Another Screenwriter-With-Writers-Block Film. This One is Great.

 

On the verge of madness

Before you say it, let me do so: I should’ve seen Joel Coen’s Barton Fink many years ago. Thankfully, I have the option of checking off those film history essentials that have been stacking my pile-of-shame for years, as I go down my cue of Watch Instantly titles on Netflix’s online reservoir. Needless to say for most of you cine-savvy type who have most likely already seen this flick a decade or more ago, I was almost immediately sucked in by this film from the very beginning.

Barton Fink tells the story of a New York theatre writer in the early fourties, who gets a shot at the ‘big time’ and runs off to Hollywood within the first ten minutes of the film. Barton Fink is played by John Turturro, and man is he good. Were it not for his incredible work in Miller’s Crossing, etching his name into my mind as the greatest pleading-for-ones-life performance to this day, I’d be fully cooperative in saying that his work in Barton Fink is great. However, he set the bar pretty high for me, as a subtly menacing freak inMiller’s Crossing, that I think it’ll be pretty hard for me to ever judge any other of his roles by their own merit.

Barton Fink, the character, is a quiet writer who warily accepts this offer by Hollywood to write a film about a wrestler, and checks into a hotel in Los Angeles. The bellboy is of course played by a Coen favourite of mine, Mr. Steve Buscemi. His role is almost nonexistent, yet awesome, nevertheless. What I loved about the set up of this move to Hollywood is that you really get to see how Barton Fink reacts to the eccentricity and strangeness of the place, and the characters he has to interact with to accomplish this task of writing a wrestling picture. Everybody around him is like a bizarre alien to Barton Fink, and there is some great comedy to be found in that – which somebody like Joel Coen certainly knows how to employ.

Barton has trouble beginning his script, never moving past the first three lines of the first scene, until near the very end of the film. This is essentially the plot of the film: lonely writer, alone in a hotel room, trying to figure out how to begin, and what to write. His neighbor, is an annoying yet kind John Goodman - another Coen player, whom Barton befriends and somewhat mines for material. He turns out to be more than a helpful friend as the story unfolds, but I will not spoil a thing. If you like the Coen brothers, their dialogue and Joel Coen’s direction, go seek this movie out. I enjoyed it quite a bit. What made me like it even more, similarly to the Coen’s previous effort, Raising Arizona, is that the story evolves into a nightmarish opposite version of what it was during the first half, creating a sort of fantastical bookend which somehow feels genuine and natural to the story. I don’t know how they do it, but the Coen’s are pretty good at that.

The reason I wish I had seen this many years ago is not only that I am a huge Coen Brothers fan, and the shame of having to say, “Noo…haven’t seen it yet. I know, I know” is torturous to my soul, but also because I am a Charlie Kaufman lover, and Adaptation is another favourite of mine. Since I plan on becoming a writer myself, these stories of artists trying to create and their journey toward the final product, are always incredibly interesting to me. And you know what? Ask me about Synecdoche, and my response will unfortunately consist of something like, “Noo…haven’t seen it yet. I know. I know.”

John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Tony Shalhoub, and Jon Polito, all directed by the Coen Brothers. What more could you ask for?

Notorious B.I.G. Now Has a Teaser Trailer

Since the death of Christopher Wallace in 1997, people all around the world have been hailing him to be amongst, if not the greatest rapper of all time. In the first biopic-feature of his we have a fellow Brooklyn native by the name of Jamal Woolard portraying Biggie. I hope this film conjures up some of the images I had whilst listening to Ready to Die and being introduced to Hip-Hop, whilst skating and doing dumb shit in my childhood. However, it seems as though too much bullshit is interfering with me seeing this movie and/or liking it. This is a personal problem, since I have a hard time accepting the reality of these strange people portraying Biggie, Tupac, etc. I’m sure I can easily get past this silly problem once I watch the film, yet it seems like I’ll be waiting for DVD or so.

Anyway, have a look at the teaser. It is filled with the usual fast cuts and flashiness, and culminates with a big show at the end. Enjoy.

Notorious will be released on January 16th of next year, and stars Derek Luke and Angela Bassett.

IMDb Now Offering FREE Streaming Films & Shows!

According to a press release posted on their site, the International Movie Database, or in short, IMDb, is now offering select feature films and episodes of old and new TV shows (such as the incredible It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) that stream off their site, through Hulu.

IMDb. Always a reminder that I am not in the movie industry.

This is not really anything special to internet savvy people, since Hulu themselves have been legally doing this for months, and most of us illegally download things anyway, right? I don’t, since my college blocks my freedom. Anyway, this is just very unexpected of IMDb, to me at least, and brings up questions such as,”Will this stay free? Will this expand? Will it end up costing us, and if so, how much?” The words “premium-IMDb user” ring a loud bell inside my head, warning me of future segregation between the two forms of user. Anyway, it matters not. Long live Hulu.

It certainly is awesome. I’m gonna go catch up on some It’s Always Sunny, to be fully prepared for the next season, airing September 18th, on FX, at 10 PM.

The Wrestler by Darren Aronofsky in December!

