In the realm of not-very surprising news, Michael Bay has announced his intention to shoot several scenes for Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen in IMAX film. For some reason, I didn’t mention this possibility in my Iron Man 2 IMAX 3D article earlier this month. But the rock-sock-em robots sequel did seem the next likely tent pole film to go this route. And frankly, Transformers 2 could be even more tailor-made for this process than The Dark Knight.
Even as someone who hated Transformers and loved The Dark Knight, I must concede that the technical aspects of Transformers were beyond compare. The robots were basically supporting characters in their own movie, and there wasn’t nearly enough robot action to balance out the campy, cliched character arcs and tone-deaf comedy, but the rare out-and-out robot smack downs were truly impressive. This is the exact opposite case of The Dark Knight. Does anyone really have a favorite action sequence in that film? Did anyone come out of the theater blathering about ‘that one scene where Batman went to Hong Kong, jumped off a building, punched out five guys, and escaped on a zip line’?
People loved the story, loved the characters, and loved the acting. But the choppy actions scenes, while less Paul Greengrass-y than Batman Begins, were no one’s highlight. And, truthfully, they were rendered even harder to follow on a giant IMAX screen (Nolan probably sensed this, as he had Morgan Freeman basically narrate the climactic construction site brawl). Actually, has any Batman film ever contained a truly stunning action sequence? Transformers, on the other hand, is all about empty spectacle, so the giant screen format will be a huge bonus.
Frankly, I’m surprised that Bay isn’t going for 3D this time to boot. I’d imagine that the CGI robotics would be much easier to convert to 3D than the practical car chases and explosions of The Dark Knight (I’ll let someone else discuss the added incentive for the core audience seeing Megan Fox in 3D). Furthermore, Paramount’s main summer competition, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, has already announced that its climax will be in 3D yet again.
Regardless, it will be interesting to see how the two biggest movies of the summer will split IMAX screens, as they will open less than a month apart. If Paramount really wants long-term playability, then maybe they ought to consider moving up the release date. I’d imagine that Transformers 2 would threaten the three-day opening weekend record no matter when in summer it opened, so maybe an early June berth might be in order.
This does bring up an interesting problem. As more and more event films decide to go the IMAX route (and make no mistake, Nolan has opened the floodgates), how will the limited number of IMAX screens deal with competing product when this because the norm for blockbusters?
And just like that, the 2008 Sidewalk film festival is all over. Damn, that was way, way too fast. Then again, had the festival gone much longer, I’d probably be suffering that exhaustive post-festival malaise that so many of us suffer through at virtually every other film festival around. Instead I feel refreshed and inspired and ready to rock onward.
Since we last spoke via blog, I did some very cool things. Let’s start where I left off. Friday nights party was very much in line with the overall vibe of the fest. All the filmmakers, staff and fellow Sidewalkees gathered at a local bar for some drinks and conversation. There was also some huge blocks of cheese that I failed to get a photo of, oh well. The party was nice and like the rest of the festival, provided more than enough time to just…relax with fellow filmmakers. I got to hang with some people I’ve known in passing for a while and some new people as well and it was really, really fun. I got back to my hotel around 2:00 a.m. and passed out until about 4:30 a.m.
Why wake up so early? I’ll tell ya why: I was having awful nightmares. I think most people get nervous before they screen their film for the first time with an audience, and I’m no different. It’s frigging scary. The first time I had a film screen I completely freaked out the night before but this time wasn’t as bad. Just a few vivid dreams of people walking out, the projector not working, my film not working, etc. But it made me more nervous and I tossed and turned until around 11:30 which was 30 minutes after the screening of a film I wanted to see. Nice.
I rallied up from there via some personal pep talks in the mirror and a tough to find sandwich in the vacated, apocalyptic looking downtown of Birmingham. I’m not being mean and I truly think Birmingham is beautiful, but they’re in an “in-between” stage in terms of population and it’s deader than dead downtown. In fact Friday night I had to bribe the concierge at the hotel to drive me to the nearest mini-mart to get beer and water…it was 2 miles away! Anyway, I got out of my room around 12:30, ate and jammed over to catch the documentary “Rockafire Explosion.”
