The Moviefone Blog

CineVegas Film Festival Winners Announced

Patrick Walsh — 2008-06-23T18:32:00+00:00

Last week, I did some reporting from the CineVegas Film Festival, where I served as a juror. The winners were announced this weekend, and they have me wishing I had been able to see more stuff. She Unfolds By Day, Rolf Belgum's film about "a frustrated middle-aged son trying to manage his misanthropic 80-year-old mother," took home the Grand Jury Prize. A Special Jury Award went to Dark Streets, which our own Eric D. Snider gave a decent review to here. Bill Pullman took home a Special Jury Award for his performance in Your Name Here, reviewed by Eric here. The documentary jury, which included Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock, selected Beautiful Losers, about "the lives of a loose-knit group of artists in the '80s who created their own art movement outside the mainstream." Hi, My Name is Ryan, focusing on "the clown prince of the downtown Phoenix art scene," picked up a Special Documentary Jury Prize.

The audience awards went to the documentary Lost in the Fog and to Visioneers (which Eric really liked), starring the hilarious Zack Galifianakis. Ano Una took home the La Proxima Ora Jury Prize, which awards excellence in Mexican film. The stunningly attractive shorts jury, which included -- ahem -- me, selected Myna Joseph's Man as our overall winner. Man is a dark and touching portrait of the innocence lost in teenage sexuality. We gave honorable mentions to the beautifully acted tale of suburban infidelity The Fence, to the pretty amazing Hurricane Katrina meditation Glory at Sea, to the funny and creative Jerry Ruis, Shall We Do This?, and to -- my personal favorite -- The Sleuth Incident, a gorgeously shot tale of a teddy bear who goes on an adventure that ends in bloodshed. It can be hard to locate short films, and I'm guilty of not having sought them out much in the past, but all of these are well worth hunting down. Salute your shorts!

Live from CineVegas: Know When to Fold 'Em

Patrick Walsh — 2008-06-19T11:32:00+00:00

Finished with my jury responsibilities, I managed to check out some features. A favorite of mine was Chelsea on the Rocks, by Abel Ferrara (director of Bad Lieutenant and a terrific little mob flick called The Funeral). It's a documentary about the infamous Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan, but it's far from traditional. There are lots of odd transitions and edits, the interviews are beyond casual (Ferrara says something along the lines of "No shit!" every ten seconds while listening to the stories of those living in the building), and there are some utterly ridiculous and unnecessary re-enactments of notorious events in the hotel's past (actors play Sid and Nancy, Janis Joplin, and assorted hangers-on). Truth be told, the whole thing was kind of a mess. But watching it felt a lot like spending a night in the hotel, and it's a ride I'm glad I took. I didn't learn a thing, but it brought me inside a place full of fascinating characters, a place I walked past countless times in Manhattan without a second thought.

I'm back home in Los Angeles, and if I accomplished nothing else with these CineVegas reports, I hope I convinced some of you to hit the fest next year. I mean, they have after-parties at strip clubs, for crying out loud! Oh, and the movies are good, too. Check out the website here, the festival will definitely return next year and if you're feeling super-spontaneous, you could even fly out for the last few nights of CineVegas 2008. They've got some major events planned for the rest of the week, including tributes to Viggo Mortensen, Rosario Dawson, Don Cheadle, and character actor extraordinaire Sam Rockwell (bummed that I had to leave before the screening of his new one, Choke). They're also giving a lifetime achievement award to Anjelica Huston and something called a "Vegas Icon" award to James Cann. Wish I could have stayed for all the fun, but I've got some detoxing to do and I may need surgery to fix the mangled hook that is my video poker finger!

Live from CineVegas: Hooker/Not a Hooker

Patrick Walsh — 2008-06-16T21:02:00+00:00

My fellow jurors and I selected our short film winners yesterday, but I can not share any results until the award ceremony next weekend. You likely wouldn't know any of the titles anyway, but I can pretty much guarantee you will see the filmmakers' names again in the coming years -- some big talents in the mix. There's a party every night here, and I've been having a blast. One of my favorite past-times has been playing a game I call "Hooker/Not a Hooker." Pretty self-explanatory, basically you try to decide which gals are on the payroll, and which aren't. Here's a hint: If she's gorgeous, 22- years-old and hanging off the arm of a 400-pound dude with a combover ... she's available.

I checked out Get Smart yesterday, at an event for The Rock, excuse me, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, excuse me, Dwayne Johnson's charity. Johnson introduced the film and told the audience that "Steve Carell has very soft lips," which made a lot more sense once we watched the flick. For the most part, I agree with Eric's review. It was no masterpiece, but it was just funny and entertaining enough to have been worth the time. Steve Carell can elevate just about anything, and Alan Arkin was hilarious. Now that I've got more free time, I hope to pry myself away from the video poker (currently $45 in the red) and the pool (my skin is also "in the red") and check out some of the more indie-leaning films screening here. Abel Ferrara's Go-Go Tales screens tonight, and I don't think I can pass up that title. Right now there's yet another two-hour "happy hour" starting, so ah...talk to you later!

Live from CineVegas: What Happens in Vegas Gets Photographed in Vegas

Patrick Walsh — 2008-06-16T17:32:00+00:00

Somehow, I have remembered to take photos on my vice-filled journey through the CineVegas Film Festival, and while a lot of them didn't come out as I planned, you can see a couple (along with a bunch from Getty Images) in the gallery below. You'll find shots of the parties, of the fest in motion, of fire-breathers in bikinis, of naked women covered in paint (ahem, see above), of singing sensation Bijou Phillips, and even a candid shot of the world beer pong champion (I think you'll be able to figure out which one that is). Wish you were here!

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Live from CineVegas: Grey Goose Got the Girl Feeling Loose!

Patrick Walsh — 2008-06-15T19:33:00+00:00

I'm coming to you live from the tenth annual CineVegas Film Festival in the fabulous Palms Casino and Resort. Yes, that's the very same hotel where the Real World Vegas clan turned a hot tub into a simmering cauldron of gonorrhea. Thankfully, I'm staying in a different suite. I arrived late Friday night, was also fortunate enough to attend the now legendary Britney Spears party, and woke up yesterday with a crippling hangover.

The fest is sponsored by Grey Goose, and to quote the greatest songwriter/pants-wetter of our day, Fergie, Grey Goose got this girl feeling loose! I can't seem to turn around without being handed a cocktail. I can certainly see why Nicolas Cage had such a problem with alcohol in that movie about leaving Las Vegas ... strangely, its title escapes me right now.

Outside of Brit, the fest has been pretty light on celebs. I spotted festival chair Dennis Hopper yesterday, looking as cool as he did forty years ago. I saw Bijou Phillips at a Happy Hour, but couldn't decide which opening line to use. The options were: "I have long admired and enjoyed your nudity" and "So ... you're insane, right?" For some reason, she was the musical entertainment at last night's poolside bash. She carried a tune alright, she's got great singin' genes after all, but still. It was ...odd. Oh, and I also met the world beer pong champion, documented in the film Last Cup: Road to the World Series of Beer Pong, #1 on my list of must-sees while I'm here. I imagine it will be made into a Will Ferrell movie by the time I'm done typing this sentence.

I've spent most of my time watching short films, however, because I am on the shorts jury. I've never served on a jury of any kind before, and I'm taking it very seriously. I've watched 40+ shorts, and in an hour I'm off to meet with my fellow jurors and select our winners. (Filmmakers, feel free to bribe me.) For the most part, these movies were excellent, and I've got very strong favorites. I'll keep you posted on what we choose and whether or not the discussion comes to fisticuffs. As for right now, I'm off to put some Grey Goose in this coffee ...

The Write Stuff: Excellent Opportunity for Aspiring Writers!

Patrick Walsh — 2008-06-10T16:02:00+00:00

Hey! It's your old friend Patrick Walsh! Remember me? I used to run a writing column here with the ingenious title "The Write Stuff?" (Check out all 25 previous posts here.) I answered your screenwriting questions, offered advice, and conducted interviews with film and television writers? I look like Brad Pitt, but with better abs? There you go. You remember. Anyhoo, when last we spoke I had been staffed on the FX comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and I'm still there. It's a dream job, and I intend to share my experiences on the show with you closer to the season premiere in September. But for now I want to tell you about a great way for you (yes, you!) to break in to the big time: NBC's Writers on the Verge program.

If this seems like a shameless advertisement, know that it's only because I myself am a graduate of the program and I absolutely loved it. I am NOT doing this because I am receiving money from anyone at NBC. (Though Lord knows if NBC would like to give me some money, I will gladly accept it. You hear me, Zucker? GLADLY.)

Now then. You've got questions. I've got answers.

What is "Writers on the Verge?"

It is a ten-week program focused on polishing writers and readying them for a staff writer position on a television series. They are looking for writers who are "almost there," but need that final bit of preparation with their writing and personal presentation skills.

What can the program do for me?

My writing partner and I had an agent when we started the program, but several in the class did not. Now, every single one of my classmates is represented by an agent. My writing partner and I didn't get our job at Always Sunny through the program, but several in the class got staffed because of the program's excellent reputation and the hard work of the course instructors (and excellent writing, of course). In fact, five of the eight in my class are currently staffed as writers on television shows! What my writing partner and I personally got out of the course is confirmation that we were headed in the right direction on some matters, and a wake-up call about things we thought we were doing well that we were actually effing up. We also got two unbelievably helpful mentors -- one a writer for The Office and one an NBC executive.

What are the classes about?

When I was in the program, roughly half the classes were focused on helping us better learn how to handle ourselves in meetings with network executives and showrunners. We had a variety of speakers offer advice, including My Name is Earl showrunner Greg Garcia and Heroes showrunner Tim Kring. The other half of the classes (and some homework time!) were focused on crafting a "spec script," a script for an existing show. It's a fantastic experience to hammer out a script with a whole room of feedback and viewpoints.

When and where are the classes?

There are two classes a week, one on Tuesday night and one on Thursday night, each running from 7 to 10PM. Classes are held at NBC Studios in Universal City, California.

Do I have to live in California to take the course?

Well, it would be quite a commute from Idaho! As I've said in this column before, if you want to be a professional television or film writer, you pretty much have to live in or around Los Angeles. There are rare exceptions, and I realize that's not ideal for everyone (I'm a Missouri boy myself), but if you want to make it in Hollywood...you kinda gotta live near Hollywood!

Will I get paid?

Nope. But there's free pizza sometimes.

Is this strictly a program for minority writers?

Not strictly, but writers of diverse backgrounds are particularly encouraged to apply.

How long do I have to apply for this program?

Until June 30th (3PM Pacific). That's three weeks, bozos! Don't do what I always do and wait until the last minute, either. You'll forget. You'll forget!

How do I apply?

Official applications are available at www.diversecitynbc.com and www.nbcunicareers.com (under entry-level programs).

What are the application requirements?

1) Applicants must submit one properly formatted television spec screenplay based on a show that aired new episodes during the 2007 - 2008 season on any broadcast or cable network. This script must be submitted as a PDF file.

2) Applicants must provide two brief essays (as a PDF - not to exceed 250 words each) to answer both of the following questions:

a) What from your background do you bring to the table as a writer that provides a fresh perspective in your storytelling?

b) What television show most inspired you to become a television writer and why?

3) Applicants must submit a copy of their resume (also as a PDF - including their e-mail address and phone number).

4) Applicants must fill out a release form for their submitted script. Once signed, release forms can be scanned and e-mailed in with the application or faxed to (818) 866-2537.

5) Applicants must be able to provide their own housing and transportation in the Los Angeles area for the duration of the program.

Can I live with you?

No.

So there you have it! When I was doing this column more regularly, the question I got the most was "How do I get my foot in the door?" Well...here's an excellent answer. If you've got a finished television script and have been wondering what to do with it, now you know. If you've been tinkering on a script for a while, this should be incentive to get it done. If you haven't even started a script...hurry up! If you have any further questions, be sure to check the websites or e-mail writersontheverge@nbcuni.com, and if you still have questions, that's what the comment section is for!

Oh, and GOOD LUCK!

Review: The Foot Fist Way

Patrick Walsh — 2008-05-30T11:02:00+00:00

The Foot Fist Way premiered at Sundance in 2006. I got my hands on a copy about a year ago, and wondered why it never got a big cross-country release. I knew it was a hit among big-time comedy folk (your Stillers, your Apatows, your Oswalts), and I started to figure that maybe they just wanted to keep it to themselves. But with a big push from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, Foot Fist has found its way into theaters. Shot independently over nineteen days for little money in North Carolina, the film is a character study about a character you'd never want to meet -- Fred Simmons.

Danny McBride plays Simmons, an unbalanced children's Tae Kwon Do instructor who goes completely off the rails when his wife (the very funny Mary Jane Bostic) cheats on him. Fred is obsessed with karate master and low-budget film star Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (Ben Best), and tries to focus his energies on bringing his hero to the school. That's about it for a plot, much of the film consists of quasi-connected short scenes and moments that feel quite a bit like sketches. A genuinely hilarious scene early on involving an elderly woman, for example, is a self-contained jewel (I actually choked on soda watching it), and would be an internet sensation if this film had never existed.

The juxtaposition of a deranged man and young children is a comedy staple going back (at least) to W.C. Fields, but since this is an indie flick, things go darker than you might expect. Simmons is not a likable man, not at all really, and McBride's resistance to give him a big heart makes him feel a lot more authentic than a lot of the "heroes" in major studio comedies today. Sometimes a dick is just a dick.

McBride is highly committed to showing this guy warts-and-all. You know someone like Fred Simmons, whether you want to or not. For my money, McBride creates a near-classic character here. The guy has the potential to become a comedy superstar, but unfortunately that might mean selling his distinctive comic voice short. You've already seen him try the big-budget comedy thing in movies that were beneath his considerable talent -- Drillbit Taylor, The Heartbreak Kid, and Hot Rod. You can see him this summer in two that will hopefully serve him better -- Tropic Thunder and The Pineapple Express.

McBride wrote the script with Best and director Jody Hill (remember that name). The film wears its influences on its sleeve, but at least it rips off really good stuff. The style feels like a far sloppier take on the early works of Wes Anderson (and its script shares Rushmore's obsession with "handjobs"). The freak-for-all characters will remind viewers of Napoleon Dynamite -- the films certainly share a mean streak. And McBride's performance suggests he spent weeks studying Ricky Gervais' portrayal of David Brent on the hysterical BBC sitcom The Office. (If you only know the Americanized Steve Carell version, you best bring up that Netflix queue right quick.)

