Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
Eclipse Director David Slade on Twilight - “Just Shoot Me”
Posted on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 by Brendon Connelly
When Peter compiled his epic and useful list of directors, actors and screenwriters plugged into Twitter, one of those included was Hard Candyman David Slade. Today, however, it seems like Slade’s Twitter account has been deleted, which is a crying shame. Besides the loss of an interesting tweeter, another of the reasons this is unfortunate is that the deletion covers Slade’s tracks a little and hides a rather amusing little attack he launched on the Twilight franchise.
That being the very same Twilight franchise Slade has subsequently signed up to, and for which he will be directing the third installment, Eclipse. Oops.
So, the original Tweet might be gone but after the break we have audio of Slade ripping into Twilight and, if nothing else, its quite funny stuff… and I can’t help wondering what Summit Entertainment, the Twilight cast and Stephenie Meyer think about it?
Pulitzer Prize winning film critic Roger Ebert on Frank Miller’s The Spirit:
“The Spirit is mannered to the point of madness. There is not a trace of human emotion in it. To call the characters cardboard is to insult a useful packing material.”
Read the full review on RogerEbert.com.
Observe and Report: A Little Story About Ray Liotta
Posted on Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
One of the 2009 films we’re most anticipating is Observe and Report, due in April, from director Jody Hill (The Foot Fist Way). Yesterday, when Peter posted new stills from the R-rated comedy starring Seth Rogen as an obsessive mall cop, several commenters began negatively comparing O&R with January’s stillborn Kevin James vehicle, Paul Blart: Mall Cop; going so far as to resurrect the Armageddon versus Deep Impact theatrical Turdbowl of 1998. According to an acquaintance unrelated to the production who caught a test screening and swears by it: “That’s a terrible analogy. It’s more like, say, compare Song of the South to Gone With the Wind. I mean, no, I haven’t seen Mall Cop, but, c’mon, it’s the opposite of funny.” Okay, that admittedly wasn’t very helpful.
Meanwhile, during our set visit on HBO’s Eastbound and Down, which Hill co-created and co-directed, the general sentiment was that Observe and Report is a batshit TKO. Actor Ben Best has a small role in the film and, while he couldn’t reveal much, he did let out this funny story about Rogen’s adversary in the film: the man, the legend Mr. Ray Liotta…
“Holy shit, this movie. First off, [Observe and Report] has one of the craziest endings you have ever seen. Listen to this. One day, we’re lining up a shot, and we’re standing on these courthouse steps, Seth is there, and Jody tells us to move down. And Jody says, ‘Hey Ray [Liotta], why don’t you go here.’ And Jody’s literally talking about the next step down, and Ray’s like ‘…Why?’
Seth and I just look at each other, like ‘Uhhh?’ So, Jody thinks for a second, and goes ‘Why not?’ And Ray goes, ‘Well, I just don’t think my character would stand on this step.’ And Jody just goes ‘Fuck It.’ So, after it’s over, Ray says to me, ‘You know what I think about that?’ And he just goes [makes ginormous fart noise---an IRL wet fart]. The smell….it was the most disgusting thing ever. He’s crazy in a good way. [laughs] But yeah, some of the funniest shit I’ve ever seen is in that movie. What you’ve heard from the test screenings, we can go much darker; it’s more like a darker Alexander Payne. It’s one of those great comedies…and the homage to Old Boy is retarded.”
And Patton Oswalt plays the mall’s “Cinnabon Man,” so we might want to store that witty, percolating Dante’s Peak/Volcano scenario until the next inevitable round of Bay/Emmerich. If anyone has a story from the set of Paul Blart: Mall Cop about Kevin James putting his hand in his armpit, do tell below.
Although the end of the year is coming, along with all of its attendant and obligatory “Top 10″ lists, I thought this year I’d try something different . While 2008 was a year of great films, I wanted to pause and reflect on some of my favorite quotes of the year. Some pretty great actors said some powerful stuff this year. Taken together, these quotes capture some of the memorable moments, and give a taste of the zeitgeist of 2008. Before we begin, you should know:
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ALL THE FILMS MENTIONED BELOW. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED…
Read More »
Roger Ebert on the Death of the Film Critic
Posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Pulitzer Prize winning movie critic Roger Ebert has written a passionate response to what some are calling the demise of the film critic, or what Ebert is calling “the death of an intelligent and curious, readership”. The whole thing was sparked when the Associate Press imposed a 500-word limited on movie reviews and interviews. I wouldn’t want to read a serious review of There Will Be Blood, or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind under such limitations. Heck, I think Hunter’s TWBB review was something like 40,000 words (yeah, probably a little much, but I digress).
