BLU-TUESDAY ... September 29

It is the last release date for the month of September and certainly a big one at that. You can tell that distributors and retailers are setting themselves up for what they hope will be the holiday season that makes Blu-Ray a household staple. One of the biggest titles of the year, MONSTERS VS. ALIENS is out today. MANAGEMENT starring Jennifer Aniston was missed in theaters but hopes to find new love on BD. The surprising hit, FIREPROOF, with Kirk Cameron will grace many a Christian household. Cult classics, LABYRINTH and THE DARK CRYSTAL are now available. And SNAKES ON A PLANE finally makes its way to BD. There are three other titles that I'd like to highlight for you all this week. To get to them, we have to take a little stroll down the yellow brick road.




AWAY WE GO
Before we get to that, I'd like to recommend this heartwarming family comedy, AWAY WE GO, by director, Sam Mendes (Academy Award winner for AMERICAN BEAUTY). While still editing his offering from last year, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, Mendes began pre-production work on AWAY WE GO, from writers, Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. (Eggers would go on to co-write the upcoming WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE). John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are adorable together as a couple expecting their first child who do not know what city they should raise their family in. They travel around the country, even stopping north of the border in Montreal, in search of home and while, it is episodic, it is also good, genuine fun. For my full review of the film, click here.

SPECIAL FEATURES

- Commentary with Mendes, Eggers and Vida
- Making of featurette
- Green filmmaking featurette

THE WIZARD OF OZ


This is huge! One of the most beloved films of all time is now given one of the grandest BD releases to date. Thie four-disc set contains a good chunk of all the previous special feature material released on the numerous versions that have come before this one but also contains new features too to whet your appetite ... and justify the purchase for those who may already have it on DVD. The audio and video have also been completely restored and I've heard the results are as magical as one would expect from the merry old land of Oz. I cannot wait to get this one in my collection!

SPECIAL FEATURES

- Commentary with the late Sydney Pollack and Oz Historian (?), John Frick
- Interviews with cast and crew
- A tribute to Oz and a handful of other documentaries on the subject
- Jukebox, with outtakes and original recordings
- Still gallery
- Storybook
- Sing along option!


THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE
Earlier this year, I had the chance to catch the first of two Steven Soderbergh pictures being released this year, THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, at the Tribeca Film Festival. I went on to interview both the director and the star, Sasha Grey. That interview would go on to be my first published for Canada's CBC Arts Online so this film holds a special place in my heart. The heart is an odd place to hold it as it is about a high priced escort facing the hard economic climate but it is also there for me because I truly loved the film. It is stylish without sacrifice of substance, a great experiment and success for Mr. Soderbergh. It is certainly one of his finest features and an excellent first offering in a year that also saw the release of the excellent THE INFORMANT!

SPECIAL FEATURES

- Unrated alternate cut
- Commentary with Soderbergh and Grey
- Featurette about the real girlfriend experience

For my interview with Soderbergh and Grey, click here.

Source: Blu-Ray.com

THE SODERBERGH EXPERIENCE

An interview with THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE director, Steven Soderbergh

(Portions of this article are taken from CBC Arts Online and have been published here with their permission.)


I’ll admit to being nervous. I’m not above that. I had interviewed filmmakers before but I had never interviewed a director whose films were among some of my all time favorites. This was certainly a step up for me. This was the man who directed the technical masterpiece, TRAFFIC, and won an Oscar for it. This was the man who gave me one of my guiltiest pleasures, OUT OF SIGHT. This was the man whose latest film, THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, is stimulating on a number of levels and one of the best films I've seen all year. This was Steven Soderbergh, people.

