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News Roundup: Clint Eastwood, Barbara Walters, Judd Apatow’s Girls, and More

Laura Aguirre — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Clint Eastwood is generating a lot of buzz, and it has nothing to do with his latest film J. Edgar. The respected actor and director, whose name is synonymous with Hollywood, is going to the last place any of us thought he’d go – E! Find out more below. We’ve also got news on ABC and a long-running show they’ve decided to cancel.

Catch up below…

ABC Cans Long-Running Show: After nine seasons of chanting “Move that bus!” ABC has cancelled the reality series “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” The final episode will be on January 13, 2012.
Clint Eastwood Heading For Reality TV: No, you’re not dreaming. This is reality. Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood is following in the steps of the Kardashians. It turns out his wife Dina Eastwood and their two daughters are currently shooting a family reality show (a la Kardashian) for E! The show will explore what it’s like to live in a family of “Hollywood royalty” which Mr. Eastwood is clearly a part of. The show will focus more on the relationship between mother and daughters, and Mr. Clint will only be making a couple of cameos.
Barbara Walters Will Retire: Legendary journalist Barbara Walters is going to retire next year. During a break Ms. Walters leaned over to President Obama and told him that she needed to interview him before she retired next year. This was suppose to be a private conversation, but her mic was still on and a lot of people heard the news. There’s no telling is this is definite because she’s joked about retiring for many years, but who knows, maybe 2012 is her year to call it quits.

New Trailers:

G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation: The new trailer for G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation features big explosions, sword fighting and exotic locations. Bruce Willis also makes a brief appearance towards the end of the trailer. In this sequel, the team faces off against Zartan, his accomplices, and the world leaders he has under his influence. Check it out below.

Judd Apatow’s “Girls”: And finally, something refreshing. The first teaser for Judd Apatow’s HBO show “Girls,” starring the awesome Lena Dunham has hit the web, and it looks, well, quite entertaining. It’s got an early “Sex and the City” vibe to it, but these girls are in their 20s, not 30s. Take a look:

That’s the end of our round-up. Keep checking back at ScreenCrave for more entertainment news.

What are you excited for?

J. Edgar: Movie Review

Damon Houx — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:00:10 +0000

Clint Eastwood has been working so hard and so much, it’s easy to be bowled over that an 81-year-old has churned out nearly a film a year for over two decades (generally if he takes a year off it’s because he directed two the year previous). For his latest he’s assembled Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, and Armie Hammer for a portrait of one of the most important and powerful men of the 20th Century: J. Edgar Hoover, who developed the Federal Bureau of Investigations into the complicated and powerful organization it is now. But J. Edgar is sadly undercooked, with all the juicy tales of Hoover and none congealing.

The Players:

Director: Clint Eastwood
Writers: Dustin Lance Black
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Armie Hammer, Judi Dench
Cinematography by: Tom Stern

The Plot:

Through the framework of J. Edgar Hoover (DiCaprio) dictating his autobiography, the film moves from Hoover’s childhood and interest in the protection of people from communism, to his glory years where he developed the Bureau of Investigation into a powerhouse – especially after the Lindbergh baby kidnapping case – and then his later years, where he butted heads with the Kennedys over organized crime, and thought Martin Luther King was a communist. The most important people in his life seem to be his mother (Dench), his secretary Helen Gandy (Watts) and Clyde Tolson (Hammer), his second in command and rumored lover.

The Good:

On Time and Under Budget: Credit to James Rocchi for that saying, but when it comes to a Clint Eastwood film, that seems to be one of the things that is likeable about it. And Eastwood has a great craft, and there’s no faulting the design or quality of the film itself. It’s handsomely put together, and everyone seems to know what they’re doing.

The Bad:

The Script: It may seem dangerous to come to a thesis when making a film like this, but with so many details of interest in Hoover’s story, you wait for the film to at least make you feel you have an understanding of Hoover, and not just a collection of his greatest hits. The film mentions that in the 1960′s, Hoover thought organized crime didn’t exist, and was more worried about the threat of communism. That’s fascinating and could serve for a great chapter on the man’s life, and yet it’s a sentence in the film. And there are too many sentences and moments that should resonate stronger. Hoover ultimately became dangerous through his organization, but what he did that was bad in the 60′s and 70′s – other than spying on Presidents to keep his job – is backgrounded and the film doesn’t seem to implicate him in the deaths of any of the famous figures at the time. It does a better job of showing him as petty, but never really showcases what made him terrible. Perhaps the film expects us to realize he’s evil, but as a generation has been raised on CSI, that Hoover used scientists and fingerprints to find criminals is appealing. Does the film want to be a balanced portrait of Hoover’s legacy, or is that just what happens when you make a film that is more assemblage of facts than narrative? And the way the film deals with the allegations of homosexuality and cross dressing are laughable, but more damningly don’t really connect to the film at hand. You could snip the two biggest dramatic scenes that relate to those allegations and the film wouldn’t be changed.

