As with extreme stunts, a la the Marvel franchise, it’s easiest for awards season voters to recognize that which is blatant, leaving other projects struggling to gain a foothold.
With “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” comes the culmination of a story more than two decades in the making. The journey through multiple movies to Peacock’s current limited series allow a feature film’s worth of main characters to find closure.
As with all productions, the series had a slew of challenges. A scene aboard a beautiful yacht in the Dominican Republic put the team to the test when the floating location’s mechanical problems put it out of commission the day before a 5:30 a.m. crew call.
While there may be yachts in a harbor, it doesn’t mean wealthy owners want to rent them to a production. So securing another one at the last minute...
With “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” comes the culmination of a story more than two decades in the making. The journey through multiple movies to Peacock’s current limited series allow a feature film’s worth of main characters to find closure.
As with all productions, the series had a slew of challenges. A scene aboard a beautiful yacht in the Dominican Republic put the team to the test when the floating location’s mechanical problems put it out of commission the day before a 5:30 a.m. crew call.
While there may be yachts in a harbor, it doesn’t mean wealthy owners want to rent them to a production. So securing another one at the last minute...
- 6/22/2023
- by Zoe Hewitt
- Variety Film + TV
The explosive growth of film and television production in New Mexico has broadened perceptions about its eclectic landscape in a short amount of time, but despite increasingly well-documented evidence to the contrary, some misconceptions stubbornly persist.
“One of the main comments I hear is ‘I didn’t know New Mexico has trees,’” says Amber Dodson, director of the state’s film office.
While the state’s natural elements are undoubtedly beautiful and have stood in as a range of locales for countless film and TV productions, they’re only one factor in the state’s transformation from a short-term production location to a true hotspot for studios looking to put down roots.
New Mexico first established its production tax incentives in 2003, at the same time many states discovered the economic benefits of attracting entertainment industry business. State leadership quickly began developing infrastructure to support production.
“We wanted to change New...
“One of the main comments I hear is ‘I didn’t know New Mexico has trees,’” says Amber Dodson, director of the state’s film office.
While the state’s natural elements are undoubtedly beautiful and have stood in as a range of locales for countless film and TV productions, they’re only one factor in the state’s transformation from a short-term production location to a true hotspot for studios looking to put down roots.
New Mexico first established its production tax incentives in 2003, at the same time many states discovered the economic benefits of attracting entertainment industry business. State leadership quickly began developing infrastructure to support production.
“We wanted to change New...
- 5/11/2023
- by Zoe Hewitt
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Harper Stewart, the ambitious, obstinate protagonist of Malcolm D. Lee’s The Best Man franchise, has always had questionable decision-making skills and terrible timing.
In the eponymous 1999 film, the young writer, played by Taye Diggs, avoids telling his best friend Lance (Morris Chestnut) that he slept with his fiancée (Monica Calhoun) in college until days before the couple’s wedding (in which Harper is the best man). The news threatens both the nuptials and the stability of the friend group, forcing Harper to work some eleventh-hour magic. In The Best Man Holiday (2013), more after-school special than its predecessor, Harper surreptitiously tries to convince a still angry Lance to hire him as a biographer while struggling to support his pregnant wife, Robyn (Sanaa Lathan).
The lessons Harper learns after each narrow win never seem to stick, and nowhere is that more evident than in...
Harper Stewart, the ambitious, obstinate protagonist of Malcolm D. Lee’s The Best Man franchise, has always had questionable decision-making skills and terrible timing.
In the eponymous 1999 film, the young writer, played by Taye Diggs, avoids telling his best friend Lance (Morris Chestnut) that he slept with his fiancée (Monica Calhoun) in college until days before the couple’s wedding (in which Harper is the best man). The news threatens both the nuptials and the stability of the friend group, forcing Harper to work some eleventh-hour magic. In The Best Man Holiday (2013), more after-school special than its predecessor, Harper surreptitiously tries to convince a still angry Lance to hire him as a biographer while struggling to support his pregnant wife, Robyn (Sanaa Lathan).
The lessons Harper learns after each narrow win never seem to stick, and nowhere is that more evident than in...
- 12/20/2022
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Remember, after “Heat” but before “The Irishman,” how crushingly disappointing it was to have Robert De Niro and Al Pacino re-teamed in the utterly forgettable “Righteous Kill”? “The War With Grandpa,” to be clear, is a much better movie than “Righteous Kill,” but anyone excited about a reunion of the stars of “The Deer Hunter” (De Niro and Christopher Walken) or “Mad Dog and Glory” (De Niro and Uma Thurman) should ratchet their expectations way, way down.
“The War With Grandpa” isn’t going to sully the reputation of any of these screen legends, mainly because it barely registers; it’s the sort of mildly amusing comedy that your brain begins flushing out before you even get to the closing credits.
De Niro stars as Ed, a grandfather to three kids, one of whom — Oakes Fegley (“Pete’s Dragon”) as Peter — has to surrender his room when grandpa comes to...
“The War With Grandpa” isn’t going to sully the reputation of any of these screen legends, mainly because it barely registers; it’s the sort of mildly amusing comedy that your brain begins flushing out before you even get to the closing credits.
De Niro stars as Ed, a grandfather to three kids, one of whom — Oakes Fegley (“Pete’s Dragon”) as Peter — has to surrender his room when grandpa comes to...
- 10/9/2020
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
What if you could return to a time in your childhood and relive your life from that point knowing what you know now? That’s the fantasy at the core of Universal’s “Little,” released April 12, in which Regina Hall’s Jordan Sanders, a character overwhelmed by the pressures of adulthood, gets the chance to relive the life of her younger self, played by Marsai Martin in an oversize wig.
Writer-director Tina Gordon crafted the fluid look of the fantasy comedy in close collaboration with Dp Greg Gardiner and editor David Moritz. Gordon and Gardiner spent their weekends walking through sets and locations, discussing blocking and playing roles including Hall and Martin’s Sanders while acting out the scenes together.
“Greg played everyone in blocking,” says Gordon with a laugh. Among the scenes: a striptease with Luke James’ character, Trevor, and a separate dance atop a bar by Martin.
Gardiner...
Writer-director Tina Gordon crafted the fluid look of the fantasy comedy in close collaboration with Dp Greg Gardiner and editor David Moritz. Gordon and Gardiner spent their weekends walking through sets and locations, discussing blocking and playing roles including Hall and Martin’s Sanders while acting out the scenes together.
“Greg played everyone in blocking,” says Gordon with a laugh. Among the scenes: a striptease with Luke James’ character, Trevor, and a separate dance atop a bar by Martin.
Gardiner...
- 4/17/2019
- by Zoe Hewitt
- Variety Film + TV
“We are Ireland. We are inevitable.”
Each summer, while the multiplexes are filled with the big spectacles and epic blockbusters, the little gems that grip us with their humor, their tragedy and their humanity, manage to find their ways into the cinemas. This year it’s The Journey, the gripping account of how two men from opposite sides of the political spectrum came together to change the course of history.
In 2006, amidst the ongoing, decades-long conflict in Northern Ireland, representatives from the two warring factions meet for negotiations. In one corner is Ian Paisley (Timothy Spall), the deeply conservative British loyalist; in the other is Martin McGuinness (Colm Meaney), a former Irish Republican Army leader who has devoted his life to the cause of Irish reunification. Opposites in every way, the two men at first seem to have little chance of ever finding common ground. But over the course of an impromptu, detour-filled car ride through the Scottish countryside, each begins to see the other less as an enemy, and more as an individual—a breakthrough that promises to at last bring peace to the troubled region.
Driven by two virtuoso central performances, The Journey is a more-relevant-than-ever reminder of how simple humanity can overcome political division. Freddie Highmore, Toby Stephens, Catherine McCormack and John Hurt co-star. (Review)
I recently spoke with the director of The Journey, award winning director Nick Hamm. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Hamm directed cult-classic The Hole (2001), starring Thora Birch and Keira Knightley, in her feature film debut. He also helmed Lionsgate’s thriller Godsend (2004), starring Robert DeNiro, Rebecca Romijn and Greg Kinnear.
Hamm later produced and directed the 80’s U2-centric comedy, Killing Bono (2011) for Paramount Pictures and Northern Ireland Screen, starring Ben Barnes, Robert Sheehan and Pete Postelwaite.
During our discussion about his latest movie, the British director and I talked about the film’s mixture of tension and humor, the human story and the message of The Journey.
We Are Movie Geeks: The Journey is a good story that should be told – the type that audiences don’t see anymore. It opened in 2016 in Toronto and then Venice, and finally had its premiere at the Belfast Film Festival in May 2017. What was the crowd’s reaction and how was it received?
Nick Hamm: That was a really extraordinary event. I’ve seen it now with thousands of people watching the movie and if you’re going to see a movie like this, you really need to take it back to Northern Ireland to see what they make of it. In the end, that’s where the authenticity of the film is. It is important to us. The event was attended by nearly a thousand people and political leaders from both sides of the community came so we had politicians from Sinn Féin and politicians from the Democratic Unionist Party (Dup). It was a very emotional and momentous event because in many respects it reminded people of something that they had achieved and had risked losing.
We Are Movie Geeks: It is such an interesting script by writer Colin Bateman, one that is funny, sad, and dramatic. Tell me about lead actors Timothy Spall (Paisley) and Colm Meaney (McGuinness – who died recently in March) and the casting. Their characters became known as ”the Chuckle Brothers”. Both actors were very impressive to watch.
Nick Hamm: What underscores everything is the fact that Colin’s script is so good and when that happens, you attract really good actors. Both Tim and Colm were fantastic partners on the film. Tim had to transform himself – he’s playing a six foot five, Northern Irish politician when in reality he’s a five foot nine London actor. We did some prosthetics on his chin and a little aging on his hair, along with the false teeth. The hair and makeup was done by Polly McKay. Tim became the character of Paisley which was fascinating to watch and he’s one of those actors that totally transforms himself.
