Category Archives: Ephemera

Joaquin Phoenix Leaps From Stage, Attacks Rap Heckler

Amusements, Ephemera, Irritations

So nouveau rapper Joaquin Phoenix jumped off the stage and attacked a heckler at a hip-hop club gig last night in Miami, according to reports, the type of behavior that’s making it increasingly hard for me to defend his bird’s-nest-haired career switcheroo as just a creative-minded Nestea plunge, and a case of aggressively feeling the moment in the manner that a nice financial security blanket will allow. This is the type of shit people do to manufacture attention, and/or when they don’t have any smart people who care about them around them. I’d like to think the latter isn’t the case with Phoenix, so…

Serious Moonlight Booked for Tribeca Premiere

Ephemera

David Bowie gets a nice nod, in the form of Serious Moonlight; written by the late Adrienne Shelly and directed by Cheryl Hines, the movie will premiere at the forthcoming Tribeca Film Festival, it was announced today. “It’s a thrill to have Serious Moonlight premiering at the
Tribeca Film Festival,” said producer Andy Ostroy. “It’s a poignant
story penned by my late wife and directed by Cheryl Hines, who brought
incredible sensitivity and vision to the project. Adrienne lived and
worked in Tribeca, so being a part of the festival is especially
gratifying and exciting.”

The film’s plot is described thusly: After she arrives at her country home for a romantic weekend getaway, things don’t go exactly as planned for high-powered Manhattan lawyer Louise (Meg Ryan). First, her husband of 13 years, Ian (Timothy Hutton), tells her that he’s leaving her for a younger woman (Kristen Bell). One thing leads to another and pretty soon Ian finds himself held captive by an oddly cool Louise, who explains that she won’t release him until he professes his love for her and commits to working on their marriage. And that’s when things really start to go wrong. The unexpected arrival of an opportunistic young gardener (Justin Long) and Ian’s impatient mistress only serve to complicate the crisis even further, while somehow forcing Louise and Ian to reckon with their past and realistically deal with their future.

Twilight Preps for Midnight DVD Bow

Ephemera

On Friday, March 20, from 10 p.m. until midnight, Summit Home Entertainment will provide Twilight fans across the country with the chance to celebrate the midnight DVD release of the film. The “Twilight at Midnight” promotion will allow participating retailers the opportunity to stay open late as fans line up to purchase the DVD of the epic, $300 million worldwide smash at midnight parties. The movie’s official web site will feature a unique store locator that will help fans can find out which retailers will be holding midnight parties. In addition, the site will have updated announcements of special surprises related to actors in the film. “We wanted to say thank you to all of those who came out in droves last year and helped make Stephenie Meyer’s characters and story a truly successful movie,” said Summit Entertainment President of Home Entertainment, Steve Nickerson, presumably while making inaudible ka-ching, ka-ching noises in his mind.

Second Season of The Lair Drops

Ephemera

After sinking its teeth into a successful first season, Liberation Entertainment is set to release the complete second season of The Lair, the gay vampire spin-off of Dante’s Cove, and a staple of the evening line-up on here!, America’s premium gay cable television network.

Combining the horror, vampire and GLBT genres with just the right balance of camp, The Lair is created, written and directed by Fred Olen Ray, the
schlockmeister behind such cult films as Bad Girls from Mars and
Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers. The show centers around a haven created by a sexy pack of vampires as an erotic playspace to satisfy their desires for the finest flesh. Naturally, being gay vampires, they don’t always play so nice, so the Lair is now the stage of a frenzied battle for total domination. Featuring heated performances by Peter Stickles, (Shortbus), Dylan Vox and Colton Ford (Naked Fame), the second season of The Lair is billed as laying bare the boundaries between pleasure and pain, with more masculine grinding and even deeper bite.

Available on DVD this week, The Lair: The Complete Second Season features over two hours of bloodsucking additional content in a two-disc widescreen set. Special features include a behind-the-scenes featurette, actors’ commentary and a special, very shirt-challenged photo gallery. For more information, click here.

New Donald Strachey Mystery Hits DVD

Ephemera

The third installment in the ongoing Donald Strachey franchise, starring Chad Allen as a gay private investigator, hits DVD this week in the form of On the Other Hand, Death, co-starring Margot Kidder.

Directed by Emmy nominee Ron Oliver, On the Other Hand, Death begins with Dorothy Fisher (Kidder) and Edith Strong (Gabrielle Rose) asleep in each other’s arms on the second floor of their long-time farmhouse. Downstairs, a shadowy figure breaks through the glass door. When Edith goes to investigate the noise, she discovers hateful graffiti sprawled across the walls: “dykes go home.” After speaking with the neighbors, Donald discovers that Dorothy and Edith recently rejected a developer’s over-priced bid for their property. Everyone else in the neighborhood wanted desperately to sell their houses (though in this economy, I’m not sure who’s buying), and Edith would have sold as well, but Dorothy wanted to keep her home of nearly 40 years rather than merely make money for corporate profit.

