Slumdogs of Beverly Hills

The many varied reactions to Slumdog Millionaire are so odd...it doesn't warrant the raves it's getting, esp about it's clever plot (good brother, bad brother, girl who comes between them was an old standard when D W Griffith was making flickers...)but some of the brickbats are bizarre. The "heinous torture" of children was brief and mostly off camera, and Dickensian in the sense that it felt like it came out of an old story book and didn't have any basis in the reality of real slumdogs in Mumbai. The actors are adorable and the soundtrack is great, but other than that and the flashback story structure of how the uneducated boy was able to answer the gameshow questions, there's not much else to recommend about this movie...it's sweet and crowd pleasing and probably going to win the Oscar and in 20 years time people will be asking, "why did that movie win so many awards?" just like we do now about 80% of the movies that have won the Oscar in the past...(ahem, Gandhi/Dances with Wolves/Braveheart/Forrest Gump/Crash)

But, I hope the cast gets work out of this, esp. the adorable Dev Patel as the oldest incarnation of our hero and Anil Kapoor as the swarmy host of Millionaire. Patel is already a rising young actor in his native UK, starring in the hit tv series Skins, and Kapoor is a major star in India, but it would be nice for them to get some Hollywood work...and paychecks.

Payday!

So I stupidly wandered onto Amazon.com to do a little browsing, and now I have two (used) books and two (new) DVD's on their way to me, which I really cannot afford and what little extra money I had this week should have been spent on getting some new shoes since my primary pair of sneakers, (fake Chuck Taylors from Payless) have holes in their soles...

The reason I went to Amazon in the first place, was to check out Ron Jeremy's biography. There was a piece about it in Time which was reprinted on Defamer and I was assuming that it was a recent thing, but it was published over a year ago so I'm a little confused as to why it's getting press at this late date. I guess it really isn't that big of a surprise, considering that The Hedgehog is a master of self-promotion, but it's still a bit strange... I'm also posting this hot, hot picture of him, and yeah, I think Ron WAS hot, for about a week and a half, back in the day when he was just a hairy, humpy, middle class, Jewish, school teacher in his early 20's trying to break into show business. I admit he hasn't aged well, but, who the hell has besides Senator Rodham Clinton and Helen Mirren?

And to balance out the very hetero book purchase, I also ordered the bio of Hollywood costume designer Edith Head and was thrilled to discover that her hard to find and pricy autobiography is being reprinted next month, which I didn't order.

And my two DVD purchases were similarly yin/yang or faggy/breedery...David Fincher's "Zodiac" film from last year and the Claudette Colbert starring "Midnight", a Billy Wilder co-penned screwball comedy from 1939 directed by Mitchell Leisen. I thought "Zodiac" was one of the best films of last year, and unfortunately ignored by the end of the year awards and "Midnight" is just a delightful romp, in the same league with "Bringing Up, Baby" and "The Lady Eve".

UPDATE: The Jeremy and Head books were slight but entertaining; Zodiac is an excellent thriller and David Fincher's best work and the deluxe dvd has some great features including interviews with many of the people from the case, but "Midnight" was a bit of a disappointment; not as good as I had remembered it. It still has charm and some laughs and I still recommend seeing this movie, but it's NOT quite in the same league with Baby/Eve...(but John Barrymore is very funny in one of his final roles.)

I'm not all fluff...

I also saw the Philip Glass documentary at Northwest Film Forum. It wasn't quite as toe tapping good as Mamma Mia, but I still had an enjoyable time and learned a lot about Glass. The best parts were the scenes from his recent opera, The Barbarians; the music was amazing and the production design was gorgeous. Oh, and it (the documentary)had appearances from Errol Morris, Woody Allen and Chuck Close, whose portrait of Glass appears to your left.

Notes on Mamma Mia!

