Three new clips for the Paul Scheuring directed remake of Das Experiment (review), called simply The Experiment, have come our way, and things are looking appropriately uncomfortable for our lab rats!
From the Press Release
"Academy Award® winners Adrien Brody (star of Predators; Winner of Best Actor, The Pianist, 2002) and Forest Whitaker (Best Actor, The Last King of Scotland, 2006) star in the adrenaline-charged drama The Experiment, debuting on Blu-ray Disc™ and DVD September 21st from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The shocking psychological thriller unfolds when 24 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a study designed to evaluate the affects of power and control. Values are tested and lines are crossed when seemingly normal participants are pushed to the breaking point as the experiment spirals out of control. The powerful remake of the 2002 German film Das Experiment co-stars Clifton Collins Jr. (The Boondock Saints:...
From the Press Release
"Academy Award® winners Adrien Brody (star of Predators; Winner of Best Actor, The Pianist, 2002) and Forest Whitaker (Best Actor, The Last King of Scotland, 2006) star in the adrenaline-charged drama The Experiment, debuting on Blu-ray Disc™ and DVD September 21st from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The shocking psychological thriller unfolds when 24 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a study designed to evaluate the affects of power and control. Values are tested and lines are crossed when seemingly normal participants are pushed to the breaking point as the experiment spirals out of control. The powerful remake of the 2002 German film Das Experiment co-stars Clifton Collins Jr. (The Boondock Saints:...
- 8/24/2010
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
The official announcement and artwork for the Blu-ray and DVD release of the Paul Scheuring directed remake of Das Experiment (review), called simply The Experiment, have come our way, and we've got all the details you need right here!
From the Press Release
"Academy Award® winners Adrien Brody (star of Predators; Winner of Best Actor, The Pianist, 2002) and Forest Whitaker (Best Actor, The Last King of Scotland, 2006) star in the adrenaline-charged drama The Experiment, debuting on Blu-ray Disc™ and DVD September 21st from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The shocking psychological thriller unfolds when 24 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a study designed to evaluate the affects of power and control. Values are tested and lines are crossed when seemingly normal participants are pushed to the breaking point as the experiment spirals out of control. The powerful remake of the 2002 German film Das Experiment...
From the Press Release
"Academy Award® winners Adrien Brody (star of Predators; Winner of Best Actor, The Pianist, 2002) and Forest Whitaker (Best Actor, The Last King of Scotland, 2006) star in the adrenaline-charged drama The Experiment, debuting on Blu-ray Disc™ and DVD September 21st from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The shocking psychological thriller unfolds when 24 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a study designed to evaluate the affects of power and control. Values are tested and lines are crossed when seemingly normal participants are pushed to the breaking point as the experiment spirals out of control. The powerful remake of the 2002 German film Das Experiment...
- 8/12/2010
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
Inferno Distribution founders Bill Johnson and Jim Seibel have hired a quartet of new executives for their growing production-distribution outfit.
Producer Tracee Stanley has come on as head of production and development; executive Pamela Pickering has become head of international sales and distribution; and former lawyers Travis Mann and Philip J. Strina have joined Inferno as executive vp business development and special projects and senior vp business affairs, respectively.
Inferno's "The Women," written and directed by Diane English and starring Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes and Debra Messing, opens Sept. 12.
Producer Tracee Stanley has come on as head of production and development; executive Pamela Pickering has become head of international sales and distribution; and former lawyers Travis Mann and Philip J. Strina have joined Inferno as executive vp business development and special projects and senior vp business affairs, respectively.
Inferno's "The Women," written and directed by Diane English and starring Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes and Debra Messing, opens Sept. 12.
- 8/27/2008
- by By Jay A. Fernandez
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
BERLIN -- Gregory Nava's "Bordertown" is several sprockets short of a real film. It wants to be a thriller, a piece of investigative journalism, a political soapbox and a vehicle for Jennifer Lopez. It serves none of these masters well. There also is something disingenuous about a movie that claims that the media on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border are too afraid or corrupt to expose the hundreds of rapes and murders of Latina factory workers in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico, in recent years when the filmmaker no doubt learned about this tragic situation from countless media stories.