As professional things heat up with regards to such hate crimes, and similar difficulties faced by the LGBT community, personal matters also get complicated when Donald’s partner Tim (Sebastian Spence) gets a surprise visit from his sexy and charming ex-boyfriend Andrew (Damon Runyan), who also happens to be a good friend of Dorothy. Andrew makes a pass at Donald, and challenges Donald’s loyalty to Tim. Andrew’s very presence thus puts the pair’s commitment to the test.

On the Other Hand, Death is presented in 16×9 widescreen, with Dolby digital 2.0 stereo and Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound audio tracks. For more information on the film, click here; to purchase the DVD via Amazon, click here.

Oscar Nominated Shorts Go To iTunes

Ephemera

Shorts International, the world’s leading short film entertainment company, has announced the release of this year’s Academy Award Best Short Film nominees, in both the live action and animation categories, on iTunes in the United States and the United Kingdom. A collected program of the short films continues to enjoy a successful run in U.S. theaters, where its opening weekend broke the record at New York’s IFC Center for the highest weekend gross ever on a single screen, at $24,006. “Even the New York Times has noted that this year’s hottest Oscar nominees are the live action and animated short films,” said Carter Pilcher, Chief Executive of Shorts International. “We’re thrilled to be iTunes’ partner in this endeavor.”

Marisa Tomei, Kate Winslet and Oscar Nudity

Awards, Ephemera, Interviews

For a piece in today’s Calendar section about actresses and nudity in Oscar-winning roles, the Los Angeles Times‘ Rachel Abramowitz talks to Marisa Tomei about her on-screen nudity in both Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead and The Wrestler, and the well-toned actress pooh-poohs talk about a new direction for her career: “I happened to get offered The Wrestler after I did that movie,” she says. “It’s not like I’m in my nude phase now.”

Standard stuff that, somewhat refreshingly, mostly rises above knee-jerk claims of sexism, except for the factually incorrect assertion that, “Every day, actresses such as Jessica Alba, Scarlett Johansson and Eliza Dushku seem to be swearing off nudity like teenagers joining abstinence clubs.” Dushku in fact appears briefly nude in The Alphabet Killer, a recent DVD release.

Warner Bros. Denies Sherlock Holmes Reshoot Rumors

Ephemera

British tabloid The Sun reported yesterday that filmmaker Guy Ritchie had been told to reshoot five weeks’ worth of footage after studio bosses were unhappy with an early cut of Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Kelly Reilly and Eddie Marsan. But in a statement last night, The Guardian reports, Warner Bros. said executives had not yet seen the movie, which was “still early in the production process.”

Fifty Filmmakers Drops Next Week

Ephemera

Fellow journalist Michael Dequina, whom I know and respect, grabs collaborator status on a new compilation book of interviews, Fifty Filmmakers: Conversations With Directors from Roger Avary to Steven Zaillian, with primary author Andrew J. Rausch. It’s out next week, and well worth a read. To pre-order via Amazon, click here.

Film Independent Series Adds New Panelists

Ephemera

Film Independent has announced a couple additions to its Directors Close-Up: Conversations on the Art of Filmmaking series. Joining the weekly themed panel chats with independent film fixtures and top-shelf below-the-line talent, all moderated by Mary Sweeney, are: sound designer (and Wall▪E voice maestro) Ben Burtt; Right at Your Door writer-director Chris Gorak; The Secret Life of Bees writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood; and Notorious screenwriter Reggie Rock Bythewood. For more information on the series, including ticket prices and specific dates, click here.

Variety Lay-Offs Claim Anne Thompson

Ephemera, Irritations

The industry/publishing world blood-letting continues — deputy editor Anne Thompson was among the estimated 30 lay-offs at Variety yesterday. She says her blog, Thompson on Hollywood, will continue uninterrupted, for now, and that there are other irons in the fire, of course. Sucks. Big-time, as Dick Cheney would say. But who doesn’t have multiple irons in the fire these days? It’s the only wise, proactive move, sadly.

