Movie Review – CinemAbility: The Art of Inclusion

Now Available 

From the saintly, asexual disabled women who get rewarded with a medical cure by the end of the movie (as in City Lights) to the vengeful, recently disabled, villainous men who want to take their anger out on the world (like Dennis Hopper's cop turned bus bomber in Speed), disability stereotypes have become ingrained in our culture throughout film history.

And while that doesn't of course prevent any of the films mentioned from being classics in their own right, when these and other stereotypes – whether coded or more overt – are returned to again and again on the big or small screen, the idea that they're true gets reinforced in people's minds, even if the viewer isn't fully aware of it.

A subject close to my heart, not only as a disabled woman but also as a film major who intended to make it my thesis in graduate school, in this eye-opening documentary (which should be mandatory viewing for those pursuing a degree in Media Studies), director Jenni Gold gives a fascinating overview of the subject of disability onscreen.

Chronicling the evolution of disabled character driven storytelling over roughly 120 years of cinema (and later, television), we discover how much has changed as well as how much remains the same. Additionally, Gold looks at the role that representation plays in legislation as – with the increase of more positive and diverse portrayals post-Vietnam – the Americans With Disabilities Act was finally signed into law by President Bush in 1990.

Reminiscent of a terrific small screen documentary that wouldn't be out of place on TCM, given not only its subject matter but also its slightly retro approach, CinemAbility: The Art of Inclusion is hosted and narrated by one of the film's producers, Jane Seymour and features interviews with a number of famous faces such as Geena Davis, Ben Affleck, Jamie Foxx, and William H. Macy.

Boasting a fascinating selection of film clips and some great analysis by Martin F. Norden, the author of a book I'd highly recommend on the subject (The Cinema of Isolation: A History of Physical Disability in the Movies), the Emmy winning Gold covers a lot of ground, especially in CinemAbility's powerful look at pre-World War II cinema.

From Thomas Edison's The Fake Beggar (which Eddie Murphy paid homage to in Trading Places) and Tod Browning's ouevre from his campy Lon Chaney collaborations to Freaks as well as the complex Golden Rule coded metaphorical morality of Frankenstein up through The Wizard of Oz, there's a lot to process.

And much like the strides made in portrayals post Vietnam, we received what is perhaps our earliest fully three-dimensional disabled character in the form of a WWII vet (played by real WWII vet Harold Russell) in director William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives.

Receiving both an honorary Oscar "for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans" as well as a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for the role, Russell's earnest portrayal in the film (which is not without some controversy given Wyler's decision to limit Russell's offscreen independence onscreen) helped usher in decades of new disabled characters on screens both big and small.

From The Miracle Worker to Wait Until Dark at the movies as well as Miss Susan and Ironside on television, viewers were finally starting to see characters whose disabilities were just one aspect of who they were vs. their sole definition in the '50s and '60s.

And although Russell's Oscar success might've also inadvertently led to the ongoing debate surrounding disabled characters being especially attractive for able-bodied actors to play due to their awards bait potential (considering how many bring home Oscars in films from Coming Home to Ray), it still remains that exceptionally rare instance when a disabled actor was cast in a disabled part.

However, there is a heartbreaking follow-up to the universal acclaim for Russell when Marlee Matlin's well-deserved Academy Award win for her powerful turn in Children of a Lesser God was dismissed in the press in 1987 as “a sympathy vote.” Adding insult to injury, when she worked hard to speak the names of the Best Actor nominees the following year while presenting the award to its ultimate winner Michael Douglas, she was accused of betraying the deaf community.

While the sympathy vote write-off is perhaps indicative of a gender double standard, this isn't explored in the film, which already has so much to cover given the complexity, intertextuality, and intersectionality of its subject that it could've led to a multi-part Ken Burns style documentary series.

And with so much on its mind from not only the depiction of disabled characters on film and TV as well as by disabled performers – before delving into the need for more opportunities behind the scenes as well as working in civil rights issues and comparisons to the strides made by African-Americans and the LGBTQ community – the otherwise outstanding doc begins to lose focus.

Jumping around in topic and tone in its last half hour, CinemAbility's talking heads discuss various aspects of on and offscreen portrayals and their reactions to everything from Million Dollar Baby to the depiction of disability based humor.

Needless to say, this doesn't flow very well and while it's all very interesting, the meandering final section of the documentary isn't nearly as solid as the stellar, film school worthy tour of disability onscreen in the first half of the twentieth century which opened Gold's work.

Ambitious, necessary, and long overdue in our cultural conversation, in the end, having too much to say is always preferable to too little. However, because of the limited format of a feature length film (as opposed to say, a five part series on issues such as: stereotypes and depictions, genre approaches, approaching role as an actor, TV vs film, and inclusion in the industry), I think Gold's subject is better served with more analysis and cinematic examples than occasionally repetitive opinions from the interviewees.

Yet, despite that, by covering so much territory, it's bound to not only inspire vital post-film discussion but also cause viewers – both disabled and able-bodied alike – to consider some of their favorite films in a new light.

A crucial jumping off point to greater study, CinemAbility is a fast-moving, funny, and frequently surprising documentary that illustrates in both its examples and interviews, how much our culture benefits when we see people from all different walks of life represented onscreen, including those that might not walk but don't have to be psychopaths, helpless, or superheroes to be fascinating in their own right.

