Merrick here...

Rubber Band Man sent in this look at WE ARE MARSHALL, a forthcoming enterprise from McG.

McG is the guy who directed both CHARLIE’S ANGELS movies, and came thisclose to putting SUPERMAN back on the big screen. Haters should take this alarming near miss into account when opening up on Bryan Singer.

WE ARE MARSHALL stars Matthew McConaughey and David Strathairn & is about efforts to keep a college football program together in the wake of a plane crash that claims the lives of many players…in a devastated community where football is everything.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THEM KILL
ROBERT PATRICK!!!

Word is McG is trying to evolve (read: defunkify) his caree; he wants to become more “legit” with this. Rubber Band Man says he’s heading the right direction, although his praise isn't unequivocal. The film opens December 22.

Here’s Rubber Band Man…

I like McG!

Well, maybe "like" is too strong a term. In fact I used to hate him. I hated everything about him - his pompous name, his pompous haircut, his pompous success - the list went on and on. But his new movie WE ARE MARSHALL has changed my mind - or at least started to. I saw it with a packed house at the first official screening of the finished film. I also caught his Q&A after the screening and discovered that he wasn't pompous at all. So while maybe I don't quite like him yet, you could say that I at least don't hate him anymore. And that's a start.

First, let's get to the movie. (There are some SPOILERS here - in a very conceptual sense. Nothing specific and no twists are revealed.)

It ain't big. It ain't fancy. It ain't McG (as we've come to know him). The movie is essentially a very small indie film about a very small concept - survival. The only difference between this movie and a real indie film is that MARSHALL uses a much more expensive metaphor - football. After Marshall's football team is lost in a plane crash, the school and town are completely at a loss. They don't know whether to go left, right, up or down. Then as they start pulling together a new team, they fight for their very existence - at least on the football field. Failing on the field equates to the abandonment of all hope and disappearing into oblivion. And that's really all football is in this movie - a vehicle to show us how well the school and town are surviving.

I guess the thing that really won me over was that it wasn't superficial. It was sincere. And I wasn't expecting that from McG. Who would expect that? He hasn't exactly been known for his depth. So I guess I'm really grading this film on a curve. If it were a Marc Forster movie, I'd say good job. But since McG did it I'm shocked and amazed.

Oh, and the sound designed kicked ass - noticeably. The bass was amp'd up and it felt like a man's movie. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if someone gave a nod to the sound department when award season rolls around.

I just realized something. I've been giving too good a review. I know there's a lot of paranoia about plants here. I bet I sound like one too. Let's face it, what kind of legit person could like McG? But I don't want my credibility blown - being that this is the first time I've written to you guys (and hopefully not the last). So let me switch gears and start dissing the movie.

Here are some problems.

The story's momentum never builds. It stays level. The entire movie feels like a series of blocky sequences, rather than a complete movie that builds in intensity. At the beginning of each sequence a new problem comes up. Then the characters spend the remainder of the sequence solving the problem. For example, someone basically says, "Hey, if we're going to rebuild our team then we need a coach." So for ten minutes they look for one and finally settle on Matthew McConaughey. Then someone says, "Great, we have a coach. Now we need a staff and players." We get a two-minute montage to find the staff. Then comes some scenes between McConaughey and Matt Fox, then McConaughey and the remaining players. Then the sequence closes with a five-minute montage of the coaching staff finding new players. The entire movie plays like this. It's very blocky.

And my god, there are so many montages that you'd think you were watching one long music video with a short story squeezed in. None of the montages are bad, but there's just so goddamn many!! That's one quality about himself that McG didn't reinvent with this movie.

Now, speaking of reinvention, let me close with some comments on the Q&A that I saw.

McG said point blank that he's attempting to reinvent himself with this movie. He wants to move up in his career and recreate his image as a serious, but entertaining filmmaker. In fact, he is so serious about this reinvention that he actually considered abandoning the McG moniker. And for those of you who don't know (and I didn't until I saw this Q&A), his real name is Joseph McGinty Nichol. His parents dubbed him McG when he was a baby. The name stuck - much to his chagrin growing up. Now he wears it as a badge of honor.

Well guys, that's it for the review. I feel like I've let you down. It's way too kiss ass, I know. But that is pretty much how I see it. I'll try to close with a negative.

While I did enjoy the movie, I doubt it will ever make a dime. It's just too small a movie at its core. And in a year no one will remember it. So that's that. Take it for what it is.

I'm not sure if this name has ever been used, but you can call me Rubber Band Man. Talk to you later.