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Pravi kompletisti se poznaju po tome što nalaze opskurnosti te evo i poslednjeg TV filma Dona Siegela koji mi je nedostajao u gledalačkom stažu a to je STRANGER OF THE RUN.

Reč je o televizijskom filmu koji je Siegel snimio za Universal i posle njega se vratio bioskopskim radovima. Priču je napisao Reginald Rose a scenario Dean Riesner koji je kao scenarista sve do razlaza tokom rada na filmu DAS BOOT ostavio značajnog traga u Siegelovoj zreloj fazi.

STRANGER OF THE RUN je vestern sa elementima misterije o strancu, starom alkosu koji dolazi u selo sagrađeno za ekipu koja opslužuje železnicu u potrazi za jednom ženom čiji brat ga je zavetovao da je nađe. Međutim, nailazi na zid ćutanja i kreće da istražuje zašto stvari tako stoje...

Film se razvija kao krimić na nivou priče i vestern na nivou dešavanja, Siegel to naravno sve vodi bez greške, precizno i efikasno. Međutim, ono što je naročita nadgradnja jeste dosta atipičan prikaz kauboja, sa izraženim prepoznatljivim frojdističkim linijama karaktera koje deluju kao snažan uticaj psihologije kao nauke na pisanje likova.

U tom smislu, STRANGER ON THE RUN nudi čitavu galeriju vrlo upečatljivih faca koje su postavljene znatno zanimljivije nego u tipičnom vesternu. Siegel u okvirima konvencije vrši upadljiva pomeranja i osvežava žanrovske postavke ali u tom pokušaju ne ruši sve one kvalitete i prečice u komunikaciji sa publikom. Otud, STRANGER ON THE RUN možda i može da posluži kao dobar primer Siegelovog vrlo specifičnog odnosa prema reformi žanra u kojoj je postigao mnogo a da nikada nije kompromitovao njegove adute.

Ako imamo u vidu da je Siegel snimio i KILLERS za televiziju, onda se ovaj naslov ne može smatrati njegovim najznačajnijim radom u ovom mediju, ali svakako spada u sam vrh vesterna privoljenog na mali ekran i bez ikakve sumnje ima značajno mesto u tradiciji vesterna uopšte.

Između ostalog, ovaj film je važan i zato što već zbog činjenice da u njemu igra Henry Fonda može biti smatran star-westernom iako Siegel vrlo vešto izbegava da ovo postane njegov vehicle. iako je sam Siegel snimio jedan od ključnih star-westerna THE SHOOTIST, ovde on uspeva da iz već formiranog Fonde izvuče "običnog glumca" i da ga spreči u dominaciji nad svim dešavanjima i partnerima.

Žižek na Dan žena udario po Izraelu.

Pogledao sam RIOT Buzz Kulika, svojevrsni rimejk Siegelovog RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11, ako ne po samoj priči a ono po metodologiji. Kulik je ostvario zapaženu karijeru na televiziji u uprkos tome što je radio dosta filmova nije se nametnuo kao bitan filmski reditelj. Međutim, snimio je niz sasvim solidnih filmova čiji je osnovni problem bio to što se nisu u dovoljnoj meri izdvajali.

RIOT se međutim izdvaja prvo po podeli koju predvode Jim Brown i Gene Hackman a znamo da su već ostvarili izvrsnu saradnju i u, kod mene često pominjanom, THE SPLITu Gordona Flemynga, a ostatak čine glumci i pravi zatvorenici, kao kod Siegela.

Kulik uspeva da kontroliše ovaj zapaljivi miks i uprkos tome što neke likove svesno stilizuje ne dolazi do disbalansa kada se se recimo susretnu ikonični Jim Brown i naturščici a s druge strane, zatvorenici deluju kao vrlo raspoloženi za zabavu i eksperiment.

Kad je reč o vezanosti ovog filma za Blaxploitation jasno je da Jim Brown kao glumac ne znači da je film u kome igra automatski Blaxploitation.

Uostalom, sarađujući sa Aldrichem ili Tobackom, Brown je šezdesdetih i sedamdesetih obeležio mnoge "belačke" filmove. Ni sam RIOT uprkos bizarnom detalju da ga je producirao William Castle nije exploitation, međutim Brown jeste tretiran kao ikonični crni mačo i mnoge njegove šetnje praćene su tvrdim soulom o robijaškom životu. U tom smislu, ovo rediteljsko rešenje sugeriše da je Brown ovde, i pre totalne Blaxploutation ere imao tu auru crnog uber menscha.

Upros Kulikovim rediteljskim ukrasima, Brownov lik nije superheroj i RIOT donosi priču smeštenu u "sivoj zoni".

Film govori o šačici zatvorenika koji organizuju zatvorksu pobunu da bui u njenoj pozadini organizovali bekstvo.

dakole, za razliku od Siegelovog RIOTa, zatvorenici nemaju političku agendu iako u pojedinim situacijama dolaze u iskušenje da okrenu leđa bekstvu i posvete se politici.

Čuvari su prikazani kao surovi ljudi koje sistem štiti ali ni zatvorenici nisu abolirani. Štaviše, film vrlo slikovito prikazuje raspad sistema kada se buntovnici obodre uz malo domaćeg alkoholnog nektara u čemu prednjači vrlo bizarna scena zatvorskog "bordela" koji se spontano organizuje pod uticajem pića, U toj sceni, nagoveštavajući svoju epizodu iz Tobackovog FINGERSa i Brown dolazi u svoje homoerotsko iskušenje ali mu i odoli.

Upravo to odsustvo preciznog moralnog kompasa među junacima i čini da se otvori dosta zanimljivo razrešenje filma u kome niko nije naročito zaslužio da mu se desi išta dobro.

RIOT efektno koristi lokacije i podelu, snimljen je sa dosta dokumentarističkih ukrasa i Kulik uspeva da jednoj prepoznatljivoj matrici da integritet prevazilazeći exploitation ograničenja. Otud RIOT i idejno postaje jedna znatno ambivalentnija i interesantnija celna nego što bi se od takvog filma očekivalo. Prava je šteta što nije imao priliku da bude pažljivije sagledan.

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Da citiram Buddy Garrityja - YOU CAN'T FAKE BOOSTERISM

Kripe, sunce ti poljubim, ti si pola onog čoveka!!! 

Neprepoznatljiv.

Hvala, hvala. Ipak, nemojte preterivati sa pohvalama, da ne osvanete u nekoj kritici.

ladno bi prošao u teksaškom highschool fudbalskom timu kao vehabija koji je studirao na oxfordu.

Quote from: Shozo Hirono on 10-03-2011, 12:15:17
ladno bi prošao u teksaškom highschool fudbalskom timu kao vehabija koji je studirao na oxfordu.

Možda ne bih prošao u Panthersima ali svakako u Lionsima. Ipak sam došao da učim za pilota.

Uspeo sam da ulovim i teško uhvatljivi THE GUN RUNNERS Dona Siegela iz 1958. godine. Reč je o rećoj adaptaciji Hemingwayeve priče koja je najslavije adaptirana u TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT. Međutim, ako imamo u vidu da THE GUN RUNNERS zahvaljujući svom statusu B-filma nije uspeo da se izbori za značajnije mesto u istoriji filma, ovo stoji kao možda i ponajbolja filmska adaptacija tog konkretnog dela.

Pre svega, Siegel prelazi sa reči na dela, impresivno je efikasan a u pojedinim scenama uspeva da bude izvanredno duhovit i da prevaziđe situacije koje bi mogle biti izvor praznog hoda, između ostalog zahvaljujući scenaristi Danielu Mainwaringu sa kojim je ostvario značajnu saradnju u ovoj ranijoj fazi karijere. Mainwaring je bio doveden da popravi scenario Paul Monasha koji je prethodno nudila kompanija Seven Arts, međutim Mainwaringova vizija je prevladala pa je on i prvopotpisani scenarista.

Ratni heroj i glumac Audie Murphy je solidan u glavnoj ulozi i Siegel izvlači maksimum iz njega. Ako imamo u vidu da Murphy nije zvezda Bogartovog kalibra sasvim se lepo izneo sa ekipom u kojoj su Patricia Owens, Jack Elam i Eddie Albert. uspeo je da ga oni ne zasene iako su pojedinačno jače pojave.

Ako imamo u vidu da je snimanje na vodi na pgubno, naročito kad se radi sa malim budžetom, Siegel je uradio iznaredan posao, učinio je da enterijer brodića zaista zaigra a akcija vezana za more je vrlo solidna i ubedljiva u okvirima tadašnjih tehničkih mogućnosti.

THE GUN RUNNERS je film koji krene jako dobro i ne zaustavlja se do samog kraja, vrlo je efikasan i precizan tako da ako imamo u vidu da je sniman u B-uslovima gotovo da uopšte nije arhaičan. Sasvim sigurno ovaj film spada u red onih Siegelovih naslova koji još uvek nisu dobili zasluženu pažnju.

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Pogledao sam NOKAS Erika Skloldbjaerga, reditelja koji je posle lukrativnog norveškog blokbastera INSOMNIA dobio priliku da snima u Holivudu gde se nije baš pokazao. Međutim, NOKAS je film koji bi ga kao Bornedala mogao vratiti u Holivud. Reč je o zanimljivo realizovanom filmu o pljački stavangerske banke, odnosno nečega što mni liči na njihov SDK.

Pljačkaši su došli naoružani do zuba, opremljeniji od stavangerskog SWAT tima i sve su planirali sem samog upada u zgradu koju su arhitektonski potcenili. Usledio je standoff koji je bio u maniru HEATa samo uživo.

I zapravo NOKAS jeste neka vrsta polemike "kako bi HEAT izgledao da se stvarno desio". Uostalom o tome govore junaci filma kada razmišljaju o tome kako filmski junaci uspevaju da beže sa milionima dolara u papiru.

Na nivou dramaturgije, NOKAS  nudi jednu mozaičnu strukturu koja ga onemogućuje da u konvencionalnom smislu razvija trilersku dimenziju i karaktere. Međutim, na kraju film u drugoj polovini dođe u jednu klasičniju komunikaciju sa gledaocem.

Po oslanjanju na radnju, bez puno spoljnih dramaturških ukrasa, NOKAS strukturalno podseća na THE HURT LOCKER s tim što je u vizuelnom smislu kad je reč o fakturi fotografije bliži HEATu.

Paradoksalno, reklo bi se da je NOKAS u stilskom smislu mnogo veća pozivnica za Holivud nego što je bila INSOMNIA. Viićemo hoće li se Erik vratiti. Ali neobično je da ovakav senzibilitet za triler i akciju zapravo otkriva tek u Norveškoj dočim je u Americi gurao taj zloglasni indie film PROZAC NATION.

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Attack the Block
(U.K.)
By Charles Gant
An Optimum Releasing release of a StudioCanal Features, Film4 and U.K. Film Council presentation of a Big Talk Pictures production. (International sales: StudioCanal Intl., Paris.) Produced by Nira Park, James Wilson. Executive producers, Matthew Justice, Tessa Ross, Jenny Borgars, Will Clarke, Olivier Courson, Edgar Wright. Directed, written by Joe Cornish.
With: John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, Alex Esmail, Franz Drameh, Leeon Jones, Simon Howard, Luke Treadaway, Nick Frost, Jumayn Hunter, Danielle Vitalis, Paige Meade, Sammy Williams, Michael Ajao.
Brit comedian-TV presenter Joe Cornish emerges fully formed as an exciting new writer-helmer with his enormously appealing debut feature, "Attack the Block." Pitched as "inner city vs. outer space," pic sees a quintet of teen street hoodlums defend their tower-block home in the projects from an invasion of shaggy-haired aliens with Day-Glo teeth. Set over one wild night in South London, this zero-to-hero tale will play gangbusters in its native Blighty before a rich ancillary career. Authentic Brit teen slang may render "Block" a puzzling life-form for foreign auds, but pockets of receptive fans across the planet are a given.