Text ©2018, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy or screener link of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique. Cookies Notice: This site incorporates tools (including advertiser partners and widgets) that use cookies and may collect some personal information in order to display ads tailored to you etc. Please be advised that neither Film Intuition nor its site owner has any access to this data beyond general site statistics (geographical region etc.) as your privacy is our main concern.

DVD Review: The Big Take (2018)

Now Available 

Set in and around Hollywood, this darkly comedic crime caper from first time writer/director Justin Daly is filled with misunderstandings, mistaken identity, and a mean spirited homophobic opening gambit that damn near derails the entire movie.

After veteran movie star Douglas Brown (James McCaffrey) turns down a pitch from Vic (Slate Holmgren), an aspiring producer who'd cornered the man in an elevator, the vengeful bully Vic drugs the man’s drink.

Taken advantage of a second time within a matter of minutes by a second stranger, whom the film later dubs "a transvestite," Brown’s offscreen encounter is caught on a security video which is intercepted by Vic, who decides to blackmail the actor who’s been roofied and assaulted for the two hundred thousand dollar budget of the independent film he’s making with his friend, Max.

A writer/director who’s told by Vic that Brown is their new hush hush, anonymous angel investor, Max (Ebbon Moss-Bachrach) is implicated in the crime by the ruthless Vic who handwrites the blackmail letter on the title/contact page of Max’s typewritten script, which sends the thugs hired by Brown's agent, Jack (Bill Sage) right to the home that Max shares with his Ukrainian wife, Oxana (Oksana Lada).

From Dan Hedaya's amusingly named Frank Manascalpo to Zoë Bell’s hit woman for hire Edie, the meek Max and his perpetually dancing wife Oxana prove to be up to the task at fending off the attackers with golf clubs and fire extinguishers. But even after they go to the police to try to tell their side of the story to Robert Forster’s West Hollywood Detective Aborn, the insanity doesn't stop.

Apparently not understanding how the viewer is supposed to just laugh and look past at the very least an implied sexual assault (if not rape) as well as the decision to balance the film on that one inciting incident, the D-level Elmore Leonard/Quentin Tarantino knockoff characters don't inspire much confidence in Daly’s ability to think outside the box as a writer.

However, the cast (among them Tarantino vets Forster and Bell) help add some validity to the work, as do a few of Daly's directorial decisions, including some intriguing juxtapositions as well as – working in tandem with the film's editor Josiah Signor – the stylish painterly transitions that fill your screen with solid colors to help lead us from one big emotional moment to the next.

Regrettably, the film’s music department doesn't know how to handle these changes – opting to give us a headache with the over reliance of screaming metal in lieu of some terrific reggae numbers that become an audible representation of Oxana (one of the more interesting characters in the film and woefully under used).

Fortunately, Girls star Moss-Bachrach is a fine lead and helps give the film a bit more humanity than it actually deserves. Taking for granted the fact that we'd somehow all find it funny that a man gets taken advantage of in a way they never clarify and therefore makes us fear the worst, The Big Take gets a bit better the further it advances from its appalling beginning.

However, merely watchable at best, this ultimately tone deaf indie play on The Player and Get Shorty marks an inauspicious filmmaking debut from the grandson of industry goddess, Ingrid Bergman.

Text ©2018, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy or screener link of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique. Cookies Notice: This site incorporates tools (including advertiser partners and widgets) that use cookies and may collect some personal information in order to display ads tailored to you etc. Please be advised that neither Film Intuition nor its site owner has any access to this data beyond general site statistics (geographical region etc.) as your privacy is our main concern.

Book Review: Irene by Frank Billecci and Lauranne B. Fisher

Now Available to Own 
 

Complete Title:
Irene: A Designer from the Golden Age of Hollywood - The MGM Years 1942-1949

Long before the Johnny Stompanato scandal, one of the most popular stories that followed The Postman Always Rings Twice femme fatale Lana Turner around as closely as her own shadow was the old Hollywood legend that the blonde screen star had been first discovered at a drugstore.

Comprised of all the ingredients of an underdog/fish-out-of-water/Cinderella story that's since become synonymous with Hollywood movie-making, the Lana Turner legend has become almost as iconic as the all-white image of her walking into the frame of the dark world of Postman's Film Noir.

Therefore it’s only fitting that the woman responsible for creating the single-hue dominant motif of Turner’s mostly white Postman wardrobe (which led to department stores being unable to keep white garments in stock) was also discovered working in a drugstore two decades earlier herself when future MGM costume department head Irene was spotted by Mack Sennett Studio director F. Richard Jones.

Now that's a coincidence worthy of – if not a Hollywood movie – than at least Hollywood itself!

Having worked since the age of nine in her family’s South Dakota general store before catching a train to Los Angeles eight years later, Irene was a quick study everywhere she went.

Acquiring the skills she would eventually require later on when starting her own successful dress shop, Irene graduated from extra to assistant to lead actress at Sennett Studios before attending Wolfe School of Design which gave her the knowledge and confidence she needed to strike out on her own.

Initially starting out small, Irene’s figure flattering creations soon attracted a long list of private clients including the wife of future boss Louis B. Mayer and A-list actresses who wore Irene’s fashions in some of their onscreen roles without studio permission or credit to the designer.

