit has done the trick in convincing the director to keep working. Or it was the $140 million weekend that New Moon had. Either way – more movies from Chris Weitz!

So he’s signing on with them again and making something that sounds like the Latino version of The Pursuit of Happyness (of which, the main character’s last name was Gardner).

Yes, I love judging film concepts by rough loglines. It’s a gift.

On an un-sarcastic note, I think this is really cool. I’ve enjoyed several of Weitz’s films, and I love hearing any story that involves the amount of freedom and respect a studio gives to a filmmaker. It looks and sounds like Summit is doing something right over there.

What do you think?

Fringe Star Defends Us Against ‘UFO’

Dr. Cole Abaius — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:46:46 +0000

I’ve never seen “Fringe,” so I have to assume that it’s a science fiction show about a few teenagers working out their relationship problems, sneaking into each other’s bedrooms and pondering deep, deep thoughts out on the local lake.

Now, Joshua Jackson will be attempting to build a film career off of his television career on said show.

What’s that you say? He’s already done this once before? Good to know.

Also good to know is that Variety is reporting that the star has signed on to play the lead in the film adaptation of a cult hit 1970s British television show (you can see why Hollywood is clamoring for it). This raises two questions:

Can an actor jump to movies, fail, jump back to television, and then jump back into movies and succeed?
Where the hell is our big screen “Red Dwarf” movie?

The second is clearly the more important, but UFO will be hear sooner, and it will be directed by Matthew Gratzner – a first-time solo director with seasoned experience in the visual fx department. His resume is miles deep with everything from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to Iron Man to Men In Black.

Speaking of which, the plot sounds eerily similar….Jackson will be playing Paul Foster, a pilot who joins an underground group hidden (you know) underground, fighting an alien race that keeps stealing humans.

So all around it sounds like a return to the 1990s. And the 1970s. And where is my damned Red Dwarf movie?

What do you think, friends?

Reject Radio: Episode 27: Good Times Had By None

Dr. Cole Abaius — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:19:33 +0000

Brought to you by: Phoning It In – That’s what we’re going to be doing.

This week, on a very special episode of Reject Radio, we finally utilize the internet to do the show, special guest Kevin Carr can’t stop talking about menstrual blood, and we do our impression of 1930s British Robert Redford.

We do it all for you.

We also manage to review The Blind Side and New MoonOMG.

Listen Here:

Download This Episode

On This Week’s Show:

Segment 1: Ripped From the Headlines [0:00 - 33:00ish]

There Was No News This Week, so We Talk About Al Gore
And NBC’s Blatant Enviro-Themed Thursday
All the Other News Involves How Many People Camped Out for New Moon
And Idris Elba Just Got Cast in Thor as Hilmdall Heimdall, the Man Who Invented the Heimlich Maneuver
In the Lollipop Forest
Also, The American Gladiators Movie Hired a Writer
Neil Is Dead Get Over It Trailer Round Up: Round Two for Clash of the Titans

Segment 2: Reviews [33:00 - 62:0oish]

The Blind Side
Twilight Saga: New Moon [Neil's review]

Segment 3: The World Famous Third Segment [62:00 - Fin]

Our Favorite Vampire Sports Movies That We Just Made Up: Admit it. You’d go see Million Dollar Rabies.
Dr. Abaius’s Totally Accurate Box Office Guesses: Who took the top spot this week?
Go Eat Turkey. We’ll See You in Two Weeks.

Reject Radio Airs Live Sunday Nights at 10p EST / 7p PST

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Review: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Rob Hunter — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:27:37 +0000

Remember Nicolas Cage? He doesn’t work very often so the name may not immediately ring a bell, but maybe some of his films might jar your memory… Birdy, Raising Arizona, Wild At Heart, Adaptation? (Not to be confused with Nicholas Z. Kage, an “actor” who sleepwalks through roles and films like Fire Birds, Trapped In Paradise, Snake Eyes, Gone In Sixty Seconds, National Treasure, Ghost Rider, Next, Bangkok Dangerous, and many, many more.) He’s an actor who craves odd and interesting characters but manages to shape them into real, fully developed people that sometimes outshine the films they inhabit. Where other actors just present an idiosyncratic caricature he crafts people who are more than simply the sum of their quirks. So as I said earlier, Cage doesn’t make a lot of movies. The good news though is that after a multi-year absence from movie screens he’s finally returned in Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.

