Big Screen Little Screen

Feaured in the July edition of Premiere magazine’s “Comedy issue” are details of Christopher Guest’s new movie For Your Consideration. The comedy follows the cast of a miserable little indie flick whose expectations and egos have been tainted by award nominations gossip and internet rumors about the film.

All of the usual suspects are in attendance (Eugene Levy, Jennifer Coolidge, Catherine O’hara, Parker Posey, Fred Willard) as well as some recruits from The Office (UK/US), Ricky Gervais and John Krasinski. Although most of the film is improvised, as per usual with Guest’s films, he has dropped the “mockumentary” aspect. Instead there are scripted “movie within a movie” scenes of the group’s project, Home for Purin. Guest dropped his usual format to add more serious overtones to the film, saying “It’s a sad subject, and this movie is in many ways very dark.”

But don’t count on this being a great departure from Guest and company’s comedic roots. I mean, Fred (Wha Happen?) Willard is involved after all. Willard has become notorious among the normal players for scene stealing and shutting down any normal sense of decorum. He’ll be hosting an Access Hollywood type show, which should allow for plenty of celebrity insults by Fred and his rapid fire improvisations. Guest says of Willard, “We very carefully write situations for Fred so he can do what he does that no one else can do. I’ll say cut and he’ll say, “I’m not finished”

Ricky Gervais, who in this interview reveals, suprisingly, that this is the first role he’s accepted, says “It’s probably because Christopher Guest is the single biggest influence on my comedy.” Gervais will be paying a head of a movie studio’s specialty division. Comparing aspects of the film to his current series Extras, Gervais adds, “I suppose it’s all about actors’ egos; it’s very much the sort of thing that I’ve explored in Extras, how whatever they say, their monstrous ego overwhelms them.”

For Your Consideration is scheduled for release in November.

tags for your consideration christopher guest gervais

Bruce Willis and Mos Def, running around, actin’ a fool when there’s work to be done in 16 Blocks.

16 Blocks - Mos plays an urban Rain Man type who just wants to leave the life of petty crime, move to Seattle, and bake birthday cakes. No, seriously. But he witnesses some corrupt cops doing the kind of things they ought not to. And Bruce Willis is just a washed up cop trying to make it through his last day on the force, see? Put these two together and it spells action. Making their way through the backstreets of New York, dodging the police as they try to get Mos to the courthouse so he can testify to the dirty deeds. Actually a pretty satisfying action thriller if you’re OK with the guns and cakes and things of that nature. DVD contains the usual extras, plus an alternate ending.

Dave Chappelle’s Block Party - A few friends and I kept talking like we were going to go check this out, and that’s all it was. Talk. But now it’s on digital video disc and I think I’m going to have my own block party at BSLS HQ, and watch Dave + Kanye West + Mos Def + Talib Kweli + Common + The Roots + Big Daddy Kane (?!) + The reunited Fugees make jokes and raps and such. Michel Gondy directs this doc, following Dave around as he travels from his hometown in Ohio, to Brooklyn, assembling a crowd of randoms to invite to the block party while on his way. Because sometimes it’s about the journey.

Comprehensive list of new/upcoming releases here

Tags: 16 Blocks, Block Party

Grand Theft Auto, Natural Born Killers, Bonnie and Clyde…ya’ll don’t know controversy like Battle Royale.

For the uninitiated, Battle Royale is the cult classic featuring Japanese actor, director, wacky game show host Kitano Takeshi, and a cast of 42 middle-school students who are unknowlingly hauled off to a remote island, handed a weapon, and forced to pluck each other off until only one remains. Friends, enemies, unrequited 8th grade crushes, everyone is going down in a blaze of glory. This is all while being televised ala The Running Man or “reality TV gone too far” satire Series 7.

Although never getting a wide release in U.S. theaters or dvd due to distribution issues and jarring content (though it is available online), this film has still managed to gain a rather enthusiastic and voracious following in the states. Now comes the news via Variety that (registration b.s. required)
New Line studios is set to remake the film, yankee style. No director or actors have been named at this time.

Know this. There’s no chance this will be a remake baring much resemblance to the original. In this post Columbine, post 9/11, post sense of humor America we’re hanging tough in, it just won’t fly without some major shift in concept. Look forward to schemes such as aging the teen competitors a good ten years at least, or by adding some zombified element. If I’m wrong, mark it down, because this film will bring the heat, from all sides, like never seen before. Left/right wing, the Parent Teachers Association, the YMCA, they’re all going to want to get a piece of Battle Royale. Am I exaggerating? Reference the trailer video for the original work in question.

Just a few to keep an eye out for as you’re clicking through your Netflix queue, or wandering around the local video store. Ari, Johnny Drama, Turtle, and the rest of the boys are back for the second season of Entourage. Which by the way, starts it’s third season this Sunday at 10pm on HBO. Plus, Dazed and Confused gets the Criterion treatment, and Officer Dangle shows his stuff on Reno 911 - season three.

