Episode 1 9
This Week in Movies #19 with Director Seth Gordon
Sundays at 8pm PDT
This week we have director of King of Kong, Four Christmases, and the upcoming Horrible Bosses, Seth Gordon.
Hosts
Farrell Roth
Lon Harris
Roger Erik Tinch (news)
Introduction
Farrell opened the show talking about the chat room, which had correctly guessed that she had attended Catholic School and wanted to see her in her school girl outfit. (She hinted that perhaps one day she will oblige.) She also mocked Lon’s T-shirt, which showed Calvin and Hobbes impersonating Han and Chewie from “Star Wars.”
Trailer Talk
“London Boulevard” is an upcoming British gangster film from William Monahan, writer of “The Departed.” It stars Colin Farrell, Keira Knightley and Ray Winstone.
Lon is a fan of the genre and, though he feels like the entire British gangster genre has become sort of tired, he nevertheless trusts Monahan and Winstone to deliver a worthwhile outing.
John Cameron Mitchell (“Hedwig and the Angry Inch”) helms this adaptation of the award-winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire. Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart play a couple coping with the loss of their young son in a tragic accident.
Both Lon and Farrell think the film looks powerful, but both noted that Nicole Kidman’s extensive plastic surgery and collagen enhancements make her hard to take seriously as a suburban mom.
In Theaters
Lon’s verdict: Not bad, but not great either.
“Megamind” and “Monsters and Aliens” demonstrate, if nothing else, that DreamWorks has seriously upped its game in terms of animation quality. They’re still nowhere near PIXAR, but these last two films from them are taking their look in a new direction, and the actual character designs are overall pretty neat. Megamind’s “minion” in this film (the fishbowl creature) looks really creepy and bizarre and unpleasant, and it’s kind of cool that it even made it into the film without being prettied up a bit.
Will Ferrell as Megamind and David Cross as the Minion work well together, and have almost all the film’s best dialogue between the two of them. Brad Pitt hits the right notes as “Metro Man” and Tina Fey is basically just being Tina Fey in animated form, but it’s hard not to notice that the human characters are FAR less interesting than the aliens and minions and sci-fi elements.
- 2 Major Problems:
(1) We have now seen this exact concept – tongue-in-cheek, self-aware comedies set in a superhero universe – played out so many times, I’m not sure there’s any more fertile ground for new entries. This is basically just “The Incredibles” + “Dr. Horrible.”
(2) It does the “Mission: Impossible” gimmick which I’m really coming to HATE, where a character has access to such amazing disguises, they can basically be impersonating anyone at any time. It kills the tension, as you’re never sure if what you’re seeing is really happening, or if characters are who they say they are.
Farrell’s verdict: Good for a rainy day rental
Though Farrell praised the performances, particularly by James Gandolfini, in this slow-burn indie domestic drama, she also found the story largely predictable. She does admire Kristen Stewart branching out and taking challenging roles outside of the “Twilight” universe.
Lon’s verdict: A sentimental but powerfully told survivor story that succeeds despite a reliance on flash and gimmickry
Danny Boyle adapts the true story of adrenaline junkie Aron Ralston, who was trapped in a Utah canyon for the titular length of time before having to saw off his own arm in order to survive and gain his freedom.
Once the film settles in to its primary location, with Ralston pinned under a rock and unable to escape, Boyle exhibits a mastery – particularly of pace – that I’ve never really seen from him.
Like “Trainspotting,” the film is really made up of individual sequences with their own tone, soundtrack and styles. Though in this case, we align with Aron’s shifting mood and perspective on his potential demise. It feels like it shouldn’t work, like it should be cheesy, but it’s actually really effective, and there’s a realism to the flashbacks themselves (it’s little stolen moments that Aron sees, rather than climactic, significant events) that makes them compelling.
Farrell’s verdict: A disappointing, mean-spirited comedy without any likable characters
Farrell had hoped the enjoy “Due Date” in the same spirit as Todd Phillips other films, but it fails to live up to the standards of “Road Trip” and “Hangover,” despite superficial similarities. She felt that making both Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis‘ characters – stuck together on a long road trip – hugely unlikable was a big problem, and that the attempts to make them sympathetic and inject some emotion in the third act was too little, too late.
“Fair Game”
Farrell’s verdict: An involving real-life thriller that’s both entertaining and educational
“Fair Game” is Doug Liman’s chronicle of the Valerie Plame case, starring Naomi Watts as outed CIA agent Plame and Sean Penn as her husband, Joe Wilson. Farrell said the film gave her a better understanding of the facts of the case while also working as an intense thriller and a drama. She praised both Watts and Penn’s performances and wondered by Watts isn’t in more good movies.
Hollywood Headlines with Roger Tinch
Here are some of the stories we covered this week:
Tim Burton is working on a new film version of the popular vampire soap opera “Dark Shadows,” set to star Johnny Depp. Lon is sick of both vampire films and Tim Burton remaking old pop culture artifacts. He wants Burton to pick up some random original weird script and work on that.
The “Dark Shadows” script was written by Seth Grahame-Smith, author of the novel “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” This historical horror-fantasy is also being adapted for the screen.
- Martin Sheen and Sally Field in “Spider-Man”?
Casting news from the new “Spider-Man” reboot. The legendary Martin Sheen has been tapped to play Uncle Ben, while Sally Field will play Aunt May. The producers have also announced that Mary Jane Watson will not appear in the film, and instead it seems likely that Emma Stone will portray Gwen Stacy as the love interest.
Snyder has opened up a bit about his new big-screen “Superman” project, tentatively titled “Superman: Man of Steel.” He says that the film, which he is developing with writer David Goyer, will not stray from the classic DC comics canon while still being a fresh take on the character.
- Sam Mendes’ Bond is back on?
Now that MGM has officially filed for bankruptcy, work is starting up again on the 23rd James Bond movie, that will complete the trilogy of Bond films starring Daniel Craig. Sam Mendes had been set to direct the third as-yet-untitled Bond adventure before MGM’s financial worries put the project on indefinite hiatus. There may be some scheduling conflicts now, however, as Craig has signed on to appear in the film adaptations of Steig Larsson’s “Millenium trilogy” of novels (“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” etc.), all 3 of which are shooting back-to-back.
Interview with Seth Gordon
“The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” trailer
Gordon discussed his work on the cult hit gaming documentary “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,” his switch to mainstream studio projects on “Four Christmases” and the upcoming “Horrible Bosses,” and his work on the newly-released documentary version of the best-seller “Freakonomics.”
Closing
Join us next week, when our guest will be Stephanie Soechtig, director of the bottled water expose “Tapped.”
