2010-03-16T20:18:00Z http://shareddarkness.com/atom.aspx Quick Blogcast tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-10:120d30e4-cd64-449c-ae1d-be18f4684579 Brent Simon 2010-03-11T00:00:00Z 2010-03-11T00:00:00Z Yes, it's another hot-chick-with-schlubby-and-or-otherwise-outclassed-guy comedy, but She's Out of My League nearly scrapes the bottom of this already familiar barrel in its quest for laughs. There's an interesting and most likely quietly devastating movie to be made from the basic idea at this film's core — that of an average, working-class guy who's so convinced of his general unworthiness that he subconsciously sabotages the golden romantic opportunity that falls into his lap — but this overly broad exercise in set-piece histrionics surely isn't it. More after the jump...

Yes, it's another hot-chick-with-schlubby-and-or-otherwise-outclassed-guy comedy, but She's Out of My League nearly scrapes the bottom of this already familiar barrel in its quest for laughs. There's an interesting and most likely quietly devastating movie to be made from the basic idea at this film's core — that of an average, working-class guy who's so convinced of his general unworthiness that he subconsciously sabotages the golden romantic opportunity that falls into his lap — but this overly broad exercise in set-piece histrionics surely isn't it. More after the jump...

tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-10:51bf101b-75b8-4dc0-bc06-e2bae9a0f1f4 Brent Simon 2010-03-10T23:55:00Z 2010-03-10T23:55:00Z Over at Salon, Andrew O'Hehir weighs in on the Armond White-Noah Baumbach imbroglio. Inside baseball? You betcha, which O'Hehir freely admits. ... tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-10:b04a0784-e4f8-4499-8923-bec977c52b99 Brent Simon 2010-03-10T23:10:00Z 2010-03-10T23:10:00Z Much was made in the summer of 2000 over The Perfect Storm's unexpectedly robust $41 million-plus opening weekend, in which it rode a wave of popular appeal over the grand reveal of that massive, swelling wave effects shot, and trounced Roland Emmerich and Mel Gibson's The Patriot by a considerable margin. (Emmerich in turn dove headlong into masturbatory FX destruction, perhaps never to return again to anything not involving the destruction of humankind, or at the very least a half dozen national landmarks.) But how significant can a film truly be, in terms of lasting appeal, if it's misspelled in a studio Blu-ray/home video sell-thru email, as above? No simple typo, either. That means the graphic design intern flubbed it, and no one else caught it. Quiet volumes. ... tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-10:638b0e5f-2409-40e2-a2c9-419712ce1f24 Brent Simon 2010-03-10T22:05:00Z 2010-03-10T22:05:00Z Greenberg director Noah Baumbach and critic Armond White do not like each other... partly because the latter suggested in a review that Baumbach's mom should've had an abortion? Sweet Christ I'm glad I'm not involved in shenanigans like this. Writing with vitriolic flair (when deserved) is one thing, but ad hominem attacks of that sort make clear that the critic's chief interest is really himself, which shouldn't be the case. The closest I've come to being the subject of a filmmaker vendetta, to my knowledge, is Troy Duffy, who threatened me over the phone and helped orchestrate a campaign of minor harassment on occasion of the original release of The Boondock Saints. ... tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-10:147bc2d7-c56a-4a2b-a506-084457e93033 Brent Simon 2010-03-10T20:00:00Z 2010-03-10T20:00:00Z The DVD cover, with a fanged, bulbous-nosed ghoul (evoking either memories of Stephen King's It or perhaps former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, depending on how you passed your time in the 1980s) superimposed over a rickety mansion, doesn't necessarily do wonders for one's expectations regarding low-budget horror flick House of Fears. And the inferred shortcomings come to fruition, don't you know, unfolding almost in lockstep with a familiar trapped-kids-being-tormented-by-their-fears plot that sadly does not feature the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. More after the jump...

The DVD cover, with a fanged, bulbous-nosed ghoul (evoking either memories of Stephen King's It or perhaps former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, depending on how you passed your time in the 1980s) superimposed over a rickety mansion, doesn't necessarily do wonders for one's expectations regarding low-budget horror flick House of Fears. And the inferred shortcomings come to fruition, don't you know, unfolding almost in lockstep with a familiar trapped-kids-being-tormented-by-their-fears plot that sadly does not feature the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. More after the jump...

tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-09:0c700c2c-acb9-4f60-ac3f-2c62629b7450 Brent Simon 2010-03-10T02:00:00Z 2010-03-10T02:00:00Z I dig the blogosphere, broadly speaking (viva variety), but one thing that's wearying is how the utterly mindless pursuit of traffic ends up reinforcing this herd mentality, wherein a single new photo or trailer or happening MUST BE POSTED, even if there's no particularly pronounced tie-in/connection with said host site, or even any attendant commentary beyond the most titillating, rib-nudging headline. (See above.) So that means there's like 15 or 20 movie, music and entertainment-adjacent sites today with Zooey Deschanel's She & Him hipster porn, a new music video involving hula hoops and dainty skips. (You're welcome, L.A. Weekly -- I picked your link at random.) The overload is such that you sometimes just get the feeling the Internet is the same 5,000 people reading the same 500 sites, circle-jerking to the same rotating menu of 50 topics. When is someone going to deliver a 700-word treatise on the hatwear ... tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-06:a25df067-7bfd-4369-ae8c-7d54f8c7e9d3 Brent Simon 2010-03-06T17:30:00Z 2010-03-06T17:30:00Z Following Iran's disputed presidential election this past summer, Neda Soltani was shot and killed on the streets of Tehran -- an awful incident captured on a 90-second cell phone camera video that ripped across the blogosphere over the next 24 hours. In an instant, she became the face of a powerful movement that threatened President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the hard-line theocratic government's hold on power. More after the jump...

