Synopsis: A mercenary (Treat Williams) escapes from a Kosovo POW camp and fulfills a promise to a friend who isn’t as lucky. The promise? To deliver an apology to the friend’s daughter (I’m getting to the school part) who works as a professor of English and is just at that moment being intimidated by several bad seeds from the school football team who are making it clear to her that they do not have to do homework like the other students. Thomasson (Williams) arrives just in time to take all three out with red pepper flakes and a pizza pie pan. The professor is later beaten in a dark alley and Thomasson poses as….exactly! 

As I mentioned in the last post, The Substitute 3 accompanied The Substitute as a bonus disk, which raises the first of many questions this film leaves unanswered, like, what happened to The Substitute 2? And, what is the meaning of the film’s subtitle? And, with whom was the mercenary/inspirational teaching movie such a hit that they sustained three sequels? (Yes, there is a Substitute 4.) I think I actually know the answer to that last question: teachers nursing revenge fantasies. 

Thomasson qua English professor makes Berenger look like a sentimental pansy. Like the students in the first movie, his students, too, benefit from a quick history lesson of Viet Nam and anti-drug message, but Thomasson doesn’t have much time for teaching. My favorite part is when he asks the students to move their desks into a big circle as if he’s going to engage in some progressive teaching strategies but then proceeds to use the open space to kick a student’s ass. 

Also notable are Thomasson’s two mercenary side kicks, Rahmel, an urban samurai who, in the best scene of the whole film, cuts a guy’s arm off, and Suzy (Claudia Christian), who smokes cigars.

'PLEASE KILL ME! I can't take this dialogue anymore!'

‘Now what?’

This is what I thought when I heard that Stephen Sommers had directed a movie called Deep Rising and it didn’t have mummies, vampires, or toys in it.

This is also the catch-phrase, if it constitutes one, of the main character, played by Treat Williams. It encapsulates perfectly everything I feel about this film, as well as the frame of mind this was produced under.

Firsty, let me say it’s lazy writing. Catch-phrases are intrinsically lazy, designed to choke an extra laugh from a sitcom audience without any extra writing, but this one is lazy even by catch-phrase standards.

Consider some of the best catch-phrases:

Aye Caramba!

Hi-Diddily Ho!

Excellent!

Yes, these are all from The Simpsons.

Now consider some of the worst catchphrases:

“Now what?

See the difference? The former are uttered under certain conditions, and in emotion – surprise, eagerness, evilness, and annoyance respectively  – while the latter is something someone might just say at any time.

[Side-note: In The Simpsons episode where Bart becomes famous for the lame catch-phrase on Krusty "I didn't do it!', the mundaneness of the catch-phrase is part of the satire, as is pointed out on the commentary for that episode. End side-note.]

Not only is it a bad catch-phrase, it says something bad about the state of film in general and this film in particular. These two simple words show audiences’ propensity to boredom and their need and desire to see something new, big and stupid thrown at them every few minutes.

The complicity in this mentality (often grudgingly so in his case, I feel – he could have a serious film in him), has defined much of Stephen Sommer’s oeuvre. This film is no exception. He feels the need to directly vocalise this through one of his characters to keep the audience’s interest up, and remind them why they’re there. The fact that I didn’t even notice how often it was repeated the first time around shows how much stuff was being thrown at the screen.

Taken in this context, this catch-phrase mocks the previous section, indicating that it wasn’t enough to sustain the whole film. And so the film is constantly shifting in tone and the use of familiar tropes to continually re-engage the audience. (One whole sequence of them swimming through a flooded area was lifted straight from The Poseidon Adventure, although sea monsters have been added.)

The problem with this is that each successive film has to be more and more different things at once in order to top the previous one, and we end up with a big ridiculous mash-up of many older, superior films.

I'm looking at you, Van Helsing.

But it doesn’t need to be like that. Ghost Ship, essentially the same movie but with ghosts, managed to stay suspenseful all the way through without tipping its hand and devolving into all-out ridiculous action as Deep Rising

Deep Rising is a fun movie. It’s like a creature feature, done with a decent budget (watch out for dodgy CGI water though), and some good suspense scenes.

I’d put it below The Mummy, but high above The Mummy Returns.

I was very upset to hear that this wasn’t a film based on Danny Phantom.

In 1930s New York City, the purple-clad Phantom’s longtime effort to crush a culture of evil pits him — and his dashing alter ego, Kit Walker (Billy Zane) — against megalomaniacal villain Xander Drax (played by Treat Williams).

I have never really heard about the comic books that this film is based on, and to be truly honest I was kind of interested in reading them before I saw this movie. Now, i don’t think I need to read them at all.

The comic books are made from the 30’s and I liked how the film stayed close to the old look, rather than having it all modernized and changed up for the modern audience.

The real big problem I had with this film however, is that it’s script is really god awful. The lines in this film are so cliched and cheesy that I don’t know if they were intentional or not but I really did laugh my ass off by the stupidity of these little lines.

Also, another problem I found with The Phantom was that it’s story wasn’t different from any other superhero film, and when the action wasn’t happening I felt the film dragged on for a bit too long. The story gets weaker and weaker as it goes on, and when the film’s all said and done with you will probably forget about the story itself.

The action scenes in this film really are it’s high points. There are no use of CGI, and all of the action fighting stunts look real. When The Phantom falls and hits the ground, he looks like he hit the ground and is affected, and you don’t feel like he has that sense of cat-lives one bit.

The colors in this film make this film even better to look at. The blending of a lot of bright colors make this film very astonishing and it keeps your attention as you watch on, and adds a little more to the action scenes.

I can really tell that Billy Zane is really trying his hardest with this character but nothing good can really come out. The poor script has his character delivering cheesy lines beyond belief, and never really giving us a real look of who is the man behind the mask. The supporting cast is really well done and I found them to be sometimes more interesting than The Phantom himself.

Consensus: The Phantom is very nice to look at, but starts to overcome itself with a horrible script and a not so interesting plot when the action wasn’t going down.

5.5/10=Rentalll!!

