December 2006
21 posts
2006 in Film: Parting Shots
Dispensing first with the standard among the year’s top-10 lists - The Departed, with a cast-list that amounts to an embarrassment of riches, and a return to familiar, brutal territory, you would expect Scorsese to better his source material (Infernal Affairs) at almost every turn, and that he did - save for the closing act, which was quite literally, brainless.
Largely ignored in most...
Half-Year in Review
Slow news. End of year. Lazy blogging. A self-congratulating selection of items within our decidedly narrow purview, since jumping into the entertainment fray - circa summer 06’.
— “I think it all became about like a little kid would. ‘I want to play with this; I want to watch this movie. Now I want to eat sugar.’ That was kind of my way of navigating and making her a sympathetic...
Casual Browsing: The Beginning of the End Edition
Clearing the bins as the year wanes:
— “Children of Men” may be something of a bummer, but it’s the kind of glorious bummer that lifts you to the rafters, transporting you with the greatness of its filmmaking…a gratifying sign that big studios are still occasionally in the business of making ambitious, intelligent work that speaks to adults. (Manohla Dargis review - New York Times)
...
Spike Lee to direct James Brown biopic
Spike Lee has been attached to direct a James Brown biopic, reports Variety. Before his death, Brown was involved in the development of the project, making himself available to scriptwriters, and permitting access to his close confidant, Bobby Byrd. Also by Brown’s hand, Lee and his collaborators will have full access to his music library at their disposal.
Production for the film will...
Thank You, James
'Black Snake Moan' trailer leaked
Update/Correction: The video below was the first to surface, but hot on its heels are hi-res versions that should be here to stay (via Ropes of Sillicon). Original Source: WorstPreviews
Director Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow) on shifting the release of the Samuel L. Jackson/Christina Ricci vehicle from September to February 23rd:
“They do this thing out there called running the numbers,...
New 'Grindhouse' trailer
Updated: Trailer available here, now. Official site is also live.
As AICN has pointed out, Yahoo has launched an official trailer for the Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez joint venture - Grindhouse, this afternoon.
An earlier teaser shown off at the Spike TV Scream Awards in October was largely composed of shots from the Rodriguez half of the film - Planet Terror, featuring Freddy...
They Still Shoot Music Videos, Don't They?
As the end of year lists filter in (GreenCine is your spot for the most comprehensive, obsessively updated film list wrap-ups) the people over at Director File would like to remind you that the lost art of the music video is not entirely dead to the world, as their top 10 for 2006 attests to. The otherworldly Boards of Canada, Will Oldham, aka Bonnie Prince Billy (also seen in ultra-limited...
A note from P.T. Anderson
Reprinted from Cigarettes and Red Vines - a definitive resource on P.T.A. and his upcoming film -There Will Be Blood (based on the Upton Sinclair novel Oil!), starring Daniel Day Lewis as an oil developer during the 1920’s boon in Southern California. Discussed earlier.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
2006, no movie.
Only means one thing; we will have a movie for you all in 2007.
Wanted to wish a...
Casual Browsing: post-blackout edition
Back to business now, after joining the one million other Seattle residents to fall prey to The Great Blackout of 06’. A forgo-the-exposition style, mid-week in review. Embrace the brevity.
Stills of Black Snake Moan’s Christina Ricci.
First images from Tarantino/Rodriguez joint Grindhouse (Movieweb).
Three-fourths brilliant Babel leads Golden Globes noms with seven.
Bob Dylan...
Philip Seymour Hoffman: The Mattress Man
Looking back at Philip Seymour Hoffman’s stint as Dean Trumbell - Mattress Man by day, seedy phone-sex scamster by night. As foil to Sandler’s Barry Egan in Punch Drunk Love, Hoffman goes so far as to faithfully recreate a real-life, small-time commercial spot gone bad. Never making the final cut in the Paul Thomas Anderson classic, only available via the bonus features on the...