Inspired by everything from gallery exhibitions to architecture (which she utilized to construct undergarments for Marlene Dietrich) along with the Parisian salons she visited following a personal tragedy, Irene was so successful in her own dressmaking endeavors that she initially turned Mayer down the first time he tried to hire her.

Once World War II depleted the men from the costume department, Mayer’s wife encouraged him to ask her favorite gown designer to reconsider accepting the position which she did. Negotiating a sweetheart deal, Irene was granted everything that had already been put in place by MGM’s previous head designer along with greater freedom to make top-level decisions and approve staff.

With her own loyal employees in tow and the understanding that she would be able to continue to dress her private clientele despite her new job, Irene officially made the move to MGM in 1942. Soon tasked with juggling several projects at once, one of her first big assignments was designing the scandalous costumes for longtime friend Lucille Ball’s newest project DuBarry Was a Lady.

Responsible for overseeing, designing and/or handcrafting thousands of looks throughout her career, Irene’s landmark contributions to the Golden Age of Hollywood costume design easily made her one of the earliest pioneers of the art-form and one on-par with her far more well-known peer and industry rival Edith Head.

Plagued by misfortune, heartbreak and person demons in her private life which began to take their toll on her career near the end of her MGM heyday, authors Frank Billecci and Lauranne B. Fisher (daughter of Irene’s longtime personal friend and artist Virginia Fisher) bring Irene’s legacy to vibrant life in this long-overdue book.

Compiling over one hundred and fifty breathtaking sketches and photos (including many from Virginia Fisher’s own personal collection) to augment this accessible yet well-researched text, Irene gives readers a closer understanding of one of the most unsung artisans of the 1940’s. Furthermore, the work from Schiffer Publishing is filled with insider details from and about those that knew her best.

Articulating the groundbreaking techniques she used in making the color of a costume an opera inspired musical motif for example, we realize that Irene’s efforts enhanced viewer understanding of MGM's masterpieces on a level most are completely unaware. And film fans reading Irene today will undoubtedly be eager to go back and view some of the titles she worked on to see the impact her designs made on the final cut.

Additionally, the authors recount her great friendships with performers loyal to her throughout their careers including Esther Williams and Judy Garland as well as her conflicts with Katharine Hepburn who did everything possible to sabotage the painstaking work done by Irene’s department from covering up the costumes to hide clothes she didn’t like on camera or sitting on the ground.

An engrossing and fast-paced read, Irene addresses the highs and lows of life on and off the MGM lot. Yet despite this, true film lovers do long for more in-depth analysis regarding how and why certain key pieces were crafted and the ways in which Irene worked in tandem with the production designers etc. to convey with art a chosen story, mood or theme (as evidenced in the outstanding Postman section).

Nonetheless with so many films to work into the seven year span of her tenure at MGM in a mere one hundred and forty-four pages, Irene’s scribes do an admirable job. And all in all it’s a terrific starting point for those with an interest in greater study on the medium of costume design on film which is currently at an all time high given the success of the nationally touring Hollywood Costume Exhibit.

A gorgeously illustrated and lovingly crafted work penned by the writers in tandem with Virginia Fisher, hopefully Irene will inspire further research into the still influential work of the designer who’s often overlooked in favor of her likewise extraordinarily talented peer Edith Head.

Highly recommended, while Irene makes a perfectly lovely coffee table book for fashion fans, it’s also an inspired title to pluck out of obscurity (much like Lana Turner or Irene herself in a Hollywood drugstore) and add to the holiday gift list for the cineaste in your circle of family and friends.
   

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Book Review: The $11 Billion Year by Anne Thompson

Now Available to Own   

Complete Title: The $11 Billion Year - From Sundance to the Oscars, an Inside Look at the Changing Hollywood System

As an entertainment journalist who’s seen her own field drastically change over the last 25 years, Anne Thompson is uniquely qualified to evaluate the way that the Hollywood system has likewise evolved with advances in technology, fleeting trends and the passing of time.

One of the smartest and most refreshing voices working in a career that has been historically dominated by men (until the great democratic equalizer of the internet took off and everyone began to have their say as new distinct points-of-view came out of the cyber woodwork), Thompson has bravely ventured into every medium.

In high profile roles as a staff writer, columnist and editor of some of the most prestigious publications in the industry, Thompson has spilled both newspaper and magazine ink alike. From working as a columnist handling the business side of film for LA Weekly to transitioning to her new home at Indiewire online where her blog Thompson on Hollywood has become a must read for colleagues, movers, shakers as well as film buffs in the know over the past several years, Thompson recently called upon her vast experience to pen her long overdue first book, The $11 Billion Year.

Painting a fresh and fascinating yet analytically informative picture of a studio system stuck in an existential, midlife crisis, Thompson lists and fleshes out all of the challenges facing the executives over the course of the box office record-breaking year of 2012 in one chronological journalistic snapshot after another.

Basing the structure of her work (which takes us from Sundance in January all the way up through the Oscars awarded one year later) on William Goldman’s Broadway themed nonfiction classic The Season that took a similar production-by-production approach, Thompson launches into her accessible, highly readable yet eye-opening behind-the-scenes book.

