Obituary: Paul Newman (1925 – 2008)

A confirmed Awards Daily report says that one of Hollywood’s true icons in every sense of the word who had been fighting a losing battle to cancer for a while now, Paul Newman, has finally lost the fight at the age of 83. This is the most devastating news ever, even though it has been a long time coming, it is still a huge blow for his family, friends, his enormous amount of fans and film lovers who idolise him and his unsurpassed contribution to the world of film, from his all time greats that I regard highly, “Cool Hand Luke,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” "Rachel, Rachel," "Hud," "The Verdict," "The Hustler" and even “The Sting,” and the official end of an era when Old Hollywood was at its peak.

A huge chunk of my being was still holding on to the hope that this news was completely false, but another part of me was thinking that enough is enough, and he cannot fight for ever, nor live forever – at least not physically. The time for wishing and hoping is over now, and the 10 time Oscar nominee has passed on. In spirit and through the vast legacy he leaves behind, Paul Newman shall forever live on in the hearts and minds of everyone he’s touched in someway or another. RIP Paul Newman.

Playlist note: His greatest role however might have been the key hand he had in making his own Paul Newman's Pineapple salsa a delicacy so delicious, no Academy Award could represent its awesomeness. We're at the store as we speak buying up as many jars of this as we can before they're all gone now that he's passed. Hello ebay.

This post is courtesy of our friends at Fataculture

Another 'Benjamin Button' Trailer Hits the Web

The full trailer for David Fincher's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" has finally been released. slashfilm got a hold of it, and Apple.com has the exclusive HD version. This time around, we get a much larger look at Tilda Swinton's character as well as all of the others, but hers is the most significant addition.

Eric Roth wrote the screenplay, and it shows. The dialogue heard in the trailer sounds like it was scraped off of "Forrest Gump's" dinner plate and has been stored in the refrigerator as leftovers for the last 14 years. That isn't a terrible thing, and it's not even the worst part of the trailer.

We're guessing that the film isn't completely finished, because the sound mix is noticeable and very distracting. They are most likely touching some things up, including the overpowering voices obviously recorded off location.

The effects shots look decent for the extremely old 'Benjamin,' and look very good for everything in between. Although, Brad Pitt does look like he was smothered with land-o-lakes in parts of the film. (Gives butter face a whole new meaning.) Well, at least it looks better than that creepy Orville Redenbacher commercial Fincher directed.

Also worth noting, the film has been given a PG-13 rating, which is a first for Fincher, who has brought us such gruesome films as "Se7en" and "Fight Club." The film will be released on Christmas Day.

'Synecdoche' Gets A New (Less Depressing) Look

Charlie Kaufman's unpronounceable new film, "Synecdoche, New York" has released a more mainstream friendly poster for its American distribution.  Since they are already carrying a confusing title, not to mention a depressing and mind-bending film, we noted earlier this year that their Cannes poster might work for those intellectual europeans, but left us Americans, like, really confused.  So we are a little relieved to see that the marketing people for the film are at least giving it a chance by releasing a poster that will trick a few unsuspecting members of the general pubic into watching this thing.

    

Ben Kweller Gets "Choke"-afied Video for "The Rules"

You may not have gotten the memo yet but Ben Kweller is the sweetest & most adorable guy in indie rock. His song "The Rules" is featured in the trailers and on the soundtrack for "Choke" and the movie folks have created a "Choke" filled music video to accompany the track.

"The Rules" was a foot-stomper that should have been. It was originally released on Kweller's 2004 album On My Way but never seemed to get the traction it needed. It's a song that's a bit out of character for Kweller - more of an aggressive sound when he usually goes for a soft sweetness. It is fairly interesting, in terms of music placement, for "Choke" and works really well with the footage they've placed in this video from the staged rape scene.

The New York Film Festival Starts Today

The 46th annual New York Film Festival starts proper today for the public and we've got to say, the line-up is stellar. It might not have gigantic names attached to it, but so what, we've some of the best films of the year at the festival.

Our top picks so far are Kyoshi Kurosawa's jaw-droppingly good, "Tokyo Sonata," Gerardo Naranjo magnetically-charged Mexican new-wave film, "Voy A Explotar," and the Cannes Palm d'Or winner, "The Class" ("Entres Les Murs") by Laurent Cantet. And that's just the A+ material.

Other awe-inspiring films include, visual artist Steven McQueen's impressionistic, but harrowing, "Hunger," Michelle Williams' devastatingly quiet performance in the minimalist, "Wendy & Lucy," and the odd, but resonating, "Tony Manero," about a 50-year-old Chilean obsessed with John Travolta and "Saturday Night Fever." We'll be seeing many more as in the next two weeks.

Also at the festival of course, are heavy weight films like Clint Eastwood's "Changeling," Steven Soderbergh's four-hour epic "Che" and Darren Aronofksy's "The Wrestler," with an arresting performance by Mickey Rourke. We saw "Che" parts 1 and 2 at the Toronto Film Festival as well as Aronofsky's raw and honest wrestling drama.

So far, this festival has been aces, so kudos to those that programmed it and took some excellent smaller risk films over big-named spectacles we'll all eventually see anyhow.

