Low Expectation

Movies in Development (Hell?)

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 01:57:00 -0400

The other day I wrote something at Movies.com about movies that have been in development for a long time and wondering if any of them will ever actually happen (my wish pick for the discussion is Good Omens, but only with Terry Gilliam at the helm).

While thinking about the topic, I tried to find a list of projects in development hell (or limbo) that were announced and when they were announced. Since I couldn’t find such a list, I’ve decided to compile one and keep adding to it until such time I choose to stop.

Bored to Death (HBO) - TV show adaptation - 6/14/12

Breathe Deeply (Universal) - novel adaptation - 6/14/12

The Lock Artist - novel adaptation - 6/14/12

Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper (CBS Films) - novel adaptation - 6/14/12

Snow Crash (Paramount) - novel adaptation - 6/14/12

The Suicide Forest - graphic novel adaptation - 6/14/12

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (Paramount?) - video game adaptation - 6/14/12

Review: "A Necessary Death"

Wed, 30 May 2012 10:54:49 -0400

This review was originally posted in March 2008 on Spout Blog, which no longer exists. I am republishing here now because the film has finally been released. Look for it on DVD and VOD.

Daniel Stamm’s A Necessary Death is sure to be one of the most talked about films at SXSW this year. At least I hope it is, because I’m dying to have a discussion or two about it. Here’s my endorsement, first, so that I might influence someone to see the film and in turn have someone to chat with about it: Anyone who considers him or herself a fan of non-fiction cinema needs to see A Necessary Death.

I should point out, of course, that this is not exactly a documentary itself. It is a narrative feature structured like a documentary (I hate to call serious faux docs mockumentaries, so I won’t), but it was indeed written and it was indeed cast and it was indeed acted out. But if you love non-fiction and hate fiction, don’t let that keep you from A Necessary Death. An actual documentary couldn’t say as much about the genre as this film does.

A Necessary Death is about the making of a non-fiction student film and is formatted as a sort of behind-the-scenes document of the documentary process (Stamm appears as himself as the behind-the-scenes director). The film-within-the-film is the thesis project of Gilbert (GJ Echternkamp), an uncompromising student who has the controversial idea to follow the last days of a suicidal man or woman up to and including the final act. Joining him as crew are Michael (Michael Traynor) and Valerie (Valerie Hurt), who reluctantly signs on after enormous hesitation.

The trio immediately finds an eager subject (Matt Tilley) and things go up and down from there. Gilbert fights with his school over the merits and morals of the project. An exploitive news show offers to buy the finished product if the subject’s death can be guaranteed (anything else would be “Hollywood bullshit”, according to Gilbert). Valerie’s reluctance grows into regret, which in turn grows into complete unwillingness to continue. At certain points the behind-the-scenes doc (aka the diegetic incarnation of A Necessary Death) seems destined to become another film about an unfinished film, a la Lost in La Mancha.

Obviously, I won’t divulge what ultimately happens. Yet it’s the path to the ending that’s of interest, anyway. Think of any ethical or sociological or structural question that’s ever been asked in regards to documentary filmmaking and A Necessary Death probably goes there. Is it right to film a death if it’s self-inflicted? Does documentary encourage or otherwise affect its subject? Is it proper to treat documentary as a means of aide or rescue? Is the subject compromised or otherwise complicated when a filmmaker gets personally involved? How far involved is too involved? These are some of the challenges of non-fiction cinema that are indirectly addressed and contemplated throughout the film.

Overall, though, A Necessary Death makes us think about taboo subjects and what is or isn’t untouchable. At one point the film invites a comparison between Gilbert’s project and some documentaries about abortion. Someone wonders whether the film might be construed as pro-suicide. Gil points out that it’s in fact pro-choice. Later, someone says of Gilbert: “He’s not being cold; he’s being a documentarian.” Other appreciable moments involve a more black comedic tone, such as when the crew and their subject decide to visit a psychic and when they watch an instructional video describing the pros and cons of different suicide methods.

The film has its flaws, and it’s sure to be criticized for feeling less realistic than it should. The actors are all pretty talented, but they’re still noticeably acting from the very start (Stamm may be hoping some people are fooled Blair Witch style). Nonetheless, I actually think A Necessary Death works better for the audience that knows it is a fiction disguised as a non-fiction about a non-fiction about a very serious and true issue. The whole concept of documenting truth and reality is more easily put into doubt that way.

'Star Wars' Poster Artist Talks About His Unchosen Design 35 Years Later

Sun, 27 May 2012 13:37:48 -0400

I’ll always feel a special connection to Star Wars, not just because it was the first movie I ever saw publicly or because we’ll always be the same age (well, I’m technically a couple months older). My link actually goes back a little further, to when I was still in the womb and my dad was working on the movie poster. Or maybe I should say a poster, since it was not selected as the official one-sheet.

