By Jason Apuzzo. We want to keep people pumped here at Libertas about seeing Bruce Beresford’s extraordinary and courageous new film, Mao’s Last Dancer. We’ll be showing you a variety of clips from the film, including this excerpt above for today. It features the lovely Joan Chen as dancer Li’s mother. This clip really gives you a sense of what you’re in for with this film, in terms of how bold it is. [Make sure to read Joe Bendel’s LFM Review of Mao’s Last Dancer.]
“As I depart for my annual August vacation, I leave you with a highly recommended magical experience you must not miss. A giant hit at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival, Mao’s Last Dancer, by the great Australian director Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy), is a feel-good film bursting with courage, energy and overwhelming inspiration … In the cherished tradition of heartbreaking movies about personal triumph against impossible odds, it is a combination of Billy Elliot and Rocky …
“At 19, granted unheard-of permission from Mao’s regime as one of the first exchange students to travel abroad, on a three-month student visa, in 1980, Li [the dancer and protagonist of the film] faces new hurdles. His parents expect him to bring honor to their humble station, his country expects him to represent China like a good, loyal and cynical comrade, drawing attention to Communism while trusting no one. Terrified and confused, he is the first boy from his province to travel to Beijing, much less the world beyond. Landing in the U.S. in a stiff, outdated, Chinese government-issued suit, he is like Dorothy arriving in Oz. Housed and guided by the kind but flamboyant Stevenson (wonderfully acted by the charismatic Bruce Greenwood), he takes little time overcoming culture shock, adjusting to alien Chinese restaurants and realizing that the Communist propaganda drummed into his head about America as a place of deprivation and darkness is a lot of hokum. The more he experiences of Texas cooking, kung fu movies, miraculous kitchen appliances, American hospitality and tennis shoes, the more distanced he grows from the ideals of Communism and the rigid dogma of Chairman Mao. (Against the rules of the Cultural Revolution, he also discovers the thrill of admiring political defectors like Nureyev and Baryshnikov without fear of arrest while watching forbidden tapes.) Capitalism, he confesses, is groovy …
“Distilling so much drama and turmoil into two hours is not easy, but by the time the film completes Li’s long and arduous journey, in 1986, when his parents are finally allowed to fly to the U.S. to see him dance for the first time, you will marvel at how much is accomplished. I predict the highly charged emotional finale will leave you cheering … Mao’s Last Dancer is a masterpiece.”
By Jason Apuzzo. We reported recently here at Libertas about how the CW’s reboot of the Nikita franchise will be making the CIA the villains of the piece. So far as we’re aware, we’re the only site currently making a fuss over this.
Variety (registration required) is now reporting today that the show is currently turning heads for a different reason – namely, the raciness of it’s advertising.
At Libertas, of course, we dive right in to such controversies.
As I mentioned in my earlier post about this show, what alerted me to this show to begin with was a gigantic, eye-popping billboard of star Maggie Q slapped up against a building here in LA. The poster was the already quite racy one of her in a red dress (see here). Now, apparently, the people at CW are trying to get huge billboards of Maggie Q in leather and tattoos (see left) into major markets like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles – and even here in LA not everybody’s going along with it.
Let me begin by stating the obvious: it would be spectacularly hypocritical of me to complain about the sexiness of this show’s advertising, given our regular featuring of pin-ups here at Libertas. On the contrary: we love this sort of thing, as it speaks to the sort of freedoms we enjoy here in the West that are routinely frowned upon in totalitarian societies (both of the Islamo-fascist and communist variety) elsewhere in the world.
Plus, the girls look cute – which should be reason enough.
Cheerleaders.
With that said, even I think that putting up 50ft. billboards of Ms. Q in leather and tattoos in public places like malls, where families and children may gather, is probably a bit much. And for safety reasons, I don’t think it’s too good of an idea to put these billboards near freeways. The one of her in the red dress (see here) is more than enough to get the point across.
