Thompson On Hollywood

I Am Legend: Matheson Redux

I Am Legend is a big-budget ($150 million) studio movie that will score at the boxoffice, thanks to the amazing Will Smith and $40-million in fab pixel-FX, although its thrill-and-chills violence will skew audiences toward the male side.

New York Mag lays out one of the cool shots of a deserted daytime Manhattan. (Here's David Edelstein's review.)

What happens at night, well, that's where the book that the movie was based on, written by Richard Matheson back in 1954, was cooler in its day, because now, vampires have been done to death. The filmmakers try to scoot past that a bit. I Am Legend's fleet CG night critters are more like virus-ridden zombies who can't survive in daylight. But they're still vampires. I would have liked them better if they'd used good old-fashioned FX and make-up. When they're humanoid CG, they're just not so believable. Smith works hard in the movie to humanize his character and give him heart. But this is a straightforward actioner.

I love the book---it's tough stuff. (Stephen King is a major Matheson fan.) A fave film of mine, A Stir of Echoes, is based on a Matheson story, as is The Incredible Shrinking Man, What Dreams May Come, Somewhere in Time and Steven Spielberg's Duel. And of course Omega Man and Last Man on Earth were also based on I Am Legend.

This film version is finally less interesting than it could have been.

Weekend Boxoffice: Compass Opens Weakly

The unfortunate fallout of a weak $26-million estimated opening for the $180-million would-be fantasy franchise The Golden Compass is that New Line Cinema's future is now in question, as Pam McClintock points out:

“Compass,” directed by Chris Weitz and starring Dakota Blue Richards, Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, is based on the young-adult book trilogy “His Dark Materials” by Brit author Philip Pullman. Story is set in a multidimensional world where each person’s soul is contained in an animal and a diabolical church seeks to control all.

New Line has floundered for much of the year at the box office and looked to “Compass” to ride the same wave that turned “The Lord of the Rings” into a blockbuster film franchise. Some have put the production budget for “Compass” at north of $200 million, while the studio said it cost $180 million.

New Line’s contract with Time Warner is up in 2008, so the studio’s box office performance is sure to be scrutinized.

While New Line scored in the summer with “Hairspray” and “Rush Hour 3,” its fall releases have been lackluster, with “Rendition,” “Martian Child” and “Love in the Time of Cholera” failing to connect with auds.

New Line emphasized the worldwide performance of “Compass,” saying Pullman’s books are far more popular overseas. Even though the studio has sold off international territories, meaning its returns will be capped, it says it is in solid financial shape.

In the U.S., some Catholic orgs have called for a boycott of the film, saying it will encourage children to read the books, which offer a decidedly negative view of the church. New Line and Weitz toned down this aspect in the film.

Domestic audience was 50% families and 50% people aged 15-55. Audience was evenly split among the genders.

“We are a bit disappointed with the domestic opening, but we still think we are set up very well for the holiday. We are the first film out of the gate and will have good word of mouth and slow build. We should have a successful holiday season,” said New Line prexy-chief operating officer of worldwide marketing and distribution Rolf Mittweg.

LA Film Critics Reward There Will Be Blood, Day-Lewis, Cotillard

As I suspected, the National Board of Review vote for No Country for Old Men moved the LAFCA to seek another consensus winner, a film that could use their support: There Will Be Blood. Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis also won director and actor, respectively. As expected, La Vie En Rose's Marion Cotillard won actress, and Gone Baby Gone's Amy Ryan continues to solidify her supporting actress Oscar slot. A screenplay win for The Savage's Tamara Jenkins can only help push her forward. And 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days continues its surge of impressive wins. Here's Variety.

