In the world of K-pop, an artist’s most precious commodity isn’t necessarily their angelic voice or tight double pirouette — it’s time. That’s because for the majority of male K-pop idols, looming in the distance is the guarantee that once you reach your late twenties, you’ll have to serve in the Korean military for 18 months.
So when Suho, the 30-year-old leader of multi-platinum juggernaut Exo, appears onscreen as he calls in from Seoul a week after his discharge, the most noticeable thing about him is a sense of serenity.
So when Suho, the 30-year-old leader of multi-platinum juggernaut Exo, appears onscreen as he calls in from Seoul a week after his discharge, the most noticeable thing about him is a sense of serenity.
- 3/3/2022
- by Natalie Morin
- Rollingstone.com
“Saturday Night Live” returned with its second batch of all-new episodes on Nov. 6 and once again, Covid-19 was the hot topic for the cold open sketch. Specifically this time, the NBC late-night sketch comedy series parodied NFL player Aaron Rodgers’ controversial comments and anti-vaccination stance and also included new cast member James Austin Johnson’s impression of Donald Trump.
Played by Pete Davidson, this fictional version of Rodgers appeared on “Justice with Jeanine Pirro,” with Cecily Strong of course reprising her beloved role as Pirro. He joined her remotely to discuss how the “woke mob” is now coming after him.
“It’s my body and my Covid. I can give it to whoever I want,” he tried to argue. He also said he never lied about his status, noting that he took all of his teammates into a huddle, “got their faces three inches from my wet mouth and told them,...
Played by Pete Davidson, this fictional version of Rodgers appeared on “Justice with Jeanine Pirro,” with Cecily Strong of course reprising her beloved role as Pirro. He joined her remotely to discuss how the “woke mob” is now coming after him.
“It’s my body and my Covid. I can give it to whoever I want,” he tried to argue. He also said he never lied about his status, noting that he took all of his teammates into a huddle, “got their faces three inches from my wet mouth and told them,...
- 11/7/2021
- by Danielle Turchiano
- Variety Film + TV
Sigourney Weaver celebrates her 69th birthday on October 8, 2018. The three-time Oscar nominee has proven herself a capable leading lady in a variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, comedy, horror, and drama. In honor of her birthday, let’s take a look back at 15 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Weaver made her film debut with a walk-on role as Woody Allen‘s girlfriend in “Annie Hall” (1977). Her breakthrough came just two years later for Ridley Scott‘s landmark sci-fi thriller “Alien” (1979). As Ripley, the lone survivor aboard a spacecraft besieged by a snarling, ferocious extra-terrestrial, Weaver broke down barriers for female action stars and helped launch a franchise that led to three sequels: James Cameron‘s “Aliens” (1986), David Fincher‘s “Alien 3” (1992), and Jean-Pierre Jeunet‘s “Alien: Resurrection” (1997).
“Aliens” brought Weaver her first Oscar nomination as Best Actress, a rarity for the genre. Not to be typecast, she...
Weaver made her film debut with a walk-on role as Woody Allen‘s girlfriend in “Annie Hall” (1977). Her breakthrough came just two years later for Ridley Scott‘s landmark sci-fi thriller “Alien” (1979). As Ripley, the lone survivor aboard a spacecraft besieged by a snarling, ferocious extra-terrestrial, Weaver broke down barriers for female action stars and helped launch a franchise that led to three sequels: James Cameron‘s “Aliens” (1986), David Fincher‘s “Alien 3” (1992), and Jean-Pierre Jeunet‘s “Alien: Resurrection” (1997).
“Aliens” brought Weaver her first Oscar nomination as Best Actress, a rarity for the genre. Not to be typecast, she...
- 10/8/2018
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
It has long been said that the true story behind “The Fugitive,” the Harrison Ford action classic that turns 25 years old today, is very loosely based on the ’50s murder case, conviction and acquittal of Sam Sheppard. Both Sheppard and Ford’s Richard Kimble were doctors, and both were wrongly accused of murdering their wives after an intruder broke into their home.
And the similarities end there.
The assailant Sheppard fought with was not a one-armed man, as in the film. It was said Sheppard’s motive was that he was having an affair, a detail not in the movie. Sheppard never escaped from prison, least of all from a moving, crashing train. And the real killer was never even found!