1)I like all kinds of music and I hate music snobs. If you can't appreciate and adore Abba, you have no soul. It's pop music at its best and it exists purely to entertain and lift your spirits.
2)I've never seen a stage production of Mamma Mia, but I own the cast album and I'm aware of its meager plot. Like many a musical, Mia is cursed with an inane book.
3)I went to the Meryl Streep starring movie version on Saturday with high hopes of a good time, but also burdened by a slight headache and rotten mood not improved by a slow moving line at the concession stand and then having to face the fact that the screening was almost full and I was going to have to sit in the front row.

Next to a six year old boy.
4)Mamma Mia the movie is ineptly directed and very badly photographed. (In some shots, Streep looks about 30 and in others, she looks older than God's nightgown). The plot is unoriginal (The Secret of Santa Vittoria was obviously a major influence) and the characters are cardboard and crudely drawn. The female characters carry the show and get all the best songs and lines and the men have nothing to do. The actresses are hammy and the actors playing the three dads, cannot sing and aren't very interesting. The Greek setting is beautiful but the interior sets look phony and harshly lighted. A couple of the songs are boring and desperately need trimmed out of the film.
5)All that being said, Mamma Mia is the most fun I've had at the movies in a very long time. It's silly and campy and dumb and a hell of a lot of fun. The very mixed audience I saw it with, (quite a few geighs and 40ish women but also quite a few families and young couples) had a very enjoyable time and there was some subtle sing-a-longs happening during the more beloved numbers. It lifted my spirits and improved my mood immensely and I might see it again, hopefully with better seats.
6)Oh, and STAY THROUGH THE CLOSING CREDITS!!! There's a very entertaining medley during the credits with the entire cast singing the major songs, just like the stage show.

Sophie can sing; 007 can't...

Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon

The hot, new, fagtastic documentary hitting the gay film festival circuit this year is Jeffrey Schwarz's "Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon" a portrait of the 70's gay porn icon Jack Wrangler and his transformation from gay porn king to heterosexual husband of legendary singer Margaret Whiting and a new career as a director of legitimate theater productions. If you're a gay man over say, 40 to 45, you're well aware of who Jack Wrangler is; he was his era's Jeff Styker/Ryan Idol/Francois Sagat.

I haven't seen any reviews of this film yet; it opens June 7th as part of NewFest, the New York LGBT Film Festival and is scheduled to play later in the month at the San Francisco LGBT Film Festival. Unless it gets a national release before October, which I doubt, I'm guessing it will be a feature presentation at the Seattle LGBT Festival in the fall. The film has an interesting line-up of talking heads: Wrangler's wife Margaret Whiting, Broadway composer Marc Shaiman, columnist Michael Musto, porn directors Chi Chi LaRue and Joe Gage, and porn stars Samantha Fox, Sharon Mitchell and Gloria Leonard. Sadly, the only co-stars who seem to be in this film are the few women he appeared with in a handful of straight films he made towards the end of his porno career, (Wrangler lost his hetero cherry on film). The majority of the male actors he worked with, died of AIDS, and the only commentators from his gay films seems to be two of the directors he worked with, Joe Gage and Jerry Douglas.

I'm sure at some point in the film we'll hear Margaret Whiting's classic response to Jack's question when their romance began to heat up:

Wrangler: But, Margaret honey, how can we have a relationship? I'm gay!

Whiting: Only on the edges, dear...

James McAvoy to strap on Bilbo for "The Hobbit"?

Rumours are swirling around the net that Scottish actor James McAvoy, best known for his roles in "Atonement", "The Last King of Scotland" and "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" is close to being signed for the leading role of Bilbo Baggins in "The Lord of the Rings" prequel to be directed by Guillermo del Toro. Both Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis have already been signed to reprise their roles of Gandalf and Gollum, respectively, and Ian Holm, who played the aged Bilbo in "The Lord of the Rings" will narrate the film. There's also reports that Viggo Mortensen is returning as Aragorn, a character that does NOT appear in "The Hobbit".

This is coming from the U.K. paper, The Daily Express, which isn't always the most accurate source for information of this kind, so it should probably be taken with a grain of salt until there's some sort of confirmation from more reliable sources or the studio itself. The mystery source also claims that Daniel Radcliffe and (urp) Jack Black were being considered for the role!!! Really? Bilbo to be played by a big, fat, dumb, untalented, cross-eyed and blessed with a touch of the Downs, American? Tolkien fans would flee their parent's basements and storm the streets outside their local comic book stores in protest...