Taking us along with her to festivals and press junkets, roundtable interviews and conventions in her demanding professional schedule where Wi-Fi access and good walking shoes are a must, Thompson keeps a detailed journalistic log of the goings-on while chronicling not only the films and players that will garner both awards consideration and buzz later on in the year but also the films that failed to find an audience.

Indiewire readers in particular will enjoy the portions of the book wherein Thompson champions little movies and fills us in on not only how the works came to fruition but also theorizes why they may have gotten lost in the shuffle of festivals and distributors in place of breakout hits like Silver Linings Playbook and Argo.

Likewise, it’s riveting to see her chart the wreckage of blockbusters that came crashing down in a catastrophic house of cards as one multi-hundred-million dollar tentpole franchise bombed after another while fulfilling the prophecy made by Spielberg and Lucas, with which she opened the work and set the stage for the business of film at a “make it or break it” verge of something great.

In fact it’s this beautifully written introduction that offers Thompson a unique opportunity to step outside her role as reporter. Waxing both poetically and analytically on the industry she covers, she uses a brilliant image to describe the way that the studio system tries desperately to hold on to the methods and modus operandi of the past while time marches on by likening it to Harold Lloyd clinging to the clock in Safety Last.

Offering intriguing commentary on the colorful cast of characters behind and in front of the scenes that will leave their mark on the banner year, while she obviously doesn’t even attempt to cover the 670 plus films released in 2012 (wherein a much smaller number finds distribution), she uses a keen critical eye to help explain the complex and fractured state of the business.

With more and more audiences drawn to Netflix original series versus spending big bucks for a ho-hum product at the multiplex, she evaluates the pros and cons of video on demand releasing in offering people with physical limitations, schedule conflicts or childcare problems the chance to see first-run films to stay part of the pop culture conversation.

At the same time, Thompson also addresses the allure of TV in seducing Steven Soderbergh to retire from traditional feature filmmaking. From the role that marketing can play as well as how too much second guessing your film in an attempt to reach every demographic can lead to disaster (John Carter), she discusses the differences another edit or a new title can make while also offering some good advice for filmmakers wrapped into her otherwise informative text.

For example, she advises people to start the titles of their films with the letter “A” (like Arbitrage) since it’s faster to find on a VOD menu and statistically brings in more revenue to stressing the importance of the G through PG-13 rating and its role in global ticket sales.

Yet just when you think she’s only focused on the business side of the story, Thompson goes from fangirl (recalling a childhood reading comics) to Oscar handicapper, explaining that recent rule changes have made certain races harder to call than ever before.

Admittedly, some of the information does get a little repetitive the further we get into Year but logically, this probably owes more to the chronological structure of the narrative than anything else as by that point, we’re dealing with topics that circle back to information referenced earlier on.

Needless to say, with this in mind, it’s an extremely minor flaw as – thanks to an index – after a first read-through you’ll most likely be jumping back into her text at various points in the narrative and will be grateful for the approach in getting your bearings faster.

Following Good Reporting 101, Thompson covers the who, what, when, where, why and how before forming her own thesis based on the facts to share not only what went down but ideas on how to change things for the better.

Still a film lover at heart and one still in the field for the right reasons – ready to advocate for the films and storytellers that inspire her – although some of the data regarding Hollywood’s love affair with reboots and remakes can be depressing to art-house, foreign and indie lovers who want an original story with which we can connect, Thompson takes a cautiously optimistic approach.

Sharing her wise advice and voice of experience, we’re left hoping that just like she’s done in an amazing career that’s taken her from one enviable post to another, Hollywood will see this new era of digital film, VOD and a whole new world of original voices for the positive developments they are to branch out.

And maybe with her $11 Billion title to guide them, studios will let go of that clock from the past and take a leap of faith – using these new opportunities to find new ways to bring the world together, across cultures and generations for shared experiences on the silver screen (whether in home or at the multiplex).

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

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DVD Review: Tropic Thunder-- 2 Disc Director's Cut

Hitting DVD & Blu-Ray on November 18

Order It Today

Read the Original Soundtrack Review

Read the Original Theatrical Review

In honor of November 18th's DVD & Blu-ray release of the Ben Stiller's summer comedy Tropic Thunder, I'm offering you an insider's view of the DVD that DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment were kind enough to send my way. However, before I go into the DVD features, first I'll serve up the first four paragraphs of my original theatrical review of Tropic Thunder, originally published on August 13, 2008.

Tropic Thunder



Director:
Ben Stiller

Former highbrow theatrical director turned filmmaker Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) is in trouble. When the explosives expert (Pineapple Express scene stealer Danny McBride) working on his big budget Vietnam epic film debut misinterprets Cockburn’s temper tantrum for a cue, four million dollars in explosives are wasted, everything is blown to smithereens, and the worst thing is that the camera wasn’t even rolling. Unable to control the actors on his set and already one month behind schedule after just five days of shooting, the British thespian is soon punched in the face very hard by a grip, upon orders shouted via webcam by sleazy studio boss Les Grossman (a hilarious and nearly unrecognizable Tom Cruise).