Such wacky thinking pervades a movie that exaggerates and overplays the elements that ripen the melodrama while ignoring a far worse reason for police and institutional failures on the border -- indifference. You can't make a thriller about indifference, of course, so everyone from cops to millionaires are black with evil, while Lopez strides through this hellhole of the western world as the only journalist brave enough to write the truth.
Just as "Trade", which debuted last month at the Sundance Film Festival, turned the global sex slave trade into an excuse for a thriller with Kevin Kline coming to the rescue of a single girl, "Bordertown" trivializes a very real issue in a hokey, unconvincing and ludicrous suspenser with Lopez as the rescuer.
Theatrical prospects are limited to a quick payoff that capitalizes on Lopez and Antonio Banderas' names.
When a Chicago newspaper editor (Martin Sheen) assigns his most ambitious reporter, Lauren Lopez), to report on the dead and missing women in Juarez, Lauren complains, "Who gives a shit about Mexico?" At that moment, you just know the story will capture her heart and get her back to her roots. But who knew that getting back to her roots meant dying her blonde hair black?
Supposedly speaking little Spanish, Lauren tries to hook up with ex-lover and colleague Diaz (Banderas), now the editor of a Juarez rag. He tells her to get lost but, wouldn't you know it, Lauren walks out his door and immediately spots the one girl every cop, criminal and reporter is looking for -- Eva Maya Zapata), a factory worker, who survived a rape and murder attempt. Lauren's got a source! But before she and Diaz can interview Eva, the police cart Diaz off, leaving Lauren to hide Eva.
There's virtually nowhere to hide because screenwriter-director Nava has decided these killings go all the way up to the heads of multinational corporations and scions of the richest families in Juarez. So everyone is out to get Eva. Even the head of a women's rights group, Teresa (Sonia Braga), who does shelter Eva, isn't too sympathetic to her plight.
Nava then confuses journalists with movie private eyes. In the course of her "reporting," Lauren makes herself the target for the next attack, seduces a CEO and gets into two fights to the death. At one point, her lover-boy CEO brags that he buys politicians on both sides of the border. Wouldn't you think an experienced reporter would love to use that quote? Not our girl Lauren.
When she finally does file a story, it contains not one quote, fact or piece of evidence; it's simply an editorial. When her editor kills the story -- not for sloppy journalism, as he should, but because of cowardice -- she flies back to Mexico a born-again crusading reporter.
The story is replete with plot holes, but the most egregious is the central issue of whether little Eva can and will testify against her attacker. If she doesn't, he walks free. No one in the movie seems to have noticed the guy attacked Lauren, too. What prevents her from testifying?
Cinematographer Reynaldo Villalobos does get the grit of the bordertown scene in his jumpy camera lens. Nighttime shots blare a riot of vibrant colors as the dusty town turns into a giant sex emporium. Good thing a Latino made this movie, though: A white director would stand accused of the worst sort of stereotypes about Mexican males, rich or poor.
BORDERTOWN
Capitol Films
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Gregory Nava
Producers: Gregory Nava, Simon Fields, David Bergstein
Executive producers: Cary Epstein, Tracee Stanley Newell, Barbara Martinez Jitner, Fred Ulrich
Director of photography: Reynaldo Villalobos
Production designer: Miguel Angel Alvarez
Music: Graeme Revell
Costume designer: Elizabeth Beraldo
Editor: Padraic McKinley
Cast:
Lauren Adrian: Jennifer Lopez
Diaz: Antonio Banderas
Eva: Maya Zapata
Teresa: Sonia Braga
George Morgan: Martin Sheen
Aris: Rene Rivera
Juan Diego Boto: Marco Antonio Salamanca
Elena: Kate del Castillo
Running time -- 112 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Such wacky thinking pervades a movie that exaggerates and overplays the elements that ripen the melodrama while ignoring a far worse reason for police and institutional failures on the border -- indifference. You can't make a thriller about indifference, of course, so everyone from cops to millionaires are black with evil, while Lopez strides through this hellhole of the western world as the only journalist brave enough to write the truth.
Just as "Trade", which debuted last month at the Sundance Film Festival, turned the global sex slave trade into an excuse for a thriller with Kevin Kline coming to the rescue of a single girl, "Bordertown" trivializes a very real issue in a hokey, unconvincing and ludicrous suspenser with Lopez as the rescuer.