In fact, it’s never really been employed in its intended role. The painting has been featured in the Art of Star Wars book and on a Star Wars Galaxy trading card from Topps, and Zazzle.com recently sold t-shirts with the artwork (sadly I didn’t buy one before they disappeared from the site), but it’s never been a well-known design like the iconic works done by Tom Jung, Tom Chantrell, Drew Struzan and others.

Continue reading at Movies.com

mattpatches: Dark Knight Rises gold.

Tue, 22 May 2012 16:59:45 -0400

mattpatches:

Dark Knight Rises gold.

What If Samuel L. Jackson Was the Voice for Darth Vader?

Tue, 22 May 2012 13:57:23 -0400

This montage of Samuel L. Jackson as Darth Vader in Star Wars could use some better sound mixing/editing, but otherwise not bad. I still prefer the ones using actual Vader vocalist James Earl Jones quotes from other movies (mainly Coming to America). A ha!:

Men in Black III (or Men in Black 3 or MIB3D or MIIIB or whatever) Recommended if you like: Men in...

Tue, 22 May 2012 02:19:25 -0400

Men in Black III (or Men in Black 3 or MIB3D or MIIIB or whatever)

Recommended if you like: Men in Black II; Back to the Future Part II; Timecop

jOBS

Tue, 22 May 2012 00:01:31 -0400

Ashton Kutcher’s Steve Jobs biopic now has a name: “jOBS.”

The folks over at Five Star Feature Films decided to go with that name as a way to honor the lowercase ‘i’ branding that Jobs made famous with his iMacs, iPods and iPhones. The film will begin filming in June, and had been tentatively called “Jobs: Get Inspired.”

iDIOTIC.

More like “Get Uninspired.” Seriously, though, that’s the dumbest title concept since Seven started the whole number-as-letter trend.

Why Did "Battleship" Bomb?

Mon, 21 May 2012 23:50:42 -0400

Why did Battleship bomb? Was it the reviews? The laughable concept? The poor execution? Is Taylor Kitsch officially box office poison? Or is it bad timing? Could the board game-adaptation have done better by waiting a little longer, perhaps just one week in order to appropriately open the jingoist military fantasy over Memorial Day weekend (Will Smith should have the 4th of July anyway)? Many are citing the unstoppable power of The Avengers as the real reason for the flop, especially since it provides unimaginative headlines like “The Avengers sinks Battleship” and “The Avengers torpedoes Battleship.”

But is that really a good excuse? Sure, both movies aim for the same general summer blockbuster audience, and sure, both involve alien invasions, and sure, the winner is much better than the loser. I’ll never buy that a movie fails because it’s bad, though, and I actually think Battleship is a lot more enjoyable and far more interesting than a bunch of action and sci-fi movies that are financially successful. This was definitely a mix of things. It doesn’t matter, though, because it did okay overseas and millions of people in the U.S. are going to rent the DVD in a few months, even if they claim they avoided it over the weekend because it sounded stupid.

Here are 10 explanations from around the web:

1. The Avengers:

“You sunk my Battleship!” is not a line you’ll hear in Peter Berg’s big-screen adaptation of the Hasbro board game, but perhaps it’s a phrase Universal execs are shouting in the general direction of “The Avengers” this morning. - Josh Wigler, MTV Movies Blog

Battleship was torpedoed, capsized, and drowned this weekend by The Avengers, still going strong into their third week. - Andre Tartar, Vulture

The real nail in the coffin was The Avengers—audiences had and continued to turn out in droves to see the legendary superhero team prevent aliens from leveling Manhattan, and Battleship’s aliens-at-sea premise really had no chance of competing. - Ray Subers, Box Office Mojo

It’s The Avengers, and it’s not just our film. When is the last time you saw a Johnny Depp movie open like that? - Nikki Rocco, Universal domestic distribution chief, quoted by The Wrap

2. It Was Actually Bad:

The bottom line? Yes, The Avengers had something to do with Battleship‘s failure, but no one (especially Universal and Hasbro) should delude themselves of the fact that it being terrible is what really made it sink. - Cole Abaius, Film School Rejects

3. It Was Always a Bad Idea:

I’m sure there will be plenty of blame to go around, from Peter Berg to Taylor Kitsch (the poor bastard who managed to star in BOTH Battleship and John Carter), even though it’s not their fault. All to avoid the obvious truth: this was a really, really, really stupid f*cking idea for a movie. Like, really stupid. From the very beginning. But of course I’m biased. I don’t want Peter Berg to take the blame for this, because I would miss interviews like this one. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, Peter Berg should direct ALL of Hollywood’s idiotic, destined-to-fail crossover ideas. HURRRR, THESE FIG NEWTONS HAVE GREAT NAME RECOGNITION, SOMEONE OPTION THIS SNACK DRAWER. - Vince Mancini, Film Drunk

Moviegoers weren’t able to get past the idea of a seeing a board-game adaptation crossed with an alien-invasion flick - John Young, Entertainment Weekly

