Fandor has posted a video about Chris Nolan‘s favorite films, or those “which may have helped shape his unique directorial sensibility.” 2001: A Space Odyssey (fine), Koyaanisqatsi (potrzebie), The Thin Red Line (“Malick’s portrayal of mental states and memory”) and….wait, Lewis Gilbert‘s The Spy Who Loved Me? Nolan quote: “At a certain point the Bond … Read more
I saw the story yesterday about Tom Hanks having presented the White House press corps with yet another espresso maker. (He gifted them with an expresso machine in 2004 and again in ’10 when he learned that the first unit had broken down.) Hanks included a note with the just-delivered gift that read “To the … Read more
Nobody loves honestly adrenalized action scenes (fights, shoot-outs, chases, derring-do) more than myself. By “honestly” I mean action scenes you can at least half-believe in. Two default examples are the car chase in Ronin or subway chase sequence in The French Connection. The latest default example of the wrong way is the skydiving car sequence … Read more
A Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic grade in the mid to high 60s obviously signifies substantial resistance, even if the majority of critics are with you. It also means, in strict high-school exam terms, a failing grade. This is what’s happened so far with Henry Alex Rubin‘s Disconnect — a RT 69% rating, a 65 from … Read more
Today’s Disconnect press conference featured costars Jason Bateman (whose performance as a stressed-out dad is the best of his career), Paula Patton, Alexander Skarsgard and Max Theriot. Here’s the mp3. At the very beginning Bateman refers to “Jeffrey’s website” being an educational thing. I’m presuming he was referencing HE as Bateman told me a year … Read more
I missed Henry Alex Rubin‘s Disconnect (LD, 4.12) in Toronto, but I finally saw it last night and it’s my idea of a 90% wowser. Except for a questionable slow-mo moment at the very end this is a grade-A ensemble drama that ranks right up there with Amores perros, Traffic and Short Cuts. Seriously. I’d … Read more
Variety‘s Jeff Sneider is reporting that Taylor Swift, of all people, is “circling the role” of Joni Mitchell in a film version of Sheila Weller‘s 2008 book “Girls Like Us,” which will be shot under the aegis of Sony Pictures and Di Bonaventura Pictures. It’s an appalling idea because Mitchell’s manner and speaking style always … Read more
I didn’t have an especially great time with Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland. I can see people taking the kids and maybe deciding they have no choice but to catch it because of the 3D factor. But I found Hubble 3D much more interesting and fulfilling even though it’s a somewhat routinely-made documentary. Why? Because … Read more
The fact that Che and The Hurt Locker have finally landed distribution deals — respectively by IFC Films and Summit Entertainment — is welcome news, of course. But the fact that they took so long to happen tells you what an oddly neutured climate we’re living in right now. I re-watched the first half of … Read more
There is an acute disconnect between what the Reds are saying about Tuesday’s election and how the Blues and their philosophical cousins in Europe, South America and Mexico have reacted to it (i.e., adversely, with horror). Deal with it, Bubbas — the folks outside our borders and across the seas genuinely feel you’ve unleashed some … Read more
As recently as 15 years ago, most of us shared a common understanding and acceptance of basic human truth. What we really believed deep down. Faith in fair-minded democratic ideals. The way life actually looks, smells, tastes and feels. Judging people by the content of their character. Alas, most of this began to be discarded … Read more
The Demi Moore Best Actress bandwagon was slowing down anyway (partially due to my own takedown riffs as well as the eloquent Jennifer Sey), but it stopped dead when Anora‘s Mikey Madison won the Best Actress award at the BAFTAs. People have seen through the phony-baloney “Moore had to sublimate her artistic ambitions” narrative, and … Read more