October 17, 2002

That was good…

Actually, that was better than good.  In a year of really good trailers – Columbia/Revolution has been particularly strong lately – the best one I’ve seen all year is DreamWorks’ trailer for Catch Me If You Can. 

1999 was the year of films about duality and reaching for one’s better self… even if it was by force.  2002 is the year of the retro film.  It’s not so much that films are successfully set in past eras, though Far From Heaven, 8 Women, Road to Perdition and others are.   But films have the spirit of the past.  That’s certainly true of Far From Heaven, but it’s also true of films like Spider-Man, that approached a story with modern and decades old history, but chose to lean towards the old fashioned.  Most of the films that are being anticipated as Oscar movies this December are either set in the past or hold those old-fashioned values; Antwone Fisher, Chicago, Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Piano.  Even the cutting edge, like Narc, feels like it came right out of the 70s. 

The trailer for Catch Me If You Can is like a dollop of cream – not half-n-half, pure cream – in your store-bought canned coffee to go with your after-dinner stogie and your wife’s Capri pants. 

This trailer is a filmmaking joy in and of itself.  From the first frames of Leo DiCaprio finally playing the young pretty boy that everyone is dying to see Leo DiCaprio play… and making a girl smile, blush, giggle and melt all in one beat…  to the frame sliding left-to-right instead of up and down… to the groovy lounge music throughout… to more Leo as undeniable boy toy, the way Brad Pitt was in the first scenes of Meet Joe Black… to Tom Hanks as a relaxed Fed… to Spielberg’s masterful frame filling…  to Hanks’ New England accent.  The trailer lays the story out and just when you think it’s going to get sentimental or lose its way - WHAM! – a touch of Christopher Walken… great shots frmo Spielberg… great graphic games with arrows… “Don’t Rain On My Parade”…

It’s like seeing a gorgeous girl walking down the street and then she turns and she sees you and she smiles… and her eyes light up… and you don’t know whether her eyes light up for everyone… but the sun is a little brighter and then you just hope that when you talk to her that she doesn’t sound like Fran Drescher.

There are a lot of films that I am looking forward to this December… but Catch Me If You Can looks like the most fun of all… and the subtle, most compelling part is the idea of a Steven Spielberg movie where Steven Spielberg finally gets to have fun.  The last time I recall him having a really good time with his characters was in the last Indiana Jones movie.  That’s 13 years ago.  I know it’s hard to remember, but  Steven Spielberg’s movies used to be funny… really funny.  Jaws was funny.  The Indy movies were funny.  Parts of 1941 were funny.  I miss that guy!  And I am thrilled that he’s back… at least,  for a while.

P.S.:  One of the funny parts of the trailer is the “Stop chasing me.”  “I can’t stop… it’s my job” exchange.  Sound familiar?  Like from another Steven Spielberg movie from earlier this year?  You know, any other director with Minority Report and what this looks like in one year… they get the gold ring.  Spielberg makes it look so easy that we don’t really appreciate the magic anymore.  That’s too bad.  But he can’t stop… it’s his job.

APOLOGY:  I owe Harry Knowles an apology.  The wire story about the guy who was arrested for stealing from LucasFilm did not include any real indication that the entire investigation was kicked off by the review of Clones on Harry’s website.  However, the story in the Marin Independent Journal did specifically link the internal investigation to he review on Ain’t It Cool.  That’s what Harry said in his story and that was what they wrote.  That said, there are other unsubstantiated specifics in the Marin Independent Journal’s story, so while I have some pause, I’m still not convinced.  Then again, the idea that this guy was stealing materials from LucasFilm for years without anyone noticing is pretty amazing. 

SWITCHING TEAMS:  A new agreement means that Reuters, which provides the primary news wire for Yahoo! News, will now get its entertainment news exclusively from VNU, owner of The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and other publications.  Variety has been the primary news provider for Reuter’s wire in recent years.  Ironically, Variety has been far more aggressive than The Reporter about getting paid for access to its website, delaying access via Reuters by as much as 48 hours.  But will this move by Reuters and VNU make Variety too peripheral for its own good, finally giving The Reporter a chance to balance the scales between the two trades?  Interesting. 

MAMET-VILLE:  It’s hard to say what is weirder, Dustin Hoffman as a former president or Rod Lurie doing comedy.  But you’re going to get both with Mooseport, a Tom Schulman script that ended up on top of the pile on Lurie’s very-busy desk.  Actually, having spoken to Rod, I know that he is thrilled to be doing this project and even more excited about working with Hoffman, better half to another Lurie-film actor, Robert Redford, in the All The President’s Men.  And as for Hoffman as president, he stands as the second Jew to be put in the Oval Office by Lurie, following Deterrence’s Kevin Pollak.  And Jeff Bridges has played jewish enough times to be an honorary member of the tribe.offmanH

ANGIE DRINKS BLOOD:  Does anyone really think that Angelina Jolie can get away with playing vampirism straight in Bitten.  I mean, this is an actress who is already into blood.  What’s next?  Winona Ryder in the tale of a shoplifting actress with a calcium deficiency?

