Screener

ShoWest Honoring Lee, Schamus for Lust, Caution Bravery

The awards handed out at ShoWest are usually the same from year to year: Female Star of the Year, Female Star of Tomorrow, Director of the Year, etc. But every now and then an accomplishment comes up that warrants its own award, and hey, who better than ShoWest to hand out an award that no one else might? That's how Ang Lee and James Schamus will be honored at ShoWest this year, with the ShoWest/NATO Freedom of Expression Award.

You may remember how Lee's latest film, Lust, Caution, was slapped with an NC-17 rating, limiting the film's possible release locations and audience. But it turns out, that's exactly what National Association of Theatre Owners president John Fithian wanted to happen. As he said in a press release issued today, "One year ago at ShoWest, I called upon cinematic artists to take the NC-17 rating seriously. Ang Lee and James Schamus answered that call with Lust, Caution, demonstrating uncompromising integrity in their filmmaking."

Given how much meddling is done with the ratings before a movie comes out, adding an extra f-word here to get an R rating or cutting short a sex scene to get a PG-13, it's truly remarkable to find a filmmaker willing to stick with what the MPAA will give, even if that significantly damages the film's chance of getting a large audience. Does this mean a future in which NC-17 movies are considered respectable enough for the local multiplex? Maybe not. But as Fithian also points out, the rating guarantees that it is an adult movie for adults; so were Before The Devil Knows You're Dead and There Will Be Blood. The rating reflects the subject matter-- for Lust, Caution, a sexual relationship-- more than the film's quality.

It was a shame to see that Lee, after being rewarded so widely for Brokeback Mountain two years ago, was largely shut out of the awards race this year. But hey, that's ShoWest: always going with the unexpected.

Today's Film News: New Line No More

A stalwart in independent film that made it big enough to play with the majors is, essentially, no more: New Line heads Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne are out the door, and the studio will be folded into its parent company, Warner Bros., as a specialty arm. New Line was experiencing well-publicized financial troubles since the blockbuster success of Lord of the Rings, and had moved away from its roots in offbeat, independent film distribution. The fate of The Hobbit, New Line's planned two-picture adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein's book, is unclear, as is the status of New Line-owned Picturehouse. It's the end of an era, folks.

For the first time ever, I can tell you in all honesty I knew this before Variety reported it: Forgetting Sarah Marshall collaborators Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller will team up again for The Five-Year Engagement, a romantic comedy that will be, like Marshall, produced by Judd Apatow. Segel and Stoller are co-writing the script, and Segel will star as a man engaged for five years. "It's definitely an extension of our desire to explore the depth of human misery," Stoller told Variety. You can learn plenty more about these guys in my feature article about Forgetting Sarah Marshall, coming soon to the Film Journal International website!

Looks like twenty-somethings are the new teenagers. Indie comedy Bumped will be The Breakfast Club remade as five twenty-somethings bumped off a flight in the Chicago airport. As The Hollywood Reporter describes it, they'll be different "types," such as the musician, the buttoned-up executive, and the flirt. Anna Mastro, who has worked closely with McG in the past, will direct the script by Lizzy Weiss. No word on whether or not there will be a choreographed dance number on the railings in the library, though we can all remain hopeful.

And finally, the French seems to be as excited about the Indiana Jones sequel as I am: it looks like the film will have its world premiere at Cannes in May, much like Ocean's Thirteen did last summer. The Variety article also notes that Steven Spielberg has not shown anyone a cut of the movie, which might be causing some hand-wringing over at Paramount. I'm sticking with the camp that, uh, it's Indiana Jones, and probably next-to-impossible to screw up.

Box Office Outlook: Not Just for Pros Anymore

Well, it's almost spring, which means it's time for another Will Ferrell sports comedy. And the Oscars are over, which means it's once again OK to release respectable material, especially if that respectable material is just a wee bit too cheesy for anyone to mention come the end of the year. And there you have our weekend outlook, which is considerably less grim than the last one, especially if you love watching Will Ferrell run around like a buffoon or Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson fight over the same guy. Oh, come on, who doesn't love that?

