Blast from the past: Brendan Fraser talks about The Mummy

The money quote in this Mummy interview: Brendan Fraser recalls the best piece of direction he received from Stephen Sommers: "Run fast! Look like a stud! And don't die!"

Blasts from the past: Jackie Chan talks about Supercop and Rush Hour

I interviewed Jackie Chan for the first time back in July 1996, during a New York junket for Supercop, at a time when he was making his second major push to expand his international superstardom to the United States. (During his first attempt more than a decade earlier, he did cameos in two Cannonball Run movies, and starred in Battle Creek Brawl -- a.k.a. The Big Brawl -- a relatively obscure action-comedy filmed on location in Texas.) He was extremely ingratiating, but seemed just a tad anxious. Two years later, however, he came across as appreciably more self-confident while launching his first bona fide U.S. blockbuster, Rush Hour. My favorite part of the interview: He talks about studying Fred Astaire before choreographing a comic fight scene.

Blast from the past: Sean Penn talks about The Crossing Guard

After looking at this interview for the first time in nearly 15 years, my first reaction was: "Damn! I can't believe I didn't ask him a single question about Jack Nicholson!" On the other hand, Sean Penn is very forthcoming while talking about another actor in The Crossing Guard -- the under-rated David Morse, who also starred in Penn's The Indian Runner. As for Crossing Guard itself, this is what I wrote a few years back:

It's too long, too unfocused and way too self-indulgent. But in the end, none of this matters. Sean Penn's second effort as a director-screenwriter is compelling and emotionally resonant ways that more conventionally well-made films never manage to be. Jack Nicholson gives one of his finest performances as Freddy Gale, a jewelry store owner whose daughter was killed by a drunken driver six years before the story begins. Since then, the devastated Freddy has remained alive only by nursing the hope that he will be able to kill John Booth (David Morse), the man who accidentally killed his daughter. But as the guilt-racked Booth is released from prison, it becomes very clear that perhaps neither man really wants to live much longer. Throughout Crossing Guard, Penn has a tendency to sledgehammer his way through walls rather than simply opening doors. Even so, he always gets where he wants to go -- to that dark corner of our hearts where we can forgive no one, not even ourselves. Co-star Anjelica Huston has a couple of terrific scenes as Freddy's ex-wife, a woman with her own share of guilt, fear and loathing.

Blast from the past: Salma Hayek

It's true, it's true: While Salma Hayek changed, I hid my eyes. Honest.

SXSW XVII: Mr. Nice and Ride, Rise, Roar and more

From SXSW 2009: At the start of Ride, Rise, Roar, as a white-suited David Byrne launches into an exuberant rendition of "Once in a Lifetime" backed by a perfectly attuned ensemble of similarly clad dancers, vocalists and musicians, it's clear: This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no humdrum concert documentary. You can read my Variety review here.

But wait, there's more: A shaggy-dog story based on stranger-than-fiction fact, Bernard Rose's Mr. Nice is casually cheeky and frankly celebratory as it charts the improbable rise and inevitable fall of Howard Marks, an amiable bloke from the valleys of South Wales who controlled a sizable portion of the world's hashish trade in the 1970s and '80s. Based on Marks' bestselling autobiography, this mildly amusing but overly discursive biopic likely will play best in those international markets where its subject -- freed from U.S. incarceration in 1995 -- remains enough of a celebrity to command large audiences with a one-man stage show. Here is the complete Variety review.

Just in case you missed my earlier posts: Ingeniously constructed and propulsively paced, Brotherhood achieves the sweaty-palmed intensity of classic film noir while demonstrating just how speedily a very bad situation can metastasize into a worst-case scenario after a college fraternity hazing takes a deadly serious turn. First-time feature helmer Will Canon drives his actors on a virtually nonstop full-court press from first scene to final fade-out, only occasionally pausing for a dab of backstory or a burst of black comedy to give the players -- and the audience -- a fleeting breather. Canny marketing could drive this well-crafted indie beyond the fest circuit and into megaplexes. This full review is here.

And of course: Kick-Ass most certainly does. Equal parts audacious dark comedy, wish-fulfillment fantasy and over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek action-adventure, Matthew Vaughn's bloody funny adaptation of a cult-fave comicbook series manages to be sufficiently faithful to its source material to please fervent fanboys while remaining easily accessible for ticketbuyers unfamiliar with the superhero storytelling conventions Vaughn (Layer Cake) and co-scripter Jane Goldman satirize as well as celebrate. Scenes of hilariously overstated violence perpetrated by an 11-year-old girl doubtless will discomfort many and incense quite a few. But this deservedly R-rated Lionsgate release should nonetheless score a knockout in theatrical and homevid venues. The rest is here.

SXSW XVII: Brotherhood

I'm seeing so many movies at SXSW, I scarcely have time to stop and write about them. But here is my Variety review of Brotherhood, a neo-noir suspense drama perhaps best described as Detour meets Animal House. No, really.

First flick at SXSW XVII: Kick-Ass

 Kick-Ass most certainly does. You read my Variety rave here.