LA Film Critics' 2007 LAFCA Awards

Best Picture: There Will Be Blood
Runner-up: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Runner-up: Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Actress: Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose
Runner-up: Anamaria Marinca, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days

Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Runner-up: Frank Langella, Starting Out In The Evening

Screenplay: Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
Runner-up: Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

Foreign language film: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Runner-up: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

New generation: Sarah Polley, Away From Her

Supporting actress:
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Runner-up: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There

Supporting actor:
Vlad Ivanov, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days)
Runner-up: Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild

Best Feature Animation (tie):
Persepolis and Ratatouille

Documentary/Non-fiction film:
No End in Sight, directed by Charles Ferguson
Runner-up: Sicko, directed by Michael Moore

Production design:
Jack Fisk, There Will Be Blood
Dante Ferretti, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Music:
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, Once
Runner-up: Jonny Greenwood, There Will Be Blood

Cinematography:
Janusz Kaminski, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Robert Elswit, There Will Be Blood

Douglas Edwards Indie Award:
Colossal Youth directed by Pedro Costa

Career Achievement:
Sidney Lumet

The Boston Film Critics went for No Country for Old Men.

And Lust, Caution dominated Asia's Chinese-language Golden Horse Awards.

The IDA honors Michael Moore's Sicko.

Atonement: Long Shot

The new marketing trend this season seems to be flooding YouTube with film clips. For Sweeney Todd, the thinking was, let's get audiences accustomed to the idea of Johnny Depp singing. Here is one of many shots from Atonement: a bravura five-minute tracking shot showing the thousands of soldiers who retreated to the beach at Dunkirk. Here's American Cinematographer on how D.P. Seamus McGarvey pulled it off.

Like many things about this movie--which played well to mixed response at the Academy yesterday, many love it, some don't, just like the critics--this shot has its admirers and detractors. It's a stunning shot, but does it take the viewer out of the movie, or serve a dramatic purpose? It makes you say, 'Wow, what a long shot! Look what Joe Wright did with the camera! Look how complex this is!' I for one get a kick out of bravura shots like this, whether it's Martin Scorsese, Brian DePalma, Robert Altman, Orson Welles, Antonioni or Alfonso Cuaron.

Foster Thanks Partner in Acceptance Speech

Accepting a leadership award from Sherry Lansing at last week's Women in Entertainment event, Jodie Foster thanked "Cydney," her long-term partner, for sticking with her through thick and thin. Foster has long kept any reference to her private life out of the public eye, so this marked a significant change for the actress.

The Daily News' Greg Hernandez picked up on the speech; so did Defamer. Here's an old shot of Jodie and Cydney:

Strike Talks Drowning in Rhetoric

Reading the coverage of the break-off of negotiations between the AMPTP and the WGA is depressing, because the heightened rhetoric on both sides, with talk of exorcism on the one hand and ruined holidays on the other, is not productive.

Certainly, the outlook is grim, with no prospects for renewed talks until after the new year at best. Many folks are wondering if replacement negotiators might ease the situation. The personal animosity among the reps on both sides is not helping. Why can't the writers select someone who knows the issues and is trusted by both sides---like, say, writer/producer John Wells--to help them move forward?

At this point the directors will likely do the job in any case.

Best Film Lists: Sight & Sound

Sight & Sound Magazine invited its critics and contributors to vote for their top five of the year. Here are the results: Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days leads the poll, followed by David Lynch's Inland Empire, so that should tell you something.

I Am Legend: Early Review

Here's Variety's review by Todd McCarthy:

Although Smith's role may not be as difficult in certain ways as Tom Hanks' was in "Cast Away" -- Smith gets to move around a lot, indulge in eye-catching action scenes and interrelate with a wonderful dog rather than a volleyball -- they are comparable in that both parts required the actors to carry their films virtually singlehandedly, with long silent passages. Smith manages it very well, showboating only briefly to show off his newly trim physique and intermittently displaying the incipient madness that would surely come from being alone against an unrelenting threat.

Thesp's greatest scene, which reps an inspired staging choice on the director's part, consists of a prolonged, agonizing closeup of Neville dealing with his dog after it's been contaminated; you're thankful not to have to watch what he's doing, and the powerful emotions Smith expresses are riveting to behold.

