The Screengrab : john krasinski

2009: First Quarter Wrap-Up

Andrew Osborne — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 02:00:00 GMT

So, Watchmen didn’t exactly bomb, nor was it exactly a hit. With a 65% critical Tomato-Meter rating, it was neither a fiasco nor a critic’s darling, and for all its sex and violence, the onscreen content was far less controversial than all the legal maneuvering involved with getting it to screens in the first place.

In other words, the first big film of the year was a lot like the rest of 2009’s films to date: nothing to really get all het up about one way or the other...with two notable exceptions, courtesy of last month’s SXSW festival: the obnoxiously onanistic My Suicide is already a lock for my year-end Worst of 2009 list, while the documentary Best Worst Movie could easily find a spot in my year-end Top Ten, thanks to its winning cast and (mostly) cheery depiction of the pleasures and pitfalls of filmmaking (as well as the mysterious alchemy that transforms a terrible film like Troll 2 into a beloved cult classic).

As for the rest of the first quarter highs: the inventive visuals of Coraline, the good-natured mumblecore bromance of SXSW’s Humpday and the laid-back ‘80s nostalgia of Greg “Superbad” Mottola’s Adventureland were all perfectly enjoyable experiences nevertheless unlikely to chart much higher than Honorable Mention come December (unless 2009 winds up being a truly uninspired film year from here on out...unlikely, considering that our current Year of the Ox is already outpacing last year’s Rat: i.e., by April 2008, I’d seen exactly one memorable film (Full Battle Rattle) and a whole lot of Hamburger Helper (Penelope, Cloverfield, 21 and Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day).

Other 2009 offerings unlikely to be more than pleasant hazy memories by December include SXSW fare like Beeswax, The Slammin’ Salmon, The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle and the Richard Linklater sneak preview Me & Orson Welles, along with Sunshine Cleaning, Monsters vs. Aliens and I Love You, Man...films that, like most everything else I’ve seen this year, seem like Xeroxes of Xeroxes of originals I liked a lot more.

I dunno...maybe I’m just getting old. Maybe I’ve seen too many films by this point, and I’m getting cranky and hard to please, and even if a new Pulp Fiction premiered next month, I’d be too jaded to appreciate it...or maybe it's just that nobody’s released anything truly special, gripping, hilarious, original and/or mind-blowing in a while. (But then again, I haven’t seen Fast & Furious yet, so that could all change in a day or two!)

Long-range forecasts indicate a continuing trend of pleasant but disposable cinema moving forward into the second quarter of 2009, although I have cautiously high hopes for Jim Jarmusch’s The Limits of Control, Star Trek, Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience, Land of the Lost and even HBO’s biopic Grey Gardens, starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore as Big & Little Edie of Maysles Brothers fame (which may not be a movie in theaters...but, hey, Angels in America was my favorite movie of 2003 on the small or big screen, so who knows?).

Plus, I just saw the following trailer for the new Sam Mendes film, Away We Go, starring the potentially appealing duo of John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, which could be goddamn charming or still yet more indie-mumbly grist for the mill...see you in June for the Second Quarter report!

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2008: First Quarter Wrap-Up
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Trailer Review: Away We Go

Paul Clark — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Sam Mendes returns with another drama about married life, and topic he’s approached before, first through the glossy snark of American Beauty, then with the darkly existential Revolutionary Road. Here he looks like he’s taking the quirky route, approaching it from the point of view of a not-quite mainstream couple (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) as they prepare for the birth of their first child. But while Away We Go marks the first cinematic venture by acclaimed author Dave Eggers, I’m not sure his style is particularly compatible with the big screen. Eggers has made off-kilter observational comedy his stock in trade, but it’s one thing to read it on the page and another to hear it from the mouths of actors. Based on the evidence here, the results are mixed, with Allison Janney’s line-readings in the trailer sounding suffering from an overabundance of actorly “spin.” That said, a supporting cast like this one is hard to ignore, especially the casting of Jeff Daniels and Catherine O’Hara as the parents of either Krasinski or Rudolph (hard to tell from the trailer). If nothing else, Away We Go ought to give me my O’Hara fix until the next time Christopher Guest comes a-calling.

