‘The Descendants’ – Trailer

This is totally my kind of movie.  I love George Clooney and I love director Alexander Payne (Sideways, About Schmidt, and Election).  This is going to be good.

 

Broadway News – Kristie Ally, Boy Bands, Harry Potter & Ethan Cohen?

“The Fabulous Lies of Hollywood Whores”

Broadway has always been a place for pigeon-holed actors and actresses to reinvent themselves and show the world their not just a one trick pony… or a one trick ‘Jesse’ if we’re talking about John Stamos, who returned to television’s “ER” after staring in numerous Broadway musicals after “Full House”

But, John is only one of many talented performers to use Broadway to re-launch their career… here are a few more: Tom Wopat (The Dukes of Hazard), Kelsey Grammar (Frasier), Lou Diamond Phillips (Young Guns), Allison Janney (The West Wing), Christina Applegate (Married with Children), and John Larroquette (Night Court).

That said, it no big surprise that Kristie Ally’s name is being thrown around as a possible lead in the likely Broadway production of “The Fabulous Lies of Hollywood Whores”.  Honestly folks, this is big news for a couple reasons:

1^st, “The Fabulous Lies of Hollywood Whores” is written by Lance Bass (N’Sync) and is produced by Jamie Kennedy (Scream and MTV’s The Jamie Kennedy Experiment).  This team completely falls in line with Broadway’s mission to be younger and hipper, so the likelihood of this show making it to Broadway is VERY high.

2^nd, the storyline of this show is exactly what Tony voters like to see and honor: off-color Musical Comedies.  In the last decade Tony Awards have gone to off-color comedies like The Book of Mormon, Avenue Q, Urinetown, Hairspray, Spamalot, and The Drowsy Chaperone.  If “The Fabulous Lies of Hollywood Whores” goes to Broadway it will receive Tony Award nomination (if not the award itself)… and whoever ends up getting the lead, Kristie Ally, or not… will, at the very minimum, be nominated as well.  Bank on that.

Nick Jonas & “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying”

Speaking of boy bands and a younger/hipper Broadway, Nick Jonas, who appeared in numerous Broadway plays prior to the Jonas Brothers explosion, has agreed to be Broadways spokesperson for next February’s “Broadway Kids Night”.  This is a program, which gives free admission to 6 through 18 years olds (accompanied by a paying adult) is designed to foster interest in theatre, as well has fill seats during a traditionally slow month… however, in recent years, “Kids Night” attendance has been falling and Broadway producers hope Nick Jonas’ involvement in the program with give it the boost their hoping for! 

Also important to note, during this time Nick will also be taking over the lead in “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying” from Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter).  However… there is a 3 week gap between when Radcliffe needs to leave the show and when Jonas can take over… so… who will be filling in?

None other than Darren Criss (Glee).  Now, what makes the choice of Criss hilarious is that he got his big break playing Harry Potter in the original Michigan State Theatre production of “A Very Potter Musical” and “The Very Potter Sequel”, musical-comedy versions of JK Rowling’s books, which Criss co-wrote.  Videos of these performances went viral on YouTube back in 2009 and are hilarious!  I highly recommend seeing them!

“Chinglish”

“Straight Plays” or what you might call “Non-Musical Plays” are rarely given much respect.  They almost never have long runs or national tours, and are almost never talked about in random conversations about theatre outside NYC… but they do exist!  And they can be quite good.  Back in 1999 I saw   Martin McDonagh’s “The Lonesome West” the afternoon of the Tony Awards, for which it  was nominated for four (I believe) including ‘Best Play’… it ended up losing in every category, but it is still one of the best performances I’ve ever seen.

Right now, there seems to be a lot of buzz surrounding David Henry Hwang’s new play ‘Chinglish’.  For those who don’t know David Henry Hwang, he is quite good.  His most notable work is “M Butterfly”… and due to the buzz around “Chinglish”… dare I say “Pulitzer”?  I know… I’m being very premature, but it could happen.

I would love to see “Chinglish”, but I doubt it will be touring to Suriname anytime soon… so if you’ve see it… or have a script… and just happen to stumble across my blog, please send me an email!  I would love to hear about it.

Ethan Cohen + Off-Broadway = ?

I just thought it was worth noting.  Apparently Ethan Cohen’s new play “Happy Hour”, a collection of similarly themed one-acts, will premier at the Signature Theatre Company’s Peter Norton Space next month.  Again, I would be interested in hear from folks who had the chance to see it.

Peter Jackson and ‘The Hobbit’

Okay… so I am terrible ashamed.  I feel like I’ve been living under some rock in the middle of some 3^rd world country… er… wait a minute… I have!

But, living in Pakistan and a random Dutch speaking South American country is no excuse!  It has been over a year since Peter Jackson was named director of ‘The Hobbit’ films!  And I just hear about it a few days ago!!!!

I am seriously lost as a human being.

