Rant - Captivity - False Advertising?

I'm about three steps behind on this story, but today the trailer for Captivity, the new Elisha Cuthbert thriller, was released, and boy....it's something. You can find it by clicking HERE

Holy Crap!

THE FILM THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE

THE MOVIE SO INTENSE IT WAS PUNISHED

Did Elisha Cuthbert make a snuff film? Cause, really, that's what I get from this trailer. If I don't suffer a heart attack while watching Captivity then I will be gravely disappointed. But you know what? I don't think I will. Upon closer inspection this whole marketing campaign reeks of desperation.

Now, on one hand I have to hand it to After Dark Films. In recent months, with their After Dark Film Festival, which comprised of "8 so scary they were banned films to die for", playing in limited engagements at select theatres, they have taken on a William Castle level of promotional zest. For those unfamiliar with Castle, he liked to promote his cheapo horror flicks with awesome gimmicks like joy buzzer seating, and special ghost glasses. I really enjoy the creative lengths a film company will go to in order to promote a no budget, first timer's film, but Captivity seems to be another beast entirely.

Captivity seems to be a prestige project (as prestigious as you can get for a horror film) that went terribly wrong, and now the companies are scrambling in order to make sure they get their money back.

Clearly, this ad is a response to the PUNISHMENT they received due to this billboard. Without getting into the nitty gritty details, this billboard, as well as other posters, including the one at the top of the article, were deemed inappropriate, they hadn't been passed through the MPAA, and were pulled because they were too graphic. The rating for the movie (the R rating) was suspended which puts the film in a bit of jeopardy because unrated movies can't play in many theatres.

So, instead of wallowing on these unfortunate actions, the studios are playing up the controversy, but using decidedly sneaky tactics. Since most people probably haven't heard, or don't care to know about the billboard incident (which honestly has nothing to do with the content of the movie), they won't understand the nature of the film's PUNISHMENT. Instead, the trailer pumps up the vague PUNISHMENT in order to create a sick fascination; implying that the film contains graphic material unseen on motion picture screens.

Now, I'm always up for seeing a horror film that will get under my skin, and if that means pushing limits of bad taste...well, I won't necessarily say no. And you know what? If Captivity was the work of some first time director, and an out-to-impress writer I might actually believe that it could be pretty shocking in a down and dirty way (like it's being advertised).

But Captivity won't live up that hype, and as the credits pop up on the trailer it becomes extremely obvious that this whole marketing campaign is a salvage operation.

First off, look at the name of the director. Roland Joffe! This is the man who directed The Killing Fields, a haunting look at the Cambodian civil war, and The Mission, a poetic film about South American missionaries. Now, I know that he has been off the map for a long time, but I find it hard to believe that Roland Joffe, a man whose films have honestly explored real tragedies, signed on to Captivity simply because he wanted to brutalize and torture Elisha Cuthbert for two hours, and make you throw up.

That's like saying Eli Roth, the director of Hostel and Cabin Fever, is going to direct a sequel to On Golden Pond because he's fascinated by romance in the twilight years.

I just don't buy it. That's not to say that Roland Joffe can't or shouldn't make a shocking horror film, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that there is some kind of statement he is trying to make with the film. Unfortunately, this message will completely fly over the heads of the teenagers hoping to see a FILM THEY WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO SEE!!!

More Proof? Look at the screenwriter.

The script is credited to Larry Cohen, who has always added a satirical, or political edge to even the goofiest of films. He made Q, a film about a giant pterodactyl attacking New York, and turned it into a movie about capitalizing off of tragedies. And say what you will about The Stuff, a film about alien ice cream turning mankind into zombies, but it's a pretty funny send up of eighties commercialism.

I guess my point is, when you look at the talent behind the scenes, this isn't a movie that started out as a shlockfest. You don't assemble people like this in the hopes that the advertisements will be sensationalistic. Something has gone wrong with the project. That seems fairly clear (lest we mention that the first trailer for the movie is out only two weeks before it's set to open). I imagine it boils down the old Hollywood standby, "Creative Differences". Who knows how much of Joffe's original film is still included?

I guess the horrible thing about this whole campaign, is that I'm actually curious about seeing Captivity. Does that mean it worked? Well, maybe for me, but I have a funny feeling blood thirsty teenagers who want to see lots of boundaries being tossed aside are going to want their money back.

Rant - The Departed - Best Director???

Did I see the same movie everyone else saw? The Departed? The Martin Scorsese film that is supposed to be a return to form for the director, and is now the film that, after his win at the Directors Guild, 86% ensures that he will win the Oscar for it?

Huh?

Don’t get me wrong, I liked The Departed, but this is the man who gave the world Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas. Up against those flicks, The Departed is the younger brother who gets beat up constantly by his stronger older siblings. Hell, even Gangs of New York and especially The Aviator (while less revolutionary) could kick The Departed’s ass!!!