And some regions have decided that the film critic aren’t needed at all. Ebert blames the focus in our culture towards celebrity obsession. We use to be a culture obsessed with stories, but now the mainstream public is more obsessed with Britney Spears or Suri Cruise than good old fashion storytelling. Here are a few excerpts from his latest blog.
“As the CelebCult triumphs, major newspapers have been firing experienced film critics. They want to devote less of their space to considered prose, and more to ignorant gawking. What they require doesn’t need to be paid for out of their payrolls. Why does the biggest story about “Twilight” involve its fans? Do we need interviews with 16-year-old girls about Robert Pattinson? When was the last time they read a paper? Isn’t the movie obviously about sexual abstinence and the teen fascination with doomy Goth death-flirtation?”
“Why do we need critics? A good friend of mine in a very big city was once told by his editor that the critic should ‘reflect the taste of the readers.’ My friend said, ‘Does that mean the food critic should love McDonald’s?’ The editor: ‘Absolutely.’ I don’t believe readers buy a newspaper to read variations on the Ed McMahon line, ‘You are correct, sir!’ A newspaper film critic should encourage critical thinking, introduce new developments, consider the local scene, look beyond the weekend fanboy specials, be a weatherman on social trends, bring in a larger context, teach, inform, amuse, inspire, be heartened, be outraged.”
“Perhaps fearing the challenge of reading a newspaper will prove daunting, papers are using increasing portions of their shrinking news holes in providing guides to reading themselves.” … “The celebrity culture is infantilizing us. We are being trained not to think. It is not about the disappearance of film critics. We are the canaries. It is about the death of an intelligent and curious, readership, interested in significant things and able to think critically. It is about the failure of our educational system. It is not about dumbing-down. It is about snuffing out. The news is still big. It’s the newspapers that got small.”
I highly recommend that you read Ebert’s entire rant on his Sun-Times Blog. I’d love to hear what you guys think about this in the comments below!
Quote: Kevin Smith on Researching Zack and Miri
Posted on Monday, October 20th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Every once in a while, we like to put a spotlight on an insightful or funny quote (this sometimes happens on a slow news day like today). Kevin Smith was asked by Newsweek how he went about researching his new comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Here is Smith’s response:
“I’ve been researching Zack and Miri since I was 11. Sometimes three times a day, depending on who was in the house.”
Also, you might want to check out Smith’s appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where he tells a very funny story of how he broke a toilet at a Secret Stash poker game. Available for free on Hulu.
Quote: Jon Favreau on Why Superhero Movies Sometimes Fail
Posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
It sounds like Jon Favreau has thought a lot about why some superhero movies just didn’t work while others are super successful. Here is a quote from the Iron Man director from a recent LATimes chat:
“Either the director was unfamiliar [with the] source material or the director chose to depart from it for personal reasons. Another reason is that the studios that had the rights to a particular franchise would never think twice about compromising the source material if thought it would enhance the commercial appeal.”
But is Marvel Studios trying to “enhance the commercial appeal” by rushing the project into production for a 2010 release?
“The date is daunting. We are making much faster progress than the first time around and have much less to design and fewer casting issues. I am confident that 2010 is achievable if we continue working together as we have for the past few months. It has to be great, though. It has to be great.”
Bill Murray Offers Warning to Ghostbusters 3 Writers
Posted on Friday, September 26th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Bill Murray made a surprise appearance during a secret screening of City of Ember at Fantastic Fest. Now I’m kicking myself for having to leave early to Los Angeles to cover the big Disney even. Oh well. Murray was asked about Ghostbusters 3. For those who have been in a cave for the last month, The Office’s Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg are writing a script which will introduce a new generation of Ghostbusters. We’ve heard Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis talk about the possible sequel, but to my knowlege, this is the first time Bill Murray has commented publicly. Here is what Murray had to say:
“I think the wounds from Ghostbusters 2 have healed, Murray joked, the crowd errupting in laughter. “And supposedly they have hired two guys from The Office to write a script. So that could work. I think that’s a good idea to get a fresh look at… I always liked the characters. The characters are fun. And we did have a lot of fun making the movie. The first one was really a lot of fun to make. And I think the first 45 minutes of Ghostbusters is about as fun as a movie gets.”
