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Nordling's BNAT X Coverage! BENJAMIN BUTTONS, UP, MONSTERS VS ALIENS, VALKYRIE, WATCHMEN, CORALINE, MY BLOODY VALENTINE & More!
Nordling, here.
I knew I was in for a special BNAT (but they're all special) when I
found myself geeking out with Elijah Wood over the latest Pixar
masterpiece in the Alamo Drafthouse Men's Room. But more on UP later.
This was it. Butt-Numb-A-Thon X. 10 years of Geek Christmas, brought
to us by AICN's Master of Ceremonies, Harry Knowles, in celebration of
his 37th birthday. It was even blessed by Yahweh Himself, or at least
Cecil B. DeMille, when Massawyrm brought out the actual slabs used in
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, and they stayed next to the South Lamar
Drafthouse screen for the next 24+ hours. For the next day, we
"overentitled cunts" as Moriarty christened us (Drew, I'm going to
miss you around these parts, man. Sincerely.) would see the best that
the past and the future of Hollywood had to offer. But first was TEEN
WOLF, as we tortured poor Jeff Mahler with not only a burnt to a crisp
print of his favorite film, but the actual Teen Wolf, Mahler's very
own Santa Claus in the flesh as he signed a basketball for Jeff in
consolation. BNAT X had properly begun.
Our first film was VIVA VILLA, starring the glorious Wallace Beery as
Pancho Villa, a monster of a man who had the best intentions at heart
even while he ravaged the countryside. This film also starred Fay
Wray, making her third appearance at BNAT. Funny, action-packed, and
a fine opening film for BNAT.
"We're meant to lose the people we love," says Queenie (Taraji Henson)
to Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) in David Fincher's fantastic THE
CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. "How else are we to know how
important they are?" This film, steeped in bittersweet emotion and
the heartache of loss, was probably the most resonant film for me at
BNAT. For people who have suffered terrible loss, this film basks in
the comforting knowledge that while nothing lasts, we can never forget
the intersections of the many lives that touch our own. Some critics
are calling BUTTON cold and distant, a criticism that I just don't
get. BUTTON moved me profoundly, and it is sure to be a film that I
will revisit.
We then saw the first of several clips from next year's films -
CORALINE, directed by Henry Selick and based on the short story by
Neil Gaiman. The imagery, especially in 3D, was awe-inspiring and
Selick and company spare no imagination in bringing these fantastic
images to life on the screen, with colors you could almost taste, so
brilliant they were. CORALINE opens Spring 2009.
The next film was SAHARA, a vintage Humphrey Bogart film set in the
North African desert during World War II. SAHARA is a tight war
thriller about a tank crew trying to survive on little food and no
water while crossing enemy lines. Bogie is great as usual, and I
admired the efficiency of the plot. Great characters and action -
highly recommended.
Bryan Singer's VALKYRIE was next, with Singer recording a special
introduction. I can't review VALKYRIE as much as I would like. What
I did see of it was terrific edge-of-your-seat entertainment but
unfortunately my wife got sick and passed out in the hallway next to
the theater, and I spent much of the film tending to her. She's fine,
just a little overwhelmed by the greatness that was BNAT X this year.
Next was UP. 45 minutes of UP to be exact, brought by co-directors
Pete Docter and Bob Peterson to show to the BNAT crowd. Much was
incomplete, with only storyboards in some places, but it didn't
matter. Those 45 minutes were probably my favorite 45 minutes in a
BNAT ever. This film WORKS, another home run by Pixar, and if its
makers were nervous in presenting it to us, they were visibly relieved
when the footage went over as well as anything I've ever seen at a
BNAT before. Moving, emotional, and uproariously funny and the
Paradise Falls dogs scored huge with the crowd (you'll know what they
are in May 2009). "Squirrel!" As with WALL-E, there was imagery to
take your breath away, and this story of an old man going on his
greatest adventure is sure to do well next year. I can't claim any
kind of unbiased opinion here - my sun rises and sets on Pixar.
They're easily my favorite film studio. And UP looks to be yet
another triumph for them.
After UP we saw Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS, the 1980's Giorgio Moroder
revision. Surreal to say the least, and the music was probably dated
about 15 minutes after it was released, Not much I can say about
METROPOLIS that no self-respecting film fan doesn't know already, but
the Moroder music and the colors were very trippy as we dove into the
late night of BNAT X.
