Posts Tagged: anime

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15
Jul 10

7 Movies With Big Name Actors That Haven’t Reached DVD



Plenty of films don’t ever see a theatrical release, but it’s rare in this day and age for something not even get released on home video in the U.S., especially if it stars Julia Roberts or Jim Carrey.

…”All the Boys Love Mandy Lane” and “Fireflies in the Garden”

Last year’s Bret Easton Ellis adaptation “The Informers” was a disaster on many levels — its author hated it, as did most critics, and it made $300,000 on what was a fairly wide release for an indie film — close to 500 screens. But its major crime was being a big enough debacle to shut down its distributor Senator, one of those well-funded international production companies who wanted to try their hand at distribution and unfortunately backed the wrong horse for their first foray into the marketplace. Some of the films that would’ve followed, like “Brooklyn’s Finest” and the Carey Mulligan tearjerker “The Greatest,” ultimately found homes at other distributors and Music Box has come to the rescue of the two-part French crime epic “Mesrine” for an August release.

But don’t hold your breath for either “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane” or the Julia Roberts drama “Fireflies in the Garden,” even on DVD. The latter received tepid reviews at its 2008…

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7 Movies With Big Name Actors That Haven’t Reached DVD

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14
Jul 10

God Help Anyone Who Gives “Inception” A Negative Review

Presumably when the movie actually opens Friday, all hell will break loose, crowds will riot en masse and anyone foolish enough to take acid before showing up to the theater will probably never be the same after — or so the orgasmic early reviews would have us believe.

…I feel like I’m being marketed to through this parade of articles about Inception. My Ego is under attack. I want to be a part of the movement to save Hollywood’s soul, but I just don’t know if that’s what’s really going on here anymore.

Here’s what’s bothering me. Two weeks ago I wanted to go see Avatar. But I read some reviews, all of course saying that it was utter garbage. And normally I don’t read reviews first, but I’ve found myself more and more concerned lately with how terrible films have become. And last year, I knew that Revenge of the Fallen, GI Joe, and Terminator would all be terrible films, but I wanted to hang out with my friends, so I went to see them at the theater anyway. But this year I’ve finally decided to try to stop making my small contribution to the problem by avoiding these obviously bad films ahead of time. Because it’s not going to get any better if I go see them even though I knew they were going to be bad and then simply complain about it afterward. Ranting about it on an…

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God Help Anyone Who Gives “Inception” A Negative Review

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11
Jul 10

Peter Jackson, Figuring Out How To Fix New Zealand Film

In between creating increasingly gigantic films, Peter Jackson got together with David Court, an Australian academic, and issued an 87-page report on the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of the New Zealand Film Commission.

…accountability should go from “low” to “high,” the management culture from “controlling” to “co-operative.”

The gist is that the NZFC means well but is staffed by terrified bureaucrats who don’t know how to read screenplays and do everything too slow. These insights will be familiar to anyone who’s followed horror stories of the Hollywood development process (”The Commission tends to use drafts as a way of avoiding decisions,” reports one anonymous soul. “If in doubt write another draft. It’s a momentum killer.”)

Everyone seems to agree that it’s important to nurture young talent, though it’s unclear what the best way to do this might be. There’s an endorsement of conventional screenwriting wisdom that would warm Robert McKee’s heart: “We need to get past the cultural cringe of imagining ‘we don’t want to tell American stories’. A good story tutor teaches principles that have driven storytelling since the ancient Greeks.”

On the other hand, there’s a lot of stuff like this: “it is our recommendation not…

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Peter Jackson, Figuring Out How To Fix New Zealand Film

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29
Jun 10

10 Neat Facts About Tron

Twenty eight years after the release of Tron, Hollywood is coming out with a sequel that will surely be packed to the gills with special effects. But can the new Tron Legacy movie beat the groundbreaking original? Do you remember the old one?

…Twenty eight years after the release of Tron, Hollywood is coming
out with a sequel that will surely be packed to the gills with special effects. But can the new Tron Legacy movie beat the groundbreaking original? Do you remember the old one? (Heck, were you born yet?)…

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10 Neat Facts About Tron

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3
Jun 10

Why do cult comedies have such trouble in theaters?

Why can’t movies that are legitimately good indie comedies find any traction on the big screen?

…The film has its share of gross-out humor to make the most of its adults-in-kid-bodies scenario, but it also cleverly builds upon its gags, both with wordplay and with visual touches, in a way that will surely play well for friends huddled around TVs and computer screens yet become transcendental when seen at a movie theater.

As HitFix’s Drew McWeeny wrote when he interviewed DERRICK’s Dan Eckman, Dierkes and Pierson recently, these guys did everything but pop the popcorn to try and attract people during “Mystery Team”’s half-year run around the country, and their distributor Roadside Attractions came up with what seemed like a savvy distribution strategy to target college towns where interest should’ve been high.

Still, the daring of both the filmmakers in making a genuinely amusing and audacious debut and the distributor in trying something different wasn’t rewarded. And this trend isn’t limited to indies — although “MacGruber” broke the mold with an unapologetically nasty send-up of ’80s action flicks…

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Why do cult comedies have such trouble in theaters?

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1
Jun 10

A Memorial Day Tribute to Kindergarden Cop (w/ vid)

It was not my intention to spend Memorial Day rewatching “Kindergarten Cop,” but somehow it happened. And as it turns out, “Kindergarten Cop” has more to offer 2010 in the political realm than you’d expect.

