Here are my choices for the ten best DVD and DVD box sets (plus a few runners-up) for 2009, last year of the first decade of the twenty-first century. (more…)
Archive for December, 2009
Wilmington on DVDs: THE TEN BEST
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009Kim Voynar's Top Ten Films of 2009
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009Here’s my Top Ten List for 2009. A brief disclaimer: I’ve been sick for several months and missed all but the first day of the Toronto International Film Festival this year; illness, medical appointments and surgery also made it very difficult for me to get to a lot of screenings. I did watch as many of the screeners I was sent as possible. I didn’t, unfortunately, get screeners for a number of films I’d hoped to see, so there are numerous films that may very well have been contenders for the top spots that I was unable to consider at all.
That said, here’s my 2009 Top Ten Films list …
1. Up in the Air
2. The Hurt Locker
3. An Education
4. Goodbye Solo
5. In the Loop
6. A Serious Man
7. Where the Wild Things Are
8. Precious
9. Beaches of Agnes
10. District 9
The Top Ten Chart for December 29, 2009
Tuesday, December 29th, 200974 Critics . 125 Films. 20 New to the List.
Up & Down The Avatar
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009This started as an entry only about the second story, below. But on a whim, I clicked on BO Mojo for Monday’s Avatar number, aka Torture For Some Of You.
Second Monday – $19.4m estimate
It’s the #7 Monday of all-time. It’s up from last Monday by 19%, which as you may recall, was a pretty amazing day as well, which we attributed to last weekend’s weather.
The only second Monday that is better is Shrek 2, which was on its way to being the #2 domestic grosser of all time (now #3, behind The Dark Knight as well as Titanic.) Oh yes… and that Monday was Memorial Day.
In fact, the only non-holiday Monday bigger was The Dark Knight‘s fourth day of release. Avatar, which is still $93 million behind TDK’s domestic 11-day gross, did $8.9m more than TDK on their respective Day 11s. Catching up a bit.
Avatar was the 10th fastest film in history to $200 million. If it hits $250m tomorrow or Wednesday, it will be the sixth fastest to $250m. It looks to move up to being fourth fastest grossing film in history by the tine it hits $300m domestic this weekend. It should be #2 all-time by the time it hist $400m.
Still. I’m not sure at all that Avatar will outgross The Dark Knight‘s $533 million domestic. But it will pass TDK’s $470m international number before the New Year’s weekend is over.
Sorry for the torture for those of you who hate this. I do understand that I was not this aggressive about reporting the daily Dark Knight numbers. I probably should have been. But as the above notes, the numbers weren’t that interesting after the first 10 days. Amazingly, Avatar is still growing.
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It took a week for Robert J. Elisberg to take a swing at Pete Hammond and Steve Pond over glowing reports about the Avatar screening at The Academy.
Firstly… trying to use Academy screenings to measure how movies are doing with The Academy is a bad, bad idea. Always has been. Always will be. For one thing, there are always a parade of varying interpretations of what happened. I don’t think there has been a movie that’s won Best Picture in recent years that was not said by some to have had a modest to poor response at the Academy screening… as well as someone saying that it was gangbusters.
The only reliable measurement to get from an Academy screening is how many people showed up. This tells you, very quickly, how much work the distributor in question has to do to get other 4500+ voting Academy members to see the movie.
By that measure, Fox had a great screening. And the film’s huge success should get them to something like 50% – 60% of Academy membership seeing the movie in theaters before the next couple of weeks are over. Fox, no doubt, will work hard to get the rest into screenings in the weeks thereafter.
It is one of the mistakes I think Oscar prognosticators make… spending too much time trying to read the group. Sometimes, the answer is bigger than the group. Avatar is one of those movies.
You know when it was clear that Avatar was the movie to beat for Best Picture? Well… the opportunity for it to change the game was there before it screened. It’s a soft year. But then, there was the night of that first look… December 10. (Here is the column I wrote the next day.)
(So ends the self-serving section of this entry.)
In any case, Elisberg seems kinda angry that Pete & Steve heard things went well at that screening. Could it be that he doesn’t much care for the movie?
“I was at that screening. In fact, I was first in line.”
Creepy. An hour early at The Academy. But more important, if Elisberg was first in then he wasn’t there when Academy members were actually turned away… a very rare occurrence. Elisberg acknowledges that the theater was full by showtime, but tries various ways of suggesting that this wasn’t special or at all meaningful. He even uses the capacity audience for Up… which looks to be the second animated film to be nominated for Best Picture in Oscar history… as a negative for Avatar.
“More importantly, from the few people I and friends spoke to afterward, the reaction was absolutely mixed.
Everyone was awed by the otherworldly-spectacular special effects. But for some, the script was a bit ordinary and ultimately somewhat disappointing. Others, though, while acknowledging the script weaknesses, overlooked them and adored the film.”
Well. That’s it then. Mr. Elisberg’s circle of friends and their snap decision defines the film’s Oscar potential. Much better read than Pete or Steve. (that’s sarcasm.)
As I say, I am not in disagreement with Elisberg that the Academy screening is a bad way to read the Oscar future of a film… as is Pete’s “film class” where he screens awards hopefuls. But Pete does get, in a general way, some very interesting reads off of his class and the many, many Q&As he does. In the weeks before nomination, Pete is usually the person most likely to smell a change in the voting class before it happens. This doesn’t mean his guesses are always right. But his thermometer is placed in a good place, particularly late in the nomination season.
I guess what strikes me about Elisberg’s attack is that he is so definitive about his perspective being right when the takes from Pete & Steve, while perhaps a bit hyperbolic, are more in line with stories I have heard from Academy members who were at that screening than Elisberg’s… including from at some who were turned away.
I don’t actually object to Elisberg adding his perspective to this minor event. But perhaps it could be his experience and not mean that Pete & Steve must be shills to repeat what they heard.
In the end, the likelihood that Avatar will win Best Picture is all about it being seen as a game-changer, a successful entertainment for the world, and a massive commercial hit. That and the lack of an alternative that is nearly as muscular.
BYOB – It's Tuesday!
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009I don’t really have anything much to write at the moment… but i got sick of looking at the NYT thing at the top of the page…
Up on the roof with the Coens: some amusing Serious Man b-roll
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009New Trailer: Inception
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009Sci-fi thriller about a corporation that has developed a technology that can enter dreams and extract information from the human mind.
Why NYT Should Not Be Doing Trend Stories: Episode 347
Monday, December 28th, 2009So…
A Micheal Cieply piece comes up… “Ready for 2010, Some Films Shot Way Back When.”