What bothers me more is that this new show apparently goes The Full Stallone in taking a nasty swipe at the CIA. Why aren’t people more bothered by this? Let me put it this way: why are we so prudish about the sex component to this series, yet so completely untroubled by what the show is depicting in terms of our own government?
Attacking our intelligence services is such a terrible idea at this point in time, as those services struggle under the combined weight of low morale, rampant anti-Americanism overseas and budget cutbacks. And here’s another problem: shows like this do, eventually, get syndicated in foreign markets … and what kind of effect do you think they have, particularly among those already inclined toward hating America? [Foreign distribution rights to Nikita have already been sold to the UK and Australia.]
Much as with The Expendables, I really wanted to like this show. It had the potential of being a kind of sexed-up version of 24 – or a weekly Salt, if you will – and in fact that’s what the show should have been. Instead, they had to make America’s intelligence services into the enemy, into ruthless murderers bent on assassination. What a shame.
The only silver lining here, I suppose, is that the CW is giving us a better-looking show this fall called Hellcats. The show is apparently based on the book, Cheer: Inside the Secret World of College Cheerleaders. I’ve put the trailer for the show below. This cheeky comedy-drama’s premise is described this way:
Hellcats revolves around Marti, a pre-law college student from the wrong side of the tracks. When budget cutbacks and her mother’s constant carelessness cause her to lose her scholarship, she joins the Hellcats, the college’s competitive cheerleading team.
Perfect! A series about a young gal forced into a life of cheerleading due to tragic circumstances. [Is Roger Corman running this network?] Between the new terrorist-fighting Hawaii Five-O and this, I think we’re set now.
I’m as surprised as anyone right now to be denigrating one of Stallone’s films and talking up a (semi-)competing picture by Angelina Jolie. This isn’t exactly what I expected at the outset of the summer, to say the least. But we try to stick to the content of films here at Libertas, and to what messages films convey, rather than to individual star personalities. I think it’s very dangerous to get caught up in the personalities of stars, unless those stars remain disciplined and consistent in terms of what projects they choose. Since the decline of the old studio system, such stars are actually rather few and far between.
Stallone, to me, chose a distasteful storyline (at least with respect to the villain) around which to launch his career comeback – whereas I was very pleasantly surprised by what Jolie did with Salt. And for me it really ends there: with the films, and what they convey about our country and the spirit of freedom which it still embodies. As a side note, I think the business of equating masculine male action stars with patriotism is fine, so long as those stars happen to be fighting on our side.
• We like Frank Miller here at Libertas, and Frank is apparently collaborating with Evan Rachel Wood and Chris Evans on a big new ad campaign for Gucci products. Check out the teaser for the ad campaign below. It looks fun.
• California has apparently run out of film tax credits. Don’t you just love this? The California Film Commission has already allocated the entirety of its $100 million in tax credits available this year to 30 projects, and now has a waiting list of 45 projects. According to the LA Times:
“The demand is far exceeding the supply,” said California Film Commission Executive Director Amy Lemisch. “We ran out on the first day of funding.”
The program, enacted last year to stem the flight of production from California, provides a 20% to 25% tax credit on qualified production expenses that can be applied to offset state income or sales tax liabilities. Although limited in scope compared with what other states offer — the incentive doesn’t cover talent costs and excludes commercials, for example — it has been popular, especially among independent filmmakers.
As an indie filmmaker myself, I can tell you that the production situation here in this state is lousy. Basically nobody wants to film around here unless they have to, and unfortunately most indie productions have to. Having a Governor in office who was once a motion picture star himself was supposed to help this, but as we know … [Sigh.]
This is actually a good sign. You know why? Because if dudes are blowing out their knees on-set, that means they’re filming some serious action on this show. Things are looking up.