Following Iran's disputed presidential election this past summer, Neda Soltani was shot and killed on the streets of Tehran -- an awful incident captured on a 90-second cell phone camera video that ripped across the blogosphere over the next 24 hours. In an instant, she became the face of a powerful movement that threatened President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the hard-line theocratic government's hold on power. More after the jump...

tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-06:be85c406-33f4-4579-8798-d9151fc6889b Brent Simon 2010-03-06T17:15:00Z 2010-03-06T17:15:00Z A decidedly NSFW trailer for Gorman Bechard's micro-budget indie horror flick One Night Stand, which likely won't be confused with Mike Figgis' film. Good concept, but will it have enough psychological heft to make it truly unnerving? I had deeply held problems with Hard Candy, but at least it also had the benefit of some strong, committed performances, in particular Ellen Page's turn. ... tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-05:1d02e547-41f4-4db2-b134-bd61433661c8 Brent Simon 2010-03-05T08:10:00Z 2010-03-05T08:10:00Z It's a happy birthday to Eva Mendes, who turns 36 today, much to the delight of Latina Mole Enthusiasts subscribers. Mendes is at her core innately va-voomish, but has also shown flashes of something deeper in movies like Trust the Man and We Own the Night, and even some goofball charm in stuff like Hitch and Stuck on You. (Let's not talk about Ghost Rider, meanwhile). One senses there could be something meatier and truly substantive out there for her, if she wanted to work for it, though.Oh, and it's Aasif Mandvi's birthday, too. He turns 44, but looks considerably less interesting in a bikini bottom, so there you have it. ... tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-05:b7d83f17-7b7c-4d28-a406-a6c6db6a5a75 Brent Simon 2010-03-05T08:00:00Z 2010-03-05T08:00:00Z Part murder mystery, part domestic melodrama, part dark comedy, Mother is also a wholly original treat that confirms writer-director Bong Joon-ho's touch with multiple tonalities, as well as his status as South Korea's preeminent modern auteur. More after the jump...

Part murder mystery, part domestic melodrama, part dark comedy, Mother is also a wholly original treat that confirms writer-director Bong Joon-ho's touch with multiple tonalities, as well as his status as South Korea's preeminent modern auteur. More after the jump...

tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-04:dddfc1aa-0160-482b-9606-4c4806624380 Brent Simon 2010-03-05T00:30:00Z 2010-03-05T00:30:00Z The Los Angeles Film Critics Association issues a statement in support of recently arrested Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi. It's an unfortunate reminder that freedom isn't oxygen -- existing stably and in equal measure around the globe. Well worth checking out The White Balloon and Offside, for those who haven't. ... tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-04:d2be9def-22b1-444b-b07a-76ed50e22c47 Brent Simon 2010-03-04T17:15:00Z 2010-03-04T17:15:00Z Movies detailing the lives of corrupt, disinterested and/or tempted New York police officers could and probably should constitute their own subgenre Netflix listing, and that’s where Brooklyn's Finest slots. Those inclined to like this sort of thing -- less discriminating fans of Training Day, We Own the Night and Pride and Glory -- will find enough about it to like; others will likely shrug. More after the jump...

Movies detailing the lives of corrupt, disinterested and/or tempted New York police officers could and probably should constitute their own subgenre Netflix listing, and that’s where Brooklyn's Finest slots. Those inclined to like this sort of thing -- less discriminating fans of Training Day, We Own the Night and Pride and Glory -- will find enough about it to like; others will likely shrug. More after the jump...

tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-03:88a71dbb-b3cc-46bf-9fc4-16ad00d6822a Brent Simon 2010-03-03T20:45:00Z 2010-03-03T20:45:00Z Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion from Will Ferrell ... tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-03:196984b0-721e-423b-a226-d3f62509e630 Brent Simon 2010-03-03T08:05:00Z 2010-03-03T08:05:00Z It's a happy birthday to Jessica Biel, who turns 28 today, and perhaps celebrates by squeezing into the same bra-and-panty set that she rocked a couple years back in the trailers for the execrable I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. Or maybe she waxes nostalgic about at one time wanting to be Whitney Houston. Then again, maybe she just takes her animals to a dog park, eats some edmame, does some tae bo and cracks walnuts between her ass cheeks, I don't know... ... tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-02:5224a281-edfe-42d7-befb-0481d0d263a4 Brent Simon 2010-03-02T14:30:00Z 2010-03-02T14:30:00Z If ever confirmation was needed that the American legal system, as it pertains to non-criminal matters, is basically just a gamed system for moneyed interests to eventually win out, it arrives definitively in the form of The Art of the Steal, Don Argott's absorbing documentary investigation into the decades-long tug-of-war over the late Albert Barnes' $30 billion dollar art collection. More after the jump...

