Category: 1. Jason Apuzzo

LFM Mini-Review: Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D

Ali Larter & Milla Jovovich in "Resident Evil: Afterlife."

By Jason Apuzzo. THE PITCH: Post-apocalyptic zombie-fighter Milla Jovovich takes her quest for survivors of an apocalyptic viral outbreak to Tokyo, Alaska and ultimately Los Angeles … as she squares off against zombies, and the occasional henchman of the Umbrella Corporation. Extreme 3D mayhem ensues.

THE SKINNY: Surprisingly satisfying genre entertainment from director Paul W. S. Anderson (hubby of Jovovich, btw), who may be working at his best here.

WHAT WORKS:

• Milla Jovovich’s high cheekbones, full lips, and ability to unleash extreme mayhem while sprinting through slow-motion raindrops in a black catsuit.

Arriving in post-apocalyptic Hollywood.

• Setting the film in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles – and populating the city with thousands of drooling, shambling, flesh-eating zombies. Rarely have I seen a more realistic depiction of what this city is actually like.

• Having one of the film’s primary villains be a former movie executive. Laughed out loud at that one.

• One particular 10-foot tall mega-zombie, who wields a 300 pound axe. The guy comes across a bit like Xerxes from 300. The fight scene involving this dude and Jovovich was easily the best fight scene of any film this summer.

• The 3D in this film looked immersive and natural – because the movie was shot natively in 3D, rather than retrofitted in post-production. My understanding is that this is the first major film since Avatar to be shot 3D-native.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK:

• Having yet another corporation as the villain – although one gets the sense that the film might actually be a big, coded metaphor for the horrors of working at Sony. More on that below.

• The lame, Agent Smith-style villain – who goes by the name ‘Albert Wesker.’ The guy was a total bore, as was his Matrix-style, ‘bullet time’ fight scene at the end of the film. Strictly ho-hum.

• The TV-level casting. Outside of Jovovich, the cast lacks personality.

Milla Jovovich is probably the only serious contender Angelina Jolie has to the title of Queen of the Action Film, with Kate Beckensdale a distant third. Jolie’s appeal in these films is that she always comes across as a bit crazy, a bit insane – which gives her action scenes a cracked sort of credibility. Jovovich, on the other hand, seems to be more of a natural. Originally a Kiev girl, born in the old Soviet Union, Jovovich apparently has a colorful family history of military commanders and Cossacks in her past – and she looks it. You just get the feeling looking at those imperious, high Ukranian cheekbones of hers that her ancestors probably sacked a few Polish villages in their time. That gives her a lot of credibiilty as she’s mowing down zombies, or anybody else in her way. Acting-wise, I don’t think she has Jolie’s depth – but since this is a post-apocalyptic zombie picture, that’s not much of a concern here.

One funny thing about Resident Evil: Afterlife is that the film is constantly taking little pot-shots at Los Angeles and the entertainment industry in general. Although a Big Evil Corporation is the villain here, it’s interesting that its headquarters at the outset of the film is in Tokyo, underneath the Ginza. So one gets the impression that when Jovovich shows up and starts doing her Aeon Flux-routine – absolutely laying waste to the place with guns, ninja stars and samurai swords – that she’s exacting some kind of bizarre, personal vendetta against the Sony Corporation. Plus, one of the film’s main villains is a former movie producer – who is depicted as being the most conniving, sniveling creature imaginable.

Great cheekbones.

My favorite little dig, though, comes when Jovovich initially flies into Los Angeles – right over the Hollywood sign – and looks down on post-apocalyptic Los Angeles. The city is burning, smashed to pieces, and crowded with hordes of shambling, flesh-eating zombies. “Los Angeles,” Milla says, “no signs of life here.” The audience in my theater laughed out loud at that one.

I haven’t really been following the Resident Evil franchise, but this film now has me interested. I know that Paul W.S. Anderson has taken a lot of heat for films like Alien vs. Predator and the Death Race remake, but this film works quite well. The only serious disappointment I had was with the scene in which Milla starts to disrobe, and is about to take a shower … in 3D … when the zombies show up and start another fight, interrupting everything. [Sigh.]

Piranha 3D would not have flinched on that one. 🙂

Posted on September 10th, 2010 3:55pm.

The Reagan Movie in Theaters Right Now

Fred Ward as Ronald Reagan in "Farewell."

