Trailer Power Rankings: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ Owns the Week

It happens to be Friday, and as a result, it’s time for the best and the worst of this week’s trailers. Now, I have to level with you. This week it’s mostly worst, with a huge batch of silly kids movies and a few other dumb-dumb items thrown in for good measure. But, what’s actually good will blow you right away.

From the dizzying heights of Wall Street comes Martin Scorsese’s latest shiny bauble, while down in the dumps is Robert De Niro waving a gun and barking like a crazy man. Never fear however, there’s everything in between from animated films about turkeys to exotic British cop thrillers, terrifying found footage horror schlock to the perfect, remarkable depiction of the devastation of alcoholism. Sounds depressing, but it’s actually great.

In any case, let us make with all alarming alacrity towards the trailers, and find our fate sealed therein.

1.) ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’

Maybe the best movie ever? Scorsese is back with his main man DiCaprio, in a period piece about greed, women, power, sex and money. No, it’s not Gatsby 2, it’s something better, a millionaire playboy deeply embedded in Wall Street. Get ready to love everything about the next few minutes, this trailer will improve your life. It’s also kind of hard to explain with words. It’s just beyond.
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jon Favreau, Spike Jonze
Release Date: November 15, 2013

2.) ‘Drinking Buddies’

What happens when best friends who work together and hang out all the time end up dating other people? Can their friendship survive? This comedy looks amazing, filled with brains and beauty both. But, I mean, if I was any of these people I would have trouble picking between the two options offered to me. Hilarious and charming. Must see.
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson
Release Date: July 25, 2013

3.) ‘The Spectacular Now’

One of the best films from the Sundance Film Festival centers on the problems of young love, coming of age, and teenage alcoholism. Director James Ponsoldt is best known for directing “Smashed” and this film is built of the same beautiful stuff, elegant, strong and charming. Shailene Woodley gives a knockout performance, but it’s Miles Teller
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Release Date: August 2, 2013

4.) ‘Blood’

A family of cops descend into madness in this thriller with a twist that is totally given away in the middle of it so don’t watch maybe, but there’s lots of Shakespearean backstabbing and plotting and Paul Bettany doing his thing which is perfection. From the dark mood to the despairing ending, “Blood” tells a terrifying tale of vengeance.
Starring: Paul Bettany, Mark Strong, Brian Cox
Release Date: 2013

5.) ‘Crystal Fairy’

A strange little comedic ditty of a film finds Michael Cera trying to take drugs with a bunch of new found friends in South America, leading him on both a quest for the drugs and a spirit journey once they are found. If you’ve ever wanted to see another side of Michael Cera, this is your chance. Director Sebastian Silva won directing awards at Sundance for this and his other fantastic film, “Magic Magic”.
Starring: Michael Cera, Gaby Hoffmann, Agustín Silva
Release Date: 2013

5.) ‘Anchorman 2'

The boys are back in town! So many years after the stirring success of “Anchorman” comes the sequel, only now, everyone in it is way more famous than they were. It’s the ’80s and Ron Burgundy will struggle to stay relevant on the news. I
Starring: Steve Carell, Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd
Release Date: December 20, 2013

6.) ‘Touchy Feely’

Another film from Sundance, unfortunately not as good as it should have been. The tale of a masseuse and her sudden aversion to touching people, as she struggles to get along with her depressed brother and his concerned daughter. The film is sweet enough and vivid, though it lacks some mysterious essential quality. But hey, decide for yourself.
Starring: Rosemarie DeWitt, Scoot McNairy, Ellen Page
Release Date: Sept. 6, 2013

7.) ‘Empire State’

A period piece! With Hemmy! Bank heist in the ’70s or ’80s or something, who knows. A security guard who has always wanted to become a cop gets caught up in the middle of fraud and worse. Thrilling! Maybe. Remains to be seen if it’s actually any good, as Emma Roberts and Liam Hemsworth tend to be a little… how you say… lackluster. Also, The Rock will be in every action movie ever, from here on out. Get used to it.
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Liam Hemsworth, Emma Roberts
Release Date: August 23, 2013

8.) ‘Evidence’

Finally a found-footage horror film that plays artfully on the genre. Sure, it still looks crappy and formulaic, but at least there’s a framework in place. If you can get past imagining Stephen Moyer always about to say “Sookie!” then you’ve got a story about an artful serial killer, and a series of tapes found at a crime scene. Watch the tapes, uncover the murders.
Starring: Nolan Gerard Funk, Stephen Moyer, Torrey DeVitto
Release Date: July 19, 2013

9.) ‘The Colony’

In the future, the entire planet has fallen prey to global warming and it never stops snowing, for some reason. There’s foul play afoot, someone has to investigate, stuff’s going down, and the remaining survivors must protect their dwindling numbers from an even more serious threat. I just feel that maybe we’ve seen this movie many times. Show us something new!
Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Kevin Zegers, Bill Paxton
Release Date: 2013

10.) ‘Free Birds’

Another terrible animated film that no one really wants to see, but hey, it’s about a turkey who is pardoned by the president, and then travels back in time in order to save all turkeys, ever. Kind of cute? Not really, but again, maybe a child will love it! Since that’s who this movie is for. Children.
Starring: Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Amy Poehler
Release Date: November 1, 2013

11.) ‘The Lego Movie’

A movie with legos in it! Starring in it! Yeah! This is a hugely heavy week for animated children’s movies, and this one looks like it will please anyone with a fifth grade imagination and a true love of legos. Batman shows up at one point. Quips. There’s some jokes, I mean. Ugh.
Starring: Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Will Arnett
Release Date: 2014

12.) ‘Frozen’

Animated teaser trailer, I don’t even know what this movie is actually about since this teaser is just a snowman and an… elk? fighting over a carrot. Literally. Kids will maybe like this movie when we finally find out what it’s about, but until then… elk. Carrot. Stuff.
Starring: Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, Idina Menzel
Release Date: November 27, 2013

13.) ‘Compulsion’

Low-budget, low-rent fake DePalma looking crap. Heather Graham plays a chef who finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her, and decides to get crazy and stalk her neighbor Carrie-Anne Moss. You guyyyys, remember when they were both in better movies? No, me either really, but this one just looks like a weird high-school play. Does Kevin Dillon look like a cheaper Ethan Hawke to anyone? Just me? OK.
Starring: Mike Chikoski, Matt Connors, Kevin Dillon
Release Date: June 21, 2013

14.) ‘Killing Season’

Ha ha ha. Okay, so Robert De Niro is some kind of war guy and also a dad, and then John Travolta is Russian or something, and seriously this stuff is mesmerizing, how did it even get made? Like, it can’t even matter what happens, it’s all guns and punching and glaring. Give yourself a good laugh and drink this one in.
Starring: Robert De Niro, John Travolta, Milo Ventimiglia
Release Date: July 12, 2013

Come back next week for more rankings and way more trailers!

Categories: Columns, Trailer Roundup

Tags: Amanda mae meyncke, Anchorman 2, Movie trailers, The Spectacular Now, Touchy Feely, Trailer power rankings, Wolf of wall street

Review: ‘Maniac’

After breaking out with his thoroughly grisly, ultimately goofy “High Tension,” Alexandre Aja has made a name for himself on horror remakes: 2006’s “The Hills Have Eyes,” 2008’s “Mirrors,” 2010’s “Piranha.” Acting as a producer and co-writer this time out, Aja hands the reins over to Franck Khalfoun, director of the Aja-produced parking-garage thriller “P2,” as they put a first-person spin on William Lustig’s cult classic, “Maniac.”