First, a quick recap of the new shows I’ve seen so far:

Flash Forward is a maybe for me, but it’s a strong maybe.  I found the pilot intriguing, and it’s full of great actors (loving John Cho and Joseph Fiennes), but segues to commercial breaks that feature an ominous voice telling me to do things like  “pay attention to the kangaroo — it might be important” kind of make me want to kick someone in the shins.  Don’t tell me what to do, you creepy bastard.  If I want to pay attention to the kangaroo, I’LL PAY ATTENTION TO THE KANGAROO.  (And if that’s not a Facebook status update of pure gold, I don’t know what is.)

NCIS: Los Angeles: [THIS PARAGRAPH CONTAINS A SPOILER] I love you, LL Cool J and Linda Hunt.  And okay, you too Chris O’Donnell, if I must.  However, your show is an absolute disaster.  I must have laughed out loud 15 times watching your pilot, and only 2 of those times were because you let LL Cool J tell a joke.  Plus, you know how at the end of the first episode, the bad guy is about to shoot “G” (O’Donnell) in the head, and just as he’s about to pull the trigger, G’s phone goes off,  and so the bad guy is all, “No, no, go ahead.  I’ll wait”?   Really?  I mean, REALLY really?   Also, poor, broken orphan who never had a first name, only a first initial?  And don’t even get me started on the rack of $300 designer jeans paid for with our tax dollars.  Bah.  One more episode and then I’m out.

The Forgotten:  Same song, different verse — it’s actually just Cold Case all over again.  I really liked Slater in this, but everybody else is a total throwaway so far, and the plots are going to have to get WAY, WAY more interesting if this show wants to survive longer than mid-October.  My money’s on one more episode and then the boot.

Eastwick, Mercy:  I didn’t make it through their pilots, I’m afraid.  I’m out, and I bet the networks will be shortly out as well.

Let me know what you guys thought?  I still haven’t seen The Good Wife, but will try to catch that one this week.  So far, in terms of returning shows, Supernatural is still kicking everybody’s ass, by the way.  If you aren’t watching that series and you like smart, funny, clever, creative writing, DUDE.  Is all.

Monday, 9/28

Lie to Me (FOX) — 8pm.  I watched this series last year and mostly enjoyed it, but it needs a lot of work if it’s going to keep me intrigued enough this year to keep going.  I confess the part I like the best is that I feel like I am learning skills I can apply whenever I suspect someone is lying to me.  Frankly, if they could just skip the character drama and turn this show into a TV-based training course in kinesics instead, I think I’d like it a lot better.  Sorry, Tim.  Maybe you can narrate?

Trauma (NBC) — 9pm.  Another show tries to fill the void left by ER.  But you know what, shows?  We don’t really need you to fill a void.  We sort of need you to do something new.  This one is about EMTs and trauma surgeons, and maybe, MAYBE the EMT stuff might be sort of interesting.  We’ll see, sigh.   The cast has a few familiar faces (dashing-Kiwi Cliff Curtis, guy-who-creeps-me-out Jamie Sheridan), but for the most part don’t look terribly inspiring.  Can you tell I’m really struggling to muster up ANY degree of enthusiasm for this one?  Yeah, that.  Go ahead, Trauma, make me eat my words.  DOUBLE-DOG DARE YOU.

Hell’s Kitchen (FOX) — 8pm.  You know what’s really weird?  Watching this show and then watching Gordon Ramsey’s British shows like Kitchen Nightmares and The F Word.   Why do we, as Americans, need to convert that guy into such an incredible jerk in order to make him entertaining and marketable here? I boggle, as does my mind.

Hank (ABC) — 8pm and The Middle (ABC) — 8:30pm.  Whatever.

Private Practice (ABC) — 10pm.  This is still on?  AND EYES GOT CANCELED?  I hate you, ABC.  And yes, I will hold that grudge for all of eternity, thanks for asking.

Til Death (FOX) – 8:30pm.  Watched half of season one of this one, actually — I know, surprise, right?  Yeah, it. . . meh.

Three Rivers (CBS) –  Dammit, CBS, don’t fail me on this one, would you?  Of the three medical shows starting this fall, this is the only one that actually has a chance of being relatively not-that-sucky.  But here’s the problem — this series is about organ transplant doctors.  Remember that OTHER series about organ transplant doctors — Heartland?  The one with Treat Williams?  That show was a veritable croque monsieur of cheese.  This show needs to NOT BE LIKE THAT SHOW.  And that’s really the only advice I can give at this point.  Come on, Alex O’Loughlin, you mad-crazy hunkaroo, SAVE ME.

Female-focused network garners record 24 wins

The 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were dominated by the Lifetime Channel, thanks to a formidable slate of edgy, top-notch programming.

“I’d like to dedicate this award to all the people who make ‘EstroJen’ possible,” said Outstanding Actress recipient Tracey Gold, referring to her hit sitcom about a fertility doctor with a quirky sense of humor. “People said our little show would never work, but what they didn’t count on was the amazing group of people that write and produce this program every week. It proves quality still matters in television.”

By the time the last statue was handed out, Lifetime had amassed a record two dozen Emmys, including six wins for the drama series ‘Dangerous Relationships’ and three wins for Mayim Bialik’s variety show, which debuted in January. Treat Williams was also recognized for his portrayal of a foster father in the movie-of-the-week ‘Safe Harbor.’

“And we don’t plan on slowing down,” said Lifetime exec Lindsay Monahan. “In the next few months alone, we have world premiere movies featuring Valerie Bertinelli, Alyssa Milano and Eriq La Salle.

Once upon a time in America. Fragmento del film de Sergio Leone.

Dos amigos  vuelven a encontrarse después de màs de treinta años. Crecieron juntos en la picaresca de las calles de New York en el barrio judío. La picaresca para vivir sin trabajar y hacer dinero fàcil. Esto implica la mentira, el robo, la violencia, el oportunismo, la manipulación, la extorsión, la corrupción, la connivencia con el poder en principio desde las cloacas, que son los barrios pobres de cualquier ciudad. Una biografía siempre es una gran enseñanza. Y una biografía de grupo de una generación un ejercicio que hay que hacer sin falta.

