June 22, 2004

Los Angeles hasn't changed much since I've been gone…

The Terminal came up less short than most headlines suggested, but still at least $5 million short of where it needed to begin. As you will recall, I always feel that opening has nothing to do with the quality of the film. So what went wrong?

The Terminal suffered a classic summer ailment. The studio had the finished movie too late to get it rolling properly. Minor late reshoots became a story that would not have been a story at all had the film been finished a month earlier. And DreamWorks marketing moved forward without some of the tools - public sneaks, more time for the talent to work the film, restrategizing the marketing after the film had been seen by a big enough group to offer a range of feedback - that are basic to launching a film.

And so, DreamWorks has a big uphill fight to get their movie to $100 million, a goal not achieved by a summer film that opened under $19 million in recent years.

Meanwhile, Dodgeball was a story on the opposite end of the expectation spectrum. I am a fan of this incredibly stupid film. But more importantly, the summer was desperate for a comedy and a comedy they got.

Fox has had the film for a while and they were a little gunshy about getting it out there. But following in the footsteps of Universal's success with Bruce Almighty and Along CamePolly, Fox just hit the same Ben-Stiller's-Hair note in the spots over and over and over again and $30.1 million later, came up smiling.

Don't be surprised if White Chicks takes the top slot next weekend and makes it two comedy weekends in a row.

And here is why you should be spending your money to go see Jehane Noujaim's Control Room… it respects you and wants you to know the whole story and to make up your own mind.

Noujaim's film covers a surprising range of subjects, getting more complex as the American invasion of Iraq progresses. The film is being headlined as being about Al Jazeera, but it is more about the media and the mechanics of dealing with the smoke and mirrors and dangers of war. At the center of this tornado is Al Jazeera, an organization that has more of a personal stake in the events at hand, but at the same time finds itself earnestly trying to stay almost more objective than any of their mostly-American counterparts.

Perhaps the only subject as potentially interesting as Al Jazeera would be Fox News Channel since it also has the weight of perceived ideology hanging over its head. I am fascinated at the moment by that channel's flip-flopping on its support of George W. Bush. As the extreme right seems to be leaning against the President in the same way the left is, you have to be curious about just what the conversation is in the office of Roger Ailes as the editorial voice of that network shifts.

But the central news organization of Control Room (a hideous title for this film, by the way) is Al Jezeera and, for me, the most interesting element was the humanity of these journalists committed to real objectivity but having to deal with the invasion of a country of their brethren, whether they are Iraqi or not. You can see this film as an indictment of the U.S. military and the partial truths that float through daily briefings. You can see the film as an indictment of Al Jezeera as suspicions by both sides about the network taking sides become more legitimized, at least in perception, as the staff becomes more politicized as the war heats up. Or you can find the whole thing to be a dispiriting treatise on the intellectual disconnection of the alleged first world nations.

What Control Room doesn't have is the obvious sizzle of Fahrenheit 9/11 or Capturing the Friedmans or even Winged Migration. Control Room demands that you become a part of what you watch, never just laying back and judging, judging, judging. In other words, it is what documentaries are supposed to be. This is not to say that the other examples are not. But when you walk out of the cinema playing Control Room your mind will be made stronger, not made up.

LAFF coverage starts here tomorrow and has been up and running at MCN all week.

READER OF THE DAY: NOT QUITE GEORGE'S DAD writes: "It really doesn't become you to make up shit like this. Michael Moore has never stated that he doesn't want you to see AMERICA'S HEART AND SOUL. As you well know, Disney was supposed to release both AMERICA'S HEART AND SOUL and FAHRENHEIT 9/11, but then chose to create an obstacle for Moore's film when they dropped it. So, if anyone doesn't want you to see one of these films, it would be Disney."

E ME: Well, Disney never created an obstacle to Moore's film and, in fact, created a funding opportunity - albeit against their wishes - that no other studio in town would. And again, note that no other major or dependent has become part of the theatrical release of F9/11.

Apparently, Miramax has told some journalists that Disney is releasing America's Heart & Soul in a similar period to F9/11 to cause a problem. Meanwhile, Miramax butt boy Roger Friedman has taken up significant portions of two columns in the least week to attack Disney over Around The World In 80 Days, which they didn't pay for and are just distributing.

Just hours after seeing the film, as I wrote, a smart Los Angeles friend explained that they didn't like the doc because "it was too Republican."

Now, maybe I'll be wrong. And happy to be wrong I will be. But I expect this film to become a target in a heavily politicized year. And that is really a shame, since the film is utterly apolitical… unless you think that anything that isn't critical of America is right wing.

Finally, to answer another letter, Disney has set a very slow roll-out for this film, starting with just 100 screens and with the intent of playing out over many months, which is very unusual for any film in this era. We'll see if it works.

So…. have I missed anything why I was gone?