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Text Reviews Theatrical Review

Theatrical Review: Zack and Miri Make a Porno

It’s Pittsburgh and the dead of winter and platonic roommates Zack Brown and Miri Linky are struggling to make ends meet. We find that Zack works in a Starbucks-like coffee house, but strangely, we never quite see what Miri does… but I digress. Times are tough for the two and then they have their 10th anniversary class reunion that they’re going to and while there, they pretty much discover that they’re not doing anything for anyone to give a damn about them at all… and as they make their way back to their apartment, then everything is cut off- no power, no water, they’ve truly hit their rock-bottom. Now at their class reunion, they’ve discovered that one of their former classmates now makes gay porn, and so that inspires Zack to suggest to Miri, that they should make a porno film and with a ready made list of 800 names from their class reunion, they’ve got the perfect base to sell their film to, make money and live the good life…

And then of course, hi-jinks ensue…

This is the premise of the latest movie from writer/director Kevin Smith, Zack and Miri Make a Porno and unfortunately, while it’s a pleasant enough piece in it’s own way, it’s also Smith’s weakest movie yet…

Here’s the deal, I don’t necessarily mind raunch in my films, and further I expect it from Kevin Smith movies, but there’s something about it in his other movies where it feels right and further where it’s delivered in such a way that it’s wildly amusing. But here, it feels like Smith is doing it just to be doing and saying “yeah, here’s what I can do” and it just feels forced amongst his cast…

… and his cast is just plain wrong for the film. Seth Rogen plays Zack, Elizabeth Banks plays Miri, and they’re backed up by Craig Robinson, Traci Lords, Justin Long, Brandon Routh and perennial Smith regulars, Jeff Anderson and Jason Mewes. Now I’m on the record of just not being a Seth Rogen fan, so I certainly admit that bias, and had this not been a Kevin Smith movie, I doubt I would’ve seen it in the first place, but I don’t buy a bit of Rogen in the film for the most part (though he does have his moments), but he’s just not at all sincere to me with his performance. And I think Elizabeth Banks tries to be too sincere here, and as such, it just never gels between the two. Now you can certainly chalk this up to poor writing as well, as we’re never really told how they end up in their situation in the first place, we’re just shown a scene where their unpaid bills are overflowing, but nothing that really tells us why these too “losers” (and I use that term real loosely in Banks’ case) are the way they are- they both have jobs (though as I said above, we really don’t know what Miri does) and absolutely nothing gets paid, I guess it’s because they really don’t discover anything about personal responsibility until they decide to make a porno film, but that’s really thin, especially in comparison to what Smith has done with his characters in other movies.

Now the rest of the cast is fine, with the exception of Craig Robinson, who doesn’t really do anything to differently from what he does in The Office. In fact, I think Justin Long, Jeff Anderson, and Jason Mewes have the best moments in the film- there probably should’ve been more with these folks than there was with Zack and Miri.

This misses the mark in it’s perception of the porn business as well, but that doesn’t really bother me as much and I think that would’ve gone over better had this had wither two different and more complimentary leads or else either Rogen or either Banks and someone else to compliment them better. It’s not the worst movie that I’ve seen for the year by any means (it’s a comedy and I did laugh a few times in the film- not like Get Smart where I didn’t laugh at all), but compared to what Kevin Smith has delivered before, Zack and Miri Make a Porno falls way short…

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News

News Briefs

According to Totalfilm Charlize Theron has signed to co-star with Tom Cruise in The Tourist, a remake of a recent French thriller. Theron will play a female Interpol agent who uses an American tourist in an attempt to catch an elusive criminal – who’s also her former lover. Brit writer Julian Fellowes’ script is currently being polished by Valkryie scribe Christopher McQuarrie, with director Bharat Nalluri.

After the upcoming drama Gran Torino in which he directs himself as a racist war veteran Clint Eastwood will be directing Remembering Mark Twain in which he also be appearing as the famous American writer himself. Described by producer Albert Ruddy as a “sweet, beautiful movie”, Remembering Mark Twain will be Eastwood’s 61st big-screen performance.

Director Michael Bay’s official website has come out with confirmation that principle photography for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has wrapped. In a posted message entitled “It’s a wrap!” on October 31, the administrator Nelson wrote simply, “As of this week, principal photography for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has ended.”