Vi la película una sola vez en La Habana, en la Cinemateca. Cuànto buen cine he visto en esa sala. Sergio Leone hace un retrato del poder, el éxito, la política desde todos sus àngulos, desde el senador, hasta el sindicalista socialista (Treat Williams) que rociado de gasolina, y salvado por el comando mafioso lanza su mitín de propaganda en el viejo taller de mecànica, custodiado y a salvo por los mafiosos contratados por el político. Toda una metàfora de política, pandillismo y mafias. El Poder.

Recordaba las escenas de amor de los adolescentes. Ella bailando para él y luego leyéndole un fragmento. El amor como posibilidad de salvación. Imposible. Leía hace poco que Octavio Paz escribió que el siglo XXI sería el de un renacimiento del amor, no de la cursilería o del romanticismo decadente, sino del amor como un sentimiento poderoso de energía, constructivo. La escena de De Niro en la playa contando su paso de largos años por la càrcel y cómo releer los fragmentos amorosos del Antiguo Testamento le permitieron sobrevivir. Es una de las pocas escenas en que habla el hombre, no la vida acorralada, sin otra opción. Las palabras. Divinas palabras. Luego la escena de la violación en el coche, cuando ella decide partir. De nuevo el poder y la dominación -sexual- en su expresión màs brutal, como desesperación de la frustración profunda del que no puede salir de la bajeza como recurso último.

El personaje es complejo, detestable en su coherencia y su verdad. No aspira a màs. Su vanidad queda en el espacio de las cloacas de donde ha salido, lo dice explícitamente cuando decide no entrar en política porque no confía en esos hombres que venden tantas falsedades. La podredumbre de las calles en que ha crecido es donde se siente a gusto, la de los altos vuelos, invisible, escondida, no la controla y la rechaza. Su amigo Max -que se compra un trono- està dispuesto a todo y trata de convencerlo.

Max y Noodles tratan de huir de su medio através de medios artificiales. Max (James Woods)utiliza como droga el Poder, mata, roba a sus amigos, acumula riquezas y relaciones, llega a lo màs alto, pero està solo. Su sensibilidad ambiciona el poder sin ningún escrúpulo, sin ningún valor ético, no hay límite y llega hasta robar la vida de su mejor amigo.

Noodles ha vivido con la carga de la culpa de una traición supuesta, establecida en un complot con la mujer de Max, para proteger a sus amigos de una muerte segura en el plan de asaltar el banco central. Su mujer es asesinada. Moe torturado y es de nuevo Noodles quién mata al asesino. Terminada la ley seca, la prohibición, la normalización del comercio de alcohol les dejarà sin sus grandes dividendos. Su sentido de la amistad le ha impedido pensar en la traición y la manipulación de Max. Ha vivido una vida ordinaria, «me he acostado temprano cada día», dice a Moe en el bar judío a su regreso, lo que quiere decir que ha tenido que trabajar para vivir. Max desde su residencia fastuosa termina en el basurero víctima de su propia farsa y de sus mentiras. Su último recurso a la violencia es pensar morir a manos de la venganza de su amigo. Noodles no lo reconoce y se marcha, para él ha muerto hace treinta años. Noodles escapa del infierno en el fumadero de opio y es donde único sonríe.

©2009 Maite Díaz

Welcome to the last installment of Failed Franchises Week! Here’s a tip for any budding directors or screenwriters; if you’re going to write a superhero movie, do not (DO NOT!) set it in the 1930s. It’s a kiss of death that gets a movie almost every time. You really sap out all the fun and  sense of daring when you set it in one of the blandest, most aesthetically boring times in the world. It was a time when people were more concerned with food and shelter due to a nearly worldwide depression, so, believe it or not, the decade was not big on eye candy. It’s just not a fun-filled era, what with Nazism on the rise and most of the Western world being bankrupt.  Plus, who wants to see a superhero take off his mask, slick back his hair, put on some pants that reach to his nipples, and put on a Glen Miller record on the gramophone? Unless you’re making Indiana Jones and you can afford to go to different locales all the time to stave off the boredom of the day with exotic locations, go to the 20s or the 50s. In the 90s, people all over the place thought they could use the decade as their playground for superhero movies. The Shadow, The Rocketeer, and today’s feature, The Phantom, all tried valiantly in their quest to make this era entertaining, but they all failed. Although in my personal opinion, I think The Phantom failed a little more than all the others.

Based on the famous comic strip, The Phantom begins in the 1800s on the tiny island of Bengalla, where the young survivor of a pirate attack vows to put a stop to evil wherever he finds it. When he grows to be a man, he develops the identity of The Phantom, a masked avenger who thwarts evil wherever he finds it. He holds the title for a time, but finds that he must keep the legacy alive so that people will think of The Phantom as an immortal spirit of vengeance who will never rest, so he begins a tradition of passing the identity to his son. His son becomes The Phantom, and so does his son, and so on until we find ourselves in the 1930s, where a young and dashing Kit Walker, AKA THE PHANTOM!, is on a perilous mission to stop the world’s craziest rich guy of the moment, Xander Drax, from obtaining the Skulls of Touganda. Sounds pulpy? Well, it is, because, and let me phrase this the right way, anyone who collects the four Skulls of Touganda will have the power to control the world! Yes, Xander Drax is evil, but that sounds pretty cool, huh? Anyway, it’s up to the current The Phantom to stop him. But things aren’t always that easy, and when Kit meets up with his old flame, finds the man who killed his father, and meets an ultra-sexy pirate chick named Sala who wants his lovin’ and his demise at the same time, you know you’re in for a thrill-a-minute thrill ride all the way to the Thrill-ageddon!

