Today marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Die Hard – one of the greatest and most influential action films of the last 30 years.
Although at the time Bruce Willis was seen as a TV star trying to break into movies (he’d already done the puerile Blind Date), I don’t think anyone really expected this tale of a New York cop battling terrorists in an LA skyscraper to become such an enduring film.
A major part of why the film works is that it balances so many different elements – the set pieces are often thrilling and funny, the good guys (like the FBI) are often jerks, whilst the villains are clever and witty.
Alan Rickman‘s performance as Hans Gruber – the leader of terrorists who hijack the skyscraper – is sensational. Can you think of a better nemesis in a mainstream movie than this smooth talking connoisseur of expensive suits?
It was made on a budget of $28 million and ended up grossing $83 million in the US, $138.7 million worldwide and was nominated at the Oscars for Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Visual Effects.
In the UK it was actually released in February 1989 (how those release windows have shortened!) and because it was an 18 certificate I didn’t get around to seeing it until it’s home video release in September 1989.
Although the sequels (despite their moments) never really lived up to the original, it influenced a generation of films such as:
The story is about the last robot left on Earth many years into the future, after mankind has evacuated onboard a giant spaceship.
Named WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth class), he organises the giant mounds of waste that litter the planet, with only a cockroach for company.
But when a new robot named EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) visits Earth, he starts to have feelings for her and soon discovers where the humans have gone.
Franklin is the young guitar player, Wishaw the budding poet, Bale the folk icon (and later the born again Christian), Blanchett the iconic 60s rock star, Gere the actor on a Western and Ledger the disillusioned 70s celebrity.
Although this approach might seem a little esoteric it has the effect of tapping right into the themes and brilliance of Dylan’s music, which is plastered all over the film.
The performances are excellent with Blanchett in particular standing out as arguably the most famous version of Dylan – the jaded, chain smoking iconoclast familiar to viewers of D.A. Pennebaker’s 1967 documentary Don’t Look Back.
Perhaps most poignant section, given his untimely death in January, is the section with Heath Ledger portraying the Blood on the Tracks-era Dylan. He again demonstrates what a fine actor he could be given the right role.
The soundtrack is also similarly inventive, with the likes of Sonic Youth, Cat Power, Yo La Tengo, The Hold Steady and Antony & The Johnsons all contributing cover versions of Dylan songs. It also features a previously unreleased Dylan recording of the title track ‘I’m Not There’.
The DVD includes over one hour of special features, including a tribute to the late Ledger, a conversation with the director and a look at the making of the soundtrack.
They include:
2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD5.1 Surround:
Introduction to the Film
Commentary by director/co-writer Todd Haynes
A Conversation with Todd Haynes (40:50mins)
Making the Soundtrack (20:15mins)
A Tribute to Heath Ledger (3:09mins)
Dylanography (Character galleries, discography, bibliography and chronology)
Check out the trailer here:
I’m Not There is out now on DVD from Paramount Home Entertainment
Directed by Guillermo de Toro (fresh from the success of Pan’s Labyrinth), it sees Ron Perlman reprise his role as the demon who fights for good, this time against an army of creatures unleashed from another world.
On Friday it took an estimated $12.75 million, which set it up nicely to overtake Hancock, last week’s Number 1 film.
The fact that Hellboy II made 50% more than the 2004 first movie’s $23.1M opening FSS is a real triumph for Universal Pictures, whose bosses Marc Shmuger, David Linde and Donna Langley swooped in and scooped up the sequel from Sony/Revolution Studios which did the original Hellboy I. (And the trio wanted it before del Toro’s Oscar-nominated Pan’s Labyrinth ever opened.)
As one Uni exec exulted, “We took somebody’s reject pile and made it into a franchise for us.”
Hancock held steady in second place with a 50% drop from last weekend, which is impressive given last week’s longer 5-day weekend and the mixed reviews it received.
As for the other new films this week, Journey to the Center of the Earth looks like it will nab third spot ahead of WALL•E, whilst the new Eddie Murphy comedy Meet Dave didn’t fare so well.
It looks like it will gross about $4.1 million over the weekend, which will be his weakest opening in years.
