Attached to prints of Disney-Pixar’s Finding Nemo 3-D re-release next month will be a new Toy Story Toon spin-off short starring the voice of Wallace Shawn as the adorably naive dino Rex, who goes from Debbie Downer to the titular Partysaurus Rex at bathtime. Cute enough, no? Watch a clip after the jump and tell us if the law of diminishing returns applies to stories built around second- and third-tier Toy Story characters. More on Partysaurus Rex : Poor Rex. Buzz, Woody and the rest of the “Toy Story” gang think he is a just a wet blanket. But when Bonnie takes him to bath time, he goes from a party pooper to king of the hot tub! Creating a bubble bash like no other, everyone’s raving about the Partysaurus Rex! Directed by Pixar veteran animator Mark Walsh and produced by Kim Adams, Disney•Pixar’s new short “Partysaurus Rex” makes a splash in theaters in front of “Finding Nemo” on September 14, 2012.
So much for those concealed carry advocates . NBC News describes the snafu that befell one patron with a permit to carry a concealed firearm at a recent showing of The Bourne Legacy in Sparks, Nevada. “Witnesses inside the theater told officers the gun fell from the man’s pocket as he was adjusting himself in the seat,” according to the report, “and it fired when it dropped to the floor, striking him in the buttocks.” NBC News has more: “The 56-year-old man then reportedly stood up, apologized to those around him and left the theater before police arrived. He checked himself into a nearby VA hospital in Reno, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to his buttocks, according to a police report. His injury is not considered to be life-threatening.” While the individual reportedly did have a valid permit to carry a gun, the Century 14 theater is part of the Cinemark chain (which also owns the Century 16 in Aurora, Colorado ), which does not allow guns to be carried inside of their theaters. [ NBC News ]
Jimmy Kimmel may make viewers laugh for a living, but the talk show host got very serious with Molly McNearney on a recent trip to South Africa’s Kruger National Park, reports confirm: He asked her to be his wife! Kimmel’s rep has confirmed the news, but has offered no further details. McNearney, 34, serves as co-head writer on the show on Jimmy Kimmel Live! . She started dating the host in 2009, following his split with very long-time girlfriend Sarah Silverman. This will be second marriage for Kimmel. He hosts the upcoming Primetime Emmy Awards on September 23. We wish these two nothing but a lifetime of happiness! [Photo: WENN.com]
Also in Tuesday afternoon’s round-up of news briefs, awards season is coming – so soon! The Film Independent Spirit Awards set its February date and is now accepting submissions in its various categories. The Academy is teaming up with the Pickford Foundation to honor the Silents. And remembering Welcome Back, Kotter ‘s Ron Palillo. Film Independent Spirit Awards Looking for Good Movies The 28th Film Independent Spirit Awards are set for Saturday February 23rd with location (it’s usually on the beach in Santa Monica) still officially TBD. The organization is accepting submissions in its various categories beginning today, Tuesday August 14th. It’s regular deadline for consideration is Tuesday, September 18th and the final deadline is Tuesday October 16th. The nominations for the Spirits will take place Tuesday, November 27th at 10am. For submission guidelines and more information including an online submission form, visit their website . Academy Teams with Mary Pickford Foundation to Spotlight Silent Era The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Mary Pickford Foundation have partnered on a multi-year initiative to promote the legacy of Mary Pickford and the silent film era, Academy CEO Dawn Hudson announced. The partnership includes an annual silent film screening, silent film preservation initiatives and the digitization of components of the Academy’s Mary Pickford Collection. To kick off this partnership, and to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Academy’s Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study, the Academy and the Foundation will host “Inside the Vaults” event on Tuesday, September 11, at the Pickford Center in Hollywood. The evening includes behind-the-scenes tours of the vaults, a screening of a rare Mary Pickford short The New York Hat (1912), the Los Angeles premiere of the Academy Film Archive’s newly restored print of The Mark of Zorro (1920), starring Douglas Fairbanks, and a display of select items from the Academy’s Mary Pickford Collection. Around the ‘net… Robert Pattinson Joins Queen of the Desert Pattinson will play T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia in Werner Herzog’s biopic of Gertrude Bell. Naomi Watts will star as Bell who is credited with establishing the framework for what is today Iraq and Jordan. The explorer, writer, archeologist and political attaché worked for British intelligence during WWI. Herzog wrote the screenplay, THR reports . Dermot Mulroney Joins August: Osage County He will play a somewhat mysterious businessman fiancé to Karen, played by Juliette Lewis in the film, being directed by John Wells and shooting this fall, Deadline reports . Welcome Back, Kotter ‘s Ron Palillo Dead at 63 Palillo played Arnold Horshack on the ABC sitcom which aired 1975 – 1979. He also played supporting roles in a number of animated series and also a small part in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives . He died near Palm Beach, Florida where he lived of an apparent heart attack, NPR reports .
