From: "Gregory A. Swarthout" <gregorys@xmission.com>
Subject: [MV] Movie News - 12/05/98, Part 1
Tom Hanks, one of President Clinton's staunchest defenders
in the past, now "regrets" having contributed $10,000 to the
Commander-in-Chief's legal defense fund in light of the
Sexgate scandal, the actor tells the New Yorker magazine.
Hanks' reversal is seen as the first defection in the
pro-Clinton Hollywood camp (consisting of such names as
Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, Michael Douglas and Ron
Howard). "We gave 10,000 bucks. Very early on," Hanks told
the magazine, referring to himself and his actress-wife Rita
Wilson. "In all honesty, in light of the events since, it
would be awfully hard to say now, 'Oh, here, let me help you
out with this problem.'" Hanks also hinted at running for
office himself, perhaps for the Senate.
-=> * <=-
DeGeneres say their "coming out" got them shut out of
Hollywood where many remain intolerant of homosexuality,
according to an interview published by the Los Angeles
Times. The pair told the paper's Sunday magazine that they
have been treated unfairly and disrespectfully by major
studios. "Everything that I ever feared happened to me,"
DeGeneres said. "I lost my show. I've been attacked like
hell. I went from making a lot of money on a sitcom to
making no money." Heche added, "I was told I would never
work again." However, Heche stars in the remake of "Psycho,"
which opens Dec. 4, and DeGeneres will be seen in three
upcoming movies, including "Goodbye Lover" in December and
"Ed TV," a new Ron Howard comedy, next spring.
-=> * <=-
Forget the turkey -- insects were big this Thanksgiving
weekend. Disney and Pixar's "A Bug's Life" generated an
estimated $33.6 million in the Friday-to-Sunday period,
giving it $46.5 million in ticket sales since Wednesday.
That broke the $45.1 million record for the Thanksgiving
holiday period set two years ago by the live-action "101
Dalmatians." The previous weekend's champ, "The Rugrats
Movie," slipped to second with $21.1 million for the three
days, while "Enemy of the State" was third and "The
Waterboy" was fourth. "Babe: Pig in the City," a follow-up
to the Oscar-nominated hit 1995 film, opened in a
disappointing fifth place with $6.4 million for the
Friday-to-Sunday period.
-=> * <=-
* In other movie news, Adam Sandler will be paid $20 million
by New Line Cinema for his next movie -- tentatively titled
"Little Nicky," about a son whose father (the devil) wants
him to take over the family business -- reports USA Today.
That puts the comedian in the same income circle as Tom
Cruise and Mel Gibson. Sandler, currently starring in "The
Waterboy," is now shooting "Big Daddy," a romantic comedy to
be released in June.
-=> * <=-
Two American movie actors took the top prizes at a London
theater awards ceremony Monday. Nicole Kidman, who drew
raves for her sexy work in "The Blue Room," was given a
special award by the Evening Standard newspaper for her
contribution to London theater. Kevin Spacey was named best
actor for his work in "The Iceman Cometh." The awards were
presented by "Trainspotting" star Ewan McGregor, who has
been winning approving reviews for his return to the stage
in the 1960s protest play "Little Malcolm And His Struggle
Against the Eunuchs."
-=> * <=-
* Nicole Kidman in "The Blue Room" is currently previewing
in New York and is the hottest ticket of the new season.
Among the celebrities who have so far seen the performance
are her husband Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Calista Flockhart,
"Batman" director Joel Schumaker and Nathan Lane. The show
officially opens Dec. 13, and its limited run of 111
performances is already sold out.
-=> * <=-
After his quotes in the current New Yorker magazine about
his disappointment in President Clinton made headlines
around the world, Tom Hanks is now recanting, reports USA
Today. The actor told the New Yorker that he now wouldn't
give Clinton $10,000 for his legal defense fund -- as Hanks
had done very early in the Sexgate scandal. "There's not a
bigger supporter of the President than me (sic)," Hanks told
USA Today on Monday. "Do I regret giving money to the
President's legal defense fun? No, I don't. I regret
_having_ to give money to the President's legal defense
fund. I'm not splitting hairs here."