The first greenlit screenplay from the well-connected Cornish was Steven Spielberg's upcoming "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn," co-scripted with Edgar Wright (exec producer here) and Steven Moffat. However, since the big-budget Herge adaptation is still in production, Cornish's own directorial effort is being released first. The talent on display in "Attack the Block" more than justifies Spielberg and Wright's faith in the novice scribe, previously best known to U.K. auds for TV's "The Adam and Joe Show" and its radio spinoff.

Story begins with racially diverse teen protags Moses (John Boyega), Pest (Alex Esmail), Dennis (Franz Drameh), Jerome (Leeon Jones) and Biggz (Simon Howard) relieving nurse Sam (Jodie Whittaker) of her cell phone, purse and ring at knife-point. Next, an alien falls from the sky in a fireball, crashing through the roof of a parked car. The extraterrestrial incident provokes little interest from authorities, since the sky is already lit up by fireworks celebrating Britain's annual Bonfire Night, but the boys chase and kill the intruder, then cart their booty to benign cannabis cultivator Ron (Nick Frost) for advice on how to monetize the find.

Cornish is mostly well served by his youthful lead actors, especially Boyega as ringleader Moses, who's granted the most complete character arc as he comes to accept responsibility for impetuous actions that precipitate a full-on alien invasion. Likable supporting characters abound, including the boys' skeptical female friends and two young urchins, armed with a toy gun and a Super Soaker, who want in on the action. Even the potentially cliched role of trust-fund stoner Brewis, an outsider caught up in the mayhem, is nicely elevated thanks to witty dialogue delivered by more seasoned thesp Luke Treadaway.

Most obvious point of comparison is Wright's 2004 zombie comedy "Shaun of the Dead" (in which Cornish had an uncredited cameo), with its mix of wry humor and genre homage. Pic also reps a natural evolution from a popular "Adam and Joe Show" segment in which classic or recent movies were re-enacted with stuffed toys. In "Attack the Block," the fantasy-adventure spoof is instead populated by kids who are evidently a product of their tough environment, even if at one point they're fairly described as "quite sweet, really."

The boys earn sympathy when they make up with Sam, stand up to violent criminal Hi-Hatz (Jumayn Hunter) and save the day, paying most dearly in some cases. Thanks to nimble pacing, the boys' excitement -- "Too much madness to explain in one text!" exclaims one of the gang -- should prove effectively contagious. While the film's use of the voguish teen lexicon will add to its appeal domestically, flummoxed non-native auds won't miss any important plot points, and subtitling or dubbing should cover the cracks in foreign-lingo outposts.

Propulsive score by Steven Price, with Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe of dance-music duo Basement Jaxx, adds another jolt of energy, while lenser Tom Townend (who shot Samantha Morton's "The Unloved") makes savvy use of the nighttime housing-project setting, exploiting street lamps, interior strip lighting, fireworks and the aliens' eerily glowing blue-white teeth. The fast-moving creatures are plenty scary, but in less aggressive circumstances might almost qualify, like their teen adversaries, as cuddly.
Camera (Technicolor, Arri widescreen), Tom Townend; editor, Jonathan Amos; music, Steven Price, Felix Buxton, Simon Ratcliffe; music supervisor, Nick Angel; production designer, Marcus Rowland; supervising art director, set decorator, Dick Lunn; costume designer, Rosa Dias; sound (DTS/Dolby Digital), Jim Greenhorn; supervising sound editor, Julian Slater; re-recording mixer, Mark Paterson; creature effects, Mike Elizalde; special effects supervisor, Sam Conway; visual effects supervisor, Ged Wright; visual effects, Double Negative; stunt coordinator, Paul Herbert; line producer, James Biddle; associate producer, Lucy Pardee; assistant director, Ben Howarth; second unit camera, Julian Morson, Peter Talbot; casting, Nina Gold. Reviewed at the Motion Picture Co., London, March 2, 2011. (In SXSW Festival -- Midnighters.) Running time: 87 MIN.

Jel ima možda neko linkove za dokumentarac The Red Stuff : The First Russian Cosmonauts ? Ako ima, obradovaće me slanjem na PM. Hvala.

Pogledao sam izuzetno zanimljiv biopic o Rat Packu koji je za HBO 1998. godine snimio Rob Cohen po scenariju Kario Salema. Ova produkcija Neal H. Moritza je okupila onaj taman potrebni nivo ekipe, tako da ray Liotta igra Franka Sinatru, Joe Mantegna Dean Martina, Don Cheadle Sammy Davis Jra. a Deborah Unger Avu Gardner.

Iako bi se moglo reći da ova podela ne liči u potpunosti na Rat Pack fizički gledano, u saradnji sa Cohenom uspevaju da naprave dobru dramu između tih ličnosti i da ponude jedno konzistentno viđenje dešavanja oko ove ekipe. Konačno, pojavio se film koji objašnjava ne samo mehanizam funkcionisanja rat Packa i njihove motivacije već i Frankov odnos sa Kennedyjem. Iako u samom filmu postoje neke poprilične nekonzistentnosti, recimo odnos nekih datuma nastanka nekih pesama u odnosu na događaje i sl. moram priznati da je Cohen prikazao jednu ubedljivu sliku ovih ljudi, njihovih kontakata i motivacija.

Jedino Sammy Davis Jr. povremeno ode na cheesy stranu, sa nekim svojim motivacionim govorima na temu autorasizma ali ako imamo u vidu njegov angažman, sasvim je moguće da je on sebe zaista tako video.

Cohen uspeva da prilično jasno izgradi strukturu priče i fokusira se na jedan relativno kratak segment rada i druženja Rat Packa negde u vreme izbora JFKa. Međutim, on vrlo dobro kroz taj isečak pored zaokruženog zapleta skicira njih kao ličnosti.

U tehničkom smislu, THE RAT PACK je vrhunski TV film sa fotografijom Shane Hurlbuta koji je kasnije postao poznat kao DP na kog se izdire Christian Bale. Scene pevanja deluju uverljivo jer su izabrani pevači čiji glasovi liče na glasove glumaca koji igraju Rat Packovce.

Cohen uspeva i ono što je najvažnije a to je da gledaoce istovremeno zabavi glamurom njihovog načina života i da pokaže njegovu mračnu stranu. Ljubiteljima filma će naročito biti zabavan Sinatrin odnos prema filmskim projektima na kojima je radio, kako je čitao scenario i kako je nehajno izgledalo snimanje OCEAN'S ELEVENa.

Koga sve ovo zanima, ne bi trebalo da propusti...

ред стуфф овде

Hvala. Našao sam isti taj sinoć! I to je to. Nije lažnjak.

Pogledao sam DTV sequel SWATa, nazvan FIREFIGHT koji je po mnogo čemu efektniji od svog bioskopskog preteče. Naime, dok je Clark Johnsonov SWAT prilično kuburio sa problemima slabog negativca, nedovoljno razvijene piče u odnosu na zadate kapacitete A-filma i sl. SWAT: FIREFIGHT je pravo uživanje za sve one koji vole policijske filmove o čuvarima reda koji misle da se red & mir najbolje čuvaju samo ozbiljnim narušavanjem istih, koji konstantno upozoravaju na potrebu za promišljenošću i strpljenje kroz gestove prepune neobazrivosti i prelamanja preko kolena i krase ih sve ostale kontradikcije savremenog kapitalizma.

Pun "pun" potencijal za kritiku ovog filma imao bi naslov BENNY'S VIDEO pošto je film režirao boy from the hood Benny Boom. I SWAT: FIREFIGHT izgleda ne samo kao film koji je usklađen sa naslovom već i kao film koji je režirao neko ko se zove BENNY BOOM.

Dakle, u filmu ima dosta boomovanja, dosta mačo policajaca koji swaggeruju okolo, nabildovani i snimljeni iz mase pozicija kamere tako da je sve predstavljeno u maniru savrem,ene televizije, što je u suštini okej. Štaviše, Benny nudi neke inovativne stvari u akcionim scenmama uz dosta gejmerskog korišćenja POV planova.

I uopšte, Benny Boom kao i scenaristi, voli da stvari postavlja gejmerski, predočava problem i onda se traga za rešenjem,   osim u amoj završnici koji podseća na jedan od onih košmarnih nivoa u shooterima kada nešto pukne i onda krene totalna anihilacija.

FIREFIGHT je baziran na klišeima, glavni junak je maverick cop koji se razlikuje po tome što se loži na proceduru i obuku za razliku od relaksiranih kolega; ballbuster šef policije je Giancarlo Esposito; negativac je rogue black op mastermind kakav bi u ponekom filmu vrlo lako mogao biti pozitivac. Iako je u prvom SWATu baš negativac bio slab, ovde negativac počne slabo ali posle postane odličan, čak negde i ambivalentan zbog kompleksnije motivacije.

Gabriel Macht je solidan kao heroj a Robert Patrick je pošao stazama Billa Sadlera, svog komandanta u DIE HARD 2 i igra lik tog tipa. Ova ekipa omogućuje da Benny Boom sve klišee plasira sa izvesnim stepenom ubeđenosti. Stoga, ko voli ovu vrstu filma, može da ga pogleda. To je taj nepretenciozni DTV ugođaj koji je ovog puta ipak obogaćen ambicioznijim uslovima snimanja, američkim lokacijama i određenom ambicijom koju emituju ljudi koji ipak još uvek imaju vere u svoju perspektivu.

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I Vern je izrespektovao JONAH HEXa priznavši da nije zaslužio onako brutalno mlevenje...

Jonah Hex

tn_jonahhexI can dig a good western, and alot of critics have been saying that JONAH HEX is even better than TRUE GRIT, so I thought I should check it out.

Okay, that's not entirely true. Also it's not at all true. Armond White doesn't count as somebody seriously for real liking JONAH HEX. But I'm a positive individual so I was trying to put a good spin on it. Believe it or not though I don't have to delve into too much negativity for this review. JONAH HEX is not as bad as I was expecting, or as people have said. It definitely doesn't work, but I don't consider it a total abomination. It is beautiful in God's eyes, it's only on this earthly plane that it gets bullied because of its deformed face.

mp_jonahhexJosh Brolin plays Jonah Hex, a bounty hunter who was a soldier in the Confederate army. I'm not sure how they handled it in the original DC comics book it was based on, but here they have an African-American blacksmith who vouches for him, pointing out that Hex never believed in slavery. In fact he decided what he was fighting for was wrong and conscientiously objected to a direct order to burn down a hospital full of yankees. We learn the details of the backstory over the course of the movie, but the important thing to know is that Hex had to kill his buddy Jeb Turnbull (apparently Jeffrey Dean Morgan from WATCHMEN, although I didn't realize it) so it was a double betrayal of his crazy commanding officer Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich). Turnbull took it so personally he tracked down Hex, tied him to a cross, made him watch his family burn to death and then branded his face. Hex later burned the brand into unrecognizability (laser surgery was not yet available) and now he rides around with half his face deformed.

Years later the government finds out that Turnbull and some of his confederate soldiers have stolen a super weapon and plan to attack crowds during the Centennial celebration. They think only Hex has the skills and personal vendetta to take out Turnbull, so they hire him to save the country.