NYFF: 'Wendy & Lucy' Q&A With Director Kelly Reichardt, Starring Michelle Williams

No Michelle Williams didn't show up. Obviously, she doesn't do a lot of press, but her devastatingly quiet and internalized performance in Kelly Reichardt's minimalist new effort, "Wendy & Lucy," is one to watch (and has already generated some Oscar talk). If Reichardt's previous film, "Old Joy" seem low-budgeted and small, then 'Wendy' is micro-budgeted, infinitesimal and completely hushed. About a girl in the throes of abject poverty who's lost her dog Lucy, Williams commanding yet reserved performance carries the film on her shoulders entirely and she's onscreen in practically every frame. It's a naked accomplishment and in the Q&A Reichardt described Williams process to the best of her ability, but sometimes not at all as Williams was sometimes reserved about it. The director notes that Williams sometimes would go off to make a phonecall, come back and been laser-ready for the scene. She wasn't sure what she was doing to prepare, but she'd nail the scene regardless. Shot in Portland, Oregon, "Wendy & Lucy" was executive-produced by Todd Haynes (a Portland transplant), and he seemed to be a good cheerleader and a strong advocate for the Pacific Northwest (Reichardt tried to scout many different locales before returning to Oregon). In the video she also talks about the sparseness of the film, both on screen and of the crew she worked with.

Kelly Reichardt On Michelle Williams' experience on "Wendy & Lucy"

Kelly Reichardt Talks the film screened for Williams Before making "Wendy & Lucy"

NYFF: 'The Class' Q&A With Director Laurent Cantet

After our screening of Laurent Cantet's Cannes-winning "The Class" ("Entres Les Murs") about the mercurial and sometimes explosive life of a modern day classroom, at the New York Film Festival. We stuck around for the Q&A where Cantet spoke about his filmmaking process. Much of the film was done in two takes, one a scripted take and one an improvised one and Cantet remarked how surprised he was that both takes would seamlessly work together in the editing work. "The Class" is an extremely dynamic piece of work, and makes you genuinely feel all the tensions, both racial, economic, social and pedantic that are featured throughout the film, but even that's too reductive and doing the kinetic film an injustice. It's definitely one of the best films we've seen at the NYFF and having won the prestigious Palme d'Or, it's no wonder that France has already submitted the film above many, many other 2008 French films as it's official Foreign Oscar contender.

NYFF: The Extraordinary Family Horrors Of 'Tokyo Sonata'

We're not sure we've ever seen anything quite like "Tokyo Sonata," the extraordinary new film from Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no, not related). Best known for his contributions to the J-horror genre, 'Sonata' was immaculate and a quiet, internal terror of another kind. Part touching family drama, part scathing comedy, part unnerving tragedy, with dark, near-aburdist tones, we're not sure we've ever seen a director masterfully weave such disparate tenors together so effortlessly. On paper, it doesn't make emotional sense, but on screen, it's spectacular (the press note also perfectly there's "Buñuelian irrationality" in it which is excellent way to describe the stranger moments that are simultaneously comical and horrible).
A grim, sad, ironic and sensitive examination of a family in slow disintegration, 'Sonata' is both bleak and hopeful with a bit of the universe staring down and laughing at both characters and audience. As if we're all inept puppets in this tragic play.

Set in modern Japan and revolving around proud patriarch Ryuhei Sasaki (a fantastically good Teruyuki Kagawa) who faces shame, and dishonor when he loses his tenured job at a prominent company, the story begins as his splinter seems to create further fissures and we follow the mannered unraveling of each family member. The father suffers such a huge blow to his identity and self-esteem that he hides his pain, choosing to not reveal to his family and wife that he is without work.

Sasaki meets another ashamed unemployed man and the proud father starts to learn the art of faking that you're still employed; getting up for work, dressing in suits and pretending like all is well, but always under, subtle but palpable duress (the lies grow to inner torment and alienation from all around him).

Their preternaturally gifted and sensitive pre-pubescent son, Kenji (Kai Inowaki) , wants to learn to play piano, but with funds slowly dwindling, the frustrated father outright rejects his son's request with no questions asked. This makes the boy want it all the more and clandestinely begins selling his lunch money to pay for professional lessons. Meanwhile, the families aloof teenage son Taka (Yu Koyanagi), wants to go off to war and help the American "allies" against the fight in Iraq.

The poor mother (a stellar Kyôko Koizumi who just breathes empathy) tries to keep the slowly crumbling family together, but soon she discovers her husband's lie and can no longer take the self-loathing that he brings home and quietly, but savagely takes on on the collective household.

The father's controlled self-rage soon devolves into violent outbursts and seemingly near-madness, and almost every family launches off into a trajectory one assume means never coming home again.

Kyoshi's rich and meticulous lens is such skillful perfection (and moves with slow-burn suspense), the framing/mise-en-scene is a filmmaker's wet dream (so much emotional incarceration) and the way the director gently folds the disturbing notes onto the comedic and dramatic ones and back again, is a superb craftsmanship.
The mother's journey prompts the reflexive appearance of Kyoshi regular Kôji Yakusho, in an absurdist travelogue you almost can't imagine is happening. But almost like a storm dissipating, the madness seemingly overtaken everyone subdues and watching these long invested chess pieces come back home is rather amazing. It's hard to write about this without revealing too much (not that there's a huge secret), but the filmmaker takes you to the edge of unreason and then gently places you back in detailed, precise and exquisite manner. It's like artfully unravelling a mess of string and it's an emotional ride and one you almost can't believe has turned suddenly transformed into a beautiful quilt.

