The Screengrab : doug liman

Morning Deal Report: Diablo Cody’s Zombie Lament

Scott Von Doviak — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:45:00 GMT

Diablo Cody will produce an adaptation of Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament, a new novel by S.G. Browne. The romantic comedy “centers on a recently deceased Everyman and newly minted zombie who is having trouble adjusting to his new existence. All that changes when he goes to an Undead Anonymous meeting and finds kindred souls,” Variety reports.

John Cusack and Rob Corddry are soaking in the Hot Tub Time Machine. “The script, by Josh Heald, follows a group of guys who have grown frustrated with their adult lives. They return to the ski lodge where they partied as teens to find answers and are transported to 1987 via their hot tub, a bubbly time machine,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

Best Actor Oscar winner Sean Penn is in talks to join Naomi Watts in Doug Liman’s Fair Game, a drama about the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. Penn is in talks to play Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who “watched his wife's CIA status become compromised after he wrote op-ed columns that accused the Bush Administration of manipulating intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion of Iraq.” Weird – it’s not like Penn to get all political.

Related:
Diablo Cody Unwraps "Jennifer's Body"
John Cusack: Political Poet

DVD Digest for June 10, 2008

Paul Clark — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:00:00 GMT

The run-up to Father’s Day continues with more dad-friendly DVDs, including a handful of the most acclaimed films of 2008 to date.

DVD of the Week: After last week’s wide selection of testosterone-heavy actioners, this week finally brings a DVD for the thinking dad- HBO’s critically-feted seven-part miniseries John Adams. Based on the book by David McCullough and starring Oscar nominees Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, John Adams is a prestige project through and through. But the big surprise is how exhaustive and complex a portrait of the man and his time this really is. Some highly unpleasant events take place on the way to revolution, and the film doesn’t shy away from this reality. Likewise, in addition to Giamatti and Linney’s accomplished turns as John and Abigail, the film also boasts some note-perfect supporting work from the likes of David Morse as George Washington and Tom Wilkinson as Ben Franklin. As far as founding fathers go, Adams has long taken a backseat in popularity to these two men as well as Thomas Jefferson, but if nothing else, John Adams is invaluable in helping to pin down his importance in the history of this nation.

Other new releases this week include: Doug Liman’s Jumper (Fox, also Blu-Ray); Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman in Meathead’s The Bucket List (Warner, also Blu-Ray); 2007’s Funny Games (Warner), the film so nice Michael Haneke made it twice; Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson in the historical bodice-ripper The Other Boleyn Girl (Sony, also Blu-Ray); Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner 4 Months 3 Weeks & 2 Days (IFC Films); the Exquisite Corpse-styled indie thriller The Signal (Magnolia); and of course, the best-reviewed theatrical release of 2008, Larry the Cable Guy in Witless Protection (Lionsgate, also Blu-Ray).

In classics on DVD, this week’s big news is Lionsgate’s High Noon Two-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition, which brings the guy-movie favorite back to DVD with a number of new features. Included among these are a number of documentaries and featurettes, along with a video of Tex Ritter performing his Oscar-winning song from the film. But if dad’s tastes run more to looking at babelicious European actresses of yore, Lionsgate’s got that covered too, with the Catherine Deneuve 5-Film Collection (including Le Sauvage, Hôtel des Amériques, Manon 70, Le Choc and Fort Saganne) and the Sophia Loren 4-Film Collection (which includes I Girasoli, Carosello Napoletano, Attila, and Madame Sans-Gene).

Finally, being released this week exclusively in Blu-Ray: Broken Trail (Sony), Natural Born Killers (Warner), and The Professionals (Sony).

Review: Jumper

Peter Smith — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:15:00 GMT

Editor's note: Starting this week, Nerve Film Lounge reviews and interviews will be folded into Screengrab.

Here's the score: Jumpers are people that can teleport. Bet you'd like to know how — well, too bad. Paladins are people who have been trying to kill Jumpers "since medieval times." Why? Couldn't tell you. Samuel L. Jackson says that, "Only God should have the power to be in all places." He usually says it as he unwraps a giant knife from some dusty cloth before stabbing a Jumper. I don't know if that's the Paladin motto or something. Jumper, as a movie, doesn't really tell you too much. It doesn't do much of anything, for that matter. Director Doug Liman opens the movie opens by having Hayden "Little Annie" Christensen talking about all the cool stuff he's done teleporting about the world that morning. We don't actually see Christensen doing these things, which might've helped engage us right off the bat. But Jumper tells instead of shows — and then, about a third of the way through, stops doing either.