Here are the latest estimates for the weekend box office from Variety:
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Universal) / $35.9m / Screens: 3,204
Hancock (Sony) / $33.0m / Screens: 3,965
Journey to the Center of the Earth (Warner Bros./New Line) / $20.6m / Screens: 2,811
WALL-E (Disney/Pixar) / $18.5 / Screens: 3,849
Wanted (Universal) / $11.6m / Screens: 3,157
Get Smart (Warner Bros.) / $11.1m / Screens: 3,086
Meet Dave (Fox/New Regency) / $5.3 / Screens: 3,011
Kung Fu Panda (Paramount/DreamWorks) / $4.3m / Screens: 2,704
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (Picturehouse) / $2.3 / Screens: 1,849
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Paramount) / $2.2 / Screens: 1,664
YouTube announced last month that they are creating a online resource for filmmakers called The Screening Room.
Check out this promo video:
The idea is that it will be a new platform that will enable independent filmmakers to a wider global audience.
Although the video sharing site already contains a lot of user generated content, this is a new dedicated section that also makes more authored short films to stand out.
Filmmakers can opt for their films to have a ‘Buy Now’ option next to their work for DVD or digital sales and they can then share in the majority of ad revenue generated from views.
To submit you just send and an email with information about your film to [email protected] (although you have to make sure that you own all the digital rights to the work you are submitting).
Each week, four new films will be selected by an editorial panel and then uploaded and highlighted in the Screening Room section.
“Hopefully as they see thousands of people watching their films, it’s going to be a very eye-opening experience,” said Sara Pollack, YouTube’s film and animation manager.
Among the first eight titles to be showcased are “Love and War,” a stop-motion puppet movie by a Swedish director; the Oscar-nominated short “I Met The Walrus,” about an interview with John Lennon; and “Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody?” by performance artist Miranda July.
YouTube said people whose clips regularly attract a million viewers can make several thousand dollars a month. The bigger prize can be exposure.
When YouTube featured the nine-minute short “Spider” by Nash Edgerton in February, it became the fifth-best selling short on iTunes, Pollack said.
The creators of the full-length feature “Four Eyed Monsters,” Susan Buice and Arin Crumley, got their break when more than a million YouTube views helped land them a TV and DVD distribution deal, she said.
“They ended up doing really, really well, ironically by putting their film online for free,” Pollack said.
Although, directors can already upload to sites like MySpace and YouTube, this new section appears to be more filmmaker friendly and makes it easier for quality shorts to get exposure outside the usual avenue of festivals and late night TV slots.
Some of the most recent examples to be showcased are:
Love and War: A stop-motion ‘animated opera’ by Swedish director Frederick Emilson
I Met The Walrus: The Oscar-nominated short about an interview with John Lennon
During the making of Stanley Kubrick‘s Dr. Strangelove (1964) Peter Sellers did a series of phone interviews to promote the movie and demonstrated his amazing ability to mimic British accents:
If you are wondering why he is doing this in make up and costume, back in the 60s actors would give generic answers to pre-scripted questions.
They were actually talking to someone on the set and the media outlet would then edit these into the final interviews.
There Will Be Blood was one of the finest films of last year – a bold and mesmerising drama charting the rise of an oil man in the early years of the 20th century.
Daniel Day Lewis won the Best Actor Oscar for his stunning central performance – the driven and obsessive Daniel Plainview, who starts off as a silver miner before slowly establishing himself as a hugely successful oil prospector.
But this was an unusual departure for him – unlike his last three films it is away from his usual San Fernando Valley setting, eschews most of his favourite actors (such as John C Reilly, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore) and has a haunting, other-worldly feel to it.
A lot of this mood is created by Jonny Greenwood‘s unusual and innovative score, which was shamefully disqualified for Oscar recognition.
The film also saw Anderson re-team with cinematographer Robert Elswit, who won the Oscar for his remarkable visuals in a particularly strong year.
Technically, the film is quite astonishing with Jack Fisk‘s meticulous production design, David Crank‘s art direction and Dylan Tichenor‘s clever editing all of the highest order.
Revisiting the film again on DVD is interesting, as the bold narrative jolts and intensity subside to deeper feelings about the themes of the film.