According to Bollywoodworld News Legendary filmmaker B.R. Chopra died Wednesday after a prolonged illness. The winner of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award was 95. His son, producer-director Ravi Chopra, said he had lost not only his father but his guru.”I have lost not only my father, but my guru. The Chopra family has lost a virtual patriarch and the film industry a conscientious filmmaker,” Ravi Chopra told Ians.B.R. Chopra died at 8.15 a.m. at his residence in suburban Juhu. He had made successful films like Naya Daur, Gumrah, Humraaz, Dhundh, Insaaf ka Tarazoo and Nikah. Besides Ravi Chopra, the filmmaker is survived by his two daughters Shashi and Neena.

Warner Bros. is taking a shot at film pirates in China by making its films available for online rental at the same prices the pirates charge — about $1.00 per movie, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. Some will be available for about 60 cents. “Every major American company has tried to figure out and crack the nut in China,” Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, told the Times. “We believe that we have an opportunity, through digital distribution,” to solve that problem. Distribution is being handled by Union Foole Technology, which also plans to launch an online subscription video service on Nov. 12 that will charge a flat fee for unlimited movie viewing.

The trailer for Dreamworks/Paramount’s Monsters vs. Aliens doesn’t officially release until Thursday, but it has popped up a few days early on numerous sites around the web. Many have already been taken down, but you might still catch it before it’s gone. The campy sci-fi animated flick opens with a man going through a series of biometric scans before being admitted into a high security government war room. The scan locations include both elbows and his bum. Monsters vs Aliens pays homage to the sci-fi movies of the ’50s and ’60s, from aliens and mad scientists to The Blob and Loch Ness monster. The voice cast includes Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett and Paul Rudd. It will release in late March 2009 in both 3-D IMAX and standard theaters.

British-Asian helmer Gurinder Chadha is turning her hand to a good old-fashioned scare according to BloodyDisgusting.com. Chadha is prepping It’s A Wonderful Afterlife, described by the helmer as My Big Fat Greek Wedding meets Shaun of the Dead. The story follows a British-Asian mother whose obsession to marry off her daughter comically leads to serial murder. Lensing begins in the U.K. in February. “It’s a comic caper very much in the tradition of classic Ealing comedies,” Chadha told Daily Variety. “It’s a return for me to the characters and setting of ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ but in a different genre, namely horror, although I would say that the gore will be easy on the eye.”

Fox has announced a February 10th Blu-ray release for the cult classic Donnie Darko, which will come to high-def with both the theatrical and unrated versions, according to Highdefdigest.com. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and directed by Richard Kelly, Darko failed to generate big grosses during its original theatrical run, but has since go one to amass a devoted following on video. There are no tech specs or supplement details as of yet, but Fox is billing the Blu-ray as a Collector’s Edition, so we expect plenty of extras. Suggested retail price for the Blu-ray has been set at $34.95.

Vince Vaughn will take on the world of poker in Sunny and 68, a project Universal is acquiring for Gavin O’Connor to direct. According to Variety, Vaughn will play a poker superstar whose alcoholism causes him to loose $500,000 in an instant. With no money in his pocket, he decides to head home to retrieve some cash he’s been sending his mother. Upon his return to New York, however, he discovers his mom is dying of cancer. Additionally, he finds out she’s been raising a 5-year-old girl who’s actually his daughter. O’Connor, whose Pride and Glory opened last weekend, will be directing a script he wrote with Anthony Tambakis. Next Vaughn will star alongside Reese Witherspoon in Four Christmases. He’s also gearing up for Peter Billingsley’s comedy Couples Retreat. O’Connor, whose credits include Walt Disney’s ice hockey drama Miracle, is prepping Warrior, an action flick he’ll shoot next year.

ComingSoon.net reports that Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are is back on Warner Bros.’ release schedule and now set for a release on Oct. 16, 2009. The pic stars Catherine Keener, Benicio Del Toro, Forest Whitaker, Lauren Ambrose, Catherine O’Hara, Tom Noonan, Michael Berry and James Gandolfini. Some other recent release date shifts of note include Soul Men – the Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac comedy will hit theaters a week earlier than scheduled, now opening on November 7th. Richard Kelly’s horror film The Box, starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden, was moved back up six months to March 20, 2009. The Todd Phillips comedy Hangover is now scheduled for June 12, 2009 puting it face to face with The A-Team and Eddie Murphy’s Nowhereland. Two months later, Final Destination 4 was moved back a week to Aug. 21, 2009. The summer following, the Zack Snyder-directed animated-adventure Guardians of Ga’Hoole.