The picture is of Shutter Island. That and The Green Zone are the highest profile holdovers. But Universal didn’t go on the record… even though they had some interesting things to explain. For instance, stars like Matt Damon usually oblige studios to keep a distance between their releases. In this case, Invictus won the Fall 2009 battle, so Green Zone arrives in 2010. (There was also talk that Paul Greengrass was not done fixing the movie in time for a 2009 release.) The Wolfman, on the other hand, had reshoots pretty late in 2009. Sometimes, the only sane choice is to slow the train, reconsider the marketing, and move forward when you are ready.
In the case of Shutter Island, Paramount cleared out their entire fall for reasons of strategy or cash flow, depending on who is telling the story. That’s their prerogative. And that’s a story.
But what got my attention was this comment: “At least 16 of the 28 films set for release by Hollywood
The Ten Best DVDs and Blu-Rays Of 2009
Monday, December 28th, 2009 |
1. The Great Garrick
(Warner Home Video DVD)
Disregarding the mass market for renters and chain store shoppers, home video for people who genuinely love, live and breathe movies has formed two distinct and mutually exclusive paths. On the one path are ultra-perfect Blu-ray releases of high impact films, both admired classics and current spectacles. When delivered through a large HD monitor and a full seven-speaker-and-one-subwoofer sound system, the presentation can mimic the movie-going experience in an upscale theater, making even the dopiest movies seem spellbinding, and legitimate entertainments transcendent. But the other pathway is equally compelling. The economics of DVDs are such that distributors with access to film libraries can produce the most obscure and unknown titles on their shelves, with decent transfers even, and turn a workable profit. Such titles will probably never released on Blu-ray-it is far more likely that they will shift directly into the downloading market once a successful distribution engine is perfected. Nevertheless, those DVDs remain, for the time being, a godsend to film lovers. I recall that when the home video market was first being developed in the late 1970s, a press release from what was then MCA Universal, promoting their laser disc format, suggested that the entire ’11,000 titles’ in their library might soon all be available at, to paraphrase, less than ten dollars apiece. Well, it didn’t happen so soon, and Universal is still too distracted to make it happen there at the moment, but damn if it isn’t happening at Warner Home Video.
Yes, it was an absolutely wonderful experience to sit on my own couch, crank up the sound and spend two hours with J.J. Abrams’ marvelously witty thrill ride, Star Trek, on Blu-ray, but as rewarding as that experience was, the greatest joy came to me this year when I finally got to settle back and watch my very own copy of Jack Smight’s Kaleidoscope, in part because of the entertainment the film has to offer, but also in part because I have been wanting-pining, actually-to see again, and own, a film that had pretty much disappeared from view after its original theatrical release in the mid-1960s, and Warner’s Archive Collection program was what made that happen.
Warner has eliminated intermediate distribution with the Archive Collection, and the DVDs-about 300 or so at the end of 2009 (including Francis Coppola’s The Rain People, Robert Altman’s Countdown, Mark Rydell’s The Fox, Love with Greta Garbo and more and more), with thirty or more being released each month-are bare bones productions that have no special features except an occasional trailer. There are no captioning or subtitling or alternate language options. There is stereophonic sound, where appropriate, and, most importantly, the films are always presented in their proper aspect ratio, with an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback (don’t miss Robert Wise’s Tribute to a Bad Man, a film that is greatly enhanced by the quality of its playback). Marketed directly from a Warner website (www.warnerarchive.com), the films, all of which are titles that, for one reason or another, could probably not generate sufficient attention in the regular DVD market, are also available for downloading, as Warner has unceremoniously placed itself in the pole position for home video’s next phase (to be competing, one supposes, with remastered 3-D versions of the classic blockbuster titles on a next generation disc of some sort).
I have chosen James Whale’s The Great Garrick as the representative Archive Collection title-the ‘best’ of the year-because it was the most serendipitous of the Archive Collection titles I have reviewed. Whale turns out to have been a vastly underrated director who has still not received the credit he is due, despite having been the subject of a feature film and having directed several certifiable masterpieces. The thing is, as each new title of his becomes available on DVD, it too turns out to be a masterpiece. Garrick is a period comedy on par with the best of Ernst Lubitsch, about a group of French actors who take over a countryside inn to play a practical joke on an English actor, only to have him get the drop on them. It is an utterly delightful film, quite bawdy for a 1937 feature, and despite the apparent superficiality of the characters and their intentions, a film that is, in its essence, a celebration of the warmth of the human spirit.
2. Star Trek (Paramount Blu-ray)
But let’s not get carried away. Blu-rays, with their sound jacked up-and you can jack the sound up higher because there is less distortion-are an awesome experience. They can’t really do much to enhance the pleasure, such as it is, of watching a movie like Ghosts of Girlfriends Past – can anything? – but when it comes to a film such as Death Race or even something more noble, such as Slumdog Millionaire, the precision and depth of their replication are sublimely immersive, and accentuate any and all of a film’s entertainment assets. Movies such as Terminator Salvation and Transformers Revenge of the Fallenare intended as much for the power punch Blu-rays can give them as they are for the biggest exhibition screens. For a big-budget special effects spectacle with a top-level sound mix, of which Star Trek was the most intelligent and entertaining to be released on home video in 2009, the Blu-ray experience is unsurpassable in a home video setting. While Paramount’s DVD has a commentary and a couple of minor supplements, the BD adds to those a second platter full of extra features, and the film is the sort where many viewers will be enthusiastic to learn more about its creation and the choices the filmmakers made. The quality of the BD is especially poignant with Star Trek, because the franchise began as a kind of sophisticated tin can television production, and it has been as television itself has advanced that the subsequent Star Trek TV shows and films have followed suit. It comes full circle at the very end of the feature film on BD, when Alexander Courage’s original theme pours out of your surround speakers in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. This blending of past and present is not only a goose-bumpy moment, but a final ejaculative thrill to close out the film’s cliffhanger excitements and exquisitely detailed imagination-proof not only that one can go back in time, but that one can improve upon it.