• Some internal memos apparently just got leaked out of Paramount, and we now know what projects are currently in that studio’s pipeline. Among the projects leaked were: A Baywatch movie (hooray! what took so long? lack of blondes in LA?); a Nevada Smith remake (how do you top Steve McQueen? or Karl Malden, for that matter?), and Sacha Baron Cohen’s Dictator, in which he supposedly plays a deposed foreign dictator who gets lost in the United States. That last project could be hilarious if it’s done properly.
January Jones of "Mad Men."
True story about Nevada Smith: apparently Indiana Jones was originally supposed to be named ‘Indiana Smith,’ but Spielberg changed the name to ‘Jones’ because he was afraid audiences would confuse Indy with the McQueen character.
[Are you reading a word I’m saying here, or are you just looking at the picture to the left? Just checking.]
• Hollywood is apparently very afraid of the new Google TV initiative, as Google expands the reach of its media empire-in-the-making. The new Google TV technology is the latest effort, following on the heels of Apple TV, to combine TV with the internet. Personally I think the entertainment industry is far too worried about this. I see no evidence suggesting that there’s a public demand for this fusion of TV and internet right now, until such a fusion becomes much more fluid than it currently is. Also on the tech front today: apparently James Cameron has been assisting NASA as they plan to put a 3D camera on Mars.
• Ernest Borgnine will be receiving a lifetime achievement award from SAG. Congratulations, Borgie! It was a pleasure for Govindini and I to meet him a few years back. He had such a powerful handshake (at age 90!) that my hand is still recovering. Borgie’s just as vital and colorful as ever, and has undoubtedly enjoyed one of the great cinema careers of all time. Not bad for an Italian kid from North Haven. 🙂
In the meantime, buzz is already starting to build about the possibility of a ‘Salt 2′ (which would be the perfect Cold War title, btw). Apparently everybody’s ready to go on that, including Jolie and director Phillip Noyce. All Sony’s waiting for is to see Salt’s overseas performance, and to that end Jolie just premiered the film in London and in Paris. I must say, I haven’t seen a star do this kind of world tour (Moscow, Tokyo, London, Paris, even Comic-Con) in quite a while … let’s hope it pays off.
To Libertas readers who haven’t seen Salt yet, go see it! Everybody’s all but saying that if the box office on this film goes a little bit higher, there will be a sequel … which we can presume will feature Angelina Jolie hunting communist infiltrators here in the U.S. And we want that, right? It’s likely to be better than whatever Stallone’s planning for his next Expendables. [I was glad to see, by the way, that my colleague Kyle Smith didn’t like The Expendables, either.] In related Jolie news today, Jolie is urging people to continue donating aid relief to Pakistan, and denying rumors that she will soon be playing Marilyn Monroe. She apparently has a full schedule.
• David Fincher’s Girl With the Dragon Tattoo adaptation has been cast, and the lead’s going to be played by newcomer Rooney Mara (who’s in Fincher’s The Social Network). Daniel Craig co-stars. I haven’t commented on this project yet because I’m still figuring out what I think about it. Beyond that, I know little about Ms. Mara, other than that she’s part of the wonderful Mara family that owns football’s New York Giants. Stay tuned for more on this subject later.
Rose Byrne in talks for "X-Men: First Class."
• Obama apparently just alienated half of Los Angeles yesterday, including a healthy portion of his elite Hollywood donor base. This was due to his motorcade bringing most of West Los Angeles’ traffic to a complete standstill, the ultimate no-no out here. Heavy-hitter industry columnists like the LA Times’ Patrick Goldstein and The Wrap’s Hunter Walker felt compelled to chastise Obama on this whole mess, and there are even calls for an investigation. Plus, we’re now learning that Barbra Streisand and Jeffrey Katzenberg were no-shows at the Obama fundraiser that was the pretext for The President’s visit, even though Streisand and Katzenberg were co-hosts for the fundraiser itself. Unreal. [If you want to read more about the fundraising dinner, see here and here.]
