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Saturday, September 20, 2003 Fun Movie News. #021: The trailer for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the upcoming Gondry-Kaufman film. posted by QV | 10:42 AM Thursday, September 18, 2003 6-6-4 ... oh, I forget. He says this record is "too metal," like that's bad. posted by QV | 12:58 PM He's one of the best actors we've got.  Here's a link to the audio (RA, 54:39) for Brian Cox's session with Charlie Rose on 3/5/03. [Mainly for Esselle, but recommended to all. Great stuff.] posted by QV | 7:19 AM Wednesday, September 17, 2003 Fun Movie News. #020: Make a 15-minute masterpiece. [The three "stand-alone classics" do indeed deliver the goods - the Jack Black chimney-sweep sequence (available in an extended version on the dvd "deleted scenes") never fails to delight and I've seen it about 30 times. The Patinkin Broadway rehearsal scene is a very successful adaptation of material from the classic "Fuzz: The Musical" Mr. Show sketch. Three Times One Minus One provide their best jam - Cross hilariously details his intentions for a "rememberful" evening, including anatomical logistics ("thoughtful"), and Odenkirk serves his usual role as a bass-voiced, ersatz Flava Flav ("double damn!"). The freedom-crimping narrative aside, the film has plenty of fun moments. Cross is effective in his first leading role (the character is not written very well, but there's nothing wrong with the performance, especially in strong scenes like a newly-famous Dobbs talking to a wheelchair-bound Asian boy, voiced by Cross, who needs money for some "special shoes"). Odenkirk's Terry Twillstein remains a delicious character (nicely combined here with Bob's "Thrilling Miracles" infomercial character, Ernie: "It turns vomit back into food!"); there's a nice Richter/Foley/Silverman scene ("I'm forgainst it"); the cameo-filled pool party scene (Shandling! Scott Ian! Jeff Garlin!) featuring a conspiratorial Scott Thompson; a New Age session with Tom Kenny, Mary Lynn Rasjkub ("a reddish background"), Randee of the Redwoods, and Jeff Goldlbum (!); and some of the best end credits in recent memory (a Jackie Chan spoof and Melissa Auf Der Maur singing "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"). The main problem with the film is that the Dobbs character is simply not feature-worthy - the backstory and set-up is dull and nothing interesting is done with his on-again-off-again marriage to Tammy (Jill Talley). His sidekicks barely register beyond some minor chuckles for narrator Clay's (David Koechner) escalating DUI-feuled injuries. The relationship between Dobbs and Twillstein was the essence of the Mr. Show sketches and that should have been more of the film's focus. The Dobbs character is very straightforward - a drunk, mulleted Georgian with a "talent" for getting arrested. But, when you throw him in with the crazed, British Twillstein character and filter it through the Mr. Show sensibility, it's brilliant comedy. Rather than really dive into this dynamic, the existing cut has, well, too much Dobbs stuff without enough Terry chasers.] posted by QV | 8:33 AM Do NOT Sit Next to Dennis.  From an interview with Cabin Fever director Eli Roth: Back to "Cabin Fever," what's the story behind the kid who plays Dennis? Well Dennis likes pancakes, and when he sees Bert [James DeBello], he's hungry for some pancakes. I was auditioning kids in North Carolina, and they were just going, "Pancakes, pancakes…" That's all that they would say. I wanted a weird kid and so this kid shows up. From his photo, I thought he was a girl. He has long, white/blonde hair. That wasn't a wig? Oh no. Oh no. He shows up and I'm like, "Oh my God." The guy is like, “Hello, sir. My name's Matthew Helms, sir, and I'd like to audition for Dennis, sir.” I was like, “Well…” He said, “And I'm a black belt in karate.” I was like, “Okay, can I see?” He goes into this crazy “Matrix” routine, scissor-kicking over his head, running across the room, flipping… Literally none of which is in the script and all of which is in the movie. I sat there re-writing the scene as I watched him; I was rewriting the scene in my head. I'm like, “This is f**king weirdest thing I've ever seen.” And he's got this crazy hair. We gave him that Betty Page mullet. He still has that hair cut. It's awesome. He was so great. I was