If ever confirmation was needed that the American legal system, as it pertains to non-criminal matters, is basically just a gamed system for moneyed interests to eventually win out, it arrives definitively in the form of The Art of the Steal, Don Argott's absorbing documentary investigation into the decades-long tug-of-war over the late Albert Barnes' $30 billion dollar art collection. More after the jump...

tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-03-01:7210e847-8ec8-4d74-b619-6f6cf1ea6e18 Brent Simon 2010-03-01T19:00:00Z 2010-03-01T19:00:00Z As long as there are strip-mall dojos and martial arts fans who wish to see their kick-fantasy shenanigans acted out on celluloid, there will be movies like Ninja, in which a loose revenge-and-defense plot serves as a framework upon which to hang the opportunity for much balletic foot-to-jaw action. More after the jump...

As long as there are strip-mall dojos and martial arts fans who wish to see their kick-fantasy shenanigans acted out on celluloid, there will be movies like Ninja, in which a loose revenge-and-defense plot serves as a framework upon which to hang the opportunity for much balletic foot-to-jaw action. More after the jump...

tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-02-26:5252fd66-3857-4169-8145-de0d59c6415f Brent Simon 2010-02-26T14:30:00Z 2010-02-26T14:30:00Z The acclaim surrounding Jeff Bridges' turn in Crazy Heart — in which everyone seemingly slaps their foreheads in remembrance of how talented the guy is — also recalls William Hurt, another actor with a penchant for blending seamlessly into his surroundings. In The Yellow Handkerchief, Hurt plays a recently paroled convict who, beset with inner conflict about whether to try to reach out to a past love, crosses paths with a young duo (Kristen Stewart and Eddie Redmayne) on a post-Katrina road trip through Louisiana. I caught up with a bearded Hurt in a Beverly Hills hotel suite recently to talk about his career, shrinking IQs and what Sally Field said to him when he won his Oscar. For the Q&A, with New York Magazine's Vulture, click here. ... tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-02-26:4fd5df2e-c1c5-42fa-8ddc-188c1bbc266a Brent Simon 2010-02-26T08:05:00Z 2010-02-26T08:05:00Z Italian import Vincere, a richly photographed historical drama that charts the life of the discarded mistress of fascist, war-mongering dictator Benito Mussolini, would be sort of interesting to view with Rielle Hunter, the flighty New Age lover (and baby mama) of erstwhile Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. After all, her insights into the continued love of a man who would very publicly and harshly disown his own progeny could be considerable. More after the jump...

Italian import Vincere, a richly photographed historical drama that charts the life of the discarded mistress of fascist, war-mongering dictator Benito Mussolini, would be sort of interesting to view with Rielle Hunter, the flighty New Age lover (and baby mama) of erstwhile Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. After all, her insights into the continued love of a man who would very publicly and harshly disown his own progeny could be considerable. More after the jump...

tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-02-25:1847d6ec-0a3e-4bba-9844-05f726addd6b Brent Simon 2010-02-26T07:30:00Z 2010-02-26T07:30:00Z I could go the rest of my life without seeing another point-of-view shot, from the floor up, of someone receiving a massage, which is but one of several dozen reasons that Frat Party grates so. A downmarket, wildly unfunny college comedy pitched at foreign market fans of Old School, all those American Pie straight-to-DVD sequels and their countless mouth-breathing derivatives, like Dorm Daze 2, this film serves as hornball rental fodder for those who haven't yet figured out how to use the Internet to track down pictures of boobs. More after the jump...

I could go the rest of my life without seeing another point-of-view shot, from the floor up, of someone receiving a massage, which is but one of several dozen reasons that Frat Party grates so. A downmarket, wildly unfunny college comedy pitched at foreign market fans of Old School, all those American Pie straight-to-DVD sequels and their countless mouth-breathing derivatives, like Dorm Daze 2, this film serves as hornball rental fodder for those who haven't yet figured out how to use the Internet to track down pictures of boobs. More after the jump...

tag:shareddarkness.com,2010-02-25:1f22aad6-105f-4bea-9687-24422ca50251 Brent Simon 2010-02-26T07:15:00Z 2010-02-26T07:15:00Z A gorgeously mounted but fundamentally humdrum telling of Lewis Carroll’s fantasy novels, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, costarring Johnny Depp (above), is no more or less engaging than one might expect it to be based only upon a cursory glance at its marketing materials. Filtered through the director's highly subjective, singular visual perspective, the movie achieves sumptuous beauty with ease but fails to connect on a full-bodied emotional level, making for a pleasant but somewhat empty ride. For the full review, from Screen International, click here. (Disney, PG, 107 minutes) ...