Homosexuality: Perhaps that’s why Dustin Lance Black was hired on to write this as he won an Oscar for penning Milk, but his work here needed another draft to make a story out of these elements. The homosexual angle on Hoover would be fascinating if it tied into his work a little more, but the film doesn’t make a case that repression relates to the work, or his later years. This is also bungled when it comes to Naomi Watts’s character, who’s got some of the best moments in the film early on when Hoover is trying to date her, but her character quickly falls into being a secretary and so she dutifully shows up every twenty or thirty minutes in old age make-up to remind you she’s in the film. Cinema has often punished closeted men for being such, and it’s understandable that Black wouldn’t want to turn Hoover into another closet freak, but he’s a freak anyway. And if Hoover was a good lawman ruined by his desire to catch people in scandal, so too is J. Edgar ruined by it’s failure to tie his sexuality into his work.

The Direction: Again, this is undercooked and that’s got to lay at the feet of Eastwood. Though some blanch at the use of the phrase “Oscar Bait,” this team was more assembled and project has the air of “this is a good topic.” I think everyone wanted to work together, but the end results suggest the sort of film that’s not a passion project – comparing this to Bird or White Hunter, Black Heart, and J. Edgar looks undernourished and confused. And though Eastwood’s work has declined in some ways over the years (there are few cheerleaders for Invictus or Hereafter), this appears to be his sloppiest in a long, long time – if those films are less good, with moments of Eastwood’s gift, little here has any charm or resonance. The material doesn’t grip him, and though Eastwood’s got a sure hand, he doesn’t have a three act structure to fall back on so it’s mostly a collage of scenes. Great art often expects you to meet it half way, but films like this expect audiences to do all the heavy lifting. There’s a difference.

Mommy: I wish the character Judi Dench plays had weight, but perhaps it’s because Eastwood doesn’t excel at camp. That’s a strongpoint when navigating tricky material, but when you eventually put Hoover in a dress for one scene, you could see how that might work if the film was done in the spirit of Mommy Dearest. Here, you just cringe for everyone involved.

Overall:

Bad movies aren’t always the ones that are incompetent, sometimes the worst films are the ones that frustrate. There is so much potential for the material in J. Edgar, but the film that was made feels rushed and pointless. Sometimes great people don’t make for great films, but this film is beneath everyone involved.

Rating: 2.5/10

J. Edgar opens wide November 11.

Trailer:

Photos:

Interview: Clint Eastwood and Leonardo DiCaprio on J. Edgar

Damon Houx — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 22:37:14 +0000

When you’re Clint Eastwood, you don’t have to try too hard with certain things. It comes with being a living legend. Want a hot screenwriter? Check: Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black. Want a hot cast? Check: Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts and Armie Hammer are ready to work with you. And with J. Edgar, Eastwood assembled this dream team. We got a chance to talk with Eastwood and DiCaprio about the film, check it out…

Did you have more than two or three takes on any one scene that you did?

Leonardo DiCaprio: We actually did a lot of takes on this movie. I never left the set wanting more, that’s for sure. Clint is very adaptable and has his process and what he does is expect you to plant your feet and speak the truth like James Cagney says. That’s what we tried to do our best on this movie, and he gave us everything we could possibly ask for as actors.

Clint Eastwood: What I do is whatever it takes, it takes. Sometimes you see a scene right away and a take looks great so you might print that and you might print a couple more and take elements of all three. You’re looking for the best elements of the scene, but preferably you’d like to have one good take that would go all the way through. But I’m always trying for it on the first take.

That was Don Siegel’s favorite thing. He says I may not get it but I’m always trying for it. I’ve got this reputation for shooting one take which is a wonderful reputation to have but hard to live up to. If I did it, it would be kind of shoddy.

What did you learn about J. Edgar that may have altered your perception of him?

Leonardo DiCaprio: I think the screenplay that Clint and I initially responded to by Dustin Lance Black was a very fascinating portrait of this man, and these characters that had devoted their life to government service and that meant not having any kind of personal life whatsoever. They were representation of the FBI. That was their church. It’s a hard concept to wrap my head around – to completely sacrifice any sort of love in your life, to never experience that on a personal level. All three of these characters lived a life of service to their country.

What I was fascinated by was his take on entering J. Edgar Hoover’s career during a time of almost a terrorist invasion by Communists, the Red Scare, that sort of paranoia that was infused in our country, and the lawlessness of these bank robbers that were going from state to state and becoming free men when they crossed state lines and how J. Edgar Hoover really transformed the police system in America and created this Federal Bureau that to this day is one of the most feared, respected and revered police forces in the entire world. This story goes on to his later years where he became a political dinosaur who didn’t adapt to the changing of our country. It’s very much about the Kennedy years and the Civil Rights movement and Martin Luther King.

