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From: owner-movies-digest@lists.xmission.com (movies-digest)
To: movies-digest@lists.xmission.com
Subject: movies-digest V2 #162
Reply-To: movies-digest
Sender: owner-movies-digest@lists.xmission.com
Errors-To: owner-movies-digest@lists.xmission.com
Precedence: bulk
movies-digest Thursday, February 18 1999 Volume 02 : Number 162
RE: [MV] A Simple Plan
Re: [MV] A Simple Plan
Re: [MV] The Movie Report: 1998 Academy Award Nominations & Analysis -Reply
Re: [MV] A Simple Plan -Reply
[MV] Movie News - 02/16/99
RE: [MV] The Movie Report: 1998 Academy Award Nominations
Re: [MV] The Movie Report: 1998 Academy Award Nominations
[MV] REVIEW: OCTOBER SKY
RE: [MV] REVIEW: MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
[MV] HOUDINI
[MV] REVIEW: AFFLICTION
[MV] HOUDINI -Reply
[MV] Top 10 Box Office Numbers (For Weekend Ending February 14, 1999)
[MV] Movie News - 02/17/99
[MV] Sci-Fi Movie News - 02/17/99
RE: [MV] REVIEW: AFFLICTION
[MV] REVIEW: OFFICE SPACE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 08:46:45 -0700
From: jkrudy <jkrudy@micron.com>
Subject: RE: [MV] A Simple Plan
Children, children, children. If you must continue with this "discussion"
then please take it off the list. Besides we all know that the only movie
that really got screwed out of an Oscar nomination was Baseketball. LOL!
James K. Rudy
- -----Original Message-----
From: Oz [mailto:oz@hollywoodbitchslap.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 1999 1:31 AM
To: movies@lists.xmission.com
Subject: Re: [MV] A Simple Plan
Wade Snider wrote:
>
> Brilliant comment. Never heard such an original retort. Jerk.
Touche. Your "jerk" left me breathless.
> It was an obvious guess that implied I could change my mind if I thought
the
> other movies were better.
> I simply looked at the movies I had seen and what people have said,
> then what I haven't seen and what people have said, and then based on what
> people have said about Simple Plan and what I thought, I made a guess.
So what you're saying (in that roundabout way) is that you had no
idea of actual fact, and that you were totally guessing they'd suck,
but if you were wrong you reserve the right to change your mind.
Bold stuff.
> I still think Simple Plan was better than it and the
> rest, except for SPR.
An opinion you're welcome to, now that you have seen the
competition.
Sadly, I have this weird feeling that SPR is going to clean up,
Titanic style. If it was a fair world the first half hour would win
best documentary and the rest would be ignored.
> >As for the "No trademark Raimi" shots.. well two spring to mind.
>
> The way any of these shots are done are still not anything close to Raimi
> trademarks.
At the risk of spoiling, if that shotgun to the guts didn't seem
more Evil Dead than A Simple Plan, I'm Dutch. It was like someone
changed channels for a moment, then flicked back.
> Not my understanding that he made this movie entirely for cash.
Never stated he did, but the projects in the pipeline are a
different story.
> And, I have
> heard nothing serios aside from a couple of joking responses that he is
> unhappy with this movie.
Also never stated that he hated this film. Just that he's eager
about returning to what he does best.
And now we're all on the same page...
- ------ {{{OZ}}} ------------------------------------------
"Damn the man, Joe!" -= HOLLYWOOD BITCHSLAP =-
- ----------- http://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com ------------
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 02:51:32 -0800
From: Oz <oz@hollywoodbitchslap.com>
Subject: Re: [MV] A Simple Plan
jkrudy wrote:
>
> Besides we all know that the only movie
> that really got screwed out of an Oscar nomination was Baseketball. LOL!
A truly underrated movie, alongside Very Bad Things and What Dreams
May Come. Guilty pleasures, all three.
- ------ {{{OZ}}} ------------------------------------------
"Damn the man, Joe!" -= HOLLYWOOD BITCHSLAP =-
- ----------- http://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com ------------
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 08:28:12 -0800
From: "Bruce Bridges" <Bruce@ffww.com>
Subject: Re: [MV] The Movie Report: 1998 Academy Award Nominations & Analysis -Reply
I have no desire to recieve the crap such as the chain letter below. This =
list is not for flooding our mailboxes with junk. If you must send these =
things please limit to your friends and leave us (or at least me) out of =
it.
bb
>>> Janice Menning <jmenning@forbin.com> - 2/13/99 12:41 PM >>>
("`-''-/").___..--''"`-._
`6_ 6 ) `-. ( ).`-.__.`)
(_Y_.)' ._ ) `._ `. ``-..-'
_..`--'_..-_/ /--'_..' ,'
(il),-'' (li),' ((!.-'!
The eyes of a Tiger. This is an e-mail to bring you luck in your exams. =
You
simply send this mail to 4 people and you will get an "A" on all your =
tests,
exams. Trust me, it works. The more people you send this to, the faster =
you
will see the results. Send this luck message to all the people you know =
and
you can get First Honors.. Seize the day.
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 08:47:40 -0800
From: "Bruce Bridges" <Bruce@ffww.com>
Subject: Re: [MV] A Simple Plan -Reply
When did you guys start elevating the level of discussion to such heights?
