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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Ted Williams Ditches Rehab, Dr. Phil Reacts

img src=http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/news/00038106.jpg hspace=5 align=right width=200 height=188 After learning that Ted has cut short his rehab treatment, Dr. Phil McGraw hopes the former homeless man 'continues his commitment to sobriety.'

Monday, January 24, 2011

Sundance One-Shot Horror Film 'Silent House' Sells For $3 Million, But Is The Movie a Marketing Scam?

Mike Fleming is reporting that Mickey Liddell's Liddell Entertainment has acquired distribution rights to the horror film Silent House. The film which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, is a remake of the Gustavo Hernandez-directed Uruguayan thriller La Casa Muda which premiered at Cannes. The concept is simple, a girl (played by Elizabeth Olsen) gets stuck in an old house, possibly haunted, and the movie is filmed in one continuous shot. The gimmick is quite fun, but is the film really one long continuous shot…. or is it all a marketing scam?

The official plot synopsis claims:

"[Silent House] is told in real time in one continuous take, just as Sarah sees – and experiences – it."

In the official director's statement, it reads:

"…We were immediately intrigued and excited by the challenge of telling a story in a single unbroken camera shot. Making this film fascinated us, as it presented a unique approach to filmmaking, and a new way to experience a movie." … "Our fantastic actors and crew embraced the rigors involved in shooting this film. We were very fortunate to be working with a luminous and gifted leading lady, Elizabeth Olsen. Following her in a continuous take with no cuts, she draws the audience into her reality, provoking what we hope is an intensely visceral experience."

While I have no concreate evidence, the consensus of everyone I talked with at the press screening was that the film was NOT shot in one continuous shot. There are at least two noticeable moments in the film where, most agree, the camera most likely cut. Not to go into spoilers, but one of the moments involves the lights to completely go out and the screen to go black for a period of time. The other involves a character exiting through a door — almost everyone I've talked to believes they saw a cut in the film at this point.

Erik Davis interviewed the filmmakers, Chris Kentis and Laura Lau -(who previously directed the low budget thriller Open Water), and asked them point blank if the movie was really shot in on continuous shot. Kentis appears to be very nervous in answering the question, and refused to reveal just how many takes it took to complete the one-take movie.

Is it just me or does it look like they aren't telling the full truth when answering the question?

I know that if I spent days and weeks trying to film a one-take hour-and-a-half movie, I would probably know how many takes I shot to complete the film (or at very least, have a better answer). I don't think anyone who knows about filmmaking that saw this film really believes it was shot in one continuous take.

And for the record, I don't mind if the movie wasn't actually shot in one-take. Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men have some sequences which are presented in one-take even though they are secretly cut together from a bunch of segments. It's movie magic. The difference is that Cuarón doesn't claim that these sequences were accomplished in one camera shot. I don't like being lied to by a filmmaker or in the marketing.

I wonder if Liddell Entertainment will promote the movie with the claim that it was shot in one continuous take. And if the claim isn't true, would be false advertising?

'Silent House' – '24′ In A Haunted House, In One Shot [Sundance Review]
'Open Water' Filmmakers Return To Sundance With 'Silent House' Remake
2011 Sundance Film Festival Recap One: Thursday – Sunday
Breakout Sundance Star Elizabeth Olsen Cast in 'Buried' Director's 'Red Lights'
'Martha Marcy May Marlene' – A Devastating Portrait of Cult Brainwashing [Sundance Review]

Carpetbagger: Sundance Deals, Fast and Furious

A flurry of Sundance deals closed on Monday, with a psychological thriller, a sweet teen drama and a documentary about The New York Times among the films being snapped up.

'Like Crazy' Bought by Paramount for $4 Million

a href=http://www.aceshowbiz.com/movie/like_crazy/ title=Like Crazy target=_blankimg src=like_crazy01 hspace=5 align=right width=187 height=230/a The deal was made at the 27th Annual Sundance Film Festival which started January 20 and will end January 30.

'Red State' - Kevin Smith's Religious Action Thriller Is Not What You Expect [Sundance Video Blog and Review]

Kevin Smith's new film Red State is more than just a departure from his trademark comedic style. It's almost a complete 180. The bright colors and pop culture references have been replaced with blacks, reds and long monologues about scripture. Smith's still very reliant on the spoken word – almost to a fault – but now he balances it with machine guns, blood and hand held camera moves. This is a maturing, confident Smith who proves, after Cop Out, he still has a unique voice. With Red State, that voice isn't saying anything incredibly groundbreaking, and at times it gets a tad preachy, but the director has expanded out of his comfort zone and given audiences a genuine piece of art.

Read the rest of the review and watch a video blog featuring Peter Sciretta and Jeff Goldsmith of Creative Screenwriting Magazine after the jump.

Red State begins with a conceit that sounds very much like the Kevin Smith of old. Three friends, played by Michael Angarano, Nicholas Braun and Kyle Gallner, decide to take out Mommy's car because a girl on the internet has promised to sleep with them. And while Smith couldn't resist throwing in some of his classic sex dialogue, this is no Clerks 2 donkey show. The boys are drugged and brought to a fundamental church called the Five Points ran by Pastor Abin Cooper (Michael Parks). Much like Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church, which gets name dropped in the film, Cooper preaches that homosexuals are the devil and the world does everything it can to encourage their power. The boys who've been captured will be punished for the sins of the world and we're lead to believe they aren't the first, nor last.

After an intriguing opening, Red State grinds to a screeching, 10-15 minute halt when we first meet Cooper. Smith, as well as Parks, is obviously in love with this out-there madman and they relish their moment to introduce him in his element. So he begins to preach. And preach. And preach. Parks completely transforms into Cooper during this scene, but not even the best actor alive could be that captivating for that long. Once he addresses the caged boy in the room though, the film picks up the pace extremely quickly and remains tense throughout. Smith likes to call Red State a horror film, but I'd more accurately describe it as a religious action thriller.

Yes, I said action. Red State is filled with death, violence and gun fire. And more death. Smith isn't quite Michael Mann or even Michael Bay with his action scenes – there are a lot of medium shots of the actors firing machine guns – but they're intercut with other examples of visual panache.

All the while, the film dances around the obvious closed mindedness of Cooper and the Five Points, who include characters played by Melissa Leo and Kerry Bishé, but the whole thing doesn't end up going where you think it will. The film's conclusion is a series of surprising events that are simultaneously involving and thought-provoking

After the film, Smith announced that this is his penultimate work as a director. While it's far from perfect, when he retires he can certainly be proud to have made something both surprising and thought-provoking.

The film hits the road beginning March 5 and will tour the country before opening more traditionally on October 19.

/Film Rating – 7 out of 10

And here's the video blog starring Peter Sciretta and Jeff Goldsmith of Creative Screenwriting Magazine. You can also read David Chen and Peter Sciretta's initial reactions here.