The mass discomfort contained in a half-hour episode of The Office or Curb Your Enthusiasm is off-putting to a lot of people, and that level of awkwardness stretched over a ninety minute film may be too much for some to bear. Make no mistake, Foot Fist goes to some nasty places, and it doesn't look away. Some scenes won't get laughs, and sometimes laughs don't even seem to be the goal. McBride has a pretty amazing scene where he is right on the verge of completely breaking down and tries to pull himself together in the mirror before facing his students. The "pep talk" doesn't take, and he finds himself on his knees in front of the class, openly crying. That scene is played straight, and it's genuinely heartbreaking. Those moments are what set this thing apart, but also what might push some away.

It's an odd little picture, and it's got a pretty spotty second half. But it's also a hell of a lot more thrilling to watch than whatever glossed-up take on the material Hollywood would have coughed up. It's not at all difficult to imagine Ferrell in the McBride role, and I think you can imagine exactly what that movie would have been -- a predictable, toothless, whitewashed, comfortable "dude teaches kids sports" movie along the lines of Ferrell's Kicking and Screaming. Everybody learns a lesson, everybody gets redeemed, everybody goes home happy. The closest thing to a real redemption here is an astoundingly filthy (and completely unexpected) monologue Fred delivers to his wife near the end of the film, and it certainly doesn't leave you feeling like everything's gonna be okay for ol' Fred. Quite the opposite, really. I laughed, but then I sort of shivered.

Taint for everyone, but those who don't mind a walk on the dark side will have a ball with Foot Fist, faults and all. It's a kick-in-the-nuts of a comedy.

'Sopranos' Creator David Chase to Make First Feature Film

Patrick Walsh — 2008-05-08T16:02:00+00:00

David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos -- you know, the greatest television show of all time -- has signed on to write, produce, and direct his first feature film, for Paramount Pictures. Calm down, fans of Tony and the gang -- this will not be a Sopranos flick. In fact, Deadline Hollywood Daily doesn't have much about the movie at all, other than that it's "an original drama," and that Brad Grey, Chase's Sopranos producing partner and CEO of Paramount, brought him on board. Chase says of their relationship: "Brad has always been adventurous as a producer and looked for different ways of doing things. I look forward to once again working with him, and now his team. For years, Brad has been a great partner, who helped enable me to do what I need to creatively."

Returning the love, Grey says "David is one of the great storytellers of our time, and his debut as a filmmaker is both highly anticipated and long overdue." I second that! "In truth, David has been creating cinematic-quality filmed drama for more than a decade - spanning nine seasons and 86 episodes of The Sopranos. Having worked with David as a producer, I'm delighted to be with him again and to bring his unique vision to the big screen." The Sopranos indeed delivered an hour-long movie each week, and each was better than 99% of films. I simply can not wait. And with the Sex and the City movie likely to be a big hit, here's hoping Chase can be talked into dropping that Sopranos movie on us and making my life worthwhile again.

Hell ... what if this "original drama" is the Sopranos movie and they're trying to keep it secret? There have been rumors swirling lately, and I don't stop believin'.

Interview with Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, Writer/Directors of 'Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay'

Patrick Walsh — 2008-05-02T20:02:00+00:00

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, the sequel to the modern stoner classic Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, hit theaters last Friday. I sat down with the film's writer/directors -- Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg -- a few days after the release of their film. In the interest of journalistic integrity (and shameless name-dropping), I should tell you that the gentlemen are friends of mine, and all around great dudes.

Cinematical: How did the Hurwitz/Schlossberg magic begin?

Jon Hurwitz: Hayden and I became friends on the Randolph High School debate team and connected over a common love of comedy. We were both obsessed with the movies of the Farrelly Brothers and the Zucker Brothers. We loved Howard Stern. We thought it would be amazing if we could actually make movies one day. But it felt like it was the most unrealistic goal of all time for a couple of dudes hanging out in a basement in New Jersey. What changed everything for us was that in high school we were known for coming up with really funny "Would you rather?" scenarios. We came up with a list of 250 that we were going to try to get published.

Cinematical: What was the best one?

JH: "If you had to be sexually abused, would you rather it be by an android or a Muppet?"

Cinematical: Muppet. It's softer.

Hayden Schlossberg: Exactly. Plain and simple. It would hurt less. That is the correct answer.

JH: Anyway, we wrote this book, but we were about to go to college and never did anything with it. Then a few years later, I saw a book with that very same idea at the store. The guys that wrote it looked exactly like us but five years older. I was kicking myself. I called Hayden that day and said "Forget about writing a script years from now when we're retired. Move in with me this summer at Penn, we'll have jobs during the day, and at night we'll write a screenplay." That first script we were lucky enough to sell our senior year at college. It was called Filthy, because it was filthy. It didn't wind up getting made, but we moved to L.A., sold a couple other projects, kept looking for that next paycheck. Eventually we sold Harold and Kumar, and everything took off from there.

HS: It was such a ridiculous idea that we thought "Let's just spend two weeks to write the whole thing." Our agent loved it, and understood that the ethnicity of the characters was an interesting thing. Harold and Kumar were actually little side characters in Filthy. They weren't fleshed out at all, but one was Korean and one was Indian. We just decided we should make a movie with them as the protagonists. We figured we were the only ones writing that movie. And eventually, we got it made as it was. It was kind of a double whammy, because there hadn't really even been a movie about a Korean guy and a white guy yet. Or an Indian guy and a white guy. This was both at once, and they were the heroes.

Cinematical: The first Harold and Kumar movie had some moments of satire, but the sequel feels a lot more politically charged. Is that intentional?

JH: We wound up using a lot of satire and social commentary to make the scenes funny, but we didn't sit down with the intent of making a statement. No one cares less about politics than us.

HS: When you watch the movie, it's not like we're really siding one way or another on any issue. We're not saying Guantanamo Bay is this horrible atrocity. We knew the movie would be perceived as political because of the subject matter, so we tried to make it as nonpolitical as possible. That may be why there's a lot of sophomoric jokes -- pooping and smearing your ass with the bill of rights and so forth. We needed that stuff, because if it really felt like a real political satire, the fans would have hated it.

JH: We're huge fans of South Park, and we share their viewpoint on politics. If you're a big time conservative, you're a douchebag. If you're a big time liberal, you're a douchebag. If you're big time anything, than you're a douche. Most of the country is somewhere in the middle, and that's why this type of comedy works. Most people are more concerned with what they're doing that day, and trying to feed their family, and drinking some beers and having fun with their friends. But you do get bummed out when your government is embarrassing. In some ways, the movie is a response to post - 9/11 paranoia, and how embarrassing the government has gotten. It's not a Republican thing or a Democratic thing, everyone thinks what is going on in this country sucks.

Cinematical: I would say you guys have the most sympathetic portrayal of George W. Bush in your movie that I've seen.

JH: I truly believe that our portrayal of Bush is accurate, if he was able to be honest to the world. He is the fun, f*ck-up guy who wanted to party most of his life, but eventually got this stern talking-to where he had to go into the family business. So he's stuck running the country, but I think he'd rather just be getting high and listening to music and shooting the shit with a bunch of buddies.

HS: The way we portray Bush is that he's Kumar, but with way more responsibility. The scene with Bush is the most popular in the movie, because you're seeing him with an "R" rating. He's a casual and immature guy. That's in the spirit of the movie, introducing a person or a culture and you think it's going to go one way, but then we flip it. Like there's the inbred couple, and you think they're redneck hicks, but you see their apartment and it looks like yuppies live there. But then they still have a cyclops kid. We like doing all that stuff. When they meet Bush, it's got to be unexpected. And ironically, he saves the day.

Cinematical: For the first time in history. What's next for you guys?

JH: We just finished a script. It's called Soon-To-Be-Titled Hurwitz and Schlossberg Comedy. We might change that title. It's a movie that takes an honest look at the way male friendships change when one guy is getting married in a duo of friends -- almost from one marriage to another. It's a less gimmicky, more real, significantly funnier My Best Friend's Wedding. We turned that in this weekend, and waiting for the studio response was almost as stressful as the release of our film.

Cinematical: Yeah, what goes on in the week leading up to the release of a movie you wrote and directed? It's got to be a lot of pressure.

HS: With the first movie, the reviews were good, all the projections were really big, and everyone thought it would be a big hit. We thought it wouldn't do less than $10 million. And then it opened at five. This time around, we were trying to keep a level head. We knew it would do better than the first, and it still cost around the same, so we weren't nervous about it bombing. Our movie tested higher than any other movie at the studio. The test results show that audiences love it. All the critics may not like it, but the true judges of comedy -- 12 to 15 year old boys -- they decide what's funny. Not Judd Apatow, not studio execs, not us. Prepubescent boys love it and worship Harold and Kumar. Some douchey reviewer may not like it, but thousands of kids will.

JH: We went to the midnight showing Thursday night in Century City. It was sold out and the reaction was electric in there. We felt really positive about it. It's so much fun being in an audience and listening to people laugh and watching them have fun. We're fans, you know? We read every review. We read every blog. Any time it's mentioned online, we read it. We catalog every person that disses the movie. If you've written something negative about Harold and Kumar...sleep with one eye open!

HS: He's not kidding. But seriously, It's the most ridiculous thing in the world. When I see Neil Patrick Harris riding a unicorn on a giant marquee, it makes me so happy because we got two movies made that are just completely ridiculous. It's crazy, you know?

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is in theaters now.

Review: Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Patrick Walsh — 2008-04-18T10:02:00+00:00

Most conversations about Forgetting Sarah Marshall -- the new Judd Apatow-produced comedy about a devastating breakup -- are going to start with the penis shot. Sure, there have been willies in the movies before -- hell, there have been dongs in Apatow productions before (see Walk Hard). But a johnson this prominently featured, and in a mainstream romantic comedy? It breaks new ground. And not only is it funny, it's the perfect visual representation of what a guy goes through when he gets dumped. The film's star, Jason Segel, is stripped bare literally and figuratively -- exposed, embarrassed, emasculated. It's a comedy moment for the history books. I just wish I could say the rest of the film is as bold, as brave, as ... ballsy as that penis.

Oh, don't get me wrong. Sarah Marshall is a very funny movie. But its faults -- its sagginess, its tendency to let improvisation roll past the point of laughter, its relationships that often don't ring true -- are what separate this Judd Apatow production from a Judd Apatow film.

Segel plays Peter Bretter, a television composer (pretty sweet, high-paying job for a character who is painted as a slacker, no?) who is dumped by his girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). Peter takes a Hawaiian vacation to deal with the pain, and winds up at the exact same resort as Sarah and her new boyfriend (Russell Brand). Already rolling your eyes? Hey, a lot of great comedies rely on some pretty unbelievable coincidences -- you're best to not over-think the setup here. Would you also believe that the very first girl Peter meets in Hawaii (Mila Kunis) is sexy, supportive, sweet, and single? You better, or you're not going to have much fun.

On the island, Peter meets an assortment of comedians, including Jonah Hill (not playing Angry Screaming Guy for once, and it's a welcome change), Paul Rudd (not playing himself for once, and not getting near as many laughs as usual), and Jack McBrayer (who makes up for Rudd's misses). Brand is a real hoot, although his utterly ridiculous, larger-than-life character makes it difficult to relate to Peter's heartbreak. And Peter talks throughout the film to his brother-in-law back home, played by Bill Hader, who steals the film despite being an unbelievably unnecessary part of it.

As is generally the case with these R-rated romantic comedies, the female roles are woefully underwritten. Kunis' character is standard rom-com Dream Woman, and she makes little impression. Bell is given even less to do, and I honestly don't know how to describe the role she is playing. She has no real characteristics to speak of, kind of a problem when...y'know the movie is named after her! Both women are easy on the eyes, sure, but it's high time the male-driven comedy world learns to toss some laughs to the ladies.

The film is nicely directed by Nicholas Stoller (read my interview with him here), making his directorial debut. Stoller could have easily shaved twenty minutes from the running time, but the film's rambling nature is part of its charm. Segel wrote the script, and for all its imperfections, there are more laugh-out-loud moments here than in any comedy yet released this year. There's not much story to latch on to, but there are moments -- the Dracula musical subplot, the CSI parodies. the discussion of Sarah's film career -- that border on classic, and put Sarah Marshall in a much more creative and special bracket than most movies of this type.

And yet, I wasn't completely blown away, and I can tell you exactly why: Jason Segel isn't a movie star. "People said the same thing about Steve Carell prior to 40 Year-Old Virgin," you say. "Neither was Seth Rogen before Knocked Up!" you yell. True, but the difference is that Rogen and Carell proved the naysayers wrong. Those guys brought very distinctive comic personalities to the table, and you felt a real sense of discovery watching them strut their stuff at center stage. Segel simply doesn't have that star quality, that special something that sets him apart. He's likable enough here, but I think the film stands as proof that simply being part of the Apatow universe doesn't mean you are compelling enough to carry a feature film. (Let this be a warning to anyone considering McLovin': The Motion Picture.)

Sarah Marshall is not a home run, but it's certainly a triple -- and in these dark days for film comedy, a triple is more than enough. It's a nice blend of good laughs and sweet moments in a beautiful locale. I just wish the whole thing wasn't so easily...well...forgotten.

For another take on the film, check out Scott's review from SXSW.

Interview with Nicholas Stoller, Director of 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall'

Patrick Walsh — 2008-04-14T13:02:00+00:00

Forgetting Sarah Marshall finds Jason Segel vacationing in Hawaii to forget the girl (Kristen Bell) who just dumped him. Alas, she's at the same resort with her new beau! It's the latest comedy from the Apatow camp, and it hits theaters this weekend. Cinematical spoke one-on-one with the film's director, Nicholas Stoller, regarding the movie, his upcoming Muppet project, and how much onscreen penis is too much onscreen penis.

Cinematical: Is it intimidating for you knowing that every movie associated with Apatow these days is such a comedy event? Does that put pressure on you as the director to live up to that standard?

Nicholas Stoller: Not really, I'm still excited I got to make a movie, so I'm not really thinking in terms of if it's going to be a big event. Our movie was cheap so we don't have to make up that much money. It amuses me, and I hope that it amuses more people.

Cinematical: It amused me, so there's one extra person anyway.

NS: We have you and me and we just need 30 million more Americans.

Cinematical: You worked on some of my favorite television shows, Strangers with Candy and Undeclared. What do you find the biggest differences between television and features?

NS: TV is much more of a social kind of thing. You're working in an office with twelve or thirteen other people, and you're working together and collaborating. Even though one person is said to have written a script, on most sitcoms everyone works on stuff together. Screenwriting is much more of a solitary thing. Even if several screenwriters are credited, each usually works on the draft separately. With some of these feature comedies we're doing now, we're trying to bring some of that television writing style into them. We bring a lot of writers into the process, or at least more than just one.

Cinematical: And that's seemed to work really well for you guys...