Although viewers may have theories on the film tied in with America’s current adventures in the Middle East, Anderson doesn’t deal in clumsy metaphors but instead creates a compelling take on America’s obsession with oil, money and business.
Given how outstanding the actual film is, it is a little disappointing that this 2-disc special edition is lacking a little in features.
For the third time running, Anderson has chosen not to record a commentary. Perhaps he feels it should ‘speak for itself’, but given the excellence of his commentary on the marvellous R1 Boogie Nights DVD his audio absence is still sorely missed.
That said, what is here is still very good. The feature takes up the first disc and the transfer of the film is superb – the colours, lighting and sound are all wonderfully reproduced.
But the extras on the second disc – whilst interesting – are a little sparse given the importance of this film.
They include:
The Story Of Petroleum: This vintage featurette (1923-7) from The National Archives was created by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in collaboration with the Sinclair Oil Company as a promotional film. It runs for almost just over 25 minutes and provides some fascinating historical and social context. It shows how early oil pioneers looked for and extracted oil from the ground, as well as providing many useful nuggets of information. A nice touch is that Jonny Greenwood’s score is layered over what is an old silent film, making a stronger connection with Anderson’s feature.
’15 minutes’ slideshow: This is a highly effective 15 minute montage of shots from the film inter-cut with archive images the filmmakers used for their research. It is striking to see how influential these photographs were on the finished visuals – some are almost reproduced shot-for-shot. Again, Jonny Greenwood’s score provides a beautiful counterpoint to the visual mix.
Deleted Scenes: The first of the deleted scenes is called ‘Fishing’ and at just over 6 minutes long feels like something Anderson cut out late in the edit process. It show’s how Plainview’s men are badly delayed after their rope breaks and use a process called ‘fishing’ to recover their tools at the bottom of the oil well. There is also a notable exchange with Eli’s father that touches upon the central themes of faith and fathers. The second is a called ‘Haircut/Interrupted Hymn’ which is a strange mix of scenes from the film involving Plainview and H.W.
Dailies Gone Wild (Outtake): Taken from the sequence of Plainview and H.W. in the restaurant, it seems to shed a bit of light on Daniel Day Lewis’ acting methods and culminates in one of the lighter moments he had on set with his young co-star.
Trailer: The mysterious first teaser trailer was unusual in that PTA cut it and uploaded it on to YouTube without telling the studio, which freaked them out – until they saw all the positive comments left by users of the site (alas Paramount have since pulled it from YouTube). The fuller theatrical trailer reveals more about the plot and does a good job of compressing some of the juicier elements of the film.
Strangely, Buena Vista Home Entertainment (the UK distributor) have gone for a rather odd packaging which consists of folded card.
Although the design is nice, the way the discs slide out like an envelope doesn’t seem too practical in the long term.
Despite that, maybe we can hope for a beefed up special edition somewhere down the line. Until then, this remains an essential purchase for any true film lover.
To conclude, here is PTA discussing the film last September when it had a surprise world premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas:
There Will Be Blood is out now on DVD from Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Gotham-based securitization and P&A financing specialist Palisades Media has acquired the majority of beleaguered U.K. indie Tartan Films‘ 400-plus title library.
In May, Palisades bought the library of Tartan’s Stateside arm Tartan USA.
Both the U.K. and U.S. assets were bought after the companies slid into receivership.
‘We had such confidence after U.S. auction’, Palisades chairman-CEO Vin Roberti told Daily Variety. ‘The titles are very legitimate. There are very few people in this industry who have the taste (Tartan topper) Hamish (McAlpine) has’.
“There’s no denying Hamish McAlpine (former owner of Tartan Films) had a brilliant eye for cinema.
He amassed and distributed an extraordinary amount of thought-provoking and avant-garde films in three continents no less, and exposed audiences world-wide to some really remarkable and astonishing work.
We are thrilled to own the rights to the majority of both Tartan libraries and look forward to giving these films the kind of treatment they deserve and the attention that fans of independent cinema will truly appreciate.”
Who are Palisades Media? The Hollywood Reporter explain:
Palisades Media Corp. and its subsidiary Palisades Pictures provide print and advertising financing for the independent film market.