Detective Terence McDonagh (Cage) stands in a rapidly flooding New Orleans jail with his partner Stevie Pruit (Val Kilmer). Flood waters from Hurricane Katrina are rising and a lone prisoner is trapped in a cell mere moments away from drowning. Pruit votes to leave him for the coroner, but McDonagh is a better cop than that and decides to jump in to save the felon. The leap wrenches his back out and one year later that good cop now has an addiction to pain pills, a prostitute girlfriend (Eva Mendes), and the moral compass of a Water Moccasin. He and Pruit are tasked with finding the killers of an entire family of Senegalese immigrants, and the search leads them to a drug dealer named Big Fate (Xzibit). When not working on the case, McDonagh spends his time harassing night-club patrons for drugs and the occasional quickie as well as interfering with his girlfriend’s business. It’s not long before McDonagh finds himself in trouble with the drug dealers, some low level mobsters, and Internal Affairs. What’s a morally bankrupt cop have to do to survive in a post-Katrina Big Easy anyway?

Bad Lieutenant:PoCNO is Cage’s film from start to finish, and he proves himself more than capable of crafting not only an original and engaging character but one that manages to be both despicable and likable at the same time. Cage’s McDonagh is entirely unpredictable and capable of anything. He finds himself presented with options and choices, and Cage visibly struggles with the decision. It’s not that we ever think he may veer towards the correct choice of course, but Cage’s face shows an awareness of what sits before him and what’s to follow. A scene where he interrogates an old woman and her nurse at a retirement home is priceless for both the humor and intensity, and while I would obviously never wish for an old lady’s oxygen supply to be cut off if it has to happen Cage is the one I want to see standing over her wearing an expression of pure maniacal glee.

The problem is McDonagh is likable purely as a source of entertainment (a script issue as opposed to an acting one). Aside from the very brief introduction we’ve only known him as an immoral prick, so we have no reason to pull for his transition into anything else. He doesn’t grow or change throughout the film as much as he exists on the edge of believability and comedic relief.

Herzog’s past films were often identifiable by the presence of his preferred muse, Klaus Kinski. The blue-eyed, wild-maned actor was erratic and crazy in every role, but with Herzog he would drop even the slightest restraint and just go nuts. I can easily see Cage picking up the mantle of Herzog’s new go-to madman. In fact, if Herzog’s oft-mentioned plans for a remake of Robin Williams’ RV (tentatively titled Fitzcarraldo’s RV) actually get the green-light I fully expect Cage to star as the man trying to move an intact Winnebago up the Amazon on his family vacation.

Cage is joined here by a pretty eclectic supporting cast including the already mentioned Kilmer, Mendes, and Xzibit. Of the three, Mendes comes off the best as she actually has some real meat to her role. Kilmer just pops up occasionally to remind us that he’s in the damn movie. Other recognizable faces include Fairuza Balk, Jennifer Coolidge (more serious and dialed-down than she normally is), Shawn Hatosy, and the always wonderful Brad Dourif.

Just as much of a character in the film is director Werner Herzog’s camera. But where Cage makes his character’s actions seem natural, Herzog’s choices stand out from the rest of the film. McDonagh comes upon a traffic accident involving a dead alligator in the road, and Herzog leaves the action to present (almost) a POV shot from a second alligator off in the brush. It watches its dead mate for a minute or so, but while it seems like an ode to a similar scene in Orca the gator never does come back for revenge. (I was hopeful it would show up and bite off Mendes’ leg though…) McDonagh also finds himself enamored with a pair of iguanas at one point that only he can see. Again Herzog pauses the film’s action and narrative to bring the camera down to their level for two long minutes after which we never see them (or anything like it) again.

These two scenes are the only ones like it in the film and they stand out for being so unusual, but that’s not to say there aren’t any other weird bits. The infamous “Shoot him again… his soul’s still dancing” line from the trailer is actually followed by a scene of the dead man break dancing. Cage spends about twenty minutes in the middle of the film speaking in an absurdly nasally voice that sounds like a coked-up version of his character from Peggy Sue Got Married. The problem is these bits of oddness are too few and far between for a two-hour film. Couple that with a dirty cop whose worst offense is accepting sex from a woman he’s harassing and forcing the boyfriend to watch… that’s bad obviously, but it’s not as over-the-top terrible as he should have gone. Instead it’s just one briefly enjoyable crazy punctuation out of a handful spread across a so-so film.