It's a shame. The world is an exciting place, and watching people who can go anywhere in a flash should be the basis for a beautiful spectacle. Jumper doesn't show you the world though. Christensen and the movie's one other jumper, the wooden Griffin, tend to return to the same locales over and over. The Sphinx is a neat setting twice, but six times? The characters don't fare much better than the settings. Christensen's high-school love Millie (Rachel Bilson) doesn't even speak much — she just tends to look bewildered and nods a lot — and Jackson isn't particularly threatening or empathetic, since we never find out why he hates those damn Jumpers so much. I'd say that Liman missed a great opportunity with Jumper, but it feels like he did the best he could with a script about nothing. So congratulations are due to writers David Goyer, Jim Uhls and Simon Kinberg, who've managed to write — amazingly — the worst scenes Hayden Christensen and Samuel Jackson have ever shared. — John Constantine

Critics, Scientists Agree: "Jumper" Not Very Good

Leonard Pierce — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:00:00 GMT

It's not often that the subjective, opinionated world of cultural criticism and the objective, fact-based world of hard science come together, let alone form a common consensus. But in January of 2008, one of those rare moments occurred: a special screening of the Hayden Christensen vehicle Jumper, about a young man who discovers he has the power to teleport through space, was arranged for physics professors and their students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These brilliant men and women, heirs to the tradition of Newton, Bohr and Einstein, agreed with movie critics the world over: Jumper has got a lot of problems.

According to the Times, the screening was arranged by publicist Warren Betts, who apparently got a little overexcited when he heard about the feasibility of (quantum) teleportation, and was attended by Christensen and the film's director, Doug Liman. (Liman claims to have been a physics prodigy in high school, but to have taken no classes at the collegiate level because "being good at it made it a little boring". This no doubt accounts for why so many star athletes don't bother to pursue sports in college.) After the screening, two professors predictably burst the bubble of anyone left thinking the movie's science was anything but pseudo-, to the cheers of their nerdy students; one of them, a Dr. Edward Farhi, chose instead to concentrate on the acting and the characters, apparently not having been informed that the movie stars Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson.

Car Talk with Val Kilmer

Phil Nugent — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:45:00 GMT

What with the WGA strike, there isn't a lot of TV series news out there right now, but as Spencer Tracy used to say, what's there is cherce. It's been reported that Val Kilmer will be serving as the voice of KITT, the talking car, in the "rebooted" new pilot version of Knight Rider being readied by executive producer Doug Liman, with an eye towards possibly launching a new series. Originally, Will Arnett (Arrested Development, Blades of Glory), the new reigning Mr. Smarmy, was set to play KITT, a bright idea that might have resulted in something that felt closer to Heat Vision and Jack: The Next Generation. In a surreal development, Arnett had to be replaced because the pilot's sponsor, Ford, objected to his casting because he had done voice work in commercials for General Motors, thus denying him the chance to provide the voice of a car because he was already "the voice of GMC Trucks." In a world where nobody seems to understand what constitutes a conflict of interest anymore, it's always good to see somebody deciding where to draw a line in the sand. Anyway, this is sort of movie news because Kilmer is still a movie star. Sort of. (Heck, for that matter, when I saw Wristcutters last year, the revelation that Arnett was playing the movie's mysterious cult leader was greeted by the audience with a reaction comparable to what you might get if Jesus walked out onstage and announced that he was here to introduce the Beatles reunion.) Not that we mean to tease Kilmer about this. Sure, there was a time when we'd have been happy to oblige, but in the last several years the kissy-lipped devil has ripened into one entertaining side of ham, making the most of his flashy roles in such films as Spartan and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and the recent TV miniseries Comanche Moon, and giving such co-stars as Robert Downey, Jr. and Steve Zahn — men who do not live dull lives — something to write home to mother about. ("Yeah, then he started hopping, hopping around in place, and he said he thought he was a flea. Oh, it's in the movie. If you look close, you can see his nose twitch at one point. That's where the director shit his pants.") The Knight Rider pilot is slated to air sometime later this month on NBC.

Doug Liman Weighs His Options

Phil Nugent — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:00:00 GMT

A lot of big movie directors are adolescent geeks who get a style upgrade and an attitude adjustment after they achieve success — whatever you think of Tim Burton or Quentin Tarantino now, believe it or not, before they had money and clout, they were worse — but a profile of Doug Liman in New York magazine is fascinating partly because Liman doesn't seem to have been changed much by his success. (Reporter Steve Fishman, on meeting with Liman at the director's production office: "Liman arrives late, as usual. As usual, he wears a T-shirt and jeans, though today he’s also got on a long fitted coat. 'You look good,' says an assistant. 'What's wrong?'") That success was long in coming. Liman was dependant on his father, Arthur Liman (the New York lawyer best known as the prosecutor in the Iran-Contra scandal), for financial support until he was able to direct his first film, Swingers, when he was thirty-one. Jon Favreau, who wrote and starred in the movie (with Vince Vaughn), had hoped to direct it himself, but was unable to secure funding; Liman got the money, again, from his father. (The deal that Liman cut with Miramax for the finished film made him a rich man, something that led to a temporary estrangement from Favreau.)