Touching, comical and griping, the director moves with such patience and grace, only moving the camera, utilizing sound and music at key moments, but elegantly and never with jarring surprise. The ending is so simple and rarefied. there's so much pathos in each performance... we were pretty floored when the experience was over. An astonishing piece of work that left us near-breathless. [A+]

December Criterion Collection Releases

Good News for all those obsessive cinephiles out there, the December releases from the Criterion Collection have been announced. Even though the high-brow distributor is only giving us two releases in for Xmas, it's still noteworthy, mostly because it consists of Sam Fuller's extremely polemic and previously unavailable film (in the United States), "White Dog." Lars von Trier's homage to film making techniques of past (Russian experimental, American Film Noir) "Europa," is also slated to be released in Criterion form this December.

"White Dog"
Released in 1982, this Sam Fuller film incensed liberals (and everyone else) at the time of for its bleak expose of racism in America. Centering around a young woman ('80s teen mainstay Kristy McNichol) who adopts a lost white German Shepard for protection, it soon becomes apparent, through a series of horrifying incidents, that the dog has been trained to attack black people. She then seeks the help of a dog trainer, who happens to be black (good ol' Paul Winfield, RIP), to curb its aggression. The viewer is set up to see that racism is taught and learned, because even a simpleton, unbiased animal can catch the disease. The movie has never been released on any home video until now, presumably because distributors assumed viewers could not stomach the sight of that cute puppy being abused or a mongrel with a taste for African American behind.

"Europa"
Lars von Trier's 1991 film which tells the story of a naive and slightly annoying young American who yearns to shove some kindness down some German throats following World War II. He accomplishes this by taking a job as a sleeping car conductor on a German railway network and falling in love with a young German woman who may have something to hide. But it is not before too long that he finds out in his attempt to spread some good ol' American hospitality he has actually landed him in the middle of a pro-Nazi conspiracy. Even though the film is a tad dense, Von Tier's thought his Vertov-esque style of shooting merited at least a measly Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, but when he was forced to settle for three other lesser awards, the enfante terrible felt he had no choice but to act like a huge crybaby and storm out of the cinema, while flipping off those ungrateful fucks that dare deem his masterpiece less than perfect. Even though those stiffs didn't think it deserved a Palme, it is differently a Criterion release worth watching.

Mark Ruffalo Talks 'Shutter Island'

Mark Ruffalo recently spoke with MTV about the new Martin Scorsese movie, “Shutter Island.” (Or is it “Ashecliffe?”) Ruffalo is singing praises about Scorsese, but do we expect any less? “It is Martin Scorsese’s playground with this movie. He gets to do everything he loves about film,” Ruffalo said, “He does noir, fantasy sequences, dream sequences, madness, suspense, tough urban stuff. It’s absolute madness and twist upon twist. This could be one of his great films.”

The film is based on Dennis Lehane’s (“Mystic River” and “Gone Baby Gone”) 2003 novel, “Shutter Island.” Scorsese’s golden boy, Leonardo DiCaprio, plays U.S. Marshal, Teddy Daniels, who is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding on the remote “Shutter Island.”

The film is “so much bigger” and goes far beyond the aforementioned plot has lead us to believe, says Ruffalo. That is all Ruffalo was willing to say about the film which is due October 2, 2009 and stars DiCaprio, Ruffalo, Ben Kingsly, Emily Mortimer, Michelle Williams, Max von Sydow, and Jackie Earle Haley.[MTV]

Ang Lee’s ‘Woodstock’ Will Change Your Life!

Academy Award winning Director, Ang Lee, is filming his new film “Taking Woodstock.” Lee’s close friend and writing /producing partner, James Schamus, spoke with MTV about the film and its director.

“Demetri Martin is the main character,” Schamus said, explaining who is really going to steal the show, “This is his ‘Hello world, this is Demetri Martin [moment].” Martin is one of our favorite stand-up comics, and we are super excited for him. We’re glad to see that he isn’t starting out in some terrible rom-com ala Dane Cook. Maybe once his name gets to the masses, his original screenplays will get made.

Starring alongside Martin is Paul Dano, Live Schreiber, Emile Hirsch, Imelda Staunton, and that feature film serial boner slaughterer, Dan Fogler.

“It’s not the story of Woodstock,” Schamus said, “It’s the story of a guy who happened to almost, by accident, help make it happen. Demetri plays this schnooky interior designer, a gay guy, who lives in Greenwich Village. [Martin’s character] is broke and totally under the thumb of his Russian Jewish parents who own this fleabag hotel, this Catskills dump. He has to move back in with them for the summer, and up there he’s in the closet and the president of the Chamber of Commerce, which is a joke because there’s no commerce.”

“Every summer he gives himself a permit to have a music festival on the front lawn to drum up business for the hotel,” he continued. “So one day he’s listening to the radio and hears this music festival lost their permit, and he calls them up and says ‘Well, I’ve got a permit.’ He thinks he’ll drum up business for the hotel. Two-and-a-half weeks later, half a million people show up and it completely changes his life.”

“It’s not the concert,” Schamus explained, “But there will be thousands and thousands of extras. It’s kind of like a zombie movie. One hippie shows up, and then another and then a thousand. It’s going to be fun.”[MTV]

Samuel Mutha Fucking Jackson Talks 'The Spirit' and Makes it Less Appealing

You might already know our feelings about Frank Miller’s “The Spirit,” but if you didn’t, we do not support that chaos. Sam Jackson recently spoke to MTV News about the film and his role as The Octopus in the comic book adaptation.

