Friday, 19 November 1999

WEEKEND PREVIEW

Burton, Tim Burton.

Apted, Michael Apted.

Or so might go the exchange between one director and another as their three films open this weekend. Three? Apted not only directed the new Bond, The World is Not Enough, but is taking advantage of the opportunity (at least, his distributor is) to get some attention for a theatrical run of his latest in 35-year, 5-feature documentary "Up" series. 42 Up.

My thoughts on Sleepy Hollow already ran in this column (THB 11/16). And I'm pretty sure that my lingering sense of Bond has too, though maybe not as formally. But why beat a loud, brash, iconic horse to death? Bond is Bond and that's fine with me. However, what wasn't fine with me in this one was too much action where you didn't know what was going on and too much distraction from the story. And the story was what was so right with me. This is, easily, the most ambitious and interesting piece of storytelling in a Bond movie since Live and Let Die. I credit that to Pierce Brosnan and Michael Apted, who clearly wanted to take Bond in a new direction. Bond women Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Samantha Bond and especially Judi Dench and Sophie Marceau are the best they've ever been in this movie. Why? Because they are funny and sexy, but even more, they are human and not caricatures.

That's why Denise Richards is such a disappointment in this movie. Not because she is a terrible actress or dumb, as some publications have mercilessly focused on (one junketeer recalls that the same people who have ripped her were kissing her curvaceous butt while she was in their presence - jackals!), but that Christmas Jones is the one caricatured female in the movie. And Richards doesn't have what a Charlize Theron or an Angelina Jolie seems to have, which is the ability to show such intense focus that you believe in what they are doing one moment and then can make you believe that they would be happy to get down and dirty seconds later as a reward for all the expended intellectual energy. Richards also fell into a real trap in her career life as well. Last summer, she didn't do enough to promote Drop Dead Gorgeous and gave off a glow of "Screw this low-rent crap, I'm a Bond girl and about to be the world's biggest star." I don't know if she really feels that way or did, but that's what her attitude played like. And that is asking for trouble if you happen to be a star who is a star because of what you look like and not your persona. I hope that Ms. Richards realizes how self-indulgent this attitude has been and gets off her horse and starts making friends with the media again, for her sake. If not, history tells us that beautiful women destroyed in the press end up naked in Playboy a year later and out of any business that doesn't involve nudity thereafter. And honestly, I think that is a tragic waste of a woman's life. There are exceptions. I do believe that Shannon Tweed, whose career started as a centerfold, enjoys her life.

But I digress...

Michael Apted thought they were joking when they called him for Bond and his instincts were right when it came to the action. They should have gotten John Glen or someone to structure the action sequences. And the producers of the film should have trusted that Bond isn't just a series of giant set pieces, but that people do have a unique investment in the characters in the series. As Jay Leno said on the KABC show, "Doesn't anyone just shoot anyone with a gun anymore?" TWINE has one of Bond's greatest villains ever in Renaud (Robert Carlyle), a man who has lost all physical feeling and thus, much of his humanity as well. He knows that he will be dead. And he can do anything. But this movie is too busy blowing up stuff to really do anything with that great, great set-up. I really liked the idea of a machine that can cut through buildings and remove places for our hero to hide. But why add 20 faceless machine gun toting henchmen as well? Either go mechanical or go personal. The combo is overkill.

Let me just ask this. Think back to your favorite Bond movies. What do you remember? Oddjob's hat? Jaws' teeth? Bond on a ski slope being chased by 3 guys with guns? Geoffrey Holder on the front of the train in Live and Let Die? The laser moving up between Bond's legs? Herve Villachaise dropping down into Roger Moore and Barbara Bach's consummation bed after you thought the fight was over? Jill St. John running around an oil rig in a bikini? Personal stuff. Not the biggest explosions. Even in the last Bond, the most memorable sequence was when he drove the car by remote control...an extended version of what you've done at home with a remote control car. In this Bond, the action always seems to want to go too far, winking both eyes when one eye would do. A boat chase on the river Thames is a great idea. Never seen that. Does the boat need to go out of the water? No.

All that said, if my family wants to go see the movie over the holiday weekend next week, I won't fight. This is not a movie you need to stay away from. It's just a shame that they reached for so much and got a face full of the stuff they didn't really need.

I haven't seen Liberty Heights, but I will this weekend and will tell you about it Monday.

And check out Box Office Extra after noon e.s.t. for all the venue counts and guesstimates. Also today, I'll take a look back at some of the fall releases that are about to be finished off by the "holiday" film parade. It's Bringing Out The Dead vs. The Story of Us and whatever happened to Three Kings and so on.

THE GOOD: When I heard that Disney would be showing Toy Story 2 via digital projection for the first weeks of its run at the Disney flagship theater, the El Capitan, I was anxious to go. The strides in digital projection fascinate me. So, I was lucky enough to call the Mouse House the day before a press screening at the El Cap in digital. Great.

But I forgot what the El Cap was all about. Even before the movie, there was great entertainment. First, for the entire hour before the film, there was a pipe organist playing virtually every Disney tune you could imagine. Terrific stuff. The only other place I know of with a regular organ player before shows is Chicago's Music Box and they do it only on the weekends. But there is something wonderful and human about live performance, without a bunch of chiropractic ads and dumb Coke movie trivia before a movie. When 7 p.m. rolled around, it was time for the live show that will preceed the movie for the next 8 weeks or so. It was a Disney Christmas celebration. The dancers were good and the production values were high. My only problem is that it was almost all Christmas and not very Disney. When I go to see a Disney show, I want some Disney. I love old Disney. And as a Jew, I love it a lot more than Christmas. But it was a nice show.