Here’s what’s happening: Obama is looking weak, unaccomplished and self-absorbed right now. And it’s all catching up to him. I also notice very few younger people among the guests listed for this event. Obama’s even weaker out here than I thought.
• I was very disappointed not to catch Gareth Edwards’ indie alien invasion flick Monsters when it showed at the recent LA Film Festival. Part of the problem was that they didn’t even have a trailer for it at that time. Well, some new trailers are now available for the film, including this one below:
This is looking pretty interesting, although I’m not seeing anything especially fresh or original here – just good execution of a simple idea. We’ll keep an eye on this one – it’s already looking better than Skyline. By the way, Monsters was made largely using only a 5-person crew. Fantastic.
• Examples of films with no heat around them right now: Oliver Stone’s Wall Street 2 (see here), and geek films like Scott Pilgrim (see here). Glad to see this. Another film that has no heat with me personally, although a lot of other people seem excited about it (including The Venice Film Festival, where it’s debuting) is the Darren Aronofsky/Natalie Portman ballet thriller, The Black Swan. A new trailer came out today for that film and … how do I put this politely? … Ms. Portman still can’t act. I’m sorry but Natalie Portman at this point is really looking like a pretty face who’s given chance after chance but still can’t quite put a compelling character over.
• There’s a ton of sci-fi news today. First of all, James Cameron does a lengthy interview (see here) in which he discusses Avatar: Special Edition, the remastering of Aliens, and Battle Angel (a potential forthcoming project). He also discusses working with Guillermo del Toro on adapting Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness (see here for that segment). He also does another interview today in which he discusses what he learned from screening Avatar to native tribesmen in the Amazon. So what did he learn? Apparently down in the Amazon they favor non-violent resolutions to their problems, rather than Cameron’s preferred bloodbath approach (as when American soldiers get shot to pieces at the end of Avatar). Isn’t that perfect? The natives apparently aren’t all that restless. The irony is so thick there you can cut it with a chainsaw.
Brooklyn Decker of "Battleship."
The weirdest sci-fi news of the day: because the guys behind the aliens-invade-LA thriller Skyline also did visual effects for Sony’s aliens-invade-LA thriller Battle: Los Angeles … Sony may sue them for conflict of interest. Amazing. I think this is a bad idea that Sony’s floating – they should retract this plan immediately, because it’s going to really alienate potential fans. So to speak. It’s a classic David vs. Goliath situation that Sony will inevitably lose, much like the alien invaders in their film.
• Are you a fan of JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater? I certainly am. He’s being offered a reality TV series, apparently, and has already hired a publicist … and in his honor you’ve got to read this list from the College Crunch people of “The Top 10 Greatest Movie Meltdowns Ever.” My only quibbles with this list are that Howard Beale in Network isn’t #1 … and where’s Al Pacino in And Justice For All? “No, you’re out of order!!!” Another favorite of mine is Michael Douglas’ Falling Down, and the Paddy Chayefsky/George C. Scott masterpiece The Hospital.
• AND IN TODAY’S MOST IMPORTANT NEWS … Victoria’s Secret model, actress and wife of Andy Roddick Brooklyn Decker has just been cast in Universal’s huge new adaptation of Battleship. She’ll apparently be playing the film’s love interest, a character described as being able to “surf, fight, dance and crush the NY Times crossword puzzle.” The character has also apparently “driven a motorcycle around the world twice.” It’s amazing what gals need to have on their resumé nowadays just to be a love interest. I would think her other attributes would’ve more or less closed the deal on this one.
And that’s what’s happening today in the wonderful world of Hollywood.
