August 17, 2004

You know this drill… I have no idea what to write!

I've been intending to offer a substantive plug to the underground doc Breakfast With Hunter from director Wayne Ewing, but the film is now available only for sale as a DVD and I just can't seem to get excited. I really enjoyed the film, which is distinctly generous, but never rose-colored in its view of the self-made legend that is Hunter Thompson.

I am alternatively bored and sick of writing, thinking or caring about the fate of Miramax at this point. It is all too easy to forget that the truth of the issue at hand is that two enormously wealthy men and one enormous corporation are tangoing to determine whether they will continue to share a joint checking account. If Harvey manages a negotiated exit from Miramax and leaves Bob and Dimension behind, estimates are that there will be hundreds more left out of work so that Harvey can chase his dream of doing for producers with bellies what Brian Grazer has done for producers with comedic hairstyles (while becoming a Grazer-esque big-budget producer). He's a grown genius and he can do what he wants without my permission, but perhaps if he spent that effort remaking Miramax into a place that had the kind of performance it has had in the past while allowing its employees to stay off the sauce/sedatives/anti-depressants/restraining orders while working for him he would reach an even higher karmic level.

The Oscar season has quietly started and people are jockeying for position. We'll know more after Toronto. One genius, who chooses to remain silent and unnamed, pointed out the awards season trend you will soon be seeing in every magazine and newspaper and are sure to be completely sick of by mid-November. I'll name the pictures see how many it takes before you catch the trend….

The Aviator… Ray… Finding Neverland…

Got it yet?

… Kinsey… Out To Sea… The Motorcycle Diaries…

Not clear yet?

… The Passion of the Christ… Alexander… De-Lovely… Beyond The Sea…

You must have it now! It's The Year Of The Bio-Pic!!!

Looking at that list of ten films, it is hard to imagine that there will be more than one or two Best Picture slots, if that, that go to non-bio-pics… especially if you categorize Fahrenheit 9/11 as the least generous bio-pic since Parker & Stone teamed up Saddam Hussein with Satan in their last movie.

In fact, the only two non-bio movies with any major Best Picture profile at all right now are the two converted Broadway dramas, Closer and Proof. That's not to say that Spanglish or The Phantom of the Opera or A Very Long Engagement or Sideways won't sneak up on the real-life characters. But fiction is the outsider in this year's race.

This fact adds another flavor to the race that we usually aren't dealing with this intensely. The "it's not all true" attacks on A Beautiful Mind could be endless this season.

So far, Kinsey and The Motorcycle Diaries seem to have passed early smell tests with support from the families of the famed characters embracing the films. J.M. Barrie's story, told in Finding Neverland, has an otherworldly quality that will likely resist questions of literalism. De-Lovely has a similar vibe going. The Passion of The Christ is utterly faithful to some translations of the best seller. We'll see how things play out with the other four films as they get seen widely.

READER OF THE DAY: MYSTERY SUPER GEEK PRO writes: "Thanks for tackling that whole NY Times/Kingdom of Heaven thing. I'm gonna stop feeling conflicted about script reviews. After all, this is about the third or fourth time now that the NY Times has essentially reviewed a script for something in progress and caused (deliberately) some AICN-sized stir. What's worse they're clearly showing the script to outside parties (historians, etc) in the hopes of fanning the flames. Yet they'd be the first to paint the online movie news community in a less than flattering light."

E ME: Indie Spirit stuff tomorrow… what's on your agenda?