By Jason Apuzzo. Mark Joseph’s planned Reagan biopic, Reagan, is getting a lot of attention right now. James Brolin, who played Reagan in the Showtime miniseries The Reagans, is suddenly claiming that he loves Reagan (don’t tell Babs that); Mark Joseph is also telling Fox News that his film will deal with Reagan’s “plan to defeat the Soviets” (which certainly jibes with what he’s told me); and the film’s screenwriter talks today to the Wall Street Journal about the transformation of his own attitude toward Reagan.

I think all this discussion is great, and I very much wish the best for this film project – but I just want to caution everybody that Reagan has thus far not secured its financing yet, or a cast, or a director, or distribution. What this means, practically, is that this film is a long way from hitting theaters. I’m assuming that announcements about financing and cast/crew are imminent, but until then it’s hard to judge all this properly.

The irony here is that there’s actually quite a good film in theaters right now featuring Reagan called Farewell (starring Fred Ward as Reagan, and featuring Willem Dafoe, David Soul and others) – that depicts Reagan respectfully and intelligently – during one of the most decisive moments of his Presidency. Farewell deals with the famous Cold War spy case ‘L’Affaire Farewell,’ an episode which Reagan himself called “one of the most important espionage cases of the 20th century.”

We really liked Farewell here at Libertas, including its depiction of Reagan (see Joe Bendel’s LFM review here), and we encourage Libertas readers to go see it since it’s still being rolled out nationwide. The realities of the business are that the better a film like Farewell does, the more likely Reagan will actually get made – and receive the distribution it deserves.

As LFM’s Joe Bendel said about Farewell, “[I]t is an engrossing film.  It also might be the fairest shake Pres. Reagan has gotten on screen since his inauguration in 1981 …” So go check it out. I’ve put the trailer below.

Posted on September 9th, 2010 at 3:33pm.

Four Lions Gets Distribution!

By Jason Apuzzo. I am very pleased to report that a movie we loved here at Libertas – Chris Morris’ Islamic terror satire Four Lions – has just picked up U.S. distribution. We’ve been covering the progress of this film for months, and we’re so happy that Alamo Drafthouse – a great cult movie distribution outfit (for DVDs) that will now be entering theatrical distribution under the banner of Drafthouse Films – has selected Four Lions as its first theatrical venture. Four Lions will apparently be kicking off a 10 city promotional screening tour with Chris Morris in mid-October, and the film is otherwise slated for release this fall in New York, Los Angeles and Austin – with other cities in following weeks. This is great news.

Total morons.

We got a chance to see Four Lions at the LA Film Festival a few months ago, and we thought it was fantastic. [Read my review of Four Lions here.] We also had fun meeting actor Kayvan Novak, who plays the clueless ‘Waj’ in the film. After Four Lions’ big debut at Sundance, the film closed the South by Southwest Film Festival, won the Independent Camera Award at Karlovy Vary – and was voted Best Narrative Feature by audiences at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Having been at one of those LA Film Fest screenings, I can tell you that the place rocked. Why? Because Four Lions breaks all the rules and says things that need to be said about contemporary Islamic terror … but are never allowed to be said in current Hollywood cinema.

As we’ve been reporting here for months, Four Lions is part of a recent wave of narrative films that are finally starting to look honestly at the phenomenon of Islamic terror … and doing so through the subversive medium of humor. Joining Four Lions in this new wave are Omid Djalili’s absolutely hilarious new film The Infidel (see our review of it here), the popular British web series “Living with the Infidels” (see our review of that here), and … am I allowed to mention this? … my own film Kalifornistan, which will be opening the Free Thinking Film Festival on November 12th.

The most obvious thing to say about this phenomenon is that all of these are indie projects. Studios still won’t touch this subject. Frankly, I don’t expect that to change. My sense is that Hollywood feels the War on Terror winding down, and is simply going to sit it out on the sidelines and let the indies take care of this stuff.

That’s fine by me. We don’t need the studio people ruining our fun.

[UPDATE: You can read a great interview with Drafthouse’s CEO Tim League here. His outfit will be distributing Four Lions here in the U.S.]

Posted on September 9th, 2010 at 12:26pm.

Kalifornistan to Open Free Thinking Film Festival on November 12th

By Jason Apuzzo. Today we bring some special news to Libertas readers. Kalifornistan, a film starring LFM Co-Editor Govindini Murty, and which I wrote and directed, will be opening the Free Thinking Film Festival in Ottawa, Canada this November 12th.