Luke Y. Thompson Assays the New CityBeat

Amusements, Ephemera, Irritations

I may have a horse in this race, it’s true, but I’ll just say that over on his blog Luke Y. Thompson really nails the unfolding, ongoing CityBeat situation, in all its mouth-agape curiosity. To briefly set all this on a tee, in the wake of Ella Taylor being let go by L.A. Weekly just a couple weeks ago, CityBeat decided two weeks ago that film editor/critic Andy Klein was a luxury they could no longer afford. I’ll spare some bleak-sounding insider-ish details, because I realize the hard-knock economic reality of things in general, and the publishing world specifically (in Klein and Taylor, probably the two most veteran local critics still
working in the aftermath of Kevin Thomas’ retirement have just been let
go), and I also don’t really know new publisher Will Swaim. But, this bizarre but to my knowledge true bon mot: in the wake of clearing their chief film critic from their books, CityBeat made no effort to even contact any of its film writers.

Film Independent Panel Series Puts Fans, Directors Close-Up

Ephemera

Starting February 4, Film Independent kicks off Directors Close-Up: Conversations on the Art of Filmmaking (formerly the Directors Series) every Wednesday at 7:30 pm at the Landmark Theater in West Los Angeles. Now entering its eighth year, this popular panel series continues until March 11, and will provide film lovers and aspiring filmmakers the chance to hear from some of the best indie directors and their collaborators. This year’s moderator, Mary Sweeney, is a longtime creative collaborator of David Lynch as well as a Film Independent Board Member. Featured panelists for this year include Catherine Hardwicke, former Film Independent Fellows Lance Hammer (Ballast) and Courtney Hunt (Frozen River), Jonathan Levine (The Wackness), Elliot Davis (cinematographer for Twilight, Lords of Dogtown), Rodrigo Garcia (In Treatment, Passengers), Nancy Richardson (editor for Twilight, Lords of Dogtown) and Savage Grace screenwriter Howard Rodman. For more information on the series, including ticket prices and specific dates, click here.

Jeff Dowd Talks More About Sundance Dust-Up

Ephemera, Interviews

At Sundance, Variety critic John Anderson punched Dirt! producer Jeff Dowd in the face. Via the film’s publicist, Dowd sent out an e-mail discussing the incident. Now there’s more. A lot more. So who am I to deny the Dude a chance to (inimitably) speak his mind? Extended excerpts from Dowd’s long second missive regarding the incident:

“Film criticism is fine, but ill-informed assumptions about how the public will react are not what is best for the planet and not in the spirit of the dialogue that goes on at Sundance. He simply didn’t do a reporter’s homework and listen to audience members before saying, ‘People will not respond to this film.’

What especially bothered me is when I told John how well the audiences were reacting, John said: ‘They are just sheep.’ Had he stayed for the Q&A, John would have seen that these were some pretty smart sheep, who see a lot of films and are perfectly capable of critical thinking and also have a deep enough analysis of what’s going on in the world today and how Dirt! The Movie and what it shows is possible can play an important role in making life on our planet better before it is too late. I guess I am just a sucker for inspired sheep more than critical lemmings who are about to go of the cliff’s edge.

I think this is why John and Laura Kim conducted an extensive interview with me for their fine book I Wake Up Screening. I spoke about the relationship of movies I had worked on, like Academy Award winners Hearts and Minds, Chariots of Fire and Gandhi as well as War Games and many documentaries like those of my friend Neil Young, and how they opened people’s hearts and minds and inspired them and therefore gained tremendous critical, media and grassroots support. I reminded John of this yesterday and said I believe based on the reaction of several hundred ‘sheep’ at four screenings that Dirt! The Movie will be one such film. I know that by the shank of the fest critics are justifiably burnt-out, nonetheless John simply didn’t allow himself to see the reality here.We are at a historic time when information and dialogue are the life-blood of democracy and are essential to the future of the planet. At this time when we are at THE CLIFF’S EDGE (caps his), gratefully informative and hopeful movies like Dirt! The Movie deserve discussion, not the simple dismissal John was unfortunately giving it.”

Now, more about the fisticuffs, specifically:

“After a couple minutes of calm discussion with John as we walked from the Holiday Cinemas to the Yarrow, he decided to cut off the conversation because he had a breakfast meeting (ironically with Diane Weyerman, formerly the head of Sundance Docs and now at Particpant Productions, which is all about progressive films like An Inconvenient Truth and grassroots follow-up. I had also spoken with Jeff Skoll, founder of Particpant, about Dirt!, and he was interested).

So after John left I had a choice: Do I let John write a review which I felt at best was half the story and would be the first review out of Sundance, or do I try to re-engage him? What would you do? What would Gandhi or Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks or Michael Moore do at that moment in time? What was my responsibility to the filmmakers, the sheep who loved the film, my two daughters and the future of the planet? Should the Dude say fuck it and just go bowling or should I not let this intellectual aggression stand and try to re-engage John? I went into the Yarrow dinning room and sat down next to John and Diane and said: “John, I think this is worthy of more discussion.” He responded: “I am trying to have my breakfast and if you don’t leave I am going to punch you out.” He then rose and screamed, “Throw this riff raff out of here.”