Two short clips of Dreamworks' MONSTERS VS. ALIENS in 3D followed with
Stephen Colbert hamming it up as the President of the United States
under threat from alien invasion, when the only thing that might be
able to fight the oncoming aliens are monsters captured over the
years. The 3D was amazing as expected (all animated films from this
point on just should surrender to this technology) and the clips - one
of the President trying to make contact and the other as the monsters
and the aliens go head-to-head - were action-packed and hilarious.
MONSTERS VS. ALIENS opens March 2009.
Our horror film of the night was next - MY BLOODY VALENTINE in 3D! I
wasn't expecting what I got from this movie - a blast of old-school
slasher horror with some fantastic kills all spurting at the screen in
three dimensions. Tits and ass (quite a bit of it!) and gore, all
wrapped up in a nice bow and stuffed in a still-beating heart! One
particular kill (it's literally jaw-dropping) got the crowd roaring,
and weirdly enough I can envision this as a terrific date movie.
Sure, it's dumb, but it's that good cheesy 80s horror film dumb, with
characters doing everything the SCREAM films warned us against. I
wouldn't exactly call MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D good - well, you know
what? I would call it good. It does exactly what it's supposed to do
- entertain the shit out of you.
Next was Spring 2009's I LOVE YOU, MAN, starring Paul Rudd as a guy
desperate for a man-friend and Jason Segal as his new, crude, and
overcompensating buddy. With humor straight out of the Apatow
playbook, this was a comedy that had the audience howling. Jon
Favreau has a pretty great scene involving beer boat races and
projectile vomit that made me wish that scene was in 3D. It's a guy
movie for sure, and very enjoyable.
Our next vintage film was Sam Fuller's WHITE DOG, starring 1970s star
Kristy McNichol as a new owner of a white German Shepherd that has
been trained to attack black people, with Paul Winfield as the man
hired to untrain the dog. I've seen WHITE DOG a few times and it's an
effective race drama that was sadly misunderstood on release.
At this point we saw clips from PUSH and KNOWING. PUSH looked nice
but the clip for KNOWING showed an impressive subway crash that
effectively wowed much of the BNAT audience. Then we were treated to
a sneak preview of Jody Hill's OBSERVE AND REPORT, featuring Seth
Rogen as a mall security guard with self-esteem issues. Fans of THE
FOOT FIST WAY will see the same kind of comedy here, as Rogen tries to
solve a flasher crime in the parking lot and gets in over his head.
Also starring Ray Liotta, the film opens next April.
It was here that director McG came on stage with footage from
TERMINATOR: SALVATION, and the footage was damn impressive to me.
McG's gotten some bad rap in the past from AICN Talkbackers and some
of the writers, but he seemed to me to give it out as much as he could
take it and seemed legitimately proud of his upcoming film, even going
so far as to seek James Cameron's blessing on the project. He seemed
confident that he made an entertaining film here and based on what I
saw I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Take note
Talkbackers - McG is probably reading you right now, so use this
pulpit any way you lijke. I think that T:S will impress you as much
as the footage we saw here impressed me. Apparently he had the full
film on DVD with him, but the suits at Warners nixed him playing it.
Oh well.
Then Rorschach showed up.
Jackie Earl Haley brought the first 22 minutes of WATCHMEN with him,
and if I was a little worried before I'm not at all now, squid or no
squid. This felt very much like Moore's and Gibbon's WATCHMEN with
chunks of dialogue taken directly from the book. Yes, Rorschach's
Journals are in there, full of the misanthropic loathing that we know
and love. Hollis Mason is pimping his book and Dan Dreiberg still
listens to those stories. The opening credits are marvelous,
introducing the characters and the world, effortlessly setting up the
story to the notes of Bob Dylan's "The Times Are A Changing." "It's
very scary playing a guy with a fucking sock on his head," said Haley
at the Q & A, but he needn't have worried. He embodies Rorschach
completely, and Haley admitted that the character was a hard one to
shake. Without having seen the entire film, I don't know if his
performance is awardsworthy, but from what I saw he is off to a hell
of a start.
Our final film was Steven Soderburgh's CHE, the Roadshow Edition. 4+
hours with the story of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, played to exception by
Benicio Del Toro. I am not very familiar with the Che history. But,
while I found Del Toro's performance to be excellent, I felt that the
film itself was highly overindulgent and undisciplined. Long
strecthes of the film are soldiers marching around in the jungle (and
most of the jungle looked like it was the same spot), broken up by
occasional gunfire. Basically, CHE is a film without a first act.