Before she was cast in Gary Ross ‘s The Hunger Games as District 5’s elusive Tribute — known only by the nickname “Foxface,” per her wily dexterity and appearance — actress Jacqueline Emerson was a devoted fan of the YA series. Big time . “I was obsessed!” she told Movieline ahead of this week’s Hunger Games DVD/Blu-ray release. “It was my new book series that I was in love with.” Upon getting the part (a connection to Ross’s daughter put her in the director’s sights), the high schooler had to keep her secret from friends and concerned teachers for months — and now, over a year and $684 million in Hunger Games box office receipts later, the one-time child rocker looking for her next adventure with college and a Spike Lee project on the horizon. Emerson, who deferred enrollment at Stanford University for a year to tend to her burgeoning career as an actress and musician, rang Movieline to discuss her Hunger Games experience, the challenges of playing Foxface — Katniss’s most intelligent fellow Tribute, and therefore a dangerous, enigmatic rival — and her unique industry beginnings as a sixth-grade member of the Disney-backed Devo cover band Devo 2.0. You loved the books, but you also happened to have a connection to Gary through his daughter. How did your casting as Foxface come about? Claudia, who’s Gary’s daughter, told her dad that I’d read the books because we knew each other. So I came in and did an interview with Gary because he was interviewing kids who had read the book. A couple of weeks later he gave me a call and said, “Jackie, I really see you as Foxface – would you come in and audition?” And I absolutely flipped out. It’s my favorite book series of all time! I would kill to be in the movie! I slept like four hours the night before, I was tossing and turning, I had a physics test the next day and I don’t even remember it, and I went to my audition after school. I was hoping I did well but I wasn’t really sure, but a week later I got a call from Gary and he talked to my mom and said, “We really want Jackie for the part, it’s not set in stone but she should begin training.” And I died. I was so excited. I immediately started training and working out and getting toned down. Let’s keep in mind though that I found out about this in March, and I wasn’t able to say anything until mid-May. I don’t know how you did it! I had signed a ton of NDAs so I couldn’t tell anybody anything, and my friends were getting really worried about me because I’d be missing school, and I was working out all the time. They couldn’t figure out why because I’d never worked out before. I was losing weight and toning up and getting muscular, and they were all really worried about me – it was junior year and so it was very stressful, I had teachers who would call me into their office and be like, “Jackie, are you okay? Are you feeling alright?” What would you tell them? I would say, “Oh no, I’m fine. I’m just busy.” I’d skate around it. Finally it was announced and I hadn’t signed any contract yet so I wasn’t even entirely sure it was going to be me. And I told a couple of my best-best friends because I needed a few people to help defend me from the rest of my friends [laughs] and everyone was so excited. What was your initial audition like? Foxface is an unusual character in that she conveys so much with no known name and no dialogue, so your performance had to come through silently. Yes. They had me come in and do a lot of reaction stuff — they’d map out a scenario for me and be like, “Okay, you stop here and look around and take it in and think about the complexity of it, but you’re scared at the same time,” but all with the face and without dialogue. It was a very unorthodox audition. Did you always relate to Foxface when you read the books? Oh yes, she was always one of my favorite characters. I was always intrigued by her. Her intelligence is a great element to the character and to the book — she’s a character who adds a lot of mystery to the proceedings during the Games. I loved that. And I loved how you knew so little about her and yet Katniss was kind of scared of her in a way. She was one of the only people in the game that Katniss respected. There’s a point where Katniss goes, “Maybe Foxface is the real enemy here.” I thought that was interesting. And amid all the