Anyway, no matter how late I am coming to the table, I am beyond enthusiastic about the return of Peter Jackson to the director’s chair of this project.  Although I think Guillermo del Toro is a wonderful direct and was THE perfect choice for replacing Jackson, I think something would have been missing for everyone… and most importantly there would have been something missing for Peter Jackson himself, as an artist. 

Jackson started this journey over 10 years ago, well before ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ hit theatres, so knowing Jackson will be completing his vision of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth saga in its entirety is somehow comforting and existing.

It’s a good day for EGOTing.

Review: ‘Straw Dogs’ (B-)

Now, when you look at movies… a B- isn’t too bad.  ‘Straw Dogs’ was far from being a perfect film, but it certainly doesn’t deserve the dismal 5.6 out to 10 from IMDB.com or the 35% from Rotten Tomatoes. 

Frankly, movie critics have been all over the map with their grades on this film, scoring ‘Straw Dogs’ anywhere from 1 to 4 stars on their 5 star scale.

Honestly… ‘Straw Dogs’ isn’t bad.  It is certainly more good than bad… however, since I haven’t been able to shake the movie from my mind since seeing it over a week ago… I would be inclined to call it better than ‘just good’.  However, it is still a very tough film to wrap my head around.

Let’s focus on some of the negative comments made by critics:

“Almost succeeds as an object lesson in the difference between being a man and being a macho animal. But it fails as a gripping home-invasion thriller.” - Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer

I have to make a confession.  I’ve never seen the original Sam Peckinpah film from 1971.  I guess it’s supposed to be a classic.  Back when I used to work for Hollywood Video I received a frantic call from a film professor at Georgia State University.  To no luck, he had been calling around town all day looking for a copy of the movie to show his class… however, I knew we had it in stock the second he asked.  The cover art and the fact Dustin Hoffman starred in the film had caught my eye numerous times, but still I never watched it.

That said… based on everything I have read about the remake, I am pretty sure it is a close adaptation to the original.  So… I find Carrie Rickey’s comments very strange… mainly because ‘Straw Dogs’ IS NOT a home-invasion thriller… I don’t think it was even trying to be a home-invasion thriller.  To me, ‘Straw Dogs’ is about a whole plethora of different things that just happens to climax with a home-invasion. 

I mean come on… the movie was 110 minutes long and maybe 10 or 15 minutes of that was the actual home-invasion.  ‘The Strangers’ was a home-invasion thriller.  ‘The Desperate Hours’ was a home-invasion thriller.  However, ‘Straw Dogs’ is not. 

Although, in her review, Carrie attempts to make some very vague comparisons to the original, it is glaringly obvious that Carrie, like me, had never seen the Sam Peckinpah version of ‘Straw Dogs’.

In reality, she was probably horribly misled by the TV spots released for this film, which clearly marketed ‘Straw Dogs’ as a home-invasion thriller:

Here’s my problem.  After seeing ‘Straw Dogs’ my immediate response was, “Wow, this movie was marketed extremely poorly… it’s advertizing was totally misleading.”  However, it seems to me that Carrie Rickey used this preview as the bench mark of her entire review.

In her defense, I will agree… the movie was marketed as a home-invasion thriller.  However, it clearly wasn’t.  And since Carrie Rickey makes her living as a movie critic for a pretty reputable newspaper I would hope she would be able to make the same connection.  But alas… her review is completely phoned in, giving nothing more than a plot summery and a few vague opinions without feeling the need to justify her opinions.

Now… despite what you might think, me being a blogger and all, but I don’t really put myself out there as a legitimate movie critic… legitimate critics get paid for offering insight… just a guy who loves movies… so yes, I think ‘legitimate critics’ should be able to offer more than just a surface glance at a movie’s plot and a few off hand remarks.

"a bird-brained remake" that is "miscast, barely functional in terms of technique, stupid and unnecessary" – Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

You know?  I totally dig (part) of what Michael is saying.  Aren’t ALL remakes unnecessary?  The only remake I have EVER seen that was truly successful was Alfred Hitchcock’s 1956 remake of ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day.  But, then again… it is worth noting that Hitchcock was remaking his own film.  He has actually directed the original in 1934!    

However… I don’t agree with his comment about the film being miscast.  Sure, James Marsden wasn’t spectacular and this is probably one of James Woods most phoned in performances… but when criticizing the week links in the cast we should, at the same time, honor the stronger performances.  Specifically: Kate Bosworth and Alexander Skarsgard.

Kate Bosworth was virtually unrecognizable in this film, in terms of shedding her Bosworthisms and creating a whole new character from scratch.  For the first time I didn’t feel like I was watching Kate Bosworth pretend to be someone else… I felt like I was watching a performance completely devoid of the actress’s true self.

