Two L.A.-set projects gather speed, 'The Canyons' and 'Van Nuys'

One thing that's always bothered my about movies is how many are set in either New York or Los Angeles. There are 311 million people in the U.S., but only 9 million live in NYC, and 3.8 million in Los Angeles (of course, those numbers rise if you include the "metro areas" surrounding the cities, to 18 million and 13 million respectively). Even using the larger numbers, those two cities only count for 10% of the U.S. population. Yet the current top ten currently contains The Dark Knight Rises (set in "Gotham" but filmed largely in New York City), Ted, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Savages, all set in or near NYC/LA. Add in The Avengers and Men in Black 3, which use Manhattan skyscrapers as their backdrop, and it seems like any picture not set in a fantasy world chooses those two cities.

The same holds for indie pictures, like last week's new release Ruby Sparks, set in L.A. Today's news brings updates on two more L.A.-set projects, The Canyons and Van Nuys. Both seem strongly rooted in place, including the cultural texture of the area. But aren't these areas movies use again and again? Although these projects probably get green-lit because they seem more instantly relatable to the studio execs and producers involved, those connections don't always hold up in the final product.  I think there's a reason last year's Oscar nominees included Hawaii-set The Descendants, Alabama-set The Help, and Oakland-set Moneyball, for example. All those L.A. and N.Y.C.-set pictures can feel like the same old, and to those living outside those metro areas, the projects can come off as insular and snobbish.

That being said, both of these L.A.-set projects have a few things in their favor. Bret Easton Ellis, who wrote that great tale of L.A. rich kid ennui Less Than Zero, penned The Canyons, an indie noir about people trying to make it in Hollywood that sounds like it will have sharp satirical teeth. The cast includes the oh-so-dependable Lindsay Lohan and adult film star James Deen, and Variety tells us today that unknown Lauren Schacher has been cast as a shallow socialite. The dark side of fame is a familiar story, but if anyone can inject some originality into this picture, it's Ellis. Paul Schrader, who wrote Taxi Driver, will direct.

Bill Murray is considering starring in Van Nuys, which made the Black List of best unproduced screenplays. He would play an anti-role model who a 12-year-old befriends in the wake of his parents' divorce. And by "anti," the filmmakers mean a retiree and war veteran who also has a fondness for gambling, drinking, and prostitutes. Relative newbie Ted Melfi will direct from his script. Murray's casting is not final, as other actors like Jack Nicholson have reportedly taken a look at the role.

Maybe The Canyons has to be set in L.A., but Van Nuys seems like it would be just as good a fit in Small Town, U.S.A. Maybe more of the city's screenwriters need to start taking sabbaticals to some of the less-filmed areas of the country, because there are plenty of stories there to be told.

'Dark Knight Rises' spends a second weekend at number one

The Dark Knight Rises led the box office this weekend, dropping 60% to finish with $64 million. Overall, the box office was 25% off from the same weekend last year, though the difference comes down to many factors, including different movies, the opening of the Olympics, and the shootings at the midnight screening of the final Batman movie last Friday. The Dark Knight fell 53% its second weekend compared to the finale's 60% drop, but that can't solely be explained by the aftereffects of last week's tragedy. Internationally, The Dark Knight Rises has earned $248 million, compared to $287 million at home. That's a half-billion dollars in just two weeks.

The Ben Stiller-led comedy The Watch stumbled with a $13 million opening. Stiller's Tower Heist also underperformed earlier this year, leading some to downgrade the actor's star rating. The

'The Watch'

tale of dudes who create a neighborhood watch group that uncovers an alien invasion drew mainly males, and primarily older ones.

Attracting the exact opposite demographic--mainly females and audiences under 24--Step Up Revolution also finished with a middling result, $11.8 million. I suspect the opening of the dance film will put this franchise to bed (or turn it into a straight-to-DVD one), though the four-film run is impressive. If there's another one, it's because these movies don't cost too much, the main special effect being unknown

'Step Up Revolution'

(and modestly paid) young dancers.

Fox Searchlight's indie fantasy-romance Ruby Sparks had a solid debut in thirteen theatres, with a per-screen average of $11,700. The NC-17, violent Killer Joe averaged $12,600 per screen in three locations. Meanwhile, documentary Searching for Sugar Man debuted to $9,500 per screen in three locations, a less promising debut--though I certainly expect strong word-of-mouth for this astonishing true story.