NS: Yeah. I think that's the way to write comedy. You get one guy alone in a room, you might not wind up with the funniest script, but you get two or three people working on it, it just gets funnier and funnier. And then when you have actors improvising on top of that, you wind up with a lot of different joke styles, and that really adds to the comedy.

Cinematical: How much improv is there in the movie?

NS: We went into the shooting process with a script that, as written, would have been a funny movie. I'm too terrified to do it any other way. In the end, the movie is probably sixty to seventy percent scripted and thirty to forty percent improv. But all the big scenes and the ideas behind each scene were all there in the script. Another thing we do is throw lines out -- myself and the executive producer, Rodney Rothman, and actors that weren't in the scene, like Paul Rudd and Jonah Hill, shouted out lines to try all the time. It's a really fun process. I call it an "open source" movie. Anyone can throw out lines if they want. The difference between writer and actor doesn't make sense to me, why not make it a situation where anyone and everyone can throw out funny stuff?

Cinematical: You wrote some Jason Segel-focused episodes of Undeclared, is that where you two met?

NS: Yes, we met on Undeclared, and we bonded over a shared love of grown men crying. We just find that to be a very comedic thing. I wrote the episode where he comes back to school to beat up Jay Baruchel, and this movie feels like the completion of that story arc.

Cinematical: The opening scenes of the film are going to have a lot of people talking, and I have to ask -- how do you decide how much onscreen penis is too much onscreen penis?

NS: It's very scientific! We had different amounts of penis in the movie, and we tested each version. So there are actually four brief flickers of "it" currently in the movie. But we tested two and we tested five, and four worked the best. And we even tested the frame count of each glimpse! So at one point when he stands up from the couch, we had thirteen frames of penis. We cut it to ten frames and it didn't work, so we had to add the three frames back. You want enough that people don't want to see it again, but you don't want so much that people get angry. We want to get rid of homophobia in America, so we figure the best way to do that is to show penis many times. How many seconds of penis do you think you saw in the movie?

Cinematical: I would have thought I saw ten seconds of penis total.

NS: It's two and a half seconds total! It's 73 frames, two and a half seconds.

Cinematical: I'll be damned! Well, it's just something you never see in comedy, and it's so ridiculous because no one has a problem with female nudity.

NS: It's all context. Like in Into the Wild, you see Emile Hirsch's penis when he's floating in the water, and it doesn't matter at all because it's an artsy movie. The audience didn't care. You expect to see penis in like Harvey Keitel movies. But you don't expect to see it in broad comedy. You expect that to be a penis-free viewing experience.

Cinematical: Do you think Jason Segel has an exhibitionist streak? He did write the movie, after all.

NS: He definitely has an exhibitionist streak. But when we shot the naked scenes, he was very nervous. He was most concerned that his penis look totally normal. It's cold in the studio, and he didn't want it to look too small. And he didn't want it to look too big, which is an MPAA issue also. You can show penis, but it can't be above ninety degrees! He had a little room on set to prepare himself, the prop guy got him some materials. It turns out he had shot a nude scene for SLC Punk too, but that got cut. So he definitely doesn't have an issue with showing it, but he got very nervous, and he was nervous when we did re-shoots too, even though he had already done it once.

Cinematical: Well, you've got to make sure you have penis continuity! I must say, I put myself in his shoes, and I doubt I would even care about my lines or the drama of the scene with my dong hanging out. I would be totally focused on how it looked.

NS: It's so funny you say that, because when he had his penis out, his acting was really good because he was so distracted and he wasn't thinking about his performance. When he covered up, I had to direct him back to some of that naturalism. It was very interesting to watch.

Cinematical: Okay, we really need to change topics, this is sounding like Penthouse Forum. What are some movies you consider perfect, that you hold up as ideals?

NS: I would say Annie Hall, Animal House, Rushmore. Those are perfect movies. The Apartment. When Harry Met Sally. To get pretentious, I love Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage, I feel like that's a perfect six hours of television.

Cinematical: I wanted to ask you if Albert Brooks' Modern Romance was an influence on Forgetting Sarah Marshall. They both deal with the painful, stalkery side of love so well...

NS: I love Modern Romance. There's a little bit of Brooks in all modern romantic comedies. One of the best movies ever is Broadcast News. We tried to make our movie a little bit less painful than Modern Romance. That movie is almost hard to watch, it's so painful. We tried to put our bitter pill in a little bigger piece of cake, I guess.

Cinematical: I'm a huge fan of the Muppets, what can you tell me about the new Muppet movie you and Jason Segel are working on?

NS: Oh, I'm really excited. Basically, we're gonna do an old school Muppet movie, where the Muppets have to put on a show to save the studio. It's very simple. A big part of the movie is rounding up all the Muppets from around the world, because they've all been separated. So it's collecting them and bringing them together to put on this big show. It should hearken back to Great Muppet Caper and Muppets Take Manhattan and those kinds of Muppet movies. Jason and I are having a lot of fun writing it. We want to get as many cameos and guest stars as possible. Jason will play a human ventriloquist, and his puppet is alive and wants to be a Muppet. It came about because Jason had a general meeting at Disney, and he said "Why aren't you guys doing anything with the Muppets?" And there was an awkward pause, and they were like "We don't know." You expect these multi-million dollar conglomerate companies to have more of a handle on stuff, but when something like that happens you realize they really don't! Disney owns Jim Henson Productions now, and I'm not sure how it will all work because we're still writing the script, but we definitely want all the original Muppet people involved. And it'll be G or PG. There will be no puppet penis in it!

Forgetting Sarah Marshall opens on Friday.

The Write Stuff: Interview with 'Run Fatboy Run' Screenwriter Michael Ian Black

Patrick Walsh — 2008-03-26T21:02:00+00:00

Today we speak with comedian/actor/writer/director Michael Ian Black. Black's hilarious credits include MTV's The State, Comedy Central's Stella, and the cult classic Wet Hot American Summer. He's probably best known to the general public as being the standout quipper on VH1's "I Love the (Insert Decade Here)" specials. Black's latest project is Run Fatboy Run. He wrote the original screenplay for the film, which was directed by David Schwimmer and stars Simon Pegg, Hank Azaria, and Thandie Newton.

Cinematical: Would you tell our readers a bit about Run Fatboy Run?

Michael Ian Black: Sure. It's a lovely and funny romantic comedy about a guy who has never finished anything in his life who decides to run a marathon.

Cinematical: What inspired you to write the film?

MIB: I wanted to write something a little more mainstream than what I am normally known for. I had just written two screenplays that were more left of center and I wanted to challenge myself to try to write something that I thought would be a little more accessible.

Cinematical: Are you a marathon man? Why do people do this to themselves?

MIB: I've never run further than a couple miles. I have no idea why somebody would subject themselves to the agony of running for twenty-six miles. Particularly if they've got a car.

Cinematical: You're co-credited on the screenplay with Simon Pegg. Did you guys work together or was it separate drafts? How does that process work?

MIB: Separate drafts. I wrote it, then he came in and reset the thing in London. He also changed small bits here and there, mostly for the better, I think. He's a very talented writer.

Cinematical: How did David Schwimmer come on board as director? It's his feature debut, were you a little nervous having a first-timer tackle your material?

MIB: David came on board fairly early in the process. I can't say I was nervous exactly, but because I didn't know him or his directing work, nor was I entirely confident. In the end, I thought he did a fantastic job.

Cinematical: What's the funniest line you ever wrote?

MIB: I honestly have no idea.

Cinematical: What is your writing process, from initial idea to completed script?

MIB: It depends on what I'm doing - sometimes I have a fully fleshed out idea, sometimes I just have a fragment. How you start doesn't really matter. The important part is plugging away once you begin.

Cinematical: Could I ask you to make a lame, obvious analogy comparing writing a screenplay to running a marathon?

MIB: Both require excellent footwear.

Cinematical: Thank you. Who are some performers you find really funny?

MIB: I like Jim Gaffigan, Louis C.K., Will Ferrell...others.

Cinematical: What are some of your favorite comedy screenplays?

MIB: Rushmore, Flirting with Disaster, Animal House.

Cinematical: Few movies make me laugh harder than Wet Hot American Summer. Did you know you had gold when you were on the set?

MIB: We all felt like we were making something special, but that a lot of people just wouldn't get it. The response it has gotten over the years was exactly what I was expecting: terrible initial reaction, followed by a long afterlife.

Cinematical: What's going on with The State DVDs? Will they contain the entire series? Any special features? Any word on a release date?

MIB: Yes, there is a State DVD in MTV's vaults. There is commentary on it, it includes the entire series...and I have no idea when they will release it.

Cinematical: Do you have any pieces of advice for aspiring comedy writers?

MIB: Stay true to yourself. If you think it's funny, somebody else probably will, too. Successful comedy rests on having unique points of view. When something gets too watered down, it loses its bite.

Cinematical: What's next for Michael Ian Black (You)?

MIB: I just wrote a book called My Custom Van, that comes out in July. It's a collection of humorous essays. Also, a children's book called Chicken Cheeks, that comes out in January. And I continue to work on television projects.

Cinematical Reader TLJ asks: "If nature decides that you can't be both dashingly handsome and a comedy genius, which would you give up - the pretty or the talent?"

MIB: Thank God I'm blessed with both so I never have to choose.

Run Fatboy Run opens this Friday.

Review: The Hammer

Patrick Walsh — 2008-03-21T15:02:00+00:00

Adam Carolla screams "average" to me. He's not quite handsome, not quite unattractive. He's not quite hilarious, not quite lame. He's not quite engaging, not quite grating. He's just ... average. So how the hell did the guy pull off such an above average little movie?

In The Hammer, Carolla plays Jerry Ferro, a once-promising amateur boxer. He's turning 40 and things are looking pretty bleak. His only friend (a very funny Oswaldo Castillo) barely speaks English. He's in an unsatisfying relationship. His construction career is going nowhere. And he just used a maxi pad as a coffee filter. (Don't ask.) When an old-school boxing coach (Tom Quinn) asks him to be the sparring partner for a cocky Olympic hopeful (Harold House Moore), Ferro figures he's got nothing to lose. Before you know it, Ferro's competitive spirit has returned, and he is training to return to the ring himself.

Nothing new there, I know. And if I tell you there's a romance along the way, I doubt you'll fall out of your seat in shock. But it's all in the telling, and The Hammer updates the Rocky story in a fresh, funny and often genuinely sweet way. Director Charles Herman-Wurmfeld (Kissing Jessica Stein) makes sure all his actors shine, particularly his leads. He coaxes an amazingly natural and charming performance from Carolla, whom I never would have imagined had the charisma to carry a feature length movie. And love interest Heather Juergensen (Kissing Jessica Stein) plays beautifully off him -- their courtship is surprisingly affecting.

Kevin Hench wrote the screenplay (from a story by Carolla), and if Hollywood is smart they'll make him a go-to guy for punching up romantic comedies. The love story here is not an afterthought as it is in most male-driven romcoms. I felt like I was really watching two people fall for each other, and that's not an easy feat. One of the main reasons the love story succeeds is that Hench's script addresses the financial aspect of dating. When Carolla picks up his date in a beat-up truck and explains the tricks of opening the vehicle door and keeping it closed while driving (it involves a bungee cord), I felt a wonderful wave of recognition. Ten years ago, I was picking up dates in a 1982 Chevy Celebrity with a corduroy interior and a permanently lit "Check Engine" light. The embarrassment that comes along with not having the means to impress a date is the sort of thing everyone can relate to, and is too rarely explored in movies.

The pair has an outstanding scene at dinner where Juergensen, knowing her date's financial situation, reaches for the check at the same time as Carolla. They have a very funny discussion about the phenomenon of "Dutch treat" ("How cheap must the Dutch be that this is the only thing they're known for?"), Carolla assures her he's got enough to pay for the dinner, she relents, and he gives the waiter his credit card. And then he gives him a second credit card incase the first doesn't clear. It's the kind of perfect moment that makes you want to hug everyone involved with its creation.

I may be overselling here, the movie isn't a classic. Herman-Wurmfeld brings a visual style that makes Kevin Smith look like Terence Malick. The ending is rushed, and something of a letdown. The film is paced oddly, and includes a scene with Jane Lynch (generally one of my favorite character actresses) in a hardware store that screams -- SCREAMS -- to be edited out. (I'd say it should have been cut and placed on the DVD extras, but it's so unbelievably out of place, I can't believe it was even written for the film.)

And yet, The Hammer is one of the year's nicest surprises. What Carolla and the filmmakers pull off here is not unlike what Howard Stern did in the excellent Private Parts. You're forced to look at a guy you thought you had figured out in a whole new light. It's a terrific little boxing movie, and it's one hell of a charming romantic comedy. Guys may drag dates to it for the fighting and Carolla, but the ladies may come away loving it even more. It was made for roughly one sixtieth the budget of Fool's Gold, it will make roughly one sixtieth the money of Fool's Gold, and it's roughly a million times better.

I'd imagine it's not going to be easy to find The Hammer at a theater near you. Even if it is playing nearby, I'd imagine you're not going to run out to see it in the week or two it's there. And if you don't put it in your Netflix queue right now, I'd imagine you won't remember that this movie exists in a couple weeks. So do yourself a favor. Write it down, remember it, and seek it out. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying the thing. It's hit and miss sure, but when it connects, The Hammer is a knockout.

The Write Stuff: Success!

Patrick Walsh — 2008-03-12T21:02:00+00:00

Hello everybody. You've probably been wondering where I have been the past few weeks. Wringing your hands, gnashing your teeth, drinking heavily. Constantly hitting "refresh," waiting for an update. Even if you haven't, just play along for me. I'm a needy man. Thank you.

When I started this column -- your #1 source for writing tips, advice, interviews, strike coverage, and life lessons -- I hoped the nice little hook would be that I am a writer trying to make it big myself. Well friends, after a year and a half of short-term gigs, false starts, near-misses, and one big ol' crushing strike -- my writing partner and I have finally crossed over. We just got staffed as writers on the FX comedy "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." It's a genuinely hilarious show, and one of my favorites on television. I couldn't be more excited.

And so "The Write Stuff" takes an interesting turn. I'm not going to have as much free time now, so it won't be a weekly thing anymore. But I would love to keep the column afloat with semi-regular interviews and Q&A. Please keep on leaving your questions in the comments or at my personal site. I'll get to each one eventually.

As for your previous questions, I believe I've addressed every one you guys have submitted over the past several months, except this one (Nothing personal, Scott, just slipped through the cracks!):

Scott asks:

Can you give some advice to a writer outside of the US? I live in Australia, just started writing screenplays. What are the chances of me getting a break while not living in the US? I cant afford to move there at the moment, unfortunately. Is it worthwhile submitting scripts to US companies from Australia? Or would they just toss them out because they don't want to go to the hassle of arranging meetings and such?

