R.I.P. Mitch Hedberg

"I wrote a script and I gave it to a friend of mine whose job it is to read scripts. He read it and said 'it's good, you should rewrite it.' I said fuck that, I'll just make a copy."

Mitch Hedberg
1968-2005

More Great News About the Video Chain We Love to Hate

The best legal news of the month

The best speculative movie news of the week

According to the best Paul Thomas Anderson site on the web:

March 21 - 27, 2005
"Have you been wondering what PTA has been up to since 2002's Punch-Drunk Love? Paul never ceases to surprise us & it seems his next film will most likely be......."Oil"! "Oil!" is 1927 novel by Upton Sinclair that PTA has adapted. This would be his first film not based on on of his own original screenplays. It's a tale of of scandal, intrigue and politics. Makes sense & ties in nicely to this story reported awhile back. It looks like Daniel Day-Lewis will be the star. I know, that's not too much of a surprise, but that's all the casting I've heard thus far. Lastly, it seems that Paul is still looking for financing, so a studio has yet to be determined . Obviously, a possible release date can't even be speculated at this point. I'm very confident that my information is correct, but it's Hollywood & things can (& do) change on a regular basis. Stay tuned for the latest.."

Fox Pulls a Bravo

WJBK, the local FOX affiliate, ran a promo for their local 11PM newscast during which they showed a picture of who was kicked off Amercian Idol and promised more details. Normally this would not be worth noting, but they revealed who was kicked off the show fifteen minutes before it happened "live" on the real program.

And while we are on the topic, I can't believe the spawn of Barbra Streisand and Fran Drescher made it that far.

As for the rest of the field, I quote TV expert Matt Collar - "I'm Bo Bice, bitch!"

The best new blog on the Web

Fellow AMGer Tracie Cooper has started what is possibly the best new blog of the year. Harry Shearer once said that really good satire should piss off the target of the satire. So all you thirteen year old republican girls should stay away from Republiteen.

What are the critics saying about it?
I think it's weapons grade satire. - Moviegeek

The brilliant Terry Sawyer opines, "Genius. What a spot-on idea. I'm jealous; I love it. It's so deftly done that it's easy to believe that this is some future implant sorrority sister blogging between lip gloss applications."

Tracie promises a long and bright future for Republiteen and we here at the Memo wish her all the best.

Do Yourself a Big Favor

Click on this link for a site that contains a link to the best music video you will see all decade.

Thanks Zac, you and Datawhat are Gods among both men and bloggers.

Lots of Interesting New Projects in the Works

In addition to the story about Ben Affleck adapting Dennis Lahane's Gone Baby Gone (a topic I will delve into great detail about soon), this story also sounds very promising.

You Might Want a Scorecard

This weekend brought a pair of strange pop-culture collisions. There is a love scene between Joan Allen and Kevin Costner in The Upside of Anger (review coming soon) and as I was watching it all I could think was, "Wow! That's Jim Garrison having sex with Pat Nixon!"

Then on SNL, a pop culture obsessive's dream. Ashton Kutcher did a vicious and very funny parody of Kevin Federline (Mr. Brittney Spears). When Justin Timberlake hosted last year, the former flame of Ms. Spears did a vicious and very funny impression of Ashton Kutcher. Just to keep everybody on their toes on this issue, Timberlake's current significant other Cameron Diaz is hosting SNL in two weeks and I bring this to your attention mostly to plug the fact that Green Day will be the musical guest - making that episode a must-see event.

The Seed of Inspiration for Lost In Translation

On Criterion's new release of Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha, a series of commercials the Japanese master directed are included. One of these is an ad for Suntory whisky that co-stars Francis Ford Coppola. One can almost feel the presence of a single digit age Sofia just off-screen soaking it all in.

Ah...Poetic Justice Served Straight Up

She really has been caught in a hit and run.

Watch What Happens...no nevermind don't bother we'll just tell you

The Bravo network (by the way guys I'm still waiting for my Rollergirl Poker....I mean Heather Graham Poker....I mean my Celebrity Poker Showdown DVD) started up the third season of Project Greenlight this week. I have never seen a second of the first two seasons partly because I hate reality TV and partly because I don't get HBO. Bravo made the kind of mistake that should infuriate any halfway intelligent viewer. During the show the producers (the money guys) and the creative guys are debating which script they are going to select. One if a crime thriller, one is a comedy, and one is a horror film. The show establishes a great deal of tension and conflict concerning the selection. During this scene Bravo throws up a promo on the bottom of the screen that says something like "Watch the horror of making an independent film next Tuesday at 9". Because Bravo does not trust viewers to find the program a second time, they ruin the program they are running underneath the promo.

There Is One Every Year

It sure seems like every year somebody wins a big time Oscar and within a month they divorce. This year I never expected it to be Alexander Payne but it is.

Every once in a while Hollywood is more honest in their marketing than they

On the back of the soon to be released DVD of Rhinestone this line appears on the top of the back cover:

"When Dolly Makes a Deal With Stallone, Country Music Takes a Beating!"

One of the Five Worst Films of 2005 - and it's only March!

With films like The Negotiator and Set It Off, F. Gary Gray showed a knack for staging action sequences and building suspense. Why that makes him an ideal choice to direct the Get Shorty sequel Be Cool is difficult to figure. The books of Elmore Leonard have almost always been more about the characters than about the plot - although the plots always offer a strong narrative drive. The best Leonard adaptations (Jackie Brown, Out of Sight, and Get Shorty) struck the correct balance between people and events. Gray loses the tone of Be Cool (which to be fair is one of Leonard's least interesting books) in less than twenty minutes. His editing is crisp in spots, but often he lets the scenes linger on longer than they need to, especially when the actors appear to be improvising. Since they rarely say anything revealing, funny, or even amusing these moments grind the film to a halt. What really sinks the film, however, is John Travolta giving arguably the laziest performance of his career. The ten years between Get Shorty and Be Cool (a decade that saw him take millions and millions of dollars for such drivel as Basic, The General's Daughter, The Punisher, and Domestic Disturbance) have taken much of the "cool" off of Travolta. In Get Shorty Chili Palmer seemed like the smartest guy in the room, a man constantly feeling out the angles of the people he was manipulating. In Be Cool Chili seems like he knows all the angles because Travolta, who comes off smug and/or tired much of the time, has read the script. While none of the supporting actors embarrass themselves, none of them have anything all that interesting to do and each must contend with the black hole that is Travolta's performance sucking what little life there is clean out of the movie. Just because it is a cliché to say that John Travolta has had more career comebacks than just about any actor in history does not make it any less true. After the dead-end that is Be Cool, it would seem that Travolta should begin looking in earnest for his next Quentin Tarantino or at least his next talking baby.

Did Anyone Else See This?

My brother Scott pointed out to me that among the characters portrayed by the men who won acting Oscars this year, there is only one working eye. I think this may be the best factoid like this since 1995 when Hollywood laid bare how it feels about women by giving the female acting awards to a woman playing a nun and a woman portraying a whore.

Not that I gave Page Six All that Much Credence

But if the last sentence in this story is for real than we are one step closer to the end of times.

This Picture Brought to You by the Florida Orange Growers Council

You too can enjoy the healthy restorative power of freshly squeezed orange juice.

Celebrity Culture Will Eat Itself

I'm glad Letterman has nothing to do with this.

DVD of the week

Criterion has put out an absolutely beautiful two-disc set of Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho. Rewatching the film within the context of Van Sant's recent work (Elephant and Gerry), which marked a return to his art-house roots, shows how much of a restless talent he has always been (a fact that can be forgotten in the face of Finding Forrester and Good Will Hunting). And yes, it is still sad to consider what River Phoenix could have become had he not overdosed.

Oscar wrap-up

Just some thoughts and observations on the 77th Oscar telecast:

My optimistic nature refuses to get upset about an Oscar show that saw a Martin Scorsese directed film win the most statuettes and honored Cate Blanchet as well as Charlie Kaufman and Morgan Freeman.

Single strangest moment was the trivia tidbit provided by the voiceover announcer after The Sea Inside won for Best Foreign Film. "This is the nineteenth nomination and fifth win for Spain."

Chris Rock did a fine job as host, but can we please stop being teased by his cameo appearances during the show and just give Albert Brooks the job once in my life?

Sean Penn has no sense of humor. Remarkable talent, but no sense of humor.

Salma Hayak was the best dressed woman. Clint Eastwood was the best dressed guy (the green bow tie was very cool).

I'm no fan of Puff Daddy, but it is really cool when you are on the red carpet and after being asked, "Who are you wearing?" you respond, "Me."

Gil Cates' decision to have some of the awards presented in the seats and others presented with all the nominees lined up on the stage worked better than I thought it would.

Cate Blanchet became the first Oscar winning actor to win an Oscar for playing an Oscar winner.

Best Speeches: Charlie Kaufman, the intense winner for animated short, and Morgan Freeman.

Julia Roberts continues to take every opportunity to remind everybody that it's all about her.