Keanu A-Z News Reports
Thursday, July 31, 2003
THE DONNAS TO PERFORM "TOO BAD ABOUT YOUR GIRL" ON 'THE 2003 TEEN CHOICE AWARDS'
[TV Barn Ticker 31/07/2003]
AIRING AUGUST 6 ON FOX
Keanu Reeves, JC Chasez, Will Ferrell and Queen Latifah Among Stars Joining Host David Spade
Critically acclaimed rock band The Donnas are set to perform their newest single "Too Bad About Your Girl" at THE 2003 TEEN CHOICE AWARDS Wed., Aug. 6 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. The Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles will play host to the special, celebrating the hottest teen icons in film, television, music, comedy, fashion and sports. The Donnas join previously announced performers Kelly Clarkson and Evanescence.
One of today's most rebellious and irreverent bands, The Donnas are known for their loud guitars, heavy hooks and irresistible, unstoppable energy. The Bay Area-based quartet recently released their major label debut, "Spend The Night," on Atlantic Records, and were met with rave reviews. The album features the current single "Too Bad About Your Girl," which is also the lead single from the soundtrack of Warner Bros. Pictures upcoming comedy "Grind," as well as the band's breakthrough hit, "Take It Off."
Additional celebrities scheduled to appear at THE 2003 TEEN CHOICE AWARDS include Keanu Reeves ("The Matrix: Reloaded"), Queen Latifah ("Chicago"), Will Ferrell ("Old School"), singer JC Chasez, Raven ("That's So Raven"), Milo Ventimiglia ("Gilmore Girls") and Alexa Vega ("Spy Kids 3").
Celebrities previously announced include Colin Farrell ("S.W.A.T.") pop superstar Britney Spears, Ashton Kutcher ("That '70s Show"), Brittany Murphy ("Just Married"), Ryan Seacrest ("American Idol"), Sarah Michelle Gellar ("Scooby Doo 2"), Alyssa Milano ("Charmed"), Amanda Bynes ("What I Like About You"), Wilmer Valderrama ("That '70s Show"), Rebecca Romijn-Stamos ("X-Men 2"), Hillary Duff ("The Lizzie McGuire Movie"), Paula Abdul ("American Idol"), pro-skateboard legend Tony Hawk, surf pro Kelly Slater and comedians/talk-show hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Tom Green.
Actor and comedian David Spade is the first-ever host of THE TEEN CHOICE AWARDS where the coolest stars will receive coveted Teen Choice surfboard awards in categories such as "Choice Breakout TV Show," "Choice Movie Chemistry," "Choice Reality/Variety Show," "Choice Breakout Artist," "Choice Male Hottie," "Choice Female Athlete" and "Choice TV Sidekick."
THE 2003 TEEN CHOICE AWARDS is executive produced by Bob Bain ("The Billboard Music Awards") and Mike Burg. Paul Flattery and Michael Levitt serve as producers. Greg Sills serves as supervising producer.
-FOX-
The Matrix Online at UbiSoft
[By Sylvain Prevate CANOE Newspaper of Montreal ©The ASW.com 29/07/2003]
The brothers Andy and Larry Wachowski, originators and realizers of
The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded, developed a play on line drawn from their films.
Ubi Soft Entertainments of Montreal will take part in the creation of The Matrix Online , the video game inspired of films with success. C?est in partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures that the French firm, installed St. Lawrence boulevard, will act as a coeditor of the play.
Monolith Productions and Eon Entertainment, the company of the brothers Wachowski originators and realizers of the Matrix trilogy , assume the development jointly of it.
Creation of 25 jobs In full expansion, Ubi Soft currently proceeds to a new recruitment campaign.
Twenty-five stations are available and will come s?ajouter to the some 500 employees from the firm which also works on the development of several major projects of which Batman , always in collaboration with Warner Bros. and Rainbow 63 of Tom Clancy.
Million players
Shadowbane and Splinter Cell are some of the prestigious florets created by Ubi Soft which will lodge The Matrix Online on its site, ubi.com, starting from l?automne 2004.
"We want to allow million players of the whole world d?entrer in the matrix at the same time, affirms Mike Steele, the executive producer of the project. At the end of the trilogy, the Wachowski brothers made a point of continuing the project of The Matrix far from l?ideology of Hollywood."
Waiters
As a preparation, Steele sets up a team d?une score of people which will work permanently with the project requiring a hundred d?ordinateurs and waiters.
Ubi Soft is present in 21 country, whose United States, Canada, France, l?Allemagne and China and diffuses its products in addition to the products third d?éditeurs in 50 countries.
For l?exercice 2002-2003, its figure d?affaires reaches 697 M$, in rise of 23% compared to l?exercice precedent.
Launched in 1999, The Matrix accumulated international receipts of 456M$US and The Matrix Reloaded, 706M$US. The third shutter of the trilogy, The Matrix, Revolutions , will buckle the loop on next 5 November.
Curtains for France's Summer Festivals
[Business Week European Journal 31/07/2003]
Strikes and protests by arts workers are canceling even the most famous events, slamming tourism in host cities and towns nationwide
When Jack Nicholson picks up a bullhorn, it's usually to shout at his fellow actors when filming a movie. But on July 8, he used it for a different purpose: Negotiating with protesters. According to police, around 650 French arts workers stormed the central Paris set of an as-yet-untitled romantic comedy Nicholson was shooting with Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves.
Despite Nicholson's pleas, demonstrators refused to move away from the Seine River bridge where the shoot was taking place, forcing the production crew to pack it in for the night. The artists' protests against the French government's plans to change their unemployment-benefit system interrupted filming halfway through the 12-day shoot, at a cost that may not be covered by movie insurance.
Matrix Reloaded All Set To Conquer China In Mandarin
[Zeenews.com 31/07/2003]
Beijing, July 06: The "Matrix Reloaded", Hollywood blockbuster movie is about to be released in Chinese cinemas. This time Keanu Reeves(Neo), Laurence Fishburne(Morpheus) and rest of the cast will speak in fluent Mandarin while their fight for the planet Earth continues.
With Chinese premiere of the "Matrix Reloaded" scheduled for July 12 in Shanghai, dubbing work has reached a frenzy at the Ba-yi People's Liberation Army studio in Beijing.
Trying to bridge the cultural gap between onscreen heroes and Chinese viewers, a studio which belongs to China's powerful military has been working around the clock to make the high-tech movie comprehensible for the local audience.
It is a demanding job as each movie character has specific requirements and nuances. The studio has hired top actors for the job, hoping their voices will attract even more attention to the already highly publicised American film.
In the digitised world of the film where the human race is imprisoned in a computer generated reality, there is little room for linguistic mistakes.
"I believe the audience will feel good watching this movie in the Mandarin version if we translate it properly. When you watch the English version, you have to stare at the subtitles if your English is not good enough. You can hardly cope with watching a movie if you pay so much attention to the subtitles," explained Liao Qing, dubbing director of the film.
The "Matrix Reloaded" is a continuation of the first film in which the young hacker Neo (Keanu Reeves) learns that what seems to be the real world he lives in is in fact an elaborate computer simulation.
Many things have changed since 1999. In the last shot of the original film, Neo, flew up out of the frame, demonstrating that his mental abilities had transcended the enslaved delusional world of Matrix.
In the new release, he's a full fledged superhero, soaring over the skyline at thousands of miles an hour, rescuing others as trucks collide head-on.
Virtual cinematography in the movie has created the last free human city, Zion, in a cave near the Earth`s core. Backed by high tech visuals, the film is loaded with dozens of other impressive stunts in which the heroes are fighting for the survival of the human race and salvation of the planet.
Chinese viewers will find something of their own in "Matrix Reloaded". In the film Keanu Reeves (Neo), displays a fine array of martial arts skills in his endless fights with multiplying Agent Smith, played by Hugo Weaving.
"I saw lots of Chinese kung-fu in Matrix II. Of course it is different from a Chinese movie, but there is also room for a generous and warm heart. Neo is the last human being in this movie, and he has a generous and warm heart," Li Yapeng, the actor who is dubbing Neo`s voice, said.
"The Matrix Reloaded" raised the bar for action movies by introducing new levels of realism into stunt work and visual effects.
This presents Mandarin dubbers with additional difficulties because while they have to preserve the visual authenticity of the film, they also have to make it easier for the movie goers to follow the plot.
Many in China have seen the movie already due to rampant piracy, where DVDs of just released blockbusters can be bought almost simultaneously on the streets of Beijing.
"It (Dubbing) is good for the Chinese audience, because they don`t need to watch the subtitles as they have to when they are watching a pirated DVD. They can concentrate on the picture, the actor`s facial expression and other performance details," Li Yapeng said.
Despite the challenges, Chinese dubbers are convinced that this impressive, digital fairy-tale will win the hearts of viewers and make the same impact as in other parts of the globe.
Bureau Report
'The Buzz' -- Thursday
[KYW News Radio 31/07/2003]
by KYW's Mark Drucker
Keanu Reeves' band "Becky" is contributing the theme song for a new cartoon show on the Disney channel called "JoJo's Circus." The show debuts September 30th.
'A Star Is... Playing'
[Tuscon Citizen 31/07/2003]
When actors form bands and hit the road, the results are often... temporary.
Billy Bob Thornton's done it. So have Jennifer Lopez, Russell Crowe, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jared Leto, Kevin Costner, Eddie Murphy, Keanu Reeves, Johnny Depp, John Schneider, David Hasselhoff, Kevin Bacon, Rick Springfield, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Mitchum and the Olsen Twins. Hilary Duff plans to do it later this month.They are established actors who have made forays into the world of music. The list is long, and more will follow.
Most of them approach it as a hobby, putting out music sporadically or just once. Some have minor success with novelty songs, such as Murphy's mid-'80s pop single "Party All the Time" and Shatner's campy rendition of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds." Others use the medium to further establish themselves as brands, as do Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who released such kids records as "I Am the Cute One" during their "Full House" reign. Relatively few go on to any kind of real musical career that threatens to eclipse the acting, so that Jennifer Lopez is a rarity in the extent to which she has been able to navigate both worlds.
Releases by actors-turned-singers are often met by critics with raised eyebrows, even pangs of fear. When Clark Collis, senior editor at Blender and executive editor of Maxim Goes to the Movies, gets a CD by an actor tossed on his desk, his enthusiasm is tempered.
"There's no doubt that your heart rather sinks. I have to say that nine out of 10 actors turn pop star and produce the most fearful, terrible rubbish," Collis says. Collis reviewed Thornton's 2001 release "Private Radio," which he found to fit the norm for product from actors-turned-singers. "His musical career will be shorter than his marriage to Angelina Jolie," he says.
But for the actors - and, more important, their market value - there appears to be little more to lose than a bit of pride. They get their names circulating, position themselves as multidimensional, sell out shows and have the opportunity to indulge another interest.
Because of the power behind their names, they get articles in magazines (Collis wrote one on Russell Crowe & 30 Odd Foot of Grunts for Q) and newspapers, and they get to play venues that the majority of touring acts have no hope of entering, unless they pay at the door.
Tucson-based promoter Brad Nozicka, chief executive of CAL Productions, says that such shows are gimmes from a financial standpoint. Nozicka has booked Keanu Reeves' Dogstar, Russell Crowe & 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, Dennis Quaid & the Sharks and the Bacon Brothers.
Nozicka brings Thornton to City Limits, 6350 E. Tanque Verde Road, tomorrow night, with Holly Williams opening. And Thornton would not be playing a 600-plus-capacity venue such as City Limits without his famous name.
"Absolutely not," Nozicka says. "And neither would Holly Williams. She's Hank Williams' granddaughter, and she's a supermodel. That supermodel would not be playing at City Limits if she weren't beautiful and there weren't that history."
Thornton actually started out as a musician, but in the marketing of himself as a singer-songwriter he brings incredible currency with his already established, multimillion-dollar name. Such crossovers are common in Hollywood, with actors lending their personae to other realms of entertainment, such as doing voice-overs for animation, having their likenesses appear in video games and appearing in stage productions.
"You see people trying to extend that fame into other areas, and usually that only works if where you go relates to where you got your start," says Jeff Nordensson, president of the Tucson-based advertising and public relations firm The Nordensson Group. "(Thornton)'s not a romantic lead, and if he were doing traditional ballads that wouldn't work. It has to be consistent."
Thornton's celebrity persona as an intense-yet-goofy troubadour is matched by his rootsy music so that the his image is supported by his songs, not hindered.
"Such choices rarely interfere with their star personae," Kevin S. Sandler, a professor of media arts at the University of Arizona, says via an e-mail interview. "When it comes to playing music, one can easily consolidate both Russell Crowe's and Keanu Reeves' decision with their star persona. Russell is a rock and roll guy, and Keanu is a slacker. Their music reflects that."
Nozicka notes that the majority of actors-turned-singers aren't making money on tours, just breaking even. They are, however, branding themselves as Jacks-of-more-than-one-trade.
"In the words of David Bowie, the idea is to diversify and become a nuisance everywhere. And it's true," says Tess Taylor, president of the National Association of Record Industry Professionals. "Branding is about getting multiple impressions. Think about a new soda or a new car trying to break into the market."
There is, of course, also the element of fun, of pursuing an interest beyond one's day job and getting a reaction from an adoring, live audience. In 1989, Costner sang for a band called Roving Boy, which released the album "Simple Truth" in Japan.
"Kevin did have fun with the music," says John Coinman, a Tucson-based singer-songwriter who co-founded Roving Boy with Costner. "He loves music, and he wanted to be a musician in addition to being an actor... . And he didn't have the time to work at it. And that is the downfall of a lot of actors - they don't have the time to really work on their instrument or their voice."
Roving Boy was set to tour Japan, but it never happened, Coinman says, because of Costner's schedule, the time it would have taken from his family and his getting "ripped apart" in the L.A. Times. But people would have turned out, if not for the music, then to occupy the same room as Costner.
"Music in a lot of cases doesn't mean a lot to people. It's the persona," Coinman says. "It's not a music-driven business. It's a market-driven business."
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
MOVIE REVIEW: 'The Matrix Reloaded' makes sensory overload really fun
[By COLIN COVERT, THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE 30/07/2003]
(SMW) - Let me begin by saying: Wow!Wow, as in unbelievable, astonishing, amazing, awe-inspiring. For sheer exhilarating spectacle, "The Matrix Reloaded" is the film to beat this year.
Its effects are mind-melting, its action sequences are spine-cracking, and its conception of a post-apocalyptic human outpost besieged by an armada of spiderlike death machines is as visually engrossing as anything we've seen from George Lucas, James Cameron or Peter Jackson.
The second chapter of the "Matrix" trilogy, which opens tonight at many theaters, moves beyond the agenda of the moody, elaborately plotted and ingenious original film. Neo (Keanu Reeves) has learned to ignore the physical laws of the illusory machine-universe, thus acquiring extraordinary powers within the Matrix.
"He's doing his Superman thing," remarks an admirer as Neo swirls through the clouds like the Man of Steel.
Neo is now revered by many of humanity's survivors as the One, the messiah who will liberate them from their satanic A.I. oppressors. Some leaders of Zion, the last human outpost, put their faith in conventional weaponry instead, ridiculing the notion of a superpowered savior.
Neo has his doubts, too. He's overwhelmed by crowds entreating his help and troubled by visions of a tragedy he can't prevent. For all his superhuman powers, he admits, "I don't know what I'm supposed to do."
What the film requires of him is perhaps less challenging than avid fans of the original "Matrix" might hope. Not as deep or witty as the first installment, "Reloaded" offers fewer mythic-philosophical puzzles and many, many more chases and fights. Neo's main responsibility as mankind's salvation is to do a lot of supersonic butt-kicking.
Reeves' elegantly choreographed Hong Kong beat-downs against multiple opponents help distract attention from the film's narrative missteps. Large chunks of wearisome chatter in the first act slow the film to a crawl. True, the original stopped half an hour into its story to explain what the heck was going on when Neo tumbled down the virtual-reality rabbit hole. But the first film was juggling a lot of novel ideas that required some explaining.
