Hosted by Ben Flanagan
Guests: Graham Flanagan, Corey Craft
LISTEN TO THE SHOW!!! Click below:
http://www.thecapstone.ua.edu/Podcast/r
First a quick announcement: Capture Studio Cafe will host a film scramble this weekend, starting tomorrow at 5 pm. Filmmakers can go to Capture and sign up. There's an entry fee. You'll get a sheet with the different aspects that you must incorporate within the your film, but the word is your piece can be about anything you like. Deadline for completion is Sunday at 5. About a 48-hour window. The contest requires participants to use their own equipment. Films will be screened at approximately 8 pm Sunday night. For information, e-mail 90.7 music director Jenny Smith at wvuamusic@sa.ua.edu. Scrambles are always a good time and really let you know who the true collaborators on campus are. I encourage all budding filmmakers here at UA to participate.
1. George Clooney's screwball comedy Leatherheads opened last weekend, and its numbers weren't pretty. Clooney directed and starred in this throwback to 1940s silliness in the tradition of Preston Sturges and George Cukor, and he came fairly close to succeeding in giving men and women a romantic comedy they could both enjoy. A cast headed by Clooney, the perhaps miscast but still talented Renee Zelwegger and everybody's favorite nice guy The Office's Jim (John Krasinski) ought to guarantee a good time, and it nearly does; but too much attention on one thin subplot doomed Leatherheads from out-right success. Instead of what should have been a sure thing, we're given a weak, underwritten game with a few big plays and even fewer belly laughs that might have been better fit for a superior director. Now I'm the first person to sing the praises of Clooney's previous directorial effort, Good Night and Good Luck, but based on this clumsy, poorly edited and choreographed misfire with such uninspired photography, I have to question the guy's skills as a seasoned filmmaker, especially if I were a studio. Perhaps the absence of his buddy Steven Soderbergh (and maybe even more importantly his previous cinematographer Robert Elswit) meant more than he probably realized. What did you think? Why the poor box office? Matt Scalici wrote a facebook note asking whether Clooney could even draw big numbers at the box office? Can he?
2. Bryan Singer's WWII film Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise, has been pushed back all the way to a FEBRUARY release date, which ultimately means this movie is DOA - finished. Originally scheduled for a June release this year and then moved to October in order to compete for Oscar nominations, the drama based on a true story about a conspiracy to assassinate Adolph Hitler, now has zero shot at any award, as February (or any month prior to May) falls in Hollywood's deadliest season. Clark Woods, MGM's distribution chief, told Daily Variety, "Having seen a lot of the film and how great it is going to play once it's finished, moving into a big holiday weekend is the right move." However, several movie columnists have noted that President's Day is not "a big holiday weekend" and that the studio likely slotted it into that period because the competition will be weak. In the meantime, they added, the delay would give the studio added time to reshoot scenes and allow Cruise to work with a dialect coach to perfect his accent and rerecord some of his lines, due to what is rumored as a laughably bad German accent. How do we feel about this?
3. Variety reports, Universal Pictures Intl. has acquired the overseas distribution rights to “This Side of the Truth,” a comedy written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson. Gervais stars as a storyteller who lives in a world where nobody lies; he patents the fib and uses it to become a star. Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe and Louis C.K. star; Tina Fey, Christopher Guest, Jeffrey Tambor, John Hodgman and Jonah Hill have supporting roles. The film marks Gervais’ feature film debut after creating hit series “The Office” and “Extras.”
4. According to the Hollywood Reporter, President George W. Bush is a foul-mouthed, reformed drunk obsessed with baseball, Saddam Hussein and a conflicted relationship with his dad. Or at least that's how he's portrayed in the script for Oliver Stone's upcoming feature "W." As the film preps for its April 21 start date, The Hollywood Reporter sent a copy of the screenplay to four Bush biographers for their comments. The draft is dated Oct. 15, 2007, and has recently been circulated to talent, though a person close to the film said the script has since gone through at least two drafts. "W," which is set to begin filming in Shreveport, La., with a budget of about $30 million, stars Josh Brolin and James Cromwell as Bush 43 and 41, respectively. The film is being closely watched in entertainment and political circles, in part because Stone has said his goal is to release it while Bush is still in office and possibly in time for the November election. Is fair to be extremely pumped about this project for us fans of Nixon and JFK? Could Oliver Stone actually be back?