As for McAvoy, I think it's a great idea. He's a gifted actor, he's built right for the part, (ie, tiny) AND he's far cuter than Elijah Wood. Since I actually LIKE "The Hobbit" (the book) and I adore McAvoy I might actually go see this in theatres. I only made it to part one of the Rings...it was too damn long and boring.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Mr and Mrs John James Preston..or not?

Fags and our hags are drooling in anticipation for this movie which opens nationwide on May 30th. We've been jonesing for a Carrie/Samantha/Miranda/Charlotte fix for the last 4 years and the opening weekend cocktail parties will be legion. Word on the street is that the movie is pretty good, a little long maybe, but packed with enough booze, beefcake, fashion, bitchery, pratfalls and tears to satisfy the most jaded SATC fan. Judging by the trailers and stills, they've done a brilliant job with the look of the film, and the soundtrack is already getting a lot of buzz as well. And, kudos for the publicity people at Warner Brothers. They've been marketing the hell out of this movie, making sure it gets non-stop attention in the media. I think it's pretty obvious that the whole, "Does Someone Die in the Movie?" rumor was planted by the studio to keep the publicity fires burning as we get closer to the premiere. (and it IS a rumor; the movie has opened in the UK and there has been numerous press screenings. No one dies, but there is plenty of relationship turmoil). And it's being rumored that Warner Brothers and writer/producer/director Michael Patrick King are already set to make two sequels, if this one is a hit. I don't see how it can not be. There's at least 10 million fans in this country alone, dying to see this fucker. If every one of those fans sees it once, that's a $100 million movie. I think we'll be seeing the antics of Carrie and the gang, until they're old enough to star in a remake of The Golden Girls...

Austin Powers in Dead Horse Beater

Mike Myers is starting pre-production work on the 4th Austin Powers film and had this to say in the West Australian: http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=23&ContentID=68478

Meanwhile, while Mike has not confirmed the title for the forthcoming movie, he has revealed the film will be from the perspective of Dr Evil, Austin’s enemy, who is also played by Myers.

He explained: “There is a fully conceived idea for a fourth and I can just say that it’s from Dr Evil’s point of view, so if you balanced how much it was Austin with Dr Evil, it’s more Dr Evil than Austin”.

Is this movie really necessary?

Isn't Mike Myers sort of "done"?

At least it's a Dr Evil movie...I always enjoyed the bad Doctor much more than I enjoyed the idiotic Austin Powers. And please, no Fat Bastard or Goldmember.

But they can bring back Mini-Me. Verne Troyer needs the work.

There will be some damn good acting...

I watched "There Will Be Blood" lsat night on DVD and not surprisingly, I enjoyed it and thought it was a very strong film, and certainly the best film that Paul Thomas Anderson has made. Boogie Nights and Magnolia had moments of brilliance but Anderson managed to ultimately fuck both of them up with second acts that failed to live up to the first half of both movies. His pretensions and obsequious hommages/thefts of Altmanesque characterization and story-telling have left me feeling enraged by the end of all his previous films. TWBB is his first film to feel fully realized and original and not derivative of other filmmakers. It's sense of dread and haunting despair is evident from the first frames of the film, not only due to Anderson's writing and direction, but the excellent and award winning camera work of Robret Elsit, the production design of Jack Fisk and the incredible score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood.

And of course, lavish and deserving praise and awards have been heaped on Daniel Day Lewis's performance as Daniel Plainview and there's not much else left to say about it, that hasn't already been said. There's a scene about 2/3 of the way into the film where Plainview and his brother are on the beach having a conversation and the camera is centered on Day-Lewis's profile and his big boned, muscular face fills the screen and you think there is nothing that this man could not play and he could be the ultimate film actor. When he is onscreen, he consumes the space he inhabits by his very physical presence; there is no where else to look, or really, any desire to look at anything but him embodying a character. And you have to pity any actor who appears in a scene with Day-Lewis. Leonardo DiCaprio just looks lost in "Gangs of New York"; it's apparent by the look on his face that DiCaprio knows he can't compete with Day-Lewis.

