The Screengrab : james gandolfini

Trailer Review: Where the Wild Things Are

Paul Clark — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Four years after Spike Jonze began shooting this adaptation of the classic Maurice Sendak children’s book, there’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel. And despite reports of production difficulties and tension between the filmmakers and the money men, I’ve got to say this looks pretty awesome. Certainly one of the biggest challenges faced by Jonze and his co-screenwriter Dave Eggers was how to adapt a novel that consisted of roughly a dozen sentences into a full-fledged movie while remaining true to the original. And judging by the trailer, it appears that they’ve done so without padding out the story too much. Instead, it looks like they’ve emphasized the scenes between Max (Max Records) and the Wild Things, particularly the adventures and mischief they find together. I had high hopes for this before, but this trailer has only propelled them higher. After all, how can one hate a movie in which James Gandolfini voices a furry, cuddly monster?

Sundance Roundup: Day Eight

Scott Von Doviak — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Busy IFC Films made In the Loop its latest Sundance acquisition. The Armando Iannucci comedy “follows a British government minister who inadvertently supports a war while on primetime television. Pic stars Tom Hollander, Peter Capaldi, James Gandolfini and Steve Coogan.”

Bobcat Goldthwait’s latest exercise in depraved comedy, World’s Greatest Dad, made quite an impression. Entertainment Weekly calls it “a crazy, foul-mouthed, garishly farfetched black comedy… World's Greatest Dad has an organic lunacy, to the point that there's something almost Ed Wood innocent about it. Maybe it's that the film reflects a fantasy that must surely be Goldthwait's: that the worse the behavior, the more it will be rewarded.” Spoutblog caught up with the director, who still lives a double life. “I’m probably the only director here who in three weeks is going to be playing an Indian casino in Iowa. Which is true. It’s true. And I go out on the road and I don’t like doing stand-up comedy. And what’s funny is I can say that to you in this interview, that I hate stand-up comedy. And the people who come out to see me, they’ll never see that quote. Because those people come - it’s like I’m Foreigner, going out on the road. There’s still going to be an audience to see Frampton.”

But of course what you’re really wondering is – what are the stars drinking at Sundance? The answer might surprise you! “The once-banned spirit, absinthe -- a mix of sweet licorice-flavored anise and the bitter wormwood -- is being poured at numerous celebrity events,” the Salt Lake Tribune reports. “‘Absinthe has a historical relationship with creativity,’ explained Ashley Garver, marketing director for Le Tourment Vert, a French brand and one of the festival sponsors.” Make it a double.

Previously:
Sundance Roundup: Day Seven
Sundance Roundup: Day Six

Sundance Preview: Ten Must-See Narrative Features (Part Two)

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:00:00 GMT

IN THE LOOP

I know what you’re thinking: I only picked this movie so I could run this ridiculous picture of James Gandolfini in his Crazy General outfit. Well, perhaps you’re right. The film itself is a political farce described thusly: “Wickedly sardonic and filled with secrets, lies, leaks, plugs, and faulty intelligence and walls, In the Loop leads us behind closed doors to reveal bungling bureaucrats entangled in petty rivalries, obsequious aides jockeying for favor, and the Keystone Cops of government, including a minister who hopes there’s no war because it’s bad enough coping with the Olympics, and an unscrupulous bureaucrat who doctors intelligence because he believes that “in the land of truth, the man with one fact is king.” Director Armando Iannucci is a veteran of British comedy TV, including I’m Alan Partridge and the short-lived but no doubt beloved Time Trumpet.

MANURE

The Polish Brothers are back and they’ve got poop on their minds! The men behind such uncategorizables as Northfork and Twin Falls Idaho return with “scene after scene of wonderfully rendered, pure cinematic imagination.” Tea Leoni is the heir to to Rose’s Manure Company and Kyle Maclachlan finally has the role he was born to play – “a ruthless, slick-talking fertilizer rep.” OK, so maybe Agent Dale Cooper was the role he was born to play. But Billy Bob Thornton as a manure salesman? Sold!

MARY AND MAX

The opening night film (that’s tomorrow night, people, so start lining up) is an Australian claymation tale “of a 20-year pen-pal friendship between two very different people: Mary Dinkle, a chubby, lonely 8-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max Horowitz, a 44-year-old Jewish man, who is severely obese, suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, and lives an isolated life in New York City.” If you guessed that Philip Seymour Hoffman voices the latter, you win a door prize. Toni Collette is the 8-year-old, no doubt a warm-up for her upcoming multiple personality role(s) on Showtime’s United States of Tara.