-=> * <=-
* QUIT: Universal Pictures chairman Casey Silver, after a
year of movie flops that culminated with the holiday
weekend's disastrous $8.2 million opening of the expensive
sequel "Babe: Pig in the City." He was reportedly forced to
resign. Other box office flops that have landed Universal
second to last among major studios were "Primary Colors,"
"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," "Out of Sight," and the
Nov. 13 release of "Meet Joe Black," starring Brad Pitt. The
latter cost more than $85 million and has only grossed $35.8
million after three weeks.
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 5 Dec 1998 17:53:13 -0700 (MST)
From: "Gregory A. Swarthout" <gregorys@xmission.com>
Subject: [MV] Movie News - 12/05/98, Part 2
Sean Penn "seems to have been going AWOL" during last
month's filming of Woody Allen's (untitled) new movie,
because, a source tells New York's Daily News, "he's p.o.'d
at the way Woody works." The stalemate may lead to a
lawsuit, the News reports, with Woody's producer Jean
Doumanian allegedly threatening Penn that if he doesn't
return to work, the production will shut down and he will be
held responsible for the cost of the entire movie. The News
claims the film is a month behind schedule. Penn's publicist
would only say that the actor was recently ill. There was no
comment from Doumanian, and there's never any comment from
Woody.
-=> * <=-
"There have been stupider ideas that have turned
out to be good movies."
-- MICHAEL KEATON, telling PEOPLE Daily
contributor Heather Dean about his new movie "Jack
Frost," in which he plays a snowman.
-=> * <=-
Gus Van Sant's remake of "Psycho," which opens Friday, is
not being screened for critics, reports The New York Times.
The decision was made by Universal Studios and the movie's
producer, Brian Grazer, who told the paper: "We made this
choice before even preproduction when we met with Patricia
Hitchcock [the daughter of Alfred, and his heir]. Hitchcock
didn't have a premiere, he didn't have sneak previews or
have the press see the movie early. He made the movie for $1
million. We made it for $20 million, which is exactly the
same amount based on inflation. He made it in six weeks, we
made it in six weeks. We made the decision early to do
everything the same."
-=> * <=-
* DIED: Cinematographer Freddie Young, who won three Oscars
for shooting three of David Lean's epics, Tuesday, at his
home outside London. He was 96. Young shot the desert sands
for "Lawrence of Arabia," Russia's snows for "Doctor
Zhivago" and Ireland's stormy swells for "Ryan's Daughter."
-=> * <=-
"I first learned this story at the doctor's
office. They had Highlights (for Children)
magazine."
-- SANDRA BULLOCK, who voices the role of Moses'
sister Miriam in "The Prince of Egypt," on how she
learned about the Exodus, to The PEOPLE Daily's
Heather Dean.
-=> * <=-
* SET: Robert Altman's murder-mystery comedy "Cookie's
Fortune," to open next year's Sundance Film Festival in Utah
The film, starring Laura Dern, Glenn Close and others, will
be shown Jan. 21 at Abravanel Hall, say organizers.
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------------------------------
Date: Sun, 6 Dec 1998 15:26:31 -0500 (EST)
From: maillist@moviejuice.com
Subject: [MV] MovieJuice! - PSYCHO - Deja Doo-Doo
A couple of kind notes complimenting MovieJuice! this week. One from Good Morning America film critic Joel Siegel, and the other from Tom Sturges, whose dad Preston Sturges was one of the greatest comedy writer/directors of Hollywood's Golden Era. Tom described MovieJuice! as "MAD Magazine meets Daily Variety."
I wonder who should be more insulted: MAD or Daily Variety?
Thanks guys!
This week in MovieJuice! a shot-for-shot copy of an original MovieJuice! from 38 years ago! Get in line (if you can find one) forà.
********************
PSYCHO - DEJA DOO-DOO
by Mark Ramsey
http://www.moviejuice.com
December 6, 1998
In a move that shocked the industry, leading lesbians Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres last week announced they're leaving Hollywood! That's right, it's a "Reverse Beverly Hillbillies," with "Ellie May" Heche and "Jethro" DeGeneres loading up the Pathfinder and leaving Beverly. Hills, that is. Swimming fools, movie 'tards.
For God's sake, who will rule the self-righteous Lesbian kingdom? Who will be the new spokesperson for 10-10-6969?
Say the grrls, "the offers aren't pouring in." A curious perception, given that both Sapphic Sirens seem to be getting more gigs than brighter lights like DiCaprio and Swarzenegger - not to mention the entire, largely unemployed Screen Actors Guild. May I speak for all actors working for scale - if at all - when I say: Ladies, shut the Hell up!
Then again, what am I so steamed about? Most likely, their comments were taken completely out of context since - as every media observer knows - "context" and "ratings" are similar only in the letter-count.
Get real. Anyone who blames super-talented Anne (let alone her sexuality) for the tepid B.O. of flicks like Six Days, Seven Nights or Psycho, hasn't seen either picture. Because both suck Muskrat love, if you ask me.
Psycho, of course, is the new shot-for-shot retelling of the Hitchcock original. And may I say for the record, Martin Balsam looks better than ever!
In an effort to contact Hitch's spirit for comment, MovieJuice! organized a Psycho seance with the help of famous celebrity psychic mom Jackie Stallone, psychic hotline hostess Dionne Warwick, and well known Psycho Charles Manson. We sat around a table as the lights dimmed.
"Spirits, when will I get out of fuckin' jail?" asked Charlie.
Suddenly a pall came over Jackie as she screamed "I see him! He's in chains upside down in a tank of water!"
"That's Houdini, not Hitchcock," I exclaimed. "You've gone past 'H-I' in the Psychic Rolodex all the way to 'H-O!"' Terminate the call! Terminate the call!"
"Mr. Houdini, how do I escape from fuckin' shackles?" asked Charlie.
With a scowl, a pissed Houdini dissolved into the ether. That's the moment Jackie's crystal ball clouded, and emerging from the mist was the transparent spirit of Psycho director Gus Van Sant!
"You dare try to summon Hitchcock!" screamed Gus the Ghost. "Don't you fools know I've already done that for you! I've single-handedly changed the role of the director from head creator to head xerographer!"
"Ghost of Gus, why have you done this?" I asked.
"Because I can't get a paycheck if we colorize, you moron!"
"You know," continued Ghostly Gus, "Before every single one of them was fired, the top folks at Universal explained to me that teens won't go see a Black and White movie because it seems old-fashioned. To be relevant, the Universal brass told me, you need attractions like the Universal tour, where kids born after 1980 can thrill to stunning exhibits of modern day relevance like King Kong, the revolving tunnel from The Six Million Dollar Man, the Munster house, the street where they shot The Sting, and the lagoon from McHale's Navy. 'Kids love things with pep,' they told me, as they flicked their fedoras to one side and lit up another Lucky. And jeepers if I don't agree."
"Someone call Gus-busters," quipped Charlie.
"Besides, I like to pretend the cinema of the past forty years never happened. Let's face it, what's more shocking than Psycho, except for maybe the news that Pro Wrestling is phony. Folks still wear felt fedoras, don't they? And don't movies still feature poky slo-mo zoom-ins on hotel windows, just like in the days when helicopters were powered by pedals? Or molasses-paced, interminable driving sequences where nothing happens except the Flight of the Bumble-Bee soundtrack? Plus, I thought, if anyone can make the first modern day slasher flick without big boobs, it's me!"
"Gus, when will I get out of fuckin' jail?" begged Charlie.
"So let me finish," continued Gus. "I figured, 1960, 1998, what's 38 years? I mean, Pat Boone and Andy Williams are big as ever, aren't they? Even Donny and Marie are back on TV for a couple weeks! So we just used the same script...plus a masturbation scene."
"Uh...Excuse me?" mumbled Dionne, who had been reflecting on the difficulty of finding 8-track tapes lately.
"I hear ya on that masturbation thing," said Charlie.
"Yeah," said Gus. "I couldn't find anything to change, but I always felt the movie would have been improved with masturbation."
"What wouldn't be?" noted Charlie.
Continued Gus, "I tried to insert a masturbation scene into Good Will Hunting for Damon, but Matt told me in his relationship, he did all the cooking and Affleck did all the masturbating. 'Division of labor,' he called it. Thank God for DVD - it's one of the 'extras.'"
Suddenly, Jackie shrieked "I'm losing the vibrations!"
"I'm not," said Charlie as the table mysteriously rose on his side.
With that, the ghost of Gus Van Sant dissolved into nothingness, setting a precedent which the new version of Psycho is very likely to follow.
As the lights flicked on, I reflected on the one good scene in the movie - the quick shot of an angry Hitchcock lecturing Van Sant, poking him in the chest with his finger.
Ain't that the truth.
Copyright 1998 Mark Ramsey. All rights reserved. NO PORTION MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR.
********************
Hey, kids, don't forget to visit the MovieJuice! Site at http://www.moviejuice.com. The pictures are half the fun (and sometimes more than half the laughs)!
********************
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------------------------------
Date: Sun, 6 Dec 1998 14:07:34 -0700 (MST)
From: Scott Renshaw <renshaw@inconnect.com>
Subject: [MV] REVIEW: JACK FROST
JACK FROST
(Warner Bros.)
Starring: Michael Keaton, Kelly Preston, Joseph Cross, Mark Addy.
Screenplay: Mark Steven Johnson and Steve Bloom & Jonathan Roberts and
Jeff Cesario.
Producers: Mark Canton and Irving Azoff.
Director: Troy Miller.
MPAA Rating: PG (profanity, mild vulgar innuendo)
Running Time: 95 minutes.
Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
On a snowy Christmas Eve, Jack Frost (Michael Keaton) reaches a
life-changing decision. A small-time blues musician, Jack consistently
puts attention to his wife Gabby (Kelly Preston) and 11-year-old son
Charlie (Joseph Cross) on the back burner when a gig or recording session
calls. It looks like this year will be no different, with Jack dropping
plans for a family holiday when a record company exec schedules a
Christmas day audition, but before he reaches the audition Jack realizes
what he's missing and turns around to head home. That's when an icy road
and broken windshield wipers intervene, and Jack is killed in a car
accident.
At the half-hour mark of the family fantasy JACK FROST, the titular
character has not yet been reborn as a walking, talking snowman a year
after his death thanks to a magic harmonica tune. He has, however,
already been reborn in the only way that matters dramatically. Jack
doesn't die as a vaguely selfish flake who needs to learn What Really
Matters; he dies repentant, on his way back home to make things right.
What follows the appearance of Jack-as-snowman is not an experience which
allows Jack to head to eternity with his priorities straight, but a
collection of special effects-enhanced buddy-bonding moments. It's cute,
yet utterly weightless.
There are worse things, I suppose, than a harmless bit of family
shmaltz for the holiday season. Keaton is engaging enough as the
hustling, slightly immature human Jack, goofing with Charlie in a way that
suggests he's more interested in being a playmate than being a father.
There's at least one very lively chase sequence which will charm the young
ones, as well as a welcome paucity of inappropriately sniggering content.
And it's true that the snowman (courtesy Jim Henson's Creature Shop) is a
nifty creation, just the right combination of classic look and human
expressiveness. There are enough giggles and guffaws in JACK FROST to
make it fun for youngsters without either embarrassing parents or boring
them entirely to sleep.
What makes it hard to swallow is that it's utterly inconsequential
while pretending to be both hipper and more emotional than it really is.
Self-aware dialogue has the newly-snowy Jack pondering the cosmic purpose
for his state, wondering "Is it the name? 'Cause if it is, that's not
even very clever." Another scene has Jack shaking his head ironically
when Charlie flips past the animated "Frosty the Snowman" on television.
Yet despite attempts to show that the film is a bit above its cutesy
premise, it's rarely anything more than a syrupy trifle, sentimental
without being resonant (from a story by Mark Steven Johnson, who made the
sentimental, resonance-free SIMON BIRCH).
One could argue that JACK FROST isn't really about Jack at all, but
about Charlie (a generally understated performance by Joseph Cross), in
need of closure after the loss of a father he barely knew. Even that take
on the story doesn't give it any added pull, not when the script keeps
adding simplistic touches like a bully who abruptly drops his bullying and
helps Charlie because he too understands what it's like to be without a
dad. Eventually it's hard to identify any significant story at all as
JACK FROST becomes more derivative and rushed towards its climax, complete
with a final vision of the human Jack so reminiscent of GHOST I expected
"Unchained Melody" to burst out on the soundtrack. JACK FROST isn't so
much a story as it is a diverting bit of special effects silliness leading
up to a sob cue. It taught me something important about What Really
Matters in a film script: a character arc for the protagonist that's not
