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Movie Review: ‘The Rum Diary’

By
Ian Forbes
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Amber Heard and Johnny Depp star in The Rum Diary
Amber Heard and Johnny Depp star in 'The Rum Diary' - © FilmDistrict

Following in the footsteps of Where the Buffalo Roam and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas comes the latest novel-turned-film from late author/gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary.

The story concerns aspiring novelist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp), hired onto a sinking ship of a newspaper in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Set at the beginning of the 1960s, not only is the fight against communism in full swing but rampant greed is on the rise as Americans look to cash in on the beautiful island before anyone else can.

To that effect, a small consortium of big shots, with so-called PR consultant Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart) as their talking head, is hoping to use Depp’s talents as a writer to help secure the rights to build a hotel on a soon to be available island nearby. And the Puerto Rican people are upset about jobs and wages. And Sanderson’s trophy girlfriend, Chenault (Amber Heard), has a thing for Kemp (and vice-versa). And the editor of the newspaper (Richard Jenkins) might be a crook. And the eternally drunk crime & religion reporter (Giovanni Ribisi) might be the smartest man on the island. And … well, you’re getting tired of “And” aren’t you?

The film completed principal photography about three years ago. 3 YEARS AGO. That’s a bad sign 99.999% of the time and most certainly in this case, with an end result that makes the probably countless edits and tinkering painfully obvious. The listed runtime is an already too-long 120 minutes that mysteriously feels more like some 3-hour epic (of tediousness). Looking for positives, the acting is fine, and there are a few very funny bits but the aimless nature of the picture, with loads of metaphors and symbolism coming across as either half-hearted or over-the-top, simply makes it all a very flat and unentertaining experience.

The entire movie feels like reading a very dry novel, with all of the subplots and nuances either stripped down or included without the faintest care in the world whether or not it helps the overall story. Recruiting Kemp to help with the hotel scheme takes far too long only to see the specific elements become completely irrelevant. The budding romance between Chenault and Kemp feels somehow both central and tangential all at the same time. The buddy-buddy antics between Kemp and the newspaper’s photographer (Michael Rispoli) have a “Fear and Loathing” vibe, which is both at odds with the film as a whole and fits in nicely at times. Can you tell if things are hit-and-miss?

It’s no surprise Depp wanted to have another of Thompson’s novels made into a film. However, there should have come a time in the last three years when this scattered mess of a film was jettisoned straight to DVD or basic cable. Subjecting people to $54 movie tickets on the promise of Depp being Depp is just cruel. And while I never quite reached the point of wanting to walk out on The Rum Diary, had I been at home, the channel would have been changed long before the credits rolled.

GRADE: D+

The Rum Diary was directed by Bruce Robinson and is rated R for language, brief drug use and sexuality.




FX Gets ‘Anger Management’ with Charlie Sheen

By
Rebecca Murray
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Charlie Sheen stars in Anger Management
Charlie Sheen stars in ‘Anger Management’ – Photo Credit: Frank Ockenfels/FX

Charlie Sheen will be back on television in 2012 in a new series on FX. The network’s just picked up Anger Management, a new sitcom loosely based on the 2003 Adam Sandler/Jack Nicholson film, with Sheen set to star.

Here’s the press release:

“FX has ordered 10 episodes of Anger Management from Lionsgate-owned distributor Debmar-Mercury, led by Co-Presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein. Production on the sitcom will begin in early 2012 with comedy veteran writer-producer Bruce Helford (George Lopez, The Drew Carey Show) as executive producer and showrunner. It will be produced by Lionsgate Television, led by Television Group President Kevin Beggs and COO Sandra Stern; Joe Roth and Revolution Studios’ Vince Totino; Sheen manager Mark Burg’s production company, Evolution Management; and Ramon Estevez and Estevez Sheen Productions.

In success, FX will pick up an additional 90 episodes under a unique syndication model crafted by Debmar-Mercury for multiple Tyler Perry sitcoms and Revolution’s and Ice Cube’s Are We There Yet? The series will air exclusively on FX until the off-network episodes start airing in broadcast syndication in fall 2014.

“We think that Bruce Helford, Joe Roth and Charlie Sheen have come up with a wonderful, hilarious vehicle for Charlie’s acting talents—and a character we are very much looking forward to seeing him play,” said John Landgraf, President and General Manager, FX Networks. “Two and a Half Men has been an outstanding component of FX’s schedule for the past 14 months, and we have every confidence that Anger Management will soon be as well.”

Sheen will retain a significant ownership stake in the series inspired by the film, in which an anger management therapist, who may need more counseling than his patients, wreaks havoc on the lives of his patients through his unconventional methods.

