Hamlet 2
by Leonard Klady

The Hamlet 2 recipe is just a tad too high concept at the expense of the humor.

Despite these and other reservations there's an underlying naive feckless quality that's disarming. The blind faith and shameless array of human frailties is genuinely touching and makes the blatantly unlikely digestible. The film is hardly fulsome but it is genuinely good snacking.
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The Ultimate DVD Geek
Vantage Point
by Doug Pratt

A marvelously frantic suspense movie about a presidential assassination attempt, Vantage Point, has been issued by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The film has several famous stars in smallish roles, but the hero is a recovering Secret Service agent, played by Dennis Quaid, who may have been called back to duty too soon after defending the president from a previous attempt. William Hurt is the president, and Forest Whitaker, Matthew Fox, and Sigourney Weaver are also featured in the 2007 production. The 90-minute movie's primary gimmick is that the actual story occurs during a relatively brief period of time-about a half hour, total-but the film replays the incident from different character viewpoints.

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Frenzy On The Wall
In Search of A Midnight Kiss: Before Sunrise for the Hipster Set?
by Noah Forrest

Ultimately, Alex Holdridge's In Search of A Midnight Kiss is really not at all like Linklater's films, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The film follows Los Angeleno Wilson, Texas-born misanthrope who is still recovering from a break-up with his ex-girlfriend back home. He's living with his best friend Jacob and Jacob's girlfriend Min, who convince Wilson to put a listing on Craigslist so that he'll have someone to go out with on New Year's Eve. He winds up with Vivian, a fellow misanthrope who we first witness chain-smoking and pouring herself a large glass of vodka next to many bottles of prescription pills.

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The Weekend Report
by Leonard Klady

The Hollywood parody Tropical Thunder took top box office honors with weekend movie goers providing an estimated $25.6 million for its debut. The session also saw a softish $15.3 million bow for the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars that ranked third and a more predictable $11.1 million fourth place finish for the thriller Mirrors.
Weekend Estimate (Full List)

Wilmington on Movies
Tropic Thunder, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Henry Poole is Here, And Lola Montes
by Michael Wilmington

Stiller's movie is about how Hollywood wrecks art and vice versa. And it's about the follies of war the gung-ho mentality that makes a near-myth of carnage, and the follies and pitfalls of big budget moviemaking. I'm ready to laugh at all that, but Tropic, despite an excellent production (cinematography by John Toll) never seems really on target until we get to Cruise in another of those a--hole roles at which he's really, really good (as in Magnolia). Grossman makes sense, while the boys' behavior in the jungle is on The Three Stooges level of plot mechanics. (As a matter of fact, this is perfect material for Larry, Moe and Curly. Or even Shemp.)

Tropic Thunder Star Wars: The Clone Wars Vicky Cristina Barcelona Fly Me to the Moon Henry Poole Is Here Pineapple Express Man On Wire Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Step Brothers Brideshead Revisited

Frenzy On The Podcast
Rebecca Hall, star of
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
by Noah Forrest

Listen to Noah talk with Vicky Cristina Barcelona's breakout star Rebecca Hall about all things Woody Allen, theater acting versus film acting and her love of film noir.

And - See Hall Chat With David Poland on DP/30

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MCN DVD
Smart People

Like so many recent indies in which socially inept academics and their dysfunctional families are required to come to grips with reality - The Savages, Squid and the Whale, The Family Stone, We Don't Live Here Anymore, Your Friends and Neighbors - Smart People will appeal most to viewers with a high tolerance for neurotic behavior and those whose parents would have considered trading them at birth for a tenured position.

Also .. Nim's Island, The Counterfeiters, Star Trek: The Original, The First Olympics: Athens 1896, The Cool School, Slippery Slope, Inglorious Bastards

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The 48 Hrs. Diaries
Part VIII: Lesbians, Lindsay and Leather
by Larry Gross

Eddie for the fourth day in a row is quite good, about a thousand percent improved on the early scenes in San Francisco that worried the studio.  The proverbial chemistry between Nick and Eddie together in scenes has taken a mysterious quantum leap.  Basically they've gotten to like and trust each other in "real life" and it affects their scenes.  I don't know who wouldn't become a better actor opposite Nolte, and Eddie said the same thing.   He shook his head a couple of days ago and he said, "Nolte, man...he makes you act."