WHITE LIGHTNIN’

Not a remake of the Burt Reynolds hixploitation classic, but nonetheless a remake of sorts: White Lightnin’ is a fictional take on the real-life subject of the documentary Dancing Outlaw, Jesco White. “At the tender age of six, he started getting high by huffing gasoline and stolen lighter fluid. Growing up, Jesco often found himself shuffling between reform schools, work camps, and his home in West Virginia—until his father, famous mountain dancer D. Ray White, taught him how to tap. After his father's murder, Jesco begins to dance to control his increasingly wicked ways.” Crazy casting note: Carrie Fisher co-stars as Cilla, the love of Jesco’s life.

WORLD’S GREATEST DAD

I can hardly believe I’m including a movie starring Robin Williams among my picks, but writer/director Bobcat Goldthwait, maker of the greatest alcoholic clown movie and the greatest dog-blowing movie ever made, has a knack for the perversely comic. Presumably that holds true for World’s Greatest Dad, but the Sundance guide description is so vague as to only tantalize: Williams plays a high school poetry teacher who “suddenly faces both the worst tragedy of his life, and the greatest opportunity. Determined to make lemonade from life’s lemons, Lance treads a path that could land him everything he’s ever dreamed of, as long as he can live with the knowledge of how he got there.”

Part One

Unwatchable #69: “The Perfect Holiday”

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Our fearless – and quite possibly senseless – movie janitor is watching every movie on the IMDb Bottom 100 list. Join us now for another installment of Unwatchable.

Folks, I’m taking the rest of 2008 off the Bottom 100 beat. I need a break and there’s no time like the holidays, am I right? Your regularly scheduled Unwatchable series will resume in the new year, and there can be no doubt 2009 will be one for the history books as we count down the 57 worst movies of all time. But before I call it a year, we have a bit of catching up to do. As you may dimly recall, I had to skip #69 on the list because it was not yet available for home viewing at the time. That excuse has expired, so it’s time for a very special Christmas edition of Unwatchable: The Perfect Holiday.

For the most part, this is your basic, run-of-the-mill holiday warmedy tailored for African-American audiences. Beautiful, well-to-do Nancy (Gabrielle Union) is raising three kids on her own since divorcing hip-hop star J-Jizzy (Charlie Murphy), and all she wants for Christmas is a man under the tree. OK, not literally under the tree. Really, she’d settle for a compliment from a nice fella with no shady ulterior motives. Her daughter informs a department store Santa of this wish, little realizing that under the snowy white beard is a suitable nice fella, songwriter Benjamin (Morris Chestnut).

For reasons that eluded me, Benjamin passes himself off as an office supply salesman as he first compliments, then woos Nancy, much to the chagrin of eldest son John-John (Malik Hammond), who holds out hope of his parents getting back together. We know there’s not much chance of that happening, as J-Jizzy is a self-absorbed, womanizing jackass who can barely be bothered to cobble together a quickie Christmas album. His producer Delicious (Katt Williams) doesn’t smell a hit single until he accidentally plays a demo tape submitted by Benjamin. The tape contains a treacly holiday ballad that would make Lionel Ritchie weep hundred dollar bills, so J-Jizzy rings up Benjamin and offers him a recording deal. Benjamin is excited until he realizes he’s talking to Nancy’s ex-husband and sitcom-ish complications are about to ensue.

So far so bland, but on the family holiday movie scale, there’s nothing out of the ordinary to justify The Perfect Holiday’s place in the Bottom 100. Except…I haven’t mentioned Queen Latifah and Terrence Howard, have I? Well, they’re in the movie too, although I’m not sure I could tell you why. I guess they’re angels or magical elves or…some sort of shape-shifting Greek chorus, anyway. They keep appearing in different guises – security guards, hot dog vendors and such – and Latifah even introduces a little magical realism into the proceedings late in the game. She’s one of the movie’s producers, so I can’t stop her.

Still, that’s hardly enough to warrant a spot as one of the 100 all-time worst, particularly with an appealing and funny supporting cast (notably Murphy, Williams, and Faizon Love) to distract from the ongoing sappiness. The past couple of years alone have seen far worse Christmas movies, including The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause and the deadly Vince Vaughn duo of Fred Claus and Four Christmases. While channel-surfing the other night I came across that atrocity with Ben Affleck and James Gandolfini’s big scary beard. Surely that would have been a very special holiday Unwatchable for us all to enjoy. Ah well, fear not – cinematic sewage galore awaits us in the new year.