For those who don’t recall the spectacle that was the “Rockafire Explosion,” it was the precursor to Chuck E. Cheese. A big rock band made up of robotic animals that do a show while kids eat crappy pizza, drown in the ball pit and play video games. I gotta admit, we didn’t have Rockafire when I was a kid, we went straight into Chuck E. Cheese. But as is shown in the doc, many people were profoundly affected by the “Rockafire Explosion.” So much so that they have managed to buy their own stage show and it’s set up in their house. The film was awesome (review shortly) and it was right up my alley in terms of the short docs I make.
After that, I was feeling a lot better as me and television’s Eric Campos grabbed a beer and headed to my screening. I was still pretty nervous, but it went really well. People seemed to really like “Drag King” and they really loved the big race scene. Yay! After the Q&A we headed over to the big and beautiful Alabama Theater to see the much talked about vampire/love story/dark comedy/coming of age/art film/foreign film “Let the Right One In.”
Folks, without mincing words here, you simply must see this film. It’s stunning and perfect and amazing. I need to see it again and write an entire blog entry on it so that’s all I can muster right now. I think it hits theaters in October and is playing some festivals before that. Then, it gets ass-raped by America via a remake by “Cloverfield” director Matt Reeves. Yay. Douche bags.
After the satisfying screening, it was off to another party, this one in a big wherehouse space. Fun and more free beer was had by all followed by some awkward dancing. Soon it was 2:00 a.m. and word slowly filtered through that there was an after-party at one of the programmers’ lofts downtown. Of course we all jumped at the chance to continue the camaraderie and drinking, so we went. Little did we know it would be the coolest loft of all time! The décor was almost all classic horror movie monsters done up in cool and colorful art prints. They had a soda machine full of beer as well as full sized Q-Bert and Street Fighter video games. As usual, I didn’t use my camera so you’ll just have to take my poorly constructed word for it.
Before I knew it, it was 4:00 a.m. and we were starved. We once again commandeered a volunteer van driver to take us for food and after some cheese fries and a gyro (at 4:30 a.m…not good) I went back to the hotel to conk out. I stupidly planned to leave Sunday afternoon, not realizing Sunday and Sunday night are the biggest parties of the festival and the awards ceremony. Grrr.
All in all, I had a really great time. Sidewalk is not only very friendly and kick-back, there’s also some outstanding films, many of which had played other festivals but I had missed over the year. It was like they grabbed the coolest movies, threw in some premieres and let us all have fun. It works! I hope I get to go back next year and this time, I might leave a day late. Thanks for an awesome time Sidewalk! Let’s do it again next year!
There were several other user comments that didn’t make it into this segment as we shot quite a bit but were pressed for time when it all came down to it. And one of those comments, my favorite because it pretty much sums up how I feel about this movie, came from someone at FirstShowing.net who said –
“…is it me or did Kevin Smith finally find a body who can deliver Kevin Smith dialog…as good or better than Kevin Smith?”
Egg-zactly! Yeah, Kevin Smith’s usual suspects are featured here – loud and proud – and I always love seeing Jason Mewes and Jeff Anderson in anything (and let’s not forget Anderon’s charming filmmaking effort “Now You Know”), but these new cast members, unfamiliar to the View Askewniverse, really seem to be taking Smith’s material to a whole new level – especially Seth Rogen. At this point I’ve only seen the trailer, but just from that it looks like Rogen was born to read Smith’s dialogue. Ever since “Clerks,” I haven’t seen such a perfect fit. It just looks so natural in “Zack and Miri.” So, yes, message board poster at FirstShowing.net – you totally nailed it.
So mixing a really funny idea with this tremendous cast once again finds a Kevin Smith movie with a lot of anticipation surrounding it and that’s something we really haven’t seen since “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.” “Jersey Girl” had too much Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez backlash surrounding it and “Clerks II” had many people puzzled as to whether a sequel was actually necessary. “Zack and Miri” on the other hand seems to have just about everyone excited…well, except for the kind of people that don’t think farts are funny – there are always party poopers.