This time the retina-roasting action orgy is put on hold while we're stuck in one of those awful "Star Trek"-style Supreme Council jawfests where Gen. Minoxydil filibusters Assemblyman Motrin about where to position the hypersonic plasma cannons.
The film regains its blistering pace in the middle stretch, but the finale is nearly derailed by another expository speed-bump. Neo confronts a man (or program?) who casts doubt on his role as mankind's potential savior. Coming fast on the heels of one of the rubber-burningest, metal-twistingest freeway chases in screen history, this dissertation downshifts the film's momentum fast enough to snap a drive shaft.
The actors are outstandi
ng in their martial-arts scenes. Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss (as his leather-clad love interest, Trinity) and Laurence Fishburne (playing Neo's compatriot, Morpheus) fare better than many of Hollywood's brand-name action stars as they shoot, slice and somersault their way to liberation. They also hold the screen when they're required to be sexy (Reeves and Moss make up for the first film's zero-eros ambience) or commanding (Fishburne addresses a crowd of 1,500 Zionists with the fervor of Moses reincarnated).
But the film's new characters feel vague - a sneering power broker called the Merovingian (Lambert Wilson) and his haughty wife, Persephone (Monica Bellucci), their dreadlocked henchmen, the Twins (Neil and Adrian Rayment), and a mysterious know-it-all called the Architect (Helmut Bakaitis).
Writer/directors Larry and Andy Wachowski might blow away these objections come November, when they unveil the final part of their film trilogy, "The Matrix: Revolutions." "Reloaded" is merely the down payment on the big finale, and the plot points and characters that feel incomplete now might be part of a grand plan yet to come. The imaginary world they have shown us so far gives us every reason to keep the faith.
EXCESS HOLLYWOOD: KEANU REEVES IS JESUS
[Film Threat by Doug Brunell (07/28/2003)]
I'll state it here and now: I hate Keanu Reeves. He's been in exactly one worthwhile movie ... ever. That was "River's Edge." I dislike the man so much that I avoided seeing The Matrix for a year or two because he had a starring role. (My brother-in-law made me watch it after I forced him to watch Chopper.) After viewing the blockbuster sci-fi film, I found that I liked the ideas behind The Matrix more than I liked the movie. Reeves' latest vomit, The Matrix: Reloaded, isn't even in the same league as its predecessor, despite the inherent camp value in making Reeves' character Jesus-like.
I'm not a religious person by any stretch of the imagination, but I know that there are millions of people who believe in that sort of thing, and many of them are waiting for the Second Coming (a porno-like title if there ever was one). After seeing The Matrix: Reloaded, I had to wonder what life would be like if Keanu Reeves was the new Jesus.
Yeah, it scared me, too.
With Reeves as Jesus, you get some admittedly cool powers. For example, Reeves can stop bullets with a wave of his neatly manicured hand, which would be incredibly useful if he ever visited Oakland, California. He can also bring the dead back to life by sticking those same hands into their bodies and massaging their hearts. (If that isn't every woman's fantasy -- and some men's -- I don't know what is.) I think that in order for the original Jesus to bring the dead back to life, all he had to do was snap his fingers or fold his arms across his chest, tilt his head and wink. Reeves' way is much more dramatic.
Reeves can also fly, which beats out Jesus' walking on water bit. I'd much rather have a savior who can fly almost at the speed of sound as opposed to one who can only run across the Atlantic. If my ass needs saving, it can't wait for some guy to catch his breath 200 miles off the Jersey shore.
When you start to think about it, Reeves would actually make a better savior than Jesus. He's hip, he's in a hot movie franchise, and he's easy on the eyes. Okay, he's not the smartest guy around, but I'd much rather hear his surfer exclamations after performing miracles than Jesus' preachy speeches any day. We all know we should be good to one another, but it would be way cooler to hear Reeves say, "Man, I kick ass!"
Reeves is the Jesus for the computer age. He's the Lord of Generation X and Generation Pepsi. He's everything God promised his son to be and more. He's cool. He doesn't have long hair, and he wears sunglasses instead of sandals. Unfortunately, for Reeves to really take his rightful place as the Messiah, he needs to die and be resurrected.
I've got the hammer and nails. I can get some boards. What do you say, Keanu? Are you ready to take that last fateful step? The step that will forever secure your role as the answer to all mankind's problems? Are you ready to die for our sins, or are you content to keep crapping out lousy performances on the silver screen? (Dying a little more every time we see you, no doubt.)
I'll dress as Agent Smith if you want, or a Roman soldier for authenticity. Are you game?
... and when Keanu rose from the dead, he looked upon his kingdom and smiled. "Thy will be done," he told his faithful. "Let all who hath suffered be cleansed of all sin, and let the non-believers see the eternal truth. For am I Lord." And he looked at the beauty of what he hath created and exclaimed his joy, "Whoa!" --from "The New American Matrix Bible"
'Matrix' reloads with power
[Kinston.com 30/07/2003]
THE MATRIX RELOADED By Pepper Worthington Special to The Free Press
Computer terror. Plugged-in humans. Beehive pod-like origin.
You think 1984 is scary? Allow directors Larry and Andy Wachowski to show you a world where computers use our cable-plugged bodies created in pods that line the universe like a beehive.
Bodies are an energy source which serve the Matrix, a virtual-reality software program control.
How does the Matrix work? Imagine bodies hooked to a large cable that plugs in at the back of the head at the base. Bodies recline in a chair while plugged into the Matrix cable and they enter the software computer program and experience life. If anything dangerous happens to bodies in this software program, it happens to them in reality, making them vulnerable even to death while reclining in the chair with the main cable plugged into their skulls. Illusion has become a reality.
.
The Wachowski brothers have tapped a new science fiction terror, namely, the take-over of the computer. We are not threatened by aliens outside of our planet. No. We are threatened by the mind-control Matrix whose cable connections reduces mankind to a mental life in a programmed framework controlled by the Matrix and its creators.
The great war in this second scenario, "The Matrix Reloaded," is the war between the people of Zion and the soldiers of the Matrix. The name Zion echoes the search for a homeland by the outcast Jews. Those who live in the wheel-cranked, robot-designed steel skyscraper Metropolis in the belly of the Earth are the rebels, the ones who pulled the plugs from the base of their skulls and raced to the Earth's center with its heat. They do not need solar power to enter the Matrix, for their entry is often by a telephone or main modem. When they enter the Matrix they seek not to annihilate their will by participation in the mechanized program but instead to tempt others to rebel and resist the programmed life. Ultimately the programmed life leads to complete mechanization with loss of choice, love and soul.
The special effects are daunting in this robust technical extravaganza.
Our hero, Thomas A. Anderson, called Neo (Keanu Reeves), has been scooped up by Morpheus (Laurence Fisburne) to train as a weapon against the battle with The Machines. In the first film, Morpheus trained Neo to fight, but in this scenario, Neo takes off with superhuman speed skills, flies through the air, confronts multiple programmed Agent Smiths (Hugo Weaving) in a fight that terrifies in its massive bee-like attack.
Neo is called "the one," an echo of Christ as the anointed one who comes to save the world, dies, but comes back to life. The superhuman Neo is not certain of himself, but finds new strength in Morpheus's belief in him. As Neo seeks the Oracle (Gloria Foster), the inheritance of Greek influence pervades. Likewise, the wild Bacchanalian night in Zion where bodies feel the power of music, sex and emotion echoes the Greek world.
What keeps Neo strong in the human rebellion against The Machines is his love for Trinity (Corrie-Anne Moss), a warrior for Morpheus whose penchant for battle electrifies scenes. Her battles reveal karate skills, gun-charging stormtrooping and motorcycle daredevilry. Trinity on the motorcycle has to be seen. Her name echoes the power of Judaism so that when one part of her dies, Neo reaches into her body to extract the bullet and bring her back to life.
Danger lurks everywhere in the Matrix world because the software program seeks to keep alive the illusion as the reality. Foes are everywhere to protect the illusion. The vampire-like twins (Neil and Adrian Rayment) who wear white suits and vaporize in mid-air are terrifying in their highway scene. The Merovingian (Lambert Wilson) who imprisons the Keymaker is a cause-and-effect philosopher who seeks to destroy all who declare choice has a place in the program.
Then there is the attack of the insect-clattering machines who seek to annihilate the rebels in the world, particularly the ones in the hovercraft Nebuchadnezzar, with its computer modem that can carry the rebels into the Matrix.
This film can be considered daunting. The questions it raises are terrifying but certainly worth a talk session for adults and youth alike. What is the Matrix trying to do? Is it not trying to eliminate the individual in order to submerge all reality into the overall design of the computer reality? If the rebel can be controlled, then the singularity of the individual can disappear into the computer Matrix. The energy is the computer program. The reality is the computer program. All circuits must conform in order to keep the systems smooth flowing. What then is the larger body of humanity? Nothing but the Matrix? Nothing but Machines.
What place does choice have? Is everything merely cause and effect in the Matrix?
The reality of people with plugs at the base of the skull who can be hooked up to a central brain that feeds the images and maintains the life is terrifying. The Machines in the story are the order-keepers who are carefully programmed to provide a uniform force to keep order, to maintain the authority to keep the illusion going, to maintain the ultimate power of the Matrix. How can a body unplug? Even the people in the bee-hive world of Zion have plugs, but they have rebelled and resist the Matrix illusion.
The Machines who are totally in the Matrix are Mechanical Men who reproduce themselves in multiples. They are terrifying and are designed to destroy rebels.
Our hero, Neo, and heroine, Trinity, as well as leader Morpheus deliberately go into the Matrix to warn others, to free the Keymaker, to end the great war. These three characters are human enough and rebellious enough to be a threat to the Matrix, because it is a threat to be unplugged and out there beyond a program. Nothing is more important than unplugged thought.
The deceit of the Matrix becomes a red warning to modern society. After all, who would not want to be inside the Matrix if all is supplied to you, all your needs are met, thinking is eliminated, movement is by programmed cause and effect. Real connection is no longer needed. Only connect to the Matrix. Only participate in the interactive computer frameworks of thought that are programmed in the Matrix. Plug the Matrix into the brain and allow the program to control.
But who controls the Matrix? Ah. There's the rub. Who is the man at the switchboard? Can the individual self be annihilated in the illusion of the Matrix? Does not the Matrix central brain become the reality so that the individual self is annihilated in the illusion of the program? The great conflict is no longer outside alien forms attacking the world. Here, the attack is against the individual whose existence must only be as part of a program. The program of the world of the Matrix is the truth unless a rebellious soul says the Matrix is an illusion.
In earlier science fiction, the attack upon mankind was more at the social level. Here the attack is at the cellular level. Here the individual is merely a cell in a larger universe of the Matrix, so that the micro becomes the macro. The world does not need the real person anymore. All connection is made by technology.
Is this scary or what?
Excitement Comes From Frears' Films
[BEN NUCKOLS Associated Press 30/07/2003] excerpts
WASHINGTON - Stephen Frears is best known for directing "Dangerous Liaisons" and "The Grifters," for which he received an Oscar nomination in 1990 - that is, if he's known at all.
In nearly every movie he makes, Frears finds a performer who's either little-known or on the rise and propels him or her to bigger things. Just a partial list includes Tim Roth in "The Hit," Gary Oldman in "Prick Up Your Ears," Keanu Reeves and Uma Thurman in "Dangerous Liaisons," Billy Crudup and Penelope Cruz in "The Hi-Lo Country" and Jack Black in "High Fidelity."
"I'm a sort of bus stop," Frears says with his usual self-deprecation.
But he does have an explanation for his ability to discover new talent: "If you make things that are fresh and original, you involve people around you who aren't familiar. You have to be original on many levels, including the casting."
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
"The Musix: Kinetic-Coolness"
[TrackSounds.com 29/07/2003]
Review by Christopher Coleman
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Quick Quotes
"Overall, the score for The Matrix Reloaded is less frightening, less dissonant, and less disjointed (than The Matrix). It hits most of its major beats in stride, and the weaker portions are forgiven because of their brevity." ****
Christian Clemmenson - Filmtracks Reviews
The Matrix Reloaded
Music composed by Don Davis, Ben Watkins (Juno Reactor), Rob Dougan
Conducted by Don Davis
Orchestrations Erik Lundborg, Conrad Pope
Music Supervisor: Jason Bentley
Produced by Guy Oseary
Released by Warner/Maverick Records on May 6, 2003
Few knew of the media storm that was brewing within the mind of the directing Wachowski Brothers. Two sequels, nine anime shorts (The Animatrix), and two video games, (Enter the Matrix, The Matrix Online), and God knows what else, would come barreling out the tandem's minds. These ongoing revelations of things to come in the Matrix franchise (in the form of innocuous press releases) got fans of both electronica and composer Don Davis, salivating.
Instead of the two separate soundtrack releases that earmarked The Matrix, Warner/Maverick Records elected to combine the two into one two-disc release. Why a double disc release this time? This double release simply kills two agents with one shot and the label is surely hoping that such a release will combine the electronica and film music consumer groups into one cash-cow. Disc one plays the role of the Maverick's original soundtrack release of The Matrix, while disc 2, more or less, functions as Varese Sarabande's original score release did (a release which remains in the Top 20 All Time Best Sellers for the label). Disc 1 features a compilation of electronica and metal tracks, a good portion of which are relegated to the end credits...and thankfully so. Now, Rob Dougan's Furious Angels (disc 1 - track 4) is an acceptional track but actually would suits disc 2 better. The rest of disc 1 is not nearly as engaging as the 1999 compilation soundtrack from The Matrix and not the focus of this review. Still, you will find the tracks from disc 1 fully rated below.
The Matrix Reloaded hardly rests on the laurels of its predecessor and that goes for the music as well. Visually, the movie sets new standards of computer graphic effects, and this time, musically, the Wachowski's wanted to synthesize the orchestral work of Don Davis with the "kinetic-coolness" that can be found in the genre of electronica. After listening to, a disappointing solo attempt by Don Davis at just such a synthesis, namely the original score for Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever, I believe the Brothers Wachowski, Jason Bentley et al, made a wise choice in selecting both Rob Dougan and Juno Reactor to provide the synthesized-side of this fusion.
The tracks that solely feature the orchestral work of composer Don Davis capture the essence of his contribution to the film nicely. Again Davis heavily relies upon brass instrumentation and pounding percussive accents to provide the signature environment. The opening two tracks, which together mirror Trinity Infinity (track 1 from The Matrix score album), re-introduces the established style from the first movie with a handful of familiar motifs. Among those is the reflecting-brass motif, which permeates The Matrix Reloaded. The bulk of pure Don Davis' work is contained in The Matrix Reloaded Suite (track 7) . The over-17-minute suite contains excerpts from throughout the film and are neatly arranged into a smooth, yet diverse, listening experience. The suite includes: the militaristic segment of the Nebuchadnezzar's landing at Zion (a musical style not found in the original Matrix film), the reverent choral-underscoring of "Neo's Zion Following", the mysterious (but let's face it, enviable)
"Persephone's Kiss," the triumphant "Morpheus' Prayer" (which recalls the "revelation" motif from the climax of original film) and finally the finale "Rescue and Resurrection," which also introduces yet another new theme - a victorious love theme that wouldn't surprise me if it showed up in the The Matrix Revolutions once or twice. Of course, there remains a goodly amount of Davis' score which is not represented on this release, but what music is included will provide a satisfactory experience for most. For now, hard-core collectors will have to hope and pray for a more complete release down the road.
