Friday, 14 January 2000

WEEKEND PREVIEW

This is a weird weekend for me to preview. I haven't seen Last Friday and I'm pleased about that. I have seen My Dog Skip and I'm not all that thrilled about that. If Supernova was sitting on the side of the road on fire, I would slow down to check it out, but MGM hasn't given me a chance to do that. And I've seen Holy Smoke, but it is still a candidate for my "Roger Ebert and The Movies" appearance, so I don't want to take a strong position publicly until it's either in or out.

So, what does all that lead to journalistically? Not much insight. My Dog Skip is decent pre-teen entertainment, a step better than Shiloh 2 and a step behind the original Shiloh. Holy Smoke is not your typical Jane Campion movie, though it does give us some time to ponder Kate Winslet's curves in some detail. As far as I could tell, Harvey Keitel, though oft undressed, never offers his mast to the wind. However, Ms. Winslet urinates while standing naked before the camera, which is the second time this year I have seen that act by a woman on film (the first being in The Loss of Sexual Innocence) after going 34 years without having ever seen the act on film. Make of that what you will. More from me on the film next week.

For the numbers game, check out Box Office Extra after noon, EST.

THE GOOD: The Independent Spirit Awards nominations arrived Wednesday night with few surprises, except perhaps the IFP/West's embrace of Disney and David Lynch's The Straight Story as an indie. One surprise was at the Best Picture level, where Boys Don't Cry was left out of the group of five: Cookie's Fortune, Election, The Limey, The Straight Story and Sugar Town. Boys made up for that with two "Best First" nominations (BF Feature over $500,000 and Best First Screenplay) and acting nods for Hilary Swank and Chlöe Sevigny. Election and The Limey both got 5 nods. Being John Malkovich, perhaps restrained by too much success and Oscar® talk, took only three nods (John Cusack, Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze.) Also, Judy Berlin, which debuted at Sundance last January and is finally being released in March, and most likely only then because of star Edie Falco's success on "The Sopranos", is thrice nominated for Cinematography, Best First Feature Under $500,000 and for Barbara Barrie's supporting role. Note, no Falco, even though she is the entire movie and honestly, except for some other good performances, the only reason to sit through the thing.

THE BAD A**: It was heartening to read in Page Six, even though it may be a complete lie, that Uncle Miltie was pushing the Boogie Nights envelope decades ago. According to porn entrepreneur Al Goldstein, Berle joined him, Heidi Fleiss, Ron "The Hedgehog" Jeremy and Playmate Carrie Leigh at lunch at the Friars Club. Berle offered up the fact that he performed as a stunt penis in a porn film in the 1960s. Berle allegedly told the group that he filled in when the starring "actor" couldn't. Like I said, I don't know if it is true, but for some reason, I really hope it is. That's what you call an endowment for the arts.

THE UGLY: Well, it looks like my speculation regarding Joe Roth and Disney was just that, speculation. What hasn't changed with the official announcement of the exit is that the timing could not have been any worse and may well reflect to Wall Street another move by Michael Eisner towards the singularity of power that he is so often accused of wanting. That leads to a chick-n-egg question, which is whether Eisner's iron fist will scare away any potentially hostile takeover bids, or whether it will scare away any potential partnerships meant to continue the growth of Disney: The Corporation.

As for Roth, it should be noted that he mentioned the Internet in all of his exit interviews with the press. One of these days, Roth will tell the story of this last week. How much did the AOL/Time-Warner deal effect things? Was he happy to leave Disney hanging at a critical moment? Was greenlighting the Bruckheimer/Bay Pearl Harbor project an act of revenge? (Kind of kidding on that one.) Is Roth essentially looking to create the next great content IPO for Hollywood? Only time will tell.

P.S.: One of the thoughts about the AOL/Time-Warner thing that I didn’t express Wednesday was that an incredibly overvalued AOL has actually managed to make itself of a much greater value by making this move. Suddenly, AOL stock isn't just paper wealth, but wealth carrying the weight of a "real" business. That, to me, is what is so shocking about the deal historically.

THE CHAT: Great chats with Paul Thomas Anderson, Aimee Mann and Melora Walters this week. The transcripts should be up soon. Keep an eye out for chats to be announced from Sundance starting next week.

RADIO RADIO: Aloha. This Saturday, The KABC Movie Show comes from Maui. George Pennacchio and I will be live on air from the junket for The Beach. That's 8a.m. Maui time, 10p.m. L.A. time and you figure out what time that is where you live. You can listen on the Web at kabc.com.

JUST WONDERING: Have you been keeping up on your Andrew Sarris? He just published his Best of 1999 list in The New York Observer.

BAD AD WATCH: When is a column item the same as an ad? When it's a Mitchell Fink piece on The Cider House Rules. You have to admire Miramax for being able to keep this one alive. Heck, I'm not a big fan of the film and yet I've allowed myself to be used in the name of the cause, inviting Michael Caine and John Irving, both of whom I adore for their talent, onto the KABC radio show I co-host with George Pennacchio. Anyway, Fink ran a story about how upset Lasse Hallstrom is that Cider House missed the Best Picture cut at the Golden Globes. First, Hallstrom rationalizes that the difference between a Globe nomination and none was a four-minute cut he made in the film. Uh, no. And then, the article cleverly leverages Academy voters by using the upstart Golden Globes as a reference point, noting the Best Picture Oscar® nominees that were not Golden Globe nominees. If The Cider House Rules was in the same class as Gandhi, Chariots of Fire, Field of Dreams, Awakenings or My Left Foot, Miramax wouldn't have to be working so hard to keep the film in the Oscar® race. (Actually, overall, I think Cider House is as good as Awakenings, which I wasn't exactly a big fan of...great performances...better than the movie for me.)

READER OF THE DAY: Lemmy Caution of TheBigCombo.com writes: "How can you mention Richard Lester and give 7 of his credits and not mention his 2 best films - Cannes winner The Knack...and How to Get It and Petula?"

DAVID NOTE: I shouldn't have. Thanks for correcting that oversight.

And Sally Bowles writes: "What's with this weird list of nominees for Independent Spirit Awards? Half of these films, to my knowledge, have never been released. It looks like some went straight from Sundance to nowhere. I'm all for helping up and coming filmmakers, but this was an odd list."

E ME: Did you see the whole list? What do you think? What was left off? Who should have been?