I don't know a great deal about Australian film production, but it certainly seems like it would be less competitive than Hollywood. (What isn't less competitive than Hollywood?) Since you've got the home field advantage, have you thought about trying to get a screenplay produced Down Under? You can probably even get help with financing, a grant, or at least some nice tax breaks from the Australian Film Commission. (Check out their website here.)

If you're insistent on getting your work looked at in America, I do know that most screenplay competitions accept submissions from outside of the U.S. As for submitting your screenplay to U.S. production companies, I imagine it's roughly the same procedure as if you lived here. You'd want to have an agent or manager representing you to call on your behalf. If your screenplay is excellent, they're not going to care if you live in Australia or Narnia. Good luck!

That should bring us up to date. Next up for the site is an interview with Michael Ian Black. Black offers hilarious commentary on VH1; he worked on both The State (brilliant but tragically short-lived MTV show) and Stella (brilliant but tragically short-lived Comedy Central show), and wrote the upcoming romantic comedy Run Fatboy Run. If you have any questions for him, please leave them in the comments and they will be asked. I'll be posting that interview the week of the film's release.

And thanks for all the encouragement you loyal readers have given me since "The Write Stuff" began. I hope the column helps you aspiring writers as much as your feedback helps me. Take my recent success as proof that anybody can make it...and get to work!

Independent Spirit Awards -- Wrap Up

Patrick Walsh — 2008-02-25T17:02:00+00:00

Before the rain pooed on my parade and the poo rained on my parade at the Independent Spirit Awards Saturday, I had a pretty great time. The highlight for me was being "on set" for a series of interviews between Martin Short's Jiminy Glick and various celebs. I was just tipped off by the good folks at Netflix that those conversations have hit youtube, and if you're a fan of the character, you may want to check them out. Here's Jiminy with Matt Dillon, with a never foxier Illeana Douglas, with the always youthful Dennis Hopper (an interview that opens with a depantsing), with Ed Begley, Jr, with Juno director Jason Reitman and his father Ivan, with Aaron Eckhart, with John Waters, and with Allison Janney. They could all stand to be edited down a bit, but there's a lot of good stuff in there. If I had to direct you to the funniest couple of discussions, I'd recommend the Illeana Douglas and the Ed Begley, Jr, which contains graphic mouth-to-mouth.

I intended to run a live blog from the show, but the internet connection went out -- one of the dangers of doing a live show from a tent in the rain! I did get to see some cool people up close and personal. Philip Seymour Hoffman (a winner for Best Male Lead) charmed the little press room in a fun Q & A with Savages writer/director Tamara Jenkins (a winner for Best Screenplay) and it was a thrill to meet Scott Frank, a screenwriter I truly admire. He won Best First Feature for The Lookout, one of my favorite 2007 films. I always question what they deem "independent," but I do appreciate that the Indie Spirits have special honors -- like the John Cassavetes Award -- to honor the truly independent and low-budget films each year. Did anyone watch the broadcast? I know it's not the biggest awards show of the year (or even the weekend), but the show was really entertaining. Have favorite moments or disagreements with the winners?

Rain and Rainn at the Indie Spirit Awards

Patrick Walsh — 2008-02-23T16:53:00+00:00

Cinematical is live at the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards! Our own Patrick Walsh will report back throughout the afternoon.

It is officially raining, and the big-time stars are rolling out. Javier Bardem is looking very dapper, I'm pretty sure I just saw indie favorite The Rock (?), and crowd just collectively spazzed out over Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. I was just interviewed (insulted) by Jiminy Glick on Good Morning America so watch for that, though I'm not sure how much of it they'll be able to use. The discussion culminated with him dumping a barrel of popcorn on himself. Some quality journalism there! Seriously, I can't quite convey how funny Martin Short has been here today. Favorite line -- "I have lost weight, I'm doing Atkins. Not the diet, his widow."

Raining has given way to pouring, and the red carpet is looking soggy and bare. It's ten minutes to showtime and I'm about to head under the big tent for the show. I'll do my best to update you on the winners as they happen, and if you get the Independent Film Channel you can join in the Rainn Wilson-hosted fun live. My thanks to Netflix for setting up this sweet little blogging suite for me, and as an active subscriber, I don't even have to feel like a shameless whore saying that. Sorry for the rambling nature of these posts, but it's been pretty hectic...

For more photos and coverage, head on over to Moviefone.

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Buscemi and More at the Indie Spirit Awards

Patrick Walsh — 2008-02-23T16:32:00+00:00

Cinematical is live at the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards! Our own Patrick Walsh will report back throughout the afternoon.

Just saw Forest Whitaker and his gorgeous wife, Jason Bateman and his gorgeous hair, and Julian Schnabel in what appeared to be pajamas. Now Illeana Douglas is telling Jiminy Glick how she "blew Lew Wasserman at age thirteen" to make it in the business. It's that kind of day. The crowd is screaming at a limo, it might be Angelina Jolie time, unless they're smuggling her in by underground tunnel. Oh snap, Steve Buscemi is here. That dude is one of my all time favorites, I'm going to go grab a photo or two.

Alright, now Glick is telling Mr. Pink how he'd "like to mount" Sienna Miller, a nominee today for Buscemi's Interview. Buscemi is talking about his heroes ("Robert Altman and John Cassavetes") and a production company he's starting with Stanley Tucci so they can make movies with their friends. He's been interrupted by the crowd chanting "Meg! Meg! Meg!" Yes, it's Meg Ryan. Not sure how she's involved with independent film, but always nice to see familiar face-lifts. Sorry, Jiminy's rubbing off on me. It's getting cold, and the skies remain foreboding. The Santa Monica pier amusement park rises bold and stark. Kids are huddled on the beach in the mist. I want to die with you Wendy on the street tonight in an everlasting kiss...

For more photos and coverage, head on over to Moviefone.

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More Glick at the Indie Spirit Awards

Patrick Walsh — 2008-02-23T16:07:00+00:00

Cinematical is live at the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards! Our own Patrick Walsh will report back throughout the afternoon.

Jiminy Glick just wrapped up a graphic conversation with indie legend John Waters and now he is asking Maria Bello what it's like to show her "down there hair" on camera. Oh wow, now he's humping her. Now he's asking Allison Janney if Juno is a film about people who won't tolerate Jews. "Jew? No!" The man is insane. He's interviewing The Office's Rainn Wilson now, who's looking mighty unkempt and unshaven considering he's hosting the show. And now the two are engaged in a huge pillow fight. There's Dennis Hopper! What does Jiminy ask a legend like this? "Why do men have nipples if they're not supposed to breast feed their pets?" Of course.

He just told Matt Dillon he was excellent as Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, and followed that up with a rave about his work in Saving Private Ryan. Dillon was in neither film. The red carpet is heating up, I just saw Kate Beckinsale, Tom Wilkinson, and now Aaron Eckhart -- who is discussing Mormonism with Jiminy. And now the skies have turned an unsettling gray, the winds are picking up, and I have a feeling a lot of expensive dresses are about to get destroyed. I'm gonna take shelter, but I'll be back.

For more photos and coverage, head on over to Moviefone.

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Live From the Indie Spirit Awards!

Patrick Walsh — 2008-02-23T15:32:00+00:00

Cinematical is live at the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards! Our own Patrick Walsh will report back throughout the afternoon.

I'm coming to you live from the Independent Spirit Awards on the beach in Santa Monica, California. It's been raining here in the Los Angeles area for days, but the sun is out this afternoon, and so are the stars! The awards don't start for a few hours, but I just saw the hilarious Whitest Kids U Know gang, who have a sketch show on the Independent Film Channel you should really be watching. Jason Reitman -- a nominee for Juno, though I just overheard him say he thinks the award will go to Julian Schnabel -- is making the handshake rounds. And one of my favorite comedy characters, Jiminy Glick (Martin Short), just brutally mocked me.

Mr. Glick told me that were this 28 years ago, my jacket would have been very fashionable. He told me "blogging" is contributing to the decline of culture and I should be ashamed of myself. He told me I looked like all of the character actors from the old Preston Sturges movies rolled into one. And I loved every minute of it. Being insulted by Jiminy Glick is something everyone should experience. He's currently interviewing the head of content at Netflix and is asking him if you can get pornography on the site. Jiminy's favorite films? Something Liquid This Way Comes and Bang the Bum Slowly. I'll be hanging here just off the red carpet, doing some snooping and snapping some photos. More to come...

Check out the gallery below for our pics from the Netflix tent. More coming ...

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The Write Stuff: The Strike is Over!

Patrick Walsh — 2008-02-13T20:02:00+00:00

It's the end of the strike as we know it, and I feel fine!

Yes, writers across America are heading back to work today. The strike started on November 5th of last year, and has lasted over three months. The WGA and the AMPTP have been building toward a conclusion for a couple weeks now, so the wrap-up doesn't come as a huge surprise. Still, it sure is great to see an official announcement, isn't it?

Members of the WGA voted on the issue, and the decision was a landslide. 3,775 ballots were cast, and 3,492 of those voters checked "yes." That's a total of 92.5% in favor of ending the strike. So, a few holdouts -- 283 to be exact -- but by and large Guild members are very happy with the new contract. The official ratification of the deal is slated for February 26th.

WGA East President Michael Winship announced that "We're (now) receiving a percentage of the distributor's gross, which is very real money, as opposed to what people refer to as creative or Hollywood accounting."

Last night, WGA West President Patric Verrone announced that writers could return to work immediately, and remarked that several -- like those working on the Academy Awards broadcast -- were going to take him literally. (So rest easy -- Bruce Vilanch will not have to cut any money from his oversized zany T-shirt budget this year.) There will be a press conference Thursday to announce official Oscar plans. The ceremony is still set for February 24th, so there won't be as much preparation time as usual, but that's probably a good thing. The Academy Awards have needed to loosen up a bit for a long while.

In response to the strike's conclusion, the top eight executives at the AMPTP -- some of the richest men in the world -- issued this statement:

"The strike has been extraordinarily difficult for all of us, but the hardest hit of all have been the many thousands of businesses, workers and families that are economically dependent on our industry. We hope now to focus our collective efforts on what this industry does best -- writers, directors, actors, production crews, and entertainment companies working together to deliver great content to our worldwide audiences."

CBS President Les Moonves told Variety: "We will never know if they would have achieved these things without a strike. I think it's really important now that everybody come back together, and work together. I think that's going to happen. Let's not look backward; let's look forward. Let's not talk just once every three years but maybe every month. Especially on new media. The rules of our business are changing so rapidly, the ways people are using media and content are changing so rapidly. For our creative partners, relationships and communication are really important. The (WGA) realizes it, and we realize it."

We'll never know if writers would have achieved these things without a strike? Really, Les? It took three months to get results with a strike! You think if they had asked you politely, you would have coughed up the dough with a smile? Puh-leeze. But I'm not looking backward, I'm looking forward!

So what's next? Production can resume on your favorite television shows. Stalled movies can be jump-started. Folks will return to work all over town, the Los Angeles economy will balance out, and bank accounts all across the industry will breathe a collective sigh of relief. In short, it's a very good thing. Here's hoping that when the Screen Actors Guild contract negotiations begin (their current contract ends June 30th of this year), the resolution is swift and painless.

Variety recently ran a story about how the WGA's strike gains are completely offset by the money they lost while out of work. What many fail to realize is that the members of the Writers Guild weren't striking simply to line their own pockets. When I picketed during the strike, I was told again and again by established writers that "we're doing this for you young guys and girls coming up now." As a writer getting my start, I'm supremely grateful that I will be fairly compensated going forward. And it's all because of what took place over the past few months. Is it a perfect contract? No, and you may hear grumbling in the weeks ahead that the strike "wasn't worth it." But time will prove the naysayers wrong.

This has been a grueling three months for almost everyone in the entertainment industry. It's been hard, but sometimes it takes a major gesture to get peoples' attention. Congratulations to all involved for resolving the strike, and a huge thanks to all those who walked the picket lines day in and day out to carve out a brighter future for writers everywhere, both current and future. Now...

BACK TO WORK!!!

WGA Strike Likely to Officially End This Week

Patrick Walsh — 2008-02-10T14:40:00+00:00

Don't worry, awards show junkies. It looks like a celeb-packed, picket-free Academy Awards broadcast is going to happen after all. Variety reports that members of the Writers Guild of America approved the new AMPTP contract agreement at meetings held yesterday in Los Angeles and New York. WGA leaders are assembling today to formally recommend ratifying the deal, and to approve a "special 48-hour vote" among Guild members. Heading into the weekend, many speculated that the Guild leaders were going to make a back-to-work announcement for Monday morning. Writers will not technically be back to the drawing board tomorrow, but many people will be unofficially preparing scripts.

The main sticking point of the deal -- as discussed in this week's edition of "The Write Stuff" -- was that the studios wanted to stream programs on the Internet for a period of 17 - to -24 days without paying residuals to the writers. That clause still stands in the agreed upon deal, and it appears both sides have realized that there has to be some give-and-take with any deal. At yesterday's meeting, WGA West Executive Director David Young explained to members that the AMPTP was unwilling to budge on the free streaming period due to concern about declining television ratings, and his explanation pleased most of the writers. So, it seems safe to say at this point that the strike is officially ending. If the vote goes according to plan, writers are expected to be back at work Wednesday at the earliest. A more conservative TV pilot season should get underway. New episodes of your favorite programs should make it to air by the end of the season. And feature films that had been stalled by the strike are expected to start back up again immediately.

A press conference to announce all of this is scheduled for today at noon Pacific Time. This is fantastic news, and congratulations to all!

David Slade Tapped to Direct 'Unthinkable'

Patrick Walsh — 2008-02-08T17:32:00+00:00

According to Variety, David Slade will now direct Unthinkable, the story of a nuclear bomb in the United States. Tarsem Singh, director of the visually spectacular but dramatically weak 2000 thriller The Cell, was originally attached to direct (we brought you that announcement over a year ago). He has moved on, and no reason is given, but I'm sure it's something along the lines of "creative differences." Peter Woodward (Closing the Ring) penned the script, and Oren Moverman (co-writer of I'm Not There) is now listed as a co-writer.

Unthinkable centers on "investigators who push the limits of interrogation as they seek a suspect's knowledge of an impending nuclear attack on the United States." The film is budgeted at $15 million, so it will likely be a pretty small affair. No casting announcements have been made at this time. Slade made his feature debut with Hard Candy. That sharp, entertaining 2005 thriller starred a pre-Juno Ellen Page as a young girl who turns the tables on a pedophile. He followed that with 30 Days of Night -- last year's vampire flick that was chock full of beautiful camerawork...but not much else. Slade is definitely a director to watch though, and I'm excited to see what he'll bring to this project. Miss this one? Unthinkable! Damn, I'm good.