The one thing that was prevalent throughout his entire career was his staunch belief that Communism was an evil thing. He wanted to retain the fundamental principles of democracy in our country, but when the Civil Rights movement came along he saw that as an uprising of the people. He stayed in power way too long and he didn’t listen to his own critics and he was a staunch believer in his moral beliefs and his beliefs about what was right for our country. His career ended on a failed note in my opinion. You can’t deny that he wasn’t a patriot but at the same time his tactics were pretty deplorable.

You did a magnificent job in terms of the whole aging process. Did you take a closer look at older people and how they move or is it something that just comes naturally as part of the acting?

Leonardo DiCaprio: Thankfully Clint set that up for the last two weeks of filming so we got to prepare for that and we got to get our footing in our characters and then come to set and the last few weeks we sat in the make-up chair for 5 or 6 or 7 hours and I think a lot of us had our own research on how to do that, but there was a lot of prep time.

The challenge was not just the prosthetic work and how to move like an older man would move but more so how to have 50 years of experience in the workplace and talk to a young Robert F. Kennedy as if he was some political upstart that didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. That was the big challenge for us as actors.

Clint creates an environment for all of us to really focus on the acting and the drama and the interaction with the characters. I keep talking about his style of directing but it’s so catered for actors because he has almost like this splinter cell unit of people on set, the bare minimum. It’s like an elite squadron of Marines that are there and they sort of fade away and then that third wall sort of disappears and you start to feel like you’re actually submerged in reality and you’re really there. For doing difficult stuff like that, it’s incredibly helpful as an actor to feel like you’re immersed in that environment.

Clint Eastwood: Having an 81-year-old director right in front of you is something. I think the best example we had was when we did J. Edgar Hoover going in to see the President, we pretty much duplicated both shots so you’d see Leo going in as a young man and then coming at the final one when he goes into see President Nixon, he goes in and he does the exact same gestures but just as an old man. If you put those two pieces together, you see a dramatic change.

Mr. Eastwood, it’s great that we get to see a new movie of yours every year and now it’s exciting to hear that we might see you in front of the camera again acting. What does it mean to you to have a chance to have an acting role again?

Clint Eastwood: I could say…I could say a lot of things. I could say boredom. Actually it’s kind of based on material. I was just telling somebody a few minutes ago that I’d been trying to retire to the back of the camera for quite a few years. And then, in 1970, when I first started directing, I said you know, if I could pull this off, I can some day just move in back of the camera and stay there. I never was able to pull it off because somebody offered me a role.

Once and a while they come up with a grumpy old men thing and they say “Okay, let’s get Eastwood for that.” Regardless of what age you are, most actors would all agree that it’s all based upon material and the material has got to spark with you. It may be great material, but you think it’s great material for somebody else. Or it’s great material and I’m perfect for it. So, you just have to make that judgment and if you feel in the mood to do it.

Clint, can you talk a little bit about the non-linear nature of the storytelling and the way it shifted through the different time periods? Why did you think that was an important or an effective way to tell the story?

Clint Eastwood: It was an interesting way to go back and forth in time and show him and his present day attitude and how he was when he was younger and just starting out with all kinds of vinegar and ready to roll. I think we stuck pretty well with the formula and it seemed clever to me. By the same token, it helped to go to what everybody is referring to here to justify all these characters.

Hoover, I’m sure, felt that he was right in everything he did and even the things that we don’t like about his character. Everybody always feels that they’re right even if they’re wrong and that’s what a whole actor’s career is built around rationalizing your way into whatever character you’re playing. So it was great fun.

And Helen Gandy, for instance, I’m just deviating a little bit but I’ll get back to it. When I went to the FBI, she was sort of legendary as far as running the place, and even Robert Mueller who’s the director today says “Oh yeah, Helen Gandy, she ran the place.” She was one of those women that would come into a job and pretty soon everybody was relying on her. We listened to the tapes of her talking to the Congressional Committee after Hoover passed to the whereabouts of all of the so-called files. She stood her ground and you could tell she was somebody who was very confident after 50 years of being on that job. Nobody could burn her down. She had her story and stuck to it. Those kind of characters all made it interesting. You get this collage of people that all come from a different place. You ask yourself about Hoover and his relationship with Helen Gandy and his relationship with Tolson, where did it come from? With Tolson, was it just because of lack of trust? Other people come and go and rumors fly in a big organization like that. He had one or two people that he trusted and that was the extent of it probably.