Previously on Unwatchable:
58. Ed
59. Don’t Go in the Woods…Alone!
60. Carry On Columbus
61. Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie
62. Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie

Tom Cruise Still Creepy, Still Not Funny

Scott Von Doviak — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Aside from the controversies over Robert Downey, Jr. in blackface and the use of the word "retard," the big pre-release buzz about Tropic Thunder had Tom Cruise revitalizing both his career and his public image with his hilarious turn as foul-mouthed studio mogul Les Grossman. That said buzz originated with Team Cruise has never been doubted by me, but the entertainment media has been only too happy to nudge it along. It's good for business, after all; everyone loves a redemption story, particularly one that humanizes what has been a cold, calculating persona for some time. Tom Cruise with a paunch and bald wig? He has no vanity! He's ready to let loose and have some fun! He really doesn't take himself so seriously after all. That's the narrative we've had rammed down our throats, but is there any truth to it? Let's find out after the jump, but be warned, minor Tropic Thunder spoilers may ensue.

So here's the deal: Cruise has maybe ten minutes of screen time as bald, bearded, bespectacled blowhard Grossman. Despite the prosthetics, which include huge hairy forearms as well as the chrome dome and pronounced (but not too pronounced) belly, Cruise does not exactly disappear into the role - he's recognizably Cruise all the way. The nose knows, and besides, he doesn't even do a voice. Conveniently, for him as well as the movie's marketing team, he gets to have it both ways. He's having fun and doing an "outrageous" character, but there's never a moment we feel like we're watching an outrageous character - it's clearly Tom Cruise Industries up there on the screen.

In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd think director, co-writer and co-star Ben Stiller was having a little fun at Cruise's expense. After all, right here in the same movie we have Robert Downey, Jr. as a pompous, self-absorbed genius actor who undergoes an experimental process to appear African-American in the movie-within-the-movie. (Of course, since Downey actually is a talented actor, he disappears into both the role of Australian thespian Kirk Lazarus and that of platoon sergeant Osirus.) And we also have Jack Black as a desperate comic actor who dons a variety of fakey prosthetics for his multiple roles in The Fatties, Fart 2.

The joke is on somebody here, but I don't think it's Cruise, since he's buddies with Stiller, who actually thinks Cruise is funny - or at least that's what he told Entertainment Weekly. Unless I'm forgetting something, the last time Cruise made me laugh since Risky Business was his Scientology recruitment video leaked onto YouTube earlier this year - and that was the sort of nervous laughter I usually reserve for Charles Manson interviews. By my count, Cruise is the 12th funniest person in the movie, behind Downey, Stiller, Black, Danny McBride, Steve Coogan, Brandon T. Jackson, Bill Hader, Jay Baruchel, Matthew McConaughey, a kid playing a Vietnamese heroin mule, and even Nick Nolte, not generally regarded as one of our foremost humorists.

Cruise dances in character over the end credits, and we are reminded of Hollywood's second most famous Scientologist, John Travolta, and how his career revival in Pulp Fiction included a dance scene that echoed fond memories of Grease and Saturday Night Fever. Here I guess we're supposed to flash back to Cruise dancing in his underwear in Risky Business and remember why we used to love him. Honestly, I was more creeped out than amused. How hard would it have been for Stiller to find an actual bald, hairy fat fuck for this role? Jon Polito would have killed, or James Gandolfini. I mean, wasn't that the point of the Downey character - that it's probably a good idea to hire an actual black actor than an Australian in blackface? Instead it's just the latest chapter in the Tom Cruise psychodrama - the extended version of jumping on Oprah's couch.

Related:
Tom Cruise Parodies Someone Else for a Change
Citizen Cruise

Screen Actors' Guild Awards

Phil Nugent — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:00:00 GMT

The fourteenth annual Screen Actors Guild Awards were handed out Sunday night, in a brisk televised program that the striking Screen Writers' Guild gave its blessing to. This year's awards got perhaps a bit more attention than usual in this season, when the writers' strike turned the Golden Globes into a glorified press conference and threatens to do we know not what to the Academy Awards show. Dignified yet friendly, the evening struck a nice balance between this year's gutted-out version of the Golden Globes and the bedazzled vulgarity of the traditional Oscar blow-out, which helped to compensate for the fact that the list of chosen winners didn't have a lot of surprises. Among the movie nominees, There Will Be Blood's Daniel Day-Lewis took the Best Actor prize, which he dedicated to the late Heath Ledger. Julie Christie (Away from Her won for Best Actress, while awards for Best Supporting performance went to Javier Bardem (for No Country for Old Men) and Ruby Dee (for American Gangster). The SAG Awards also set aside awards for Best Cast Ensemble and Best Stunt Ensemble: these went to the fine actors who appeared together in No Country for Old Men and those motherfucking lunatics who risked life and limb while giving the finger to gravity itself in The Bourne Ultimatum, respectively. In the television category, the most notable awards were those slathered on the cast of The Sopranos, in its last year: the show won for Best Actor (James Gandalfini), Best Actress (Edie Falco), and Best Dramatic Cast Ensemble. The cast of The Office won for Best Cast in a comedy, but the awards for Best Actor and Actress in a comedy went to Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey, both of 30 Rock. Fey got off perhaps the most gracious one-liner of the evening when she credited Baldwin with her win, saying that if you spend enough time watching "Fred Astaire dance with a hatrack; after a while, you’re, like, ‘That hatrack is pretty good too.’ ”