Review: Fool's Gold

Patrick Walsh — 2008-02-08T10:02:00+00:00

By the time this review is over, I will have spent more time thinking about Fool's Gold than the writers of its script. This...thing...is one of the sloppiest pictures released by a major studio in recent memory. What can you say about a "romance" with no romance, a "comedy" with no laughs, an "adventure" with no excitement? Though I certainly wasn't rubbing my hands together in anticipation walking in to the theater, I thought this would at least succeed at being an enjoyable time waster. "Attractive people wearing few clothes in exotic locales -- I can handle watching that for a few hours," I thought to myself. But I was wrong. So very wrong. The whole affair is about as compelling as a two-hour fart.

I don't ask a great deal from romantic comedies. I don't need every one to be Annie Hall or When Harry Met Sally or Love, Actually. I don't even need them to be particularly good -- I kinda enjoyed The Holiday, for God's sake! Give me a few laughs, appealing leads, a warm squishy feeling, and you've done your job. Plainly, the makers of Fool's Gold did not do their job. Listen, I know Valentine's Day is coming up, so heed this warning -- if you see this crashing bore of a movie on a first date, your relationship is doomed, cursed even. Do not speak on the way home, avoid eye contact, just go your separate ways and don't speak of the evening again.

A relentlessly shirtless and Nickelback-coiffed Matthew McConaughey plays Finn (have you ever met a "Finn?"), a beach bum/treasure hunter obsessed with finding the "Queens Dowry," 40 chests of treasure lost at sea in 1715. His wife Tess (have you ever met a "Tess?"), played by a relentlessly scowling Kate Hudson, wants to divorce him because he's so immature. But despite her hatred for him, they reunite for one last score and I'm dozing off just writing this sentence. I won't waste your time with the details of the plot. The epic ten-minute sequence in which McConaughey and Hudson explain the history of the treasure is so poorly conceived, so talky, so dry, so dull, that I'm fairly certain sitting through it rendered me impotent. I won't subject you to the same fate.

Perhaps realizing the main story was dead in the water, the filmmakers have padded the story with a seemingly endless parade of charmless, pointless supporting players. There's Alexis Dziena (if you saw Broken Flowers, you remember her shocking nude scene) as a giggly Paris Hilton clone. There's her father, Donald Sutherland -- sporting a British accent that would make Keanu Reeves wince. There's The Cosby Show's Malcolm-Jamal Warner, sporting a Jamaican accent that would make Donald Sutherland wince. There's Ray Winstone, who is supposed to be McConaughey's main competition for the treasure, but inexplicably only appears in a few scenes. Want painfully unfunny stereotypes? There's comedian Kevin Hart as a rapper named Bigg Bunny (ha-ha!), and there's Michael Mulheren and Adam LeFevre as a couple of aging-but-sassy homosexual chefs (ho-ho!). This baby's got it all!

The film was directed by Andy Tennant, who also helmed the vastly superior Hitch -- a film that seems like Bringing Up Baby in comparison. Tennant co-wrote the script with John Claflin and Daniel Zelman (writers of Anacondas 2: Hunt for the Blood Orchid -- a film that seems like Jaws in comparison). I refuse to believe that any of these men found one line of dialogue in this script amusing. Comedy writers use the term "placeholder joke" for a line that works for the moment but will need to be punched up later. Fool's Gold is a placeholder movie, waiting for a thousand fixes that never come.

Hudson and McConaughey are attractive, moderately talented people, but they create a gaping black hole of chemistry nothingness here. Hudson repeatedly comments on McConaughey's amazing sexual prowess, but it's hard to believe they've even shook hands before. Watching these two "romance" each other, you'd swear that right before each scene Hudson turned to McConaughey and whispered "I have the worst diarrhea." Then McConaughey responded "You look exactly like my sister." Then director Andy Tennant shouted "Okay, you two both have herpes...and...action!" I've experienced more romantic sizzle with my desk lamp. And I don't even like my desk lamp.

I'd call Fool's Gold the worst movie of the year, and it certainly is, but that really doesn't make as strong a point as I'd like. It's only February after all. So I'll say it's the worst movie in a couple years. Please don't see it. Do something more fun with your time. You know, like jamming a piece of barbed wire into your urethra.

Pretty scenery, though!

The Write Stuff: WGA Strike -- The Finish Line is In Sight

Patrick Walsh — 2008-02-06T20:02:00+00:00

At last, there is some light at the end of the WGA strike tunnel. Meetings are scheduled in New York and Los Angeles this Saturday, and the purpose is to convince Guild members that the contract WGA leaders have been hammering out with the AMPTP is worthy of bringing the now three month-old strike to a close. The WGA's 10,500 members will vote on the issue, and if they approve, WGA leadership could send its members back to work as soon as Monday. The strike won't officially be over until the decision has been ratified -- likely two weeks, but the Oscars would go on as planned, new television episodes could be scripted, and the TV pilot season might be salvaged.

Living in Los Angeles, all I hear is strike talk. I was told this weekend that the strike would absolutely end yesterday. Didn't happen. I was told several times that it will definitely be over by Friday. That's not going to happen. Now I'm hearing next week for sure, and this official Saturday meeting would seem to support that. But it's not a done deal by any means. Late Monday, WGA negotiating committee chief John Bowman sent an e-mail to Writers Guild members that read: "While we have made important progress since the companies re-engaged us in serious talks, negotiations continue. Regardless of what you hear or read, there are many significant points that have yet to be worked out."

In other words -- the finish line is in sight. But there's no guarantee they're gonna run through it.

The recent DGA deal seems to have triggered the recent breakthroughs, but some WGA members claim they will not support a deal that mimics the DGA's. Ad-supported Internet streaming is the major sticking point. Variety reports that in regard to Internet streaming, the DGA pact gets directors a fixed residual for the first year that one of their shows or movies is offered for streaming ("after a 17 - to 24 - day window of free usage for promotional purposes"). After that first year, the director's fee becomes 2% of the distributor's gross. You with me?

The proposed deal for the WGA is the same as the DGA terms for the first two years of the WGA contract. But starting in the third year, the formula would change to give writers "2% percentage of distributor's gross from the get-go after the promo window ends, rather than a fixed residual for the first year of streaming availability." Some WGA members are not happy with that 17 - to 24 - day free usage window, whether it's promotional or not. Many feel this is not a significant gain, what with the expected increase in digital media revenue. Naturally, the producers feel that "expected increase" is overstated, at least for the three-year term of the contract.

I personally believe that the vote this weekend will bring the strike to an end, and that by Monday we'll have some very happy news to report. But any number of factors -- from quibbles over contract language to last minute arguments -- could topple the whole works again. Fingers. Crossed.

Here are a couple WGA questions from last week's post:

Chris Vaughn:

From reading some of the responses, I have to ask, is the WGA run by a few, or ALL of the writers? If it's not the latter, isn't something wrong there?

The WGA is indeed run by a few, but all of the WGA members do vote on major issues. For example, they'll have the ultimate say on whether or not to ratify the proposed contract with the AMPTP.

TheatreGirl:

I'm just interested to know if the writers have any concern at all for the 100s of thousands of people in the entertainment industry that are out of work.

Think about it- everyone from camera-operators, to sound editors, set crews, make-up artists, costumers, choreographers, dialect-coaches, and the lists goes on and on....what about the catering companies that specialize in catering during filming...

Anyone care about them?

I can't speak for the WGA, but every one of the writers I've spoken with most definitely care. It is extremely unfortunate that so many people who will ultimately not benefit from this strike are so deeply affected by it. But if the WGA simply accepts an unfair deal in the interest of wrapping things up quickly, then all of those people were out of work...for nothing. And isn't that worse?

Saturday night is the night, writers. Come away happy, but be level-headed. Be reasonable. Be responsible. Let's shut this bitch down.

It's Official: 'Cloverfield 2' is Coming!

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-31T09:02:00+00:00

According to Variety, Matt Reeves is "in early talks with Paramount" to direct a sequel to this month's smash Cloverfield. This should come as a surprise to exactly no one, as Cloverfield was made on the super cheap ($25 million) and scored a whopping $46 million in its opening weekend alone. From the way the announcement is worded, it looks like they want Cloverfield II underway ASAP, as soon as Paramount can complete discussions with Reeves, producer J.J. Abrams and writer Drew Goddard, who penned Cloverfield as well as episodes of Lost, Alias, and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Reeves has also signed to direct The Invisible Woman, "a Hitchcock-style thriller" he wrote that "probes the mind of a former beauty queen who turns to a life of crime to protect her family."

It remains unclear which project will start production first, though the Variety article says there's a "good chance" it'll be Cloverfield. No word yet on the plot, but Goddard recently mentioned the possibility of showing you the fateful night of the attack from another cameraman's perspective. Much to my chagrin, I have yet to see Cloverfield. The night it came out I was assigned to review...Mad Money. You don't know humiliation until you have to purchase a ticket for a midnight showing of the new Diane Keaton comedy while surrounded by a huge mob of psyched Cloverheads. I'll check it out this weekend, but for those of you who've seen it -- are you excited for a sequel? And do you like the idea of watching events from another angle or would you want a whole new adventure?

The Write Stuff: Cinematical Readers Argue the Strike

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-30T20:02:00+00:00

It's Day 87 of the Writers Guild Strike. Informal meetings are taking place between the WGA and the AMPTP...that will hopefully lead to official meetings. (Doesn't it seem like there should be more effective means of conducting business than meeting to prepare to meet?) The Directors Guild recently cut a deal with the AMPTP, and many hope the WGA will follow suit. Others don't feel the DGA deal is reasonable. National Screen Actors Guild Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg just sent an e-mail to members of SAG criticizing the DGA deal, and claiming they would not accept similar proposals. Then DGA President Michael Apted criticized SAG for their criticisms. Scripted television production in Los Angeles has officially stopped. Everyone seems to want an end to this madness in time for the Academy Awards, but tensions seem to be just as high as they ever were.

The strike has brought about a lot of interesting and insightful comments from Cinematical readers. As I've mentioned before, the comments we get here at the site range from "UR gay!" to thought-provoking discussion. We read 'em all, and appreciate (most of) them greatly. I thought this might be a good time to highlight some recent strike talk from our readers, and to encourage even more. Whether I agree with all of these opinions or not, it's great to see an important issue like this being discussed.

Byl Butler said...

Patrick, to preface this comment, I'd like to say that I am 100% in favor of the writers viewpoint.
However, I am wondering if there is a contractual agreement that states that the studios cannot hire new writers in lieu of the strikers. I don't condone this, but it seems to me that there are a lot of aspiring writers out here who would jump at the chance to get hired, barring ill feelings via "that's show business", realizing that this is an opportunity for oneself. Again, I emphasize that I am not so callous to suggest such a thing. Just merely wondering why this does not happen. Thanks Mr. Walsh, peace BB

Great question, and I'm sure a lot of new writers are trying to do just that. "I'm not in the Writers Guild, what the hell do I care? A job's a job!" The trouble is, the WGA would officially ban anyone who did so from ever joining the Guild. It's happened before, and it will happen as a result of this strike, mark my words. On top of that, if you were to cross a picket line, you'd be wildly unpopular amongst your peers. You'd have a really rough time getting work post-strike. It does happen though, it's probably quietly happening now, and it never does anyone any favors. There's a reason they picked such an ugly word for those who cross picket lines -- "scab."

Byl adds...

p.s. Mr. Walsh, Now that you mention it, I can hardly name two screen/teleplay writers. I even stay for the credit crawls and read the posters credits. But it seems that the screenwriter's names are somewhat lost in the mix of other credits that only support what the screenwriter has produced for all to enjoy. Are the moguls that hungry for lettuce? Creative encounters are what the movies are made of, only creative minds are able to produce these stories. I say let the viewers unite and boycott any re-runs on TV, and any movies that open at the beginning of 2008. Since cable rates are increasing at the beginning of the year and gas prices staying at a record high, this could be a win-win situation. And yes, I know the old adage that in hard times, it is entertainment that keeps us afloat, but times, they are a changing.

Two weeks ago in this column, I reported a controversial statement by WGA West President Patric Verrone regarding the interim agreement granted to the NAACP Image Awards. Verrone said, "Because of the historic role the NAACP has played in struggles like ours, we think this decision is appropriate to jointly achieve our goals."

Commenter seraphlux asked...

Did the WGA compare their strike to the Civil Rights movement in that statement?
I hope it's not official, because otherwise...God...

Philip responded...

Yes, they said the writer's strike was similar to heroic struggles such as the freedom from being hanged, raped, beaten and traded. Yup, they went there. And I replied to a post by Kim Voynar a week or so ago, that this had devolved into an ego trip on both sides. But I was wrong. The writers are pulling out in front of the studios in hubris AND ego. Every time some studio signs an agreement with them, no matter how small the studio, they bang their pots and pans for all to hear. The information I get about the strike is 90% from the writers angle, and 10% from the studios. Yet to hear the press tell it, we never get any writer's strike news. Oh really? Drudge has something on it nearly every day, as does Reuters and Breitbart.

I'll go one step further: I hope this drags out for another year or so. There's two reasons I use my TV: the last season of The Wire, and Wii. Oh, and football. I guess that's three but whatever. Since TV has become irrelevant, I've gone back to going to the gym and walking the dog. Thanks WGA. You've given me the desire to better myself that I thought was lost forever.

I must admit, despite my full support of the strike, I found the Verrone statement pretty unfortunate and insensitive. Writers earning fair wages is most certainly not comparable to the Civil Rights movement. But keep in mind, that's one man speaking, not the WGA as a whole. As for the public turning away from television, it's a valid concern. Being separated from their favorite shows might just make people lose interest altogether. A lot of friends have remarked that not being tied down to television shows has "given them their lives back." Pretty scary. Oh, and The Wire is awesome. If ever there was an argument for why we need writers, it's that show.

Chris Vaughn asks...

Didn't one of the major studios or networks sue YouTube for having their content illegally for millions? That says Internet content IS worth something. Yet they claim the internet is too young or the methods are too young.

The net is over a decade old, and the methods are over 5. How much more time do the suits need?!

Yup. Fox sued YouTube over leaked Fox programs. Viacom sued YouTube for a billion dollars. NBC made demands for YouTube to take down Saturday Night Live clips and eventually joined Viacom's battle. I don't think many could argue that the networks and studios know full well that there is loads of money to be made from the net, regardless of how they spin it.

