Movies
May252006
Filed Under Movies
An article in June’s Esquire portrays Mike Judge as somewhat cowed by the studio on the release of his next film Idiocracy - particularly because they won’t let him show the writer the trailer (apparently the first version that 20th Century Fox has got right). The writer find this particularly distressing, considering Judge created the white collar manifesto Office Space
which has, in my mind, really become a classic comedy of our time - as symbolic as Modern Times
was of the 30s. The treatment of Idiocracy doesn’t bother me so much from the perspective of Office Space being a rallying cry for workers, but because there hasn’t been one thing that Judge has touched that has failed comedically yet ( and commercially if you could Office Space’s success on DVD & cable). Why second guess this man?
Idiocracy has one of those hit yourself in the head premises that you wish you thought of: Luke Wilson plays an “average dumbass” who gets put into hibernation and awakes 500 years into the future where after years of the stupid people breeding and the smart people not, he’s now the smartest man on Earth. All you have to do is think of Kevin Federline to know how true the idea is. The rest of the script involves a save the world plot that is really just an excuse to explore how far the world has sunk (no one drinks water but rather “Rauncho, The Thirst Mutilator” according to this script review). It doesn’t sound as subtle or recognizable as Office Space, but the exaggerations of our culture to its logical extreme sound hysterical. (I’d love to read the script, if anyone has a copy.)
Apparently the studio was a little afraid of testing, according to Judge making trailers where instead of setting up humor, it attempts to set up wonder ("What if you could travel through time..."). Plus they’ve backed away from spending money on the special effects of a Ghostbuster-level premise ( to circumvent, director Robert Rodriguez apparently did one special effect scene for free for Judge ). But the worst is the amount of time they sat on completing the film - leaving everything in a limbo that erodes creators’ confidence and care.
Idiocracy apparently finally see release on September 1st and it’ll probably be the last time Judge deals with a studio. I’ve read postings that the next films he does will be self-financed. So much the better, more control and less doubt are what someone with this track record deserves.
Mar132006
Filed Under Aspen Comedy Festival, Movies
Lemon: Annabelle Gurwitch was fired by Woody Allen. “You look retarded,” he said.
Lemonade: “Fired!” - a collection of stories from comedians, actors and writers about how they were fired. It’s been a live show, a book and, now, a movie currently in search of a buyer.
The toughest venue at the festival was the Bellyup and, “Fired! Live” had the distinction of playing at two in the afternoon on Friday, a rough time for comedy. I had read a couple of the essays in the recent book
already, so I was well aware of how entertaining they were even if the audience laughs were sparse. (The biggest laugh came when Dana Gould yelled at latecomers and then pretended to start reading his essay from the beginning.) A common theme for all the stories is how shitty the jobs were in the first place - they were a blessing to be fired from. Even the Woody Allen play Annabelle was fired from is described by the New York Times as “disappointing" (noted with some deserved glee by her). My favorite essay and performance was from Andy Borowitz, who failed to be invited back as a writer for “The Fact of Life” because he actually attempts to make the characters funny rather than the “sarcastic black one” and the “sarcastic fat one.”
The film “Fired!”, along with including these stories, attempts a larger social look, with examinations of plant closings, conversations with economists like Robert Reich (who sneaks a plug in for his son’s sketch group Dutch West) and visits to job fairs and career reassessment seminars. After showing a rah-rah “We Love GM” day in Lansing. Michigan, the film then documents how GM lays off workers anyway. In the face of that, I could see some critiquing Annabelle for dwelling on her own firing by Woody Allen (the scene where she shares her experience in a class attended by other displaced workers is likely to get the most jibes), but the film points out quite accurately that anyone who’s gets fired ends of obsessing about it - it’s equally traumatic to all. The film makes clear that nearly all of us can expect to get fired at some point in our careers and gives some comfort just by sharing it. I don’t think it’ll replace “Office Space”
as everyone’s go-to video for when they’re shit-canned, but maybe it’ll be a good second choice if it’s out.
Mar112006
Filed Under Aspen Comedy Festival, Movies
Disappointing. Dan Clowes’ original comic story is hysterical, but it’s a collection of observations, so naturally a story had to be crafted to make a film. Jerome, a naive kid from the suburbs, becomes a freshman at Strathmore, an art school where stereotypical students believe their unique voice will shine through, setting them off as the next big thing in the art world. Jerome strives to become a great artist, but the sexually-inexperienced freshman may simply believe this will help capture the love of “his muse” Audrey, whose picture he saw in the college brochure. A second storyline going on in the background about a strangler who might be affiliated with the campus.
