Mark It!

Click on the above image for the full size version, as posted on Silent Bob Speaks

So as you may remember, back in August we exclusively dropped a couple of details about Kevin Smith’s new project – the horror film “Red State”. Hearing it straight from the horses mouth, I’m still pretty chuffed that I got the spelling of Abin Cooper correct.

Anyway, as a Halloween treat, Smith dropped the teaser poster on his Twitter feed, with the above-linked post to his blog.

Here’s the skinny. Wrap party was held two days after principle photography was in the can, with a fine cut (complete with credits) screened at Smith’s house in LA for around two hundred cast and crew. Efficiency much? Shot on the appropriately-named RED camera system (Adrian and I have done films on RED and yes, it is the camera of the lower-budget Gods) for around $4M dollars, independently financed, and the first project of the new production company “The Harvey Boys” with ex-Miramaxer Jon Gordon producing, Red State promises to be a massive departure for the writer/director, and personally that’s something I’m excited about. With a cast including Michael Parks and John Goodman, you can be certain Smith isn’t going for your standard horror flick.

While the current plan is to submit the film to Sundance for competition, we’ll keep you posted with details about Red State, while leaving you with the teaser poster (nicknamed as “the Holy Ghost”), lovingly released in a size you can slap up as your desktop wallpaper. Interesting note: the teaser image wasn’t done by anyone from a marketing department. Producer Jon Gordon’s assistant Melissa Bloom is credited for the striking image you see above (with a little help from Smith’s all-round web/tech associate Ming Chen). Within a week of wrapping the film, it’s screened and a teaser poster is released. Talk about moving quickly!

So with that, we’ve only got one question for Smith right now…

How long till the first trailer?

A couple of days ago, American cinema lost someone who had a marked effect on my life, George Hickenlooper, one of the directors of “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse”. He was 47.

A quick bit of backstory. Before DVD was prevalent, and to a kid who never had Laser Disk, there wasn’t much in the way of seeing how movies were made. In Australia, even less so. A few documentaries here and there, a couple of precious television specials, and a few dusty-looking VHS tapes in a local video library.

One of those was “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse”, the incredible behind the scenes story of the making of “Apocalypse Now”, Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam classic. Between “Hearts of Darkness”, “The Making of Star Wars” and “SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back”, I had two full VHS tapes dubbed with precious material. I hadn’t even seen “Apocalypse Now” when I saw “Hearts of Darkness” for the first time.

Late last week my copy of “Apocalypse Now: Full Disclosure Edition” arrived on Blu-ray Disc. In addition to the 1979 theatrical cut, the 2001 Redux release, and (in high definition), “Hearts of Darkness”, an essential chronicle of the film’s production.

Over the past few days I’ve rewatched “Apocalypse” and some of the special features, and as always, whenever I watch it I remain enthralled by it, immediately remembering just how much I love the film.

And I’m reminded of that young kid, reaching for the top shelf in that video store, and renting a documentary about the making of a film he’d never seen before. That same kid, a little older, a little wiser, and having seen “Apocalypse Now”, is going to give “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse” a spin tonight.

Thanks George.

If you haven’t got the new blu-ray release of Apocalypse Now yet, it’s region free. You can snap it up from Amazon right here.

Release Date: 29th October 2010 (US)/28th October 2010 (AU)

Director: Kevin Greutert
Writers: Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan
Key Cast: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Sean Patrick Flannery, Cary Elwes

When this is the statement from the director, after he has just been announced for a film…

“I just had the task of telling my 83 year old mother that no, I’m not going to be allowed to direct the movie we were all so excited about when my family last got together, and that I’m being forced to leave town before getting a chance to see her again. Yes, I’ll be filming people getting tortured YET AGAIN. So we’ll have to put off me making a film she can actually watch for another year. I’m not making this shit up.”

…you know you’re up shit creek. Greutert put that up on his blog, before quietly removing it.

After yanking “Saw VI” director Greutert (a seasoned film editor) off “Paranormal Activity 2″ by exercising a clause in his contract and forcing him to direct “Saw 3D”, Lionsgate/Twisted Pictures have finally put the nail in the coffin of the annual film series, with the ultimate chapter coming in… wait for it… 3D.

Ugh.

