Posts Tagged ‘film’

I would like to tell everyone to go see the film W. for its stunning depiction of a presidency gone awry; but that would be dishonest and I wouldn’t want to be anything more like our current president.

It’s not all bad. The film is at times a fascinating character study of a flawed human being. Josh Brolin is uncanny as George W. Bush and James Cromwell turns in an admirable performance as his father, the one person W. strives to impress and gain acceptance from.

Where the film goes wrong is in its altering portrayals of W., past and present. The film starts present day, then puts us back in W’s Yale fraternity rush of 1966, then back to present day, then back to Bush’s alcoholic college days, his early political career, where he meets Laura, back to present day, to 1977, to 1986, back to present day. I’m being a little facetious and inaccurate here, but you get the picture that the script jumps around a lot, making for a frustrating viewing.

Oliver Stone has a good track record with political fare, (JFK and Nixon are both seminal films), and that’s part of the reason why this effort is so wearisome and disappointing. W. is, at once, a patchwork of ideas and a juxtaposition, portraying an incompetent president whose chief motive in life is to one-up his father. Brolin succeeds in portraying a W. that we, ultimately, empathize with – simply for his shortcomings if anything else.

Make no mistake about it, our president was a booze addled misfit who, unfortunately for all of us, sought his father’s approval in the political arena. In the eight years since his inauguration, our country couldn’t be worse off.

Hamlet 2, the new comedy starring Steve Coogan, is ridiculous. Ridiculous only in a way where a film whose premise is a high school staging of a sequel to Hamlet can be.  

If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen the best part of the film.  The musical sequence from the play, ‘Rock Me Sexy Jesus’ was absolutely stellar.

The movie itself tracks a supremely untalented Tucson drama teacher and his quest to unleash his creative juices. Apparently, his stagings of famous films as the highlight of the schools dramatic season was not going so well. Those juices form Hamlet 2, a play involving Hamlet, Jesus and light sabers.

The cast (including Amy Poehler, Catherine Keener and Elizabeth Shue) is hilarious, but the script lacks a cohesive element.  It seems more like little vignettes revolving around the same cast of characters. Also, I still don’t have a really good idea of the plot of Hamlet 2.

ALSO! Just a P.S. for other geeky musical theater nerds like me out there: Spring Awakening starlets Skylar Astin and Phoebe Strole are in the film as the star theatrical students.

Don Cheadle delivers a believable performance in Traitor, an intense film which focuses on terrorism with a twist: As federal agent Samir Horn, Cheadle goes deep undercover within a terrorist cell, but is forced to grapple with his own demons – particularly when one operation goes completely wrong.

Finding himself not so different from the people he’s determined to expose, Cheadle must evade government authorities who obviously haven’t gotten the memo that he’s one of them, at the same time serving as the main point man in a terroristic plot against his own country. The vehicle also stars Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential), Said Taghmaoui (Vantage Point), and Neal McDonough (Minority Report).

Fred Durst (yes the frontman from Limp Bizkit) has a movie hitting theaters Aug. 22.  Titled The Longshots, it’s a family friendly film about a female quarterback. 

In an interview with IFC, Durst describes “I wanted to take the heart and integrity of Hoosiers and Rudy, pull in a little bit of the original Bad News Bears and maybe a slice of The Mighty Ducks.”  

The 37-yearold discovered a love for directing before Limp Bizkit was ever singing about nookie.  Watching skate videos as a high schooler became a gateway for more sophisticated film tastes and he soon began watching John Hughes, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and others.  

The Longshots isn’t Durst’s first turn at directing though.  He’s manned the camera for some Bizkit and Kid Rock videos and was originally signed on to direct Lords of Dogtown.  

However, after the movie started gaining more momentum the producer David Fincher stepped in and eventually hired a new director altogether.  After tirelessly making the studio rounds Durst landed a job directing The Education of Charlie Banks.

“Banks” was never released, but screened at the Tribeca Film Festival where it received positive reviews and an award.  Chris Marquette, one of the stars of “Banks”, says that Durst is “insanely calm” as a director.

If you’ve seen the trailers for The Longshots and didn’t see “Directed by Fred Durst” anywhere that’s because he wanted it that way.  In an EW article Durst says, “I don’t think my name would necessarily draw people to come see the movie. It might hurt the movie, honestly.”  

Check out Ice Cube, Keke Palmer, Tasha Smith, Dash Mihok and introducing Fred Durst as the director, in The Longshots opening Aug. 22.

“American Teen,” the documentary from Nanette Burstein, documents the senior year of five high school students in Warsaw, Indiana.  Where is Warsaw?  Good question.  Thanks to Google maps, Warsaw is 123 miles away from Chicago and 162 miles away from Indianapolis.

The five high school students selected all fill an archetypal role.  There’s Princess Megan, Rebel Hannah, Jock Colin, Geek Jake and Heartthrob Mitch.  They are the people you went to high school with, I guarantee it. 

When watching the film, you almost forget it’s a documentary.  It’s more like you’re watching a drama about high school.  Except here, the drama is real.  From significant-other problems to the nervous anticipation of college acceptance letters, this film will bring you immediately back to your own high school days.

Sure the technology has improved, but the film illuminates that for most, high school is still the same.  Indeed, same crap but different year. 

Is the not-so-hot economy affecting Hollywood? Let’s investigate.

According to a press release on the Disney (including Miramax) official site, profits decreased by 2% for the months of April, May and June compared to January, February and March with total profits of $1,433 million. They are also down 2% from the same quarter last year. Biggest Box Office Hit for April, May & June, “Wall E.”

In an article on the Examiner.com it states that Paramount/Viacom’s (including DreamWorks) profits are up 35% for April, May and June in comparison to a year ago. By this three months’ end their profits equal $1,771 million. They are up 55% from the previous quarter. Biggest Box Office Hit for April, May & June, “Iron Man.”

A Time Warner press release showed a 14% increase for April, May and June over last year (“The Dark Knight” was not in theaters yet). Profits for filmed entertainment totaled $2,564 million, which is a 9% decrease from January, February and March’s totals. Biggest Box Office Hit for April, May & June, “Sex and the City.”

NBC Universal (GE) profits are up 7% from April, May and June of 2007 and up 8% from January, February and March as stated in a GE release. Biggest Box Office Hit for April, May & June, “Wanted.”

News Corp’s earnings release for 20th Century Fox for April, May, and June quarter showed their total profits equaled $220 million a 16% decrease from January, February and March. Their profits only equaled $106 million during April, May, and June 2007. Biggest Box Office Hit for April, May & June, “What Happens in Vegas.”

In the end, we have 4 areas of decreasing profits, showing the economy may be affecting things. But there are also 5 areas with increasing profits, possibly a sign that movie goers haven’t given up their popcorn addictions just yet. With an incredible summer of blockbusters and A List ensemble casts, it seems that although Wall Street is a buzz with red down arrows, Hollywood is still a buzz with millions of green, maybe just not as many as last year.