Maybe the first act is THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, a film I haven't seen.
In this film, I was never able to understand Che the man, not the way
the film was willing to show him. When Soderburgh is focused, he's a
great American filmmaker. But CHE gets away from him early on and he
never gets it back.
As far as BNATs go, I don't know quite where to rank this one (I've
been to 9 of them). Physically, this year beat me up pretty badly,
and my 4 AM queso heartburn was "gonna eat through the goddamn hull,"
so to speak. But the highs were just so incredibly high this year,
and I imagine BNAT 11-38 to be just as amazing, if not more so. I had
an amazing time, Harry, and thank you for inviting the wife and I to
your party, and I hope you enjoy your gift. But your gift to us was
much, much better. Thanks, man. BNATTER 4 LIFE.
Special thanks also goes out to Darryl Mott, Drew McWeeny, Christopher
Cargill, Patricia Knowles, Jay Knowles, Jeff Mahler, Derek Mahr,
Jeremy Stomberg, Elijah Wood, Holly Blain, Eric Vespe, Jeremy Smith,
Tim League, the wonderful staff at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar,
and Devin Faraci. Hope to see you all again next year.
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+ Expand All
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Man, I wish I could have been there. I'm jonesing to see MBV in 3D. All the rumblings I've heard in town have been really positive.
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But My Bloody Valentine looked cool.
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Dude sounds like a cool muthafucka.
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In order to make the film a success. I hope he pulls it off.
As far as the whole lineup goes, it's a tad disappointing. No full Watchmen, no Star Trek footage, no sneak peeks at Avatar, not even The Spirit nor The Wrestler. But hey, the 22 minutes of Watchmen is great, I wish y'all could have seen the entire thing. -
didn't give the new 'Terminator' film his blessing. Is McG still peddling that line? Kick his ass Jimbo.
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I watched all three Terminator films over the weekend. The Terminator hasn't dated well, T2 is even more depressing than I remember and Terminator 3 was actually the most entertaining of the three. Sommin' wrong with that.
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Looks like a really good war movie...and the cinematography looks great, love the silveriness.
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Seems like this year the new stuff was only shown in pieces and clips. I'm hazy on past BNATs, but I seem to recall the previous years actually showing complete, new films as well as some old stuff. Kinda lame...
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Not worth haulin' ass back to Austin, that's for sure. Buttons sounds like the best of the lot. I'll be sure to download it in a couple of weeks. Hope everyone had a blast though.
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He's a much better writer than (copy and paste) Merrick.
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... I look forward to Button and Watchmen. Was hoping Che would be better... Oh well!
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For as long as the movie is (and it's a good 20 minutes too long) there's not a lot of detail there. Everything is a BIG MOMENT. You could almost feel it straining to be an important movie. But it doesn't have much heart. To me, the love story with Tilda Swinton worked better than the one with Cate Blanchett. At least you could see why they work together. They never really developed that with the main love story. You can't just say it was fate and leave it at that. But that's kinda what the movie did. And yes, give Nordling a job. He's a great writer and a cool guy, to boot.
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Much as I'd have an interest in the new stuff on the lineup- I think I'm most jealous that these folks got to see Sahara. If you haven't seen this one you need to Netflix it posthaste. Bogie at his most badass, a busted Sherman tank named Lulubelle, and a Nazi getting killed by having his face shoved in the desert till he chokes out.
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I gotta say, for a bunch of genre geeks that shit their didies over X-Men movies, you guys sure do turn into Cannes juries when it comes to directors that aren't churning out the Merchant-Ivory standard kiddie flicks you're evidently accustomed to.
Bottom line: McG is a journeyman director. Not an artist, but certainly a competent craftsman. When he's called on to hack together some agreeably mindless fluff (Charlie's Angels), he does so with aplomb. When he's called on to create a tearjerking inspirational melodrama (This Is Marshall), that's precisely what he puts out. So far the guy hasn't been called on to produce something truly spectacular, and he hasn't. So I think any McG trashing is a mite premature. Especially coming from a bunch who pretty much dismissed David Fincher back when all he was known for was a few lame Madonna videos, but now would line up around the block in front of his bathroom door to clean his butthole with their tongues. -
BNAT is awesome. I was lucky enough to go to one of them (#2) and thought it was one of the movie-going highlights of my life.
