Category Archives: Ephemera

David Lynch’s Interview Project Spotlights Old Coots

Amusements, Ephemera, Screenings

The first two subjects from David Lynch’s short-form, 121-part Interview Project series, 64-year-old Jess and 54-year-old Kingman, Arizona resident Tommie, are online and available for viewing, and they both look a bit like crazy prospectors, which I suppose is a casualty of the road trip production starting west and moving east. Though only three minutes apiece, there’s some real, honest heartbreak here (“I ain’t proud of nothin’ except being alive,” says Jess), a reminder of just how hard a series of knocks life can deliver, especially to the young. There’s also a revelation totally deserving of the adjective “Lynchian.” Because, you see, it seems parolee Tommie is separated from his girlfriend for helping her bury a man without a permit.

Vivendi Acquires Palisades Tartan Library

Ephemera

Vivendi Entertainment has acquired the U.S. home video, digital and mobile rights to Palisades Tartan’s films, it was announced today, marking the first time the library will be available digitally to American audiences. The Palisades Tartan catalog is comprised of two unique labels: the widely popular Asia Extreme brand, highlighting a slate of daring and twisted horror, thriller and action films; and an edgy International Art House collection, boasting titles like the warped, Vincent Cassel-starring Sheitan, Michael Winterbottom’s sexually charged 9 Songs, the political documentary Bush’s Brain, and Carlos Reygadas’ Silent Light. “The Palisades Tartan catalog features an incredible slate of cutting-edge and innovative feature films,” commented Tom O’Malley, Vivendi Entertainment president. “We’re thrilled to be in business with them, as we have admired this library for a very long time.”

New Michael Moore Documentary Slated for October

Ephemera

According to Steve Weintraub over at Collider, quoting a press release from Overture Films, a new documentary from Michael Moore will see release on October 2 of this year. The as-yet-untitled film will explore the root causes of the global economic meltdown, and take a seriocomic look at the corporate and political shenanigans that culminated in what Moore has described as “the biggest robbery in the history of this country.”

David Lynch Set to Launch Interview Project

Ephemera, Trailer Watch

On June 1, legendary director David Lynch will debut Interview Project, a 121-part (yes, you read that right) web-exclusive documentary series featuring three- to five-minute portraits of ordinary Americans from all over the country. Commissioned by Lynch and compiled by a team of filmmakers who criss-crossed the United States gathering personal histories both humorous and heartrending, the series will unveil a new installment every three days for a full calendar year, until next June. EW.com has an exclusive sneak peek at the first subject.

Currently Seeking Directors? Twitter: The Film

Casting About, Ephemera

I’ve sat on this email for a bit, busy with other stuff, and he hardly needs my help with publicity, but Irish filmmaker Frank Kelly is putting together a documentary — entitled 140, naturally, after the number of permitted characters per update — about Twitter, and its sudden ascendancy as a binding social media tool/outlet. It will involve 140 filmmakers in 140 different locations around the world. The additional rub? They will shoot for 140 seconds simultaneously.

As Kelly explains: “The theme is connection. I’m asking the filmmaker what it is that connects them to their home. It can be anything they want — a landscape, cityscape, a sunrise, a wife, husband, child… it doesn’t matter. But it has to be captured in 140 seconds and at the same time as everyone else. I will designate a time and then give the call ‘Action’ on my cellphone. Everyone will receive the message at the same time and we will all start shooting together. A single moment of connection through film and the Internet, captured.”

This could be scattershot brilliant, or maybe not, but at the very least it has the potential to say something interesting about new intersections of life, community and technology; it crucially depends on some of the vetting/selection, though. Regardless, I look forward to checking back in on this. Filming is set to commence June 21. For more information, click here, or… well, just go to Twitter.

Carousel Gives Martin Scorsese and Alfonso Cuaron Erections

Ephemera, Trailer Watch

Technically, Adam Berg’s short film Carousel is “just” an ad for Philips’ flat-screen Cinema 21:9 TV. But in terms of technical achievement, it’s an eye-opener — a 139-second tracking shot of a sprawling heist shoot-out between cops and bad guys dressed as clowns, in which the characters never move, but the camera does. Somewhere, Martin Scorsese and Alfonso Cuaron jizz in their pants.