Or maybe not. Sad to say, but I found The Phantom to be incredibly mediocre. It’s almost amazing how mediocre it is, but that’s pushing the boundaries of the word ‘mediocre’, isn’t it? For an origin story, it’s not that they didn’t tell it right, or even well, but they told it in a very linear, banal way that left no room for the imagination to wander. I felt like there was no imagination in the project, like they just read the first few serials from the 30s, wrote down the parts they liked, and copied it to the T. No innovation, no frolicking or fun to change up the pace. Just mindless 30s action.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s a pretty movie that is technically impressive for 1996. The Phantom costume (SOMETIMES) is pretty good, and when it works, it really works. Inside buildings and with other people next to him, the suit seems somewhat believable and not ridiculous. Now, whenever he’s by himself or in the jungle, especially in the jungle, its shamefulness makes me question why I’m watching the movie in the first place. It’s like wearing a Halloween costume on November 1st; it just doesn’t seem right. The Skulls of Touganda also make for some cool 90s effects, and if you have an eye for it, you’ll probably surmise that most of the budget was spent on effects compared to everything else.

Which brings me to the actors. Billy Zane, what happened to you? Wherever you are, we miss you here at Cinematronica! I enjoy Billy Zane’s somewhat eccentric performance as The Phantom. He’s your typical pulp hero, but he’s got that extra, how should I put it, Zane-iness! Keep an eye out for how Zane acts with his face; he’s got one of the most expressive faces in the industry, and just a simple smirk can make a whole scene turn in its head. Treat Williams took a break between direct-to-VHS releases in ‘96 to be this movie’s main villain, Xander Drax, and I kind of wish he would have just stayed out of this one. He’s so smarmy and droll that it threatened to turn his character into something even more unbelievable than a guy named Xander Drax. And when you can’t reign in Treat “Stoneface” Williams, you don’t have a very good handle on the situation, do you? Catherine Zeta-Jones is a very unlikable femme-fatale. Sala is the kind of character that you normally want the hero to end up with; she’s independent, sassy, sexy, and easily a match for the hero’s charms. Of course, classic Hollywood rules dictate that the hero can’t have her because he needs to hook up with the virginal blonde, and that always pissed me off because the hero and the virginal blonde usually have NOTHING IN COMMON. But here, The Phantom should get as far away from this chick as possible. She’s just plain annoying, and fuck-all if the camera isn’t fascinated with her here. It’s a big turn-off for me, and a disgrace to femme fatales everywhere.

The makers of The Phantom chose the wrong time frame, the wrong storytelling method, and a few wrong actors to make a movie that really shouldn’t be as boring as it is. It had potential, and that makes it even more upsetting that nothing came of it. Obviously, none of the planned sequels to this will be coming out anytime soon, although hope might come in the form of a reboot sometime in 2011. So hopefully Billy Zane keeps his agent from ‘96 on speed-dial so he can get in on that, because Hollywood NEEDS some Billy Zane right now. All in all, though, good and bad all taken into account, I give The Phantom 5 1/2 SKULLS OF TOUGANDA!!!! out of 10. SLAM EVIL!!!

Stay tuned for another review today! I don’t know what it’ll be yet, but I know you’ll enjoy it! Hope you enjoyed Failed Franchises Week! If you want me to do some more themed weeks like this, let me know in the comments section! I thoroughly enjoyed it!!!

MAYBE it’s Global Warming, natural climate change or, perhaps, Mother Nature just having an off-day (or more), but there is no denying that weather across the planet has turned more violent as well as unpredictable over the past few years. In the upcoming NBC miniseries event The Storm (airing Sunday July 26th and August 2nd @ 9 p.m. – 11 p.m EST) art imitates real life and it’s man versus nature as a single human being manipulates the elements and causes death and destruction to rain down on Earth (no pun intended).

Scientist Kirk Hafner (James Van Der Beek) attempts to stop billionaire Robert Terrell (Treat Williams) from destroying the Earth with his “weather creation” technology. Terrell’s determination to manipulate the weather causes catastrophic weather conditions – a combination of hurricanes, sandstorms and drastic temperature changes that cause panic and hysteria across the globe. With government cohort, U.S. Army General Braxton (David James Elliott), the billionaire envisions the technology as a key military weapon to ensure super power status. Hafner enlists the help of news reporter Danni Nelson (Teri Polo) to help him expose Terrell’s quest. Complications arise when seemingly trustworthy authority figures aren’t who they initially appeared to be. This exhilarating action thriller follows Hafner on his journey to save the human population from extinction. The miniseries also stars David James Elliott, John Larroquette, Luke Perry and Marisol Nichols. Earlier this week, James Van Der Beek and David James Elliott very kindly took some time out of their day to speak with myself as well as other journalists about their work on The Storm as well as various other topics. An edited version of  our conversation follows.

James Van Der Beek as scientist Kirk Hafner in The Storm. Photo by Peter Hopper Stone and copyright of NBC

Can you tell us a bit about your characters in The Storm and any specific acting challanges you found with these roles?

DAVID JAMES ELLIOTT - I play the Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I’m awfully young for the role, but we decided that my character was a brilliant military mind who rose up through the ranks at lightening speed. And as the miniseries kind of supports, he may have gotten there just a little too soon. As far as challenges, every role is challenging and you have to bring nuances as well as levels to your character and keep it truthful and interesting. General Braxton is a military man and I’ve certainly played one of those before, but there were definite differences. Ultimately, he has to struggle with his morality.

JAMES VAN DER BEEK - I play a scientist who is working for Treat Williams’ character. Kirk Hafner is someone with a huge imagination, very creative, very brilliant, and all of a sudden he has all the tools at his disposal to push the limits of science as far as his mind will allow. My character is then kind of betrayed by the guy he’s working for, and from there on he has no idea who he can trust. He has no idea who’s after him, but is now charged with putting a stop to this thing that he’s helped create. And I’d say the biggest challenge for me was keeping warm at 4 a.m. underneath rain towers. That pretty much trumped any other acting challenge.

What were the visual/special effects like in the miniseries? Was there more green screen versus practical or vice versa?

DJE - I didn’t really face any of the effects challenges, so James will have to answer that one.

