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4th Year Anniversary Variant Cover Editions
I wasn't going to pass on mentioning another frequent collaborator, Dr. Strangelove. The good ole Doctor first joined my elite team a year and a half ago. We call him 'the kid' since he's only 18 years old. Currently a freshman at UWM, his unique writing has been an asset to this column. He's so talented that this phenom has been penning articles for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. I mistakenly lost his script review of The Big Bounce. To make up for it, I'm publishing his report on meeting one of his idol and also my review of Heaven.
Idol Meeting
"It's not every day a man gets to meet one of his idols. No, sadly I haven't gotten my dream interview with Soderbergh, but I got one of the next best things. At a recent reading of his new novel, Lullaby, Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk answered a few questions about his books and his movies. (Aside from taking a picture with yours truly and autographing some good stuff.)
Palahniuk started the evening with some entertaining stories about masturbating neighbors and passing a kidney stone (it's like giving birth through your dick) and when the time for a reading came, he quickly changed the schedule and took questions. One of the questions was about current movies projects, and this, in a nutshell, is what he had to say.
- Palahniuk is working on a screenplay adaptation of the novel Chemical Pink for director David Fincher. He did not write the novel.
- Survivor, the tale of a religious cult member becoming a cynical media craze, has currently been postponed in pre-production. Chuck's rationale: 'No one wants to see a funny hijacker movie.' (The hero begins the book with literally the end of his life by recording his tale into the black box of a jetliner about to crash into the Australian outback.)
- Invisible Monsters, the one book of his I have not read, was supposed to begin shooting this summer. However, casting has not been completed. The story deals with a troupe of Drag Queens exploring themselves Hunter S. Thompson style.
- Choke, his novel about a descendent of Jesus Christ, a sex addict who fakes choking to death in fancy restaurants to make heroes out of people has been optioned by the makers of, get this, Requiem for a Dream.... Holy shit!
- Finally, his new novel, Lullaby is still having it's film rights bartered over.
I HOPE THIS MAKES YOU AS EXCITED AS IT MAKES ME! Hopefully, the makers do as good of a job as the team did with Fight Club. Palahniuk's work demands it."
(Story by Dr. Strangelove.)
My Review of Heaven
I have been a longtime fan of Tom Tykwer. His Run Lola Run changed my views on foreign cinema. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. I liked his third film The Warrior and The Princess. It was different and interesting. When I first heard that his latest project would have it's North American premiere at the Montreal Film Festival, I couldn't wait anymore. The theatre was jammed-packed on a beautiful Labor Day for Heaven.
Philippa (Cate Blanchett), a British teacher living in Turin, Italy, has seen many friends, including her husband, fall victim to drug overdoses. Philippa has repeatedly contacted the police with information about Turin's biggest drug dealer but, complicit in his dealings, they have completely ignored her. So Philippa decides to dole out her own form of justice - setting her off on a journey, aided unexpectedly by a young police officer (Giovanni Ribisi), that moves through retribution and redemption, innocence and crime, and hope and desire as she goes from a young widow to a fugitive on the run.
Twyker's direction is superb. He didn't miss a beat in his english-speaking debut. The screenplay was written by Polish tag-team of Krzysztof Kieslowski (the legendary director) and Krzysztof Piesiewicz. It's almost an Italian film because most of the dialog is Italian subtitled in English. The opening was very intense and powerful. It's one of the most effective film beginnings in a longtime. Every seconds counts. It's almost worth the price of admission alone. My only real problem is the final act of the picture. It goes absolutely nowhere. It disappointed me. The conclusion was so laughable that the audience chuckled through it.
Cate Blanchett is beautiful. Her eyes were piercing through my soul. She's an angel who's job is to act in films. Her performance was riveting and deep. Giovanni Ribisi was good. His Italian was suprisingly good. The defining moment for his character is the second act twist. That was shocking, even more than the opening bombing. The rest of the cast was alright.
The cinematography is excellent. The performances are great. The story has problems but you can overcome it. It's an intriguing taste of Heaven...
Stay tuned...
That's all folks...
Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)
Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org
Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 24 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.