Further up in the rankings, in tenth, twelfth, and thirteenth place, are this summer's indie successes. Moonrise Kingdom placed tenth in its tenth week, earning $1.3 million and holding strong to its placement at the bottom of the top ten. It's been ninth or tenth for six of its ten weeks. In twelfth is Woody Allen's To Rome with Love, accruing another $1 million in its sixth week. Southern-set Beasts of the Southern Wild, the newbie of the bunch, grabbed $914,000 in its fifth week. It went up 19% from last week, while the other two films posted small decreases around 25%  less than last week.

This Friday, kid-friendly Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3 will go up against the remake of 1990 sci-fi favorite Total Recall.

'Dark Knight Rises' stands against 'The Watch,' 'Step Up Revolution'

This coming weekend is a melancholy one. 20-25% of people polled by research film NRG displayed some hesitation about going back to the movie theatres after James Holmes killed twelve and injured fifty-eight after opening fire during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises. Although the tragedy was the work of one disturbed individual, it's colored the moviegoing experience, and some fear copycat killings. Domestic returns for the Batman finale have been slightly below projections compared to robust international returns, a sign that some feel squeamish about heading to the theatres in the wake of such a horrific event.

Hollywood, often an escape from reality, has become uncomfortably close to it. Both new wide releases this week have made changes to the marketing of their films because of their similarity to current events. Step Up Revolution excised a dancing scene involving gas masks from its commercials, but not the actual movie. The comedy The Watch was retitled from Neighborhood Watch earlier this year after a teenager, Trayvon Martin, was shot and killed by a member of a community's neighborhood watch. Plus, Gangster Squad will be reshot and has been pushed back from September to January, because a climactic scene involves a shooting in a movie theatre.

The Dark Knight Rises should drop around 60% from last week and land somewhere above $50 million. However, if it were to post the same drop as its predecessor, the Christian Bale starrer would end up higher, closer to $75 million.

Step Up Revolution (2,567 theatres), the fourth in a popular dance-centered franchise, has strong support among young females as well as Latino and African-American audiences. 90% of the screens will show the film in 3D, which should easily give the release a number somewhere in the teen millions. Critic Maitland McDonagh gives her endorsement of what really counts, noting that "this third sequel features the most frequent, energetically choreographed and performed dance numbers of the series to date."

Anchored by the funny quartet of Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and up-and-comer Richard Ayoade, The Watch (3,168 theatres) involves a group's puffed-up attempts to monitor the neighborhood, which they end up defending against little green men. The comedy "consistently settles for broad, often raunchy laughs," critic Michael Sauter notes with disappointment, leading to humor that feels "computer-programmed." Critics agree, giving the comedy just a 14% positive rating.

A kind of indie riff on Weird Science, Ruby Sparks (13 theatres) opened on Wednesday, averaging around $1,500 per screen on the day of its release. The fantastical comedy-drama centers on a young author who writes his dream girl into existence, a concept that's "charming, often funny, thoughtful, and just a little bit tedious," according to critic Wendy R. Weinstein.

"Sleazy, abhorrent stuff, but smashing good pulp," the NC-17 Killer Joe (3 theatres) has a story chock-full of violence, sex, and nudity.  It's "too twisted and cruel for most people," critic Rex Roberts warns, but a subset of people may enjoy its pulpy take and trashy characters.

The staff at Film Journal are gaga for Searching for Sugar Man. With a 93% positive critics rating and 100% positive audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, we're not alone. The documentary tells the story of a failed U.S. musician who lives his life completely unaware that he has become a huge hit in the isolated, apartheid nation of South Africa, and brings to the forefront all the what-ifs in life, as well as the vagaries of fame and fortune.

On Monday, we'll see how the box office does in light of last week's tragedy.

Today in highly anticipated films: Venice Film Festival and 'Cloud Atlas'

Today brought news of the lineup for the Venice Film Festival, and the five-minute trailer for Cloud Atlas. The best films in the Venice Film Festival probably won't arrive in U.S. theatres until next year, but Cloud Atlas is coming soon--October 28th in fact. That's on the early side for any Oscar-aspiring films, but the extremely ambitious trailer has excited many commenters.