JVDB - Let me tell you, the rain was real. There was no green screen rain in this thing. In fact, we didn’t have to do much green screen work at all. A lot of it was practical and right there in front of us – everything from the lightning flashes to the wind and even explosions. If they were in-frame with me, then they were there and happening on the day. So it was a pretty real environment, and therefore I didn’t have to use too much imagination for a great deal of it.

What attracted you both to the story?

DJE - The script looked like it would be a lot of fun and it was certainly an interesting topic. Also, the director is a very old and dear friend of mine; he directed maybe 50 episodes of JAG [which Elliott starred in], so any opportunity to work with Bradford May I knew would not only be fun, but it [the work] would remain interesting and the film would look fantastic. That’s why I wanted to be a part of this.

JVDB - I was fascinated by the idea of a scientist who is kind of in love with the exploration and follows his knowledge as far as he can. Then, however, he creates something that somebody else can use for all kinds of other nefarious purposes. My character created this technology with the best of intentions, and then somebody else took it and using it for their own power. So it puts my character in a difficult situation. He’s trying to the right thing, but the right thing isn’t entirely clear. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely – that was one of the themes in this story and that definitely attracted me to it and made it interesting. And it sounded like a great deal of fun, too.

David James Elliott as General Braxton in The Storm. Photo by Peter Hopper Stone and copyright of NBC

You guys both grew up in very different weather situations. If someone had said to you, “OK, you could harmlessly change the weather,” would you have wanted to? David, when you were growing up in Canada would you have changed the weather if you had some way to do it?

DJE - Oh, I’d have changed it in a minute. I hated the cold, so when the opportunity arose to come here [California] I jumped in my car and left immediately, and I haven’t looked back. I’m not a fan of inclement weather. I like snow if I’m skiing, but I don’t enjoy slogging around in it. I dislike rain as well, so that’s why Southern California is a great place for me because I like the heat. I also don’t like hurricanes or earthquakes, but who does?

JVDB - There are three things I do not miss about living in Connecticut – January, February and March. I would certainly do away with that kind of post-winter, pre-spring, cold, dry wasteland.

James, what was it like working with Luke Perry, and did you have a chance to talk with him about being in the same situation as him, albeit a decade apart, and working on a really popular teen show. (Perry worked on Beverly Hills 90210, while Van Der Beek was on Dawson’s Creek).

JVDB - Luke was, I think, a little bit further beyond it, so it wasn’t as present for him, but it’s always interesting to talk with someone who has been through something as unique as that. It’s something you could only really know from the inside, and there’s kind of a mutual understanding that comes from that. Luke is a great guy. He’s got a wonderful perspective on it and I really did enjoy talking with him in-between set-ups.

James, you’re the hero in this story but your character spends a lot of time in front of a keyboard. Is there a new kind of “geek hero” emerging here?

JVDB - Possibly. You know, more and more these days you start relying on people who are good in front of the keyboard. So I mean, that was kind of the idea behind this guy, too. I’ve played characters who were athletic and strong, the kind of typical action hero, but what I liked about Kirk is that he’s not your typical action hero. He’s not particularly suited to being on the run, being shot at or chased, but through his own internal fortitude he somehow scrambles his way though it. That to me is more of an exciting journey as opposed to, for example, watching Rambo.

Former Dawson's Creek star Van Der Beek and Beverly Hills 90210's Luke Perry (as Stilman) team up for the first time in The Storm. Photo by Peter Hopper Stone and copyright of NBC

James, would it be fair to say that you’ve taken a break from lead roles since Dawson’s Creek, and is The Storm sort of a reemergence for you?

JVDB - Yes. I mean, I was pretty burnt out after six years on a TV series, and I don’t know that I was really ready to jump back in. I will say that one thing that’s happened in the past year-and-a-half is that I’ve really started to rediscover my passion for acting and being part of a story in a leading role capacity. So I’m really having a good time right now.

What was your most memorable moment from filming The Storm?

JVDB - We were shooting in Van Nuys around four in the morning and it was very, very cold. We were underneath these rain towers, the entire crew, the camera crew, everyone was standing in the ‘rain’ at this point. I was hiding behind a dumpster and there was a big Rottweiler that was supposed to come up against the fence and snarl and scare the heck out of my character. I was attacked by a dog when I was very little, so I have a natural fear of dogs anyway. So this huge Rottweiler, which probably weighed about twice my weight, was being held back by a chain and ready to come up and pounce against this chain-link fence. By four in the morning, though, when they let the dog go he just kind of ran up to the fence and was not angry at all. He more or less sat there panting. In order to save the shot I knew I had to rile him up, so I turned around and actually started barking at the dog and snarling and baring my own teeth. Only then did he start barking – so in the dailies I probably look pretty ridiculous on my hands and knees in the pouring rain and barking at a Rottweiler.

DJE - I was just excited to work with Treat Williams, so my first day was probably my most memorable, working with someone who I’d been a big fan of for many years. Other than that it was business as usual.

What did you like most about working with The Storm’s director, Bradford May?

JVDB - His passion and energy. As David can tell you because he worked with him more than I have, Brad comes in every day with a huge zest for life and loves being on film sets. He started [in the business] when he was 14 and has pretty much done every job there is to do on a film set. Brad’s parents were in the industry. He’s one of those guys who really knows everybody’s job on-set, and was incredibly gracious about allowing them to do it, and then, always in a respectful way, kind of educating them on how they could do it a little bit better. Bradford is one of those pros who you get an opportunity to work with in this business and one of those lifers who reminds you that this is really fun stuff that we got to do. It’s a job, it’s a business, but when you’re on-set we’re all telling a story and making a movie, so that’s what I loved about him.

DJE - Because Brad knows everybody’s job, you move quickly and don’t waste time. As James said, he’s incredibly passionate and is a gas to be around. So not only is the work done efficiently and extremely well, but the process is a lot of fun, too. I remember the first time I met Brad. He walked onto a set that I had been working on for six or seven years and nothing fazed him. Talk about a character. The first take, he was like, “Cut! Print!” We all looked at him and thought, “Oh, my God, who is this guy? He’s not going to last.” And within two or three days we fell in love with him. Brad is just that type of person, you know? He’s a great filmmaker and probably the most underrated filmmaker in Hollywood.