Moving along track 3, Teahouse, things changes gears, as the listener gets their first taste of Juno Reactor's considerable contribution sound of The Matrix Reloaded. This brief Kung-Fu-confrontation with a Jet-Li-like-security program, is underscored almost solely by percussion. A tip of the hat to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? Possibly, as Michelle Yeoh was briefly considered to play the part of the Fu-firewall and fight choreographer Wu Ping worked on both films. Chateau (track 4) slams into high gear as Rob Dougan's high-octane electronic composition functions as and feels similar to the Propellerhead's Spy Break from the first film. Track 5 is one of the best pieces from either The Matrix Reloaded or The Matrix. Mona Lisa Overdrive (track 5) is a scintillating collaboration between composer Don Davis and Juno Reactor. This sometimes-methodical, sometimes-hypnotic, piece shifts gear after gear as the heros and villians clash in a non-stop car chase - the likes of which filmgoers have never seen...or heard before! We can only hope that The Matrix Revolutions will offer another sampling of this sort of collaborative effort. Finally, track 6, the famed Burley Brawl, is yet another teaming of Davis and Juno Reactor. Punchy, acoustic drums (or at least sampled drums?), bold and brash brass, and the choral accents and occasional solos combine to underscore what many consider to be the centerpiece sequence of the film. This mind-blowing, incalculable sequence reaches such stature in no small part to the frenetic pace the music reaches.
We are now deep into the musical rabbit-hole with composer Don Davis as our guide. If the music from The Matrix grabbed you, then go ahead and red-pill the double-disc soundtrack from The Matrix Reloaded. Clearly, Davis' post-modern compositional thread continues into part 2 of the Matrix trilogy but before you think you've gotten this release figured out, be assured you probably don't. Yes, one will find a number of familiar motifs and themes from the original Matrix score, but The Matrix Reloaded takes on a few twists of its own. Once again the Wachowski Brothers have upped the anty: storyline, visually, and with the considerable help of composer Don Davis, Juno Reactor, Rob Dougan, Jason Bently, it also does musically.
BILLY JACK NABS A DIRECTOR
[CHUD 29/07/2003]
Contributing sources: Variety
Um...okay. So, Billy Jack has been looking for a director for awhile now (I guess Walking Tall racing forward put the pressure on) as Keanu Reeves "ain't getting any younger" and now they've found him in Peter Care, the director of many a music video (Depeche Mode's "Stripped" and "Shake the Disease," R.E.M.'s "Drive," "Man on the Moon" and "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?") and the "Bounty Hunter" episode of The Red Shoe Diaries. Anyway, after he tackled The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, a movie - in my opinion - that didn't entirely work, has had his name put on every project in the universe, including the big Stephen King adaptation, Bag of Bones, which was supposed to go this year.
But oh, well - now he's doing Billy Jack, but not likely any time soon as Keanu is doing Constantine starting in about five weeks. The Billy Jack script is by John Fusco, who wrote Young Guns, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and the upcoming Hidalgo flick. Nice guy, Fusco - big into the wilderness, has a bunch of horses that he breeds and probably is the closest screenwriter in Hollywood to the character of Billy Jack, so why not?
The trade break says that it's a remake of the 1971 film Billy Jack, though hardcore film geeks know that Billy Jack's first appearance was actually in the AIP motorcycle frenzy classic, The Born Losers in 1967 (all the Billy Jack movies were written/produced/directed by their star, Tom Laughlin, under a variety of different names).
Will Peter Care do a decent Billy Jack? Who the fuck knows/cares, but at least there's some movement.
Monday, July 28, 2003
Changing Style Keanu Reeves
[Heat Magazine [UK] 25 Jul-1 Aug 2003]
We saw Keanu Reeves outside Starbucks in Covent Garden last week - and we still feel faint!
Media imports trigger global culture debates
[Washington Times 28/07/2003]
The "Big Brother" TV show unifies cultures in Africa. Egypt bans "The Matrix: Reloaded." Australian Christian schools outlaw "Harry Potter."
Debates about Western culture, particularly American culture, often take on a new dimension when they occur in foreign places.
"The biggest concern that people have is the erosion of local traditions, the encouragement of immediate gratification, the emphasis on a superficial view of reality," said Michael Medved, a syndicated, conservative American talk show host.
In the United States, there was some uproar recently about "The Matrix: Reloaded" when several New Jersey teenagers were said to have planned to imitate the film's stylized violence in a massacre, which was averted.
The film, which has brought in more than $500 million in global sales, focuses on the trials of Neo, a computer hacker played by Keanu Reeves, who tries to free humanity from enslavement by artificial intelligence.
"The Matrix," which was the first film in the series and was released in 1999, was attacked as having influenced the Columbine High School killers in Littleton, Colorado. But an analyst of Egyptian culture views Egypt's decision in June to ban "The Matrix: Reloaded" this year as springing from the country's insecurities.
"There are real concerns in Egypt about issues like globalization, the real economic power of international corporations, real concerns about the very limited space for democracy, and real concern with what's going on in Israel and Palestine," said Ted Swedenburg, an anthropologist at the University of Arkansas.
"There was some kind of sensitivity to the fact that [the film] contained a Zionist message," Mr. Swedenburg said, referring to Zion, the film's name for where free humans congregate.
Egypt's censors, who didn't ban the 1999 film, were more discreet, saying in a statement that the 2003 film "explicitly handles the issues of existence and creation, which are related to the three divine religions, which we all respect and believe in. ... Such religious issues, raised in previous times, caused crises."
Other African countries have received another form of American entertainment enthusiastically: a version of CBS' reality TV show, "Big Brother," customized for Anglophone Africa. "Big Brother" was originally a European TV show.
In the CBS show, 12 persons are confined to a house wired with cameras. Each week, someone is voted off until one remains and wins a half-million dollars.
The difference in the African version is that the 12 persons come from different English-speaking countries — including South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Nigeria — and the winner takes home $100,000.
In the United States, some entertainment critics worry that the show, part of a growing trend of reality TV, promotes superficial values and deception.
But in Africa, the hugely successful show is breaking down cultural boundaries and encouraging open talk about HIV/AIDS and other taboos, said Edward Lifschitz, the curator of education at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art.
"The program is working toward this sense of Africans feeling kinship to each other, rather than simply to their country or tribe," he said.
Mr. Lifschitz said American concern about voyeurism doesn't come up in Africa, where there are issues about how many wives a man can have. He added that Africans have long enjoyed real-life dramas more than fantasy stories.
Sometimes, however, the culture debates aren't so different.
Around the world, some Christians have tried to prevent their children from reading the "Harry Potter" series, the fifth installment of which came out recently and has become the fastest-selling novel ever.
Some Christians in the United States and abroad worry that the novels about a young wizard inspire witchcraft.
In Australia, 60 Seventh-day Adventist schools have shunned the novels. There have been attempts in 13 of the 50 United States to ban the books from public libraries.
Connie Neal, author of books arguing that "Harry Potter" promotes biblical values, said hysteria about the novels is overblown and has spread because of the Internet.
Last year, she said, the Onion, a satirical magazine, posted an absurd story about 14 million children converting to Satanism because of the novel.
But, Mrs. Neal said, the article was forwarded around the world through the Internet as if it were authentic. This led to book burnings and other protests, which, she said, reporters emphasized too much.
Mrs. Neal said the novels offer a convenient forum for parents to discuss good and evil with their children. "It sets up a fantasy world where we can talk to our children," she said.
Keanu Reeves Stars 10 [New German Book]
[badly translated from German]
Michael Kohler KEANU REEVES - Star! 10,160 pages, approx.. 150 photos/16 in color Hardcover, 15 x 20 cm? 9,90/SFr 18.20 ISBN 3-929470-40-3. Available from October
Everything about the star of the Matrix Trilogy to contents as part of the "lost" generation around the time of the late River Phoenix has made Keanu Reeves likewise just as successful in his exemplary career.
He's shaped his career in different films such as BILL & TEDS CRAZY PERSON JOURNEY IN the FUTURE and POINT BREAK - DANGEROUS SURF, became with SPEED to never swarm. He gave a face to THE MATRIX - the new action cinema and nevertheless always remained distant from Hollywood.
This tenth volume of the Stars! draws Reeves' adventurous journey beside and on the canvas after: from his first steps in the film business to his musical trips with the band Dogstar and into the depths of the Matrix Universe. At the end he stands as one of the most in demand stars of the present.
The book is generously illustrated with numerous rare photos. 16 in color! The author Michael Kohler, born 1969, is a writer and a film and art critic for others and for the Frankfurt round rundschau, the world and the citizens of Berlin newspaper. Co-authored by David Fincher.
Reviews of Star!:
"Hollywoods youngest Star, presented in a serious and affectionate portrait and essay volumes." (Focus)
"A successful mixture from film analysis, Biography with a breath of gossip." (TV feature)
"Hit of the month! The volumes of the Stars! row shine with exciting and pointed Portraits." (Cinema)
You can pre-order it from Amazon.de
Sells Like Teen Spirit
[In These Times 28/07/2003]
The nice thing about living in Washington is that on your way to the mall you can see ads promoting Lockheed-Martin’s Super Hercules airplane—“a totally new, advanced, fully integrated digital weapons system.” A study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania recently found that lobbyists spent $105 million during the 107th Congress on such advertising—designed for members of Congress, not the public.
The nice thing about living in New York is that you can go see Josh Hartnett expound on the future of the Democratic Party. Talk about making love and not war.
The Dems could do worse. Hartnett looks better in a swimsuit than John Edwards, even. He’s adorable, he’s a Midwesterner, and last month he appeared on a panel at the 92nd Street Y with other noted political science scholars, including novelist Walter Mosley and actress Janeane Garofalo. But the real draw that night was Danny Goldberg, music mogul-cum-campaign strategist and author of Dispatches from the Culture Wars: How the Left Lost Teen Spirit.
Goldberg is not completely off-base when he argues that the Democrats should go after young folks. One way to do that would be to emphasize the points of clear distinction between the left and the right on social issues, like, er … the war! Well, perhaps that’s not such a clearcut issue for the party. OK: gay marriage. Uh, no, there are two Democrats co-sponsoring the constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Hmm … welfare reform? Nope. Wait—I got it: rap music.
That’s right, Goldberg thinks the key to Democratic victory is to “embrace popular culture.” He rails against those Democrats he labels as the “new Puritans,” whose attacks on violence in the media risk alienating an entire generation. In a particularly nifty bit of rhetorical spin, he posits that vilifying popular culture is so dumb that even Republicans know not to do it. As he told Salon: “There were no Republican senators who signed on to the Lieberman bill that would have had the Federal Trade Commission regulate entertainment. Why? I mean, they thought about this and they said, ‘You know what? Let the Democrats have this one.’ ”
Goldberg is referring to the Media Marketing Accountability Act of 2001, co-sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Hillary Clinton of New York. The bill, it’s true, had no Republican co-sponsors, but a similar bill in 2000 was co-sponsored by Republicans Sam Brownback of Kansas and Orrin Hatch of Utah (talk about your new Puritans). The bill is hardly perfect, but it’s hardly an Ashcroftian menace to civil rights—or, as Goldberg put it, “a bill that edged closer to government censorship of the arts than anything proposed since the ’30s.”
The MMAA—which passed in both the House and Senate but was not signed by President Bush—would have endowed the FTC with the power to regulate the marketing of violent material to young people, hardly a right-wing conspiracy—if anything, a positively socialist agenda. Commercial Alert, the marketing watchdog of Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen group, proposed the idea in 1999. When I attended the media violence hearings on the Hill in 2000, some of the most vocal critics of this approach weren’t the new Puritans, but rather the old capitalists. Before he came around and co-sponsored the Brownback-Hatch bill, Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona, demurred, “As a defender of the free market I do not begrudge anyone’s honest profits.”
The problem depends on your definition of honest profits, I guess. Selling “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City” to 11-year-olds doesn’t seem particularly honest to me.
Goldberg testified at those media violence hearings, wrapping himself in the flag and the First Amendment and whatnot—a preview of what he goes on about at great length in his book, playing the whole thing as a metaphor for how anyone who would criticize pop culture is, like, a square. He told Salon that old people should get over themselves already: “Nothing is going to touch me the way Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde touched me then. But today, to my daughter, Pink is somebody she’s going to remember 30 years from now. Kids who like the White Stripes, or like Jay-Z or Eminem, these are artists who are touching them in a similar way. They’re 16, and we’re not.”
This is all very noble until you think about how much money Goldberg stood to lose if the FTC had decided to again enforce the kind of “safe harbor” regulations that, for decades, kept Saturday morning television from becoming the branded virtual toy store it is today, or if it had decided to clamp down on the predatory marketing of graphic, violent games and music.
In calling for Democrats to re-engage with the culture war, Goldberg deliberately confuses art and the market in a way that’s familiar to anyone who’s seen Britney drink a Pepsi or seen Cadillac Escalades blown away by the wrath of a Matrixed Keanu Reeves. Violence is hardly the point, actually: The deep association between culture and commerce is. Real progressives look askance at this connection, and progressive young people do, too. It’s no coincidence that the causes young people have flocked to over the past few years—from antisweatshop activism to anti-Starbucks bumper stickers—explicitly seek to disrupt corporate control over the public sphere.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want defense contractors hijacking my government. But I don’t want record executives to, either.
The Matrix Reloaded Blows Away Audiences With Both Barrels
[UpAndComing Magazine 21/07/2003]
Multiple Agent Smiths reach out and touch Morpheus
Directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski, The Matrix Reloaded is the long-awaited sequel to The Matrix, a movie which not only set the bar for all sci-fi/fantasy flicks to come, but shattered the scale. Reloaded is no different, picking up where the original left off, though the film takes audiences much deeper down the rabbit hole than could have ever been expected.
Without giving much away, Reloaded is bigger, louder, better than the original, building both on the story and the special effects. Also affected is the film series' philosophical and religious undertones, pitting man against machine in the ultimate battle for supremacy.
In Reloaded, Neo and the rebel leaders estimate that they have 72 hours until 250,000 "squidies" discover Zion and destroy it and its inhabitants. Bummer, huh? On top of all this, Neo must decide how he can save Trinity from a dark fate in his dreams, as well as figure out the mystery of the matrix before it's too late. That's about as bare bones a plot synopsis as I'll give, because core fans will already know what to expect, and this is really a movie for them. Newcomers who haven't seen the original won't know what they're getting themselves into and don't belong in the theatre - go rent the first and then come back.
As a good sequel should, Reloaded takes all the elements from the first film and magnifies them, enlarging both the scope and range of one of the most original story lines written in popular fiction, ala the Wachowski brothers. Reloaded also manages to bring back all the major players, including Fishburne, Gloria Foster as the Oracle, Carrie-Anne Moss, Keanu Reeves, and, of course, Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith.
The film also introduces Jada Pinkett Smith as Niobe and Anthony Zerbe as Councilor Hamann. There's also cameos by Roy Jones, Jr. as Ballard, and Cornel West as Councilor West. An added pair of evil characters are played by twins Adrian and Neil Rayment, who have some neat powers that further raise the martial arts and sci-fi ante, as do the martial skills of Seraph, a guardian of the Oracle, played by Collin Chou.
While it's obvious that the f/x and action sequences are cranked to the max, it's the story that gets a tremendous boost. Though the film drags in places, because it focuses on dialogue necessary to exploring the plot, there is plenty of action to keep things interesting, interjected healthily in between the explanations and philosophical meandering.
In fact, the scenes where 100 Agent Smiths attack Neo, and the Freeway rescue scene are two of the most intense, and action-packed scenes ever filmed, featuring effects and martial arts moves never seen before ... ever. It's a whole new level of beatings that are being delivered.
The only criticisms I offer are leveled at the Zion rave scene, which dragged on, and offered a love scene between Neo and Trinity. While I understood the reasoning behind the scene, it could have been shorter. The cave scene also includes an oration by Morpheus which comes off as self-serving and corny.
Again, if you aren't a fan of the first film or a fan of philosophy or religion, then you won't appreciate Reloaded, which offers twofold scoops of these elements, so be prepared.
Indeed, this is not your father's Matrix, and if all you're expecting is butt-kicking and big guns, then you're going to miss the point: which centers around the nature of the world around us and the reality we accept. Also examined are the conflicting philosophies of Fate versus Free Will, with the subject of choice taking center stage - as opposed to the first film's differing definitions of reality. This movie is a test of faith, I think, to accept this as not only a sequel but a whole new book, not just another chapter in the same story.
Filled with double meanings and metaphor, Reloaded goes above and beyond the original, questioning all you've come to believe about the world (both real and machine-generated) of the matrix and what you think you know.