bloodshed, Foxface manages to get far in the Games without harming people. She’s only defeated by herself, by stealing Peeta’s poisonous berries. I think it’s definitely one of those movies you want to see more than once. I liked it so much better the second time I saw it, and I liked it even better the third time I saw it. By the fourth time I was like, okay, I get it now. [Laughs] But it’s got to many levels. You watch it again and pick up so many subtleties. You’ve previewed the new Blu-ray releases. What’s your favorite special feature? For The Tribute Diaries, all of us got Flip cameras and in the couple of weeks leading up to the premiere we filmed all of us hanging out, the mall tours, and stuff like that so that’s a cool insight into us hanging out. There’s also a lot of the Tributes on set, which was really nostalgic for me to watch. It’s like watching a documentary of my summer. Your summer yearbook. Exactly! This cast grew pretty close, which happens with these huge franchises as young performers bond together on the shoot and press tour. Did you get any great advice from the older castmembers who are a few years ahead into their own careers? Jen especially gave me really really great advice, and she was there for me when I was freaking out or nervous or confused. She was always really, really supportive, from the beginning – from the first day I met her. She was there to help me along, and I appreciated that so much. It was really wonderful to have that. Your next film, Son of the South , is an indie with impressive folks behind the camera – Spike Lee is producing, and his frequent editor is directing. When do you start and how did you come to the project? I’m very excited — I’m not sure when it shoots yet because I’m not sure it has full funding, but I’m just excited to be a part of this project because it’s a really important story. It’s the story of Bob Zellner, who’s a civil rights activist, and I’m honored to be a part of it. It’ll be really fun to bring to life. Did you get to audition for Spike Lee or talk with him? No, I didn’t! I did an interview with the director and talked to him, and he sounds great. I can’t wait to work with him. You also have a parallel career as a musician, and you have a music video out. In addition to this, you were accepted to Stanford. So what’s your plan for the next few years? I’m taking a year off — it’s interesting, because I’ve wanted to take a year off since 9th or 10th grade because high school’s been very intense for me. I went to a very hard prep school, and I’m also not ready to leave my family yet and I’m kinda young for my grade. So this is great because it really gave me an excuse to take a year off and pursue what I love for a year in my artistic side, which, even though I’d done a ton of stuff in high school and I was part of drama and stuff like that, I didn’t get to really pursue it. I recently signed with a new agent and I signed with managers a couple of months ago, so I’m really beginning this journey. It’ll be a lot of fun. I will say that I went to Berkeley, so I unfortunately can’t fully support your choice of school. [Laughs] You did? I’m supposed to hate you, but I can’t! I’m so sorry! I wish you luck at Stanford nonetheless! And finally, I must ask about one of your earliest credits in a band called Devo 2.0. Oh my god, yes. I’m so curious about it. Is it correct to describe it as a family-friendly Devo cover band made of kids? Yes! It was wonderful! I had such a good time. I was in sixth grade, and it was the first audition I ever went on. We did a DVD, and a bunch of music videos, we did a two-week tour around the East Coast to different schools on a tour bus, and it was so much fun. We finished out with a performance at the House of Blues, and then it was kind of over. But I thought it was a great experience. My mom kept telling me the whole time, “You know, every journey has a beginning, a middle, and an end — and this is not the most important thing that you’ll ever do.” And I think that was probably the best advice that I could have gotten when I was in that, because otherwise I may have gotten too attached to it and too caught up in my two minutes of… fame. [Laughs] It was so happy to have my mom there because she really kept me grounded, and I had such a great time. It’s a memory