Entourage: The Complete Second Season Three-disc set with 14 episodes, $39.98. Extras: Behind-the-scenes interviews, episode previews, recaps, indexes. (HBO Video).

Dazed and Confused (1993) Dir.: Richard Linklater. Two-disc set features new high-definition digital transfer. Extras: Commentary by director Linklater; “Making Dazed,” a 50-minute documentary by filmmaker Kahane Corn; tons of rare on-set interviews and behind-the-scenes footage featuring cast and crew; audition footage and deleted scenes; booklet featuring new essays by Chuck Klosterman, Kent Jones, and Jim DeRogatis, plus the original, collectible poster. (The Criterion Collection).

Reno 911: The Complete Third Season Two-disc set with 13 episodes, $26.99. Extras: Deleted scenes, extended extras. (Paramount).

Comprehensive DVD release list here

Tags: entourage, dazed and confused, reno 911

Starting with the British television documentary Seven Up, fourteen children from different walks of life were brought together, and interviewed about their future goals and notions about their place in society. This spawned the concept of revisiting the group every seven years on their own voluntary basis, to get a sort of “state of my life” interview. The result is a body of work that transcends the standard documentary, or any concept of reality programming that we’ve come to know. The pool parties, the beachside housing, challenges and elimination ceremonies, all of the normal devices used to stir the pot on reality television are unneccessary. Instead there’s race, gender, and class structure, combined with aging, parenting, and the fact that your life is being portioned out in seven year fragments for public consumption and judgement.

In this edition, we catch up with the subjects as many now have grandchildren, some have remarried, and all are looking towards the final stretches of their careers. Tony, the teenage horse jockey turned cab driver, has a particulary funny segment as you see a few of his small acting gigs, and he gives a tour of his new summer house in Spain. Symon, who as a boy said “I had a dream that the world was falling on top of me”, has made his way from very meager and sad begginings to his second marriage, raising many children, and now takes on foster children who come from the same dire circumstances as he once did. Of course we catch up with two of “the three little shits” as I like to call them, from blue blooded families, who at seven years old had their lives spelled out for them . (They knew, to the letter, exactly which prep schools and universities they would attend.) In one of the most introspective moments, there’s Sue, one of the three east end girls pictured above, taking director Michael Apted to task for his interpretations of her sucess, or lack theof.

Overall this is one of the more “feel good” installments, as those involved have risen above many health issues, divorce, and other personal demons that have shed a light of uncertainty on their prospects in the past.49 Up, as with the previous installments, is easily accessible to everyone, featuring flashbacks to previous segments. Even without prior knowledge of the series, you will not walk out feeling as if you’ve missed the point. Regardless, all six of the previous installments are now available on DVD.

More info:
The Seven Up series - Wikipedia
49 Up - SIFF

Tags: 7 up, 49 up

From right to left: Antoinette star Dunst, Sofia Coppola, and a man who may have peaked at cinematic inception

Sofia Coppola went from famous director’s daughter, to wife of that Being John Malkovich guy, to an emerging young talent in her own right, making her way by earning Bill Murray (with help from Wes Anderson, to a lesser degree) the critical acclaim he’s long overdue, as well as putting two young blondes in the spotlight. While Lost in Translation was almost universally praised by critics (in fact the DVD boasts that it’s received over 80 four star reviews), her third film, Marie Antoinette, has not garnered the same warm welcome in reviews of it’s premiere at the Cannes film festival. The film, starring Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman, received a smattering of boos by the press after the screening, who may have been turned off by the “Coppolification” of the tale. Apparently the French in Antoinette’s days didn’t actually speak in English or listen to the Cure or Bow Wow Wow’s “I Want Candy”. Why New Order instead of Cindi Lauper in the trailers? Comment dites-vous “historical accuracy” en francais?

Coppola defended her cotton-candy like approach to the material after the screening, saying “My biggest fear was making a ‘Masterpiece Theatre’ kind of movie…..I didn’t want to make a dry, historical period movie with the distant cold tableau of shots…In the same way I wanted ‘Lost in Translation’ to feel like you had just spent a couple of hours in Tokyo.”

Prediction: Despite mixed reviews, this film will do just fine at the box office with all the looky-loos and young’uns just dying to feast their eyes on Coppola’s new project. Make your own decision once Antoinette hits
the states in October. More coverage than you can handle below:

U.S. Trailer
“International” Trailer
Cannes Review: Marie Antoinette - Cinematical
This Marie Antoinette Has Her Head in a Totally Different Space
- Washington Post
Re-Imagining Marie Antoinette - IndieWire

Tags: sofia coppola, kirsten dunst, marie antoinette