Theatrical prospects are limited to a quick payoff that capitalizes on Lopez and Antonio Banderas' names.
When a Chicago newspaper editor (Martin Sheen) assigns his most ambitious reporter, Lauren Lopez), to report on the dead and missing women in Juarez, Lauren complains, "Who gives a shit about Mexico?" At that moment, you just know the story will capture her heart and get her back to her roots. But who knew that getting back to her roots meant dying her blonde hair black?
Supposedly speaking little Spanish, Lauren tries to hook up with ex-lover and colleague Diaz (Banderas), now the editor of a Juarez rag. He tells her to get lost but, wouldn't you know it, Lauren walks out his door and immediately spots the one girl every cop, criminal and reporter is looking for -- Eva Maya Zapata), a factory worker, who survived a rape and murder attempt. Lauren's got a source! But before she and Diaz can interview Eva, the police cart Diaz off, leaving Lauren to hide Eva.
There's virtually nowhere to hide because screenwriter-director Nava has decided these killings go all the way up to the heads of multinational corporations and scions of the richest families in Juarez. So everyone is out to get Eva. Even the head of a women's rights group, Teresa (Sonia Braga), who does shelter Eva, isn't too sympathetic to her plight.
Nava then confuses journalists with movie private eyes. In the course of her "reporting," Lauren makes herself the target for the next attack, seduces a CEO and gets into two fights to the death. At one point, her lover-boy CEO brags that he buys politicians on both sides of the border. Wouldn't you think an experienced reporter would love to use that quote? Not our girl Lauren.
When she finally does file a story, it contains not one quote, fact or piece of evidence; it's simply an editorial. When her editor kills the story -- not for sloppy journalism, as he should, but because of cowardice -- she flies back to Mexico a born-again crusading reporter.
The story is replete with plot holes, but the most egregious is the central issue of whether little Eva can and will testify against her attacker. If she doesn't, he walks free. No one in the movie seems to have noticed the guy attacked Lauren, too. What prevents her from testifying?
Cinematographer Reynaldo Villalobos does get the grit of the bordertown scene in his jumpy camera lens. Nighttime shots blare a riot of vibrant colors as the dusty town turns into a giant sex emporium. Good thing a Latino made this movie, though: A white director would stand accused of the worst sort of stereotypes about Mexican males, rich or poor.
BORDERTOWN
Capitol Films
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Gregory Nava
Producers: Gregory Nava, Simon Fields, David Bergstein
Executive producers: Cary Epstein, Tracee Stanley Newell, Barbara Martinez Jitner, Fred Ulrich
Director of photography: Reynaldo Villalobos
Production designer: Miguel Angel Alvarez
Music: Graeme Revell
Costume designer: Elizabeth Beraldo
Editor: Padraic McKinley
Cast:
Lauren Adrian: Jennifer Lopez
Diaz: Antonio Banderas
Eva: Maya Zapata
Teresa: Sonia Braga
George Morgan: Martin Sheen
Aris: Rene Rivera
Juan Diego Boto: Marco Antonio Salamanca
Elena: Kate del Castillo
Running time -- 112 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/16/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Opens
April 9
In "The Whole Ten Yards", a sequel to 2000's broad, crowd-pleasing farce "The Whole Nine Yards", a new director fails to maintain a firm hand on the tiller, so things spin swiftly out of control with uneven acting and misfired physical gags. A solid returning cast -- Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet and Natasha Henstridge -- and good will developed in the previous hit-man comedy should guarantee a solid opening. But laughs are in much too short supply here to sustain any major boxoffice run. Ancillary markets look more promising.
Give the new writer and director team of George Gallo and Howard Deutch credit, though, for making a genuine sequel and not, as most sequels turn out, a glorified remake. The characters have all moved on to new abodes and spouses, and everyone seems determined to make his or her new life work, while still longing for aspects of the old.
Retired hit man Jimmy Tudeski (Willis) has settled into his Mexican hideaway with a newfound interest in cooking, cleaning and decorating. Meanwhile, his bride, Jill (Peet), wants to take over his old career -- that of a hired assassin -- only she is no damn good, invariably killing her target by accident rather than the old-fashioned way of actually shooting a victim.