Also Read: Harrison Ford Crashes Alden Ehrenreich's Interview: 'Get Out of My Life!' (Video)
And yet this idea stretches all the way back to the popular TV...
And the similarities end there.
The assailant Sheppard fought with was not a one-armed man, as in the film. It was said Sheppard’s motive was that he was having an affair, a detail not in the movie. Sheppard never escaped from prison, least of all from a moving, crashing train. And the real killer was never even found!
Also Read: Harrison Ford Crashes Alden Ehrenreich's Interview: 'Get Out of My Life!' (Video)
And yet this idea stretches all the way back to the popular TV...
- 8/6/2018
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Robert Zemeckis and his cinematographer Dean Cundey went into a meeting with Disney where they were told everything they could not do to make “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” Walt Disney himself got his start making live-action and animated hybrids as far back as the 1920s. It was fused in the DNA of the company. Execs there knew best.
Don’t move the camera, don’t shoot close-ups, don’t get fancy with lighting. Basically don’t do anything that would take too much work for the animators.
That didn’t fly for Zemeckis.
“When Bob and I left the meeting where they had said six or eight things that we should or couldn’t do, Bob and I said, ‘Well, those are the rules we’re going to break. How are we going to do it?'” Cundey recalled in an interview with TheWrap to commemorate the film’s 30th anniversary.
Don’t move the camera, don’t shoot close-ups, don’t get fancy with lighting. Basically don’t do anything that would take too much work for the animators.
That didn’t fly for Zemeckis.
“When Bob and I left the meeting where they had said six or eight things that we should or couldn’t do, Bob and I said, ‘Well, those are the rules we’re going to break. How are we going to do it?'” Cundey recalled in an interview with TheWrap to commemorate the film’s 30th anniversary.
- 6/19/2018
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Louis Sachar got a lot of calls from Hollywood after his book “Holes,” which turns 20 years old this June, won the Newbery Book Award and the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.
But Sachar was so choosey about who he’d sell the book’s film rights to that it took five years before “Holes” the movie, starring Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight and a young Shia Labeouf, hit the big screen. Now as the film likewise celebrates its 15th anniversary this month, Sachar is thrilled it’s his book, as well the movie, that is still remembered.
Also Read: 'The Sandlot' at 25: Why the '90s Cult Classic Will Live 'For-Ev-Ver'
“That was one of my concerns actually when I first decided to make the movie. I hope it doesn’t keep people from reading the book, that it just becomes a movie now,” the author told TheWrap. “I’m now hearing from kids who are reading the book in school and are just now realizing there was a movie made before they were born, which is amazing to me. The movie is 15 years old, and these kids are 10, 12 years old reading it. So the movie is ancient history to them.”
“Holes” is about Stanley Yelnats, a kid with rotten luck who winds up in a correctional camp for boys for a crime he didn’t commit. Stanley and his fellow “campers” are forced to dig a five-foot deep hole every day in order to “build character,” but Stanley comes to suspect that it’s just a ruse for the camp’s warden to find something buried on the grounds.
Also Read: Shia Labeouf Laments Being 'Not Extremely Well-Endowed' to Jimmy Kimmel (Video)
Sachar explained that though it’s a grim subject, he was inspired to write a “fun story” and “grand adventure” in the vein of William Goldman’s “The Princess Bride.” So it was important to him to work with a producer and director like Andrew Davis (“The Fugitive”) who could bring to the project a strong cast and would take the book seriously.
“I didn’t want ‘Holes’ being turned into some soft, fluffy film,” Sachar said. “I liked the idea that it would be a director coming from making tough, gritty films making it.”
Disney
Sachar made his screenwriting debut on the film, guiding some of Davis’s choices to limit the amount of voiceover narration and preserve the story’s mythical flashbacks.
“I was surprised that he asked me to write the screenplay. My first reaction was, ‘no, get someone who knows what they’re doing,” Sachar said. “Even though I wrote it, and I was there, I never like movies of books that I like. So I was surprised how well the movie came out.”