General Braxton has very specific plans when it comes to exploiting the "weather creation" technology in The Storm. Photo by Peter Hopper Stone and copyright of NBC

David, doing a project ike this, does it make you think about getting back into series TV?

DJE - You know, I’m thinking about it. We’re developing some shows at the moment with various partnerships, so we’ll see what happens. What I miss about series TV is working on the craft every day, you know? Series TV has changed a lot since I left. It’s a different game now and the rules have changed. Reality TV has changed everything. Certainly there is less opportunity for scripted TV, and less money to be made because advertising has changed. TiVo has changed that. The networks may have to change how they do business, and that seems to be happening. So there is less money and less opportunity, but it’s less stifling an environment to be creative in, which is great. Standards and practices don’t have a grip on cable TV like they’ve had on network TV, not that that’s good or bad, but it’s just different. I’m just happy to work, believe me. I’ve been doing a lot of films lately and I just dig working.

James, you mentioned before that by the time you got to the end of your run in Dawson’s Creek, you were pretty burned out. Is there any advice that you might be able to give to, say, young actors who are in a hot TV show now, that might help them avoid that (burnout), or is that just the nature of the beast?

 JVDB  – Wow, that’s kind of a complicated question. I think the only way to avoid burnout is to gain a level of appreciation for the work, and I don’t know that you can really get that without stepping away from it for a little while. The hours are so intense and the opportunities come so fast and furious that it’s almost impossible to be able to appreciate it all to the level that you should. I mean, I was doing movies during the hiatuses as well as press, photo shoots and all that kind of stuff, and Dawson’s Creek was a six-year run. Is there anything I could have done to avoid it [burnout]? I don’t know. Now that I’m older and can kind of have a little bit of a different perspective on it, I’d like to think now that I can probably handle it and not be burned out for so long.

Also, it started for me when I was 20. And I wasn’t in a place of really being able to handle everything that was thrown at me. I came out OK, but what I would say for anybody going through it, is just focus on the work and keep good people around you. And don’t believe the hype either way, good or bad. Just really keep it all about the work and make sure that the people you’re surrounding yourself with are high-quality individuals, and you should be OK. It’s tricky, though. Any time opportunities come up, especially when money comes into the picture, it acts as kind of an indiscriminate magnet. It attracts all kinds of people; some of them with good intentions, some of them not. So it really is tricky. Not impossible, but tricky.

I was just saying to someone the other day that the one thing that I kind of came out of my experience with is a real compassion for anybody else who goes through the same thing. It’s very easy to stand on the outside and judge and look at people making bad decisions and say, what the hell were you thinking? Having gone through it and been in the eye of that storm, I think I would try to judge a lot less than your average person looking at somebody going through that type of ”train wreck.”

As noted above, all photos by Peter Hopper Stone and copyright of NBC, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any form. Thanks!

The Storm NBC July 26, 2009 @ 9pm

Stay tune for another hit NBC Movie Mini-Series of the Week. “The Storm”, premiering July 26, 2009 and August 2, 2009 on NBC 9pm.

Cast includes Luke Perry, James Van Der Beek, Treat Williams, John Larroquette, Marisol Nichols, and Teri Polo.

NBC has a hit movie this summer. It’s called “Meteor” with Marla Sokoloff, you probably know her from “The Practice” as a secretary and Gia on “Full House” she’s all grown and now she plays a scientist in the smash hit movie on NBC.

If you missed the movie Meteor, you must hiding under a rock. Or a meteor!

]]> http://megwood.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/movie-taken-2009/ Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:08:12 +0000 megwood http://megwood.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/movie-taken-2009/

It’s a rare occasion when my husband expresses an interest to hang out and watch a DVD with me, so whenever it happens, I always drop everything and leap.  That said, it’s always a challenge to pick out a movie we both want to see, unless that movie happens to be any one of the three Lord of the Ring films or Zoolander.   At the video store, I tend to gravitate towards the crap  and he tends to gravitate towards the non-crap.  Sometimes I win, sometimes he wins, sometimes we meet somewhere in the middle.

This one fits into that latter category.  Neither full-on crap, nor full-on non-crap.

Taken is about a former spy named Bryan (Liam Neeson) who recently retired so he could spend more time with his teenage daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace).   Just as they are beginning to reconnect, Kim asks for his permission to spend a few weeks in Paris with her friends.  Bryan initially refuses — he’s seen a lot in his career, and it’s made him a bit on the overprotective side.  But when his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) tells him he’s going to lose Kim if he doesn’t lighten up, Bryan reluctantly comes around, signs her paperwork, and lets her leave the country.

And so, OF COURSE, as soon as she gets to Paris, she’s promptly kidnapped by a group of Albanians who specialize in human trafficking and the sex trade.  Ain’t that always the frakkin’ way. . .

That’s about all you really need to know about the plot — unless you were born yesterday, you already know exactly where this flick is headed.   To wit: Bryan goes after her, anybody who gets in his way gets their asses kicked or killed, and blah blah blah happy ending, etc.  This movie is ridiculously predictable and, even worse, it doesn’t have much in the way of character to hold its shabby little pieces together either.

That said, it’s not completely unwatchable.  It’s sort of fun to watch Liam Neeson pretend to be Chuck Norris, for one thing, and even though I hate Maggie Grace (haaaaaate, actually), she’s not too unbearably annoying in this.  Plus, I’ll just say it:  I love Famke Janssen.  I love her.  I. Love. Her.  I have loved her ever since I first saw her in the movie Deep Rising, where she spent 106 minutes verbally sparring with ex-Boyfriend Treat Williams and physically sparring with a sea monster.  A SEA MONSTER, I said.  That’s brains and brawn, people.  Brains and brawn are my favorite.

Anyway, the husband’s comment on the movie?  “Not bad.”

I probably could’ve just made that the whole of this review and called it a day.

[Netflix me | Buy me]

Genre:  Thriller
Cast:  Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Xander Berkeley

You should never let a chick get in your head; that’s why I prefer not to even talk to my dates.