Bad Lieutenant:PoCNO is an interesting film but not really a successful one. That said it’s still worth watching for a few reasons. It’s very funny at times, and even with the reptile POV shots it’s probably Herzog’s most accessible film. He doesn’t seem to be saying much with the movie (in fact the opening shot of a snake swimming lazily in between jail-cell bars as a metaphor for Cage’s character moving between both sides of the law is as deep as the movie gets), but it almost works as pure entertainment. Almost because it isn’t really about very much at all. The case is simply there as a plot marker since details are glossed over and it’s never really a mystery as to what’s going on or who’s responsible. And the film isn’t a true character piece as there’s no true character arc on display.

Laughs and partial craziness aside, the biggest reason to see it is for Cage’s performance. As an actor he’s dug as big of a hole for himself as his character has in this film. Role after role where his talents are either not on display or at the very least hidden beneath hilarious hair-pieces have done major damage to his respectability and likability, but he earns a partial redemption here channeling his endless energy, quirks, and innate zaniness into his most entertaining performance in years. And yes, I do mean intentionally entertaining…

The Upside: Cage’s best performance in years; offbeat and sometimes very funny; unlike any other film you’ll see this year

The Downside: Not nearly as edgy or odd as it needed to be; too long with dry spells between the quirks

On the Side: This is remake in name (and very basic theme) only to Abel Ferrara’s 1992 film starring Harvey Keitel. The producers of this new film approached Herzog and insisted he keep the name as they’re hoping to create a franchise of “Bad Lieutenant” films if this one does well enough.

Old Ass Movies: White Christmas

Dr. Cole Abaius — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:03:59 +0000

Every Sunday, Film School Rejects presents a film that was made before you were born and tells you why you should like it. This week, Old Ass Movies presents:

White Christmas (1954)

While walking through a major store the other day, I noticed that all of their Christmas gear had already been broken out, and I felt that that sent a central message to shoppers that Thanksgiving is easily overlooked. The hell with Thanksgiving. Bring on Christmas.

I’ve decided to join in the exclusionary spirit, completely bypassing Thanksgiving (as if my entries seem themed in the first place), and go straight to the source of holiday cheer that is the only holiday that can leave the streets and highways of Los Angeles empty.

And what better way than to spotlight White Christmas?

I recognize that for some modern audiences, this film will seem completely dated. It’s one of those films that was birthed from the stage show, from Vaudeville, and stands halfway between the musical genre (where people just burst out into song randomly) and a film genre where entertainers use real stages and real performances within the narrative to deliver musical numbers aside the usual plot progression.

Bing Crosby teams with Danny Kaye as Bob Wallace and Phil Davis – two Army veterans and entertainers who decide they want to put on a huge show for their former mentor and CO, Major General Thomas Waverly (Dean Jagger). Of course, this is only after their main plan to sneak away from work responsibilities with the gorgeous Haynes Sisters (Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen as Betty and Judy) turns sour due to a noticeable lack of snow in scenic Vermont. That lack has kept away the tourism trade that Waverly now depends on as an inn owner, so the huge show turns into a benefit not only for old time’s sake but for the future of the business as well.

Like I said, I can understand why it would seem dated, but the chemistry between Crosby and Kaye should resonate with any audience. Over fifty years later, we still have a huge number of films released every year that attempt to capture the buddy comedy spirit that these two men embodied here (and where Crosby and Hope helped pioneer in their Road To movies). You can see the roots of films like I Love You, Man and The Hangover buried deep in a movie like this. Crosby and Kaye are an odd couple, one free-spirited and reckless, the other refined and serious with a good sense of humor. Both are trying pretty hard to make romance work with two beautiful ladies. Both wear comically large santa hats in the finale.

And that’s really the entire point and an argument that modern audiences are already used to hearing. There are some serious issues with the movie – no depth, random placement of musical numbers, a nearly non-existent plot that gets stretched out. However, the movie is still wildly entertaining. To quote half of the commenters for Neil’s Transformers 2 review, “They weren’t trying to make Hamlet here.” [Spelling corrected]

It’s a fun movie that will probably wash right out of your memory as quickly as new fallen snow, but with some attractive people oozing charisma and performing some great Irving Berlin music while carrying out a funny, heartfelt task, the movie remains a fantastic entry into the holiday library.

And for film buffs who care about this sort of thing, White Christmas is the first film to ever use VistaVision – one of the original Hi-Def 35mm variants. I know, I know. It’s no Cinerama. But it was still game changing.