I thought A Simple Plan was Brilliant (sue me). Every scene showed a =
tangible development of one of the characters. Raimi was amazingly =
restrained and I think he showed more influence from his buddies the Coens =
than from his previous films. =20
If he chooses to make another horror film then I will probably be at the =
theater but he should realize that A Simple Plan raises him to another =
level in the Film world and I hope he makes the most of it. =20
I think the only problem with A Simple Plan is that it is a bit too =
sophisticated for the average audience expecting A Simple Thriller. =20
Of course I could be wrong.
bb
>>> "Wade Snider" <judgewd@worldnet.att.net> - 2/16/99 6:57 AM >>>
>> Wade Snider wrote:
>> ???? What the hell???? This is far better than Elizabeth of
>> Shakespeare in Love. I would wager it better than Thin Red Line
>> and Life is Beautiful, which I have not seen.
>
>I think that's a contender for the "dumbest comment of the year"
>Oscar.
Brilliant comment. Never heard such an original retort. Jerk.
How can you even make an educated guess when you haven't seen
>those two movies? Frankly, I'd put A Simple Plan at the bottom of
>the list behind Shakespeare, Elizabeth, Thin Red Line, SPR and
>especially the remarkable Life Is Beautiful (which anyone who hasn't
>seen should run out and see pronto).
I think the fact that it is an educated guess and not an assumption of =
fact
makes it okay, espcially since I said "I'd wager". It was an obvious guess
that implied I could change my mind if I thought the other movies were
better. I simply looked at the movies I had seen and what people have =
said,
then what I haven't seen and what people have said, and then based on what
people have said about Simple Plan and what I thought, I made a guess.
That's it. By the by, I did see Life is Beautiful since my post. And, it =
was
about what I expected. Didn't think that much of it. It was good, but not
Oscar winner to me. I still think Simple Plan was better than it and the
rest, except for SPR.
>
>As for the "No trademark Raimi" shots.. well two spring to mind. The
>fifty billion crow close-ups, easpecially in the crashed plane, and
>one particular gunshot to the guts that had the entire theatre
>laughing at it's cartoon-like quality.
The way any of these shots are done are still not anything close to Raimi
trademarks. They aren't particular to him, at least. And even any of the
shots of violence are completely uncharacterisitc of his style. Many, many
long shots that merely change focus, or long distant shots where the =
action
or circumstance is distant or detached. Even some crow shots, such as the
closeups when framing how the characters walked through the woods was not
typical Raimi material. I don't know which gunshot you mean, but a lot of
the scenes involving violence or a fight don't have the usual quick =
editing
or sharp pans, such as the scene with Lou and his wife or even the old man
on the snowmobile or further the scene in the woods with the sheriff, the
'FBI' guy and Hank. Raimi's style is to usuallly fling the camera into the
action of his flicks, in this movie he does not do it.
>On an aside, an associate talked to Raimi a few days ago and he said
>he has "one quality back-to-the-golden-years borderline NC-17 horror
>flick" left in him, but he keeps getting studio offers and can't say
>no to the cash that's coming his way to make Hollywood flicks.
>More's the pity.
Not my understanding that he made this movie entirely for cash. And, I =
have
heard nothing serios aside from a couple of joking responses that he is
unhappy with this movie. But if he likes cash and continues to make movies
like this, that's not pitiful at all.
Wade
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 11:22:11 -0700 (MST)
From: The Reporter <gregorys@xmission.com>
Subject: [MV] Movie News - 02/16/99
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Kevin Costner's romantic drama "Message in a
Bottle" edged out the revenge film "Payback" at the weekend box
office while new family fare also did well, according to industry
estimates Monday. "Message in a Bottle" opened with $19.1 million in
ticket sales from Friday through Monday, knocking the Mel Gibson
action piece into second place in its second week with $18.4 million.
"My Favorite Martian," based on the 1960s TV sitcom, debuted in third
place with $11.1 million. "She's All That" fell from second to fourth
place with $10.2 million. "Blast from the Past" opened at No. 5 with
$9.7 million. "Blast" stars Brendan Fraser as a man who grows up in a
bomb shelter and emerges into modern-day Los Angeles, where he meets
Alicia Silverstone.
-=> * <=-
NEW YORK (AP) - When Hollywood decided to make a movie out of
"Angela's Ashes," Frank McCourt's best-selling memoir of his
poverty-stricken boyhood, the first task was to find a proper Irish
slum. Not so easy in today's more prosperous Ireland, Newsweek says
its Feb. 22 issue. Unable to find the right sort of grimness in
Limerick or anywhere else, the filmmakers spent $25 million to create
it on a vacant lot in Dublin, right down to the tiny family kitchen.
McCourt, who is working on a sequel, called "'Tis," about his adult
life in America, visited the set for just a few days, but found even
that a little too real, according to Newsweek.
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 20:58:08 +0100
From: "kraus patrick" <magicpatrick@youpy.fr>
Subject: RE: [MV] The Movie Report: 1998 Academy Award Nominations
>De : Bruce Bridges
>I have no desire to recieve the crap such as the chain letter below. This
list is not for flooding our mailboxes with junk. If you must send these
things please limit to your friends and leave us (or at least me) out of
it.
>
>bb
I am totally agree with you Bruce.
I have exams at the end of the year, I don't think I'll need this kind
stuff.
By the way I would introduce myself to all of you.
I am french, 20 years old, and I think that is a very positive thing to
converse with you about our similar passion.