The Free Thinking Film Festival is designed by its founder Fred Litwin to celebrate “limited government, free market economics, and the dignity of the individual.” We’re very honored that Kalifornistan was chosen to open the festival for its Opening Night Gala, an event which will also serve as a fundraiser for the Military Family Resource Centre – which helps military families in Canada. Tickets for this event are available here.

Other films in the festival include: Cyrus Nowrasteh’s The Stoning of Soraya M (Closing Night Gala, with Cyrus attending), Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives of Others, Andrzej Wajda’s Katyn, HBO’s documentary For Neda (which we showed in its entirety here at Libertas) and a multitude of interesting documentaries including: Crossing the Line, Outside the Great Wall, Decryptage, The Cartel, Generation Zero, Do As I Say, Mine Your Own Business and others.

The full festival line-up is available here.

We want to thank Fred Litwin and his team for choosing Kalifornistan to open the festival. We’re very honored to have Kalifornistan in the company of the many exceptional films and filmmakers being gathered together for this exciting event. I’ve put the trailer for Kalifornistan above, and you can visit Kalifornistan’s website here.

I also want to congratulate Fred for putting on this festival to begin with. Freedom of thought within the film world is something that needs to be promoted at every opportunity; it is, indeed, the very basis for our having started The Liberty Film Festival back in 2004 and Libertas back in 2005, and for bringing Libertas back in its current form earlier this year. It isn’t sufficient to simply complain about the state of free speech in the film world; action and activity are required to foster and encourage emerging voices. So we applaud Fred for putting this event on, and encourage everyone to attend. Having done the Liberty Film Festival ourselves, we know how challenging these events can be – and also how necessary they are, given the current state of our film culture.

Here’s a description of Kalifornistan from the Free Thinking Film Festival website:

In the shadowy Port of Los Angeles, an insane terrorist stalks a beautiful dancer … while plotting the nuclear apocalypse he hopes will make him a celebrity. KALIFORNISTAN is a darkly comic satire on terrorism made by Canadian actress and filmmaker Govindini Murty and American filmmaker Jason Apuzzo. KALIFORNISTAN follows the deranged leader of a terror cell called ‘Glorious Jihad of Kalifornistan’ as he plots to destroy Los Angeles with a nuclear bomb – while being distracted by a sultry exotic dancer. KALIFORNISTAN fuses film, video, documentary and surveillance footage into a cutting-edge narrative on the violence, narcissism and delusional fantasies that fuel contemporary Islamic terrorism. KALIFORNISTAN takes viewers on a twisted journey of the post-9/11 world from Gitmo to Iran, from the dark corners of LA harbour into the mind of a terrorist too deranged even for Al Qaeda.

Human Events says of KALIFORNISTAN: “The film clicks as strong, effective satire … Kalifornistan … dares to see the average terrorist for what he truly is — a laughably warped soul with a world view shaped by Islamic radicalism — and too many extremist blogs … and once you meet the terrorist at the heart of the film you’ll wonder why more filmmakers haven’t taken this approach before.” LA’s Daily Breeze says that “Kalifornistan may be the South Bay’s 21st century cinematic equivalent of Gone in 60 Seconds, the 1974 cult classic.” Online journal Rational Review says that KALIFORNISTAN “is beautifully shot” and “it’s Fellini meets Kubrick.”

Govindini Murty of "Kalifornistan."

We had a lot of fun making Kalifornistan. And I’d like to think that Kalifornistan is imbued with the same kind of spirit that we bring here to Libertas every day: a spirit of fun, good humor, edginess, a completely uncompromising look at very controversial subjects … and really sexy women. 🙂 Kalifornistan is basically an art-house/cult film on a subject that most people in Hollywood are too afraid to touch: the sexual fantasies that fuel many young Islamic terrorists. You can check out an extensive interview I did about the film here.

Our ‘Libertas pin-up’ in Kalifornistan is Govindini, of course – although she provides a great deal more than just eye candy in this film … not that that isn’t important, by the way. But I’m also quite proud of her performance in the film – which required her to be believable not only as an exotic dancer, but as someone who can realistically confront a terrorist. [Of course, as anybody who knows Govindini will tell you, it’s not hard to imagine her doing that.]