Some interesting ratings news, Kelly Reichart’s Wendy and Lucy, a nudity free and virtually violence free tale of a down on her luck girl and her dog in Alaska and a favorite at Cannes will be receiving an R rating (for “Strong Language”) while Richard Kelly’s horror film The Box, containing “some violence and disturbing images” will receive a PG-13.

Sources:

Totalfilm
Aceshowbiz
Bollywoodworld News
Studio Briefing
LA Times
BloodyDisgusting.com
ComingSoon.net
Variety

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News

Weekend Box Office For October 31 – November 2

#1 High School Musical 3: Senior Year from Buena Vista takes the #1 spot for a second weekend bringing in $15 million, thats down 64%, for a total of $61.7 million. Musical showed in 3626, thats up 3 over last theaters and cost $11 million.

#2 Zack and Miri Make a Porno from Weinstein debuts at #2 this weekend bringing in $10.6 million.Zack and Miri showed in 2735 theaters. Budget for Zack and Miri is unknown.

#3 Saw V from Lions Gate drops to #3 this weekend bringing in $10.1 million, thats down 66% bringing its total to $45.8 million.Saw showed in 3084 theaters, thats up 24 and cost $10.8 million.

#4 Changeling from Universal rises from its #20 debut last weekend to #4 this weekend bringing in $9.4 million. Changeling showed in 1850 theaters. Budget for Changeling is $10 million.

#5 The Haunting of Molly Hartley from Freestyle debuts at #5 this weekend bringing in $6 million.Haunting showed in 2652 theaters. Budget is unknown.

Rounding out the top 10 are:

#6 Beverly Hills Chihuahua: Weekend Gross: $4,747,000, down 31% / Theaters: 3004, down 186 / Gross:$84,061,000 / Budget: unknown

#7 The Secret Life Of Bees: Weekend Gross: $4,000,000, down 33% / Theaters: 1611, down 19 / Gross:$25,287,000 / Budget $11 million

#8 Max Payne: Weekend Gross: $3,700,000, down 52% / Theaters: 2564, down 817 / Gross:$35,550,000 / Budget $35 million

#9 Eagle Eye : Weekend Gross: $3,400,000, down 32% / Theaters: 2007, down 551 / Gross:$92,534,000 / Budget $80 million

#10 Pride and Glory : Weekend Gross: $3,260,000, down 47% / Theaters: 2585 / Gross:$11,616,000 / Budget $30 million

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:

Box Office Mojo

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Text Reviews Theatrical Review

Theatrical Review: Rock N Rolla

Once upon a time there was a promising young movie director by the name of Guy Ritchie. This talented fellow made a name for himself primarily from two movies, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, both in the crime fiction genre. It seemed that the sky was the limit for this fellow, and then he met the singer, a famous American singer who was known for constantly re-inventing herself. And somehow or another, she managed to snag this fellow all the while re-inventing herself again as an earth mother and Queen of the Kaballah, all while starting to use a pseudo-British accent and then he bore her children (or so it seemed). Oh, Guy managed to get in another couple of movies, but something was just clearly “off” about them, almost as though his talent had been sapped from him. But eventually, as all things did with the singer/earth mother/Queen, this also came to pass, and the two were plunged into divorce. Divorce is obviously never an easy thing to go through (as this author can surely attest to), but on the upside, hope was there that maybe this talented director just might get something back- his ability to make a good movie again and not in the limelight of his more famous wife…

… and that brings us to Rock N Rolla the latest movie from director Guy Ritchie, and easily the best thing that he’s done since his first two movies… and thank goodness…

Yeah, I know I’m simplifying his situation with the above, but that’s how a lot of film fans saw this situation (or at least me), and while I don’t know the exact timeline of the making of this movie with his personal tribulations, at least this movie shows that his heart is still in it.

