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Commentary: Zyzzyx Road

I preface this criticism of Hollywood with a short background. The year was 1998, and we were on the annual Arabian family vacation. This particular trip brought us to Southern California, for the first time since I’d been in the second grade. It was a spectacular vacation, we were out west for almost an entire month, we visited my uncle, spent sometime down in San Diego, and, for the first time, made the trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.

On our way to Las Vegas, which I will say is quite a boring drive through an empty desert, we saw many interesting sights. Joshua Trees, dirt, rocks, and a lone exit for a road, Zyzzyx Road, disbelievers, I urge you to Google this road, it does indeed exist. As a fourteen year old, I found this to be one of the funniest things I’d ever seen. Can you imagine being the fellow who named this road? He sat there and thought, this will get people to buy my land, if I called it “Zyzzyx Road.”

Where could I possibly be going with this story? I just received my copy of the American Film Market Guide from the Hollywood Reporter, about a month late. I won’t use this forum to complain about their unreliability in receiving their magazine on time, or in one piece, though this may be the fault of the ever reliable United States Postal Service, rain, snow, or shine, I’ll still find a puddle to put your mail in on your front porch.

The American Film Market is a trade show of sorts that brings buyers from around the world, purchasing international distribution rights for films as notable as Soderbergh’s new low-budget outing “Bubble,” and as unknown as the new Tom Sizemore vehicle, Zyzzyx Road, any thriller with a title as great as that, and a tagline like “Dead Ahead,” gets me out of my seat.

As I saw the advertisement for this film, available from Regent Entertainment, I thought to myself, where does an idea like this come from. It was followed by a short bout of depression, why didn’t I have this amazing idea? I looked disapprovingly in the mirror, and the magazine slid from my hands. I played out the scene in my head. I’m a down and out producer, living in LA, scrounging for a chance to prove that I’m the next David O. Selznick. I decide, I need to relax, I’m working too hard. So I hop in my 1987 Datsun (It’s a classic, ignore the rust), and I drive out for a weekend in Vegas. Who knows, maybe that’s where my success story could come from, I take my last few hundreds from under my mattress (Who needs a bank, I sleep 13 hours out of every day so its safe under there) and I leave for Vegas. I’m driving along the empty free way, my mind filled with idle thought, what was the name of the movie with Cher and Bob Hoskins, oh yes, Mermaids, that was a cute movie, wasn’t it? Why is it called Mermaids, were there Mermaids in it? I can’t remember.

I’m speeding along, I’ve got the Psycho soundtrack playing in my tape deck, I’m pretending I’m Janet Leigh, running away having just stolen money from my boss. I look in the review mirror and I realize I’m not blonde, I’m not even a woman. What if I was supposed to be born a woman? Suddenly, the world starts moving in slow motion, and not because of my sudden doubts of my sexuality. A green exit sign is coming towards me, it reads, Zyzzyx Road, next exit. I pull off to the side of the road, a green Jetta beeps their horn angrily, but I don’t care. I’m having an epiphany here!

There is a story on Zyzzyx Road, a story that will haunt my dreams until I can find the right screenwriter, the right director, the right star! Here in the middle of nowhere, there is death on Zyzzyx Road, a story that must make it to the big screen. This is the greatest idea I’ve ever had. I scribble furiously in my Moleskin® notebook. I need a star for this picture…who else but Tom Sizemore, he’s hot now right?

And so it goes, the life of a Hollywood B-movie producer may or may not be something like that, I don’t know, I don’t live in LA, and I certainly had nothing to do with the production of Zyzzyx Road. Take my comments with a grain of salt, I can’t even tell you what this (possibly amazing) motion picture may or may not be about, but I can tell you one thing…it stars Tom Sizemore, and that in itself screams a little thing I like to call “good buzz.”

I’ll see you opening night, you think Tom Sizemore will be there? He can't have anything better to do.

The Fog (2005)

It'd be quite easy to give this film a poor review just judging by the gut feeling you get while sitting through a trailer for it. It's a remake of a John Carpenter film, though I can admit I haven't seen enough of his work (and the original film this is based on) to judge him, he has enough of a following to safely say remakes of his work will tend to be on the poor side.

This remake of John Carpenter's 1980 film The Fog stars Tom Welling of TV's 'Smallville' and blonde bombshell Maggie Grace from TV's 'Lost.' A seaside town in Oregon (a change from Northern California in the original) is coming up on the celebration of its foundation 100 years ago.

Nick Castle (Welling) maintains his struggling family business, his ancestor was one of the founders of the town. His girlfriend, Elizabeth Williams (Grace) returns after a six month absence conveniently as things begin to get rather...strange in the town. A blanket of fog moves in, with no real warning, and people begin to die.

The one thing I think that had the most negative effect on the film were several just plain stupid things (if you see it you'll see what I mean) that would occur just as an opinion was forming in your head of "hey its not bad for what it is." It was bad, it was bad for what it was, a poor foray into the horror genre. The PG-13 rating should boost its ticket sales with that under-17 lookin' to see a horror movie demographic. But the adults who have a choice, should know better.

Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)

In a very gutsy move during these times of hot politics, George Clooney co-wrote and directed this film telling the story of Edward R. Murrow and his fight to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy through Murrow's television program.

David Strathairn stars as Edward Murrow, turning in a performance that gave him recognition at Venice, and there is no doubt further recognition this upcoming awards season. Another mention of note is the performance of Ray Wise as Don Hollenbeck, a minor role in the film, yet he had a prescense and emotion that was there in every one of his scenes.

The style at work here is very unintrusive and simplistic, shot in noirish black and white, noirish cigarette smoke and lighting in every scene, and diagetic music through out, Clooney has a style here unlike Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.