3. The Films of Michael Powell (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, DVD)
Although Sony has lagged a little bit behind a couple of the other home video companies with large studio libraries, they have gradually been dipping into their resources in a careful and conscientious manner, and so when they do release archival material on DVD, it is usually a reliably worthwhile presentation, but the outstanding double bill in the Michael Powell set-his classic 1946 A Matter of Life and Death (aka Stairway to Heaven) and his almost lost 1969 gem, Age of Consent-is an even greater accomplishment, as important to the general study of filmmaking and a capsulation of the arc of Powell’s career as it is an eminently watchable and re-watchable pair of entertainments. The two films are superficially quite different. A Matter of Life and Death was one of Powell’s great wartime soundstage productions with its artificially ultra-real Technicolor designs and uniquely imaginative blend of fantasy and romance, starring David Niven and a young Kim Hunter. Although still tantalizingly colorful, Age of Consent, on the other hand, was shot in real locations on a very moderate budget and has an edgy, lascivious atmosphere, with James Mason as an aging painter living on a remote island and a very young and nubile Helen Mirren as his model. Accompanied by commentaries and retrospective interviews, and graced with consummate image and sound transfers, the presentation is an exceptionally well-produced preservation of two exceptional films, and the collection also represents, encouragingly, the ever-dwindling number of highly regarded classic movies that have yet to become available on home video.
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4. Watchmen The Ultimate Cut The Complete Story (Warner, DVD & Blu-ray)
One of the great, unexpected advantages of home video has been the outlet it has provided for film directors to disseminate their true artistic vision without the compromises required for theatrical running times. The practice is abused now and then-’Director’s Cut’ versions of films are issued with one or two scenes that were rightfully dropped, or other material that does not, in the long run, affect the overall artistic impact of the film, and just as often, a director, happy with the theatrical version, will still restore quite a bit of material to a film just for the sake of padding it out, giving the viewer a chance to spend more time in the film’s world, but not adding significantly to its drama or thematic resonance (asRon Howard did this year with a longer rendition ofThe DaVinci Code).
The theatrical release of Zach Snyder’s Watchmenwas a failure, but Director’s Cut, which added 24 minutes of material, turned it into an outstanding feature, a comic book film with intellectual heft and a wonderful array of fascinating, engaging characters. Ultimate Cut includes an additional 29 minutes of footage-primarily animated material that was also released separately as Watchmen The Black Freighter. Playing separately, it wasn’t particularly interesting, but integrated with the rest of the movie to create a work with a total running time of 215 minutes, the animated segments break the drama into distinctive movements and also comment upon the violence and madness that the characters are experiencing. The scope of Ultimate Cut and its ambitious re-creation of the complete graphic novel that served as its basis (for comparison’s sake, a minimally animated version of the graphic novel, entitled Watchmen The Complete Motion Comic, broken into twelve episodes and running a total of 325 minutes, is also included in the set) is an inspired undermining of the film production process to which the theatrical play of the film is a minor step leading to its ultimate manifestation as a compounded DVD. Extensive special features and commentaries are also included, expanding the film’s world even more (a make-believe documentary about the characters, running 38 minutes, works as an ideal prolog to the expanded feature), as well as deconstructing how the production was planned and executed.
5. The Wizard of Oz (Warner, Blu-ray)
In marked contrast to the rarity of the Michael Powell films, Warner’s home video presentations of the beloved 1939 MGM classic have not only been a ubiquity, they have repeatedly appeared on yearly ten-best lists for the quality of their transfers and extensiveness of their special features. And yet, there is no denying that with the BD presentation, Warner has exceeded itself once again with an even richer and more vivid picture transfer, a clearer and cleaner audio transfer, and a more comprehensive set of entertaining supplements that enable the viewer to understand not only how the film itself was created, but how the originalL. Frank Baum story grew out of genuine American folk culture and then thoroughly permeated the world’s consciousness with its surrealistic delights. It is also unlikely that this is the last time the film will find its place on a yearly Top Ten list, because 3-D is just around the corner, and it appears increasingly possible that within a lifetime, film companies will be remastering their classic movies as complete virtual reality experiences. It won’t be that long before home video fans can skip down the Yellow Brick Road with Dorothy or fly with the monkeys and call upon the citizens of Oz to surrender her.
6. Mad Men Season Two (Lionsgate, DVD & Blu-ray)
Every year more TV episodes are released on home video than one person can possible watch within that year. The very thought of holding a season’s worth of episodes in a single boxed set is a tantalizing feeling that gives gluttony a good name. And television is, increasingly, obtaining an artistic parity with motion pictures on almost all fronts, from science-fiction epics to intimate dramas. There were many terrific shows that either arrived on home video for the first time in 2009, such as True Blood and The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, or advanced to a fresh season of innovation and entertainment, such as Heroes and Dexter, and many were accompanied by extensive special features, including commentaries on every episode and comprehensive day-to-day production diaries. There are even some, like Pushing Daisies The Complete Second Season on Blu-ray, that are a marriage made in High Definition heaven. But this year, one show stands out as the very best that both television and home video have to offer, and that is the outstanding series about a New York advertising agency in the early 1960s, Mad Men. The show’s re-creation of the past has an almost science-fiction-like alien-ness to it, yet the emotional conflicts and psychological confusions the characters are confronting are enduringly universal in their accessibility. The show, which also represents an Odyssey-like journey taken by the hero, played by John Hamm, through the consciousness of his times, is a unique and multi-faceted history lesson, but like all really good lessons, it teaches us about today as much as it teaches us about the past, and entertains us at every step. The story is exquisitely plotted, and there is a terrific array of characters, backed up by exceptionally nuanced performances (although, as one actress explains on one of the commentary tracks, once you put on the 60s outfits, the rest just comes naturally). The show is also staged and shot with a sense of quality that is equal to a feature film, and it all comes across on every meticulously transferred episode. The musical score, delivered with a 5.1-channel dimensionality, is psychically transporting. Additionally, the supplementary features are outstanding. Many episodes have two commentary tracks, and the extras not only explore in detail how the show was developed and executed, but how the realities of the 60s are reflected in the drama.
7. Coraline (Universal Studios Home Video DVD & Blu-ray)
There were a couple of animated films released in theaters and then on home video in 2009 that gained greater critical regard, such as Up and Waltz with Bashir, and perhaps rightly so, but none was more interesting from a production history standpoint than the meticulously created 3-D stop-motion feature. Henry Selick’s film, about a young girl who discovers a malignant alternate world through a secret tunnel in her house, is both creepy and entertaining, but the DVD and BD releases earn a position among the best not only for the quality of the entertainment but for drawing the curtain back upon the unique effort that went into the film’s construction. Additionally, very few of the films that were released theatrically in 3-D have gone on to appear on home video in 3-D format, and again, because it was created in a genuine three-dimensional environment, and is offered on the one release in both 2-D and 3-D formats, the DVD and BD presentations of Coraline are exceptional for the breadth they bring to the exploration of the film and for the inherent pleasures the film itself has to offer.