“['The Spirit'] is a comic book,” said Jackson. “You can call ‘The Dark Knight’ a comic book, but no, it’s a graphic novel. There’s a difference between a comic book and a graphic novel.” (Wow! He is really catering to the regular MTV audiences.)

““The Spirit” is funny. It’s tongue-in-cheek, wry humor,” continued Jackson. “It’s sort of Wile E. Coyote with real people. We hit each other with big things [and] we’re both kind of indestructible, so it’s funny in that way. We get shot up, we get stabbed up, we just don’t die.”

Later on in the interview, Jackson compared his character, the villainous Octopus, to the Joker from “The Dark Knight.”

“[The Octopus is] purely evil and bad as The Joker,” but “a genius in my own mind, not in everybody else’s.” (We don’t know what he is saying either.)

All Jackson had to say was that his character is similar to the Joker, (Trying to put more asses in the seats?) and that he hits people with big things.[MTV]

Anne Hathaway Regressing, Doing Yet Another Chick-Lit Adaptation

Anne Hathaway, an actress who has made it well-known that she is unhappy with the roles shaping her image has taken yet another formulaic chick-lit adaptation, in the form of "The Opposite of Love."  Which is odd way to change one's image, since she is still known as the lead in such soft-edged movies like "Princess Dairies" and "The Devil Wears Prada" (also a chick-lit adaptation), but we had high hopes for her to change that with her role as a recovering drug addict in Jonathan Demme's upcoming family drama, "Rachel Getting Married."  

Apparently she just couldn't step away from what has made her famous, since according to Variety she has signed on to star in "The Opposite of Love," in which Hathaway will play a career obsessed budding attorney who due to a fear of commitment turns down a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, only to find her life falling apart.  Hmm it all sounds so familiar, didn't we already see this with a few variations in "The Devil Wears Prada." 

Rachel McAdams Takes Sherlock Holmes Foil Roll

Multiple outlets report today that Rachel McAdams, Canada's finest acting export since Mike Myers and Jim Carrey both went insane, has signed on to play the romantic lead in Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes." This casting completes Ritchie's casting of the sexiest Sherlock Holmes franchise ever - the title character is to be played by Robert Downey, Jr. and his sidekick Watson will be played by Jude Law.

The Hollywood Reporter offers further insight into McAdams character, the "enigmatic" Irene Adler, who is based on a female character who appeared once in an 1891 Holmes novelization by Sir Author Conan Doyle.

If you simply cannot wait until "Sherlock Holmes" is shot to see more of McAdams then you can catch her soon in the movie adaptation of "The Time Traveler's Wife" with Eric Bana (RIYL: "The Notebook"); 2009's dramatic thriller "State of Play"; or this weekend in "The Lucky Ones," playing a role that was clearly written for Renee Zellweger when she was 10 years younger.

Review: "Christmas On Mars": Better Than "Red Planet"... But Barely

When the Flaming Lips revealed in 2001 that they were working on a science fiction film, fans acqainted with their loud, spectacle-driven live show jumped for joy. The Lips has just created two space rock classics, The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, and possessed a seemingly bottomless hat of tricks to shock audiences into blissed-out, blood-stained freakouts buried under pounds of confetti.

Well, Christmas on Mars has finally landed on planet Earth and the verdict is, well, not nearly as bad as you expected. Directed by Lips frontman Wayne Coyne and "Okie Noodling" director Brad Beesley, the film tells the story of (what else?) an astronaut colony hallucinating inside a dying space outpost on Mars. Faced with certain death on Christmas Eve, our heroic astronauts – played by a cast of both core and peripheral members of the indie rock universe including Steve Burns, Modest Mouse leader Isaac Brock, the prolific Adam Goldberg, SNL comic Fred Armisen, Elijah Wood, and what seems to be the entire Coyne clan - are visited by a messianic martian played by Coyne who (spoiler alert?) saves humanity.

As with any Flaming Lips album, the plot is secondary to the look and feeling, which is intense, absurd, and psychedelic. The film is a study on heavy-handed symbolism, which is sort of explained in Coyne's delightfully free-associative explanation that precedes the movie. Coyne's finest moments have always come from his maximalist musical and multimedia gestures, and Christmas on Mars bursts with stylistic flourishes the Lips have been cultivating for years: jarring Oz-like cuts into color; close-ups fetishizing gorey biological matter; enough vaginal imagery to make any stoned perennial adolescent giggle; and a story that seems to stumble drunkenly among the sublime and profound.

The film's soundtrack, scored by the Lips with producer Dave Fridmann, is subtle and erie constant hum that lifts us out of the morass of the distractingly grainy black and white cinematography. (A little more contrast would have gone a long way.) Yes, the film was done on a minimalist's budget, and we'd like to overlook these flaws in the production. But surely the Lips could have found some way to fashion a brand of amateurish filmmaking that created a "Blair Witch Project" kind of naturalism. At least if that's what they were going for. Instead, the production quality is more rooted in "Eraserhead," which really is only acceptable if your first name is David and your last name is Lynch. The trouble here is that the film's look ends up hitching Wayne Coyne's imagination to the ground when it really wants to rocket into the heavens, pardon the pun.