Govindini was also the film’s executive producer, story editor, and was invaluable in the final shaping of the film’s retro-‘documentary realist’ style – a style which she and I are both quite passionate about. She was a vital force behind this film, and there’s quite simply no way I could’ve made it without her.

One other note: LFM Contributer Steve Greaves wrote and performed the cool, retro-60s music score in Kalifornistan, which you hear in the trailer above. Steve did a great job on Kalifornistan’s soundtrack, on a very tight deadline, and I’m looking forward to working with him again in the near future.

Even though Kalifornistan was shot on a modest budget, the film has a lot of personality – which, in my opinion, is what an indie film always needs to have. If you haven’t had the chance to see Kalifornistan, we encourage you to pick up a copy here.

Of course, if you think Kalifornistan has a lot of personality, wait till you see the next film we’re doing …

Again, our thanks to Fred Litwin and the Free Thinking Film Festival, and we encourage everyone to get their tickets for this great event today. We expect tickets for this event to go fast. The Free Thinking Film Festival will be taking place at the National Archives – adjacent to Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Canada. Incidentally, Govindini is a proud Ottawa native, and is delighted that free thinking films are coming to the fine citizens of Canada’s capitol.

Posted on September 8th, 2010 at 11:23am.

Reagan Film in the Works

By Jason Apuzzo. The Hollywood Reporter has an article out right now about a planned Ronald Reagan biopic from producers Mark Joseph and Ralph Winter. According to THR:

The story of Ronald Reagan’s life — from boyhood to Hollywood actor to leader of the free world — is about to spill out on the big screen in a way quite different from the miniseries that caused such a stir seven years ago. The feature film, titled “Reagan” and sporting a $30 million production budget, is set for release late next year and will be based on two best-selling biographies of the 40th U.S. president by Paul Kengor: “The Crusader” and “God and Ronald Reagan.”

Mark Joseph, who optioned the books four years ago, is co-producing with Ralph Winter and Jonas McCord wrote the script. Winter’s producing credits include four “X-Men” movies, two “Fantastic Four” movies and the 2001 remake of “Planet of the Apes.” Joseph, a marketing and development executive, worked on “Ray,” “Holes,” “Because of Winn-Dixie” and “The Passion of the Christ.”

McCord, whose credits include “Malice” and “The Body,” said he wasn’t a fan of Reagan but was drawn to the project as he researched the former president’s upbringing. “I was of the opinion that at best he was a bad actor and at worst a clown,” McCord said.

Mark Joseph is an acquaintance of mine, and I first spoke to him several years ago about this project when he was initially trying to get it off the ground. Mark was very passionate about the project, particularly in terms of how he wanted to explore Reagan’s Christian faith and the role it played in the development of his anti-communist worldview.

According to THR, the film still doesn’t have all its financing, and does not yet have a director or cast attached – but I’m glad the project has gained momentum, and we’ll keep an eye on it as it develops.

I will confess to being somewhat discomfited that the screenwriter on this project initially thought of President Reagan as “at best … a bad actor and at worst a clown.” I know several screenwriters – with major credits – whose enthusiasm for President Reagan is of a much less qualified variety. In any case, we wish Mark and his team the best with this film.

[Footnote: Fred Ward starred as Ronald Reagan this summer in the taut Cold War thriller Farewell, which co-starred Willem Dafoe. Read the Libertas review of Farewell here, and you can catch the trailer over in the right sidebar.]

Posted on September 7th, 2010 at 10:29pm.

Anti-Communist Drama The Ditch Surprise Hit of Venice Film Fest + Hollywood Round-up, 9/7

Scenes from Wang Bing's anti-communist drama "The Ditch," surprise hit of the Venice Film Festival.

By Jason Apuzzo. • The surprise hit at the Venice Film Festival right now is a movie by Wang Bing called The Ditch, that apparently takes an unflinching look at the history of political persecution in Communist China. The film has been very warmly received thus far, and is in strong contention to win the festival’s top prize. Here’s a description of the film from Reuters:

“The Ditch” tells the little-known story of some 3,000 people deported for “re-education” to labor camps on the edge of the Gobi desert, in western China, and struggling to survive extreme climate and acute food shortages. Billed as right-wing enemies by the government for even mildly criticizing the Communist party or simply because of their background, many died of starvation, disease and exhaustion in the ditches that served as dormitories. Director Wang Bing spent three years tracking down survivors and wardens of the Jiabiangou and Mingshui Camps for the film, a surprise entry in the main competition line-up that was only revealed on Monday. “For 10, maybe 20 years, independent Chinese cinema has focused above all else on the social problems of the poorest working classes in contemporary China,” Bing says in the production notes. “The Ditch is perhaps the first film to deal directly with contemporary China’s political past, talking as it does about the ‘Rightists’ and what they endured in the re-education camps. It’s still a taboo subject.”