It sounds kinda stupid 'cause it is kinda stupid, but I feel like I get what they're going for and I don't think they entirely fail. It's a western, but it's a comic book western, so everything is amped up. Yeah, he's a guy riding a horse, but he has a monster face and two giant gatling guns under his saddle bags. When he rides out of town the entire thing goes up into a fireball. Same thing with trains, they get robbed by bandits like in a regular western, but then they blow up like it's a Schwarzenegger movie. Instead of a human prostitute girlfriend, Hex has Megan Fox, looking good except for the creepy alien waist her corset gives her, like a comic drawn with unrealistic proportions. When Hex tracks down a confederate colonel (Luke Duke himself, Tom Wopat) at a gladiatorial combat joint one of the fighters in the pit is a fuckin Snake Man. And at one point Hex rides across the plains with a giant swarm of crows following him. Not like they're gonna help him or anything, they must just like hanging out with him, or think he's onto something, or just want to help him look cool. You can't do that in TRUE GRIT, but you can in JONAH HEX, so you might as well.

To really say "this is not your father's western, or a movie your father would watch, even on cable" they got some band called Mammoth to do the score along with Marco Beltrami. The rockin guitars and drums sometimes make it play as yet another shitty modern action movie that doesn't know what the fuck it's doing, and sometimes gives it a unique feel. I like that they even did a guitar version of the WB logo music at the beginning.

The script is credited to Nevildine/Taylor of CRANK and GAMER infamy, but luckily they left before filming. Instead it's directed by some dude named Jimmy Hayward who formerly only worked on computer animated family films. He was probly in over his head and couldn't control the thing, but doesn't seem entirely inept (except, surprisingly, in the shitty animated prologue). It's not too spastic with the style and is generally well shot.

Where it goes wrong is mainly with the general plot of what the bad guys are trying to do and how the good guy stops it. It doesn't really stick to what works in a straight western because it spends too much of its less-than-80-minutes on a slim post-Civil War version of a DIE HARD plot. Turnbull is your typical Malkovich weirdo character (he barely attempts an accent) and his big plan is just to shoot cannonballs into towns followed by little crystal ball things that cause big explosions. (It's a weapon called "The Nation Killer" that was developed in a secret government program run by Eli Whitney.) But all Hex can really do is chase after him, punch some guys, chop some guys, shoot some guys, and all of this in the dark because the celebration is at night time. Not a very exciting climax.

But I have to admit I kind of like Brolin as this character of Jonah Hex. He gets to mutter and mumble and not worry about ever charming anybody. Every enemy he comes across has to make some comment about his face, and he has a whole catalog of snappy comebacks, but eventually gets tired of it and announces that he's run out.

Hex never smiles (I'm not sure he physically can) so when he says funny shit it seems like he doesn't know he's funny, and that makes it better. After gunning down a corrupt sheriff and his entire posse he looks around at the witnesses and decides to pin the sheriff's star on a DELIVERANCE-looking fat guy. He pats him and says "Congratulations." I hope things turned out okay in that town. That could've been a spinoff.

Remember when I reviewed THE PHANTOM a while back I enjoyed how for some reason The Phantom has a horse and wolf that follow him around and know how to rescue him and shit? Jonah Hex could have a setup like that if he wanted to, because he frees a dog from a dogfight and the thing shows up at his side later, and in an entirely different part of the country if I'm not mistaken. (That could be another spinoff, the adventures of the dog walking many miles to find Jonah Hex.) You think the dog's gonna help him somehow but instead Hex just looks at him and mutters, "You. Yeah... I don't know what to say to you."

The other thing I like about Jonah Hex is his inability to completely despise his old war buddies, even though they're terrorists now. He knows they're on the wrong side and has no problem killing them, but afterwards likes to pay his respects by saying things like "Thanks men" or "Sorry Jim." I mean, who is he to judge, he was fighting for the South at one point too. He knows he's as dumb as they are. I guess the awareness makes him smarter. But I like that he's forgiving, even of these pricks.

One thing I haven't mentioned: Hex has magic powers. He's a corpse whisperer. Because of his past brush with death he has this weird thing where if he touches a dead body it comes back to life. He can't resurrect the dead, because they'll turn into ashes after a minute, but he can use it to get information. Lucky thing the Geneva conventions didn't exist yet because I don't think you could justify his post-death enhanced interrogation of a prisoner that already got interrogated to death.

I guess the supernatural element wasn't in the comic strip books and it isn't really needed in a western, but it's okay because it leads to the one genuinely great scene in the movie. Hex realizes that to get the information he needs he has to dig up the grave of the best friend/villain's son who he killed in the war and question the guy. I seriously liked this scene because not only was it a weird way to explain some of the backstory and the idea that Hex and Turnbull have both been turned into vengeful monsters by the same incident, but Brolin and Morgan turn it into a great character moment. They're two friends who are pissed at each other but can't hide the remains of their friendship. They talk it out and then sort of enjoy their short time together before the dead guy says, "Ah, hell. I'm startin to burn. I best be getting back underground."

That scene alone puts JONAH HEX above some of the other universally panned movies it's been lumped in with. It doesn't have that total-mess feel of expensive, befuddling ideas loudly banging against each other, like WILD WILD WEST or LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN. To me it feels a little closer to a SOLOMON KANE "I want to like this, some of it's cool, but it's not quite setting my world on fire for some reason" type feel.

I suspect some of the problem is that it was designed as a small movie, but I guess they moved it from August to June and did some reshoots to try to make it seem more like a big summer movie. I'm not sure which parts that would be but the movie would definitely benefit from a smaller, more personal scope. Not every hero has to be saving the whole country or world every time out. Ask The Punisher.

Whether it was the postproduction shenanigans or a screwup from the beginning, there's definitely some narrative sloppiness that's hard to get past. The opening origin story seems fine at first but gets more convoluted when it turns into barely moving drawings. Why do we have to be told that Turnbull is dead in one scene only to find out he's not dead in the next scene? And there's an early flash forward to a scene in the middle that turns out to be a showdown between Hex and Turnbull that only takes place in Hex's mind as he's dying and then is intercut later as a flashback when they actually do have a showdown. It becomes needlessly confusing and I suspect it was the original August ending that they didn't want to waste so they incorporated it into the reshot June ending.

Also in the cast are Michael Fassbender (good as a bowler-hat wearing henchman character), Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon, Aidan Quinn as Ulysses S. Grant, and Wes Bentley in a role that I bet was supposed to be bigger at some point. Also the usually comedic actor Will Arnett plays a completely straight underling role, which is kind of distracting, like when Chris Elliot was in MANHUNTER.

In defense of my good name (just Vern, no last name) I want to reiterate that I am not saying JONAH HEX is a good movie. I just don't think it deserves to be shit on as much as it was. With low expectations I was at least able to get some good moments out of it. Is that so wrong?

Ovo su verovatno svi videli ali možda neko i nije...

DS izlozba fotografija - mladi recituju

Holivud je posle WANTEDa snimio još jedan rimejk BALKANSKIH PRAVILA pod naslovom THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU. Reč je o ekranizaciji priče Philipa K. Dicka koju je napisao i režirao George Nolfi, scenarista koji je vrlo cenjen ali do sada nije imao sreće da mi se snime scenariji na osnovu kojih je dobijao tezge, već samo tezge.

No, posle ovog filma Nolfi će svakako dobiti svoje zasluženo mesto. THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU kao film nije nešto naročito ali je po mnogo čemu osvežavajući od odnosu na aktuelnu ponudu. Pre svega, u samom tretmanu Dicka, pisca koji je bio dosta ekranizovan i pre a poslednjih godina se izređala masa ekranizacija koje su mahom bile slabe i pogrešne. Pogrešne su bile zbog toga što su gurale Dicka (no pun intended) u pravcu SFa, high concept akcije i sl. zanemarivši njegovu u suštini čisto fantastičarsku dimenziju.

Nolfi međutim upravo insistira na onome što se kod Dicka najviše prepoznaje a to je pokušaj da se kroz fantastiku kontemplira o nekim drugim pitanjima, bilo da je fantastika proizvedena nekim tehničkim putem ili ne. U tom smislu, u BUREAU nema tehnike, ono što je fantastika opisano je kao vid magije, sa određenim mehanizmima koji se objasne i to je to. Nema nikakve naročite vizuelne ili tehničke atrakcije u tom aspektu.

Otud je u srcu filma ljubavna priča a fantastika je tu samo da pojača dilemu o kojoj govori ovaj film a to je diskusija o nesigurnosti o ispunjavanju životnih planove proisteklih iz stupanja u neku vrstu zajednice. Ovaj film nije prvi koji se bavi time ali se u suštini vrlo lepo približava nekoj ideji koju deo žanrovskih pisaca ima kada stvara svoja dela a to je da streme ka tome da im se ra doživljava ozbiljno kao da je vredan toga da govori o "ozbiljnim" temama. To je u ovom filmu Nolfi uspeo da postigne a da ne izgubi pitkost.

U tom smislu, Matt Damon je odbranio čast holivudskog prvoligaša snimivši jedan atipičan primerak repertoarskog filma sa high concept spinom. I što je još važnije sa Emily Blunt je ostvario dobru hemiju na ekranu i ostali su kao upečatljiv filmski par, možda baš za nastavak koji bi mogao da govori o njihovom pokušaju da se razvedu uprkos čikama iz MAD MENa koji kontrolišu sudbinu?

* * * / * * * *

Philip K., Diminished: A Review of The Adjustment Bureau

Dir/scr: Joe Cornish. UK. 2011. 87mins

Snarling alien monsters are up against a teenage gang of South London hoodies in Joe Cornish's pacy, amusing and at times frightening action-adventure romp. Lack of star names and use of very local slang dialogue may hamper international distribution, but the film, which premiered at SXSW in a midnight slot, has a vibrancy and style to appeal to genre distributors and festivals.

    Debut director Joe Cornish shoots with a lot of style and energy, keeping things tense and exciting.

Attack The Block is a brilliant bit of high concept plotting – alien hordes fought off by a tough teen gang when the monsters attack the gang's home high-rise apartment block – and while the notion of anti-heroes fighting off invaders has been done many times before (from Fort Apache and Assault On Precinct 13 through to District 13 and The Horde), there are times here when the script never quite finds the right balance in terms of the gang, as they veer between tough talking defenders and thoroughly unpleasant hoodies.

But debut director Joe Cornish – known in the UK as one half of comedy duo Adam and Joe, and who also recently co-wrote The Astonishing Ant Man with Edgar Wright, and Tintin along with Wright and Steven Moffat – shoots with a lot of style and energy, keeping things tense and exciting and smartly delivering in a running time under 90 minutes.

The film opens in The Oval, in South London, on Bonfire Night (the night in the UK when firework displays are staged), where trainee nurse Sam (Jodie Whitaker) is walking home to her flat in a nearby tower block.

She is held at knifepoint by a gang of masked, hooded, youths who take her mobile phone, purse and ring, but is saved from further assault when a small meteorite falls from the sky and hits a nearby-parked car.

The gang – Moses (John Boyega), Pest (Alex Esmail), Dennis (Franz Drameh), Jerome (Leeon Jones) and Biggz (Simon Howard) – are attacked by a small, white-furred, alien creature that leaps from the wreckage. The gang chase and kill it, dragging its carcass back to the block where they store it in a flat run by drug dealer Hi-Hatz (Jumayn Hunter).

When a second wave of meteorites fall the gang grab weapons and head out on stolen motorbikes and cycles ready to defend their turf. But this time round they are up against much-larger beasties...vicious, shadowy and with snarling luminous teeth. They are hunting the first creature and nothing will stop in their way.

Before long bodies start to fall – police, drug gangster and even members of the hoodie gang – as the youngsters makes a series of bloody stands in various apartments, joining forces with feisty Sam along the way as well as upper-class guy Brewis (Luke Treadaway), who is only in the block looking to buy some marijuana.