8. Nikkatsu Noir (Criterion Collection, DVD)
That Cadillac of home video labels, The Criterion Collection, has been doing four different things lately. They have been going back through their catalog and bringing out their most ‘classic’ titles on Blu-ray, such as The Seventh Seal and Pierrot Le Fou. They have been foraging ahead with DVD releases of lesser-known classic titles, such as Hobson’s Choiceand The Exterminating Angel. They have been dabbling in classy presentations of contemporary releases, such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and A Christmas Tale. And they have been raiding the archives for collections of similar films in their ‘Eclipse Series,’ where several movies with a common factor are bound together at a relatively workable price point (any fan who wants one of the titles in the set is going to want all of the titles in that set). No special features are included, but the sets, such as Rossellini’s History Films Renaissance and Enlightenment and Dusan Makavejev: Free Radical, are given the very best transfers possible. Like Warner’s Archive releases, it is these collections that stand out, because in one fell swoop, you get several terrific yet obscure films that, because of their commonalities, make ideal multiple-title viewings for an afternoon at the home cinema.
The Nikkatsu Noir collection contains five super-cool black-and-white Japanese crime films produced at the Nikkatsu film studio in the 1950s and 1960s, Takashi Nomura’s A Colt Is My Passport, Takumi Furukawa’s Cruel Gun Story, Seijun Suzuki’s Take Aim at the Police Van, Koreyoshi Kurahara’s I Am Waiting and Toshio Masuda’s Rusty Knife. Each movie depicts a different sort of crime than the others, so there is variety in the collection, but each is also strikingly photographed, superbly performed and deliriously plotted (with ultra-hip musical scores, too), so that you essentially get five separate, gloriously atmospheric thrillers in one package.
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9. District 9 (Sony DVD & Blu-ray)
This year’s Cloverfield, it is the thrill of the gore blowing up all over the place that makes the somewhat overstated symbolism and drama in Neill Blomkamp’s sci-fi film work so brilliantly. Presented as if it has been cobbled together from surveillance cameras and news report outtakes, even when it shifts to scenes where that couldn’t possibly be so, the film has elaborately executed special effects and yet always feels like it has been entirely improvised or ‘captured’ for real. On home video, the veracity of the playback is enhanced in a manner that is unavailable in theatrical presentations, because the film looks like it was made for a video screen. The sound is also cleverly conceived to maintain the illusion of the mundane, but then underscore the excitement at all the right moments. Like Star Trek, you really look forward to seeing how the filmmakers brought it all together, so the extensive supplementary materials are rewarding, and there are also close to a half-hour of deleted sequences, most designed to explore more aspects of the society of ghettoized aliens the film is depicting.
10. The Prisoner The Complete Series (A&E, Blu-ray)
Although current television programs are zipping onto DVD and even Blu-ray as soon as their seasons finish, the rush to disseminate older shows has slowed down quite a bit. While the home video companies are gradually following through on the seasons of classic TV shows that they began releasing several years ago, sometimes with very long gaps between season sets, first time releases of older programs are being relegated to bargain labels. Some of those releases have been highly appealing, including Shout Entertainment’s Peyton Place and Timeless Media Group’s M Squad, but the transfers are often lackluster and there is usually a complete absence of special features. The Prisoner does not really fall into that category, however. In fact, like Star Trek The Original Series, which also came out on distinctively produced Blu-ray sets this year, star Patrick McGoohan’s enigmatic 1967 quasi-miniseries has been available on DVD almost since the format first appeared. But the remastering the show has undergone for Blu-ray is so good, combined with the beauty of the Blu-ray delivery, that it refreshes every aspect of the program, glossing over the show’s compromises while accentuating the uniqueness of its vision and the stimulating engagement of its drama. Additionally, there is a wealth of supplementary materials that deconstruct the full history of the show’s creation and its various intentions, as well as analyzing, probably in a manner that could not have been done before he passed away, the personal storms that McGoohan endured as he forged ahead with the show. As the features end up revealing, the series became a reflection of his own psychological conflicts and demons. If there was any ambivalence about The Prisoner’s place in the TV pantheon before, the gorgeous Blu-ray boxed set eliminates all remaining doubt about its innovative intellectual brilliance and enduringly witty entertainment.
Douglas Pratt’s DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter is published monthly.
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2009 – The Major Studios
Monday, December 28th, 2009I hate market share stories.
Market Share in 2009 is one of the least valuable statistics on the planet.
Warner Bros, which leads in market share at this year end and which has had a record-breaking $2 billion domestic year, released 30% more films than the studio with the next highest number of releases. And $300 million of that domestic total is for movies the studio doesn
The Top Ten of 2009
Monday, December 28th, 2009As I look back on the cinematic year and the one hundred and fifty new releases that I saw, I feel absolutely certain that this is one of the worst years for films in recent history. No doubt 2009 is the worst year of the past decade with only a handful of great films, one transcendent one and a whole lot of mediocre movies. One of the most interesting stories to me has been big-time critics and other web-based columnists who I respect have wet themselves over films that I have found to be ordinary or conventional. Films like An Education or Up in the Air are definitely good films that do their job well, with excellent lead performances, but there is nothing about either film that I felt was particularly innovative or original. Everywhere I look, there seems to be a critic espousing the greatness of both films and I think they’re seeing zebras when it’s just horses. There is a lot to admire about both films, but I also thought they were so light as to be forgettable, with themes that have been done before and done better.
So that’s why you won’t see either of those films in my top ten. Despite the slim pickings, there are indeed ten films that I think are worthy of spots on this list. The films on my list are ones that I felt pushed the cinematic envelope in different ways: visually, aurally, comedically, or otherwise. Each of the films set out a specific goal for themselves and each one either meets or exceeds those goals. I’m sure there will be lots for you to disagree with, but as always, that type of disagreement is why I make these lists. I want to hear from you about why you agree or disagree or which films you would choose on your top ten list. The best part about this job, for me, is that I get to share e-mails with people who have a love of film so passionate that they pick apart my words. And I thank you all for keeping me on my toes for another year.
Without further ado…
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10. Fantastic Mr. Fox (Dir. Wes Anderson)
I used to put animated films in a box. I felt like they were easier to control and manipulate and I always preferred the “reality” of live-action films, believing them to be more authentic than their animated counterparts. Even when I had seen a few animated films that changed my mind about the potential of animation, it wasn’t until last year’sWall-E that I felt I had seen an animated movie that truly hit me harder than most live-action films. I realized – with tears streaming down my face as I walked out of the theater – that I could no longer view animated features as something less than a live-action film.