Murray then offered advice to the new writers, a bit of a warning:
“We didn’t have a lot of special effects in it. There were just a couple. It was just the funny characters in that world, and I like that movie because of it. The first movie had like 60 plate shots. The second movie had like hundreds. Those guys got their hands on the script early, and it was GONE. It went away. It was hard to wrangle because it was tied all around the effects without the story or the characters coming first. So, they are hard movies to write, and Dan really caught it with that first one.”
Kevin Smith Explains Why Studios Are Afraid of Red State
Posted on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Kevin Smith appeared on the Cinemablend podcast and listed off some of the reasons that studios might be afraid to greenlight his next film, Red State:
1. The Movie is ““decidedly non-commercial, it’s really fuckin bleak and dark, so bleak that it makes The Dark Knight look like Strawberry Shortcake.”
2. “There’s no character to root for.” … “It’s a series of insane, bad choices based on moral or immoral quandaries.”
3. “Everybody dies.”
4. “I do expect it to be a real film festival type film that will travel awhile.” … ” The only way it ever does business theatrically is if there’s like some kind of water cooler chat about it based on the festival showings.”
5. “They’re just like ‘there’s no audience for this movie.’ Like, nobody wants to see a movie this dark.”
“Based on all that nobody wants to write a check for it and I kind of get it. I’m not sitting here going ‘What? Why wouldn’t you want to finance a loser?’,” Smith says, later adding. “I’ve done comedy after comedy after comedy, and to do a movie that’s kind of 180 degrees away from that is, a test of sorts, where I get to see if I’m truly a filmmaker or just a dick and fart joke guy. No matter how it works out, I think I’d be content. Like, if it does work I’d be like ‘wow I know it! I am a filmmaker as well.’ If it doesn’t I’d just be like ‘alright I’m back to the dick and far joke salt mine.”
I’m interested to see what Smith can do with a completely different genre, and a totally unknown cast. I just hope he gets the chance and doesn’t feel the need to inject unneeded comedy and cameos to compensate for the nervous leap into the unknown. Hopefully the result will be more Drawing Flies than Vulgar.
M. Night Shyamalan Still Considering Unbreakable 2. Will It Ever Happen?
Posted on Friday, September 19th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
Admittedly, the above headline could be published in The Onion, no prob. It’s been nearly eight years since the release of Unbreakable, and the possibility of a sequel, let alone the planned trilogy, seems to diminish with time, even as superhero films enter the subversive, contemplative-mythos stage that makes M. Night Shyamalan’s best film so ahead of the curve and a dark horse genre classic.
In June, Shyamalan cited the film’s marketing—which exploited the “shocking twist” angle and neglected the comic book plot—along with the middling reviews that followed as the watershed moment when perceptions of his M.O. in Hollywood and with audiences soured. Though the film is still seen as a financial disappointment, it grossed $250 million worldwide, not to mention DVD sales. And if you read between the lines, I think he sees catharsis in making a widely-regarded successful sequel to Unbreakable. Shyamalan’s passion for the film, characters, and the universe he created won’t go away (and neither has its fans’, which includes us at Slashfilm). And in my mind, there’s the guy who made this film, and another who made everything else. He tells Splashpage…
“I genuinely just asked this question the other day — should I make Unbreakable 2? I do love the [comic book movie] genre, I just wanna make sure that I’m able to express who I am,” explained Shyamalan. “I don’t want to get so lost in the subject that I have to neuter everything that’s me in it, so maybe Unbreakable is the comic book thing I should do — I keep coming back to that.”