I wish I could add "Christmas On Mars" to the pantheon of great, trippy sci-fi movies, or even rank it among the Lips greatest achievements in spectacle engineering. From "Zaireeka" to car stereo listening parties, to fuzzy mascots and naked dancers, the Lips rank among indie rock's most beloved envelope pushers. But unfortunately the movie never really takes us anywhere new, besides giving Lips fans the opportunity to revel in the spirit of one of their favorite bands at play in their backyard, which will undoubtedly be enough for some. [C+]

"Christmas On Mars" contains violence, insanity, and a squad of giant outer labiae.

Wayne Coyne interview:

Review: Not Everbody's Buying Spike Lee's 'Miracle'

Spike Lee's "Miracle At St. Anna" comes out this weekend. We saw it at the Toronto Film Festival and enjoyed it, and it's mix of seemingly disparate tones including semi-fanciful and magical ones. For a Spike Lee film, there's a lot of hope in it, But we'll acknowledge it's possibly too sentimental and treacly at the end for some. It's currently sitting at a not-very good, 43% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, (*this rating could change by Friday) but if you care, our full review here.

The Awful Ugly Truth Of Terrence Malick's 'Badlands' Shoot

This is a few weeks old now, but still evergreen. Plus with Terrence Malick finally getting distribution for his long-gestating "Tree of Life" film project, it's even more relevant now.

In anticipation for the August 29th re-release of the 1973 Terrence Malick film "Badlands" (in the U.K. only) Ryan Gilbey of the British paper Guardian explored the troubled shoot that produced one of the finest romantic, on-the-run road films ever made. It is a fascinating story, behind one of the greatest (and gorgeously meditative) films ever made and gives incredible insight into one of the kookiest and capricious directors to ever get behind a camera.

In 1972, Malick began production of a loose biopic of 19-year-old warehouse worker turned serial killer Charles Starkweather. It was a film that Martin Sheen, who played the iconic character of Kit in "Badlands," would describe in an interview with the paper in 1999, "It was mesmerising. It disarmed you. It was a period piece, and yet of all time. It was extremely American, it caught the spirit of the people, of the culture, in a way that was immediately identifiable." The meticulousness and spontaneity that aided Malick in making such a great film is also one of the main reasons the movie was almost never finished. The project went through three cinematographers (somehow the look throughout is still jaw-droppingly beautiful), sound people, more editors and it got to be so bleak at one point that outside of the actors and art department, every original crew member had quit by the time production had wrapped. Production designer Jack Fisk, who has worked with Malick on all of his films, described the frustration on the set caused by the eccentric director during a 1999 interview with Gilbey.

"The shoot went on for ever because the crew kept quitting. They were completely brutalized," lead actress Sissy Spacek said. "They'd be setting up one shot over here, then Terry would look over in the other direction where the moon was rising and he'd go, 'Let's shoot over there!' I have these memories of everyone tearing off across the desert in pursuit of one sunset or another" (one person who wouldn't quit was Fisk, he had good reason: "I had a vested interest. I'd fallen in love with Sissy, so that also kept me going."Two years later they were married).

Executive producer, Edward R Pressman also commented on film, "Amazingly, despite the input of these different hands, the film looks remarkably seamless." He lauded Malick for his ability, even through the troubled shoot, to never loose his vision, "If the picture survived all those problems, it's because one thing was consistent: Terry Malick's vision."

From all accounts, Malick's spontaneous style is something that many adore and many can find extremely frustrating.

"People who've worked with Terry either love him or hate him,"Spacek said. "I love him. 'Badlands' was a real turning point for me. We'd spend hours talking about things, and then the next day I'd look at the rewrites, and there'd be all the things I told him."

Even after Malick destroyed every camera on set while filming the scene where Kirk (played by Martin Sheen) burns down his girlfriends family home (played by Sissy Spacek), and pushed the film over budget multiple times, causing production to stall while he raised other funds, the film finally premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 13th 1973 to a better reception than Martin Scorsese's "Mean Streets." The box office was not kind to "Badlands" and Malick sunk into obscurity over the years, emerging infrequently to direct such films as "Days of Heaven" and "The Thin Red Line," but over the years "Badlands" has come to be viewed as one of the most iconic movies of a memorable era in filmmaking history.

The Trailer For ‘Medicine for Melancholy’ Paints It Far Prettier Than It’s Budget Would’ve Had Us Think

"Medicine for Melancholy" is an indie film that had it’s premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival this year, and centres on the day after two twenty-something African-Americans have a one-night stand in San Francisco, where they barely remember how they got there.

Lensed using a $5000 camera, one might expect a typically scruffy indie that usually results from a microscopic budget. The trailer, however, proves otherwise. Filmed in a delectable desaturated colour palette, it looks far more polished and distinctive than we could have imagined.

Our good friend Craig Kennedy (of Living in Cinema) saw it on the 5th day of the festival, and enjoyed it quite a bit, saying, “Though the film feels scripted and a little too anxious to make a point at times, other moments have an almost documentary like reality and on balance these are the ones that shine through.” The film was subsequently picked up the ever-dependable IFC, but no release date has been set for it thus far. We’re sure going to keep an eye open for it, check out the traier below in the mean time.

This post is courtesy of our friends at Fataculture.

Bill Maher's 'Religulous' Not Totally Annoying, Nor Totally Convincing Either

Bill Maher and Larry Charles' "Religulous" documentary is getting fairly glowing reviews, but these thought must just be on a superficial, almost blind enjoyment level without examining the processes or tactics, no?