– Hater

You know when you see one part of a movie that is mildly amusing? My part was when Lake Bell punches Jason Sudekis square in the balls. That’s it. I know that it was for this movie, What Happens in Vegas. Let’s just say that was the only funny part of the movie. This is Fox Studio release. Nuff said.

The threadbare plot of the movie centers around a slacker, Jack (Ashton Kutcher) that was recently fired from his carpenter job by his unsupportive father (Treat Williams). The other part of this equation is Joy (Cameron Diaz), a competitive stockbroker that is vying for a big promotion. She is dumped by her fiance, Mason (Jason Sudeikis) in front of their friends at his surprise party.

When their lives do to the shitter, sepearately they decide to go to Las Vegas. They end up getting married after a night of drinking. The next day with a wicked hangover, Jack hits the three million dollar jackpot with Joy’s quarter.

They fight for the money in court when the judge (Dennis Miller) orders them to make the marriage work for six months before filing for divorce. They could split the money.

The movie turns into the The Odd Couple. It was so ridiculous. I did not buy the Kutcher/Diaz chemistry. They are just pretty people onscreen.

The cookie cutter romantic comedy formula is getting tiresome. Give the public something different!

I do not understand that a couple that is pissed out drunk could get married, even though they are not lucid enough to remember the event the morning after, but people have a problem with gay marriage. This is the kind of blatant disrespect that they should address.

The only good thing about this movie besides the nut-punch is Ashton being shirtless throughout some of the movie. That’s it.

I said my peace.

Judgment: After watching this movie, I feel like a game of Russian roulette to end my misery.

Rating: *1/2

Today in good Boyfriend site news: Alex O’Loughlin has landed a role in a new series for the Fall 2009 TV season.  The show will air on CBS and is entitled Three Rivers. It’ll be about the various people involved in organ transplants, from the medical team to the patient to the families of the donors.

Today in bad Boyfriend site news: That’s the same concept behind the 2007 Treat Williams series Heartland (on TNT) which got the boot after only nine episodes.

Look, I worry.  It’s just what I do.

Today in good Boyfriend site news: I’m halfway done with the next Boyfriend of the Week write-up.  You know, the one I said would be up two weeks ago?

Today in bad Boyfriend site news: But I’m about 3 books behind in book reviews, and 2 movies behind in movie reviews.

Ah, Mondays.

Zoran Kostic,

LYON, France – The arrests in Paris earlier this week of two suspected key members of the Pink Panthers, an international gang of jewel thieves, demonstrates the benefits of police closely cooperating against transnational crime, a top INTERPOL official has said.

With INTERPOL having set up an international Pink Panthers cell in July 2007 to coordinate the worldwide campaign across its 187-strong membership against the group, INTERPOL’s Executive Director of Police Services, Jean-Michel Louboutin, said that the latest arrests demonstrated the importance of sharing vital police data in the face of transnational crime.

The arrests are a clear example of the results which can be achieved through law enforcement around the world cooperating and sharing essential information for police on the ground to follow up on,” said Mr Louboutin.

“INTERPOL therefore congratulates the Swiss and French authorities whose collaborative efforts led to the arrests of these two dangerous individuals.”

How to cast a Sinatra biopic

As Sinatra: Leonardo DiCaprio, Scorsese’s muse since 2002’s “Gangs of New York,” has got the blue eyes and loves biopics (“The Aviator”). The film, which has yet to set a start date for shooting, will reportedly cover Sinatra’s life from his boyhood in Hoboken to his death in 1998 at age 82.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/galleries/how_to_cast_sinatra_biopic_/how_to_cast_sinatra_biopic_.html#ixzz0FcmoCRQH&B
On crime & thrillers: Once a prince of the city — Q&A with crime writer and former NYPD detective Robert Leuci

Last night I watched “Dead Heat” for the first time ever and I must say it was pretty damn rad! I really can’t beleive I have never seen it before. It stars Treat Williams and Joe Piscopo of Saturday Night Live fame. It’s basically an awesome 80’s buddy cop movie with zombies and some cool monsters. It’s premise is simple, someone is reanimating dead people from the morgue and using them as zombie criminals. Then it’s up to Treat and Piscopo, who serves as the poor man’s Mel Gibson, to get to the bottom of all this funny business. It’s got some really original scenes as well, such as zombies using machine guns and the restaurant kitchen scene where everything from fried chicken, to liver and a side of beef become enraged killing machines! It was a nice surprise to see an actual flick from the 80’s I had never seen before that really delivered the goods! So if you find yourself at the local video store craving something totally campy and highly entertaining check out this classic from 1987!!

Dead Heat Delivers the goods. Zombies, uzi’s, Piscopo’s muscles and zombie slabs of beef. What more can you ask for??!

Hollywood Ending, 2008, Woody Allen, writer/director—What Went Wrong? 

"My one regret is that I wasn't born somenone else."

HOOK: Can Allen make a movie we get excited about or give us clues why he can’t?

LINE:  “Anyone with an herbalist doesn’t see my dailies.”

SINKER: Blindness as metaphor.

JOHN: You come to this with misplaced hope. That he can do it. That we can return to a simpler world. That life is quirky and sentimental and, yes, has a happy ending. But the bits aren’t funny, the offhanded comments seem dated and contrived and the promise of actual revelation seems more lost than ever. Val, the director of City that Never Sleeps, his big chance-at-a-comeback film,  being produced by the man (Treat Williams) his wife (Tea Leoni) left him for goes blind, just as shooting is about to begin. She becomes his eyes and through that he sees her anew. There’s potential here. Allen is poking fun at his own reputation and even some off screen marital stuff. But it just doesn’t work. Maybe he is old news (he certainly is old) we want to sweep under the rug, but more probably it’s because he seems unwilling to take any risks. He’s playing this as the same old shtick when it’s time for more. The fact that he dashes our expectations, makes this even worse than tired. The movie’s own Hollywood Ending is about the only thing this film has going for it.