that I will always look back fondly on. So you were basically a rock star in sixth grade. I know, isn’t it funny? I always forget about it because it was only for like a year, and then it was over. But it was a really great experience. You played the keyboard but you also sang — does that make you the Mark Mothersbaugh or the Bob Casale of Devo 2.0? I think I was the Jerry Casale. I don’t really know — they changed all the parts around, but Jerry actually toured with us and we met Mark a couple of times. What do you remember most about meeting or working with them? Honestly… I do not remember. [Laughs] I was in sixth grade! All I know is I had a really good time. Do Devo’s lyrics have different meaning to you now that you’re older? Yes — completely. I definitely had a very skewed understanding of them when I was younger. Actually I have a theory that Devo 2.0 was made to prove the point of devolution, because their songs went from having a lot of meaning to, like, “It is a beautiful world!” That’s the theory I’ve come up with in recent years. [Laughs] The Hunger Games is on DVD and Blu-ray August 18 at 12:01 a.m. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
This trailer’s worth a look just for the scenes with Christopher Walken at the 1:45 mark. He stars as “Hans” in Martin McDonagh’s upcoming dog-napping caper, Seven Psychopaths , and there’s something remarkably satisfying about watching Mr. “More Cowbell!” refusing to acquiesce to a shotgun-wielding tough-guy (played by Zeljko Ivanek) as if he were engaging in a sixth-grade playground stand-off. The movie is about a struggling writer, played by Colin Farrell, who finds himself in a whole lot of trouble after his friend, out-of-work actor and moonlighting dog-napper Sam Rockwell and his partner-in-crime (Walken) make off with a canine that belongs to a brutal gangster. Not sure about Tom Waits role, but also shows up in this trailer stroking a bunny. McDonagh’s In Bruges , which also starred Farrell, was such a tightly constructed black comedy that I’m really looking forward to this one. Watch it on YouTube.
Also in Monday morning’s round-up of news briefs, Red Hook Summer and 2 Days In New York lead an unspectacular weekend in the specialty box office. The Dark Knight Rises leads the way for another weekend overseas. And remembering Al Freeman Jr. Jesse Eisenberg Eyes Night Moves for Old Joy Eisenberg is in talks to play the leader of a group of eco-terrorists who plot to blow up a dam in the thriller, directed by Kelly Reichardt. Dakota Fanning is also in talks to play the wealthy girl who funds the destructive scheme, The Guardian reports . Mary Steenburgen Joins Las Vegas Steenburgen joins the comedy from CBS Films and Good Universe in which she’ll be the object of affection in a love triangle. In the film, a group of friends throw a Las Vegas bachelor party for the one remaining single member of their group, Deadline reports . Red Hook Summer , 2 Days In New York Debuts So-So: Specialty Box Office A pair of New York-centric limited releases debuted in exclusive runs in NYC over the weekend and the numerical results were decent at best. Red Hook Summer and 2 Days In New York lead specialty openers with limited runs. Spike Lee’s latest Brooklyn tale Red Hook Summer bowed in four locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, averaging $10,525. The film doesn’t have major stars and its distributor touted its opening on four screens instead of the “safer route” of two locations as many specialty openings do, Deadline reports . Foreign Box Office: Dark Knight Rises Still Tops The box office was down overall with summer heat and the Olympics blamed for a suppression of the numbers. The Dark Knight Rises took the top spot overseas, taking in $34.2 million, down 50% from the prior week, from 58 offshore markets, THR reports . R.I.P. Al Freeman Jr. The son of African American stage actor Al Freeman (1884-1956), and star of stage, TV and film, Al Freeman Jr., has died at the age of 78 years old. In 1967, Freeman Jr. co-starred with Shirley Knight in the film version of Leroi Jones’ (Amiri Baraka’s) off-Broadway play Dutchman , which earned him critical kudos, and further attention for his portrayal of a black subway passenger victimized by a frantic white woman, Shadow and Act reports .