We were wondering how to being our review when we read In Contention's question about the film, they wondered, could it go beyond Maher's "skewed, incredibly insulting and borderline ignorant stance on the subject of faith and religion?"
Well, but it this way, the glib "Religulous" is a bulldozer of subjectivity and as subtle as a jackhammer. The answer is absolutely not. A hyper-editiorializing and manipulative conceit of cheap-laughs and intensely dismissive put-downs, Maher's shallow "documentary," is nothing but a traveling, on-the-road version of his op-ed show, but with laser-beam focus on theology. The message is clear from minute one: If you believe anything at all and aren't wholeheartedly committed to agnosticism, you're a fucking idiot who should be treated with abuse and scorn.
Though the self-satisfied Maher can be an unctuous smug fuck, he's relatively amiable about his bullying in this film to his credit, but it's the aggravating editorializing asides — subtitles pop up beneath people to disprove their posits, a cackling witch-like laugh is heard when a religious PR woman enters a frame — that are extremely heavy-handed, eye-roll inducing and undo any of film's aims (or maybe the goal was simply to exploit people and craft them to look like fools). Sure, it's the religious right and they are kind of nutters (it's ok to make fun of these people, right?, AMIRITE!?), but doesn't everybody deserve some form of a fair shot to get their point across? Not in this documentary, and we're kind of shocked at the unanimously positive reviews that aren't looking at the artlessness of how this film is constructed.

Almost dangerously partisan, dismissive and one-sided, the filmmakers obviously don't understand that the most powerful moments in the film are when the simply let jackasses hang themselves with even the most minor amount of rope. Shades of gray? None here. There's a fantastic little scene with the Senator from Arkansas where Maher's asks shouldn't he be worried about people who govern who actually believe in fairytales like Noah's Ark and the Garden of Eden and after some hemming and hawing, the politician finally blurts out, "You don't have to pass an IQ test to be in the Senate." The camera whip pans to Maher's aghast and shocked look and then goes back to the Senator who has a classic, "Oh shit, what did I just say" look. It's a hilarious moment that speaks for itself, but sequences like this are few and far between.

Granted, the Charles-directed documentary, can be amusing at times, but most of the time it's his own propaganda at the cheap expense of a hapless bystander who probably deserves a little better. Though similarly manipulative in its untruthful tactics, "Borat," satire, is still 100 times more clever and artfully designed in a way to comment on society on a level that Maher's film can't hope to even skim. "The Daily Show" similarly does this kind of skewering in a far more bright and incisive manner every day of the week.
The grand irony of Maher's concluding "Religulous," monologue is it seemingly powerful finale, is it uses the same melodramatic and over-the-top fire and brimstone scare tactics to push its anti-religous agenda as the fundamentalist wackjobs have also been wielding throughout. And isn't the whole point to be above that? To better than that ludicrousness and use our rational thought – something we've been implored to use the entire film? Silly, slight and frivolous. [C+]

Charles S. Dutton Developing Louis Armstrong Mini Series With John Sayles For HBO

Charles S. Dutton is developing A Louis Armstrong mini-series for HBO with indie-director John Sayles.

Dutton has a development deal with HBO and he says he's likely going to play the older version of Armstrong in the 6-hour series.

"Quincy Jones and I were trying to do [this project]15 years ago. The mistake we were making was that we were trying to do it as a 2 hour film. And Louis' life is just so huge you just can't, you know because the problem was well, what do we leave out, what do we keep in, and we could never really grasp the story on a 2 hour movie. So, you know it took us 15 years later to decide to do it as a big mini series." [Collider]

'Harold & Kumar' Scribes Penning New Buddy Comedy, Heather Graham Employed Again & More...

Those angst-filled heebs, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who are known mostly for their work on the screenplays for the 'Harold and Kumar' go to fill in the blank franchise, will be writing and directing a new comedy for Warner Bros. The film, "Till Beth Do Us Part" will be another bromance tale from the duo, it centers around the trails and tribulations that a pair of bff's go through when one of them actually gets engaged. [THR]

Remember roller girl from "Boogie Nights"? What ever happened to her? For those us wondering if Heather Graham would ever be in another movie, we finally have our answer. The former star is going to be out of small television gigs and back up on the big screen since she has been cast in the new Todd Phillips man-comedy "Hangover." [Empire]

Quentin Tarantino has cast some more German's for his WWII film "Inglorious Bastards." He has reportedly cast vertarn German actor, Sylvester Groth to play Adolf Hitler and young starlet Jana Pallaske, whom he is reportedly writing into the script. [Tarantino Archives]

Johnny Depp has recently been confirmed to have a role in Tim Burton's adaptation of "Alice in Wonderland." As of late he has also signed on to be in the new "Lone Ranger" movie and gave his soul to Disney by signing onto do 'Pirates 4: Extra Cheese.' [Aintitcool/slashfilm]

Rosario Dawson spoke to MTV News about her career and how she is doing a voice in the new animated straight to DVD ‘Wonder Woman’ movie as well as politics. [Splashpage]

Marvel big man, David Maisel, said that he hopes to have the "Spider-Man" musical up and running as early as 2009. [IESB.net]

NYFF Review: The Obsessive John Travolta 'Fever' Of 'Tony Manero'

Having read skimmed* the synopsis about a sad, immensely dysfunctional 50-something Chilean man (Alfredo Castro) who is obsessed with "Saturday Night Fever," and names himself after John Travolta's Tony Manero character, we couldn't help but be somewhat disappointed simply because the film wasn't at all what we expected.