Patrick
Mon e-mail gratuit, c'est Youpy,
Pour en savoir plus : http://www.youpy.fr
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 13:04:51 -0700
From: "Gregory A. Swarthout" <gregorys@xmission.com>
Subject: Re: [MV] The Movie Report: 1998 Academy Award Nominations
The offender was suspended from the list for her post.
Greg
kraus patrick wrote:
>
> >De : Bruce Bridges
>
> >I have no desire to recieve the crap such as the chain letter below. This
> list is not for flooding our mailboxes with junk. If you must send these
> things please limit to your friends and leave us (or at least me) out of
> it.
> >
> >bb
>
> I am totally agree with you Bruce.
> I have exams at the end of the year, I don't think I'll need this kind
> stuff.
>
> By the way I would introduce myself to all of you.
> I am french, 20 years old, and I think that is a very positive thing to
> converse with you about our similar passion.
>
> Patrick
>
>
>
> Mon e-mail gratuit, c'est Youpy,
> Pour en savoir plus : http://www.youpy.fr
>
> [ To leave the movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ]
> [ movies (without the quotes) to majordomo@xmission.com ]
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 13:17:11 -0700 (MST)
From: Scott Renshaw <renshaw@inconnect.com>
Subject: [MV] REVIEW: OCTOBER SKY
OCTOBER SKY
(Universal)
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Chris Owen, William Lee Scott,
Chad Lindberg, Natalie Canerday, Laura Dern.
Screenplay: Lewis Colick, based on the memoir "Rocket Boys" by Homer
Hickam Jr.
Producers: Charles Gordon and Larry Franco.
Director: Joe Johnston.
MPAA Rating: PG (profanity, adult themes)
Running Time: 108 minutes.
Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
OCTOBER SKY is a tough sort of film to get people to look at clearly.
Touted in its marketing campaign as "inspirational" and "triumphant" --
usually code words for "sentimental" and "heavy-handed" -- it could easily
lead more cynical movie-goers to dismiss it sight unseen as mawkish
foolishness. Others, of a more feel-good nature, will think they have
seen a great film simply because, well, it makes them feel good. It's
hard for both potential sets of viewers to get a handle on why OCTOBER SKY
works -- it avoids most of the traps the former group fears, while
delivering the satisfying emotional resonance the latter group desires.
Set in 1957, OCTOBER SKY tells the true story of Homer Hickam (Jake
Gyllenhaal), a 17-year-old high school junior in the mining town of
Coalwood, West Virginia. Lacking the football skills of his older brother
Jim (Scott Miles), which has been the only way out for most Coalwood
youth, Homer seems destined to work in the coal mines like his father John
(Chris Cooper). That's until the extraordinary event of October 1957 --
the launch of the Soviet rocket Sputnik -- inspires Homer to work on his
own rocket. Recruiting classmates Quentin (Chris Owen), Roy Lee (William
Lee Scott) and O'Dell (Chad Lindberg) to assist him, Homer sets out to
create a rocket that will land him in the National Science Fair.
Unfortunately, Homer's primary detractor is an important one: his father,
who believes Homer's quest is a fool's errand.
This, of course, is the cue to begin your typical triumph of the
spirit, winning-against-the-odds, kids-wiser-than-their parents
crowd-pleaser. In some ways, the elements in OCTOBER SKY are quite
typical: a determined young hero, societal obstacles, a big climax at a
competitive event. Yet there are enough ways OCTOBER SKY is _not_ typical
to make it surprisingly effective. Director Joe Johnston, best known for
special effects-driven films like JUMANJI and THE ROCKETEER, lends energy
and humor to the montage of failed initial attempts at rocket flight. The
production creates a complete, convincing picture of its small-town world,
treating its characters with a clear-eyed realization that they're neither
simple hicks nor salt-of-the-earth country folk. And there's something
fundamentally, unconventionally appealing about a film where teenagers are
obsessed with an intellectual pursuit, a film where the protagonist proves
his innocence of a suspected crime by using a mathematical formula.
It is also unconventionally appealing to see a father-son
relationship treated with such sensitivity and intelligence. Certainly it
helps that an actor as subtly gifted as Chris Cooper is playing John
Hickam. Too many actors would have made him a gruff thick-head who
converts to understanding just in time for a big hug; Cooper makes John's
stubbornness both caring and slightly dismissive of a boy acting smarter
than his own pa. Jake Gyllenhaal is equally enjoyable as Homer, making
his fascination with rocket science an expression of his desire to explore
the universe beyond Coalwood. The interactions between John and Homer
form OCTOBER SKY's emotional backbone, and nearly every one of them is
pitched at a level of conflict which seems honest rather than
movie-conflict shrill.
There are a number of occasions when OCTOBER SKY does begin to feel
like its more convention-bound cousins. There is an obligatory romantic
sub-plot for Homer which appears and disappears so quickly that there
hardly seems to be a point; an illness experienced by Homer's favorite
teacher (Laura Dern), while historically accurate, further bogs down the
narrative. The last half-hour of OCTOBER SKY is not nearly as well-paced
as the first hour, dragging out Homer's journey to the National Science
Fair, but that doesn't detract from the film's many pleasures. OCTOBER
SKY is inspirational, and it is triumphant; it's also smart, well-written,
and well-acted. This one shows that feel-good movies don't also have to
be feel-dumb movies.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 rocket boys: 7.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit Scott Renshaw's Screening Room
http://www.inconnect.com/~renshaw/
***
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 17:53:23 -0800
From: "Romero, Leticia" <lromero@saonet.ucla.edu>
Subject: RE: [MV] REVIEW: MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
wow...