First up, the Venice Film Festival. There are three films in particular that I'll be closely watching for critical response. Perhaps the most anticipated selection of the bunch still hasn't been confirmed or announced. Still, most people expect that Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, a profile of a fictional enigmatic leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman) some have compared to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, will also be in competition.

Beyond, that I'm curious how an adaptation of the compelling, scathing book The Reluctant Fundamentalist will play. I remember the book reading more like a speech, with little narrative, so I think the adaptation will have to take a number of liberties. Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) directed, and the cast includes Kate Hudson in one of her first non-rom-com roles in some time. I bet critics will be wary of her performance, since Hudson has become synonymous with terrible rom-coms.

Director Terrence Malick's To The Wonder will be another top pick. Plus, it comes just two years after his previous film--a record. Like The Tree of Life, the movie also has spiritual themes. The story centers on a couple's unraveling after they return from their pilgrimage to a holy site in Italy. Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem star.

Finally, Cloud Atlas will beat the rush of high-caliber films with an October, not Thanksgiving or Christmas, release. The very fact that the trailer needed to last five minutes to even put together a semblance of the story means something. If you can't explain a movie in a thirty-second TV spot these days, it's tough to get a project greenlit. Perhaps the pull of the directors, Matrix creators Lana and Andy Wachowski and Run Lola Run's Tom Tykwer, gave Warner Bros. faith in the project. The sweeping sci-fi-spiritual-drama is an adaptation of an extremely ambitious book that weaves together six stories set in different times: think 18th Century schooners and futuristic dystopias, all in one film.

The casting of Tom Hanks, who gives the voiceover in the trailer, feels familiar and safe, and helps ground the out-there work. After all, Hanks is the one who told his life story on a bus stop bench in Forrest Gump, so it makes sense that he can tell stories about his multiple, reincarnated lives across time.

At first, the images don't even look like a typical Wachowski film, until pretty impressive sci-fi sets start overtaking the schooners. The fact that all these images and stories live together in one place has turned off some commenters, but more are intrigued. Plus, there's a two-hour, 44-minute running time to help sort everything out. Releasing in just three months, Cloud Atlas will be one of the first end-of-the-year films vying for an epic, must-see status.

'Life of Pi' trailer looks (too) dreamy

Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi was published in 2003, and it became a bestseller and book club phenomenon shortly after. The story of a boy's survival on a life raft after a shipwreck had a haunting and inspiring narrative that resonated with readers. Unlike, say, The Hunger Games, I have always been doubtful that the book would make a good movie. The storyteller is an unreliable narrator. What he sees is not always reality, and audiences tend to chafe at any plotlines that end with the reveal "it was all a dream." That's a rough approximation of the ending of the book, which relies heavily on a final Sixth Sense-like twist that changes the entire 300 pages before it. The trailer for director Ang Lee's feature adaptation, which is set for a prime Thanksgiving release, just hit the Internet. The sets look like surreal compositions created on a nearby soundstage, a little too dreamy for my taste.

The scenes with the lifeboat marooned in glassy, motionless water feel the most artificial to me. I was a little reminded of director Peter Jackson's adaptation of another bestseller, The Lovely Bones. That drama was also told through the lens of a unique narrator, a murdered child. The ephemeral dreaminess of her narrative wasn't captured successfully on film. To compensate, there were scenes set in heaven that were there more for purposes of tone, not narrative, and those were the biggest red flags for me.

 

 

I certainly hope I'll be proved wrong, but I can think of very few movies that successfully show a narrator's altered reality and then follow it up with another version of reality. Even in short dream sequences, audiences often feel cheated. That explains why Oliver Stone's Savages (which has multiple endings) got a terrible C+ rating in exit polls. Or why horror movies sometimes follow up the "it was all a dream" section with another one that reveals, in fact, the monsters or whatever is plaguing the victim are in fact real. "People with distorted perspective" movies like Taxi Driver and The Shining have sometimes worked, and the dream concept is also popular in sci-fi movies like The Matrix and Inception (which at least gave a reason for their altered realities). With its stunning visual images and literary roots, Life of Pi is clearly Oscar bait. But will critics and audiences bite?