Opening Friday: SXSW XVII

Chris Garcia of the Austin American-Statesman couldn't find any really important critic to comment for his SXSW 2010 curtain-raiser story, so he settled for... well, me. But you know what? If you read the piece, you'd almost think I know what I'm talking about.

Oscar slumming

I'm not sure that I'd rank some of the films mentioned here among "The Worst Cinematic Crap Ever Made" -- Cleopatra Jones, for example, is a genuine camp classic -- but, yeah, the deservedly hard-to-find (and even harder to watch) Inchon is a textbook example of Le Bad Cinema. Makes you wonder what some of this year's Oscar winners will be stuck in a decade or so from now. (Of course, Sandra Bullock already has a Golden Razzie award to her discredit, so...)

Live Oscar Blogging! Live Oscar Blogging!

Read all about it here.

At long last: The Top 10 of 2009

Yeah, I know: I should have posted a Top 10 Films of 2009 list at some point back in late December. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons – some professional, most personal – I couldn’t find time to thoughtfully consider and dutifully write such a wrap-up by year’s end. (Part of the problem: It took me much, much longer than I expected to take second looks – or, in some cases, first looks – at all the movies eligible for inclusion.) So I put it off for a week, and then a week became a month, and then… well, here I am, just hours away from the Oscarcast, and I’m just now completing the job. I may never again be able in good conscience to penalize a student for his or her tardy submission of an assignment.

(Would I get any sympathy if I reminded you about my cancer treatments? No? You say I’ve milked that cow quite enough already? OK, never mind. It’s like my son always tells me: You dribble and you shoot, and you hope you score…)

To begin with my standard disclaimer: Compiling a Top 10 list for any year is a task I approach with a fair share of ambivalence. Because, let's face it, what I'm really doing is announcing my favorite films released during an arbitrarily agreed-upon 12-month period. A decade or so hence, I might look back on the following lineup and want to make additions or deletions. (Hell, I’ve already made revisions to a preliminary list I submitted to IndieWire nearly three months ago.) At this point in time, however, I can honestly state these are the 2009 releases that impressed me most and best.

Up in the Air – Back in September, I reported from the Toronto Film Festival that Jason Reitman’s uncommonly amusing, insightful and affecting dramedy “may be… oh, to hell with equivocation. It is the best movie I have seen so far in 2009. If I see anything better by year’s end, I will be greatly astonished and immensely grateful. But I’ll still probably want to go back and take another look at Reitman’s film – and at George Clooney’s career-highlight performance – just to be absolutely certain the other movie really is better.” Well, I took a second look, and it’s still No. 1 for me.

That Evening Sun – It’s still winding its way across the U.S. in limited theatrical release, and for that, I suppose, I should be thankful. But I’m deeply disappointed that more moviegoers – and movie-award voters – didn’t discover and share Scott Teems’ richly atmospheric and vividly acted drama with the superb Hal Holbrook at the top of his game as an irascible octogenarian farmer who will not give up his land or his pride without a fight.

(500) Days of Summer – Marc Webb’s absolutely delightful comedy-drama about falling in love – or, perhaps more precisely, assuming you’ve fallen in love – is a fleet-footed, time-tripping, tone-juggling treasure, deftly balancing exhilaration and melancholy, and offering the most deriously, contagiously joyful musical production number on display in any movie all year.

The Messenger – Two soldiers (Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson) charged with bringing tragic news to next to kin find it increasingly difficult, if not downright impossible, to maintain their distance from the receivers of their sad tidings in Oren Moverman’s subtly observed, quietly devastating drama.

Crazy Heart – It can’t help reminding you of Tender Mercies – and not just because Robert Duvall, the Oscar-winning star of that 1983 classic, participates here as producer and co-star – but Scott Cooper’s emotionally resonant tale of a faded country music star who must hit rock bottom before he can regain lost ground stands tall on its own merits as an exceptionally fine drama about regret and regeneration. And yes, the-never-again-underrated Jeff Bridges deserves every single award he has collected (and likely will collect) for his lead performance.

Fantastic Mr. Fox -- Wes Anderson’s wondrously witty adaptation of Roald Dahl’s novel is a masterwork of stop-motion animation that is every bit as drolly whimsical as… well, most live-action Wes Anderson movies.

A Serious Man – Joel and Ethan Coen offer their modern-day take on the Book of Job in a bleakly hilarious fable about not-so-stoically accepting the cruel caprices of chance.

The Informant! – Steven Soderbergh’s exuberantly cheeky dark comedy, freely adapted from real-life events, showcases Matt Damon in a marvelously multifaceted performance as an unreliable whistleblower who’s gradually revealed as a self-aggrandizing fabulist, all to the tune of an audaciously cheery Marvin Hamlisch score that, presumably, Damon’s deceiver hears inside his head.

Summer Hours – Olivier Assayas addresses us in a soft yet insistent tone – communicating in French, but speaking in a universal language – while spinning his ruefully melancholy tale about three adult siblings (Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling and Jeremie Renier) dealing with their late mother's estate -- and, by extension, with their increasingly tenuous ties to their shared past, and to each other.