I grew up watching this movie with my mother, and it became a sort of tradition during the holidays. Although, I admit that I had trouble relating to it considering it had never snowed growing up on the beaches of sunny Texas. Still, White Christmas lies in that realm of filmmaking that won’t challenge the audience at all, won’t make them think, won’t display any greater human truths, but is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. It’s better than Thanksgiving, and if you really want an interesting afternoon, double feature it with the original Black Christmas.

Twilight Saga: New Moon Sets Records, Hauls in $140 million

John Cairns — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:30 +0000

Wow. I knew the fans of The Twilight Saga: New Moon were crazy for this movie, but I didn’t realize they were going to be THIS crazy. It’s an enormous $140 million opening domestic haul for the whole weekend for New Moon, a haul usually associated with movies that open during the summer. What’s more, several box office records have fallen by the wayside.

Let’s just go over the records that have fallen, shall we?

1. The Friday haul of $72 million is the biggest Friday gross of all time, EVER. It tops the $67.2 million record of The Dark Knight from last year.

2. The midnight sales, again, were the highest of all time. $26.27 million at 3,514 locations, beating the record previously held by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which made $22.2 million at 3,003 earlier this year.

3. The $140 million weekend is the highest domestic opening of all time for a non-summer release.

4. Let’s not forget the pre-sale records set by MovieTickets.com and Fandango.com for advance sales.

5. It is also the highest opening weekend haul of 2009 and the top opening haul for the first three days of a release (beating Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’s $127,851,614 for its Wednesday-Thursday-Friday rollout).

I kind of equate this sort of reaction to the Twilight series to the Star Wars phenomenon. Heck, I have to, look at the numbers. When people go crazy for a movie franchise, they go crazy in a big way. I guess what is really interesting is that it’s the female segment of the population that is making this movie a hit, because usually the biggest blockbusters have had a heavily male audience But I was at a dinner the other night, and the women at the table were all raving about Twilight and New Moon and saying how great it all was. I guess that’s an indication of the appeal this movie has. And women everywhere are in love with Robert Pattinson.

There will be a few people who will have raised eyebrows over the fact that a movie released in the fall did so well. I’m not really too surprised, though; box office results tend to pick up as Christmas approaches, and then after the new year they go right back down the drain. I guess the story was that the haul was this high so fast. $140 million — that’s unbelievable. The original Twilight didn’t make nearly that kind of money in one weekend.

I don’t know how well this movie will do next week going into Thanksgiving. There was a pretty steep drop right through this weekend alone. I don’t think first place is out of the question for this movie, though, right through the Thanksgiving holidays.

You kind of think that other movies would end up trampled in the stampede to see New Moon, but The Blind Side did very well in the face of all this, hauling in $34 million. And Planet 51 got $12.6 million.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon – $140,700,000
The Blind Side – $34,510,000
2012 – $26,500,000
Planet 51 – $12,600,000
A Christmas Carol (2009) – $12,230,000
Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire – $11,008,000
The Men Who Stare at Goats – $2,773,000
Couples Retreat – $1,952,000
The Fourth Kind – $1,730,000
Law Abiding Citizen – $1,615,000

I will be back in time for the Wednesday holiday releases when we will preview some more new movies. Until then, don’t bet on the movies.

Review: Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Robert Levin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:06:39 +0000

In Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, director Lee Daniels pulls off an improbable feat. Within a grim world in which the worst of human behavior frequently manifests itself, Daniels and screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher (using Sapphire’s source material) have created an authentic testament to the enduring powers of hope and the human spirit’s capacity to overcome. They’ve done so thanks to a fiercely intelligent performance by newcomer Gabourey ‘Gabby’ Sidibe, a compassionate eye for the circumstances surrounding their protagonist’s upbringing and a narrative that depicts misery but refuses to wallow in it.

Teenager Clareece “Precious” Jones (Sidibe) has suffered tremendously in her life. Twice impregnated by her father, terribly abused by her monstrous mother (Mo’Nique) and subject to unending harassment for being overweight, it’s a wonder she finds the strength to wake up each morning. Yet, she does. And when a kind teacher at school recommends an alternative educational program for her, she enrolls and finds there the opportunity to escape the bonds of her tormented upbringing.

The story unfolds in the everyday reality of the Harlem, circa 1987, that Precious inhabits and within her complex headspace, into which she disappears at the worst moments. Daniels renders the former in withdrawn, gritty visual tones that contrast with the richer colors of her fantasies of glamour and superstardom. The choice, and the regular transitions between the two universes, adds a depth to the picture that sets it apart from other depictions of urban malaise.

