Big Screen Little Screen

Not a network to shy away from import comedies, NBC has another in the pipeline with their own version of Australian hit Kath and Kim, and they plan to give the new show some choice primetime space as the final piece to their Thursday night comedy block, following both The Office and the Amy Poehler vehicle that’s not a spinoff. The Kath redo stars Selma Blair, Molly Shannon, and Christopher Guest fave, John Michael Higgins.

NBC’s put a lot of money and hope behind the show, but contrasting views can be read on Australian Defamer, obvious K&K purists.  You’d think they were wielding voodoo stickpins and praying for an early burial of the successor series (via Pop Candy), citing media analysis that has it ranked as a “weak performer” amongst the fall debuts, and pointing out early preview clips that paint it as looking “like it’s going to be about as funny as the Nuremberg Trials.”  The down under deathwatch is already underway.  (video tip: Mr. Weatherbee’s)

Released this morning, nominations for the 60th Annual Primetime Emmys broke hard for the HBO miniseries John Adams, with its leading 23 nominations. NBC’s 30 Rock led all network shows with 17, and AMC’s first year hit with critics, Mad Men, landed the most overall nominations for a basic cable series, with 16 noms. The 1960’s set drama embedded in the advertising world shared an honor with FX’s Damages in becoming the first basic cable series in Emmy history earning best-series nominations (NYT). HBO’s last season of The Wire was snubbed but for one nomination for David Simon and Ed Burns for their series finale script.

Full list of nominees

The prospects for the very hush-hush spinoff of the NBC’s The Office are improving exponentially. What started off looking like a watered down, third-generation sequel of the workplace comedy franchise took a hopeful step towards legitimacy with the initial hiring of Human Giant’s Aziz Ansari - and if today’s speculation, involving 7-year SNLer Amy Poehler comes to pass, it has all the makings of a potential hit. Variety is reporting that Poehler is very close to signing on with the new show from Greg Daniels and Michael Shur of the stateside Office. On top of that, after weeks of narrowing down the premise of the show between the options of true spinoff or entirely new concept, it seems now that Daniels and Shur will start from scratch.

Of course the impending jump for Poehler would spell more shakeups on Lorne Michaels’ Saturday Night Live set. 2 years ago he was forced to cut Horatio Sanz, Chris Parnell, and Finesse Mitchell for budgetary reasons, while Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch (temporarily) took route to 30 Rock. Since then, Seth Myers was made head writer and joined Poehler at the Weekend Update desk, while Maya Rudolph drifted away after making just a few appearances before and after giving birth. If Poehler leaves, Kristen Wiig and wet-behind-the-ears recruit Casey Wilson will be the lone remaining comediennes on staff.

In his first headlining feature role, Ricky Gervais seemingly plays himself, and sees dead, former Talk Soup hosts. With Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni, Kristen Wiig, and Billy Campbell. Penned and directed by Kingdom of the Crystal Skull screenwriter David Koepp. Scheduled release: August 19.

Ghost Town trailer (via Coming Soon)

After the first trailer was pushed out, there were some groans about Brad Pitt putting on the dunce cap for Joel and Ethan Coen’s upcoming spy-comedy-of-errors, Burn After Reading.  But really, would a return of the hamfisted Brad of Babel be more welcome than his dumbest role since Floyd in True Romance? Don’t think so. The second trailer ups the anticipation level for the September 12th release, but name dropping George Clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, and Frances McDormand doesn’t hurt either. Stay bullish.

Burn After Reading trailer 2

Every Thursday this summer, NBC.com drops a new 2-minute tide-you-over edition of The Office.  The first ep, “Money Trouble,” is up now.

“Promotional” flashback:  remember the webisodes that won an Emmy last year, the ones that the cast and writers weren’t compensated for?

Not normally prone to rampant famboyism, Vulture nonetheless concludes the summary of what they believe to be a script for Quentin Tarantino’s World War II epic, Inglorious Bastards with this prediction: “if anyone is crazy enough to fund it, this movie is gonna be awesome.”