4th Year Anniversary Variant Cover Editions
I wasn't going to pass on mentioning another frequent collaborator, Dr. Strangelove. The good ole Doctor first joined my elite team a year and a half ago. We call him 'the kid' since he's only 18 years old. Currently a freshman at UWM, his unique writing has been an asset to this column. He's so talented that this phenom has been penning articles for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. I mistakenly lost his script review of The Big Bounce. To make up for it, I'm publishing his report on meeting one of his idol and also my review of Heaven.
Idol Meeting
"It's not every day a man gets to meet one of his idols. No, sadly I haven't gotten my dream interview with Soderbergh, but I got one of the next best things. At a recent reading of his new novel, Lullaby, Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk answered a few questions about his books and his movies. (Aside from taking a picture with yours truly and autographing some good stuff.)
Palahniuk started the evening with some entertaining stories about masturbating neighbors and passing a kidney stone (it's like giving birth through your dick) and when the time for a reading came, he quickly changed the schedule and took questions. One of the questions was about current movies projects, and this, in a nutshell, is what he had to say.
- Palahniuk is working on a screenplay adaptation of the novel Chemical Pink for director David Fincher. He did not write the novel.
- Survivor, the tale of a religious cult member becoming a cynical media craze, has currently been postponed in pre-production. Chuck's rationale: 'No one wants to see a funny hijacker movie.' (The hero begins the book with literally the end of his life by recording his tale into the black box of a jetliner about to crash into the Australian outback.)
- Invisible Monsters, the one book of his I have not read, was supposed to begin shooting this summer. However, casting has not been completed. The story deals with a troupe of Drag Queens exploring themselves Hunter S. Thompson style.
- Choke, his novel about a descendent of Jesus Christ, a sex addict who fakes choking to death in fancy restaurants to make heroes out of people has been optioned by the makers of, get this, Requiem for a Dream.... Holy shit!
- Finally, his new novel, Lullaby is still having it's film rights bartered over.
I HOPE THIS MAKES YOU AS EXCITED AS IT MAKES ME! Hopefully, the makers do as good of a job as the team did with Fight Club. Palahniuk's work demands it."
(Story by Dr. Strangelove.)
My Review of Heaven
I have been a longtime fan of Tom Tykwer. His Run Lola Run changed my views on foreign cinema. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. I liked his third film The Warrior and The Princess. It was different and interesting. When I first heard that his latest project would have it's North American premiere at the Montreal Film Festival, I couldn't wait anymore. The theatre was jammed-packed on a beautiful Labor Day for Heaven.
Philippa (Cate Blanchett), a British teacher living in Turin, Italy, has seen many friends, including her husband, fall victim to drug overdoses. Philippa has repeatedly contacted the police with information about Turin's biggest drug dealer but, complicit in his dealings, they have completely ignored her. So Philippa decides to dole out her own form of justice - setting her off on a journey, aided unexpectedly by a young police officer (Giovanni Ribisi), that moves through retribution and redemption, innocence and crime, and hope and desire as she goes from a young widow to a fugitive on the run.
Twyker's direction is superb. He didn't miss a beat in his english-speaking debut. The screenplay was written by Polish tag-team of Krzysztof Kieslowski (the legendary director) and Krzysztof Piesiewicz. It's almost an Italian film because most of the dialog is Italian subtitled in English. The opening was very intense and powerful. It's one of the most effective film beginnings in a longtime. Every seconds counts. It's almost worth the price of admission alone. My only real problem is the final act of the picture. It goes absolutely nowhere. It disappointed me. The conclusion was so laughable that the audience chuckled through it.
Cate Blanchett is beautiful. Her eyes were piercing through my soul. She's an angel who's job is to act in films. Her performance was riveting and deep. Giovanni Ribisi was good. His Italian was suprisingly good. The defining moment for his character is the second act twist. That was shocking, even more than the opening bombing. The rest of the cast was alright.
The cinematography is excellent. The performances are great. The story has problems but you can overcome it. It's an intriguing taste of Heaven...
Stay tuned...
That's all folks...
Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)
Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org
Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 24 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.