Together with its affiliate, Palisades Media Asset Fund, Palisades has securitized and financed more than 130 films.
The acquisition of Tartan will bring its library to almost 600 titles.
The moment that stands out for me is around 5.03 when he says ‘what if they’ve got the wrong guy?’
That is one of the key subjects of the recent documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, which explores how US troops interrogated and tortured an innocent Afghan taxi driver to death.
The Last Freak Show is a short documentary directed by Simon Tatum that airs on More4 this Tuesday.
It follows a musician named Jeffrey Marshall who was born without arms or legs, his feet growing almost directly from his hips.
Curious as to whether people come to his gigs for the music or to stare at a limbless man playing the bass guitar with his feet, he decided to explore his identity as a disabled performer by exhibiting himself in ‘The World of Wonders‘ – the last remaining ‘freak show’ in America.
A Stanley Kubrick season starts this month on UK TV channel More4, with a series of his films screening between the 15th and 25th of July.
Channel 4 Creative Services have created this excellent TV spot to promote the season, which is a one shot recreation of The Shining set, shot from Kubrick’s point of view:
The season kicks off with a documentary called Citizen Kubrick, which screens on Saturday 15th at 10pm.
It is presented by Jon Ronson, who was invited to the director’s estate in 2001 to explore the many boxes the Kubrick had collected during his life at Childwickbury Manor in Hertfordshire.
The season continues over the next two weeks with the following films:
Day of the Fight (1951): An early documentary short about a day in the life of a middleweight Irish boxer named Walter Cartier and his fight with black middleweight Bobby James. (Saturday 15th July, 11.05pm)
Paths of Glory (1957): One of Kubrick’s early classics – a searing anti-war film about innocent French soldiers sentenced to death after taking the blame for the mistakes of their superiors. Kirk Douglas gives an excellent central performance as Colonel Dax, an officer trying to prevent the soldiers’ execution. Watch out too for a cameo near the end from the actress who whould become his wife Christiane Kubrick, then credited as ‘Christiane Harlan’. (Screens 17 July, 11:55am).
Flying Padre(1951): Another documentary short about two days in the life of a priest in New Mexico called Father Fred Stadtmuller whose spreads the word of God with the aid of a mono-plane. (Screens on Friday 18th July, 12.55pm in the afternoon)
Lolita (1962): Kubrick moved to England in the early 1960s to film this adaptation of Vladimir Nabakov’s novel and stayed here for the rest of his life. James Mason stars as Humbert Humbert, a middle aged professor obsessed with a precocious young girl. Although aspects of the novel had to be toned down for censorship reasons, it is still a work of considerable interest. (Screens Friday 18th July at 9pm).
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): Kubrick’s adaptation of Arthur C Clarke‘s short story The Sentinel reimagined science fiction on film and inspired a generation of writers and directors. The story charts how a mysterious alien intelligence influences mankind from it’s earliest origins to a futuristic space mission involving two astronauts and an advanced computer named HAL 9000. The visual effects (overseen by Kubrick and engineered by Douglas Trumbull) are still dazzling and the use of classical music (especially Richard Strauss’sAlso sprach Zarathustra) is now inextricably linked with the film and it’s imagery. (Screens Saturday 19th July, 1.30pm)
Killer’s Kiss(1955): Kubrick’s second film is a short (only 67 mins), low budget film noir about a has-been boxer (Jamie Smith) who falls for a woman with a violent boyfriend. (Screens Monday 21st July, 11.30pm)
The Killing (1956): Notable for being Kubrick’s first feature with a professional cast and crew, this is a tautly plotted heist drama adapted from Lionel White‘s novel Clean Break by Kubrick and co-screenwriter Jim Thompson. Sterling Hayden (who would return in a key supporting role in Dr Strangelove) takes the lead. (Screens Wednesday 23rd July, 12.05am).
The Shining (1980): A remarkable and enduring adaptation Stephen King‘s novel about the winter caretaker (Jack Nicholson) of a remote hotel who slowly goes insane, endangering his wife (Shelley Duvall) and young son (Danny Lloyd). Although King was upset with Kubrick’s take on the material, there is much here to feast on, especially the meticulous production design, inventive sound editing and innovative visuals. It was the first time Kubrick used the Steadicam, which was invented by Garrett Brown – the cinematographer who achieved many of the remarkable tracking shots in the film. (Screens Friday 25th July, 9pm).