The second trailer for Oliver Stone’s George W. Bush biopic, “W,” has hit the net and it is, decidedly, nothing like the first one. If you have yet to see the first trailer, check it out here:
As you can see, it’s very calm, reverent almost. You get the impression that Stone is going for more of a serious, “George W. Bush isn’t an infantile mad man with the most powerful job in the world” approach. Less “Natural Born Killers,” more “JFK.” That said, it also comes off a bit stiff. The second trailer doesn’t have that problem:
Now, “stiff” is replaced with “batshit insane.” This is more of the random nuttiness that we’ve come to associate with Oliver Stone, and… is that necessarily a good thing, here? Was this cut to give the proper tone of the film, or to give the proper, MTV youth, YouTube generation advertising angle? Does the existence of two wildly differing trailers say more about the complexities of the film (and perhaps, George W. himself), or is this simply what happens when trailer one fails to excite?
slashFilm’s got an article going about how one of the two co-writers for “Eagle Eye,” Travis Wright, stated at a Creative Screenwriting (we love you, Jeff Goldsmith) event that he and John Glenn were working on a sequel to “Blade Runner.” Now, before you scream too loudly, apparently the writers are seemingly still trying to entice those with the “Blade Runner” rights that it is a good idea. Which is funny, because everyone and their mother knows that it is, in fact, NOT a good idea. At all.
Part of me hopes it was a tongue-in-cheek joke that somebody at the event took seriously and, in an effort to be some rumor-mongering insider, ran straight to slashFilm with. Why? Because that would illustrate the following point that this isn’t really news; it’s an off-the-cuff statement re-purposed as news. I could say that I’m in talks to direct the re-make of “Citizen Kane” starring Ashton Kutcher, but that’s not news, right? But I AM in talks… with myself, but isn’t the statement just as valid.
Now, slashFilm, via their Twitter, stated that they double-checked this news before they posted it, and the guy they talked to at Collider.com is indeed a friend of mine and someone I would trust, but what did he really confirm? He confirmed that Travis Wright said what he said. And now anyone who reads this can confirm that I said what I said.
We can spend our time talking about what a bad idea is for there to be a “Blade Runner 2,” but we all know it’s a bad idea. Instead, let’s talk about the validity of a comment becoming a rumor becoming news…
Posted by Scott Mendelson in Writer's Corner at 11:56 AM
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I finally saw Sex And The City: The Movie last night (it looks stunning on Blu Ray). I would love to get on a high horse and proclaim that it’s a terrific movie and that the critics who hated it were misogynist pigs. Some of them may be, but it’s still a mediocre movie.The first hour is pretty dreadful, a peon to crass consumerism and shallowness that’s especially icky during a time of prolonged economic suffering (I can’t speak for the show, but the movie contains not a single homeless person or working stiff). Once the emotional plot comes fully center, the film slightly improves. The writing just isn’t as sharp as the best episodes of the series (I’ve seen a few, my wife’s seen a bunch) and the characters feel thinner (the film is 151 minutes long, but there is less plot than The X-Files: I Want To Believe).
But, at its core, it suffers from the same problem as many romantic dramas and comedies. Without going into spoilers, the film’s plot catalyst never would have occurred if the main characters just talked to each other like adults for three minutes. Furthermore, the conflict could have been resolved right on the spot with another thirty-seconds of straight communication, explaining how last minute jitters and a child’s mistake led to disaster (sorry for the vagueness, no reason to spoil something that occurs an hour into the movie).
So the film suffers due to the idiot plot, as do many other movies. And the romantic partners refuse to talk to each other like adults, but that seems to be the case for most romantic comedies (and most relationships in the entertainment world to boot). That doesn’t explain the outcry of outrage that occurred following the opening day and opening weekend.