Weekend Boxoffice: Golden Compass Meets Art-House Glut

New Line's bid for a new fantasy franchise, The Golden Compass, should overpower the rest of the field this weekend, which also sees a rash of art-house openings led by Atonement, Juno and Grace is Gone. Here's Variety's take.

Fandango Five – Ticket Sales (as of 12/07/07 10:00 a.m. PT):

Movie Fandango User Rating % Fandango Sales

Hannah Montana (upcoming concert movie) “Must Go” 49%

The Golden Compass “Go” 30%

Enchanted Go” 16%

Beowulf “Go” 4%

Juno “Must Go” 3%

Fandango Weekly Poll (as of 12/07/07 10:00 a.m. PT):

Which holiday movie are you most looking forward to seeing?

I Am Legend 31%

National Treasure: Book of Secrets 28%

The Golden Compass 16%

Sweeney Todd 12%

Alien vs. Predator: Requiem 7%

Charlie Wilson’s War 6%

Trailer Watch: Speed Racer

"Go, Speed Racer, go Speed Racer, go Speed Racer, go!"

The trailer is up

Atonement: Dueling Reviews

There's no question Atonement played well at the L.A. premiere at the Academy last night, which drew director Joe Wright, supporting actress candidates Saorise Ronan and Vanessa Redgrave (stunning in form-fitting black and gold), and stars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. Just after the screening, Redgrave was still recovering from seeing the film again, which moved her deeply. Knightley recalled how they all had to listen to Johnny Depp's deep baritone as he practiced Sweeney Todd songs in his trailer during the last Pirates filming; she can't wait to see Sweeney. [Here's her LAT profile.] With a Scottish lilt, McAvoy marveled at how Knightley handles the paparazzi that tend to accumulate around her, and plans to follow Clive Owen's advice when celebrity hits: stay polite, courteous and extremely dull. He said he and his wife "don't get around much."

Tony Scott's Atonement pan in the NYT was also a topic of conversation:

Unlike Mr. Wright’s brisk, romantic film version of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” “Atonement” fails to be anything more than a decorous, heavily decorated and ultimately superficial reading of the book on which it is based. Mr. McEwan’s prose pulls you in immediately and drags you through an intricate, unsettling story, releasing you in a shaken, wrung-out state. The film, after a tantalizing start, sputters to a halt in a welter of grandiose imagery and hurtling montage

.

As rain leaked through the plastic tent on Wilshire Boulevard, Universal's David Linde was confident that the movie could overcome a few negative reviews, even though Scott will also berate the pic on ABC's Ebert & Roeper show. The movie earned an encouraging 85% fresh reviews on rottentomatoes.com.

Luckily for its Academy campaign, Atonement won a rave from the LAT's Ken Turan, who also read his review on NPR:

An assured and deeply moving work, "Atonement" is at once one of the most affecting of contemporary love stories and a potent meditation on the power of fiction to destroy and create, to divide and possibly heal. It is the kind of novel that doesn't get written very often or, if it does, rarely gets transferred to the screen with the kind of intensity and fidelity we find here.

UPDATE: Newsweek's David Ansen comes close to my take on the movie (see comment below).

Here are some clips:

Universal Pushes Wanted, Starring Atonement's McAvoy, Back to Summer

You can be sure that Universal subsidiary Focus Features' Oscar campaign for James McAvoy in Atonement is behind Universal's postponement of the release of the fantasy action flick Wanted into the summer of 2008. Now, the studio may also be banking that McAvoy's stardom will be enhanced after Atonement. But I don't see all the teen girls who will turn McAvoy into the next Leonardo DiCaprio flocking to Wanted, which looks like a strictly male-driven pic.