But, Harry, allowing these "presentations" into BNAT seems like a bad idea. Are these officially turning into studio focus group / marketing events? As cool as it is to see 20 minutes of some upcoming stuff, it also makes the whole thing out to be a bit of a joke. You should put your foot down: show the entire movie or nothing. -
Concise and to the point. I know I'll never be a BNATter. Zero desire to sit through old Bogie and Kristy McNichol dog movies.
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In short: warmed over Forest Gump. It's merely okay. It falls well short of doing justice to an interesting premise. I saw it Wednesday at the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Blvd.
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Wait, I'm kind of out of the AICN loop. What does "Drew, I'm going to
miss you around these parts, man" mean? Moriarty isn't retiring from the site, is he????? -
Hmmmm. Looks like everyone is staying away from these talkbacks. Well, there's always next year I guess.
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should have gotten Wolverine in there..& you showed the wrong Del Toro film..should've gotten saome Wolfman footage
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Bunch of standing around/marching with long, dramatic shots of vegetation and nothing really happening. Sounds like it was lifted from "Thin Red Line".
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It's built up to be the Holy Grail of film fests (and for me it is, but for different reasons) and then feel either justified that they didn't go or disappointed in the line-up. I've never been disappointed, even last year when the fest turned into Suck Central for a few hours. BNAt is a great time and when it's clicking and there's great filmmaking going on and the audience is primed to receive it... there's literally nothing like it in the world. It's the apex, the pinnacle of filmgoing. I feel like for a brief moment, I'm communing with God. Hyperbolic? Maybe. It's also how I feel. I'll never miss a BNAT if I can help it. And if you've never been, that may be difficult to understand, but if you have been, believe me, you get it.
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New Years Eve. The Lower East Side of the NYC 2004,i think? A buddy of mine invited a bunch of people back to his apt after a bar had closed. After a while, it got too crazy and he started kicking people out. Amid some protest, there were two guys who were particularly displeased with that. One yelled "You just kicked Elijah Wood out of apartment!" It was his friend. Haha Boo hoo. Love you Elijah.
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Think about everything that was talked about before the event. Watchmen. Star Trek. Parts of Avatar, Wolfman and Wolverine. Of course, the real lineup can't compete with that. So yes, the initial feeling with the lineup is always going to be disappointment. But once you've had a day or two to think about what you DID see (instead of what you didn't see) you start to appreciate things more. And let's face it, Harry doesn't owe us Avatar clips. He doesn't owe us shit. He could just as easily get this stuff from the studios and watch it with a few close friends in the comfort of his home. But he goes through all the trouble of arranging a really cool day for everyone. And all the thanks he gets are some anonymous morons (who didn't go and probably didn't even apply) saying, "You only saw 20 minutes of Watchmen?! That sucks".
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So what if I didn't see WATCHMEN...I saw SAHARA--a fantastic movie I would never have seen on my own. And that's what BNAT is sort of all about. If you only want to be first on your block to see the latest blockbuster, you've come to the wrong event. Sure, it does happen sometimes, but this is a celebration of MOVIES, ALL movies. If you come to celebrate movies, you won't (you can't) be disappointed. I love movies, so I love BNAT.
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Details?
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Well if so I'll say now I thought you were kind of a mindless bubblegum director (though I like your turn and involvement in Supernatural). But the trailers look excellent and getting Bale on board is a bit of a coup. However you and we all know bad films can have great trailers what I think us geeks who weren't at BNAT want to know see is some character beats (the JC vs Sam Worthington moment in the trailer is badass but not really a character moment. We need some evidence about how it can work if it's "people talking on a stage"
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A metric ton of horror comic TPBs from IDW/Sex Panther cologne/tees for Benjamin Button, M vs A, Valkyrie, Black Dynamite, and BNAT/posters galore/two music CDs/Tropic Thunder on DVD/Fire & Ice on DVD/Red vs Blue on DVD/Trick'r Treat coffee table book/M vs A tote bag/Harry Potter Bust-Ups/Real3D baseball cap/a bottle opener...and...I might be forgetting something, but I think that's it.