“I have been fortunate to work with Charlie Sheen on six hit films,” said Roth. “Now to have Charlie, the number one comedy star on TV, doing Anger Management, feels like a perfect fit. And I could not be happier than being back at Fox with John Landgraf and Chuck Saftler.”

“We were very gratified by the high level of interest in Anger Management from across the industry,” commented Marcus and Bernstein. “Ultimately, we felt FX’s track record for airing daring and distinctive shows would provide the perfect home for a sitcom headlined by one of the most successful sitcom stars of all time and produced by Joe Roth.”

Beggs said, “The FX brand epitomizes creative excellence and risk-taking combined with entrepreneurial business acumen. Partnering with them on Anger Management is a no-brainer and we are thrilled to bring Charlie Sheen, Bruce Helford and this amazing creative team to the FX family of original series.”

“Charlie and I are thrilled to be in business with FX and look forward to producing this series for years to come,” said Burg.

Charlie Sheen, who has starred in more than 40 feature films, catapulted to fame in such critical and commercial hits as Platoon and Wall Street. His other feature film credits include Major League, Red Dawn, Lucas, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Eight Men Out, Young Guns, Hot Shots!, Hot Shots! Part Deux, The Three Musketeers, The Chase, Money Talks, Being John Malkovich, Scary Movie 3 and Scary Movie 4. He also appeared in the television movies Rated X and Good Advice.

Sheen became known to television audiences through his Golden Globe Award-winning lead role in Spin City. In 2003, Sheen was cast as Charlie Harper in the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, which was loosely based on Sheen’s bad boy image. The role garnered him an ALMA Award and four Emmy Award nominations, as well as two Golden Globe Award nominations for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series.

In 2011, Sheen set a new Guinness World Record for Twitter as the “Fastest Time to Reach 1 Million Followers,” adding an average of 129,000 new followers per day.”

‘In Time’ Movie Review

By
Ian Forbes
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Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried in In Time
Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried in 'In Time' - © 20th Century Fox

Let’s put 15 minutes on the clock!

That’s the number of minutes I’d like to spend writing a review about writer/director Andrew Niccol’s film, In Time. (Any more, and I’m simply wasting mine.)

The sci-fi premise here is that time has become the commodity by which all things are bought and sold. People are now genetically engineered to stop aging at 25 … which would be great except for the 1-year ticking clock that starts up as a result. And when your clock hits zero, that’s it, folks. C’est fini. Need a cup of coffee? That’ll be 4 minutes. Need to pay your rent? That’ll be 2 days. Need to travel to a nicer time zone? That could cost you a full year.

Time zones you ask? Well, it’s basically the way in which society has walled off each caste segment of society. The rich lounge around in beautiful houses with little to fear but a freak accident or violent crime. The poor beg and scrape to stay ahead of their personal clock, rarely figuring out a way to save up enough to move up to a nicer zone.

Crap, I’m 5 minutes down.

Okay, so the story here centers on Will Salas (Justin Timberlake). He has dreams of taking his mom to the nicest zone there is (by the way, mom’s played by Olivia Wilde … remember, everyone stops aging at 25 … and yes, this would make mingling at a bar very awkward). After a chance meeting with a rich man who’s mentally fatigued from living for so long, Will makes his way to the Beverly Hills of time zones and meets Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried), the daughter of a very wealthy time mogul (Vincent Kartheiser). Will and Sylvia’s beginning is a bit of a ransom scheme but eventually, the film turns into a cross between Bonnie and Clyde, Robin Hood, and Logan’s Run. The two of them try to stay one step ahead of the law (headed up by Cillian Murphy), and the audience should try to stay well away from the movie theater.

Sorry, that seemed rushed, but I’ve only got five more minutes!

Look, the script is insipid, to say the least. It’s full of flat puns about time and its value (my favorite being a hooker saying she’ll give you 10 minutes for an hour). The cutesy attempts to shoehorn a story about class warfare into this sci-fi shell merely come off like some film student who thinks he’s the wittiest kid in school. And then there’s the weird fact that the entire film feels like it’s filmed within a square mile of the Sixth Street Bridge in Los Angeles, with at least half a dozen trips back and forth on it.

TWO MORE MINUTES!!!

By the end of it all, I couldn’t help but get the giggles watching Timberlake and pals run from place to place, supposedly with purpose but their intentions are only loosely hinted at. It’s like Niccol had some great, grand plan but in only giving the loose framework of this sci-fi setting, trying to develop real, tangible results in the end simply don’t work. I doubt it was intentional but I laughed more at this than nearly every “comedy” of 2011.