The remnants of the gang bond grudgingly with Sam (though naturally she has a tough time accepting her muggers as allies) with gang leader Moses facing up to the ultimate responsibility in terms of taking down the alien monsters. Against all the odds, a tough-talking hoodie teen becomes her – and the block's – only hope.

Cornish spent a good deal of time doing his research to make sure he got the gang slang just right, and while this is admirable it could also make it hard for certain audiences to figure out exactly what is going on.

A slightly bigger issue is the fact that these young gangsters mug an innocent nurse at knifepoint at the start of the film. Yes, they might be admirable and occasionally engaging as they start the fight back against the monsters, but the film finds it hard to recover from the hard fact that these are knife-wielding young thugs. It tries its hardest to have Sam the nurse get closer to the gang – and they do grudgingly admit they wouldn't have mugged her had they known she lived in the same block as them – but it can never quite get past the fact they are casually violent muggers.

Smartly the film moves at a cracking pace which means it leaves little time to focus on inconsistencies, and instead focuses on some dark humour as police and gun-toting drug dealers are taken down by the monsters, though most fun comes from a couple of tiny young wannabe gangsters who fill a Supersoaker with gasoline to tackle a monster.

Of the young cast, John Boyega makes the strongest impression, as gang leader Moses, while also impressive is Leeon Jones as Jerome, possibly the most compassionate amongst the bunch. Nick Frost – who starred in Paul, Hot Fuzz and Shaun Of The Dead – crops up as laid-back drug dealer Ron, who runs the secret cannabis lab at the top of the block, and who plays his role purely for stoner laughs.

Attack The Block will likely be a big hit in the UK where Cornish is a media personality and where audiences – especially young urban ones – will appreciate the dark humour and occasionally bloody thrills. The trick will be to see if international audiences can see it as an out-an-out fantasy adventure romp...if so, it could well find an appreciative genre fan-base.

Novelist David Peace and screenwriter Tony Grisoni speak about the '1977' script at Newcastle's Story Engine conference.

Novelist David Peace hopes that Red Riding: Nineteen Seventy-Seven, the 'missing' film from the adaptations of his Red Riding Quartet of novels, still has a chance of being made.

Peace was talking about the project at The Story Engine: Scene of The Crime conference this weekend at Newcastle's Tyneside Cinema.

"1977 was the best script," Peace said. "Because of budget restraints, [Channel 4 and the filmmakers] had to cut one, so I said, 'That's fine as long as one of them was 1977.' And they said, 'No,'"he recalled with a laugh. "There is still a plan one day to do a stand-alone film based on the Tony Grisoni's script. I hope that I live long enough to see that."

Andrew Eaton and Michael Winterbottom's Revolution Films produced the acclaimed and ambitious trilogy of films (based on the books set in 1974, 1980 and 1983) for Channel 4, which aired them in 2009. The team had originally planned to shoot all four films, including 1977, so screenwriter Tony Grisoni had also adapted that book at the same time as the others.

Grisoni, speaking later at the conference, noted: "Channel 4 said 'We have enough money for three not four, or four if they are all shortened.' If we did that, they'd have become much more about plot." Channel 4 had suggested that bits of 1977 script's would be "pushed into the others, but I didn't want to do that," Grisoni added. "I didn't want to unpick them."

But he's also sad that 1977 wasn't shot: "It is fractured by '77 not being there. It's an act of vandalism really. It was the one I was most fascinated because it was so trippy. That was the year of punk, the Jubilee, the race riots." Grisoni revealed that the tagline for the 1977 script was based on a lyric from the song No Future by the Sex Pistols.

It is yet to be known when or if 1977 could be shot, and the fact that Ridley Scott is set to remake the series — originally about power, corruption and murder in West Yorkshire — for Columbia Pictures could also complicate matters. The trilogy was sold internationally by StudioCanal to buyers including IFC for the US — including for some theatrical runs.

Peace was speaking at the Bloody North Panel, moderated by Richard T Kelly and also featuring Get Carter director Mike Hodges, talking about the role of setting in crime novels and films.

Peace had strong praise for Grisoni's adaptation of the books as well as the films and the performances in them. "When I read the scripts, I forgot they were my books. And I mean that as a compliment. I got caught up in the world of Tony's scripts.

Peace said he has some regrets about the first book in the series, Nineteen Seventy-Four, which was the most fictional. "Now I feel the violence particularly toward children, was overdone. I've learned a lot since then. I think I realised that you didn't need to stitch swan's wings of the backs of little girls...the murder of children is horrible enough. I just don't like the overlaying of the gothic on what is already a tragedy."

However, Grisoni said "the dead child with swan wings, that image so horrified me but it also hooked me in."

Peace said it helped that he started writing the books while he was living in Tokyo. "The physical distance really did help a lot. What I tried to capture was the language of Yorkshire in the mid-70s. I tried to listen to music of the time, read novels of the time, and watch films of the time. It was trying to get back that language. Had I been in the UK, I would have been distracted by the current language."

Separately, Grisoni said that he is currently writing a script based on a series of interviews he's done with "people talking about grief and their belief in the supernatural."

Speakers at Story Engine also included authors Barbara McKissack, Denise Mina and Ann Cleeves, Yellow Bird script editor Eva Svenstedt Ward, writer/producer Paul Rutman.

Local film-maker Ian Fenton organised the fifth edition of Story Engine with a special emphasis on crime writing. Other supporters of the event include New Writing North, Arts Council England, and Northern Film + Media. Screen International was a media partner.

Pogledao sam THE RED STUFF Eda De Boera. Nažalost, tema je znatno veća od De Boera koji je previše mali da bi je obuhvatio. Sovjetski svemirski program tek treba da dobije ozbiljan film, i za sada je bolje osloniti se na Discovery emisije.

Pre svega, zanimljivo je koliko De Boer živi u iluziji da je demistifikovao sovjetski svemirski program time što je snimio skromne penzionerske domove prvih kosmonauta, a ne shvata da mu zapravo svaki od njih priča istu priču na maltene isti način (čak i tužna pesma Nevernih Beba putuje na sto načina) i da za ceo film zapravo nije saznao ništa novo osim malo modifikovane reprodukcije zvaničnog narativa.

Zvanični narativ sam po sebi ima smisla da je THE RED STUFf istorijski precizniji već ovde radi De Boerovog jednog i po rediteljskog rešenja odlazi u jednu impresionističku dimenziju, slično CINEMA KOMUNISTU, mešajući babe i žabe, romantične agitovke o kosmonautima sa odlomcima iz Peljevinovog OMON RA itd.

Naravno, tema je živa klana-nedoklana, pa i ovakva, ona i dalje impresionira i sama po sebi nudi neke zanimljive uvide.

Recimo, ceo odnos prema vizuelnom identitetu putovanja u kosmos u kome je NASA prednjačila, sa dizajnom detalja, oznaka na raketama, odeći, raznih sitnica za svaku misiju, dok je SSSR stvari više držao u jednom dosta efikasnom, asketskom maniru kad je reč o samom terenu, dočim je kasniji kult ličnosti stvaran sa monumentalnim stilizovanim skulpturama koje su davale superherojsku dimenziju kosmonautima.

Međutim, ti neki zanimljivi uvidi zaista ne proističu iz De Boerovog rediteljskog postupka, niti on ima svest o tim detaljima.

* * 1/2 / * * * *

The game is already banned in South Korea, but Kaos Studios already saw a record for pre-orders in the U.S.

NEW YORK CITY  – THQ-owned Kaos Studios has just unleashed Homefront, a controversial new first-person shooter for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
our editor recommends
'Axis of Evil,' North Korea ripped from the headlines

The game has already been banned in South Korea.

But after setting a record for pre-orders for the publisher in the U.S. with over 200,000 copies reserved before today's launch, it's off to a strong start. In its first 24 hours, THQ sold over 375,000 copies of Homefront in North America. The game ships internationally throughout this week. THQ needs to sell about 2 million copies of the Mature-rated title to make back its $35 million-plus investment, the most it has ever spent on a game.

The publisher has already released a Homefront novel through Titan Publishing, which was written by Hollywood scribe John Milius (who also worked on the game's storyline) and Raymond Benson. The novel is set two years before the new game and follows the journey of journalist Ben Walker, who experiences the initial North Korean attack on the U.S. in 2025.

Danny Bilson, executive vice president of core games at the game publisher, is interested in turning the novel into a TV mini-series. SyFy is a prime candidate, since they're already partnering with THQ on a TV project based on its Red Faction game franchise.

In the Homefront game, the action is set in 2027, two years into the North Korean occupation of the United States. While this science-fiction scenario may at first seem crazy, the developer worked with former CIA officer Tae Kim to create a potential future nightmare that's very much grounded in real-world current events and political machinations.

Kim, who serves as a creative and storyline consultant on the game, said that the timeline he has created with Kaos Studios and Milius between now and 2025 is one potential future. The game picks up two years after North Korea invades and occupies Honolulu and then establishes a stronghold in San Francisco and takes over key military bases throughout the Western United States.

It's a scenario unlike anything ever seen in a videogame to date. And although the game has been in development for several years, real-world activities like the recent sinking of a South Korean ship by a North Korean submarine have added an eerie layer of reality behind the fictional events in this new shooter.

"We created this world in which Kim Jong II dies and his son, Jong Un, unites North and South Korea, taking control of its economy, military personnel and hardware," said Kim. "At the same time, the U.S. economy is in a decline and there's a pullback of the U.S. influence and military bases overseas that North Korea is able to take advantage of. In the Middle East, a new conflict between Israel and Iran ties up the European powers and Russia. The U.S. has withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan, leaving a power vacuum. China, which has invested so much in the U.S., has become entrenched internally trying to contend with a massive recession that's the result of the U.S. turmoil."

Kim points to Japan's rise to power in Asia during World War II as a historical precedent that North Korea follows within the game universe. The country becomes a huge, military-based superpower with nuclear capabilities by taking control of Japan and other Asian territories over the course of a few years. This natural build-up sets up a scenario in which the occupation of the U.S. is not something that happened overnight.

"North Korea launches an EMP attack, which is essentially a nuclear explosion in space that wipes out all electronics and communications in the U.S. and grounds all aircraft and military vehicles," explained Kim. "Because North Korea launched this bomb inside a satellite that orbited the planet for several years and no one takes credit for the EMP, there is a lot of finger-pointing but no one to blame. The U.S. has its suspects, but they can't prove anything."

In addition, when North Korea takes over South Korea, a lot of U.S. nationals have been captured. North Korea agrees to return these hostages to Hawaii using cargo ships. But this ploy ends up being a Trojan horse, because the cargo ships are filled with soldiers and military vehicles. They land on the beaches of Waikiki and take over Hawaii. With communications down from the EMP, the U.S. military can't mount a counter-attack without risking its own people.

"When the North Koreans land in San Francisco, they immediately take U.S. hostages to limit the amount of counter-attacks the U.S. military can stage," said Kim. "To ensure that the East Coast, which is free from invasion, remains isolated from the conflict in the West, North Korea drops radioactive iodine into the Mississippi River and literally splits the country in half. This kills off all life in and around the river and makes it impossible for anyone to cross without special radioactive gear and equipment."

It's within this nightmarish landscape that players are challenged with a very different first-person shooter experience. Players join up with a group of U.S. freedom fighters based in Montrose, Colorado, two years after the occupation. Montrose is a key location in the game world because it's a shale mining stronghold, and with oil depleted, North Korea needs shale for energy. Ultimately, the game's journey will span the West Coast as these fighters work their way to San Francisco in a mission that's crucial for America's hope of regaining control of its homeland.