This epiphany was compounded by the fact that one of my favorite filmmakers, Wes Anderson, had announced that his next film would be a claymation adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. Anderson insisted that this wasn’t some kind of “side project” and that this was indeed his next film as a director. Considering his last film, The Darjeeling Limited, was my favorite film of 2007 and my favorite of his films, I was both confused by this jump into animation and excited to see what would happen when one of film’s most evocative stylists took to clay.
The result is almost exactly what I would have expected – and I mean that in the best possible way. It’s basically a Wes Anderson movie, replete with all the usual themes about alienation, family and jealousy…except with talking clay foxes instead of people. While the storyline isn’t anything particularly exciting – the Fox family loses their home because the patriarch stole chickens from a farm and then they plot revenge – the interactions between the family members, the ways in which they speak to one another, it’s all Wes and it’s funny and poignant and moving.
I really enjoyed the character of Ash (voiced by Jason Schwartzman), offspring of Mr. and Mrs. Fox (voiced respectively by George Clooney and Meryl Streep). Ash is a strange kid who has a lack of social skills and has trouble fitting in. When his athletically talented cousin Kristofferson (voiced by Eric Chase Anderson) comes to stay with the family and Ash’s father dotes on him, the pain of being left out really stings Ash and we feel that pain. Despite the fact that we’re talking about clay foxes, this aspect of the film felt more remarkably human than most flesh and blood relationships we see on screen. The pain in Ash’s voice when the girl he likes shows more interest in his cousin is heartbreaking and it doesn’t feel out of place in a film that is otherwise an enjoyable romp.
The voice performances of Clooney and Streep really give the film a sense of fun and joy and proves that Clooney is one of the most charismatic presences in film, even when he’s in the guise of an animated fox. This was the best animated film I saw this year, but I can safely say that it wouldn’t have been any better had it been live-action.
9. Two Lovers (Dir. James Gray)
Read most of my thoughts on the film here.
I’ve written a lot about Two Lovers throughout the year and I still feel just as strongly about the film. James Gray has crafted a film that is dependent less on the machinations of plot, but rather something that is based on the motivations and desires of the characters. We know, more or less, what will happen to Leonard at the end of the film, but what we don’t know is how he feels about it. We have to infer how he might feel about his two very different potential mates and Gray and Joaquin Phoenix have designed Leonard as a character that is so complicated and wounded that it becomes like watching a horror film; we know what Leonard should do, but he is so self-destructive that his path to a happy ending is more clear to us than it is to him. And by the time the “happy” ending comes, we wonder if indeed Leonard will be happy or if he’s just settled for the next best thing.
8. In the Loop (Dir. Armando Iannucci)
Read my column about the ten reasons you must see In the Loop here.
In the Loop is the smartest comedy about the dumb things intelligent people are capable of that I’ve ever seen. It also happens to be laugh-out-loud funny. This isn’t one of those “smart” comedies that is really just smarmy and smug and only pretentious people find funny; this is a comedy that approaches The Big Lebowski in terms of filthy laughs and rewatchability. Each character is perfectly calibrated to the point where we understand and truly know them, so that when they act in certain ways or say certain things, it’s never for the benefit of the film or plot, but feels like a natural extension based on the way the characters have been built.
I will not stop saying that Peter Capaldi should be nominated for Best Supporting Actor this year because he turns curse-filled monologues into dirty symphonies. The scene between him and James Gandolfini when they make blunt yet veiled threats at one another is one of my absolute favorite scenes of the year. Of all the films on this list, this might be the one I watch the most times when all is said and done.
7. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (Dir. Rebecca Miller)
Read my column about Rebecca Miller’s brilliant film here.
I don’t have much to add that I haven’t said in my original column or that I haven’t repeated several times in this space. Rebecca Miller is one of the best and most underrated filmmakers we have and her streak of excellence continues with this misunderstood picture about the entirety of a certain woman’s journey into adulthood and complacency. Robin Wright is probably the only actress talented enough to make this character come to life with such vitality. This movie encapsulates the ways in which women can be held down by invisible chains and how sometimes you can wake up and say to yourself, as David Byrne once famous shrieked, “well, how did I get here?”
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6. A Serious Man (Dir. The Coen Brothers)
I came to this one a little bit late and finally got around to seeing the film a few days ago. I can honestly say that it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. And to be completely truthful, I wasn’t the biggest fan for the majority of the running time. The abrupt ending, though, completely changed my point of view. In the span of thirty seconds, I went from wondering what the point of the film was to thinking that I had seen a near-masterpiece that understands life, love and religion better than almost any other film this year. I was completely, utterly blown away by the ending. It’s not a twist ending, but it changes the complexion of everything that came before.
Larry Gopnik is Job. That much is made pretty clear by the fact that everything that happens in the film effects Larry negatively and rather than scream and shout about his misfortune, he seems to just kind of go along with it. Larry has the kind of life that nobody hopes for; it is without any passion or excitement. And yet, his life somehow gets worse when things start to be taken away from him, making him appreciate his terrible life. That is the real tragedy of Larry’s life: that despite his wife and house being taken from him (and potentially his tenure as a professor), he doesn’t view it as an opportunity to rebuild or start over. Instead, he wishes he could have everything back. He’s too myopic to see that the life he has built for himself is sad and that his wife doesn’t want him anymore. Instead of looking within himself, he tries to seek answers in Judaism. The Coen Brothers make their feelings on religion known, though, by having each of Larry’s religious consultations explain less and less.
And then the ending. Everything is up in the air, a tornado is coming and nothing is explained. It is either the most interesting defense of how God doesn’t interfere with life or how he doesn’t exist at all. I believe it is the latter. And I believe that if I had more time to think about this brilliant movie, I might place it even higher on this list.
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5. The White Ribbon (Dir. Michael Haneke)
This is another film that I finally just caught recently and if I had more time to digest it, it’s quite possible that it would move to the very top of this list. Like with most of Haneke’s work, it is dense and rich and full of ideas that are not always immediately apparent. But unlike most of Haneke’s previous work, this is not a film that punishes its audience; it is definitely his most accessible film, maybe ever. It is a portrait of a small town in Germany shortly before World War I. There are elements here that reminded me of Jean de Florette and Amarcord, but with a nastier streak that is befitting Haneke.