Also Read: Stephen King 'Maybe' Agrees With Steven Spielberg About Their 'Spiritual Connection'
Sachar remembers liking the film so much, he would sit through screenings of the film where he and Davis toured it for teachers across the country ahead of its release. Now 15 years removed from those screenings, he’s hearing from teachers who read the book and saw the film as kids, grew up to become teachers and are showing “Holes” to their own students.
“People had the sense this was something special,” Sachar said. “Certainly that was the case on the set. I was constantly being told by people on the crew, it’s not always like this. Everything felt like family, and there wasn’t a whole lot of ego involved. Everyone was just trying to make a good movie.”
Read original story ‘Holes’ Author Louis Sachar on How Important It Was That Film Didn’t End Up ‘Soft, Fluffy’ At TheWrap...
But Sachar was so choosey about who he’d sell the book’s film rights to that it took five years before “Holes” the movie, starring Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight and a young Shia Labeouf, hit the big screen. Now as the film likewise celebrates its 15th anniversary this month, Sachar is thrilled it’s his book, as well the movie, that is still remembered.
Also Read: 'The Sandlot' at 25: Why the '90s Cult Classic Will Live 'For-Ev-Ver'
“That was one of my concerns actually when I first decided to make the movie. I hope it doesn’t keep people from reading the book, that it just becomes a movie now,” the author told TheWrap. “I’m now hearing from kids who are reading the book in school and are just now realizing there was a movie made before they were born, which is amazing to me. The movie is 15 years old, and these kids are 10, 12 years old reading it. So the movie is ancient history to them.”
“Holes” is about Stanley Yelnats, a kid with rotten luck who winds up in a correctional camp for boys for a crime he didn’t commit. Stanley and his fellow “campers” are forced to dig a five-foot deep hole every day in order to “build character,” but Stanley comes to suspect that it’s just a ruse for the camp’s warden to find something buried on the grounds.
Also Read: Shia Labeouf Laments Being 'Not Extremely Well-Endowed' to Jimmy Kimmel (Video)
Sachar explained that though it’s a grim subject, he was inspired to write a “fun story” and “grand adventure” in the vein of William Goldman’s “The Princess Bride.” So it was important to him to work with a producer and director like Andrew Davis (“The Fugitive”) who could bring to the project a strong cast and would take the book seriously.
“I didn’t want ‘Holes’ being turned into some soft, fluffy film,” Sachar said. “I liked the idea that it would be a director coming from making tough, gritty films making it.”
Disney
Sachar made his screenwriting debut on the film, guiding some of Davis’s choices to limit the amount of voiceover narration and preserve the story’s mythical flashbacks.
“I was surprised that he asked me to write the screenplay. My first reaction was, ‘no, get someone who knows what they’re doing,” Sachar said. “Even though I wrote it, and I was there, I never like movies of books that I like. So I was surprised how well the movie came out.”
Also Read: Stephen King 'Maybe' Agrees With Steven Spielberg About Their 'Spiritual Connection'
Sachar remembers liking the film so much, he would sit through screenings of the film where he and Davis toured it for teachers across the country ahead of its release. Now 15 years removed from those screenings, he’s hearing from teachers who read the book and saw the film as kids, grew up to become teachers and are showing “Holes” to their own students.
“People had the sense this was something special,” Sachar said. “Certainly that was the case on the set. I was constantly being told by people on the crew, it’s not always like this. Everything felt like family, and there wasn’t a whole lot of ego involved. Everyone was just trying to make a good movie.”
Read original story ‘Holes’ Author Louis Sachar on How Important It Was That Film Didn’t End Up ‘Soft, Fluffy’ At TheWrap...
- 4/26/2018
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Even if you're not a big reader of young adult fiction, you may have seen the advertisements for the new Chloë Grace Moretz movie The 5th Wave and suspected that it looks like the kind of movie that was adapted from a Ya franchise. All the elements are there: a post-apocalyptic dystopia, a winsome female protagonist who stands up to become the world's champion, an imperiled younger sibling and the winning combination of light science fiction and teenaged angst. The 5th Wave is the first in a trilogy of books by Rick Yancey about a group of underage rebels fighting off an alien invasion.