"What's really cool about this game is that we've created a gigantic world and the single-player game is a small part of that," said Bilson.  "The game's about four people trying to move some fuel from Colorado to San Francisco, where some other resistance members have re-captured some equipment that needs fuel so they can start the assault on the Golden Gate Bridge and try to begin and take back San Francisco."

While Kaos Studios has mapped out this very well-researched backstory on the North Korea occupation, Rex Dickson, lead level designer on Homefront, said the game is about Americans and how civilians respond under occupation.

"We've created a very different landscape, where you have a twisted take on iconic American imagery like suburbs and strip malls," said Dickson. "But they're abandoned or burned out. And a baseball field might have a North Korean flag hanging from it."

This game is just the beginning for Homefront. Bilson said development is already underway for a sequel, which won't even deal with the same characters.

"It takes place on the other side of the Mississippi -- nobody knows what's going on over there because the North Koreans have irradiated the Mississippi with radioactive iodine and nobody can cross it without a hazmat suit," said Bilson. "It's very interesting stuff."
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S druge strane, i pored rekordnog preordera, nakon prvih 24 časa od skidanja embarga na rivjue i nakon što je igra uglavnom jednoglasno ocenjena kao osrednja, vrednost THQovog stoka je osetno pala. Džaba im Džon Milius, ova igra naprosto nije contender u istom univerzumu u kome se kolju Call of Duty i Battlefield.

The Bottom Line

Less nutty and more moving than its premise suggests, Jodie Foster's on-target dramedy transcends its real-world baggage.
Director

Jodie Foster
Screenwriter

Kyle Killen
Cast

Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence, Cherry Jones
A risky bet that pays off solidly, Jodie Foster's much-delayed "The Beaver" survives its life/art parallels -- thanks to its star, Mel Gibson -- to deliver a hopeful portrait of mental illness that is quirky, serious and sensitive.

AUSTIN -- A risky bet that pays off solidly, Jodie Foster's The Beaver survives its life/art parallels to deliver a hopeful portrait of mental illness that while quirky is serious and sensitive. Despite obvious hurdles, with smart marketing it could connect with a wide audience.

Those echoes of Mel Gibson's well-publicized breakdowns are impossible to ignore in an opening sequence introducing us to his character Walter Black, who first appears floating in a pool, arms outstretched like Christ's. A few shots later, we see this "hopelessly depressed man," who has tried everything to remedy his condition, flagellating himself like a Catholic penitent.

Whether intentional or not, this front-and-center reminder works almost as an inoculation to viewers for whom controversy might be a distraction from drama: Having put it out there frankly (much as the protagonist will soon do, in more outlandish ways, with his own issues), the movie kills a bit of our morbid curiosity; our awareness that this depressed character is being played by a troubled actor never vanishes, but it is allowed to inform the story at hand.

Introducing the film's debut here, Foster warned that it is not a comedy. Yet Beaver starts firmly in that mode, even using upbeat music (Marcelo Zarvos' bouncier version of Astor Piazzola's moody tangonuevo) and slapstick to turn Walter's suicide attempt — on the eve of his being kicked out by a wife (Foster) who can't accept his years-long hopelessness — into an occasion for laughs.

The breakthrough Walter has after that failed attempt is also treated lightly, though it's dead serious for the character: He begins dealing with the world through a beaver puppet he rescued from the garbage, having come to the conclusion that his own psyche is so irreparable he must "blow it up" and start over again.

He returns home and to the workplace, dealing with people not directly but through the Beaver, who speaks with a Cockney accent and shows aplomb with situations that have stymied Walter for years. The readiness with which most people accept this strategy (that Walter presents as a legit psychological therapy, invented to distance himself from his pain) is believable in part because it works so well for him — and Foster stages shots that deftly bring the fuzzy animal to life, jostling with Gibson in the frame and occasionally meeting the camera's gaze to help us see him as Walter does.

Foster and the script (Kyle Killen's first feature) continue to earn non-mocking laughs with the scenario, sometimes simultaneously planting seeds of problems to come — as when husband and wife consummate their reunion with a funny but troubling puppet threesome.

The tone takes a firmly dark turn when Foster's Meredith, impatient with the "therapy," insists on seeing her husband sans Beaver for their anniversary dinner. Exposed and frightened, Walter breaks down. Gibson, hyperventilating and with eyes darting in panic, offers a more affecting, less romantically dramatic collapse than some he has created in earlier film roles — and he continues to underplay this state of mind (darting eyes aside) as the action grows progressively darker.

Walter's suffering is mirrored by that of his older son Porter (Anton Yelchin), who unlike a younger son who embraces Dad's new friend, is ashamed of his father's illness and pained by similarities he sees in himself. A subplot in which Porter is hired to write a speech for the class valedictorian (a seemingly perfect girl, played by Jennifer Lawrence, suffering her own traumas) looks at first like a straightforward romantic thread but proves to be a poignant reiteration of the movie's themes and culminates, a bit surprisingly, in the film's emotional payoff.

It's very easy to imagine a less gifted filmmaker producing a train wreck of a film using an identical script — exaggerating the highs, compartmentalizing the lows and casting a mawkish eye on everything from Walter's youngest child to his ever-present suffering. Foster finds the script's subtleties instead, and grounds the film with just enough pain to make it work. Viewers who can shake off tabloid preoccupations as they settle into the film will likely be surprised by a picture that (in a way reminiscent of Lars and the Real Girl) turns a crazy-sounding premise into something moving and sane.

Venue: South by Southwest Film Festival, Headliners section (Summit, Participant)
Production Company: Anonymous Content
Cast: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence, Cherry Jones, Riley Thomas Stewart
Director: Jodie Foster
Screenwriter: Kyle Killen
Producers: Steve Golin, Keith Redmon, Ann Ruark
Executive producers: Jeff Skoll, Mohammed Mubarak Al Mazrouei, Paul Green, Jonathan King
Director of photography: Hagen Bogdanski
Production designer: Mark Friedberg
Music: Marcelo Zarvos
Costume designer: Susan Lyall
Editor: Lynzee Klingman
Rated PG-13,  minutes

Review: Jodie Foster directs a powerful Mel Gibson in strange, emotional 'The Beaver'
By Drew McWeeny
Thursday, Mar 17, 2011

Jodie Foster has been part of film as long as I've been paying attention.  She's eight years older than I am, so by the time I was paying attention to movies at all, she was already working and familiar and established, a regular guest star on every show on TV, it seemed.  I saw her in movies like "Tom Sawyer" and "Bugsy Malone" and "Freaky Friday," and once I got a little bit older, I started seeing her in other films like "Taxi Driver" and "The Little Girl Who Lived Down The Lane" and "Foxes" and "Carny," and she was constantly working with interesting people and on interesting films, and she seemed like an adult from the moment she stepped in front of a camera, no matter how old she was.  Once she started directing, it seemed like a natural step, and "Little Man Tate" is a lovely debut movie, sweet but not sentimental, shot through with deep feeling and a love of performance.  Then four years later, she returned to it with "Home For The Holidays."  And then...

Sixteen years.  That's a huge layoff between movies.  Not by choice, either.  She's had false starts and dead ends.   She's produced movies for other people.  She's acted.  She's stayed involved.  But until now, she's been silent as a director, and her return to the job made its premiere tonight at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas.  It was one of the last two films I saw at the fest, and I did my best to walk into it cold, without any sense of what I was going to see.  I've never watched the trailer for the film, and I saw one poster for it at the Summit offices last year, before Comic-Con.  At that point, Summit seemed very happy with the movie, confident that they had something special on their hands.

There is almost no way for anyone who is remotely media savvy to walk into this without some sort of preconceptions about Mel Gibson.  Many people are so turned off by some of what's been reported about him that they shouldn't even bother seeing the film.  It'll just bother them the whole time, so why go through that?  Some people won't care at all, and it'll just be a movie for them.  And in my case, I certainly had the news about Mel in the back of my mind, but all it did in regards to his work onscreen was make me wonder just how much of what I was watching was real, a way for him to release the genuine pain that seems to have been eating at Gibson for some time now.

In the film, he plays Walter Black, a man who is in the grips of a ferocious depression.  He is paralyzed at home with his wife, his kids, the house itself, and at work, he's just going through the motions.  He is burnt out, hollow, prone to sleeping to fill the empty spaces, and the people in his life have noticed.  There's nothing that seems to get through to him, and very quickly, Walter finds himself thrown out of his house by his long-suffering wife Meredith (Foster), alone in a  hotel room, suicidal as he watches old episodes of "Kung-Fu."  What happens instead of him snuffing himself out is that he almost smashes in his skull with a TV set, and he wakes up with a beaver puppet on his hand, a thick Cockney growl coming from the creature, and he's given a new lease on life.  The Beaver makes him promise that he'll let it run things, and in return, the Beaver promises to fix Walter's life.

And, yes, it's just as bizarre as it sounds.  Mel plays scenes with the Beaver as two very distinct and committed personalities.  Throughout Gibson's career, he has frequently leaned on his ability to channel pain through his performances, and it's because of just how damaged he can convincingly be that the first "Lethal Weapon" took on more soul than it deserved.  Gibson has always been ready and able to tap into something dark and awful, but he's also seemed determined to play the clown instead.  In this film, we finally meet a Mel Gibson who no longer has the ability to play the clown.  It's been beaten out of him.  And when we look into his eyes at the start of the film, this is a man who has been crushed.  This is a man with nothing left inside.  The Beaver is so different than Walter in terms of energy that when Walter starts to disappear for big stretches of the film, at first, it's a relief.  We're happy to have someone else onscreen, someone with real dynamic personality.  The film is structured in a very canny way, convincing you that you're watching one thing before revealing itself as something else.  It trades on your understanding of the basic rhythm of Hollywood formula, and it sneaks in some really sharp punches in ways the audience won't expect.

Walter's oldest son Porter (Anton Yelchin) is furious at his father, and he's acting out in his own ways, saving money so he can try to escape his father completely.  Yelchin has been getting better and better in film after film, and in this and in the Sundance hit "Like Crazy," he jumps to the front of his age group.  He gives a warm, grounded performance here, full of anxiety and heartbreak and bruised hope.  Much of his material is played with Jennifer Lawrence, who is Norah, the school valedictorian who needs clandestine help with her graduation speech.  Lawrence continues to impress as well, and she and Yelchin have a great rapport in both this and "Like Crazy."  If she really did just land the lead in "Hunger Games," they should consider casting Yelchin as her Peeta.  They've got such wonderful charisma with one another, and as powerful a presence as she is onscreen, he never seems to give an inch to her.  I'm not sure that would be the case with most young male leads.  Yelchin projects an intelligence and a decency that makes it very affecting when he's tormented by doubts in this one.  His anger at his father is valid, and there's no easy resolution to their relationship.

Foster and Gibson have appeared together before, and they also have a very familiar way with one another.  There is the weight of shared experience in their work as a married couple, and there is real sorrow in the breaking of that connection.  I found much of the film to be quietly painful, and one of the themes of the movie is how quick fixes for genuine issues like depression are nonsense, and there is no such thing.  In order to make that hurt, Foster works hard as a director to communicate a real sense of loss at the idea of this marriage ending.  Riley Thomas Stewart is the younger son, Henry, and his work with Gibson as both Walter and the Beaver is sweet and genuine and wrenching at times.  Gibson, like many men, is at his best in this film when he is with his son, enjoying the pure pleasure of childhood play.   It's just one beautiful detail in a film that has a number of strong grace notes.