The Wachowski brothers haven't only Reloaded, but they do so with both barrels and blow away audiences with a story that touches on an epic scale akin to The Iliad.
©Up & Coming Magazine�2003
Sunday, July 27, 2003
Computer imagery can fall flat with moviegoers
[CoxNews.com 27/07/2003]
For many moviegoers, though, CGI can be overused or misused and become a turnoff. With some films, including "The Hulk" and "Charlie's Angels," movie lovers are chanting the same mantra: "It doesn't look real."
In the much-discussed "Burly Brawl" in "The Matrix Reloaded," actor Keanu Reeves suddenly turns into a computerized character to fight 100 attacking Agent Smiths.
"It was so glaringly obvious it was not real people," says Nick Nunziata, 31, who runs the Web site www.chud.com (Cinematic Happenings Under Development). "This "Matrix' became like a cartoon."
Apparently Nunziata wasn't the only moviegoer who didn't buy it. "Reloaded" opened in early May, making more than $135 million in four days. But in the more than two months since, it has yet to break $300 million in U.S. theaters. Now, "Reloaded," the most ballyhooed and anticipated movie of summer 2003, has been surpassed at the box office by "Finding Nemo."
Don't think the movie industry hasn't noticed.
"Maybe the "Matrix' guys just ran out of time on the effects," says director Robert Rodriguez, 35, whose "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" opened nationwide Friday. "They were trying to push the envelope on what has been done. But as in the Burly Brawl, everyone saw Keanu's black coat suddenly go flat. It looked too much like a video game."
From Keanuweb
SIGHTING: Keanu, who recently took a tour of Southampton Hospital, has bought a table for the medical center's Aug. 2 gala, co-sponsored by jeweler Seaman Schepps... [source:�NY Daily]
They tote their own Luggage
[US Weekly July 2003]
One Man Show: On his return from France, KEANU REEVS played the role of bag boy outside the L.A. airport.
Source Club Keanu
Saturday, July 26, 2003
RELOAD BEFORE THE REVOLUTION BEGINS!
Available October 14 From Warner Home Video
$700 Million Worldwide Box-Office Phenomenon
Delve Deeper Into the World of The Matrix
Hours of Bonus Features on Fully Loaded DVD Release
WARNER BROS.
BURBANK,
– Prepare to be blown away on October 14 with the highly anticipated DVD and VHS release of the record-breaking $700 million worldwide box-office smash hit The Matrix Reloaded.
Written and directed by the Wachowski Brothers and produced by Joel Silver, The Matrix Reloaded is the second chapter in the Wachowskis’ groundbreaking action film trilogy that explores the nature of reality and the search for truth. In addition to the return of original Matrix stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and Hugo Weaving, The Matrix Reloaded features such new cast members as Jada Pinkett Smith and Monica Bellucci.
Premiering October 14 on DVD and VHS from Warner Home Video Inc. (WHV) and Village Roadshow Pictures, The Matrix Reloaded is timed for release three weeks prior to the theatrical opening of The Matrix Revolutions, the final film in the futuristic series. The Matrix Reloaded will be priced to own at $29.95 SRP/$22.95 MAP for DVD and $22.99 SRP/$14.95 MAP for VHS. Merchandiser orders are due September 2; single orders by September 9.
An integrated publicity and marketing plan featuring both films presents a united and strategic approach to media and advertising running from late September through the middle of November. WHV will support the release of The Matrix Reloaded with a massive worldwide media campaign, reaching nearly all households numerous times delivering a staggering 1.6 billion consumer impressions in the US alone.
“Matrix Reloaded continues the success established by the original Matrix, one of the most provocative films ever released, and sets the stage for Matrix Revolutions, completing the filmmakers vision of The Matrix,” says Mark Horak, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Marketing (WHV). “With the integrated theatrical and video marketing campaigns, 2003 really has become the ‘Year of the Matrix’.”
DVD ELEMENTS
The two-disc DVD release includes an explosion of mind-freeing bonus features:
Preload – Get a behind the scenes overview of The Matrix Reloaded with on-location footage and interviews with cast and crew
The Freeway Chase – Behind the scenes footage shows the viewer how the mind-blowing scene was captured on film.
What is The Animatrix?- A glimpse into the history and the intrigue of the Animatrix.
Enter The Matrix – Making of the best-seller video game and the groundbreaking technology used to create it. Your exclusive opportunity to step inside the world of Enter the Matrix.
The Matrix Unfolds – A review of The Matrix phenomenon and its amazing cultural impact
2003 MTV Movie Awards Matrix Reloaded parody
Get Me An Exit - Matrix-inspired advertising.
Weblinks to the official Matrix website
US MARKETING SUPPORT
The massive advertising campaign for The Matrix Reloaded includes high-profile placements on US networks including NBC, ABC, CBS, WB and FOX; cable TV spots on ESPN, Fox Sports, MTV, FX, and Comedy Central; national print ads including Sports Illustrated, Time, People, Rolling Stone, Premiere, Spin, Maxim and Stuff; and national/regional radio buys. In addition, several significant consumer promotions are being developed with partners such as PowerAde and Samsung.
Retail support includes merchandisers with full-size character cut-outs, POP kits featuring counter cards, buttons, danglers and mini-posters and high-impact pre-street standees. Merchandisers will be available for retailers in 12-, 24-, 36-, 48-, 60- and 90-unit configurations (DVD) and 20-, 24-, 32-, 48-, 66-, 75-, 92- and 132-unit counts (VHS and DVD combo-format). POP kits can be ordered by calling 1-800-891-1311.
SYNOPSIS
In the powerful second chapter of the Matrix trilogy, Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Moss) and Morpheus (Fishburne) lead the revolt against the Machine Army as it attacks Zion, the last human city on earth, unleashing their arsenal of extraordinary skills and weaponry against the systematic forces of repression and exploitation. In their quest to save the human race from extinction, they gain greater insight into the construct of The Matrix and Neo’s pivotal role in the fate of mankind.
What is The Matrix? The question is not yet fully answered. And it leads to another: Who created The Matrix? The answers lead to more worlds of bold possibility – and to a destiny that passes from revelations to Revolutions.
BASICS
DVD – $29.95 SRP / $22.95 MAP
VHS – $22.99 SRP / $14.95 MAP
Street Date: October 14
Merchandiser orders due September 2
Single-unit orders due September 9
Running time: 138 mins.
Rating: R (for sci-fi violence and some sexuality)
DVD Widescreen [16:9 Transfer] Catalog # 28648
DVD Standard [4:3 Transfer] Catalog # 21851
VHS Catalog #21851
Spanish-Subtitled VHS Catalog # 6876
With operations in 78 international territories, Warner Home Video Inc. commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video's film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment.
Publicity Contacts:
Warner Home Video
Emily Zalenski, 818/977-7450
emily.zalenski@warnerbros.com
mPRm Public Relations
Chris Reichert, Alan Amman - 323/933-3399
creichert@mprm.com / aamman@mprm.com
Photo material can be downloaded at www.whvdirect.com
For more information, visit www.thematrix.com / AOL Keyword: Matrix Reloaded
Scum of the earth
He made bleak masterpieces about poison-pens, guttersnipes and murderers - and one of the scariest films ever. David Thomson on Henri-Georges Clouzot
[Saturday July 26, 2003 The Guardian]
Even though its high concept has affected so many other films, I wonder how The Wages of Fear will look now. It is the story of outcasts, the scum of the earth, who take on the job of driving truck-loads of nitroglycerine through the South American jungle. You know everything from that one sentence - just as the simple fun of Speed is revealed in the plan that Keanu Reeves must never let his Los Angeles bus drop below 50mph.
There are telling differences: LA is one kind of jungle, but, in the early 1950s, Clouzot went to the back country of South America (I think it was Brazil, but it could as easily be a jungle by the Douanier Rousseau). And Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock are well-intentioned kids next to Clouzot's wastrels. His drivers, played by Yves Montand, Charles Vanel and Peter van Eyck, are hardened cases all of them, pessimists making a last gamble with life. It's a long film, claustrophobic and very contrived. It may seem hackneyed now - but appreciate the bleakness of its vision and the unsentimental portrait of dangerous men unglamorised by stars playing them.
A Hollywood minute
How movies do time and time travel best
�
[Suzanne Ellis Canada.com Friday, July 25, 2003]
Best of the time/time travel flicks:
Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure -- The film that made Keanu Reeves a star, Bill and Ted's has become a goofy modern classic. High school dolts Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Reeves) are helped on their final History project by a mysterious character named Rufus (George Carlin), who lends them his telephone booth time machine. Clever casting of such historic luminaries as Napoleon Bonaparte, Sigmund Freud, Socrates, and Genghis Khan made this adventure anything but bogus.
The Matrix/Dark City -- Combined because they employ similar concepts. In Dark City, which came first, the hero John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) discovers a fiendish plot by a group of beings called Strangers who have the ability to freeze time and sedate humans in order to alter the world for their benefit. In The Matrix, Keanu Reeves plays Neo, a hacker who's apparently destined to save the 'real world' from imminent destruction by evil machines. The Matrix is an interesting concept of time and space -- the idea of an alternate reality created to keep humans unaware of their true surroundings.
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
America's true ambassadors
[The Gateway by Fisayo Adejuyigbe July 22, 2003 ]
Coming to America
When most people on the outside talk about coming to America, they probably really mean they are coming to Hollywood. The perception the rest of the world has of America is more likely to be defined by the high octane car crashes of Tinseltown than anything else - and one political commentator has rightly observed that a world concerned about American hegemony is more likely to be bombed with Madonna than nukes. I might add that it would also seem they are more likely to meet a couple of American persons dressed in leather wear, dark shades and with holes in the back of their heads than they are to meet members of the Delta force.
We would thus be justified to ask ñ why Hollywood? Why not? Bollywood (Hollywood's oft forgotten Indian sibling), Cannes, Pinewood and its comrades or the other minuscule movie industries that populate lesser parts of the world
Why Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, Meg Ryan et al? Why not someone with a name sounding more like Romanov or Rajiv? Is there a particular appeal to Hollywood that necessitates that if a Connery were to become famous it would be through the auspices of its establishment or that if a certain Brosnan were to be catapulted into the limelight he would have to be shot from cannons in California?
Hollywood has a lot going for it and doubtless the strongest of this is the might of American capitalism. Then, of course, thereís the creativity of its writers, the professionalism of its actors and the deep pockets of its producers. Thereís also the market ñ 200 million people for whom going to the movies is religious and who are more likely to expect a messiah out of the big screen than out of the sky or anywhere else, for that matter.
In the light of this, we might ask ñ how efficient an ambassador is Hollywood? How desirable as plenipotentiaries are the idols of the movie screen? Is it more prudent with respect to Americaís policy to have a Penn in Iraq rather than a Garner, a Bremer or a Rumsfeld?
The question might be based on a false premise. It would enlighten us far more, I wager, to ask - would a Bremer, Garner or Rumsfeld in Iraq have any more effect with respect to influencing the perception of America than a Penn in his palatial house somewhere in America or a Bratt vacationing somewhere on a remote Island or a Pinkett "kicking ass," powered by the circuitry of a video game console?
I am inclined to believe that whatever the American government does is almost always viewed within the context of the antics of American movie stars ñ at least in the eyes of the rest of the world.
Thus, America is going to war because it is a violent society that teaches children that cars can be blown up and the inhabitants can walk out of the inferno unscathed, possessed of a superhuman macho quality.
And sometimes, America could even be going to war because it is that nation of heroes where the rescue of the innocent and the pursuit of freedom are the dictates of every soul.
The perception varies from place to place, but the effect is the same. It produces in other nations citizens who can speak confidently and expertly about American society and policy, not because they know the name of its president or because they are ardent acolytes of world politics, but because they ostensibly have gazed into the heart of America and therein have seen Fishburne, Smith, Barrymore, Diaz and Schwarzenegger.
He will do anything for this woman
[Gala 17/07/2003 - source Keanuweb]
Gala (Germany) - July 17, 2003
Keanu Reeves bought a villa in Los Angeles. He remodeled it into a private hospital.
He never cared about fame and fortune. Keanu Reeves, 38, moves from location to location while filming, but when he was in Los Angeles for longer periods of time he had a suite at the hotel Chateau Marmont.
Now this is going to change: "The Matrix" hero bought a villa for 4,2 million Euro. But the breathtaking view over Hollywood is meant for nobody but his sister Kim Reeves, 37, who has leukemia.
The house was redesigned into a clinic who's only patient is going to be Kim, the older one of his two sisters. More than ten years ago Kim was diagnosed with leukemia, In her case it is incurable. A diagnosis which changed Keanu's life drastically.
He supports his sister in any way- the shooting of the "Matrix Reloaded" had
to be halted so he could go to Capri where Kim resided for the past 6 years.
Keanu took care of the household and did the cooking for his "little sister" - as he always does when he comes to visit. Now he wants to do even more. He is getting specialists from all over the world to come to the estate to be there for Kim; around the clock.
All the newest medical equipment is already present at the house. And Kim can find relaxation at the Koi pond in the garden. His sister is one of the most important people in his life. Which probably is because of all the heavy blows in Keanu Reeves' life.
In 1999 he lost the baby he had with girlfriend Jennifer Syme. The relationship ended afterwards. In April 2001 Jennifer lost her own life in an accident while driving her jeep. Ever since than only one thing is of value to Keanu: "The most precious thing I've got is my family's love.
Picture captions:
Main picture: Keanu Reeves' sister resided in Capri for the past 6 years. The Hollywood star often visited her to give her his support. Pretty soon the two of them will be able to see a lot more of each other.
House: This is the house where only the best doctors are going to take care of Keanu Reeves' sister.
Keanu and Kim arm in arm: The siblings at the first "Matrix" premiere in 1999. Lately Kim has to use a cane in order to get around.
KEANUWEB DISCLAIMER: This story - originally published in US papers - was labeled "inaccurate" by Keanu's PR people. It seems it is a commercial fabrication. Posted here to let you see wat is out there. --Merlin
'Thumbsucker' producers plan to use Tualatin school
[The Oregonian 7/22/03]
'Thumbsucker' producers plan to use Tualatin school School is about to go back into session in Tualatin, but it will be Hollywood actors, not students, in the classrooms and lecture halls.
The cast and crew of the movie "Thumbsucker" are scheduled to spend six days shooting at a Tualatin school sometime in the next two weeks, said Holly Layton, the Tigard-Tualatin School District's facilities coordinator.
The movie's script, based on a Walter Kirn novel about a teenager who can't break his addiction to sucking his thumb, calls for a mixture of suburban and rural settings. The production crew is expected to spend most of the film's $3 million budget in Oregon. Most of the filming is expected to be in Washington County and around Mount Hood.
Tigard-Tualatin School District officials would not say which school will be used and what days the shooting will take place.
Monday, July 21, 2003
HELL RIDE
[Daily Record Jul 21 2003]
Driver's terror on petrol bomb bus
A TERRIFIED bus driver was forced to take a bomb to a police station by terrorists yesterday.
Experts said the huge petrol bomb aboard the bus could have gone off at any time during his drive through a west Belfast housing estate.
The plot - like something from the Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock blockbuster Speed - is believed to have been the work of dissident republicans.
Two masked gunmen planted the large incendiary device on the bus and ordered the driver to take it to a local police station.
He had to drive the vehicle through a housing estate, where many children were playing on one of the hottest days of the year, and over speed ramps to the Woodbourne base.
The driver was told that he would be watched and that he would be shot if he did not leave the bus at the police station.
Police Acting District Commander Peter Farrar said: "This was a large and very unstable device filled with petrol which could have been set off by any movement.
"If it had gone off, the whole bus would have exploded and a large fireball would have encompassed the vehicle and anyone standing nearby. There were a lot of people in the area, particularly children, and there could easily have been a very large loss of life.
"We believe this to be the work of the dissident republicans."
Roads were closed and dozens of houses evacuated while Army bomb disposal experts in heavy protective kit worked for more than four hours to defuse the device. One of them said later: "I don't know what the temperature was inside all this gear but it was very hot and difficult work."