As I wrote last May, the resulting circus, personified by Jeff Wells’ statements that the film represented ‘an Al Qaeda recruitment film, or was the equivalent of the ‘OJ Simpson verdict’ in terms of showing women in a negative, superficial light, was sexist and confounding to boot. Mass audiences embrace all kinds of films that are stupid, superficial, or just plain terrible and they have for a century. Now that women are enjoying a film aimed at them that is just as sugary, fantastical, and (almost) fantastically terrible as Ghost Rider or Top Gun, the men in Hollywood are frothing at the mouth in amazement and condemnation.
If anything, this will be good for female entertainment. Hopefully, now women can be allowed to enjoy films targeted at them that are just as fluffy and superficial and wish-fulfillment-y as Transformers. And, eventually, they can enjoy such films without being criticized for it. Yes, there are those who wish that every black-themed film was Rosewood or Do The Right Thing, but progress comes when black people can enjoy Soul Plane without being criticized for it by blacks and whites alike.
Sex And The City is just a major film aimed at women that is (apparently) just as superficial and goofy as fantastical as most of the wish-fulfillment aimed at young boys. The huge opening number merely points out how few of these are made for women.
I stand by that statement, but having seen the film, I think I understand a little about the pomp and circumstance. Escapism and wish-fulfillment is by nature the acting out of something you don’t do or can’t do. Films like Transformers and Iron Man basically show damaged men and boys who ‘man up’, take responsibility, do the right thing and use their new found masculinity to help other people and/or save lives and kill bad guys. They really don’t sacrifice anything, and as a bonus they end up with a really hot girl who doesn’t really expect anything from them in return.
As noted in Michael Kimmel’s new book, Guyland, the lessening of the traditional roles for men as the financial provider and/or steady husband and father of the house (both by a cruel economy that all but demands duel incomes and by advances by women in the workplace and the world) has created a culture of boys who are reluctant to become men, who treat women like objects to be used then discarded, who surround themselves with other guys and basically spend much of their time one-upping each other in various behaviors to prove their ‘manliness’, or to prove that they’re not ‘gay’. At its worst, this behavior climaxes in bullying, gay-bashing, and sexual assault.
In the real world, they are irresponsible, selfish, and not really able or willing to carry out the roles that were expected of them. Furthermore, the economic advances by women, the advances of childbirth science, and irradiation of the industrial economy has rendered the stereotypical role of the adult male almost obsolete or at least not nearly as vital to the society. Why bother becoming men and growing up when the stereotypical adult male isn’t nearly as valued as their fathers were just a generation ago?
This is not a brand new concept, although the book attempts to be the definitive look at the subject. Movies like Fight Club, The Matrix, American Beauty, and (shudder) Wanted deal with this in one form or another (while Wanted is the worst film of the four, it may be the most honest as wish-fulfillment as it defines the solution as ignoring women and committing wholesale mass murder to avenge a father you never knew). But even many films that aren’t specifically about this represent an escape or an outlet from this issue.
But if you’ll note the stereotypical fantasy films directed at men (usually action/adventure or comic book sci-fi), you can see portraits of men who do stand up and take responsibility, who keep their manliness and help other people. It’s not just a manly man rescuing a damsel in distress, although that’s still a key element (which is why even allegedly modern, independent women usually end up being kidnapped or imperiled at the climax of said films). Tony Stark becomes a man when he stops being selfish and uses his toys to help others. Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) accepts his grandfather’s ‘no sacrifice, no victory’ motto and plays a key role in saving the Earth from rampaging robots.
It may be dramatically unsatisfying, but this template mandates that Sam, not Optimus Prime, be the one to destroy Megatron and save the world. He has manned up, and as a reward he gets to have sex with Megan Fox. In male-escape movies, the girl is simply the bonus prize. The real goal is maturity and being a man in the way your father talked about being a man.
With young protagonists, earning the respect of their parents is usually a goal for these boy who would be men (see Shia LaBeouf’s Eagle Eye and Disturbia for a perfect examples of this). In the male escapism, the fantasy is proving your worth, being the responsible man, and stepping up to help people who need you without expecting anything in return. In the real world, a great number of men find themselves unwilling or unable to fulfill the time-tested role of men, and they are often miserable because of it. In the stereotypical male fantasy (Iron Man, Transformers, Die Hard, Spider-Man 2), the fantasy is being able to be a man without actually having to grow up or change all that much.