4. The “Lie Concept”:

“High concept” is the Hollywood parlance used to refer to any movie that can be easily described by a succinctly stated premise. (Cujo, for example, was sold as “It’s Jaws, with paws.”) But in recent years, we’ve been force-fed “lie concept” movies — movies whose title suggested some sort of brand or hook on which to hang a feature film, but whose utter lack of narrative thread and/or appeal doomed them from the start. Along those lines, over the last couple of years, we’ve been treated to Marmaduke, MacGruber, Jonah Hex, New Year’s Eve, Cowboys & Aliens, and now, Battleship. ”Battleship never got over the whole idea of, ‘Really? Come on!’ as a judgment against it,” said one Universal insider. - Claude Brodesser-Akner, Vulture

5. The Forced Source:

From the start the very notion that Battleship was tied to the board game crippled it. Whether this was Hasbro’s interference or not, we don’t know. Having heard Berg talk at WonderCon, he genuinely loves the Navy and his basic idea of two warring forces clashing sounded good. Just, the problem is, it couldn’t just be the Navy vs Aliens. It also had to be Battleship. It had to have that stupid board game sequence with blind firing into the ocean. […] Hasbro could have produced this exact same movie but called it something else and not been ridiculed for it. They could have toned down the board game sequence. They could have made a movie, not a tie-in. - Robert Fure, Film School Rejects

Because they “based” it on a board game that didn’t really relate to the movie at all - Jason Speirs, @jasonspeirs

Source material was too challenging to adapt well. - Teri, @tmvogel

6. The Marketing Campaign:

For all the flak star Taylor Kitsch received for his part in “John Carter,” the trailers for that film promised a less familiar movie than the sub-Michael Bay navy-porn “Battleship” presented. They did what it looks like the marketing people did to another IP, the upcoming “The Amazing Spider-Man”: let’s make this very different looking from what you associate this property with, but also make it resemble a hundred other generic movies. So the “brand name” value of “Battleship” was eventually punted in favor of making the umpteenth alien invasion picture of the last few years, despite the fact that the only reason this was being made was because it was based on a damned board game. Ask audiences seeing the TV ads for the first time, and they’d never guess any relationship between the game of their youth and this wet CGI fart in front of their eyes. - Gabe Toro, The Playlist

The marketing for Battleship was a joke. Presented as Transformers on Water! it had a very Michael Bay, pro-navy feel about it. Not helping was that the trailers seem to mimic several other alien invasion properties of recent years like Battle: Los Angeles and Skyline. And if you did a straw poll asking people the relation of the aliens to the original recreational game you’d probably get a lot of confounded looks and “huh?” expressions. - Travis Leamons, Inside Pulse

7. Lack of Youth Interest:

Some speculate that younger moviegoers have no connection to the classic board game that Battleship is based on. Another problem could be the perception that it is some sort of Transformers spinoff. […] Battleship appeared to have lost younger males to Sacha Baron Cohen’s R-rated comedy The Dictator - Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter

8. Taylor Kitsch:

Fans of [Friday Night Lights] simply can’t see past the Riggins they learned to love. He’ll always be that to them. He could be a victim of the Friends effect, except Friends was massive enough to outsize most blockbusters. Kitsch may be in the unfortunate predicament of having a relatively obscure, small-screen character from his past eclipse what could have otherwise been a legend-making film career. - Rich Juzwiak, Gawker

Blaming Riggins would be akin to crediting Sam Worthington for making hits out of Avatar and Terminator: Salvation. Some movies transcend their stars. - Scott Tobias, A.V. Club

9. Rihanna:

We must talk about Rihanna and her character Raikes. These fair internets are having a good time making fun of Rihanna’s debut performance. As Battleship was opening in the US, Vulture posted most of Rihanna’s simplistic dialogue for us to read. Let me tell you right now, this shit dialogue is real! I saw the movie and she says all of this. It’s the most childish dialogue I’ve ever read. I’d love to have this material to work with on my first acting gig. It’s basically the writer’s equivalent of going bowling and playing with those kiddy bumpers. - Daye, Dog and Pony Show

I’ve heard “I refuse to watch a ‘Rihanna’ movie.” Lack of a noticeable lead male. Poor trailers, also blame THE AVENGERS - Adrian Charlie, @Adrian_Charlie

10. Mix of Factors:

As usual, it’s probably a lot of different factors— the lasting success of The Avengers that drew away a lot of attention, the ho-hum reviews, the fact that it’s based on a board game that nobody truly loves, the lack of stars who actually compel people to buy tickets, or hell, even the gorgeous weather on the East Coast could all have kept people away. - Katey Rich, Cinema Blend

Battleship Recommended if you like: Top Gun; Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor and Transformers...

Sat, 19 May 2012 22:00:00 -0400

Battleship

Recommended if you like: Top Gun; Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor and Transformers trilogy; Battlefield Earth