Colm is one of Ireland’s best actors. What was important was to find somebody who could give McGuinness sympathy. This is a man whose background is well documented. What do you do? You start by making him human, you give him a life and a backstory. When you put someone like Colm Meany in that role, Colm transforms himself for that. He understands the culture from where that character comes, he understands the basis of that character’s ideology and he understands how that character ticks. If you have that and you are a good actor – which he is, then you have a good combination. It was great to watch him.
We Are Movie Geeks: I was very pleased to see the late John Hurt in the film in what was one of his final roles.
Nick Hamm: We all knew that John was very sick while he was doing the film. When we offered him the movie, he wanted to work until the end and play the part. It was real tribute to have him involved as a part of the film.
We Are Movie Geeks: Irish writer Seamus Heaney, although not a political animal was an artist like yourself. He was affected by “The Troubles” when his cousin Colum was killed as a result of the war – Heaney moved from Northern Ireland to Southern Ireland after that. Has it affected you in any way and was this a partial reason why you made the film?
Nick Hamm: It hasn’t affected me personally but I knew people who were. Growing up I was in school in Northern Ireland and I knew people who had real problems. I could see it with my own eyes, the difficulties back then, and it was an intense situation. The vast portion of the people in Northern Ireland went on about their daily life unaffected by it. The real heroes were the people who got on with their daily lives in that situation.
The Journey for me shows how a unique political friendship was achieved at the personal cost of both men. Both men were vilified by their respective communities, but it was one of the most unique political friendships that I had ever witnessed. For two people who were so antagonistic towards each other, who ultimately came to respect each other, and became friends with each other, is why I made the movie and to tell their story.
We Are Movie Geeks: Despite technically being set in Scotland, and on a plane, The Journey was filmed in Northern Ireland. There’s no green screen and it was filmed on the road with your director of photography Greg Gardiner. What was the approach when you took it out of the plane and into the car?
Nick Hamm: This device protected the claustrophobia that the film so demanded while allowing a political version of a road movie to take place. We decided to not be frightened by the tyranny of the car but rather embrace it and enjoy the conceit. Greg and I had discussed and ultimately rejected the idea of green-screen or back-projection very early. We filmed on the road, creating a ‘mobile studio’; our own little cinematic microcosm
We Are Movie Geeks: There is one scene in particular, where McGuiness and Paisley let down their defenses somewhat, set inside a church and then out in the cemetery, that has real depth.
Nick Hamm: I think in the cemetery scene when Colm breaks down, everyone expects Paisley to be sympathetic and wrap his arms around him, but he rebuffs him and shows him no pity or sympathy. Every scene was like a boxing match with each character winning a round.
We Are Movie Geeks: I appreciated the sound editing and especially the score from Stephen Warbeck who first became known for the music for “Prime Suspect” and won an Academy Award for his score for Shakespeare in Love. It is a really nice score.
Nick Hamm: It was something quite new for him and he really had a go at it.
We Are Movie Geeks: Did you speak to the families and to some of the individuals involved? And what was their reaction?
Nick Hamm: I met McGuiness before he died. The whole film came together very quickly from the start.. From the script to the financing, it was out in about two and a half years. It’s been a very quick process and very rare for an independent film. I did sit with McGuiness before we started filming about his friendship with Paisley and it was fascinating to hear him speak how important the relationship was and how important it was that they maintained contact up to its logical conclusion. I did talk to Paisley’s family and to his son. We wanted to reassure them we were not riding roughshod over the history. But at the same time it was important to be creatively independent. We did not share the screenplay with them at any stage. In the end both families really loved the movie.
Plus Sinn Féin and the Dup (Democratic Unionist Party) really liked the film, which is almost unheard of, both parties liking the same thing never mind the same movie. The most important thing for us was that the story was balanced.
We Are Movie Geeks: Brexit is seemingly in the news all the time now. As a result, checkpoints could be set up again to control borders. The timing of the film and its release couldn’t be more relevant. Will it cause a major headache between Northern Ireland and Ireland? Will it hinder Ireland’s reunification?
Nick Hamm: The question needs to be asked and it’s a dreadful situation. The idea that there will be a border back in Ireland again, I don’t think anybody wants that. I know for a fact that the Dup doesn’t want that and it would be suicide for both the economy and the welfare of the people to start putting border checks back up. That border in Ireland runs through people’s fields and farms. It was never designed to be a hard border, which it was during “The Troubles”. It would be an unmitigated tragedy to go back to that.
We Are Movie Geeks: Speaking of Indie Films, what are your thoughts on how people see films? Many are leaving the cinemas in favor of watching a film at home or on the computers with the advent of Netflix and Hulu, etc.
Nick Hamm: I like that at the beginning of a movie’s life that it has a public screening. I think the ways a film is distributed these days is really fascinating. I don’t distinguish between how and where a movie is watched. It’s changing so quickly, in five years-time it’ll change all again. Even the act of going to a movie theater is going to change. As long as they keep putting out these huge blockbuster films, in the cinemas is the best way to watch them. However some films work better on a smaller screen. I think screen size some people can get very worked up about.
We Are Movie Geeks: What’s your next project?
Nick Hamm: We are going to do the DeLorean story, Driven. It’s through the eyes of the guy who gave him up to the FBI. We’re hoping to shoot in September in Puerto Rico. The script is from The Journey’s Colin Bateman. Jason Sudeikis, Lee Pace and Timothy Olyphant are in the picture.
Synopsis:
Driven is the turbo-charged story about the FBI sting operation to entrap maverick car designer John DeLorean.
Sudeikis stars as Jim Hoffman, a con artist-turned-informer for the FBI in the war on drugs. Olyphant plays his handler, determined to snare the world-famous but enigmatic DeLorean (Pace) — desperate for cash to finance his dream of designing the ultimate car of the future — in a drug deal that would become the most lurid celebrity scandal of the 1980s.
From IFC Films, see The Journey in theaters now.
The post The Journey – Filmmaker Nick Hamm Discusses His New Film appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.
Each summer, while the multiplexes are filled with the big spectacles and epic blockbusters, the little gems that grip us with their humor, their tragedy and their humanity, manage to find their ways into the cinemas. This year it’s The Journey, the gripping account of how two men from opposite sides of the political spectrum came together to change the course of history.
In 2006, amidst the ongoing, decades-long conflict in Northern Ireland, representatives from the two warring factions meet for negotiations. In one corner is Ian Paisley (Timothy Spall), the deeply conservative British loyalist; in the other is Martin McGuinness (Colm Meaney), a former Irish Republican Army leader who has devoted his life to the cause of Irish reunification. Opposites in every way, the two men at first seem to have little chance of ever finding common ground. But over the course of an impromptu, detour-filled car ride through the Scottish countryside, each begins to see the other less as an enemy, and more as an individual—a breakthrough that promises to at last bring peace to the troubled region.
Driven by two virtuoso central performances, The Journey is a more-relevant-than-ever reminder of how simple humanity can overcome political division. Freddie Highmore, Toby Stephens, Catherine McCormack and John Hurt co-star. (Review)
I recently spoke with the director of The Journey, award winning director Nick Hamm. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Hamm directed cult-classic The Hole (2001), starring Thora Birch and Keira Knightley, in her feature film debut. He also helmed Lionsgate’s thriller Godsend (2004), starring Robert DeNiro, Rebecca Romijn and Greg Kinnear.
Hamm later produced and directed the 80’s U2-centric comedy, Killing Bono (2011) for Paramount Pictures and Northern Ireland Screen, starring Ben Barnes, Robert Sheehan and Pete Postelwaite.
During our discussion about his latest movie, the British director and I talked about the film’s mixture of tension and humor, the human story and the message of The Journey.
We Are Movie Geeks: The Journey is a good story that should be told – the type that audiences don’t see anymore. It opened in 2016 in Toronto and then Venice, and finally had its premiere at the Belfast Film Festival in May 2017. What was the crowd’s reaction and how was it received?
Nick Hamm: That was a really extraordinary event. I’ve seen it now with thousands of people watching the movie and if you’re going to see a movie like this, you really need to take it back to Northern Ireland to see what they make of it. In the end, that’s where the authenticity of the film is. It is important to us. The event was attended by nearly a thousand people and political leaders from both sides of the community came so we had politicians from Sinn Féin and politicians from the Democratic Unionist Party (Dup). It was a very emotional and momentous event because in many respects it reminded people of something that they had achieved and had risked losing.
We Are Movie Geeks: It is such an interesting script by writer Colin Bateman, one that is funny, sad, and dramatic. Tell me about lead actors Timothy Spall (Paisley) and Colm Meaney (McGuinness – who died recently in March) and the casting. Their characters became known as ”the Chuckle Brothers”. Both actors were very impressive to watch.
Nick Hamm: What underscores everything is the fact that Colin’s script is so good and when that happens, you attract really good actors. Both Tim and Colm were fantastic partners on the film. Tim had to transform himself – he’s playing a six foot five, Northern Irish politician when in reality he’s a five foot nine London actor. We did some prosthetics on his chin and a little aging on his hair, along with the false teeth. The hair and makeup was done by Polly McKay. Tim became the character of Paisley which was fascinating to watch and he’s one of those actors that totally transforms himself.
Colm is one of Ireland’s best actors. What was important was to find somebody who could give McGuinness sympathy. This is a man whose background is well documented. What do you do? You start by making him human, you give him a life and a backstory. When you put someone like Colm Meany in that role, Colm transforms himself for that. He understands the culture from where that character comes, he understands the basis of that character’s ideology and he understands how that character ticks. If you have that and you are a good actor – which he is, then you have a good combination. It was great to watch him.
We Are Movie Geeks: I was very pleased to see the late John Hurt in the film in what was one of his final roles.
Nick Hamm: We all knew that John was very sick while he was doing the film. When we offered him the movie, he wanted to work until the end and play the part. It was real tribute to have him involved as a part of the film.