like, “How long have you been doing karate.” He said, “I've been doing karate every day since I was two years old. I practice for five hours a day.” I'm like, “Don't you go to school?” “No sir, I'm homeschooled. My mom teaches me.” I'm like, “So essentially you spent your entire life preparing to be Dennis.” He said, “Yes.” He was great. He was really cool. He totally got it. I remember showing the casting tapes to Jordan Ladd. I asked, “Should I cast this kid? Is this too weird?” Jordan's like, “Eli, there's no such thing as too weird in this movie.” So yeah, so there it was. It's like in real life, you try to think up a weird kid and then someone comes in… This kid could kick anyone's ass, you can't f**k with him. But he's a really, really nice kid. The whole karate thing comes out of nowhere. It was real. This kid shows up and that's what he does. That's literally what he does all day. And that's his hair. This kid really exists.  UPDATE: Matt Helms points us to a great feature story: ----- Original Message ----- Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 8:20 AM Subject: Re: Brilliant. QV, Thanks for the kudos. Check out www.westword.com for an article, cover photo... Pancakes, Matt ---------- QV wrote: Matt - I saw CABIN FEVER and your work as Dennis was fantastic. I hope to see you yelling about breakfast foods and doing spin kicks in other films in the future. Keep up the good work, -rob. ---------- posted by QV | 8:13 AM The Brown Bunny. #015: "Are you kidding?" [Predictable blah-blah on The Brown Bunny (and Gallo in general) from Rex Reed's Toronto recap. And he still can't resist taking shots at Jonze/Kaufman (he usually refers to them as "potty boys", whatever that means), calling Adaptation "abysmal" in his Matchstick Men comments. Also, he mentions the "freak show" Possession. Isabelle Adjani does indeed engage the sex act with a tentacled creature in the film, but she also won the best actress award for it at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival. Rex Reed is a Bastard Person.] posted by QV | 7:40 AM Tuesday, September 16, 2003 Fun Movie News. #019: So, Will got the lead. And: the courtship of Larry David! ---------- Will Ferrell will star with Drew Barrymore, Lily Tomlin, Mos Def and Olympia Dukakis in the Scott Kramer/Steven Soderbergh-scripted A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES for director David Gordon Green. Sharon Stone's interested and Larry David's being courted to join the pic as well. The film is an adaptation of John Kennedy Toole's novel about a bright portly guy who works hilariously bad jobs and lives with a wacky mom in New Orleans' French Quarter. -AICN backgrounder. posted by QV | 7:21 AM Monday, September 15, 2003 Bang the Drum Loudly. Solid waste details have been murky. posted by QV | 9:46 AM Now Heavy Former Ballerinas. A watershed moment in the history of the discipline occurred with the groundbreaking work of Randall, Cleary, et al., which demonstrated for the first time that individuals were capable of holding multiple fluid-nation citizenships. Using the newly developed Anders-Reese Distance-Observation Method, the authors were able to provide specific examples of this phenomenon. A Nebraska man was seen to hold citizenship in Men Who Sit Up Late at Night Staring with Love at Their Sleeping Children and also in Farmers Who Mumble Soundless Prayers While Working in Their Fields. In Cincinnati, Ohio, twin sisters were found to belong to Five-Times-a-Week Churchgoers as well as to Clandestine Examiners of One’s Own Hardened Nasal Secretions. An entire family in Abilene, Texas, was seen to belong to Secretly Always Believe They Are the Ugliest in the Room, with individual members of this family also holding secondary citizenships in fluid-nations as diverse as Listens to Headphones in Bed; Stands Examining Her Breasts in Her Closet; Brags Endlessly While Actually Full of Doubt; Makes Excellent Strudel; and Believes Fervently in the Risen Christ. - George Saunders, from "A SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE". posted by QV | 7:46 AM Sunday, September 14, 2003 We can hit the lightz! We can hit the lightz! Beatallica unleash their latest track. A Beatles tune done in the style of Metallica with altered lyrics that zing Trixter! posted by QV | 3:56 PM |
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