- 1/22/2016
- by Drew Mackie, @drewgmackie
- PEOPLE.com
Even if you're not a big reader of young adult fiction, you may have seen the advertisements for the new Chloë Grace Moretz movie The 5th Wave and suspected that it looks like the kind of movie that was adapted from a Ya franchise. All the elements are there: a post-apocalyptic dystopia, a winsome female protagonist who stands up to become the world's champion, an imperiled younger sibling and the winning combination of light science fiction and teenaged angst. The 5th Wave is the first in a trilogy of books by Rick Yancey about a group of underage rebels fighting off an alien invasion.
- 1/22/2016
- by Drew Mackie, @drewgmackie
- PEOPLE.com
Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 19 Dec 2013 - 06:30
Our journey through the lesser-known films of the 2000s continues. This week, it's 2003...
It was the year that Arnold Schwarzenegger went from Terminator actor to Governor of California, and when The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King dominated the global box office with a gross of more than $1bn. 2003 was also the year the Wachowskis' Matrix trilogy thundered to a close, the year Freddy Krueger clashed with Jason Voorhees in, er, Freddy Vs Jason, and the year Pixar scored another hit with Finding Nemo.
But as you've probably gathered by now, 2003 was also a year of quite brilliant, less lucrative films. The movies we've included in this week's list were chosen for a variety of reasons - some were ignored in cinemas, while others were harshly treated by critics. Some were modestly popular or given awards on release,...
Our journey through the lesser-known films of the 2000s continues. This week, it's 2003...
It was the year that Arnold Schwarzenegger went from Terminator actor to Governor of California, and when The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King dominated the global box office with a gross of more than $1bn. 2003 was also the year the Wachowskis' Matrix trilogy thundered to a close, the year Freddy Krueger clashed with Jason Voorhees in, er, Freddy Vs Jason, and the year Pixar scored another hit with Finding Nemo.
But as you've probably gathered by now, 2003 was also a year of quite brilliant, less lucrative films. The movies we've included in this week's list were chosen for a variety of reasons - some were ignored in cinemas, while others were harshly treated by critics. Some were modestly popular or given awards on release,...
- 12/18/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Just when you thought the pirate subgenre was all played out, back it comes in a big way and from a rather surprising source. The Fugitive director Andrew Davis has revealed that he’s working on a contemporary adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic pirate novel Treasure Island.
Doing the rounds for the 20th Anniversary Blu-Ray and DVD of The Fugitive, Davis has had a chance to begin discussing some of his new projects. The adaptation of Treasure Island will be called Thieves Fortune and will take place in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The hunt will be on for pirate Jean Lafitte’s treasure, presumably melding the original concerns of the novel (a young boy who puts his trust in men that turn out to be pirates) with contemporary concerns. It’s intended to be family-friendly, moving further and further from the more violent films that...
Doing the rounds for the 20th Anniversary Blu-Ray and DVD of The Fugitive, Davis has had a chance to begin discussing some of his new projects. The adaptation of Treasure Island will be called Thieves Fortune and will take place in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The hunt will be on for pirate Jean Lafitte’s treasure, presumably melding the original concerns of the novel (a young boy who puts his trust in men that turn out to be pirates) with contemporary concerns. It’s intended to be family-friendly, moving further and further from the more violent films that...
- 9/3/2013
- by Lauren Humphries-Brooks
- We Got This Covered
If you've had enough fireworks and barbecue and outdoor holiday fun, perhaps you'd like to spend some time in a nice air-conditioned movie theater. You've got all kinds of choices, luckily.
This is an excellent week to catch Austin movies. On Saturday afternoon, Austin Film Festival hosts a special screening of family-friendly Holes, which local author Louis Sachar adapted from his novel, at the Texas Spirit Theater in the Texas State History Museum. Trash Dance (Don's review), the delightful doc about the choreographed Austin Waste Services project (pictured above), screens at Alamo Ritz on Tuesday night. And Aff teams up Wednesday night with the Texas Film Commission to screen the locally made film Holy Hell (Aff 2009 review) at the Texas Spirit Theater, as part of the Made in Texas series.
The Paramount and Stateside movie calendar is full this week. One of my all-time favorite movies screens Tuesday at the...