The chief gimmick here is that everything we see is from the eyes — or at least the mind — of Frank (Elijah Wood), a mannequin aficionado with a penchant for stalking and scalping young beauties so as to better adorn his lifeless companions. His voice is a panicky constant, his vision an occasional blur on account of migraines, with the perspective only dropped for flashbacks to Frank’s typically trashy childhood and whenever he finally lands the thrill of a kill. By the time he falls for cute photographer Anna (Nora Arnezeder) and attempts a proper courtship, we know that the track record isn’t exactly in his favor…

Khalfoun’s technique may be cinema’s most thuddingly literal attempt to put viewers inside the head of a psychopath, complete with Norman Bates-worthy mommy issues, but as a technical feat, it makes for a remarkably dedicated experience while minimizing concerns over Wood’s less-than-intimidating stature. (“Sin City,” this is not.) Our lead doesn’t resemble Joe Spinell in the original, nor should he. Spinell played a very particular kind of brute ideal for the seediness of late-‘70s NYC; Wood plays the type of shy guy that present-day Angelenos aren’t necessarily afraid to take home before it’s too late.

There are callbacks nonetheless, some of which are just a touch too on-the-nose, and the synth-heavy score by Rob helps to keep the film out of its own time, but just as the original “Maniac” was chiefly remarkable for its groundbreaking gore effects by Tom Savini, the gruesomeness here is almost proudly impeccable in its seamlessness. Now and then, the subjectivity of Frank’s mind is eerie enough, as when the patrons of a restaurant all seem to stop and stare him down while his date prattles on, but more often than not, Khalfoun and Aja are all about working the gag reflex – a questionable goal, to be sure, but one that’s effectively achieved.

For some, the moral vacuum in which this plays out will prove insurmountable, and understandably so. Apathy virtually scalps empathy at every turn. For others, though, “Maniac” is a bit like watching an amputee play hopscotch: there’s no way that it’s polite to stare for this long, but you just have to see if this guy’s gonna make it to the end.

SCORE: 6.6 / 10

“Maniac” is now available on VOD, iTunes and in select theaters.

Categories: Reviews

Tags: Alexandre aja, Elijah wood, Maniac, Remake, Review, William goss

Review: ‘A Hijacking’

Captain Jack Sparrow, they are not.

The pirates you see – but never really meet – in Tobias Lindholm’s gut-churning film “A Hijacking” are not fun. They are all business, maybe some of them are evil, or others are just pawns. There’s no shortage of gray area and, to the film’s credit, there is plenty of space in which to examine the film, looking for answers. “A Hijacking” isn’t boring, but it is not an adventure film – it is a frustratingly realistic take on the unfortunate modern threat of piracy, and a bit of an emotional workout.

We open with some unsubtle scenes of Johan Philip Asbæk as Mikkel, the cook on a Danish commercial ship. He’s got a bit of a Shaggy from “Scooby-Doo” thing going, and he’s on the satellite phone to his wife and kids. He’s a nice guy! I hope nothing happens to him.

Once we meet Mikkel we cut to the interior of a luxury sedan. At the wheel, the sharply dressed Søren Malling as Peter, the CEO of the shipping concern that owns Mikkel’s boat. After witnessing him work negotiating magic in the boardroom (then sternly but politely dress-down an underling for not asking for his help earlier) he gets the news. One of his ships has been hijacked.

The set-up is clear and perfect – the absolute top and bottom of the totem pole. How will the events of the titular hijacking effect them both?

Well, nobody comes out of a situation like this entirely unscathed, but it reminds me of one of my favorite old jokes my friend’s grandfather used to say. With his thick Eastern European accent he’d offer “Listen – I’ve been rich and miserable, and I’ve been poor and miserable. And I can tell you – rich is better.”

On Mikkel’s end it is pure PsyOps. He and two others are separated from the rest of the crew and kept in a fly-ridden, blazing-hot room (you can hear the vinyl cushions stick to their skin.) They are forced to relieve themselves in the corner. As the cook, Mikkel is gets pulled out to serve meals, and he ends up being chosen to speak to the company back home.

Guiding him is Omar, an enigmatic, bilingual man who is quick to remind everyone that he isn’t a pirate, just a negotiator, and he wants to go home, too. Whether or not this is true is never revealed.

Back on land (and in sterile, harshly lit offices) Peter has recruited a British specialist to help him with negotiations. The very first thing he does is ignore him, and demand to speak on the phone himself. It’s hard to say if this is out of some sort of machismo or intense guilt. It’s also unsure if he keeps lowballing Omar because he is a skinflint or because this is the only way to ensure the safety of his crew.

With this set-up in play you now expect the fireworks to happen. And that’s when the movie starts to move to the beat of its own, weird drum. Nothing happens. Well, nothing plot-heavy happens. The gears move really slowly with this sort of thing, and hours quickly turn to days and days to weeks. Our characters on both ends of the phone become more frazzled, and we in the audience just get more and more queasy.

Through it all, Lindholm keeps his eye focused. The office scenes grow sickening with their harsh fluorescent lights. On the boat, Mikkel and his comrades try to connect with their captors in some way. A round of bored drunkenness seems to break the ice, but no true bonds are formed. It’s as if they are begging for Stockholm Syndrome. You know something bad is going to happen, but you don’t quite know what or when.

“A Hijacking” has an extremely gratifying ending in that it is dramatic but also stays true to the very dead-pan, naturalist style of the entire film. There’s no geo-political finger-pointing, or even much class warfare beyond the obvious. It flatly lays out what would happen in a situation like this, who would be affected and how. Not a fun boat trip to take, but as an exercise in situational filmmaking it is a recommended one.

SCORE: 8.0 / 10

Categories: Reviews

Tags: A Hijacking, Johan Philip Asbaek, Jordan hoffman, Piracy, Review, Tobias Lindholm

The Longest Film Production of All Time: Leni Riefenstahl’s 30-Year Road to ‘Tiefland’

Thanks to a buzzy Vanity Fair article, people can’t stop talking about “World War Z“‘s highly-publicized, turbulent production. Numerous rewrites, reshoots, and acts of God occurred in the public eye. It all spells disaster. And yet, the bumpy road to release doesn’t hold a candle to the Guinness Book of World Records holder for “longest live-action film production.” Proof that things could be worse.

Read our list of the 10 Most Disastrous Film Productions of All Time

“Triumph of the Will” director and famed Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl took 20 years to finish her harrowing love story “Tiefland” (more on the complex plot, here). Riefenstahl finalized the script for the opera adaptation in 1934, but plans to direct were cut short when Adolf Hitler requested she produce “Triumph” instead. Years passed and the world went to war, but Riefenstahl wasn’t giving up (this was also to be a big starring role for the multi-talented woman). In 1940, she began rolling on her decidedly apolitical passion project … only to see costs and tumultuous on-location filming extend the shoot by almost five years. German weather during the winter turned out to not be the best place to replicate the atmosphere of Spain. Go figure.

Riefenstahl finished the film in 1944 and was quickly arrested by the American occupation in Kitzbühel, Austria. She was taken to the American-run concentration camp in Dachau, undergoing interrogation for her involvement in the Third Reich while her film sat, waiting to be cut. Riefenstahl was exonerated by U.S. troops in 1945. She returned to Kitzbühel to edit “Tiefland”, only to see the city undergo French occupation. So Riefenstahl was arrested once again, her American papers meaning squat to the French. The troops took her money, property, and perhaps most excruciating for the filmmaker, the negative to “Tiefland”. During her time under French watch, she was summoned to court for a number of potential crimes, one even involving “Tiefland”. She was accused of using Spanish gypsies locked up at a Nazi concentration camp as extras. How was she supposed to know that wasn’t allowed?! And maybe after they were finished shooting, those gypsies were executed at Auschwitz. Details, details, details. Apparently the French military has never been to Hollywood.

In 1952, Riefenstahl was cleared completely since A): there weren’t witnesses who could testify against her and B): people seemed sympathetic to her situation as a masterful filmmaker forced to work under Hitler (it’s disputable how much of a “victim” she really was). At the age of 50, Riefenstahl finally finished her edit of the film — starring her 32-year-old self in the lead role. It quietly arrived in theaters that year, critics none too interested in a the latest work from a Hitler confidant.

See, World War Z’s production woes aren’t so bad. Brad Pitt could have been convicted of Nazi war crimes.

Learn more about Leni Riefenstahl and the production of “Tiefland” in the book Leni Riefenstahl: A Life.

Categories: Features

Tags: Leni Riefenstahl, Matt Patches, Tiefland, Triumph of the Will, World Records, World war z

Visualizing Sound: Creating the Movie Poster for ‘Berberian Sound Studio’

A friend of mine regularly reminds me that much of what designers do is destined for the landfill. It’s a sobering thought, kind of like the realization that your future will most likely involve an intimate relationship with ground mulch. Everything is finite and a lot of what propels us forward is the meaning we carve out for ourselves. Visions of being remembered in the annals of design history give plenty of people a sense of purpose in their life, while others sustain themselves on the prospect of higher wages. The more altruistic will say that their cockles are warmed solely through following orders.

I’ve never been on a quest to please, nor have I had any delusions about securing a place in the history of design. Fame is fleeting, money only lasts for so long. There’s no end goal I hope to achieve, no mountain to get to the top of or a princess to save. I’m just interested in playing a long game against myself, trying to be better than what I was capable of the day before. That momentum propels the process forward and makes these projects into a journey of exploration rather than one of just idly checking boxes off on a bucket list. Everything is best served in moderation, though, and as motivating as pushing yourself can be, using that as on its own can lead to a host of messy results. That happened both with this project and, in a case of art imitating life, to Gilderoy, the sullied sound foley artist of Peter Strickland’s “Berberian Sound Studio.”

Blending together sight and sound to create a wholly unique experience, “Berberian Sound Studio” revolves around the increasing frustrations and unraveling mental state of a sound engineer working on an Italian horror film in the 1970’s. It was one of the first films that I’d worked on in awhile where I’d had some passing knowledge of its existence: it premiered months before in the UK, backed by a vibrant set of posters that either played off of the soft, beautiful imagery within the film or brought to the forefront it’s giallo roots. A pre-existing campaign often isn’t a burden when a project is separated by time, but the fresher something is in the public’s consciousness, the greater the risk there is at being influenced and stumbling onto similar lines. Pulling from the same visual well as the original would speak honestly to the look of the film, but would teeter on the edge of that well-trodden ground. Berberian offers a premise rich in interpretation, allowing for different roads to be taken without straying too far from any central themes or ideas. It’s a unique film that grants the opportunity to push oneself without worrying about getting too weird.

That doesn’t mean the process won’t go up in flames, though. This sort of did.

Many of the early sketches were an incomprehensible mess; there were sound ideas, but the driving force became less concerned with focusing on them, and more with a desire to repeatedly try stranger things. A demon made out of sound equipment, Gilderoy’s face peeled back to reveal another world within – bizarre for the sake of being bizarre, but in a way that tried to top what came before. It can be a miserable process, watching pieces not click together despite continuously attacking the problem at different angles. Things get better, eventually, but then the rigorous second-guessing begins: are these being pushed far enough? Can they go further? Do they feel too easy? Do these avenues make any sense?

Scribbling without a direction can offer a multitude of possibilities but deadlines are always looming, and too much time spent yanking your own chain is a recipe for a whole lot of form without much of the content. What’s being produced becomes too insular and alienating to an audience not steeped in design history; a case of the work having it’s head firmly up it’s own backside. A clear idea, some semblance of a path forward – those can give definition to creative chaos. Thematically, Gilderoy becoming consumed by his process, causing the subsequent unraveling of his mental state, offered a foot hole in which to reign everything in.

Sound reels became the focus, with magnetic tape spiraling outward and becoming a chaotic mess in several versions of the poster. The foley artist is devoured by the equipment he employs, becoming a part of him or covering the gaps that would be filled by traditional facial features. Fantasy and reality collide sometimes violently within the film, so many of the pieces use rough juxtapositions between different sound waves and other shards of imagery to evoke a fragmented sense of unity. Themes and similar patterns of exploration were strewn across different ideas rather than honed in on for a single piece as a way of playing within a sandbox, rather than getting lost within a jungle again.

Berberian revels in ambiguity, employing certain techniques and staging certain scenes in a way that makes their meaning open to interpretation. That, in of itself, offers a license to make associations and indulge in bizarre imagery. The large, looming eye that found its way into several iterations is strange, and its addition is more emulative of the film’s aims by being suggestive rather than communicating a literal idea. Grounding everything falls to the title treatment (emulative of vintage vinyl packaging) and, in the case of the final one-sheet, the familiar, vertical structure used in most modern film posters. For a film that works against convention, a case could be made that laying everything out in a way that’s overly-familiar contradicts the story’s ethos, but I see it more as a coincidental nod to a classic Argento poster.

Now, with all of that said, this managed to be both the easiest and difficult assignment I’ve tackled lately. Both IFC and Peter Strickland were wonderful; their reception to the work out of the gate isn’t typical in this business, and at the end of the day it’s existence is owed to them.

The rough patches only asserted themselves in my own time, created by myself, while I privately waged a war against myself to move in directions I wasn’t altogether comfortable with. The results were satisfying in the end in the face of a tumultuous process.

Here is the final one-sheet:

There are an infinite number of ways to solve a problem, although some reveal themselves more easily than others. That alone is enough to make anyone roll into a fetal position and call it a day. Obstructions help reel things in, though, keeping the project moving forward without going too far off the rails and spiraling out of control. The temptation is there to try so many avenues, regardless of whether you’re prepared or not, and building walls for a sandbox can be the only thing standing in the way of stooping over your equipment and thinking…

“Berberian Sound Studio” is now playing in theaters and is available to rent on iTunes, YouTube, and other VOD outlets.

Check out the previous installment of The Art House: The Beautiful Movie Posters of Post-War Germany.

Categories: Columns

Tags: Berberian sound studio, Brandon schaefer, Dario argento, Giallo, IFC, Movie posters, Peter Strickland, Process Post, The Art House, Toby jones

BAMCinemaFest Review: ‘Hellaware’

To make jokes about rural Insane Clown Posse-esque rock/rappers is shooting fish in a barrel. To make jokes about the Brooklyn art scene is shooting fish in a pint glass with an assault rifle. And yet Michael M. Bilandic’s microbudget indie “Hellaware,” a story which skewers both groups, manages to be a funny, albeit slight success by reigning in the buffoonery and keeping the whole affair extremely deadpan. This is a wafer thin movie, but there isn’t a scene in its brisk 75 minute runtime that isn’t developing its central characters in an almost surreptitious manner. No one is asking you to take the movie too seriously, but it is a rather sly affair, slipping in some genuine food for thought amongst its snickering.

Nate (Keith Poulson) is a would-be art photographer facing the brick wall of post-grad life. His girlfriend (Kate Lyn Sheil) just dumped him for a slobby dude with pigtails who somehow manages to sell his wretched, infantile art. Nate licks his wounds with his friends, throwing away quips that a director with less assurance than Bilandic would be milking for maximum but inappropriate effect.

While putzing around the apartment with his best pals (Sophia Takal and an African-American actor whose name I can’t find in the press notes or the Internet, but is playing a character obsessed with the 90s while dressed like Dwayne Wayne) Nate happens upon a self-produced video by a group calling themselves Young Torture Killaz. Their opus is “I’ll Cut Yo Dick Off” and it’s a goof, but not too ridiculous not to feel potentially real.