…Spending Memorial Day with “Kindergarten Cop.”
By Vadim Rizov on 06/01/2010

Filed under: Watchy

It was not my intention to spend Memorial Day rewatching “Kindergarten Cop,” but somehow it happened. And as it turns out, “Kindergarten Cop” has more to offer 2010 in the political realm than you’d expect. As TV Guide’s perceptive review notes, “Schwarzenegger tames his kindergarten class by having them do calisthenics, thereby shamelessly using his role to promote his offscreen position as chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness — and therefore the political ambitions he constantly denies having.”

That was written in 1990, and — with Schwarzenneger as governor of California — it no longer scans as paranoia or needless cynicism. Indeed, “Kindergarten Cop” — for unexpected reasons — is more timely than ever now. It, like “Iron Man 2,” is the story of a self-reliant man saving America from itself through questionable means, which is only the first of its many strangely apropos…

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A Memorial Day Tribute to Kindergarden Cop (w/ vid)

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28
May 10

James Cameron tells kids in 1989 to "Stay in school."

Here’s a weird blast from the past: a video of James Cameron visiting the late Jaime Escalante’s classroom in 1989, after production on “The Abyss” had wrapped.

…it’s not quite “Burden of Dreams,” but it’s unusually candid.)

All that ocean, though, works: “The Abyss” doesn’t look like any other movie set underwater, and Cameron’s much-noted action skills are flexed nicely. It’s an oddly influential movie — it’s hard to imagine the end of “The Fifth Element,” where Milla Jovavich wavers about saving the world after watching a war montage very similar to the one the aliens show in “The Abyss,” without it.

The contentious female protagonist whose convictions are both respected and bad for relationships, the apocalyptic scenario, the obsession with fictional verisimilitude — these are all signature Cameron elements. And of course, there’s the fascination with the team-coordination logistics of this fantasy workplace — between “The Abyss,” “Aliens” and “Avatar,” rarely has one man marshaled so many expensive resources to talk about being a good manager….

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James Cameron tells kids in 1989 to "Stay in school."

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25
May 10

How Did the ’80s Become a Punchline?

The idea that changes in fashion (accessories, clothing, music, so on) automatically constitute hilarity is a special rule we’ve come up with for the Reagan years.

…The ’70s didn’t suddenly see a big spate of films mocking the ’50s, nor the ’80s the ’60s and so forth. There is a joke in “Dazed and Confused” — the only one that really guns for the low-hanging fruit — where a character speculates on the rule of how every other decade is awesome, and figures out since the ’70s suck, maybe the ’80s will be totally awesome. But that’s about it.

That an entire decade’s worth of pop culture is, in and of itself, a punchline, is new and unnerving. It’s different from the numerous films taking old TV franchises as a starting point for a movie. The idea isn’t playing with an established brand and resurrecting familiar…

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How Did the ’80s Become a Punchline?

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20
May 10

Hurt Locker Producer A Huge Dick, Attacks Piracy Advocates

After reading that Chartier’s Voltage Pictures was preparing to sue people who’d downloaded the Voltage-produced “The Hurt Locker” off of BitTorrent, Nicholas decided to voice his displeasure with an e-mail to the man himself.

…Yo ho, an (Internet) pirate’s life for some.
By Matt Singer on 05/19/2010

Filed under: Controversy

Download movies off the Internet if you must, but make no mistake: what you are doing is illegal and immoral. Even more unsavory than actually downloading, though, is the strained attempt by some who practice piracy to justify it on moral grounds. Consider this story published yesterday on Boing Boing about an e-mail exchange between movie producer Nicolas Chartier and a piracy advocate named Nicholas.

After reading that Chartier’s Voltage Pictures was preparing to sue people who’d downloaded the Voltage-produced “The Hurt Locker” off of BitTorrent, Nicholas decided to voice his displeasure with an e-mail to the man himself. His note was, if nothing else, exceedingly polite: “I wish to register my disagreement with these tactics, and would like you to know that as a result of these actions I am boycotting your films,” Nicholas wrote. “The majority of the people you are suing were not seeking to make money…

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Hurt Locker Producer A Huge Dick, Attacks Piracy Advocates

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19
May 10

Five Basketball Movies That Suck

Movies about the NBA are, at best, wildly unfaithful to the realities of the pro game and, at worst, strange concoctions of mediocre hoops and outlandish and sometimes downright bizarre storylines.

…”Celtic Pride” (1996)
Directed by Tom DeCerchio

“Celtic Pride” is the story of Mike and Jimmy (Daniel Stern and Dan Aykroyd), two Boston Celtics fans who try to help their team win the NBA Finals by kidnapping their opponent’s star player (Damon Wayans) before the all-important series’ Game 7. Their plan is extreme, but then their obsession is extreme. The Celtics have won more World Championships than any other team, and at the time “Celtic Pride” was made, they were only 10 years removed from their last championship. In other words, these fans were hardly starved for success. (The Utah Jazz, on the other hand, who are the Cetlics’s opponents in the film, have been in the NBA for over 35 years and they’ve won exactly zero titles). That’s part of what makes the film interesting. “Celtic Pride” co-writer Judd Apatow’s dark script was the most blatantly uncommercial of his career until last summer’s “Funny People” (another film about fans and stars, and the conflicts that arise when that class divide is…

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