Strange and violent things are happening in this village. There is work and everyone seems to live with respect to religion, manifested by the pastor of the church, but the children are acting out, despite the fact that many of them are beaten or emotionally abused by their parents. The pastor, specifically, has a very cruel streak with his own children, scolding them in awful ways for the tiniest of trespasses.
I was mesmerized by the film, the way in which it portrays the cruelty of both children and adults, but it wasn’t until halfway through that I realized what Haneke was doing – and so so effectively. This is a film about the children that would grow up to become Nazis. This is a generation of German kids that were beaten down by religious authorities to the point where they not only became abusers themselves, but ones without religion. There’s also something in there about Germany’s natural propensity towards fascism and order. This is contrasted with a sweet blossoming of young love between a school teacher and a shy housekeeper, which grounds the film in something to root for, something hopeful.
Technically, this film is also a marvel. It’s got the second best black and white cinematography of the year by Christian Berger and every frame is beautiful and each background has life in it. The acting doesn’t have any one particular standout because this is a true ensemble and every part has to work perfectly for the film to be effective and it succeeds there.
I don’t think I’ve fully grasped all of the meanings and messages that Haneke has put into the film, but like with most of his work, I’m excited to go back and see what I missed the first time around.
4. Tetro (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
The best cinematography of the year, hands down. In fact, this might be my favorite black and white cinematography ever with the high contrasts making me feel the colors of everything rather than actually seeing them. Mihai Malaimare Jr. is a name to remember – and it’s one that will be hard for me to forget – as his work here helps makes the film as beautiful as it is.
But what really makes this such a beautiful work of art is the script and director of Francis Ford Coppola, who proves yet again that he is a master of the form. I’ve written about this film enough times in this space, but I still can’t express exactly why I love this film. It’s about brothers, it’s about art and how difficult it can be to make that art, how it takes all of your heart and soul to make something truly transcendent and how it takes that same kind of effort and honesty to make a family work. The sins of the father having an effect on the son, the soul of the father forever etched into the soul of the son; there are a lot of very deep and philosophical wounds being exposed here. It feels like a very personal film from a young filmmaker.
In my world, Vincent Gallo and Alden Ehrenreich would get acting nominations for their brilliant work. Gallo’s intensity isn’t always suited to every role, but here it is perfect and beautiful. And Ehrenreich has the potential to be one of our best young actors; in fact, I think he is already, based on this one performance. This is one of the finest performances by a young adult since River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho.
I cannot wait to own this movie on Blu-Ray, to get swept up in the beauty and artistry all over again.
3. Mammoth (Dir. Lukas Moodysson)
I think I’ve written more about Mammoth this year than any other film. You can find columnshere and here.
Lukas Moodysson is one of the world’s greatest filmmakers and here he’s just doing what he always does: making a masterpiece. While I’m not sure yet if I would put it on the same level as Fucking Amal or Lilya 4-ever, this is still a must-see motion picture that says more about the world we live in than any other film I’ve seen this year. Wonderful acting, brilliant direction, a wonderful script about globalization; this is the type of film the Academy should be tripping over itself to hand awards to, but for some reason is completely devoid of hype. See it and judge for yourself.
2. The Hurt Locker (Dir. Kathryn Bigelow)
The most suspenseful film I’ve seen since The Wages of Fear. I was on the edge of my seat for the entire running time. Jeremy Renner gives the performance of the year. Read my column about the best Iraq war movie here.
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1. Inglourious Basterds (Dir. Quentin Tarantino)
Read my column about my number one film here.
I had written Tarantino off. I thought he had become a filmmaker that was more interested in imagining ways of remaking bad 70s grindhouse movies than making anything original or important. I walked into Inglourious Basterds wanting to detest it. But I couldn’t. This is pure filmmaking and the most fun I’ve had in a movie theater in years. This is a film that is not built around set-pieces; rather, every single scene is a set-piece. Each scene is great by itself and put all together, it makes the film one of the most exciting, funny, suspenseful and odd experience you could have in the theater. This is the Tarantino that I wanted him to be, willing to break the rules and take chances while having the type of fun he likes to have.
I wrote about why I loved the movie so much in the column that is hyperlinked above, but I really didn’t expect that by the end of the year, it would still be at the top of this list. It’s a testament to how great the movie is or how bad this year was. I’m undecided. Either way, this is a film that deserves to be mentioned with the best of the decade and will get heavy consideration when I make that list in the coming weeks.
Noah Forrest
December 28, 2009
Noah Forrest is a 26-year-old aspiring writer/filmmaker in New York City.
The opinions expressed in these columns are the writers and do not neccessarily reflect the opinions of Movie City News or any of its editors or other contributors.
Having made lists, checking them thrice
Monday, December 28th, 2009
Is 3D Really Important To The Future Of Film?
Monday, December 28th, 2009In another entry
Press Release – Imaginarium Quotes
Monday, December 28th, 2009JOHNNY DEPP and JUDE LAW EXPLAIN WORKING ON TERRY GILLIAM’S “THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS”
SONY PICTURES CLASSICS RELEASED THE FILM IN NY/LA ON DECEMBER25th
EXPANDING ON JANUARY 8th
Johnny Depp and Jude Law have released the following statements regarding their involvement with Terry Gilliam’s latest film, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS.
JOHNNY DEPP
“Maestro Gilliam has made a sublime film. Wonderfully enchanting and beautiful, ‘The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus’ is a uniquely ingenious, captivating creation; by turns wild, thrilling and hilarious in all its crazed, dilapidated majesty. Pure Gilliam magic!!!
It was an honor to represent Heath. He was the only player out there breathing heavy down the back of every established actors neck with a thundering and ungovernable talent that came up on you quick, hissing rather mischievously with that cheeky grin, “hey… get on out of my way boys, i’m coming through…” and does he ever!!! Heath is a marvel, Christopher Plummer beyond anything he’s ever done, Waits as the Devil is a God, Lily Cole and Andrew Garfield, the very foundation, are spectacular, Verne Troyer simply kicks ass and as for my other cohorts, Colin Farrell and Jude Law, they most certainly did Master Ledger very proud, I salute them.
Though the circumstances of my involvement are extremely heart-rending and unbelievably sad, I feel privileged to have been asked aboard to stand in on behalf of dear Heath.”
JUDE LAW
“I have always loved Terry Gilliam’s films. Their heart, their soul, their mind, always inventive, touching, funny and relevant. When I got the call, it was a double tug. I liked Heath very much as a man and admired him as an actor. To help finish his final piece of work was a tribute I felt compelled to make. To help Terry finish his film was an honour paid to a man I adore. I had a great time on the job. Though we were all there in remembrance, Heath’s heart pushed us with great lightness to the finish.”