A Look at Look’s Banned “Obscene” Postcards

Amusements, Ephemera, Musings

There was a brief hullabaloo a week-plus ago when it was announced that promotional postcards for writer-director Adam Rifkin’s Look (releasing to DVD May 5 via Anchor Bay) were being rejected by the U.S. Postal Service for obscenity.

These are those postcards, which eventually arrived in my mailbox in two separate envelopes, each marked as “sexually oriented advertising.” Great, so now my postwoman knows thinks I’m a perv. If you ask me, this is totally a fix-is-in publicity stunt, a feeling the above-linked video in which Rifkin allegedly first finds out about the decision doesn’t do much to dissuade. Yes, black bars cover the thong-clad butts, but there’s the impression of willful envelope-pushing, of previously tested boundaries being poked — otherwise, why go with the cost of a multi-card mailing campaign at all, instead of an embedded viral email campaign? (Not sure, incidentally, why the first postcard rates an exclamation point, but not the second one; if one legal revelation is more shocking than the other, surely it’s the latter, no?) That said, this is a smart play, and certainly a net win for all involved: Rifkin can appear aggrieved, act shocked and get publicity for his film (look, I’m writing about it), and the USPS can score a few points with all the Sam Brownback, James Dobson and Roberta Combs types.

Trend Watch: Female Asses Waxing!

Amusements, Ephemera

Of the five movies I’ve seen in the past 30 hours, three have featured bare female asses (or their thong-clad equivalent), four have shown lingering close-ups of said asses, and three have featured women asking men if they like their asses. (Smartly, all answered yes.) Curious, this grouping… clearly a developing trend to watch. Well, one can hope, at least.

Don’t Look Now, But Scott Caan Is a Photojournalist

Amusements, Ephemera

Wait… Scott Caan has a book of photographs coming out? And it’s described as “raw photojournalism”? No offense, but the younger Caan never much struck me as an examined-life type of guy, what with all the general carousing and Playboy mansion parties. In fact, he once showed up at the Four Seasons, where he was staying, for early morning interviews for some film, I forget which, in a long silk robe and slippers, explaining in roundabout anecdotal fashion that he’d been at a pajama party the previous evening and forgot to bring a change of clothes… yeah, seriously. Oh, the book is “directed at art connoiseurs, young Hollywood voyeurs, fashionistas and street-obsessed youth.” OK, well that explains it, I guess.

Bai Ling Talks; Transformers Videogame Site Launches

Ephemera, Interviews

Rotten Tomatoes’ lovely Jen Yamato has up an interesting sit-down interview with Bai Ling, who I have it on good authority will be washing cars tomorrow in the Los Angeles area to help promote the sure-to-be-awesome Crank sequel. (Possibly more on that later.) In characteristically breezy, self-confident and oftentimes free-associating fashion, Ling talks about her hard-charging lifestyle and her own wacky blog, the drubbing she took in China after Red Corner, and Southland Tales‘ infamous Cannes Film Festival premiere, among other topics.

Also, in unrelated news, Activision has launched its official web site for the videogame companion for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, tagged as a place where fans can log on and “join a global Transformers community to get the latest news, images, videos and developer insight about the highly anticipated videogame set to hit shelves later this summer.”

Running Time Set for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen?

Ephemera, Irritations

So MTV is reporting that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will run 147 minutes, or “four minutes longer than the original film,” according to Michael Bay. Which can only mean one thing — my prayers of an even longer, more drawn-out comedy bit where Shia LaBeouf‘s parents still think he’s masturbating, despite (or maybe even because of?) the lingering presence of giant robots nearby, have been answered!

Resurrected Movieline Wades Into Online Film Coverage

Ephemera

Movieline launched in 1989, and was a snarky Hollywood lifeline for many of those flung across the country yet still hungry for smart, barbed film commentary and insightful, off-the-typical-beaten-path interviews with both up-and-comers and opinionated, loose-mouthed celebs. Now it’s baaaaack, entering a crowded online marketplace, don’tcha know, with a slew of newswire and review content, as well as a Q&A interview with Emily Blunt. Things will really take off once they get those old print issues catalogued, which really should have been part of any launch. And we’ll see how begging for “insider tips” plays out. Still, adjust your entertainment bookmarks accordingly… especially if Joe Queenan gets to make another movie.