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

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:30:00 GMT

Yesterday we looked at five documentaries I deemed “must-sees” based on their descriptions in the Sundance guide, their trailers (if available) and my own whims and biases. As I mentioned, I will not actually be attending the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, but why should that minor detail prevent me from having an opinion? With any luck I’ll get to see these movies sooner or later anyway, either at other festivals, in regular theatrical release or on DVD. With that in mind, let’s move on to the narrative features:

ADVENTURELAND

Admittedly, there’s not much need to waste a valuable Sundance timeslot seeing Adventureland, since it’s due in theaters on March 27th. On the other hand, it’s always nice to be ahead of the curve and in the know, so here’s your opportunity to spread either buzz or backlash. Superbad director Greg Mottola takes us back to the glorious year of 1987, when recent college grad Jesse Eisenberg is forced to take a job at an amusement park full of “belligerent dads, stuffed pandas, and screaming kids high on cotton candy.” On the plus side, it also has Twilight cutie Kristen Stewart and a supporting cast of actual funny people like Martin Starr, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig.

BIG FAN

I’m not entirely sold on the cinematic credentials of former Onion writer Robert Siegel. Granted, I haven’t seen The Onion Movie, but his bizarrely acclaimed script for The Wrestler struck me as a humdrum cliché-fest. Still, Big Fan sounds promising if only for the presence of the reliably hilarious Patton Oswalt in the leading role. It’s also timely, given the recent well-publicized troubles of New York Giants star Plaxico Burress: “Paul Aufiero, a 35-year-old parking-garage attendant from working-class Staten Island, is the self-described “world's biggest New York Giants fan.” One night Paul and his best friend, Sal, spot star Giants linebacker Quantrell Bishop at a gas station in Staten Island. They impulsively follow his SUV into Manhattan to a strip club, where they finally muster up the courage to talk to their hero. What starts out as a dream come true turns into a nightmare as a misunderstanding ignites a violent confrontation, and Paul is sent down a path that will test his devotion to the extreme.”

BRIEF INTERVIEWS WITH HIDEOUS MEN

The Sundance guide sums it up nicely: “John Krasinski, best known for playing the charming everyman, Jim Halpert, on The Office, may seem an unlikely candidate to adapt and direct the late David Foster Wallace's caustic exploration of the hideous nature of men.” I agree that it doesn’t immediately sound like a match made in heaven, but what do I know about whatever demons the seeming nice guy Krasinski may harbor? Julianne Nicholson stars as the grad student conducting those brief interviews, which range from “the bizarre to the banal, but they are always infused with biting humor and extraordinary details.”

THE CLONE RETURNS HOME

This Japanese feature is described as being “in the tradition of Solaris and other deeply philosophical science-fiction works.” It concerns an astronaut who “agrees to participate in an experimental cloning program that will ‘regenerate’ his body and memory should he die. So when he’s killed during a space mission, scientists are able to regenerate his clone. But problems occur with its memory, which regresses to Kohei’s youth and the accidental death of his twin brother. Distressed, the clone flees the lab in search of his childhood home. Along the way, he finds his own lifeless body in a space suit. Mistaking it for his brother, he continues his journey carrying the body on his back.” There’s a fine line between dreamlike and ponderous and this one could go either way, but I’m feeling generous enough to give it the benefit of the doubt.

COLD SOULS

This “metaphysical tragicomedy” sounds more than a little Charlie Kaufmanesque. Paul Giamatti stars as himself, “agonizing over his interpretation of Uncle Vanya. Paralyzed with anxiety, he stumbles upon a solution via a New Yorker article about a high-tech company promising to alleviate suffering by deep-freezing souls. Giamatti enlists their services, intending to reinstate his soul once he survives the performance. But complications ensue when a mysterious, soul-trafficking ‘mule,’ transporting product to and from Russia, ‘borrows’ Giamatti's stored soul for an ambitious, but unfortunately talentless, soap-opera actress.” Is the debut feature from Sophie Barthes a ripoff of Being John Malkovich or “strikingly original” as the Sundance guide claims?

Part Two

Sundance 2009 Competition Lineup Announced

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:00:00 GMT

The Sundance Institute has announced the lineup of films slated for its U.S. Dramatic Competition, Documentary Competition and World Cinema (both Dramatic and Documentary) Competitions. Says Sundance Director Geoffrey Gilmore, “This year's films are not narrowly defined. Instead we have a blurring of genres, a crossing of boundaries: geographic, generational, socio-economic and the like. The result is both an exhilarating and emotive Festival in which traditional mythologies are suspended, discoveries are made, and creative storytelling is embraced.” Well, I didn’t expect him to say “We’ve got a bunch of derivative crap this year.” Nonetheless, I have scoured the list and found a few intriguing entries:

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. “When her boyfriend leaves with little explanation, a doctoral candidate in anthropology tries to remedy her heartache by interviewing men about their behavior.” Everyone’s favorite Office schlub John Krasinski makes his writing/directing debut with this adaptation of the late David Foster Wallace’s story.