The day before my interview was scheduled to take place, I had been invited to see a special press screening of THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE. Shot over a period of 16 days in October 2008, GFE, as it was originally titled, is a week in the life of Chelsea (played by 21-year-old adult film star, Sasha Grey). Chelsea is strikingly beautiful, made even more impressive considering she is only seen eating at the finest Manhattan restaurants or leaving the most luxurious Upper West Side hotels or shopping at the priciest Soho designer shops. She keeps a meticulous account of all her appointments, noting the clothing she wore, the meals she ate or the movies she may have discussed. She is also insatiably unsatisfied with the goals she has attained and is always looking for ways to be better at what she does. What she does is charge people over $2000 per hour for not just the pleasure of her company in bed but rather the full experience of what it feels like to be her boyfriend.


For years, Soderbergh has gone back and forth between big studio pictures with big names and independent films that feature real people with real problems and only an outline to get from the start to the finish. THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE would fall into the latter of the two categories, if one felt the need to categorize it. Soderbergh doesn’t see the distinction nor this need to define his work quite so rigidly. “People seem compelled to divvy up my career into two parts,” he states. “They’re both like math problems; one has a different set of integers than the other but its still math.” Still, he is not so naïve to suggest that there is the same degree of financial risk between the two. “What is helpful about the small films is you’re closer to the ground if you make a mistake. If I fall off this rope, I’m going to sprain an ankle; I’m not going to die.”


Arguably, Soderbergh has been experimenting with realism on camera since his first feature, the then groundbreaking, SEX LIES AND VIDEOTAPE. The frankness with which sexuality was discussed would go unnoticed today (“It is like watching a movie that took place in world with gas lamps,” Soderbergh quips about watching it now) but the honesty with which the characters address themselves and each other is a form of realism that seems still difficult to achieve on film today. Realism is what makes THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE such a fascinating interaction. Not only was it shot amidst last year’s financial collapse and just before the elections but it is set then as well. As money exchanges hands between Chelsea and her clients, nearly all of them seem to be questioning whether they can still fit her into their budgets. “Since the design of the film is that people are speaking for and as themselves, that’s just where everybody’s head was.,” he says, knowing the situation added an extra level of intrigue to the film that may have been tricky to get less organically.


While Soderbergh’s indie projects tend to use non-actors, this one is different, mostly. Grey, has been working in pornography since she was 18 years old and THE GIRLDFRIEND EXPERIENCE marks her first foray into mainstream filmmaking. She didn’t get into adult film because of drugs or booze or a broken home; she simply saw a need and filled it. Soderbergh was drawn to her ambition and uncommon backstory, to say nothing of her baby doll beauty. He did not cast her for these reasons though. No, he cast her because she exudes control in situations that are otherwise fantastical to mainstream society. “Even though I knew it wasn’t going to be explicit, I wanted somebody who in sexualized situations feels totally in command and powerful. I feel like that’s a tricky thing to fake.” He’s right. On screen, Grey is always in control of what she allows herself to say and how she allows herself to be seen and treated. Detractors of the film have claimed that Grey’s distant, aloof demeanor leave the film feeling shallow but Soderbergh begs to differ. For him, the film would lose everything it has going if Grey had played it any other way. She is meant to be mystery.


Having done some unavoidable research of Grey’s previous work on film, Soderbergh knew he would have only one serious hurdle to get over. “What I noticed about her extreme stuff was her awareness of the camera. She is always aware of the lens, playing to the lens. I knew it was going to be interesting to put her in a situation where she would absolutely have to forget the camera because it seemed like she was obsessed with it.” And how will all of this play for Grey and her fans? Grey, who couldn’t believe it when she got home to find Soderbergh’s voice on her answering machine, appears naked only once on screen and is never seen having any actual sex. How will this new sensitive side of Sasha Grey affect the way her fans watch her adult work? “Fantasy is about something that you aren’t getting and that you want. We have the inverse here with Sasha. You can, on her site, within seconds, see her do anything imaginable with her clothes off. What you can’t see is what its like to be her boyfriend and hang out with her or be emotionally intimate with her. My whole theory is that this is the fantasy for the guys who have been double-clicking but would rather spend 77 minutes being her boyfriend.”


