Comedies don't have an obligation to be particularly insightful, but you'd think an indie aimed at an adult audience would have something to say about its characters. Smart People stars Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page, and Thomas Haden Church; the cast and the multitude of laughs scored at the expense of easy targets might justify a rental, though I liked it much less after I started thinking about it. I'm in the minority -- James Rocchi expressed all kinds of love in his review. The DVD, out on Tuesday, includes an audio commentary by director Noam Murro and writer Jude Poirier, deleted scenes, bloopers / outtakes, and "the smartest people," which I'm guessing is a "making of" feature. It's also out on Blu-ray.
An appealing romantic comedy set in and around a citrus grove in Sicily, The Orange Thief (pictured) played several film festivals, including Woodstock and AFI Dallas, and is now out on DVD. I'm not going to claim that this low-key charmer is some kind of lost classic, but it's amusing, looks gorgeous, and has the benefit of an incredibly restful, bucolic setting, which make it worth a rental. The DVD from Lightyear appears to feature only the movie.
"A damn fine film with a good heart and some really excellent performances" finished atop the indie weekend box office charts. The quote is from our own Scott Weinberg's review of Tom McCarthy's The Visitor (Overture), and I agree wholeheartedly. The film earned $22,000 per-screen at four theaters, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. Richard Jenkins stars as a college professor who strikes up a friendship with an immigrant couple he finds living in his NYC apartment. It's even better -- and deeper -- than that description might sound.
An elderly chorus sings a repertoire of modern pop and rock songs in Stephen Walker's documentary Young @ Heart (Fox Searchlight); audiences responded to the tune of $13,075 per screen at four locations. Cinematical'sJames Rocchi wrote: "Even for all its flaws and failures it still succeeds in showing us friends who -- through song and art and community and, yes, love -- are doing their best to face it with everything that they've got."
David Ayer's Street Kings (Fox Searchlight) should be included, I suppose, because it's distributed by an studio specialty division known for its indie releases, though not much about the police drama screams "indie." By the per-screen numbers, it finished third, earning an average of $4,864 at each of 2,467 engagements. "As yet another tale of dirty criminals and even dirtier cops," Scott Weinberg opined, "Street Kings works well enough, albeit strictly in a 'been there, seen that' sort of way."
21 held a winning hand for two weeks in a row, taking the number one spot for the second time and Nim's Island led last week's new releases by taking second. Here's how the weekend went: 1. 21:$15.3 million 2. Nim's Island: $13.2 million 3. Leatherheads: $12.6 million 4. Horton Hears A Who: $9.1 million 5. The Ruins: $8 million
Here are this week's newbies:
Prom Night What's It All About: Loosely based on the 1980 film of the same name which starred Jamie Lee Curtis. In this new version, a young woman named Donna and her friends are stalked by an obsessed killer on, you guessed it, prom night. Why It Might Do Well: The trailer shows a bunch of teenage characters consistent with what you see on the CW Network, so if that's your bag you may enjoy this. Why It Might Not Do Well: A PG-13 slasher film? That's like washing your feet without taking off your socks. Number of Theaters: 2,400 Prediction: $11 million
Some of the best times at the movies are spent either laughing or screaming, sometimes both at the same time. This week's collection of trailers are for films designed to frighten and/or amuse. Son of Rambow The MPAA tag says the film has earned its PG-13 rating in part because of "reckless" behavior," and some of the funniest bits in this trailer come from the stunts performed for a home made Rambo sequel. Set in the 1980s, two British school boys set out to make their own homegrown sequel to First Blood, the first of the Rambo films. One of the boys is from a strict religious family, and participating in the project conflicts with his faith. This looks like a hoot, and I was especially pleased to see Jessica Hynes (a.k.a. Jessica Stevenson) from the Simon Pegg TV series Spaced. Here's Monika's take on the trailer and James' review of the film. Check out the trailer right here:
Shutter This remake of a Thai film deals with spirit photography, the process of photographing ghosts. There's a shot in this one of someone flipping through a series of photos, and the images act like a flip book, showing a translucent figure crawling across the floor. Yeah, that gave me the willies. There are some shots of Dawson's Creek's Joshua Jackson gettin' busy with some kind of other worldly entity that creeped me out, but I'm still feeling lukewarm about this one. I get the feeling this is yet another de-fanged PG-13 horror movie. Here's Patrick's take on the trailer.