We Are Movie Geeks: Irish writer Seamus Heaney, although not a political animal was an artist like yourself. He was affected by “The Troubles” when his cousin Colum was killed as a result of the war – Heaney moved from Northern Ireland to Southern Ireland after that. Has it affected you in any way and was this a partial reason why you made the film?
Nick Hamm: It hasn’t affected me personally but I knew people who were. Growing up I was in school in Northern Ireland and I knew people who had real problems. I could see it with my own eyes, the difficulties back then, and it was an intense situation. The vast portion of the people in Northern Ireland went on about their daily life unaffected by it. The real heroes were the people who got on with their daily lives in that situation.
The Journey for me shows how a unique political friendship was achieved at the personal cost of both men. Both men were vilified by their respective communities, but it was one of the most unique political friendships that I had ever witnessed. For two people who were so antagonistic towards each other, who ultimately came to respect each other, and became friends with each other, is why I made the movie and to tell their story.
We Are Movie Geeks: Despite technically being set in Scotland, and on a plane, The Journey was filmed in Northern Ireland. There’s no green screen and it was filmed on the road with your director of photography Greg Gardiner. What was the approach when you took it out of the plane and into the car?
Nick Hamm: This device protected the claustrophobia that the film so demanded while allowing a political version of a road movie to take place. We decided to not be frightened by the tyranny of the car but rather embrace it and enjoy the conceit. Greg and I had discussed and ultimately rejected the idea of green-screen or back-projection very early. We filmed on the road, creating a ‘mobile studio’; our own little cinematic microcosm
We Are Movie Geeks: There is one scene in particular, where McGuiness and Paisley let down their defenses somewhat, set inside a church and then out in the cemetery, that has real depth.
Nick Hamm: I think in the cemetery scene when Colm breaks down, everyone expects Paisley to be sympathetic and wrap his arms around him, but he rebuffs him and shows him no pity or sympathy. Every scene was like a boxing match with each character winning a round.
We Are Movie Geeks: I appreciated the sound editing and especially the score from Stephen Warbeck who first became known for the music for “Prime Suspect” and won an Academy Award for his score for Shakespeare in Love. It is a really nice score.
Nick Hamm: It was something quite new for him and he really had a go at it.
We Are Movie Geeks: Did you speak to the families and to some of the individuals involved? And what was their reaction?
Nick Hamm: I met McGuiness before he died. The whole film came together very quickly from the start.. From the script to the financing, it was out in about two and a half years. It’s been a very quick process and very rare for an independent film. I did sit with McGuiness before we started filming about his friendship with Paisley and it was fascinating to hear him speak how important the relationship was and how important it was that they maintained contact up to its logical conclusion. I did talk to Paisley’s family and to his son. We wanted to reassure them we were not riding roughshod over the history. But at the same time it was important to be creatively independent. We did not share the screenplay with them at any stage. In the end both families really loved the movie.
Plus Sinn Féin and the Dup (Democratic Unionist Party) really liked the film, which is almost unheard of, both parties liking the same thing never mind the same movie. The most important thing for us was that the story was balanced.
We Are Movie Geeks: Brexit is seemingly in the news all the time now. As a result, checkpoints could be set up again to control borders. The timing of the film and its release couldn’t be more relevant. Will it cause a major headache between Northern Ireland and Ireland? Will it hinder Ireland’s reunification?
Nick Hamm: The question needs to be asked and it’s a dreadful situation. The idea that there will be a border back in Ireland again, I don’t think anybody wants that. I know for a fact that the Dup doesn’t want that and it would be suicide for both the economy and the welfare of the people to start putting border checks back up. That border in Ireland runs through people’s fields and farms. It was never designed to be a hard border, which it was during “The Troubles”. It would be an unmitigated tragedy to go back to that.
We Are Movie Geeks: Speaking of Indie Films, what are your thoughts on how people see films? Many are leaving the cinemas in favor of watching a film at home or on the computers with the advent of Netflix and Hulu, etc.
Nick Hamm: I like that at the beginning of a movie’s life that it has a public screening. I think the ways a film is distributed these days is really fascinating. I don’t distinguish between how and where a movie is watched. It’s changing so quickly, in five years-time it’ll change all again. Even the act of going to a movie theater is going to change. As long as they keep putting out these huge blockbuster films, in the cinemas is the best way to watch them. However some films work better on a smaller screen. I think screen size some people can get very worked up about.
We Are Movie Geeks: What’s your next project?
Nick Hamm: We are going to do the DeLorean story, Driven. It’s through the eyes of the guy who gave him up to the FBI. We’re hoping to shoot in September in Puerto Rico. The script is from The Journey’s Colin Bateman. Jason Sudeikis, Lee Pace and Timothy Olyphant are in the picture.
Synopsis:
Driven is the turbo-charged story about the FBI sting operation to entrap maverick car designer John DeLorean.
Sudeikis stars as Jim Hoffman, a con artist-turned-informer for the FBI in the war on drugs. Olyphant plays his handler, determined to snare the world-famous but enigmatic DeLorean (Pace) — desperate for cash to finance his dream of designing the ultimate car of the future — in a drug deal that would become the most lurid celebrity scandal of the 1980s.
From IFC Films, see The Journey in theaters now.
The post The Journey – Filmmaker Nick Hamm Discusses His New Film appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.
- 6/23/2017
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
While a story of opponents on the farthest ends of the political spectrum coming together to find agreement seems like a pipe dream in today’s world, it did happen — at least once. The first trailer has arrived for The Journey, the latest drama from director Nick Hamm. Starring Timothy Spall and Colm Meaney, the film tells the fictional account of two political adversaries who are forced to take a small road trip together, leading to changes of hearts and the shifting of history’s course.
Penned by Colin Bateman and lensed by Greg Gardiner, The Journey looks to be a dramatic portrait of allegiances and differences with a lush color palette and mise en scené. See the trailer below, along with a synopsis, for the film that also stars John Hurt, Ian McElhinney, and Freddie Highmore.
The Journey is the gripping account of how two men from opposite sides...
Penned by Colin Bateman and lensed by Greg Gardiner, The Journey looks to be a dramatic portrait of allegiances and differences with a lush color palette and mise en scené. See the trailer below, along with a synopsis, for the film that also stars John Hurt, Ian McElhinney, and Freddie Highmore.
The Journey is the gripping account of how two men from opposite sides...
- 4/3/2017
- by Mike Mazzanti
- The Film Stage
Take a look @ the June 2016 home video releases from cult movie specialists Arrow Video Us, via Mvd Entertainment Group, including "Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Vol 2 on Blu-ray + DVD, June 14, "Suture" on Blu-ray + DVD, June 21 and "Return Of The Killer Tomatoes" on Blu-ray, June 28:
"Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Vol 2" available June 14, 2016, includes three classic films from directors Buichi Saito ("Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril"), Ko Nakahira ("Crazed Fruit") and Haruyasu Noguchi.
In Saito's "Tokyo Mighty Guy" : "...Akira Kobayashi stars as 'Jiro' , a chef who opens a restaurant in the busy 'Ginza' district. His culinary skills and dashing good looks bring in the women as well as unwanted trouble, while an explosive political scandal builds around his girlfriend's business.
In Nakashira's "Danger Pays", actor Joe Shishido ("Massacre Gun", "Retaliation") stars in a crime caper about counterfeiting:
"...when one billion yen goes Awol, 'Joe the Ace' (Shishido) spies an opportunity to get rich quick,...
"Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Vol 2" available June 14, 2016, includes three classic films from directors Buichi Saito ("Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril"), Ko Nakahira ("Crazed Fruit") and Haruyasu Noguchi.
In Saito's "Tokyo Mighty Guy" : "...Akira Kobayashi stars as 'Jiro' , a chef who opens a restaurant in the busy 'Ginza' district. His culinary skills and dashing good looks bring in the women as well as unwanted trouble, while an explosive political scandal builds around his girlfriend's business.
In Nakashira's "Danger Pays", actor Joe Shishido ("Massacre Gun", "Retaliation") stars in a crime caper about counterfeiting:
"...when one billion yen goes Awol, 'Joe the Ace' (Shishido) spies an opportunity to get rich quick,...
- 4/19/2016
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Ice Cube and Cedric the Entertainer are reunited in Barbershop: The Next Cut, directed by Malcolm D. Lee (“The Best Man” films, “Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins”).
It’s been more than 10 years since our last appointment at Calvin’s Barbershop. Calvin (Ice Cube) and his longtime crew, including Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer), are still there, but the shop has undergone some major changes. Most noticeably, our once male-dominated sanctuary is now co-ed. The ladies bring their own flavor, drama and gossip to the shop challenging the fellas at every turn. Despite the good times and camaraderie within the shop, the surrounding community has taken a turn for the worse, forcing Calvin and our crew to come together to not only save the shop, but their neighborhood.
Check out the brand new trailer now.
Barbershop: The Next Cut also stars Regina Hall (“Think Like a Man”), Oscar winner Common...
It’s been more than 10 years since our last appointment at Calvin’s Barbershop. Calvin (Ice Cube) and his longtime crew, including Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer), are still there, but the shop has undergone some major changes. Most noticeably, our once male-dominated sanctuary is now co-ed. The ladies bring their own flavor, drama and gossip to the shop challenging the fellas at every turn. Despite the good times and camaraderie within the shop, the surrounding community has taken a turn for the worse, forcing Calvin and our crew to come together to not only save the shop, but their neighborhood.
Check out the brand new trailer now.
Barbershop: The Next Cut also stars Regina Hall (“Think Like a Man”), Oscar winner Common...
- 11/25/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Writer-director Malcolm D. Lee has re-assembled the entire nine-member cast of the original 1999 movie for this sequel.
Sequels are rampant in Hollywood, but it’s rare to see a sequel produced almost 15 years after the release of the original movie. This happens when a movie has a fan base, and filmmakers and cast members are eager to revisit an earlier opus. The Best Man was a hit in 1999, partly because it appealed to a more upscale African-American audience than Hollywood ordinarily acknowledges. Now writer-director Malcolm D. Lee has re-assembled the entire nine-member cast of the original movie for The Best Man Holiday, which is set at Christmas and has a good chance to succeed and also become a holiday perennial on TV and DVD.