Tony Gilroy ‘s tumultuous history with the Jason Bourne franchise is, as he calls it, “well-documented.” But after penning or co-scripting the first three Matt Damon-starring spy pics in the series — navigating a maelstrom of widely reported behind the scenes beefs, including Damon’s snipe last year at Gilroy’s Bourne Ultimatum script — the writer-director was lured back to this weekend’s The Bourne Legacy by the opportunity to create a new secret agent ( Jeremy Renner ) to build insidious political conspiracies and impossible action sequences and existential questions around. “In a strange way,” he tells Movieline, “I felt more of a personal connection with this character than I ever felt with Jason Bourne.” Prior to Gilroy coming aboard The Bourne Legacy , which introduces Renner’s highly-skilled agent Aaron Cross as Jason Bourne’s gentler, funnier, and more genetically-modified contemporary ( Chems! He needs chems! ), Universal and author Robert Ludlum’s estate were in a bind to find a new, fresh way to continue the lucrative spy franchise. Gilroy, who had left the series behind to helm his own Michael Clayton and Duplicity — and up to that point, he admits, had never even seen the Paul Greengrass-directed The Bourne Ultimatum — took a polite coffee meeting, which turned into a few weeks’ worth of scripting help, which in turn rekindled his interest in the property so much so he signed on to direct. The result is a Bourne “sidequel” that runs parallel to the events of Ultimatum but follows new hero Renner as he and Rachel Weisz’s comely, brainy scientist Dr. Marta Shearing evade a government burn-down of their top secret Outcome program. The action takes the pair from the labs to the woods of Maryland to the streets of Manila, through an assortment of set pieces including one physics-defying sequence inspired, Gilroy reveals, by Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men . Gilroy rang Movieline to discuss those eye-catching stunts and more, including why he returned to Bourne after all that drama, how Renner and Weisz’s crackling chemistry dictated on-set rewrites of Aaron and Marta’s “will they/won’t they?” romantic relationship, and what, if any, master plan is in place to reunite both Damon and Renner as a superspy duo in future Bourne installments. There’s an unusual history between you and this franchise; you’re not just any director who’s been hired, and you’re not just any screenwriter tackling the next sequel in this series. You know, it came about in such a random, incremental way. I turned in the script for Bourne Ultimatum about three weeks before I started pre-production on Michael Clayton and then I couldn’t have been more outside [the process]. They greenlit the script and they started and everyone was happy, then I went to do Clayton and was completely outside, for years. I really didn’t have any involvement whatsoever. I mean, I’d hear anecdotally from people but my main source of information would be whatever was in the press. So the movie came out and it was like, “What are they going to do next?” And a lot of really switched-on people spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do — I wasn’t part of any of that — and then they all fell apart. They ran out of road. That’s a tough problem. I’m not sure I would have been able to solve that exact problem, of where you go with Jason Bourne. And then they all left! So then you came in with the idea for Aaron Cross? More time went by and I took a very casual meeting with the guys from the estate who were in New York — really, just a cup of coffee, a 20-minute meeting, and they said, “We don’t know what to do! We don’t have Matt, and we don’t have Jason Bourne anymore — somebody has to figure out a way to go forward.” I said, “I haven’t seen the third movie but I’ll go and look at it, and if I can think of a way to help you out, I will.” A couple weeks later I called them back with just the very first idea for [ Bourne Legacy ]: What if there was this larger conspiracy — what if there was another program? What if there was someone, a mastermind, sitting behind all of this? If you’d asked me then I’d have said the last thing I’ll ever be doing was this. Then the idea got a little sexier — Oh my god, you can have Ultimatum playing in the background, you can do all these really cool things that no one’s ever done before! I really came on for a couple of weeks; it was like a problem-solving job, it wasn’t even a writing job. And then I got the character and I got sucked in. So there was no master plan. What was your feeling in returning to helm Bourne Legacy given your past relationships with these movies? Feelings-wise, at this point it’s been 13 years. It’s been very good to me in some ways, and it’s been very frustrating in other ways which are well documented. It’s been very successful and certainly helped me get Clayton made. So I’m very happy that I did it all those years ago. Is it gratifying to step into the director’s chair after