The incident came shortly after a rally by supporters of the Real IRA and Continuity IRA.
They were demanding segregation of prisoners at the high-security Magheraberry Prison near Belfast.
Some of the prisoners have been smearing their cells with their own excrement, similar to the "dirty protest" which preceeded the IRA hunger strikes in 1981 during which 10 men died.
Some Real IRA prisoners are threatening to stage a similar protest if they are not given their own wing of the jail away from loyalist paramilitaries.
But the authorities are refusing to give in to their demands and a prison spokesman said: "This isn't about segregation. It is about handing over control and power to the dissident republicans."
High-powered hoses have been used to clean the cells and some men have been moved to a special supervision unit which also holds around 12 non- republican prisoners.
The Prison Service denies claims made during the rally on the Falls Road that men have been beaten and hosed down during the clean-up operation.
Sunday, July 20, 2003
'Thumbsucker' cast, crew will film at school in Tualatin
[The Oregonian 07/18/03]
TUALATIN -- School is about to go back into session in Tualatin, but it'll be Hollywood actors and not full-time students occupying the classrooms and lecture halls. The cast and crew of the movie "Thumbsucker" are scheduled to spend six days shooting at a Tualatin school sometime in the next two weeks, said Holly Layton, the Tigard-Tualatin School District's facilities coordinator. Shooting is expected to last about 12 hours each day.
The district's agreement with producers calls for secrecy, including which school will be used and what days the shooting will take place, Layton said.
Outside of Tualatin High School, however, few school buildings in Tualatin feature the type of studio-theater combination that the production company is looking for. The movie company's agreement to rent various facilities by the hour represents the first time the district has used its buildings as backdrops for a movie, Layton said.
The film's producers are still looking for extras, she said. Anyone interested in blending into the movie's background can get more information by calling 503-644-4321 and asking for either Kathy or Dawn.
Saturday, July 19, 2003
Alicia Crawford
[The Oregonian 18/07/2003]
Shrug: "I should see 'The Matrix,' but Keanu Reeves is so boring. I like Jude Law and Joseph Fiennes, but so many actors today are just bland: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, quite a few."
Thursday, July 17, 2003
KATU tracks down set of Thumbsucker
[KATU.com 16/07/2003]
BEAVERTON - KATU news has tracked down the set of the Hollywood movie being made in the Portland area. The movie company that's producing 'Thumbsucker' asked us not to give out the specific location to cut down on movie star watchers. But neighbors in Beaverton have been up close and said the house being used in the movie has been completely redone.
The movie 'Thumbsucker is about a high school student who sucks his thumb. Matrix star, Keanu Reeves, will play his orthodontist.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Spotted!
[Heat Magazine [UK] 19-25 July 2003]
A stubbly Keanu Reeves getting ready to hop on his shiny new motorbike on a busy side road in Paris.
Monday, July 14, 2003
Available October 14 from Warner Home Video: The Matrix Reloaded; Reload Before the Revolution Begins!
[Businesswire.com 14/07/2003]
BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 14, 2003--
$700 Million Worldwide Box-Office Phenomenon Hours of Bonus Features on Fully Loaded DVD Release Delve Deeper Into the World of The Matrix
Prepare to be blown away on October 14 with the highly anticipated DVD and VHS release of the record-breaking $700 million worldwide box-office smash hit The Matrix Reloaded.
Written and directed by the Wachowski Brothers and produced by Joel Silver, The Matrix Reloaded is the second chapter in the Wachowskis' groundbreaking action film trilogy that explores the nature of reality and the search for truth. In addition to the return of original Matrix stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and Hugo Weaving, The Matrix Reloaded features such new cast members as Jada Pinkett Smith and Monica Bellucci.
Premiering October 14 on DVD and VHS from Warner Home Video Inc. (WHV) and Village Roadshow Pictures, The Matrix Reloaded is timed for release three weeks prior to the theatrical opening of The Matrix Revolutions, the final film in the futuristic series. The Matrix Reloaded will be priced to own at $29.95 SRP for DVD and $22.99 SRP for VHS.
DVD ELEMENTS
The two-disc DVD release includes an explosion of mind-freeing bonus features:
--
Preload -- Get a behind the scenes overview of The Matrix Reloaded with on-location footage and interviews with cast and crew.
--
The Freeway Chase -- Behind the scenes footage shows the viewer how the mind-blowing scene was captured on film.
--
What is The Animatrix? -- A glimpse into the history and the intrigue of the Animatrix.
--
Enter The Matrix -- Making of the best-seller video game and the groundbreaking technology used to create it. Your exclusive opportunity to step inside the world of Enter the Matrix.
--
The Matrix Unfolds -- A review of The Matrix phenomenon and its amazing cultural impact.
--
2003 MTV Movie Awards Matrix Reloaded parody.
--
Get Me An Exit -- Matrix-inspired advertising.
--
Weblinks to the official Matrix website.
SYNOPSIS
In the powerful second chapter of the Matrix trilogy, Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Moss) and Morpheus (Fishburne) lead the revolt against the Machine Army as it attacks Zion, the last human city on earth, unleashing their arsenal of extraordinary skills and weaponry against the systematic forces of repression and exploitation. In their quest to save the human race from extinction, they gain greater insight into the construct of The Matrix and Neo's pivotal role in the fate of mankind.
What is The Matrix? The question is not yet fully answered. And it leads to another: Who created The Matrix? The answers lead to more worlds of bold possibility -- and to a destiny that passes from revelations to Revolutions.
BASICS
-- DVD - $29.95 SRP
-- VHS - $22.99 SRP
-- Street Date: October 14
-- Running time: 138 mins.
-- Rating: R (for sci-fi violence and some sexuality)
With operations in 78 international territories, Warner Home Video Inc. commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video's film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment.
Photo material can be downloaded at www.whvdirect.com
For more information, visit www.thematrix.com
AOL Keyword: Matrix Reloaded
Give It A Whirl - Land Of Plenty
[NZOOM 14/07/2003]
In the final episode of Give It A Whirl , we see just how far we've come as a musical nation and how, during the '90s and beyond, the ever-changing face of Kiwi music has become a world-shaking force.
Episode 6 - Land Of Plenty
For anyone who has seen the 1991 surf n' skydiving action drama Point Break , the climax of the film comes not when Keanu Reeves figures out its Patrick Swayze who's been robbing all those banks, nor during the skydiving sequence where Keanu and Pat are engaged in a bit of fisticuffs at 10,000 feet.
No, the really exciting bit is when Swayze's character Bodhi, having been confronted and placed under arrest by Reeve's uptight FBI guy Johnny Utah at Bell's Beach, Australia, asks his captor for the chance to go out for one last surf. Upon seeing Utah's hesitation Bodhi utters the immortal line,
"Whatdaya think I'm gonna do? I'm not gonna swim to Noo Zealand!"
Now, I don't know about you, but at my local movie theatre, at this point everyone let out a spontaneous cheer. They mentioned us on the talkies ! Hollywood knew we existed!
For the record, I wasn't watching Point Break in some rural pocket out the back of Taihape. The film wasn't being projected onto Neville Watkins' cowshed wall and I wasn't surrounded by "towns folk". I was watching it at Village 8 in Manukau City. I was in a big city with big aspirations and a big sense of its own importance.
But this was even bigger than that. This made you want to sing the national anthem and buy some face paint.
But it was also 1991 - things have changed.
Now, a couple of Lord Of The Rings films, the odd Tall Blacks victory and "How Bizarre" later, we're almost tiring of just how bloody brilliantly we're represented on the world's stage.
Sure there are still many people and places that think New Zealand is an island just off the coast of Denmark or, possibly, a fertilizer company. But you've got to admit these days more people seem to know about New Zealand. And as a result, we've risen to the challenge of showing off our wares on the world's stage.
When Split Enz decamped to England to make it big, they lived in a tent on Wimbledon Common and ate nothing but plastic pork pie wrappers while practicing their off-kilter music to perfection. When The Bats went to the US to tour, they had to pose as roadies for other bands in order to get lifts. Their van was so small, singer Robert Scott had to drive it via a series of complicated pulleys whilst sitting on the roof.
Move forward to 2003. Now Che Fu gets invited to be a part of some competition whereby the Queen wins her own gig in her back yard. The Datsuns and D4 stride about the English landscape like Vikings out for a bit of an afternoon pillage, while Anika Moa doesn't bother with the 'struggling singer/songwriter' bit and moves straight onto the 'score a record deal in the States' bit all during her holidays.
Yes, as the final instalment of seminal music documentary series Give It A Whirl will show, New Zealand music has definitely changed in shape, sound, colour and scope in the last fifty years.
While rock is still a firm fixture of the local scene, with acts like Pacifier, goodshirt, Stellar* and up-and-comers like Augustino and Pan Am flying the guitar shaped flag, hip hop and r n' b have, like almost every other sector in the world, grabbed a hold of the country's musical consciousness. The beat emanating from our cities streets is distinctly Pacific in flavour.
The musical youth of this proud music-making nation get the last word in tonight's episode, with acts like Sisters Underground, OMC and the superbly talented Nesian Mystik rounding off Give It A Whirl in style.
The world seems like a smaller place these days and we're not so isolated. A beer-sodden pub in Sydney's Kings Cross no longer seems like the outer edge of the universe, as it must have felt to Ray Columbus or Max Merritt in the '60s. Now it feels like the first steps.
We've become more worldly as a nation. We don't need Hollywood's once-a-decade recognition of us 'way down here' to give us a national confidence boost. It's no longer a hindrance that we come from a place some might regard as 'so far away'. It's something we no longer apologise for.
Now we let the breadth and depth of our eclectic music do the talking. And as Kiwi rock and roll enters its fifth decade, we're finding more and more these days that the world listens to those who dare to give it a whirl.
Cameron Officer
Give It A Whirl concludes tonight on TV One at 8.30pm. Don't miss it!
Sunday, July 13, 2003
Blockbuster fashion
[The Journal News.com 13/07/2003]
The Matrix Reloaded
Genre: Sci-fi-action.
Plot: Neo and Trinity battle the Mr. Smith clones, who threaten to invade Zion, where everyone wears sweaters that appear to have been attacked by an army of moth clones.
Models/Stars: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne.
Fashion statement: Black to the future.
Palette: Black and white in the virtual-reality world; muted shades of plum, blue, burgundy in Zion.
Costume designer: Kim Barrett.
Styles: Flowing robes, clingy cat suits, unraveling sweaters.
Trend-worthy: Blinde's Matrix sunglasses are already a hit. But the longer-lasting trend potential belongs to Trinity's black vinyl catsuit. Look for black vinyl skirts, pants and jackets. Could vinyl become the p.c. leather?
Holly or Cher: Definitely a Holly. It's a stylish flick, but the movie is also heavy on plot — even if no one really gets it. And then there's the Hong Kong martial arts and gee-whiz special effects, which seem to be its true raison d'etre.
Constantine blazes to a September 17, 2004, opening
[FilmJerk (United States) - July 11, 2003]
A second film officially plants a flag in September 2004. After circling the month for a few weeks, 'Constantine' has picked the September 17, 2004, date as its opening weekend. This joins 'Wimbledon' as the two films currently set for September, with it scheduled to open a week later. Starring Keanu Reeves, the filming of 'Constantine' is scheduled to begin this September 9 and the film is based on the comic book series 'John Constantine: Hellblazer,' published by Vertigo Comics.
Hollywood lingo enlivens campaign trail
[By Amy Smith / Provincial Reporter 13/07/2003]
THE HOWE ROOM Nova Scotia PoliticsWHOAAA. Maybe the Tories have been watching too many Keanu Reeves movies.
Saturday, July 12, 2003
Artist finds sweetness in dark places
[The Star.com 12/07/2003]
The least artsy poster may also be the most historically interesting. Advertising the 1986 play By Your Side by Katie Ford, with music by Jane Ford, the post near the kitchen notes that it stars Nadia Ross and a young actor named Keanu Reeves.
Incident should be a wake-up call to parents
[Daily Journal 12/07/2003 By Andrew Lisa]
Every generation has its dorks, but I think it's fair to say the losers of today are taking the movie "Revenge of the Nerds" a little too seriously.
Although I don't own a gun or have any children, I'm willing to offer some advice to the many moms and dads out there who are performing the delicate balancing act between gun-ownership and parenting: If your teenager fantasizes about Keanu Reeves more than he does Britney Spears, you might want to take your 12-gauge to the flea market and see what you can get for it.
Friday, July 11, 2003
Jack of all trades
[NY Daily News 11/07/2003]
It's been more than 10 years since Jack Nicholson played Jimmy Hoffa, but this week in France, the Oscar-winner was behaving more like a labor leader than a movie star.
Nicholson showed his support for French workers Tuesday when the movie he is filming in Paris with Keanu Reeves and Diane Keaton was shut down by striking actors, technicians, costume designers and other stagehands.
Nicholson picked up a bullhorn to ask protesters what the problem was. Told that artists' rights were threatened, the actor voiced his support. In broken French, Nicholson proclaimed, "The struggle continues!"
Protestors Halt Nicholson Production
[Zap2it 10/072003]
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Filming of the new Jack Nicholson movie was halted Wednesday (July 9) by striking show business workers in Paris. Also affected was the Avignon Festival, a theatrical celebration, according to the AP.
Protesting their unemployment benefits were French actors, technicians, costume designers and other stagehands. Additionally, their actions are causing the cancellation of dozens of other culture festivals just as the summer season begins.
The powerful, Communist-backed CGT union urged "all professionals to amplify the mobilization" in a statement after failed late-night negotiations.
Tuesday evening (July 8) Nicholson had begun an evening shoot on a Seine River bridge when protesters walked onto the set and refused to leave, according to local police.
Nicholson reportedly picked up a bullhorn to ask protesters what the commotion was about. When he was told that artists rights were being threatened, he voiced his support.
The unnamed movie also stars Diane Keaton, Frances McDormand Keanu Reeves, and Amanda Peet. Directing is Nancy Meyers ("What Women Want"). This is the fourth time Diane Keaton has appeared in a movie written by Meyers, having appeared in "Father of the Bride" and "Baby Boom."
Sympathizers also staged a sit-down protest in front of the Stade de France stadium, blocking trucks loaded with stage gear for a Rolling Stones gig on Wednesday.
A group of striking actors even protested on the Tour de France route, causing a bottle-neck that forced some riders at the head of the pack to briefly slow to a halt.
The annual opera festival in Aix-en-Provence was also disrupted, and striking performers occupied the main stage at the Francofolies music festival in La Rochelle.
Thursday, July 10, 2003
There's something about Harry
[HPANA.com 09/07/2003]
It's really an obsession with a certain formula: There is a chosen one, there are supernatural powers, there is an enemy with a deep connection to the hero, there's a huge war and for some reason the hero's best friends seem to be a guy and girl who end up together. Frodo Baggins of "Lord of the Rings." John Conner of "The Terminator" series, and Neo of "The Matrix" are all hugely successful, endearing characters who fit closely to the same mold.
Zen Branagh
[Daily Telegraph [UK] 09/07/2003]
OK, but you do wonder what he was trying to prove to whom. In one year, 1992, for example, he delivered a screenplay on New Year's Day - of his film Peter's Friends - and it was in the can by March 24. By September, he had directed and starred in a film of Much Ado About Nothing and had persuaded Keanu Reeves, Michael Keaton and Denzel Washington to appear in it. By December, he had made Swan Song, a short film with John Gielgud, which received an Oscar nomination. In the middle of all that, he played Coriolanus and, while editing Much Ado, he did Hamlet at the RSC. How
useful to the world does a Protestant boy from Ulster have to be?
Nicholson backs French actors
[BBC News 10/07/2003]
Nicholson is on set alongside Keanu Reeves
Actor Jack Nicholson voiced his support for striking French actors as they interrupted his film shoot on location in Paris. Nicholson was filming on a bridge over the river Seine when protestors walked on to the set and refused to leave, police said.