“The script is 165 pages long and follows a squad of American soldiers called the Bastards — a guerrillalike force who travel behind German lines in 1944, striking terror into the hearts of Nazi soldiers. The Bastards are headed by Lieutenant Aldo Raine — the role we’d imagine Tarantino is hoping to land Brad Pitt for — described by the script as a ‘hillbilly from the mountains of Tennessee,’ who has around his neck a scar from where he survived a lynching. (”The scar will never once be mentioned,” Tarantino writes.) In a parallel story, Inglorious Bastards follows a French Jewish teenager named Shosanna who survives the massacre of her family and flees to Paris, where she winds up running a movie house during the Nazi occupation…

The script is definitely the ur-text of Quentin Tarantino’s career up to now; it combines his love of old movies (war movies, Westerns, and even prewar German cinema), his attraction to powerful female protagonists, his love of chatter, and his willingness to embrace the extreme — visually and in his storytelling. (The flashbacks have particularly Tarantinoian flourishes: a thought bubble pops out of a character’s head to introduce one, while another is shot spaghetti Western style.) All in all, it reads like Kill Bill meets The Dirty Dozen meets Cinema Paradiso.”

Quentin has promised to shoot and complete production on Bastards in time for a premiere at Cannes next spring, provided that he can find financing from a willing studio tout d’suite.

“One thing my son told me one day was ‘Daddy, I know how you get your money…Them dirty people come up, you give them that white stuff, and they give you money.’”

New documentary from Stacy Peralta (Dogtown and Z-Boys) outlines the political and socioeconomic causes behind four decades worth of poverty and the conflict between South Central LA’s Crips and Bloods. Narrated by Forest Whitaker. Scheduled release: TBA. (via Asimko)

Dan Bradley, a Second Unit Director for the upcoming Bond film Quantum of Solace and Stunt Coordinator for the Jason Bourne trilogy will join screenwriter Carl Ellsworth (Disturbia, Red Eye) for MGM’s remake of 1984’s Cold War cautionary tale, Red Dawn. The question is not who will replace Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, and C. Thomas Howell as The Wolverine’s[!], and it’s not who will replace the Soviets and Cubans as American Invaders (Ellsworth says the do-over is “very much keeping in mind the post-9/11 world that we’re in”). What Bradley and Ellsworth should be asking themselves is how the hell do you go about executing a straight-faced remake of what was arguably the most unintentionally laughable film of an entire decade? (Hollywood Reporter)

I’m back in Seattle. Just trying to get acclimated and catch up on the news. Before I jump back into regular posting, I wanted to again thank the guest contributors who took time away from their own blogs to help keep this thing going while I was away. Thanks to Michael (Yewknee), Rachel & Kyle (YESORNODC), Chuck (The Chutry Experiment), Alexa (Pop Elegantiarium), Frances & Marie (Write on Film), William (This Savage Art), and Joanna (Mr. Weatherbee’s Day to Day) for bringing some much needed class, intelligent discussion, and fun to the proceedings.

There’s so much to say about my Japan experience that I couldn’t possibly condense into something coherent today, other than that I had the time of my life. I’ve posted a couple batches of photos at Cash and Carry and will continue to do so over the next few days. New posts up here shortly. Thanks for your patience.

It’s hard to avoid getting caught up in all the anticipation for The Dark Knight. The trailers, leaked clips and early reviews all seem to confirm that Ledger’s Joker is one of the most hallucinatory, satirical, and horrifying creations by an an actor in some time. Let’s hope the series continues strongly without him… and without Robin. Can’t get enough until the 18th? Certainly all the viral marketing will keep you busy. You can check out the fantastic new poster art, join the Joker’s gang, watch some behind the scenes footage, or read the latest EW coverage.

When she’s not working on collage art, Alexa Frangos is counting down the days until The Dark Knight’s release. For those not keeping track, it’s less than 11 days away.

[The following is an orphaned mini-review that I dug up from my draft archives. I thought it was relevant considering the recent changes in the film’s distribution plan.]