If the male fantasy is about selflessness, sacrifice, and responsibility, the female fantasy is about just the opposite. Fair or not, the expectations of society dictate that women sacrifice on a daily basis, for their kids, for their (allegedly unappreciative) husbands, even for their aging parents. They are the caregivers and selflessness is both their calling and their burden (for many women, life is like The Prize Winner Of Defiance Ohio, terrific movie by the way). Thus, for the female fantasy film, the escape is one of escaping responsibility, of being selfish, of having unlimited funds and unlimited time to make yourself look better and feel better. If the women of Sex And The City are a little shallow (as are some of the romantic heroines played by Reese Witherspoon and Jenifer Aniston), then that is only because that is the fantasy of many women: to throw caution to the wind, to be selfish and wealthy, to use your wealth only to better yourself and not worry about others.
Women (stereotypically) spend their lives doing for others, neglecting themselves often at the cost of their own mental and physical health. Thus their fantasy films will often revolve around either someone taking care of them (hence the peril sub-genre that appeals to both sexes equally and occasionally leaches into pornography), them taking care of themselves when no one else can (woman in danger movies like When A Stranger Calls or Red Eye), or being so wealthy or set that the world just takes of you by happenstance (this is where Sex And The City comes in).
The other thing to note is that many female-centric movies have ‘the guy’ as the grand prize, the main object of desire and pursuance. Whether it’s just finding love (who just happens to be in the guise of that platonic friend that you always flirt with), or whether it’s chasing down a specific guy for the duration of the picture (before the end arrives and he realizes just how awesome you are), finding ‘the one’ is the paramount concern. Whether that is a more noble thing than the ‘man’s movie’ which treats the girl as the desert after a full meal is open to debate.
A slight digression, but it is worth noting that I have always found Mean Girls to be the very best female-centric high school movie that I have ever seen (of course, writer Tina Fey casting herself as the hot math teacher is worth two-stars right there). While it is certainly well-acted and sharply written, I wonder if the reason I responded to it as much is because it is the rare female-driven movie that operates under the rules of male fantasy. The goal for Lindsey Lohan in this film is about taking responsibility, growing up, not being afraid to do what you’re good at (math, in this case), and using your skills to help others (using her math skills to help her classmates win a math competition, giving her ill-gotten homecoming crown to other kids to boost their self-esteems).
Like most male-centric films, the love interest is merely the prize, and her winning him over (he likes her because she as smart as she is cute) is simply a climactic grace note, rather than the whole climax. Of course, that would disqualify Mean Girls as a female-fantasy, but possibly render it a serious statement (according to Fey, author Rosalind Wiseman, and maybe myself as a new father of a one-year old daughter) of how young girls should lead their lives. Or maybe it’s just a damn good movie.
It is worth noting that even in the female fantasy sub-genre, cold reality usually sets in towards the end. And, sure enough, the ladies of S&TC eventually acknowledge their consumerist ways and they eventually have to step up and take responsibility for their life mistakes. Of course, there wouldn’t be much of a character arc if they didn’t, but it’s a little disheartening to see these women forced back into the roles of ‘fixers’ by the end of the picture. I do like that both the men and the women admit their flaws and their mistakes and accept shared responsibility (the film certainly never demonizes men, nor did the show). But still, if this is supposed to be the ‘ultimate chick flick’, I wonder if they could have found a way to end the movie without forcing the women to ‘man up’.
To (finally) wrap this up, the critics who complained that the characters of Sex And The City were vapid, shallow, and selfish were not off the mark, they were just missing the broader context. They missed that the female fantasy is a whole different breed of film then the male fantasy. You could argue that the male fantasy is more noble because it involves selflessness and potential sacrifice, because it involves helping others and doing good for society as a whole. And you would be correct, but that’s only a fantasy because it usually doesn’t happen that way. Instead of belittling women for enjoying their own version of escapism, why not critique the film on its own merits (or, for a bonus, help your wife with the dishes or cook dinner this week). It won’t make you ‘gay’. Transformers is a terrible movie, but I see its appeal. I will give Sex And The City the same courtesy.
