The Movie Thread

[RGMike]

The one you've been waiting for... it's The Oscar Movie!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXd88rIPeLg

[RGMike]

A very well-thought-out analysis of No Country For Old Men -- don't read it if you haven't seen the film (SPOILERS!) but if you have, it's quite good.  And I like that the guy also mentions Mad Men, my fave TV show of the year.

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archives/2007/11/leicht_on_no_co.php

[RGMike]

HBO is planning a movie based on the book about Bonds and steroids, Game of Shadows.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/11/29/sports/s121121S77.DTL&tsp=1&type=sports

But who'll play Barry?  I nominate the guy who played Keith on Six Feet Under.

[RGMike]

But who'll play Barry?  I nominate the guy who played Keith on Six Feet Under.

[Gazoo]

HBO is planning a movie based on the book about Bonds and steroids, Game of Shadows.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/11/29/sports/s121121S77.DTL&tsp=1&type=sports

But who'll play Barry?  I nominate the guy who played Keith on Six Feet Under.

I nominate the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man:

[princessofcairo]

But who'll play Barry?  I nominate the guy who played Keith on Six Feet Under.

yeah, he's hot!

[urth]

From the 10@10 forum:

I saw the Joe Strummer docu this weekend -- essential viewing. MikeBob sez "check it out!"

Where'd you see it? I was thinking about catching it, but it looked like it had left the Lumiere.

Hey Urth, I just noticed that the Roxie has picked up the Strummer docu, they're showing it now thru Thursday.

Woohoo! I'll have to try and get down there this weekend.

I did in fact get over to the Roxie for the 4:30 showing today. Well worth seeing--learned a lot about Joe that I did not know, and had my memory jogged on a lot of things as well. Lots of coverage of his childhood and pre-Clash days as a squatter in Newport, then in London with the 101ers. Some good commentary by Mick Jones and Topper Headon as well, but I don't think Paul Simenon was interviewed at all--quite a drag. I have to figure that was his own choice.

The only negatives I can think of are the complete absence of any sort of identification of any of the interviewees. If they're not famous enough for you to recognize, forget it. (Dug seeing Joe Ely pop up in there, but kinda went "huh?" at the appearance of a few Hollywood types that I doubt were qualified to be there by anything more than their star appeal.

Also, I noticed that they jumped over Give 'em Enough Rope entirely--no songs from that album in the soundtrack and no mention of even recording it. I was kinda looking forward to that part, too, as I know that they recorded it here in San Francisco, at Hyde Street Studios, I think.

It's at the Roxie, 16th and Valencia, thru Thursday.

[RGMike]

From the 10@10 forum:

I saw the Joe Strummer docu this weekend -- essential viewing. MikeBob sez "check it out!"

Where'd you see it? I was thinking about catching it, but it looked like it had left the Lumiere.

Hey Urth, I just noticed that the Roxie has picked up the Strummer docu, they're showing it now thru Thursday.

Woohoo! I'll have to try and get down there this weekend.

I did in fact get over to the Roxie for the 4:30 showing today... The only negatives I can think of are the complete absence of any sort of identification of any of the interviewees. If they're not famous enough for you to recognize, forget it.

Indeed, and I meant to mention that -- some of these guys you'd recognize in old clips, perhaps, but in their current incarnations, er, they've not aged well (hard living etc) and you're like "Who was THAT?" And yeah, who really gives a bleep what John Cusack and Johnny Depp think of the Clash?  But that whole sitting-around-the-campfire motif was kinda cool IMHO.

I actually saw the Clash during their famous stand at Bond's in NYC. (Bonds was a famous multi-level men's clothing store in Times Square that was turned into a famous multi-level music venue.) I wasn't at the show where Grandmaster Flash opened (and were famously booed by the white rock crowd) but I had tix to the Sat afternoon all-ages show.  No booze, but Pearl Harbor was guest deejay.

[RGMike]

More importantly though, Peter Finch announced on the news this morning that Gus Van Sant has signed up Sean Penn to play Harvey Milk & Matt Damon to play Dan White in his next film (listed currently as 'Untitiled Harvey Milk Project 2009' on IMDb).