Something in the song speaks to Nate. Well, not the song, but the experience. It is horrible music, but there’s an honesty and desperation that Nate finds striking. (We the in the audience don’t have to feel it, it’s still believable if we’re just chuckling.) Soon Nate is en route to Delaware, a state all have driven through, but no one is entirely convinced has more to it than a few rest stops. He meets and befriends the Young Torture Killaz (in their Mom’s basement, naturally) and pretty soon he’s got some photographs that are impressive enough to catch the eye of top gallerist Olivier LaFleur.

At around this point you realize that, for a lack of a better term, a “real movie” has snuck up on you. Amidst the double-edged mockery, we find ourselves in a situation where Nate is clearly exploiting the trust of the Young Torture Killaz for his personal gain. It wasn’t Nate’s intention, but suddenly he’s in an ethical quandary, and one without a crystal clear path. (Because, let’s face it, the “purple drink” gulping Young Torture Killaz are kinda idiots.)

It’s all leading up to Nate’s big show at LaFleur’s gallery and there are additional complications when he and Takal’s character evolve from being just platonic friends. The ending goes to unexpected places, and delighted this viewer with something you don’t see enough in movies: an actual punchline. “Hellaware” is amusing throughout, but isn’t loaded with laugh-out-loud moments. The ending, however, had me doubled-over.

For a picture so light and droll, you do exit asking, “gee, what would I do in that situation?” That element of depth is perhaps unexpected from scanning the logline. More importantly, by the fifth time you hear “I’ll Cut Yo Dick Off” you will, I swear, start singing along. And you’ll be humming it hours later. And that, I think we can all agree, is funny.

SCORE: 7.5 / 10

“Hellaware” plays at BAMCinemaFest on Saturday, June 22 2013.

Categories: Reviews

Tags: BAMCinemaFest 2013, Hellaware, Jordan hoffman, Michael M. Bilandic, Review, Sophia Takal

Cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt Talks Taking Over ‘The Bling Ring’ for Harris Savides

In the headline of their October 12, 2012 obituary for Harris Savides, the New York Times went beyond a technical description of the late cinematographer. They opted for “Visual Poet,” a description that spans Savides’ career of fashion photography, music videos, and feature films. Over a 30-year career, Savides shot for David Fincher, Woody Allen, Noah Baumbach, Gus Van Sant, James Grey, Ridley Scott, and Mark Romanek, who recruited the photographer for Michael Jackson’s “Scream” and Madonna’s “Rain” videos.

Savides’ final work can currently be seen in “The Bling Ring,” directed by Sofia Coppola (read our review here), with whom he previously collaborated on “Somewhere.” During the making of the film, the cinematographer became sick, forcing him to take a leave of absence from the shoot. Knowing the visual identity had been concretely established, Savides put “Bling Ring” in the hands of his longtime camera operator Christopher Blauvelt (who has shot is own handful of films including “Meek’s Cutoff,” “Nobody Walks,” and the upcoming cinematic diptych “Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby”). Thanks

Below, I spoke to Blauvelt about the inspirations for “The Bling Ring,” working side-by-side with Savides for many years, and carrying his collaborator’s torch in both Coppola’s film and in his future work. You will also find a conversation with Coppola on what Savides brought to the film and the shots he designed.

Matt Patches: What were the visual cues you were presented with by Sofia? Were there graphic design, cinematic, or materialistic inspirations that Harris had considered?

Christopher Blauvelt: Sofia had a lot of visual references that we pulled from. Her and Harris had already thought about this project well before I came on board but I was able to bring in some of my own as well. We referenced a lot of contemporary photo books of kids of this age with their parties, outfits and behavior. We watched movies like “Foxes” (1980) for the camaraderie of the bunch as well as “Over the Edge” (1979) for the kids running around without care of consequence. It was also good to keep some of the older films that we appreciated in mind when we knew we were making a very contemporary story. And when it comes to understanding the fashion of today, there’s no one better than Sofia.

Having worked with Harris many times, how easy was it for you to take on DP duties for “Bling Ring” after he passed away? What were the challenges of matching his cinematography?

CB: Harris was still alive while we were making this film, but he was having to deal with some medical issues so he asked me to come on board to protect Sofia and the film alike. Harris was aware of this situation early on even before prep. He and Sofia are great friends and had been talking about this film for quite a while. So when I came into the picture there was already a good idea of the aesthetic. Harris and our D.I.T. [Digital Imaging Technician] Jeff Flohr had been working on digital looks for the past few years and it was time to see if these would work on a film. We went right into testing these ideas to see what would be the look of the “Bling Ring.” And through a lot of trial and error we found it.

Why do you think the two of you were on the same page creatively? Did you see shooting a movie — stylistically, philosophically — in the same way?

CB: I was always on the same page with Harris because the philosophy has always been that every project deserves its own look. So with ultimate respect for the script, the genre, and the ideas that Sofia had for it, we would research and test as much as possible to get the look of our film. We would always find a way to tailor make the look of every film so I have been a part of this process with Harris on many films.

How did “Bling Ring” vary from your own and Harris’ previous work? Did he have a consistent mantra for solving cinematographical problems?

CB: We wanted to stay very limber and keep the camera handheld as much as possible to make it feel more in the moments and minimize the need for cutting. This was to keep things feeling more authentic and living in reality. We were always choreographing the scenes to make them happen in one take if we could, and we wanted to keep the lighting in the same vein.

Where do you see Harris’ influence in your own work and on all of cinematography?

CB: Harris has influenced cinematography in a way that very few have, he was one of the best people ever to do what he did and a beautiful human being. I personally have him in my heart for everything I do and hear his voice when I’m not challenging myself.

He always said you got to be a little bit scared or you’re just phoning it in. That was Harris and that’s why he always got the most unique looks in films. I will miss him dearly.

Categories: No Categories

Tags: Christopher Blauvelt, Cinematographer, Harris Savides, Interview, Matt Patches, Sofia coppola, The Bling Ring

Cannes Review: ‘Jeune et Jolie’

Dear Penthouse Forum,

This never happens to me, so I had to write about it. I flew all the way to the Cannes Film Festival to see the best in international cinema and perhaps have a few sips of wine at a cafe along the Mediterranean. But you won’t believe the things I saw in this devilishly elegant theater (red velvet and everything) right on the water.

The movie, “Jeune et Jolie,” opens on the beach. A girl not yet seventeen is bathing topless, and we’re watching her through binoculars. Turns out they’re being held by her brother, which may sound gross, but he’s French and I guess that makes this sort of thing okay. Turns out he’s in cahoots with her to sneak out of a vacation house their family is sharing to go meet this very blonde German kid and lose her virginity. He’ll help, but only if she tells him everything.

She doesn’t quite tell all, and her loss of innocence (or is it discovery of self?) seems to have worked an emotional number on her. Next thing you know it’s a few months later and this young and beautiful (that’s what the title means, by the way) girl is now a high priced Internet call girl.

She has no pimp, and she doesn’t need the money, and it’s not like she’s uneducated. (Listen to her classmates interpret Rimbaud!) She’s doing it because. . .she likes it? Well, maybe that’s it. She does tend to take what can only be described as “Silkwood” showers after each encounter, so there’s a part of her that’s grossed out. The extremely camera-friendly Marine Vacth offers up only a (perfectly structured) stoneface, so “what the hell is she thinking??!” isn’t just what her mother wants to know when she inevitably finds out.

Mom finds out after an older John dies of a heart-attack mid-session. The cops get called in, but since she’s still a minor no criminal charges are pressed. It’s at this point that the movie loses some of its steam, but also starts making a point. What does first world 21st Century sexual exploitation look like? When is sex-positive empowerment socially irresponsible? And how are we in the audience supposed to react to all these lustful moments with all these people around?

While most movie actresses are, indeed, young and beautiful, we don’t frequently see what a life under those conditions would actually be like. I don’t know that Francois Ozon’s film is in any way meant to be typical, but it isn’t impossible to fathom. Its politics are interesting to think about, but that remains very much secondary to the front and center prurience at the heart of this film.

