TRAILER: ‘Milk’
It’s been a while since a movie trailer reduced me to a withering mess of tears, but the trailer for the upcoming Harvey Milk biopic directed by Gus Van Sant, did just that. If this film isn’t one of my favorites of the year, I’ll be very surprised.
It stars Sean Penn in an uncanny portrayal of Harvey Milk, a San Francisco politician in the 1970s and one of America’s first openly gay elected officials. Milk — whose trials and tribulations were so wonderfully charted in the documentary “The Times of Harvey Milk” — was eventually gunned down by fellow city supervisor Dan White (here played by Josh Brolin). White would eventually cite what came to be known as “The Twinkie Defense”: “You can’t blame me judge. My blood sugar was high. I was out of my mind.”
And this movie marks somewhat of a return to accessibility for director Gus Van Sant, whose last half dozen projects (of the mundane dread of school shootings and walking through desertes) perplexed most audiences. I’m pleased to see him back in the driver’s seat of a major Hollywood film. And I’m thrilled that millions more will know who Harvey Milk was by the end of 2008.
“Milk” hits theaters on Nov. 26.
2K, 4K, hey!
photo by Adam Gerik
In my dorky college years (I never left them), I ran movie projectors in the hot hallways of several Wichita, Kan. theaters. Not only was the job a great reason to see every single movie released those two summers (who remembers the classic 2004 flick White Chicks?), it also gave me a few shekels and immense freedom from working some bland temp job in a downtown office building. F’ suits! I spent alternating hours dreaming of Natalie Portman and Jennifer Connelly and occasionally performing sophomore(ic?) math (area of a trapezoid! The Pythagorean theorem!) along with picking my nose. A great respect was formed for the flickering xenon bulbs in the big hot beasts, a reminder that just one exploding, as they sometimes do, could maim you beyond recognition. I learned every single idiosyncrasy of those machines (and learned how to avoid the dreaded brain wrap from hell.)
But that’s all water under the bridge, stuff for the history books. We’re in a digital projector age, with most large multiplexes dumping their rugged film projectors for fancy DLP equipment. That in itself isn’t bad (although it is yet another craft soon buried and pissed on, just like projectionists close brethren, the blacksmiths) and most theatergoers will notice a substantial improvement in quality. This is NOT because these projectors necessarily have better resolution; in fact, they don’t at all. A properly focused and maintained film projector from 50 years ago will still beat the living hell out of any new Texas Instruments or Christie computerized behemoth. But what theater spends money hiring proper projectionists?
The problem is still the medium the material is shot in; the few professional, cinema-grade HD cameras cost 6 figures and only have half the resolution of typical 35mm celluloid. Granted, most movies shot on traditional film are color graded in a computer, which necessitates film scanning and then printing (thus making it “digital.”)
Enter the RED One. It’s hard to call it anything but revolutionary. 4K resolution, a large image sensor for that lovely shallow depth of field cinematographers crave and a price tag that threatens to Hiroshima the shit out of anything else out there. All for $17 Gs and available now. Wired Magazine goes into more detail, but christ, if Peter Jackson loves it, who won’t?
The 11 new features of ‘Bottle Rocket’
Available November 11, this double-disc release of 1996’s Bottle Rocket from the Criterion Collection will feature a whole slew of goodies to satiate the Wes Anderson fanatic:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer supervised and approved by director Wes Anderson and director of photography Robert Yeoman
- Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack
- Commentary by director/co-writer Anderson and co-writer/actor Owen Wilson
- The Making of ‘Bottle Rocket’: an original documentary by filmmaker Barry Braverman featuring Anderson, James L. Brooks, James Caan, Temple Nash Jr., Kumar Pallana, Polly Platt, Mark Mothersbaugh, Robert Musgrave, Richard Sakai, David and Sandy Wasco, Andrew and Luke and Owen Wilson, and Robert Yeoman
- The original thirteen-minute black-and-white Bottle Rocket short film from 1992
- Eleven deleted scenes
- Anamorphic screen test, storyboards, location photos, and behind-the-scenes photographs by Laura Wilson
- Murita Cycles, a 1978 short film by Braverman
- The Shafrazi Lectures, no. 1: Bottle Rocket
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by executive producer James L. Brooks, an appreciation by Martin Scorsese
- Original artwork by Ian Dingman
This means that the only movie not given a Criterion makeover is his last 2007 release, The Darjeeling Limited.
Now, my little secret is this: I wasn’t a big fan of Bottle Rocket. I’m sure I bitched about how the film transfer was pure shit and how accustomed I am to receiving a complete etymology of each film I review. Or I could have passed out while trying to watch it at 4 a.m.