I’m not going to talk much about the plot or direction for Saw 3D. Why bother? It’s more of the same, except one of the traps is in broad daylight in public. Thank Christ for that, if only because the darkness issue in 3D films is still a serious problem. And yes, it’s as dark as the other entries in the series.

The plot reminds me of the James Frey/A Million Little Pieces/Oprah’s Book Club debacle. The difference? Instead of an annoyed Oprah, it’s a pissed off Jigsaw chasing after the author. I’d give you a run down on the narrative here, but what’s to say? Shit gets more twisted than every, continually looping upon itself until the Charlie Clouser-penned “Hello Zepp” creeps through the speakers and you realise you’ve had it all wrong for the previous 80 minutes. Cue someone’s line of “Game over”, cut to credits, put your popcorn in the bin on the way out.

The 3D is there. It’s not terribly well utilised, it makes the film darker, and it pointless. It’s a desperate ploy by a studio desperately trying to yank the last few shekels out of a dying franchise. Avatar this is not.

Costas Mandylor is as dull as ever, but luckily for him, he comes across slightly better in this seventh instalment. Why, you might ask? It’s simple. Chad Donella, in the role of Detective Matt Gibson gives what can only be described as the worst performance in a major motion picture in recent memory. If 3D is meant to involve the audience, then why give them a 2×4 delivering lines? Everyone else phones it in. If you want to see what it’s like for working actors who are all thinking “One last paycheck.”, then Saw 3D is for you.

If you’re invested enough in the previous six entries, yet haven’t caught the film over the weekend, I have the following advice;
Do not go see it in the cinema. Do not buy it on DVD. Do not rent it. Do not waste bandwidth downloading a copy. Do not catch it on television three years from now.

Just read the Wikipedia entry.

Saw 3D (promoted as Saw VII 3D here in Australia) has someone in common with the final canonical entries in the Friday the 13th (Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhatten) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare) franchises.

It’s a waste of time.

Rating: 1/10

So, I’ve had a pretty bad run lately in seeing films. I’m not going to name any places, because sometimes it hasn’t been their fault, and other times they’ve made attempts to rectify the situation.

Quite frankly, if I can’t make it to a really quiet session of a film, I’ll usually just watch a decent pirated copy, if it’s available. These are a few notes as to why.

Buried: This was a quiet session, with only about 10 people in the cinema. I’d say that it was a Monday night late session, but I could be wrong. People were chatting into the start of the film. Minor annoyance, but it’s not like the film has a conventional start to it. Some guy and his girl were talking. Not whispering. Talking. This was about 45 minutes into the film. I yelled out a deep “Shut the fuck up, buddy!”, which seemed to silence him. Later, I realised that a girl 3 rows in front of me was giving head to her boyfriend. Charming, eh?

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse: Nothing like a cinema smelling completely like the Colonel’s secret blend of herbs and spices. Only inattentive cinema staff could miss two heifers carting a large box of KFC into a session.

The Town: I don’t give a shit if your girlfriend doesn’t like the film. You tell her to shut up, or you take her outside. Or, you just punch her in the face. Either, I don’t want to hear her talking in the film. Ditto to girlfriends with boyfriends who are vocal in their disinterest of the film. Oh, and you might have enjoyed it if you hadn’t missed the first ten minutes (and thus, the entire set up for the rest of the film). Get there on time, or shut up and dwell in your ignorance.

The Town: I should mention that before I made it to that session (arriving just before the last trailer started), I went to another cinema of the same chain. After sitting through the ads, I head outside to enquire what the large banging is. Apparently shopping centre management neglected to inform the cinema that construction is going on tonight. The least the cinema can do is cut a loss on my overpriced Coca-Cola and give me a refund, because I’m not hanging around to see a film’s soundtrack supplemented by the joyous noises of construction. I bolted to another nearby location and made it in the nick of time.

Paranormal Activity 2: Session refunded. I left because the cinema clearly didn’t give a shit about controlling the 20 teenagers in the cinema. This chain usually checks on sessions every 15-20 minutes, a little more if it could be a rambunctious crowd, a little less if they’re watching something full of oldies. 10 minutes in, I gave up, and told them I’d catch it another time.