Ultimately, I'm not sure why I walked in under the vague impression that the film was primarily a comedy, but Summit would be smart to make sure they sell the movie as it is... sad and occasionally funny but unflinching as well.  It is not a comedy.  Not really.  There's too much that's too raw, too close to the surface, and Mel's character is right on the edge of giving up, right on the edge of total emotional collapse, and that keeps the stakes fairly high.  "The Beaver" is not a comedy, it's true, but it is a deft exploration of the ways we struggle to express something as ineffable as depression, and the lengths we will endure to save our families.  It is a potent reminder of why jodie Foster should have made more movies by now.  And it is a strong beginning for screenwriter Kyle Killen.

"The Beaver" will be in theaters May 20, 2011.

SXSW Reviews
The Beaver
By Andrew Barker
A Summit Entertainment release presented with Participant Media in association with Imagenation Abu Dhabi of an Anonymous Content production. Produced by Steve Golin, Keith Redmon, Ann Ruark. Executive producers, Jeff Skoll, Mohammed Mubarak Al Mazrouel, Paul Green, Jonathan King. Directed by Jodie Foster. Screenplay, Kyle Killen.
Walter Black - Mel Gibson
Meredith Black - Jodie Foster
Porter Black - Anton Yelchin
Norah - Jennifer Lawrence
Henry Black - Riley Thomas Stewart
Vice President - Cherry Jones
Norah's Mom - Kelly Coffield Park
Mel Gibson may be the biggest obstacle standing between Jodie Foster's "The Beaver" and a wide audience, but he's also the biggest reason that audience should exist at all. The troubled actor delivers a performance very few could pull off as a depressed father who begins communicating through a hand puppet, but Foster doesn't know how to manage it or navigate the script's seismic tonal shifts, and ends up producing a film that's deeply strange, yet incapable of leaving an impression. Absent Gibson's presence, the Summit release would be a modest arthouse draw; with it, it's anyone's guess.

"The Beaver" first came to public attention in 2008, when Kyle Killen's debut script was placed atop the Hollywood Blacklist for best unproduced screenplays. It's easy to see why the script attracted such curiosity, and it's just as easy to see why so many ended up passing on it. One gets the feeling that even the nimblest directors would have struggled to craft this outlandish, jumbled story into something that hits the emotional pressure points for which it aims, and Foster, while a capable and sensitive director, isn't up to the task.

Bursting out of the gate with a Cockney-accented voiceover, the pic gives us a full montage of an average day in the life of Walter Black (Gibson), a "hopelessly depressed individual." The CEO of a failing toy company, Walter sleepwalks through the rare moments when he isn't actually asleep, creating unbreachable gulfs between himself and wife Meredith (Foster) and their youngest, son Henry (Riley Thomas Stewart). His other son, teenage Porter (Anton Yelchin), despises his father so much that he's compiled a collage of Post-Its listing all of the traits they share, so that he can eradicate them one by one.

Finally thrown out of the house, Walter absconds to a liquor store, one of several points in the film where Gibson's personal life either informs or interferes with his character (there's even a self-flagellation scene). There, Walter discovers a ratty beaver hand puppet in the dumpster outside. In his hotel room that night, with the puppet on his hand and a gallon of booze in his blood, he attempts to hang himself in the bathroom. Failing at that, he instead heads to the balcony and prepares to jump, but falls backwards at the pivotal moment when a loud Cockney "oi!" distracts him.

When he comes to, the puppet (or "the Beaver," as it asks to be addressed) has taken on a life of its own, and gives Walter a tough-love pep talk. Walter is, of course, manipulating and speaking through the puppet, though it's unclear whether he's aware of this. After a brief argument/monologue, Walter decides to cede complete control of his own voice to that of the Beaver, and even prints up a stack of explanatory notecards calling the Beaver a "prescription puppet," designed by a psychologist to help distance him from his old mindset.

In the early going, the jaunty score seems to suggest this is all a dark sort of lark, but the film can't decide whether it wants to be a bittersweet study of mental illness or an oddball farce. Walter's sudden turnaround from sleepy-eyed zombie to doting father is also limned with off-putting haste, as he moves back into the house a new man, reconnecting with Henry and, most bizarrely, reigniting the home fires with Meredith. (A montage of Foster, Gibson and the Beaver having wild sex is one of the strangest things anyone is likely to see in a cinema this year.)

Craig Gillespie's "Lars and the Real Girl" succeeded in turning a similarly ludicrous premise into a film with real heart, but "The Beaver" doesn't have the same confidence in its own merits. Midway through, the picture spirals completely out of control, heading down one path as a skewed media satire and another, much darker one that seems right out of an early Stephen King novella.

Gibson is basically flawless in the role, giving auds the creeps in the early stages and then managing to suggest a newfound lust for life, even though he's only living it through a medium. But his character is handicapped at every step. Most problematically, we hardly hear him speak in his own voice (or use his left hand) at all; hence aside from his "hopeless" depression, we have no real frame of reference for his sudden transformation.

Odder still, considering the singular strangeness of the character, Gibson recedes into the background for large segments of the film, with Yelchin getting comparable screentime for Porter's tangentially related narrative. A nervy outcast with a thriving underground business writing school papers for his classmates, Porter is approached by cheerleader and valedictorian Norah (Jennifer Lawrence, who also played a Yelchin love interest in Sundance entry "Like Crazy") with an offer of $500 to write her graduation speech. Porter, we're told, has an uncommon ability to get inside the heads of his clients and write in their own voice -- why such intense mimesis should be necessary for writing high school essays is unclear -- and he starts spending time with her as research, discovering her secret grief over a recently deceased brother.

If this all sounds impossibly cluttered, it is. Given more room to breathe, these subplots all could have been stitched together, but the film is edited at such a skippy pace that there's never time for the audience to get its bearings.

Tech credits are of a high quality, and the ventriloquist work on the titular critter is expertly handled.
Camera (color, Deluxe prints), Hagen Bogdanski; editor, Lynzee Klingman; music, Marcelo Zavros; music supervisor, Alexandra Patsavas; art directors, Alex DiGerlando, Kim Jennings; set decorator, Rebecca Meis DeMarco; costume designer, Susan Lyall; sound (DTS/Dolby Digital), Jimmy Sabat; supervising sound editor, Michael Kirchberger; re-recording mixers, Tom Johnson, Lora Hirschberg; special effects coordinator, Tim Rossiter; visual effects supervisor, John Bair; visual effects, Phosphene; associate producer, Dianne Dreyer; assistant director, Douglas Torres; casting, Avy Kaufman. Reviewed at SXSW Film Festival (Headliners), March 16, 2011. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 91 MIN.
With: Zachary Booth, Jeffrey Corbett, Michael Rivera, Matt Lauer, Jon Stewart, Terry Gross.

Pogledao sam WHITEOUT Dominica Sene, film koji sam propustio u vreme izlaska jer mi nije delovao kao delo na koje se mora promptno reagovati. Reč je o ekranizaciji stripa Grega Rucke koji nisam čitao, a scenario su između ostalih uz braću Hayes radili i Braćala Hoeber koji su pisali RED.

Dominic Sena je kao i Simon West, reditelj koji je u svoje vreme početkom dvehiljaditih bio go-to guy za vrhunsku akciju i triler a sada su se obojica primirili na obodima A-produkcije. Sena je ovaj film snimio za Joel Silvera sa kojim je već radio tentpole film SWORDFISH. WHITEOUT nije tentpole film i snimljen je za 35 miliona dolara dakle dva ili tri puta je manje koštao nego SWORDFISH, proporcionalno tome koliko je Sena danas manje ime.

WHITEOUT je bio identifikovan kao film sa problemom, i on to svakako jeste. Međutim, filmu se mora priznati to da je odlično slikan i dizaniran. Sena dolazi iz stare škole iz kompanije Propaganda, kao Fincher i ekipa, a DP Christopher Roos koji je do tada radio kanadske filmove pokazuje da je spreman za neka veća dela iako nije kasnije dobijao priliku. Šteta, reč je o DPu velikog potencijala.

Sena priču vodi sigurno, ali nailazi na dva problema. Prvi je što sama priča nije dovoljno zanimljiva, iako on svemu daje izuzetno energičnu egzekuciju, u svim poterama i akcionim deonicama, Sena radi sjajno, ni mirne scene ne realizuje hrđavo. Međutim, kada se relativnoj neinteresantnosti priče doda da je podela dosta slaba, lišena harizme, da liči na neku slebiju TV podelu, to se zapravo ispostavlja kao ključni problem, jer zbilja sa boljim likovima na planu glume, WHITEOUT bi bio savršeno funkcionalan film.

U tom smislu, WHITEOUT je rad baš za filmofile koji su spremni da uživaju u zanatskoj usavršenosti pojedinih aspekata uprkos rediteljevom ispuštanju nekih od ključnih izražajnih sredstava čime zapravo komprominituje ceo rad.

* * 1/2 / * * * *

Kad sam još onomad gledao Kaliforniju mislio sam da će Sena razvaljivati narednim filmovima. A onda se čekanje na te sledeće odužilo i payoff je na kraju bio prilično kilav. Nije mi baš jasno zašto, al ajde...

Pa da, KALIFORNIA je bio film baziran na dobrim karakterima, glumi, indie pristupu i sl. i evo čekamo ga već skoro 20 godina da to ponovi. A on, ništa. Ali, valjda tako je to, kad te uhvate u mašinu, svi ti nude samo jedan tip projekata, sve ovo nešto malo više indie što je posle radio nije bilo na nivou...

Pogledao sam MAN OF VENDETTA Min Ho Wooa. Iako mi se više dojmio od Kim Ji Woonovog I SAW THE DEVIL, ovo je takođe jedan od korejskih osvetničkih filmova koji se vrte u krug utabanim chanwookparkovskim stazama. U ovom slučaju, rekao bih, ipak sve je to urađeno sa mnogo više ubedljivosti i autentičnosti nego kod Kim Ji Woona, ali isto tako ovaj film zahetva zaista mnogo "žanrovskih" podrazumevanja, zaista masu progledavanja kroz prste, da bi ishodište na kraju opet bilo u domenu priče koja nam je dobro poznata.

Ovog puta, kao što smo navikli, imamo duboko traumatizovanog junaka i psihopatu koji je do te mere bestidan, surov i monstruozan da prosto poziva na brutalnu osvetu.

Pozitivac je nekadašnji pastor koji usled nemogućnosti da locira svoju otetu kćer napušta veru, u gestu koji je na nivou stupidnije role Nicolasa Cagea, i postaje trgovac hirurškom opremom, što nažalost, uprkos elementarnoj dramaturškoj kulturi, začuđujuće ne zaigra kasnije i nema značajniju funkciju. Junak pokušava da zaboravi ćerku sa kojom je poslednji kontakt imao pre osam godina kada ga ponovo kontaktira manijak koji ju je oteo i ulazi u novu rundu pregovora oko otkupa.

tada MAN OF VENDETTA ulazi u svoju mešavinu bizarnog i manje bizarnog nasilja, egzistencijalizma i poslovično vešte korejste realizacije, sa dilemama koje su kod Chan Wook Parka pre bezmalo deceniju delovale sveže a sada su već postale gotovo parodično opšte mesto.

Za razliku od Kim Ji Woona koji je u svom filmu sveo priču na ono što je zapravo najmanje važno i najmanje zanimljivo kod Parka, a to je međusobni pritisak i sakaćenje, Min Ho Woo je ipak mnogo taktičniji i on uspeva da manje-više efektno zaigra na kartu zanimljivih ambijenata, socijalnih okolnosti, karakternih idiosinkrazija.

Ono što je suštinski najmanje istražen adut priče jeste zapravo celo pripitomljavanje devojčice od strane otmičara prema kome ona uspeva da razvije neku vrstu stokholmskog sindroma, međutim ta tema je dovoljno dotaknuta da na kraju nije ni mudro ostavljena u off prostoru ni sasvim istražena, i iako u sebi nosi neku istinitost deluje nedorečeno.