But, there is an actor in TWBB who more than holds their own with Daniel Day-Lewis. Kevin J. O'Connor appears about half way through the film as Plainview's self proclaimed, long-lost brother. It's not a huge part; he's in the film for about half an hour, but O'Connor's quiet intensity and strength as an actor allows him several moments to shine in his scenes with Day-Lewis. O'Connor's character, Harry, is a shadow character to Plainview; similar in appearance and bone structure but smaller in size physically and stunted emotionally and spiritually. He's a Plainview that has been whipped by society and has resolved himself to living on the fringes and being grateful for the crumbs he has been given. His final scene with Plainview is a soft-spoken cry of desperation and a plea for forgiveness. O'Connor does an incredible job of embuing this broken man with a sense of humanity and quiet dignity. His final moments in the film are heart breaking, and after the character leaves the plot, you miss both the presence of the character and the actor who plays him.

For the inner comic book nerd in everyone...pix from the upcoming Watchmen movie

from the website: http://rss.warnerbros.com/watchmen/

Zack Snyder who directed the enjoyable but ludicrous "300" is directing this long awaited adaption of the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons graphic novel masterpiece. I'm not really a comic book nerd, but "Watchmen" IS a great story, which has been heavily mined for subsequent works, especially "Heroes". Judging by these pictures, the set design is on target; they've really captured the grungy look of the alternate NYC in the novel. I was afraid they'd try to pretty it up.



The costumes bother me a little bit; they're too defined and clean looking in my opinion, but I'm happy that they went with actors that aren't huge stars: Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach, Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl, Billy Crudup as Dr Manhattan, Matthew Goode as Ozymandias and Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre.


I've pretty much stopped going to see big, dumb, Hollywood popcorn movies but this is definitely one I want to see...but, I'm going to have to wait a year. Warner Brothers has set a release date for March of NEXT year, which seems like a strange time to release a big, sci-fi, comic book movie that's HUGELY anticipated from the fanboy world. It seems like your typical big summer time movie, but maybe Warner Brothers is nervous that "Watchmen" is kind of a cult thing and doesn't have mass market recognition. I can see their point, but EVERY comic book nerd, big and small, is looking forward to this movie. Regardless when it opens, it will have a huge opening weekend and unless it majorly sucks, it seems poised to make some major money...

The Coen Brothers to direct "The Yiddish Policeman's Union"

per Variety: http://www.variety.com/VR1117980719.html

They recently finished "Burn After Reading" a comedy with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, (are these guys boyfriends now?) and Tilda Swinton which comes out in September, then they film "A Serious Man" which sounds autobiographical and takes place in Minnesota, then THIS adaptation of the Michael Chabon novel.

It's interesting that the Coen's are moving to do more adaptations and less original screenplays. Just as long as they don't do any more remakes; "The Ladykillers" was their worst movie...

I saw Juno this weekend....

and it really irritated me; I wanted to walk out after the first 20 minutes or so... Don't get me wrong; I liked the story and I loved (most) of the performances but the fucking script.... I know most movie critics and movie snobs, myself included, continually bitch about the low level and poor execution of most film comedy scripts. By and large, most of them are stupid and insulting to the intelligence of the viewer. So, it's tough for me to say, Juno is almost as insulting for being so goddamned cutesy poo and clever about it's "smart" dialogue. I need to do some work, so I'm not going to belabor this point right now; eventually I'll write more about this and why it pissed me off so much and why this film does NOT deserve Oscar noms for the script or the direction or best film. But, I will reiterate my love for the actors in Juno; Ellen Page and Michael Cera and Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner and J.K. Simmons and Alison Janney are all great. Here's a couple pix, including shots from two scenes I did NOT like...

I LOATHED THIS SCENE...phony and fake in every regard.



Nobody eats lunch this way...odd directorial choice to stage the scene like this...