Now playing in NY and LA is St. John of Las Vegas, the debut feature of writer-director Hue Rhodes. The picture gives Steve Buscemi a too-rare leading role as John Alighieri, a man with a gambling problem who is sent to investigate an insurance claim on the outskirts of the Nevada casino capital. Also amongst the cast are Romany Malco, Sarah Silverman and Peter Dinklage.
The film is pricked with references to Dante’s Inferno, though certainly has it’s own narrative which requires no knowledge of the Divine Comedy to understand - think how the Coen Bros. and Homer blended into O Brother Where Art Thou. And whereas the Coens’ film stood on the shoulders of Preston Sturgess, the equivalent influence on St. John would appear likely to be Ozu or Milos Forman.
After the break you can read my edited transcript of some of what Hue has said to me in our conversations over the last few weeks, sharing some of his thoughts on both this movie specifically and films and filmmaking in general.
Read More »
Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?
Read More »
Peter Dinklage is reportedly in talks to take a role in Joe Lynch’s horror/comedy/adventure The Knights of Badassdom. The film was produced and co-written (with Kevin Dreyfuss) by Matt Wall, producer of Dinklage’s upcoming St. John of Las Vegas so there’s clearly a relationship there and I can imagine anybody lucky enough to get Dinklage in one of their films would try and get him back over and over again.
When I first reported on the film, from the thick of last year’s Frightfest, here’s how I described the set-up:
…a film about LARPers who accidentally cast a real spell and bring a real demon into our world.
That’s been expanded upon by the full casting synopsis, which you can read after the break.
Read More »
Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?
Read More »
Steve Buscemi has been doing a lot of indie films recently, and his latest is no different. Saint John of Las Vegas is a dramedy directed by another first time feature film director Hue Rhodes. The film follows “the wild and funny trip a guy has to take to discover there’s more than one way to hit the jackpot in life.”
After a run of bad luck, John (Steve Buscemi), a compulsive gambler, runs away from Las Vegas and toward a normal job and life. Taking a nondescript position in an auto insurance company in Albuquerque, he tries to get ahead in the straight world, amid the ever-present temptations of scratch-off lotto tickets. When his boss, Mr. Townsend (Peter Dinklage), asks John to accompany his top fraud debunker, Virgil (Romany Malco) on an investigation of a dubious car “accident” near Vegas, John sees an opportunity to get a promotion , though he’s concerned about returning to the gambling game. Before leaving he becomes involved with his eccentric co-worker Jill (Sarah Silverman), a dalliance that has the potential to become a real relationship. Soon John is on the road with Virgil, where they encounter a series of offbeat characters. Through the journey, John’s confidence builds, and he realizes that he can’t escape his gambling addiction by running away from it—it will follow him wherever he goes. It’s only when he returns to Vegas and his experiences there finally send him on the path to breaking free.
The movie also co-stars Emmanuelle Chirqui, Tim Blake Nelson and John Cho. The film played at Cinevegas and the Starz Denver Film Festival and was met with mixed reviews. Watch the trailer now after the jump, and as always, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Read More »
A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series that begins with the novel A Game of Thrones, is being adapted into a series by HBO, and Sean Bean has just nabbed the lead role, according to THR. (This news was actually reported last week by the George R.R. Martin fansite Winter is Coming and I let it pass as too unsubstantiated. Oh, well.) Bean will play the honorable and upright Lord Eddard ‘Ned’ Stark, Warden of the North, who acts as advisor to King Robert I Baratheon, a role for which Mark Addy is in final talks. Read More »
According to the ever useful Twitter feed of Production Weekly, principal photography on Alexandre Rockwell’s Pete Small is Dead is to kick off in March. Previously, it was set to shoot in January, I believe - but when I tell you other info is thin on the ground for this one, you better believe it.
Indeed, probably the most useful link I could give you is to the MySpace page of Michael Din, the film’s producer. Send him a message and tell him /Film want to know more. Go on. Double dare you.
Amongst the cast are Steve Buscemi, Sam Rockwell and Peter Dinklage, who have worked together on Peter Judson’s Nobody Wants Your Film. Or, perhaps more accurately, they’re all featured in the film - it’s a documentary about how an independent film gets knocked back every step of the way. I think it was a semi-fictionalised grasp for novelty and notoriety, ala The Book that Wrote Itself.
Read More »
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian has begun filming. Check out the full press release after the jump.
Read More »