In one of Smart People's many funny (yet real) scenes, several beers have loosened the inhibitions and tongue of bright, highly motivated teen Vanessa Wetherhold (Ellen Page). As she staggers out of the bathroom, she pauses to ask a bottle-blonde, denim-clad woman "How's it feel to be stupid?" The woman snaps back: "How's it feel to eat lunch alone every day?" Vanessa's drunk enough to be honest: "It f***in' sucks." And that scene, in a nutshell, is what Smart People is about -- how it's one thing to be bright and aware and clever and perceptive, but it also sucks to eat lunch alone. Vanessa's dad Lawrence (Dennis Quaid) is a burly, bearded professor in the English department at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University - sluggish and surly and sleepwalking through his days. It's established -- carefully and well -- that Lawrence lost his wife not that long ago. His son James (Ashton Holmes) is attending Carnegie; his daughter Vanessa busies herself as Lawrence's right hand woman -- preparing meals, thinking of new titles for his book, advising him on office politics. This has two advantages for Vanessa; she gets to help her dad with his problems, and it keeps her too busy to think about her own.
The Wetherholds don't have much of a life, but at least it has some order to it -- order that's disrupted by the arrival of Chuck (Thomas Haden Church), Lawrence's adopted brother. Chuck is a slow-motion wreck of a man, a financial and professional failure, but he knows things his brainy brother and niece don't. Chuck wants to crash with Lawrence for a while, but Lawrence isn't very interested in that; when Lawrence has a seizure that means his driving license is revoked for six months, Chuck leaps in that window of opportunity headfirst. Chuck, by his very presence, destroys the status quo at the Wetherhold home. What we come to grasp is that maybe that status quo needs destruction.
Three clips have popped up online for Miramax's comedy Smart People. The film stars Dennis Quaid as a sullen academic who is trying to improve both his professional and personal situation -- on the family side of things, there's Ellen Page as his daughter, Thomas Haden Church as his adopted brother, and Sarah Jessica Parker as his love interest. James Rocchi recently interviewed the cast, and said that the film was "funny, yet never forced; rich, but always real." (Stay tuned for his review.)
And if you need more proof, these clips look pretty darned good, if I do say so myself. Hearing about this project, I was most drawn to Page's involvement, but now I'm really digging Quaid. I've always loved the guy, and there's just something about these clips that brings me back to the golden age of Quaid -- granted, with much more hair and much less devilish grinning. Check out the one clip above, and the other two after the jump.
In Smart People, Dennis Quaid plays a lonely, semi-broken academic trying to re-connect with his work, repair his relationship with his fractured family (including his daughter, Ellen Page, and his adopted brother, Thomas Haden Church) and conduct a tentative romance with Sarah Jessica Parker's E.R. doctor -- who used to be one of his students. The feature-film debut of award-winning commercial director Noam Murro, Smart People's warm and winning script, by novelist Mark Poirier, is funny, yet never forced; rich, but always real. Parker, Church and Quaid spoke with Cinematical at Sundance about Murro's unexpected directorial choices, the film's surprising sense of stillness and grace ... and less noble topics, like dueling and character hair cuts, too: "One of the added benefits of doing a movie with Sarah Jessica Parker," Church explains, "is that you also have access to her hair and make-up people. ..."
This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:
In line for the world premiere of Smart People -- a new comedy-drama starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Quaid, Thomas Haden Church and Ellen Page -- at the Eccles center last night, some fellow line members were frustrated by how Sundance was handling the waiting process. Why, they asked, were ticket-holders outside in the cold, while the people hoping to get on the wait list were in a heated tent? It seemed fairly obvious to me: If you have a group of people who you're probably going to disappoint, it is kind to let them be warm. It's not just a way of avoiding hurt feelings -- it's probably a way of avoiding a riot.