Out of desperation, he turns to Nick Nolte’s Four Leaf Tayback, the former Vietnam soldier who wrote the book they are adapting — not to mention the type soldier who may not have gotten the memo that the war is over. Visibly relishing his role, Nolte’s Tayback is often framed in a corner spouting off sentence fragments and irrational, obscenity-laced anecdotes that frighten and amuse all at the same time. Advising the mild-mannered Brit to get the actors “off the f***in’ grid” and into “the s***,” Cockburn heeds Tayback’s advice. With the hope that improvisational filmmaking will get the movie back on track, he sets up his “own little personal slice of ‘Nam.”

However, shortly after depositing his cast of five diverse leads deep into the heart of the jungle in order to show his pampered actors he’s really running the show, things go terribly, shockingly wrong. And soon enough the cast find themselves in a real life mini-war of their own when instead of guerilla filmmaking, the men become the target of heroin-trafficking guerillas who’ve mistaken them for DEA soldiers (yeah, I didn’t get that either). Obviously, this proves to be much more than the actors can handle, as they’d signed on with their contractual clauses for perks like gift baskets, TiVo, and luxury items, only to find themselves dodging bullets instead.

Heading up the group is Tropic Thunder’s director and co-writer Ben Stiller as Tugg Speedman, a has-been, Rambo-styled action star whose most recent film wherein he played a mentally challenged character — Simple Jack — not only ruined his career but was also named one of the worst films of all time. With his barefooted agent (Matthew McConaughey) behind him, Speedman tries to get back into Hollywood’s spotlight but is worried he’ll be upstaged by his costar, the five time Oscar winner Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr. channeling Russell Crowe), an Australian method actor so committed to his craft that he underwent skin pigmentation surgery in order to play an African-American for Cockburn’s film..."

Click Here to Read the Entire Review


The 2-Disc Director's Cut DVD

Although it's dubbed the "director's cut," I couldn't honestly tell a distinct difference between the theatrical version of Tropic Thunder with the feature film presented on the first disc of this set. Yet, for true fans of the movie and those interested in filmmaking in general, the 2-Disc set is ideal with Stiller providing enough added hilarity and down and dirty, gritty behind-the-scenes movie-making 101 examples to make it a terrific investment.

Offering audiences the chance to watch the film with two different commentary tracks including one consisting of the more creative and technical side from the filmmakers of Thunder-- the second track is the more free-wheeling DVD commentary offered up by the cast, including Downey who joked in the film that he doesn't break character until he's recorded the DVD commentary.

Also, perhaps to answer the bad press the movie received shortly before its premiere regarding the "Simple Jack" controversy as Stiller's action movie character Tugg Speedman had recently played a mentally challenged man resulting in a few instances in the film where the word "retarded" is bantered about (more to poke fun at Hollywood ego and industry exploitation than anything else)), there is a quality Public Service Announcement added onto Disc 1 wherein the tagline promises that the only "R" word those with intellectual disabilities deserve is "respect." While it feels a bit forced, it's a worthwhile sentiment and actually should've possibly played before the film as one of the many commercials or trailers as opposed to being buried in a separate menu of Thunder's first disc.

However, fans can rejoice in Thunder mania that fills the entirety of the second disc as we discover co-writer, director and star Ben Stiller's passion for his screenplay that dates back twenty years. In "Before the Thunder," Stiller notes that while he was busy making one of his first and most important screen appearances in a bit part in Spielberg's Empire of the Sun, most of his friends were auditioning for the war movies that were incredibly popular in the late 80's such as Platoon and Hamburger Hill. Noting the ridiculousness of actors who shared with him that their two week boot camp really helped them get into character and bond, Stiller became inspired by the absurdity of pampered actors not realizing how very different it is to actually be in a war as opposed to a movie about war and initially toyed with the premise of a group of actors returning from movie boot camp with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Upon realizing that he just couldn't find away to make it work comically, he set it aside until ten years later when he and actor Justin Theroux (Charlies Angels 2, Mulholland Drive) began e-mailing back and forth various scenes they wrote in the hopes of keeping each other laughing. It's easy to get caught up in Stiller's twenty year passion with Thunder's excellently packaged DVD set as we go into each and every extra which run the gamut from standard "pat each other on the back" electronic press kit generic enthusiasm to some truly hilarious and inventive additions including a fake Apocalypse Now/Heart of Darkness styled documentary called "Rain of Madness" which chronicles the fake "movie within the movie" and another similar bonus dubbed "Dispatches from the Edge of Madness."

In numerous candid behind-the-scenes interviews and clips including original videotapes from the auditions and various tests, we discover just how damn funny the film's straight man played by Jay Baruchel actually is as we glimpse the film's epic table reading and the way that Downey managed to just launch into his character head-first in a way that made Baruchel share that, "I hadn't laughed this much since Dick Cheney shot that guy in the face." With Downey admitting that they aren't satirizing Hollywood on the same level as Altman's brilliant Player by joking that "we're kind of destroying any leg [we have] to stand on in the future," in Stiller's lampoon styled "love letter to what we do," we realize just how much effort was put into making the comical film look so professional.

In "The Hot LZ," "Blowing Shit Up," "Designing the Thunder," and more, we witness some of the epic undertakings by Stiller and company, whether it's creating a cinematic compilation mix tape of their favorite war scenes for the epic opening sequence which took three weeks and fifty stuntmen to shoot or gauging the level of explosion offered up by the special effects man who Stiller says may be "slightly insane but in a good way," during the incredibly complicated shoot by veteran 2-time Oscar winning cinematographer John Toll (Legends of the Fall, Braveheart, Thin Red Line).

