The Informant!

You can’t keep a good executive down. After ENRON, after Lehman Brothers and the continuing fury at executive bonuses  it was quite a change to see the corporate executive class as brimming with ineffective buffoons rather than coldly calculated capitalist psychopaths, in The Informant! Matt Damon stars as the amiable Mark Whitacre, an up and coming  heavyweight at global food derivative company ADM in the early nineties. In a stream of consciousness voiceover which is probably the films finest stroke (unlike The Road where this potentially fatal technique can ostracize the viewer) Mark takes us through his corporate experience, as the film opens advising superiors that he’s in touch with a Japanese whistle-blower who can expose an industrial saboteur in their midst and fix a production issue that’s costing them $7 million a month. Much to Mark’s consternation the company brings in the FBI to investigate the sabotage, Whitacre distracting them with the revelation of a massive conspiracy to price-fix goods in the global marketplace. Two earnest FBI agents (Scott Bakula and Joel McHale) enrol Whitacre into service as a double-agent, an informer in a comedic bumbling and disorganized fashion, leaving his exasperated handlers uncertain whether he’s cooperating or not. Mark’s web of deceit begins to disentangle as the film progresses, his numerous subterfuges slowly unraveling as the scale of the real corruption is incrementally revealed.

Under his usual DP pseudonym Peter George Soderbergh proves once again he is one of the most adept masters of the digital camera revolution. In opposition to the recent work of Michael Mann and the edgy, viscous, grainy texture that he achieves with his crime odysseys in The Informant! the surface sheen and glows from his subdued and effective lighting schemes looks like they are printed on the most expensive, luscious film stock on the market. The Informant! has a very jovial, frothy atmosphere which is reinforced with a slightly intrusive score of Marvin Hamlisch that brings to mind the caper movies of the 1960′s, it’s a far more breezy affair than Soderbergh’s impenetrable existential corporate yarn Schizopolis. Damon convinces as the amiable Whitacre, even generating a certain level of sympathy toward the finale despite the depths of his corporate malfeasance, one serious scene toward the end revealing a psychological spike to the characters congenial veneer. The film almost metaphorically seems to grab the audience in a headlock, ruffle their hair and convince them that they’re having a good time, it’s an entertaining romp that will evaporate from the memory a couple of hours after the credits dim.

- John Mcentee

In our second look at the work of director Steven Soderbergh, Sound on Sight takes on three of the celebrated director’s crime-related films – though they’re crimes of different stripes. His latest, The Informant!, takes on white-collar crime, and stars Matt Damon as a corporate whistleblower who may not be as innocent as he seems. His caper flick Out of Sight is a tale of robbery gone wrong and right, with a little romance thrown in, and The Limey, starring Terence Stamp, acts as Soderbergh’s take on the ever-popular revenge thriller genre.

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The King of Pop continues to be incredibly lucrative, even in death.  The latest posthumous venture concerns the “…rights to the approximately 80 hours of high-definition, full dress rehearsal footage captured by AEG Entertainment, the company behind Jackson’s concert series.”  It’s the rehearsal footage for the “This Is It” series of 50 live shows that would have taken place at London’s O2 Arena. were it not for Michael’s tragic death in June.  “According to U.S. media and movie industry reports, Sony Pictures is among the lead bidders offering more than $50 million US for rights (to this footage)”  Financially, this is money extremely well spent, and necessary cash on the part of AEG Entertainment.  “AEG Live had invested $20 million to $30 million in the arena show, not including any advance paid to Jackson’s camp, according to Billboard.”

“According to reports, several of the 50 concert dates were insured…but according to insurance industry insiders, (if Jackson’s death was caused by) a preexisting condition, such as drug addiction or a heart defect, could mean AEG gets zip.”  So AEG has an extra incentive to make a deal for the footage; depending on whatever we eventually learn was the cause of death.

The real question from a cinematic standpoint is: can this be made into a quality documentary?  If Sony Pictures (or whoever eventually wins the bid) simply races to put it out to cash in on Jackson-Mania, they could just make it a straight concert film, which would likely still be profitable. However, it would be nice to see that footage integrated with some interviews and some past footage to create a unique and creative tribute to the King of Pop.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/06/who-and-what-really-killed-michael-jackson-.html

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/07/20/jackson-footage-aeg-rehearsal-movie.html

A few 66th Annual Venice Film Festival Highlights:

The festival will feature 71 world premieres. Some of the highlights in competition include:  Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Michael Moore’s new documentary, which comments on the perils of the American economy, entitled Capitalism: A Love Story, and famously eccentric  director Todd Solondz’s Life During Wartime.