My review of Smart People will be coming in a bit, but just to whet your whistle, I really liked it. The film is a committed and smart take on material that other films have handled with less brains and heart, and it also features Ellen Page in a great performance as a real teenager, not just as Diablo Cody's doppelganger-mouthpiece. Parker, Quaid and Church are all terrific, too. Director Noam Murro knew the score (and mocked how hype-happy Hollywood counts the points) when he was thanking his cast before the film: " ... and Ellen Page, Juno Schmoono ..."
Who would have thought four little words on a banner would have caused such a commotion. Varietyreports that Paramount and MTV films are hoping to cash in on some of the 'righteous indignation' over a young student whose high school suspension became a national free-speech debate. The deal was struck with Joseph Frederick (the student in question), his father Frank, and Doug Mertz, the local attorney who took his case. All three made life rights deals for the film.
In 2002, Frederick (along with several friends) held up a banner with the words 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' during the Winter Olympics torch relay, passing through his home town of Juneau, Alaska. Even though he was not on school property at the time, his principal ordered that he be suspended from school for 10 days for supposedly violating their drug policy (c'mon, he wasn't even doing said 'bong hits' at the time!) Supported by family and friends, Frederick took his suit to the Supreme Court. The court ultimately ruled that "a school principal may, consistent with the First Amendment, restrict student speech at a school event when that speech is reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use".
Mark Poirier (Smart People) will write the script, but there is no word on a cast or director yet. Producer Michael Shamberg (who has already worked on true-life dramas like Erin Brockovich and World Trade Center) tells Variety, "The tone is 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,' about a young man standing up for his rights." He adds, "The heart of this story is the relationship between a father and son. Frank Frederick was an insurance adjuster facing the loss of his job if his son didn't back down" So even though they might have lost the case, no one is making a feature film about Frederick's principal, so I guess Frederick and family will get the last laugh after all. So, do you think the title will stand? And what in the world does 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' have to do with the Winter Olympics?
When we first shared news of this film in September, Smart People had a power cast: Dennis Quaid, Rachel Weisz and Thomas Hayden Church. After a questionable stint in American Dreamz, this was looking to be a welcome change for Quaid, who has mixed the likes of great movies such as Far from Heaven with shlockier fare like The Day After Tomorrow. Now Miramax has bought the North American rights to the film, but it might be a different flick than we were expecting.
Weisz has since dropped out of the picture, and in a surprising twist, Sarah Jessica Parker has taken her place. Now, don't get me wrong, I like the actress and I enjoy Sex and the City. However, there's an undeniable change in atmosphere when someone like Weisz is replaced with someone like Parker. Now the film, which tells the story of a man struggling with the death of his wife, the ex-student he falls for and the arrival of an adopted brother, has a different feel to it. Sure, it's always been a romantic dramedy, but I think this change will give us a little less drama, and a little more quirky comedy.
Nevertheless, there are big hopes for the film. According to Variety, Daniel Battsek, head of Miramax, wants to release the film in the fall, and give it an award-season run -- although he also sees its commercial appeal. Sure, there is commercial appeal, as it's got a great cast. But will it have award potential?
When I saw Hard Candy, I was blown away by Ellen Page's carefully controlled performance as a young girl who embarks on a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with a man who trolls the internet for 14-year-old girls. I knew when I saw her in that film that she had a good career ahead of her, if she'd make some good choices around future scripts. Looks like she's done just that (I'm generously overlooking her role as Kitty Pryde in X-Men -- she was underused there), because she has no fewer than six films lined up.