being a writer for so long on this franchise? The places to be anxious are in terms of the quality of the other films and being beholden to the DNA of the other films in key areas, the really fundamental things that make it what it is. But I never really felt like, wow, this is finally mine! It was interesting to me; I like the character, the story came together, and I thought, wow — I’m really into this. This could be something that would be worth two years of your life, that’s what you’re looking at. You’d never base a decision like that on anything petty or competitive. It’s too big a decision. So the solution to the Bourne series’ problem was creating Aaron Cross. I liked Jason Bourne as a character, but as played by Jeremy Renner, Aaron Cross is pretty much the perfect spy boyfriend you’d want to be on the run with. How did you approach carving this guy out, giving him a different purpose in life, with a personality that’s not only a stark contrast to Bourne but from the other agents we’ve encountered in this world? [Laughs] You know, part of getting here in the script is like math, problem-solving, craftsmanship. And then part of it is wherever dumb luck and inspiration meet up. As excited as everybody else got about it, I was like, this is really empty — you’ve got to have a character here that’s huge. I don’t think we realized in the beginning — we certainly didn’t realize it when we did the first one — what a great problem it was for an assassin to have an identity problem and a morality problem. You could get three movies out of it! But the idea for [Aaron Cross] just sort of dropped one day as I was sketching it. I’ve never worked on a character like this before, I’ve never quite seen this problem and certainly have never seen this problem expressed in an action or adventure movie before. In a strange way I felt more of a personal connection with this character than I ever felt with Jason Bourne — the idea of being alive and losing your awareness, the idea of turning down the dimmer switch on your appreciation of life, even, is such a terrifying thing and something that we all worry about. [Laughs] I was really happy it was sitting in front of me on a piece of paper! You chose to wrap up Bourne Legacy ’s conclusion by not falling prey to the easy romantic moments one might expect from a guy-and-girl on the lam movie like this. Was there a specific intention behind that Aaron-Marta relationship? We had a really big advantage, I think, in that when we started and even while we were shooting — well, we shot Norton’s stuff first, then Rachel came in and did the lab stuff, and then Jeremy came in and they started working together — at the end of our shoot in New York we still didn’t really know how far we would go with [the romance], but we were kind of liberated in that I didn’t feel like a win for us had to necessarily be that. The movie could have been weirdly satisfying if they ended up sort of as brother and sister or co-conspirators. If they’d just been two people that survived it would have been interesting, or if it had ended up with just a doctor-patient relationship — a really strange one. I’ve been on movies where you start off, these two people have to be in love at the end of the movie, or have to be in love in the movie and fall apart and then get back together, and you have to have that. But we didn’t have to have that, so we didn’t have to force it. For instance, the motel scene, where that chemistry really builds. We shot that motel room scene — in point of fact, we did it once and didn’t like it, and went back and did it again a week later. In the rewrite of that, I really had to cop to the idea that this was really happening and really wrote into it, and then we shot it and they were just so kinda hot with each other, in a scene that’s not like that at all. So the rest of the way in we put up the spinnaker and went for it. But it was nice to know that we didn’t have to do that. Well, all that said, I’d still like to thank you for all the male topless scenes. All these half-naked Jeremy Renner shots and not a single gratuitous look at Rachel Weisz. [Laughs] You’re welcome! You shot a number of ambitious action sequences — the motorcycle chase in the Philippines among them — but there’s one particular impossible shot of Jeremy as Aaron free-climbing up the side of Marta’s house, up the walls, and into the second-story window. How did you conceive of that coming together? We had the idea for it and we had the house — there was a real house that we had found, and we went there. You wrote action to fit your locations, right? Exactly. I can’t really do them unless they’re really specific. If we were to say we’re in the Four Seasons hotel right now and we need to do an action sequence, I’d say okay, let’s walk around and figure out what works, and what’s fun, whatever. We saw this house and it wasn’t just all the opportunities inside – we looked at the outside and it was really cool. And filming it in