It is a great chance to catch up on the work of one of the most important directors in the history of cinema.
A new interview series hosted by Elvis Mitchell is about to start airing on TCM in the US.
It is called Under the Influence and features Mitchell speaking to various luminaries from the film world about how classic film has influenced their lives.
This week sees the UK release of The Visitor, a drama about an economics professor (Richard Jenkins) who discovers two illegal immigrants living in his New York apartment.
After seeing WALL-E at the weekend I have to once again salute the geniuses at Pixar for creating another extraordinary animated film.
Set in a dystopian future circa 2815, it is about a waste disposal robot named WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) who meets another robot named EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) and gets involved in an unlikely romance, as well as the future of the human race.
Directed by Andrew Stanton, it is probably the most visually impressive work Pixar have yet committed to film (and that is saying a lot) but at the same time it also resonates emotionally as a suprisingly touching love story.
Robots haven’t been this endearing since Silent Running and the two central characters are joy to watch – the boxy old school charm of WALL-E contrasting beautifully with the cool, sleek beauty of EVE.
Although I would never thought I would ever compare a Pixar movie to There Will Be Blood – both have startling opening sequences with little or no dialogue.
One of the clever aspects of the film is the casting of sound designer Ben Burtt as the central character – for those unfamilar with his work he was the pioneering sound editor on the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films.
Along with the animators, Burtt has helped create a character who is extremely expressive without using conventional language.
The same is true for EVE, so it is even more impressive that the filmmakers have managed to craft a compelling relationship between them.
The visual landcaspes are equally impressive, full of rich detail and nods to other sci-fi films.
I’ll review it in full in couple of weeks on the podcast, but for the time being this is another glorious home run for the Pixar team.
WALL-E is out now in the US and in the UK on 11th July
If, like me, you grew up watching films on video in the UK you might remember this VSC infomercial with Simon Bates(the former Radio 1 DJ) which explained to viewers why a film had a certain certificate.
What is amusing about them now is the dry way in which they discuss sex and swearing like it was a scientific experiment.
It focuses on the controversial death in custody of an Afghantaxi driver named Dilawar, who in 2002 was beaten to death by US soldiers at the Bagram Air Base.
Directed by Alex Gibney (who made the 2005 documentary Enron: The Samrtest Guys in the Room) it examines in clinical detail the events surrounding Dilawar’s death, featuring interviews with the troops who caused it and contributions from many figures involved in the story.
The film is meticulous in examining the evidence and explores how the court-martialed soldiers involved were acting upon ambiguous policies that tacitly encouraged torture.
It also makes the connection between the detention tactics used at Bagram and those at Abu Ghraib.
Revolver have done a fine job with the UK DVD, with over 70 minutes of extra footage including:
Commentary: Director Alex Gibney which goes into more detail about the film and the choices he made dring the production and edit.
Interview with Frank Gibney: The director’s father – who was himself a US Navy interrogator during World War 2 – speaks about his experiences questioning Japanese POW’s and his anger at the current US policies.
Outtakes: Some of the sequences which didn’t make the final cut are very interesting, including: a sequence about a SERE school (a US ‘survival’ boot camp) who supplied methods to the US army at Guantanamo Bay; a more detailed sequence involving Tony Lagouranis highlighting the absurdity of interrogating suspects in Iraq who were innocent and Carlotta Gaul talking about Dilawar’s family and village; a sequence about a website selling a restraint chair that was used to break a hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay; Clive Stafford Smith discussing his client Binyam Mohammed who was tortured in horrific ways; former US president Jimmy Carter discussing the ‘gross, unprecedented violation’ of US principles that the Bush adminstration has engaged in.
UK distributor Tartan Films has gone into administration, ending months of speculation.
The business, founded in 1982 by Hamish McAlpine, is believed to have made more than 20 staff redundant.
The news has come as no surprise after months of discussion about the company’s finance.
Last year, the business restructured with veteran managing director Laura De Casto leaving the business.