Rock N Rolla follows along the same lines as Ritchie’s prior crime films, being how seemingly disparate people with their own situations wind up causing trouble for bigger fish in the crime pool. Rock N Rolla brings together a band of small time hustlers with a land deal, a big fish gangster with a bigger deal, his self-styled rock and roller son with his own issues, even bigger fish Russians, and a very ambitious and sexy accountant out to get her own piece of the pie, and it does it all in a very entertaining and satisfying manner, that still shows that Guy Ritchie has “it,” though “it” is just a little quieter than Ritchie’s previous efforts.

And again, the above is a huge simplification of what this is about, but for me to go into further detail would just start something even longer than my initial paragraph…

But, I can tell you that I thought Rock N Rolla was very entertaining, filled with some very cool characters, who were extremely well drawn in a very tight and complex situation that all comes together in the end.

Ritchie’s working with some great talent here, Gerard Butler, Idris Elba, Tom Wilkinson, Jeremy Piven, Chris (Ludacris) Bridges, a very talented Russian character actor Karel Roden, the extremely sexy Thandie Newton, and a British guy on the rise, Mark Strong. Mark Strong plays Archie, who’s the right hand man to Lenny played by Tom Wilkinson, the major “heavy” of the film. Archie is more or viewpoint into what’s happening here, and Strong does real nice work in the part. He’s been around for awhile, and just recently he’s been getting a lot of good notices for his work, and I could easily see this guy taking the leads more and more very soon.

In the end, yeah, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before, but that’s hardly a criteria for my own enjoyment of a film. When it’s well made, it’s still fun, and for me Rock N Rolla was a lot of fun and it makes me look forward to what Guy Ritchie’s next project will be. Welcome back, Guy… we missed you…

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Back Seat Producers Season 03 Shows

BSP Episode 078: The Sixth Sense

Happy Halloween.

This is a special episode that we’ve been planning for a while.  We’ve got a few other episodes recorded before this one, but we wanted to release this for Halloween.

This is a full commentary track for the movie The Sixth Sense.

There is a lot of dead air toward the end of the track, it’s because we got more into watching the movie than commenting on it.

Thanks for listening!

Lots, LOTS more coming very soon.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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News

News Briefs

DreamWorks Animation announced Tuesday that David Geffen has resigned from its board of directors but will remain a major shareholder. Jeffrey Katzenberg issued a statement saying that he looked forward “to working with David as a trusted adviser going forward.” It is unclear what role, if any, Steven Spielberg continues to play in the affairs of the animation studio.

Steven Spielberg is returning to Universal Studios, where he began his career as an unpaid intern in the 1960s (after first sneaking into the studio by, as he said, “looking important,”). Under a seven-year deal, Universal will distribute movies produced by his DreamWorks company and financed by India’s Reliance entertainment conglomerate. He’ll be joined by DreamWorks’ CEO Stacey Snider, but David Geffen, who reportedly negotiated the deals with Reliance and Universal and the exit from Paramount, will be leaving the company. Spielberg acknowledged that the Walt Disney Company had also made him an attractive offer to distribute the six DreamWorks films that he has said the company will produce annually. He told today’s (Tuesday) Wall Street Journal, “It was a tough decision because I love the whole legacy of the Walt Disney Co. … But when it came down to my final decision, it was about my feeling that it was right to return to the lot that gave me my first chance to be a director.” Although Paramount has distributed DreamWorks’ movies since 2006, Spielberg kept his offices on Universal’s lot. “Even coming through the gate this morning actually felt different,” he told today’s New York Times. “I felt better. Less like a squatter.” And in an interview with USA Today, Snider added: “It was really a decision not about terms or money, but ‘where do we belong?’ Steven and I felt the most comfortable there.” Snider also has a long history at Universal, having spent nine years there as a top executive.

Robert Downey Jr. has just signed on to do two more Iron Man movies as well as the superhero flick The Avengers.

XXX: The Return of Xander Cage will likely begin filming sometime in early 2009. Of it, Collider reported that director Rob Cohen has revealed the matter through a recent interview saying, “We met the writers yesterday and we’re trying to get into production by late spring, to have it out for the summer of 2010.” On the occasion, he also made time to confirm that this new XXX project will team him up once again with action man Vin Diesel who will reprise his role as Xander Cage, a law-breaking extreme sports enthusiast-turned-government agent. “Yes, they’re doing it with me and producer Joe Roth. We made the deal recently, it’s named XXX: The Return of Xander Cage,” he exclaimed. Despite Cohen’s remark on the filming plan, details on the third installment of XXX remain under tight wraps. Still, it is known that Columbia Pictures are looking forward to develop this second sequel.