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott Renshaw [SMTP:renshaw@inconnect.com]
> Sent: Saturday, February 13, 1999 8:25 AM
> To: renshaw@inconnect.com
> Subject: [MV] REVIEW: MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
>
> MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
> (Warner Bros.)
> Starring: Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn, Paul Newman, Illeana Douglas.
> Screenplay: Gerald DiPego, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks.
> Producers: Denise Di Novi, Jim Wilson and Kevin Costner.
> Director: Luis Mandoki.
> MPAA Rating: PG-13 (adult themes, sexual situations, profanity)
> Running Time: 135 minutes.
> Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
>
> Twenty-five years ago, Paul Newman would have played Garret Blake,
> the grieving, laconic hero of Nicholas Sparks' best-selling novel MESSAGE
> IN A BOTTLE. He would have brought the ideal combination of elements to
> the role of a shipbuilder whose sea-borne messages to his dead wife are
> found by Chicago newspaper researcher Theresa Osborne (Robin Wright Penn),
> compelling her to seek out the author of the sensitive missives. You can
> imagine Newman both as a man's man -- a loner dedicated to his craft --
> and a ladies' man -- deeply sensitive when touched by the love of a good
> woman. That's the kind of screen presence you need when you're dealing
> with one of these mythically appealing romances like THE BRIDGES OF
> MADISON COUNTY or THE HORSE WHISPERER. You need a Clint Eastwood, or a
> Robert Redford...or a Paul Newman.
>
> In 1998, you get Paul Newman playing Garret's father Dodge, and as
> Garret you get...Kevin Costner. Costner has always been at his best in
> roles where her could be easygoing (SILVERADO, BULL DURHAM, TIN CUP),
> while his attempts at playing icons (THE UNTOUCHABLES, WATERWORLD, THE
> POSTMAN) could be most charitably described as uneven. Yet here he is in
> MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE, playing the emotionally unavailable but romantically
> irresistable Garret. He's the kind of guy who loves too deeply, whose
> gestures of self-sacrifice are the stuff of song and story. It's Costner
> once again as the paradigm, the icon, and I for one didn't believe him for
> a second.
>
> To be fair, Costner isn't the only thing wrong with MESSAGE IN A
> BOTTLE. Director Luis Mandoki's adaptation is a technically glorious
> piece of work -- beautifully photographed by Caleb Deschanel, sweepingly
> scored by Gabriel Yared -- but it's one heck of a long sit, clocking in at
> a soggy two hours and fifteen minutes. The storyline parallels Theresa's
> emergence from emotional isolation after a difficult divorce with Garret's
> difficulties letting go of his wife, and does so in fetishistic detail.
> There's a subplot involving Garret's conflict with his embittered in-laws,
> and the occasional tete-a-tete between Dodge and Garret or between Dodge
> and Theresa, all building with a gruelling lack of tension to one big
> cathartic payoff. You may leave the theater with your hanky wet, but it
> could be from the drool that collects while you nod off to sleep just as
> easily as from tears.
>
> Lost at sea along the way are extremely effective performances by
> Robin Wright Penn and Paul Newman. Wright Penn is an actress we don't see
> very much, which allows her still to be an actress in a role like this
> rather than a movie star. Her conflicted pursuit of Garret -- a man whose
> letters should have told her from the start isn't ready to love anyone
> else -- is convincing in context; her moments of insecurity and
> disappointment are genuinely affecting. Newman, meanwhile, gets to be
> gruff in a way that usually turns actors into hams, but turns this veteran
> into a breath of fresh air. He's so effortlessly charming, it's easy to
> forget the Harlequin sensibility at the heart of MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE and
> begin enjoying it as human relationship drama.
>
> Costner, too, can be effortlessly charming, but not here. His
> interpretation of the role is so focused on Garret's internalized mourning
> that in the moments when he's supposed to be letting go with Theresa, he
> looks like a man trying to act like a grieving man trying to be
> effortlessly charming. If that reads awkwardly, it plays even more
> awkwardly, with Costner straining for Meaning and Significance in every
> scene while his leading lady acts circles around him. MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
> undoubtedly will have its sob appeal, just as the novel did. Unlike the
> film adaptations of THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY and THE HORSE WHISPERER,
> that's the main thing this one has going for it. It's too bad it couldn't
> have been made twenty-five years ago, when Paul Newman hadn't yet handed
> over the iconic roles to actors ill-suited to handling them.
>
> On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 empty bottles: 5.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Visit Scott Renshaw's Screening Room
> http://www.inconnect.com/~renshaw/
> ***
> Subscribe to receive new reviews directly by email!
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>
>
>
>
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 09:50:47 +0100
From: "kraus patrick" <magicpatrick@youpy.fr>
Subject: [MV] HOUDINI
I've heard of a shooting about HOUDINI's life, probably with Tom CRUISE.
Do you know more about that ?
Thanks in advance
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 09:21:12 -0700 (MST)
From: Scott Renshaw <renshaw@inconnect.com>
Subject: [MV] REVIEW: AFFLICTION
AFFLICTION
(Lions Gate)
Starring: Nick Nolte, James Coburn, Sissy Spacek, Tim True, Willem Dafoe.
Screenplay: Paul Schrader, based on the novel by Russell Banks.
Producer: Linda Reisman.
Director: Paul Schrader.
MPAA Rating: R (profanity, adult themes, violence)
Running Time: 114 minutes.
Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
I don't blame Paul Schrader for thinking he could get away with
voice-over narration where so many others had failed. After all, he did
set the standard for ideal use of the device when he let us into the mind
of Travis Bickle in TAXI DRIVER. Every once in a while, a talented writer
will figure out just when he can get away with the narration crutch, and
for what purpose. Schrader forgot those things while adapting Russell
Banks' AFFLICTION. Working with all the elements for a raw dramatic
masterwork, he appears unclear how to tell the story through to its
conclusion. And in a fit of panic, he turns the final minutes of the film
into a mess of ham-fisted plot summary and perplexing epilogue.
It's a crying shame, because the set-up for AFFLICTION is so utterly
compelling. Nick Nolte stars as Wade Whitehouse, a lifetime resident of a
small New Hampshire town. Recently divorced, Wade spends his days as a
civil servant -- running the snowplow and serving as crossing guard --
while also acting as the town's lone part-time cop. He's trying to put
his life back together, even beginning a new relationship with a long-time
friend named Marge (Sissy Spacek), but his life has been permanently
scarred by his abusive, alcoholic Pop (James Coburn). The death of his
mother brings Wade back into his father's house, rekindling long-buried
emotions just when his suspicions of foul play in a recent hunting
accident have him on edge.
The heart, soul and twisted guts of AFFLICTION lie in Nick Nolte's
performance as Wade, as beaten-down a human being as the screen has ever
seen without turning him into a "lovable loser." Whipped into a
psychological submission by his Pop, Wade crawls through life on his belly
- -- working menial jobs at the whim of a town Selectman (Holmes Osborne),
feared and abandoned by his ex-wife and daughter because he has abandoned
them emotionally, taunted by a wealthy man to whom he tries to serve a
traffic ticket. Afraid of turning out anything like his father, Wade
absorbs every bit of pain for fear that releasing it will cause him to
lose control. He's tragic and pathetic and doomed, and Nolte nails him.
Schrader, on the other hand, doesn't seem convinced that he has
nailed Wade. The film opens with narration by Wade's younger brother
Rolfe (Willem Dafoe), narration which appears at irregular intervals.
Initially, the narration is simply florid and unnecessary; later, it
begins to repeat entire scenes just completed, as though afraid we might
have just walked in from the lobby and missed something. Finally, the
narration becomes absolutely insufferable, summing up every theme from the
previous two hours in a few tidy sentences that makes you wonder why you
spent your time with Wade instead of his self-appointed shrink. That
narration is part of an attrocious conclusion that nearly ruins the film,
tagging on explanations of much that has gone before and some that comes
after. Either Schrader ran out of money to show us all this significant
material, or he ran out of ideas regarding how to do it.
Perhaps such a gaping hole in the resolution of the protagonist's
story should have ruined the film, but there's too much else that works in
AFFLICTION. Cinematographer Paul Sarossy, who captured Russell Banks'
winter mindscapes previously in THE SWEET HEREAFTER, captures a sense of
chilly isolation, and the supporting cast -- notably Coburn's casually
emasculating turn as Pop -- is solid top to bottom. There's an ache at
the core of AFFLICTION as painful as the rotting tooth that, in a
Shakespearean display of psychic corruption manifested through physical
corruption, torments Wade through much of the film. There will also be an
ache in the head of many viewers, as Schrader spends the film's critical
final minutes beating them with a Moral to the Story that anyone able to
add single-digit numbers should comprehend unassisted. It may have worked
for Travis Bickle, but here Schrader's use of narration nearly trumps
Nolte's triumph. It's enough to make an edgy critic ask, "Are you _still_
talkin' to me?"
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 winter overkills: 6.
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Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 08:48:49 -0800
From: "Bruce Bridges" <Bruce@ffww.com>
Subject: [MV] HOUDINI -Reply
Paul Verhoeven was developing a film based on Houdini and there was rumor =
that made the trades that Cruise would star. Those rumors were unfounded =
and evidently released by some eager publicist or other person out of the =
loop. I understand that Cruise was never seriously close to signing or =
really discussing the role. =20
Verhoeven dropped the project after he decided that he could not really =
find a story that he really wanted to tell in the material. =20
bb
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Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 10:04:10 -0700 (MST)
From: The Reporter <gregorys@xmission.com>
Subject: [MV] Top 10 Box Office Numbers (For Weekend Ending February 14, 1999)
Movie (Studio) Weekend/Total Gross (millions) Weeks in Release
1. Message in a Bottle (WARNERS) $19.1/$19.1 1
2. Payback (PARAMOUNT) $18.4/$44.7 2
3. My Favorite Martian (BUENA VISTA) $11.1/$11.1 1
4. She's All That (MIRAMAX) $10.2/$42.8 3
5. Blast from the Past (NEW LINE) $9.7/$9.7 1
6. Shakespeare in Love (MIRAMAX) $9.5/$47.1 10
7. Saving Private Ryan (DREAMWORKS) $4.0/$9.1 (re-release) 2
8. Rushmore (BUENA VISTA) $3.7/$6.3 2
9. Patch Adams (UNIVERSAL) $3.6/$127.1 8
10. Varsity Blues (PARAMOUNT) $3.4/$48.4 5
Box office figures courtesy of Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.