"Good Night, and Good Luck" could not come at a better time, where so many have asked the question of where have the hard-hitting journalists gone? When at any given moment, you can turn on the television and find the latest news on the status of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lache's marriage but when you're looking for hard hitting television, there is a major abscense.

Feature: The Future of Cinema: Part 1 of 2

We are in an awkward period for the Film Industry, where the way people watch film is rapidly changing. With most Cable companies providing great On-Demand services, the ability to construct a home theater with a killer sound system more affordable then ever, why would the general public go to see a film at your local cineplex?

The Loews Boston Common costs an average $10.25 for admission to their theater. If you decide to skip the lines and order ahead, you have to pay a whopping $11.25 just to save yourself the trouble of showing up and finding the movie sold out. After paying $22.50 for you and your date (or sibling), you have to find a seat in a usually filthy theater, (sometimes moviegoers are so into the film they are watching, they throw a nice red gummy bear that sticks and melts to the screen), then you fall victim to the Preshow entertainment. I personally would have no problem with this preshow advertising, if in fact it made my ticket prices go down, rather then going up, because they are slowly becoming much more intrusive, silly, and lame. The next aspect of seeing a film at this particular Loews may not quite be any sort of Preshow entertainment, but it borders between a rude Vaudevillian comedy act to obnoxious. A gentleman rolls his little popcorn/drink cart into the theater, and though I've never purchased anything from this man, I'm going to say its pretty safe to say that the ice has melted and watered down his soda, and the popcorn is cold. This guy gives you his "pitch," is heckled at, tells you that you'll be "kicked out" for smuggling in outside food, then, rolls out just as the previews start to roll.

To top off any lack of incentive, the average DVD release for a film is now three months! A movie has essentially a week to do well, bomb, then go to DVD. Where you can purchase from as low as 19.99! So for the price of admission for you and a date, you can OWN the film.

All this is stated, and probably the fact above all, pretty much every film the studios have been putting out have been mediocre at best.

This is what the theater going experience has been reduced to. What would one want to do? Fall victim to high price points with low return, or just spend the money to make your own theater. But then, there are still pros to going to the movies at the theater. Nothing can mimic the feel of those seats, the fact that you are actually AT the movies. The smell of popcorn in the air, the hum of the 35mm projector, the grain on the screen. Reasons still exist to attend the cinema, but certain things must be changed:

-Lower admission
-Better theater going experience
-Stop making bad films.

Feature: The End of Dreamworks?

Founded 11 years ago by Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg, and David Geffen, Dreamworks was the first studio founded in as long as anyone could remember. They tore onto scene with quite a few hits, Meet the Parents, Gladiator, American Beauty, and of course, Spielberg's films, Catch Me if You Can, Minority Report...but what happened?

Founding Dreamworks SKG was a brave move by all three heavy hitters, you had three serious players, with quite a bit of credibility. Steven Spielberg is (without argument) one of the most successful directors in the entire history of Hollywood.

NBC Universal acquiring Dreamworks and its asset's, is this a good thing? Spielberg got his start at the lot back in the late 60s and early 70s, starting in television. It was there that Spielberg in the summer of 1975 invented the summer blockbuster with Jaws. The film did for the ocean what Psycho did to the shower in 1960. But Universal, itself recently acquired by NBC, whose parent company is GE has become another part of a long list of conglomerates.

What did Dreamworks SKG in? Some blame recent box office flops, The Island being on the top of that list with a $130 million dollar budget, and a $12.5 million dollar gross opening weekend. If you read my review earlier in this blog, you'll see that I felt the film was great, but unfortunately, its failure was in its poor marketing, your hardly saw a trailer or ad anywhere.

The trio SKG tried, and I wouldn't say completely failed, but its hard to keep a sinking boat afloat, no matter how great it is. What could happen to Dreamworks if its acquired, it could just become a specialty leg of the giant monster that is NBC Universal.

25th Hour (2002)

In an effort to bring light to what I feel is an one of the more underrated films from Spike Lee, director of Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, and other fine pieces of work I shall review the 25th Hour. Adapted from the novel by the author, David Benioff translated this character study. A drug dealer changes his life in 24 hours, realizing his past mistakes, seeking a self-redemption.

Montgomery Brogan (Edward Norton), an Irish kid from Bay Ridge went to an academy on scholarship, where he began dealing pot to kids in the high school. A dream to live well, and own courtside seats at Madison Square Garden pushed Monty deeper into his criminal dealings. Caught in act by the DEA, Monty is sentenced to seven years.

The film opens with Monty saving an injured, burned dog. Here in his last 24 hours, we learn that saving that dog is one of the only truly good things that Monty did in his spiral downward. In the present day, Monty takes a walk through those people important to him, his Father (Brian Cox), his girlfriend Naturalle (Rosario Dawson), and friends, English Teacher Jacob Elinsky (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and hot shot Wall-Street player Frank Slattery (Barry Pepper).

True in Spike Lee's style, there's a big story underneath the skin of this film. His theme in Do the Right Thing, was race relations between the left over Italians in a now predominately black community. 25th Hour is Lee's ode to the city, post-9/11. It is such a subtle tribute, that it is not in your face, but you can see, the people have changed because of the tragedy. In a memorable scene, the camera cranes slightly above Hoffman and Pepper, revealing the clean-up of Ground Zero below, and the icing on the cake, the magnificent score by Terence Blanchard.

The film is polished, and to paraphrase a quote Spike Lee used himself in an interview for his upcoming Inside Man, Kurosawa, at 85, said there was still a lot he needed to learn about making films. Spike Lee, like all other great directors, is always growing.