Angry Dictator » Movies

How Long Before This Project Gets Shelved (Yet Again)?

PJ Doland — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 14:36:25 +0000

It would appear that Lionsgate has a film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged in development.

As far as the casting options mentioned in Variety are concerned, I think Ms. Rand would have rather liked Brad Pitt’s gaunt and angular face. But can you imagine what she might have thought about Angelina Jolie and her preoccupation with the third-world?

(Hat tip to Phil.)

Why No Serenity Post?

PJ Doland — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 22:20:47 +0000

Unlike the rest of you, I refuse to allow myself to become a cog in a carefully engineered viral marketing campaign to promote a movie via blog buzz.

That is all.

Daddy Sang Bass

PJ Doland — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 19:26:35 +0000

The trailer for the new Johnny Cash biopic is now online.

Looks pretty good.

Very, Very Disturbing

PJ Doland — Thu, 19 May 2005 15:52:56 +0000

I caught the film Five Corners on television last night. There’s a scene where a deranged John Turturro clubs a penguin to death with a baseball bat while a horrified Jodie Foster watches.

It is, by far, the most disturbing scene in any movie I have ever watched. Go rent it.

What Happened to George Lucas?

PJ Doland — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 20:27:31 +0000

I picked up the director’s cut of George Lucas’s THX 1138 over the weekend.

I hadn’t seen the film in a number of years and I was blown away.

It’s actually quite remarkable how well the movie has aged. While other “dystopian-vision” sci-fi films from the 1970s look dated to the point of being almost laughable now (Logan’s Run, A Clockwork Orange, Soylent Green), THX 1138 looks as if it could have been made yesterday.

Robert Duvall’s performance was understated and brilliant. Walter Murch’s sound design was hypnotic and unyielding. The screenplay didn’t get in the way by awkwardly offering too much exposition (as is often the case in sci-fi films). And every shot was framed with obvious deliberation.

I’m going to make a few enemies here, but the experience left me wondering how such a talented filmmaker managed to produce Star Wars, an abomination of poor-acting and screenwriting rescued only through its sheer campiness.

Dreams Die

PJ Doland — Sun, 21 Apr 2002 00:23:37 +0000

I just watched Startup.com on DVD. It was like watching a 103 minute train wreck. Thank God I didn’t get sucked into working for a dotcom after college.