Ironically, when I went to see The Social Network, I had a totally pleasant experience. The irony? I nearly watched a bootleg that hit the net some twelve hours before. I really love the cinema experience. I don’t mind paying $15.00 to see a film on the big screen. What I cannot fucking stand is the general lack of respect people seem to have when seeing a movie.

Some of these events have happened at a cinema that have been good to me. When seeing Easy A, I received a phone call that my workplace at the time (another cinema) had suffered an attempted robbery. They refunded my distributor pass without issue, and I couldn’t give them enough credit for that.

That being said, here’s a few rules to providing a quality cinema experience.

Customers
Don’t be late.
Shut up.
Don’t bring hot food in.
Don’t blow your boyfriend in the cinema. Save it for the bathroom.
Don’t talk.
Don’t talk.
Don’t talk.
Turn off your phones.

Floor Staff
Know the film titles. It’s not difficult.
Check on sessions. Regularly.
If a customer asks you to notify the projectionist that they are out of focus, don’t say that you’ll do it and proceed to stand in the back of the cinema watching the trailers for 15 minutes. Notify the goddamn projectionist.
If you’re providing a sub-par cinema experience, refund the concessions. Why? Because the only reason I bought that overpriced Coca-Cola was to support you guys while watching a film. You want to charge high prices for a soda? Fine. If you refund the ticket, refund the goddamn drink too. It’s your loss for not providing a decent cinema experience.
Accept the fact that I know more about cinema presentation than you, and take the hint.

Projectionists
Check your focus and aperture plates on 35mm flat, 35mm scope. Change a lens? Check everything. Just because you have automation doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check it.

For the record, I don’t believe cinema tickets should be $20.00. I don’t go and see Gold Class, because that’s complete ass. If you’re going to create a stunning cinema with great chairs, make sure the incline is enough so that the average-height person’s head in the row in front of me isn’t cutting into the screen.

The alternative to paying for crappy service is simple. It’s called the internet. And looking at how Video on Demand will change in the next few years, if cinemas don’t lift their game, they’re going to be run into the ground by new films purchased at a premium rate to be delivered straight to the home, or piracy.

I love cinema, but not all of us live in LA, and not all of us can go to the Arclight.

Release Date: 1st October 2010 (US)/28th October 2010 (AU)

Director: David Fincher
Writer: Aaron Sorkin
Key Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake

So, some of you know how much I love a lot of David Fincher’s work (notably Se7en and Zodiac). I’ve got every episode of television that Aaron Sorkin has ever done. I’ve travelled around the country numerous times to see the Trent Reznor-fronted Nine Inch Nails.

To say I had some high expectations for The Social Network would be an understatement.

Firstly, you need to know one thing about this film. It moves fast. F-A-S-T fast. A strong espresso, a Red Bull, or a line of speed will allow you to jump in and swim because quick frankly, if you head into this tired, distracted, or inattentive, you’re going to find that you are sideswiped by a bus and lying in the gutter. It’s a perfect example of rapid-fire dialogue. You’ll want to breathe at every opportunity you get, because as the opening scene shows, you might not get a chance for a few minutes.

While the concept of “the Facebook movie” may seem unappealing, this isn’t a film you simply “like” or leave a comment on. It’s a tale of friendship, betrayal, business, loyalty, drama, and above all, ego. Sorkin’s script (based on Ben Mezrich’s “The Accidental Billionaires”) takes some liberties, but as has often been said – why let truth get in the way of a good story.

Eisenberg’s portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg is incredibly detailed, specific in it’s minutia, and completely unlikeable. This is the performance that will lift him to another level in the eyes of many viewers. From the way he walks to the way he delivers dialogue, Eisenberg crafts one of the most complete characters to land on the silver screen this year. The newly announced Spider-Man Andrew Garfield is Eduardo Saverin, the ousted former CFO of Facebook. As the source novel is based upon Saverin’s pitch to Mezrich, Garfield’s performance is the most likeable soul in the story. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, although history is usually written by the winners, this is (however distanced) how Saverin sees the events, and how he came to be unfairly removed by Zuckerberg. While positioned as the most likeable character, Garfield’s performance never strays into “poor me” territory. Saverin is flawed, human, and imperfect. However it is Justin Timberlake who is playing in the ballpark of Alpha Dog (rather than The Love Guru), portraying Sean Parker, one of the founders of Napster, that gives the most entertaining performance in the film. Suave, oily, experienced, paranoid, and above all, proud, Timberlake’s performance is almost likeable. Interestingly this isn’t due to his character’s arc or motivations, but purely down to the charismatic performance. You are waiting for him to screw you over, but he’s just so charming that you’re happy to spend time with him until he does.