Out of competition, the festival also features Oliver Stone’s new film South of the Border, and Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant!

For the entire film selection list, visit http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006678.html?categoryid=19&cs=1

Michael Sheen will be the new Tron Legacy villain

Walt Disney Pictures confirmed via Twitter…Michael Sheen (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans) will have a role in Tron Legacy.   Sheen was terrific as Tony Blair in 2006′s The Queen, but it is unlikely that this updated Tron will feature the nuance and sophistication of a Stephen Frears-directed film.  We are comparing two disparate styles of film here.
The film already stars Garrett Hedlund, Jeff Bridges, and Olivia Wilde.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436697/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0790688/

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/michael-sheen-confirmed-as-villain-in-tron-legacy.php

The Saw Adventure continues…

How could the Saw franchise even get to six installments, you ask? (see below)  The sixth film is coming out in October of this year.   Well, what do you think about a seventh film?  So far, “the five Saw pics to date have grossed more than $700 million worldwide.”   The Lionsgate studio has made the fiscally logical choice in deciding to produce a seventh film.  There’s not much need for a quippy comment on my part – obviously these films have some sort of cultural cachet I do not understand.

“David Hackl — production designer of the second, third and fourth films and helmer of Saw V — has been tapped to direct (Saw 7)… Mark Burg and Oren Koules are producing again, as they have on all the Saw films…Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, who penned the fourth, fifth and sixth films, are writing the seventh.”

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006415.html?categoryId=13&cs=1

Judd Apatow tied down at Universal

According to Variety, “Universal Pictures has kept its key funny guy in the studio fold, signing a three-picture directing deal with Funny People director Judd Apatow…he has never directed a film outside of Universal….”  Apatow is pretty much a guaranteed investment, given that “…his directing debut on the 2005 comedy hit The 40-Year Old Virgin…grossed over $177 million worldwide. He followed with the 2007 hit Knocked Up, a film that grossed over $219 million worldwide.”  It is interesting to see a deal like this; it is almost like a return to the old studio system, where stars or directors were signed down to multi-picture deals, and were assets of the studio.  However, the studio is paying Apatow for his abilities as an auteur.  So rather than assigning him a writing or directing job, as would have been done in the majority of Old Hollywood under the studio system, they are contracting him to write and direct his own films.

“Apatow has not yet committed to his next directing vehicle. He writes those films himself, a process that will begin after Funny People opens.”

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006715.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Originally Posted in Creative Loafing.

2009 is already halfway over, and the fall movie season (with all the originality and Oscar-bait it has to offer) is just around the corner. What follows is my list of the 25 films I’m most interested in seeing in the second half of 2009. Read all the way to the bottom for some honorable mentions and films that flat out didn’t make the cut, despite the big-name talent behind the production. (I’m looking at you Scorsese and Apatow.) Then let me know in the comments what you’re looking forward to seeing in the next six months.

Read on for the my 25 most anticipated films of the rest of 2009.

25) Big Fan (August 28)

I know the Sundance hit wasn’t praised for its production values, but The Wrestler scribe Robert D. Siegal looks like he has written another winner about a loser. Patton Oswalt plays a very big New York Giants fan who, though a misunderstanding, is beaten up by his favorite player. From there his life goes into emotional turmoil, and Oswalt is said to give a fearless dramatic performance.

24) Nine (November 27)

I’m a sucker for Musicals and anything Fellini so here we are with Nine. This is another in a series of film-to-stage-to-film adaptations: In this case the movie is Federico Fellini’s 1963 classic 8 ½, about a film director dealing with an artistic crisis and all the various woman in his life simultaneously. The cast consists of six Oscar winners (Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren, and acting God Daniel Day Lewis) and Fergie.

23) Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (TBA)

Touted as the “first Mumblecore musical” David Chazelle‘s debut feature has delighted audiences on the festival circuit. The film (shot on 16mm black and white) follows the lively romance of a jazz trumpeter and a tap-dancing beauty on the streets of Boston. The film looks like the perfect blending of old and new.

22) The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle (TBA)

Davis Russo’s feature film debut has turned heads at festival circuits all year. The film is about bizarre experiments involving janitors and deliciously addictive cookies. These cookies, as it turns out, cause strange visions, wild mood swings and some quasi-male pregnancies. The janitors band together as they become midwives for one another, each man giving birth to a small blue fish. Oh, what a beautiful synopsis.

