Getting excited about Get Low

The lovely and talented Anne Thompson shares my high regard for Get Low, which opens Friday in New York and Los Angeles, and suspects, as I do, that it will be a credible contender for glittering prizes. ("I want to see how the movie plays at the Academy. It should be a soft lob down the middle for Oscar voters.") She'll soon post interviews with lead player Robert Duvall and producer Dean Zanuck (son of Richard, grandson of Darryl) on IndieWire. While you're waiting, here's another peek at my Cowboys & Indians piece on this marvelous movie and its mighty star.

Brotherhood can do at Cannes

Last March, I filed the following for Variety from SXSW: Ingeniously constructed and propulsively paced, Brotherhood achieves the sweaty-palmed intensity of classic film noir while demonstrating just how speedily a very bad situation can metastasize into a worst-case scenario after a college fraternity hazing takes a deadly serious turn. First-time feature helmer Will Canon drives his actors on a virtually nonstop full-court press from first scene to final fade-out, only occasionally pausing for a dab of backstory or a burst of black comedy to give the players -- and the audience -- a fleeting breather. Canny marketing could drive this well-crafted indie beyond the fest circuit and into megaplexes.

Anne Thompson reports from Cannes that a new distributor -- Phase 4 Films -- shares my enthusiasm for Brotherhood, and plans "a late 2010 release" for the prize-winning, filmed-in-Texas indie. Think Detour meets Animal House, and you'll have some idea what to expect when it opens at a theater or drive-in near you.

No Christmas Tree from Terrence Malick

Anne Thompson breaks the news: Terrence Malick's eagerly awaited Tree of Life -- well, maybe not eagerly awaited by me, personally, but eagerly awaited by lots of other folks -- won't be taking root on screens by the end of 2009. The "cosmic epic" had been tentatively set for a Dec. 25 limited release.

Can the indie "bloodbath" be traced to the decline of critcis?

After surveying the scene at the just-completed Toronto International Film Festival, Anne Thompson reports on the sad state of the indie film market. (Like me, she's surprised to see that Get Low couldn't nail down a distribution deal during TIFF.) Roger Ebert echoes her insights -- and adds a few of his own -- here.

For what it's worth, I posted this comment on Ebert's blog (which, like Thompson's, is required reading for any serious cinéaste):

I strongly suspect that, years from now, when pop-culture historians are writing about the early-21st-century indie film crisis, many will note a direct correlation between the decline in audiences for indie films and the decline of film critics on newspapers in major and secondary markets. Seriously. Yes, I know: Newspapers still run wire-service reviews. But that’s hardly the same thing as having someone on staff who’s an active advocate for indie movies, who’s eager to interview indie filmmakers – and who urges editors to occasionally make a review of an indie film the lead review in a Friday paper. Also: I think readers are more likely to heed the advice of a critic they have come to know, if not always agree with. That is, a critic who is a visible member of the community – someone who’s interviewed on local TV from time to time, who lectures and/or introduces films at museums and other venues, and whose reviews may get debated on radio talk shows.

Of course, there’s another factor to consider: The decline of newspapers, period. Yes, there are many, many websites where people can read astute and/or entertaining reviews of films. But those sites are frequented by people already inclined to see movies. With newspapers, you have what I call The Happenstance Factor: Someone leafing through the paper might stumble across a review of an indie movie – a movie he or she might not otherwise know about – and become sufficiently interested to actually go see the film in a first-run theater. I can’t tell you how many times I had people (even editors and fellow staffers) tell me back when I reviewed films for the now-defunct Houston Post that they never would have heard about (much less gone to see) certain movies if they hadn’t serendipitously come across my review while looking for the comics page or the horoscope column. Unfortunately, that sort of thing rarely happens on the Internet.

The axe keeps falling, the toll keeps mounting

Two esteemed colleagues -- Anne Thompson and Michael Jones -- are among the newly decommissioned in the wake of layoffs at Variety. To paraphrase Hunter S. Thompson's oft-quoted remark about the Nixon Era: Now is a good time to keep your head down.

And in this corner, wearing the green trunks and the fur-lined parka...

Karina Longworth reports that things are getting a mite testy in Park City.

Update: Anne Thompson has more info. So far, no confirmation of rumors about a rematch in Las Vegas.

10 reasons why Speed Racer sputtered

Anne Thompson offers insightful analysis. Money quote: “'We made an effort to do something real distinct and different,' says one Warners exec. 'It was so different no one wanted to see it.'”

And another one bites the dust

Anne Thompson reports that film critic Michael Wilmington is departing his post at the Chicago Tribune. Her piece doesn't indicate whether he jumped, or was pushed. Either way, however, it's never a good sign when a major paper loses "one of the most erudite film critics working today."

Don't write those obits for film critics just yet

From my Variety colleague Anne Thompson: "Wasn't film criticism supposed to be irrelevant? On the way out? When it comes to mainstream Hollywood tentpoles, maybe. But talk to filmmakers, no matter what their stripe, and all the talk of new media fades fast. They want the same things indies wanted a few decades ago: reviews from established critics.

"The Web has affected the film biz in many subtle ways, but it hasn't yet replaced the branding that occurs via theatrical booking and critical reviews. A local movie critic with a following drives people to see indie movies in a way that nothing else does -- at least so far."

Maybe what we need is more local movie critics... who write for their own websites?

Sunday linkage: A scriptwriter takes control, a graphic novelist strikes b.o. gold

In the Los Angeles Times, veteran scriptwriter Scott Frank (pictured above, left, with actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt, center, and Matthew Goode) charts the long and winding road he took to directing The Lookout. And in Variety, ace industry observer Anne Thompson explains how a graphic novelist may be helping to change the game plan for action movies.

Also in Variety: Peter Bart muses over the fact that, not for the first time, some film critics appear to be out of sync with mainstream moviegoers. He is brutally sardonic -- and, I have to admit, more accurate than not -- when he notes the scathing reviews for the high-testosterone 300 and cracks: "[I]f you've ever met a film critic, you"ll know they're not big on either the pectoral, deltoid or other muscle groups." Sounds very much like Charles Bronson's notorious observation that most movie critics are "pear-shaped." Ouch.

The Showbiz Bible becomes even greater (and, of course, I'm not prejudiced or anything like that)

Anne Thompson and Cynthia Littleton have left The Hollywood Reporter to join the A-Team at Variety. Gosh, I wish my beloved Houston Astros could make such terrific acquisitions.

Matt Dentler revving up SXSW Film Fest

As film aficionados turn their attention toward Austin for this year's SXSW Festival -- which kicks off Friday with the world premiere of The Lookout -- Anne Thompson profiles the festival's wunderkind director, Matt Dentler. Meanwhile, Film Threat launches SXSW coverage with a posting by the site's self-proclaimed "Editor-in-BBQ Sauce," Mark Bell. Given the ubiquity of tasty barbecue throughout Austin -- and especially at Iron Works BBQ, conveniently located near the festival's press office in the Austin Convention Center --I'll predict Bell will have a lot on his plate even when he's not attending screenings. Come to think of it, so will I.

Handicapping Oscar, Take 2

Again from Anne Thompson: Why An Inconvenient Truth may indeed be a lock for Best Documentary. (Yeah, I know: I said I wasn't going to post anything else on the film until Oscar night. I misspoke myself.) BTW: Here is what the folks back home have to say about the possible Oscar acceptance speaker.

Handicapping Oscar, Take 1

Anne Thompson sizes up the Oscar race, seeing potential for Peter O'Toole to pull an upset in the Best Actor race, and more or less anointing Helen Mirren as Best Actress. Best Picture? The industry-savvy Thompson says that, even at this late date, "it's anyone's guess." But she does venture this: "Babel has art and gravitas and emotion. And a sprawling ensemble like Crash."

Casino Royale II: Battle of the Bonds

Anne Thompson links to an extraordinarily clever 007 mash-up.

Damon Does McConaughey

Anne Thompson links this very funny -- and amusingly spot-on -- mimicry.

Michael Moore: Voice of reason

From Michael Moore, via Anne Thompson: "Tomorrow marks the day that we will have been in Iraq longer than we were in all of World War II. That's right. We were able to defeat all of Nazi Germany, Mussolini, and the entire Japanese empire in LESS time than it's taken the world's only superpower to secure the road from the airport to downtown Baghdad."

I say that it's time to say "Cut!" and pull the plug on this project. It's over-budget, over-schedule, and likely to be a flop...