As for Soderbergh, he is already hard at work on his next feature, MONEYBALL, starring Brad Pitt and Demitri Martin. Having run around all day myself, from a movie to an interview then to this interview before another one immediately afterward that would be followed by industry drinks, I had only one more question. When is Steven Soderbergh going to take a well-deserved break? “What’s going to happen is at a certain point, I will just stop. I don’t have two speeds; I’ll just stop.” His answer was straightforward and succinct. You might even say it was Soderberghian. Well, I might anyway.

SOURCE: CBC Arts Online

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Stiller Takes Down the Terminator

Overcrowding at the box office is standard fare during the summer months. I always feel that the films could be better spread out but studios continue to insist upon pitting film against film instead of just picking perhaps more quiet weekends to let films find their own audiences. I just have to learn though that it isn’t about everyone having their own day; it’s about coming out strong and taking down the other guy while you’re at it.


Prognosticators were torn on how this weekend would play out. On the one hand, TERMINATOR SALVATION was tracking very well and seemed to be riding some pretty strong buzz. On the other hand, NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE AT THE SMITHSONIAN was coming a hugely successful following for the first film and a lack of family fare in the market place. Most had their money on NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM as family films tend to do big business on Memorial Day weekend. They would have won their bets but grossly overshot how much they would win by. Some predictions had the film coming in at $75 million but it only brought in $53 million in the end. While well below what they may have been hoping for, it is still much better than the first adventure’s opening weekend take of $30 million and that one went on to make over $250 million.


The buzz for TERMINATOR SALVATION seemed to dissipate pretty quickly as soon as the weekend hit. The McG directed film, the first in the series to come out since 2003, capitalized on the demand by coming on Thursday to the tune of $13 million, including midnight screenings. Poor reviews though, from both critics and fans, may have shortened the lines. Personally, I felt that the critics were being more harsh than needed but regardless, McG’s franchise reboot has a much more difficult road ahead of it as it goes into its next two expected installments. Meanwhile, the STAR TREK reboot continues to travel at warp speed. It has now brought in over $180 million in just three weeks and should have no problems crossing the $200 million mark by next weekend.


The Top 10 saw only one other debut and it did what was expected. DANCE FLICK did mediocre business and will likely end up making is reported $25 million budget back but not doing much else past that. And below the Top 10, THE BROTHERS BLOOM and SUMMER HOURS continued to add theatres and grosses. Each saw their returns increase over 300% and their averages in and around $7K per screen. Although there are no estimates reported for Steven Soderbergh’s sexy THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, the week’s best art house debut goes to EASY VIRTUE (Black Sheep review to come this week). This British farce, with Jessica Biel making a play for more leading parts, pulled in a solid $11K average. Reviews are mixed though so Biel will need to try again. I would suggest she take off some clothes but she already has and that went straight to video.

NEXT WEEK: Pixar tries to make it 10 for 10 with their latest feature, UP! An animated feature about an old grump and a boy scout in a flying house seems like a hard sell to me but they made rats in the kitchen and a half silent film about a robot work so I don’t underestimate anything they put out. UP! will be released on 3700 screens. The only other wide release next weekend is looking for a decidedly different market. Sam Raimi’s financing horror flick, DRAG ME TO HELL, opens on 2400 screens. Outside of that, THE BROTHERS BLOOM goes wide and this year’s Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, DEPARTURES, from Japan, will finally hit North American theatres.

Source: Box Office Mojo

Black Sheep's Summer Longin' (Part One)

It’s gotten off to quite the start. Sure, WOLVERINE was pretty dull but STAR TREK blew our minds into warp speed before the momentum could be lost. Even ANGELS & DEMONS isn’t all that bad really. All in all, it is a pretty great summer movie season already and we’re still a good few weeks away from it actually being summer. And I’m excited! This doesn’t usually happen to me. I feel like I want to see it all. I even want to see that Sandra Bullock/Ryan Reynolds fake wedding movie. I’ve got summer fever apparently, which is better than swine flu, I suppose. Anyway, I’ve narrowed down the films I am most keyed up for down to 10 and the following is the first half …