Your Samuel L. Jackson-instincts should inform that the actor would be game to reprise Mr. Glass, and he is. And Bruce Willis has stated his love of the film in the past and disappointment with critics’ lazy checklist with The Sixth Sense. Though inherent, the original film never reveals the full powers of Willis’s protagonist, David Dunn, meanwhile Mr. Glass’s descent into evil has many sinister miles left in the tank. It will take more than wistful soundbites and warm spirits to bring Unbreakable 2 to fruition, not to mention the tentative title, but if Hellboy—financially, an apt comparison; in terms of marquee value and quality, not so much—can warrant a sequel, I don’t think Shyamalan’s is a pipe dream. If he truly wants it. Then again, if the sequel rights are parked at Disney…umm, good luck?
Discuss: Do you think Unbreakable 2 will ever happen? Why or why not?
Update on DJ Caruso’s Y: The Last Man with Shia LaBeouf
Posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
We’ve known for a while that D.J. Caruso’s first film in a planned Y: The Last Man trilogy was aiming for 2010, and he’s given a new update to UGO. The director of Disturbia and Eagle Eye confirms that the script by Carl Ellsworth (Disturbia, Red Eye) was turned in last week to Warner Bros., a studio that’s said to be heavily enthusiastic and committed to the big budget endeavor. Moreover, he added that while Shia LaBeouf remains attached to the main character—a young Brooklynite named Yorick Brown who becomes the last man on an Earth populated with combative, horny women—the previously rumored Alicia Keys is not a lock to play Yorick’s government-hired protector codenamed 355…
“She’s definitely someone to consider. I thought she did a really cool job in [Smokin’ Aces]… So really, the one thing, I think I’ve mentioned this to you, I’m going for, and it’s not quite there yet on the page. I’d love to have sort of a (Robert) DeNiro/(Charles) Grodin relationship between 355 and (Yorick). Kind of a Midnight Run relationship…I think Alicia’s a great girl and everything but I have to make sure that she can handle the acting part of it.”
Midnight Run, eh? We’re big fans of the comic series at Slashfilm, so here’s hoping Caruso goes with another actress, possibly an unknown, and not the musician/aspiring Bond Girl. One name I’ve heard tossed around a bit with fans is Vivica Fox, based, I’m guessing, on her surprisingly good, albeit brief, performance and action skills in Kill Bill. She’s a little old for the part though, even if she did deliver laughs and sex appeal on Curb Your Enthusiasm. All requisites for 355. Any casting suggestions in the comments? And Caruso informs that fans have already mentioned Kill Bill’s Lucy Liu for the part of Dr. Mann—a brilliant hands-on Chinese/Japanese geneticist who happens to be a lesbian—but he hasn’t given any actresses much consideration. Mann would play a larger part in a proposed second film.
Caruso let it be known that Yorick’s monkey Ampersand—a seminal character in the comics—will in fact be a real monkey in the film(s). Great news. It worked in Matthew Broderick’s Project X, and it can work here (no monkey pilots).
Brian K. Vaughn’s Y: The Last Man is going to be really tough to develop. There’s the sheer size—Caruso has implied that all or part of the subplot with Yorick’s girlfriend in Australia may be kiboshed—but also enough philosophical implications and discussions therein, not to mention pop-culture references, to stretch out a semester in college. And while the comic books are “R-rated” (violence, sexuality), this will most likely be a PG-13 summer popcorn film(s). Caruso seems to have a good communication going with Vaughn, so we’re optimistic, but he’ll need to channel some early Spielbergian wonder and some of that director’s dark period tone and visuals to see it through. We’ll avoid referencing a certain scene in Indy IV.
Discuss: Any casting suggestions for Ampersand? 355?
Quote: Don’t Put Spike Lee Next to Judd Apatow
Posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
The September 22nd issue of The New Yorker has a profile on Spike Lee. At one point Lee is given a poster to sign for the wall at the Sony Music studio that he used for his latest film. So while his feud with Clint Eastwood might be officially over, Lee launches a shot in the direction of America’s favorite comedy producer/director Judd Apatow:
“Don’t put us next to Judd Apapoe, whatever that guy is,” Lee says, referring to Judd Apatow. “We gotta be next to Spielberg and Williams!”
Lee has considerable talent, and some might argue that he deserves to be put on the same level of a Spielberg, or at least above a guy doing those “funny movies”. But am I the only one who is bothered with the elitism that Lee demonstrates in this quote?