The original movie followed the romantic and professional travails of a group of college friends as they set out in the world and prepared for the...
Sequels are rampant in Hollywood, but it’s rare to see a sequel produced almost 15 years after the release of the original movie. This happens when a movie has a fan base, and filmmakers and cast members are eager to revisit an earlier opus. The Best Man was a hit in 1999, partly because it appealed to a more upscale African-American audience than Hollywood ordinarily acknowledges. Now writer-director Malcolm D. Lee has re-assembled the entire nine-member cast of the original movie for The Best Man Holiday, which is set at Christmas and has a good chance to succeed and also become a holiday perennial on TV and DVD.
The original movie followed the romantic and professional travails of a group of college friends as they set out in the world and prepared for the...
- 11/13/2013
- by Stephen Farber
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed its 276-member-strong class of 2013.
The list, published by The Hollywood Reporter, includes actors, cinematographers, designers, directors, documentarians, executives, film editors, makeup artists and hairstylists, "members-at-large," musicians, producers, PR folks, short filmmakers and animators, sound technicians, visual effects artists, and writers.
Jason Bateman, Rosario Dawson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Milla Jovovich, Lucy Liu, Jennifer Lopez, Emily Mortimer, Sandra Oh, Jason Schwartzman, and Michael Peña are among the roster of actors, while "The Heat" and "Bridesmaids" helmer Paul Feig made the directors' cut.
"We did not change our criteria at all," says Academy president Hawk Koch of this year's larger-than-usual class. "Yes, this year there is a tremendous amount of women, a tremendous amount of people of color, people from all walks of life. This year, we asked the branches to look at everybody who wasn't in the Academy but who deserved to be.
The list, published by The Hollywood Reporter, includes actors, cinematographers, designers, directors, documentarians, executives, film editors, makeup artists and hairstylists, "members-at-large," musicians, producers, PR folks, short filmmakers and animators, sound technicians, visual effects artists, and writers.
Jason Bateman, Rosario Dawson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Milla Jovovich, Lucy Liu, Jennifer Lopez, Emily Mortimer, Sandra Oh, Jason Schwartzman, and Michael Peña are among the roster of actors, while "The Heat" and "Bridesmaids" helmer Paul Feig made the directors' cut.
"We did not change our criteria at all," says Academy president Hawk Koch of this year's larger-than-usual class. "Yes, this year there is a tremendous amount of women, a tremendous amount of people of color, people from all walks of life. This year, we asked the branches to look at everybody who wasn't in the Academy but who deserved to be.
- 7/4/2013
- by Laura Larson
- Moviefone
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today the 276 members of the entertainment industry invited to join organization. The list includes actors, directors, documentarians, executives, film editors, producers and more. Of those listed below, those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy's membership in 2013. "These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today," said Academy President Hawk Koch in a press release. "Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy." Koch also told Variety, "In the past eight or nine years, each branch could only bring in X amount of members. There were people each branch would have liked to get in but couldn't. We asked them to be more inclusive of the best of the best, and each branch was excited, because they got...
- 6/28/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The Academy just added 276 Oscar voters.
That’s 100 more than last year, and part of an easing of a longstanding cap on the number of new members allowed to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences each year.
AMPAS usually adds between 130 and 180 new members, replacing those who have quit or passed away. The membership now stands around 6,000.
Jason Bateman, Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emmanuelle Riva, and Chris Tucker are among the actors who have been invited to join, the organization announced today.
Other interesting additions: the musician Prince, Girls and Tiny Furniture writer/director/actress Lena Dunham,...
That’s 100 more than last year, and part of an easing of a longstanding cap on the number of new members allowed to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences each year.
AMPAS usually adds between 130 and 180 new members, replacing those who have quit or passed away. The membership now stands around 6,000.
Jason Bateman, Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emmanuelle Riva, and Chris Tucker are among the actors who have been invited to join, the organization announced today.
Other interesting additions: the musician Prince, Girls and Tiny Furniture writer/director/actress Lena Dunham,...
- 6/28/2013
- by Anthony Breznican
- EW - Inside Movies
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 276 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2013.
“These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today,” said Academy President Hawk Koch. “Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy.”
The 2013 invitees are:
Actors
Jason Bateman – “Up in the Air,” “Juno”
Miriam Colon – “City of Hope,” “Scarface”
Rosario Dawson – “Rent,” “Frank Miller’s Sin City”
Kimberly Elise – “For Colored Girls,” “Beloved”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “Lincoln,” “The Dark Knight Rises”
Charles Grodin – “Midnight Run,” “The Heartbreak Kid”
Rebecca Hall – “Iron Man 3,” “The Town”
Lance Henriksen – “Aliens,” “The Terminator”
Jack Huston – “Not Fade Away,” “Factory Girl”
Milla Jovovich – “Resident Evil,...
“These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today,” said Academy President Hawk Koch. “Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy.”
The 2013 invitees are:
Actors
Jason Bateman – “Up in the Air,” “Juno”
Miriam Colon – “City of Hope,” “Scarface”
Rosario Dawson – “Rent,” “Frank Miller’s Sin City”
Kimberly Elise – “For Colored Girls,” “Beloved”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “Lincoln,” “The Dark Knight Rises”
Charles Grodin – “Midnight Run,” “The Heartbreak Kid”
Rebecca Hall – “Iron Man 3,” “The Town”
Lance Henriksen – “Aliens,” “The Terminator”
Jack Huston – “Not Fade Away,” “Factory Girl”
Milla Jovovich – “Resident Evil,...
- 6/28/2013
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 276 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2013. “These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today,” said Academy President Hawk Koch. “Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy.” The 2013 invitees are: Actors Jason Bateman – “Up in the Air,” “Juno” Miriam Colon – “City of Hope,” “Scarface” Rosario Dawson – “Rent,” “Frank Miller’s Sin City” Kimberly Elise – “For Colored Girls,” “Beloved” Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “Lincoln,” “The Dark Knight Rises” Charles Grodin – “Midnight Run,” “The Heartbreak Kid” Rebecca Hall – “Iron Man 3,” “The Town” Lance Henriksen – “Aliens,” “The Terminator” Jack Huston – “Not Fade Away,” “Factory Girl” Milla Jovovich – “Resident Evil,...
- 6/28/2013
- by Josh Abraham
- Hollywoodnews.com
Opens
Friday, Nov. 7
Having successfully demonstrated his big-screen comic chops with "Old School", Will Ferrell again proves there is indeed life after "SNL", playing an elf-reared naif who sets off from the North Pole for New York to seek out the biological dad he never met.
While the words "instant holiday classic" might be pushing it, "Elf" is at the very least a breezily entertaining, perfectly cast family treat. Actor-director Jon Favreau, working from a colorful script by David Berenbaum, has delivered just the right combination of naughty and nice, or, as the MPAA calls it, "mild rude humor and language."
That crowd-pleasing blend and Ferrell's irresistible performance will not only ensure that the halls of New Line will be decked out in plenty of green (as if the upcoming final "Lord of the Rings" installment hasn't already all but guaranteed that), but it's also likely to give a certain cat in a certain hat a run for his money this holiday season.
What it basically comes down to is this: How bad can a movie be that begins with a sullen-looking Bob Newhart clad in full elf regalia?
Newhart's Papa Elf provides the narration for this pleasantly fractured fairy tale about a little baby in an orphanage, who happened to find his way into Santa's sack of toys one Christmas Eve. The stowaway wasn't discovered until after the man in the red suit (played by gruff old Lou Grant himself, Ed Asner) returned to the North Pole and was subsequently raised by Papa Elf as his own son.
It soon became quite apparent that the child he named Buddy (Ferrell) was going to have trouble fitting in, given that he was growing at a rate that was roughly three times that of his workshop colleagues.
Ultimately Buddy is told the truth about his being an elf-made man and that his real biological father is alive and well and living in Manhattan.
A Scrooge-like workaholic children's book publisher, papa Walter Hobbs (James Caan) also happens to be a permanent fixture on Santa's naughty list. But that doesn't thwart Buddy, who travels to New York to introduce himself to Dad.
As babe-in-the-woods Buddy -- a vision in green, yellow tights and pointy shoes -- soon discovers, not only does Hobbs not exactly welcome his long-lost son with open arms, but Manhattan is in serious need of an injection of Christmas spirit.
It's jingling formula all the way, but Favreau (who makes good on "Made", his 2001 directorial debut) and screenwriter Berenbaum (who also penned the Walt Disney Co.'s upcoming "The Haunted Mansion"), lend the story plenty of comic smarts. There's sweetness, but it's seldom cloying.
There's also the terrific supporting cast, which includes Mary Steenburgen as Caan's resilient wife and Zooey Deschanel as the jaded Jovie, who works with Buddy at the thoughtfully resurrected Gimbel's department store
But there would be no "Elf" without Ferrell, and whether he's trying to hopscotch his way across Broadway or attempting to navigate his first escalator, he always manages to work a rousing subversive element into his character's core innocence.
Visually, the picture celebrates the best of the genre. The North Pole sequences incorporate animated elements that pay direct tribute to those vintage Rankin-Bass specials, while cinematographer Greg Gardiner and production designer Rusty Smith favor old-fashioned, forced perspective techniques over CGI to create those size disparities between Buddy and the elves.
Aurally, John Debney's appropriately festive score has been supplemented with a generous selection of swingin' Yuletide tunes by Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles and Leon Redbone, while Deschanel, who joins Ferrell in an impromptu rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside", reveals a singing voice that's a study in Keely Smith cool.
Elf
New Line Cinema
Guy Walks Into a Bar Prods.