Jimmy's one-time neighbor Oz Oseransky (Perry) has moved his dental practice from Montreal to Los Angeles and taken Jimmy's ex, Cynthia (Henstridge), as his wife. Then newly paroled Hungarian mob boss Lazlo Gogolak comes gunning for Jimmy, whom he blames for the death of his favorite son, Yanni. Kevin Pollak played Yanni in the original film. In the new film, the father is played by ... Kevin Pollak in Mr. Magoo glasses and prosthetic jowls but with the same nutty accent that mixes up Js with Ys and Vs with Ws.
Gallo's overly mechanical plot has the Gogolak gang kidnap Cynthia -- rather easily, you can't help noticing -- so a panicky Oz will scamper to his hit-man pal in Mexico, thus leading the gang to their quarry. Only Jimmy -- again you can't help noticing -- is well prepared for the assassination attempt and easily escapes with Oz, whom Jimmy intends to kill at his first opportunity, and Jill, with whom he is going through a rough marital patch because of the lack of an offspring and a bit of erectile dysfunction.
Everyone high-tails it back to L.A. for more double crosses, another kidnapping and even more pratfalls. The tiredness of Gallo's script, recycled as it is from old movies, is equaled by the crudeness and, increasingly, desperation of the physical humor. It is a rare scene in which Perry does not fall down or run into something inanimate. Willis, now in touch with his softer side, is prone to fits of sobbing at inopportune moments. Pollak has a running gag where he continually hits and berates one of his sons (Frank Collison), which grows increasingly unfunny with each slap. The gang itself handles firearms so poorly that there is never any chance a protagonist will actually get hit by a bullet.
One of the film's more awkward scenes has Willis and Perry getting drunk, with Willis' character becoming increasingly maudlin and teary-eyed with each shot. The scene is not only not funny but undermines a character who, for the story and gags to work, must be several steps ahead of his enemies. Then, too, the film's final twist -- which you can't help noticing a mile away -- renders the scene nonsensical.
Deutch and Gallo have retooled the original characters in ways that often ill-fit their actors. Rather than laughs stemming from Willis' stoic, imperturbable demeanor, they now must come from over-the-top emoting. Perry's character in turn has gone from physical bumbler to out-of-control maniac. Peet, so attracted by sheer toughness, and Henstridge, the cucumber-cool operative, have actually become the more interesting characters, yet the script explores the women's lives in only a cursory manner.
Tech credits are standard.
THE WHOLE TEN YARDS
Warner Bros.
Franchise Pictures presents a Cheyenne Enterprises production in association with Zweite Academy Film
Credits:
Director: Howard Deutch
Screenwriter: George Gallo
Based on characters created by: Mitchell Kapner
Producers: Elie Samaha, Arnold Rifkin, David Willis, Allan Kaufman
Executive producers: Andrew Stevens, Tracee Stanley, David Bergstein, Oliver Hengst
Director of photography: Neil Roach
Production designer: Virginia Randolph-Weaver
Music: John Debney
Costume designer: Rudy Dillon
Editor: Seth Flaum. Cast: Jimmy Tudeski: Bruce Willis
Oz Oseransky: Matthew Perry
Jill: Amanda Peet
Cynthia: Natasha Henstridge
Lazlo: Kevin Pollak
Strabo: Frank Collison
Zevo: Johnny Messner
Running time -- 99 minutes
MPAA rating PG-13...
April 9
In "The Whole Ten Yards", a sequel to 2000's broad, crowd-pleasing farce "The Whole Nine Yards", a new director fails to maintain a firm hand on the tiller, so things spin swiftly out of control with uneven acting and misfired physical gags. A solid returning cast -- Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet and Natasha Henstridge -- and good will developed in the previous hit-man comedy should guarantee a solid opening. But laughs are in much too short supply here to sustain any major boxoffice run. Ancillary markets look more promising.
Give the new writer and director team of George Gallo and Howard Deutch credit, though, for making a genuine sequel and not, as most sequels turn out, a glorified remake. The characters have all moved on to new abodes and spouses, and everyone seems determined to make his or her new life work, while still longing for aspects of the old.