If “Jeune et Jolie” were made by a woman the conversation about it might be different, but the fact remains that this is a movie that bluntly shows a 17 year old girl exploding sex all over the screen. There’s a thing she does with a pillow that I’ll never forget. And something else with a . . . you know what . . . I’m going to let you see the movie and decide for yourself if this for art patrons or raincoat-wearers.

SCORE: 7.5 / 10

Categories: Reviews

Tags: 2013 Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, Francois Ozon, Jeune et Jolie, Jordan hoffman, Review

BLOOD (2012)

Tanggal Rilis : 31 May 2013 (UK)
Jenis Film : Thriller
Diperankan Oleh : Paul Bettany, Mark Strong, Brian Cox

Ringkasan Cerita BLOOD (2012) :

Blood is a 2012 thriller that follows two brothers who are policemen and charts the moral collapse of a police family. The two brothers, played by Paul Bettany and Stephen Graham, must investigate a despicable crime in a small town, in the shadow of their former police chief father. Directed by Nick Murphy and written by Bill Gallagher.

[IMDb rating : 6.0/10]
[Awards : - ]
[Production Co : BBC Films, IM Global, Neal Street Productions]
[IMDb link : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2078552]

[Quality : BRRip 720p]
[File Size : 550 MB]
[Format : Matroska >> mkv]
[Resolution : 1280x544]
[Source : 720p.BluRay.x264-ROVERS]
[Encoder : nItRo]

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June at the Movies: The 11 Films You Must See this Month

Maybe it’s the beautiful spring weather, maybe it’s the fact that we need some semblance of hope after this week’s episode of Game of Thrones, but we’re feeling pretty positive this month, electing to give you a preview of eleven movies to keep an eye on and no recommendations to avoid anything! Optimism! We even see the good in “The Internship”! $12 for two hours of air conditioning? Sounds like a good deal to us.

JUNE 7TH

“The Internship“

GGOOOOOOGLLEEEEYYY. Director Shawn Levy’s track record may be anything but comforting, but this movie was shot AT GOOGLE HEADQUARTERS so honestly who cares. I have strange criteria. No, but truthfully it seems as though the story behind the scenes here is way more worthwhile than the movie itself, which is already receiving poor reviews. Google agreed to let the film use its HQ and branding in order to appeal to a mainstream audience outside of the tech community. As the LA Times notes, Google perks including nap pods, beach volleyball courts, and free gourmet food all make appearances on screen. Since the movie is pretty much “The Wedding Crashers”, but Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson crashing Google instead of a wedding, the real appeal here is solely the Google element and might literally be the only reason anyone ever bothers to see it.

“Much Ado About Nothing”

Joss Whedon’s highly anticipated adaptation of the beloved Shakespeare play finally comes to theaters and the Whedonites of the world rejoice! This excellently executed take on the play emphasizes the dark, sensual side of the comedy and showcases another side to a slew of Whedon regulars, including Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Fran Kranz and Sean Maher and introduces the striking Jillian Morgese as Hero. The movie is everything you want it to be, regardless as to whether you see yourself as Shakespeare Fan, a Whedonite, both or neither. Enjoy.

Read our full review.

JUNE 14

“Man of Steel“

Zack Snyder directs this reboot of the Superman series, produced by Chris Nolan, starring Henry Cavil and Amy Adams as Supes and Lois Lane. Snyder has a lot to make up for in the fan community after “Sucker Punch” (although I liked it just fine WHATEVER) – could it be his sensibility paired with the serious, grounded tone of Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy that brings Snyder back into the genre fan’s good graces? Luckily, early word is that the film delivers. Please oh please be true.

“This is the End”

How awkward is it that in a month with a new Superman movie, the sequel to my favorite Pixar movie and “World War Z”, my most anticipated studio film is a random end of the world comedy? The conceit is just too enticing: Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride and James Franco play themselves, trapped at James Franco’s house as the world comes to an end. Sure, the subject matter was recently (and successfully) tackled by “It’s a Disaster”, with a serious take hitting the big screen in “Goodbye World” at LA Film Fest this month, but the meta aspect takes this well-tread concept to a whole new level. It’s a fascinating idea to have a film starring characters we think we know already, playing on our expectations of celebrity and eliminating the need for much if any exposition and back story. How can this movie not be at least a little bit awesome?

Read our full review.

“The Bling Ring“

Some love it, many don’t, but what else is new, Sofia Coppola? Being described as the slightest and therefore most accessible of her work, Coppola fans may find themselves somewhat disappointed, but perhaps it also means the film may become more of a commercial success than her previous outings. Mainstream appeal and Sofia Coppola are somewhat diametrically opposed – much like “Spring Breakers”, the cast may attract an audience expecting something a little less artsy, so keep an eye on the film’s Cinema Score and make sure to be following your teen during the film’s rollout! Reaction should be interesting to say the least. But hey, at the end of the day, the film didn’t get booed after its Cannes premiere, unlike Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette”, so, victory!

“Call Me Kuchu“

One of my favorite movies from LA Film Fest last year hits theaters in very limited release and it is your duty as a human to go see it. “Call Me Kuchu” chronicles the life and death of David Kato, gay rights activist in the startlingly homophobic country of Uganda. Filmmakers Katherine Wright Fairfax and Malika Zouhali-Worrall happened to be in Uganda following Kato and his movement when the activist was murdered for his beliefs. The film is difficult but powerful, moving and necessary viewing.

Read our full review.

JUNE 21

“Monsters University“

Sully and Mike are back on the big screen, 12 years after their first outing in “Monster’s Inc”, my personal favorite of the Pixar canon. In “Monster’s University”, we learn how the two expert scarers met and eventually became friends. This is director Dan Scanlon’s first time with a Pixar feature, and luckily for him, early word is positive (though one must remember that early word was similarly positive for last year’s “Brave”, and we all remember how that turned out. Poorly, guys. Poorly is how it turned out. In case you don’t remember).

“World War Z“

Brilliant book by Max Brooks. Epic, seemingly interminable production mired in problems. What happens when the two come together? Directed by Mark Forster, starring Brad Pitt, and partially re-written by love him or hate him Damon Lindelof (with help from Drew Goddard….based on drafts by J. Michael Straczynski and Matthew Carnahan…featuring on set doctoring by Chris McQuarrie…oh boy) this adaptation has become notorious for its countless reshoots, budgetary problems and poorly received original ending. Will it all be worth it? The film was received well enough by UK critics at its London premiere, but it ain’t over till the fanboy sings and our brethren is very protective over the source material.

JUNE 28

“The Heat“

Real talk time. Are we still trusting Melissa McCarthy’s taste in material after “Identity Thief”? On the plus side, “The Heat, starring McCarthy and Sandra Bullock as an awkward FBI agent and equally awkward Boston cop partnered together, is directed by Paul Feig, who brought McCarthy to stardom in the first place (though she’ll always be Sookie St. James to me), and written by Katie Dippold, producer/writer on the always lol worthy “Parks & Recreation”. Not to mention, we’re always down to support a giant studio movie starring two women. So let’s all just pretend “Identify Thief” never happened and look forward to “The Heat,” shall we?

“White House Down“

The “Fast and Furious Six” of June! Is there really any other explanation required? More?! Fine. Policeman Channing Tatum is on a tour of the white house when armed invaders attack and it’s up to Policeman Tatum to protect President Jamie Foxx and save the day. Directed by Roland Emmerich because duh. Fact: You’re either super excited for this movie and have been since it was announced or you are going to half-watch it on HBO sometime in 2014 after having your wisdom teeth and/or appendix removed.