How about you? What are your thoughts on this whole affair? Are you rooting for the writers? Are you losing patience? Don't care as long as you get some new episodes of 30 Rock, and fast? Please share in the comments or at my personal site.

Trailer for 'Shutter' Hits the Net

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-25T18:32:00+00:00

Ladies and gentlemen, Pacey is back! I don't care how far Joshua Jackson goes with his career, he'll always be Pacey -- lovable bad boy of Dawson's Creek -- to me. Pacey is starring in the new horror film Shutter with Rachael Taylor (the impossibly hot blonde computer expert in Transformers). They play newlyweds who start to see ghosts in their photographs. Spoooooooky! Rounding out the cast are a few more television stars -- John Hensley from Nip/Tuck, James Kyson Lee from Heroes, and David Denman from The Office. The film is a remake of the 2004 Thai film of the same name. It comes from the producers of The Grudge, and is directed by Masayuki Ochiai (Infection). The script was written by first-timer Luke Dawson.

MTV Movies Blog has the exclusive premiere of the trailer for Shutter, and it looks...pretty much like every other PG-13 horror movie to hit multiplexes in the past few years. They kick things off with that ominous camera snap from the trailer for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. Then there's some Discovery Channel-style voiceover about "spirit photography," where images of the dead are caught on film. Some creepy "actual" photos, some whispered dialogue, a girl in a nightgown, Pacey making out with a dead chick, bada-boom-bada-bing. It all looks pretty standard to me. What do you folks think? Will Shutter make you shudder? Find out when it flashes into theaters on March 21st.

Junket Report: Rambo -- Interviews with Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden, & Graham McTavish

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-25T13:02:00+00:00

Last week, Cinematical brought you an interview with Sylvester Stallone about his latest action extravaganza -- Rambo, the fourth film in the series. (Check out that discussion here.) This week, we have a junket report with the supporting cast. You probably know the lovely Julie Benz from her role as Dexter's girlfriend Rita on the Showtime drama Dexter. She plays Sarah in Rambo, a kidnapped missionary. Graham McTavish and Matthew Marsden play members of Rambo's ass-kickin' mercenary posse.

Julie, your hair looks so different!

Julie Benz: I know! I woke up this morning and I was a brunette, go figure! No, it's for The Punisher 2.

And in that movie you play --

JB: My character in Punisher 2 is Angela Donatelli, she's an Italian from Brooklyn, New York. My character in Rambo, Sarah, is very soft and vulnerable. Angela's got a bit more of an edge. She's a fighter, she's a mama bear, she has a child she's protecting. She's not really happy with anybody; she's in a bad mood!

What does it mean for each of you to be in a Rambo movie?

JB: I know, what an honor and a privilege, right? And to be a woman who lives to the end! In Rambo II, there was one girl, but she died. Poor girl. But really, even if I had died, to be the female representative in a Rambo movie, I think it's great.

Graham McTavish: It's not every day that you get to be in something as iconic as Rambo. Going back to when I first met Sly, when I went in for my audition at his production office, I'm looking around and seeing all these posters for Rambo and Rocky. And then this presence just loomed up next to me and said "How you doin'?" And I'm not at all impressed by famous people, but I looked up at him and it was pretty much an out of body experience. Because I've grown up with that guy -- with Rocky, with Rambo -- he's a part of my whole history, and certainly of filmgoing history. To be in the movie, it's fantastic.

Matthew Marsden: Same goes for me, I was always a fan. I remember watching First Blood when I was entirely too young to be watching it. And the second one I watched over and over and over again as a kid, and you never think that you're going to get to be a part of something like that. When I got the phone call with the audition, I was like: "Holy shit, are you kidding me?!" Being part of such an established franchise was quite incredible for me. It was an amazing experience.

Julie, were you always a fan of the Rambo movies?

JB: No. I grew up watching all the Rocky movies, and I was an athlete growing up so Rocky was very important to me. I think I even ice-skated to "Eye of the Tiger" one year! But as far as Rambo, I was pretty young when the first one came out, very girly, and it wasn't my thing. But I've since seen them and become a fan.

Do you think a female audience will be drawn to Rambo?

JB: I hope the social message behind it draws them. Look, it's an action movie first and foremost, and it's an extremely violent action movie. But the violence in no way compares to the atrocities that are going on in Burma. I would hope women will want to see this to be made aware of the situation in Burma. Plus...there's a lot of hot guys in the movie! Have you seen Matthew Marsden? Graham McTavish? Mr. Stallone? I mean, come on! Eye candy, totally!

What is Mr. Stallone like on set?

GM: I was surprised by how collaborative he was, wanting your input. He's very supportive and very intense. Working in that environment, you can't come on to that set anything but completely prepared. Because he is completely prepared. He worked in every single department on that movie. He got amongst the pigs, moving them around, moving the soil, feeding them. He's completely hands on, very concentrated, very focused, very enjoyable.

MM: He leads from the front. When you do a film, the lead actor sets the tone. When you work with someone as huge as Sly, you don't know what you're getting into. Will there be diva moments? He was absolutely down to Earth. An actor's director all the way. He expects excellence from everyone, which is why he is where he is. But he's also very giving, and he listens to everyone. He is a force of nature.

JB: He's extremely humble. He's the first to make fun of himself. He's extremely jovial and funny, great sense of humor. He does whatever it takes to put you immediately at ease. He's extremely intelligent. I would challenge him on things he would say, and I would go home and look it up on the internet, and he was always right. The guy knows everything! It's frustrating!

Julie, in this testosterone-driven film --

JB: I thought it was a romantic comedy! I haven't seen it yet, don't spoil it for me!

Sorry about that...how did you approach your character?

JB: I have been a huge fan of Mr. Stallone''s directing for a very long time. I think the performances he gets out of his actors are so beautiful and so natural and extremely nuanced, that I was excited to work with him in that way. I told him whatever he had to do to get that kind of performance out of me -- do it. We had a lot of talks about my character, Sarah, and the amount of courage it took for her to be there. She is the only female missionary on the adventure. We talked a lot about her back story, she probably insisted on coming, and that's why she couldn't give up -- because it was a battle to get there in the first place. But let's face it, Mr. Stallone is a huge presence on film, as Rambo especially. To be able to take that on was a big challenge for me. We worked a lot on those scenes for me to be able to find that courage to stand up to him without going "Oh my God, it's Sylvester Stallone!" We all had that moment with him. I had to get over that very quickly.

Did you have any intense experiences shooting in Thailand?

GM: Well, the Thais were wonderful. The accommodations were lovely. But once you went on to the set, you got down and dirty and nasty. There were insects in that country that you could put a saddle on and ride home. They were big. And snakes. One of the actors was within a second of being bitten, and someone pulled him out of the way. We had anti-venom on set the whole time. There were snakes everywhere, biting ants underneath you. Jake, who plays one of the mercenaries, saw a snake ten feet long. You had to be careful.

MM: Sly told us it was going to be a tough shoot. They made the best efforts to make it comfortable, though. Did we have cable TV and satellite in our trailers? Well, no. But we're very fortunate to be working, especially on a movie like this. You have to just shut up and get on with it. I think Sly had it worse than us, because Sly would do all the location scouting. He really hurt himself several times.

JB: I was really tied up in my prisoner scenes. There was no fake tying, and I couldn't get away. In one of the scenes, pigs broke through that little fence. I was already doing my work to freak out, and all of a sudden it's a real freak-out when you have a 400 pound pig sniffing your toes and you have Sly yelling "Keep it going! Keep rolling!" I was freaking out big-time. I needed a lot of comfort after that.

What's next for you guys?

MM: Rambo V?

Rambo opens today.

Review: Rambo

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-25T10:02:00+00:00

As I eased into my seat to watch Sylvester Stallone crack some skulls in Rambo -- the first Rambo movie in twenty years -- I'll admit to feeling a bit giddy. A blast of 1980s excess is exactly what the slumping action genre needs right now, if you ask me. To paraphrase the old John Candy SCTV character -- I wanted to see everything get blowed up real good. So you can imagine my surprise when the film opened with a montage of real-life footage documenting atrocities in Burma. And this is serious stuff -- we're talking slaughtered women and children here. Quickly, my excitement turned to discomfort and disgust. But just as I was preparing to mount my high horse and cry "Exploitation!," I started to get excited again. Because I knew that Rambo was going to get the bastards responsible.

It's an uneasy reaction, but that's what Rambo does! Whether he's standing up to authority in First Blood, symbolically winning the Vietnam War for America in Part II, or saving Afghanistan from the Soviets (ah, how times have changed!) in Rambo III, Rambo's job is to take the action that no one else will. And it can be pretty exhilarating to watch. In interviews, Stallone (who also wrote and directed Rambo) has said he hopes the new film will force people to take note of the civil war raging in Burma. But let's be honest here -- the guy's using an immeasurably tragic situation to make his action movie more effective. And distasteful as it may be -- it works.

The film opens with Rambo puttering around the swamps of Thailand, only opening his mouth to grunt wacky catchphrases like "F*** the world." A group of missionaries tries to recruit him for protection against pirates on an aid mission to Burma. (As Seinfeld's J. Peterman says "You most likely know it as Myanmar, but it will always be Burma to me.") The missionaries are led by Michael (Paul Schulze, Father Phil on The Sopranos) and Sarah (Julie Benz, Rita on Dexter) -- characters who are every bit as exciting as their names. Rambo's not interested, but is eventually worn down by Sarah, for reasons not made entirely clear. (Although the fact that the dude's been living with snakes and pigs for years and Benz is a foxy lady probably has something to do with it.) So Rambo takes them down river, fights off some decidedly non-Jack Sparrowesque pirates, drops them off at their destination and returns home to Snaketown. But when the missionaries are later kidnapped by Burmese soldiers, their pastor visits Rambo in his tent (a hilariously unlikely scene) and recruits him (again!) to lead a team of mercenaries on a rescue mission.

Rambo's merry band of mercenaries, played by, among others, Matthew Marsden, Reynaldo Gallegos, and Graham McTavish (whose agent probably pitches him as "the poor man's Jason Statham") are unfortunately every bit as bland as the missionaries. If you're going to team people up with the stoic Rambo -- they've got to have some personality! Stallone should have studied Schwarzenegger's awesome crew of hardasses in Predator. No one here leaves an impression, but luckily these dudes spend more time shooting people than talking. And as Stallone depicts them, the Burmese aren't people you could talk with anyhow. They're less civil than the cobras.

How bad are these Burmese dudes? Stallone pulls out all the stops. They mow down innocent civilians while cackling. They rape women left and right. There's a jaw-dropping subplot about a captain who molests young boys. And at one point -- I kid you not -- a small child is bayoneted, lifted into the air, and thrown into a roaring fire. Yeah. That happens. Fair and balanced this is not. If all that seems like overkill, just you wait. This thing might as well have been called Rambo: Overkill.

The climax of this film is probably the most violent sequence I've seen since the opening of Saving Private Ryan -- a film whose style Stallone tries to emulate through the use of drained colors and excessive shaki-cam. That Rambo received an 'R' rating while something like Ang Lee's Lust, Caution received an NC-17 confirms again how absolutely silly the MPAA is. The last half hour of Rambo is just people exploding. Rambo shoots you with a gun, you explode. Rambo hits you with an arrow, you explode. Rambo gives you a wedgie, you explode. And those who don't explode probably wish that they had -- it's certainly better than having your larynx slowly ripped out by a 61-year-old man in a bandana! (Just wait until you see that scene! Yowza!) It's insane carnage, and -- pardon the pun -- it's a blast. It's hardcore, it's unflinching, it's hard to tell who's killing who, and it doesn't really matter. This is the sort of balls-out action sequence violence junkies will watch and re-watch.

The simple title (believe it or not, this is this first Rambo movie to be called Rambo!) suggests the same back-to-basics approach that worked beautifully for the surprisingly excellent Rocky Balboa, Stallone's previous attempt at re-inventing a thought-dead franchise. But in my humble opinion, Stallone doesn't have near as much to prove here. Rambo was never as lovable a character as Rocky, and re-watching the Rambo movies this week, I realized none of them are particularly great. Fun sure, but nothing more. He's not trying to match the power of the Best Picture-winning Rocky here, he's trying to match the entertainment level of some solidly enjoyable shoot 'em up action flicks. And on those grounds, Rambo is a complete success.

The Write Stuff: Interview with "A Mighty Heart" Screenwriter John Orloff

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-23T11:02:00+00:00

John Orloff got his break writing two episodes of the Emmy-winning HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. His latest script is another true-life tale -- Michael Winterbottom's A Mighty Heart, just out on DVD. Heart focuses on Mariane Pearl (Angelina Jolie), a reporter whose husband Daniel, an American journalist, was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan. The script just earned Orloff an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Screenplay. The awards will be held on February 23rd.

Cinematical: When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

John Orloff: I still don't know whether I want to be a writer! I went to UCLA Film School, and I had a great writing teacher who thought I had a particular skill in that department. So I kept taking that teacher for the whole time I was at UCLA, kept on writing. At the end of it I was 22, it was the late 80s, and people weren't really hiring young writers, so I started to work in advertising. Spent about ten years miserably working in commercials, until I met a woman -- who is now my wife -- who was working in the business as a development exec at HBO. And she was bringing home all these screenplays, and they were horrible! Just awful! And these people had agents, and they were working. So I pitched my wife a non-fiction movie that I had been thinking about writing for ten years, with the incredibly commercial idea of a sixteenth century English melodrama. It was actually about the Shakespeare authorship issue -- who wrote the plays? I wrote the script and had the misfortune of writing it two months before Shakespeare in Love came out. But I sent out this script, trying to get an agent, and did finally get "hip-pocketed" by an agency.

Cinematical: And that script eventually got you your big break with Tom Hanks -- pretty decent guy to start out with, no?

JO: Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, yes! The most important thing that happened out of the Shakespeare script was that Tom's company was among the readers. They liked it, and I met with Tom about another project, but every time I sat down with him I would ask if he had hired writers on Band of Brothers. I'm a huge World War II buff, and I think I eventually just wore him down. He finally asked me to write a script, and I wrote one episode. He was very happy with it and asked me to write another. So, that was my first paying gig.

Cinematical: I assume from looking at your filmography that you're a big history buff?

JO: I didn't major in history, but I took a lot of classes. Well-written history, good history is basically stories. If you can find the story in the history, it's just as captivating as fiction, maybe more because it happened. A project I worked on after Band, seven or eight years ago, was the rise to power of Julius Caesar. This was before the HBO series Rome and before Gladiator, and epics were totally out. I pitched the story to Tom Hanks and Michael Mann on the same day, and they both loved it. I ended up writing that, but it never got made. History stuff isn't everything I do, though. I adapted the Ray Bradbury book, The Martian Chronicles, which hasn't been made either. Right now I'm adapting a Bourne Identity kind of piece, and a series of kids' books. I'm adapting The Guardians of Gh'hoole -- these wonderfully creative, exciting, interesting young adult books that are sort of one part King Arthur, one part Harry Potter, a little Star Wars.