Since then, Liman has made one movie that straddled the indie world and Hollywood, and three films — The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and the forthcoming Jumper — that comprise what he calls "my sellout trilogy." You might think that Hollywood would love the bejesus out of this guy, who has shown an ability to freshen up commercial material in a way that has not only produced a string of hits but kicked off a major franchise in the Bourne series. But instead, Universal so hated Liman's behavior on the set of the first Bourne movie — which, in addition to his chaotic filming style, which inspires complaints from some that he seems disengaged rather than in charge, included a true uber-geek episode in which Liman "paid the crew overtime to light a forest so he could play paintball" at night — that they didn't do the customary turnabout that the industry routinely performs with troublesome directors and embrace him warmly when he delivered at the box office. Instead, when Brad Pitt wanted to do Mr. and Mrs. Smith for Universal, Liman claims that Pitt "was told he could pick any director he wanted except me." This had the predictable effect. Liman's actors do tend to end up in his rooting section. Matt Damon credits the director with saving his career with Bourne. And Sarah Polley, who starred in Go, won the New York Film Critics Circle's Best First Film prize for her direction of Away from Her, she asked Liman to be be her escort for the evening — though she couldn't resist telling him that he should do it because "It's the closest you’re ever going to get." Liman doesn't seem so sure. "I kind of lost my indie credibility over Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I know I haven't lost it. I just have to go make an independent movie. I just have to do it. Just for me."

Trailer Roundup: Jumper, P.S. I Love You, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Peter Smith — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:00:00 GMT

Jumper

Okay, looks like there’s two ways this could go — entertaining silly or dumb silly. But either way, chances are pretty good that it’ll get silly, which is fine with me since too many big-budget action movies take themselves way too seriously. But then, how do you play a movie about guys who teleport (or "jump") with a completely straight face? The one thing that has me a little uneasy about Jumper is the presence of Hayden Christensen in the lead role. Sure, he’s attractive and in good shape, but when you’re casting the role of a self-centered guy who uses his super-power for his own benefit, you should probably cast someone who possesses more edge and sexual danger than a Ken doll. Jamie Bell, on the other hand, looks to be having a lot of fun, and at the very least the trailer seems to promise the Christensen vs. Samuel L. Jackson battle that was denied to them when they were playing Mannequin Skywalker and Mace Windu.

P.S.: I Love You

Now that Hilary Swank has won two Best Actress Oscars for the two good movies she's made to date, Hollywood seems committed to turning her into a major movie star, despite the fact that she’s not especially likable or charismatic. So after the inspirational-teacher drama Freedom Writers and the supernatural horror of The Reaping earlier this year, she's ready to unleash her inner Meg Ryan with P.S. I Love You. It would be one thing if this was merely sappy-looking, but the problems I have with this movie run a whole lot deeper. Like it or not, pop culture does influence our dreams and fantasies, and the idea of a movie in which a young woman's dead husband has penned a series of letters to help the woman he loves move forward after his death strikes me as more than a little dishonest. Most widowed spouses have to deal with a mountain of unfinished business and unanswered questions following the death of their loved ones, without the benefit of magical posthumous missives to guide them every step of the way. Some move on, some don’t, but they must learn to do it on their own. Besides, what fatal disease affords its victim plenty of time and energy to formulate an intricate plan to be carried out after his death? Wouldn’t he have been busy, y'know, suffering?

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Normally, I dislike trailers for foreign-language films that avoid showing any subtitles. But in this case I’d say it was the right choice, since Diving Bell is the latest film from artist-director Julian Schnabel, whose films emphasize visual flair over memorable dialogue. There’s no mention of Schnabel until the very end of the trailer — strange considering that by all accounts he's hardly the self-effacing type — but between the unique imagery and the portrait of a tragic artist, there’s no mistaking who was behind the camera. And it’s nice to see Matthieu Amalric in a meaty, high-profile role like this. I know it’s been said before, but when a filmmaker decides to make The Roman Polanski Story, Amalric's really the only logical choice for the lead role.

— Paul Clark