DUMPING FOLLOW-UP:  Patrick Goldstein’s story  was fine, in and of itself.  My only real problem with it was that it was infinitely too kind.  After all, we just came out of The Big Month O’ Write-Downs aka late August-to-late September. 

The degree of infamy varies in extremes.  Major studios rarely shelf a film indefinitely since they develop a limited amount of product and the budgets are too big to eat without any release.  Deals with Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, pay cable, broadcast television and other ancillaries are also tied to theatrical release.  This is something that people on the indie side really understand. 

While Disney has a deal with Blockbuster to purchase a minimum number of video/DVD units on any title that Disney or its subsidiaries (like Miramax) owns, regardless of release, the difference in video/DVD sales to major retails and major rental outlets for a film that makes it to 20 cities in America… even one weekend at a time… instead of playing just L.A. and NYC, is significant.  And then there are all the configurations in the middle… pay-cable premieres, the pay-festival circuit and even direct-to-cinephile DVD plans are now options. 

On top of that, many of the Rube Goldberg financial structures for lower budgets films include theatrical release guarantees.  When producers of finished features negotiate with distributors, release guarantees are a key issue… even if they are never expected to come true.  There was one major deal at Toronto this year that guaranteed a 2000-screen release and $12 million in P&A and there is not a single industry person I’ve found who actually believes that either assurance will be met, regardless of contracts. 

One thing is clear… Harvey Weinstein really has shown a sensitivity to 9/11 in respect to a number of films his company owns and intended to release between then and now.  This is not a new issue for Miramax.  In response to Columbine, Miramax ended up in one of the most litigious dump jobs ever, when the producers of O held the studio to the contractual obligation to release the film by a set date.  Miramax wouldn’t do it and finally “sold” the film to Lion’s Gate for distribution, paying $8 million in P&A out of their own pocket to make it happen. 

Another huge difference between major studio distribution choices and indies is expectation.  When a film is bought at Sundance, for instance, it is not rare anymore for that film not to end up in theatrical release until after the next year’s Sundance.  A major sitting on a finished film for over a year would get the press to light torches to chase the movie through the streets.

Finally, there is the reality of cash flow.  Patrick smartly pointed out that a film that gets released and loses has to go on the books.  But, additionally, even if the indie distributor wants to release a film and believes in that film, they need the cash flow to cover distribution.  And the way things are right now, many simply do not have the cash on hand to do justice to their product. 

And if you want to get really ugly, as Tom DiCillo about Double Whammy….

SPEAKING OF MIRAMAX:  Good luck to Mark Gill on his new adventures as a producer.  We all kind of saw it coming, though we didn’t know when it would happen.  But when Gill was moved to the top West Coast slot and he was still handling press of any kind… well, it was obvious that he wasn’t running production and that he was ready for a new challenge.  Again, congrats and God speed. 

READER OF THE DAY: THE HIGH HAT writes:  “Call me crazy, but to me Dreamworks' underhanded behind-the-scenes deal to quash the Japanese original from seeing the light of day in theatres (or even video) here is the same kind of racism that was present in rock-and-roll in the fifties, when record companies would enlist Pat Boone to re-record Little Richard songs so "white" America wouldn't have to buy "black" records.

And what's disturbing is that other studios are following suit with this, with Dimension doing the k.o. on Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Pulse" so the Wes Craven remake can be seen as an "original" movie to American audiences, the same way that most people will view "The Ring" as an American original.

I have no problem per se with American remakes of foreign movies, but in the past the foreign originals were available in the U.S. market.  The real sad thing about all this is that there is currently a horror film renaissance going on in Japan right now that American audiences without access to the few films that get slots in film festivals will be able to enjoy, except in the round-eye remakes that the studios are passing off.  Why is it that studios here feel that they should release "Valentine" and "Feardotcom" but put the kibbosh on great films like "Spiral", "Wild Zero" and "Ichii the Killer", simply because they're subtitled with Asian faces populating the stories?  "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" made more money than any Steven Seagal or Jean Claude Van Damme movie I can think of, and if that holds true for a great action picture, why wouldn't it hold true for a great horror film?”

E ME:  Interesting perspective… I’m not sure that I would accuse DreamWorks of being underhanded or analogize the whole thing to racism in 50s rock, but your point is well taken.  On the other hand, when I wanted to show Battle Royale at the Miami Film Festival last year… the guy who controls it in the U.S. wanted $10,000.  Not everything is evil American imperialism. 

One great source for cutting edge Japanese film is Los Angeles’ American Cinemateque/Vitagraph Films, which is now on the process of distributing and eventually doing home video/DVD releases for a number of Takashi Miike films, including Audition, which they distributed last year.

What international titles have you heard of that you wish were available here in the States?