Cinematical: What are the steps that led you to A Mighty Heart?

JO: Brad Pitt's company had bought the book for Warner Brothers, and they were talking to a lot of writers trying to figure out who was going to adapt it. I read the book, loved it, figured out what I thought was a great way to tell the story, they liked what I had to say when I came into the room, and here we are. The book was not really a whodunit, and the movie has a bit more of that. I looked at it as a procedural of sorts. So it was actually confusing to me reading the book and trying to figure out what exactly happened. In terms of orchestrating it as a writer, who did what and how they figured everything out -- that's not in the book. So I had to first figure all that out, by interviewing several other people besides Mariane. Then I opened things up, and followed the procedure, because I found it fascinating. I wasn't interested in the "woman in jeopardy" story, I was interested in examining the front lines of this new world we find ourselves in. This was before the Iraq war, but I would argue even with the Iraq war, the real front lines are on the streets of Pakistan. And they're not on battlefields, they're in the cities. They're in Karachi and Islamabad and Mecca and all these cities. That's where this is going to be figured out and won or lost. And it's going to be won or lost with the help of non-radical Muslims. So, from my perspective, I thought this was an incredible opportunity to explore what's going on in our world right now. On top of that, you have this incredible emotional journey. On top of that, you can have a conversation about journalism -- its risks and rewards and necessity. Three really interesting thematic, structural, emotional things were going on in this story.

Cinematical: Since your major projects have been about not only real people, but living people, do you feel a lot of pressure to get the details exactly right, or are you more concerned with hitting the general emotional beats and making the story relatable to a mass audience?

JO: It's a mixture of both. That's the neverending question and issue when you're adapting non-fiction material where the people are still alive. I've now done that twice, with Band and A Mighty Heart. It's a real tightrope, because you're not making a documentary, you're making a drama. And real life is not always laid out in three acts. I find that the projects I say yes to are the ones I know will be compelling and interesting without having to make shit up. I am of the opinion that if it's interesting enough to film, then it should be interesting enough to not have to make shit up on. I'm not that interested in "inspired by a true event." So the question then becomes how to make this compelling and true event interesting as a piece of cinema. I spend months doing that, and there's no right answer. It's about aligning the events in the right order, finding a way to distill some of the events...I try to never distill characters. I don't make pastiche characters. Audiences are pretty sophisticated, you don't need to make that kind of stuff up. There's an unending quest to balance drama and reality.

Cinematical: When you're writing something as heavy as A Mighty Heart, is it hard to get in that head space every day?

JO: Yeah, it's terribly hard. I had done it before with Band of Brothers, when I wrote the concentration camp stuff, and it's really dark, really hard. It puts you in a grumpy mood. When I had to write the last thirty pages of Mighty Heart, it was weeks before I could come to it. I got past the beginning of the third act and I just froze, and it was really because I just didn't want to write it. I didn't want to make real in my script what I knew was going to happen. I fall in love with my characters, all of them. And I don't want bad things to happen to them. It was very hard to write the last bit of that film. Really, really hard.

Cinematical: What do you consider a perfect screenplay?

JO: For me, the big question is: what is the best version of the movie supposed to be, and does that film accomplish it? Like Raiders of the Lost Ark, to me, is a perfect film. Is it a serious film? No. But it wanted to be the 1930s serial movie, and it is awesome. It is exactly what it wanted to be, and it is the greatest version of that genre. For me, the greatest script I ever read is Dalton Trumbo's script for Spartacus. It reads like a novel, and it is so much better than the movie. It's unbelievably textured, and nuanced, and sexy. I adore Stanley Kubrick, but this script is so much better than that movie. It's endless, I mean it's 200 pages, I think. But it's better than a book. Most scripts aren't written that fully, and technically, and beautifully. I'm a 'less is more' kind of writer. I don't write like Dalton Trumbo, maybe that's why I'm so enamored with his writing. 2001 is an amazing script. That's probably the greatest non-verbal movie there is that's not a silent film. Dr. Strangelove -- I almost weep at how great that script is. I guess I'm on a big Kubrick kick right now! Jaws is a great script.

Cinematical: What are some pieces of advice you'd like to share with the up-and-coming writers who read the site?

JO: I don't know how to tell people how to write, I barely know how I do it myself. But here's one thing I would tell your readers: don't ever spec something because you think someone will like it and buy it. Only spec something because you think it's going to be great and you are the only person in the world who can write the best version of it. So many writers I know get desperate and think "What the studios really want is a movie where this happens!" So they end up writing something that's sort of pro forma, and it feels that way, and they never sell it. But if you write something out of passion and belief, even if it's just an action movie, I believe that passion comes through and you'll write a great script. All of my writer friends thought I was crazy writing a sixteenth century Elizabethan melodrama. But it totally launched my career and it actually almost got made three years ago.

Another piece of advice I'd offer, especially to writers starting out, is to form a writers' group. I think they can be really helpful. I had one in L.A. for 15 years, and we had lunch every single week. It was part just for discipline -- every week you'd have to say how many pages you wrote that week. And as we started to get work, it became a conversation about the business, we'd give each other advice. We read each other's scripts, but that became the least important part of the group. Find people you really trust and really like, because you're showing them your vulnerabilities. And again, write from passion -- that's the biggest piece of advice I have.

A Mighty Heart is on DVD now.

Review: Mad Money

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-19T09:32:00+00:00

I have this theory that on the set of 1991's Father of the Bride, Steve Martin and Diane Keaton turned to each other and said, "You know what? From here on out, let's just keep doing this. Let's just play cute, cuddly versions of our formerly edgy and interesting selves -- slightly goofy mothers and fathers, that kind of thing -- and watch the cash roll in!" Then they high-fived and fell into an awkward, melancholy silence.

Through one unchallenging project after another, Keaton has served up the same old eye rolls, squeals, and stutters until you can't really tell one role from another. And what's really frustrating about watching her squander her talents is that -- as with Martin -- no matter how embarrassing the performance, you can't help but love her anyway. She's at her most unhinged in Mad Money, and painful as it is to watch at times, she does -- just barely -- manage to keep the film afloat.

Keaton plays a wealthy wife whose husband (a typically strong Ted Danson) loses his job, sending the couple into a spiral of debt and repossession. So Keaton takes work as a janitor at the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City. (This is a highly unbelievable development, and if you hope to get any enjoyment out of Mad Money, you'd better just accept it, along with all of the other highly unbelievable developments to come.) When money at the bank gets too old and worn out, it gets shredded. Keaton concocts a plan to intercept that money before it gets cut up. It's a difficult to trace and pretty much victimless crime (unless you count damaging the U.S. economy, but it's pretty much screwed already, no?).

To help in her caper, Keaton recruits Queen Latifah, as a Sassy Single Mother[TM], and Katie Holmes, as a Zany Free Spirit[TM]. I realize I'm not telling you much about the characters, but that's as much thought as the screenwriter -- Glenn Gers -- put into them. Oh, and they're given one additional trait apiece -- Latifah hasn't had sex in seven years, and Holmes can't believe Latifah hasn't had sex in seven years. The actresses do what they can with extremely underwritten roles. Latifah grounds the film by playing it straight and being -- as in every movie she's made -- tough n' sassy. Holmes' personal life has taken the focus off of her acting, but I've always found her to be a highly charming screen presence. She goes quite a bit broader here than normal, relying heavily on those big eyes, and the performance works. If her choice of spouse doesn't wind up getting her whisked away to an alien galaxy, she might have a future as a comedienne.

The film's premise is a solid one, and the old "good people are capable of terrible things" plot has served great dramas for decades. But instead of playing as A Simple Plan or Before the Devil Knows You're Dead with jokes, Mad Money plays more like a less funny version of the Jim Carrey Fun with Dick and Jane (a movie that wasn't exactly uproarious to begin with). A huge portion of Americans (myself included!) are desperate for money, and eager to relate to and laugh with characters in similar situations. But, as in Dick and Jane, the really interesting stuff a movie like this lends itself to beautifully -- moral questions, explorations of poverty, the economy, corporate criminals, etc -- are all barely touched upon or brushed aside in favor of formulaic punchlines and tired slapstick.

A lot of the blame here must go to Gers, who wrote last year's entertaining legal potboiler, Fracture. Maybe he should stick to the thrillers -- the low-key heist set-up of Mad Money really does feel fresh. But everything else in the script -- particularly the laugh count, which by my calculations totaled zero -- comes up mighty short. Don't get me started on the wildly overdone device of having the film start with the criminals already captured, the characters narrating from the interrogation room. Good call -- take a movie with no suspense and make it even less exciting by telling us the ending right up front!

Calle Khouri (Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood) directs, with very little spice. It's a lot of point and shoot, and the film looks about as bland as a mayonnaise sandwich on a paper plate. Khouri won the Academy Award for her Thelma and Louise screenplay, it's a shame she couldn't get some of that film's wonderful female characterization up on the screen here. Keaton deserves better than having to run around twitching and spazzing for laughs. If only she hadn't had that imaginary conversation with Steve Martin...

Let me put it to you like this, if you pay to see Mad Money, you'll be mad you spent the money.

BREAKING: DGA Reaches Tentative Deal with AMPTP

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-17T20:32:00+00:00

Variety just announced that the Directors Guild of America has reached a tentative three-year deal with the AMPTP. The new deal has three major components: establishing DGA jurisdiction over programs produced for distribution on the Internet, boosting the residuals formula for paid Internet downloads by double the current rate, and establishing residual rates for ad-supported streaming and use of clips on the Internet. Gil Cates, chair of the DGA's negotiation committee, says: "Two words describe this agreement -- groundbreaking and substantial. The gains in this contract for directors and their teams are extraordinary -- and there are no rollbacks of any kind."

This is great news for the DGA, and the pressure is definitely on now for the WGA to come to a resolution and end the strike. The writers, as you may have heard, have been on strike since November 5th, and representatives haven't been back to the negotiating table since December 7th, when talks last collapsed. The WGA has not issued an official reaction statement to today's DGA announcement, but many think the DGA deal is strong enough that the WGA will follow suit. Here's hoping that happens, and happens soon, so that everyone -- not just the writers are out of work here, remember -- can get back to work. The DGA deal is set to go into effect on July 1st.

Junket Report: Rambo -- Interview with Sylvester Stallone

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-17T20:02:00+00:00

After the critical and commercial success of Rocky Balboa, which I adored, who can blame Sylvester Stallone for wanting to bring another of his iconic characters back to the big screen? Rocky Balboa surprised people with how heartfelt and genuinely moving it was. Rambo (and yes, it's just called Rambo now) will shock people with how serious and shockingly violent it is. Set against the very real, very disturbing situation in Burma, Rambo finds Stallone on a mission to rescue a group of missionaries from sadistic Burmese soldiers.

Do you ever imagine a world where you shot the original ending of the novel First Blood (John Rambo commits suicide), and you hadn't had Rambo with you all these years?

SYLVESTER STALLONE: Yeah, I think about that all the time. I had that debate with Quentin Tarantino, and he was vehement that I made a mistake. On an artistic level, he's probably right. But at the time, I had been spending a lot of time doing research with veterans, and it seemed like this terrible, nihilistic...they just reveled in complete despair. And at that time, we had had almost a quarter of a million Vietnam suicides. So I thought, do I want to end it on that note? Or make him more of a victim who has been created to do a job, does a job, comes home, and no longer fits in? It's like training a pit bull. You train a dog to become a killer and now what do you do? You gotta put him down. But what happens if that pit bull gets loose and you realize he's not as bad as you think, you can somehow redeem him. I thought that was more of an interesting story. As Kirk Douglas says, "Not artistic, but commercial!"

Did you have to go back and look at the previous Rambo movies to get back into character?

SS: The ponderousness that comes with aging, the sense of weight, knowledge, knowing too much, lack of naivete, which has happened in my life, sort of set the stage for me. I wanted Rambo to be heavier, bulkier -- that's why his first line of the movie is pretty negative, he's given up. The other Rambos had a bit too much energy, they were a little too spry. I'm not trying to run myself down, but there was much more vanity involved. It was all about body movement, rather than just the ferocity. This character, to me, is much more interesting. I like First Blood and I like this one. So it's like the first Rocky and the last -- Rocky Balboa. Everything in between is kind of trying to figure out what I should do.

Can you talk about the tone of the movie? A lot of people might go in expecting the gratification of seeing Rambo return and kill a lot of people, but the way you depict the violence is really unflinching and intense.

SS: I had to live up to a certain responsibility, because people are dying in Burma as we are making the film. Therefore, to just have me running through the film doing these extraordinary heroics would demean what they're going through. They had to have their moment, where you see their village is decimated. I don't know if that other Rambo stuff would fly today. I think the audience really wants something that's hard-hitting, but has a semblance of reality. We didn't want to go too far. In the 80's we got away with murder. You're jumping out of a plane? "I don't need a parachute!" Somehow you made it, you landed on a convertible roof or something. This time, I decided I'm really going to show it, and the violence has to be extremely brutal, because we see people beheaded on television. How much harder can you go? You can't water it down. And that was a big bone of contention. They asked me if I could do a film about a caper, like a movie about a corrupt CIA guy, and he was trying to sell plutonium rods, and I said no. The biggest and most interesting crisis in the world is the human crisis, and it never gets boring. It goes back to Shakespeare. You don't need a gimmick, it's just man against man, and their intolerance of each other.

The new Rambo has had a long journey to the screen, various studios involved, etc.

SS: And I don't know any of them! Lionsgate came to me 12 years ago and asked if I'd want to do a new Rambo. They said "We've got this great idea where Camp David is attacked," and I said "I'm out." There's something about nature as part of the character. There's something about the primitive man, he's like an Indian. Set in the city, I thought it would die. So it died for ten years. At one point Mark Burnett was talking about doing something, that didn't work. I called Harvey Weinstein and talked to him about these missionary groups that go into Afghanistan, thought that could be interesting, never got a call back on that. So Avi Lerner bought it. I wanted to do something about Mexico, the whole coyote thing, people disappearing in Juarez, that whole thing. We went that way for a bit, but I needed something more international. So I did some research and found out that Burma is one of the great hellholes on the planet, and no one knows about it. And it's exotic, and it's near Vietnam. The synergy was perfect.

Was it challenging making these iconic characters -- Rocky and Rambo -- relevant 15 years later?