Understanding Precious the person is the key to understanding Precious the movie and the likely reason it’s proved such an unqualified success, both on the film festival circuit and at the box office. There’s developed a standard form for cinematic depictions of life in a city’s mean neighborhoods that — in its addiction to a formula of gun violence, hot rides, half dressed women and hip-hop infused soundtracks — has transformed a serious subject into a stultifying, chic cliché. In this picture, Daniels forgoes such accouterments, instead turning his focus to an individual that’d ordinarily exist on the periphery of such fare, as the butt of jokes.

It’s not hyperbole to suggest that the very act of taking Precious, a 350 pound black girl, seriously enough to center a film on her is one of great courage. Movies about women are frequently preoccupied by superficial beauty, emphasizing the so-called desirable appearance promulgated by our consumerist popular culture. Yet, this picture never condescends to Precious or her miserable situation. She’s not there to be laughed at, and though the dramatics between her and her mother are taken to a spectacularly heightened place, they’re rooted in the truths of the traumas of abuse.

At its core, Precious tells the story of a girl we’ve been trained to ignore. She seems to have nothing going for her, having faced an impossibly difficult, joyless life. Yet, Sidibe lets us in and reveals something very different. The actress imbues the character with dignity and strength. She holds herself high, keeps her cool and masters the art of reacting silently, communicating much while saying little. She shows us an individual who refuses to be broken, a person capable of acts of remarkable goodness and caring, dedicated to making a better life for herself and her children. Beaten down by her circumstances but never defeated, Precious needs someone, or something, to unlock her gifts and set her free. When that happens, when she derives a small sliver of happiness from her mountain of despair, the triumph feels earned, in a powerful way.

The Upside: The movie regards its unusual protagonist with enormous sympathy and insight. Lead actress Gabourey Sidibe is terrific, and director Lee Daniels has real vision.

The Downside: Occasionally, the grim circumstances of main character Precious’ life are so extreme they enter the realm of the absurd.

On the Side: Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry have both lent their support to the film as executive producers, and, through Friday, Box Office Mojo’s statistics had the film’s box office take at almost $14 million, an amazing haul.

Facebook Fans: Win a Copy of North by Northwest on DVD!

Neil Miller — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:00:15 +0000

Yesterday we gave everyone a chance to win a copy of Uwe Boll’s next movie, Far Cry, with a potentially hilarious caption contest. And while that movie might end up being one of the worst movies that we’ve ever given away, we follow it by giving our Facebook Fans a chance to win one of the greatest films of all-time, not to mention one of the best films we’ve ever given away here on the site.

Warner Bros. has hooked us up with three (3) copies of North by Northwest: The 50th Anniversary Edition on DVD to give to our faithful fans. For entry instructions, see below.

How to Enter

Follow these simple steps:

1. Head over to the Official Film School Rejects Facebook Page
2. Click “Become a Fan”
3. Done

Other restrictions, rules, etc:

1. You must be 18 years or older to enter.
2. You must be a resident of the United States or Canada.

Winners will be selected at random from our Facebook Fans on November 30, 2009.

Caption This: Win Uwe Boll’s Far Cry on DVD!

Neil Miller — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:04:39 +0000

Would you like to pay for another Uwe Boll video game adaptation on DVD? We didn’t think so. How about we give you the DVD for the low-low price of entertaining us with a photo caption? Yeah, that’s more like it. On November 24, Vivendi Entertainment will release Far Cry on DVD. And we’re giving you a chance to win a copy for free. All you have to do is think of a fun caption for the image above and write it into the comment section below.

There are other rules: (a) you must be 18 or older, (b) you must be a legal resident of the United States or Canada and (c) you must provide your email address in the comment form below (please don’t leave it in the actual comment, that’s not safe). Ten (10) winners will be selected on Monday, November 30, 2009 and contacted shortly thereafter. Good luck.

About Far Cry
Til Schwiger (Inglourious Basterds), Udo Kier (Grindhouse), and Emmanuelle Vaugier (Saw IV) star in the action-packed story of a reporter who investigates the deaths of mercenaries on an island off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. Upon docking, they are attacked and pursued by a squad of mercenaries employed by scientist, Dr. Krieger (Udo Kier). In their attempt to escape, they uncover Dr. Krieger’s secret lab and unleash the genetically engineered beasts that he’s created.

