1. Watch Out for David Michôd
Australia has long fought above its cinematic weight, delivering to the world a wealth of film talent disproportionate to its small population. The “World Cinema” section of next year’s Sundance will unveil “Animal Kingdom,” the debut feature of the latest Aussie A-list director in the making: David Michôd. I visited the Melbourne set earlier this year was mightily impressed by Michôd’s vision for his crime drama, which stars Guy Pearce, Ben Mendelsohn and newcomer James Frecheville. Confirming Michôd’s wide-ranging talent, he also wrote “Hesher,” Spencer Susser’s directorial debut, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman, and which premieres in Sundance’s main competition. To get a measure of their talent, watch their collaboration, zombie-short “I Love Sarah Jane” below. It’s a classic. (And see Michod’s just-as-excellent “Crossbow” here.)
2. Boom!? Let’s Not Hug This Out
“Entourage: The Movie.” Really, are we going there? Making Vinnie Chase into a real movie star?As much as I love the show -- and I thought Season 6 was just great, despite the carping of hipsters who said it’d jumped the shark -- I’m not sure we need a big-screen adaptation any more than we needed the “Sex and the City” movie.
Slashfilm has a terrific excerpt of an interview they did with Chuck Klosterman about the prospects of his fantastic nonfiction books “Killing Yourself to Live” and “Fargo Rock City” being made into movies. I also can’t wait to hear his theory about how “Avatar” is the “Chinese Democracy” of cinema. I fear he may be right.
And on that front … Every day there are more “Avatar” clips on TV, new excerpts on the web, exclusive new photographs, etc. I am now in the (I think) enviable position of having only seen the first trailer once -- and on a computer, months ago. There’s a massive over-hype and over-exposure dilemma with James Cameron’s revolutionary sci-fi epic -- and you’re part of the problem. I’m suggesting that to maximize enjoyment (and minimize disappointment), put yourself on an “Avatar” black-out until it hits theaters. Fifteen minutes of preview footage? Behind-the-scenes clips? Isn’t it all a bit like tearing open the wrapping paper to peek at the presents and then spending the lead-up to Christmas feeling deflated that you kinda know what you’re getting -- and maybe mom and dad didn’t get it exactly right? Being surprised by what Cameron unveils might actually, you know, be half the fun.
Hallelujah if this is a trend we’ll see spreading -- the remake announced only to be canceled. First McG’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” -- OK, strictly speaking not a remake but do we need another version? -- sunk under the weight of budgetary pressures and a world who could care less. Now it’s announced that Steven Spielberg, whose DreamWorks recently walked away from a re-do of “Oldboy,” has given up on trying to bring invisible rabbit “Harvey” back to the screen.