Iron Man director Jon Favreau has seen parts of James Cameron’s highly anticipated Avatar and tells Ain’t It Cool News: “…he’s really pushing the boundaries on motion capture, he’s integrating live action with motion capture and CGI. It takes a painstaking and technical approach to that. And he really wants to make it a very visceral, emotional experience and he’s … he’s a bit of a P.T. Barnum in the sense that he likes to put on a big show.”

Being the replaced man in Imagine Me & You, Matthew Goode (soon-to-be Watchmen) managed to balance the anger and loneliness of being second place while his wife found true love with their wedding florist. Now The Hollywood Reporter posts that he will be starring in A Single Man along with Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. This is Tom Ford’s adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel about a gay Englishman and professor named George (Firth). Over the course of one day, the story follows George as he tries to continue his normal life and routine after the death of his partner Jim (Goode). Moore will play one of his fellow professors.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal has picked up the movie rights to the upcoming Viper Comics graphic novel Villains. Universal reportedly paid a mid-six-figure sum for the rights, which could prove profitable if the lesser-known property enjoys the same super-hero buzz that other films in the genre have yielded. Sean Bailey produces via his Idealogy banner, and Matt Jennison and Brent Strickland are set to write the screenplay. Jennison and Strickland are also working on the stalled Wonder Woman for Warner Brothers and Joel Silver. Villains, not to be confused with the current Heroes volume on NBC, is a four issue mini-series by Adam Cogan and Ryan Cody. Villains focuses on Nick Corrigan, “an aimless 20-something who discovers that his aging neighbor used to be the notorious supervillain known as ‘Hardliner,’ now retired and living in hiding for the past few decades. Rather than turn him in to the authorities, Nick decides to blackmail him in exchange for lessons in the fine art of career super-crime. But the old pro is about to teach his student some lessons he’ll never forget.”

Bill Mechanic, the former chairman of 20th Century Fox and now founder of independent production company Pandemonium, told Collider that the long planned adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis’ Torso is heading into production soon. “Torso is moving right towards the starting gate,” Mechanic tells the site. “We’ve got a screenplay and we’re waiting for Paramount to decide when to make it.” He also confirms what many have heard: David Fincher will direct the feature. “I’m hoping we’re shooting in March or April … [so] it should be [Fincher’s next project],” says Mechanic. And while he has a ton of faith in the project, he does admit that there will be departures from the source material, much in the way that the movie Fight Club broke off from the novel. “Torso the movie, which may not be called Torso the movie at the end of the day … makes the book better reading because it doesn’t follow [the book] literally,” Mechanic says. Torso is a historical fiction limited series published by Image Comics. The story focuses on the “Torso Murderer,” an actual serial killer in the 1930’s who left behind only the torsos of his victims, making them very difficult to identify for police without DNA testing. The investigator on the case and protagonist of Torso is Eliot Ness, Cleveland Chief of police and one-time head of the Untouchables, the police task force that enforced Prohibition and went after crime lord Al Capone.

Sources:
Studio Briefing
USA Today
PopSugar
Aceshowbiz.com
Aintitcoolnews.com
Reelzchannel.com
THR

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News

Weekend Box Office For October 24 – 26

#1 High School Musical 3: Senior Year from Buena Vista debuts at #1 this weekend bringing in $42 million. Musical showed in 3623 theaters and cost $11 million.

#2 Saw V from Lions Gate debuts at #2 this weekend bringing in $30.5 million. Saw showed in 3060 theaters and cost $10.8 million.

#3 Max Payne from Fox drops two spots to #3 this weekend bringing in $7.6 million bringing its total earnings to 29.6 million. Payne showed in 3381 theaters, up 5 over last. Budget is for Payne is $35 million.

#4 Beverly Hills Chihuahua from Disney drops to #4 this weekend bringing in $6.9 million, bringing its total earnings to $78 million. Chihuahua showed in 3190 theaters, down 49. Budget for Chihuahua is unknown.