In an entertaining special feature dedicated to "The Cast of the Thunder" which is broken down by the last name of each actor, the cast members riff on their own characters as well as their cast-mates discussing what must have been a creatively freeing shoot filled with improvisation and laughter as well as interesting surprises as the American Humane Association handler for Bertha the water buffalo that carries Jack Black unexpectedly delivered a baby that they named after the comedic actor.

Also including deleted and extended scenes as well as "full mags," to illustrate the number of choices that were made by Stiller and his editor, we finally discover just what happens to Matthew McConaughey's character at the end of the film and learn that the scene stealing dance by a nearly unrecognizable Tom Cruise was the brainchild of Cruise himself, who impulsively started dancing without music during a makeup test.

Featuring promotional material as well-- one amusing bonus consisted of a great MTV Movie Awards promotional spoof as Stiller, Black and Downey all toy with each other's egos by trying to figure out the best way to sell their movie. While it's nearly impossible to absorb the plethora of features included on the disc or listen to all of the available and optional commentary, the 2-Disc Director's Cut really makes one appreciate Thunder on an entirely different level.

Moreover, it makes one realize just how easy it is to overlook the master craftsmanship behind everything as we're far too busy laughing at the performances to fully appreciate the effects, production design and stunning cinematography that makes it seem nearly as authentic as the films it references, even so much as to set up the DVD menus as though we were getting ready to watch Platoon or Apocalypse Now. Of course, once the movie begins with fake ads for "The Fatties" and "Booty Sweat," we realize we aren't exactly in Oliver Stone territory... but it's always nice to escape the realities of war by laughing at men rushing out to go fake one.

Marigold

Ali Larter Goes Bollywood...

I must admit that I’m not sure why Ali Larter isn’t a bigger star. I mean yes, of course, she earned her big cinematic break playing a Varsity Blues bimbo but she made intelligent choices thereafter with the cult teen scarefest Final Destination. And despite a Hollywood absence for a few years to take a break from the sex-kitten characters being offered her way (Allure, 7/08), she’s rebounded much better than other late ’90s starlets who also first portrayed bimbos, such as American Pie’s Shannon Elizabeth. I guess, in retrospect, Larter and her fans should be grateful that she doesn’t have Elizabeth’s primarily straight-to-DVD career but the potential for Larter is undeniable.
Case in point: before her TV series Heroes “jumped the shark,” you couldn’t open a magazine without press covering it with multi-page spreads and articles, yet all the ink spilled seemed to surround the likable, funny Japanese newcomer Masi Oka’s Hiro and Hayden Panettiere’s perky “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World” character. Yet, honestly, while the sunny young Panettiere was used as the face of the show to maximize its youth appeal as the new Buffy, as far as women were concerned on Heroes, it was Larter and not Panettiere who played the best character in season one (before I gave up on it last Fall). As a New Age Film Noir heroine, Larter played a combo of the virgin and the whore dual personality all rolled into one without the cheesy melodrama of a daytime soap and we never knew which side of Larter’s character we’d see next.
And while granted she’s no Meryl Streep, in the film Marigold as well as a recent independent screener called Crazy I was lucky enough to view (currently making the rounds in the film-festival circuit), she gets the chance to show a range that we haven’t seen before and both films involve music. While in the biopic Crazy, she plays the long-suffering wife of a talented guitarist, in writer/director Willard Carroll’s likable sleeper Marigold, Larter takes her biggest risk yet and gets her diva shot at Bollywood glory.
Due to the rightful insistence of casting directors that she’s just not “sympathetic enough,” D-List actress Marigold Lexton (Larter) whose own boyfriend describes her as a “four-star bitch,” has made a career appearing in numerous direct-to-DVD sequels of famous films. After earning a horny fanbase with turns in "Fatal Attraction 3" and "Basic Instinct 3," Marigold’s career has taken such a status dive that as the film opens she boards a twenty-hour flight to Bombay in coach class and bumps along during a hellish twelve-hour cab ride to Goa for her latest gig in Kama Sutra 3.
After screaming at her agents and boyfriend via cell phone the entire way (and clearly loving the chance to play a hammy stereotype as Larter kills even Carroll’s most throwaway lines), eventually her feet touch land in Goa. However, instead of a red carpet, she quickly discovers that due to the shady dealings in the background Sutra’s Indian producers have landed in jail and the German bankers fled to Singapore to avoid a similar fate when financing fell through. Further distraught when her fed-up agent fires her over the telephone and she realizes she was only provided with a one-way ticket to India, the unkind Marigold relies on the kindness of strangers in the Bollywood film community as she tries a way back to the states.

Although instead of a temporary layover, her stay is lengthened the duration of a film shoot, when she’s shocked to discover that while blonde actresses are a dime a dozen in synthetic La La Land, in Goa, her exotic golden-tresses and experience working even in, as Kathy Griffin would call, D-List films, makes her a valuable commodity. Soon, the director is reworking his Bollywood production to feature Marigold in a starring role and although (much like Larter), her character has zero musical or dancing training, her new friends quickly take her under their wing, including the gorgeous and guileless choreographer Prem (Bollywood sensation Salman Khan). A romantic relationship predictably develops but culture clash and prior commitments (both with Marigold’s lackluster relationship back in the states and Prem’s familial obligations) threaten to get in their way.

