As if I really needed a reason to see my favorite film of 2008, Man on Wire, again: beginning this Friday, the Landmark cinemas showing the documentary in L.A. and NYC will include with the film an animated short from 2005 titled The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, which features narration by Jake Gyllenhaal. Although not as appealing as a sing-a-long version (I can’t help but annoyingly hum along to Eric Satie as it is), Magnolia Pictures is hoping for a bump in family attendance.
The Fox vs. Warner Bros. trial over the rights to Watchmen has been set for January 6, and here’s hoping it’s well-covered by the appropriate stations. I’d like to be able to flip back and forth between the actual trial — on truTV — and footage of the expected comic geek protesters outside — on G4.
Get ready for unnecessarily computer-generated gorillas and African tribesmen: Stephen Sommers (The Mummy; Van Helsing) is in negotiations to direct Warner Bros.’ new Tarzan movie, from a script by Stuart Beattie (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) expected to be “an entirely new approach” to the character.
The latest children’s book series hoping for a Spielberg-directed first film is called “The 39 Clues,” and it may happen with Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can; The Terminal) adapting the initial book, called “The Maze of Bones,” for DreamWorks.
Both The Dark Knightand Man on Wirewere phenomenally successful at the box office this past weekend. The former, a huge Hollywood blockbuster based on a comic book, broke the record for greatest second weekend ever and the record for quickest movie to break the $300 million mark. The latter, an award-winning documentary about a man who walked a tightrope between the Twin Towers, had the best non-IMAX per-screen average and the best opening for a documentary so far this year.
But the two films have more in common than their box office achievements, and I detail ten similarities between them below. My reason for the comparisons––some of which are, I admit, a bit of a stretch––is not just for the amusement of highlighting parallels between a blockbuster and a documentary. Rather, I hope that this list will encourage the millions of people who saw The Dark Knight to also seek out and watch Man on Wire, which is by far my favorite film of the year, so far, and is quite possibly the best doc I’ve seen in years.
Man on Wire certainly features everything that’s entertaining about The Dark Knight — save for a posthumous performance from Heath Ledger — though it does have a terrific posthumous performance by the World Trade Center. And it also appeals to moviegoers who aren’t into comic book movies (even those as non-comic-book-movie-like as TDK), too.
Criminal Clowns - Man on Wire’s Philippe Petit and The Dark Knight’s Joker (Heath Ledger) are each a form of jester jailed for unlawful acts. Petit doesn’t kill anyone, of course, and The Joker exhibits no ability to juggle, perform magic tricks or ride on a unicycle. Yet the two clowns share a common bond: neither can really answer the question of why they do what they do. Sure, their respective motives may be labeled — Petit acts out of pure passion; The Joker is an agent for chaos — but not in any way that satisfies the police or media. Man on Wire’s inclusion of a hilarious press conference held by the NYPD wins points over The Dark Knight’s cliché use of anger-filled interrogation scene. …Read more
In the weekend battle of Sundance doc winners, Man on Wire easily outgrossed American Teen, with the former’s $24,250 on each of its two screens to the latter’s $8,565 on each of its five.
Ridley Scott’s Nottingham has been delayed. Universal is apparently worried about an impending SAG strike (reminder: actors have been working without a new contract for like two weeks) and the fact that “the film’s forest locations need to be green.”
Fouad Mikati will direct Ving Rhames, Ellen Barkin, Rob Corddry, Bob Odenkirk, Jeffrey Tambor and Maggie Q in Rogue’s Gallery for Richard Kelly’s Darko Entertainment.
Variety saysHellboy 2“did hellacious business in debuting to an estimated $35.9 million.” This seems to be a compliment. Meanwhile, Meet Dave bombed, and Journey to the Center of the Earth made a very respectable $20 mil on just 854 3D screens.
Richard Linklater, Mike White and Jack Black will collaborate on a sequel to School of Rock, and it’s got what’s destined to rival Babe 2: Pig in the City for mockable sequel titles: School of Rock 2: America Rocks. Where’s the exclamation point?
Terribly Happy, a Danish crime film, took the top prize at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival over the weekend. Man on Wire took the documentary prize, and there was also a “special mention” for Bigger, Stronger, Faster.
One of the most talked about films having its New York premiere this week at Tribeca is James Marsh’s Man on Wire. Notable blurbs include this one from Steve Erickson (via The House Next Door), who calls it “the most purely entertaining film I’ve ever seen at Tribeca” and predicts that the “caper film and inspirational sports tale rolled into one” will soon be fodder for a Hollywood remake. But there’s actually another James Marsh film screening in New York this week: The Burger and the King, a 1996 BBC documentary on Elvis Presley’s history as an eater, will play Stranger Than Fiction tomorrow night followed by a Q&A with Marsh. For a preview, you can check out the first nine minutes of the film above. You can buy tickets for the event via the IFC Center’s website.
Some movies are violent, some are disturbing, and others are just plain wrong. Paul W. S. Anderson’s Death Race is a fun ride with some gnarly crashes, but it can’t hold a candle to its demented predecessor, Roger Corman’s Death Race 2000 (1975).
Cinema’s favorite weirdo, Cripsin Glover, is taking his film across the country, personally [...]
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