Credits:
Director: Jon Favreau
Screenwriter: David Berenbaum
Producers: Jon Berg
Todd Komarnicki, Shauna Robertson
Executive producers: Jimmy Miller
Julie Wixson Darmody
Toby Emmerich
Kent Alterman
Cale Boyter
Director of photography: Greg Gardiner
Production designer: Rusty Smith
Editor: Dan Lebental
Costume designer: Laura Jean Shannon
Music: John Debney
Visual effects supervisor: Joe Bauer
Casting: Susie Farris
Cast:
Buddy: Will Ferrell
Walter: James Caan
Jovie: Zooey Deschanel
Emily: Mary Steenburgen
Santa Claus: Edward Asner
Papa Elf: Bob Newhart
Michael: Daniel Tay
Manager: Faizon Love
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Friday, Nov. 7
Having successfully demonstrated his big-screen comic chops with "Old School", Will Ferrell again proves there is indeed life after "SNL", playing an elf-reared naif who sets off from the North Pole for New York to seek out the biological dad he never met.
While the words "instant holiday classic" might be pushing it, "Elf" is at the very least a breezily entertaining, perfectly cast family treat. Actor-director Jon Favreau, working from a colorful script by David Berenbaum, has delivered just the right combination of naughty and nice, or, as the MPAA calls it, "mild rude humor and language."
That crowd-pleasing blend and Ferrell's irresistible performance will not only ensure that the halls of New Line will be decked out in plenty of green (as if the upcoming final "Lord of the Rings" installment hasn't already all but guaranteed that), but it's also likely to give a certain cat in a certain hat a run for his money this holiday season.
What it basically comes down to is this: How bad can a movie be that begins with a sullen-looking Bob Newhart clad in full elf regalia?
Newhart's Papa Elf provides the narration for this pleasantly fractured fairy tale about a little baby in an orphanage, who happened to find his way into Santa's sack of toys one Christmas Eve. The stowaway wasn't discovered until after the man in the red suit (played by gruff old Lou Grant himself, Ed Asner) returned to the North Pole and was subsequently raised by Papa Elf as his own son.
It soon became quite apparent that the child he named Buddy (Ferrell) was going to have trouble fitting in, given that he was growing at a rate that was roughly three times that of his workshop colleagues.
Ultimately Buddy is told the truth about his being an elf-made man and that his real biological father is alive and well and living in Manhattan.
A Scrooge-like workaholic children's book publisher, papa Walter Hobbs (James Caan) also happens to be a permanent fixture on Santa's naughty list. But that doesn't thwart Buddy, who travels to New York to introduce himself to Dad.
As babe-in-the-woods Buddy -- a vision in green, yellow tights and pointy shoes -- soon discovers, not only does Hobbs not exactly welcome his long-lost son with open arms, but Manhattan is in serious need of an injection of Christmas spirit.
It's jingling formula all the way, but Favreau (who makes good on "Made", his 2001 directorial debut) and screenwriter Berenbaum (who also penned the Walt Disney Co.'s upcoming "The Haunted Mansion"), lend the story plenty of comic smarts. There's sweetness, but it's seldom cloying.
There's also the terrific supporting cast, which includes Mary Steenburgen as Caan's resilient wife and Zooey Deschanel as the jaded Jovie, who works with Buddy at the thoughtfully resurrected Gimbel's department store
But there would be no "Elf" without Ferrell, and whether he's trying to hopscotch his way across Broadway or attempting to navigate his first escalator, he always manages to work a rousing subversive element into his character's core innocence.
Visually, the picture celebrates the best of the genre. The North Pole sequences incorporate animated elements that pay direct tribute to those vintage Rankin-Bass specials, while cinematographer Greg Gardiner and production designer Rusty Smith favor old-fashioned, forced perspective techniques over CGI to create those size disparities between Buddy and the elves.
Aurally, John Debney's appropriately festive score has been supplemented with a generous selection of swingin' Yuletide tunes by Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles and Leon Redbone, while Deschanel, who joins Ferrell in an impromptu rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside", reveals a singing voice that's a study in Keely Smith cool.
Elf
New Line Cinema
Guy Walks Into a Bar Prods.
Credits:
Director: Jon Favreau
Screenwriter: David Berenbaum
Producers: Jon Berg
Todd Komarnicki, Shauna Robertson
Executive producers: Jimmy Miller
Julie Wixson Darmody
Toby Emmerich
Kent Alterman
Cale Boyter
Director of photography: Greg Gardiner
Production designer: Rusty Smith
Editor: Dan Lebental
Costume designer: Laura Jean Shannon
Music: John Debney
Visual effects supervisor: Joe Bauer
Casting: Susie Farris
Cast:
Buddy: Will Ferrell
Walter: James Caan
Jovie: Zooey Deschanel
Emily: Mary Steenburgen
Santa Claus: Edward Asner
Papa Elf: Bob Newhart
Michael: Daniel Tay
Manager: Faizon Love
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
The Olsen twins, Ashley and Mary-Kate, are growing up. In their new movie, New York Minute, they have turned 17, are kissing boys and are even playing scenes wearing no more than a robe and a towel. For all the peekaboo provided by their constant wardrobe changes, males of any age will only come to this chick flick kicking and screaming. Nevertheless, the Olsens' core female following, adolescent and teenage girls, will enjoy the innocuous tale of estranged sisters pulling together against comical adversity during one wild day in Manhattan. Prospects are even brighter in ancillary markets.
This tailor-made project, which the twins co-produced with Denise Di Novi and Robert Thorne, the head of their own company, is cheerfully disconnected from the real world, bearing a great resemblance to screwball comedies of old. With Eugene Levy and Andy Richter contributing inspired clowning and TV veteran Dennie Gordon moving the story along at a merry pace, this harmless concoction should help the Olsens plug into a new generation of viewers.
The script by Emily Fox, Adam Cooper and Bill Collage is designed to maximize comic predicaments for the twins. The Ryan sisters, as they are know here, live on Long Island with their widowed physician dad (radio personality Dr. Drew Pinsky). They may be twins, but they are not identical: Overachiever Jane Ashley Olsen) is due to deliver a speech at Columbia University in a competition to win a scholarship to Oxford University. Rock rebel Roxy (Mary-Kate Olsen) plans to ditch school for the umpteenth time to sneak into a rock video shoot in Manhattan to slip her band's demo into the hands of the A&R guys. (Amusing side note: Jack Osbourne of The Osbournes makes his feature debut as Roxy's band manager.)
Things go awry immediately. Both get booted off a commuter train. Then a sinister guy slips a microchip into Roxy's purse. Bennie Bang (Richter), the hapless gangster who is desperate to get his hands on that chip, offers the two a ride into the city. Before he can retrieve his precious chip, they escape his clutches. Unfortunately, Jane leaves her all-important dayplanner in the back seat of his limo.
So the chase is on. The girls are pursued not only by the woefully inept Benny -- who as No. 1 adopted son of his Chinese gangster mom must effect a bad Chinese accent -- but by Max Lomax (Levy), an obsessed truancy officer determined to nab Roxy, his No. 1 violator.
(It's interesting to track what constitutes villainy in Hollywood movies today. Whereas once villains were bank robbers, drug dealers, white-slave traders, psychotic losers and abusive husbands, this movie's villains are intellectual property thieves as the microchip contains pirated music and movies.)
The girls acquire love interests in Jared Padalecki, playing a senator's son who is drawn to Roxy, and Riley Smith, a bicycle messenger who runs into Jane at opportune moments during the day. Neither romance gives off any sparks as the guys are barely onscreen long enough to register. The senator's lap dog, a Chinese Crested, has more screen time.
At one point, the girls stumble into a Harlem beauty parlor for an interlude in which Mary Bond Davis (star of Broadway's Hairspray) gives them a huge makeover. This has little to do with the story, but does allow the twins to perform a fashion show.
The movie flows nicely from one wacky episode to the next, and the Olsen girls make pleasant company. Cinematographer Greg Gardiner's high-key lighting and George S. Clinton's bright music keep things perky. Costume designer Christopher Hargadon has fun by emphasizing the extremes between the sisters and, of course, goes wild during their beauty parlor makeover.
NEW YORK MINUTE
Warner Bros. Pictures
A Dualstar Prods./Di Novi Pictures production
Credits:
Director: Dennie Gordon
Screenwriters: Emily Fox, Adam Cooper, Bill Collage
Story by: Emily Fox
Producers: Denise Di Novi, Robert Thorne, Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen
Executive producer: Alison Greenspan
Director of photography: Greg Gardiner
Production designer: Michael Carlin
Music: George S. Clinton
Co-producers: Christine Sacani, Jill Zimmerman
Costume designer: Christopher Hargadon
Editors: Michael Jablow, Roderick Davis
Cast:
Jane Ryan: Ashley Olsen
Roxy Ryan: Mary-Kate Olsen
Max Lomax: Eugene Levy
Bennie Bang: Andy Richter
Jim: Riley Smith
Trey: Jared Padalecki
Sen. Lipton: Andrea Martin
Running time -- 91 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
This tailor-made project, which the twins co-produced with Denise Di Novi and Robert Thorne, the head of their own company, is cheerfully disconnected from the real world, bearing a great resemblance to screwball comedies of old. With Eugene Levy and Andy Richter contributing inspired clowning and TV veteran Dennie Gordon moving the story along at a merry pace, this harmless concoction should help the Olsens plug into a new generation of viewers.
The script by Emily Fox, Adam Cooper and Bill Collage is designed to maximize comic predicaments for the twins. The Ryan sisters, as they are know here, live on Long Island with their widowed physician dad (radio personality Dr. Drew Pinsky). They may be twins, but they are not identical: Overachiever Jane Ashley Olsen) is due to deliver a speech at Columbia University in a competition to win a scholarship to Oxford University. Rock rebel Roxy (Mary-Kate Olsen) plans to ditch school for the umpteenth time to sneak into a rock video shoot in Manhattan to slip her band's demo into the hands of the A&R guys. (Amusing side note: Jack Osbourne of The Osbournes makes his feature debut as Roxy's band manager.)