a faux unbroken shot enhances the movie illusion that Aaron is an enhanced human being. I’m a huge fan of Children of Men — I think it’s the greatest action movie in the last many years. And I love how seamless it is, they never make you think about what’s going on. So there’s a little bit of trickery but a lot of reality; you can’t do them unless you really rehearse them. And really, our climbing up the house is a small fractional piece of what they’re doing in Children of Men . I watched it thinking I would love to believe that Jeremy Renner really just crawled up that house. A lot of it really happened! That’s really Jeremy going up the side of that house. I mean, a camera can’t fit through that window and follow him through the window, that’s not physically possible. Was that easier or tougher than filming Jeremy jump straight down perfectly into that skinny alley in the Philippines? Oh that , you do. That’s a real place, a real thing. So that’s him and that’s a real practical thing that we built. It’s actually an easy thing to do — dropping down is easier than going up. There’s been a lot of talk about bringing Matt Damon back to join with Renner in future Bourne installments — has there been any concrete movement in that direction so far? That’s beyond hypothetical. There’s nothing concrete at all, and anytime anybody says anything in print it turns into a whole… no, really, really nothing. Zero conversations. Do you think the chances are good that that’ll actually ever happen? I have no insight into that at all. We’ll be running around gabbing away and doing all this stuff and the audience will tell us what should happen, I should think. But the idea that we have some sort of organized thing here is such an amusing idea. [Laughs] There’s no master plan. Previously: Tony Gilroy (Fondly) Remembers His 1992 Olympic Skating Romance The Cutting Edge The Bourne Legacy is in theaters today. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
A long time ago in a culture far removed from this one — 1987 to be exact — cinematic satirist Mel Brooks took on box-office game changer George Lucas’ Star Wars franchise and didn’t end up in the Hollywood equivalent of a Sarlacc Pit. Substituting the Schwartz for the Force, Yogurt for Yoda and Pizza The Hutt for Jabba, Brooks gave us Spaceballs and made us laugh harder (intentionally) than Jar Jar Binks ever did. To celebrate the movie’s 25th anniversary, Sony has released a commemorative Blu-Ray edition that mostly does justice to this comedy gem. The Film: Spaceballs (1987) Why It’s An Inessential Essential: Although Life Stinks (1991) was Mel Brooks’ last sturdy feature, the often gut-bustingly funny Spaceballs was his last really inspired comedy. Like many of Brooks’ earlier films, Spaceballs spoofs generic and genre cliches. In this case, the director aimed his blaster at science fiction and fantasy films, Star Wars in particular. Viewed 25 years after its theatrical release, Spaceballs suffers from lopsided structure and occasional laziness, but the movie repeatedly breaks down the fourth wall with such zeal and absurd charm that it’s impossible to resist. (It’s worth noting that the movie was released during the heyday of the Bruce Willis/Cybill Shepherd ABC comedy series Moonlighting , which was heralded for doing the same.) A large part of the movie’s giddy appeal is its game cast, led by SCTV Jedi the late John Candy and Rick Moranis. Candy plays the Wookiee-like Barf and Moranis is particularly hilarious as the clutzy, over-compensating Darth Vader spoof, Dark Helmet — a puny man topped by enormous circumcised headgear. As ringmaster of this circus, Brooks (who also appears in the movie as both President Skroob and Yogurt) is at a point in his career where he’s starting to toss things against the wall out of sheer desperation. And because he’s working with talented comedians and co-writers, most of what he throws sticks. The move is a collection of blisteringly strange and funny sketches, such as the one where Helmet fantasizes about seducing Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) while playing with a set of action figures that includes an even tinier facsimile of himself and the Druish princess. Brooks’ wise-ass, Brecht-by-way-of-Vaudeville sensibility is at the core of the movie’s cantankerous, Yiddish sensibility, and though some of the yucks feel a tad musty, the movie is never tedious. Riffs on cash-in sequels, “Moichandizing” and “turning off the movie” demonstrate that, at that point in his career, Brooks’ cultural comedy mojo was still working. Indeed, Spaceballs doesn’t just hold up as a laugh riot. It’s still highly quotable right down to the characters’ names. (Yogurt! Pizza The Hutt!). “May the Schwartz be with you” still provokes laughter after all these years, as does Barf’s “Funny, she doesn’t look Druish” comment about Princess Vespa. And when the Spaceballs and Dark Helmet land on the Planet of the Apes, one of its denizens grouses; “Oh