At first glance director Lance Hammer’s debut film Ballast can easily be dismissed as a poverty level dirge of depression and bad luck for a lonely group of people who live on the Mississippi Delta. That would be a mistake. It’s more like a slow burn meditation on what it takes to survive when all life has given you is nothing in return for a life of suffering. It is the story of a fragmented family of three who try to figure out what will happen next after another member commits suicide. Immediate and pulsing with a Southern Gothic bloodline, the film deliberately ramps up into the desperate but dignified circumstances of this small collection of characters. The flat tone resembles the flat landscape but is never dull. Post-screening Hammer described his editing technique for this film as “using the moments in between” but he could have easily been speaking about his characters lives who seem to all too easily slip through the cracks.

Recent film news reveals that Hammer will look to go it alone when it comes to distribution and film rights.

Hammer says conventional distribution advances for a small film like “Ballast” range between $25,000-$50,000. “If you made a $50,000 project, that makes sense,” Hammer said. “If you happen to spend more money than that, it becomes difficult to justify giving up creative control.

After reading the news of the coming apocalypse for independent films it’s good to see an example of a filmmaker controlling his own destiny.

Related: For more inspiration read the interview with Lance Hammer at The Filmlot.

[…]

Ballast screened Sunday, March 30th at the 2008 New Directors/New Films series for the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

As if Aaron Sorkin…scratch that. As if Robert Altman had plotted out a single-take tracking shot for a behind the scenes documentary of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, The UK’s More 4 channel created this ad to promote their upcoming “season” of Kubrick’s best.  (via Row Three)

I’ve learned my lesson about getting too excited by films after watching Mister Lonely in Cannes last year. My high hopes had never been dashed so severely. However, I’m finding it hard not to be excited about a script I’ve just read entitled Stretch. It is to be directed by Charles de Meaux who has produced most of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s films. It will star Romain Duris, written by Douglas Coupland. The cinematographer is Chris Doyle. Music by Devendra Banhart. What can go wrong?!
It’s set in Macau, where Duris is a jockey (banned for drug-taking in his native France) his winning streak gets him noticed by the most notorious trainers and his desire for fame and money leads him dangerously embroiled in the gangster underworld.
I think I can fairly safely say that this film will look stunning. I’m extremely curious about how this mixture of ingredients will work, and just a little worried that it could all be too overpowering.

As there are no images available yet for Stretch here’s a picture of my current favourite filmic horses from Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg, which is released in the UK today.

The Indie Film Crisis as talked about by Chuck Tryon a couple of days ago is a subject that I can’t resist passing comment on. Although things are a little different over here in the UK, this week saw the demise of groundbreaking distributor Tartan Films who brought films such as La Haine, Secretary and Julien Donkey-Boy to UK screens (as well as sadly keeping Ken Park off them - due to Tartan boss Hamish McAlpine’s now infamous fight with Larry Clark). Following the closure of the US Tartan arm and the continued rumours that they were seeking a buy-out deal (ThinkFilm were at one point in negotiations - further fuel for their own much speculated current financial woes) it should not come as a great shock.
Unsurprisingly the thought of the Tartan back-catalogue becoming available has got the vultures circling. Maybe this is all a little premature, as Screen Daily reports ‘It is not envisaged that Tartan Films will be able to resume trading. However, there are several other companies that bear the Tartan name and they are not affected by the administration. “We [the administrators] are dealing solely with Tartan Films Distribution Ltd,” .’ So does this mean that their home entertainment brand Tartan Video is still in operation? I don’t think this is the last we’ve heard from Tartan but as to their next move? Who knows.

(Since writing a much more in-depth feature has appeared on the Guardian website detailing the fall of Tartan and the problems facing the potential UK Indie Film Crisis, which can be found here.)

Frances works in distribution and contributes to Write on Film.

A recent late night viewing of Big Bird In China (1983) left (fellow YESORNODC writers) MNJONES, KYLETM, and myself asleep before the end of the opening credits, wide awake, and out of it by the Great Wall respectively. The question on all of our minds was this: Would Jim Henson’s scraggly, imperfect muppets find an audience in today’s world of Pixar, CGI, and High Def? Could today’s child really relate to the essentially homeless characters living on the street in trash cans and alleyways?

A well-timed traveling film festival may help us answer these questions and more. Muppets™, Music & Magic: Jim Henson’s Legacy kicks off this July at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. The program will travel to film repertory houses, museums, and film festivals in the U.S. through November. Check the schedule here. The festival features “a rare collection of movies, TV shows, archival footage, experimental work, and more.”

