Attention Deficit Delirium

Illustration by Matthew Hollings.

In May 2003 I interviewed Christopher Reeve for a story about celebrity philanthropy. I needed a couple of quotes. We chatted for nearly an hour over the phone about politics, religion and political advocacy, particularly in terms of celebrities. He passed away in October 2004.

Prior to the fifth anniversary of his death last October, I pitched MovieMaker magazine on running my unused interview. They liked the idea, and ultimately it made it into the new issue, which was distributed at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The story (on page 82) is called “Truth, Justice and the Christopher Reeve Way.”

This is one of the best interviews I’ve ever done, and with one of my major childhood heroes. I’m immensely proud of it. I am not sure if it will be reprinted online, but I encourage you to pick up a copy of the latest issue, which features Ethan Hawke on the cover.


As a way to whet your appetite, I am
including the opening two paragraphs.

“Prior to interviewing the late Christopher Reeve on May 27, 2003, I studied a Psychology Today profile on the former silver screen superhero. The main photograph framed the wheelchair-bound actor before a blown-up image of himself from the original Superman movie, juxtaposing his super-powered celluloid persona with the real-life hero who was battling a confining condition and serving as an inspiration to others in a new, more profoundly human way. My interview with him would take me beyond the pure, godlike character he portrayed on film to a more complicated, politically aware individual who was just as valiant and as patriotic, but even more intense.

When he was originally paralyzed during an equestrian accident eight years earlier, doctors had not expected Reeve to live. But he did, and he continued showing progress that had not been thought possible. As Reeve noted, ‘Doctors need to be very careful before they
declare absolute certainty about anything.’”



Michael Nouri at the "Damages" party in NYC, Jan. 19th, 2010. (Photo © 2010 by Bryan Reesman.)

People probably tell Michael Nouri all the time that they loved him in Flashdance. Well, I loved him in The Hidden, the cult sci-fi film from 1987. Co-starring with Kyle McLachlan, Nouri tackled what has become a standard genre premise (cop helps alien track down an alien menace on Earth) and elevated it to high art thanks to his stellar performance. Nouri sold that movie. Why he didn’t become a star in that genre, I don’t know. When I mentioned that film and Nouri to Kyle McLachlan after an interview last June, he concurred with my assessment.

I recently met Michael Nouri on the red carpet for the Damages Season 2 DVD/Season 3 Premiere party in NYC. He has a supporting role on that FX show as the husband to high-powered lawyer Patty Hewes (Glenn Close). Nouri and I chatted very quickly, as usually happens under such circumstances. And it was entertaining.


Would you and Tate Donovan ever consider doing an O.C. reunion?
I think that would be great. I think it would be a lot of fun. I love working with Tate and with Ted Danson and Bill Hurt, although we have not scenes together in this show [Damages]. It’s great fun to be working with all my buddies.

You have a movie project coming up, The Sinatra Club. What can you tell us about that?
I do not play Sinatra. I did that last year. I play a gangster. It’s a movie about how John Gotti became John Gotti. I play one of the guys in his story.

Nouri's greatest performance?

You can’t talk about it too much for, err, legitimate reasons?
I can’t because I’ve forgotten.

You were in The Hidden, which was a great sci-fi film.
[smiles] That was a good movie.

I always thought it would have been a good launching pad for you to do sci-fi blockbusters. Have you ever wanted to do something in that vein again?
Yeah, I love sci-fi, and I particularly liked that movie. I understand they did a sequel to it which did not do well.

Would there be a particular kind of sci-fi movie that you’d want to do? A disaster movie maybe?
A disaster movie? No. I’m not keen on disaster movies. I’d like to do a romantic sci-fi comedy. Musical.

Do you have good jazz hands?
Yes, but you can’t see this [waves hands] in print.



While horror, sci-fi and other genre movies have been faring well at the box office lately, it is not the big Hollywood productions with well-known stars that often deliver the best stories. Some big budget genre movies do occasionally please fans, rake in the green and garner critical acclaim, but the more hardcore or esoteric indie titles (often the more interesting ones) usually escape greater notice for a variety of reasons. Following are five movies from 2009 that should have received more attention than they did. While it is true that two of them, House Of The Devil and Moon, reaped substantial kudos from critics, I doubt your average movie fan will even know much about them since they didn’t gross a bazillion dollars. So here they are.



Look, creepy children that aren't Asian!

THE CHILDREN — On the fence about having kids? This tale will knock you over to the “don’t” side. A Christmas gathering between the families of two strained sisters becomes uglier when their little critters develop a nasty infection that turns them homicidal. This slightly unrealistic but gripping film makes great comments on self-absorbed parents, the nature of child-rearing and the ultimate fear that no matter what you do, outside influences will always reach your brood.



Those stains are just not gonna come out in the wash.

HOUSE OF THE DEVIL — Young babysitters never learn not to work for strange people or even have an escape plan from a spooky house, at least in the world of horror movies. Writer/director Ti West knows this. His suspenseful homage to the babysitter-in-peril movies of the Seventies and Eighties plays on those conventions. You know something bad is gonna happen to college student Samantha; you just don’t where or when, and that makes this fun to watch. It’s even getting a limited VHS/DVD release.