Fincher’s style for The Social Network is almost a cross between the colour pallet of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, with the procedural nature of Zodiac, and there is little doubt that he has a distinct look and feel. Everything is cold, unappealing, and slightly depressing. While his shots aren’t as showy as usual, his ability to seamless push technology’s use to perfect his vision is incredibly apparent once you realise in the credits that two Harvard twins are played by a single actor. A lesser director would have had effects or shot structures that tip you off to this, or would have simply cast real life twins, Fincher found an actor for the role, and flawlessly executed it. As with so much of Fincher’s work, it’s the moments of technical mastery used to perfectly execute his vision that defines the director as one of the modern greats working in Hollywood.

Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor (in addition with longtime collaborator Atticus Ross) create a unique score for the film, sampling classical music as well as minor lifts from Nine Inch Nails’ “Ghosts I-IV” release (a 36 track collection of instrumental pieces that was described as “Soundtracks for Daydreams”). Having collaborated with Fincher previously (the opening of Se7en is a remix of Nine Inch Nails’ most successful track “Closer” and Fincher previously directed the music video for the band’s single “Only”), this is obviously a collaboration that is slightly out of the box for Reznor and Ross, yet they successfully build a synthesised score that at times recalls the great Wendy Carlos.

The Social Network is the adult drama that Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps wanted to be. It’s currently the frontrunner for my favourite film of the year, pushing Inception, Toy Story 3, and The Town out of potentially taking the top position. Needless to say, go see it. It doesn’t matter if you don’t use, like, or understand the cultural phenomenon that is Facebook. This is a film filled with the essence of classic drama and you’d be a fool to miss it.

Rating: 9/10

So, Xoe and I were lucky enough to take in one of the TRON NIGHT events that Walt Disney Motion Pictures were running around the globe today, and let me tell you, there were some very happy people coming out of the Innaloo, WA event that we hit.

Firstly, a quick run down of the footage. Firstly there was a preview of Tron: Evolution, the requisite tie-in video game. The difference between this one and every other one? You can ride friggin’ lightcycles. Seriously though, it looks cool and if it can shake off the bad public image that licensed video games have justifiably earned over the past 20-something years, it could be pretty damn fun.

After that, we had a text introduction to the event from Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy’s director), welcoming us “programs” to the 23 minute preview we were about to see. From an opening (scene 20) at Sam’s Apartment, through Flynn’s Arcade, and finally, spending a good chunk of time over on the grid (Light Cycles, Light Runners, and Recognizers, oh my!) and taking in some of Sam Flynn’s first game of Disc Wars. More surprising was the amount of run time dedicated to character dialogue – a smart move on Disney’s part, ensuring that audience members didn’t just get a good dose of snazzy visuals, but also a solid outline of just who each key character was and what their aims were.

Finally, it closed with a 3D presentation of the Daft Punk “Derezzed” clip that hit the net a couple of days ago.

Initially expected to be an 18 minute preview, it grew to 20 minutes, and finally 23 – giving everyone a pretty great taste of what’s coming to cinemas in a few weeks time.

Did it get me more excited for the film? To be honest, probably not. That being said, look at all the marketing and promotional materials that Adrian and I dive into every week. However, having a quick chat with members of the audience after the screening finished, it certainly seemed to heighten their anticipation for the December release. The effect it had on me was smaller, but no less impressive; it successfully allayed some of my fears about story and character – important assets to a film that could so easily be overlooked or minimized in priority when dealing with such a visual feast as the Tron franchise.

I’ll leave you with a copy of the Derezzed video that screened tonight, and a couple of photos from the event at Innaloo. My suggestion? Load it up in HD, flick it to full screen, turn it up loud, and note the fleeting appearance of Daft Punk running mp3s down at the End of the Line club.

Now, to wait until mid-December…