A true fairy-tale for the film’s duration—tinged with beautiful visuals and featuring seven original songs about the various stages of love (of which only some are successful), Carroll’s Marigold is an earnest and warmly romantic guilty pleasure. And as the director noted on the DVD that it's an “affectionate homage” rather than a parody of the genre, he manages to produce a Bollywood-light film that even the uninitiated will find appealing without immersing themselves fully into the genre. Famous for their multiple-hour running times and sudsy plots that nonetheless engross (like the Academy Award-nominated three-hour “cricket-match musical,” Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India), Bollywood isn’t for everyone. Like sushi, country music, and the comedy of Dane Cook—you’re either a fan or you’re not and oftentimes it’s hard to analyze why.

While ultimately, as far as I’m concerned, I really enjoy the genre, I do grant that I couldn’t watch too many of them in a short time period. In the same token if pressed—genre-wise, I’d say that I wished I could spend one day living life as though it were a frothy French romantic comedy; American musicals would be a close second. With this in mind if you blended together the sweet with the sour of both genres and poured on the soapy melodrama while grating on generous amounts of cheese, you’ll have formulated the ultimate Bollywood musical that it’s fun to get lost in, at least for two hours.
However, while I’m a casual fan, writer/director Willard Carroll is a die-hard Bollywood devotee. The filmmaker, a few years back crafted one of my favorite underrated Altman-esque ensemble pieces, Playing By Heart (which I forced everyone I knew to rent). Afterwards, he found himself fascinated by the genre after only taking in one Bollywood musical--incidentally starring Khan-- when he was in India. When he arrived back in the states, complete with a new obsession, he programmed a one-man international film festival, absorbing, analyzing and viewing an admitted “150-200” films before he set out to begin crafting his own.

And although it will never top Playing By Heart which is still one of my favorite films—ironically Heart is one so synonymous with its cast (including Connery, Jolie, Rowlands etc.) that it wasn’t until after I began researching Marigold, that I even realized the helmer of this one was one and the same. Still, Marigold is affable Saturday afternoon fare for single girls or a lightweight date movie for nights curled up on the couch, sure to find a bigger audience on cable television, as long as-- that is-- Bollywood doesn’t send you running.
Yet unlike Gurinder Chadha’s Jane Austen inspired blend of American musicals and Bollywood fare—Bride and Prejudice—Carroll wanted to pay tribute to what he liked but avoid parroting the genre altogether in what could have been an unsuccessful satire. Couple this with the fact that—as he reveals on the DVD—Ali Larter was living in his guest home and suddenly one day while observing her doing laundry, he realized he had his very own remarkable leading lady to get the job done. And likewise, he gave her a chance as a friend and supportive professional that most in the industry wouldn’t have, as he says, believing in her even more than the actress does herself.
While unfortunately it's a bit skimpy on DVD extras, the studio more than makes up for it with a fascinating behind-the-scenes thirty-minute making-of featurette on the Marigold DVD, taking film lovers further into the cinematic process of such a visually stunning work. And although therein he admits that although the process of the two stars couldn’t have been more different with Larter’s cerebral questioning and longing for rehearsal and the veteran Khan who has the ability after the bare minimum of run-throughs to just complete a complicated number flawlessly, soon they inevitably clicked. And in doing so, much like the film itself—thereby managing to meld the west and east together in a very harmlessly yet unexpectedly entertaining way.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Read the 2-Disc DVD Review

Director: Ben Stiller

Former highbrow theatrical director turned filmmaker Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) is in trouble. When the explosives expert (Pineapple Express scene stealer Danny McBride) working on his big budget Vietnam epic film debut misinterprets Cockburn’s temper tantrum for a cue, four million dollars in explosives are wasted, everything is blown to smithereens, and the worst thing is that the camera wasn’t even rolling. Unable to control the actors on his set and already one month behind schedule after just five days of shooting, the British thespian is soon punched in the face very hard by a grip, upon orders shouted via webcam by sleazy studio boss Les Grossman (a hilarious and nearly unrecognizable Tom Cruise).

Out of desperation, he turns to Nick Nolte’s Four Leaf Tayback, the former Vietnam soldier who wrote the book they are adapting — not to mention the type soldier who may not have gotten the memo that the war is over. Visibly relishing his role, Nolte’s Tayback is often framed in a corner spouting off sentence fragments and irrational, obscenity-laced anecdotes that frighten and amuse all at the same time. Advising the mild-mannered Brit to get the actors “off the f***in’ grid” and into “the s***,” Cockburn heeds Tayback’s advice. With the hope that improvisational filmmaking will get the movie back on track, he sets up his “own little personal slice of ‘Nam.”

However, shortly after depositing his cast of five diverse leads deep into the heart of the jungle in order to show his pampered actors he’s really running the show, things go terribly, shockingly wrong. And soon enough the cast find themselves in a real life mini-war of their own when instead of guerilla filmmaking, the men become the target of heroin-trafficking guerillas who’ve mistaken them for DEA soldiers (yeah, I didn’t get that either). Obviously, this proves to be much more than the actors can handle, as they’d signed on with their contractual clauses for perks like gift baskets, TiVo, and luxury items, only to find themselves dodging bullets instead.