Nicholson, in his trademark dark glasses, picked up a loudhailer to address the group and ask what the problem was. Told that artists' rights were threatened, he said in broken French: "The struggle continues!"
After discussions with the protesters, the production crew decided to pack it in for the night, police said. Nicholson is in the apparently un-named movie alongside Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves.
The actors and other arts workers are protesting over government plans to change arts workers' unemployment benefits. The dispute has already caused the cancellation of a string of events across the country.
France's three-week Avignon arts festival was abandoned and a sister event in nearby Aix-en-Provence has also been scrapped. On Wednesday, Culture Minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon described the actors as "irresponsible" as the government vowed to press on with the benefit cuts.
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
French Strike Halts Nicholson Movie
[Kansas City.com - JOCELYN GECKER 09/07/2003]
PARIS - Striking French show business workers halted filming of a Jack Nicholson movie and shuttered the famed Avignon Festival on Wednesday, the second day of their protest over unemployment benefits.
The strike was the latest move by French actors, technicians, costume designers and other stagehands mounting waves of protests in recent weeks. The action has closed dozens of culture festivals just as the summer season gets under way.
In a sign of more disruptions to come, the powerful, communist-backed CGT union urged "all professionals to amplify the mobilization" in a statement after failed late-night negotiations Tuesday.
On location in Paris, Nicholson had begun directing a Tuesday evening shoot on a Seine River bridge when protesters walked onto the set and refused to leave, police said.
The French television station LCI showed Nicholson picking up a bullhorn to ask protesters what the problem was. Told that artists rights were threatened, the actor voiced his support.
"The struggle continues!" Nicholson said in broken French, wearing his trademark dark sunglasses.
After discussions with the protesters, the production crew decided to pack it in for the night, police said. The movie, which apparently has not yet been named, co-stars Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves. A Paris-based spokesman for the film was not immediately available for comment.
At the Avignon festival in southern France, organizers said the remainder of the three-week event - which draws 700,000 people a year for round-the-clock theater performances - will be decided each day the strike continues. They say they stand to lose $3.7 million in ticket sales alone if the event is called off.
Ticket holders were reimbursed Wednesday, many lamenting the loss.
"I am disappointed and angry," said Martine Elbaz, an Avignon doctor, who blamed the protests on laziness. "People in France just don't want to work anymore."
Opening day of a music festival in the southern city of Montpellier was also canceled Wednesday, and organizers at one of France's major pop music festivals - Francofolies - called off the six-day event scheduled to start Friday in the Atlantic coastal city of La Rochelle.
"After several days of waiting, I decided to end it," Jean-Louis Foulquier, a Francofolies organizer, told France-Inter radio Wednesday. "I did it under duress, because it is not part of my vocation to be taken hostage."
The government made a failed, last-ditch effort to resolve the conflict before the start of the three-week Avignon Festival on Tuesday.
Culture Minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon on Wednesday denounced the disruption, calling it "a bad blow for culture" and "a bad blow to our country."
The conflict centers on a proposal to change a French unemployment fund for artists that takes into account their downtime between shows.
The fund has a $936 million deficit, and Medef, the business federation that helps run the system, has proposed reducing benefits and the number of performers who get them.
Artists say the plan will harm French culture and punish those who need help most - performers who have a hard time lining up work.
Artists must work 507 hours a year to qualify for 12 months of unemployment. Under the proposal, performers would work 507 hours over 10.5 months to receive eight months of benefits.
Strike halts film
[News.com.auJuly 9, 2003]
A NEW film starring Keanu Reeves and Jack Nicholson was halted mid-shoot in Paris this week when hundreds of striking arts workers closed down the production.
Around 650 demonstrators stormed the set on one of the bridges in the middle of the city late yesterday as a protest against French government plans to change their unemployment benefits regime, police said.
Nicholson tried in vain to negotiate with them, but they refused to move away, a person working on the film said.
US director Nancy Meyers, who previously made "What Women Want" with Mel Gibson, was part-way through the 12-day shoot in Paris when the incident occurred.
It was uncertain when the production - which was employing 300 French extras and technicians and which was injecting four million euros ($A6.88 million) into the city's economy - would be able to continue.
The striking arts workers have already forced the closure of many of France's summer festivals and have interrupted shows, films and television programs to press their demands.
The French scenes being filmed by Nicholson, Reeves and actress Diane Keaton were to go into a romantic comedy Meyers is making that is also set in New York City and the Hamptons.
The as-yet-untitled production is about a middle-aged music executive (Nicholson) used to dating much younger girlfriends, who, while recovering from a heart attack, falls for the mother of his latest conquest. Reeves plays his doctor who becomes a rival in the romantic triangle.
It was scheduled to be released in the United States on December 12, but the French strike could delay that, especially as such interruptions are not generally covered by movie insurance. The Paris scenes were meant to have been wrapped by July 11.
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
Angels Fear to Tread
[FROM PEOPLE MAGAZINE July 2003]
Despite all their boastful, high kicking antics, it turns out Charlie's Angels are really just a trio of softies.
A half hour before Drew Barrymore after Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz were scheduled to arrive at the Normandie theater on the Champs-Elysees June 30 for the films premiere, up to 300 French theater and film extras-in the second day of a strike-pushed througth the crowd of waiting fans and shouted, "Close it down." The demonstrators proceeded to climb the barricades meant to keep crowds from the red carpet and, after clashing with police staged a sit-down protest, chanting slogans and hooting at celebritites (including Keanu Reeves), running the reasserted police gauntlet. For their part, the three Angels arrived 30 minutes late and snuck unto the theater througth a side entrance, avoiding physical confrontation.
Source Club Keanu
WHOA!
[National Enquirer (US) - June 30, 2003 ]
The rumor's zippin' all over Zion . . . it's Neo-romance for "Matrix" hunk Keanu Reeves and a mystery blonde New York fashionista! Word is they met cute at Doggie-Do, the swanky Madhattan pet groomery where Keanu has his pooch pampered! Don't know how well he's treating the blonde, but his dog gets thrown more than a bone! Says an insider: "Keanu buys his dog really extravagant toys and goodies!" Bow-WOW!
Source Reeves Drive
Sunday, July 06, 2003
Awful accent to be sure
[Daily Telegraph 07jul03]
LOS ANGELES: Sean Connery's attempt at an Irish brogue has been named the worst movie accent of all time.
Connery's vocal efforts playing cop Jim Malone in the 1987 film The Untouchables topped a poll of experts on Empire online, beating Dick Van Dyke's laboured Cockney accent in Mary Poppins.
Other nominations included Brad Pitt in Seven Years In Tibet and Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker's Dracula.
When the film did not move for them
[Daily Telegraph 06jul03]
THE censors did not evince any discomfort with the decidedly icky Trinity-Neo sex scene in Matrix Reloaded. The discerning readers of the UK Guardian website voted the Carrie-Anne Moss/Keanu Reeves clinch the worst sex scene of all time. They said that the sequence – in keeping with the whole frightful flick – was "pointlessly extended" and took "forever".
It "pushed my nauseometer off the scale," opined one.
Other not-hot contenders were: Showgirls (Kyle MacLachlan/Elizabeth Berkley); Damaged (Jeremy Irons/Juliette Binoche); The Specialist (Sylvester Stallone/Sharon Stone); and Titanic (Kate Winslet/Leonardo DiCaprio). Obviously no one recalls Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider in Last Tango In Paris. Butter has never tasted quite the same.
A Few Gems
[New York Newsday 06/07/2003]
Our critics prescribe some remedies for that summer-blockbuster hangove
You have an 11-year-old son who was so worked into a lather about seeing the new "Matrix" that you needed to see for yourself. You pride yourself in being cool and techno-savvy and on top of the zeitgeist, even if Keanu Reeves lost it for you after "Parenthood." Mid-movie and mid-yawn, you vowed that if one more actor morphed into Mr. Smith, you would put your kid up for adoption.
Thumbs up to a juicy role
Actor in locally based film plays confused, orally fixated teen
[Portland Tribune By MICHAELA BANCUD� Issue date: Fri, Jul 4, 2003]
Actor Lou Taylor Pucci isn't famous. That's likely to change after the release of "Thumbsucker," a quirky feature film that begins shooting in Beaverton on July 9. Pucci's blond hair has been dyed brown and cut shorter for the lead role of a teenage boy with an oral fixation who's trying to kick his habit and make sense of his life. And though he plays a head case, the 17-year-old doesn't come off like one in an interview.
�What does Pucci make of his peculiar character? � �"His name is Justin Cobb. And he just doesn't know," Pucci says. "He's trying to figure out who he is and where he belongs in his family. And sometimes it's just him, alone. He goes through a lot of changes." �When Cobb is "cured" of his thumb-sucking by his dentist (Keanu Reeves), he self-medicates with Ritalin, codeine, alcohol and marijuana -- anything he can get his hands on.
Pucci's first film role was in the small, independent "Personal Velocity," in which he played a boy with mysterious wounds. His character, who has only a few lines, is picked up on the side of the road by a woman played by Fairuza Balk. Pucci, who is from New Jersey, has more extensive experience in musical theater. Among other roles, he played the older son, Friedrich, in "The Sound of Music" from 1997 to 1998 on Broadway.
With a $3 million budget, "Thumbsucker" will have a homespun feel to it, says director Mike Mills. Producers for the independent feature are Bob Stephenson and Anthony Bregman. �Stephenson explains why he chose Pucci: "Most kid actors are like, 'Here is my happy face. Here is my sad face.' Lou blew us away with his audition." Despite its relatively low budget, the film has a first-rate ensemble cast that includes Reeves, Vincent D'Onofrio and Tilda Swinton. Matthew McConaughey dropped out of the project early this week. Twelve-year-old Portland actor Chase Offerle plays the part of Justin's younger brother.
The screenplay is adapted from Walter Kirn's 1999 comic novel, which Pucci has chosen not to read. "I'm the one who's avoiding it," he says. "I don't want it to change anything for me."
The actors are rehearsing now for "Thumbsucker." Swinton ("Orlando," "Adaptation") plays Justin's adored and complicated mother, Audrey. "Tilda's just so awesome," Pucci says. "The director sent us to the mall a few days ago so we could just hang out. Be friends." In the film, Justin is much closer to the mother than he is to the father. D'Onofrio, who plays the father, arrived this week. Since coming to Oregon for pre-production last week, Pucci has ventured into Portland a few times. "It's like New York City, but a hell of a lot cleaner," he says.
Pucci, who likes card tricks, also discovered Callin's House of Magic in downtown Portland and has been playing laser tag. �Pucci graduated from high school two days before he hopped an airplane for the first time for a flight to Los Angeles to meet with the film's director and backers. �He was on the beach with friends in New Jersey when he heard he'd landed the part of "Thumbsucker." Then he did what anybody would do: "I just yelled like hell!"
Beaverton lad lands role in indie flick
Chase Offerle, 12, will play a supporting part in 'Thumbsucker'
[ By MICHAELA BANCUD � � Issue date: Fri, Jul 4, 2003 The Tribune]
�
Twelve-year-old Beaverton actor Chase Offerle has landed the part of the younger brother in the feature film "Thumbsucker." The independent production begins shooting in Beaverton on Wednesday.
Chase plays the title character's younger brother, Joel. The lead part will be played by Lou Taylor Pucci. The film's ensemble cast includes Keanu Reeves, Tilda Swinton and Vincent D'Onofrio. All of the actors, except for Reeves, are currently in Beaverton.
"He's just kind of a laid-back kid, nothing ruffles his feathers," Chase says about his character. "The brother gets all the attention because he does all the bad things. So my character isn't noticed, he sort of flies under the radar."� �Another point worth mentioning: "My character has two scenes with Keanu."� �Chase and his mom, Marisa Menkins, read the script -- about a boy who kicks his thumb-sucking habit and replaces it with an array of substitutes -- and decided it was a good part.
"We've read the script and there's a lot of adult stuff," Menkins says. "I said I was OK with it if he wasn't in any of those scenes."� �In the end, nearly 700 kids tried for the part of Joel in open and closed auditions. �Just two years into acting, Chase got his start at the Garden Home Recreation Center, where he met his now-agent Sandra Peabody. She helped Chase get roles in prior independent projects such as "The Dust Factory," "The Freak," and a TV documentary called "The Other Shores." Chase attended Whitford Middle School last year. Next year he will attend the Arts & Communication Magnet Academy in Beaverton.
Matrix is taken to the Imax
London may be getting a preview of the next big thing for ailing cinema industry
[The Guardian UK - David Teather in New York Friday July 4, 2003]
The Matrix: Reloaded, one of the biggest films of the summer, is about to get even bigger. The science fiction sequel, starring Keanu Reeves, will today
begin a run at the bfi Imax cinema close to London's Waterloo station on a screen as high as five double-decker buses. It is one of 10 huge prints of the film being released outside the US. For Warner Brothers, the Hollywood studio behind the film, the run is an intriguing experiment and a means of gaining additional ticket sales from a movie that has already been out for a couple of months.
About 80% of people seeing the film at Imax cinemas in the US had already watched it in a conventional cinema but were prepared to pay for a second viewing in large format. The screens - the largest Imax cinemas are eight storeys high and three times the size of a typical screen - curve gently to take in peripheral vision.
For Imax Corporation, the company based in Toronto and New York that licenses the large-screen technology and brand name to theatres, the film is about much more than a slice of incremental revenues. The Matrix films are a springboard into the Hollywood mainstream and, they hope, financial security after coming close to disaster.
Test run
In November, the final instalment in the trilogy, Matrix Revolutions, will be the first live action Hollywood blockbuster to debut on Imax screens on the same day as conventional cinemas.
In his office in midtown Manhattan, Imax co-chief executive Richard Gelfond proudly reaches into the bottom drawer of a cabinet by his desk and pulls out an Oscar, awarded to the company for technical achievements in 1997. His mind, however, is on the future. On the wall are posters for the two Hollywood movies released in Imax last year as a test run for the studios: 1995's Apollo 13 and Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, six months on from its theatrical release.
"Our strategy is to release Hollywood blockbuster films on the same day as conventional theatres and it is time to show the strategy works," he says. "The idea was always to move in a more commercial direction. Our heritage is museums and science centres and, while we try to be true to that, we recognise that to grow significantly we need to go into more commercial markets. The idea is to show five or six Hollywood blockbusters a year."
Imax was founded in 1967 by a group of Canadian film-makers. Mr Gelfond and Bradley J Wechsler, former investment bankers, bought the company in 1994 for $80m (�48m), with backing from Wasserstein Perella. Three months later, they took it public.
There are 230 Imax cinemas in 30 countries, about half in museums or theme parks. Imax owns 14 but the majority are independent and lease the technology. As well as licensing revenue, Imax makes money from a share of box office receipts, its wholly owned theatres and producing films.
The company has been held back not by the size of its ambitions but by technical limitations. A conventional 35mm film projected on to an Imax screen produces a grainy, out of focus picture. Purpose-made films have largely been restricted to low-budget - typically $5m - documentaries such as Everest and Space Station. The highest-grossing Imax film, The Dream is Alive, a 1985 space documentary, has taken $150m.
Last year Imax had a breakthrough with a technology it dubs DMR, an acronym for digital remastering. Conventional 35mm film is scanned into digital format and missing data filled in, edges sharpened, colour enhanced and the grain sup pressed, all under the eye of the director. The film is then converted back to the 70mm format used in Imax projectors. The cost is $2m-$4m per movie.
Imax struggled as the debt-laden cinema industry faced meltdown at the end of the 1990s and many of its customers went bankrupt. In 2001 its revenues fell by 40% and its share price crashed from$32.69 to 58 cents. Last year it appeared to have regained momentum. Revenues rose from $119m to $131m and it turned a $145m loss into a $12m profit. The number of companies signing licensing agreements for new theatres is accelerating, 21 against 12 in 2001. Its shares are back at $9.
It is now a matter of convincing the studios. "Pretty much half the studios we have done films with already and we are in a dialogue with the others," Mr Gelfond says. "If you think of a director as an artist with the opportunity to paint on the largest canvas in the world, that's a pretty alluring proposition."