And dare I say it… because no one will ever receive an awards nomination for this movie, but I’ll say it anyway.  Alexander Skarsgard delivers THE strongest supporting actor performance I’ve seen in the last few years.  He was creepy, sinister… and oddly sympathetic at times… at least until he crossed the line.  But until that moment, as an audience member I didn’t know who I wanted to root for, Marsden or Skarsgard.  And that’s the point of the movie.  Well… one of the points.

Now, even though I can see where Michael Phillips is coming from in parts of his review, he lost all credibility when he compared seeing ‘Straw Dogs’ to "being waterboarded by liberals outside a Democratic National Committee event.” 

What does that even mean?  What in the world does that have to do with going to the movies?  Phillips apparently has some issues that he needs to work out before writing about movies again.

"This new version of "Straw Dogs" is a reasonably close adaptation of the 1971 film by Sam Peckinpah. Change the location from England to Mississippi, change a mathematician into a screenwriter, keep the bear trap and the cat found strangled, and it tells the same story. It is every bit as violent. I found it visceral, disturbing and well-made" – Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times

Thank you Roger.  You see folks?  Roger gets it.  He always has.  He’s not flashy and he stays on point… and he also gave the remake of ‘Straw Dogs’ 3 out of 4 stars.  Here is a link, his review is very well written and deeply personal… thoughtful:  http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110914/REVIEWS/110919991

See?  I’m not crazy.

So… what is ‘Straw Dogs’ really about?  Is it about a mild mannered man who ‘mans up’ when he needs to?  Yeah, sure… in the most simplistic terms, ‘Straw Dogs’ is an “object lesson in the difference between being a man and being a macho animal” like Carrie Rickey suggested in her review.

However, the story of the screenwriter (James Marsden) and his wife (Kate Bosworth) is only half the story.  And to have a truly objective presentation, the other side needs to be represented as well… James Woods’ side… Alexander Skarsgard’s side.  The side of the town.  A town so wrought with tension, even before the protagonists enter the picture that it could have exploded at any minute.  This was a town just looking for an excuse to ignite… and they did...  forcing an ordinary man to act.

‘Tower Heist’ – TRAILER

Am I the only person looking forward to this movie?  It looks REALLY fun!

 

'Margaret' – TRAILER

Okay.

So, there is a lot of bad press floating around about this movie.  However, I’m not sure if the movie is legitimately bad, deserving the scathing reviews… or if folks are merely jumping on the band wagon of negativity surrounding the movies dramatic release.  After all, ‘Margaret’ was filmed in 2005 and has been, either, in the editing room or court room every since. 

Long story short; the production process for this film has been a complete mess… but does that make the film bad?  Perhaps the film is good, but the producers had grown so tired of the project and they lack the energy (or interest or desire) to advertize.  Perhaps critics are trying to hold Kenneth Lonergan’s second film up to unreasonable standards because it took him so long to complete. 

I don’t know.  But when the film comes to Suriname, I will be giving it a fair shake because I really like Kenneth Lonergan.

Most people know Lonergan as the write of ‘Analyze This’, ‘Analyze That’, and ‘Gangs of New York’… however I stumbled upon Lonergan before any of those projects hit your neighborhood movie theatres. 

In 1998, while on a trip to Manhattan with my College of Charleston playwriting class we scored tickets to a random Off-Broadway play called ‘This is Our Youth’.  The play starred, a then unknown, Mark Ruffalo and was simply amazing.  It was written by Kenneth Lonergan and was eventually nominated for the Drama Desk award for ‘Best Play’.

Two years later I got my hands on a copy of Kenneth Lonergan’s next play ‘The Waverly Gallery’ which was equally as good (in text… I still have seen it live) and it went to receive a Pulitzer nomination.

And later that year, a went to see an amazing little independent film starring Laura Linney, Matthew Broderick, and Mark Ruffalo.  I loved it!  I became obsessed with this little film and I told everyone I saw on the street that they HAD to go see it.  It was called ‘You Can Count on Me’ and guess what?  It had been written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan… his first motion picture.  I had no idea until after I saw it for the first time.  The movie went on to score Laura Linney an Oscar Nomination and well as a Screenplay nomination for Lonergan.  Frankly, Ruffalo and the film itself should have been nominated too!  They were robbed.

And now… here we are today.  We have Kenneth Lonergan who has a proven track record for writing some pretty amazing stuff.  He has a new movie packed full of talent: Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick, Allison Janney, Jean Reno, and Kieran Culkin.  However, the movie is getting dismal reviews… well… not dismal… the reviews I’m finding are just okay… 3 out of five stars, 6.7 out of 10, the grade of ‘C’… although I have found one critic who gave it a ‘B-‘.

However… I have yet to find a review that talks about anything substantial regarding the film itself.  The only thing folks seem interested in talking about is how long ‘Margaret’ took to make, the lawsuits surrounding it’s delayed production schedule and release, and how they expected more out of a film that took nine years to finish.

Come on folks… these are all non-factors.  Give me something I can work with.

Based on the trailer the film could go either way… but still.  I’m excited to see it and form my own opinion.