Darren Aronofsky, legendary director of Pi, Requiem For a Dream, and The Fountain, will have his new film The Wrestler starring Micky Rourke released by December 19th, according to Fox Searchlight Studios. Part of the plan is to have it in circulation in time for the Academy Award season for it to garner some momentum.

Mickey Rourke getting kicked while He's down

Mickey Rourke plays an old wrestler who longs for the glory days to return. I think. I can’t wait for anything Aronofsky announces, which makes this news very special to me. Mickey Rourke is the man, as is Mr. Aronofsky. I think he is a genius. And yes, I am one of those people who really really loved The Fountain. I’m excited. It’s exciting to see if Aronofsky actually gets an Oscar this time around. Keep you posted as we move closer toward December.

Thank God Clint Mansell is doing the Soundtrack for this one too.

Park Chan-Wook’s Next Film!

Park Chan-Wook, for those of you not very adept of the modern Korean film boom in the past couple of years, is the director of films such as the incredibly epic Action/Dramas Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. and Lady Vengeance. It’s actually a shame that it is only now, in late 2008, that some United States Distributors finally recognize the potential of his films and bring them over here. He is an incredible visual AND story focused director.

What a focused and elite guy. Want to meet.

The film being picked up by Focus Features is called Thirst, and deals with a Priest who becomes a Vampire after a (very bizarre) experiment gone horribly wrong. The then Vampire priest, played by Song Kang-ho (Mr. Vengeance himself), falls in love with the wife of his friend. Should be an interesting storyline. I guess his friend will be shown how much of a pain in the neck he really is. [Not funny, I know]
In a production notice obtained from Slashfilm, Park explains, “This film was originally called “The Bat” to convey a sense of horror – after all, it is about vampires.  But it is also more than that.  It is about passion and a love triangle.  I feel that it is unique because it is not just a thriller, and not merely a horror film, but an illicit love story as well.”

Even though this love triangle business strikes an odd tone in my head, I trust Park and will probably be strangely inspired once more.

Thirst is filming right now and will probably drain into the theatres within a year. Keep checking back.

Zack & Miri Get a (legal) Poster

Kevin Smith has been hard at work on his new film about friends, being broke, and porno, starring  Seth Rogen and Elisabeth Banks. The film is pretty much completed, and was slapped around by the MPAA a little, regarding a select few scenes, and the movie’s original poster. The poster is now officially banned to be hung up in and around movie theatres across the United States, but good old Canada gladly snatched it up and accepted it.

In an awesome Kevin Smith sort of finesse, the American poster now looks like this:

Very funny. Am I wrong?

How cool is that?! I’m glad that this is actually the official poster of the film, because its not only original, but kind of spits in the MPAAs face a little. Come on. He has to retreat all the way back to using fucking stick figures? To all the MPAA members: SEX is the reason humanity is alive.  I still wish it said something more along the lines of, “…since the nice folks at the MPAA didn’t let us…” or something more direct like that. But of course THAT wouldn’t have been allowed either, I guess.

Zack & Miri Make a Porno massages your local Cinema on October 31st, head to head (ass to ass?) with Guy Ritchie’s Rocknrolla.

Mark Hamill to Voice THE JOKER Once Again!

No this is NOT news regarding a film, but since Mark Hamill will be using (part of) his acting chops again, I thought I’d report this: According to the glorious videogame related news site, Kotaku, Mark Hamill will voice the Joker in the upcoming Batman video game adaptation, Arkham Asylum.

Part of a panel of the very dark Arkham Asylum graphic novel written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Dave McKean

Personally, I can’t wait for this game, which sounds serious and dark, a very welcome result of The Dark Knight’s morbid tone. Mark Hamill is my second favourite Joker portrayed on screen,  even though it was just his voice that the actor used to shape his character. In case you’ve been living on a rock for the past couple of years, the greatest portrayal of the Joker is clearly the work of Jack Nicholson. I am kidding. Please don’t kill me. Rest in Peace Heath Ledger.

Crank 2: High Voltage with New Production Photo

As previously reported on Slashfilm by Peter Sciretta, Lionsgate has released a new photo of Jason Statham looking like a badass in the sequel to Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor’s 2006 action-fest Crank.

Jason Statham returning as Chev Chelios

The Plot Synopsis: Hitman Chev Chelios (played by Jason Statham) is on an action laden manhunt through the streets of Los Angeles once again, to recover his heart from a Chinese mobster. Crank was an unexptectedly superb action movie, written and directed by the same two guys creating this sequel. Even though I understand why many will not be able to look at the Crank series as serious, I admire it for being able to mix very funny comedic moments with incredible action. Hopefully the sequel will continue this and cement that trend into the series. Also, I’m pretty relieved the second installment will not just be some sloppy cash maker written and directed by some talentless hacks, and will actually be created by the same people, starring the same actors. It gives you a sense of security that this will probably be a decent follow up.

Crank was written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, starred Jason Statham, Amy Smart, and Jose Pablo Cantillo. Statham and Smart return for Crank 2: High Voltage, alongside newcomer to the series (and recent work actually worth something) Corey Haim.
Crank 2: High Voltage pistol whips your local cinema on April 17th, 2009.