Throughout your careers you’ve come into proximity with people of enormous power, politically and otherwise. How did you take those observations that you’ve made from your own experiences and applied them to Hoover’s story?

Clint Eastwood: Well, with people in high office, the old – they go into the extreme, which is absolute power and absolute power corrupts and what have you, so there’s always the corrupting thing with the 48-year stint as the director of the Bureau of Investigation. And because he formed it all and he had the trust of various executives along the way they just relied on him and nobody could remove him.

There are so many parallels in society today that you can use, whether it’s the head of studio or a head of an organization, a major newspaper, a major factory or company, of people who stay too long, maybe, and overstay their usefulness.

I have great respect for the FBI, and I knew there have been some rumors lately that the FBI was disenchanted because of what we were doing in story, or doing a certain take: that’s not true. Actually the FBI was tremendously enthusiastic about us doing this film. They didn’t read the script, though. They know nothing about it. Their philosophy is ‘Go ahead and make the story you want to make, and hopefully we’ll love it.’ So that’s that.

Your screenwriter was born after Mr. Hoover passed away, while Mr. Eastwood, you lived through some of the Hoover era. Did that inform how you went about the material, having experienced some of that period?

Clint Eastwood: Well, I just kind of had my own impressions growing up with Hoover as a heroic figure in the 40s – actually the 30s, 40s, and 50s and beyond – but this was all prior to the information age so we didn’t know about Hoover except what was in the papers. This was fun, because it was a chance to go into it. And Lance had gone and done stuff from autobiographical material and biographies from other people, and it was fun to delve into a character that you’d heard about all your life but you never really knew and try to sort that out.

We never knew too much about the Tolson, the Gandy…any of his close confidants, but through researching this movie that was what was fun about making the movie: you get to learn something about people. And then watching the other actors and everybody – we’re all just kind of learning history, or putting our stamp on history, our interpretation of it. Sure, a lot of things probably didn’t happen exactly the way they happen in this film, but they’re pretty close, and Lance had done a great job of researching what time certain events happened in history so they could coincide with other events.

How did making this movie and learning this story affect how you think about the idea of privacy? Something that Hoover went about destroying for people when they met his hands.

Leonardo DiCaprio: It’s interesting in this day and age to do a film about political espionage and wiretapping. I don’t think that those kinds of secrets that J. Edgar Hoover was able to obtain and keep for such a long period of time would be possible in today’s world, with the Internet, Wikileaks…It doesn’t seem like those kinds of secrets can be kept for that long period of time.

This is a different day and age, and there were huge, catastrophic events that were going to happen if we didn’t have a federal police system like that investigating a lot of activities that were going on in our country. It still goes on to this day, obviously. I mean, it’s an argument or a topic that people could talk about until they’re blue in the face, whether that type of information being released to the public is a positive or a negative thing. I suppose it depends on the particular event or subject matter. But I don’t think that J. Edgar Hoover would be able to do the same job in today’s era with all this massive distribution of information in a matter of seconds. It was a different era and time.

Clint Eastwood: He sure would be able to store the material easy. Just go around with a little iPad and have everybody in there.

Aging, has it affected you—

Clint Eastwood: What was that again?

Leonardo DiCaprio: Has aging affected you?

Clint Eastwood: I haven’t heard it. I haven’t (laughs)…I think aging, so far, has been okay. I think it’s been good. A lot of people regret, because we live in a society that reveres being at the prime of life and everything, but you have certain primes at certain times, and mine happens to be…

Leonardo DiCaprio: Happens to be right now.

Clint Eastwood: …It happens to be, I think, now. I think I am doing better at certain things right now than I have in the past, and maybe not so good at others.

Leonardo DiCaprio: From an outsider’s perspective, it’s amazing what he does. If he’s not directing a film, he’s acting in it, or rather he’s composing the music for that film. His commitment to what he does is astounding. For all of us to witness. It’s inspiring, actually.

Clint Eastwood: I do believe if one keeps busy it’s very good for a person. In fact, people are always rushing into retirement and we read in Europe people there are talking about their retirement age and moving it to 67 or something. Well, back when they started retirement funds and everything, the average age was 70 or 60, and then all of a sudden now it’s 80, and so… Oh, I’ve passed it, haven’t I? And so you keep in shape, you keep yourself mentally in shape. And if you keep yourself mentally in shape, chances are physically it will follow suit.

How do you think the myth of J. Edgar Hoover informs Dirty Harry?

Clint Eastwood: I don’t think Hoover conforms to Dirty Harry at all. Dirty Harry was a mythical character that came along. Don Siegel and I approached it as an exciting detective story, nothing too much except it. The writer of that, Harry Julian Fink had written it that he was a man concerned with the victim and this came about at a period of time when everyone was obsessed with the rights of the accused. So all of a sudden we come out with a detective story with a lot of violence and stuff but it was also concerning the rights of the victims. Shortly after that, there became all kinds of victims’ rights organizations, so we felt maybe we were ahead of the curve on that.