“I’m So Excited”

Pedro Almodovar’s latest and the opening night film of this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival finally hits American screens (in limited release) at the end of the month. The film is a comedy about the people on an airplane after a technical failure endangers all of their lives (also, massive doses of peyote are involved). Current reviews for the broad romp are mixed, and compare it to Almodovar’s earlier work, which could be seen as either a good or bad thing. Just don’t go in expecting “Bad Education”, “Talk To Her” or “The Skin I Live In” and you should be okay.

Categories: Features

Tags: At the Movies, Call Me Kuchu, I'm So Excited, LoquaciousMuse, Man of Steel, Monsters University, The Bling Ring, The Heat, The Purge, This is the End, White House Down, World war z

The Films of M. Night Shyamalan Ranked from Best to Worst

The only potentially surprising thing about the ending to “After Earth” is the first given credit: “Directed by M. Night Shyamalan.” A name that would have once been the main draw for a moviegoing audience just a decade ago, the director is now being downplayed in the marketing so as to not set up potentially toxic expectations for the project. In honor of his tenth feature film, let’s take a good, hard look back at the tense highs and terrible lows that have made up (and brought down) Shyamalan’s career to date.

1. “The Sixth Sense” (1999)

Shyamalan’s Oscar-nominated breakout hit is still his most masterful movie, concerning Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a young boy who can see ghosts, and Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis), the child psychologist meant to help him. But TWIST! The boy is actually helping the psychologist… namely in that Crowe’s been dead all along and needs a hand in moving on from this unfortunate predicament. “Sense” maintains a great sense of classical tension, but even more vital is the undercurrent of melancholy that elevated this above your usual supernatural mystery and generally separates Shyamalan’s better films from his more simplistic, Serling-worthy (or worse) endeavors.

2. “Unbreakable” (2000)

Following up “The Sixth Sense” is no small feat, but this inspired origin story for an everyman-turned-superhero has aged about as well, anchored once more by Bruce Willis as David Dunn, a Philadelphia security guard who survives a catastrophic trainwreck unscathed and is encouraged by fragile comic-book die-hard Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) to consider his particular knack for invulnerability as a sign of Something More. But TWIST! Elijah is responsible for outing David by causing many a local disaster and considers himself the inevitable archnemesis, a tragic arc sold beautifully through Jackson’s performance.

3. “Signs” (2002)

The box-office receipts for “Unbreakable” failed to support Shyamalan’s plans for a trilogy, and so the writer-director skirted sci-fi territory by pitting another dysfunctional Pennsylvania family against an impending alien invasion. Mel Gibson delivered his last great pre-tabloid turn here, and I dare say that the nerve-wracking and slyly funny first hour or so compensates for — TWIST! — the film’s divisive denouement, in which every character’s particular advantage in defeating the aliens had been anticipated in the final words of Gibson’s dying wife as all part of God’s Plan.

4. “The Village” (2004)

Unfortunately, the twist-happy auteur had begun to pigeonhole himself as exactly that, and what came after the nerve-wracking first hour or so of his “Signs” follow-up — in which the residents of a monster-menaced village fear that their long-standing truce with the creatures in the woods has elapsed — finally proved too far-fetched for many moviegoers to accept. (TWIST! The “village” exists as an isolated present-day experiment in crime-free, self-sustainable living.) For all of Shyamalan’s formal chops behind the camera, his screenwriting sensibilities were proving to be their own seemingly insurmountable problem.

5. “Wide Awake” (1998)

Shot in 1995 but not released until three years later, Shyamalan’s first studio effort shares a kinship with his directorial debut, “Praying with Anger,” as an earnest exploration in faith. Set at the same Philadelphia Catholic boys’ school that Shyamalan himself attended, “Awake” sees fifth-grader Joshua Beal (Joseph Cross) questioning his faith after the passing of his grandfather (Robert Loggia). More than anything else, it exists as a proto-“Wimpy Kid” flick with a religious bent: our neurotic lead has quirky friends, tidily episodic adventures and a crush on a girl his age at the neighboring girls’ school, narrating every shenanigan and soul-searching detour by way of diary entries. The result is corny as hell, but at least consistent in that regard. TWIST! That mute kid roaming the halls throughout the school year is actually an angel keeping an eye on young Josh. (No, really.)

6. “After Earth” (2013)

In the wake of his recent follies, this big-budget father-son sci-fi adventure has no mind-blowing, game-changing twist in store — if anything, I’d argue that it’s straightforward to a fault — but it sees Shyamalan returning to a safe, if wholly unremarkable, level of filmmaking, although his tendencies towards spirituality still manage to inform the story to an extent. Our official review will be up soon.

7. “Praying with Anger” (1992)

In addition to writing, directing and producing, Shyamalan starred in this semi-autobiographical story of an Indian teen raised in America reluctantly returning back to India as part of a student exchange program. The usual culture-clash and coming-of-age clichés ensue, and while Shyamalan is an able performer, some of his co-stars are more stilted in their delivery of his regrettably typical dialogue. It’s a first film all around, offering little early evidence of the filmmaker’s eventual talents, but when taken with “Wide Awake,” it’s an indication of the cornball helmer Shyamalan might have become had “The Sixth Sense” not landed with such force.

8. “The Last Airbender” (2010)

This live-action adaptation of Nickelodeon ‘toon “Avatar: The Last Airbender” saw Shyamalan returning to family-friendly fare with a much bigger budget, but his take was greeted with hostility, both from purists over story changes and casting choices (namely, the minimal inclusion of Asian or Asian-American actors to play beloved characters) and from newcomers, who found that his early finesse with child actors had waned as evidenced by the wooden performances. Chief among the film’s offenses, though, is the simple fact that — TWIST? — “Airbender” ultimately plays out as an unforgivably dull and derivative special-effects showcase.

9. “The Happening” (2008)

While comparisons to the signature suspense stylings of Alfred Hitchcock ran rampant after Shyamalan’s initial success, only this film so clearly modelled itself on a particular predecessor: “The Birds,” but with — TWIST! — killer wind inexplicably punishing a whole new wave of Philly residents. Despite some striking deaths in the first act, the eerie mood soon dissipates in the face of an inherently uncinematic foe (I’d suggested post-screening that the exhaustively expository film would’ve worked better as a radio play, a theory since been proven correct), and beyond that, the uniformly tone-deaf performances combine with some of his silliest dialogue yet to form an unintentional comedy of the highest order.

10. “Lady in the Water” (2006)

The eccentricities of “The Happening” were only outdone by this high-minded fairy tale, in which a Philadelphia handyman (Paul Giamatti) rescues a water nymph (“The Village’s” Bryce Dallas Howard) from the apartment pool and has to assist her in finding an author whose forthcoming work will better humanity. Sure enough, that writer is played by Shyamalan himself, a character who comes to learn that he will be martyred for his controversial, world-changing ideas. It’s a breathtaking feat of ego amid so much other nonsense (example: a young boy decodes hidden mythology from the backs of several cereal boxes), topped off with the proud slaughter of a snobby film critic (Bob Balaban) who leads his neighbors astray when trying to predict the formula of their own story. Right, because it’s not like “The Sixth Sense” had a lick of critical support…

Categories: Lists

Tags: After Earth, M. night shyamalan, Ranked, The happening, The sixth sense, The village, Unbreakable

THE HANGOVER PART III (2013)

Tanggal Rilis : 23 May 2013 (USA)
Jenis Film : Comedy
Diperankan Oleh : Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis

Ringkasan Cerita THE HANGOVER PART III (2013) :

In the aftermath of the death of Alan’s father, the wolfpack decide to take Alan to get treated for his mental issues. But things start to go wrong on the way to the hospital as the wolfpack is assaulted and Doug is kidnapped. Now they must find Mr. Chow again in order to surrender him to the gangster who kidnapped Doug in order to save him.

