Here's some stuff (and things) to take with you into the weekend:
-- We'll be highlighting and previewing some of the films from the 2009 Sundance Film Festival real soon, but you horror hounds HAVE to check out this freakishly over-the-top trailer for the German Norwegian flick Dead Snow, which will premiere in the Midnight section in Park City. It's in Norwegian, but I believe some teenagers find Nazi gold during their snowy camping trip and then have to deal with its Nazi owners who rise from the dead ready to kick white-boy ass. That's a photo from the film above. [via Shock, who have more pics)]
-- And, ahem, speaking of Nazis, how would you like to take a trip to New York City with your entire book club? Well, in conjunction with the film The Reader, they're hosting a sweepstakes where the grand prize allows five people (or one book group) roundtrip airfare to NYC, hotel accommodations and lunch with The Reader author Bernhard Schlink. Visit the official website for more details.
-- Back to the living dead, seems like Sigourney Weaver is talking Ghostbusters again -- but, unlike previous times, now she's interested in returning for another go-round. She told MTV that she's "supposed to get in touch with Bill Murray next week" regarding the sequel, and also offered up a potential new character: "I would hope that my little Oscar would be one of the Ghostbusters even if I'm not in it!" Oh, and the Ghostbusters video game is finally coming out this June; check out a trailer for it below.
After the jump ... Shia Labeouf's hand screws up again, Miley Cyrus needs a babysitter and more.
It's a quiet week for new studio releases. "Cadillac Records" is reasonably entertaining, given a high-profile cast that includes Jeffrey Wright (above right) as Muddy Waters, Eamonn Walker as Howlin' Wolf, and Mos Def as Chuck Berry, and it's great that the film lets the actors sing (and well) without resort to lipsyncery. But Beyonce Knowles ain't no Etta James (for that, see the bottom of this entry), and the fact that there's only one Chess brother here (Adrien Brody as Leonard, above left; Phil Chess apparently refused to be involved in the production) seriously queers the deal. Chess Records was and still is a major and underacknowledged force in American pop music of the last half century, but "Cadillac Records" gets the music right and no more. Still, decent fun for a night out.
At the MFA, the overview of Russian director Karen Shakhnazarov continues until Saturday. Experimental filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky turns up at the Harvard Film Archive tonight (Friday) and Saturday, after which the HFA's more-than-necessary Nagisa Oshima retrospective kicks in. Oshima's a great, ballsy, groundbreaking filmmaker who never got the attention that Japan's Big Three (Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Ozu) did. The series starts off with 1983's "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence," arguably the second-best movie David Bowie ever made (after "The Man Who Fell to Earth"). Oshima's most notorious film, the proto-porno-art "In the Realm of the Senses" (1976), screens on December 19, but make time next Saturday for the absolutely stunning "Boy" (1969), based on the true story of a couple who involved their young son in traffic accidents for the money. Actually, scan the series and make time for as many of these films as you can; they're impossible to find on video and they're almost all excellent.
Why Marc Shaiman isn't cranking out a movie musical a year is beyond me. He wrote this very funny argument against California's Proposition 8, which seeks to make gay marriage illegal in that state, and wrangled a shiny gaggle of actors to perform it (John C. Reilly, Allison Janney, Margaret Cho, Maya Rudolph, Neil Patrick Harris, Kathy Najimy, Craig Robinson, Andy Richter, and Jack Black as Jesus). It presents a school play, with a bunch of youthful beach-movie types squaring off against a gang of people who appear to have fled a Nathaniel Hawthorne novel ("Obamination?" asks the great Jenifer Lewis.)
Like Shaiman's music for "South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut," which, believe it or not, turns 10 next year, "Prop 8 - the Musical" grazes different song styles (pop, do-wop, basic show tune, and, for a hilarious couple of bars, church gospel), while transposing earnestness and cynicism until one becomes indistinguishable from the other (the show is pro-gay marriage: it'll save the economy!). The "South Park" movie had 80-odd minutes to make the same manipulation, often through Shaiman and Trey Parker's songs . Here Shaiman entertainingly manages that feat in under five minutes.
Shaiman also did the music for the "Hairspray" musical, which at its best exercised a surprising social and political irreverence. I wonder whether he and the right collaborator (Dave Chappelle? Paul Rudnick? David Sedaris? Tina Fey? Chris Rock? Heaven help us: All of the above?) could concoct a real, large-scale movie musical with characters that spring from the political moment of right now.