By Jason Apuzzo. • Today is the great Maureen O’Hara’s 90th birthday, and Turner Classic Movies is showing films of hers all day. Many congratulations to this delightful, feisty redhead! This lovely star was once dubbed The Queen of Technicolor due to her lustrous red locks. I am particularly enamored of the films she did with John Wayne (she was probably The Duke’s best co-star), but also of some of her earlier work in the pirate genre … including such classics as The Black Swan, The Spanish Main, Against All Flags and so many others. Long before Angelina Jolie, Maureen O’Hara was the first great action star among the ladies – a fiery and sexy swashbuckler (check her out in At Sword’s Point or Flame of Araby). Our very best wishes to her on this day; she was born 90 years ago today Ranelagh, County Dublin, Ireland, and has been a gift to the world ever since.
Kim Novak has a new box set.
• The great Ray Bradbury is also turning 90 this week! Congratulations to Ray; I met him for the fist time a few years ago, and my signed copy of The Martian Chronicles is now a cherished possession. There are all sorts of activities around Los Angeles this week honoring Ray (see the LA Times for the full breakdown), and Ray is also in the news today because he recently declared that he is against big government, and that “our country is in need of a revolution.” Here, here! He’s also pushing President Obama to take us back to the moon, and on to Mars – which would seem to make sense, as that appears to be where Obama’s head is these days anyway.
The two films are worth comparing because one features a nasty, anti-CIA plotline featuring Eric Roberts as an ex-CIA drugrunner who waterboards women; Jolie’s film paints a much more flattering picture of the CIA and our intelligence services in general, besides being completely pro-American.
What’s more, The Expendables was supposed to be the film that revived the male action genre that – so the argument goes – has been stolen away, or something, by gals like Jolie. Yet Jolie on her own managed to outgross Stallone & his many friends (Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Statham, et al) … which effectively puts the nail in the coffin on that argument, at least among men who are secure enough in their own masculinity to enjoy watching women do action movies. Ahem.
This is also a major wake-up call on the whole matter of who the real stars actually are, nowadays.
Another interesting footnote to the weekend was how badly Scott Pilgrim did (only $10 mil). Nerdy fanboy fare not playing well these days due to extreme over-saturation in the marketplace.
A deleted scene from "Return of the Jedi."
• The other big news out of the weekend is that Star Wars – the entire film series – is finally coming to Blu-ray in the fall of 2011. [See here and here.] The Star Wars films will apparently be coming out all at once, in one big set featuring “extensive special features – including documentaries, vintage behind-the-scenes moments, interviews, retrospectives and never-before-seen footage from the Lucasfilm archives.”
This is great news – exactly what Blu-ray was made for. The announcement was made in Orlando this weekend at Star Wars Celebration V, where George Lucas also showed something really delightful: a deleted scene/moment from Return of the Jedi, in which we see Luke building his new lightsaber … as Vader tries to lure him to the dark side. It was apparently supposed to be the first image we see of Luke in the film, but was cut from Jedi at the very last minute. Judging from the audience’s reaction to the clip at Celebration, I think George perhaps should have kept it in! It certainly gives Luke a darker edge, and echoes nicely in Hayden Christensen’s characterization in the prequel trilogy. Here’s the clip:
[UPDATE: YouTube has taken the clip down, citing a Lucasfilm copyright claim. I saw the clip before it was removed: it was wonderful. Looking forward to the Blu-ray.]
• In somewhat related news, Variety has an article out today about how 3D may save Blu-ray, a medium that many people believe has only had a so-so debut.
To the extent that Blu-ray is having a problem right now, I think it has more to do with two factors: 1) asking the public to undertake a major format shift during a bad econony; 2) the lack of blockbuster films (see directly above) on the Blu-ray format to motivate such a shift. Blu-ray is still basically a medium for aficionados, but there really aren’t enough movies for aficionados being released at the moment. Star Wars will be filling one gap in that area, but we need a lot more classics of that variety before people start to switch en masse.
• Speaking of which, Obama’s in Hollywood right now looking for campaign money. [See here and here.] I’m actually surprised, reading about his visit, how relatively few industry players – particularly of the younger variety – are showing up to see him. It’s interesting how people are cooling out here right now toward The One, without saying it out loud …