The Game’s Afoot
Sunday, December 27th, 2009 |
T.S. Elliott be damned, the movie going world is finishing the year not with a whimper but a bang. The fortuitous Friday positioning of Christmas proved to be a nice asset with the weekend generating close to $275 million in ticket sales that establishes a new three-day weekend record.
Avatar once again took bragging rights with an estimated $73.7 million that was no more than a flutter off its opening weekend. Sherlock Holmes scored an impressive $62.6 million and the Chipmunks Squeakquel ranked third with a peep less than $50 million and a five-day gross of $76.4 million.
There was a solid $22 million launch for the adult rom-comIt’s Complicated and 3 Idiots had one of the biggest debuts for a Bollywood film in North America with a five-day box office of $1.5 million. Also buoyant was the limited bow of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus that generated $422,000 from 145 venues and limited expansions of both A Single Man and The Young Victoria held well.
Up in the Air expanded wide and maintained a flight worthy $6,080 average while Crazy Heart added just a few gigs and maintained the applause. Virtually the only sour note in this otherwise viewing love fest was the national launch of Ninethat mustered up $5.4 million to rank eighth in the lineup with a not terribly encouraging $3,840 engagement average.
Weekend Estimates: December 25-27, 2009
| Title | Distributor | Gross (averag | % change | Theaters | Cume |
| Avatar | Fox | 73.7 (21,330) | -4% | 3456 | 212.5 |
| Sherlock Holmes | WB | 62.6 (17,270) | New | 3626 | 62.6 |
| Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squea | Fox | 49.9 (13,490) | New | 3700 | 76.4 |
| It’s Complicated | Uni | 22.0 (7,630) | New | 2887 | 22 |
| The Blind Side | WB | 11.6 (4,190) | 15% | 2766 | 184.3 |
| Up in the Air | Par | 11.5 (6,080) | 259% | 1895 | 24.2 |
| The Princess and the Frog | BV | 8.7 (2,510) | -28% | 3475 | 63.4 |
| Nine | Weinstein Co. | 5.4 (3,840) | 2112% | 1412 | 5.8 |
| Did You Hear About the Morgans? | Sony | 5.1 (1,890) | -23% | 2718 | 15.7 |
| Invictus | WB | 4.2 (1,950) | 0% | 2160 | 23.2 |
| Twilight: New Moon | Summit | 2.8 (1,770) | -36% | 1593 | 280.7 |
| A Christmas Carol | BV | 1.3 (1,060) | -62% | 1245 | 135.9 |
| Brothers | Lions Gate | 1.2 (1,430) | -57% | 858 | 25.4 |
| 3 Idiots | Big Pictures | 1.0 (8,500) | - | 120 | 1.5 |
| 2012 | Sony | 1.0 (1,210) | -56% | 800 | 161.5 |
| Precious | Lions Gate | .79 (1,2600 | -34% | 629 | 41.7 |
| The Young Victoria | Apparition/Allian | .69 (3,600) | 63% | 192 | 1.2 |
| Old Dogs | BV | .62 (960) | -74% | 645 | 45.8 |
| The Road | Weinstein Co. | .43 (1,390) | -34% | 311 | 5.9 |
| Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus | E1/Sony Classi | .42 (29,200) | New | 145 | 0.42 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $264.10 | - | - | - | |
| % Change (Last Year) | - | 34% | - | - | - |
| % Change (Last Week) | - | 96% | - | - | - |
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| A Single Man | Weinstein Co. | .33 (7,130) | 139% | 46 | 0.9 |
| Crazy Heart | Fox Searchlight | .16 (13,170) | 90% | 12 | 0.32 |
| Millennium II | Alliance | .15 (3,350) | - | 46 | 0.15 |
| Police, Adjective | IFC | 17,700 (2,530) | - | 7 | 0.02 |
Domestic Market Share: To December 17, 2009
| Distributor (releases) | Gross (in milli | Market Share |
| Warner Bros. (33) | 1937.3 | 19.60% |
| Paramount (15) | 1448.7 | 14.60% |
| Sony (22) | 1428.2 | 14.40% |
| Buena Vista (22) | 1174.7 | 11.90% |
| Fox (16) | 981.9 | 9.90% |
| Universal (20) | 849.5 | 8.60% |
| Summit (11) | 468.9 | 4.70% |
| Lions Gate (14) | 397.3 | 4.00% |
| Fox Searchlight (12) | 262.9 | 2.70% |
| Weinstein Co. (10) | 193.1 | 2.00% |
| Focus (10) | 161.2 | 1.60% |
| Overture (8) | 157.2 | 1.60% |
| Paramount Vantage (4) | 67.6 | 0.70% |
| MGM (4) | 64.8 | 0.70% |
| Miramax (8) | 61.3 | 0.60% |
| Other * (319) | 239.7 | 2.40% |
| * none greater than 0.4% | 9894.3 | 100.00% |
Top Domestic Releases – To December 20, 2009
| Title | Distributor | Gross |
| Transformers: Revenge of the Falle | Par | 402,195,608 |
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Pri | WB | 301,959,197 |
| Up | BV | 293,283,811 |
| The Hangover | WB | 277,334,275 |
| The Twilight Saga: New Moon | Summit | 274,598,319 |
| Star Trek | Par | 257,807,784 |
| Monsters vs. Aliens | Par | 198,377,900 |
| Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs | Fox | 196,624,037 |
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine | Fox | 179,883,157 |
| Night at the Museum 2 | Fox | 177,245,443 |
| The Blind Side | WB | 164,725,525 |
| The Proposal | BV | 163,958,031 |
| 2012 | Sony | 159,028,696 |
| Fast & Furious | Uni | 155,239,768 |
| G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra | Par | 150,329,089 |
| Paul Blart: Mall Cop | Sony | 146,777,505 |
| Taken | Fox | 145,000,989 |
| Gran Torino * | WB | 142,251,852 |
| Angels & Demons | Sony | 133,859,408 |
| A Christmas Carol | BV | 130,813,354 |
Red Band Trailer: Repo Men
Sunday, December 27th, 2009Weekend Box Office by Klady – Big X-Mas
Sunday, December 27th, 2009
To start, Klady’s Avatar estimate is $1.3m off what the studio is touting and $2.8m lower than WB on Sherlock Holmes. Okay. We’ll see where it goes in the finals.