Needless to say, the film is unlikely to be released in China itself. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this one. And do I need to say it again? Please go see Mao’s Last Dancer if you haven’t already, because the better that film does, the more likely it is that The Ditch will get North American distribution. They really need a better title, though. [Sigh.]

• In the meantime, state-sponsored Chinese filmmakers are now embarking on the second half of a massive new propaganda film to glorify the history of the Communist Party. I don’t know why they bother funding these things, when 20th Century Fox (Machete, Avatar) would probably be happy to foot the whole bill.

Season 1 of "V" hits DVD on Nov. 2nd.

• The summer movie season is now over, and George Clooney’s The American and Robert Rodriguez’s Machete finished #1-2 at the box office this past weekend, closing the summer on a whimper. We didn’t even bother reviewing The American here, under the assumption that probably very few of you were going to spend your Labor Day Weekend watching Clooney. [Whereas I thought there was some risk of you fanboy-types seeing Machete, as I did.] On balance I think it was a weak summer. The most fun I had this summer was probably watching Piranha 3D – it was one of the few films that felt like a summer movie, although I was quite happy with Salt, as well. The biggest disappoint easily was Clash of the Midgets, which curiously got released under another title. I thought that the debate over Inception was possibly the most interesting event of the summer in terms of what it revealed about film critics. Beyond that, though, there won’t be much of long-term interest to come out of this summer other than the enormous wave of sci-fi projects greenlit in Avatar’s long wake.

• Speaking of Avatar, James Cameron is apparently now going to be doing a 3D documentary about the plight of the Xikrin-Kayapo tribe in Brazil as they struggle against the building of a hydroelectric plant that may flood their land. It’s interesting to me that Cameron – the ardent environmentalist – has shown no similar interest in the building of China’s Three Gorges Dam, which has already flooded the ancestral homes of millions of Chinese and caused widespread environmental havoc. Your outrage is quite selective, Mr. Cameron.

Emily Blunt as the new "Iron Man" villain?

• Will Robert Rodriguez’s Machete now be receiving tax credits from Texas? [It’s hilarious that the official page for film production tax credits at the Texas Film Commission website has a production still from Rodriguez’s own Spy Kids 3-D.] Apparently a project can be rendered ineligible if it violates Section 43.21 of the Texas Penal Code covering “obscenity.” Here is how obscenity is defined in Texas’ code. You lawyers out there – feel free to comment.

• On the European film scene front, Jean-Luc Godard and the late Oriana Fallaci experienced their share of controversy over the years. Now comes word that Godard won’t be showing up in Hollywood to pick up his honorary Oscar (standard procedure for Jean-Luc), and Fallaci’s memoir A Man has finally been optioned. I’m an admirer of Fallaci’s writings, although she was certainly a bit histrionic at times. Nonetheless, we have no journalists here in America of her eloquence, erudition, passion – or even physical bravery. Back in the day she was quite a fox, too. She is deeply missed.

• On the sci-fi front, Juno’s Olivia Thirlby has been cast in the new 3D version of Judge Dredd, starring Star Trek’s Karl Urban; the first season of ABC’s V reboot is coming to DVD on November 2nd; Ridley Scott talks about the Alien prequels today (expect some type of coded enviro and/or anti-military messages in those films); and there’s a lot of news today regarding The Girls of Iron Man. Apparently Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johansson don’t like each other, so Johansson’s going to get her own Black Widow spin-off film in which she won’t have deal with Paltrow. Lucky her. Can the rest of us not deal with her, either?

• AND IN TODAY’S MOST IMPORTANT NEWS … Iron Man 3′s producers apparently want Emily Blunt to play the villain in that new film. Is that because Mickey Rourke was so painful to look at in the last one?

And that’s what’s happening today in the wonderful world of Hollywood.

Posted on September 7th, 2010 at 3:09pm.