SS: If I were trying to go after a youth audience, and trying to make it hip and using a certain kind of music or whatever, I think that would be pretty obvious and it would be rejected. There's some things that never change, universal truths, and as you get older they become more and more apparent. About how difficult life is, like the speech in Rocky Balboa about taking the punches life gives you. And the young people, who supported Rocky Balboa more than even people my age, really enjoy and embrace those kind of lessons, and I think the lesson presented in Rambo -- that war is hell and there is no winner, ever -- will translate. After a man or a woman takes that journey, there's always hope that he or she can go back home, that there's always some gateway back to peace. Peace of mind, where you can start to rebuild. That's the main thing I hope works in this one, and I think it does, because these are just universal truths that never change. Everybody wants freedom, everybody wants peace of mind, but it comes with a horrible price.

The violence here is incredibly graphic, was it hard to bring this in with an 'R' Rating?

SS: I couldn't believe it! Babies are being bayoneted, and I thought "this will never go." We presented it, and I had a caveat with the MPAA, saying "Guys, this is happening today. And if we're ever going to do something responsible, where art has the ability to influence peoples' awareness and perhaps influence the lives of these people, don't dilute it. Don't water it down. It's got to be uncomfortable, it is uncomfortable, it's miserable. It's distasteful, it's horrifying. But if you're not going to go there, don't do the movie. Don't do Violence Light. Don't cut away too soon. I want people to feel it." To their credit, they allowed this film to be as truthful as it could.

Any more Rocky movies on the way?

SS: No. They talk about making Son of Rocky and all that, but no. I got so lucky with the final image, with the rack focus and the fade -- that's it. I can't go any further with that. It's a miracle it even got made, I'm just so grateful it got financed. It's my finest moment, I'm so happy with it.

Rambo blasts into theaters on January 25th.

'Stop-Loss' Poster Released

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-17T19:02:00+00:00

MTV Movies Blog has the brand new poster for Stop-Loss, the upcoming film from director Kimberly Peirce. Outside of an episode of The L Word, Peirce hasn't directed anything since her highly acclaimed 1999 feature debut Boys Don't Cry -- the film that won Hilary Swank her first Oscar. The script for Stop-Loss was written by Peirce and Mark Richard (Huff), and the film stars Ryan Phillippe (whom I had never liked until last year's excellent Breach), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (one of the best young actors working -- see Brick, Mysterious Skin, and The Lookout!), and Channing Tatum (I intentionally missed Step Up, but he was great in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints).

Stop-Loss deals with soldiers who are "stop-lossed," meaning they are ordered to return to combat, even though they have completed their enlistment contracts. Phillippe plays a soldier who stands up to the government and refuses to return to battle. It is an MTV Films production, and the poster plays up the cast's beefcake angle, making the film look like Dawson's Creek Goes to Iraq. But I have a feeling it's going to be much better than that. I've been waiting to see another film from Peirce for a long while, and the trailer gives me goose bumps every time I see it. Stop-Loss is set for release on March 28th.

The Write Stuff: WGA News, Awards Shows, Q&A

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-16T20:02:00+00:00

Spyglass Entertainment (The Sixth Sense, Shanghai Noon) is the latest studio to make an interim, independent agreement with the Writers Guild of America. Spyglass joins David Letterman's Worldwide Pants, Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner's United Artists, Media Rights Capital, and The Weinstein Company. These interim deals basically mean that the studios will agree to the WGA's demands during the strike, and in exchange they can do business with members of the Writers Guild.

In other strike news, the Academy Awards will be picketed by the WGA if a deal is not reached by the February 24th ceremony. (And since there are currently no negotiations even scheduled, that seems unlikely.) The WGA recently granted a waiver allowing a couple of writers to work on the NAACP Image Awards, but the Academy Awards will receive no such waiver. WGA West President Patric Verrone says, "The Guild examines each request like this individually and no decision is easy. Our ultimate goal is to resolve this strike by achieving a good contract. Because of the historic role the NAACP has played in struggles like ours, we think this decision is appropriate to jointly achieve our goals."

If you have been watching The Daily Show (or as Jon Stewart now calls it, A Daily Show) since its writer-less return, you've likely noticed the show has lost a lot of its zing. Stewart is a very funny man, but he can't do it all by himself. And if he's up there winging it as the host of the Oscars, it could be a mighty awkward evening. Now, there's no way the Oscars will crash and burn like the Golden Globes did. Even stripped down, I don't think anyone could have anticipated the fiery train wreck that is Billy Bush -- the guy makes Ryan Seacrest look like Johnny Carson. But if the threat of a far crappier than usual Academy Awards ceremony -- traditionally Hollywood's biggest night -- doesn't bring the strike to the end, I keep hearing this thing could go on for a very long time.

This is a bummer, man. A big ol' bummer. Let's hit up some Q & A:

Eric asks:

You mentioned in a blog post that you're doing a writing program with NBC. Which one is it, and how did you apply? I applied to NBC's DiverseCity Writing Program last year and wasn't accepted (to be fair, they were looking for minority writers, which I'm not). When I tried researching NBC writing programs this year, I couldn't find any, however. Would you say it's helping, either with your writing or with your career?

I was/am in the NBC "Writers on the Verge" program. My writing partner is a minority (Is that PC? Who knows anymore?), although the group was roughly half minority writers and half non-minority writers. That is the only writing program NBC has, but there are programs available (some diversity based, some not) at all of the networks and a lot of the studios. I know Warner Brothers has one, for example. They all have different submission guidelines and time frames, so be sure to read instructions carefully. And be forewarned, my program was cut short by the WGA strike. We wound up missing a lot of great classes and lectures from people who simply couldn't cross the picket lines to talk to us. Odds are a lot of these programs are "on hold" indefinitely.

As for your other question, my program helped me immensely, both as a writer and career-wise. My partner and I were given an executive mentor and a mentor who is a writer on an NBC program, and we totally lucked out on both counts. We met tons of people, made loads of connections, and we've quadrupled the amount of people pulling for us to get jobs. These programs are ideal for those right on the verge of breaking, as well as those who don't have connections and need an agent. Seek them out online.

Siv_Art asks:

I've been writing for a while, but mostly only do it because no one will write my ideas for me. Mainly I'm an actor, and end up doing the other things (produce/direct, etc) out of necessity. I'm also currently a company member at the ACME Comedy Theater in L.A., so my focus has shifted towards sketch writing rather than screenplays. Nevertheless, I've got a finger in a dozen projects all over the place (eww... six-fingered hands?), so it'll be nice to read the perspective of someone who's making a living.

And I guess that's the thing I'm most interested in. Assuming writing skill and the ability to be productive on a continuing basis, how to I get to the point where I'm able to make a living at it?

That's the ultimate goal, of course -- to be able to live off of what you love. Basically, the way to get there is to be great at what you do, and to stick with it, even when you are most definitely NOT making a living off of writing. You can't win if you don't try basically. On the other hand, they say Los Angeles is a "7 year town," and if you can't make it in 7 years, it might be time to try another career path. I'd say the reason most people leave "the game" (sometimes I call writing "the game," usually while smoking a cigar and drinking from a snifter of brandy) is because they've got to pay the bills. If I had a wife and children, it would be a lot more difficult for me to keep plugging away, and a lot more tempting to return to my old office job. Writing is highly unstable income, as the strike is proving. It's a big gamble, but I hear stories all the time of writers who were gearing up to throw in the towel and they got The Call. It just takes one person loving what you do. But yeah, writing is very month-to-month until you get to the point where the studios are calling you and begging you to write stuff for them.

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Forest Whitaker to Coach 'Patriots'

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-16T11:02:00+00:00

Variety reports that the desperate-for-a-hit Weinstein Company is close to signing Forest Whitaker to star in Patriots, a drama to be directed by Tim Story (Barbershop, The Fantastic Four). Whitaker will play "Al Collins, basketball coach for John Ehret High in Marrero, Louisiana, who led his Patriots to the state championship a year after Katrina ravaged the school and displaced many of its students." Collins' team was made up of ten players who had attended five different schools prior to Katrina. I smell Oscars, baby! This is the first film to set a start date as a result of the WGA's deal with The Weinstein Company. Robert Eisele (writer of The Great Debaters, which also starred Whitaker) wrote the script for Patriots.

Says Story, "I've gotten caught up with the Fantastic Four films but wanted to find a smaller film with heart, that brought me back to Barbershop, and this has come together with one of the best actors out there. What Coach Collins did to give back the lives of his players is so inspiring." It does sound like an inspiring story, and with its post-Katrina setting, it's bound to be moving. But Hollywood, you listen to me and you listen good. I need you to take a year off from the inspirational sports movies set against a backdrop of racism, adversity, etc. Just one year, that's all I ask. I can't take it anymore. I like these movies. The formula works. I love Forest Whitaker. But this is enough. They're all basically the same. And Great Debaters? You count too. Simply substituting debate for basketball or football doesn't disguise you. You're one of them, too. And this is enough.

BREAKING: Actor Brad Renfro Found Dead at Age 25

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-15T21:58:00+00:00

Brad Renfro, 25 year-old star of such films as The Client, Apt Pupil, and Bully, was found dead in his Los Angeles home early this morning, reports the Associated Press. Renfro's lawyer, Richard Kaplan, broke the tragic news. The cause of death is currently unknown, but Renfro had been drinking with friends the night before. Foul play is not suspected. Renfro led a troubled life, and there had been several run-ins with the law over the years, for drugs, DUI, and more. In May 2006, he served ten days in jail after he plead no contest to drunk driving and guilty to attempted possession of heroin. His most notable recent film appearance was opposite Adrien Brody in The Jacket, and he recently completed work on the Bret Easton Ellis adaptation The Informers.

Renfro began acting when he was only twelve years old. At twelve, he played the title role in Joel Schumacher's adaptation of John Grisham's The Client, which starred Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones. He was a terrific young actor, and since he was roughly my age, I followed his career from his younger roles in The Cure and Tom and Huck, through more mature fare like Telling Lies in America and Sleepers. My favorite roles of his were later ones: Todd in Bryan Singer's Apt Pupil, Marty in Larry Clark's highly disturbing Bully, and Josh in Terry Zwigoff's modern classic Ghost World. Kaplan tells the AP, "He was working hard on his sobriety. He was doing well. He was a nice person." We at Cinematical mourn the loss of a real talent, and our sympathies are with his family and friends.

Sylvester Stallone Talks 'Death Wish'

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-15T15:02:00+00:00

I recently attended a press junket for Sylvester Stallone's amazingly violent new Rambo (in theaters January 25th). There, he was asked about his plans to remake the 1974 Charles Bronson classic Death Wish. Peter told you a bit about the new Death Wish in November, when Variety announced that Stallone would direct and star. The film will be scripted by Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato (The Net, The Game, T3: Rise of the Machines). Stallone says he thinks Death Wish, done today "would be volcanic." And despite the lack of success for recent revenge thrillers like Death Sentence and The Brave One, I think he might be right. Below is what Stallone had to say about his take on the material:

The idea in the original of Jeff Goldblum as a mugger who breaks into an apartment seems very simplistic. It gives you an idea of how bad the elevation of violence has become. I want to focus on defense attorneys, on the people who are really allowing this crap to happen. Not so much the guy out in the street, but who permits it? What if it happened to you? What if your daughter down the hall was grabbed and her eyes were put out, would you want to defend that guy? There's moral questions here that are being presented that have not been asked in 30 years. So it's not the pacifist. This fella I see, and I'm giving you a little hint here, he was a very violent human being. An ex-convict who walked the walk, was accepted back into society, did everything he could to be clean. When the incident happens, he reverts back, and it's like "My God." Now you've unleashed a man who really understands the world of violence. He isn't burdened with this passive-aggressive conscientious objector thing that's been done. It's really what happens when the wolf in sheep's clothing goes back to the wolf.

What do you think? Does Stallone's Death Wish sound like something you Wish you could see?

The Tom Cruise Recruitment Video Scientology Tried to Hide

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-15T14:10:00+00:00

Hoo boy. Hoooooo boy. Check out this video of Tom Cruise aggressively preaching the merits of Scientology while the Mission: Impossible theme plays. It is very real, and you need to see it. Like, now. Let's just say the dude's even more into this than we thought. As Gawker (who's also hosting a clip) writes, "If Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch was an 8 on the scale of scary, this is a 10." Apparently, the video has been privately shared between reporters investigating Cruise's ties to the religion, although no writers have gone public with it for fear of lawsuits by the Scientologists. Until now. It's out there, baby.

I would check the video out quickly. Gawker claims they are not removing the clip, regardless of what pressure they get, but a lot of similar Youtube and Google videos have been put up and quickly taken down in the past week. The one we have up now hasn't been taken down, so get to it fast! The video is nearly ten minutes of pure Cruise intensity and oddness, undiluted by publicists and cover-ups. I did a little research while watching it, as I didn't know what some of the terms meant. When he says "org," he means "organizations," "KSW" is a policy letter used to "Keep Scientology Working," and "SP" is Scientology code for a "Suppressive Person." The video's most chilling moment follows Cruise's question, "Have you ever met an SP?" when that blood-curdling, hollow laugh kicks in. Remember Cruise's "Respect the c**k, tame the c**t" monologues in Magnolia? This is like that, only disturbingly real. But maybe I'm just being "glib."

PGA Announces Year-End Nominees

Patrick Walsh — 2008-01-14T20:02:00+00:00

Hollywood's neverending love affair with itself just keeps on rolling, as now the Producer's Guild of America has announced its list of 2007 film nominees. And the nominees are: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, and There Will Be Blood. Surely the most notable exclusions are Atonement and Sweeney Todd, since both films took Best Picture honors at last night's Golden Globes ~~disaster~~ ~~atrocity~~ ceremony. The PGA does not often sync up with the Academy. Last year, they selected Little Miss Sunshine and the Oscar went (rightly) to The Departed. In 2006, they selected Brokeback Mountain and the Oscar went to Crash. In 2005, they picked The Aviator and the Oscar went to Million Dollar Baby.

No guesses as to which film they'll select this year, but don't count out There Will Be Blood. As a friend of mine recently remarked: "Producers will definitely relate strongly to the story of a relentless misanthrope who sacrifices everything in his quest for money and power." The PGA nominated Bee Movie, Ratatouille, and The Simpsons Movie as nominations for its animation award. Their nominated documentaries are: Body of War, Hear and Now, Pete Seeger: The Power of Song, Sicko, and White Night Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The winner of the PGA's Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year award is announced February 2nd, and will not be televised. Still, if the host announces the winner at his or her kitchen table while eating a large bowl of breakfast cereal, it will be a more exciting event than last night's Billy Bush cringe-a-thon. Yikes.