So, with my time quickly running out, here’s the run down: Timberlake & Seyfried are pretty. The script is not. This is fine for a lazy afternoon on the couch but don’t let In Time part you from your money at the theaters. Then you truly would have wasted both your money and your time. (Sorry, I had to have at least one more shot at the title, didn’t I?)

TIME’S UP! (Okay, so I got another one in.)

GRADE: C-

In Time hits theaters on October 28, 2011 and is rated PG-13 for violence, some sexuality and partial nudity, and strong language.




‘Anonymous’ Movie Review

By
Kevin Finnerty
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Vanessa Redgrave and Rhys Ifans in 'Anonymous'
Vanessa Redgrave and Rhys Ifans in 'Anonymous' - © 2011 Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved

“What if I told you that William Shakespeare never wrote a single word?” So begins Roland Emmerich’s political thriller, Anonymous, forwarding the infamous theory that it was in fact Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who was the true author of the timeless plays Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, Richard the III and all the other classic plays and sonnets credited to Shakespeare.

Edward de Vere (Rhys Ifans) is aware, as most everyone else is, that Queen Elizabeth I (Vanessa Redgrave) is nearer the end of her rule than the beginning, and the political shifting and power plays have already begun. A successor is needed, and Edward wants to ensure that the Earl of Essex is in the running. Edward, always talented in the arts and playwriting as a young man, knows the power political stories can have on both the people and her Royal Highness the Queen. However, a man of his stature cannot and would not be accepted as a lowly playwright. Edward picks the struggling playwright Ben Johnson (Sebastian Armesto), recently freed from prison, to act as the author of his works, a task for which he will be paid handsomely.

Ben, struggling with his morals and ethics, can’t bring himself to take credit even after the roaring success of their first collaboration, Romeo & Juliet. His friend William Shakespeare, an actor in the production, quickly grabs the play, dots a few drops of ink on his sleeve and fingers and walks out on stage bowing and thanking everyone for enjoying his new work.

Edward has more in mind than just hearing his words and seeing his plays being performed for an audience. He hopes to use his works to sway the crowd and the Queen herself to eventually be moved to announce the Earl of Essex as her successor instead of a foreign king who would be a puppet to the mind of the throne’s current adviser, William Cecil (David Thewlis) and his hunchback son, Robert (Edward Hogg).

Anonymous is a dramatic political thriller/period piece that has an excellent ensemble cast and Oscar-worthy performances. Rhys Ifans is stellar in the role of Edward de Vere, an aristocrat who is determined to see Essex on the throne but who gets caught up and carried away with hearing his plays finally being performed by actual actors and embraced by the audience. In his heart and very soul, Edward is an artist trapped by his position in life as an Earl. Rhys captures the complexities of the man with grace, passion, and presence.

Vanessa Redgrave delivers one of the best performances of her career as Elizabeth I, an aging Queen who hasn’t lost her love for the arts, remembers vividly her romances and heartbreaks, and is determined to leave the right successor in charge of her kingdom. It’s a performance deserving of, at the very least, an Oscar nomination.

The stand-out performance in the film is given by character actor Rafe Spall as William Shakespeare. He steals every scene he’s in, portraying the false playwright as a charming, dynamic, fairly uneducated rogue who lives for the spotlight and will use his newfound glory to forward his career and crush anyone who gets in his way. He should not be underestimated.

Director Roland Emmerich deserves credit for creating a solid and easy pacing to the film, especially considering the multiple times the movie goes back and forth in time to reveal the relationship between Elizabeth I and Edward and their complicated and heartfelt past.

Reminiscent of the classic Peter O’Toole period films Becket and The Lion in Winter, Anonymous is one of the few great dramas to hit the big screen this year and is one of the best pictures of the year. It shouldn’t be missed.

GRADE: B+

Anonymous was directed by Roland Emmerich and is rated PG-13 for some violence and sexual content.




‘Puss in Boots’ Movie Review

By
Kevin Finnerty
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Puss in Boots in a scene from Puss in Boots.
A scene from 'Puss in Boots' - © DreamWorks Animation

“Fear me, if you dare,” says Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) to a foxy feline hooded thief who has bungled his latest attempt to steal the magical beans from the notorious outlaws Jack and Jill in the animated adventure, Puss in Boots.

After trying to outdance the thief, Puss discovers she works for his old friend-turned-enemy Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis). Dumpty wants Puss to team up with him and his henchcat, Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), to go after the magic beans, steal them from Jack and Jill, and plant them just in the right spot to create the magical giant beanstalk so the three of them can go after the goose that lays the golden eggs. However, Puss has no interest in teaming up because of the haunted and hurtful past he and Humpty have between them.