The Hurt Locker – Much has been written about the unfortunate inability of Kathryn Bigelow’s edgy indie drama to avoid the “Iraq War movie curse” during its theatrical run. (For all its acclaim and accolades, its domestic gross is less than half that earned by the near-universally reviled All About Steve). But there’s little doubt that, for decades to come, long after most boffo box-office hits of 2009 are forgotten, audiences will be discovering and savoring her viscerally suspenseful and visually arresting film about an adrenaline-addicted bomb-disposal specialist who may never find peace even after the shooting stops.

Runners up: Todd Phillips’ The Hangover, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Judd Apatow’s Funny People, Lee Daniels’ Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, Pete Docter’s Up, Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles, Jody Hill’s Observe and Report, James Cameron’s Avatar, David Redmon and Ashley Sabin’s Invisible Girlfriend and John Lee Hancock’s The Blind Side.

Avatar: You loved it, now live it

The Na'vi People of Hometree, Wisconsin -- no, I'm not making that up (though maybe they are) -- engage in some L.A.R.P.: Live Avatar Role Playing. Money quote: "We're not doing this because it's cool. We're doing this because it's important." And I bet you thought Trekkies were weird...

Good news, bad news for Sandra Bullock

If Sandra Bullock gets an Academy Award tomorrow evening for The Blind Side, will she really be the first person in history to win, on the same weekend, and Oscar... and a Razzie?

Truer than fiction: 45365

At tonight's Independent Spirit Awards: The inaugural Chaz & Roger Ebert Truer Than Fiction Award goes to 45365, a quietly mesmerizing documentary that, as I wrote in my original Variety review from last year's SXSW Film Festival, "fashions a seductive, fascinating tapestry of small-town life by interweaving seemingly random glimpses of residents in Sidney, Ohio." Great choice. So now, maybe, it might open in a few theaters, so people who don't go to film festivals can actually see it?

Coming soon to SXSW: Kicking and grinding

OK, I have to admit: There are some movies I'm looking forward to more than others at this year's SXSW Film Festival in Austin (which, by the way, kicks off with Kick-Ass next Friday). Naturally, I'm eager to see The People vs. George Lucas, because one of the "experts" interviewed in the documentary is... well, me. And, of course, since I'm a New Orleans native, I can't help being intrigued by any movie titled The Canal Street Madam. (Who knows? If they display pages from her address book, I may see the names of old friends.) But American Grindhouse appears to be the SXSW offering most likely to redefine the term "guilty pleasure." Indeed, it may wind up being a great companion piece for another guilty pleasure from an earlier SXSW Fest: The Independent.

Horror Movie Rule No. 1: Don't look in the mirror!

Come to think of it, don't look in the medicine cabinet, either. (Thanks to John Guidry for the warning.)

What's this? Another shameless attempt to attract readers with an Oscars story?

Shamelessness in the pursuit of readers is not a vice. Shamelessness in the pursuit of Oscar is nothing new. Check out my latest Houston Culture Map essay here.

If you're dipping into an Oscar pool this weekend...

My predictions for the 82nd annual Academy Awards are up over at Houston Culture Map.Which is where, by the way, I'll be blogging Sunday during the Oscarcast. Please join me.

If you can't come to the Tribeca Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival can come to you

From IndieWire.com comes word that Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal are ramping up Tribeca Film, “a comprehensive distribution and marketing platform for independent film” that will build upon the pair's annual Tribeca Film Festival in New York. To launch the new initiative, IndieWire's Brian Brooks reports, "Tribeca Film will release more than 10 titles on VOD under the Tribeca Film banner, with over half planned as day and date releases with the 2010 festival." Among the five: Road, Movie, an Indian-American co-production that I enjoyed last fall at the Toronto Film Festival. A festival, it should be noted, that does not have its own comprehensive distribution and marketing platform. (Well, not yet, anyway.)

The enduring fascination of a Nazi-era blockbuster

If Inglourious Basterds aroused your curiosity about what sort of films really got made under Joseph Goebbels' watchful eye during the heyday of the Third Reich, take a gander at this fascinating New York Times article tied to the New York premiere of Felix Moeller's Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Süss -- a critically acclaimed documentary about German filmmaker Veit Harlan and his production of Jew Süss, the notoriously anti-Semitic 1940 melodrama that was a box-office smash in Nazi-era Germany.

Moeller's goal, Larry Rohter writes in the NYT piece, was to offer an accurate portrayal of German movies – and movie audiences – during the Hitler regime. “Though most people think of Leni Riefenstahl as the leading filmmaker of the Nazi era, because of the renown of Triumph of the Will and Olympia, that was not actually the case,” Rohter notes.

“‘If you want to understand the movies that people actually paid to go and see, Veit Harlan is the one,’ said Linda Schulte-Sasse, the author of Entertaining the Third Reich: Illusions of Wholeness in Nazi Cinema and a professor at Macalester College in Minnesota. ‘He was the Steven Spielberg or James Cameron of his era, and so you have to imagine Jew Süss as a movie with Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson and Brad Pitt.’”

Moeller’s documentary, it should be noted, is by no means the final word on the subject: Depending on the venturesomeness of festival programmers and film distributors in this country, U.S. audiences may soon have a chance to see yet another movie about Harlan and his inglorious blockbuster.