Things go awry immediately. Both get booted off a commuter train. Then a sinister guy slips a microchip into Roxy's purse. Bennie Bang (Richter), the hapless gangster who is desperate to get his hands on that chip, offers the two a ride into the city. Before he can retrieve his precious chip, they escape his clutches. Unfortunately, Jane leaves her all-important dayplanner in the back seat of his limo.
So the chase is on. The girls are pursued not only by the woefully inept Benny -- who as No. 1 adopted son of his Chinese gangster mom must effect a bad Chinese accent -- but by Max Lomax (Levy), an obsessed truancy officer determined to nab Roxy, his No. 1 violator.
(It's interesting to track what constitutes villainy in Hollywood movies today. Whereas once villains were bank robbers, drug dealers, white-slave traders, psychotic losers and abusive husbands, this movie's villains are intellectual property thieves as the microchip contains pirated music and movies.)
The girls acquire love interests in Jared Padalecki, playing a senator's son who is drawn to Roxy, and Riley Smith, a bicycle messenger who runs into Jane at opportune moments during the day. Neither romance gives off any sparks as the guys are barely onscreen long enough to register. The senator's lap dog, a Chinese Crested, has more screen time.
At one point, the girls stumble into a Harlem beauty parlor for an interlude in which Mary Bond Davis (star of Broadway's Hairspray) gives them a huge makeover. This has little to do with the story, but does allow the twins to perform a fashion show.
The movie flows nicely from one wacky episode to the next, and the Olsen girls make pleasant company. Cinematographer Greg Gardiner's high-key lighting and George S. Clinton's bright music keep things perky. Costume designer Christopher Hargadon has fun by emphasizing the extremes between the sisters and, of course, goes wild during their beauty parlor makeover.
NEW YORK MINUTE
Warner Bros. Pictures
A Dualstar Prods./Di Novi Pictures production
Credits:
Director: Dennie Gordon
Screenwriters: Emily Fox, Adam Cooper, Bill Collage
Story by: Emily Fox
Producers: Denise Di Novi, Robert Thorne, Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen
Executive producer: Alison Greenspan
Director of photography: Greg Gardiner
Production designer: Michael Carlin
Music: George S. Clinton
Co-producers: Christine Sacani, Jill Zimmerman
Costume designer: Christopher Hargadon
Editors: Michael Jablow, Roderick Davis
Cast:
Jane Ryan: Ashley Olsen
Roxy Ryan: Mary-Kate Olsen
Max Lomax: Eugene Levy
Bennie Bang: Andy Richter
Jim: Riley Smith
Trey: Jared Padalecki
Sen. Lipton: Andrea Martin
Running time -- 91 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 6/10/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Opens
Friday, Nov. 7
Having successfully demonstrated his big-screen comic chops with "Old School", Will Ferrell again proves there is indeed life after "SNL", playing an elf-reared naif who sets off from the North Pole for New York to seek out the biological dad he never met.
While the words "instant holiday classic" might be pushing it, "Elf" is at the very least a breezily entertaining, perfectly cast family treat. Actor-director Jon Favreau, working from a colorful script by David Berenbaum, has delivered just the right combination of naughty and nice, or, as the MPAA calls it, "mild rude humor and language."
That crowd-pleasing blend and Ferrell's irresistible performance will not only ensure that the halls of New Line will be decked out in plenty of green (as if the upcoming final "Lord of the Rings" installment hasn't already all but guaranteed that), but it's also likely to give a certain cat in a certain hat a run for his money this holiday season.
What it basically comes down to is this: How bad can a movie be that begins with a sullen-looking Bob Newhart clad in full elf regalia?
Newhart's Papa Elf provides the narration for this pleasantly fractured fairy tale about a little baby in an orphanage, who happened to find his way into Santa's sack of toys one Christmas Eve. The stowaway wasn't discovered until after the man in the red suit (played by gruff old Lou Grant himself, Ed Asner) returned to the North Pole and was subsequently raised by Papa Elf as his own son.
It soon became quite apparent that the child he named Buddy (Ferrell) was going to have trouble fitting in, given that he was growing at a rate that was roughly three times that of his workshop colleagues.
Ultimately Buddy is told the truth about his being an elf-made man and that his real biological father is alive and well and living in Manhattan.
A Scrooge-like workaholic children's book publisher, papa Walter Hobbs (James Caan) also happens to be a permanent fixture on Santa's naughty list. But that doesn't thwart Buddy, who travels to New York to introduce himself to Dad.
As babe-in-the-woods Buddy -- a vision in green, yellow tights and pointy shoes -- soon discovers, not only does Hobbs not exactly welcome his long-lost son with open arms, but Manhattan is in serious need of an injection of Christmas spirit.
It's jingling formula all the way, but Favreau (who makes good on "Made", his 2001 directorial debut) and screenwriter Berenbaum (who also penned the Walt Disney Co.'s upcoming "The Haunted Mansion"), lend the story plenty of comic smarts. There's sweetness, but it's seldom cloying.
There's also the terrific supporting cast, which includes Mary Steenburgen as Caan's resilient wife and Zooey Deschanel as the jaded Jovie, who works with Buddy at the thoughtfully resurrected Gimbel's department store
But there would be no "Elf" without Ferrell, and whether he's trying to hopscotch his way across Broadway or attempting to navigate his first escalator, he always manages to work a rousing subversive element into his character's core innocence.
Visually, the picture celebrates the best of the genre. The North Pole sequences incorporate animated elements that pay direct tribute to those vintage Rankin-Bass specials, while cinematographer Greg Gardiner and production designer Rusty Smith favor old-fashioned, forced perspective techniques over CGI to create those size disparities between Buddy and the elves.
Aurally, John Debney's appropriately festive score has been supplemented with a generous selection of swingin' Yuletide tunes by Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles and Leon Redbone, while Deschanel, who joins Ferrell in an impromptu rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside", reveals a singing voice that's a study in Keely Smith cool.
Elf
New Line Cinema
Guy Walks Into a Bar Prods.
Credits:
Director: Jon Favreau
Screenwriter: David Berenbaum
Producers: Jon Berg
Todd Komarnicki, Shauna Robertson
Executive producers: Jimmy Miller
Julie Wixson Darmody
Toby Emmerich
Kent Alterman
Cale Boyter
Director of photography: Greg Gardiner
Production designer: Rusty Smith
Editor: Dan Lebental
Costume designer: Laura Jean Shannon
Music: John Debney
Visual effects supervisor: Joe Bauer
Casting: Susie Farris
Cast:
Buddy: Will Ferrell
Walter: James Caan
Jovie: Zooey Deschanel
Emily: Mary Steenburgen
Santa Claus: Edward Asner
Papa Elf: Bob Newhart
Michael: Daniel Tay
Manager: Faizon Love
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Friday, Nov. 7
Having successfully demonstrated his big-screen comic chops with "Old School", Will Ferrell again proves there is indeed life after "SNL", playing an elf-reared naif who sets off from the North Pole for New York to seek out the biological dad he never met.
While the words "instant holiday classic" might be pushing it, "Elf" is at the very least a breezily entertaining, perfectly cast family treat. Actor-director Jon Favreau, working from a colorful script by David Berenbaum, has delivered just the right combination of naughty and nice, or, as the MPAA calls it, "mild rude humor and language."
That crowd-pleasing blend and Ferrell's irresistible performance will not only ensure that the halls of New Line will be decked out in plenty of green (as if the upcoming final "Lord of the Rings" installment hasn't already all but guaranteed that), but it's also likely to give a certain cat in a certain hat a run for his money this holiday season.
What it basically comes down to is this: How bad can a movie be that begins with a sullen-looking Bob Newhart clad in full elf regalia?
Newhart's Papa Elf provides the narration for this pleasantly fractured fairy tale about a little baby in an orphanage, who happened to find his way into Santa's sack of toys one Christmas Eve. The stowaway wasn't discovered until after the man in the red suit (played by gruff old Lou Grant himself, Ed Asner) returned to the North Pole and was subsequently raised by Papa Elf as his own son.
It soon became quite apparent that the child he named Buddy (Ferrell) was going to have trouble fitting in, given that he was growing at a rate that was roughly three times that of his workshop colleagues.
Ultimately Buddy is told the truth about his being an elf-made man and that his real biological father is alive and well and living in Manhattan.
A Scrooge-like workaholic children's book publisher, papa Walter Hobbs (James Caan) also happens to be a permanent fixture on Santa's naughty list. But that doesn't thwart Buddy, who travels to New York to introduce himself to Dad.
As babe-in-the-woods Buddy -- a vision in green, yellow tights and pointy shoes -- soon discovers, not only does Hobbs not exactly welcome his long-lost son with open arms, but Manhattan is in serious need of an injection of Christmas spirit.
It's jingling formula all the way, but Favreau (who makes good on "Made", his 2001 directorial debut) and screenwriter Berenbaum (who also penned the Walt Disney Co.'s upcoming "The Haunted Mansion"), lend the story plenty of comic smarts. There's sweetness, but it's seldom cloying.
There's also the terrific supporting cast, which includes Mary Steenburgen as Caan's resilient wife and Zooey Deschanel as the jaded Jovie, who works with Buddy at the thoughtfully resurrected Gimbel's department store
But there would be no "Elf" without Ferrell, and whether he's trying to hopscotch his way across Broadway or attempting to navigate his first escalator, he always manages to work a rousing subversive element into his character's core innocence.
Visually, the picture celebrates the best of the genre. The North Pole sequences incorporate animated elements that pay direct tribute to those vintage Rankin-Bass specials, while cinematographer Greg Gardiner and production designer Rusty Smith favor old-fashioned, forced perspective techniques over CGI to create those size disparities between Buddy and the elves.
Aurally, John Debney's appropriately festive score has been supplemented with a generous selection of swingin' Yuletide tunes by Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles and Leon Redbone, while Deschanel, who joins Ferrell in an impromptu rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside", reveals a singing voice that's a study in Keely Smith cool.
Elf
New Line Cinema
Guy Walks Into a Bar Prods.