Bypassing the entire theatrical distribution complex and the inane eternity that is movie production might be wise: In two days, "Prop 8" had been viewed more than 1,660,000 times. It'd be exciting nonetheless to see it on a giant screen, however little is spent to get it there. They could call it "Change Done Come" or "Obamalama Ding Dong!" Entertainment Weekly recently wondered how or whether popular culture will change in the next four years. A clip like this -- relevantly witty, fast, cheap, and moderately out-of-control -- suggests things already have.
(For what it's worth, I wrote this whole entry with the restraint not to mention the ads randomly all over the Funny Or Die "Prop 8" page. They're for Tom Cruise's "official site." It's a tired insinuation that actually never gets that tired.)
Well, how about that -- the National Board of Review just named "Slumdog Millionaire" the best film of 2008. Maybe this will, in fact, be the little movie that could -- the L.A. Times awards website notes that the NBR was the first major awards group to go for "Chariots of Fire" back in 1981, and that film went all the way to a best picture Oscar.
As, usual, though, many of the choices by the somewhat mysterious organization -- who are these people? what do they do? -- run the gamut from the random to the bizarre to the inspired. The NBR's practice is to name one film "best of the year" -- that would be "Slumdog" -- followed by the "Top Ten Films". This year, those are: "Burn After Reading," "Changeling," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "The Dark Knight," "Defiance," "Frost/Nixon," "Gran Torino," "Milk," "WALL-E," and "The Wrestler."
"Burn After Reading"? Are they serious? Both Clint Eastwoods, "Changeling" and "Gran Torino"? Nice to see "WALL-E" and "Wrestler" and "Milk" and even "Dark Knight" there, and surprising to not see such obvious awards-bait as "Revolutionary Road" and "The Reader." And how come "Doubt" and "Frozen River" are so well-represented in other categories but not in the Top Ten? Oh, wait, "Frozen River" is on a separate list of the Top Independent Films, one that also includes such no-star obscurities as "Rachel Getting Married" and "Vicky Cristina Barcelona". Like I said: Weird.
Here are the other awards the NBR handed out. Note that Anne Hathaway, Viola Davis, Penelope Cruz, and Josh Brolin just got a leg up in the Oscar race.
Finally, someone at the Punisher: War Zone premiere asked Lexi Alexander the big question -- what the hell was all that "taking your name off the film" talk? Give a hand to SciFi Wire for doing so.
Alexander's answer managed to confirm and deny the post-ComicCon drama that surrounded Punisher: War Zone. "No, no, I never was going to take my name off the film. Let me say this. Harry Knowles [of Ain't It Cool News] is one of the greatest people I know. He's a great supporter of mine. I'm his biggest fan, not because he supports filmmakers, [but] because I think he fights for film ... I think in this case, what happened is when the first trailers came out, I think he knew and he's been told there was kind of trouble. So he wrote, "F--k, they should have just let her do it, and she was pushed aside." [That is] true. He did write the right thing, and he stood up for me and for this film. I think that each Internet site that took it on brought it to a new level ... [What Knowles wrote] really is the correct thing. I was never fired, and I never wanted to take my name off. "
What Knowles wrote (if I have the right piece) was this: "Lexi Alexander has been kicked to the curb -- part of that treatment was her "honeymoon" from Comic Con. However, there's more totally awesome wedding gifts that Lionsgate has given the blushing bride. She's off the movie and wrapped up in a non-disclosure clause - so we won't be hearing from her anytime soon, UNLESS THINGS CHANGE RADICALLY." That explains the deafening silence -- though I'm curious how one can be "pushed aside," yet remain unfired. However that works, it's clear Alexander kicked ass, made the Punisher she wanted, and is getting rave reviews from the film geeks for her trouble. There's nothing like a happy ending.
Non-fiction themes include the woeful state of the environment, specifically our sick oceans ("The Cove"), the abused Amazon rainforest ("Crude," from "Brother's Keeper" director Joe Berlinger), the soil ("Dirt! The Movie"), and global overfishing ("The End of the Line," from the UK), as well as heroic individual activists ("The Reckoning," about ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo; "Sergio," about UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello; "Shouting Fire," about First Amendment lawyer Martin Garbus; and "William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe," about, er, William Kunstler.)
Lighter documentary fare (relatively speaking) includes "When You're Strange," Tom DiCillo's version of The Doors story, and "Good Hair," Chris Rock's examination of African-American hair, nappy or not. "The September Issue" hangs out with Anna Wintour for nine months, while "Afghan Star" follows the arrival of an "American Idol"-style show on Afghanistan TV.