Maybe I haven’t the parallel though because Hoover was an administrator. Even though this congressman in the picture is giving him a hard time and this all happened in real life so he ended up making arrests and stuff, but he was an administrator. He administrated a very large organization so why would he be out on the street making arrests? That’s what he has his agents for. He was just under scrutiny from people because they disliked him or he was aggressive or whatever.

Leo, why are you drawn to characters involved in social/historical stories?

Leonardo DiCaprio: I think Lance put it best when he said, “Look, if we can better understand these people and their motivations and how this event manifested itself to their politics, we can learn from them. We can learn from history.” To me, you couldn’t write a character like J. Edgar Hoover and have it be believable. I mean, he was a crock pot of eccentricities. We couldn’t even fit all his eccentricities into this movie. We could go on and on.

The fact that this man was, like he said, if not the most powerful man in the last century, one of the most in our country and he lived with his mother until he was 40 years old. He listened to his mother for political advice. The more I dug deep, you understand the history of the child and what motivated these people at a very early age, she wanted the Hoover name to rise to great glory in Washington so he was this incredibly ambitious young genius that really transformed our country and created this federal bureau that to this day is revered and feared. Yet he was a mama’s boy. He was incredibly repressed emotionally. His only outlet was his job. He wasn’t allowed to have any kind of personal relationships, or he felt that.

No matter what his sexual orientation was, he was devoted to his job and power was paramount to him and holding onto that power at all costs was the most important thing in his life. He should’ve retired much sooner than he did and many presidents tried to oust him later on in his career as depicted with Nixon as well. That was everything to him and he didn’t adapt or change to our country and that is one of the most important things a political leader can do. For me as an actor, I just loved researching this stuff. So much about – - we got to take a trip to Washington and I got to meet people who knew him and really understand and capture this guy to the best of my abilities. That’s half the fun of making a movie for me.

Was this an education for you?

Leonardo DiCaprio: Yeah, it is. It’s an incredible education. It was like I did a college course on J. Edgar Hoover but not knowing and understanding the history and reading the books, but understanding what motivated this man was the most fascinating part of the research.

Do you worry this will hurt your career?

Leonardo DiCaprio: No, not at all. I don’t have to sympathize or empathize with a human being in order to be able to portray them. I mean, some of the greatest roles that actors have been able to play haven’t been the most endearing on screen.

Clint Eastwood: It’s been historically actors have been made very famous for roles that were something that was far – - Richard Widmark could come to mind or something like that, where you do some famous role and everybody imitates you for the rest of your life. But obviously it’s much more fun to play something you’re not than it is something you are.

J. Edgar opens November 11.

Clint Eastwood To Return From Acting Retirement

Travis Woods — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:52:57 +0000

Well, this ought to make the day of a few Clint Eastwood fans out there—looks like the actor turned director who stated that 2008’s Gran Torino would be his final bow in front of a movie camera is planning on returning from his acting retirement for at least one more film.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Eastwood is “in talks to go in front of the camera once again for Trouble With the Curve,” which would center on “an aging baseball scout who goes on a road trip with his adult daughter.”

His longtime producing partner at Malpaso Productions Robert Lorenz is in talks to direct the baseball drama, set up at Eastwood’s longtime home of Warner Bros.

Lorenz, who has been producing Eastwood’s films since 2002’s Blood Simple, and assistant-directing them since 1995’s The Bridges of Madison County, will make his directorial debut with the film.

Eastwood and Lorenz’s next film, J. Edgar, charts the life of FBI head J. Edgar Hoover, and stars Leonardo DiCaprio. J. Edgar is set for release on November 9. Eastwood is also set to direct a remake of A Star is Born, which has been pushed back to due lead actress Beyonce Knowles’ pregnancy.

What do you think of Clint Eastwood making a return?

Leonardo Di Caprio in the First Trailer for Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar

Damon Houx — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 02:28:20 +0000

Leonardo DiCaprio. Clint Eastwood. J. Edgar. Is it Oscar time already? That’s the vibe coming off of Eastwood’s latest, which just had its trailer release. It fits a lot of bio-pic formulas, with Judi Dench playing his mother, and Armie Hammer playing his possible lover. Once revered as a feared lawman, now seen as corrupt as some of the people he went after, J. Edgar Hoover’s life is juicy subject matter, but it’s unknown how it’s been cooked. Check out the trailer…

If we were crappy pundits, the tagline for this trailer would be “J. Edgar Snoozer” as it looks like a bio-pic in the worst way. From the presence of his mother to the old age make up, it doesn’t feel like Eastwood and company have improved upon the Citizen Kane formula – which this recalls.

