Last night, I went to the wonderful Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar and attended a screening of Oliver Stone’s new film, W.. As is usually the case with Drafthouse, there were various related bits of media shown before the film, to entertain the audience.
If you’re uninitiated, Drafthouse is a great chain of theatres here in Austin that serves great meals during your moviegoing funtime and has strict ’shut the hell up and keep the kids outta’ here’ policies that make it one of the best places to watch movies. One of the things they do is find interviews, televisions shows, web videos, etc. that are related to the feature, and play them before the movie starts for the audience as they’re sitting there waiting.
So last night we were treated to Colbert’s Presidential Roast from 2006 (I think that’s when it was), as well as the web video for “Oliver Stone’s P.” - a flash trailer that jokingly shows us what an Oliver Stone biopic about Palin would be like. I’d seen it online, but it was interesting to see it on the big screen. All in all, that’s Drafthouse.
The main show came on, and I sat there, enjoying Brolin’s turn as George W. Bush, Dreyfuss as Cheney, not loving Tandy Newton as Condoleeza Rice (but not hating it either) and just soaking in Stone’s particular viewpoint on what the life of GWB must have been like. As a film, it did it’s job. It entertained me, it made me laugh, it gave me a protagonist I could sympathize with, and while it didn’t give me an ending, that was okay, because the ride had been good enough.
But something about the movie didn’t sit right with me. I’ll confess I was a W. supporter in 2000 and 2004. In fact, in 2000, I was a John McCain supporter, but when he lost the bid, I became a Bush backer. I lived in Texas, our surplus was high, the state was in a good position, and everyone loved W. Most of all, the guy was likable, and while he fumbled his words on occasion or maybe made up a few of his own, he seemed to understand the problems the country was facing and had an idea of how to fix them.
Imagine a film about your life, where the director & writer ignored how you got to where you were, what you had done right, and the good about you - and focused only on the mistakes, and hid your journey. This is W.
So, there’s this contest, you see, where people create ‘commercials’ on the subject of ‘What Would You Do For a Klondike Bar?’
My group and I did a couple of commercials, and one of them I’m wanting to share here, and hopefully, garner some more votes. So let’s get that out of the way first:
What did I do on this video? Well, I wrote, directed, shot, edited, color graded, sound designed and did the motion graphics work. Oh, I also sculpted/built the big, huge, stinkin Klondike bar, with the help of Lesley Sullivan and Angela Maldonado.
John Gholson does the amazing voice for the Klondike, and he initially had the concept of a ‘giant klondike bar.’ Jennifer Blair plays the lovely lady who is doing all the deeds, and Paul Gandersman plays the dumped fiance.
Lesley Sullivan and Peter Yoder produced this, which means they busted their ass making sure everything went well. Lesley made the ’skirt’ for the klondike, which looks so much like foil it blows my mind.
Angela oversaw the ADR session, giving me the CLEANEST audio I’ve ever gotten. It was amazing.
Alright. Go watch the video. And vote! OH, and if you want to see a higher quality version, just ask me. I’ve got one, I’m just keeping it on the downlow until the voting period is over
Since the film’s been out for a week now, and I’ve seen it twice, I finally feel able to talk about what I didn’t like about the film. Couple of things…
First, I LOVE The Dark Knight. This is the best super hero film ever. Without a doubt. Surpassing even Unbreakable for me. Ledger’s amazing. Eckhart’s impressive. Bale’s Bruce Wayne is heartbreaking. Oldman’s Gordon is true, and right and perfection.
Second, this list will have SPOILERS. I can’t talk about the things I think are crappy without stating what makes them crappy. Plus, a lot of the things that drive me nuts happen in parts un-initiated audiences have no clue about. So, with that being said, you’ve been warned. There are spoilers ahead.
Oh, and third…you don’t have to agree with me. You can think I’m full of crap. That’s fine. Tell me why I’m wrong, I implore you. These are just the opinions of a burgeoning, LESSER filmmaker than Chris Nolan analyzing a property he holds near and dear to his heart. So, without any other fodder…
I love Nolan. I love Batman. I want money to make movies. I’m excited for this film.
But is he crazy? Movies cost more than ever. And it’s not spectacle that makes it work, it’s not using great, super-high resolution 70mm(65mm) film.
It’s finding a character and discovering the “why” of who they are, and then watching that motivate their actions. When you care about who’s on screen, what they’re doing, and what the ultimate stakes will be. That doesn’t cost a lot of money. And as Nolan will prove with Batman (as all the reviews have continued to pour in) that you can do it with a lot of money as well.
Batman (and Iron Man and Wall*E) demonstrates that big movies can make big money *IF* the story, the actors, and the spirit of the characters is present. Maybe Nolan’s just so good at it, he doesn’t realize how hard it is for some filmmakers to capture so perfectly.
As long as we can believe what’s happening on the screen, and have sympathy, we’ll pay and return time and again. Lucky for all of us, Nolan’s a master at it himself.
When Hollywood tries to make their own superhero movies, they tend to fail. Whether it’s something silly like Meteor Man or amazing like Unbreakable, comic hero style movies that don’t have a comic to fall back on tend to underperform.
So when Sony Pictures decides to bring out Hancock in what has critically and domestically been *the* greatest summer for superhero films, you’ve gotta’ wonder what they’re thinking.
There are no long-time readers of Hancock like their are for Hulk, Iron Man, Batman or even Hellboy. So no naturally built-in audience, save the one that loves to go see Will Smith movies. Frankly, I’m on that list. I love Will Smith. Six Degrees of Seperation showed us all that he had serious acting chops, I’ve been a supporter. So I can forgive things like Wild Wild West or Men in Black II.
If Hancock is to succeed in the best superhero movie summer ever, it damn well better deliver something unforseen. The good news is…it does. Hancock, above all other things, is interesting.
I waited a bit to do this review, mainly because I’d heard it through the grapevine that we were all supposed to keep our keyboards closed after the screening I attended.
The Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar here in Austin played host to the first public screening of Disney/Pixar’s WALL-E, with a big thanks to Harry Knowles for continuing to bring us fantastic opportunities like this.
But, enough time has passed, and I’ve just gotta’ say it: Wall-E is magnificent.
Everything you could imagine wanting from this film, you’re going to get, and so much more that you probably never saw coming.
I can’t say that this movie experience was like any other. First, I saw the movie earlier than its release. Second, I’m with a ton of fans who are all chomping at the bit to see the next big-screen incarnation of the green monster. Third, director Louis Letterier, actor Tim Roth, and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, were all in attendance. Fourth, before the movie started, I was able to shake Tim Roth’s hand and inform him, “Mr. Roth, you are amazing in Rob Roy,” to which he replied, “Thanks, thanks a lot!”
So, obviously, by the time the Universal logo came on screen, I was in high spirits. The movie would have to be a large pile of dung for me to absolutely hate it. In other words, the film would have to be as bad as the last film incarnation of Bruce Banner’s alter Ego, Ang Lee’s atrocious “The Hulk.”
No mopey, whiney hero. No ‘out of control can’t stop it’ permeating the entire movie. Thanks be to the team mentioned above and God in his heaven, The Incredible Hulk is just what it needed to be.