The movie’s best when it concentrates on the budding artists interrelationships and how they critique each other. The story builds to a grand joke and it wouldn’t be a bad one. But we get there far sooner than the filmmakers, so the surprise required to land the joke is gone. Plus, Jerome attempts a ploy to win the girl’s affection that results in him missing out on a massive clue that’s so obvious, he appears stupid. The film is unsparing in its critique of all the characters, but I don’t think it wants us to think Jerome is dumb. There’s definitely moments here, but the whole is sadly lacking.
Mar102006
Filed Under Aspen Comedy Festival, Movies
Was looking forward to this one and it didn’t disappoint. Based off the fantastic Christopher Buckley book (Bizarrely, i felt stupid when I asked people if they read it and they said “no"), the movie featured Aaron Eckheart as Nick Naylor, a man who talks for a living for big tobacco. He’s charged with reversing the downward trend in teen smoking by his employers, a lobbyist group who scientists have found no link between smoking and any ill-health effects (their scientst, Nick says, could “disprove gravity"). The film is definitely an adult satire, in some ways a celebration of a lack of integrity. Director Jason Reitman plays with putting icons and symbols, using them to highlight and creating jokes that would require exposition otherwise. There’s all kinds of small bits layered in the background, such as the all-black pallbearers at the funeral of a North Carolina Big Tobacco lord, creating a richness that rewards multiple viewings. The ending is nicely uncompromised as well. And the big plus for not creating some faux-revelation: the movie was the perfect length for a comedy - 92 mnutes.
Jan252006
Filed Under Movies
Reader Sean Smith dropped word that Bob Odenkirk’s short “The Pity Card”, a segment from his television pilot “Derek and Simon” is now up on the Sundance Website. Watch Pity Card here. The short revolves around the discomfort after a first date at the Holocaust Museum with a girl who was unaware of the Holocaust. (The creative tab for the movie player says, perhaps a little defensively, the girl was based on a real person.) Zach Galifianakis also appears in the short, sharing about how a variety of diseases aren’t so bad to have. HBO appears to have been the original target for “Derek and Simon”, but they aren’t making any more. Reparations for failing to make a fifth season of Mr. Show must be repaid someday, HBO. Tick-tock.
Dec282005
Filed Under Movies, Print
Usually when a novel trumpets that it’s “laugh out loud funny”, it’s the kind of funny where the characters have twisted themselves an ironic situation that’s makes you inwardly acknowledge “oh, yes, the characters have put themselves in quite the amusing predicament.” But no laughs. One book that did live up to those promises was Christopher Buckley’s “Thank You for Smoking”
. There’s many hysterical scenes in that book, including (spoiler) an attempt to kill a tobacco lobbyist with nicotine patches (a bit NewsRadio, another old favorite, concurrently did). So I’ve had high expectations for the film adaptation, and even with the bidding war from this year’s Toronto Film Festival, I’ve been waiting for a preview that shows they didn’t fuck it up.
The first trailer gave me a lot of hope. Aaron Eckhart appears to have a perfect handle on the sincere insincerity required for a lobbyist of an addictive, killing product. Writer and director Jason Reitman seeming to laying out great material grounded in reality, letting the exaggerations play subtly. No release date is set yet, but it’s be sometime after Sundance, as it’s an official selection of the festival.
Dec202005
Filed Under Movies
At bobanddavid.com, Bob Odenkirk posted yesterday that a favorite project of his - a TV pilot entitled “Derek and Simon” - will, naturally, not be made into a series. The saving grace this time is that will be part of the Sundance Film Festival. And even if you can’t make it to Utah (due to not being a film executive, a mormon or Mr. Redford), they’ll also be showing it on the web starting January 19 at the following address:
http://festival.sundance.org/2006/watch/index.aspx
I’ll be sure to remind you when the time comes. I take Bob’s word that it’s good stuff, since another show of his “Next!” (which saw no light of day save for the Other Network) featured a fantastic sketch of a R & B singer cheating on the American flag. Sigh. Maybe if this is a huge download, Bob will forget network middlemen and just try podcasting.
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