Rounding out the top 10 are:

#5 Pride & Glory : Weekend Gross: $6,325,000 / Theaters: 2585 / Gross:$6,325,000 / Budget $30 million

#6 The Secret Life Of Bees: Weekend Gross: $5,935,000, down 43% / Theaters: 1630, up 39 / Gross:$19,208,000 / Budget $11 million

#7 W: Weekend Gross: $5,330,000, down 26% / Theaters: 2050, up 20 / Gross:$18,749,000 / Budget $25 million

#8 Eagle Eye : Weekend Gross: $5,136,000, down 26% / Theaters: 2558, down 768 / Gross:$87,987,000 / Budget $80 million

#9 Body Of Lies : Weekend Gross: $4,065,000, down 40% / Theaters: 2150, down 564 / Gross:$30,890,000 / Budget $70 million

#10 Quarantine : Weekend Gross: $2,550,000, down 58% / Theaters: 2228, down 235 / Gross:$28,770,000 / Budget $12 million

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:

Box Office Mojo

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DVD Review Preview Text Reviews

DVD Preview: Inside Bob Dylan's Jesus Years: Busy Being Born Again

Gonna Change Your Way of Thinking

Joel Gilbert’s documentary on Bob Dylan’s sudden conversion to Christianity is an authentic, detail-oriented and thought-provoking work. It is a must see for fans and casual viewers alike. The subject-matter alone is fascinating and remains, thirty years from its occurrence, a little told story about the already mythic and mysterious artist. 

On November 9, 1979, Bob Dylan shocked San Francisco (and America at large) by performing nothing but new songs from his gospel album titled “Slow Train Coming,” and other then-unreleased gospel songs written by the rock poet. The fans, expecting his hits, classics, or the man they have created in their mind as a result of all of his previous records, is nowhere to be found.

When presumably being asked something about why he didn’t play any of his old songs at the concert or why he may have changed his music’s message, Dylan speaks in archived footage from the era “The old stuff’s not gonna save them and uh… I’m not gonna save them. Neither is anybody else gonna save them. They can boogie all night. It’s not gonna work.”

The purpose of the first-half seems to be orienting the viewer with the world Dylan was entering at the time: The Vineyard Movement, a decentralized and individualistic approach to Christianity—progressive at the time. This viewpoint, coupled with the perspective of Messianic Judaism, or, Jewish believers in Jesus as the foretold Messiah, frames the manner in which Bob Dylan, of Jewish descent, considers and then pursues his own journey to Jesus Christ.

The second-half of the film covers the most controversial music Dylan had made since he went electric in 1965.  Alienating his fan base once again, Dylan pursued this journey of personal discovery as his primary artistic expression for two and a half full-length albums and four years of touring, after which fans and critics alike remain, I would argue, mostly confused about where his belief system stands today. We are treated to samples of Dylan’s preaching at the concerts, and interviews with the band, and there is, at the heart of the film, a serious discussion of the seemingly contradictory dichotomy between religion and rock ‘n’ roll and whether Dylan was able to reconcile the two.

The film is helmed by Joel Gilbert, and released by the company Highway 61 Entertainment. Gilbert and the company seem to be offshoots of a professional Dylan tribute band called “Highway 61 Revisited.” Gilbert dresses like Dylan, and passes as a shadow of someone who might have been a version of Dylan in “I’m Not There.”  Gilbert’s appearance is a bit distracting—it makes the film seem wholly subjective from the jump. But Gilbert asks the right questions about this period of life, challenges his interview subjects from different perspectives, and is a competent and informed interviewer.  It also does an excellent job of bringing in voices of contempt for Dylan’s work during that period, most notable of which apparently was Joel Selvin, writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Selvin really gives the music industry, critics, and disenchanted fans, a voice in this film.

I would argue that the only weakness of the documentary is that the entire affect of the film, in the aggregate, seems to be sympathetic to Dylan’s conversion. But, in truth, the film spends a lot of time trying to understand what Dylan was converting to, rather than promoting or discouraging why he converted.

In the end, the film ends on a different type of note than it began, takes a somewhat surprising turn, and attempts to reveal what the film feels Dylan has always been trying to get at in his never-ending search.

As a fan of Dylan, my greatest acclaim for this film is that it covers a great deal of unchartered territory, to my knowledge, for the very first time on film and uses primary sources. It may be the most important source on Dylan’s Christian music to date, period. Only “Behind the Shades Revisited,” a book on Dylan’s life, has adequately shed some light on Dylan’s work in this period to my knowledge, besides the few interviews Dylan has given himself.  For enthusiasts and analysts of Dylan’s work, that makes this film very important.