Narrative Interruptus: Life Lacks Drama’s Smooth Arcs

Ephemera

The AP’s Ted Anthony has an interesting take on the finale of Life on Mars, and the delicate balance forever demanded of Hollywood’s creative class — that Americans want tidy resolutions, but woe be the producer who makes things too tidy. This dovetails in semi-contrasting fashion with a piece I’m looking to place elsewhere, about movies more and more becoming about a collection of moments.

Wolverine Leak-Gate’s Latest Spawns Unusual Sympathies

Ephemera, Musings

The latest on the leaked digital online version of Wolverine, from The Wrap, is that it’s a month-old work print. The FBI is involved, along with the Motion Picture Association of America. And of course the studio itself has several of its own investigators working the beat, too — unsavory arm-twisting types, if they’re smart. All are hunkered down, chasing what is being called “at least a half dozen leads.” So they’ll collar someone, eventually. And the excuse will be how the movie was initially only copied for friends, and not meant to be shared, blah blah blah. If the person is in a position to cough up major money (not likely), they’ll be sued for that; otherwise, I like to imagine it’ll be like The Net, with Rupert Murdoch‘s tech Gestapo destroying the offending party’s online profiles, wiping out bank accounts and changing any and all annotations regarding their drug allergies. And yet…

There’s a part of me that… I don’t want to say identifies with, but maybe silently roots for the criminal underdog in a situation like this? I have to think I’m not alone in this regard. I know piracy is a huge problem and concern for the industry I cover (though the shakedowns over cell phones without cameras at all-media screenings three days before a film’s release have, mercifully, slowed), and I’m not daft enough to fail to recognize its impact on studios’ bottom lines. But with industry aligned against them, and all their marshaled resources, I guess I admire the anarchic, open-source, tech warrior spirit of those that would still try to enact massive duplication-for-profit schemes, because there’s clearly an element of fuck-you, catch-me-if-you-can competition to their endeavors. Hollywood makes all kinds of movies glamorizing master swindlers (Ocean’s Thirteen, Duplicity, et al), but when something like this is pulled on them they always turn to the feds, and start pulling all the strings that will assist them in future favorable protective legislation.

I guess I’d call it the Terry Benedict factor; in livelihood crimes of this type (i.e., no gunplay, kidnapping or violence, but clearly for profit), when the details are removed and they’re boiled down to their barest essence, there’s typically a hungry, entrepreneurial mover/schemer on one side and on the other someone who’s kind of a douche, or at least a rube. In this equation, Hollywood studios are the latter, plain and simple. And it’s not just a rich guy/poor guy thing; it has something to do with the fact that they haven’t instilled a proper cultural respect for what they do, and their products.

Warner Bros. Archive DVD Site Swamped By Demand

Ephemera, Musings

Within hours of its online sell-through site for its classic DVD archive going live, Warner Bros. was swamped with demand that crashed its site, according to Anne Thompson. Well, sure. Were they really surprised? This is the great untapped resource of studios with deep vaults, and the Hollywood equivalent of Big Auto sitting on and/or muffling emergent technologies until it figures out how to wring every last dollar out of existing platforms and mediums. If Hollywood worked at creating actual, lasting fans of cinema rather than merely chasing the short money offered in Hot-Shit Videogame Adaptation XIII, they’d be able to even more lucratively leverage these vast reservoirs of captured entertainment, for generations to come. Warner Bros.’ initial slate of 150 films never before released to DVD includes everything from 1943’s Mr. Lucky, with Cary Grant and Laraine Day, and 1962’s All Fall Down, with Warren Beatty and Eva Marie Saint, to 1986’s Wisdom, with Demi Moore and Emilio Estevez.

Monday, Bloody Monday: Driving, Sitting, Meeting, Screening

Ephemera

A long, stacked day, beginning with a screener, then three on-site screenings, and, finally, about to be capped with the last two episodes of Breaking Bad, in advance of an interview tomorrow with Aaron Paul. More to follow on those events, but it’s worth at least mentioning in offhand fashion that James Toback’s Mike Tyson documentary, which opens in late April from Sony Pictures Classics, would make a great New Beverly double feature with Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye, which I called “a fascinating, cathartic, from-the-ground-up reconstruction of an American pariah.” Oh, there are some parallels. As well as plenty of ammunition for nurturists.