I forgot for the first few minutes that this was being digitally projected. The only way anyone could distinguish the method of projection would be by noticing how perfectly clear and clean and sharp every image was in this film. It was stunningly gorgeous at times. I mean, stuff that wasn't the focus of the scene was often amazing to watch. The textures are just getting better and better. Clearly, Pixar is still struggling with the human form and hair, but even in those areas, they've made some major strides. Now keep in mind, this is a digitally made film, so it was being shown in the format in which it was made, taking full advantage of the format. The quality of the projection of live-action might not have progressed as well. But for Toy Story 2, I can't imagine why anyone would ever want to see it in any other format. (And yes, I'm talking directly to Mr. Ebert, who is a strong proponent of Maxi-Vision and is not happy about the digital projection revolution at all. Roger, I implore you, when you come to L.A. see this movie digitally. Your jaw will drop.)

Beyond the technology, the movie happens to be terrific. When John Lasseter's name came up as the director at the end, I was, for some odd reason, a little surprised. I think of him as the front man for Pixar, not as a director. But he did a wonderful job with this movie. A skilled job. He does everything you would ever ask a sequel to do. And that's no easy task. He adds depth and richness to the characters we know. He gives them new dilemmas that are realistic (at least in the context of this premise) and lets them find the solutions in an honest way. He adds new characters who don't overwhelm the movie, but who do add freshness and excitement. (Joan Cusack as Jessie The Cowgirl is so Joan Cusack and so not). I must admit, I wasn't the biggest Joan Cusack fan when she started breaking out. But "they" were right and I was wrong. She is just wonderful to watch -- or to listen to -- work. And in what's becoming a Pixar trademark, the inside-the-freeway jokes, some of which will hit home with older kids, some of which are meant for adults and some which will baffle anyone who isn't studying their Variety every day, are just the kind of distraction that an adult needs to feel a cartoon is theirs as much as their kids'.

Only one problem. The El Cap has decided to sell soda in bottles. You can get ice, but only in small "courtesy" cups. I lost half my $3.25 24-ounce Pepsi One when it rolled down the aisle without me even knowing. But even worse, you're sitting there, dispensing soda throughout the movie. And if you don't, your soda will be lukewarm by the second act. Who needs that? I'm willing to pay through the nose for the damned soda. Just give a me a cup and some ice and some soda please. Thank you.

THE BAD: Lots of death going around this week. First, the Jay Moloney suicide. Then, on Tuesday, entertainment writer Ed Margulies and actress Mabel King both passed away. It would be completely hypocritical of me to infer that I was a fan of Margulies' work. I wasn't. And I didn't know the man. But it is sad when anyone is struck down too early in life. Unfortunately, there hasn't been much coverage of his passing, only the note on Mr. Showbiz that so many of you have written in about. So, I'm not sure how he died or how old he was. But whatever the age, it was too soon.

Mabel King was always warm. Even when she was evil as a character (The Wicked Witch in The Wiz). She made her first strong impression on me and most of my generation in "What's Happening?" as Mama. She was also Steve Martin's loving mother in The Jerk, so caring as she broke the news to Navin that he had been adopted. Whenever I saw Mabel King, I smiled. And I suspect, I always will.

THE UGLY: The L.A. Times ran a nice piece about the new strides in animation in Toy Story 2 and managed to either give away or hint strongly at all of the best surprises in the movie. I guess that freelancer Michael Mallory can be forgiven for not thinking about what he was taking from the audience to come by indulging his urge to be the first to have gotten the jokes and gags, but his editors could use a whoopin'. It's as though you were seeing the original Halloween for the first time and a friend who saw it said, "Okay, okay, I'm not going to tell you what happens at he end, but when Michael Myers gets, like, killed, keep watching him...something cool will happen. And when he gets killed again, keep watching him..." You're still going to jump in the theater, but your "friend" has taken away the revelation of exploring it yourself for the first time.

RADIO RADIO: Tomorrow on KABC-790, David Lynch. Yes, THE David Lynch. We'll be talking The Straight Story and more. If you aren't in town, you can listen via the 'Net at kabc.com. And you can call in at 1-800-222-KABC. 10 a.m. pt. Be there or really be square.

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Continuing the virtually All-Disney theme today, Fantasia 2000 will premiere on IMAX screens all over the planet on January 1, 2000. If you want to know where the location nearest you is, watch for a complete list of theaters here over the Thanksgiving weekend.

BAD AD WATCH: Someone said to me this week that the Sleepy Hollow ad campaign seemed to be targeted only to teens. That would be bad. Obviously, Tim Burton's hardcore audience is young and passionate. But Sleepy Hollow is a wonderfully old-fashioned movie. A fireplace movie. And it should be good fun for children of all ages. Paramount probably should try a few ads with less cuts and more of the magnificent sleepy elegance that Burton creates throughout the film.

READER OF THE DAY: JaCk-iN-The-Box wrote: "Undoubtedly, there will be endless conversations during power lunches for the next few days about Moloney's "weaknesses" and how he wasn't "man" enough or had the "balls" to survive the dog-eat-dog world of Hollywood and the movie industry. And I think that's sad and pathetic. I believe too many people, both in the film industry and in corporate America think the only way to be successful and comfortable monetarily is to be a subhuman, soulless piece of crap, and being stranded, as I am, in Corporate America, that kind of "people are disposable" attitude disturbs and offends me. Which, in some strange way, relates to Michael Moore's letter, quite an incredible letter. I dream of a day where everyone gets what they deserve, are taken care of, and don't have to worry constantly about whether they'll be employed the next morning."

E ME: How do you feel about digital projection? And why are people so sure that Denise Richards and Angelina Jolie's lips are fake?