Page is making some really smart decisions with her scripts -- she's mixing it up enough not to get herself boxed into one type of role, she's got a Sundance film, a mainstream film, and some decidedly edgier fare all upcoming. Page is one of the actresses I'll be watching with the most interest in 2007; here's what she has upcoming, so you can get her on your radar (if she's not there already):
First up for Page is An American Crime (pictured above), which debuts at Sundance. Film is based on a true story from 1965 Indiana about a housewife who kept a teenage girl, Sylvia Likens, locked in her basement. Page was reportedly the only choice to play Likens, and she co-stars with Catherine Keener, who plays Gertrude Baniszewski, the 37-year-old woman who led a pack of teenagers and children as young as 11 and 12 (some her own kids, and others just kids in the neighborhood) in the escalating beating, torture and eventual death of the 16-year-old, in one of the worst torture-murder cases in American history. In an interesting bit of casting, typically "nice boy" Jeremy Sumpter, who was fantastic in the title role in 2003's Peter Pan, takes on the role of Coy Hubbard, the 16-year-old boyfriend of Stephanie Baniszewski, who was one of the worst of Syliva's abusers, repeatedly practicing Judo on her by throwing her into walls.
After watching Flightplan (ugh) last night, I was thinking about how I'm really digging Peter Sarsgaard lately. I don't know what it is about the guy (perhaps it's his calm, quiet and creepy demeanor), but he's suddenly shot up my "actors to keep an eye on" list. Variety reports the dude has just signed on to star opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon ( I love how she's getting these big, serious parts now) in Rendition. Pic marks Gavin Hood's followup to Tsotsi and revolves around a CIA operative in the Middle East who becomes all shaded out when he witnesses some nasty police interrogations.
Hey, remember that South Park episode where Rob Reiner invades the town in order to combat the spread of smoking amongst teens? He's all fat and can barely move, yet all he does is bitch about cigarettes? Well, in a related story, Harvey Weinstein has taken it upon himself to join the fight against nicotine addiction by placing anti-smoking ads in the Weinstein Co.'s DVD releases. Seriously. He wants to educate young people on the negative effects of eating your face off smoking. I say, good for him!
After lingering around the studio system for awhile now (with Robert Redford and Gary Winnick previously attached), commercial director Noam Murro has been brought on to make his feature debut with Smart People, a co-production of Groundswell Prods. (second day in a row for them), QED International and Grosvenor Park. Joining the pic is a very smart cast that includes Dennis Quaid, Rachel Weisz and Thomas Hayden Church (who reunites with Sideways producer Michael London).
In the film, Quaid will play a college professor who turns a bit nutty following the death of his wife. However, life soon becomes even more complicated when he falls in love with a former student (Weisz) and his adopted brother (Church) drops in to pay a visit. Flick goes into production this November in Pittsburgh with a script by Mark Poirier (who, as a novelist, is making his screenwriting debut).
Comedies don't have an obligation to be particularly insightful, but you'd think an indie aimed at an adult audience would have something to say about its characters. Smart People stars Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page, and Thomas Haden Church; the cast and the multitude of laughs scored at the expense of easy targets might justify a rental, though I liked it much less after I started thinking about it. I'm in the minority -- James Rocchi expressed all kinds of love in his review. The DVD, out on Tuesday, includes an audio commentary by director Noam Murro and writer Jude Poirier, deleted scenes, bloopers / outtakes, and "the smartest people," which I'm guessing is a "making of" feature. It's also out on Blu-ray.
"A damn fine film with a good heart and some really excellent performances" finished atop the indie weekend box office charts. The quote is from our own 
In line for the world premiere of Smart People -- a new comedy-drama starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Quaid, Thomas Haden Church and Ellen Page -- at the Eccles center last night, some fellow line members were frustrated by how Sundance was handling the waiting process. Why, they asked, were ticket-holders outside in the cold, while the people hoping to get on the wait list were in a heated tent? It seemed fairly obvious to me: If you have a group of people who you're probably going to disappoint, it is kind to let them be warm. It's not just a way of avoiding hurt feelings -- it's probably a way of avoiding a riot. 
Who would have thought four little words on a banner would have caused such a commotion. Variety 
When we first shared news of this film 
Odds and ends from a very busy Wednesday:
After lingering around the studio system for awhile now (with 