SEMI-PRO. Opening in 3,121 theatres. You've gotta hand it to Will Ferrell-- even when he's starring in what seems like the same sports comedy over and over again, he has some great character names. We've gone from Ricky Bobby and Chazz Michael Michaels to Jackie Moon, the owner of a Michigan semi-pro basketball team that's about to be absorbed, and disbanded, by the NBA. To save his team Moon decides they must win that year's chamionship, and brings in a wizened veteran (Woody Harrelson) to shape up the team, which includes one legitimate star (Andre Benjamin). A slew of supporting players also stop by, including Tim Meadows, Wil Arnett, David Koechner and Rob Corddry.

For the most part, no one is particularly happy to see Ferrell return to the sports arena. "Semi-Pro is a comedy divided against itself," writes our Ethan Alter, complaining about the discrepancy between Ferrell's outsized character and the other actors on screen. The Washington Post is disappointed with Ferrell himself, calling his performance "halfhearted, disconcertingly crude and only occasionally amusing." And the Chicago Tribune calls director Kent Alterman to task, writing, "Alterman has no knack for setting up a visual gag, setting a tone, establishing any sort of rhythm." The Village Voice concedes that the movie is "semi-funny" but also credits the cast: "the movie's stocked with terrific, fleshed-out characters." But Variety laughed its head off: "By turns riotously silly and casually clever, with the occasional outburst of inspired lunacy."

There's Still One More Strike To Worry About

Variety has a how-your-sausage-gets-made kind of article today that reminds us all that we're not really out of the strike zone yet. The impending contract renegotiation with SAG could lead to an actor walkout on June 30, just three and a half months after the writers returned to work. That means that the big productions that are giddy to get back to work are still having to face the prospect of shutting the whole thing down again.

Michael Bay, currently developing Transformers 2, gives some insight on the situation, and really, who else would you want to translate labor woes for you? "You hope for the best, but you can't be incapacitated by the possibility that there will be a strike. We've got to get this town back to work." Transformers 2 hasn't yet started production, but the film's three--count 'em, three!-- writers are currently incarcerated in order to finish the script. No, seriously. "They did a detailed outline before the writers strike, and now they are in Michael Bay jail, holed up in a hotel and working feverishly. We're paying for a beautiful suite and they are getting a lot of work done."

Terminator: Salvation has a detailed strike plan outlined in the article, which includes a guaranteed plane ticket out of the Arizona shooting location should a strike begin. For such a big-budget, effects-heavy film, the hope is to finish all the scenes with the actors and let the visual effects people get their work done while the actors walk the picket line.

On the exhibition side of things we tend to think about films only in terms of release dates, and these kinds of delays don't matter too much. But it's frustrating and disheartening to remember that we're potentially on the brink of another long-term work stoppage. Of course, George Clooney is on the case, encouraging SAG members to strike a deal, and given that he's spent the last few years saving the world, I trust him to be in charge. And if he doesn't solve it, well, Michael Bay has a nice prison where he can atone for his shortcomings...

Today's Film News: Wimps Will Inherit The Earth

Finally, Hollywood is realizing that the reign of the superhero is finished, and it's time for the wimps to shine! The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Fox 2000 will adapt the book series Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney's bestselling series about ordinary middle schooler Greg Heffley. The studio has the rights to all five existing books, three of which are not yet available. Are we set for movie franchises about children who don't even have magical powers?

Well, there will still be plenty of super-powered kids for the time being, at least. Freddie Highmore has signed on to provide the title character's voice in Astro Boy, the Warner Bros. adaptation of the manga TV series. Astro Boy isn't exactly a kid but a robot, created by a scientist in an attempt to replace his dead son. The original A.I.? Astro Boy is set to be released sometime next year.