Posted by Scott Mendelson in Writer's Corner at 11:24 PM
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A golden oldie, from my old humor archives. Why now? Well, because The Onion had this terrific, but frighteningly similar piece up last week, so I’d best get this out there before someone steals my idea. I’ll be back tomorrow with thoughts on Sex & The City: The Movie, and a theory on why critics were so up in arms about women embracing the escapest fantasy (as opposed to men going gaga over Iron Man or Transformers). Still, this is somewhat movie related, so here you go. Enjoy.
Chocolate-magnate Wonka arrested for murder
Willam Wonka to face charges after four children, one adult die in chocolate-factory massacre.
by Scott Mendelson
World-renowned candy-bar maker and multi-trillionaire William J. Wonka was arrested yesterday evening after four young children perished while touring Wonka’s top-secret chocolate factory.
Authorities are still trying to piece together the details of the gruesome affair but so far there are confirmed reports of five fatalities. The dead children, Augustus Gloup, Violet Beauregarde, Mike Teavee, and Veruca Salt, are reported to be the young winners in the worldwide Golden Ticket contest, which awarded an exclusive tour of William Wonka’s base of operations to five lucky children who discovered golden tickets hidden in Wonka chocolate bars. One adult, Mr. Salt, is also presumed dead. A fifth winner, Charles Bucket, is said to be alive and unharmed along with his grandfather.
“It would seem,” stated Chief Steven Helemson, “that Mr. Wonka lured these innocent children into his factory with a promise of a tour and a life-time supply of chocolate, than viciously murdered them in various bizarre and unspeakable methods.” The police believe that the deaths were in fact premeditated, as the various transportation vehicles seemed to actually decrease in seat space as the tour went on, indicating that Wonka planned on progressively thinning the herd.
The mother of Augustus Gloup, one of the slain, has stated that she herself witnessed her son’s tragic drowning in a raging river of chocolate.
“I asked Mr. Wonka to stop my son from heading into the marshmallow room. But, Wonka insisted that he was instead heading for the fudge room. I then replied that he was in fact a ‘terrible man’, to which he simply laughed.” Gloup’s gooey carcass was found floating along the river after police arrived.
Further examination of the carnage unearthed a giant puddle of blueberry goo, mixed in with brain matter, bones, and various organs, which is believed to be the remains of Violet Beauregarde. According to witnesses, Ms. Beauregarde was tricked into eating a poisonous gum-substance, which caused her to turn into a giant blueberry and eventually explode.
A third victim, Michael Teavee, was alleged to have been shrunk to the size of an action figure and then sucked into a TV set, where he is likely being constantly tortured and defiled by the “TV people” who are upset about the factory being buried on an ancient Indian burial site.
“They moved the headstones,” claimed an employee at the factory, one of several dozen ‘Oompa Loompas’, “but they didn’t move the bodies.” Oompa Loompas are tiny, orange-faced midget creatures who work in the factory. They that often talk in rhyme that may or may not be Wonka’s slaves. Most expressed sympathy with their master.
“Oompa Loompa doompadee doo,” exclaimed one distraught Loompa. “I’ve got another puzzle for you. Ommpa Loompa doompadee doo, if you’re wise you’ll listen to me.” The Loompa then proceeded to spew rhyming profanities (which are unsuitable for print) and claim that there was no life they knew that was not completely expendable in their quest to build a perfect chocolate factory. They threatened various authorities with acts of violence that were horrific beyond any world of pure imagination and thus also unsuitable for print.
The fate of the final casualty remains sketchy, with reports claiming that Veruca Salt and her father may have both plummeted to their deaths after being pushed down a chute designated for golden eggs. Although no bodies have been found, all accounts do report, however, that she was a “very bad egg.”
