Posted on Friday, September 30th, 2011 by Angie Han
There are films I want to watch because they’re universally beloved, others I want to watch out of a morbid curiosity because they’re widely reviled, and then, occasionally, there are those that pique my curiosity because they seem to be a little bit of both. Perhaps the most divisive film out of this year’s Sundance was Mark Pellington‘s I Melt With You, a dramatic thriller about four longtime male friends (Rob Lowe, Tom Jane, Jeremy Piven, and Christian McKay) suffering from midlife crises who escape together for debauched gatherings. Which makes it sound like a crappy Tim Allen comedy, but apparently it’s all very serious and there’s a disturbing twist that turns the film into something deeply fucked up. Watch the red-band trailer and see the poster after the jump.
I Melt With You stars Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe and Christian McKay as four best friends who meet up for a reunion to drink, do drugs and take a vacation from their daily lives. Carla Gugino and Sasha Grey are featured, it has opening credits akin to Gaspar Noe’s Enter the Void, an incredible (but possibly temporary) punk rock soundtrack and an awesome beach house setting. Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, as directed by Mark Pellington, I Melt With You is a over-indulgent, bloated, valueless film that’s among the worst I’ve seen so far at the Sundance Film Festival. Read More »
Posted on Friday, January 21st, 2011 by Russ Fischer
On Monday we showed you a brief character clip of Rob Lowe from I Melt With You, the new film from Mark Pellington (Arlington Road, Henry Poole is Here). Four more were released this week, and now that the final clip is out (a NSFW one featuring Sasha Grey) we’ve collected the latter four for your perusal. See ‘em all after the break. Read More »
Posted on Monday, January 17th, 2011 by Russ Fischer
I Melt With You is the next film from Mark Pellington (Arlington Road, Henry Poole is Here) and will debut soon at the Sundance Film Festival. Below you’ll find the first of a series of very brief teasers for the film. This one features Rob Lowe, seemingly in a mode of quiet distress. We’ve known all along that this was intended to be an emotionally intense, perhaps even harrowing film. This very brief clip makes me wonder what we’ll see are more are released over the course of this week. My curiosity remains engaged. Read More »
Posted on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 by Russ Fischer
Mark Pellington is soon to shoot his low-budget drama/thriller I Melt With You, and he’s already got Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven and Rob Lowe set to appear as three of the four male leads. Now the supporting cast is coming together, and the most striking name is Sasha Grey, the young porn star who previously appeared in Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience. Read More »
It’s a crazy, mixed up world and we are thankful for movies, sans New Moon, that offer proof. Weekend Weirdness cocks its disoriented, nappy head to examine such flicks, whether it’s a new trailer for a provocative indie, a review, or news of an excavated cult classic. The works discussed herein tend to make cinema a little more interesting, and in the best and worst cases do the same for life. In this installment: Final Flesh is a real life Videodrome with porn actors from the co-creator of Wonder Showzen;Dirty is the forthcoming, surprisingly solid doc on the late Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard; [adult swim]‘s Aqua Teen Hunger Force plops out a spicy Meatwadof a Xmas album, and more, G. The “G” is courtesy Nic Cage’s bad lieutenant.
Nearly a decade after he worked as a writer for Late Night with Conan O’Brien, the career of Vernon Chatman continues its fascinating flush-parade down and around comedy’s perverse bowels. With a new film,Final Flesh, he subverts the acting prowess of real life porno D-listers to match the success of his respected twists on tween teevee (MTV’s Wonder Showzen) and low-rent, fantasy animation (Xavier: Renegade Angel). The irony is that even though the DVD for Final Flesh arrived at my door with a tie-in golden condom packet filled with antibacterial lotion, Chatman ostensibly kept his hands clean of the filth. Flesh is what resulted after he commissioned four online companies that produce adult movies from scripts submitted by paying customers. Instead of sending the companies various scenarios too obscene for Roller Girl, Chatman’s screenplays mostly ditch sex in favor of a murky end days subplot complete with an Atomic Bomb.
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?
The Damned United Trailer
The one name I will always remember from the trip I took to Ireland in 2002 is Roy Keane. Part of Ireland’s soccer team, he caused quite a kerfuffle when he spoke out about Irish players being treated unfairly during their run for the 2002 World Cup. It led newscasts, it was on every paper and it was the subject people most wanted talk about. I learned a lot about football/soccer on that holiday as I saw people’s home adorned in green, white, and orange bunting as if Christmas really was coming in June.
I know how this sport can grip an entire country and this trailer gets that passion down on film. Read More »
Magnolia Pictures has released the trailer for Steven Soderbergh‘s The Girlfriend Experience. Set in the weeks leading up to the 2008 presidential election, the film tells the story of five days in the life of Chelsea (adult film star Sasha Grey in her mainstream film debut), an ultra high-end Manhattan call girl who offers more than sex to her clients, but companionship and conversation – “the girlfriend experience.” Chelsea thinks she has her life totally under control—she feels her future is secure because she runs her own business her own way, makes $2000 an hour, and has a devoted boyfriend (Chris Santos) who accepts her lifestyle. But when you’re in the business of meeting people, you never know who you’re going to meet…
The film has a surprise premiere, which I missed, at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Cinematical called it “an intimate and yet honest movie about honesty and intimacy.” Film School Rejects said that “Soderbergh has captured some truly stunning visuals and has delivered a non-linear narrative that is both engaging and not overly complicated.” CHUD said it felt like “Soderbergh’s indie half and mainstream half coming together; while related to Bubble, it feels much more accessible and complete.” The trailer is pretty intriguing. Read More »