Heading up the group is Tropic Thunder’s director and co-writer Ben Stiller as Tugg Speedman, a has-been, Rambo-styled action star whose most recent film wherein he played a mentally challenged character — Simple Jack — not only ruined his career but was also named one of the worst films of all time. With his barefooted agent (Matthew McConaughey) behind him, Speedman tries to get back into Hollywood’s spotlight but is worried he’ll be upstaged by his costar, the five time Oscar winner Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr. channeling Russell Crowe), an Australian method actor so committed to his craft that he underwent skin pigmentation surgery in order to play an African-American for Cockburn’s film.

While admittedly it’s a risky move to play “blackface,” Downey loses himself completely in the role. He’s a tongue-in-cheek marvel the entire way; vowing to stay in character until he records the DVD commentary track, he immerses himself in a sort of Black Power homage to '70s stars like Richard Roundtree in a way that makes one giggle even before he opens his mouth to deliver another questionably politically incorrect line.

Of course, this is much to the chagrin of the cast’s real African-American actor, Brandon T. Jackson’s Alpa Chino. Still annoyed that the only good black role in the film was given to “Crocodile Dundee,” Chino, who hopes the film will up his credibility from just peddling his soft drink Booty Sweat, doesn’t let him get away with anything, especially when Lazarus lectures him about the “n word” and Chino calls him out on quoting the theme song from TV’s The Jeffersons.

Rounding out the group is Jack Black’s troubled comedian Jeff Portnoy. Much like the other characters we first meet in a series of fake trailers preceding the film, Portnoy is hoping the film will prove his range as well, since he’s mostly known for his drug arrests and overly flatulence-based humor starring in Eddie Murphy-like comedies with titles like "The Fatties: Fart 2". However, when his drug stash gets lost amidst the chaos of their new surroundings, he begins to suffer from withdrawal in a series of escalating scenes with range from disgusting (trying to eat an animal who ingested his last supply) to hilarious as he orders the men to tie him to a tree when they realize they have to storm the drug dealer’s compound in order to rescue Speedman who erroneously assumed this was all part of the movie. Why tie him to a tree? So he won’t do all the heroin in sight, Portnoy explains in a twisted but freakishly logical speech.

Of course, there’s the obligatory straight man played by likable Jay Baruchel as Kevin Sandusky but he’s mostly ignored by the hammy antics of our leads. Filled with Hollywood in-jokes, the film at times feels like an overly long Comedy Central roast of the industry, as each character gets to exorcise their demons and impersonate those they’ve encountered in Tinsletown. And while — much like the funny but uneven Zoolander — there’s enough good stuff involved to keep you interested, you can’t help thinking you’re watching a series of skits that were awkwardly stretched into a feature length film.

From the ads, one would assume that Downey is the highlight and indeed, of the main cast, he’s the one we can’t take our eyes off of, managing to show his chameleon-like nature and astronomical depth following turns in Iron Man, Charlie Bartlett and last year’s brilliant, underrated Zodiac.

However, this being said, the true revelation of the film is none other than former couch jumping Scientologist poster boy, Tom Cruise. Yes, you read that correctly — as the smarmy, amoral, balding, bespectacled, gold chain wearing, chest hair revealing, profanity driven studio head who likes to freak dance to Flo Rida, Tom Cruise all but steals the entire film away from everyone else. In fact, it’s similar to the way that Ben Stiller guest starred in one of Mission Impossible 2’s best spoofs (included on the DVD) as Cruise’s obsessive stunt double.

Playing it ridiculous couldn’t have been a better professional decision for Cruise, given the scathing media attacks and popular opinion backlash over the past few years. Additionally, he reminds us again, just how good he can be when he isn’t preoccupied by arguing with Matt Lauer or criticizing Brooke Shields. While it’s safe to say his role is a composite of many types, as are a majority of the characters featured in the film, Grossman’s overreliance on Diet Coke did make me recall that it’s also the beverage of choice of a certain former head of Miramax (although, like Cruise’s characterization, I’ll let you do your homework in discovering the identity).

As far as his directorial career goes, it’s Stiller’s most ambitious film and it’s certainly impressively executed as it begins with an outstanding sequence that pays homage to the film’s greatest influences, Apocalypse Now and Platoon. However, it’s also guilty of Stiller’s comedic tendency towards “everything and the kitchen sink,” in trying to squeeze in far too much, preferring quantity over quality. Ultimately, I realized the film may have been better off if it had either dropped his character altogether or blended his with the underused Baruchel or Jack Black’s, in order to make the comedy more consistent and strengthen the storyline.

And while on the surface, that may seem like a crazy idea, in the words of Downey’s memorable Kirk Lazarus, “Crazy’s better than nothin’.” Fortunately, while not nearly as hilarious as most critics would have you believe, Tropic Thunder is elevated far above “crazy” or “nothin’,” thanks mostly to the always memorable Downey. However, the real saving grace is again in the surprisingly hysterical turn by Cruise that actually kept viewers in their seats during the credits to see him continue to dance with the most joy since he slid through the entryway in his socks in Risky Business.