On the dramatic front, films in the US competition include "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men," a fictional adaptation of the non-fiction book by the late David Foster Wallace (directed by actor John Krasinski of "The Office," no less); "Arlen Faber," featuring Kat Dennings, Olivia Thirlby, and Jeff Daniels; Paul Giamatti as an actor having an existential crisis in "Cold Souls"; a new mumblecore movie (Lynn Shelton's "Humpday," starring Mark Duplass); and "Paper Hearts," which stars Charlene Yi and her boyfriend Michael Cera as themselves. I think.
The international dramas sound interestingly wiggy: Japan's "The Clone Returns," about a dead astronaut brought back to life; France's "Louise-Michel," in which disgruntled factory-working women hire a hit man to killing off a downsizing executive; "An Education," written by Nick Hornby; and Mexico's "Heart of Time," about a woman falling in love with a Zapatista.
The great thing about Sundance is that almost all these films are unknown quantities, lending a genuine sense of discovery to the festival experience. Tomorrow they'll announce the out-of-competition slate, which will feature both more commercial endeavors and deeper obscurities.
We all know the triumphs and struggles of Roman Polanski, and how one of the latter has remained a thorn in his side to this day -- the sex he had with a 13-year-old girl 31 years ago. The recent documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (which Erik andChristopher both reviewed) covered the years Polanski has spent avoiding jail and both the US and UK, and ended with word that it could have all come to an end, but that the judge wanted the proceedings televised. That was the end of that until now; Polanski wants it all done with.
The Hollywood Reporter posts that the famed filmmaker has filed papers with the Los Angeles Superior Court requesting that the case against him be dismissed. His reasoning, according to THR: "They list a slew of reasons for the case to be dismissed, including that the victim, Samantha Geimer, has made 'numerous' and repeated requests that the case be dismissed and that Mr. Polanski serve no further term of incarceration, a request that must be considered."
I can't help but wonder: Would Polanski really want to come back? Think about it -- the US he remembers isn't the US of today. I can imagine him coming back, seeing that nothing is as he left it all that time ago, and head right back to Europe. But this all also depends on whether they'll consider wiping it all away without Polanski being present. Think he'll risk it and finally hit US shores again?
Problem is, those of us who've already seen the movies on Carr's list are finding it hard to get enthusiastic about anything besides "Slumdog" and "Milk". (From the Awards Daily list, I'll include "The Wrestler.") Without getting into too much detail, many of the others are exactly the kind of Tasteful, Important Dramas that win Oscars without being all that good. And then there are a few -- *cough* "Gran Torino" *cough* -- that are just plain bad.
The acting categories are looking juicy, at least: Viola Davis in "Doubt" could get the honorary Beatrice Straight award for pocketing a movie in just one scene, and no one's going to deny nominations for Sean Penn in "Milk," Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler," Penelope Cruz in "Vicky," or Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight." But if any of the white elephants that Carr cites get a best directing statue, then Oscar 2008 will be a mere formality. Except for "Slumdog Millionaire" -- that thing, at least, was directed. But then Danny Boyle will have to split the statue with co-director Loveleen Tandan.
And, um, how come no one's talking about "WALL-E"? A brilliant cartoon is still brilliant.
For those of you who spend a great deal of time roaming the halls of indie hipster-ville, you may have noticed that the brief window of empty space prior to awards nominations has been filled with a whole bunch of Prop 8 speech. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course, since it's an important issue in this country and the very influential "indie community" can help provide a large voice of support against Prop 8. If that's your thing. However, now that awards season is beginning to heat up, Prop 8. is being replaced by "So who got which screener today?", and it's slowly becoming "that thing we got really upset about in November."
Hold on! Funny or Die has come to the rescue with this very funny video called Prop 8 - The Musical, featuring all sorts of comedic talent like Jack Black, John C. Reilly, Craig Robinson, Neil Patrick Harris (who's absolutely hilarious), and many more. Watch as this ensemble cast sings and dances their way through the issue at hand, and maybe you'll learn a bit more about what's at stake here. Enjoy.
Finally, someone at the 
We all know the triumphs and struggles of Roman Polanski, and how one of the latter has remained a thorn in his side to this day -- the sex he had with a 13-year-old girl 31 years ago. The recent documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (which .jpg)