Determined to fulfill his childhood dream, Humpty Dumpty sends Kitty after Puss to convince him to change his mind. Puss then begins to relate the long story of how he and Dumpty became best friends and how it all went wrong, even with Kitty pleading with him not to tell her his life story. Dumpty and Kitty finally convince Puss that it will take all three of them working together to pull off this caper of the fairy tale century.

Puss in Boots is an animated action-adventure prequel that is short on action and long on talk. The film’s pacing is very uneven, starting with a fast, fun opening sequence only to slow to a crawl as some of the key characters are introduced. The entire backstory between Puss and Dumpty takes up way too much time in the film, bogging it down and causing its key audience, the children, to lose interest in what’s happening on the screen and start to ask Mom or Dad for more popcorn or a bathroom break.

The actual heist involving the classic beanstalk, the castle in the sky, and the golden goose is far too brief to ever have the chance to become exciting. And the 3D effect, which should have the audience feeling as though they are traveling upwards to the castle in the sky with Puss and his comrades, fails miserably. The Disney classic short Mickey and the Beanstalk is far more original, funny, suspenseful, and entertaining.

The voice talents do a solid job delivering their lines and bringing the fairy tale characters to life for this, the very first adventure of the cat with a hat, sword, and big boots. Antonio Banderas is puuurfect as the voice of Puss, the playful, cute, cunning, suave, and loyal cat bandit who’s really a hero underneath his furry coat. Salma Hayek is effective as the voice of Kitty, the female thief who might just be Puss’ match, and Zach Galifianakis is adequate as the voice of Humpty Dumpty, the egg criminal mastermind who seems to be playing all the angles and has much more on his shell than just a big heist.

Being an origin story of one of the best characters in the Shrek films, Puss in Boots lacks the creativeness, the humor, and the action fans will be expecting to see up on the big screen. There’s also no reason to see it in 3D due to the fact the 3D effects seem to disappear after the first 20 minutes of a 90-minute movie.

GRADE: C-

Puss in Boots was directed by and hits theaters on October 28, 2011.




New ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ Trailer

By
Rebecca Murray
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Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in the fourth installment of Mission Impossible, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, set for release on December 21, 2011. This second trailer for the Paramount Pictures release shows off more of the action, a little more of the plot and lets us see how Brad Bird did tackling his first live-action feature film as director.

Official Synopsis: This is not just another mission. The IMF is shut down when it’s implicated in a global terrorist, bombing plot. Ghost Protocol is initiated and Ethan Hunt and his rogue new team must go undercover to clear their organization’s name. No help, no contact, off the grid. You have never seen a mission grittier and more intense than this.

Holy Ghost! 2011 Tour Dates

By
Rebecca Murray
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Holy Ghost
Holy Ghost! DJs Green Label Sound’s After Hours Event in New York (Photo Credit: KirillWasHere.com)

Holy Ghost! is kicking off their winter 2011 tour with a performance at New York’s Bowery Ballroom on October 29, 2011. They’ll be headlining the tour, which also features Jessica 6, Midnight Magic, and Eli Escobar, and on November 10th Green Label Sound will be releasing their latest single, a cover of Ministry’s “I Wanted to Tell Her” (featuring Nancy Whang and Juan MacLean).

Holy Ghost! Tour Dates

10/29/11 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
10/30/11 Orono, ME University of Maine
10/31/11 Montreal, QC Belmont On The Boulevard
11/01/11 Toronto, ON 69 Bathurst
11/03/11 Detroit, MI Magic Stick
11/04/11 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
11/05/11 Chicago, IL Double Door
11/08/11 Vancouver, BC Fortune Sound Club
11/09/11 Portland, OR Holocene
11/10/11 San Francisco, CA Slim’s
11/11/11 Los Angeles, CA Music Box
11/13/11 San Diego, CA Voyeur Night Club
11/16/11 Dallas, TX Prophet Bar
11/17/11 Austin, TX The Parish
11/18/11 Houston, TX Fitzgerald’s
11/19/11 New Orleans, LA Parish @ House of Blues
11/21/11 Atlanta, GA Masquerade
11/23/11 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
11/25/11 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
11/26/11 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg

Prophets of the Ghost Ants to Become a Feature Film Trilogy

By
Rebecca Murray
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Prophets of the Ghost Ants
Producer Lawrence Bender (Good Will Hunting, Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds) is developing Clark Thomas Carlton’s novel Prophets of the Ghost Ants as a motion picture trilogy. Carlton’s novel, which was inspired by his childhood observations of ants, has just been selected as one of the best books of 2011 by Kirkus Reviews.