Over a month after Sundance ended, Magnolia has picked up the rights to what The Hollywood Reporter calls one of the festival's "most buzzworthy" films. Bigger, Faster, Stronger is Christopher Bell's documentary about the current steroid scandals in professional sports. He also draws on his own personal experience, having had two brothers take steroids. Somehow, Bell also managed to interview Barry Bonds for the doc. Magnolia plans to release the film later this year.

And finally, it's a slow news day! But the trailers for summer movies are coming fast and furious, and two high-profile comedies have new or extended trailers up online. First up is Step Brothers, re-teaming Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as adult slackers whose parents marry. Then we have Get Smart, the take on the 60's spy comedy starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway. The first Get Smart trailer looked a little iffy, but this one plays out the gags a little longer and reveals the comedic talent of The Rock of all people. Call me childish, but seeing a guy get a document stapled to his forehead is damn funny.

Michael Moore's Innovative Plan For Documentaries

Michael Moore usually spends his time calling for reform in areas other than his own, be it the weapons industry or the Bush administration. But coming off a few years that were pretty nasty for documentaries at the box office, Moore has some ideas for his own industry, namely a way to get documentaries seen in places distributors might not otherwise dare to send them.

"I just believe that there are 12 people in every town in America that would like to see some non-fiction, instead of some fiction, for one night of the week," Moore said last Wednesday at a dinner hosted by the International Documentary Association, as reported by IndieWire. Oh yes, Michael Moore has a plan: It's called Doc Night in America, and it proposes to bring documentaries one night a week, to one screen in every multiplex.

But it's not quite as financially disastrous as it might sound. Moore points out that on weeknights, a given screen in a multiplex is probably empty, especially if it's dedicated as a second or third screen for the latest blockbuster."'Harry Potter doesn't need to be on seven screens. That seventh screen, it just isn't full, it never is and it's crowding out some very good movies."

Moore plans to meet with theatre exhibitors in the near future to propose his plan to show a documentary a week on the least-used screen in the theatre. His theory is that, with a little bit of the proper marketing, documentary fans will seek out these films, at least in greater numbers than the 12 or so audience members who see blockbusters on Tuesday nights.

Can it work? My guess is it's probably a lot more complicated than it seems. What gets shown at any given multiplex is a decision made by many people other than the specific theatre owner. Are enormous theatre chains equipped to make this kind of location-by-location decision-making, to figure out exactly where Spider-Man 4 isn't playing well and replace that slot with a documentary? Plus, how do these documentaries get chosen? I'd imagine there's plenty of interest now in Taxi to the Dark Side, having just won the Oscar, but what about the recent release The Unforeseen, which got a rave review from our critic Chris Barsanti. Which film is more likely to get an audience, and which is more worthy? That's an answer pretty much no one can know in advance.

I love Moore's idea, especially having grown up in a town with a dearth of movies worth seeing, and nary a documentary for miles. But I have to wonder if it's a plan that can work, especially with a mercurial, polarizing spokesperson at the head. Can the same people who wanted to boo Moore off the stage during his Oscar acceptance speech join hands with him to transform documentary distribution? Or is this like his baiting of Charlton Heston in Bowling for Columbine-- a provocative idea in theory, but in execution, not all that effective?

Today's Film News: New Line Has No 'Pride'

A movie that teams up Colin Farrell and Edward Norton seems like a no-brainer for at least moderate success, but New Line recently balked on giving Pride & Glory its intended March 14 release date, pushing it to some point next year. Now the film's director Gavin O'Connor is demanding answers. He told Variety, "I don't think [New Line CEO] Bob Shaye believes in it, and he's decided he'll only release (sure bet) films. He never had the decency to call me." The article suggests that O'Connor may seek a different distributor, though given the movie's $30 million price tag, it might be a tough sell.

Now for some happier, and genuinely exciting news. The visually arresting but weakly plotted dance film Step Up 2 The Streets will get a sequel in what seems like the perfect medium: 3D. Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot, heads of Offspring Entertainment who are also siblings, as Variety tells us, are developing the third film with Disney, logically titled Step Up 3D. In all the thinking I've done both about what movies would work in 3D and how cool those dance movies look, it never occurred to me to link the two. Good thing Shankman, who also blessed the world with Hairspray last summer, is doing the thinking for me.

