When Independent Digital Entertainment (InDigEnt) was founded in 1999, DV filmmaking was still fairly new, although not unknown or unused. The problem was that it wasn't yet recognized and respected enough to be taken seriously in the film market. This was three years before George Lucas delivered the DV-shot Attack of the Clones and changed many minds about the capability of digital cinematography. Today, a great percentage of indie and Hollywood features are made digitally, and InDigEnt may be somewhat obsolete. It comes as no surprise, then, that co-founder Gary Winick has announced the production company will be put to rest come 2007.
Winick, who directed the upcoming Charlotte's Web, got the idea for InDigEnt from the Dogma 95 movement and started the company with John Sloss as a way for indie filmmakers to finance small, cheap projects. Many of the movies produced by InDigEnt aren't too appealing to the eye, but a few of them were great showcases for actors, such as Aaron Stanford, who broke out by appearing in Winick's Tadpole, and Patricia Clarkson, who received an Oscar nod for Pieces of April. But while the company started off well, gaining notice for decent pics like Tadpole, Pieces of April, Personal Velocity: Three Portraits and Richard Linklater'sTape, it eventually fell to near-obscurity with forgettable titles, such as Kill the Poor, Puccini for Beginners and Steve Buscemi'sLonesome Jim (which I still say is hilarious, if not substantial).
There still seems to be no official press release regarding Don Cheadle's involvement in a Miles Davis biopic, but TMZ is reporting that not only is the actor confirmed to star as the jazz trumpet legend, but he will be directing the film, as well. Erik told us back in March about the project, but at that time it was thought that Sony Pictures would be involved and that Antoine Fuqua might be interested in directing it. Then, just a few weeks ago, Jessica mentioned that there are in fact two competing Davis pics.
Apparently, the main setback in getting this project started was securing music rights. That is where Sony ended up being involved, as producer Cary Brokaw went to the studio, which released his last two pictures, as a go-between in dealing with Davis' Columbia Records catalog (Sony Pictures and Columbia Records are owned by the same conglomerate). But the film will not be produced by the studio; Brokaw will reportedly be financing it independently. I predict, however, that in the end it will be distributed by Sony Classics.
Writing the screenplay for the bio are Chris Wilkinson and Steve Rivele, the Oscar-nominated duo behind other biopics, such as Nixon, Ali, Copying Beethoven and an upcoming film about Jackie Robinson. Depending on Cheadle's talent as a director -- we will see his handiwork first with next year's Tishomingo Blues --- he could very well go on to win an Oscar (or two!) for this project. We already know that he's an amazing actor and that the Academy loves biographical roles, so this is obviously a film that should generate buzz even before the thing has its first day of shooting.
Henry Alper (c.1917-2006) - Talent agent and manager who worked with Jerry Lewis, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Gogi Grant and composers John Williams, Elmer Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith and Henry Mancini. He died of cancer November 22, in Cathedral City, California.
Seth Arnett(c.1969-2006) - Stunt man who worked on The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park III, The Rocketeer, Ladder 51, Deep Impact and Basic Instinct. He also appeared as an actor in Alive. He died November 25, in Westlake Village, California.
George Brenholtz (c.1930-2006) - Former executive film producer for the U.S. Naval Media Center. His work includes a documentary on the Challenger disaster called The Salvage of the Challenger, a widely viewed training film called Trial By Fire: A Carrier Fights for Life and a monthly film series on the life of President Johnson, which are now archived at the Johnson Library in Austin. He died from injuries sustained after a car accident November 20, in Virginia.
Phyllis Cerf(1911 or 1916-2006) - Writer, actress and socialite who appeared in Winds of the Wasteland. She died of complications from a fall November 24, in New York.
Jan Hartman(c.1940-2006) - Playwright and screenwriter, mostly for television, who co-wrote the story for Mother Teresa: In the Name of God's Poor. He died November 9, in Wareside, Hertfordshire, England.
Beverly Hecht (c.1925-2006) - Hollywood agent, and cousin of screenwriter Ben Hecht, who represented Sammy Davis, Jr., Janet Leigh, Cicely Tyson, Drew Barrymore, Brad Garrett and Debra Winger. She died of cardiac arrest November 19, in Los Angeles.
As a fan of film and of reggae music, I say goodbye to an important figure. Perry Henzell, who directed The Harder They Come, died of cancer Thursday at the age of 70. Henzell wasn't a prolific filmmaker, but his 1972 classic helped popularize reggae music throughout the world. It is one of those films where the soundtrack is just as important as the actual picture.