Carey Mulligan and Natalie Portman Talk Dreams in ‘Brothers’

Neil Miller — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:43:21 +0000

Lionsgate has provided us with a brand new clip from Jim Sheridan’s upcoming drama Brothers, a remake of a 2004 Danish film from director Susanne Bier. It tells the story of a young man who comforts his older brother’s wife and children after he goes missing in Afghanistan. The film has a major cast, including Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Carey Mulligan and Natalie Portman, to name a few.

In this new clip, we see the wife of another soldier (Mulligan) talking to the older brother’s wife (Portman) about a dream that she had about the missing soldier. It gives us a good sense of tone for the flick, which is a risky endeavor, considering the lackluster performance of Middle Eastern conflict-related movies over the past few years.

Have a look at the clip for yourself below. Brothers begins its limited release on December 4, 2009.

We also have the Brothers trailer below, courtesy of Yahoo Movies, followed by the official synopsis.

When a decorated Marine goes missing overseas, his black-sheep younger brother cares for his wife and children at home—with consequences that will shake the foundation of the entire family. BROTHERS tells the powerful story of two siblings, thirtysomething Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) and younger brother Tommy Cahill (Jake Gyllenhaal), who are polar opposites. A Marine about to embark on his fourth tour of duty, Sam is a steadfast family man married to his high school sweetheart, the aptly named Grace (Natalie Portman), with whom he has two young daughters (Bailee Madison, Taylor Grace Geare). Tommy, his charismatic younger brother, is a drifter just out of jail who’s always gotten by on wit and charm. He slides easily into his role as family provocateur on his first night out of prison, at Sam’s farewell dinner with their parents, Elsie (Mare Winningham) and Hank Cahill (Sam Shepard), a retired Marine.

I’m Not a Tour Guide: More Clips from ‘Up in the Air’

Neil Miller — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:13:43 +0000

Paramount Pictures has provided us with two new clips from their upcoming release Up in the Air, from Thank You for Smoking and Juno director Jason Reitman. As a programming note, this is probably the first of several great little pieces that we’ll be running about Up in the Air, which is currently in my top ten movies of the year. We still have my own glowing review to post, as well as Dr. Cole Abaius’ hilarious interview with Jason Reitman. Look for that later this week.

For now, we have these two new clips. The first clip, “I’m Not a Tour Guide,” features a conversation between jet-setting termination consultant Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) speaking with his boss (Jason Bateman) about taking a hotshot young peer out on the road to see how their business of firing people works. The second clip, entitled “Something Real,” features Bingham talking to his hotshot traveling partner Natalie (Anna Kendrick) about his relationship with Alex (Vera Farmiga). Have a look for yourself below, followed by the film’s official synopsis.

I’m Not a Tour Guide:

Something Real:

Ryan Bingham is a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he’s met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams.

Avatar Through the Eyes of Stephen Lang

Neil Miller — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:46:28 +0000

One of our beloved readers, Marcus G., sent this over to me this morning and it is more than worth sharing — especially if you’re looking to cleanse your pallet from all of the Twilight: New Moon news this weekend. Even if that does mean more video footage from James Cameron’s Avatar. Somehow, I don’t think anyone is going to mind.

This brief, but also quite interesting featurette focuses on Colonel Quaritch, played by Stephen Lang. He’s the head of security for the corporation that is trying to invade Pandora and mine the precious mineral that the exists below the home of the Na’vi. He dispatches the members of the Avatar Program, played by Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver and Joel David Moore, to infiltrate the Na’vi in order to avoid using force. But based on the gigantic scars on this hardened soldier’s face, he’s also no stranger to using force. Have a look at the featurette below.

Avatar is in theaters on December 18, 2009.

New Moon Topples The Dark Knight’s Opening Day Record

Neil Miller — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:28:47 +0000

Despite my clear disdain for the latest entry in the Twilight series, as written in my review, I must admit that Summit Entertainment is doing something right. The marketing arm of Summit, that is. The production arm is having some trouble assembling a creative team that can deliver a movie that’s more than fan-service, but those marketers seem to be taking things to the next level.

Reports are coming in today that The Twilight Saga: New Moon not only broke the midnight opening record with $26.3 million at 3,514 theaters, but it has also passed The Dark Knight ($67.1m) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($62m) for the all-time highest opening day record, earning an estimated $72.7 million on Friday (11/20). This is more than double the opening day take of the first Twilight film, which earned $35.9 million on the same November weekend in 2008.

