ARMOND WHITE SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT
Why “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” was Better Than “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
Armond White: It’s a way of looking at the entire year of film and giving people an overview of what the films were attempting and what other films achieved. I looked at The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo- the David Fincher version as a remake, so I contrasted it with Rise of the Planet of the Apes which was also a remake but a far superior remake. Certainly a less pretentious piece of film making, also, not a hateful illustration of human ugliness. It’s a movie that’s kind of a wild vision of contemporary frustration which I think is more helpful than the brutality that was on display with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. So on two levels- as a remake there was something better than The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and also as a movie dealing with contemporary concerns there was a better film than that one. Which happened to be Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Armond Explains Why “Jack and Jill” is Better Than “The Descendants”
Armond White: I will defend Jack and Jill. I get a kick out of the things Adam Sandler does. And one of the things that he does, and he does it explicitly in Jack and Jill, is that he deals with ethnicity. And he deals with family pride and family shame. These are the same subjects as The Descendants except it kind of glosses it over and uses superficial tv drama and morbidity to disguise the fact that its story is actually about ethnicity. It’s actually about how white folks came to Hawaii and took over and owned the land. And so it’s cast primarily with European descendants. And I’m watching the movie and thinking where are the indigenous Hawaiians? And this might be so in many cases but the film doesn’t deal with it. It’s just a superficial soap opera about the travails of the middle class and I was not interested in that. See Jack and Jill. It was all about ethnicity and what it is about ethnicity that we all have in common. And it can be tragic but Adam Sandler finds the humor in it. And it’s wonderful.
More at the link.
‘ABDUCTION’ BECOMES FIRST HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASE TO HIT FACEBOOK DAY-AND-DATE
Taylor Lautner film from Lionsgate will be available for $3.99 for a 48-hour rental on the social networking site.
NEW YORK – In a milestone for Hollywood studios’ relationship with Facebook, Lionsgate’s Tuesday home entertainment release of Abduction is the industry’s first-ever release that will be available on the social network day-and-date with the DVD release. …
It said the decision to use Facebook as a distribution platform at the same time as DVDs shows Lionsgate’s confidence that the network can help generate online video rentals in the important early weeks of a home entertainment release, as well as help gather personal information about film fans that can be used for future marketing activities.
MICHELLE WILLIAMS IS SEXY AND TONED IN GQ
And she looks 16, which is why I can’t look.
UPCOMING DVD RELEASES
One month left! Check out the DVD, Digital Download and On Demand releases of Answers to Nothing and King of Triads, both arriving on February 28th from Lionsgate.
Answers to Nothing: Redemption comes in pieces. In the tradition of Crash and Magnolia, lives intertwine in Los Angeles around the search for a missing girl, as Lionsgate debuts Answers to Nothing on DVD, Digital Download and On Demand this February. This intense drama features a dynamic ensemble cast led by Dane Cook (Dan in Real Life) along with Julie Benz (Showtime’s “Dexter”), Zach Gilford (TV’s “Friday Night Lights”), Elizabeth Mitchell (TV’s “Lost”) and Barbara Hershey (Black Swan). The Answers to Nothing DVD contains special features that include an audio commentary with the filmmakers, deleted scenes plus music videos.
King of Triads: Audiences will engage in the battle for control of Hong Kong as Lionsgate releases King of Triads on DVD, Digital Download and On Demand this winter. Choreographed by martial artist and member of the Jackie Chan stuntman team, Chung Chi Li (Rush Hour), the film stars Simon Yam (Ip Man) and Kenneth Low (Rush Hour) with a special appearance by Suet Lam (Kung Fu Hustle). Called “…extremely entertaining…” (BeyondHollywood.com), the action-packed release also includes a behind-the-scenes featurette and interviews.
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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING
The smart, entertaining 1998 film “Clay Pigeons,” that stars Vince Vaughn, Joaquin Phoenix, and Janeane Garofalo (when we still found her charming). The film flopped, badly, but that doesn’t change how it showcased the talents of director David Dobkin, who would go on to direct a number of big studio films, most notably “Wedding Crashers.”
If you haven’t seen it, you should. Something that struck me was how tame the violence and sex is compared to what it might’ve looked like today. What a difference 14 years makes.
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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR
CONAN REMAKE DIRECTOR MARCUS NISPEL TO HELM COMIC ADAPTATION ‘HACK/SLASH‘
FORMER IRAQ PRT LEADER: 2 IRAQ WAR MOVIES NOT TO MISS
THE MOVIES OF TODAY IMAGINED WITH THE STARS OF YESTERDAY
THOUGHTS ON WHAT MAKES A MOVIE CONSERVATIVE
COOL INFOGRAPHIC: MOVIE FRANCHISE LEXICON
CONTEMPORARY MOVIE POSTERS WITH CLASSIC FILM STARS
WILL OUR POPULAR CULTURE SURVIVE INTO THE FUTURE?
EW DEBUTS FIVE NEW PICTURES FROM ‘THE DARK KNIGHT RISES’
5 RIDICULOUS ORIGINS OF MOVIE SOUND EFFECTS
‘THE LONE RANGER’ TO BEGIN SHOOTING IN NEW MEXICO NEXT MONTH
6 INSANE BATMAN VILLAINS YOU WON’T SEE IN THE MOVIES
5 FILMS THAT WASTED THEIR POTENTIAL
10 CRAZY ADVENTURES YOU NEVER KNEW INDIANA JONES WENT ON
A LOOK BACK AT ‘THE MIGHTY DUCKS‘
20 FACTS ABOUT ‘THE BREAKFAST CLUB‘
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CLASSIC PICK FOR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18
TCM:
10:00 PM EST: Manchurian Candidate, The (1962) — A Korean War hero doesn’t realize he’s been programmed to kill by the enemy. Dir: John Frankenheimer Cast: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh. BW-127 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format.
So much has been written about this Frankenheimer classic, but where it hits me the hardest is how heartbreakingly sad the story is. That moment when Laurence Harvey realizes what he’s done. Unforgettable.
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