Henzell shot a second film thirty years ago, but it wasn't finished until just recently. No Place Like Home premiered in September at the Toronto International Film Festival and is opening in Jamaica this weekend, screening at the Flashpoint Film Festival.
Having grown up listening to Jamaican music and performing in a ska/reggae band, I have to wonder if my life would have been different had The Harder They Come never been made. Sure, reggae would have likely been exposed to the world without the film, but that isn't important. What is important is that Henzell was able to showcase the music and its locale with such a raw, realistic portrayal. Outsiders were able to not only grab hold of the sound, but also its roots and its environment, as they were introduced to a music in its context, something rarely displayed so definitively.
The 1963 epic Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor in the title role, is often mistaken for being a financial flop. But it was actually one of the highest grossing pictures of its year. It couldn't turn a profit right away because its cost was just too high and so it may have seemed like a disaster originally, but after so many years it eventually made money. If the film were made today for an equivalent cost, it might not be as successful. Its budget would be close to $300 million. Judging from the grosses of other recent epics of this kind, it probably wouldn't come close -- even with international box office -- to making its money back, let alone the original's inflation-adjusted earnings of $442 million.
So, producer Scott Rudin will have to be tighter with the cash when he goes into production on a new Cleopatra film, which will be based on a book by Pulitzer-Prize winner Stacy Schiff due in 2009. Columbia Pictures bought the rights to this unfinished book based on a 10-page proposal for a reported seven figures (that's at least a million bucks, so already the budget is rising). It is expected to spotlight the Egyptian queen's strengths as a ruler as opposed to her reputation as a lover. Hopefully she will be played by someone closer in appearance than Taylor, though I would like to see Taylor have some sort of cameo.
This week Reuters has been holding a media summit in New York City, and many entertainment industry executives have not only been participating, they've been delivering some enjoyable quotes. Of particular interest to Cinematical are the statements from Regal Entertainment CEO Michael Campbell and Blockbuster CEO John Antioco. Campbell discussed the ever-threatening release window shrinkage, which he says he will continue to battle with strong measures. He claims that studios are okay to move up DVD releases for films that don't perform well at the box office, but he stands firm against even small distributors who wish to put out DVDs within eight weeks of their theatrical release. He won't give a minimum for acceptance regarding the window's time-frame, but he urges the film industry to recognize the importance of theatrical exhibition to the success of their product. Campbell also used the summit to announce that Regal has had success with their Guest Response System pagers, which are providing a solution to all the "physical battles" involving assaults with "bats, knives and guns" against cellphone users, and hopes to have them in theaters nationwide next year.
As far as the video rental business goes, Antioco said that it is a business that has reached a plateau, but is still the preferred way for consumers to see films. He is also quoted as saying that, "packaged media remains king for a long time." He claims that Blockbuster is not interested in fighting the digital alternatives (such as movie downloading), and says that it is a business they will need to be in, "for competitive reasons and for consumer reasons, to have a full-service brand." His company hasn't decided on a format for their planned download service, which might be provided through cable or satellite TV rather than computers, and they aren't ruling out any possibilities. On the subject of Blockbuster's rivalry with Netflix and the battle for the online rental market, Antioco says that, "if (Netflix CEO) Reed Hastings thinks he is going to be alone in it, I don't think he is correct."
I constantly complain about modern special effects, how CGI creatures don't look realistic enough, but I have to admit this is pretty hypocritical of me. I love the work of effects legend Ray Harryhausen, and his models were never believable. There was a lot more inventiveness and craftsmanship in his effects, though, and there's no denying that the films he worked on have a creative spark that many modern fantasy films lack. Sometimes I think that my preference for model work over CGI has to do with their tangible appearance, but then that doesn't explain my forgiveness for the composite shots in Harryhausen films, which typically appeared as flat as today's worst CGI.
Anyway, despite our now having films with great computer effects like Jurassic Park and Peter Jackson's King Kong, Harryhausen will never be forgotten. Earlier this year, the 86-year-old received a well-deserved George Pal Memorial Award at the Saturn Awards and he was celebrated in the documentary The Sci-Fi Boys, which screened at Tribeca. Now, thanks to YouTube, someone is presenting all of Harryhausen's creatures and spaceships in a chronologically edited montage. Check it out below:
I've become something of a Nick Broomfield junky lately. Thanks to Michael Moore, I had otherwise become averse to documentary filmmakers who appear in their work, but Broomfield has charmed me unlike anyone else (save for maybe Ross McElwee), and so I make an exception for his work. Years ago, when Jon Ronson discussed these filmmakers, whom he calls "Les Nouvelles Égotistes" in Sight and Sound, he called this charm "faux-naïfery," but regardless of how genuine Broomfield is, he is always entertaining and he is always a curious and primarily objective journalist. Comparatively, he is more focused than McElwee and less rabble rousing than Moore. The fact that Broomfield's new doc, Ghosts, has been picked to screen at Sundance in January, has me very sorry that I won't be making it to the festival this year.