No, that isn't General Zod he sees on the lunar landscape.

MOON — This has been compared to 2001, but they are two different movies. Moon is destined to become a cult classic, thanks to Sam Rockwell’s portrayal of an astronaut whose isolated, three-year lunar stint for an energy company is ending. He’s getting a little loopy, even with his robot friend Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey) keeping him company, but things get disturbing when he awakens after an accident to find his look-alike there. Moon is smart, slick and metaphysical sci-fi that slowly builds to a meaningful pay-off.






Fewer Oz heroes come madder than Max.

NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD –This hilariously irreverent documentary traces the history of exploitation movies Down Under — more specifically, Ozploitation — and spans everything from crazy biker movies (Mad Max, Stone) to bawdy sex romps (Alvin Purple) to quirky horror and fantasy (Dead End Drive-In, Patrick). Some be might offended by its liberal servings of sex, blood and vomit, but it is eye-opening on many levels and features some wild personalities, including crazy stuntman Grant Page, of whom Jamie Lee Curtis marvels that he still lives. I guess those Foster’s commercials aren’t so exaggerated after all.



If you don't have fiery superpowers, then use flaming aerosol.

THE THAW — Val Kilmer has a supporting role as a scientist who is radically concerned about global warming. On an arctic expedition he discovers something ancient and sinister, and when his semi-estranged daughter and research students visit him, they learn about a nasty bug that is worse than any swine flu or SARS outbreak. As expected, loyalties get tested and the fate of the world rests in their hands. Fans of John Carpenter’s The Thing will appreciate the creeping dread of this movie, in more ways than one.



Why so blue? Your movie is a massive hit!

Prior to the release of Avatar last December, it had been 12 years since James Cameron released a major motion picture following the epic Titanic, which become the number one grossing film of all-time. It’s not like the guy needed to release anything new. He was king of the cinematic world and could have retired if he wanted to, practically secure in the fact that no film in his lifetime would top that achievement. Ever adventurous, he continued to expand the boundaries of cinema, producing a few documentaries, including directing the IMAX 3-D releases Ghosts Of The Abyss and Aliens Of The Deep, which further indulged his love for oceanic mysteries.

Five years ago Cameron began work on Avatar, a film whose effects and 3-D technique would further transform cinema on a grand scale. There certainly was a lot of hype behind the movie, which opened last month and became an immediate hit, grossing over $300 million worldwide on opening weekend. It has now reached $1.6 billion globally and looks likely to overtake Titanic for the position of highest grossing movie ever.

Well, not exactly. If one takes Titanic’s 1997 global gross of $1.84 billion and translates it into 2009 dollars, then it actually made $2.57 billion globally. That means that Avatar actually has a billion dollars to go before beating it (which seems improbable to reach), although it is unlikely that the media or Hollywood will bother to note that. (And older movies like Gone With The Wind and Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope, when adjusted for inflation, might top both of these.) Further, less people are going to see the film as the cost of a movie ticket has gone up substantially since 1997. According to the National Association of Theatre Owners (yes, NATO), the average cost of a movie ticket in 1997 was $4.59 (or $6.14 in current dollars). The average ticket in 2008 was $7.18 (probably about $8 now, plus more at IMAX and 3-D screenings), and moviegoers in urban markets normally pay between $10 and $12. Indeed, TIME reports that the cost of one adult ticket for an IMAX 3-D performance of Avatar at Manhattan’s Lincoln Square 13 costs $18.50. IMAX currently accounts for nearly $100 million of the film’s total gross.

Leonardo and Kate taking in the smell of a sea of green.

Let’s not kid ourselves — Avatar is a massive success, both technically and financially, that only a director like Cameron could pull off. But the hype behind its inflated box office success is something that should not be ignored, particularly at a time when blockbuster budgets are spiraling out of control. Movies like Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen and Spider-Man 3 are costing more and more ($250 million apiece, including marketing), and while their returns are big ($830-$900 million worldwide each), they are not as impressive as The Twilight Saga: New Moon (approximate $80 million budget, $700 million global take) or The Hangover ($75 million budget, $462 million haul) in terms of ultimate profitability. Bigger isn’t always better; one can work with smaller means. Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings trilogy cost a combined $450 million and grossed $3 billion worldwide.

Yes, currently impossible-to-bootleg 3-D movies represent a solid future for the movies, especially with once-reliable DVD revenues shrinking, but the bottom line for bigger productions should be examined. According to the New York Times, the production and marketing budgets for Avatar totalled $460 million. Given that theater chains take in 40%-50% of box office receipts, one must usually double their budgetary figure to find the tally that will allow them to break even on a cinematic investment. A $920 million break even point is risky for any studio, so it is unlikely we’ll be seeing a movie this big get made again for a long time. And that’s a good thing.

While Avatar will probably go on to be crowned the largest grossing movie of all-time, the true measure of its success should probably be determined by the emotional resonance it will sustain in the future. Titanic won over the world because of the love story at the heart of its disaster tale. And yes, it was a technological marvel. Will we view Avatar the same way in ten years? We can only wait and see.