5. All Disney and Pixar animated features starting with November's 'Bolt' will be released in digital 3-D except for one. Disney announced the news along with its upcoming animation slate yesterday. Two years after the pair's $7.4 billion merger, Disney is eager to tout the lineup and keep Pixar's momentum going after "Ratatouille" and "Cars," says Variety. The studio is also looking to pump up the fortunes of Disney's own animation unit, now under the control of Lasseter and former Pixar president Ed Catmull after suffering a string of disappointments, including last year's "Meet the Robinsons." "The Princess and the Frog," the only pic being made in traditional 2-D. "Up," set for release May 29, 2009, will be Pixar's first 3-D title. "Cars 2" is going into production, with a planned release date of summer 2012. It's being directed by "Ratatouille" producer Brad Lewis and is the first sequel for Pixar outside the "Toy Story" franchise. Pixar will have two original films in 2011: "Newt," a romantic comedy directed by Gary Rydstrom, and "The Bear and the Bow," a magical tale set in Scotland starring the voices of Reese Witherspoon, Billy Connolly and Emma Thompson.
6. SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW: Lightning Round
a) IRON MAN - could this be the sleeper best movie of the summer (or biggest hit)?
b) INDIANA JONES - have anyone's feelings changed? seeing the trailer on the big screen increased my excitement
c) THE DARK KNIGHT - some say Heath Ledger's death will help ticket sales? Couldn't it hurt it? Is this movie going to be too dark for the biggest numbers of the summer?
d) SPEED RACER - the first trailer made me sick - since then, I almost can't wait to see it
e) WALL-E - Will Pixar do it again?
f) STEP BROTHERS - although they make money, the third film will either make or break the Will Ferrell/Adam McKay big screen partnership in terms of real laughs
g) THE HAPPENING - can Shyamalan bounce back from his last movie we've all hopefully forgotten about?
h) HANCOCK - will this be Will Smith's first flop? lots of skeptics out there on this post-modern superhero, special effects bonanza
i) THE PINEAPPLE EXPRESS - might the Apatow crew finally be making a real, complete movie?
7. Theatrical releases in Tuscaloosa this week: Smart People, Street Kings, Prom Night, The Ruins and Mrs. Pettigrew Lives for a Day will all start at the Cobb Hollywood 16 here in town. Still no sign of Martin Scorsese's rock documentary Shine a Light, not that I really expected it. But, honestly, I don't want to drive to Birmingham to see it, and I probably won't.
8. DVDs this week: There Will Be Blood is out in both one-disc and two-disc editions. The one-disc is a bare bones package while the two-disc offers a few special features that may or may not be worth the extra few bucks. Either way, your concern should be with the movie itself. Also out - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Lions for Lambs and the movie no one ever saw or heard about Reservation Road, directed by Hotel Rwanda's Terry George and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Connelly. While the movie isn't great - in fact, it plays out much like something you'd see on the Lifetime channel - with that cast and director, I still don't understand its invisible release this past fall.
DVD recommendations: Hal Ashby's 1971 cult classic Harold and Maude. While I prefer The Last Detail, this moody, quite unusual love story is just another highlight on Ashby's very short track record. Another obvious influence on Wes Anderson's work. Picks from Corey and Graham?
Charlton Heston passed away on Sunday. Your favorite Heston movie? Big fan of Touch of Evil and The Omega Man, but what about his cameo in True Lies? He'll be missed, I think.
Happy Birthday, Omar Sharif.
I'll be back next week to talk about the latest from the Judd Apatow regime, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, written by and starring "Freaks and Geeks" and "Undeclared" alum Jason Segel. See you then.
No comments:
Post a Comment