DiCaprio likely wants an Oscar, and Eastwood seems to be in that mode where all he does is pump out respectable movies. If Gran Torino offers some small pleasures it was that it at least felt like a slight return to his older characters. Maybe this is a great film, and the scope is hard to contain in less than two minutes and thirty seconds. At least, let’s hope so.The film opens November 9.

Does Leonardo DiCaprio deserve an Oscar now?

Beyonce’s Pregnancy Will Delay ‘A Star Is Born’ Remake

Travis Woods — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 22:26:07 +0000

Big news, you guys, BIG NEWS. Like totes OMG! Guys, Beyonce is pregnant! Haven’t you heard? This is amazing! A man and woman have reproduced for the first time in human history! Can you believe it! WOW!

In addition to the pregnancy of Beyonce being so breathlessly reported that it turns out her ovaries glow in the dark, cure cancer, will end the war on terror, and destroy all disease and poverty, it turns out that her knocked up-ness is also sending shockwaves into Hollywood—it’s even sucking Clint Eastwood into its event horizon.

You see, Beyonce was set to star in Clint’s remake of A Star is Born, which is set to film in February—so it seems that the filming will now have to pushed back to accommodate Beyonce’s birthing of the Christ Child 2.0, according to The AV Club.

Still, the delay could actually end up being a good thing, seeing as the film has yet to find a male lead: Now that he no longer has to humor Eastwood on the set of J. Edgar, Leonardo DiCaprio is officially out, which leaves the field wide-open for someone else to step in and play the bitter alcoholic to Beyoncé’s rising ingénue.

Gosh, guys, what if Eastwood got to Jay-Z to do it?!? Wouldn’t that be, like, soooooo amazing? And then they can have their Savior Of All Things—er, I mean, their baby—have a cameo! And the child’s radiant light will wash over us all from screens across the world, and the righteous and unrighteous alike will be bathed in its holy vision.

Or it’s just another of the thousands of kids that’ll be born that day. Either way.

What do you think of the A Star is Born push-back?

TCM Festival: The Outlaw Josey Wales Movie Review

Tom von Logue Newth — Wed, 04 May 2011 01:32:47 +0000

It was with some alarm that I heard Ben Mankiewicz declare of Clint Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) that “there’s no better Western than this” at Saturday’s TCM Festival screening. He proceeded to read some amusingly negative contemporaneous reviews, which were closer to my own distant memory of the film, and related the bizarre story of the right-wing nutjob, Asa Earl Carter, who had written the source novel under a pseudonym. Eastwood was entirely unaware of the author’s racist past and a certain tension between his own curious politics, Carter’s past life as a staunch segregationalist, and the latter’s new emphasis on his fractional Native American roots, may perhaps have contributed to the unfocused nature of the film’s fundamental themes.

The Players

Director: Client Eastwood
Script: Philip Kaufman, Sonia Chernus
Producer: Robert Daley
Cinematography: Bruce Surtees
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Chief Dan George, John Vernon, Sam Bottoms, Sondra Locke, Bill McKinney, Paula Trueman, Royal Dano

The Plot

His homestead razed by Union raiders, Josey Wales joins the rebel guerrillas in vengeance, gaining a fearsome reputation, and continues solo even after peace is declared. Stalked by the army and by bounty hunters, he heads for safety in the Indian Nations. With the ragtag bunch of companions with whom he finds himself saddled, a return to idyllic rural existence seems possible, once he has pacified the local Comanche chief. But Death stalks him still.

The fundamental problem with this movie is one of tone. It asks to be taken seriously, which sits awkward with its familiar tropes. Aside from the fact the Eastwood is improbably too handsome to be a field-tilling farmer at the start, his awesome reputation trades 100% on persona rather than character, established as fact entirely offscreen before we first see him in action on anything but a fence post. He spends much of the movie fleeing and having guns drawn on him – which he can then dispatch with supernatural ease – but the revenge drama is less turned on its head than casually dropped. An increasingly comedic tone sits ill with the body count (high) and the disparity between the cold-blooded killer Wales is taken to be, and the apparently sensitive man who is given a chance to return to a quiet life, is handled with as little sophistication as the liberal strand of “governments don’t live together; people live together”.