Credits:
Director: Jon Favreau
Screenwriter: David Berenbaum
Producers: Jon Berg
Todd Komarnicki, Shauna Robertson
Executive producers: Jimmy Miller
Julie Wixson Darmody
Toby Emmerich
Kent Alterman
Cale Boyter
Director of photography: Greg Gardiner
Production designer: Rusty Smith
Editor: Dan Lebental
Costume designer: Laura Jean Shannon
Music: John Debney
Visual effects supervisor: Joe Bauer
Casting: Susie Farris
Cast:
Buddy: Will Ferrell
Walter: James Caan
Jovie: Zooey Deschanel
Emily: Mary Steenburgen
Santa Claus: Edward Asner
Papa Elf: Bob Newhart
Michael: Daniel Tay
Manager: Faizon Love
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 10/27/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The high-profile closing-night film of the fourth Method Fest, which is dedicated to showcasing the efforts of actors, "To End All Wars" is based on the true World War II story of English prisoner of war Ernest Gordon, who survived harsh treatment from the Japanese while laboring to build a railroad in the jungles of Burma-Siam (now Myanmar and Thailand).
Based on the late Gordon's 1962 book "Through the Valley of the Kwai" and directed with passion by David L. Cunningham, whose first film was the ambitious if not always successful 1998 Hawaiian drama "Beyond Paradise", the $14 million "Wars" (filmed mostly on the island of Kauai) has the elements of a prestigious limited release. It premiered at the 2001 Telluride Film Festival.
An ensemble effort that recalls other great POW movies, "Wars" boasts many superb performances, starting with Ciaran McMenamin as Gordon, a member of a proud Scottish regiment that includes the uncompromising Col. McLean (James Cosmo) and fiery Maj. Campbell (Robert Caryle). These three and many others find themselves in a jungle camp loosely guarded but brutally run by Sgt. Ito (Sakae Kimura), who is assisted by noncombatant translator Takashi Nagase (Yugo Saso).
Barely kept alive, with malnutrition, disease and death all around them, the prisoners are ordered to build a railroad in 18 months -- the same project that occupied the characters in the classic "The Bridge Over the River Kwai". McLean does not survive a confrontation with Ito, and the role of prisoner leadership passes on to volatile Campbell.
The film does a less than perfect job of showing the passing of time, and the eventual revolt of Caryle's raging character -- resulting in vicious killings and reprisals -- seems a bit tacked on. However, "Wars" is quite successful at showing how Gordon and less warlike companions like Dusty Miller (Mark Strong) use their minds and Christian faith to bend rather than break under the Japanese system of Bushido.
Gordon's relationship with Nagase also provides some relief from the humiliation, torture and summary executions of Ito. Along with Kimura's fierce performance, which amazingly does a lot to humanize the Japanese, veterans Shu Nakajima ("Akira Kurosawa's Dreams"), as the army official in charge of the railroad project, and Masayuki Yui, ("Ran") as the commander of the prison camp, have memorable scenes.
Evoking Steve McQueen and William Holden, Keifer Sutherland is quite good in the lone American role. He transforms from a rogue bent on escape to a cowered, servile version of his former self after nearly dying from torture.
The cinematography of Greg Gardiner ("Men in Black 2"), costumes and production design are all exemplary for such a modest budget. The real Gordon, who became dean of the chapel at Princeton University, is seen in a brief coda with the real Nagase at a memorial for those who did not survive the war.
TO END ALL WARS
Argyll Film Partners in association with
Pray for Rain Pictures and Gumshoe Prods.
Credits: Director: David L. Cunningham
Screenwriter: Brian Godawa
Based on the book by: Ernest Gordon
Producers: David L. Cunningham, Jack Hafer, Nava Levin
Executive producers: Greg Newman, Scott Walchek
Director of photography: Greg Gardiner
Production designer: Paul Sylbert
Editor: Tim Silano
Costume designers: Tamra More, Rina Ramon
Music: Trevor Jones
Cast:
Ernest Gordon: Ciaran McMenamin
Maj. Ian Campbell: Robert Carlyle
Tom Reardon: Kiefer Sutherland
Dusty Miller: Mark Strong
Takashi Nagase: Yugo Saso
Sgt. Ito: Sakae Kimura
Col. James MacLean: James Cosmo.
Running time -- 116 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Based on the late Gordon's 1962 book "Through the Valley of the Kwai" and directed with passion by David L. Cunningham, whose first film was the ambitious if not always successful 1998 Hawaiian drama "Beyond Paradise", the $14 million "Wars" (filmed mostly on the island of Kauai) has the elements of a prestigious limited release. It premiered at the 2001 Telluride Film Festival.
An ensemble effort that recalls other great POW movies, "Wars" boasts many superb performances, starting with Ciaran McMenamin as Gordon, a member of a proud Scottish regiment that includes the uncompromising Col. McLean (James Cosmo) and fiery Maj. Campbell (Robert Caryle). These three and many others find themselves in a jungle camp loosely guarded but brutally run by Sgt. Ito (Sakae Kimura), who is assisted by noncombatant translator Takashi Nagase (Yugo Saso).
Barely kept alive, with malnutrition, disease and death all around them, the prisoners are ordered to build a railroad in 18 months -- the same project that occupied the characters in the classic "The Bridge Over the River Kwai". McLean does not survive a confrontation with Ito, and the role of prisoner leadership passes on to volatile Campbell.
The film does a less than perfect job of showing the passing of time, and the eventual revolt of Caryle's raging character -- resulting in vicious killings and reprisals -- seems a bit tacked on. However, "Wars" is quite successful at showing how Gordon and less warlike companions like Dusty Miller (Mark Strong) use their minds and Christian faith to bend rather than break under the Japanese system of Bushido.
Gordon's relationship with Nagase also provides some relief from the humiliation, torture and summary executions of Ito. Along with Kimura's fierce performance, which amazingly does a lot to humanize the Japanese, veterans Shu Nakajima ("Akira Kurosawa's Dreams"), as the army official in charge of the railroad project, and Masayuki Yui, ("Ran") as the commander of the prison camp, have memorable scenes.
Evoking Steve McQueen and William Holden, Keifer Sutherland is quite good in the lone American role. He transforms from a rogue bent on escape to a cowered, servile version of his former self after nearly dying from torture.
The cinematography of Greg Gardiner ("Men in Black 2"), costumes and production design are all exemplary for such a modest budget. The real Gordon, who became dean of the chapel at Princeton University, is seen in a brief coda with the real Nagase at a memorial for those who did not survive the war.
TO END ALL WARS
Argyll Film Partners in association with
Pray for Rain Pictures and Gumshoe Prods.
Credits: Director: David L. Cunningham
Screenwriter: Brian Godawa
Based on the book by: Ernest Gordon
Producers: David L. Cunningham, Jack Hafer, Nava Levin
Executive producers: Greg Newman, Scott Walchek
Director of photography: Greg Gardiner
Production designer: Paul Sylbert
Editor: Tim Silano
Costume designers: Tamra More, Rina Ramon
Music: Trevor Jones
Cast:
Ernest Gordon: Ciaran McMenamin
Maj. Ian Campbell: Robert Carlyle
Tom Reardon: Kiefer Sutherland
Dusty Miller: Mark Strong
Takashi Nagase: Yugo Saso
Sgt. Ito: Sakae Kimura
Col. James MacLean: James Cosmo.
Running time -- 116 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 5/16/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"Big Trouble" is a smorgasbord of comedy -- there's farce, slapstick, black humor, theater of cruelty, clever ripostes, non sequiturs, absurdity, romantic comedy and a toad that spits hallucinogenic juice. When everything is done, however, you have that bloated, overindulged feeling where too many good things got mixed up together and ingested all at once. Did you enjoy it? Well, for a while yes, and for much longer no.
There's no denying that "Trouble" contains a few spectacularly funny scenes. But the filmmakers keep pushing the jokes at the expense of character until things fall apart. You don't get casts much more talented than this one, and director Barry Sonnenfeld does a smooth job of keeping all the plates spinning as long as humanly possible. But the film implodes from excess long before a nuclear bomb -- yes, that's a nuclear bomb -- explodes for the "comic" finale. While perhaps not a boxoffice bomb for Disney, audiences may react negatively to the sheer strain of watching a film where people must work very hard at being lighthearted.
"Big Trouble", of course, ran into big trouble more than half a year ago when Sept. 11 forever changed our world. Its release was postponed because of the terrorist attacks, but it may be at least a generation before anyone finds funny the sight of characters running around airports with a nuclear device and lax security personnel waving a bomb through checkpoints. At best, the film has an extremely dated feel. At worst, the film is a serious misreading of its source material, a novel by humorist Dave Barry.
The renowned Miami Herald columnist is adept at seizing incidents from everyday life and reducing these to such absurdity a reader cannot contain his laughter. On paper, "Big Trouble" was, no doubt, hilarious. Onscreen, the novel's exaggeration takes on a flimsy silliness. Writers Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone aren't entirely to blame for rushing from one great gag to another. They are funny, but context is everything. The context of Dave Barry is a writer playing with a reader's mind, not a Hollywood production that reduces everything to unwanted literalness.
Trouble starts when a Miami arms dealer receives a nuclear bomb that everyone insists looks like a garbage disposal. At the same moment, a couple of hit men, Dennis Farina and Jack Kehler, arrive in Florida to eliminate Stanley Tucci, a corrupt businessman whose has embezzled money from his equally criminal employers.
Meanwhile, in a harmless game called "Killer", Tucci's daughter, Zooey Deschanel, is being "stalked" by schoolmate Ben Foster, the son of Tim Allen, a former Miami newspaper columnist. (Hmmm, who can that be?) So while Tucci is sexually harassing family maid Sofia Vergara and Allen is falling for Rene Russo, Tucci's wife, the kid "Killers" mess up an assassination attempt by the real killers, bringing police officers Janeane Garofalo and Patrick Warburton to the scene.