Ed Helms to star as Rusty Griswold in 'Vacation' reboot

Ed Helms' characters' never catch a break, and that bad luck is likely to continue since Helms has signed on to play Clark Griswold's grown son, Rusty, in the reboot of the Vacation franchise. The casting of Helms even makes sense, age-wise. Helms is 38 and Chevy Chase, who played the original patriarch, is 68, so it's plausible they could be father and son. In this version, Rusty will continue the family tradition and take his own kids on a road trip vacation.

It's been 15 years since the underperforming Vegas Vacation released and helped put an end to the franchise. I actually loved this one as a kid, and it's ten times funnier than 1985's European Vacation, which mainly trades on "Ugly American" tropes. The series classics, of course, are the original 1983 Vacation, which centered on a road trip to Wally World, and 1989's Christmas Vacation, which has that holiday movie blessing of showing up on TV every December as seasonal fare.

The thing that differentiated the Vacation series was that it had a heart. Clark wanted to spend time with his family and make them have "the best time ever," but bad luck and over-ambition usually got in the way. I hope Rusty has an iteration of his father's character, and that writer/directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Horrible Bosses) don't try to pull a 180 and make him the stereotypical Blackberry-addicted dad more prevalent today. The earnestness is key.

Helms' star image is right-on for the Vacation project. His characters often start out earnest, naive, and striving ("The Office"). In his films (The Hangover, Cedar Rapids), the characters go a step further, partying and misbehaving and then suffering way more consequences than the average Joe. That includes getting tattooed, losing teeth, or discovering you've just turned your life into shambles. Helms' comedic image is quite similar--but significantly different--than Steve Carell's, his co-star on "The Office." I wouldn't be surprised if Carell was also considered for the role. Carell tends to play timid characters who quietly come into their own (40-Year-Old Virgin, Crazy Stupid Love, and Seeking a Friend at the End of the World). If you were to have both Helms and Carell re-enact the scene in Christmas Vacation where Clark installs Christmas lights, to much frustration and some (pretty dangerous) physical comedy, I would pick Helms. If all goes according to schedule, filming for the comedy will begin next spring.

 

Warner Bros. plans more comic book movies after 'Dark Knight Rises'

Warner Bros.' third and purportedly final Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, comes out next Friday. It may be the last film for series helmer Christopher Nolan, who has said he will not returning, but it probably won't be the end of Batman. For his other DC Comics friends, it's only the beginning.

As I reported in June, Warner Bros. is working on a feature version of Justice League, an Avengers-like group of crime-fighting superheroes that includes Batman, Wonder Woman, The

Henry Cavill on set in 'Man of Steel'

Flash, Superman, and the Green Lantern. The studio is also is developing standalone projects for two of the characters, The Flash and Wonder Woman. Next summer, Nolan is producing Zack Snyder's Superman movie Man of Steel.

When it comes to Wonder Woman, it's worth noting that a 2011 TV pilot for the character, who was supposed to be a CEO by day and superhero by night, didn't end up getting a network green light. Bloggers flew into an outrage over the character's super-sexy outfit, which led costume designers to tone down some of the latex. That's one problem with female superheroes. They seem designed for a male audience, not a female one. McG (who was going to direct/save the Wonder Woman pilot) managed to make kick-butt women work in his reboot of Charlie's Angels, but there's something about body-hugging costumes that look appropriate on Batman but objectifying in Wonder Woman. Men's costumes tend to show off muscles and abs, emphasizing their strength. Women's costumes make them look like their only tool is seduction. Anne Hathaway's Catwoman costume gets my vote for toeing the line between sexy and functional--it's probably the least provocative out of all the Catwoman costumes.

Having other platforms besides film to explore characters, look, and tone can be helpful--at least to avoid mistakes like those of the Wonder Woman project. Warner Bros.' plan for its DC Comics characters is Disney-esque, with the characters showing up in video games, comic books, action figures, an animated straight-to-DVD movie and--wait for it-- a "We Can Be Heroes" charity campaign to fight hunger in Africa. Superheroes never really die. And it doesn't seem like superhero franchises will either.