Retired hit man Jimmy Tudeski (Willis) has settled into his Mexican hideaway with a newfound interest in cooking, cleaning and decorating. Meanwhile, his bride, Jill (Peet), wants to take over his old career -- that of a hired assassin -- only she is no damn good, invariably killing her target by accident rather than the old-fashioned way of actually shooting a victim.
Jimmy's one-time neighbor Oz Oseransky (Perry) has moved his dental practice from Montreal to Los Angeles and taken Jimmy's ex, Cynthia (Henstridge), as his wife. Then newly paroled Hungarian mob boss Lazlo Gogolak comes gunning for Jimmy, whom he blames for the death of his favorite son, Yanni. Kevin Pollak played Yanni in the original film. In the new film, the father is played by ... Kevin Pollak in Mr. Magoo glasses and prosthetic jowls but with the same nutty accent that mixes up Js with Ys and Vs with Ws.
Gallo's overly mechanical plot has the Gogolak gang kidnap Cynthia -- rather easily, you can't help noticing -- so a panicky Oz will scamper to his hit-man pal in Mexico, thus leading the gang to their quarry. Only Jimmy -- again you can't help noticing -- is well prepared for the assassination attempt and easily escapes with Oz, whom Jimmy intends to kill at his first opportunity, and Jill, with whom he is going through a rough marital patch because of the lack of an offspring and a bit of erectile dysfunction.
Everyone high-tails it back to L.A. for more double crosses, another kidnapping and even more pratfalls. The tiredness of Gallo's script, recycled as it is from old movies, is equaled by the crudeness and, increasingly, desperation of the physical humor. It is a rare scene in which Perry does not fall down or run into something inanimate. Willis, now in touch with his softer side, is prone to fits of sobbing at inopportune moments. Pollak has a running gag where he continually hits and berates one of his sons (Frank Collison), which grows increasingly unfunny with each slap. The gang itself handles firearms so poorly that there is never any chance a protagonist will actually get hit by a bullet.
One of the film's more awkward scenes has Willis and Perry getting drunk, with Willis' character becoming increasingly maudlin and teary-eyed with each shot. The scene is not only not funny but undermines a character who, for the story and gags to work, must be several steps ahead of his enemies. Then, too, the film's final twist -- which you can't help noticing a mile away -- renders the scene nonsensical.
Deutch and Gallo have retooled the original characters in ways that often ill-fit their actors. Rather than laughs stemming from Willis' stoic, imperturbable demeanor, they now must come from over-the-top emoting. Perry's character in turn has gone from physical bumbler to out-of-control maniac. Peet, so attracted by sheer toughness, and Henstridge, the cucumber-cool operative, have actually become the more interesting characters, yet the script explores the women's lives in only a cursory manner.
Tech credits are standard.
THE WHOLE TEN YARDS
Warner Bros.
Franchise Pictures presents a Cheyenne Enterprises production in association with Zweite Academy Film
Credits:
Director: Howard Deutch
Screenwriter: George Gallo
Based on characters created by: Mitchell Kapner
Producers: Elie Samaha, Arnold Rifkin, David Willis, Allan Kaufman
Executive producers: Andrew Stevens, Tracee Stanley, David Bergstein, Oliver Hengst
Director of photography: Neil Roach
Production designer: Virginia Randolph-Weaver
Music: John Debney
Costume designer: Rudy Dillon
Editor: Seth Flaum. Cast: Jimmy Tudeski: Bruce Willis
Oz Oseransky: Matthew Perry
Jill: Amanda Peet
Cynthia: Natasha Henstridge
Lazlo: Kevin Pollak
Strabo: Frank Collison
Zevo: Johnny Messner
Running time -- 99 minutes
MPAA rating PG-13...
Winner of a Special Jury Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival, "Viva Las Nowhere" is just funny and well-executed enough to rope in savvy audiences in the mood for a country music black comedy.
Highlighted by Daniel Stern's three-dimensional portrayal of the hapless lead and Patricia Richardson's dual role as twin sisters, the low-budget Franchise Pictures project is directed with economy and verve by Jason Bloom ("Bio-Dome").
With a comically on-target and abruptly mood-shifting screenplay by Richard Uhlig and Steve Seitz, "Viva" is set in the geographical center of the country, where Stern's would-be songwriter-singer Frank Jacobs owns a motel that has few customers.
When he helps a boozy and attractive singer (Lacey Kohl) after she has been dumped by her partner (James Caan) -- a sleazier veteran of the music scene -- Frank starts down a dark road that leads to several intentional and accidental fatalities, and many suspicious customers showing up at the motel.
Richardson ("Ulee's Gold") makes for a great de facto antagonist as Frank's viciously skeptical and jealous wife, and then later as that character's duplicitous twin. With a Willie Nelson-like mane and echoing some of his hard-hearted characters from the past, Caan is in top form.
But it's Stern who brings the movie to full life with an enthusiastic but unshow-offy performance.
VIVA LAS NOWHERE
Franchise Pictures
In association with Samaha Prods.
Director: Jason Bloom
Screenwriters: Richard Uhlig, Steve Seitz
Producers: Demitri Samaha, Tracee Stanley, Josh Miller
Executive producers: Elie Samaha, Andrew Stevens
Director of photography: James Glennon
Production designer: Alexander Hammond
Editor: Luis Colina
Costume designer: Robert Moore
Music: Andrew Cross
Casting: Elizabeth Marx
Color/stereo
Cast:
Frank Jacobs: Daniel Stern
Helen Jacobs/Wanda: Patricia Richardson
Julie Mitchell: Lacey Kohl
Marguerite: Sherry Stringfield
Roy: James Caan
Running time -- 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R...
Highlighted by Daniel Stern's three-dimensional portrayal of the hapless lead and Patricia Richardson's dual role as twin sisters, the low-budget Franchise Pictures project is directed with economy and verve by Jason Bloom ("Bio-Dome").
With a comically on-target and abruptly mood-shifting screenplay by Richard Uhlig and Steve Seitz, "Viva" is set in the geographical center of the country, where Stern's would-be songwriter-singer Frank Jacobs owns a motel that has few customers.
When he helps a boozy and attractive singer (Lacey Kohl) after she has been dumped by her partner (James Caan) -- a sleazier veteran of the music scene -- Frank starts down a dark road that leads to several intentional and accidental fatalities, and many suspicious customers showing up at the motel.
Richardson ("Ulee's Gold") makes for a great de facto antagonist as Frank's viciously skeptical and jealous wife, and then later as that character's duplicitous twin. With a Willie Nelson-like mane and echoing some of his hard-hearted characters from the past, Caan is in top form.
But it's Stern who brings the movie to full life with an enthusiastic but unshow-offy performance.
VIVA LAS NOWHERE
Franchise Pictures
In association with Samaha Prods.
Director: Jason Bloom
Screenwriters: Richard Uhlig, Steve Seitz
Producers: Demitri Samaha, Tracee Stanley, Josh Miller
Executive producers: Elie Samaha, Andrew Stevens
Director of photography: James Glennon
Production designer: Alexander Hammond
Editor: Luis Colina
Costume designer: Robert Moore
Music: Andrew Cross
Casting: Elizabeth Marx
Color/stereo
Cast:
Frank Jacobs: Daniel Stern
Helen Jacobs/Wanda: Patricia Richardson
Julie Mitchell: Lacey Kohl
Marguerite: Sherry Stringfield
Roy: James Caan
Running time -- 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R...
Winner of a Special Jury Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival, "Viva Las Nowhere" is just funny and well-executed enough to rope in savvy audiences in the mood for a country music black comedy.
Highlighted by Daniel Stern's three-dimensional portrayal of the hapless lead and Patricia Richardson's dual role as twin sisters, the low-budget Franchise Pictures project is directed with economy and verve by Jason Bloom ("Bio-Dome").
With a comically on-target and abruptly mood-shifting screenplay by Richard Uhlig and Steve Seitz, "Viva" is set in the geographical center of the country, where Stern's would-be songwriter-singer Frank Jacobs owns a motel that has few customers.
When he helps a boozy and attractive singer (Lacey Kohl) after she has been dumped by her partner (James Caan) -- a sleazier veteran of the music scene -- Frank starts down a dark road that leads to several intentional and accidental fatalities, and many suspicious customers showing up at the motel.
Richardson ("Ulee's Gold") makes for a great de facto antagonist as Frank's viciously skeptical and jealous wife, and then later as that character's duplicitous twin. With a Willie Nelson-like mane and echoing some of his hard-hearted characters from the past, Caan is in top form.