Many pundits around the web are talking about the potential for New Moon to overtake The Dark Knight’s 3-day record of $158 million, but I’m not sure I would go that far so soon. We have to remember that the Twilight box office take was very front-loaded. The first film opened to $35 million, then doubled its take over the rest of the weekend to earn $69 million on opening weekend. In order for New Moon to earn over $158m, it would have to more than double it’s $71m opening day take. Don’t be surprised if it gets to $130-140 million range by the end of the weekend.

Junkfood Cinema: Battle Beyond the Stars

Brian Salisbury — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:30:58 +0000

Editor’s Note: We hope you enjoy this new Friday afternoon column, Junkfood Cinema, by Brian Salisbury. It celebrates movies that are so bad, even though they are also sometimes so good. For more (coming each and every Friday), stay tuned to the Junkfood Cinema Archive. Also, please feel free to let us know what you think of this new weekly feature in the comment section below.

Battle Beyond the Stars

Directed by: Jimmy T. Murakami

Written by: John Sayles & Anne Dyer

Produced by: Roger Corman, Ed Carlin, & Mary Ann Fisher

Starring: George Peppard, Robert Vaughn, John Saxon, and Richard Thomas

For this second helping of Junkfood Cinema I will gorge myself on Battle Beyond the Stars. Operating a bad movie column, it was merely a matter of time before I snacked on something from the Roger Corman. He is the sultan of schlock and a genius in the art of box office manipulation. If you are unfamiliar with his work, go out and rent A Bucket of Blood, Deathrace 2000, and Humanoids From the Deep. Granted, he didn’t direct Deathrace or Humanoids, but his camp-covered fingerprints can be found all over any film he produces as well. Corman is a man who understands the irrefutable drawing power of boobs, blood, and mayhem; his entire catalogue is chock full of it. But Corman also understands film trends and how best to trick audiences into seeing his movies time and time again. Case in point, Battle Beyond the Stars was his brilliant plan for capitalizing on Star Wars. And before you paint the man as nothing more than a hack, bear in mind that Battle Beyond the Starsis an intergalactic remake of Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai. I wish I could fabricate information that incredible.

If you’ve seen The Seven Samurai, the plot of Battle Beyond the Stars should sound very familiar. An evil overlord, bent on conquering the entire universe, sets his sights on the bountiful, and totally defenseless planet of Akir. He threatens them, bullies them, and warns them that he will return for their crops and their vows of total submission in seven risings of their Red Giant. What is a completely wuss planet to do? They decide to let young Shad venture into the unknown and gather mercenaries willing to fight for the survival of Akir. He gathers seven ronin outcasts and heads home for what promises to be the most epic battle of 1980.

What Makes It Bad?

I honestly don’t know where to begin. The movie’s central setting is a planet with advanced computers that has mastered space travel and weapons controlled by xylophones(yup). But in an apparent effort to fly in the face of logic, a Corman trait if I ever saw one, these people live in caves, eat from clay pots, and display a aptitude for medicine that would shame a shaman. What the hell? Not to mention the fact that from this paradoxical planet is spawned Shad, arguably the weeniest hero of the decade. This kid is so wimpy, I don’t know whether to root for him or give him an atomic wedgie.

The effects of this movie provide for the greatest space battles this side of first generation screen-savers. And while the the blue screen is fuzzy and some of the makeup designs seem as though they were applied as the actors were running from their trailers to the set, the bedrock cheese of the effects in Battle Beyond the Stars lie with the models of the ships. There is a ship, and I wish I were kidding about this, that was fashioned from a terrarium salvaged from the garbage. Magic! And I would be completely lacking in my charge if I didn’t mention the crown jewel here: a ship that looks like a swinging set of testicles or a voluptuous pair of tits depending on your Freudian proclivities. Oh yes. The boob ship, called so here because that’s where my perversion stands, comes replete with viewing ports serving as aureoles and knocks about the galaxy as proud as a stripper with a brand new pair of cash-grabbers.

This film features a very, very 80’s representation of the future. I’ll admit this could be construed as nitpicking, but it is one of those unavoidable setbacks facing any film from a distinct era trying to interpret the future. It takes on a whole new level of anachronistic when robots have cassette tapes inserted into their chests in order to play music. And for that matter, when actors portraying robots demonstrate that they are robots by doing the robot. There’s really nothing like having an Aldolfo Shabba-Tron 3000 is there? And for the love of Flashdance if I saw one more pair of leggings on an alien female I was going to gag myself with a spoon.