UP! Written by Bob Peterson Directed by Pete Docter (MONSTERS INC) Co-Directed by Bob Peterson Voices by Edward Asner and Jordan Nagai Release Date 05/29
Don’t we love to watch people fail? Pixar has successfully released nine consecutive hits, both critically and financially and people are just waiting for them to trip up. At first, I thought the haters probably didn’t have much longer to wait with UP! Here you have a story about a 78-year-old man who wants nothing to do with society and decides it is high time he inflate the hundreds of balloons he’s got lying around with helium so he can leave it all on the ground. And who does this old man hang out with, albeit reluctantly, an 8-year-old boy scout. It all sounds potentially awkward and unfunny but the early reviews from Cannes are flying very high. If there’s one company I will always give the benefit of the doubt to, it’s Pixar. Bring on the old guy and his balloons already!



DEPARTURES Written by Kundo Kuyoma Directed by Yojiro Takita Starring Masahiro Motoki Release Date 05/29
I was concerned there would be WALTZ WITH BASHIR upset at the Oscars this year in the Foreign Language film category. Not that I didn’t like the animated documentary; I just really wanted to see THE CLASS take the Oscar home … that and I had THE CLASS on my Oscar poll. I was certainly surprised to hear that DEPARTURES would take the honour over both titles. And though I would likely never have noticed this film if it didn’t win the Oscar, I need to know why it won now. All I know about it is that an out of work cellist takes a job in funeral home preparing the dead for their viewings and that director, Takita, used to do porn. What more do you need to know though?



THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE Written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien Directed by Steven Soderbergh (CHE) Starring Sasha Grey and Chris Santos Release Date 05/22
To be honest, I can’t say that I am very excited about seeing this film but that’s pretty much because I already have seen it. I am actually just excited for everyone else to see it. I caught this film at the Tribeca Film Festival in a private press screening and had the privilege of meeting Mr. Soderbergh and Ms. Grey the next day for an interview. The interview itself will be published next week to coincide with the film’s release so you can soak it in all at once. Trust me, there is plenty to soak too in this behind the scenes look at what it takes to be a high priced escort in today’s crumbling economy. TGE is a very relevant, very timely picture that is not only fascinating but also sharp and brilliant to behold visually.



AWAY WE GO Written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida Directed by Sam Mendes (REVOLUTIONARY ROAD) Starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph Release Date 06/05
After winning an Oscar for AMERICAN BEAUTY, Sam Mendes has only had mixed success with his films. Some have even suggested that his accomplishments were a total fluke. He returns to cinemas this summer though with a decidedly different approach that may just remind people why they felt he had such promise to begin with. In AWAY WE GO, John Krasinski (“The Office”) and Maya Rudolph (“Saturday Night Live”) play an unmarried couple in their early thirties who are expecting their first child. With the ultimate responsibility coming on quickly, they realize that they haven’t really gotten a strong hold on this game called life just yet. So they set out to find a new place to call home so that they can grow into the capable adults they know they can be if they just put their minds to it. Its unpolished look and fresh screenplay could mean that Mendes is looking for a new place to call home himself.



WHATEVER WORKS Written and Directed by Woody Allen (VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA) Starring Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood Release Date 06/19
We all know that Woody Allen is often hit or miss. Still, I always look forward to seeing which way it’s going to go. In this case though, there is the Larry David factor. David stresses me out ordinarily. However, a friend bought me a complete season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” for my birthday and, much to my surprise, I actually enjoyed it. He still stressed me out but I got over my reluctance to watch him in anything so now I am ready for more. I actually think that Allen and David will make a perfect match; their social anxieties may just compliment each other brilliantly. The prospect of an inappropriate relationship between David and Evan Rachel Wood, a good forty-year gap, may be a little trickier though.



Part 2 of Black Sheep's Summer Longin' will be here tomorrow. Will you?