Pre-order yours in DVD or BlueRay for $31.96 today.
In a world without…
- Photo By Aaron Farley
I understand that this has been blasted to and fro across the interwebs all day today, but I was watching Conan tonight and realized that the mildly annoying Sprint commercials that pretend to be movie trailers are voiced by Don LaFontaine. The “Voice of God” passed away Monday, leaving the world a little less.
The Washington Post had the best tribute to the man.
“You’re looking at the luckiest man on earth,” he said. “I’m just doing this until that cashiers job at Denny’s opens up. As soon as that happens, I’m gone.”
TRAILER: ‘Zack and Miri Make a Porno’
I usually find Red-Band trailers to be gimmicky, but I’m not sure it’s possible to get a good impression of this movie without a RB trailer. The latest from Kevin Smith stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as Zack and Miri, who, well, you know the rest.
Warning: Trailer very much NOT WORK-APPROPRIATE.
CLIP: ‘W’
CNN just posted this clip of Oliver Stone’s Bush bio, “W,” in which George meets Laura for the first time. Love the close-up of the potato salad and Bush’s line, “Well looks like we’re hitting it off like grease hits a skillet.”
REVIEW: Why ‘Hamlet 2′ is the funniest movie of the year
It’s been an uncommonly great summer for comedies.
From the Ferrell/Reilly tag team “Step Brothers” to the sweet stoner action goof “Pineapple Express” to the Hollywood satire “Tropic Thunder” to the M. Night Shyamalan-ding-dong antics of “The Happening.”
But I think top honors should go to “Hamlet 2,” an ingenious little absurdity that hasn’t fared well at the B.O., but might have some legs as a cult classic when it hits DVD.
It’s about a failed-actor-turned-drama-teacher (Steve Coogan) at a Tucson, Ariz. high school. When he finds out the drama program’s about to get axed from the school budget, he makes a last ditch effort to save the program. His idea: write and direct a musical sequel to Shakespeare’s greatest play, but with a few new devices, namely a time machine, Hilary Clinton and a singing, dancing, sexy Jesus H. Christ.
Here are six things worth loving about “Hamlet 2.”
TRAILER: ‘Passengers’
In ‘Passengers’, a handful of people survive a plane crash, and one of them (Patrick Wilson) develops supernatural powers through the experience. And crisis counselor Anne Hathaway tries understand what the hell’s happening, while of course having sexy, sexy sex scenes with Mr. Wilson in the meantime.
Sounds terrible, right? Something like “Fearless” + “The Sixth Sense” x “Final Destination.”
Well, the new trailer suggests at least a possibility for a pretty good mainstream thriller. It’s got a competent director Rodrigo Garcia (an HBO vet and the writer/director of “Nine Lives.” And look at that cast: In addition to Hathaway and Wilson, you’ve got Clea Duvall, David Morse, Dianne Wiest and Andre Braugher.
My curiosity has been aroused, if only mildly.
‘Fast & Furious’ teaser inexplicably awesome
Paul: Do you want to maybe get some pizza? Vin: Uggggg. Gargle Gargle. Quarter-mile. Gargle.
How to re-energize a series that’s long run out of gas. (Pun!)
Step 1: Bring back the entire cast of the original, and then allude to this move with a clever tagline — “New model. Old parts.” Genius.
Step 2: Drop the articles. Words like “an” or “the” have become inefficient in our always plugged-in, increasingly on-the-run world.
Step 3: You top over a big motherfucking semi, then blow it up and then make it run off a cliff.
I’m not a fan of this series. The first installment (”The Fast and the Furious,” released in 2001, when “the” was still a popular word) was mediocre and overrated. The second, “2Fast2Furious” (directed by John “Boyz in Da Hood” Singleton) was surprisingly awful. And the third “Tokyo Drift” was decent if only for the ineffable appeal of drift racing.
So why do I find everything about this movie irresistible?
I wasn’t (consciously or subconsciously) pining for Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordanna Brewster to get back behind the steering wheel for another go-round. I don’t care about these characters or these actors. I don’t care about engines or tires.
But there’s something so exquisite, so purely, wonderfully American about a big truck blowing up. And Summer ‘09 can’t get here quickly enough.
The 12 Worst Movies of 2008 (none of which I’ve seen)
You can have an opinion of some movies without even seeing them. With that in mind, here are my 12 worst films of 2008 (none of which I’ve seen). And just to avoid giving these stinkers too much of my time, I’ve decided to use a 7-word movie review format.
12. “My Best Friend’s Girl”
Dane Cook go poopy fart fart kiss!
CLIP: