Got an e-mail today from my friend Neyda Martinez, who’s putting the word out that a good friend of hers, filmmaker Cruz Angeles, is holding an open casting call for African American and Latino youth, ages 15-19 this coming Saturday, April 28. He’s prepping to shoot his first indie-feature “Don’t Let Me Down”, which he and Maria Topete developed at Sundance.
A studio executive mentioned to me this week that 300 is pre-testing better than the first installment of The Matrix. Warner Bros. could be looking at a surprise hit.
Previous posts that reference 300 are here and here.
It's been a while since I really got excited about a movie. Some of you may remember my praise for Tony Jaa after seeing "Tom Yum Goong", which was released in the States as "The Protector". My excitement was after the fact.
No, what I'm talking about now is a movie that's not scheduled for release until March: 300. It tells the story of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. More significant is that the film is based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller, the creator of Sin City and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, two classics in their own right. Even more significant for me is that the film seems to have captured the look and feel of the graphic novel.
An aside: What is it about Frank Miller that attracts filmmakers to his work?
As someone who grew up reading comics in the 70s and 80s, I'm thrilled to see this kind of heroic aesthetic successfully make the leap from the page to the screen. A good subject for a future post could be why this movie works and why, say, X-Men 1 and Daredevil didn't. Guess I'll have to wait until March 9 when it opens.
If you want to see a better version of the trailer, check out the official film site here.
One movie I’m looking forward to is Saw III. I’ve seen the first two and am completely fascinated by the genre-bending that takes place. It’s horror through and through, particularly that of the psychological kind. In the previous films, the protagonists are unable to escape their gruesome fates because they can’t overcome a fatal character flaw. Viewed thus, Jigsaw, man who devises all of the fiendish death traps, is not a murderer. No, these characters do themselves in. It’s Greek tragedy for the 21st century.
Ultimately, the films are about gratitude for life, something that seems in all too short supply, and keeping a perspective that helps dial down that sense of entitlement that seems prevalent almost everywhere. In that way, it’s a refreshing use of a genre to make a point about society.
But, before I wax too poetic about the virtues of this series (and my hopes for this next installment), I should remind you that it is, in fact, a horror film.
By now, you’ve probably heard that both the mainstream press and the blogosphere have pretty much decided that “Snakes on a Plane” was a failure, simply because all of that buzz didn’t equate to a huge first weekend gross.
I’m going to withhold judgment, at least until I see how it does in the rest of its release windows. What if people are just waiting until the admission price drops into the $3-$5 range, i.e., what it would cost to rent the DVD or see it on pay-per-view?
Perhaps we'd all do well to maintain a healthy respect for the time being. After all, “Snakes” may still have some bite left.
Much has been written about Tony Jaa, who was almost immediately
granted entry worldwide to
the rarified martial arts movie pantheon of Bruce
Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li. based on the buzz on his first
film—Ong-Bak: Muay Thai
Warrior.
When you see him in action, it’s clear that he’s absolutely
fearless, particularly once you realize that he does his own stunts: no wires,
no special effects. His is an
electrifying combination of physicality and grace. Because of that, he’s a game changer: For some time, we’ll be
left comparing every subsequent martial artist who hits the big screen to
him. If calling him the “Michael Jordan of
martial arts” sounds like hype, it’s not. But then, you could reasonably call Jordan the Charlie Parker of
basketball. They both pushed their
respective forms so far ahead of where/how their contemporaries played that it
took a significant time for the rest of the field to catch up. A case could be made for Jay-Z in hip-hop,
as well.
As someone who loves martial arts—both as a filmgoer and a
practitioner—there are a couple simple criteria I have. First, I love seeing physicality that
approaches the impossible due to a combination of inspiration, mastery,
fluidity and natural ability. This is
part of the reason I never really took to Sonny Chiba—his moves were too
stiff. Second, I’d like to walk out of
that movie knowing that if I devoted my life exclusively to training, it’s
within the realm of possibility that I might be able to approach such a level
of mastery. Now this second requirement
precludes such feats as. . .performing any moves while flying through the air. For this reason, large portions of Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon, many early Jet Li movies and much of the Hong Kong
martial arts oeuvre are unwatchable.
That inspiration and excitement, that sense that I'm being taken to the mountaintop, is exactly what I feel when I see Tony in action. Of course, no man is an island, and some credit must be given to the fight choreographer and stunt trainer who gave Tony his start in the Thai film business, Panna Rittikrai. I take it from Variety.com's Asian film blog Kaiju Shakedown, that Panna Rittikrai will is on his way to being famous amongst aficionados, the same or greater than Yuen Woo-Ping.
Now, in case you’ve not seen Tony Jaa in action, take a look at the clip from his next movie,
Tom-Yum-Goong. Already released in
Thailand, the film is the 2nd most successful film in Thai
history. It hasn’t been released yet
here. Look for it in the UK in July,
with a US release slated for December. It may be retitled “Warrior King,” which is lot better than “Thai Soup,”
the current translation. This clip is
courtesy of YouTube.com.
You might want to send any minors out of the room before you
press play. Suffice it to say that the
bad guys are getting what they deserve. This is poetry in motion and, in addition to his good looks, the reason why Tony Jaa is set to be a big star.
Something in my gut is telling me to stay away from Van Helsing. It opened at $54 million last weekend and got a decent trade review. After the horror and occult fans check it out on G.P., the special effects cognoscenti take a look at all the CGI, and hardcore Hugh Jackman fans support the Boy From Oz (it'd be interesting to see his Q scores), I'm predicting a steep dropoff in attendance.
There's something corny about this movie. Can't exactly put my finger on it, though.
We'll see on Monday morning when the weekend boxoffice numbers are released. If it has dropped more than 50%, it'll mean that the word-of-mouth isn't great and that audiences have moved on. It'll also mean that I'm right.
Adding to its potential problems: Brad Pitt entered the arena today with Troy. Stay tuned for the outcome. After all, I could be wrong.