But it's Stern who brings the movie to full life with an enthusiastic but unshow-offy performance.
VIVA LAS NOWHERE
Franchise Pictures
In association with Samaha Prods.
Director: Jason Bloom
Screenwriters: Richard Uhlig, Steve Seitz
Producers: Demitri Samaha, Tracee Stanley, Josh Miller
Executive producers: Elie Samaha, Andrew Stevens
Director of photography: James Glennon
Production designer: Alexander Hammond
Editor: Luis Colina
Costume designer: Robert Moore
Music: Andrew Cross
Casting: Elizabeth Marx
Color/stereo
Cast:
Frank Jacobs: Daniel Stern
Helen Jacobs/Wanda: Patricia Richardson
Julie Mitchell: Lacey Kohl
Marguerite: Sherry Stringfield
Roy: James Caan
Running time -- 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R...
Highlighted by Daniel Stern's three-dimensional portrayal of the hapless lead and Patricia Richardson's dual role as twin sisters, the low-budget Franchise Pictures project is directed with economy and verve by Jason Bloom ("Bio-Dome").
With a comically on-target and abruptly mood-shifting screenplay by Richard Uhlig and Steve Seitz, "Viva" is set in the geographical center of the country, where Stern's would-be songwriter-singer Frank Jacobs owns a motel that has few customers.
When he helps a boozy and attractive singer (Lacey Kohl) after she has been dumped by her partner (James Caan) -- a sleazier veteran of the music scene -- Frank starts down a dark road that leads to several intentional and accidental fatalities, and many suspicious customers showing up at the motel.
Richardson ("Ulee's Gold") makes for a great de facto antagonist as Frank's viciously skeptical and jealous wife, and then later as that character's duplicitous twin. With a Willie Nelson-like mane and echoing some of his hard-hearted characters from the past, Caan is in top form.
But it's Stern who brings the movie to full life with an enthusiastic but unshow-offy performance.
VIVA LAS NOWHERE
Franchise Pictures
In association with Samaha Prods.
Director: Jason Bloom
Screenwriters: Richard Uhlig, Steve Seitz
Producers: Demitri Samaha, Tracee Stanley, Josh Miller
Executive producers: Elie Samaha, Andrew Stevens
Director of photography: James Glennon
Production designer: Alexander Hammond
Editor: Luis Colina
Costume designer: Robert Moore
Music: Andrew Cross
Casting: Elizabeth Marx
Color/stereo
Cast:
Frank Jacobs: Daniel Stern
Helen Jacobs/Wanda: Patricia Richardson
Julie Mitchell: Lacey Kohl
Marguerite: Sherry Stringfield
Roy: James Caan
Running time -- 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R...
- 6/29/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- It's a sign of the times that coming-of-age films, in which one or more male characters comes to grips with the onset of adulthood and maturity, now feature men in their thirties and forties rather than their teens.
The latest example of this baby boomer genre is David Michael O'Neill's uneven debut feature, "Five Aces", which recently had its world premiere at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. Starring is Charlie Sheen, who, in an example of his own newfound seriousness, now bills himself as Charles.
He plays Chris Martin, a 35-year-old bachelor who has finally decided to tie the knot. He returns to his hometown to bond with his former buddies, a lifelong group of friends who have dubbed themselves the Five Aces, and to enjoy what amounts to an extended bachelor party.
Of course, what he sees makes him think twice about his impending nuptials. His friends are a motley crew indeed, their lives featuring a combination of failed marriages, relationships and businesses. Led by the financially successful but emotionally immature Ash (Christopher McDonald), they lay a series of gantlets for Chris to pass through, beginning with a mock seduction by a scantily clad woman.
The movie consists of alternately comic and dramatic segments in which the Five Aces attempt to recapture the high spirits of their youth (apparently they used to perform choreographed song and dance routines at the local watering hole) despite the fact that they are now emotional messes. Further adding to Chris' sense of ambivalence is his bittersweet reunion with his still-attractive teen-age sweetheart, now married to the volatile town cop.