Wanted, which also stars Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie in what look like trademark formula roles, will now open on the prime date of June 27. They play members of a secret society; Wanted will surely be visually interesting, as it is the first English-language film directed by Russian Timur Bekmambetov (the Night Watch series).

Wanted now goes up against Bryan Singer's Valkyrie, possibly because Valkyrie may not be considered a big gun for that date, even with Tom Cruise starring.

Here's the trailer:

Oscar Watch: Juno

Various Oscar prognosticators suggest that Juno is too much of a teen flick to play to senior Academy voters. Judging from how the pic performed at my class this week, which reps the older demo quite well, that will not be an issue. This movie will build into a huge hit across many demos. Imagine that I served up one serious fall film after another to the class, from Michael Clayton, Reservation Road, Slipstream, Grace is Gone, Lions for Lambs, and The Kite Runner to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly...and then they got Juno.

Well, I think the Academy will respond in a similar way. My class ate up Juno like it was strawberry ice cream. They laughed. They felt for the parents and sweet teen Ellen Page (who is actually 20), who tries to be grown-up about being pregnant but still has to accept that she's just not prepared for parenthood. They ate up the two parents played by J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney. They adored boyfriend Michael Cera. And they applauded director Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking) and Minneapolis writer Diablo Cody when they walked in for their Q & A, dressed to the nines on the same night as their premiere.

Cody pointed out that contary to some reports, she never worked as a copywriter at an ad agency--she was just an assistant. "I got them coffee!" she protested. She admitted that she studied writing at the famed U of Iowa, but didn't like it very much. She had never studied screenwriting in any way when she embarked on writing Juno, spurred on by manager Mason Novick, who loved her Pussyranch blog. She was never pregnant, she said, and made it all up. And she came up with the device of having the runners go by with each new season. Here's Rachel Abramowitz's profile in the LAT, Dave Carr in the NYT, and my own column way back when.

Reitman dropped the screenplay he was developing as soon as he read Cody's script. He liked the way she confounds expectations--the yuppie couple turn out to be different than they seem at the beginning, the parents didn't behave predictably either. He described the his "fantasy parents."

Reitman wanted to hire Page after seeing her in the very dramatic and scary Hard Candy, but wasn't sure if she could be funny. It turned out she could. Page came up with many of the film's songs. Recognizing that they make a good team, Reitman has signed on to produce Cody's next, Fox Atomic's female horror pic Jennifer's Body. (I see a trend: Teeth is a feminist horror flick, and here's Ellen Page's next.)

Juno got great reviews today, 92% fresh on rotten tomatoes.

At the LAT screening of the pic, Reitman and Cody were joined by Janney and Jason Bateman:

When asked about writing her first script, Diablo Cody replied, “I was totally green. I figured since the movie was only about 90 minutes that if it takes longer than 2 months to write, I’m just a douche.”

Jason Reitman let everyone know his favorite scene in the movie is the ultrasound scene and it was that scene that led him to direct the movie. He commented, “It was so heartbreakingly good I had to put my own screenplay down and try to get the job to direct Juno.”

When asked if he felt like the script was authentic and if he changed anything, Reitman said he kept wondering, “Where are the horny idiot boys like me?!”

[Telluride photo of Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody by Chris Willman]

Oscar Parties: Clooney Talks Clayton, Burton Talks Todd

'Tis the time of year for industry/Oscar parties. It's about trying to remind the press of who they should be rooting for the in the Oscar race, basically.

Tuesday night Warner Bros. hosted the press at El Cielo on Burton Way to meet and greet the Michael Clayton gang: George Clooney, Tilda Swinton (man, she's tall), Tony Gilroy and Tom Wilkinson. Clooney, clutching a tall clear drink that he didn't sip once, recalled that on the very first day of filming Tony Gilroy stuck him in a jail cell to film Tom Wilkinson's opening tour-de-force monologue. That knocked him for a loop, Clooney said. Wilkinson had thought it would just be done in voiceover, but they actually filmed the scene---and then looped the whole thing over afterwards anyway.