MAN OF VENDETTA je film koji međutim ostaje najslabiji upravo u tom domenu religioznosti glavnog junaka. Naime, stanje u kome on postaje osvetoljubih i shvata da ne može više da propoveda ljubav i praštanje može biti ubedljiv motiv, ali on napušta propovedanje ljubavi i praštanja u fazi kada zapravo on nije otkrio sve grešne naslade osvete već dok još uvek očekuje od Nebesa "da nešto preduzmu". To je potpuno devalviralo uvođenje ovog motiva jer još od vremena Charlesa Bronsona, junaci, a naročito filmski men of cloth, nemaju tako infantilan doživljaj vere.

S druge strane, moguće je da smo mi navikli da ovu vrstu filmova gledamo u superiornijem izdanju Chan Wook Parka te da samim tim mi to doživljavamo kao film visoke umetničke vrednosti a ne puku žanrovsku zabavu. U tom smislu, onima koji teskobne korejske filmove o osveti vide kao neki dalekoistočni pandan buddy cop filmovima ovaj film neće biti LETHAL WEAPON ali može stajati kao RED HEAT. Drugi pak, koji od ove vrste korejskog repertoara očekuju neku svežinu i ne nalaze zabavu u beskrajnom recikliranju iste formule, neće bti podjednako zadovoljni.

Otud, jako je teško odavde prioceniti tačno mesto naslova kao što je MAN OF VENDETTA na korejskom repertoaru. A treba ukalkulisati i vankorejske gledaoce kojima ovo može biti uvodni film za osvetnički južnokorejski ciklus, a oni bi mogli jako uživati u njemu. No, u svakom slučaju, gateway drug za adikciju na južnokorejski film pre svega treba da budu Bong Jong Ho i drugi veliki majstori.

Ipak, ovakva inflacija filmova koji recikliraju osvetničku formulu Chan Wookovih filmova otvara jedno drugo pitanje, a to je slika Južne Koreje koja se stiče na osnovu ovih radova i to ne u propagandnom pogledu "slike zemlje koju filmski autori šalju u svet" već upravo iz vizure repertoarske pozicije ovih filmova. Naime, nije Južna Koreja prva zemlja u kojoj je brutalni osvetnički film činio značajan deo repertioarske ponude - setimo se Amerike sedamdesetih - ali isto tako ovo je prva zemlja u kojoj takva zapravo vrlo okoštala formula biva vrlo istrajno tretirana sa najvećim mogućim ambicijama.

Otud zanimljivo je da ovu vrstu filmova korejska publika rado gleda, a reklo bi se da su MAN OF VENDETTA sa 6,5 miliona dolara u Koreji i I SAW THE DEVIL sa 12 bili poprilični hitovi, a imaju mesto i u svetu. Međutim, kao što je delovalo da su parkovi filmovi u sebi imali nešto autentično, tako i ovi filmovi sada imaju u sebi nešto konfekcijsko, skup klišea koji treba da stvore nekakvu emociju i kako se nalaze na pola puta između eksploatacije i art-housea oni podsećaju na neku kao cool varijantu evropskog fondacijskog filma sa kojim dele popriličnu neautentičnost.

* * 1/2 / * * * *

Pogledao sam LONDON BOULEVARD Williama Monahana jedan od onih slučajeva kada se slikovito pokaže zašto su najslabiji reditelji iz drugih struka upravo scenaristi. Monahan je u svom pokušaju da nam prikaže svu lepotu pisane reči Kena Bruena, jenog od najcenjenijih aktuelnih pisaca krimića napravio poprilično konfuzan - uprkos tome što je zapravo jednostavan - film koji luta ne samo pripovedački, već i stilski i žanrovski. Ako imamo u vidu da su u ovom filmu najbolji upravo oni najjednostavniji elementi, izuzev već negledljivog Ray Winstonea u post-SEXY BEAST gangsterskoj fazi, svi ovi dodaci kojima je Monahan hteo da nas impresionira zapravo samo pokazuju zašto takvih ukrasa nema u DOBRIM filmovima ili u filmovima koji se inače snimaju u skladu sa nekim već uspostavljenim standardima.

Monahan na hardverskom nivou, u saradnji sa DPjem Chris Mengesom, zapravo i nije loš reditelj. LONDON BOULEVARD je sasvim sigurno i produkciono ambiciozniji i dizajnerski zanimliviji od aktuelnih Brit gangster filmova (a on se zbog svoje snažne doze egzistencijalizma i ironije sve više uklapa u taj profil koliko god bežao od njega), međutim na nivou vođenja priče i razdvajanja važnog i nevažnog, ubrzo počinje da oprobava gledaočevo strpljenje.

No, ukupno uzev, sa skupim soundtrackom, skupim glumcima i nekim elementima gangsterske melodrame karlitovskog tipa koja uvek radi posao LONDON BOULEVARD ostaje pre svega slabo ostvarenje velikog potencijala nego istinski slab film. Srećom, Monahan u ovaj projekat nilje založio sav svoj ugled jer nije ni pretendovao na neki preambicozna budžet tako da će verovatno dobiti još neku priliku da režira. Iako mu ovaj film nije dobar, možda već sledeći konkretizuje nagoveštaje talenta koje je ovde pokazao.

* * / * * * *

On Wednesday, reports emerged that the makers of the upcoming "Red Dawn" remake were digitally altering the villains of the film to be North Koreans rather than Chinese forces which is how it was shot in production.

The reasons for the change were the most obvious - economic. China has a lucrative box office for American movies and MGM would like that money, plus "Dawn" cost a considerable $70 million to produce. By changing the antagonists though, significant story elements of the movie have been altered as well including much of the reason behind the invasion.

The change has not yielded good PR for the movie and today Producer Tripp Vinson went on the defensive in an interview with AICN. Initially, he explains that the changes were not done lightly and some high-profile consultation took place:

"The changes made to Red Dawn in the last few weeks were made in consultation with military think tanks and people that specialize in game theory. Really smart people that spend their days constructing doomsday scenarios for our military and government. The type of people that know the limitations of the North Korean military. The type of people that can project a series of events that could lead to some very scary things happening to our Country. I can assure you, we listened well to those people, especially with regards to the capability of the North Korean military."

A commendable answer and one that on its own might satisfy a lot of people. However he went on a paragraph or two longer than he probably should have as immediately after came this rant:

"Red Dawn isn't for everyone. So, if you are interested in seeing a movie filled with preachy political discussions - Red Dawn ain't for you. If you love movies in which Americans are the bad guys - Red Dawn ain't for you. If you get emotional watching daytime television - Red Dawn ain't for you. If you're a vegetarian - Red Dawn probably ain't for you.

But! If you like meat with your potatoes, muscle cars that roar, tanks, guns and things blowing the fuck up by American's kicking some Commie ass – then we have something special coming your way. WOLVERINES!"

That isn't the end of the story. In fact Libertas Film Magazine, a conservative film blog, saw an early screening of the unaltered film and had planned to hold their review. Now however, with the film "being politically censored due to pressures coming from potential distributors", they've posted a spoiler-heavy review of the film. Here's some select quotes:

"The film opens with a series of title cards explaining how the United States has over-extended itself both militarily and financially, and put itself in deep economic debt. The upshot is that the Communist Chinese, eying America and its financial weakness, are ready to collect on this debt."

"The film is much less philosophically or ideologically oriented than John Milius' original film, as [Director Dan] Bradley keeps the emphasis on action and a brisk pace."

"This is an important subtext of the film: specifically, that America has stretched itself too thin, and neglected to take care of its 'home base,' so to speak."

"There are also some delicious – albeit indirect – references to how resistance to the Chinese invasion seems stronger in the Red States, especially in the Heartland and in border states like Arizona and Texas"

"At no point does the new Red Dawn descend to racist stereotypes. The Chinese are depicted essentially as cool-headed professionals on a mission."

For now, the ball is in the court of the filmmakers - will they proceed with the changes and if so, how will that affect the film itself and its marketing campaign?

O Ameriko kolko je tebi teško.

Pogledao sam DRUGI ČOVEK Milana Živkovića, krimić koji je snimio 1988. u pokušaju da se u formi koprodukcije probije na svetsko tržište. Glavnu ulogu i u suštini ključni deo strane ekipe predstavlja Daryl Haney, svestrani Amerikanac koji je kasnije igra pivotalnu rolu u RATU UŽIVO Darka Bajića.

Ovaj film spada među možda najavangardnije domaće krimiće, sve do pojave SRPSKOG FILMA koji se u suštini bazira na istoj pretpostavci, odnosa filma i stvarnosti, odnosno govori o čoveku pozvanom da glumi u filmu, a onda se ispostavlja da je ceo njegov boravak u Beogradu zapravo snimanje.

Dakle, ovde imamo formu "filma u filmu", filmsku ekipu delimično igraju pravi filmski radnici što je zanimljiv spomenar na sam nastanak ovog filma.

Kad je reč o samom dometu ovog zbiljan interesantnog pokušaja da se ode u Ameriku sa nekom vrstom jugo-amerikane, reč je o poprilično nepismenoj, to jest ako ne nepismeoj a ono polupismenoj parafrazi De Palme, njegovog BODY DOUBLEa, ali nažalost vrlo malo u stilskom domenu, više u pripovedačkom. Otud je DRUGI ČOVEK film koji bi se mogao definisati kao neka vrsta BODY DOUBLEa koji je snimila ekipa koja je inače navikla da radi BOLJI ŽIVOT i slične 80s radove i tu prosto nema ni kadrova ni znanja da se snimi ono što se traži.

To je recimo barijera koju je SRPSKI FILM vrlo dobro prevazišao i po tome je taj film možda i najznačajniji, kada se sve uzme u obzir. Dakle, SRPSKI FILM je uspeo da probije tu zanatsku barijeru na koju su tokom osamdesetih nailazili naši žanrovski filmovi.

U tom smislu, DRUGI ČOVEK je pravi primer dobre namere u spoju sa nedoraslošću na svim nivoima. Ona je prisutna još od scenarija koji se istovrmeno bazira na priči koja je depalmijanska, dakle iracionalna, bazirana na vizuelnim rešenjima, prividima, pogledima kroz ekrane, kamere i sl. a zapravo je sve vrlo raspričano, i objašnjavački što u spoju sa zanatskim problemima ostalih sektora čini da DRUGI ČOVEK manje više degradira sve svoje malobrone kvalitete umesto da ih istakne.

Ako izuzmemo, nikako inovatorski, ali nesumnjivo svež pristup pričanju krimi priče za naše uslove, Živković generalno ipak uspeva da se spase kroz žanr zato što sama konvencija prosto tera priču da se kreće unapred, i da ima nekakav razvoj.

Naravno, jasno je da beograd iz poznih osamdesetih, prepun konzumerističkih simbola i snalaženje naših glumaca na engleskom daje svemu poseban nostalgični šmek tako da bi ovaj film i da je teži raspad uvek bio simpatičan na nekom nivou.

Iako je snimljen u izvršnoj produkciji Centar Filma što se vidi po ekipi, film na špici ima etiketu Cormanove kuće Concorde koja je u to vreme bila aktivna na B-tržištu. dakle, ovo je još jedan od Cormanovih pokušaja posle OPERACIJE TICIJAN da snimi srpski film za američko i svetsko tržište.