My appreciation for Broomfield may fall some in the future, though, if news of his next project has any validity to it. The North County Times has mentioned a casting call for a film being credited to Broomfield to be made about the Iraq War experience. This call is for members or veterans of any military branch who served in Iraq, and will be held in San Diego this Saturday and in Yuma, Arizona, this Sunday. Aside from my confusion over the story's reference to Broomfield as being "the maker of Jarheadand Fast and the Furious 3" and my slight problem with the use of the masculine term "servicemen", I have a major issue with the project as it is described. I don't mean my usual issue with the over-abundance of Iraq War vet docs being made, I mean some things stated in a telephone recording that I listened to after calling the film's casting hotline. An unprofessional-sounding woman stumbles through the recording and eventually gets to the point that the production is looking for real vets rather than actors because of a desire for improvisation based on real accounts. Oh, and she says that the film is scripted and that those picked for the film will be paid.
None of the information that I have found about this "documentary" seems to technically be descriptive of a non-fiction film. Does this mean that we should question all of Broomfield's previous films, which include Kurt & Coutney, Biggie and Tupac and two docs about Aileen Wuornos? Sure, you could say that no documentary should be taken as truth, but there is a good line between disbelief and distrust.
I am still waiting to hear from Broomfield's people to see if they confirm or deny this unfortunate report. Let's hope they can explain what this is all about.
Wal-mart has officially entered the movie download game. Until now, the retail company had been sitting on the sidelines -- not without its influence, of course -- but apparently it isn't happy simply controlling the download industry, specifically iTunes' share, by way of bullying tactics. Starting today, customers can purchase a download of Superman Returnsfor as little as $1.97. There's a catch, however: to get the download, you have to first purchase the DVD of the same film. The DVD comes with a sticker, which features on it a code that you enter onto a special website. You then have the option of paying $1.97 for a copy for your iPod, Microsoft Zune, or other portable device; $2.97 for a copy for your laptop or desktop computer; or $3.97 for a copy that can be played on any type of player, portable or computer. Although it seems silly to have to buy the movie in order to buy another copy of the movie, at Wal-Mart's online price of $14.87 for the DVD ($5 less than Amazon and $1 less than Best Buy online), the company really knows what it is doing.
But, does this make Wal-Mart right? Whatever your opinions on the company, there is no denying that this idea is better than the plan to block studios from going to iTunes or the suggestion that Wal-Mart should get a percentage of iTunes movie sales. It may be a sneaky move, but it isn't an altogether perfect option for customers wanting movie downloads -- particularly those who want just the download -- and at least it is a competitive rather than bullying move.
Wal-Mart will be offering other DVD/download combos in the following months, and states that the idea is in a testing phase. As far as the company's interest in download-to-burn kiosks goes, I'm guessing that option has been abandoned.
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam is happening this week, and in addition to showcasing a ton of old and new docs from all around the world, the event features a number of discussion panels. On Saturday, for instance, was the First Annual IDFA UnDebate, which presented representatives from China, India, Australia, the United States, Israel and Brazil talking about the state of documentary film. IndieWIRE has a full report on this talk, and from their perspective it seems that global non-fiction cinema is in a great place right now.
Aside from the overall consensus that documentary films are experiencing good times all over, there were some interesting points to be learned from the UnDebate. For example, distribution for docs in China is pretty much limited to pirated DVDs. In Brazil, docs account for one-third of the country's theatrical exhibition. Australia is experiencing a thriving doc industry via television. In numerous areas, the fashion of using talking heads is going out of style.
Not everything is rosy in the doc world, however, and the American representatives were more attuned to the problems being faced with the genre (are we just more pessimistic here in the States?). Oscar-nominated director Jonathan Stack (The Farm: Angola, USA) expressed a frustration with trying to find a balance between activism and passivity. He apparently has issues with the self-servicing model happening a lot these days, having abandoned a recent project after becoming too involved in its political subject matter. Steven Bognar warned about too many pop docs following familiar models, such as the currently in vogue "contest films." He also claimed too many docs are too long (his latest, A Lion in the House,is 230 min., by the way). His directing partner, Julia Reichert, stated that because it is presently "sexy" to be a documentary filmmaker, that more docs are being produced than can find distribution.