What’s really remarkable about the weekend’s record box office is that you have to go all the way down to #8 on the “biggest weekend ever” list to find a #2 film as big as Sherlock Holmes or a #1 as small as Avatar. On top of that, you have a $49.9m estimate on A&TC: The Squeakquel, which is another Christmas record breaker and the #7 December opening of all time. This was, unusually, a success of an array of titles, not one mega-number driving the weekend to a record.
Klady’s estimate has Avatar $1.5 million behind The Dark Knight‘s #1 Second Weekend gross off all time. And it’s just ahead of Shrek 2, which in its second weekend was the box office leader of the aforementioned #8 Best Weekend ever, followed by newcomer The Day After Tomorrow, which opened about $6 million bigger than Holmes. (Note again: December openings are different. By estimate, Sherlock’s launch is the #5 Dec open of all time and the #1 Christmas opening by a margin of almost 30 million bucks. No small success.)
The huge difference between this weekend and that Shrek 2/Day After Tomorrow weekend is that #3 movie. For that 2004 weekend, #3 was Troy’s 3rd weekend with a $12m take. Even this weekend’s #4 movie, It’s Complicated, doubled that.
The riches of this weekend are myriad. As noted above, this is the biggest 1-5 punch ever. Avatar, Sherlock, and Munks2 are now the #2, #5, and #7 openings in December history. The previous best, by the measure, was #1, #10, and #11 in 2007.
There is some down side…
2.5x the Friday start of Sherlock Holmes has to be a little disappointing, in light of a great number overall for the film. Does it mean anything in terms of word of mouth? Probably not. It was, I think, the intense must-see that made the opening day number bigger than proportional to the other 2 days, not a decreasing audience over a 3-day.
The “awards movies” were not sensational. $11.5m for Up In The Air on 1895 screens is okay, but no world beater. (it is, however, almost as much as the entire gross of The Hurt Locker.) Nine, on 1412 screens, is close to a wipeout with $5.4m. Invictus is looking like a $35m – $40m total domestic grosser. And Precious is now in the under-$1m a week category, looking like it will settle in at about $45m domestic. And in smaller openings, Crazy Heart did $13,170 per on 12, which is nothing special. Nor is A Single Man‘s $7130 per on 46.
Of course, Avatar is now looking like the awards movie to beat. It had the #26 domestic opening of all-time. It was the #26 Day Four grosser as well. Day Five, #23. Day Six, #22. Day Seven, #21. Day Eight, #16. Day Nine, #11. Day Ten, by estimate, #9. Who knows where it will be by this time next week?
As Usual, Nikki Finke Is A Self-Serving Liar
Sunday, December 27th, 2009I know some of you don’t care. “It’s just nature,” you say. “Why be upset when we all know she is a con artist?,” you say.
I guess I care because some people are still too stupid to realize they are being lied to. And it pisses me off.
This morning, it’s “As usual, the Hollywood box office experts (who had predicted this to me) were right on the money.”
They were wrong on Friday and wrong on Saturday. She printed it. Three different times. So when exactly did they get anything right? And why would being completely ignorant about box office and then simply disappearing the many incorrect pieces of information you were selling just hours before draw anything less than disdain?
And then, she is so brazen that she not only misleads readers with obvious intent, but she actually gets aggressive about claiming that the bad information never existed and in fact, the providers of that bad intel are always right.
This is why NIkki exists. She has zero shame. And everyone who does is in this “but if I mention it, it gives her more importance” echo chamber. And the greatest irony of all is that Nikki uses the “truth to power” lie about herself relentlessly while other are afraid to be truthful about her. This is how monsters are made.
No doubt, part of the irritation is that Drudge has decided to anoint Finke by link, driving most of her traffic by linking to her horrible, normally premature box office coverage. But mostly, I just don’t like liars. And I hate liars who scream about being truthful and correct most of all.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me multiple times every week, shame on me.
Gold Class Cinemas? Not So Much.
Saturday, December 26th, 2009I made a point of going out to the new Village Roadshow Gold Class Cinemas in Pasadena after I got a request from the CBC to discuss what the idea of a new kind of theatrical experience might mean to the industry.
The interview will be on Tuesday and we’ll discuss whatever they want to discuss… but first…
Wow… was that an expensive disappointment!
The theater in Pasedena used to be an AMC that I occasionally frequented. I seem to remember seeing American Pie there the first time. In any case, what Gold Class has done is, as far as I can tell, is to take the 6 theaters that were there, empty the seats, and restructure the floor, so there are between 3 and 6 levels in the room. Then, they installed pairs of seats, extra wide recliners, with outside armrests that double as a place to put your stuff and a tray table permanently affixed between the seats. Our theater was 3 of these double-seats across and 4 back, seating 24. The larger house seemed to be 4 across and 6 back (total seating, 48).
Screen size is mid-range multiplex. Sound seemed fine… nothing special.
The central area, where you would usually find the snack stand, bathrooms, and a place to hang out, has been transformed into a trendy-looking club with liquor and food service.
I guess I will just tell you the story of what happened…
TMZ At The Grove
Saturday, December 26th, 2009One strategy of the Time-Warner funded, $8 -million-dollars-a-year-invested-in-bottom-feeding scum suck known as TMZ is to keep barely-professional people at places like The Grove, 3rd St Promenade, Sunset Plaza, Robertson, and Rodeo Drive just hanging around, waiting to shoot anyone remotely famous, often trying to provoke a reaction to be filmed so the TMZeros can make fun of them for responding… half as funny as Howard Stern stunts and twice an unaware of how stupid and demeaning the effort is.
So when I see stories about Gene Simmons being asked about “his public persona about monogamy,” first reported on TMZ, my first thought is this “innocent couple” is some idiot from TMZ and his girlfriend.
Whether this person was actually in the employ of TMZ or not, this is the atmosphere of sleeze that TMZ has brought to an otherwise pleasant place. And Simmons’ reaction – assuming he thought this idiot was a TMZer – makes 100% sense to me.
One last note – I was explaining to my wife that no homeless hang out at The Grove because it is private property and their security staff is therefore allowed to keep the homeless out. Isn’t it time that Hollywood’s publicity community gets together and asks the management of The Grove to take a similar position on these idiot half-ass paparazzi? I’m sure the excuse is that they use home video cameras, so security doesn’t know. But I recognize these fools every time I walk through the place. They aren’t subtle. Moreover, if they post a few signs and inform TMZ of their intent, they should also be able to legally seize videotape made while harassing customers.
The only real civil right involved is the right to civility.