“Mr. Wonka is a sick, diseased maniac,” claimed an un-named executive of the rival candy corporation, Slugworth. “The golden tickets promised that ‘In your wildest dreams you could not imagine the marvelous surprises that await you’. Instead, the tickets brought a violent, surreal, ironic demise to four out of five of these innocent children.”
Wonka has claimed that each of the victims in fact caused their own horrible fates by breaking the rules and thus bear complete responsibility. According to the jailed Wonka, the contracts that were signed dictated that any violation of the rules and regulations ‘and et cetera, et cetera… Fax mentis incendium gloria cultum, et cetera, et cetera… Memo bis punitor delicatum’ would result in immediate execution.
“It’s all there in black and white, clear as crystal,” Wonka has claimed. “You can read it for yourself in this photostatic copy: ‘you mess with my factory, I will totally f^&%ing kill you!”
Posted by Scott Mendelson in Writer's Corner at 11:02 AM
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It took them three tries (and the teaser made people think it was a Dick Tracy sequel), but here is a trailer for The Spirit that actually has a semblance of plot and character, as opposed to just random hot women tossing off their best ‘come-hither’ lines. Sam Jackson is in geek heaven and the trailer finally acknowledges that Frank Miller didn’t actually create The Spirit (Will Eisner did). Am I the only one amused that this is the second time in a less than two years, after Ghost Rider, that Eva Mendes has played the former childhood sweatheart of our tormented hero, who comes back at just the wrong time? It’s an improvement, but considering how thin and junky I found Sin City to be, I’m not terribly optimistic.
Before I start, I should offer a slight mea culpa. While everyone from the festival is off at the opening night screening of “Adventures of Power,” I’m up in my room watching the debates and having a time out. It was a really long day for a lazy ass like me and I needed to wind down before this festival kicks into full gear. Which could happen tonight. I shall be prepared.
After some hokey delays I got into Birmingham at about 10:30 last night. The festival staff was right on hand to grab me, whisk me off to my kickass hotel (The Redmont) and then take me to this super cool place called The Bottle Tree for the hang out party. I wasn’t there long but quickly saw friends and fellow filmmakers David Lowery, Joe Swanberg and James Johnston. I normally see those two at SXSW so it was cool to run into them someplace else. Someplace less insanely busy. I also met some other folks as well as some festival staff I had chatted with on email but never met and that’s always fun. The staff here, Kyle McKinnon, Rachael Wingo, Natalie Hummel and all the volunteers are extremely cool and really want to make your stay at Sidewalk experience amazing.
I turned in early last night because we needed to be in the lobby by 10:30 to get taken to the filmmaker brunch. It was at this super cool place called “Vulcan Park” which is home to the largest cast iron statue in the world. Since I’m a frigging child I was also quick to point out that it was the owner of the largest cast iron ass cheeks in the world.
We had a yummy lunch and then something occurred that I’ve never seen at a festival…and it was COOL! We all went around the room and introduced ourselves and our films. It really helped establish a sense of community as well as help us remember who did what film. After that, most of us ascended the giant cast iron statue and spent a good while screwing around from a really high height. But wait! The fun and festivities weren’t over yet! After the Vulcan Park experience, we headed to Sloss Furnaces where we each got to make a small, 3×5 cast iron plate of our own design! I know that sounds silly, but it was super cool. We all engraved these casts made of sand with whatever design or message we wanted. Then the folks at Sloss Furnaces poured fricking melted IRON into them and gave us our own little souvenir! Too cool! Although mine sucked in the end, it was still a neat and once in a lifetime experience. Thanks Sidewalk!
From there it was back to the hotel. Untiiiiil…..all of us on the van started talking about barbecue. From there, Rachel Goslins, director of the buzz worthy doc “Bama Girl” started talking about this Alabama BBQ institution called “Dreamland.” Her description was making us all hungry so she managed to pull a van mutiny and get us all over to “Dreamland” for some incredible ribs and even more amazing banana pudding. Words cannot do this place justice so I’ll just say: go there.
