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Personal statement: Bringing you what's truely interesting the world of film.

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The Dark Knight

10 More ’80s Teen Movie Actors ...
By SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"By now I’m sure you’ve heard that former ’80s teen-movie star John Cusack will star in Roland Emmerich’s apocalypse spectacular 2012. Considering the blockbuster filmmaker has previously directed the likes of James Spader (in Stargate) and Matthew Broderick (in Godzilla), I figure it’s only a matter of time before he’s worked with all our favorite ’80s teen-movie actors. So, here’s a list of the next ten actors most appropriate for Emmerich to cast: Kirk Cameron - The former star of TV’s Growing Pains and the ’80s flick Like Father, Like Son has more recently starred in the Christian-targeted Left Behind movies, which, in dealing with the Rapture, fit in with Emmerich’s usual penchant for end-of-the-world scenarios. Considering his pro-creationist stance, he probably wasn’t a fan of Emmerich’s recent caveman epic and his Evangelical status means he probably disagrees with the climate change message of The Day After Tomorrow. Too bad, because seeing Mike Seaver in a big-budget acti ... " [More]

La vie moderne (Modern Life)

Cannes: La Vie Moderne
By SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"La Vie Moderne, playing here on the Un Certain Regard sidebar, is the third documentary portrait of a group of rural French dairy farmers that Raymond Depardon has made this decade, and as such, comparisons between Depardon’s overall project and Michael Apted’s 7 Up series are not unapt. But where Apted’s seven films across forty years have come to define a changing Britain through the personal evolutions of a single generation, Depardon paints a portrait of a region and a way of life that seems on the verge of almost certain collapse due to nothing more than the natural passage of time and collision of generations. Taking on the triple role of interviewer, cameraman and narrator, the filmmaker’s affection for and rapport with his subjects is obvious, his tenacious patience a welcome contrast to the aggression employed by so many self-referential documentarians. Depardon’s style of inquiry certainly requires more of an investment from his audience than fans of contemporary crowd-p ... " [More]

Sex and Breakfast

Cannes Market Watch: Sex and Br ...
By SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"In what will hopefully end up as my stupidest move at the Cannes market this year, on Monday I went to a buyers screening of a film called Sex and Breakfast. The suspiciously unspecific description in the Marche guide: “Two couples uncover what it takes to achieve a long-term romance while maintaining a healthy and satisfying sexual relationship.” Just from those two scraps of information, we can immediately deduce that this film is one of two things: A) so-bad-its-good Euro softcore, or B), not-quite-bad-enough to be so-bad-it’s-good throat clearing from a first-time American indie filmmaker who hasn’t yet figured out that working one’s personal sexual fantasies out on celluloid really only befits aged masters (and most of the time even then, it’s questionable.) Since I knew that Sex and Breakfast was in English, I knew from the start that it almost definitely fell into the “B” camp. So why waste my time? Three words: Starring Macaulay Culkin. The basic thrust of the story (ah, p ... " [More]

Enchanted

DreamWorks Exploiting Disney’s ...
By SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"After the enormous success of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, there were bound to be more swashbuckling seafarers arriving in theaters. And finally the next big deal pirate project has the go from DreamWorks to set sail. This one will probably be a little less fantastical, though. According to Variety, the plan is to have David Franzoni (Gladiator) script a new film about the notorious real-life pirate Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard). The infamous character has already been portrayed in a number of biopics, including Raoul Walsh’s over-the-top 1952 effort and a more recent Hallmark-produced miniseries starring Angus Macfadyen. But none before have had the benefit of being shepherded by former Philadelphia 76ers owner Pat Croce, who actually owns a pirate museum down in Key West. Croce seems enough of a pirate expert, having also written a pirate history book titled “Pirate Soul” and an upcoming children’s book titled “My Pop-Pop Is a Pirate.” But DreamWorks will well enoug ... " [More]

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones and the Backlash ...
By SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"I hope that title isn’t too long. It certainly isn’t much longer than the actual title of the latest Indiana Jones movie, which I hadn’t planned on writing about today considering I seem to be one of only four people who didn’t attend a press screening yesterday (I’ll be seeing the film with a real audience sometime after it opens this Thursday). However, there doesn’t appear to be much else in the news today, and anyway I find it interesting how suddenly the film seems to have terrible buzz even though most of the reviews out of Cannes and the U.S. screenings have been relatively positive. Currently its Rotten Tomatoes rating is a respectable 74%, but as I looked through a number of headlines and review titles last night and this morning, all I could notice were phrases like “mixed reviews,” “positively polite response,” “loved and lashed,” “generally pleased,” “Indiana Jones and the Savage Reviews,” and “good enough.” Of course, some of these aren’t actually negative, but in thei ... " [More]

Cannes Diary: Karaoke
By SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"My first couple of nights in Cannes, I was in screenings until almost midnight, and then I’d go to meet the people I’m staying with at the Grand Hotel, where we’d have drinks and then eventually share a long cab ride back to our place. The Grand is, apparently, Where Everyone Goes, which has it’s charms, but it also inevitably results in 30 minute waits amongst a partially-tuxedoed mob around the bar in order to have the privilege of paying 10 Euros (about $17, I think) for a single cocktail. Apparently, it wasn’t always like this. “Where’s the Cannes dive bar?” I wondered aloud to a group of veterans. The answer: “The Grand WAS the dive bar.” Whoops. So when I heard that Alamo Drafthouse and Fantastic Fest founder Tim League was planning on throwing a renegade karaoke party in Cannes last night, I really, really wanted to see him pull it off. But it seemed impossible. So what if he had brought his portable karaoke system all the way from Austin? Where was he going to find a bar–– ... " [More]