Head of acquisitions Jane Giles also left the business to become head of content at the British Film Institute. Other veterans who left the company in recent months included publicity veteran Sarah Bemand.
The company announced a $6m investment package in November 2007 but sources said that ultimately fell through. The company has announced no new acquisitions since that time.
“It’s a sad day. The company had an extrordinary track record of distributing films from all over the world and it has become a brand in the way that not many publishers of intellectual property in any sector have managed.”
Hamish McAlpine founded the company in 1984 and it merged with Metro Pictures in 1992 (becoming Metro Tartan) beofre going back to being Tartan Films.
Last October Tartan announced it had received a cash injection of £3 million ($6.2 million) in the form of a convertible loan from a private investor and also had restructured its Brit operation, with managing director Laura De Casto ankling.
The company’s theatrical and home entertainment departments, previously run out of separate London offices, were also merged into one entity based at Tartan’s head office.
Tartan USA, the company’s U.S. arm, announced at this year’s Cannes that it was being foreclosed. Film print and advertising financing company Palisades Media Corp. has since bought the U.S. rights to its library.
There has been no official statement from execs about the immediate future of the company, but it looks likely that liquidators and accountants will come in to assess the company’s assets before selling them off.
Hancock is the new film starring Will Smith as a depressed, drunken superhero loathed by a public that finds him a dangerous nuisance.
Jason Bateman plays a Ray Embrey, a PR man who decides to help Hancock rehabilitate his image after he is saved by him whilst Charlize Theron plays Ray’s sceptical wife, Mary.
I recently spoke to Jason and Charlize about their roles in the film and Arrested Development – the TV show they starred in from 2003-2006.
The supporting cast includes Kevin Bacon (Jack Brennan), Oliver Platt (Bob Zelnick), Sam Rockwell (James Reston Jr.), Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones (Swifty Lazar) and Matthew Macfadyen (John Birt).
Set during the summer of 1977, the interviews between Frost and Nixon became a huge TV event as over 45 million viewers tuned into to see what their disgraced former leader had to say about his role in the Watergate affair.
Sandra Hebron, the Festival’s Artistic Director says:
“We’re delighted to be opening our festival with this fascinating study of a unique moment in cultural and political life. Engrossing and entertaining by turns, and brilliantly performed, it is a film with strong London links and a perfect opener for this year’s festival.”
Screenwriter and executive producer Peter Morgan notes:
“I’ve been so fortunate with FROST/NIXON, working with two world-class directors in theatre and film and watching two lead actors at the top of their games. Now, having the film premiere at my hometown just completes a thrilling, fairy-tale ride for me.”
On behalf of Working Title, producer Eric Fellner added:
“We are thrilled to open the London Film Festival with FROST/NIXON, and it is entirely appropriate as London is where the journey began for all of us when we saw and were enthralled by the original play when it opened here in August 2006.”
Imagine Entertainment’s Ron Howard and Brian Grazer concluded:
“We take great pride in documenting the lives of those who have changed our world. What David Frost and Richard Nixon said and did in their series forever altered public perception of authority figures and the media’s role in interviewing them.
We are honoured that the London Film Festival is allowing Imagine and Working Title to open its festival by showcasing our story of these two men and their stunning display of truths.”
I remember seeing the play in the West End back in November 2006 and was riveted by how it explored the tensions behind the scenes, the negotiations that were struck over what could be asked, the motivations of the two principals (in many ways Frost had as much at stake as Nixon) and how it brilliantly weaved history with informed speculation.
It is good to see Sheen and Langella return for the film version as both gave knockout performances on stage – Sheen in particular gave one of the most impressive portrayals I have ever seen in a live theatre.
The film version – if it delivers the goods – looks like an end-of-year awards contender.
Frost/Nixon will open the London Film Festival on Wednesday 15th October, opens in the US on 5th December (in limited release) and in the UK on January 9th 2009.
It is a suprisingly funny film – despite the fact that, like a lot of Sandler comedies, it descends into third act slapstick madness.
Some of the social/political humour was actually quite ballsy, think Munich crossed with Happy Gilmore and you’ll get some idea of way this film mines the Arab-Israeli conflict for humour.