It is true that a warm sense of what should be right and good emanates from the film as it looks as though Wales will be able to find bucolic peace once again, but as much due to the spirited playing of the supporting cast. Chief Dan George is an old, solitary Cherokee, something of a classical Fool, and retains the ironic dignity of that role, providing a foil for cloudy conversations about the dispossessed. Trueman, Dano and others sparkle with good humour. Locke is as drippy as ever. But Eastwood’s character is a mess. It is an undeniably invigorating sight to see him narrow his eyes and gallop across the plains, a gun in every hand, but despite his best efforts the more human, sensitive characteristics are as awkwardly grafted onto the persona as the changeable prosthetic scar on his cheek. The laconic underplaying is decidedly unhelpful; the relationship with kid outlaw Bottoms is unremarkably reluctant-paternal, and there’s not the least spark to his eventual splendour in the grass with Locke. So he’s respectful of women, fine, but why is it OK for him to spit on the dog all the time? His laconic one-liners are almost 007 flip and other comic intrusions (a bothersome carpetbagger is particularly unwelcome, but does give Clint his best quip) undermine rather than counterpoint the serious moods elsewhere. The revenge element remains mostly implied; Wales is in no particular hurry to confront his nemesis, who in any case is little more than a ginger beard and a grubby face. Likewise, behind the piercing blue eyes of John Vernon, the motivations of the erstwhile friend coerced into helping track him down flip-flop with vagueness rather than ambiguity, then back again for a dismissably self-conscious finale.

Bruce Surtees photographs the dappled woods and wide plains in a nice array of styles, with a decent rein on over-prettification, and Jerry Fielding provides a robust score. Eastwood’s direction is never less than efficient, sometimes more than that, and even if the film seems overlong, it at least maintains a brisk enough pace from set piece to set piece. The various conflicting elements of tone and motivation feel like banal conceits rather than movements born of character, pseudo-familial ties are worn like so much subtextual window dressing, and the socio-political philosophy is no more sophisticated than “why can’t we all just get along?”.

Rating: 5.78/10

Warner Bros. Pulls Clint Eastwood’s ‘Hereafter’ From Japan Following Tsunami

Travis Woods — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 17:09:25 +0000

Following the harrowing earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck Japan over the weekend, Warner Brothers has ended the Japanese theatrical run of Clint Eastwood’s supernatural film Hereafter early, as the movie opens with startling scenes from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

According to The Hollywood Reporter:

“It quoted Warner Entertainment Japan official Satoru Otani as saying that theaters will no longer show the film, because tsunami scenes in the movie were “not appropriate” at this time.

“Hereafter opened in Japan in late February at around 180 theaters, according to the AP. Warner Entertainment originally planned to show the movie in theaters until late March.”

The Sendai earthquake registered as 8.9 megathrust earthquake on March 11, which triggered a disastrous tsunami which struck Japan just minutes afterward.

Hereafter concerns a woman who, after being caught in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, has a near-death experience and charges herself with the task of proving to the scientific community that life after death does indeed exist. It is the 31st (!) to have been directed by the grizzled actor-turned-director, who is next set to direct J. Edgar, the biopic of J. Edgar Hoover, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the former FBI director and lawman.

Naomi Watts Cast in Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar

Krystal Clark — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:36:28 +0000

After weeks of will she or won’t she, Naomi Watts has finally signed on the dotted line to join Clint Eastwood’s upcoming biopic J. Edgar. According to Variety, the Oscar nominated actress has been cast in the role of Helen Gandy. It’s the same part that was originally offered to Charlize Theron, who eventually turned it down.

Gandy was a Justice Department file clerk who ended up being J. Edgar Hoover’s personal secretary. She was a close friend and huge support system for the leader. She began working for Hoover in 1918 and continued in that role until he passed away in 1972. Talk about loyalty and dedication!

J. Edgar will cover the head of the FBI and his reign from its creation in 1935 to his death in 1972. The film will be produced by Brian Grazer and has a script written by Oscar winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk). Production is expected to begin sometime early this year.

The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Judi Dench, Ed Westwick, Josh Lucas, Damon Herriman, and Ken Howard.

What do you think of Watts’ addition to J. Edgar? Is she the right choice?

Clint Eastwood to Direct A Star is Born With Beyonce

Krystal Clark — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 00:20:34 +0000

Who saw this coming? Director Clint Eastwood has signed on to direct the umpteenth remake of A Star is Born for the big screen and guess who’ll play the lead? Beyonce Knowles! The Grammy winner and former Dreamgirl has snagged the part that’s been previously played by Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, and Janet Gaynor.

Ever since it was announced that a new version of the film was on the horizon, Beyonce’s name has been attached to it, and according to Deadline she’s landed the part. Eastwood will both direct and produce the film that will feature a screenplay from Will Fetters. No male lead has been cast at this time. The previous actors to play that role include Fredric March, James Mason, and Kris Kristofferson.

The basic story of the film centers on a young naive ingenue who falls in love with an established male star, but while her career rises his begins to decline. Does Eastwood have what it takes to make this movie happen? We know he likes to have multiple irons in the fire but who the heck saw this one coming?!