The film treads uneasily between raucous comedy and thoughtful drama; comic episodes involving the men's encounters with the town's seemingly inexhaustible supply of available and randy women are mixed in with melodramatic subplots, such as the simultaneous disintegration of the business and marriage of one of the Aces (Michael McGrady).
Although there are some amusing moments and some resonant dramatic interludes, too often the writing and direction seem forced, and the endless sequences in which the men play ball, cards, etc. while engaging in macho horseplay quickly wear thin. Yet another device that doesn't work is the series of fantasy sequences in which Chris imagines his fiancee replacing the other characters.
Sheen brings his usual appeal to his role, and the supporting players, including the stolid McDonald and comedian Jeff Cesario, cope as well as they can with their cliche-ridden parts. Also on hand, in the briefest of roles, are veteran character actors Matt Clarke and Geoffrey Lewis.
FIVE ACES
Phoenician Films
Director: David Michael O'Neill
Screenplay: David Sherrill, David Michael O'Neill
Producers: Elie Samaha, Tracee Stanley, Charles Sheen
Co-producers: David Sherrill, David Michael O'Neill
Executive producers: Ashok Amritaj, Andrew Stevens
Director of photography: Michael Slovis
Film editor: Brett Hedlund
Color/stereo
Cast:
Chris Martin: Charles Sheen
Ash: Christopher McDonald
Karen: Tia Carrere
Ray: David Sherrill
Sean: Michael McGrady
Todd: Jeff Cesario
Sloan: Geoffrey Lewis
Mr. Martin: Matt Clarke
Running time -- 93 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The latest example of this baby boomer genre is David Michael O'Neill's uneven debut feature, "Five Aces", which recently had its world premiere at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. Starring is Charlie Sheen, who, in an example of his own newfound seriousness, now bills himself as Charles.
He plays Chris Martin, a 35-year-old bachelor who has finally decided to tie the knot. He returns to his hometown to bond with his former buddies, a lifelong group of friends who have dubbed themselves the Five Aces, and to enjoy what amounts to an extended bachelor party.
Of course, what he sees makes him think twice about his impending nuptials. His friends are a motley crew indeed, their lives featuring a combination of failed marriages, relationships and businesses. Led by the financially successful but emotionally immature Ash (Christopher McDonald), they lay a series of gantlets for Chris to pass through, beginning with a mock seduction by a scantily clad woman.
The movie consists of alternately comic and dramatic segments in which the Five Aces attempt to recapture the high spirits of their youth (apparently they used to perform choreographed song and dance routines at the local watering hole) despite the fact that they are now emotional messes. Further adding to Chris' sense of ambivalence is his bittersweet reunion with his still-attractive teen-age sweetheart, now married to the volatile town cop.
The film treads uneasily between raucous comedy and thoughtful drama; comic episodes involving the men's encounters with the town's seemingly inexhaustible supply of available and randy women are mixed in with melodramatic subplots, such as the simultaneous disintegration of the business and marriage of one of the Aces (Michael McGrady).
Although there are some amusing moments and some resonant dramatic interludes, too often the writing and direction seem forced, and the endless sequences in which the men play ball, cards, etc. while engaging in macho horseplay quickly wear thin. Yet another device that doesn't work is the series of fantasy sequences in which Chris imagines his fiancee replacing the other characters.
Sheen brings his usual appeal to his role, and the supporting players, including the stolid McDonald and comedian Jeff Cesario, cope as well as they can with their cliche-ridden parts. Also on hand, in the briefest of roles, are veteran character actors Matt Clarke and Geoffrey Lewis.
FIVE ACES
Phoenician Films
Director: David Michael O'Neill
Screenplay: David Sherrill, David Michael O'Neill
Producers: Elie Samaha, Tracee Stanley, Charles Sheen
Co-producers: David Sherrill, David Michael O'Neill
Executive producers: Ashok Amritaj, Andrew Stevens
Director of photography: Michael Slovis
Film editor: Brett Hedlund
Color/stereo
Cast:
Chris Martin: Charles Sheen
Ash: Christopher McDonald
Karen: Tia Carrere
Ray: David Sherrill
Sean: Michael McGrady
Todd: Jeff Cesario
Sloan: Geoffrey Lewis
Mr. Martin: Matt Clarke
Running time -- 93 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 12/3/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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