shit, there goes the planet.” How the Blu-Ray Edition Makes the Case for the Film: The best special features on Sony’s25th anniversary release are the least serious ones. New interviews with a doddering and-haughty Brooks don’t contribute much. (“We were looking for a new genre to destroy,” he exclaims at one point). Much more satisfying is a very funny list of continuity errors in the film, including, a scene in which Dot Matrix (Joan Rivers playing a droid even bitchier than Anthony Daniels’ C-3P0) appears to stop leaving a trail behind her in one desert scene. The film’s gag audio commentary tracks are also suitably ridiculous. One is in “Mawgese,” presumably the native language of Barf, another, in “Dinkese,” the mother tongue of the Jawa-esque Dink Dinks. Unfortunately, the Blu-Ray edition does not markedly improve the picture quality that was found on the 2005 DVD release of Spaceballs . There are still notable visual blemishes, including artifacts that resulted from poor video compression. Still, the dual Blu-Ray/DVD package is worth buying if only because the menus included on the new DVD release are more interactive and the features they include are more impressive than the last time around. Other Trivia: The new 25th anniversary Spaceballs Blu-Ray is loaded with new special features. If you’re a dedicated Mel Brooks fan — even one who lost faith or interest after Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Dracula: Dead and Loving It — you’ll probably get a big kick out of the jokey introduction he recorded to the film’s original trailer. Brooks’ audio commentary track is also worthy, even if he is more than a little full of himself after the wild (and not entirely deserved) multi-platform success of The Producers . Compared to the meager 2005 DVD release, which came with a making-of featurette and a skimpy souvenir booklet, Sony’s 25th anniversary Blu-Ray release is a much more comprehensive presentation of the film. Simon Abrams is a NY-based freelance film critic whose work has appeared in The Village Voice, Time Out New York , Vulture and Esquire . Additionally, some people like his writing, which he collects a t Extended Cut . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
You need only utter the words “Rocky loves Em-ily” or “Light up the eyes!” to transport me to the wondrous time known as the early ’90s, when timeless classics — timeless, I say ! — such as Touchstone’s tale of Rocky, Colt, and Tum Tum opened up new worlds for 11-year-old me . Hollywood.com’s Michael Arbeiter knows what I’m talking about: “[As] rich and dense as the history of the ninja might be, it wasn’t until the date of August 7, 1992, exactly twenty years ago today, that the identity of the Japanese spy and soldier really hit its potential in terms of relevance in the canon of American film. For on this date, the great Jon Turtletaub bequeathed unto the world his third directorial feature: 3 Ninjas .” Preach . Thanks to Arbeiter for bringing this ’90s kid-cinema essential back into the conversation with his open letter ( 3 Ninjas: 20 Years Later ? Sign me up!), which today rekindled my decades-long love affair with the 1992 ninja pic. Oh, who am I kidding? That flame never went out. A few years back I committed my 3 Ninjas love to the internet in an ode to star Michael Treanor, archived at the old Cinematical , but my passion for the erstwhile Rocky endures: Treanor, 13-years-old when 3 Ninjas debuted, played Rocky with a fresh-scrubbed, clear-eyed honesty and one heckuva smile. It helped that cinematographer Richard Michelak shot his preteen actors in the dreamiest light possible (he also lensed White Wolves: A Cry in the Wild II , AKA White Wolves: The One With Mark-Paul Gosselaar ). And that Rocky protected his little brothers and never gave up, even when all seemed lost. When Colt wanted to karate chop the mean kids at school, who was the voice of reason who calmed him down? Rocky. When idiot surfer-kidnappers invaded the boys’ house, who came up with the plan to take them down, Home Alone -style? Rocky did. Most of all, I loved Treanor because he rocked a dreamy, short on the sides/long in the front early ’90s hairdo that stayed perfectly coiffed even when Rocky ninja-jumped ten feet into the air to dunk on a pair of bullies in a basketball game to win his girlfriend’s bicycle back! Which brings me to the bane of my eleven-year-old existence: Rocky’s girlfriend, Emily. Ugh, Emily. The worst. It took a good few decades for me to get over my Emily-hate; it helped that by High Noon at Mega-Mountain , Rocky had wisened up and gotten himself a girlfriend named Jennifer, even if by that fourquel I’d already moved on to Team Colt. But I digress! Happy 20th, 3 Ninjas . Hollywood never quite made ’em like they made you. (Except for all those sequels. And those other ’90s kid flicks I wore out on VHS.) So good. So ’90s. The best thing Turteltaub ever made, and yes, that includes Cool Runnings . Never forget. [ Hollywood.com ]