The people behind Apollo 13 were initially sceptical. Tom Hanks, the film's star, expressed concerns in the New York Times last year about close-ups. "Are they going to be able to see every hair and pimple on my face?" But they were won over. Director Ron Howard was convinced by the added emotional punch from a scene focusing on the face of Kathleen Quinlan, who played Mr Hanks' wife. "It was already a great performance, but somehow seeing it that big made it even better."
'Immersive'
Randy Greenberg, senior vice-president of international theatrical distribution and marketing for Universal Pictures, the studio behind Apollo 13, said he was eager to put new movies on to Imax screens. "It is about finding the right movies. Romantic comedies don't work. You have to find the sci-fi or the thriller that fits with that theatrical experience. With Apollo 13 it is an awesome, immersive experience. It is like you are in the cockpit with the crew."
Lucasfilm added $8.5m to the second Star Wars prequel box office receipts from a six-week Imax run. The Matrix: Reloaded was taking in $18,000 a screen in its first weekend on the big-screen format in the US, compared with $2,000 in a conventional theatre. Four weeks later that has dropped only marginally to $15,000.
Warner Bros is in talks about other simultaneous releases of big-budget films including Polar Express, directed by Robert Zemekis. Peter Jackson, director of Lord of the Rings, has asked to see how his films would look on the larger screen.
The company believes London can support perhaps seven Imax cinemas; Britain as a whole could take 50. There are seven now. The company is talking to British chains about a slightly smaller, less expensive version of Imax, called MPX, aimed at existing multiplexes.
The bfi London Imax has sold 2,000 advance tickets for The Matrix: Reloaded. The view of the future in the Matrix trilogy is dystopian. Imax hopes its own is brighter.
GOOD BROTHER
[Chicago Sun Times 03/07/2003]
Keanu Reeves is putting part of his huge fortune to good use--spending a reported $4.8 million to turn a Los Angeles area mansion into a hospital and hospice for his sister, Kim, who has been battling leukemia for the last decade. Reportedly near death, Reeves' sister is getting the best of care in the house, which has been outfitted with state-of-the-art medical equipment and is staffed 24-hours daily with the best doctors and nurses Reeves' millions can buy.
Aparently this report is not true...
THIS WEEK'S QUESTION
[The Oregonian 07/03/03]
Keanu Reeves is among Hollywood's hottest actors. Neo in this summer's blockbuster "The Matrix Reloaded," Reeves soon will jet into Beaverton to shoot the film "Thumbsucker" -- (with Matthew McConaughey). Reeves plays the understanding orthodontist of an awkward teenager. The seven-week shoot begins July 9 and takes place in Beaverton and Vernonia in Washington County, and Trillium Lake in the Mount Hood National Forest.
Torvalds is the big daddy of Linux. The popular operating system is considered a legitimate challenger to Microsoft. Torvalds, a native of Finland, will work with Beaverton's Open Source Development Lab, testing features on the operating system he developed as a university student. He'll still call California home, but his business cards will come from the Beaverton lab.
How do you think these moves reflect on Beaverton? With top dogs in high-tech movies and high-tech software tying their future projects to the city, has the Portland suburb come of age? Is this another step toward greatness for a city already claiming Nike and Tektronix among its world-known names? Or will the city be lucky to be left with a "Keanu slept here" sign at the Shilo Inn and a "Linus sat here" sign in one of the city's nondescript board rooms? No one responded to this question.
Copyright 2003 Oregon Live. All Rights Reserved.
Bring me Aussie steak, says Donald Sutherland
[The Age.com July 3 2003 Los Angeles]
Keanu Reeves has a thirst for $A350 bottles of Australian red wine but veteran Hollywood actor Donald Sutherland thinks it's a waste of money.
However, a good Aussie steak is a worthy purchase, according to Sutherland.
The 68-year-old star of film classics Klute and The Dirty Dozen became a fan of downunder beef while in Australia in April to shoot the US television mini-series Salem's Lot with Rob Lowe.
Sutherland said some Aussies he met on a flight to Australia suggested he try some Penfolds Grange Hermitage when he landed in Melbourne.
''These people said, 'You should drink a glass of Penfolds Grange','' Sutherland said.
''But they said it was like $A350 a bottle! ''I couldn't believe it.'' When Sutherland showed little interest in the pricey red wine, his Aussie flying acquaintances suggested he try one of Melbourne's best steak restaurants, Vlado's Charcoal Grill in Richmond. ''I remember I arrived at Vlado's very tired at six o'clock at night and there were these four men standing there in black uniforms,'' Sutherland, who was almost salivating, told a group of international journalists in the US while promoting his new film The Italian Job. ''I said 'May I see the menu?' and they brought me over a plate with four steaks on it.
''I said 'OK, I'll have that one' and I said 'What about vegetables?' and they said they didn't have any vegetables. I said 'Potatoes?' and they said 'No potatoes' and I said 'Salad?' and they said 'Well you can have this bit of lettuce and coleslaw and sausage' and that was it. ''Oh, I also had a strawberry pancake at the end. ''It was delicious, unbelievable.''
Matrix star Reeves probably wouldn't be a good dinner companion for Sutherland. While promoting the Matrix Reloaded in Los Angeles in May, Reeves revealed his love of Australian red wine, proudly telling reporters how he stocked up on bottles of 1971 Grange, worth about $A875 a bottle, and $420 a bottle 1990 Mount Mary Quintet cabernet blend. Sutherland's The Italian Job, a re-make of the 1969 heist film of the same name starring Michael Caine, opens in Australia in August. The film, which co-stars Mark Wahlberg, Edward Norton and Charlize Theron, has been a hit in the US, collecting $US76.8 million at the box office since opening five weeks ago.
- AAP
Dreamwatch (U.K.), June 2003 [thanks wry!]
Silver Surfer
He's been behind some big movies in his time, but for ace producer Joel Silver, it's The Matrix that's the centre of his universe.
Words: Ian Spelling
A big bear of a guy with a booming voice to match, The Matrix producer Joel Silver has been behind huge film favourites like Weird Science, the Die Hard trilogy, the Tales from the Crypt television series and films, the Lethal Weapon saga, Romeo Must Die and Swordfish. We'll forgive him for the likes of Xanadu, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Hudson Hawk, Fair Game and Ghost Ship; after all, no one's perfect and he did bring The Matrix to the screen.
It is The Matrix trilogy that will earn Silver his place in the hearts of genre fans worldwide. Silver firmly believed in Andy and Larry Wachowski when they came to him with their ambitious ideas for The Matrix, and he ran interference as they directed the first film in the manner they saw fit. Once the film became a phenomenon, Silver put everything in place for the brothers to complete their vision with back-to-back sequels. Now, with the Wachowskis declining all press duties while polishing the next two instalments [sic] in The Matrix saga - a no-interview clause is actually included in their contracts--Silver has emerged as the spokesman for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. Make no mistake, it's a gig that Joel Silver relishes.
Matrix Mania
A huge smile crosses the uber-producer's face when he contemplates the second film's imminent release and the public's appetite for everything and anything Matrix-related. In fact, Matrix mania is well underway, what with lengthy, exuberant magazlne cover stories (guilty as charged). After all, there's a helluva lot to talk about: the Animatrix animated shorts on the internet; the premiere of one Animatrix segment, the nine-minute long, Wachowski-penned Final Flight of the Osiris, which precedes the Stephen King movie Dreamcatcher at cinemas; the nine film Animatrix compilation DVD due for release in June and the Enter the Matrix videogame set to reach stores just as The Matrix Reloaded packs them in at cinemas.
"We're a month and a half out and we had a cover of Newsweek in December, so I guess they know that we're coming," Silver notes with a laugh. "I just think that it's a unique opportunity It's like, 'How many groundbreaking things can we do?' We're trying to really change so many things. When you see the movie, you'll see where I'm going. Dreamcatcher was really the right movie and the right audience for launching this project in a way that was unique and unusual, This story that [Final Flight director] Andy [Jones] told, which is written by the boys [as Silver regularly calls the Wachowski brothers], is really the beginning of the saga. It begins the story and then continues to Reloaded and then to Revolutions, and really directly relates to the game as well "
This isn't just a marketing blitz for the sake of it, though, as everyone involved with he Matrix series sees it as something special, a franchise that can successfully have a life across multiple outlets simultaneously. "We've been careful," he claims. "The reason that we got the cover of Newsweek is because we haven't been all over the place, We haven't been hammering people and we're not going to do that, This is not marketing, this is story. This is a piece of the movie. This is not promotional.Yes, we're going to have the animation be available, but it's nine stories. It's all story-driven and the idea that the boys had was to tell this story in multiple mediums and that's what we're trying to do."
So are all the Animatrix stories essentially Reloaded prequels? "No," Silver replies. "The Second Renaissance I & II is a prequel to the whole thing. It tells how the world got from our world today to a world that could exist. [Final Flight] is like Matrix 1.5, [set] right before Reloaded begins. Two have gone out on the Internet. [For] the first one, the Second Renaissance, we had over four million downloads. That was shocking to some of the big hardware cornpanies. They didn't know that there was that much memory out there, that people could take that much in. The second went up and we had 250,000 downloads in the first hour.
"Program," which is kind of more traditional animation, Japanese animation, and is on the web now, is like an episode of The Matrix series. It's a story within the Matrix. Final Flight of the Oslris relates directly to the movie. Some of them have other information about the Matrix world. Trinity [voiced by Carrie-Anne Moss) is a character in the [Animatrix] detective story. I mean, they're all different, but final Flight of the Osiris is really significant. It's on film. We lucked out that it was released with Dreamcatcher. It worked out great for us and we just think that if we have fans out there, and I hope and I think that we do, if they want to get a start on [the sequels], this is how to do it."
Top Secret
Whine the plots of the Matrix Reloaded and particularly The Matrix Revolutions remain top-secret, at least this much is known: Neo (Keanu Reeves), Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Moss) must defend Zion against machine army invaders who seek to destroy it and its human denizens. Along the way, there's some Neo-Trinity romance, a mind -bending fight between Neo arid 100 versionns of Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), and encounters with such new characters as Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith), Morpheus' ex, and Persephone (Monica Bellucci), a luscious temptress out to seduce Neo.
"We really have a scheme to not talk about what you're going to see," Silver begins, though his inner showman promptly betrays him "We really want to have our fans see it for the first time. So, we're really careful. I mean, it does continue the story in a really vast way. The first story [the original the Matrix film] was a little movie, if you look at it. It's all on a renegade ship that has a very charismatic leader who believes that there is a guy out there who can help solve this long history of warfare between man and machines. He feels that this guy can help them and he has to have this guy realise that he can. Well now [in The Matrix Reloaded], the story starts with, 'How do we do this? Can we do it?' It's a very complex tale, and we're telling it--as we say with the videogame - on all formats. And that's true, The videogame is coming out at once on PlayStation 2, on Xbox, on GameCube, and the movie is the same way, it exists in all formats in that if you want to perceive it as an incredibly spectacular visual FX action movie, that's there, If you're looking for an incredible love story, it's there. If you're looking for a really philosophical view of what's happening in our lives today, right now, it's there. All these things are there. It's planned that way."
Anyone seeking closure during the six-month window between the May release of The Matrix Reloaded and the November arrival of The Matrix Revolutions would best be advised to look elsewhere. It's been promised that The Matrix Reloaded will end with the cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers. "They are one movie," Silver says of the sequels. "The Wachowski brothers are really very talented and they crafted a structure of a conventional movie in Reloaded, but it really is the first half of a much bigger movie. Oh boy, it has a cliffhanger!"
Though The Matrix Revolutions, which is reportedly set mostly in the decimated real world, will likely conclude the saga, buzz is already building about the possibility of The Matrix 4 and beyond. Silver won't rule out anything. "Well, the story that the boys wanted to tell ends in Revolutions," he comments. "I mean, could they continue the story, the characters? Look, they can. All of this stuff that we're talking about, they wrote. They wrote all of this. They are passionate about the project, about this idea that they came up with, about this world that they've created. I'm sure that if they wanted to continue writing whatever they can, they can. [But] this story does end at the end of Revolutions."
The Magnificent Matrix
Silver's smile returns yet again when he's asked if, five years ago, lie had a clue as to the potential magnitude of The Matrix, if he imagined huge box office and sequels. "You always hope when you make a movie that you can do something that really affects people and that they really take to it," he explains. "A lot of movies that I've been involved with, when the movie is over, you go, 'Look, let's go to dinner,' and that's your first reaction. This movie really affects people and it really leaves them with something, and that doesn't: stop in Reloaded and, boy, will it not stop in Revolutions! This is really a movie that causes discussion and thought and conversation. I just think that this is what we should he doing. We can make these other movies. I loved Cradle 2 The Grave [a recent Silver production that opened in the top slot at the US box office]. It was a fun movie. I like being number one. It's nice to make some money. It's a fun picture, but it's not the same kind of experience as the Matrix."
Silver leans back in his chair, takes a deep breath and continues.
"Did I think that The Matrix would get to this place?" asks the producer, whose upcoming projects include the horror film Gothika With Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz, as well as the comic book-based movies Lobo and Adrenalynn, with Christina Ricci reportedly on board to star in the latter as a Russian cyborg. "Of course, you always dream. I mean, hope is a big part of the movie, the notion of hope. The boys had the whole story. I've been involved with movies where the movie ends and the studio says, 'Make a sequel.' We realised that there was a commercial opportunity to make more money with a sequel, but the story was over. So, we have to wrack our brains and figure out how to tell another story. A lot of times, they haven't been successful. They may have been commercially successful pictures, but I don't think that Lethal Weapon 4 was a successful movie. It was Friends with guns. But these guys came up with this whole Matrix story [at once]. It barrels through."
The Matrix Reloaded is released on 15 May in the US and 23 May in the UK with The Matrix Revolutions following on 7 November in both countries.
Playground of the stars
[Guardian UK 06/07/2003]
Checking into an LA hotel can be like stepping into a movie: lots of stars, not much reality. Just don't forget your script and sunglasses if you want to blend in with the Hollywood A-list, says Jim Keeble
I stay two nights at the Chateau (nobody uses 'Marmont'), experiencing what many of the world's most famous people consider 'home' in LA. De Niro stayed for two years. Keanu Reeves has only just departed, having finally bought a house in the hills.
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
Dude, Where�s My Dude? Dudelicious Dissection, From Sontag to Spicoli
[New York Osbserver 02/07/03 by Ron Rosenbaum]
Why dude, now? It�s not just that Ashton Kutcher, the
demigod of Dude ever since Dude, Where�s My Car?, has become a Demi- god of another sort. It�s not just the rise of Keanu Reeves (who revived "dude" in Bill and Ted�s Excellent Adventure) as Neo- Dude. There�s more to it, dude.
Back in 1964, Susan Sontag wrote an eye-opening essay in Partisan Review called "Notes on �Camp.�" Partisan Review, alas, is gone, but camp is here to stay, and perhaps the time has come to begin to assemble some notes on a similarly recondite phenomenon: Let�s call it "Notes on �Dude.�" Because recent evidence suggests that Dude, too�Dude in its most expansive, capital-D sense�is here to stay as well.
In some ways, the impetus for studying Dude culture is dual: I feel I�ve grown up (or down) with "dude," having first heard it from the single surfer dude in my high school and then the single surfer dude in my class at Yale (he dropped out freshman year to party with the waves). But there�s also a similar motive to that which prompted Ms. Sontag to investigate the resonances of camp. She opened her "Notes on �Camp�" essay with these two sentences:
"Many things in the world have not been named; and many things, even if they have been named, have never been described. One of these is the sensibility� unmistakably modern, a variant of sophistication but hardly identical with it� that goes by the cult name of �Camp.�" (My italics.)
Similarly, Dude has been named, but has Dude�as sensibility�been adequately described? If camp is "a variant of sophistication," Dude might be called a variant of unsophistication. And yet also "hardly identical with it." In fact, it can be, when used ironically as it often is here in New York City, a sophisticated take on unsophistication.