Paul Dano didn't take the stage at Sunday's Oscars, but smiled heartily from his seat, both because his co-star took home a prize and his career is blowin' up. The There Will Be Blood preacher will star and executive produce the indie feature Gigantic, set to star fellow bright young thing Zooey Deschanel. The movie features a number of warning flags: called an "offbeat romantic comedy" by The Hollywood Reporter, a first-time direct (Matt Aselton) is in charge, and it's set, oh-so-quirkily, in a mattress store. But Dano has proven to have pretty good taste up to this point, and it is possible to make a good offbeat romantic comedy. Just not easy. Then again, how easy is it to slap Daniel Day-Lewis in the face and get away with it?

And finally, that silly, constantly delayed Justice League of America project is going forward once again. Warner Bros. has hemmed in all its stars once more and has the writers, Kieran and Michele Mulroney, back to work. Variety  points out that the studio could really use another tentpole for 2009, given that The Watchmen, Terminator: Salvation and Where The Wild Things Are are pretty much all that's happening right now. But given Justice League's B-list cast (Adam Brody, the rapper Common) and constant script troubles, I still have my doubts about whether this can top Fantastic Four as the silliest movie to also be called a hit.

WALL-E Is Summer's Most Anticipated Robot

So now that the Oscars are over, as I said on Friday, it's time to start thinking about the summer! The promotional machines for most big-ticket movies have yet to gear up in earnest, but every summer there's always one movie that doesn't have to put any effort into building a fan frenzy: the latest Pixar entry. Sneak peeks for WALL-E have been around for about a year, but as the June 27 release date grows nearer and we learn more about the story, the Pixar diehards of the world are just about tripping over themselves in excitement.

"I laughed, I cried (I'm serious), and I smiled, and by the end of the Disney panel, I was in love with WALL-E," writes Alex Billington at FirstShowing.net. At WonderCon in San Francisco, a comic book convention, WALL-E writer-director Andrew Stanton (he also did Finding Nemo) showed four clips from the movie and spoke a little about his inspiration in making it. While some of the clips were familiar from the trailers, Billington says that the combined effect of new scenes and Stanton's speech convinced him that "WALL-E is going to be the best movie of 2008." (emphasis his)

Pixar detractors-- can there really be Pixar detractors?-- may cry foul, but as someone who was rooting for Brad Bird to win for Ratatouille's screenplay on Sunday, I'm practically as giddy as Billington. He describes the four clips and gives a slightly better idea of the plot than has been explained thus far. WALL-E, as we know, is a garbage disposal robot left on Earth hundreds of years after humans have abandoned it. He occupies himself and talks to no one until a lady robot named Eve lands on Earth as part of an expedition. WALL-E, it turns out, is not just meant for garbage removal-- he's meant to love. Desperate not to lose the only friend he's ever had, he stows away on Eve's spaceship and sets off on an intergalactic journey.

Writes Billington about WALL-E's trip through space: "The score and music were an incredible addition that topped off one of the most emotional Pixar scenes I have ever watched." Whoah. Stanton, who gave fish feelings in Finding Nemo, explained that he designed WALL-E not to be an anthropomorphized idea of a robot, but an actual machine. "I wanted to believe that a robot is really there. I wanted to believe he is really a robot and not just a human in a robot shell." Hopefully C-3P0 won't be offended.

As Pixar's output grows vaster, the directors who work within the company are making their voices known: Brad Bird, the Rand-ian celebrator of the quest for perfection and the greatness within us all, makes us dream of being better versions of ourselves in Ratatouille and The Incredibles. Stanton, a heartstring tugger with Finding Nemo and A Bug's Life, focuses on human connections, even when those connections are between invertebrates or robots. WALL-E seems a lot more likely to make me cry and hug my parents, perhaps a better goal for a movie about the future, which could easily be more about machines and ideas than good old-fashioned emotion. Bird may want us to strive toward a brave new world, but Stanton will find the beating heart at its center.