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Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 12:10:07 -0700 (MST)
From: The Reporter <gregorys@xmission.com>
Subject: [MV] Movie News - 02/17/99
Samuel L. Jackson is in final negotiations to play the
title character in a remake of the 1971 action film
"Shaft," reports Variety. Director John Singleton plans
to shoot this summer from a script by Richard Price. The
original -- starring Richard Roundtree as a handsome,
tough-talking private detective enlisted by a Harlem mob
boss to rescue his kidnapped daughter -- was directed by
Gordon Parks and featured a memorable score by Isaac
Hayes (currently the voice of Chef on "South Park"). It
was considered perhaps the best in the wave of blaxploitation
cinema in the early 1970s.Jackson's imminent deal would
make it the first of several other remakes in the works
that include "Superfly," "Cleopatra Jones" and "Get
Christy Love" (for which Whitney Houston has been mentioned
as star).
-=> * <=-
NEW YORK (AP) - Five major technology firms are combining their
efforts to develop ways to prevent illegal copying of digital movies.
IBM and four Japanese electronics makers - Hitachi, NEC, Sony and
Pioneer Electronics - said Tuesday they will develop technology to
ensure that people watching digital movies over satellite services,
cable networks and the Internet can't make copies without permission.
The companies hope to have electronic watermarking technology put
into digital video disk players and recorders by the end of the year.
Eventually, high-definition TV sets, personal computers and digital
video cassette recorders would be equipped with the protection.
-=> * <=-
CHICAGO (AP) - Look for film critic Tom Shales when those thumbs go
up or down on TV next weekend. Shales will be the first revolving
co-host to fill in for Gene Siskel on the syndicated "Siskel & Ebert"
show while Siskel (He's the skinny one; Roger Ebert's the pudgy one.)
recuperates from brain surgery. Shales, like Ebert, is a Pulitzer
Prize-winning critic. He is The Washington Post's TV critic but has
reviewed movies for the Post and National Public Radio. Siskel, the
film critic for the Chicago Tribune, had surgery in May to remove a
growth on his brain. Ebert, the film critic for the Chicago
Sun-Times, has been host by himself since Siskel took a leave of
absence Feb. 3.
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Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 13:42:09 -0700 (MST)
From: The Reporter <gregorys@xmission.com>
Subject: [MV] Sci-Fi Movie News - 02/17/99
SF films fared moderately well in this year's Oscar
nominations, with Armageddon leading the pack in
quantity while The Truman Show dominated in
quality. Armageddon picked up nods for Best Original
Song, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing and Best
Visual Effects, categories that generally don't share much
of the spotlight on Oscar night.
The Truman Show, meanwhile, was nominated in the
high-profile categories of Best Directing and Best
Screenplay-Original, while Truman co-star Ed Harris was
nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Drama.
Pleasantville also earned three nominations, for Best Art
Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Original Dramatic
Score.
Rounding out this year's SF nominees were What Dreams
May Come for Best Art Direction and Best Visual Effects,
Mighty Joe Young for Best Visual Effects and A Bug's Life
for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score.
-=> * <=-
As usual, science fiction films were in the forefront of
the nominees for the Razzie Awards, which are given
annually by the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation
to "dis-honor" the worst movie achievements. The
Avengers led the pack with nine nominations, followed by
Armageddon with seven, Godzilla with five and Lost in
Space and Meet Joe Black with one apiece.
The Avengers picked up nods for Worst Picture, Worst
Actor (Ralph Fiennes), Worst Actress (Uma Thurman),
Worst Screen "Couple" (Fiennes and Thurman), Worst
Supporting Actor (Sean Connery), Worst Director
(Jeremiah Chechik), Worst Re-Make or Sequel, Worst
Screenplay and Worst "Original" Song. Armageddon was
dis-honored for Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Bruce Willis),
Worst Screen "Couple" (Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler), Worst
Supporting Actress (Tyler), Worst Director (Michael Bay),
Worst Screenplay and Worst "Original" Song.
Godzilla got off lightly by comparison, earning nominations
for Worst Picture, Worst Supporting Actress (Maria Pitillo),
Worst Director (Roland Emmerich), Worst Re-Make or
Sequel and Worst Screenplay. Rounding out the nominees
were Meet Joe Black and Lost in Space, which each
picked up a dis-honor for Worst Re-Make or Sequel.
As is traditional, the winners of the Razzies will be
announced 24 hours prior to the Oscars, which this year
means March 20.
-=> * <=-
Steven Spielberg may direct a modern-day screen
adaptation of the famous H.G. Wells SF novel The
Time Machine, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The picture is being produced by Warner Bros. and
Spielberg's company DreamWorks and will be scripted by
John Logan (I Am Legend).
Little else is known about the film at this point, although
it's tentatively scheduled for release in the summer of
2000. Spielberg is also working on the Tom Cruise film
Minority Report, which is based on the Philip K. Dick novel
of the same name.
-=> * <=-
Some Improvement headliner Tim Allen is in talks to
play the starring role in Dreamworks' upcoming SF
picture Galaxy Quest, according to Variety. Allen
would reportedly make the picture after his long-running
ABC comedy series draws to a close later this year.
Variety also reports that Dreamworks is close to signing a
new director for the film following the departure of helmer
Harold Ramis. Galaxy Quest tells the story of a former TV
actor who must assume his on-air role as a space captain
for real in order to save Earth from aliens.