Big Fan. “The world of a parking garage attendant who happens to be the New York Giants' biggest fan is turned upside down after an altercation with his favorite player.” Patton Oswalt stars in the directorial debut from Robert D. Siegel, who wrote The Wrestler (and, uh, The Onion Movie).

Cold Souls. “In the midst of an existential crisis, a famous American actor explores soul extraction as a relief from the burdens of daily life.” Paul Giamatti stars.

Good Hair. “Comedian Chris Rock turns documentary filmmaker when he sets out to examine the culture of African-American hair and hairstyles.”

When You’re Strange. “The first feature documentary about The Doors, When You're Strange enters the dark and dangerous world of one of America’s most influential bands using only footage shot between 1966 and 1971.” Tom DiCillo (Living in Oblivion) directs.

Lulu und Jim. “Bright garish colors, rock and roll and wild dance numbers mark this road movie about lovers fleeing from the evil powers of a 1950s deeply bigoted German society.”

You can see the full list here. We’ll bring you the non-competition lineup tomorrow.

Long Drive for “Leatherheads”

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:00:00 GMT

After spending the better part of two decades in Development Hell, Leatherheads finally reaches theaters on Friday. Or as co-screenwriter Rick Reilly puts it on his website, “My writing partner, former Sports Illustrated colleague Duncan Brantley, and I wrote this thing 16 years ago! Sixteen years! Do you realize how many Joan Rivers faces ago that was?”

Actually, it’s even worse than that. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Leatherheads project predates Reilly’s involvement by several years. In the late 80s, Brantley was “researching pro-football's colorful early days and became interested John McNally, a pioneer star player. By calling himself ‘Johnny Blood,’ McNally found he could play for the Duluth Eskimos in the National Football League without losing his eligibility to continue playing college sports under his real name. Brantley decided the birth of pro-football had the makings of a movie and got started writing a screenplay. After a few years, he brought his Sports Illustrated colleague Reilly on board to add some humor to the script.”

That script attracted the attention of Steven Soderbergh, who considered making Leatherheads as a follow-up to his debut sex, lies and videotape. He made Kafka instead, but the project remained on the back burner, periodically resurfacing. Or as Reilly remembers it, “First, Mel Gibson was going to do it, then didn’t. Then George Clooney was, then didn’t. Then Michael Keaton was, then didn’t. Then Ray Liotta was, then didn’t. Then Clooney again, then didn’t. Then it propped open a door at Universal for a few years. Then one day my agent called and said, ‘Hey, would it be alright if George Clooney started filming Leatherheads in February? He’d star and he’d direct. He’s been rewriting the third act all summer in Italy.’”

Things moved quickly from that point and Reilly, who has since left Sports Illustrated for a new gig at ESPN, was thrilled to not only visit the set but appear as an extra in the press box scenes with Renee Zellweger. “I mean, do you know how cool it is to walk around a world that you and your buddy invented? Or watch George Clooney and John (The Office) Krasinski and Renee Zellwegger deliver lines you wrote, while characters you fabricated out of whole beer are coming up to you and saying stuff like, ‘Hey, I’m Hardleg. Nice to meet you!’? And I’m like, ‘Hardleg? We dreamed you up at Chili’s one night!’ It was like taking a 3D tour of your own brain.”

Trailer Roundup: Leatherheads

Paul Clark — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:00:00 GMT

If a movie about the early days of professional football seems a strange directorial follow-up for Clooney after his Oscar-nominated Good Night and Good Luck, it shouldn't. After all, Clooney has long been most at home in period pieces and comedies that take advantage of his classic leading man appeal and interest in old-school media stories, and this definitely fits the bill. I also like the casting of The Office's John Krasinski as the young hotshot who becomes Clooney's teammate and romantic rival (should be better than License to Wed anyway). But Renée Zellweger? Really? Maybe I'm just not a fan, but she doesn't seem to quite fit into the period setting, although I suppose I should be grateful Clooney didn't cast Jennifer Jason Leigh instead. Still, I'm inclined to give the movie the benefit of the doubt. When was the last time Clooney steered me wrong?