I left and ran into the Dirt! filmmakers heading into the Yarrow to have breakfast and conduct an interview. At that moment Jackie “The Jokeman” Martlin of The Howard Stern Show came up to me and said: “Jeff, what a great film Dirt! is. I learned so much and was so inspired.” As we walked into the dinning room I introduced Jackie to John Anderson, who was about eight feet away on the other side of a table for six and said: “John, here is one of those people who liked Dirt!.” John said, “Are you a friend of Jeff’s?” Jackie responded: “I know Jeff, but the point is that this is a very important and inspiring film.” John said: “I am trying to eat my breakfast.” Jackie said: “I understand but this may be more important than you continuing to eat your breakfast for a bit.”

John then turned red and rose up and said: “Jeff, I warned you I was going to punch you out if you tried to talk to me anymore.” I stood there with my hands at my sides. (I am a wrestler and an activist, and we are trained to keep our hands down so as a wrestler we can tackle someone if necessary and as an activist so our hands raised won’t be mis-interpreted as a possible attack position.) John then approached me and threw three jabs to my chest , shoulder and head. None of them even fazed me, which I think surprised John, who works out and has a stance that looks like he has indeed boxed. He turned and started to walk away a few paces and then looked at me and walked back and threw his best solid jab at my mouth, trying to floor me. My head went back a few inches but it didn’t faze me either. I only hope John doesn’t find himself in a real situation where he overestimates his boxing skills and gets hurt.

We left and the manager came up to us and said he had called the police to arrest John. When the police arrived several people came up to the Park City police officer Bob deBotelho and gave him their business cards and said they wanted to testify that John assaulted me. The same was true of many restaurant staff members. In all fairness, Nick Frazier from the BBC and a colleague told the officer that they felt I was harassing John. They of course hadn’t seen the movie, or witnessed John’s anti-intellectual and un-democratic attitude towards me. And as a Jew and an Irishmen I of course understand that there is an unfortunate tradition of British violence and failure to get to the bottom of the story — Tony Blair! I have faith that when Nick sees Dirt! and hears the whole story he will be able to make a distinction between harassment and intellectual engagement at crucial times in history. Maybe he should ask Lord David Puttnam (the producer of Chariots of Fire) about me.

The officer said: “I have more than enough witnesses to arrest the assailant, do you want to press charges?” I declined at that time because I like John, I think he is a good journalist and critic and a person who is a dad and someone who cares about our planet and future. And I don’t think he is a danger to society or would inflict violence on women. He was just having an overwhelming and busy day which had severely lowered his intellectual capacity to room temperature, and was clearly needing food more than ideas and inspiration at that moment. Under other circumstances we might have shared a meal together, had a good conversation and I might have learned from him and he from me.”

Jeff Dowd Talks About Fight with Variety’s John Anderson

Ephemera, Interviews

So the big news swirling around Sundance today was of course that Jeff Dowd, a producer on the film Dirt! and the basis of Jeff Bridges’ character in The Big Lebowski, got punched in the face by Variety critic John Anderson after a disagreement and extended argument/conversation/monologue about the documentary. (Anne Thompson rounds up the situation nicely here, including interviews with the principals.) Not there, so I’ll spare my thoughts. But Dowd’s remarks on the incident, passed along by Dirt! publicist Mickey Cottrell, are as follows:

“My disagreement with John was not over his critical reaction, which he has every right to, but his statement that the film wouldn’t appeal to the public. I suggested he come back into the theater for the Q&A, and he would observe what we had seen at all for [sic] screenings — that audiences felt the film had all kinds of new information and practical solutions. It wasn’t homework, but hope made pragmatic on how we can change the planet in keeping with Obama’s Inauguration speech. I told John one of scores of examples of this was when John Densmore of The Doors stood up at our first screening (after a sustained audience applause at the end) and said, ‘I have my own film here — which I clearly care about — but here is my ballot which I marked 4 stars because Dirt! is the film that should win the Sundance Festival.’ That was emblematic of all the great feedback. I just asked John Anderson to put that in the mix before making assumptions that audiences would respond negatively. It should also be said that a vast majority of audience members liked the film not just because they ‘support the cause.’ We have heard dozens of comments about the quality of the filmmaking as well. In the spirit of John Waters, we even had smell-o-vision at one screening where you could smell the sweet earthy scent of dirt and mother Earth.”