Why I Love It!

There is a major film historian context behind my love of this film. While Roger Corman sadly remains largely unsung among the casual film viewer, he was the driving force behind some of the biggest names in Hollywood. When he fired nearly his entire visual effects team because he found out that their “worked on Star Wars” boasts were largely bullshit, he promoted the one employee with whom he had been impressed to the position of art director. That kid he promoted…a nobody named James Cameron. Yup, watch this film and see how it colors your anticipation for Avatar. Corman’s screenwriter, John Sayles, would go on to pen the scripts for The Howling, Eight Men Out, and The Spiderwick Chronicles. The composer, James Horner, has a body of work that includes Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, Aliens, Apollo 13, and Titanic. Though not involved in this film, it is interesting to note that Corman also launched the career of Silence of the Lambsdirector Jonathan Demme. When you think about how many big names owe their careers to Roger Corman, it is even more fun to watch his super cheesy films.

Battle Beyond the Starshas an amazing array of characters. I especially love George Peppard’s space cowboy. He is part Han Solo, part John Wayne, and all awesome. I believe I need only mention that the man has a Scotch dispenser on his belt buckle to cement his greatness into your mind sockets; I know that’s all I needed. Not to be overlooked is Robert Vaughn whose character from The Magnificent Seven was apparently launched into space, became an effeminate pirate, and now resides on a Vegas planet. Sidenote for the dozen people that do not know this, The Magnificent Seven is another remake of The Seven Samurai so having Vaughn in both seems doubly legitimate.

This film also features a lizard man with a vendetta, a pair of thermal twins who are unsettling and weird, and a rack-tastic warrior women called Saint-Exmin (apparently Professor X achieved sainthood). The latter of the list is dressed, at various times throughout the film, as a dominatrix, an opera singer, and a birthday cake adornment. Hilarious! I also found it hysterical that the villain’s ground assault force had two uniform choices: race car driver or scuba gear. It was about as intimidating as a flock of second-graders on Halloween. Congrats!

I love this film. I love that even though the directing credit went to Jimmy Murakami, Corman was really the one in charge. I love the hokey effects, the outlandish characters, and the shameless Star Wars ripoffs. Don’t believe me? Listen for the sound effects used on the opening and closing doors on Dr. Hephaestus’ ship and see if it doesn’t remind you of the sound made by a certain Sith lord’s breathing apparatus. Do yourself a favor, if you haven’t seen this movie or if you haven’t seen it since you were a kid, go rent it right this second and have an out-of-this-world weekend.

Junkfood Pairing:

Astronaut ice cream – I know it seems a hack or perhaps just incredibly lazy choice, but when you think about it, astronaut ice cream is the perfect complement to this film. It takes a classic, beloved snack and gives it a crazy, science-fiction twist. Battle Beyond the Stars takes the classic Seven Samurai story and through the magic of Roger Corman and John Sayles, casts it in an overzealous sci-fi mold. So by “if you think about it” I clearly mean “if I shoehorn a metaphor into this”. Hooray!!

Michael Bay Still Loves Megan Fox

Neil Miller — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:46:22 +0000

Despite their on-again, off-again routine of media spats, Michael Bay still has a thing for actress Megan Fox. Which means that her Transformers character Mikaela Banes will be surviving on into the next film, Transformers 3.

While he was chillin’ at the Victoria’s Secret Show this week in New York, Bay was wrestled to the ground by USA Today reporter Andrea Mandell and forced to make a comment on Fox, who has been in the news lately due to some oddly acrobatic underwear photos she took for The New York Times (one of which can be seen above). On Fox, Bay said “I love her.” Then followed up with an explanation of her role in the next Transformers film. “She’s got a great part in Transformers 3” he promised. When asked if he would kill her off: “No, no, no. She gets enough of that already”.

When probed about the little scuffle that he and Fox had in the press recently, Bay was magnanimous:

She called me [after the Hitler comment] and goes, ‘It’s all bullshit, Mike.’ The press, they just like to prey, and stalk, and pounce and find a good little juicy thing. But she’s always wanted to do these crazy comments. That’s just her. She’s great.

As you can clearly see, all is well in the world of Michael Bay and Megan Fox. Which unfortunately means that if all this is true, we will not see her death in Transformers 3, something that I know a lot of you were looking toward with much anticipation. We will have a grief counselor on staff all day here at FSR to talk it out with you in the comment section below.

Photo above courtesy of Megan-Fox.net

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