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PAKLENI OTOK Vladimira Tadeja je primer svega onog lošeg u partizanskom filmu, i spada u red onih naslova koji daju bad name ovom pravcu u našoj kinematografiji. Reč je o pseudoistorijskom i u tom smislu potpuno neubedljivom pogledu u jednu od operacija jugoslovenske partizanske mornarice koja je tada bila u embrionalnoj fazi svog razvitka. Ne može se reći da je PAKLENI OTOK za našu mornaricu ono što je PARTIZANSKA ESKADRILA za naše vazduhoplovstvo, ali sasvim je moguće da je pretendovao na to. Uostalom, po godištu su isti.

Međutim, Tadej je stvarno treća rediteljska liga našeg tadašnjeg filma, tako da je PAKLENI OTOK skup manje ili više groznih scena koji jako teško opstaje i na nivou detalja a nekmoli celine.

U podeli ima raznih zanimljivih likova i pouzdanih oslonaca poput paje Vuisića ili Mikija Krstovića ali u principu svi su manje ili više slabi i neiskorišćeni.

Bota Nikolić, u tom trenutku možda i jedan od najboljih naših DPjeva posle Pintera naravno, imao je značajnu ulogu u radu na ovom filmu, potpisan je kao saradnik na scenariju a ne bi me čudilo da je malo i dorežirao Tadeju jer je bio poznat kao DP koga producenti uzimaju da pomogne rediteljima koji baš ne vladaju zanatom. Ipak, ni on nije uspeo da značajnije pomogne.

Novi Bruno baš ne obećava...

Setup Trailer Starring Curtis ''50 Cent'' Jackson & Bruce Willis

ZLOČIN U ŠKOLI Branka Ivande je ekranizacija Pavličićevog romana STROJ ZA MAGLU i ako uzmemo kanon hrvatskog filmskog "metafizičkog krimića" koje su mahom radili Tadić i Pavličić, Ivandin film jeste iza RITMA ZLOČINA po kvalitetu i ne može ni prići tom remek-delu ali je u suštini daleko ispred manje uspelih kolaboracija ovde dvojice poput SNA O RUŽI ili TREĆEG KLJUČA.

Ivanda je u svom filmu očuvao hermetičnost Pavličićeve proze i prilično je verno dočarao njenu metafiziku, njeno oslanjanje na kontingentne događaje, ali isto tako je i forsirajući taj segment zapravo samu istragu kao potku za metafiziku učinio dosta nekonzistentnom, stavljajući preveliki akcenat na atmosferu a metafizika koju tretira ipak nije dovoljno atraktivna da prikrije razne nejasnoće i šturost objašnjenja mehanizma koji je doveo do ovakvih događaja.

Pavličić je ponovo tu da prikaže nepodnošljivu teskobu života u SFRJ i slično Tadićevim filmovima, njegov zagreb ovde deluje kao jedna nepodnošljiva sredina, možda zapravo i najdepresivnija u širim okvirima jugoslovenskog filma. Naime, jugoslovenski film se specijalizovao za teskobu, prikaze korupcije unutar sistema, Crni Talas, marginu i sl. ali su Tadić i Pavličić najdalje otišli u tom gotovo ekspresionističkom prikazu nepodnošljivoti života.

Ivanda je u tom smislu, stilski nešto raskošniji od Tadića ali se ZLOČIN U ŠKOLI ne može izdvojiti van te estetike. Moglo bi se na određeni način reći da je ZLOČIN kao neka vrsta CARRIE u kojoj su junaci prosvetni radnici umesto đaka.

Glumačka podela je bazirana na manje harizmatičnim glumcima iako se pojavljuju Fabijan Šovagović, Mustafa nadarević i Miodrag Krivokapić, i ceo film ima snižen tonus kad je reč o glumačkoj harizmatičnosti, no to sve doprinosi začudnoj atmosferi i daje Ivandinom filmu identitet.

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Pogledao sam dosta značajan film o Blacklistovanim filmadžijama THE FRONT Martina Ritta iz 1976. godine. Sam Ritt je bilo blacklistovan kao i Zero Mostel glavni glumac u ovom filmu i još neki učesnici. Film je profilisan kao tragikomedija, kao neka vrsta pogleda na Black List bez sentimentalnosti, sa tretmnom ove teme kao svojevrse farse.

Nažalost, Ritt nije napravio dovoljan odmak od tme tako da čak ni zaplet sa Woody Allenom kao kasirom koji postaje front za blacklistovane pisce nije komičan, a ostatak filma je takođe nedovoljno smešan za komediju i previše površan za dramu. Kada se tome dodaju sentimentalne epizode sa samoubistvom blacklistovanog komičara koje su tu bile kako bi odale tragedije komediji, THE FRONT čak počinje da izgleda kao jedan dosta neprijatan slučaj u kome čini se same žrtve progona ne uspevaju da ga tretiraju sa pravim pijetetom kako god oni želeli da ga artikulišu.

THE FRONT nikada ne prestaje da bude pošten, ali definitivno nema zdrav odnos prema temi tako da je ovo jedan od retkih Rittovih filmova koji su suštinski ispuštebni u rediteljskom smislu. Sama tema je međutim omogućila da THE FRONT bude na neki način čak i cenjen holivudski film poznih sedamdesetih. Ali, taj dobar status nije opravdao...

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Ovaj ZLOČIN U ŠKOLI, izgleda da mi je zapao neki snimak sa lošim tonom, ne mogu nikako da uhvatim šta je krivokapić na kraju rekao:  Hodaš po magli a misliš da si  ....?

Inače je odličan film, ali nisam siguran da ga baš najbolje kapiram

Slavoj Žižek: MOŽETE LI MOM DETETU DA POMOGNETE DA SE ZAPOSLI?

http://polja.eunet.rs/polja467/467-29.pdf

Pogledao sam BATTLE IN SEATTLE Stewarta Townsenda, indie film koji je pokušao da prikaže sada već čuvene nerede protiv sastanka WTO. Nažalost, Townsend, inače glumac, pre svega poznat kao muž Charlize Theron, nije uspeo da se dokaže kao reditelj i scenarista. S jedne strane opredelio se za jednu dosta arhaičnu formu "političkog filma" gde sve kreće kao neka konvencionalna melodrama o više tokova priče koji se ukrštaju koja je začinjena političkim proglasima i parafrazom istinitih događaja, i to je nešto što posle Stonea, manje-više nije funkcionisalo. U tom smislu, BATTLE IN SEATTLE podseća ponajviše na CRASH Paula Haggisa od kog je manje pretenciozan i KORDON Gorana Markovića sa kojim deli prenaglašenu dramsku "konsekventnost" određenih događaja i radnji koje ne dovode samo do preplitanja likova već i do banalne poente.

Iako film All-Star glumačku podelu, svi su tu negde oko svog zanatskog minimuma, čini se da niko nije pružio nekakvu pravu interpretaciju bilo čega. Lepo je videti na jednom mestu Charlize Theron i Connie Nielsen ali ovaj film nema scene koje nude da bilo koja od njih ostavi značajniji trag.

U domenu inscenacije, film je slika Barry Ackroyd, čiji je rad proslavio Ken Loach a svi ga znamo po HURT LOCKERu i film je tehnički pristojan, međutim oseća se da Townsend nije reditelj koji ima jasan autorski pečat i pripovedački ton pa sve liči na neki TV rad.

Uprkos slabom korišćenju aduta, patetici i neubedljivosti, film ipak nije dosadan i imao bi svoje mesto na malom ekranu. Generacijski film o značajnom događaju ipak definitivno nije a pretendovao je da bude.

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ej Krip, a little help in here?

Quote from: Bata Trokrilni on 24-03-2011, 17:21:31ne mogu nikako da uhvatim šta je Krivokapić na kraju rekao:  Hodaš po magli a misliš da si  ....?

Quote from: John Reynolds on 18-03-2011, 00:29:16
Kad sam još onomad gledao Kaliforniju mislio sam da će Sena razvaljivati narednim filmovima. A onda se čekanje na te sledeće odužilo i payoff je na kraju bio prilično kilav. Nije mi baš jasno zašto, al ajde...

Season of the Witch je odličan film!

Ako se nekad upitate ko daje Koljeviću i ekipi ideje da prave onakve filmove, pogledajte ovogodišnjeg danskog oskariovca HAEVNEN Susanne Bier. Kao i Koljevića i nju sticajem festivalskih okolonosti kod nas pratim od početka, s tim što za razliku od njegovog rada ona ima i BROEDRE - dakle jedan dobar film.

HAEVNEN je film o osveti, nasilju koje eskalira, desi koja su u boljem kontaktui sa tim porivimas nego roditelji, a i ovi stariji u susretu sa realnim, odnosno sa istinski opasnom decom - a to su kod Susanne Bier odrasli Afrikanci . postaju spremni na gestove koji su inače potpuno prezreni u simboličkom poretku.

To što su kod Koljevića i danci i Afrikanci sjedinjeni u likovima Bosanaca, ipak ne čini Bierovu previše dalekom od njega. Ona je u ovom filmu definitivno žena sa slomljenim nosem, a Koljević & Co. Uostalom pored Arriage i Inarritua pokazuju otvorenu fascinaciju danskim filmovima o čemu svedoče i kameo role naših "Danaca" u njihovim filmovima. Dakle, most je uspostavljen.

Naime, oboje baziraju svoju "poetiku" na ambicioznim zapletima s tim što njoj melodramska postavka bazirana na zabuni koja je suštinski na nuivou telenovele uspela da produše u BROEDRE. U HAEVNEN međutim zaplet izgleda kao jedna dosta očišćena staza kojom odrasli voze kao svojevrsne mašine za etiku i odgoj a deca kao mašine za stvaranje lažnih problema. Bier pravi stratešku grešku u tome što film opterećuje scenama koje se generalno teško prave da budu ubedljive . tipa porodični spokoj koji rešava tako što tata zagrli decu i onde ćute ili stanja duboke zamišljenosti koja izgledaju tako što odrasli sede sami u kadru i ćute. Danas se situacija u kojoj glumac glumi da misli tako što "značajno" ćuti smatra rešenjem na granici treša ali ona se bez ustezanja laća takvih zahvata.

Mwehanika zapleta Thomasa Andersa Jensena, reklo bi se po filmografiji verovatno pre danskog naziva za scenaristu nego ličnog imena, u pojedinim deonicama biva oslonjena na naivnosti i dezinformacije kakve ne bi prošle ni u naivnijoj telenoveli.

Izuzev saznanja da je nasilje loše i da se nad njim treba zamisliti, da nije dobro da se dopšuta samoregulacija nasilja među školskom decom, da je nošenje noža među pubertetlijama loš znak i da prilikom detoniranja bombe može biti neočekivanih žetava HAEVNEN ne nudi mnogo drugih uvida. Iako sam nesklojn tome da otpisujem sve art house filmove kao primer festivalskog šunda i uprkos tome što priznajem da veliki eo tih stvari zbilja ne razumem - u slučaju HAEVNEN nažalost nema šta da se razume - to je jeda šupalj film koji ostaje gledljiv samo zahvaljujući zanatskoj snazi danske kinematografije koja ga je proizvela.

Susanne bIer je i dalje reditelj vredan pažnje i drago mi je zbog nje što joj je ljubav za "oskara" uzveraćena, naročito jer se nije snašla u Holivudu. Pa ipak, nadam se da njen pravi pogodak tek predstoji.

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Krip, ti baš ništa ne čitaš na ovom topiku

Čitam, nego nisam stigao da se posvetim toj replici. Mislim da kaže, "a misliš da si glavni..." Ne znam. To je ta kilava kopija.

to je mnogo vjerovatnije nego što sam ja čuo ''glanc'', ili nešto što zavšava na slovo C, u svakom slučaju je potreban hrvatski prevodilac

ako je rekao ''glavni'' to umnogome objašnjava neke stvari