I highly recommend this film for both people who love Dylan and casual viewers who may not have even been aware that this period of Dylan’s music existed.

No matter what conclusion one draws about what Dylan’s life or music means, your perspective is limited prior to having seen this documentary if you had not been deeply involved in Dylan’s music during this period or are not a huge fan of it. It will change the way you think about Dylan’s music, and perhaps his life. If you’re measuring Dylan’s artistry through metrics that do not include an analysis of this period, it will create a different set of rules to do so.

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Text Reviews Theatrical Review

Theatrical Review: Saw V

With the events of Saw IV now past, it’s believed that the killer known as Jigsaw has finally been put to rest, but those of us who’ve seen the movie know better because of another protege of the famed killer. One lone FBI agent, Peter Strahm (also seen in Saw IV) believes he’s still out there as well, and after surviving his own Jigsaw deathtrap, Strahm is believed to be unsuited to continue the investigation, but he continues on his own. Now, as five new people are put through the Jigsaw paces, Peter Strahm seeks to find the truth, and we’re given insight as to how this new Jigsaw came to be…

Saw V continues what I believe anyway is your genuine horror epic, and while this film seems a little more sedate than the previous entries, it still delivers the goods in it’s own way, and basically, I tend to think that if you’re a fan of the series, and appreciate all of what it does, then you’ll like this one as well.

But also, much like the previous entries, you can’t go into this one as a virgin to the material and hope to get it all. The creators behind the series have pretty blatantly made it so that you need to see the other chapters, and for me anyway, that’s part of the fun of the series. There’s always things left open with each previous film and each new film pulls some retroactive continuity moves and answers those questions, and they do it in a way that really works. There’s a formula to the whole thing, but yet there’s always something new added, but still working in the formula.

This time around, there’s a new director on board, David Hackl, and Hackl does a decent enough job filling the shoes of both James Wan and Darren Lynn Bousman before him, though he doesn’t quite have the same flash that Bousman has, this still fits visually with what’s come before. And more importantly, so does it’s story.

Tobin Bell returns to the series yet again, and really it wouldn’t be Saw without him in some way, also returning from the previous film are actors Costas Mandylor os Detective Mark Hoffman and Scott Patterson as FBI Agent Peter Strahm and Betsy Russell as Jill Tuck, John Kramer’s wife. New faces to the series this time includes actors like 24’s Carlo Rota, Julie Benz, and veteran character actor Mark Rolston. The entire cast does a great job here, and much like I did with Saw IV I have to give high marks to Scott Patterson again, and would just love to see this guy break out into some bigger stuff.

There’s still lots of questions, including one very big one, to answer from this film, and of course Saw VI has already been announced. As a huge fan of the series, I can’t wait to see it, and so next year at this time, I no doubt will. In the meantime though, there’s a lot of fun to be had with Saw V as long as you’re a fan of the series.

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News

Soderbergh wants Zeta-Jones for "Cleo"


Steven Soderbergh is developing a 3-D live-action rock ’n’ roll musical about Cleopatra to be called “Cleo” and he is asking Catherine Zeta-Jones to play the Egyptian queen and Hugh Jackman to play her lover, Marc Antony.
Projected to cost $30 million “Cleo” will be shopped for financing and distribution within the next two weeks. Greg Jacobs is producing with Casey Silver.
The music has been written by the indie rock band Guided by Voices, and the script is by James Greer, a former bass player for the band and writer for “Max Keeble’s Big Move“.
While Soderbergh’s recent history includes a spate of wildly different projects, this one will be his first full-blown musical.
Soderbergh, who’s about to release the Benicio Del Toro vehicle “Che” and wrapped Matt Damon vehicle “The Informant,” is also prepping a Richard LaGravanese (P.S. I Love You, The Bridges of Madison County) scripted Liberace film at Warner Bros., with Michael Douglas attached to play the entertainer and Damon to play his companion, who sued him for palimony.
Before “Cleo,” Soderbergh’s directing “The Girlfriend Experience,” setting porn star Sasha Grey to play a $10,000-a-night call girl in a film that will be simultaneously distributed in theaters, on DVD and on the HDNet movie channel by Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner’s HDNet label.

Sources:
Variety
IMDB