August 31, 2004

Toronto really starts today for me here in Los Angeles. I have seven Toronto Film Festival titles on my schedule between today and Friday afternoon… and a few non-Toronto goodies to boot. Of course, while I fill my brain pan with images and ideas, the town empties out like a colostomy bag in the hands of an angry male nurse.

Meanwhile…

The TV spots for Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow may open that thing after all. They happen to be the best TV work on behalf on a Paramount movie in a long, long time. And, to my mind's eye, 30 seconds is just about right for the film - the 2 second flash of Angelina Jolie represents about 3% of her total performance. But they have moved away from the isn't-it-cool obsession with the look of the film and made it look more or less like a normal color movie with action, Action, ACTION!!!

At the end of the Olympic closing night ceremonies in Greece the other night, there was a moment where it struck me… it was the Ray Charles moment. The great one, rising from the center of a podium, already seated at his piano, ready to knock out a powerfully soulful rendition of some international hit… or perhaps his "America The Beautiful." Of course, Ray Charles is dead. And then it struck me… Universal had the perfect opportunity to launch their movie, Ray. "Ladies and gentlemen, madame e monsieurs, dam un herren, Jamie Foxx as the late, great Ray Charles…" and there emerges Foxx in full Ray regalia. Woulda been great.

ThinkFilm picked up the Sean Penn/Naomi Watts starrer, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, just before it plays the Toronto Film Festival. That makes sense, since it is a chance for the company to launch the film properly. On the other hand, with due respect to the excellent indie releasing company… ThinkFilm? The film is not a world premiere. Almost everyone who had to see it saw it in Cannes and the rest surely saw it in private screenings at home in recent months. Roger Ebert was a big fan of the film at Cannes. But still, Sean, Naomi and Roger just weren't enough to tempt a Dependent or Lions Gate into making a deal that would suggest box office expectations of more than $10 million, which is more than ThinkFilm has ever grossed with any title.

And so goes my last week of truly lame coverage for a while… I hope. If you missed yesterday's tardy column, it's here.

READER OF THE DAY: THE SOUTHERN CRY writes: "You touched on a lot of interesting points in today's column; I've got some responses to some of them and you can decide which (if any) are worth further discussion.

1. I've been arguing the merits of Open Water for more than a week. Several people have given me loads of grief for having the nerve to enjoy it. Maybe I had an advantage; I'd read enough about the film before I saw it to know that the shark angle wasn't going to be as prominent as the ads suggested. Maybe people were primed for the jolting shocks of Jaws (or Deep Blue Sea, still a guilty pleasure for me), and thus weren't ready for something more Hitchcockian in its approach. My prediction: there will be a backlash, and those who wait for DVD or cable will wonder what the fuss was about (many had the same reaction to Lost in Translation when they waited for home video). But I'd still recommend the quiet terror of Open Water to the watered-down grudgematch Alien Vs. Predator or the maggoty excesses of Exorcist: The Beginning.

2. DreamWorks is gonna have one AWFUL fall. Even with jillions of Shrek 2 DVD's selling, they'll still be smarting from the thud-in-waiting of Father of the Pride and the wiffle-to-be Shark Tale. Come on, how many people really care that Martin Scorsese is voicing a fish, or that said fish has his trademark eyebrows? Isn't it generally a bad sign when an animated film plays up the celebrity voices (Sinbad, anyone?) It always reminds me of movies that tout "Academy Award winner [Insert Name Here]" in their ads--it's a sign of desperation.

3. NBC never seems to learn that Spielberg and TV haven't been a good mix since he stopped directing Columbo episodes. Years before SeaQuest, there was Amazing Stories, which limped thru it's two-season commitment long after anyone cared about it. (Anthology shows are always problematic, but AS was just too scattershot to find even a cult following.)

4. It's hard to believe anyone who saw Monsters Inc. would consider John Goodman a terrible animation star. I also thought he was good in The Emperor's New Groove, although I always wondered if, like Shrek, that part was originally planned for Chris Farley.

5. I certainly wouldn't call the first season of M*A*S*H its best, even with Gelbart aboard. I think the show really hit its stride in seasons three thru six, before the "War Is Bad" message became all-consuming."

E ME: What's the haps?