Clooney is heading over to Dubai, where he shot Syriana, to do a Film Festival panel about Darfur--he said the moderate countries like Dubai and Egypt are the ones that can have an impact on what's going on in Darfur--more than America.

Why were films like Syriana and Good Night and Good Luck embraced by audiences while the more recent rash of political films have not been? "People like ambiguity," Clooney suggested, admitting that he had not seen all the films. "They don't want to be told what they should think."

That's as good an answer as any.

Wednesday night on the Paramount lot, Sweeney Todd wowed the industry crowd. Steven Spielberg, Stacey Snider, David Geffen, Walter Parkes, Dick Zanuck, Tim Burton, Sasha Baron Cohen, John Logan and a fedoraed Johnny Depp were all on hand. Geffen brought Rita Wilson over to talk to Depp, who gamely hung out and posed for photos until well past 11 PM, and kneeled down for a shot with wheel-chaired actress Rose Marie (Sally Rogers on the Dick Van Dyke Show). The throng also included Ron Meyer, Harry Dean Stanton, Gary Shandling, Martin Short, Joe Drake, Jon Feltheimer, Joel Silver, Gary Ross, Wesley Strick, and Arianna Huffington. Paramount exec Rob Moore, who is getting a promotion soon, beat a hasty retreat after the screening. Director Michael Mann, who will direct Depp in his next as Chicago thug John Dillinger, was also there. The Envelope's Tom O'Neill snapped photos and posts a podcast.

Most folks liked the movie while at the same time many refrained from eating the miniature creme brulees that were being offered around--they looked like pies. Burton said he timed the movie instinctively, adding more music but cutting back the opening Sweeney Todd chorus, which they recorded but never shot, because it just didn't feel right. What I like best about the movie is that it is utterly Burton's. No one messed with it, he confirmed: no testing, no rejiggering for any reason. It's just the movie I wanted to make, he said.

Sweeney Todd Clips

Interestingly, DreamWorks is drumming up interest in Tim Burton's movie take on Stephen Sondheim's musical by making a whopping nine clips, mostly musical numbers, available on the web. That's a lot!

National Board of Review Names No Country for Old Men Best Film

The National Board of Review, which is not necessarily predictive but does add early momentum to movies in the award season derby, has named the Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men as best film. It's a happy day in the Affleck family, as both Ben and his brother Casey grabbed nods for best new director (Gone Baby Gone) and best supporting actor, respectively. Amy Ryan also nabbed a supporting actress win for Gone Baby Gone. Oscar blog And the Winner Is goes through the nominees exhaustively.

The other winners are:

Director: Tim Burton, "Sweeney Todd"

Actor: George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"

Actress: Julie Christie, "Away From Her"

Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"

Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"

Foreign Film: "The Diving Bell And The Butterfly"

Documentary: "Body Of War"

Animated Feature: "Ratatouille"

Ensemble Cast: "No Country For Old Men"

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: Emile Hirsch, "Into The Wild"

Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: Ellen Page, "Juno"

Best Directorial Debut: Ben Affleck, "Gone Baby Gone"

Best Original Screenplay (tie):Diablo Cody, "Juno" and Nancy Oliver, "Lars and the Real Girl"

Best Adapted Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen, "No Country For Old Men"

Besides "No Country," here's NBR's top ten, in alphabetical order:

Best Films of 2007

No Country for Old Men won the best picture of the year poll at awards daily.

Dark Knight: Nolan Speaks

MTV talks to Chris Nolan about The Dark Knight.

Golden Compass: First Five Minutes

Here's the first five minutes of The Golden Compass.

Sweeney Todd: Reviews

Days after the blogs weighed in, the trades posted the first lengthy reviews on Sweeney Todd Monday, a full week earlier than DreamWorks had initially intended. They are favorable. Here's Todd McCarthy in Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Screen International.