At his best Scorsese brings a level of emotional and visual intensity to American cinema that is remarkably kinetic. Sure he can be subtle, but I love the Scorsese films that still feel like the chaotic work of that wild, independent twenty year old. His greatest movies have scenes that are legendary. I can’t shake the experience of watching Taxi Driver for the first time, and don’t get me started on how amazing that first shot of Raging Bull is.

I saw The Departed during its first weekend, and I got a kick out it. It’s fun, and could have been great, but it starts taking all sorts of stupid twists and turns, and suddenly the last half hour is this emotionless, clinical epilogue. Again, like Little Miss Sunshine *** out of 4 stars. I just didn’t feel any passion in the movie. For the first time in a long, long time (not since The Color of Money) I felt like Scorsese was kind of phoning it in.

There are great moments to be sure: Dropkick Murphy’s I’m Shipping Up to Boston playing over the opening credits, a great cat and mouse chase between Leo and Matt, and Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb advancing the unspoken sexual tension between Leo and Vera Farmiga. And it’s positively criminal to me that Matt Damon’s performance has been virtually forgotten come awards season (especially with all the strange love given to co-star Mark Wahlberg).

But for all its wonderful setup, the ending is amazingly flat, and even the best scenes aren’t going to be remembered when people talk of great Scorsese moments.

I want Scorsese to win an Oscar as much as the next fan, but it shouldn’t be a pity award given because he lost (unfairly..sure) several times in the past. There were some astonishingly well directed movies this year that have been tossed aside thanks to the Scorsese juggernaut. Both Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth and Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men have the energy and passion sadly missing from The Departed.

I suppose it’s just representative of the cautious thinking of the Academy. Back when Scorsese should have won for Taxi Driver, he wasn’t even nominated (John G. Avildsen won that year for Rocky), and he lost the Raging Bull award to Robert Redford for Ordinary People.

I suppose that means that whoever deserves it this year will end up winning ten or twenty years from now taking the award away from someone who deserves it more than them. Oh, awards.

Rants - Little Miss Sunshine - Best Picture???

Little Miss Sunshine is a fun, harmless movie that provides some good laughs, and in the end is a perfectly satisfying comedy. It’s well acted (especially by Alan Arkin), and ends on a genuine high note making sure its funniest scene is the climax, so that the audience feels energized leaving the theatre.

I liked it, and if I was reviewing it I would probably give it *** out of 4 stars. I wasn’t onboard with all the wackiness (a few quirks are cool, but a mute son, suicidal Proust scholar uncle, and drug addicted grandpa felt odd for the sake of being odd), and we’ve seen this story numerous times before, but it’s sweet and I laughed aloud quite a few times. It’s the kind of first time feature that makes you excited for the directors’ next film.

But now suddenly it’s one of the frontrunners for Best Picture at the Oscars (despite the directors not being nominated) after winning the Producer’s Guild Award for best picture and Screen Actors Guild Award for best ensemble. And frankly, I’m baffled. Sure, the Oscars have always been a popularity contest, but they have a fascinating way of revealing the artistic trends of North American society….so what is the Little Miss Sunshine hype saying?

Personally, I think it says a lot about our society’s desire for honest character driven comedy; the kind of comedy where laughs and tears can exist in the same moment. Basically, the kind of comedy that represents the struggles we all go through on a daily basis. We laugh hardest, or at least more genuinely, when we can see our struggles on the screen. I would argue that human comedy is the most difficult genre to do well, and because of that, Hollywood seems to have given up, focusing on loud in-your-face slapstick or gross-out comedies instead.

Yet people desire those heartfelt laughs (these are the films that tend to be word-of-mouth phenomenon), and when a movie like Little Miss Sunshine comes along it fills a void that is desperately missing in Hollywood.

It’s the equivalent of feeding a starving person a McDonald’s hamburger. You’re starving, so as long as it doesn’t taste horrible, and I think McDonalds is tasty, you’re going to think that hamburger is filet mignon on a bun.

But who can blame anyone? Where have the artists of human comedy gone?

Is there a Billy Wilder, Charlie Chaplin, Preston Sturges, Frank Capra, Ernst Lubitsch, George Cukor, Howard Hawks, or even an Alfred Hitchcock (who was just as adept at comedy as he was at thrills) around?

Kind of….

Woody Allen’s in a slump, James L. Brooks makes one film every five years and they aren’t all As Good As it Gets, Cameron Crowe has been hit or miss lately after the wonderful Almost Famous, Rob Reiner got left behind by the eighties. Maybe… Alexander Payne?

So, coming full circle to the movie in question; Little Miss Sunshine, the Big Mac of human comedies. It’s good, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It's just fast food. It’s too bad that the Academy Awards get carried away by the huge hype machines that sweep Hollywood. Today, Little Miss Sunshine is touted as a “brilliant” examination of a family coming together, but once the hype dies down I bet you it’ll be one of those movies lost in time, loved by some, liked by many, forgotten by most.