-=> * <=-
Twentieth Century Fox has decided to give its
upcoming SF flick Wing Commander a full-scale
theatrical release when the film opens on March 12,
according to Variety. Fox had been planning a limited
release for the picture before sending it to the home video
market, but after screening the PG-13 movie executives
apparently decided it might play well to a wider audience.
Wing Commander is based on the best-selling computer
game series of the same name and stars Freddie Prinze
Jr., Matthew Lillard and Saffron Burrows. The film is being
directed by Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts from a
screenplay he wrote with Kevin Droney and Mike Finch.
Meanwhile, Digital Anvil, the entertainment company
founded by Roberts, announced that it will sell a line of
merchandise based on the movie. Digital said its Wing
Commander line will include action figures, masks and
costumes, T-shirts, hats, posters, books, a collector's
magazine and even bicycles.
-=> * <=-
Sweetpea Entertainment and Silver Pictures plan to
produce a live-action feature film of the popular
role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, according to
The Hollywood Reporter. The movie will be directed by
Sweetpea president and chairman Courtney Solomon and
will carry a budget of about $28 million.
The film tells the story of an evil wizard who attempts to
overthrow a young empress because she feels that
aristocrats and commoners should have equal rights. The
empress is aided in her fight by a thief and a sorceress
who are trying to find an ancient artifact that can save
the kingdom.
D&D will reportedly include an ending sequence that
features 75 dragons on screen simultaneously. Shooting is
slated to begin in May.
-=> * <=-
Columbia Pictures has pushed back the theatrical
release of its SF thriller The Thirteenth Floor from
April 9 to May 28.
-=> * <=-
Swingers costars Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau
are in talks to star in Paramount's SF comedy Guam
Goes to the Moon, according to Variety.
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 17:57:35 -0800
From: "Romero, Leticia" <lromero@saonet.ucla.edu>
Subject: RE: [MV] REVIEW: AFFLICTION
this is pretty good...
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott Renshaw [SMTP:renshaw@inconnect.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 1999 8:21 AM
> To: renshaw@inconnect.com
> Subject: [MV] REVIEW: AFFLICTION
>
> AFFLICTION
> (Lions Gate)
> Starring: Nick Nolte, James Coburn, Sissy Spacek, Tim True, Willem Dafoe.
> Screenplay: Paul Schrader, based on the novel by Russell Banks.
> Producer: Linda Reisman.
> Director: Paul Schrader.
> MPAA Rating: R (profanity, adult themes, violence)
> Running Time: 114 minutes.
> Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
>
> I don't blame Paul Schrader for thinking he could get away with
> voice-over narration where so many others had failed. After all, he did
> set the standard for ideal use of the device when he let us into the mind
> of Travis Bickle in TAXI DRIVER. Every once in a while, a talented writer
> will figure out just when he can get away with the narration crutch, and
> for what purpose. Schrader forgot those things while adapting Russell
> Banks' AFFLICTION. Working with all the elements for a raw dramatic
> masterwork, he appears unclear how to tell the story through to its
> conclusion. And in a fit of panic, he turns the final minutes of the film
> into a mess of ham-fisted plot summary and perplexing epilogue.
>
> It's a crying shame, because the set-up for AFFLICTION is so utterly
> compelling. Nick Nolte stars as Wade Whitehouse, a lifetime resident of a
> small New Hampshire town. Recently divorced, Wade spends his days as a
> civil servant -- running the snowplow and serving as crossing guard --
> while also acting as the town's lone part-time cop. He's trying to put
> his life back together, even beginning a new relationship with a long-time
> friend named Marge (Sissy Spacek), but his life has been permanently
> scarred by his abusive, alcoholic Pop (James Coburn). The death of his
> mother brings Wade back into his father's house, rekindling long-buried
> emotions just when his suspicions of foul play in a recent hunting
> accident have him on edge.
>
> The heart, soul and twisted guts of AFFLICTION lie in Nick Nolte's
> performance as Wade, as beaten-down a human being as the screen has ever
> seen without turning him into a "lovable loser." Whipped into a
> psychological submission by his Pop, Wade crawls through life on his belly
> -- working menial jobs at the whim of a town Selectman (Holmes Osborne),
> feared and abandoned by his ex-wife and daughter because he has abandoned
> them emotionally, taunted by a wealthy man to whom he tries to serve a
> traffic ticket. Afraid of turning out anything like his father, Wade
> absorbs every bit of pain for fear that releasing it will cause him to
> lose control. He's tragic and pathetic and doomed, and Nolte nails him.
>
> Schrader, on the other hand, doesn't seem convinced that he has
> nailed Wade. The film opens with narration by Wade's younger brother
> Rolfe (Willem Dafoe), narration which appears at irregular intervals.
> Initially, the narration is simply florid and unnecessary; later, it
> begins to repeat entire scenes just completed, as though afraid we might
> have just walked in from the lobby and missed something. Finally, the
> narration becomes absolutely insufferable, summing up every theme from the
> previous two hours in a few tidy sentences that makes you wonder why you
> spent your time with Wade instead of his self-appointed shrink. That
> narration is part of an attrocious conclusion that nearly ruins the film,
> tagging on explanations of much that has gone before and some that comes
> after. Either Schrader ran out of money to show us all this significant
> material, or he ran out of ideas regarding how to do it.
>
> Perhaps such a gaping hole in the resolution of the protagonist's
> story should have ruined the film, but there's too much else that works in
> AFFLICTION. Cinematographer Paul Sarossy, who captured Russell Banks'
> winter mindscapes previously in THE SWEET HEREAFTER, captures a sense of
> chilly isolation, and the supporting cast -- notably Coburn's casually
> emasculating turn as Pop -- is solid top to bottom. There's an ache at
> the core of AFFLICTION as painful as the rotting tooth that, in a
> Shakespearean display of psychic corruption manifested through physical
> corruption, torments Wade through much of the film. There will also be an
> ache in the head of many viewers, as Schrader spends the film's critical
> final minutes beating them with a Moral to the Story that anyone able to
> add single-digit numbers should comprehend unassisted. It may have worked
> for Travis Bickle, but here Schrader's use of narration nearly trumps
> Nolte's triumph. It's enough to make an edgy critic ask, "Are you _still_
> talkin' to me?"
>
> On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 winter overkills: 6.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Visit Scott Renshaw's Screening Room
> http://www.inconnect.com/~renshaw/
> ***
> Subscribe to receive new reviews directly by email!
> See the Screening Room for details, or reply to this message with subject
> "Subscribe".
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>
>
>
>
>
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 09:57:03 -0700 (MST)
From: Scott Renshaw <renshaw@inconnect.com>
Subject: [MV] REVIEW: OFFICE SPACE
OFFICE SPACE
(20th Century Fox)
Starring: Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, David Herman, Ajay Naidu,
Stephen Root, Gary Cole, Diedrich Bader.
Screenplay: Mike Judge, based on his "Milton" animated shorts.
Producers: Michael Rotenberg and Daniel Rappaport.
Director: Mike Judge.
MPAA Rating: R (profanity, sexual content)
Running Time: 88 minutes.
Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
In the small television-sized doses which are his forte, Mike Judge
is one of our savviest social satirists. Freed of the "Beavis and
Butt-head"-inspired hand-wringing by many conservative critics, Judge has
been able to show in "King of the Hill" what his supporters have known all
along: that Judge observes behavioral quirks as well as anyone, whether
his subjects are media-fried teenagers or middle-aged suburbanites. In
OFFICE SPACE, his first live-action feature, Judge turns his attention to
corporate culture, a world of cubicles, coffee and numbing sameness ripe
for skewering.
It's not a new target for Judge. In fact, the animated shorts he
created about a put-upon office worker named Milton (played in the film by
"NewsRadio's" Stephen Root) even pre-date "Beavis & Butt-head." Here he
expands the concept to focus on a computer programmer named Peter Gibbons
(Ron Livingston) at a software company called Initech. Peter loathes
everything about his job -- the grinding commute, the chirping customer
service operator in the next cubicle, the mountains of pointless reports,
the passive-aggressive pestering by his boss Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole).
That all changes after a visit to a hypnotherapist leaves Peter with a new
perspective, and a blissful disregard for preserving his position. While
"consultants" preparing for layoffs have most Initech employees scrambling
to justify their existence, Peter's id-run-wild "straight-shooting" has
him in line for a promotion.
The first 45 minutes of OFFICE SPACE exploit the concept to its
fullest, resulting in some wonderfully surreal, wonderfully funny moments.
The opening traffic jam sequence alone is a sly riot, including a futile
exercise in "fastest lane" selection and a geeky white programmer who
blasts gansta rap on his car stereo but locks his door when an actual
black person walks near him. Gary Cole, who so brilliantly nailed the
Mike Brady cadence in the BRADY BUNCH films, is equally slick with the
self-help tones of an inept middle-manager ("If you could just remember to
do that from now on, that would be great"). For a while, it looks like
Judge is going to head into inspired territory, lining up the newly
revitalized Peter for a supervisory position which could turn Initech
upside-down.
Then, in a depressing turn of events, Judge appears to run out of
ideas for the premise he spent the first half of the film setting up.
Instead of continuing his cannon shots at bureaucratic tyranny, he
launches into a lame caper in which Peter and his about-to-be-downsized
co-workers Samir (Ajay Naidu) and Michael Bolton (David Herman) -- no
relation to the singer -- try to rip off Initech by introducting a
computer virus into the accounting program. As even the characters in the
film note, the premise is a rip-off from SUPERMAN III, and Judge doesn't
do anything interesting with it to justify recycling it. OFFICE SPACE
grows tiresome in its last half hour, flipping back and forth between the
conspirators' anxiety over getting caught and a limp romance between Peter
and a sweet waitress (Jennifer Aniston). After a decent televison
episode's worth of keen-edged satire, Judge lets his script dribble into
bland conventionality.
It wouldn't be fair to suggest that Judge is only comfortable with
characters as cartoons -- Hank Hill is more endearingly human than most
sit-com creations put together -- but that seems to be the case in OFFICE
SPACE. The robotic Lumbergh and the muttering Milton create the strongest
impression in the film; not coincidentally, they're the most extremely
absurdist creations. When Judge tries to turn OFFICE SPACE into Peter's
quest for professional meaning and personal fulfillment, it just doesn't
work. He's much more effective pointing out the surreal yet all-too-real
details of industrial park anthropology, but there's not quite enough
material here to make it a thoroughgoing delight. Mike Judge has taken
his gift for creating hilarous short films and overstayed his welcome.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 cubicle dwellers: 5.
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