When it comes to the cinema, Europeans do it better. Just look at any Hollywood remake of a European film if you don't believe me. Look how many directors made bad movies in Hollywood but made great films in Europe. Look how many of Hollywood's great films were made by Europeans. I don't mean to be so unpatriotic, but America is constantly getting it wrong at the movies. The latest case in point is National Amusements' new gaming service at their Showcase Cinemas in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It isn't exactly film-related, but a major fault with the movie industry in the States is with the theater chains, and one of the problems with this new service is that National Amusements isn't relating video games to cinema as much as they should be.
Earlier this month I reported that a multiplex in Belgium (it's in Europe) was launching a new gaming service, and I expressed my hopes that American theaters would follow suit. Unfortunately, the cinema in Ann Arbor is not offering a similar big-screen alternative for gamers. Their service, called CyGamZ, uses flat screen TVs. How this is different from the usual multiplex arcade games is that CyGamZ allows for multiple players and a high-speed internet connection. How this is different from your gaming at home is that it is more social. How this has anything to do with the movie theater experience is questionable.
I understand that theaters are in financial worry -- of course, I blame the studios -- and they need to find new ways of attracting customers, whether to the movies or to some other moneymaking idea, but setting aside a division of the floor to Xbox and Playstation gaming is not the answer. Other alternative plans, such as live concerts and sporting events, have made sense because they still utilize the auditorium and the big screen. Is National Amusements afraid to gamble on renting out an auditorium for gaming? Or are they unable to even think of such an idea because of studio influence on screen use? Whatever the reason, American theater chains need to figure something else out, because while Belgium's XL Gaming is innovative and smart, CyGamZ is desperate and stupid.
If you've been looking forward to The Good German, I have some bad news: It is apparently not that good. According to Anne Thompson's Risky Biz Blog (in a post from Sheigh Crabtree), the new Steven Soderbergh film was received pretty horribly at a recent DGA screening in NYC. And despite the director being present for a Q&A, members of the audience felt no need to be nice. The writer claims that during the film there was some guffawing and loudly expressed commenting going on, and when the film ended, there was little applause. Then, when Soderbergh came out for questions, it got even worse. One person asked if the film was supposed to be a spoof or parody of The Third Man. Eventually, Soderbergh issued his own criticisms of the audience members but also had a little fun with the response.
First of all, I'm shocked that The Good German is bad for reasons other than featuring Tobey Maguire (he's good in a Spidey mask; that's about it). Second, I'm surprised at how hostile an audience can be, especially an industry audience, which I thought typically preferred to kiss ass than draw blood. Also, I have to wonder if The Good German, which Soderbergh attempted to make as a film from 1945, is just too old-fashioned for modern cynics. Would it seem like a better movie to 1940s audiences, or to modern audiences if it really was from 1945? I don't think that Casablanca would be accepted any more easily if made today. At least, not if cast with today's crop of actors. Ditto with The Third Man.
So far Rotten Tomatoes shows only two reviews of The Good German, and both are favorable. On the IMDb, 125 people have voted and the film's rating is currently 5.7/10. I guess we'll have to see if the film can generate any better buzz before it bows on December 15.
Robert Altman(1925-2006) - Read my post on the great director of M*A*S*H and The Player.
John Blackburn(1913/14-2006) - Songwriter ("Moonlight in Vermont") and author who wrote the novel of Nothing But the Night. He died November 15.
Orin Borsten(1912-2006) - Screenwriter of Angel Baby who also worked as a publicist for Porky's, Texas Across the River, The War Wagon and Topaz. He died of natural causes November 18, in Studio City, California.
James Bostwick (1916-2006) - Film producer for General Motors. He died November 22, in Royal Oak, Michigan.
Dave Cockrum(1943-2006) - Comic book artist who co-created the characters Storm, Colossus and Nightcrawler, who appear in the X-Men films. He died of complications from diabetes on November 26.
Betty Comden(1915-2006) - Oscar-nominated writer and lyricist of musicals, including Singin' in the Rain, On the Town, The Band WagonIt's Always Fair Weather and Auntie Mame, with partner Adolph Green. She also appeared in the film Slaves of New York. She passed away, from heart failure, November 23, in New York City. Check out Jette's tribute to Comden in her Vintage Image of the Day column.