La vie moderne (Modern Life)

Cannes Market Flash: Uwe Boll’s ...
By SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"Before I get too deep into my Cannes coverage, it seems like it would be useful to explain the difference between the Marche du Film (AKA the market) and the festival proper. The Cannes Film Festival is what most people think of when they think of Cannes––it’s the flashy, sophisticated, exclusive showcase for the world’s finest and most famous filmmakers, and it’s curated within an inch of its life. The market is kind of like a free-for-all sideshow. There are no red carpet premieres or filmmaker Q & A’s, and most of the films play in tiny screening rooms in hotels or the Palais. Every film (or portion of a film––producers will sometimes screen show reels in order to raise funds or entice distributors before production is completed) in the Marche is for sale, and none have been vetted by a screening committee. This allows for an extraordinarily wide spectrum of quality. Earlier today, IFC announced that they’ve purchased US distribution rights to Olivier Assayas’ Summer Hours, a fi ... " [More]

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Cannes Diary: Everything is Fine
By SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"It’s Sunday afternoon, and I’m sitting in a big, round room at the top of the Palais called Le Club, listening to hundreds of people scream. There’s a balcony encircling Le Club which looks out on docked yachts straight ahead, and the artist’s entrance for the red carpet premieres down below. The Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford’s Public Pension Collection premiere begins shortly, and every few minutes, the paparazzi mob down below erupts into a guttural, multi-lingual wail, each one greater than the last, as another celebrity gets out of another car. Meanwhile, a large group of notebook-clutching press types have started to gather around two flat screen monitors inside Le Club, watching simulcast coverage of the arrivals. I would be making catty comments with them if I sensed that we spoke the same language––and if they seemed just a tiny bit less star-struck. Frankly, I’m slightly appalled. At least George Lucas had the decency to wear a sports coat––Spielberg, decked out in a bas ... " [More]

Cannes: Tyson
By SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"photo by Karina Longworth France loves James Toback, and James Toback loves France right back. The New York auteur, whose work is more often than not unfairly maligned stateside, has already seen Fingers, his first (and best) film, remade by French director Jacques Audiard. The original is one of two Toback films screening at Cannes this year; the other, his documentary on long-time friend Mike Tyson, premiered to more than one standing ovation last night. If France love James Toback, Cannes, apparently, wants to take Mike Tyson behind the middle school and get him pregnant. Applause for Toback at last night’s screening was sufficient and polite (and, after the screening, it drove the filmmaker off the stage in tears); reaction to Tyson’s entrance verged on hysterical. So it’s fitting that Toback’s Tyson is a film that requires its audience to learn to love its subject, even feeds on it. I’m conflicted about the film’s ultimate value, but maybe Cannes got the Mike Tyson documentar ... " [More]

Lesbian Hooks as Cannes Cooks: ...
By SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"Enter our Presidential Zombie Photoshop Contest! And if you need inspiration, watch the brilliant Aussie zombie short I Love Sarah Jane. Karina in Cannes: Follow her here. Also: Black Downey Jr. Billboards; Damme on Van Damme; THINKfilm’s Cannes do; Waltz With Bashir trailer; Sex on the way to Cannes. The “controversial” lesbian kiss revealed: Vicky Cristina Barcelona trailer and sexy screencap. 5 Reasons Brad Pitt Should Play Thor. 5 Reasons Why Speed Racer’s Failure is Bad For Movies. By the way, it’s failure was bigger than initially announced. Louise Brooks, still sexy at 78 in ‘84. Roger Corman, worthy of a doc in ‘08. The Angelika Film Center whores itself for Sex (and the City: The Movie). On the podcast: interviewing internet-famous filmmakers. Downfall is a huge hit with YouTube spoofers. Why not let Uwe Boll make a GTA movie? At the end of the day (and word), he might be the most awesome filmmaker ever. Cronenberg’s remaking Timecrimes (and Herzog’s remaking Bad Lieutenan ... " [More]

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Archaelogists Divided on Indian ...
By SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"With the fourth installment of the adventure series, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, hitting theaters in a week, there’s too much debate going on as to the real-life relevance of Dr. Jones. Is he a crook, as was suggested last month? Or is he a model archaeologist, enough to be granted leading membership into the Archaeological Institute of America? Apparently Indiana Jones portrayer Harrison Ford has been elected to the AIA’s board of directors, as a way of honoring the fact that his iconic character has “played a major part in stimulating interest in the field of archaeological exploration.” Yet in the same week, ABC News has another report on how archaeologists view the guy most associated with their profession. And somehow one member of the Archaeological Institute is quoted as contradicting the organization’s inclusion of Ford as a member. Mark Rose, AIA’s online editorial director, told ABC, “There are codes of ethics in archeology and I don’t think he wou ... " [More]

Best Zombie Short Ever
By SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"I don’t get to see a lot of shorts programs at festivals. So, when I went to the Independent Film Festival of Boston, I indulged in their delicious menu of shorts. One of the audience favorites was a surprising little piece from Australia. A zombie flick that–unlike most zombie movies–truly transcended its genre. In honor of our Presidential Zombie Photoshop Contest going on until May 25th, I ask you undead to dim the lights, put on your headphones and place your fingernails between your teeth. I present to you, who have not had the pleasure yet, I Love Sarah Jane. (Watch the full screen version on YouTube.) Originally posted on:SpoutBlog " [More]

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