Wow!

it's a Wow if it happens, but according to Hollywood Elsewhere, it's a bit iify-er than that. And Bryan Singer has a Harvey Milk project in the works at Warners, he's supposed to do it after he finished Valkyrie, the Tom Cruise-tries-to-kill-Hitler movie.  So it may be dueling Harveys.

Is Gus gay?  I know Bryan is.  Just wondering.

Yes, they both are. Bitch fight!

Two other suggestions to play Harvey Milk I've read elsewhere that I think are quite good are Adrian Brody and (don't laugh) Hank Azaria.

To update this story: apparently Josh Brolin has just signed on to play Dan White in the Gus Van Sant "Milk" biopic. I think that's GREAT casting, much better than Matt Damon, who was rumored to be considering the role.  Now if it could be Adrian Brody rather than Sean Penn as Harvey, we'd have something. But we'll see.

[RGMike]

I'd been looking forward to The Golden Compass -- the idea of "Narnia for atheists" (as it's been described) seems right up my alley. But the reviews have been mostly bad. Here's Kyle Smith in the NY Post:

"Writer-director Chris Weitz, who did nicely with a simple story in adapting About a Boy, has been swamped by the task of condensing a densely imaginative 430-page book. It's as if, given the task of setting up a display of animals that would fit in his living room, he went to the city zoo and cut off a 6-inch portion of every beast, then tossed the bloody chunks in a pile. The best you can say about Golden Compass is that it's merely the second-dullest Nicole Kidman/Daniel Craig film this year."

He also calls it "Chronicles of Yawn-ia". EW called it "Chronicles of Blarney-a". Let the battle of the puns begin!

[Lightnin' Rod]

I'd been looking forward to The Golden Compass -- the idea of "Narnia for atheists" (as it's been described) seems right up my alley. But the reviews have been mostly bad. Here's Kyle Smith in the NY Post:

"Writer-director Chris Weitz, who did nicely with a simple story in adapting About a Boy, has been swamped by the task of condensing a densely imaginative 430-page book. It's as if, given the task of setting up a display of animals that would fit in his living room, he went to the city zoo and cut off a 6-inch portion of every beast, then tossed the bloody chunks in a pile. The best you can say about Golden Compass is that it's merely the second-dullest Nicole Kidman/Daniel Craig film this year."

He also calls it "Chronicles of Yawn-ia". EW called it "Chronicles of Blarney-a". Let the battle of the puns begin!

I read the books some time ago.  They were okay, but didn't really carry me away.  They are imaginative, but in the end I didn't much care what happened.  I was just playing out the string.  As for the atheistic aspect, it never occurred to me at the time.  Since I wasn't looking for it, I didn't see it.

ETA:  Not planning on seeing it, either.  Though the bear fight looks cool.

[RGMike]

seems like every band that ever existed will get their own documentary sooner or later. Here comes one about the Holy Modal Rounders!

http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/movies/07moda.html?ref=movies

[mshray]

ETA:  Not planning on seeing it, either.  Though the bear fight looks cool.

Wife & Kids want to see it tomorrow, I'll let y'all know what I think.  Been reading the Narnia books the last couple weeks (The Magician's Nephew & The Last Battle, the 6th & 7th, according to the original order) to my kids & we re-watched the first movie last weekend.  The 2nd movie, Prince Caspian, is coming this May.

[mshray]

ETA:  Not planning on seeing it, either.  Though the bear fight looks cool.

Wife & Kids want to see it tomorrow, I'll let y'all know what I think.  Been reading the Narnia books the last couple weeks (The Magician's Nephew & The Last Battle, the 6th & 7th, according to the original order) to my kids & we re-watched the first movie last weekend.  The 2nd movie, Prince Caspian, is coming this May.

Not that y'all are holding your breath, but we haven't sen it yet, probably going on the 22nd for Adrian's b-day.

[mshray]

http://imdb.com/features/rto/2008/globes

Golden Globe Noms are out this morning.  Can't believe Eastern Promises got a Best Picture & Best Actor nod without getting a Best Supporting nom for Armin Mueller-Stahl.  Wonder if the Academy will fix this.  Between him & Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton & Javier Bardem in NCFOM, I was going to predict that this year Supporting Actor race was shaping up like the Best Actor race in 1983, with Mueller-Stahl & Wilkinson playing Hoffman & Newman  to Bardem's Kingsley (veterans in the roles of their lives, doomed to lose to a breakout perf for the ages from a European).