After that there was a fun little opening night party which I met new people and saw old friends and now, I’m gearing up for the after party. More pics to come I hope!
by Scott MendelsonIn the realm of things that really don’t matter, I’ve noticed an obnoxious trend of late in the home video market.
In the olden days of standard and special edition DVDs, the pattern was simple. For the one-disc bare bones disc, you often had substandard cover art meant to appeal to mass audiences, usually emphasizing either generic elements of the story or a main set piece that people remember enjoying in theaters.
But for the two-disc collector’s set, and the BluRay, you got a snazzy replication of the actual poster from the movie itself.
Or, worst case scenario, you got the same image with a token mention that one of them is a two-disc collector’s set.
But, of late, the studios seem to be going the opposite route. Let’s look at four recent summer releases. The one-disc set for Iron Man (streets next Tuesday) feature the poster art, which highlights the entire cast.
However, for the two-disc set and BluRay, we have simply a stylized, artless picture of the Iron Man suit, something that resembles the start menu for a computer game. If I’m paying extra for the more expensive version, I’d also like the original poster art to go with it.
Let’s have a look at the just released art for the not nearly as bad as you’ve heard Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which Warner Bros will street in 1-disc, 2-disc, and Blu Ray versions in November. The standard one-disc set features the poster art, with the main cast in a moody, dimly lit battle-ready pose, suggesting drama, darkness, and turmoil. It’s a decent enough poster.
Yet, for the two-disc and Blu Ray, we get a big brightly lit picture of just Anakin Skywalker, looking like he was posing for Tiger Beat. This is pretty terrible art regardless, but why punish consumers who opt for the more expensive option?
Next up is Get Smart, Warner again, which streets on December 4th in 1-disc, 2-disc, and BluRay versions (all three promising 62% more laughs - so that’s 4 more laughs?). As you’ll notice, the one-disc set gives us profiles of all four of the main stars, which is appropriate since Get Smart was a true ensemble piece that coasted along on the talent and goodwill of its cast.
Yet the 2-disc and Blu Ray version crops out Alan Arkin and Dwayne Johnson, leaving us with only Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway. Not a huge deal, but again it seems a case where the more expensive version should have included the original poster art.
Finally, and this is the one that prompted me to write this, we have the covers for Sony’s Hancock, which will street in November on 1 d… you get the idea. Anyway, the one-disc theatrical cut contains the poster art.
Yet the two-disc and BluRay extended edition displays $25 photo shopping that not only is ugly and displeasing to look at, but actually constitutes a mild spoiler. I gave Sony major props last summer for actually running an ad campaign for Hancock that didn’t reveal the whole movie in the trailers and TV spots, so it’s a shame that they had to go and hint at a major scene in the second act of the picture. And besides, if you’re going to give Charlize Theron billing above the title, you damn well oughta give the same courtesy to Jason Batemen, who basically stole the film with a warm, subtle, empathetic comic performance.
On the plus side, the just released UK cover art for The Dark Knight seems to be on the right track. The two-disc and Blu Ray sets will include the original poster art, plus the option for covers with Batman or The Joker (the exterior sleeve has Batman, while the case itself has the Joker poster). Of course, both Nolan Batman pictures had so many posters that they could easily do a dozen versions of each film and have a different theatrical one-sheet for each.
Again, not the end of the world, but it doesn’t make sense that the studios are making a habit of giving lesser quality presentations to the versions of their discs that the more discerning consumer is likely to purchase. And frankly, I’m tired of having to contend with ugly artwork when I fork over money for the ‘more special’ version of a given DVD or Blu Ray.
Scott Mendelson
Update - darn it. Warner Bros. just released the US cover art for The Dark Knight, and it’s exactly the kind of thing I was complaining about. The single disc version gets the official poster art. Meanwhile, the two-disc set gets the alternate, ugly poster art highlighting the ‘way-cool’ Bat-Pod. Aside from the fact that Batman is barely visible in the poster, it is easily the ugliest of the many posters, primarily because the center of attention is a giant wheel. How unfortunate.