That's not to say Chilean director Pablo Larrain's second feature wasn't good, quite the contrary, but "Tony Manero," sounds like a fun and light dance musical but the picture was much darker and sometimes even more disturbing than we ever would have imagined. [*ed. more reason never to skim]

Set in mid-70s Chile during the grim days of the military dictatorship of General Pinochet (there's a dictum somewhere that states all Chilean art must recognize the '70s military coup for the rest of all eternity, eye-roll), the story follows the seemingly pathetic, but harmless Raúl, who is generally the only person in the theater watching repeat version of 'SNF' over and over again and repeating the English-dialogue to himself ad nauseum. He attempts to attend a Chile's Best Tony Manero dancer contest on a popular TV game show, but is turned away when he is told he's about a week too early.

Lumped with a hound dog expression, the quiet Raúl seems melancholy, lonely yet innocuous, but his obsession is soon revealed to be pretty psychotic and unpleasant. His, sort-of girlfriend Cony (Amparo Noguera), her daughter Pauli (Paola Lattus) and Pauli's communist-propaganda happy boyfriend Goyo (Héctor Morales), soon plan to put on a "Saturday Night Fever," dance show at a local bar, but Raúl's fixation for getting all the details right - including a glowing dance floor - turn increasingly sociopathic.

He steals, he robs, and there's random outbursts of violence that are extremely brutal — not because of what they show, but because they seem (initially, anyhow) out of nowhere and out of character. But as his delusion and mania grows, we become more accustomed to, but no less shocked, by his nuttiness. Shifting tones are a bit problematic as well, there's a lot of uncomfortable laughs in the picture, but then you become aghast and somewhere near the end you're not even sure what's funny or what's just brutally unconscionable (sometimes it's a bit of both, which sometimes makes you a bit guilty for finding it comedic). Sure, the film is absurdist (and genuinely funny), but perhaps it's lead is too unsympathetic. All the while, the police state seems to be closing in on Goyo, but Raúl's disco king fascination makes him almost entirely politically (and socially) oblivious.

What we're supposed to feel with "Tony Manero" is that the horrors of the police-state like dictatorship can drive people to all kinds of madness including brutalizing people in the name of an unhealthy obsession with disco, but what we're mostly left feeling is that a random, mostly unlikable obsessive needs help with or without an tyrannical military government oppressing daily lives. And that's not to diminish the dictatorship in Chile, we have family there and we know it on a personal level all too well, but if that's supposed to be motivation or the trigger for Raúl's demented behavior well not only does it seem inexcusable, it seems thin, as the elements of the autocracy appear to be too much on the sidelines of the film to directly influence the protagonist.

Sure, it's meant to be subtle, but there is a thing as too subtle. Lead actor Alfredo Castro (who also co-wrote the screenplay) does put in a chilling performance and the darkly comedic (sometimes inappropriately comedic) allegory is visible, but we're not sure "Tony Manero" was 100% successful in its goals (the more we read about the director's intentions the less we feel like we saw them onscreen). Strong, but flawed (though the ending is pitch-perfect). [B+]

NYFF: Short Film Watch, 'Love Is Dead'

"Breaking up is hard to do—but here’s a modern solution for the busy professional," is the tag line of the hilarious 17 m short film by French director Eric Capitaine.

And that pretty much explains the meat of it. Élodie Navarre (stunningly beautiful, but it's probably not apparent from these photos) and Thierry Neuvic star as two people who've never met. Until today. Neuvic comes over posing as a friend of Navarre's live-in boyfriend who's away for the weekend on skiing trip.

When she attempts to find boyhood pictures of the two of them, Neuvic explains this has been all a ruse and he works for "Love Is Dead," a company that specializes in professional breakups for those two sensitive (re: cowardly) to deal with the pain of leaving a loved one.

If it sounds absurd that's cause it kind of is, or at least darkly comedic. She think's it must be some cruel joke and he dryly and methodically explains all the evidence to suggest why it's clearly and sadly, nothing but the pathetic truth. A wry commentary on relationships and break-ups, it's wickedly funny and kind of wrong, but the point is to laugh along with what a ridiculous idea it would be to hire someone to do your dirty work. Tremendously enjoyable if you have a twisted sense of humor (which you should).

"Love Is Dead" also opens up with a familar tune; it uses an mini-string orchestral instrumental version of Radiohead's "2+2=5" from Hail To The Thief and ends with Kid Loco's "A Little Bit Of Your Soul." [A-]

'Choke'-Red Band Trailer... Again

The naughty, NSFW, "Choke" trailer was pulled down almost as soon as it went up by Fox Searchlight a few months ago. Well, on the dawn of its release (the film comes out this weekend), the R-rated trailer has floated back online. We didn't love the film, but it's not bad and has its moments. Check the trailer one more time if you feel like making a decision if you should spend your $10 on this film or not.

'Changeling' Poster

Don't you sort of hate when people call, "Oscar shoo-in!" months before they've seen the film? It strikes us as a little irrational. With that said, Angelina Jolie and Clint Eastwood in a dramatic period-piece (1920s Los Angeles) about a mother whose abducted son is seemingly returned to her by the LAPD which she suspects is not her own?

Gotta admit, it does smell like Oscar-bait all over. After being vilified as an unfit mother, [Jolie] confronts the city authorities and corruption in the L.A.P.D in order to find out the truth. Cinematical has the new poster. We'll see it at the New York Film Festival shortly. We kinda find Eastwood's staid and simple filmmaking a little tediuous after a while and films like "Million Dollar Baby" and "Mystic River" don't really hold up for us on multiple viewings outside of being stock dramas, but Jolie can be hot fire on the acting tip as witnessed in "A Mighty Heart" last year. We're tentatively looking forward to this one.