Why Dude now? Well, for one thing, what Ms. Sontag documented (or perhaps created) was a cultural moment when camp�which she described as an underground, mainly gay subcultural sensibility�crossed over into the mainstream. And I�d argue that the moment has come when, like it or not, we have to acknowledge that Dude�in what you might call its ecstatic Jeff Spicoli sense�has crossed over. Crossed over in two ways: First, it has made the transition from transitory subcultural slang term to mainstream cultural�or at least linguistic� phenomenon of a sort.
And what�s more�and this is what prompted this essay�like camp, Dude has "crossed over" in a gendered way as well.
And so perhaps, it might be appropriate to begin these tentative notes with:
1) THE SEXUAL TRANSMIGRATION OF DUDE
I think this is one chief indication that Dude is here to stay: the fact that it now can refer to both men and women. It�s true that there still may be some salons and dinner parties�mainly in certain clueless precincts of academia�where "dude" will still not be uttered at all. And it�s more likely you�ll hear "dude" uttered downtown, or on the L train, than in the back of Town Cars and Navigators. But outside of those sad figures who cloister themselves off from the pleasures of pop culture, "dude" is not just a part of the language�Dude is a whole discourse. And what�s more, Dude-ism, once mainly male, is now being used self-referentially by women as well.
I�m not sure exactly when it happened. I may have been aware of it in a subliminal way, but I know the precise moment the conscious realization that "dude" had transcended gender came to me. It was in the second week of May; I was in a car somewhere off a freeway exit in Chicago with two journalism students who had picked me up at O�Hare to take me to a guest-lecture gig at Medill Journalism School. We seemed to be lost and, as I recall, the woman in the back seat said to the woman at the wheel, "Dude, I think we�re going the wrong way."
Dude! Sweet! (as they say in Dude, Where�s My Car?) These were smart, well- educated, self-aware women in their 20�s, and they thought nothing of calling each other "dude." They said it was a fairly common usage. Well, maybe with a little of the in-built irony that "dude" has for all who have used it post�Jeff Spicoli.
Little did I know that I was witnessing a phenomenon that was, in fact, a hot topic among lexicographers and linguists, according to my friend Jesse Sheidlower, the astute North American editor of the Oxford English Dictionary: the sexual transmigration of "dude." Where once "dude" had applied mainly�only�to men, "there�s a lot of discussion now," Jesse said, among his colleagues in the word-study business, over this issue: whether "dude" (in a descriptive rather than prescriptive sense) could now generally be said to apply to both men and women. (The way "babe" has crossed over from the other direction, you might say.)
The online edition of the American Heritage Dictionary, for instance, has already made the leap and recognized the duality of "dude" when it comes to gender, defining it (in 3.b., "dudes") as "Persons of either sex."
Oxford was still studying the matter, Jesse said, although he checked the O.E.D.�s on-line data base and found a citation for "dude" applied to a woman as early as the mid-70�s. And one in the mid-80�s, in Bret Easton Ellis� Less Than Zero, in which a young woman tells her mother, "No way, dude."
These were relatively isolated instances, but it seemed like it was just a matter of time before the O.E.D. would give "dude" its due as a dual-gender appellation. (Or as Aerosmith might say, "Dude [sometimes] looks like a lady.")
The triumph of Dude is more than about a single word. It�s about an entire sensibility, a worldview. To understand it one needs �
2) A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON DUDE: Featuring the original �aesthetic craze.�
Everybody thinks "dude ranch" came first and was somehow the origin. But whence came the dude in "dude ranch"? Before the dude-ranch dude there was dude as dandy, the dude as an urban aesthete; it was the urbanity of dude that made the dude-ranch dude dude-ish. The print version of the unabridged O.E.D. curiously calls "dude" originally "a factitious slang term." "Factitious slang"? I think what they�re suggesting is something like what happened when the guys who made Swingers tried to make "money" a slang term for "cool." God, was that a disaster. Totally embarrassing, dude. Why did "dude" succeed while "money" died a well- deserved death? It may have something to do with its origins.
"Dude" may have been made up "factitiously" (I�d like to know the dude who did it), but according to the O.E.D., it first came into vogue in New York about 1883, in connection with what the O.E.D. calls "the �aesthetic craze� of the day."
"Aesthetic craze": Don�t you love it, dude? This is important to remember in considering the way "dude" has evolved, the way it�s come to be used a century after its origin, the aesthetic dimension of the word. Yes, it can be used simply to refer to a person or class of persons�the way I first heard it in my suburb in reference to "surfer dudes." But more interesting is the way its origins in an "aesthetic craze" can be linked to the way "dude" (or rather "Duuuude!") had become a one-word expression of awe and wonder. A simple awestruck Duuuude! as a way of expressing aesthetic approbation of, a crazed mutual aesthetic appreciation of, something someone says, or some phenomenon someone points out. An acknowledgment of shock and awe�or, in some cases, schlock and awe.
A friend of mine pointed out that what "dude" users (and abusers) have in common is transport. Originally, a dude was a dandy on horseback; contemporary dudes use other means of transport�skateboards, surfboards, snowboards and the like.
There�s an interesting convergence here with Ms. Sontag�s exegesis of the origins of camp, one that also goes back to the aesthete and the dandy.
"Camp sees everything in quotation marks," she wrote. "As the dandy is the 19th century�s surrogate for the aristocrat in matters of culture, so Camp is the modern dandyism. Camp is the answer to the problem: how to be a dandy in the age of mass culture �. The old-style dandy hated vulgarity, the new-style dandy � appreciates vulgarity."
Dude, you might say�Dude with a capital D�is another answer to the question of how to be an aesthete in an age of mass culture, because Dude is a way of bringing a conscious unsophistication�an ironical unsophistication, an unsophistication in quotation marks, a sophisticated unsophistication�to an appreciation of popular culture.
At least that�s the way I heard it in the exchange between the Medill J-school women; that�s the way I use it; that�s the way I hear it here in New York�where, for instance, the single most prolific utterer of "dude" I know works at The New York Review of Books.
Of course, there still exists a kind of pure "dude," a non-ironic use of the word. (Not that there�s anything wrong with that.) One could almost say that there has been, in the history of "dude" from its "factitious" origins in 1883, a dialectic of Dude, a dialectic of sophistication and unsophistication. Which really calls for �
3) A BRIEF HISTORY OF DUDE, PART ONE: THE MYSTERY OF THE TRANSITION
The real mystery of Dude history is the Mystery of the Transition. How did the mildly mocking "dude" of "dude ranch," a direct descendant of the 1883 urban dandy, become the "dude" of surfer talk�a respectful form of direct address, as in "Party on, dude." A woman I know offered this theory of how "dude" migrated from dude-ranch mockery to the surfer term of mutual respect: "Dude" was originally a mockery of "gentlemanliness," you might say, or gentility, and surfers later rescued the gentlemanliness from the mockery.
When transformed, or inverted in subcultural slang�in this case, California surfer talk�the original irony was itself ironized, and, in the way a double negative can make a positive, it became thereby a mostly sincere, slightly arch term of gentlemanly respect, not mockery. What made the transformation possible was the presence of that gentlemanly dandyism in both usages. Surfer dudes decided to own it, own their elaborate subcultural aesthetic dandyism, the way some ethnic groups believe they can own words that were originally derisive slurs.
In a way, to address someone as "dude" became a sign of ironic respect for that person�s ironic sensibility.
4) A BRIEF HISTORY OF DUDE, PART TWO: THE DISAPPEARANCE AND RE-EMERGENCE OF DUDE
O.K., so "dude" made the transition sometime in the 60�s to a term of respect�but for a while it just stayed there, sort of dormant, a regional subcultural term, kept alive in certain rock lyrics ("All the Young Dudes").
For a while, it looked like "dude" might die out or become antiquated like "groovy" (as opposed to "cool," which still survives in various ironic flavors). But then "dude" began to re-emerge in the late 70�s, less as a term of address�"Hey, dude!"�but as, once again, an aspect of an "aesthetic craze," so to speak.
Which brings us to what you might call the "whoa, dude" connection�and then the internalization of "whoa" by "dude."
I seem to recall being alerted to this transition in 1980 or �81 by a story that appeared in New West Magazine, by the gifted writer Charlie Haas. As I recall, it was one of the first to document the Grateful Dead cult. But what stayed on my mind was Mr. Haas� hilarious but prescient opening riff on what he called "the whoa dudes": guys who used "Whoa, dude!" to begin�and end�just about every conversational response, much the same way that Valley Girls were starting to use "like" and "totally" as all-purpose conversational punctuation. (And by the way, a whole other essay could be devoted to the way Valley-speak has, in many ways, survived and gone national�as the unexpected triumph of Legally Blonde like SO TOTALLY attests.)
In any case, what the "whoa, dude" phenomenon documented was the way "dude" had made another crucial transition. It was the moment when saying "dude" was no longer just a way of addressing a person; it began to be an all-encompassing acknowledgment of mutual wonder, in that elongated form�"Duuuude!"�where the awestruck "whoa" is encompassed within the elongated "Duuuude!" so that it becomes a mutual communion with the wonder of it all, so to speak.
Still, the real transition�the moment when dude went "worldwide" (to use a contemporary term), the moment when Dude "blew up" (to use a persistent 80�s phrase)�was the release of one film, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and the introduction of one now-nearly-mythic character �.
5) THE DEMIGODS OF DUDE, PART ONE: JEFF SPICOLI
I�m a big fan of Sean Penn�s serious work, from the underrated At Close Range to his direction of The Crossing Guard�but really, Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High is likely to become his one immortal American character, almost like Huck Finn or Chaplin�s Little Tramp.
What made Jeff Spicoli great? Well, he was the pitch-perfect synergistic fusion of the four wellsprings of late-70�s Dude culture: surfer, stoner, suburban Valley-speak and biker-rocker dude. (Remember Spicoli�s dream, which concludes with his planning to "wing on over to London and jam with the Stones"?) But more than that, it was the amazing, oblivious good nature that Mr. Penn, as Spicoli, radiated. The Joy of Dude.
6) DEMIGODS OF DUDE, PART TWO: KEANU REEVES IN BILL AND TED�S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE
I�d almost forgotten that Bill and Ted came before Wayne and Garth and Wayne�s World. And that "Wayne�s World"�both the Saturday Night Live sketch concept and the films that followed�was a pure cop from Bill and Ted. And that it was Keanu Reeves who immortalized the phrase "Party on, dude," not Mike Myers. These are important facts. And although Bill and Ted doesn�t really hold up the way Fast Times does, it was Bill and Ted that introduced the aesthetic category known as "Excellent!" into the Dude lexicon, even before Bart Simpson and Mr. Burns made "dude" and "excellent" partners in crime.
7) DEMIGODS OF DUDE, PART THREE: LEBOWSKI vs. SLACKER
I have to admit, I really, really disliked The Big Lebowski when I first saw it. But it grew on me. Not to the cult status it�s attained for some: Did you know the Second Annual Big Lebowski Festival is about to take place somewhere in Kentucky on July 19 (see www.lebowskifest.com)? Note to editor: Dude, here�s your peg! My problem with Lebowski at first was that Jeff Bridges gives slacker slovenliness a bad name�while the earlier Slacker gives it a good name. (See my column on that genuinely great Dude film, Observer, Aug. 13, 2001) Slacker, of course, is more explicitly philosophical and aesthetic than Lebowski, but lately I�ve come to think there is something likable about the Coen brothers� film, almost despite the Dude element.
What was irritating to me was the Jeff Bridges character calling himself "the Dude." It was such a non-Dude thing to do. (Almost as irritating as the commodification of Dude by the so-called Dell Dude. I don�t blame the Dell Dude for taking the gig, but he was almost too good at it�to the extent that, for a little while, it began to feel a little tacky to use "dude.")
But to return to Lebowski: The real Dude in the picture is Lebowski�s buddy, Walter Sobchak (played by John Goodman) who�s the best thing in the movie� along with the two of them using the word "roll" for bowl (transport again). Indeed, the whole bowling/ spiritual aspect of the film is highlighted by Sobchak�s refusal to "roll on shabbos."
8) DEMIGODS OF DUDE, PART FOUR: ASHTON KUTCHER
I don�t know if anyone else has noticed this, but the title Dude, Where�s My Car? can be traced to a line in The Big Lebowski, when Sobchak asks Lebowski: "Where�s your car, Dude?" And even though most of Dude, Where�s My Car? makes even Bill and Ted seem like a subdued, autumnal work of the subtle Japanese master of cinema, Yasujiro Ozu, Dude has become a cult film, and the title of the movie alone is worth the price of admission. And coming in the year 2000, it clearly signaled that Dude would span the turn of the century. The totally awesome title of the sequel alone�Seriously, Dude, Where�s My Car? (planned for release in 2004)�should insure that Dude lasts well into the new millennium.
But, of course, there�s more to Dude, Where�s My Car? than the title and the theme of lost transport. (Well, a little more.) There�s that great, now sort-of- famous exchange between Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott when they read the tattoos on each other�s backs. It�s not quite "Who�s on first?", but it�s not a bad update.
See, they�ve just discovered that they�ve gotten tattoos on their backs, which they have no memory of getting. Because the tattoos are on their backs, they each have to read the others� ink. And they discover that Kutcher�s tattoo reads "Dude," and Scott�s reads "Sweet."
And since "Sweet" has come to be a synonym for the awestruck "Duuuude," trouble ensues:
"Dude, what does my tattoo say?" asks Scott.
"�Sweet,�" says Kutcher. "What about mine?"
"�Dude,�" says Scott. "What does mine say?"
"�Sweet,�" says Kutcher. "What about mine?"
"�Dude�!" says an increasingly annoyed Scott. "What about mine?"
"�Sweet�!"
And so it goes, until they�re at each other�s throats.
It probably doesn�t make any sense to those who haven�t seen it, but you sort of give in to it when you do. (Our "big-cheese editor," as the Eight-Day Week likes to call him, boasts that he has it memorized). If this seems slightly less serious than the intellectual fare my readers are used to, let me offer �
9) THE DUDE, WHERE�S MY CAR? LITERARY GAME
This was something I devised during a dinner with my friends Virginia and David, although they came up with the best answer. The idea is to see how many great works of literature you can fit into the Dude, Where�s My Car? framework.
For instance, Moby-Dick�Dude, Where�s My Whale?
The Iliad�Dude, Where�s My Trojans?
The Catcher in the Rye�Dude, Where�s My Innocence?
A Tale of Two Cities�Dude, Where�s My Head?
The Red and the Black�Dude, Where�s My Color Sense?
The best was one that David and Virginia seemed to come up with simultaneously:
The Sun Also Rises�Dude, Where�s My Dick?
I�ll conclude this installment of "Notes on �Dude�" with some dude etiquette:
10) SOME DUDE DO�S AND DON�T�S
�Never use "dude" more than twice in a single sentence.
�Headline plays on Dude, Where�s My Car? have pretty much reached their limit. I recently saw a headline: "Dude, Where�s My Terrorism?"
�So have plays on "Dude, You�re Gettin� a Dell."
�Enough with the commercialization: A sample Web search revealed, among many others, the Weather Dude, the Pizza Dude, the Balloon Dude and the Cookie Dude. There was also "Dude Dressing: Major Zesty Garlic Peppercorn Ranch Salad Dressing that makes you say whoa dude!!!�" I even saw a Web site for "The Creator Dude." It wasn�t God.
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
Star salivates for our steak
[News.com.au 01/07/2003 By Peter Mitchell in Los Angeles]
KEANU Reeves has a thirst for $350 bottles of Australian red wine but
veteran Hollywood actor Donald Sutherland thinks it is a waste of money.
However, a good Aussie steak is a worthy purchase, according to Sutherland.
The 68-year-old star of film classics Klute and The Dirty Dozen became a fan of downunder beef while in Australia in April to shoot the US television mini-series Salem's Lot with Rob Lowe.
Sutherland said some Aussies he met on a flight to Australia suggested he try some Penfolds Grange Hermitage when he landed in Melbourne.
"These people said, 'You should drink a glass of Penfolds Grange'," Sutherland said.
