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“From Food Court to Box Office”

Hey, we’ve been tracking this for days now here and especially here, so I guess it’s fair to say that we scooped the New York Times, who are just now getting on the mall cop express: At the end of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, the

Friday movie reviews

Inkheart (Warner Bros.) Daily Variety (Justin Chang) Los Angeles Times (Sheri Linden) New York Times (A.O. Scott) Underworld: Rise of the Lykans (Sony) No reviews available. Always a bad sign.

Great Scene: “Amadeus”

This is one of my favorite all-time scenes, a brilliant inspiration for the viewer to hear what Mozart is ‘hearing’ in his own mind, but Solieri not to hear, both to give Solieri an actual taste of creative genius at work in the moment, and also to underscore to

“Sundance is a buyer’s market”

So says the LA Times today with a nice wrap-up of distribution deals thus far at Sundance: While a surprisingly large number of new works have sold at Sundance so far, the top sales prices have been dramatically lower than the largest transactions at recent gatherings. And several movies

“Love Guru” tops Razzie nominations

The Golden Raspberry Awards Foundation has announced its “Razzie” nominations for the worst efforts in movie-making in 2008. Topping the list is The Love Guru: Voters for 2008’s worst movies love Mike Myers. They really love him. Myers’ comedy flop “The Love Guru” led the field Wednesday for

Archetypes: The Wizard of Oz (Part One)

I’ve always thought The Wizard of Oz (1938) to be a classic example of The Hero’s Journey, following the cyclical paradigm of “The Odyssey” — starting at home (Kansas), traveling to an extraordinary world of adventure (Oz), then returning home. But I gained an even deeper appreciation for the

“Seeking Bergman Film Rights? Try Aspen”

I just had to post this story from today’s NY Times. I lived in Aspen from 1978–1980 and watched numerous movies for the first time at the Isis Theater. I still remember stepping outside into the cool night air, my head reeling after seeing Apocalypse Now. The other

Sundance Deals (cont’d)

Lionsgate has ‘Winning Season’: Lionsgate has picked up North American and U.K. rights to James Strouse’s comedy “The Winning Season.” Strouse is a Sundance vet. His pic “Grace is Gone” sold to the Weinstein Co. “Season” was a late addition, joining the Premieres section in December. Humpday Sells

Screenwriting 101 — Eric Roth

“I think part of being a good screenwriter is being as concise as possible.”  — Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Munich, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) Comment Archive

Daily dialogue — January 21, 2009

“We deposit money from a fund that doesn’t exist into a box we don’t know about in a bank we’ve never set foot in. We can’t help you because we never heard of you before.” Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush), Munich (2005), screenplay by Tony Kushner and Eric

Record MLK weekend B.O.

A few days back, I posted an analysis of Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Safe to say it’s not an artistic threat to Lawrence of Arabia. But then comes word that this Martin Luther King Day weekend set a record at the box office: Sony’s PG-rated comedy “Paul

Bumping around the blogs…

Billy Mernit provides an insightful analysis of the movie Man on Wire: James Marsh’s sublime documentary, its title taken from a police report document’s description of the event: Man on Wire, is deservedly an Oscar front-runner. Already available on DVD, the film should be required viewing for

“Superhero power ebbs”

Or so says the LA Times in this article today: Comic book sales were down for most of 2008, even at behemoth publisher Marvel Comics. And many small comic stores are closing one by one. Just last week, Marvel released a special edition of Spider-Man in which the superhero

Hollywood Tales

“I want to see the writers strike because the writers, god bless them, are the only true commies we have in Hollywood.”  — Ned Beatty

The next time you see Woody Allen on the street…

…do what screenwriter-director Ed Zwick did: While visiting Paris as a young man, Edward Zwick — writer-director of the WWII drama “Defiance” (2009) — had a serendipitous encounter when he ran into Woody Allen on the street. Mustering his courage, Zwick introduced himself to the filmmaker and asked if he

“Everyone is Afraid of Something”

Screenwriter Robert Towne has said that probably the easiest way to get at who a character is is to ask them what they’re afraid of. What we fear definitely shapes who we are. That’s one of the reasons I’m highlighting this poem — that and the fact it’

Sundance deals

Sony grabs rights to ‘Black Dynamite’”: In the first all-night acquisition of Sundance, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group has grabbed Midnight title “Black Dynamite” for $2 million.” “‘Finest’ sells to Senator at Sundance”: Senator grabbed headlines on Saturday night by paying seven figures (reportedly no more than $5 million)

On writing

“Being a writer requires an intoxication with language.”  — Jim Harrison

Interviews: Joel & Ethan Coen

Below are several written interviews with the Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel. Their writing credits include Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Miller’s Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), The Man Who Wasn’t

Update from the Sundance Film Festival

I’d like to say, “And now a first-hand look at the Sundance Film Festival from GITS ace reporter Kurt Brown,” but I’d be lying… partially. No, Kurt Brown is not a reporter, not for me or anybody else; rather he’s a poet and teacher — and longtime

Daily dialogue — January 18, 2009

“I am a man of constant sorrow, I’ve seen trouble all my days. I bid farewell to old Kentucky, the place where I was born and raised. / The place where he was born and raised. /For six long years I’ve been in trouble, no pleasure here on Earth

Sympathetic protagonists

January is a great time to catch up on all the award-nominated movies as most of them are year-end releases. January is also a month in which Hwood studios have traditionally dumped some of it stinkers — which in part explains why I went to see Paul Blart: Mall

Video Interview: Kurt Vonnegut

After I completed my Masters degree, I took off a year (I was supposed to go back and get a Ph.D. — that never happened) and traveled around the country. Freed from academics, I could read anything I wanted to. And what I wanted to — and did — read that summer

Interview: Kevin Smith

The Hollywood Reporter had this interview with screenwriter, actor, and director Kevin Smith coinciding with the release of his latest movie Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Despite mixed reviews, the movie has grossed $37M worldwide. With a modest $24M budget, after all the ancillary revenues are counted, the movie

Daily dialogue — January 17, 2009

“I love you. And not, not in a friendly way, although I think we’re great friends. And not in a misplaced affection, puppy-dog way, although I’m sure that’s what you’ll call it. I love you. Very, very simple, very truly. You are the-the epitome