One Last Shot: Romance and Cigarettes

Peter Smith — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 22:00:00 GMT

John Turturro's third film as director, Romance and Cigarettes, got canned by its distributor and suffered some of the worst reviews around this year (even from some of my favorite outlets, like The Onion AV Club), as well as a handful of the best. Count me in the "best" category; I loved it and was lucky enough to interview Turturro about it, an experience that really cemented my admiration for him and his work. I'm not sure what other critics disliked about it so much, though I could see it being a movie you either love or hate. A blue-collar musical, it follows James Gandolfini through a torrid affair with Kate Winslet, and an estrangement from his wife (Susan Sarandon) and his daughters (Mandy Moore, Mary-Louise Parker and Aida Turturro). It's sweet, sad, hilarious and dirty — a great date movie, if your date has a good sense of humor.

Turturro has distribution rights to Romance and Cigarettes until January 17th, at which point Sony will ignominiously dump it to DVD and run for the hills. It's done really well given its limited distribution, but in this last push — well, I can't speak for my Screengrab colleagues, but at least a portion of Screengrab encourages you to see this lovely film before it leaves the screen. Here's a clip (illustrating Turturro's juxtaposition of bawdy humor and fantasy) I hand-picked to whet your appetites. (Right-click to save.) Hit the jump for a list of theaters opening Romance and Cigarettes in the coming weeks; it's also currently playing at a number of others, including, for New Yorkers, the Quad on 13th St.

CALIFORNIA
12/21/2007 Encino, CA Town Center Five
12/21/2007 Irvine, CA University Town Center 6
12/21/2007 Los Angeles, CA Landmark Theater
12/21/2007 Los Angeles, CA Sunset 5
12/21/2007 Pasadena, CA Playhouse 7
12/21/2007 Pasadena, CA One Colorado
12/21/2007 Sacramento, CA Crest Theatre

COLORADO
12/7/2007 Denver, CO Chez Artiste

FLORIDA
1/4/2008 Sarasota, FL Burns Court
1/11/2008 Gainesville, FL Hippodrome Cinema

GEORGIA
12/7/2007 Atlanta, GA Midtown Art Cinema

ILLINOIS
12/7/2007 Chicago, IL Music Box Theatre
12/7/2007 Wilmette, IL Wilmette Theatre
12/7/2007 Highland Park, IL Landmark's Renaissance Place Cinema

KANSAS
1/11/2008 Kansas City, KS Tivoli Manor Square

MAINE
1/4/2008 Waterville, ME Rail Road Square Cinema
1/11/2008 Portland, ME The Movies on Exchange Street

MASSACHUSETTS
12/14/2007 Northampton, MA Pleasant Street Theater

MARYLAND
12/21/2007 Baltimore, MD Charles Theater

MICHIGAN
12/14/2007 Detroit, MI Main Art Theatre

MISSOURI
12/14/2007 St. Louis, MO Plaza Frontenac Cinema

MINNESOTA
12/7/2007 Minneapolis, MN Edina Cinema

NEBRASKA
1/4/2008 Lincoln, NB Ross Media Arts Center

NEW JERSEY
12/7/2007 Washington Township, NJ Washington Township Cinema

NEW YORK
12/7/2007 Albany, NY Spectrum 8

OHIO
1/4/2008 Cleveland, OH Shaker Square

OREGON
12/14/2007 Portland, OR Cinema 21

PENNSYLVANIA
1/4/2008 Pittsburgh, PA Regent Square

RHODE ISLAND
12/7/2007 Providence, RI Avon Cinema

TEXAS
12/7/2007 Houston, TX Angelika Film Center

UTAH
1/4/2008 Salt Lake City, UT Broadway Centre

WASHINGTON
12/14/2007 Seattle, WA Varsity Theatre

WISCONSIN
12/14/2007 Madison, WI Sundance Cinema