This is an excellent week to catch Austin movies. On Saturday afternoon, Austin Film Festival hosts a special screening of family-friendly Holes, which local author Louis Sachar adapted from his novel, at the Texas Spirit Theater in the Texas State History Museum. Trash Dance (Don's review), the delightful doc about the choreographed Austin Waste Services project (pictured above), screens at Alamo Ritz on Tuesday night. And Aff teams up Wednesday night with the Texas Film Commission to screen the locally made film Holy Hell (Aff 2009 review) at the Texas Spirit Theater, as part of the Made in Texas series.
The Paramount and Stateside movie calendar is full this week. One of my all-time favorite movies screens Tuesday at the...
- 7/5/2013
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
Talk about a hot read: Yesterday, Variety reported that Mandalay Pictures had snagged the much-coveted rights to Sophie Jordan’s young adult novel Firelight, a book that has been picking up sizzle ever since its release…on Sept. 7. Yes, as in Sept. 7, 2010, just two weeks ago.
Clearly, Hollywood has its eyes fixed on the young adult world, with every studio clamoring to release the next Twilight. (Or, as we will likely be saying soon, the next Hunger Games.) But while there’s certainly demand for a Firelight film — the book, about two teenage descendants of dragons, has been buzz-y since...
Clearly, Hollywood has its eyes fixed on the young adult world, with every studio clamoring to release the next Twilight. (Or, as we will likely be saying soon, the next Hunger Games.) But while there’s certainly demand for a Firelight film — the book, about two teenage descendants of dragons, has been buzz-y since...
- 9/21/2010
- by Kate Ward
- EW.com - PopWatch
Naughty boys dig holes to build character in a modern fairytale involving, well, pretty much everything.
I don't watch a lot of kids films because, well, because they're for kids and so they don't really appeal to me anymore. But then Holes came along and I'd heard it said that you could enjoy it even though you're all grown up these days. Yes, yes, I know Shrek etc work on more than one level but I don't much go for the American animation as I find they tend towards schmaltz and more often than not contain a song or two. Also, I like my animals to act like animals not Americans, but that's a whole other show.Anyway, maybe it's because I'm not a kid anymore or maybe it's because they don't make 'em like they used to, but kids films just don't seem the same these days, except this...
I don't watch a lot of kids films because, well, because they're for kids and so they don't really appeal to me anymore. But then Holes came along and I'd heard it said that you could enjoy it even though you're all grown up these days. Yes, yes, I know Shrek etc work on more than one level but I don't much go for the American animation as I find they tend towards schmaltz and more often than not contain a song or two. Also, I like my animals to act like animals not Americans, but that's a whole other show.Anyway, maybe it's because I'm not a kid anymore or maybe it's because they don't make 'em like they used to, but kids films just don't seem the same these days, except this...
- 4/17/2009
- by Fiona
- Latemag.com/film
Sideways Stories from Wayside School April 18 - May 16, 2009- Main Street Theater - Chelsea Market "I love this story!" says Theater for Youth Producing Director Vivienne M. St. John. "It was one of my favorites as a child and still is!" Based on Louis Sachar's Wayside School novels, Sideways Stories from Wayside Schools is a truly magical world where anything can - and does! - happen.
- 4/3/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Opens
Friday, April 18
In "Holes", Walt Disney Pictures bravely attempts to retool the studio's live-action family film. The story features such traditional elements as rambunctious boys, heroic feats, a family curse and buried treasure. But it adds such adult elements as bigotry, interracial romance, assault, murder and corruption in a youth detention facility. The film also runs nearly two hours and has a PG rating. The intention is a good one, but the blending of disparate ingredients under Andrew Davis' direction is often jarring.
The film is based on an acclaimed children's book by Louis Sachar -- who adapted his story to the screen -- so perhaps enthusiastic readers will forgive the disjointed production. The uninitiated viewer, however, must confront three stories in different time periods told simultaneously and acting styles belonging to different movies.
Theatrical prospects are hard to forecast. The release of a movie based on a well-known literary property over Easter weekend should generate healthy boxoffice. The film's two young stars, Shia LaBeouf and Khleo Thomas, are terrific, so good word-of-mouth among adolescents and teens could give the film legs. But Sachar's book has clearly made an awkward transition to the big screen.