Does Beyonce have to star in everything music related? Granted she appeared in Obsessed, which was a dramatic thriller but other than that all of her performances have been related to music in some way. Even though we don’t agree with her casting, we are interested in seeing who they’ll get to play her husband. We think her and Hugh Jackman should just go for it.

What do you think of Beyonce and Eastwood teaming up for a musical? Nay or yay?

Hereafter: Movie Review

Krystal Clark — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:28:59 +0000

Clint Eastwood has reunited with his Invictus star Matt Damon for the supernatural film, Hereafter. It asks the question of: what happens after you die? And it places a microscope on the legitimacy of psychics and mediums. With an international cast including actors from England and France, the director pulls together 3 stories that focus on one major theme: life after death. Check out the review…

The Players:

Director: Clint Eastwood
Screenwriter: Peter Morgan
Cast: Matt Damon, Cécile De France, Frankie McLaren, George McLaren, Jay Mohr, Thierry Neuvic, Bryce Dallas Howard
Cinematography: Tom Stern
Original Music By: Clint Eastwood

The Plot:

Hereafter weaves together the story of a famous French news anchor, Marie LeLay (De France), a psychic turned factory worker, George Lonegan (Damon), and a young British boy named Marcus (McLaren). After vacationing off the coast of an island Marie finds herself in the middle of a tropical storm where she’s severely injured and drowns only to come back to life several minutes later. After experiencing such an event, she begins to have visions of the “other side,” which causes her to become an outsider amongst her professional and personal peers.

George is a San Francisco man who previously used his special abilities for profit but felt the pressure and fame had become too much. Then there’s Marcus, a boy whose twin brother is struck down by a car and killed. Left as an only child, he’s taken out of the custody of his drug addicted mother and put into foster care. It’s there that he goes on a search to find a medium who can help him reach the other side so he can talk to his dead brother one last time.

The Good:

Frankie and George McLaren: The young actors who play the twins Marcus and Jason did an amazing job. To say that they stole the film would be an understatement. They had to display so many different emotions such as sadness, fear, shock, and they did it all flawlessly.

The Bad:

The Music: Eastwood once again had a hand in the music for this film, which was a bad choice. At times, the score seemed out of place. There were also scenes when it was too loud and overbearing, most notably at the end, when Damon’s character has a revelation. The violins swell up to a deafening peak that make a rather serious moment seem cheesy.
The Narrative Structure: There are 3 storylines and unfortunately, I didn’t care about any of them. Two of them have an obvious connection but you have to wait a while for the third to come around, and when it finally does, you’re not really interested.
The Story: The story is boring. Perhaps on paper the concept of Hereafter sounds amazing but it doesn’t translate well onto the screen. It’s not visually interesting. The only thing that catches your attention is the opening scene that features a huge tidal wave engulfing a town. Other than that, yawn.
The Pace: It takes entirely too long for this movie to find its point. Out of the 3, Marcus’ story was the worst. You could see George and Marie slowly inching towards each other, and when they finally do meet, Marcus gets thrown in like an after thought.

Overall:

Hereafter is not entertaining at all. The performances are decent but the story never gets off the ground.

Rating: 4/10

Hereafter opens in theaters on October 22nd.

Photo Gallery:

Trailer:

Do you plan on seeing Hereafter this weekend?

Joaquin Phoenix Won’t Join Leonardo DiCaprio in Hoover

Krystal Clark — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 15:01:59 +0000

A couple weeks ago we reported that I’m Still Here star Joaquin Phoenix was slated to join Leonardo DiCaprio in the Clint Eastwood biopic, Hoover. The actor was rumored to play his right hand man and lover in the film. Could you imagine Leo and Joaquin going at it? It’s an interesting concept (and visual) but it’s not happening. Eastwood has confirmed that the actor has not been cast in the movie.

Eastwood told Reuters (via Washington Post), that DiCaprio is definitely in talks to play the title role in Hoover, but the casting of Joaquin Phoenix is news to him. He actually said, “No. I don’t know where that came from . . . didn’t he become a rapper?” Can you imagine Eastwood saying that in his old man voice? Obviously, he didn’t get the memo that Phoenix’s “rapping career” was nothing but a charade for his movie.

At the time of the interview, DiCaprio was in the middle of negotiating his contract for the part, which he should be confirmed for soon. For those of you wondering what role Phoenix was rumored to play it was of Hoover’s protege Clyde Tolson. Tolson was the associate director of the FBI from 1947 to 1972. He was in daily close contact with Hoover at the office and the pair often dined, socialized in night clubs, and even vacationed together.

Who will they get to do it now?

Who do you think should play the role of Tolson? Are you depressed that Phoenix won’t be involved?

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