Quotable: Christine Vachon
There will always be tent-pole, franchise trilogies to plaster every available surface of our culture. Romantic comedies will continue to come out of a tube, every spring and fall. Right now, and for the foreseeable future, a car is exploding on screen somewhere, a drug deal is going bad, a couple are overcoming the obstacles between them and true love. The slate of every studio looks pretty...
Why is there no room on TV for the likes of...
Starting out as a short film, then produced as a pilot for the Oxygen network that was never picked up, Illeanarama - Supermarket of the Stars almost made it to television - via E!, but hit more snags. Rather than throw up her hands and walk away, creator/star Illeana Douglas went the route of YouTube. Not to knock the bedroom webcam superstars or penniless young filmmakers on the come that have...
Updates and notes: 'Darjeeling', the future of...
An embedded reporter on the ground in India gives a first hand account, and the first on location pic for Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited, featuring Schwartzman, Wilson, and Brody. (Dug up via film ick.) I have to say, if these are the real costumes for the film, we’re talking true stagnation, or regression even, of the Anderson aesthetic. A bit much, no? Also, Anjelica Huston...
Images: On location - 'The Battle in Seattle'
1: Andre Benjamin, Martin Henderson, and Michelle Rodriguez between takes during shooting for The Battle in Seattle. First photo, graciously provided by Tamara (more great on-the-scene shots via her blog and Flickr page. All others by Ted Z., if the lower quality didn’t tip you off.)
2: Andre and Michelle (at right) direct protester traffic.
3 and 4: March until you hear...
Viewing Tips: Wholphin, 'The Secret Life of...
- Dennis Hopper and director Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways) are among the lastest to offer short films for McSweeney’s quarterly DVD magazine - Wholphin. Check out the lineup, with clips and director bios for Issue 3, which you can preorder now. Should be a short wait, as the release is scheduled for “early December”.
- Trailer: Tim Robbins and Sara Polley in The Secret...
Video: 'Amelie' Screen Test - Audrey Tautou
Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who discovered upstart actress Audrey Tautou on a poster for 1999’s Venus Beauty Institute while walking the streets of Paris, brought her in for a screen test after Emily Watson, who the starring role was originally intended for, turned it down:
“When I did the test, immediately I knew. Like a sportsman, she has a great sense of timing. The best part...
Video: Illeana Douglas slums it up in 'Ileanarama'
Appearing in over 60 film and television roles, ranging from Goodfellas to Ghost World, Law and Order to Six Feet Under, Illeana Douglas seems to relish in supporting roles, but in a series of shorts she wrote and produced for The Sundance Channel, she finds herself as the center of attention, humbly so, in Illeanarama. The first episode has been released online, as Douglas spites her screen...
Notes and Speculation: Spike Jonze and 'Wild...
In some places you can get a smack for linking to a 2 week old newspaper article, but there’s been such a tight lid kept on the production of Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are that I’ll risk it, in the interest of the people. First: behind the scenes in Australia. Second: wrap party, last week (last item). Previously: Catherine O’Hara rapped about...
Trailer: Inland Empire
Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons, and Justin Theroux star in David Lynch’s first feature shot entirely in digital video - Inland Empire, alternately known as Things That Make You Go Hmm. Don’t quote me on that. “Three hours of mesmerizing (often infuriating) incoherence, a puzzle whose pieces you’ll keep trying to put together in your head long after you leave the theater.” -...
Trailers: 'Wristcutters', 'Maxed Out', 'Tears of...
Wristcutters: A Love Story - Shannyn Sossamon, Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous), Shea Whigham, with appearances from John Hawkes (Deadwood, Me and You and Everyone We Know), Will Arnett, and Tom Waits. After slitting his wrists, Zia (Fugit) joins dead-but-not-quite post-suicidals (Sossamon and Whigham), road tripping in an afterlife reserved for their own kind. Teaser Trailer + Additional clips...