Gus Van Sant Wanted Tom Cruise And River Phoenix For 'Milk' Back In The Day

Movies take a long time to get off the ground. This we all now. Gus Van Sant's biopic of the first openly gay city supervisor of San Francisco, California, Harvey Milk, was something he had in the works as far back as 1998.

In an interview with Interview magazine between, "Milk" star James Franco and the director Van Sant, the two discuss the original incarnation of the biopic. While Sean Penn was always the filmmaker's first choice for playing the slain supervising politician, at the time, he had other ideas. For Dan White (the man who assassinated Milk, now being played by Josh Brolin) he wanted Tom Cruise and actually called him up to try and get him for the role. He also wanted River Phoenix to play Cleve Jones (an associate of Milk's who conceived of the AIDS quilt; the role that Emile Hirsch is now playing).

Van Sant had also wanted to do an Andy Warhol biopic with Phoenix at one point too ("River kind of looked like him in his younger days, but that project never really went forward.").

The duo also get on the topic of Zac Efron (apparently a good dude) and Franco suggests (jokes?) that Van Sant should direct a Judd Apatow comedy with he and Efron. What would be the chances of that, huh? Probably pretty slim knowing Van Sant's career trajectory (arty and then Oscar and then nothing in between).

Meanwhile, a friend of Jeffrey Wells' saw "Milk" in L.A. and said it's as "phenomenal" as the trailer. I guess one word is better than the fuller description we had a month ago. ;)

Brett Ratner Continues Reign Of Horrible Ideas: Wants To Do A Joker Spin-Off

God, someone muzzle Brett Ratner, before one of the stupider suits at Warner Bros. hears him and thinks, "hey, yeah, that could make us a bundle of money! The dbad fauxter, think that a Joker spin-off movie would be a great idea, and hey, no problem if Heath Ledger is dead, why not get someone like Robert Downey Jr. to play him?

“As a kid, Batman was my thing,” Ratner told MTV's Splashpage. “I’m a little jealous that I didn’t get to direct it, although Nolan did a great job. But there are so many characters in the Batman series, so many characters that I love, that the opportunities for spin-offs are endless.”

B-Rat continued.

“Heath was great, but the Joker is a great villain. That’s why Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger had so much to work with. And I think there will be another actor who can interpret that. It would be great to see [Robert] Downey [Jr.] as the Joker, for instance.”

He also thinks more X-Men spinoffs should happen like one for the character Storm played by Halle Berry. Dear, god. Someone take this man out, stat. We're not 'Dark Knight' disciples by any stretch of the imagination, but Ledger nailed the part and we'd be happy if no one ever played the Joker again. There's no need.

You Like School In The Summer, No 'Class': Teach Was A Punk Rocker

Have you seen "The Class" starring François Bégaudeau, the teacher of the film and author of the book that the film was based off of? Well, it's pretty amazing as we've said over and over again this week. Well, did you know that the real school teacher/actor sang in a punk band called Zabriskie Point? Nice name, right? Aw, yeah, Antonioni homage. And yeah, it's true. Thanks to Julien at Allocine for the tip.

'Grizzly Man Diaries' - Timothy Treadwell's Final 48 Hours Airs Friday

Did you ever see Werner Herzog's amazing documentary, "Grizzly Man"? (if not, run don't walk) Well, the final episode of "The Grizzly Man Diaries" the sort-of prequel to the remarkable Herzog documentary airs on Animal Planet this Friday at 9 p.m. EST in the U.S. The series showcase tons of unused footage of the delusional fruitcake Timothy Treadwell, the bear-o-cologist/ wilderness "expert" who dropped out of society to hang out with grizzly bears only to be eaten by the hands of one when his fey, whiny voice ultimately became too unbearable. ;) This final episode documents the final 48 hours of his life before he became Grizzly bear brunch. Goddamit, we wish we had Tivo, we don't watch much TV, but love us some Animal Chanimal [ed. can I get a 'whatwhat' for Meerkat Manor? That show is the jam].

A new, skinny, older bear arrives on the scene. Timothy Treadwell calls the new bear "Oly," a nickname for Big Old Bear. Timothy theorizes that Oly is probably in trouble underfed and confused in his new surroundings. His theory is bolstered by the fact that both Cracker and Downey refuse to share the creek with Oly and even challenge him to a fight. Timothy startles a bear on one of the bear trails. It's Oly. The encounter is unnerving for both bear and man, but passes without further incident. That night Timothy records in his journal that his sleep was disturbed by a terrible nightmare of being eaten alive by a bear. This is Timothy's last diary entry

APlanet has parts of Treadwell's unseen written journal online, as well as, some never before seen video (god, he's such a fey cheeseball, but it's hard to not watch him). Note there's a lot of twisted takes on YouTube of Timonthy Treadwell's "last moments," which are just gags, but this clips purports to be the real thing and it's so vague it could be easily be fake or real (of course it's only audio, as that's all their ever was).

Here's a 10-minute edit of "Grizzly Man." The film is a must see [ed. did you know that Chicago avante garde musician Jim O'Rourke and heralded British folky Richard Thompson (of Richard and Linda Thompson and Fairport Convention) contributed music to the score? Thompson wrote most of the music]