A lot of Henson’s early work, including his commercials will be available through Muppets, Music and Magic. Sneak a peek at Henson’s groundbreaking (and more than a little disturbing) commercials for Washington, D.C.-based company Wilkins Coffee in the early 1960s.

Personally, I am most excited for rare shorts from the Henson archives, allegedly unavailable anywhere else, and the possibility of a Q&A session with a “puppet historian.”

Q: How does one become a puppet historian? And are you a dying breed?

Muppets, Music and Magic is a co-production of the Brooklyn Academy of Music and The Jim Henson Legacy.

Rachel writes for YESORNODC.COM

First of all, thanks to Ted for inviting me to guest blog here at BSLS while he’s away. It was flattering to be invited, and hopefully I can produce something interesting enough to justify his invitation. I have to admit that I feel like I’ve been somewhat out of the loop this summer because of work I’ve been doing on a book I’m writing (I’ve been blogging about it at my place quite a bit lately). So, perhaps at the risk of a little self-promotion, I’ll point to one the questions I’m (briefly) addressing in the book, which focuses in part on the role of digital media in shaping film distribution, promotion, and exhibition. One of the biggest questions that has come up this summer, of course, is the widely-discussed crisis in independent cinema (and quite naturally some of the discussion entails whether there actually is a crisis, which, I think is a legitimate question).

Perhaps the most notable account of the indie crisis came from Mark Gill whose keynote speech at the Los Angeles Film Festival has sent shock waves through the entertainment press and into the film blogosphere as he carefully documented all of the major indies who have either shut down operations or significantly cut down production. He also reminds us that there have been virtually no breakthrough indie hits this summer (Thomas McCarthy’s excellent little film, The Visitor, comes closest among indies, though a couple of docs, including Expelled and Young@Heart have also done well). Gill , like a number of others, partially blames a glut in production–over 5,00 films were submitted to Sundance this year–but shifting business models are also be partially to blame.

Others who’ve weighed in on the indie crisis include Carrie Rickey, who does point out that summer is not always the best season for indies, and David Poland, who reminds us that while teenagers continue to see movies on the big screen, the audience for indies–upper income people over 30 with busy lives–is the group most likely to abandon theaters. In fact, summer blockbusters are doing quite well this year, which means we’ll be seeing more of them (maybe not that Speed Racer sequel, but you never know). More recently, David Carr has weighed in on the pages of the New York Times, pretty much echoing these arguments to the point of saying that some have called Gill “Captain Obvious” for saying what, apparently, everyone knows.

But there are other perspectives on the state of things. The Indiepix weblog, for example, attempts to criticize the crisis narrative by arguing that the traditional business models are changing, which is probably fair. That being said, I think they get a few things clearly wrong. While travel costs are clearly up, that actually benefits theaters that provide a much cheaper form of entertainment than a long trip by car. And while I agree with them that it sounds arrogant to say that too many films are being made, that doesn’t make the indie marketplace any easier. Meanwhile, Kent Nichols, echoing the arguments of many of the new internet indies, argues for “giving it away” in order to build an audience so that you can get paid later. I’m not willing to bury indie film to his degree–I’ve enjoyed too many indie films and have seen to many indie auteurs I admire struggle to make movies–but I recognize his larger point that the internet offers new business models and even new narrative models.

I don’t know if I have any answers yet, and this post has been as much about organizing my thoughts as it has been about coming to any conclusions. I do think that indie filmmakers will invent new models of distribution, but it’s difficult not to feel like something is in the process of being lost right now.

After a disappointing theatrical release, Wong Kar Wai’s My Blueberry Nights deserves second look on DVD. It’s sugary, seductive atmosphere of cozy cafes and boozy bars overcomes a script that is about as solid as a scoop of ice cream over hot blueberry pie.  This is style over substance, to be sure, but when that style is a sweet languor of Otis Redding, Cat Power, and baked dessert, sign me up.  You can Netflix it today.

Alexa Frangos bakes fruit pies when she isn’t collaging and blogging over at Pop Elegantiarum.