[IMDb rating : 6.3/10]
[Awards : 1 win]
[Production Co : Green Hat Films, Legendary Pictures]
[IMDb link : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1951261]

[Quality : HQ TS]
[File Size : 375 MB]
[Format : Matroska >> mkv]
[Resolution : 720x274]
[Source : TS.XviD-SUFFiCE]
[Encoder : nItRo]

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Director’s Cut: Alex Gibney (‘We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks’)

“The Internet is not a good place for secrets.” That’s how Alex Gibney puts it in the beginning of his latest investigative documentary, “We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks,” which is as much about the rise and fall of the whistleblowing site as it is of its creator, Julian Assange.

“We Steal Secrets” chronicles the overnight stardom of WikiLeaks and Assange after the site—essentially an anonymous drop-box for secret information and news leaks—published documents exposing highly classified military materials, including the “Collateral Murder” video (footage from a 2007 airstrike in Baghdad where two Reuters journalists were mistaken as insurgents). That same information was also printed in major newspapers around the world like the New York Times and The Guardian, which teamed with WikiLeaks to distribute the information.

What should have been a monumental moment in transparency and free information led to the government playing the “power of nightmares” card, making the American public believe that this information was harmful out in the pubic, while also tracking down the whistleblower, Private First Class Bradley Manning, who will soon stand trail for his alleged leak of the most classified documents in American history. Assange, on the other hand, grew out of control with power and for close to a year has been living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London as police wait to arrest him outside the building for questioning from Swedish authorities on sexual acts with two women.

What makes “We Steal Secrets” quite an astonishing work is how compelling it makes out Assange and Manning even though Gibney was never able to interview either on camera—Manning is in a military prison (allegedly enduring torture tactics) while Assange would not talk to Gibney unless the director paid for the interview.

Here Gibney talks to Film.com about following the story and if we’ll ever see a site like WikiLeaks again.

FILM.COM: A big thing I took away from the film is that if Julian Assange were not so self-destructive we would have a completely different view of WikiLeaks and its importance. Do you agree?

ALEX GIBNEY: I agree. To be honest going into the project I thought it was a simple David vs. Goliath story. I had read the Raffi Khatchadourian piece about Julian in the New Yorker and I thought, wow, what a fantastic and interesting character, and even prior to the Afghan War Logs I’d seen “Collateral Murder” online and I thought this is really impressive. But the more I dug into it the more it seemed like a great ongoing opportunity was lost. It’s tricky because the leak of those documents was I think a tremendous boon to understanding a lot of things. And they were very important. But there was a moment there when the whole kind of moral balance of leaks could have been pushed into a different direction if Julian hadn’t been so unable to listen to other people. And frankly if the journalists had been a little bit more adult in terms of trying to work with Julian. But there was a moment that was lost because the alliance between Julian and WikiLeaks and these mainstream news organizations blew apart when the politicians in Washington were able to separate Julian from the rest of the crowd and that was too bad. And I think the media deserves some of the blame for that, but I think Julian also.

You’ve said in the past that you can’t go into these movies relaying on getting a key interview, you have to go where the story takes you. Like in Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room and Casino Jack and the United States of Money, you don’t bag the big interview but still find a way to give us an idea of who the main players are.

You have to stick with where the story takes you. You can’t pretend that access is necessarily the only thing that matters. I think that Julian though that access was the only thing that mattered because early on when he became famous a lot of people were coming to him and asking for access and Julian was setting very steep terms for access. I told Julian from the beginning that I was making the movie whether he gave me access or not and he said to me that if I don’t give you access your film will not be legitimate and I found that bizarre. It’s like I did a film on the Vatican, the Pope didn’t give me access! [Laughs] And that’s the relevant comparison with Jack Abramoff, I tried very hard to talk to Jack and I did talk to him in prison but I wasn’t able to film him. At the same time you have to keep pursuing the story and find a way to tell it that seems right. You have to live with the constraints as well as the opportunities.

And you note in the movie that you and Julian did have a big sit down. Was that basically just a way for him to negotiate with you?

Yes. It was a way to negotiate something out of me and to see if he could get more “intel” as he always called it, when I refused to put up big money for an interview. And I joked with him, I said, “You say that the market rate for an interview is a million dollars, I must be the only person on the planet who hasn’t interviewed you.” I don’t pay for interviews. So then he asked me if I’d gather intel on all the interview subjects, in other words would I spy on them for him? I found that a really bizarre request from a guy running a transparency organization that’s supposed to be speaking truth to power.

How long were you and your team trying to get him?

A long time, we tried right until the very end. We kept trying to get him to talk, so this was over the course of two years. Look, I met him early on when we first started, I liked him when I first met him, it was for his 40th birthday party and finally we had this other meeting. And there were a lot of intermediaries who were trying to go to him on my behalf telling him that it’s a good idea that he talk. We tried everything. But at the end of the day Julian wants control, he’s a spin doctor and he wants to believe that he’s the puppeteer pulling the strings of everyone.

And it was a completely different animal to try to get to Bradley Manning.

It’s impossible. The government had him under lock and key. If there was a journalist that ever got to Bradley Manning I didn’t know about it. But it’s a peculiar thing from a filmmaking standpoint, I can’t get to my two main characters. So what do you do?

I think that’s what makes the Mark Davis footage you show very important to your film.

I learned very early on when I was making “Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room,” I tried very hard to get to Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling and I didn’t get to either of them, but there’s always a way to tell a story and you just keep digging, asking questions, going to as many people as you can, and you hope you find a way and then cinematically you have to find a way to represent things that you end up knowing in ways you may not be able to put on the screen. I wanted to know more about the Julian Assange before he got famous, because I talked to a lot of people about that person.

I saw an Australian documentary that was done by Mark Davis, who is a wonderful filmmaker and journalist and does exactly the kind of thing that you should do, just go out and see if you can find Julian, and he found him and he started hanging out with him and starting shooting footage of him. And ultimately I was able to make a deal to license that footage, so you get a sense of Julian before he gets famous, who I think is a more interesting character and frankly the first half of the film you’re thinking sign me up for the Julian Assange crusade. He’s very engaging, self-deprecating, interesting, very smart. So I think that Mark Davis footage was a wonderful way of showing the tremendous qualities of his character. There was an aspect of Julian that was fantastic and then there was another side.

Is the footage we see also in Mark’s film or outtakes?

Both. And Mark is a big defender of Julian and I put him in my film because he brought a lot of balance to that key point in the story surrounding the Afghan War Logs, where a number of journalists said Julian didn’t care at all about the harm that might come to informants and Mark Davis says forthrightly in the film, “No he did cared very deeply.” So that is important because it gives a more balanced perspective of Assange.

And with Bradley Manning you use the online chat he has with hacker Adrian Lamo.

They were published in Wired and when we started making the film some of the chats had been published but not all, then the full batch, as far as we know, were released and it really gives you a portrait of a man that was really extraordinary, and a portrait in his own words. We reckoned for a long time what kind of cinematic tricks we would use, would someone read them? Ultimately we decided that the text is how he presented himself, so this is how we should present him, through text.

By the end of the film I felt Julian Assange was more into the thrill of the “hack” than allowing information to reign free through WikiLeaks. How do you feel?

Well, he says early on that his motivation is “crushing bastards.” Well, that’s a peculiar statement. You don’t want bastards but crushing bastards? That’s the idea? He wants to crush them? He wants to do what bastards do? So that’s a peculiar statement. But there’s also a lot of the idealist in Julian Assange and nobody should forget that. The problem is, yeah, he was one man against the world and didn’t have a lot of opportunity, nor did he allow himself the humility to learn about how he should have been publishing this material in a responsible way.

I don’t think the whistleblower will ever go away, but can something ever like a WikiLeaks be created again?