Listen to podcast #135 for a full review

21) The Lovely Bones (December 11)

Peter Jackson’s long awaited adaptation of Alice Sebold’s novel is almost here. The story is about a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family and her killer from heaven, observing how their lives have changed. Jackson looks like he is returning to the kind of supernatural drama of Heavenly Creatures (my favorite film of his).

20) Ponyo (August 27)

It’s Hayao Miyazaki, so how could one not be excited. With this feature he has gone for a more old school look with a water color and pastel-like animation style and using as little CGI as possible. The story is a take off on The Little Mermaid, but this time it’s a goldfish princess who longs to be human.

19) The Princess and the Frog (December 11)

Disney’s long awaited return to hand drawn animation had me hooked five years ago when the project was announced. Featuring Disney’s first African-American princess, the film takes place in the beautifully detailed New Orleans’ French Quarter during the Jazz Age.

18) Agora (December 18)

Alejandro Amenabar‘s latest may have gotten mixed notices at Cannes, but I must say the film looks spectacular. This uncommonly high-minded epic set in Roman Egypt’s famed city of Alexandria concerns a slave who turns to the growing surge of Christianity to pursue freedom while falling helplessly in love with his master, famous atheist philosophy professor Hypatia (Rachel Weisz).

17) Life During Wartime (TBA)

Todd Solondz has always made polarizing films and dealt with the most taboo subjects. This film is said to be a loose sequel to his 1998 classic Happiness. Many of that film’s characters now inhabit what seems to be about a war-torn world. Unfortunately I don’t think Paris Hilton is in this one as was originally reported. But it should be interesting nonetheless.

16) Cold Souls (August 14)

Sophie Barthes debut feature has already been compared to the work of Charlie Kaufman. The wacky post-modern comedy is set in the not too distant future where corporations can extract human souls and sell them as commodities. The story centers on Paul Giamatti (playing himself) who decides to try the procedure to help him get into a soulless character for the stage. His plan backfires when he tries to retrieve his soul and learns it has been sold on the Russian black market.

15) The Road (October 16)

This post-apocalyptic tale looks depressing as hell, and I can’t wait. We could either have another Children of Men on our hands (which is good btw) or another Blindness (not so good). There is The Proposition director John Hillcoat helming the adaption of Cormac McCarthy‘s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel and starring Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce and Charlize Theron. I think were in good hands.

14) Where the Wild Things Are (October 16)

I would have put Spike Jonze‘ latest higher on the list if not for the current post-production hell it’s currently in. The trailers look spectacular, but the test screenings have been near-disasters and I’m a little worried on how the overall product is going come out. Will it pander too much to younger audiences or will it be a tedious art film? But we do have hipster novelist Dave Eggers involved, and the vocal talents are outstanding.

13) World’s Greatest Dad (August 21)

Robin Williams looks as if he could actually be good here. He plays a sad sack of a high school poetry teacher with an insufferable sex-crazed jackass of a son. But when a tragic event occurs, Williams’ character turns it into an opportunity to make his long-crushed dreams come true. Vulgar comedy extraordinaire Bob Goldthwait looks like he could have a crossover hit on his hands.

12) Beeswax (TBA)

Andrew Bujalski‘s follow up to 2005′s Mutual Appreciation was a hit at South by Southwest along with Joe Sawnberg‘s Alexander the Last. The film will follow the complicated lives and loves of two identical twin sisters, one of which is a paraplegic.

11) Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (TBA)

In a bizarre choice of material, film-making icon Werner Herzog has made a remake (or sequel) to Abel Ferrara‘s Bad Lieutenant. This time out, Nicolas Cage stars as a crooked, drug-addicted cop whose life spins (somewhat hilariously) out of control. The film also stars Eva Mendes, Exhibit and Val Kilmer — and already feels like it could be a cult classic.

10) Thirst (July 31)

Oldboy auteur Chan-wook Park enters the lucrative world of the vampire genre with his latest film. The film follows a small town priest who, during a failed medical experiment, becomes a vampire. This, of course, leads him down the road to anguish and depravity — but he still struggles to maintain his humanity.

9) Broken Embraces (November 20)

Pedro Almodovar‘s latest looks like his most gorgeous film yet, and it’s lovely to see Penelope Cruz in an assortment of dazzling wigs. The film tells the story of a blind filmmaker (Lluís Homar) and how he lost not only his sight but love of his life (Cruz).

8 ) The Illusionist (TBA)

This is the new feature from France’s new animation king Sylvain Chomet, his first since the Oscar-nominated Triplets of Bellville. Another exciting element is the fact that the film’s screenplay was written over 30 years ago by the legendary comic filmmaker Jacques Tati. This means we may very well catch a glimpse of the iconic Monsieur Hulot once again (in animated form of course).