Further complicating the assassins' task are a couple of crooks who together do not possess the IQ of a single stupid person, Tom Sizemore and Johnny Knoxville; two of the strangest FBI agents in history, Omar Epps and Dwight "Heavy D" Myers; and Jason Lee, a fellow who lives in a tree and is often mistaken for Jesus.
This is not a plot you want to spend too much time describing or analyzing. The object is to deliver a series of gags such as guys robbing a bar in masks that render them virtually blind, or a retractable seat belt in their rental car that drives the hit men crazy.
But the movie all too swiftly abandons its characters and situations in favor of these gags. Since when are characters and comedy mutually exclusive?
The best thing about "Trouble" are its actors, who never abandon their characters even when the movie does. The below-the-line work is solid from James Newton Howard's pleasant, Latin-flavored musical score to Greg Gardiner's lensing, Garreth Stover's exaggerated Miami sets and Steven Weisberg's editing, which keeps things moving at a swift pace.
BIG TROUBLE
Buena Vista Pictures
Touchstone Pictures presents a Jacobson Co. and Sonnenfeld/Josephson Worldwide Entertainment production
Producers:Barry Sonnenfeld, Barry Josephson, Tom Jacobson
Director:Barry Sonnenfeld
Screenwriters:Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone
Based on the novel by:Dave Barry
Executive producer:Jim Wedaa
Director of photography:Greg Gardiner
Production designer:Garreth Stover
Music:James Newton Howard
Co-producer:Graham Place
Costume designer:Mary Vogt
Editor:Steven Weisberg
Color/stereo
Cast:
Elliot Arnold:Tim Allen
Anna Herk:Rene Russo
Arthur Herk:Stanley Tucci
Snake:Tom Sizemore
Eddie:Johnny Knoxville
Henry:Dennis Farina
Leonard:Jack Kehler
Monica Romero:Janeane Garofalo
Walter Kramitz:Patrick Warburton
Matt Arnold:Ben Foster
Jenny Herk:Zooey Deschanel
Running time -- 84 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
There's no denying that "Trouble" contains a few spectacularly funny scenes. But the filmmakers keep pushing the jokes at the expense of character until things fall apart. You don't get casts much more talented than this one, and director Barry Sonnenfeld does a smooth job of keeping all the plates spinning as long as humanly possible. But the film implodes from excess long before a nuclear bomb -- yes, that's a nuclear bomb -- explodes for the "comic" finale. While perhaps not a boxoffice bomb for Disney, audiences may react negatively to the sheer strain of watching a film where people must work very hard at being lighthearted.
"Big Trouble", of course, ran into big trouble more than half a year ago when Sept. 11 forever changed our world. Its release was postponed because of the terrorist attacks, but it may be at least a generation before anyone finds funny the sight of characters running around airports with a nuclear device and lax security personnel waving a bomb through checkpoints. At best, the film has an extremely dated feel. At worst, the film is a serious misreading of its source material, a novel by humorist Dave Barry.
The renowned Miami Herald columnist is adept at seizing incidents from everyday life and reducing these to such absurdity a reader cannot contain his laughter. On paper, "Big Trouble" was, no doubt, hilarious. Onscreen, the novel's exaggeration takes on a flimsy silliness. Writers Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone aren't entirely to blame for rushing from one great gag to another. They are funny, but context is everything. The context of Dave Barry is a writer playing with a reader's mind, not a Hollywood production that reduces everything to unwanted literalness.
Trouble starts when a Miami arms dealer receives a nuclear bomb that everyone insists looks like a garbage disposal. At the same moment, a couple of hit men, Dennis Farina and Jack Kehler, arrive in Florida to eliminate Stanley Tucci, a corrupt businessman whose has embezzled money from his equally criminal employers.
Meanwhile, in a harmless game called "Killer", Tucci's daughter, Zooey Deschanel, is being "stalked" by schoolmate Ben Foster, the son of Tim Allen, a former Miami newspaper columnist. (Hmmm, who can that be?) So while Tucci is sexually harassing family maid Sofia Vergara and Allen is falling for Rene Russo, Tucci's wife, the kid "Killers" mess up an assassination attempt by the real killers, bringing police officers Janeane Garofalo and Patrick Warburton to the scene.
Further complicating the assassins' task are a couple of crooks who together do not possess the IQ of a single stupid person, Tom Sizemore and Johnny Knoxville; two of the strangest FBI agents in history, Omar Epps and Dwight "Heavy D" Myers; and Jason Lee, a fellow who lives in a tree and is often mistaken for Jesus.
This is not a plot you want to spend too much time describing or analyzing. The object is to deliver a series of gags such as guys robbing a bar in masks that render them virtually blind, or a retractable seat belt in their rental car that drives the hit men crazy.
But the movie all too swiftly abandons its characters and situations in favor of these gags. Since when are characters and comedy mutually exclusive?
The best thing about "Trouble" are its actors, who never abandon their characters even when the movie does. The below-the-line work is solid from James Newton Howard's pleasant, Latin-flavored musical score to Greg Gardiner's lensing, Garreth Stover's exaggerated Miami sets and Steven Weisberg's editing, which keeps things moving at a swift pace.
BIG TROUBLE
Buena Vista Pictures
Touchstone Pictures presents a Jacobson Co. and Sonnenfeld/Josephson Worldwide Entertainment production
Producers:Barry Sonnenfeld, Barry Josephson, Tom Jacobson
Director:Barry Sonnenfeld
Screenwriters:Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone
Based on the novel by:Dave Barry
Executive producer:Jim Wedaa
Director of photography:Greg Gardiner
Production designer:Garreth Stover
Music:James Newton Howard
Co-producer:Graham Place
Costume designer:Mary Vogt
Editor:Steven Weisberg
Color/stereo
Cast:
Elliot Arnold:Tim Allen
Anna Herk:Rene Russo
Arthur Herk:Stanley Tucci
Snake:Tom Sizemore
Eddie:Johnny Knoxville
Henry:Dennis Farina
Leonard:Jack Kehler
Monica Romero:Janeane Garofalo
Walter Kramitz:Patrick Warburton
Matt Arnold:Ben Foster
Jenny Herk:Zooey Deschanel
Running time -- 84 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
This film was originally reviewed Sept. 21 at the Toronto Festival of Festivals. It opens in select markets on Friday.
Murder, amnesia and the quest for identity are the stuffings for this surrealistic cerebral chiller from first-time filmmakers Scott McGehee and David Siegel. Archly elliptical, ''Suture'' is a stunning first film, but its chilly tone and detached narration will win favor only among serious cineastes. Still, as an example of new directorial talent, this complex visualization is a first-rate calling card.
Although it's scoped through the dry, searing heat of the Phoenix summer, writer-directors McGehee and Siegel tell their story with clinical cool. It's Southwest noir -- hot sun, cold-blooded murder -- looped around a surreal post: White gangster Vincent (Michael Harris) plans his own demise, mainly as a plot to make it appear he's dead, by blowing up his half-brother Clay (Dennis Haysbert) in his shiny Corniche. But even with meticulous planning and the best of gadgetry, his plan goes awry -- Clay survives, although encased head-to-toe in traction. Weird thing about this mistaken identity thriller -- Clay is black. Although he doesn't lose his life, Clay loses his memory and even the relentless promptings of a Freudian (Sab Shimono) spur little connection to his real past.
The minimalist murder plot and surreal contortions aside, ''Suture'' is primarily a depiction of the synapses of reality: Unconscious memory catalyzed by abstract associations with the everyday jars true identity. Tapping into the inner nature of the psyche is the underlying drama of this black-and-white, associative narrative.
Invariably, some of the surreal histrionics (namely the different races of the ''brothers'') lose their edge and ultimately become only a stylistic conceit, but McGehee and Siegel's sophisticated string of cinematic associations is, at the very least, a beguiling and entertaining visual divertissement.
Haysbert, as the befuddled amnesiac, is a nicely sympathetic character, while Harris brings a properly menacing edge to his performance as the satanic gangster.
Technical contributions are first-rate, including cinematographer Greg Gardiner's icy compositions and editor Lauren Zuckerman's slashing cuts.
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
Murder, amnesia and the quest for identity are the stuffings for this surrealistic cerebral chiller from first-time filmmakers Scott McGehee and David Siegel. Archly elliptical, ''Suture'' is a stunning first film, but its chilly tone and detached narration will win favor only among serious cineastes. Still, as an example of new directorial talent, this complex visualization is a first-rate calling card.
Although it's scoped through the dry, searing heat of the Phoenix summer, writer-directors McGehee and Siegel tell their story with clinical cool. It's Southwest noir -- hot sun, cold-blooded murder -- looped around a surreal post: White gangster Vincent (Michael Harris) plans his own demise, mainly as a plot to make it appear he's dead, by blowing up his half-brother Clay (Dennis Haysbert) in his shiny Corniche. But even with meticulous planning and the best of gadgetry, his plan goes awry -- Clay survives, although encased head-to-toe in traction. Weird thing about this mistaken identity thriller -- Clay is black. Although he doesn't lose his life, Clay loses his memory and even the relentless promptings of a Freudian (Sab Shimono) spur little connection to his real past.
The minimalist murder plot and surreal contortions aside, ''Suture'' is primarily a depiction of the synapses of reality: Unconscious memory catalyzed by abstract associations with the everyday jars true identity. Tapping into the inner nature of the psyche is the underlying drama of this black-and-white, associative narrative.
Invariably, some of the surreal histrionics (namely the different races of the ''brothers'') lose their edge and ultimately become only a stylistic conceit, but McGehee and Siegel's sophisticated string of cinematic associations is, at the very least, a beguiling and entertaining visual divertissement.
Haysbert, as the befuddled amnesiac, is a nicely sympathetic character, while Harris brings a properly menacing edge to his performance as the satanic gangster.
Technical contributions are first-rate, including cinematographer Greg Gardiner's icy compositions and editor Lauren Zuckerman's slashing cuts.
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 3/11/1994
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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