48 Hrs. Archive
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

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Frozen River Chatting with the stars and director of the acclaimed indie film, Frozen River.
Pineapple Express Chatting with Pineapple Express director David Gordon Green.
The DP/30 Vault

Leopoldo Serran, Screenwriter Of Bye Bye Brasil; Dona Flor; Oscar-Nommed O Quatrilho, Was 66

"Other people may function better in a chaotic environment than we do."
On The Orderliness That Is A Coen Bros. Set

Ken Burns On Summer Vacationing (Video)

Holden Picks His Summertime Hot-HOT Arthouse Top 10

Kicking To The Curb The Old Arguments Against DVD Being Recycled Against Blu-Ray

The Economist Sez Crimped Americans Not Scrimping On Movies

Teasing Gaiman-Selick's Coraline

Favored Hw'd Makeup Artist Paul Starr Found Dead At 48

Bond Moves Closer To Thanksgiving As Potter Hides The Turkee
Earlier - "I have five or six weeks to edit the whole movie. Normally, I’ve had 14 weeks. Six weeks for this film is crazy."
A Quantum Of Hustle

Jacques Rivette, At 80, Shooting New Pic About A Traveling Circus

Godfrey Cheshire Continues To Harp On Nyman Score For Man On Wire, Saying He's Not Comparing It To Michael Bay In Order To Do So

The Grauniad Houses One Of Those Stupid Screeds About Why "Arthouse" Movies Are Bad, Couched In Ill-Informed Generalities
Plus - Lars Trier Launches Antichrist

Frederick Wiseman Brags About Length

A Headline So Good You Don't Need To Read Corliss' Pan
"Hamlet 2: The First One Was Better"

Considering The State Of Watchmen Along With Kevin Smith's "Joygasmic" Reaction To Seeing It

"The particular intensity and seriousness of Maher's project are nearly unprecedented, suggesting the kind of film George Carlin might have made in his prime."
Bob Koehler Hies Out To Laemmle's Claremont 5 To See The Qualifying Run Of Religulous

Internationally Trailering Frost/Nixon
But - That Link's Yanked; Still, Something's Gotten In The State Of Denmark

Thompson On Tom Cruise's Choices And WB Saying No To A Role

Depp, Law, Ferrell Donate Dr. Parnassus Fees To Heath Ledger's Daughter

Red-Band Trailering Elegy

Holden Gets Steamy Over Woody's Hotties In Vicky Rebecca Christina Scarlett Javier Penelope Barcelona

David Thewlis Psychoanalyzes Mike Leigh's Process For Naked

Ding-A-Ding-Rings: Jackson, Walsh, Boyens To Adapt Hobbit For Del Toro
And - Musings On The Self-Hire

LA DocuWeek Opens, Rife With Oscar Hopes

In "My Word Is Bond," Roger Moore Admits Being Bond Was Sometimes Scary
Earlier - A First Excerpt From "Being A Scot," Sean Connery's Memoirs

Hogtown Mayor And David Cronenberg To Dedicate Huge New Studio, Toronto Filmport

Pervis Jackson, 70, Baritone Behind Motown's Spinners; Soundtrack Favorites Also Sang Theme From Spaceballs

Mamma Mia! Goes Sing-A-Long

Footage Of Bill Murray's Chicago Skydive

"The first thing they would do in a Manny Farber School of Film Criticism is shut it down!"
Paul Schrader Talks About His Relationship With The Late Mr. Farber
Plus - A Student Remembers The Painter And Teacher

Poland Asks Who Was Watching The Watchers In The Watchmen Mess?
And - Judge Rules Fox Can Proceed With Lawsuit Against Warner Over Rights To Watchmen
Plus - A PDF Of The Fox Filing
And - Page After Page Of Recent Documents And Contracts Alan Moore Will Never Have To Read

Religulous Debuts In Claremont, CA And Washington Heights, NYC

German Producers Terrorize Deutschekrickets With 100,000 Euro Fine If They Review Baader Meinhof Komplex Early

Three Shorts Introduce The Characters From Burn After Reading; Frances McDormand Sez "Ginormous Ass"