William Diehl(1924-2006) - Author who wrote the novels that were adapted into Sharky's Machine and Primal Fear. He also appeared in Sharky's Machine and Baby of the Family. He died of an aortal aneurysm November 24, in Atlanta.
Colin Forbes(1923-2006) - Author whose same-titled novel was adapted into Avalance Express. He died of a heart attack August 23, in London.
Phyllis Fraser(1911-2006) - Actress who appeared in Little Men, Winds of the Wasteland and Lucky Devils. She died of complications from a fall on November 24, in New York City.
If you're like me, you eat way too much on Thanksgiving. And the last thing you want to do after eating so much is to watch a film about food or eating. Kevin made up a great list of food movies in honor of the holiday, and Kim wrote about "eating" films with a twist, but following your feast, you might get stomach pains just thinking about most of them. None of them could do too much harm, however, because they are all enjoyable fictional films. As a companion piece, I have come up with seven documentaries that you would definitely want to avoid in the wake of turkey day; A few of them you will want to avoid even after your digestive system has settled.
When Robert Altmandied Monday night he left behind a good deal of pre-production work on what was to be his next film, a fictionalized remake of the 1997 documentary Hands on a Hard Body. Scheduled to begin shooting next year, the new film has a screenplay, co-written by Stephen Harrigan, and a distributor, Picturehouse, but now is without a director.
Those familiar with the story presented in Hands on a Hard Body -- twenty-four contestants try to win a new truck in a contest that has each attempting to be the last to remain holding onto said vehicle -- should be in agreement that it would have been perfectly dramatized by Altman. And possibly by nobody else. Picturehouse head Bob Berney is now debating whether to go ahead with the production with a new director at the helm or to let the project die with the late, great filmmaker, knowing that it just won't be as good without him.
The first idea that comes to mind for the substitution option is to have Paul Thomas Anderson take over. He is nearing completion on his latest, the oil-tycoon-family drama, There Will Be Blood, so he may be able to fit this into his schedule, and also he recently worked alongside Altman on A Prairie Home Companion, so he is likely the most qualified to continue the project relatively close to Altman's vision. A second choice, and less appealing one, would be to have Richard Linklater have a shot, since he seems to have no new film in the works, he has done a fair job of handling the multiple-character, multiple-storyline style, he just adapted a non-fiction book as a fictional narrative, and he should feel at home working with the Texas-set film. A final idea would be to have S.R. Bindler, who directed the original doc and has since moved into shooting fiction films, redo his own film.
When Independent Digital Entertainment (InDigEnt) was founded in 1999, DV filmmaking was still fairly new, although not unknown or unused. The problem was that it wasn't yet recognized and respected enough to be taken seriously in the film market. This was three years before George Lucas delivered the DV-shot Attack of the Clones and changed many minds about the capability of digital cinematography. Today, a great percentage of indie and Hollywood features are made digitally, and InDigEnt may be somewhat obsolete. It comes as no surprise, then, that co-founder Gary Winick has announced the production company will be put to rest come 2007.
There still seems to be no official press release regarding 
Henry Alper (c.1917-2006) - Talent agent and manager who worked with Jerry Lewis, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Gogi Grant and composers John Williams, Elmer Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith and Henry Mancini. He died of cancer November 22, in Cathedral City, California. 
As a fan of film and of reggae music, I say goodbye to an important figure. 
The 1963 epic 
This week Reuters has been holding a media summit in New York City, and many entertainment industry executives have not only been participating, they've been delivering some enjoyable quotes. Of particular interest to Cinematical are the statements from Regal Entertainment CEO Michael Campbell and Blockbuster CEO John Antioco. Campbell 
I constantly complain about modern special effects, how CGI creatures don't look realistic enough, but I have to admit this is pretty hypocritical of me. I love the work of effects legend 
I've become something of a 
Wal-mart has officially entered the movie download game. Until now, the retail company had been sitting on the sidelines -- 
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam is happening this week, and in addition to showcasing a ton of old and new docs from all around the world, the event features a number of discussion panels. On Saturday, for instance, was the First Annual IDFA UnDebate, which presented representatives from China, India, Australia, the United States, Israel and Brazil talking about the state of documentary film. IndieWIRE has 
When it comes to the cinema, Europeans do it better. Just look at any Hollywood remake of a European film if you don't believe me. Look how many directors made bad movies in Hollywood but made great films in Europe. Look how many of Hollywood's great films were made by Europeans. I don't mean to be so unpatriotic, but America is constantly getting it wrong at the movies. The latest case in point is National Amusements' 
If you've been looking forward to 
Robert Altman
When 