The New Yorker has now established an electronic drop box for anonymous leaks, and it was designed by Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who recently committed suicide. It’s a powerful precedent, WikiLeaks, that will continue to live on but it doesn’t have to live on only at WikiLeaks.

Before we go, what’s the latest with the Lance Armstrong film that you’ve been making for years now it seems?

Yeah. It should be finished editorially soon and it will probably show up in the fall.

Has the structure of it changed since Armstrong’s admission of using performance-enhancing drugs?

You can figure that since I’ve been working on it since 2008 a lot has changed over that time. [Laughs]

“We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks” is in theaters today.

Categories: Interviews

Tags: Alex gibney, Bradley Manning, Casino Jack and the United States of Money, Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room, Julian Assange, We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks

Box Office Beatdown: Vin Diesel Is Too ‘Fast & Furious’ For Will Smith

Objects in motion tend to stay in motion. And since perhaps no movie understands and utilizes motion quite as well as “Fast & Furious 6,” it’s only natural that Vin Diesel’s latest supercharged epic maintained its momentum and dominated the box office for the second weekend in a row.

Yes, according to Hollywood.com, “Fast & Furious 6? earned an estimated $34.5 million in its second weekend of release, bringing its domestic total to an impressive $169.8 million.

That was more than enough to beat out the weekend’s two big new releases, “After Earth” and “Now You See Me.” Which was no real surprise considering the positive buzz surrounding “Fast & Furious 6.” What was a surprise, though, is the fact that “Now You See Me,” which features Jesse Eisenberg as the head of a group of benevolent illusionists, managed to beat out Will Smith’s sci-fi epic “After Earth” for second place by the score of $28 million to $27 million.

That has to sting not just for Smith and his son, co-star Jaden Smith, but even more for director M. Night Shyamalan, who was hoping to make a comeback after a series of flops but instead now finds himself in the position of having potentially sunk Smith, who previously was about the surest thing the box office had going. It’s a potentially fatal blow to Shyamalan’s once promising career, but the one time wonderkind may still have hope courtesy of the international box office.

“After Earth” isn’t the only major release hoping to be saved by foreign money, either. Thanks to the current glut of blockbusters, “The Hangover Part III,” which was once expected to carry the day, slipped all the way to sixth place in its second week of release. But the comedy has opened like gangbusters overseas, already raking in $110.7 million so far, giving studio execs hope that the disappointing trilogy capper may even surpass the foreign performance of “The Hangover Part II,” which earned $332 million internationally two years ago.

For American audiences, though, it’s still all about Diesel and company. And it’s possible “Fast & Furious 6? may hold on to the top spot for a third weekend, as the only real competition hitting theaters this week is the Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson buddy comedy “The Internship.”

Here’s a look at the full top ten, courtesy of Hollywood.com:

1. “Fast & Furious 6? – $34.5m (our review)
2. “Now You See Me” – $28m (our review)
3. “After Earth” – $27m (our review)
4. (tie) “Epic” – $16.4m (our review)
4. (tie) “Star Trek Into Darkness” – $16.4m (our review)
6. “The Hangover Part III” – $15.9m (our review)
7. “Iron Man 3? – $8m (our review)
8. “The Great Gatsby” – $6.3m (our review)
9. “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani” – $1.6m
10. “Mud” – $1.2m (our review)

Categories: News

Tags: After Earth, Box office, Fast and Furious 6, Jesse eisenberg, Now You See Me, Vin diesel, Will smith

Fanboy Meets World: 5 Things to Love About ‘After Earth’

Fanboy Meets World is a bi-weekly column that runs on alternate Mondays.

Listen: it’s not like “After Earth” is a good movie. But those of us with a fondness for comics, pulp adventure stories, gizmos, gadgets, gewgaws, fantasy realms and Fiend Folios ought not to turn up our noses. So it was more of a “Medium Willie” Weekend box office-wise, but for Fanboys there’s a lot to love in this unfairly maligned Scientology fable, er, I mean, tale of Father and Son facing obstacles. As a nerd, it is my job to list them.

1.) Smart Fabric

Jaden Smith isn’t running around in the woods in a onesie for no reason. He’s wearing “Smart Fabric” – unitards of the future that change color depending on the situation. At rest, you’re rockin’ something of a “burnt umber” color (if I’m remembering my Bob Ross correctly) but when trouble comes, your outfit turns black. That’s how you know sharp-toothed, stone-throwing monkeys are near. When you are freezing to the point of hypothermia and/or have a bloodstream pumped full of toxins from a mutant leech your clothes turn off-white and light blue, kinda resembling Tron Guy. Whether or not the new color will, you know, warm you up while you are cold remains unknown.

2.) 3D Holograms Everywhere

Will Smith spends most of the film behind a bank of computer screens monitoring Jaden on his quest to find the text-sending doohickey that be their rescue. In comics terms, he’s the elderly Bruce Wayne to Jaden’s Terry McGinnis. (Or the 7-Zark-7 to the G-Force Team if you want to go a little more hardcore.) Readouts with nifty fonts hover around him, making graphs and calculating survival rates as Jaden encounters setbacks. Best, though, are the peripherals that are ubiquitous in the future of “After Earth.” A gray, floppy rubber square is like a portable 3D holo-projectin’ Kindle Fire, making examining spreadsheets look just as cool as travelling faster-than-light. Speaking of which . . .

3.) Traveling

Okay, there’s an awful lot about “After Earth”’s backstory that’s a little vague (and I haven’t had a chance to dig into the paperback of collected prequel stories, even if one is written by my beloved Peter David.) Even though the Earth of “After Earth” was somehow destroyed by the recklessness of man (cue the CNN footage of storms!) humanity figured out a way to exeunt the pale blue dot and relocate to “Nova Prime.” Now, maybe there were generation ships, but the implication is that Mankind cracked the code of achieving superluminal speeds. We see it for a moment when Will Smith’s ranger Cypher Raige (yes! that name!) gives the order to “travel” to avoid getting pummeled by asteroids after a spacequake.

“Traveling” looked to me like an extrapolation of an Alcubierre Drive, a manipulation of spacetime that creates something of a warp bubble or mini wormhole. In the film, “traveling” is kinda like hitting a panic button. Without careful calculations you may wind up anywhere – but there’s no time to lose! – and that’s why our heroes end up on Earth.

4.) Cutlasses

The Rangers of “After Earth” are going to need a badass weapon, and that weapon is called the Cutlass. Cypher Raige’s version is called the C-40 Cutlass and it has 24 different settings. It’s a silver cylinder that pops out blades of varying shapes and sizes from either side, as if to say “screw you, Darth Maul, let’s see how many shapes YOU can make!” It is unclear if the Cutlass reads your mind or just knows when you need to change from a double-edged bastard sword a the humongous collection of sharp radio antennae-lookin’ weapons, but if it also has a leather punch it is the best Swiss army knife in this or any other universe.

5.) Ursas

The big meanies of “After Earth” are fear-sniffing, pincer shooting mammal-chompers that look like a cross between “Starship Troopers”’s arachnids and Peter Jackson’s version of Tolkien’s Shelob. They have a giant eye in the middle with some other little eyes around it and a little gray fur. They skitter and they pierce and they flay and they generally make a mess of things. But if you are brave (stupid?) enough not to be afraid of them they will just walk on by without paying you no never mind. It is to M. Night Shyamalan’s credit that, when the music swells as Jaden Smith just lays there to let a two-ton tarantula walk over him, you don’t crack up that much.

Fanboys, pass up that cool, refreshing glass of Haterade. “After Earth” may be dumb, but it’s our kind of dumb. I’ll be accepting your submissions for “After After Earth” fanfiction at once.

Categories: Columns

Tags: After Earth, Fanboy Meets World, Jaden smith, Jordan hoffman, M. night shyamalan, Planet Fanboy, Will smith