Despite some predictable lapses into ‘why can’t we all get along’ territory, I found myself laughing at some of the gleefully nonsensical elements.
Sandler’s comedies don’t always do that well outside the US, but perhaps this one might buck the trend.
You Don’t Mess With The Zohan opens in the UK on August 15th and is out now in the US
The UK DVD of Taxi to the Darkside came in the post this morning (a full review of the disc will be up soon) but my eagerness to watch it was tempered somewhat by more news about the ongoing dispute between director Alex Gibney and THINKFilm, the US distributor of the film.
Basically, Gibney is extremely upset with THINKFilm about how they handled the US release of the film, especially in the wake of it winning the Best Documentary Oscar.
Documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney is seeking more than $1 million in damages from ThinkFilm, distributor of his recent Oscar-winning film, “Taxi to the Dark Side.”
Late last week X-Ray Productions, producers of Gibney’s film, charged that ThinkFilm fradulently hid the fact that it could not properly release the film in theaters, in a complaint filed with the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), the organization agreed upon by both sides to arbitrate any dispute.
Responding to Gibney’s claims and the request for arbitration, ThinkFilm president Mark Urman this weekend defended his company and its work on the film and sharply criticized Gibney.
Here is Gibney’s take:
“ThinkFilm did not disclose to us that the company did not have the financial ability to properly release the picture,” Gibney told indieWIRE via email this weekend, in the wake of recent reports of a financial crisis at ThinkFilm (see related indieWIRE article).
A copy of X-Ray’s complaint to the IFTA, reviewed by indieWIRE, seeks $1 million in damages, payment of legal fees, a termination of its agreement with ThinkFilm, and a return of the film’s distribution rights.
Charging that ThinkFilm didnt have the financial resources to properly exploit Gibney’s film, the X-Ray complaint contends that ThinkFilm buried the film after its Oscar win and, “jeopardized the success of the film by failing to abide by the terms of contracts it entered into with public relations firms and advisors and failed to pay such firms for work done and expenses incurred.”
The complaint charges “fraud and intentional and willful breaches of its marketing obligations under the distribution agreement.”
“How ironic that a man who professes to care so much about the people who worked hard on his film would then inflict such insult and injury upon the blameless and tireless THINKFilm staff,” an angry Mark Urman from ThinkFilm countered to indieWIRE this weekend.
“And, how disappointing that a man who professes to be all about the cause, is now all about the money.”
“For the record,” Urman continued, “Even though he got everything he and his investors had coming to them, Mr. Gibney is seeking more money for himself, not for vendors who have yet to be paid. Meanwhile, THINK is completely in the red on this film.”
Alex can blame Think for not spending enough money promoting the film after the win. He can argue that there was a bigger theatrical life for his film and that Think blew it.
But it would be a real feat to prove actionable negligence, unless he has some specific inside info that has not yet become public.
I would assume that this whole thing is simply a play by the very, very smart Mr. Gibney to get back the rights to his Oscar winning movie from a company he is disappointed with and who he fears, reasonably, might soon sell off his property to someone else.
And I would assume that Mark Urman, who has been pushed hard by Gibney and is under enormous pressure in a community that he has been a respected and hard-working member of for a long time, is slapping back at Gibney because he has just had it.
So, what we have here is a bit of a mess and something of a distraction from what is one of the best documentaries to come out in the last few years.
The last year has been a difficult time for movies about the war on terror and documentaries in general, so it is especially saddening to see a landmark film such as this get underexposed due to audience awareness (or lack of it) and rancour over US distribution.
It was therefore disappointing to see that last week it opened at one cinema in the UK (the ICA in London) despite huge critical acclaim and an Oscar win behind it.
However, credit to Revolver for releasing the film here in the UK and unusually the DVD is being released very soon after the theatrical window.
People sometimes ask me about the banner at the top of this site, e.g. what is the image? Is it an ad? At the moment it is usually an image (or images) from a current film I find notable.
Despite the recent dispute over it’s release, Taxi to the Darkside is not just a notable film but an essential one.
This is the trailer:
Check out this lengthy interview David Poland did with Alex Gibney a few months back in which they discuss the film and various related issues:
