Phlogiston

Over the last couple of years I have allowed myself to get desperately behind with my movie watching. Determined to catch up with it all, I’ve compiled a list of movies currently at the cinema and ones I’ve missed and will now have to see on DVD. At the cinema, in the next week or so, I want to see:

• Brick
• Thank You for Smoking
• Hard Candy
• United 93

I intend to see Brick tomorrow afternoon or early evening, and hopefully United 93 with James and Sara this weekend. Films I missed at the cinema and will now have to see on DVD (some aren’t out quite yet, but will be in the next few weeks):

• Inside Man
• Brokeback Mountain
• Good Night, and Good Luck
• Walk the Line
• Capote
• Syriana
• Junebug
• Pride and Prejudice
• Hidden
• Night Watch
• Jarhead
• The Family Stone
• King Kong
• A History of Violence
• Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
• Me and You and Everyone We Know
• Match Point
• Million Dollar Baby
• 9 Songs
• Vanity Fair
• Anything Else
• The Machinist
• The Life and Death of Peter Sellars
• Assault on Precinct 13
• Team America: World Police
• Hotel Rwanda
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
• Vera Drake
• The Dreamers
• Irreversible
• Whale Rider
• Maria Full of Grace
• Finding Neverland

I’ll strike out movies as I’ve seen them and remember to, and I may add to the list of films I want to see on DVD.

Last month The Observer had a wonderful article on the new “Teen Noir”—specifically, Veronica Mars, one of my favourite new TV shows, and forthcoming movie Brick.

With its highly stylised dialogue, hardboiled talk of gats and hop, shamuses and reefer worms, Brick breathes new life into the teen movie. As depicted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brendan is an adolescent Marlowe, all world-weary attitude and well-placed punches—when asked by one character what he intends to do now his plan has been rumbled, his response is the deadpan: “Stand here and bleed at you.”

Similarly, a recent episode of Veronica Mars saw Veronica, who was manning a drinks stall, ask the show’s anti-hero: “What’s your poison?” The response, “emotionally unavailable women”, echoed Bogart/Bacall dialogue from Hollywood’s Golden Age.

It’s hard to describe Veronica Mars, and in previous posts I’d opted not to; I feared any description I gave would make it sound like Nancy Drew, when in reality it’s closer to something by Chandler or Hammett, just layered on to the world of American high school with its gangs and cliques, the stylised hard-boiled dialogue transcribed into teen slang. It’s genre-bending on a Buffy scale, and it’s surprising how well it works. (I admit I was very sceptical when I first heard about Veronica Mars last year, and it took me a couple of episodes to settle in to it, unlike Buffy and Firefly—another genre-bender, cowboys in space—which hooked me immediately.) The important thing is that the noir protagonist has to be an outsider who effortlessly outsmarts the socially and economically advantaged, mired in moral turpitude as they are, and who is constantly exposed and vulnerable to the violence of the bottom feeders vieing for a way out of their social ghetto, and those themes translate surprisingly easily into the world of high school. Perhaps the most brilliant twist of the genre-bending in Veronica Mars is its gender-bending—with the private dick now being dickless in the shape of Veronica (and what a nice shape), the femme fatale is converted into an homme fatale: Logan Echolls, one of the best characters to ever grace the small screen.

Last year Veronica Mars was named the best new show of the year by the New York Times and Entertainment Weekly and Brick won the Sundance Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision. You can read more about Veronica Mars at fan site Mars Investigations. IGN also has an interview with Enrico Colantoni who plays Keith Mars—Veronica’s dad, erstwhile sheriff of Neptune, and now private investigator.

Just a quick post on two really nice interviews I came across. The first is Rolling Stone’s interview with Kiefer “Jack Bauer” Sutherland. I’d really like to go out for a drink with that guy. The second is Backstage’s interview with Seth Green, who sounds like he is one hell of a smart cookie despite moving to Hollywood at age sixteen and who has a work ethic I can only dream of.

My friend James, a newspaper man of the Walter Burns variety (think Walter Matthau, not Cary Grant), is always sternly telling me how the Internet, blogs, RSS feeds and the modern world in general are killing newspapers, and when they’re dead and gone we’ll all be sorry because there will be no more editors, lawyers, and large corporations checking that their greedy, vested, corporate interests will be respected facts are straight, and there will be no more investigative journalism, breaking stories (more commonly known as sifting through celebrities’ bin bags), or reliable sources of information (because everything on the internet was just, you know, made up).

Well it seems that he may not have been overstating his case. On Saturday (otherwise known as April Fools’ Day), the fairly well-known movie news site JoBlo posted an April Fools’ joke that Kate Beckinsale had been cast as Wonder Woman in the forthcoming Joss Whedon movie. Now there were certain tell-tale signs that the story was a joke (not least that Whedonites, the most terrifying fandom on the planet, would have burnt cinemas to the ground before watching Kate Beckinsale butchering Whedon’s dialogue): such as quoting Whedon—a well-known feminist—talking about actresses offering to “blow him” for the part, or that Beckinsale was obviously going to have to have a “boob job”. But perhaps the biggest give away was the article ending thusly:

Whedon […] said that he would even take part in the site’s annual April Fool’s Day gag this year, which was a nice thing of him to do, especially since that’s what you’ve been reading this entire article. That’s right, every word is untrue, folks … gotta love the Internet!

Now I’m the first to admit that it wasn’t the funniest April Fools’ joke I’ve ever seen. But it was fairly obvious to anyone with half a brain that that’s what it was. But that didn’t stop those geniuses at World Entertainment News Network carrying the story as fact. One of the most notable subscribers of WENN’s news feed is The Internet Movie Database who carried the story, and from there on hundreds if not thousands of sites carried the story too, either directly from WENN or via IMDb. And like Chinese whispers, as the story was reprinted it became more and more detached from any semblance of truth and factuality. For example, InTheNews.co.uk printed this:

English beauty Kate Beckinsale is said to be fronting the race to be appointed the lead actress in the new Wonder Woman flick.

Director Joss Whedon and co-writer William M Marston, director of the 1976 original, are believed to have been impressed after meeting the British babe and could be about to offer her the role.

Beckinsale, star of Van Helsing and Underworld, has also recently reaffirmed her desire to land the part in the upcoming comic book movie.

“I want Wonder Woman right now,” she said. “I’m not holding my breath, but I’m crossing my fingers and toes and praying.”

As Simon on Whedonesque pointed out, William Marston (the original creator of Wonder Woman) died in 1947, so I don’t think he was directing much in 1976, and certainly wasn’t going to be having much of a say in the casting of the new movie, and the quote about “crossing my fingers and toes and praying” was actually said by Charisma Carpenter.

So, this is a sorry state of affairs. But the Internet giveth and the Internet taketh away. Just as sites were regurgitating this without bothering to check any original sources, and in some cases adding a few extra falsehoods of their own, those brave souls at Whedonesque charged in with the sword of truthiness, and JoBlo issued a statement. Meanwhile, the story continues to be reprinted around the Internet. And, only a day late, quick on the uptake as ever, has finally made it’s way into the UK press, still equally devoid of fact. Congratulations, The Sun! (What was that you were saying about newspapers vs. the Internet, James?)

The Daily Telegraph’s latest installment of their Film-makers on Film series features Joss Whedon, and in what may seem an initially unlikely candidate for discussion he chooses to discuss Brigadoon. The article features some lovely insights into Joss’s approach to film, TV, and genre.

Whedon has a theory that every movie aspires to the state of the musical. “You can take any genre and say these horror bits, these action bits, these are the musical numbers - these are the moments where we are uplifted. The shoot-out in The Wild Bunch, the Neo and Agent Smith fight in The Matrix - those are the big closing numbers. The way a musical can make us feel is unlike anything else, in song and particularly in dance. I think people fly through plate-glass windows when they get shot because movies don’t have dance scenes any more. This is what we do instead.”

Serenity opens in the UK tonight. Go see it! Time Out gave it a fantastic review:

A stand-alone spin-off from the cult science-fiction TV series ‘Firefly’, the ill-fated, most personal and most accomplished work to date from Joss Whedon, creator of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’. The worst fate that could befall ‘Serenity’ would be if it failed to reach a non-genre audience, because it works very hard to welcome newcomers to its textured futuristic mythology, while daring to push existing fans way beyond their comfort zone. This is what the ‘Star Wars’ prequels could have been, if George Lucas were a purveyor of hip, ultra-smart pop culture, rather than… well, choose the epithets yourself.

Five centuries from now, ex-soldier Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and his ragtag crew ply their semi-legal transporting trade on the sparsely settled fringes of space. When Doctor Simon Tam (Sean Maher) and his fugitive sister River (Summer Glau) seek sanctuary on his utilitarian spaceship, Serenity, it is targeted by The Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a glacial assassin employed by The Alliance. River is an unstable and troublesome telepath – created by The Alliance’s own Frankensteinian scientists – yet the anti-heroic Reynolds and his renegade crew risk all to save her.

With its Hawksian attention to group dynamics and its skilful definition of character through action, this supremely entertaining hybrid-movie plays like ‘Rio Bravo’ in space. The textured narrative is peopled by precisely delineated characters who employ a salty retro-future-speak, in which twenty-fifth century slang is morphed with frontier Western archaisms (‘take umbrage’, ‘confound these bungers’). The settings and tone are hyper-real, yet the human behaviour is grounded and credible, the moral conflicts complex and involving. Shiny, intelligent fun.

The CulturePulp has a very good, long interview with Joss Whedon.

I saw Serenity on Wednesday evening at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. It was AMAZING! More on the film itself below.

It’s been a shiny week for me all round:

I didn’t have tickets for the Monday night gala premiere, but I went anyway to see the whole red carpet thang. Joss Whedon (writer/director), Chris Buchanan (executive producer), Morena Baccarin (Inara), Adam Baldwin (Jayne), Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Operative), Nathan Fillion (Mal), Summer Glau (River), Sean Maher (Simon), Jewel Staite (Kaylee), and Gina Torres (Zoe) were all there. The actors in particular looked incredibly glamorous: they’re all striking looking on screen, but in the flesh they’re even more so. Unfortunately I couldn’t get close enough to any of them to speak to them or get anything signed, but I was pleased to see them. Denise Docherty has a gallery of photos online of the premiere—check out the very first picture, in the lower left hand side of the image you can just see me trying to peer over everyone else. (That must be the best photo of my left eyebrow I’ve ever seen!)

Tuesday I had tickets to see the Reel Life: Joss Whedon event. This was basically an hour long interview with Joss, with a half hour Q+A session. I was bitterly dissappointed I wasn’t picked to ask something as I was really interested to hear Joss’s answer to my question [at the end of this post if you’re interested], but Joss was witty, interesting, and most of the questions were good. Many of you will be pleased to know that he confirmed that he is indeed working hard to make the Spike TV movie happen. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable hour and a half.

Wednesday lunchtime there was a signing at HMV on Princes Street. Adam, Morena, Summer, Joss, Nathan and Gina were there and I took along my Firefly boxset which they all signed. I even managed to exchange a few words with them. I told Adam how much I enjoyed The Inside and how dissappointed I was that it didn’t get picked up or even have all thirteen episodes air. He looked pretty pissed off (not with me, I hope) but said it was definitely coming out on DVD. I spoke to Morena and Summer together, I asked them whether they had had a chance to see anything of Edinburgh or the Festival, and they both looked disappointed and said no, it had been work, work, work. (That’s such a shame, as most of the Edinburgh International Film Festival has taken place this year at Cineworld, an ugly multiplex in one of the ugliest parts of town. If that’s all they’ve seen of Edinburgh they’re going to have a very wrong impression of what the city is like.) I told Summer that that was a real shame, as the International Festival was one of the main events, if not the main event, in the modern dance and ballet calendar in the UK. She then looked really upset she hadn’t been able to see anything but really pleased that someone was interested in talking about what she was interested in (she used to be a ballerina). Joss and Nathan were busy sharing a joke with each other so I didn’t say anything to them, but when Gina signed my boxset I said “Thank you so much”, and she looked up and said quite forcefully, “No, thank you so very much”. That was really nice.

Wednesday evening was the film itself. It’s incredible. The opening floored me. It begins with a total sci-fi cliche, voice over exposition, but then Joss completely turns the cliche on its head, not once but twice, pulling the rug right out from underneath you. It’s a breathtakingly clever opening at the end of which you have all the important backstory. Next comes an equally impressive scene in which the camera moves in one take through Serenity and we have snatches of conversation between each of the crew which perfectly introduces the ensemble cast. Genius. From then on in the pacing is astoundng. It never lets up once, and by the end of the film I felt exhausted. None of the big action set pieces (of which there are many) feel like set pieces, but instead just seem like a seamless part of the story. The film is funny, moving, touching, exciting, scary and heart-breaking.

If you don’t believe me, here is what the Telegraph had to say about it:

For sheer, joyful entertainment, though, there’s no question as to this festival’s hottest ticket: the world première of Joss Whedon’s Serenity. A science fiction western based on Whedon’s cult television series Firefly, it picks up where the series left off, pitting Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and his rogue crew of small-time rebels against the military might of a superpower called The Alliance. Between them lies the mystery of River Tam (Summer Glau), a psychic assassin who holds the key to the future of the universe.

As the man responsible for Buffy The Vampire Slayer, perhaps only Whedon could conceive of a science fiction western—and pull it off with such élan. His command of form and playful delight in extending it serve him well again here; Serenity delivers all the thrills, spills and eye-popping explosions one could demand of a big studio blockbuster.

A complex ensemble piece without major stars, it has characters to care about, a keenly political intelligence, and some of the most cracking banter since Howard Hawks was in his prime. It deserves to be a huge hit when it’s released next month.

I was particularly thrilled when he said “some of the most cracking banter since Howard Hawks was in his prime”, as that is exactly how I feel about Joss’ writing. The Scotsman also has an excellent review.

The cast and crew weren’t at Wednesday evening’s screening as they had scattered across the country to attend the various preview screenings taking place, but as I’d seen them twice already (and Joss three times) that didn’t bother me in the least.

The event I was pissed off to miss was that apparently on Sunday night they were all out on the town, and ended up in The Last Drop (not the best pub, but open late and prominently positioned on The Grassmarket) boozing it up until the wee hours of the morning. I wish I’d known. It’s ten minutes walk from my flat and I would have loved to have bought them all a drink.

This is a long post, but I’d like to add two extra things. First, what I’d like to see if there are sequels, and second, what I wanted to ask Joss.

Serenity has plenty of humour, but fundamentally it is a very dark film. I have no complaints about that, but I think it would be a mistake for a second movie to be equally dark. I’d love to see a caper movie for the second, high on action and high on laughs. Sort of an Italian Job set in space, and hopefully involving the Guild of Companions (first so that Inara has a bigger storyline this time, second because I’d love to see the return of Saffron, and third because Inara’s back story still hasn’t been explained, whilst River’s and Book’s (reading between the lines) are in Serenity). Such a film could flesh out so much more of the Firefly/Serenity universe, the criminal elements, life on the frontier, and the Blue Sun corporation. A third film could then return to the dark, with perhaps an ultimate confrontation with the Alliance.

Lastly, this is what I wanted to ask Joss: “Firefly was in many ways saved by DVD sales. Tim Minnear’s [Firefly’s co-executive producer] subsequent two shows [Wonderfalls and The Inside] have also faired badly on network TV, but Tim now says he’s happy to be given money to produce shows that basically go straight to DVD. The Global Frequency pilot [Joss is a huge Warren Ellis fan] was leaked on the internet and caused such an enormously favourable response that it was even reported in the mainstream press (”The Greatest TV Show You’ll Never See”), prompting show runner John Rogers to publicly debate whether Global Frequency could continue without network involvement, either straight to DVD or by internet distribution. Can quality genre TV be made without the networks? Should it? Will it?”

It. Rocks. That is all.

As I blogged earlier, the world premiere of Serenity is at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Demand was so high that it sold out instantly and brought EIFF’s phone system and web servers down!

As a result, two extra dates were added: Festival filmgoers in a frenzy for Serenity.

THE Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has arranged two extra screenings of Serenity, the feature-film directorial debut of Joss Whedon, creator of the cult TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel, following the “extraordinary” demand for its world premiere.

The Oscar and Emmy- nominated Whedon wrote and directed Serenity, which is the big-screen incarnation of his TV series Firefly.

The action thriller, set 500 years in the future, will now have two additional screenings, arranged by the festival and the film’s distributor, United International Pictures.

The film is not due to make its US theatrical debut until September 30, and will open at cinemas in the UK and Ireland on October 7.

EIFF artistic director Shane Danielsen, who has described Whedon as more influential in TV sci-fi and fantasy than anybody since Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, said: “When we get such a clear signal from the fans that they’re so passionate about a particular film, we’re more than happy, wherever we can, to make additional screenings possible.”

Serenity will receive its official gala premiere screening on Monday, August 22, to be followed on August 23 by a Reel Life interview with the writer and director.

The first extra screening will be a matinee on August 23. The second will be part of the Festival’s Best of the Fest line-up on August 28. Tickets will not be available until tomorrow, July 18. Full details of ticket availability will be posted shortly on the EIFF website.

Well tickets for the new showings went on sale today at midday. They were sold out by 12:05pm!

I guess I won’t be performing my usual vanishing act this summer: Serenity will have its world premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival.

Further details are available here. Joss Whedon himself will be there, as well as most of the cast and crew. The Edinburgh Film Festival will also be having a Q+A session with Joss: Reel Life: Joss Whedon.