Today's Film News: If An Oscar Falls In The Forest...

When I opened my post yesterday with the question "Didja watch the Oscars?", I pretty much assumed that you had. I mean, it's the Oscars! Turns out that wasn't such a safe bet. Sunday's show was the lowest-rated Oscars ever, with a 20% drop in audience since last year. Thirty-two million people tuned in, which according to Variety is fewer than watched the season premiere of "American Idol" and a third of the number that watched the Super Bowl a few weeks ago. Poor Jon Stewart will continue going on the record as the host of Oscar shows that nobody watches, even though his performance last night was pretty stellar by my estimation. And let's not even talk about what it means that the one year the Academy nominates a bunch of great films is the year no one watches; watch out for Shrek Goes Forth sweeping the top five awards in 2010.

Well, now that the dog and pony show is over and done with, it's back to business. In casting news, Jonathan Rhys Meyers has joined Julianne Moore in the horror thriller Shelter, the English-language debut from the Swedish directing team Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein. The two actors make a good pair, but keep in mind that for all their acclaimed work, each has participated in some cringe-worthy material. (August Rush and Next are recent examples that come to mind.) So let's not get all excited just yet, though Lord knows we could use a horror thriller with a fraction of intelligence.

The cast of Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, already star-studded, has gotten even bigger, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Max von Sydow (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Emily Mortimer (Lars and the Real Girl, not to mention a hilarious recurring role on "30 Rock") and Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children) will also star in the film, about a patient who escapes from a mental hospital located off the coast of Maine. Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams, Ben Kingsley and Mortimer's Lars co-star Patricia Clarkson are already cast.

And finally, the quietest news today may also be the biggest: Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon have signed on to direct and star in a fourth Bourne movie, as interpreted by Cinematical from a Universal press release. The two had said previously that neither would return to the franchise if the other didn't. There are two more Robert Ludlum books on which to base another movie about the jet-setting spy, and given that Bourne won more Oscars than There Will Be Blood on Sunday, there's a lot of prestige, not to mention a lot of money, left to be gained.

Falling Slowly for Once

Over at Awards Daily, everyone is feeling the warm fuzzies from Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard's win for their stunning "Falling Slowly" from Once, and seeing the two of them up there was doubtlessly one of the highlights of a night full of largely expected winners. When Irglova took the stage again after being cut off by the orchestra, she said, "The fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just proof that no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible."

In the same Awards Daily post, a commenter submitted a full list of the Best Song winners in the history of the Oscars. The list is remarkable, both for how many gems are included-- "Over the Rainbow, "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah," "White Christmas"-- and how many years seemed to have been fallow for truly worthy songs (who remembers the movie The Prince of Egypt, much less its Oscar-winning song?)

But in the best of years, like this one, the songs chosen evoke an unexplainable feeling about the movies they come from. You can't read the title "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" without hearing it in your mind, and thinking immediately of Robert Redford and Paul Newman goofing around on a bicycle. And just thinking of those first seven notes of "Moon River" evokes all the optimism and sad-eyed melancholy of Breakfast at Tiffany's, from the cigarette holder to the nameless cat.

Some years you doubt the reason for the existence of the Best Song category-- this ain't the Grammys!-- but looking over that list, you can't deny the power of a good song in a good movie to capture the whole thing in a three-minute melody. "Falling Slowly" deserved the Grammy it didn't win, surely, but the meaning of the song is so much greater within the context of the film, as a courtship and a collaboration all at once. That's what makes a song Oscar-worthy-- like art direction or cinematography, it brings something to the film that it never could have had without it. Surely we'll see some turkeys win in this category again, but Glen and Marketa have silenced anyone who would call for the abolition of this category for a long while.

Below the jump is the full list of winners; thanks a bunch again to Awards Daily's Pierre de Plume for posting the list.