A Crisis Of Faith For The King Of Mormon Film

A Brit Relishes Sneaking Into Movies In NYC

MGM Sez It's Almost Got The $600M To Commit Pink Panther And Hobbit Pics

"Once when Russ Meyer and I had lunch with Manny and the love of his life, Patricia Patterson, he regarded the King of the Nudies with a quizzical, not unfriendly, grin, and said 'So you make the whole movie yourself, by hand?'"
Ebert Eulogizes Elder Cricket Manny Farber
And - The Times' Modest Obit, Filed Under "Design"

The Toronto 249 Is Set
And - The Galas, The Docs, Masters & Canada First!, Contemporary World Cinema, The Mavericks, The Fact Sheet, The Overall Film List (all pdf)

The First Digital Movie Camera That Approaches Film Quality Also Looks Like It Could Have Been In Cronenberg's Naked Lunch

"Cinema Stole My Favorite Books"

"A legendary figure—more connoisseur than critic, less a pedant than a hipster. He had an utterly distinctive voice and a genius for coinage... superb taste and fantastic range."
Jim Hoberman On Manny Farber
And - Jonny Rosenbaum Recollects The Phrase-Maker Behind "Underground Cinema," "White Elephant Art" And "Termite Art"
Plus - Great American Critic Was 91
With - Robert Polito's Fine 2003 Overview
And - Ken Tucker On Manny's Quotability
Plus - Franklin Bruno's Swell 2004 Believer Mag Appreciation
Also - "Ecstatic peaks of observation tempered with lightning jibes are what make reading Manny Farber an inexhaustible pleasure."

"Summer spectacles are essential case studies offering observers a window into the motives of the film industry and the mind-sets of filmgoers."
"5 Things We Learned At The Movies"

Kenneth Anger Does Dundee At 80

When The Movies Within Movies Are Better Than The Movies

Does Ron Howard's Career Disprove The "Auteur Theory"?

Doc Makers Descend On Denver Dems

"'Intense sequences of violence' and 'strong bloody violence'? How about 'grisly bloody violence' and 'strong sadistic horror violence'?"
M. Phillips Disses The Relentless Footnotes Of Movie Ratings

The Rise Of Made In England's Tomo Turgoose As New UK Teen Star

The Girls And Guns Of French New Wave Posters

Why Don't Directors Of Holocaust Films Starve Their Actors?

Abramowitz Considers Tom Cruise's Fortunes
And - Where Did Martin Lawrence Go Astray?

"There are some who feel we have all the time in the world to make this deal. We on the New York board do not."
NY Board Tells SAG Leadership To Negotiate Or Mediate

Good Dr. Bordwell Goes Long On Why Iron Man And Dark Knight Come Up Short For Him; Cautions Against Zeitgeisty Musings

Ebert: D- For 3-D

At End Of Ebert & Roeper Former Toledo Cricket, In ChiTrib, Calls Informed TV Reviewing Extinct
And - Buffalo Journo Celebrates Decline Of TV Movie Reviewer Standards

The Fearful, Fearsome Success Of The Dark Knight

Publisher Pulls Neat Trick Of Compiling "Love Letters Of Great Men," The Non-Existent Book Read In Sex And The City

Lim Mulls The Remnants Of Welles' Don Quixote
And - The Tonal Balancing Act Of Filming The Road (With Ending Spoiler)

DeNiro Is 65 Today

The Sunday Times
Chip McGrath Cerebrates Hamlet 2's Steve Coogan For Being That Jerk
And - Lim On The Flood Of Angry Katrina Docs
With - Rainn Wilson Out For A Night Being Upstaged By The Griffith Observatory
And - A Thumbsucker On "Tastelessness" Lorded By David Zucker And Peter Guber

EW Addresses Embarrassment Of Cover-Storying Harry Potter As Time Warner Pushes To Next Year; Noting Dark Knight's Profits Pretty Special For One Year

"I always stop the improvisation if there's a chance of violence, or if two characters are going to f---."
Mike Leigh Talks Technique On The Making Of Naked

Comme Au Cinema Has 3 Gloomy Clips From Synecdoche, New York

"Vicky Christina Barthelona. Bar-th-lone-ah. Vicky Christina Barthelona."
Penelope Cruz Gets Sweet 5-Minute Close-Up (Video)

Former Bush Assistant And Sometimes Fox News Talker Sues Over Swing Vote Screenplay (With Spoilers)

"Ozploitation" Finds A Home In Not Quite Hollywood

Alan Rickman As A Wine Snob? Expressive... Tart... Strong Nose