In the present-day story, which is the main narrative thread, Stanley Yelnats IV (LaBeouf) -- the family's running joke as the last name is the first name spelled backward -- is sentenced to a youth penal facility despite being innocent of any lawbreaking. All this owes to a family curse of bad luck that has similarly afflicted his father (Henry Winkler) and grandfather (Nathan Davis).
At the misnamed Camp Green Lake, in the middle of a dry lake bed, Stanley encounters a collection of kids, most of whom appear nearly as innocent as he is. All go by colorful nicknames, such as Squid, Armpit and ZigZag. The camp's adult supervisors are another matter. This trio of rascals is led by the mean and shrill Warden (Sigourney Weaver), who is aided by her strutting, sideburned sidekick Mr. Sir (Jon Voight) and the pedantic Dr. Pendanski Tim Blake Nelson). Here a noticeable shift in acting style occurs, turning the adults into exaggerated caricatures reminiscent of, well, old Disney family films, where villainy is broad and not very threatening.
All day long, the boys dig holes in order "to build character." You immediately suspect the camp heads are looking for something beneath the cracked lake bed. And this is where the other two stories kick in.
One concerns a kissing bandit (Patricia Arquette) who ruled this Texas territory in the Old West, a school marm-turned-outlaw when a black man (Dule Hill) she fancies is put to death by a white mob. Her calling card is a red-lipstick kiss on all the corpses she leaves strewn in her wake. The other tale relates the origin of the Yelnats family curse, which goes back to 18th century Latvia and involves a fortuneteller named Madame Zeroni (a still-feisty Eartha Kitt).
LaBeouf and Thomas anchor the contemporary tale despite the adult actors' attempt to hijack the story for the Disney animation department. The friendship between Stanley and Zero -- as everyone calls the reticent youth -- achieves genuine poignancy, and the two actors affect a natural, easygoing manner. But a story about endless hole-digging has limitations both narratively and visually. Also, you wonder why no one cottons on to the conspiracy among the camp heads. The historical stories never take on any life of their own, being too skimpy and inconsequential except for how they relate to the present-day situation.
The use of locations near California's Death Valley, the stunts, cinematography and design all mark a considerable upgrade of the Disney family film. It's just that the story is a sometimes thing.
HOLES
Buena Vista Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures in association with Walden Media
Credits:
Director: Andrew Davis
Screenwriter: Louis Sachar
Based on the novel by: Louis Sachar
Producers: Mike Medavoy, Andrew Davis, Teresa Tucker-Davies, Lowell Blank
Executive producers: Marty Ewing, Louis Phillips
Director of photography: Stephen St. John
Production designer: Maher Ahmad
Music: Joel McNeely
Costume designer: Aggie Guerard Rodgers
Editors: Tom Nordberg, Jeffrey Wolf
Cast:
Warden: Sigourney Weaver
Mr. Sir: Jon Voight
Dr Pendanski: Tim Blake Nelson
Stanley: Shia LaBeouf
Zero: Khleo Thomas
Sam: Dule Hill
Father: Henry Winkler
Grandfather: Nathan Davis
Kissin' Kate: Patricia Arquette
Madame Zeroni: Eartha Kitt
Running time -- 117 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Friday, April 18
In "Holes", Walt Disney Pictures bravely attempts to retool the studio's live-action family film. The story features such traditional elements as rambunctious boys, heroic feats, a family curse and buried treasure. But it adds such adult elements as bigotry, interracial romance, assault, murder and corruption in a youth detention facility. The film also runs nearly two hours and has a PG rating. The intention is a good one, but the blending of disparate ingredients under Andrew Davis' direction is often jarring.
The film is based on an acclaimed children's book by Louis Sachar -- who adapted his story to the screen -- so perhaps enthusiastic readers will forgive the disjointed production. The uninitiated viewer, however, must confront three stories in different time periods told simultaneously and acting styles belonging to different movies.
Theatrical prospects are hard to forecast. The release of a movie based on a well-known literary property over Easter weekend should generate healthy boxoffice. The film's two young stars, Shia LaBeouf and Khleo Thomas, are terrific, so good word-of-mouth among adolescents and teens could give the film legs. But Sachar's book has clearly made an awkward transition to the big screen.