7) In the Loop (July 24, VOD: July 15)

Based off the British TV series The Thick of It, this comedy has been described as “Dr. Strangelove meets The Office.” The political farce centers on a British Secretary of State and his entourage trying to halt a war they may have accidentally started, through any means necessary. The reviews for this one have been enthusiastically positive.

Listen to podcast #141 for a full review

6) Humpday (in limited release now)

The Bromance to end all bromances. Lynn Shelton‘s latest was a sensation at Sundance with many critics citing it as the first Mumblecore film that could crossover into the mainstream. Two old buddies go to a party at a sex positive commune, get wasted and dare each other to enter a gay porn contest. The next morning the two find themselves unable to back down from their bet. But how is the wife of one of the guys going to take this turn of events?

Listen to podcast #141 for a full review

5) Antichrist (October 23)

I’m so up for the bat-shit craziness this film has to offer. Who doesn’t want to see a NC-17 horror film that looks like a perfume ad? Ok, maybe not as many as I think, but I’m there. What if I told you there is supposedly a talking fox and the mutilation of Willem Dafoe’s little man? Lars Von Trier‘s (or “the greatest director in the world” as he likes to call himself) film centers on a grieving couple who retreat to a mysterious cabin in the woods. Then some bad things happen.

4) The Hurt Locker (in limited release now)

What else can I say about this one? Kathryn Bigelow‘s film is the most universally acclaimed so far this year (along with Up) and the #1 art house event of the summer. We follow an elite Army bomb squad in a city in Iraq in brilliant uncompromising detail. Just watch this clip and you shall see what everyone is talking about.

3) The Tree of Life (TBA)

It’s still up in the air whether the film will be released this year or next, but I have my fingers crossed. Director Terrence Malick is notorious for his long post-productions, but any Malick film is a huge event. (This would be his fifth film of his 40 year career). The descriptions I’ve heard about this one are mind-blowing, and Malick has reportedly been planning this film for over 30 years. Life will follow the evolution of an 11 year old boy. The audience will see the world through his eyes, full of beauty and love and his visions of history. But as the boy gets older, he gets his first glimpses of death and sickness and parental conflict (Brad Pitt will play the father). The world then becomes a harsh unforgiving place. Sean Penn is will play the boy as a disillusioned adult yearning to find meaning in his life again. There will also supposedly be a time-line of the history of the world that goes back far enough to include the dinosaurs. Talk about ambitious!

2) Avatar (December 18)

James Cameron’s “cinema changing” film is so close. The buzz I’ve heard from all around has been uniform ally great. (Sample buzz: “Avatar will change movie industry forever. Thank you Jim” … “It’s nothing you can imagine, it’s real. Cameron made a new planet and took a cam there.” … “THIS WILL CHANGE MOVIES FOREVER. Trust me, it will.” All I can say is that the film stills are simply mind blowing.

1) Inglorious Basterds (August 21)

Well what did you expect? I’m a Quentin Tarantino fanatic (yes, I even loved Death Proof) so how can I not be excited? The lukewarm Cannes reception, mediocre trailers and the supposed reediting haven’t deterred me one bit. The complex “Nazi scalping” plot looks ingenious, and the international cast doesn’t look bad either: Brad Pitt, France’s Melanie Laurent, England’s Michael Fassbender, The Office‘s B.J. Novak, Diane Kruger, and even Mike Myers. Then there’s Germany’s Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger, and major Oscar contender Christopher Waltz.

Check out the review from the secret screening held at the Fantasia Film Festival in July

Now, I did leave off some notable films. Scorsese’s latest Shutter Island just does not look interesting to me, and Judd Apatow’s Funny People has a surprisingly unfunny trailer. (But I’ll see it anyway, simply for Leslie Mann.) I guess I just don’t know enough about the Coen brothers’ latest A Serious Man to get excited about it. For honorable mentions I would put Soderbergh’s The Informant!, Ricky Gervais’ The Invention of Lying (the trailer makes the film look to slight to me). And Richard Kelly may have actually made a film I give a shit about with The Box.

It’s been over a month since Steven Soderbergh’s last release The Girlfriend Experience.  So it’s about time we got a look at his latest film The Informant starring Matt Damon.  Expecting a Michael Clayton style drama I was pleasantly surprised the film is being billed as a black comedy.  The Trailer has a couple real laugh-out -loud moments.  Damon looks to be a good bet for an Oscar nomination next year (It would be his first in over 12 years).  The film also stars comedians Joel McHale and Patton Oswald.  Look out for The Informant on October 9th.