Bender, per the press release, says Carlton’s book is “one of the most engrossing, powerful and original novels I have read in years.”

Prophets of the Ghost Ants Plot [Courtesy of the Official Website]:

“The setting is Earth of the far-flung future, when all traces of our civilization have long vanished. The catastrophes of distant ages — natural and man-made — have passed into legend and mysticism. And yet … the world is no utopia. Technology is unknown. The animal kingdom as we know it is extinct. Birds, reptiles, mammals — all lost to endless, unforgiving cycles of planetary death and rebirth.

Humankind has clung stubbornly to existence — thanks to a perverse turn of Evolution. For as the weary planet became inexorably depleted, our species adapted by growing smaller with every passing eon, until at last we stood in parity with the only other ‘higher’ species to survive — insects. And just as our current society has domesticated animals to sustain ourselves, the human societies of this future have yoked insects to their service. Food, weapons, clothing, art — even the most sacred religious beliefs — are derived from Humankind’s profound intertwining with the once-lowly insect world.

In this savage landscape, men cannot hope to dominate. Ceaselessly and viciously, humans are stalked by Night Wasps, Lair Spiders, and Grass Roaches. And men are still men. Corrupt elites ruthlessly enforce a rigid caste system over a debased and ignorant populace. Duplicitous clergymen and power-mongering Royalty wage pointless wars for their own glory. Fantasies of a better life, a better world, serve only to torment those who dare to dream. One so cursed is a half-breed slave named Anand, a dung-collector of the midden caste who, against all possibility, rises above hopelessness to lead his people against a genocidal army of men who fight atop fearsome, translucent Ghost Ants. And to his horror, Anand finds that this merciless enemy is led by someone from his own family … a religious zealot bent on the conversion of all non-believers … or their extermination.”

About Clark Carlton:

Clark Thomas Carlton was raised in South River, New Jersey, the home town of author Janet Evanovich. He attended high school in Arcadia, California and is a graduate of UCLA Film School. In addition to being a novelist, Carlton has worked as a screenwriter and as a writer for television. He has also been a producer of reality television and is an award winning playwright for his play Self Help or the Tower of Psychobabble, a satire of the psychotherapy industry. He lives with his family in Hollywood, California.

Source: Lawrence Bender Productions and Clark Carlton – October 27, 2011

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Kaley Cuoco to Host the People’s Choice Awards

By
Rebecca Murray
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Kaley Cuoco at the Hop Premiere
Kaley Cuoco at the 'Hop' Premiere - Photo © Richard Chavez

The Big Bang Theory‘s Kaley Cuoco will host the 2012 People’s Choice Awards to be held on January 11th in Los Angeles. The People’s Choice Awards have the distinction of being the only major awards show in which it’s all up to the fans. Voting is now open to determine the nominees in 41 TV, movies, and music categories, with the final nominees announced on November 8, 2011 after which final voting begins.
 
“We are thrilled to welcome Kaley as the new host of the People’s Choice Awards,” said Executive Producer Mark Burnett in the press release. “She’s been making people laugh on top-rated comedy series for the last decade, first with 8 Simple Rules and now with The Big Bang Theory, Thursday’s #1 show. I’m looking forward to working with her on a fun-filled, comedy-packed show in January.”
 
Source: People’s Choice Awards – October 27, 2011
 

Filming Has Begun on the Comedy 21 and Over

By
Rebecca Murray
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Miles Teller at the 'Footloose' Premiere
Miles Teller at the 'Footloose' Premiere - © Richard Chavez
Miles Teller (Footloose), Justin Chon (Twilight), Skylar Astin (Taking Woodstock), and Sarah Wright (The House Bunny) are set to star in the comedy movie 21 and Over for directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (the writers of the first Hangover). The project marks the first film Relativity Media has co-financed with Sky Land, the “production and distribution entity run by Relativity Media, SAIF Partners and IDG China Media.”
 
21 and Over is shooting in Linyi, China, and, according to Relativity, this is the first of many films they’ll be shooting and doing post-production work on in China.
 
Tucker Tooley, Relativity’s Co-President stated, “We are delighted that Sky Land have come immediately aboard as a partner. They loved this hysterical film and it’s gratifying they want to build a foundation immediately alongside our cast and crew. We are very much looking forward to shooting in China, especially in a place as amazing as Linyi.”
 
The Plot:
 
The film is about two childhood friends who drag their straight-arrow buddy out to celebrate his twenty-first birthday the night before an all-important medical school interview. But when one beer leads to another, the evening spirals into a wild epic misadventure of debauchery and mayhem that none of them will ever forget.
 
Source: Relativity Media – October 27, 2011
 

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