I’ve just come back from a press screening of Where the Truth Lies, and in a week when I’ve just seen Chumscrubber and Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang. Compared to the months of remakes, sequels and prequels we’ve been subjected to, and the half arsed attempts at storylines, I’m frankly amazed I’ve just seen so much quality and difference.
It really started last week with The Constant Gardener, and although I thought there were flaws, this was far from the conveyor belt movie that we’re reading about day after day here. Wednesday night I saw Chumscrubber and was quite taken aback at how great that movie is, and although it shares many similarities with Thumbsucker (amazingly enough) it’s still quite a unique package.
Thursday night hit me with Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, where I was struck with another intelligent and slightly diverse story with some amazing performances. Then today the against type casting and very strong performances of the leads bring me Where the Truth Lies.
There is indeed much, much hope for Hollywood. If only they could look to more projects like these with intelligent casting, scripting and film making. Make a picture, not a snapshot. Note that I have made a definite point of not mentioning big blockbuster type movies – these may well be well made cash earners, but they aren’t in the arena of performance based movies like these.
There, I just wanted to say that…reviews for these three will follow.
Yup, and they’ve still been made. They’re still on the screen, studio system or not. It’s good that we’re seeing these movies being made, and perhaps it’s a sign that there’s more to come, and less sequel\remake\prequel rubbish.
We need to go out there and watch them, put our money where our mouths are.
My point, Richard, was that the studio system, in general, had zip to do with these pictures.
“Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang”
was GREAT!
http://moviepatron.com/moviereviews/k/kisskiss.html
So what’s your point Darren? The movies have been made, I have seen them on a big screen! They are real.
I never said Hollywood was fixed. These are some good signs though.
John and Doug: I was wondering, have you discussed the topic about seasoned Hollywood writers, producers and directors having problems dealing with the ‘new’ Hollywood in Audio Editions?
“There is indeed much, much hope for Hollywood. If only they could look to more projects like these with intelligent casting, scripting and film making.”
Hold your tongue! You are giving the Hollywood machine way too much credit.
For example, let’s talk about “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” which still hasn’t opened up as wide as it should go, but is getting lots of good reviews and word of mouth.
In a recent article in scr(i)pt magazine (Nov/Dec 2005) Shane Black discusses the problem with getting his picture made. Here’s a guy who wrote hugely several successful action pictures from the late 80’s and wrote and/or produced successful action pictures in the 90’s. Lethal Weapon. The Last Boy Scout. The Long Kiss Goodnight, and so on. Black’s sales for these scripts made news.
Then after taking a few years off, he writes ‘Kiss” and takes it around town. He goes by his past success and history. In the article he states that like other veteran writers, he’s facing execs who were in grade school when Lethal Weapon came out. They didn’t know him and were unfamiliar with his work. He had doors “slammed” in his face. Nobody wanted to read the script, some “haven’t read” the script.
Eventually, Black turned to friend Joel Silver, and without rewrites, Shane was also set up to direct. The budget of the film? $15 milllion. The only reason why Warners evem touched it is because of the contracts with Silver. Warners does not want to lose Silver to another studio.
As for “Constant Gardner”, it took about four years to make and is distributed by Focus Features, an indie company who relies on a major for distribution.