GO (1 GO out of four)

SPANKY: I agree. And the scene between he and his supposedly estranged son, while functioning as some kind of foreshadowing, is totally unconvincing. I have a theory that we quickly come to hate comedians. Maybe it’s because we don’t identify with them like we do movie heart throbs and their antics are thinly veiled attacks, but Chaplin, Milton Berle, Jerry Lewis, the Smothers Brothers all seem to fall into a pit we gladly shovel dirt over. There is also an East Coast versus West Coast theme no one cares about anymore. And I am reminded of the last scene in that masterpiece Annie Hall when Allen puts words into theater actors mouths he wishes their real life counterparts would have said to him. When someone asks her: “Did you fall in love with your ex-husband?” Tea Leoni answers: “I never stopped loving him.” Wishful thinking, Woody. I’m afraid neither Mia Farrell nor your fans are going to say that.

“TWO PAWS DOWN” (1 BARK out of four)

EXTRA: (Here are two very early Woody Allen bits)

“Honeymooning, I was fabulous, you would have adored me. I was on waterskis, stripped to the waist, skiing fast across the top of the surf, my hair back, I oiled my muscle. It was really… holding on with one hand, waterskiing, very great, my wife was in the boat ahead of me, rowing frantically.”

“A very provocative woman comes up to me, and she begins to…size me up…and I take her upstairs to my hotel room. Shut the door. Remove my glasses. Show her no mercy. I unbutton my shirt, and she unbuttons her shirt. And I smile. She smiles. I remove my shirt and she removes her shirt. And I wink and she winks. And I remove my pants. She removes her pants. And I realize I’m looking into a mirror.”

My favorite excerpt from the your last blog post was this sentence: “And then I got.”  May I suggest a quick re-reading before hitting the big blue Publish button?

And speaking of close reading…my last post was on pots and kettles, not coal and kettles.  No wonder you were confused!

On to content!

Now maybe its because I spent last week immersed in the Marcia Brady memoir  but I’m drawn to the ways this society is similar to the counterculture of the 1960s.  (A culture so well represented by The Brady Bunch!  I’m looking at you Johnny Bravo–so edgy!).  Anyhow…this brave new world of Huxley’s seems to be about free love and what is soma but a controlled substance that allows you to ”Turn on, tune in, drop out.”  Granted I think the people in this book are slightly more industrious than the average hippie and maybe a little more well-groomed…but I can’t say for certain (All I know of hippies comes from the movie version of Hair–sing Treat Williams, sing!).

And that brings us to that famed question of the chicken and the egg (or the duck-billed platypus and the egg…why’s the chicken always get the glory–lots of stuff comes from eggs….like alligators.  And quiche.).  Do you think that Huxley just had great foresight into the way the world was evolving or do you think that Brave New World was really popular with the hippie set? (While pondering this I will note that none of the characters in the movie version of Hair had copies–although there may have been a copy in Charlotte Rae’s purse).

So that’s what I’ve been thinking about.  That and how Bernard and Lenina’s vacation is very reminiscent of the Brady’s trip to the Grand Canyon.   Except that Bernard and Lenina haven’t found a lost Native American child…and the Brady’s never rode in a helicopter.  Now that I’m thinking about it Bernard and Lenina aren’t even at the Grand Canyon they’re in New Mexico.  Well whatevs…I love that Brady Bunch.

I’ll be interested to hear your take,

Jon

On a completely unrelated note for those readers that stumble upon this blog thinking that it actually has to do with reading I thought I’d pass you along to a blog reading challenge hosted at Biblio File (thanks to Bittersweet by M. Molly Backes for pointing it out!).  I don’t think I’ll be partaking–I’ve got enough to do keeping up with the twin.  But it sounds like a fun way to find some books to read.  Enjoy!

Marcus Schrenker...D.B. Cooper?

No known connection, but the aircraft that was abandoned in mid-flight by fugitive (now captured) Indiana money manager, Marcus Schrenker crashed into a wooded area off of Wright Basin near a neighborhood in East Milton, Florida – that’s in Santa Rosa County.

Is there something about Northwest Florida and Santa Rosa County in particular that draws criminals, fugitives and religious weird-os? Is Santa Rosa County the singularity of some kind of a Bermuda Triangle-like phenomenon that draws wack-os, crazoids and nut-burgers to itself? We will probably never have these questions answered, but I think it’s strange that out of all the places to crash, Marcus Schrenker’s abandoned single-engine Piper Malibu decided to crash in Santa Rosa County, Florida. Like some weird and wacky magnet was guiding it, pulling it toward the center of weirdness.

Yes, yes, I know – Schrenker was originally bound for Destin, Florida. Thing is, Destin, Florida is in Okaloosa County, Florida – the next county east of Santa Rosa County, Florida.

Now I’ll probably never know this until 20/20 or DateLine conducts a well-hyped interview with Marcus Schrenker, but I’m convinced that Schrenker was a big fan of one of my favorite movies, In Pursuit of D. B. Cooper. This 1981 movie starred Treat Williams as D. B. Cooper and was only loosely based on the real D. B. Cooper story. The real D. B. Cooper parachuted out of the rear of a Boeing 727 with a bag full of stolen money and was never seen again. The movie picks up where reality leaves off and fictionalizes the events following D. B. Cooper’s famous jump.

The connections to Schrenker and the movie are obvious…

1) Schrenker parachutes out of a plane after stealing money – so does D. B. Cooper.

2) Schrenker recovers a previously hidden motorcycle – so does D. B. Cooper, in the movie version.

3) Schrenker makes contact with law enforcement – so does the movie version of D. B. Cooper.

4) Schrenker’s cute wife had filed for divorce – so had D. B. Cooper’s, in the movie.

5) Schrenker lives rough while on the run – so does the movie Cooper.

Unfortunately, this is where the movie and Schrenker depart company. Not good for the now captured Schrenker because in the movie [SPOILER ALERT] D. B. Cooper gets away with the money and lives happily ever after and even [SPOILER ALERT #2] gets back together with his wife! Only in the movies!

But, sorry, Mr. Schrenker, life is a bitch in the Bizarre-o World of Northwest Florida.