In the present-day story, which is the main narrative thread, Stanley Yelnats IV (LaBeouf) -- the family's running joke as the last name is the first name spelled backward -- is sentenced to a youth penal facility despite being innocent of any lawbreaking. All this owes to a family curse of bad luck that has similarly afflicted his father (Henry Winkler) and grandfather (Nathan Davis).
At the misnamed Camp Green Lake, in the middle of a dry lake bed, Stanley encounters a collection of kids, most of whom appear nearly as innocent as he is. All go by colorful nicknames, such as Squid, Armpit and ZigZag. The camp's adult supervisors are another matter. This trio of rascals is led by the mean and shrill Warden (Sigourney Weaver), who is aided by her strutting, sideburned sidekick Mr. Sir (Jon Voight) and the pedantic Dr. Pendanski Tim Blake Nelson). Here a noticeable shift in acting style occurs, turning the adults into exaggerated caricatures reminiscent of, well, old Disney family films, where villainy is broad and not very threatening.
All day long, the boys dig holes in order "to build character." You immediately suspect the camp heads are looking for something beneath the cracked lake bed. And this is where the other two stories kick in.
One concerns a kissing bandit (Patricia Arquette) who ruled this Texas territory in the Old West, a school marm-turned-outlaw when a black man (Dule Hill) she fancies is put to death by a white mob. Her calling card is a red-lipstick kiss on all the corpses she leaves strewn in her wake. The other tale relates the origin of the Yelnats family curse, which goes back to 18th century Latvia and involves a fortuneteller named Madame Zeroni (a still-feisty Eartha Kitt).
LaBeouf and Thomas anchor the contemporary tale despite the adult actors' attempt to hijack the story for the Disney animation department. The friendship between Stanley and Zero -- as everyone calls the reticent youth -- achieves genuine poignancy, and the two actors affect a natural, easygoing manner. But a story about endless hole-digging has limitations both narratively and visually. Also, you wonder why no one cottons on to the conspiracy among the camp heads. The historical stories never take on any life of their own, being too skimpy and inconsequential except for how they relate to the present-day situation.
The use of locations near California's Death Valley, the stunts, cinematography and design all mark a considerable upgrade of the Disney family film. It's just that the story is a sometimes thing.
HOLES
Buena Vista Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures in association with Walden Media
Credits:
Director: Andrew Davis
Screenwriter: Louis Sachar
Based on the novel by: Louis Sachar
Producers: Mike Medavoy, Andrew Davis, Teresa Tucker-Davies, Lowell Blank
Executive producers: Marty Ewing, Louis Phillips
Director of photography: Stephen St. John
Production designer: Maher Ahmad
Music: Joel McNeely
Costume designer: Aggie Guerard Rodgers
Editors: Tom Nordberg, Jeffrey Wolf
Cast:
Warden: Sigourney Weaver
Mr. Sir: Jon Voight
Dr Pendanski: Tim Blake Nelson
Stanley: Shia LaBeouf
Zero: Khleo Thomas
Sam: Dule Hill
Father: Henry Winkler
Grandfather: Nathan Davis
Kissin' Kate: Patricia Arquette
Madame Zeroni: Eartha Kitt
Running time -- 117 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 4/17/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Although Easter brings with it good will and spring cheer, moviegoers will likely choose to stay Angry this weekend. Columbia Pictures/Revolution Studios' PG-13 Anger Management -- which brought in a record-setting $42.2 million during its opening frame and has been averaging $3 million a day in weekday showings -- could drop 40%-50% and hold onto the lead position despite the emergence of three new wide releases. The Jack Nicholson-Adam Sandler starrer will see increased competition this Easter-Passover holiday weekend, with MGM starting the race off early with its Wednesday release of action-adventure Bulletproof Monk in 2,955 theaters. The Walt Disney Co.'s Holes, based on the popular children's best seller by Louis Sachar, will bow in 2,331 theaters Friday, targeting the tween audience. Warner Bros. Pictures' Malibu's Most Wanted will go after the hip-hop crowd in 2,503 theaters. The three films are likely to duke it out for the second, third and fourth positions this weekend, with none expected to cross the $15 million mark.
- 4/17/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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