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Clearly, the producers have never spent any time on Ain't It Cool News. And yes, the swag is pretty awesome. In fact, I'm wearing my Valkyrie thermal right now. I only wish the movie was as cool as the shirt. I also wish they didn't assume that all geeks have the body shape of the Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons. I have a 2XL Black Dynamite t-shirt that I'd love to wear. But I'm about 120 pounds from being a 2XL.
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A Marley & Me fridge magnet??? WHERE THE HELL IS MINE?!?!?! I DEMAND A FULL REFUND FOR MY BNAT TICKET!!!
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sad to say...
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Fortunately there's always next year.
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....is it getting worse and worse each year?
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"If you don't have anything nice to say, change your name to Danny Glover's Dickblood". Grandma was funny that way.
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I'm quite happy with my Tropic Thunder DVD and Monsters v. Aliens and Valkyrie long sleeve shirts. The MvA bag is cool too. I still have my Blair Witch II bag from BNAT2.
There's usually something that changes last minute for whatever reason so I'm pretty sure Che was put in place of the full Watchmen. I was happy to take a nap and spend some time chatting with folks outside. -
TMD is about Guevarra's 1952 trip through South America with his friend, Alberto Granado. It was this experience that made Guevarra realize that the "campesinos" (peasants) were living in abject poverty. Guevarra was from an affluent family and about to finish medial school, so the trip was meant to be mostly about having fun. The film is a good precursor to CHE... and, for me, it's a better film. I liked CHE, but I felt it was overly long with little emotion. It might be best to watch it on Blu-Ray when you can watch it in 90-minute segments. Definitely check out THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, Nordling!
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Dec 15, 2008 10:25:28 PM CST
Oh my gad, gag me with a spoon...not another GD "Pixar" movie
by walts_turning_inthegrave
What is it with these freaking reviewers and the accolade they throw at Pixar? Are they all in Pixar’s pocket? It’s the same old shit every year. They sell us a bill of goods and then we get Cars, Ratatouille and then Wall-E. What I saw was “Shit, and Shit and more Shit”. They say the movie is moving and full of heart, sweet and junk like that but that wasn’t what I saw up on the screen. Now here comes “UP” and it’s the same old shit all over again.
Thanks but no Thanks -
and just in case you can, you owe me a good terminator film after sitting though x-men 3, sorry i mean charlie's angels 2, i often get the two of ye mixed up ;-)
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faggot
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he is far from an auteur...I hope he proves me wrong with T:S, but I doubt it.
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I feel kinda dirty for saying this, but I agree.
I never saw Cars or Ratatoille (sp?). I'm like the last person on Earth to have seen WALL-E (not by choice, just happened), but God what an overhyped snoozefest. There were a couple of beautiful moments, but that took up five minutes, maybe? The rest of it just felt like one long Pixar short. *yawn* The entire time I was thinking to myself "OK, we get it. WALL-E likes EVE. He's trying to hold her hand because he saw it in a movie. Very sweet. Can we move on?" -
Oh, I forgot to add that UP looks incredibly boring, too. I saw the trailer for it and, again, it seemed like yet another feature-length Pixar short.
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I'd do him
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I could not have said it any better, Nordling. The actual experience of BNAT far exceeds the relative quality of any particular film or films. IMHO, of equal importance to Harry's programming is the role of Tim League and the Alamo, as well as the spirit of brotherhood/sisterhood that evolves with the other attendees whether you've known them for 10 years or just met them. These factors are far more important than what sneak preview was shown or which celebrity showed up. I cannot think of a more perfect example of all of these elements coming together than that singular and transcendental moment when the theater was filled with the quiet tinkle of tiny spoons in caviar glasses while Tilda Swinton spoke about the importance of savoring the moment in Benjamin Button. Beautiful!!!
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when you have queso heartburn that threatens to "eat through the goddamn hull," does that mean you have to set through 4 hours of CHE clenching your ass cheeks together to keep liquid turds from spilling outta your pants and soaking the seat cushion?
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Since a few people have mentioned it, I'm jumping on the WALL-E shit-train. I just don't get the love for it; some poster above said it best- it's like a feature-length Pixar short. Now that I think of it, it woulda been a great Pixar short. For a full-length feature though, it was lacking all over the place. Cars sucked too. Have to disagree about Ratatouille though, that was a good 'un. None of them can hold a candle to The Incredibles tho, best animated film of ALL TIME.
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