Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

Jason Segel and Jonah Hill stare at something off-camera in Forgetting Sarah Marshall

As Printed in The Lumberjack on April 24, 2008

by Gary Sundt

Writer/director/producer Judd Apatow knows talent when he sees it. Take Forgetting Sarah Marshall for example. The film’s writer and star Jason Segel worked with the producing powerhouse nearly a decade ago on the truly wonderful, if not short-lived, television series Freaks and Geeks. Seth Rogen was also on this show, and now he’s a name because of the Apatow-directed Knocked Up. Forgetting Sarah Marshall should give Segel the same kind of buzz, if nothing else because he appears fully nude in the film.

By nude, I don’t just mean because we see his penis; we see it multiple times in two respective scenes, in fact. Segel’s performance is an emotionally naked one in which the actor is forced to be completely real and, at the same time, utterly hilarious.

The film follows Peter Bretter (Segel), a composer who dreams of a “Dracula rock opera with puppets,” as he deals with the shattering of his five and a half year relationship with TV superstar Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). Now that his relationship is over, everything in Peter’s life, from his job to his cereal container, reminds him of lost love.

After a slew of random hookups (one of which is the Period Blood Girl from Superbad) and other self-destructive behaviors, Peter’s stepbrother Brian (Bill Hader) recommends that he take a vacation. So it’s off to Hawaii with our heartbroken hero. It just so happens he is staying at the same resort occupied by Sarah and her new beau, a hyper-sexualized rock star named Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). Rachel, the hotel clerk (Mila Kunis) takes pity on Peter’s situation, and it is soon apparent that sparks are a-flyin’ between them.

But Peter seems to ignore these promising emotions in favor of his continuing post-break-up torture. Throughout the film, the poor schmuck unpacks his story to a crop of Apatow regulars, including Hader, Paul Rudd as the baked surfing instructor Kunu, and Jonah Hill as a waiter with a hardcore man-crush on Aldous. Some new people have been brought into the fold as well, my favorite being Jack McBrayer as a Christian newlywed who is having some trouble getting his bride to feel the “touch of God.”

All these guys end up saying the same thing: move on, crybaby. And Peter will move on. He has to move on because the laws of romantic comedy insist upon it. Many romcoms rely on formula to get there, but Forgetting Sarah Marshall breathes fresh air into the genre by providing an unexpected twist in its third act.

However, while approaching this inevitable conclusion, Forgetting Sarah Marshall starts to drag. The film lasts nearly two hours, and it’s hard to say what causes it to feel longer than that. It’s not that we are bored per se, but we do wonder when the final moment is going to come.

The movie is directed by Nicholas Stoller, but the showcase talent here is definitely writer/actor Segel. I hope his career launches from this picture. And I know Apatow will keep doing great things, so I’ll just cool my heels until his next producing effort, David Gordon Green’s Pineapple Express, hits theaters this August.

Note: While watching the film, I noticed a shot in which the boom mic fell into frame. Contrary to popular belief, this is not usually the fault of the filmmakers, but rather the projectionist showing the film in the wrong aspect ratio. Also, the theater’s sound quality was off balance. This caused the dialogue and the music to be disproportionate at times.

Running time: 105 minutes. Directed by Nicholas Stoller. Produced by Judd Apatow and Shauna Robertson. Written by Jason Segel. Starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Bill Hader, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, and Jack McBrayer. A Universal Pictures release.

The Onion reports “Iron Man” trailer to be made into feature length film

The Onion reports that the extremely popular Iron Man trailer will be made into a feature-length film. This news has been met with skepticism by fans of the Marvel movie trailer, but the filmmakers have promised to stay true to what made the trailer so great. Watch below for more details.

Iron Man hits theaters May 2, 2008

Cloverfield (2008)

Michael Stahl-David and Odette Yustman look at a video camera in Cloverfield

by Gary Sundt

As Printed in The Lumberjack on January 24, 2008

“Good luck in Japan, Rob… OH MY GOD! WHAT WAS THAT!? RUN! RUN! RUN! RUN! OH MY GOD!”

This is essentially the script for Cloverfield, the new film from director Matt Reeves, and the brainchild of Lost creator and mega-producer J.J. Abrams. It features a vicious monster rampaging throughout New York City as seen through the home video camera of a small pack of survivors.

Now, as a film critic, I can safely say I’ve seen New York get blowed up. I’ve seen it get blowed up real good. Whether via alien space ships, population explosion, disease, ghosts, terrorists, tidal waves, asteroids, riots, King Kong, Godzilla or global warming, Hollywood never ceases to invent new ways of destroying the Big Apple. When it comes to Cloverfield, the decision was not to destroy New York with the standard visual flare. Rather, the powers-that-be have chosen to assault the audience with a shaky camera (or “Queasy-Cam,” as the technique has been dubbed) the likes of which have not been seen since The Blair Witch Project.

Now don’t take this as a bad thing. The film manages to be a pretty terrifying flick, mostly thanks to the affects of Queasy-Cam. Sure, the main characters are a group of 20-something cardboard cutouts, but that’s okay. They are our eyes of this catastrophe, and we thank them for their sacrifice. Unless you have vertigo or epilepsy, you’ll probably have a great time.

Cloverfield begins innocently enough with a farewell surprise party for Rob (Michael Stahl-David), who is about to leave the city for a vice president job in Japan. At the party, Hud (T.J. Miller) is given the responsibility of taping all the farewells and so longs. Among those saying good luck is Rob’s brother Jason (Mike Vogel), Jason’s fiancé Lily (Jessica Lucas), and Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), a girl whom Hud is smitten with. Then comes the arrival of Rob’s best friend Beth (Odette Yustman), and there appears to be some major drama a’brewin’. However, all that is put aside when an earthquake hits the building and a news report informs the partygoers that something wicked this way comes.

The destruction and mayhem is first seen from a distance, but quickly comes Statue-of-Liberty’s-head first into the lives of our innocent 20-somethings. Smoke billows and shoots toward our cameraman. Explosions rock the immediate area. Then we see a glimpse of the latest creation to lay siege to Manhattan Island.

The monster, it should be noted, is an impressive one. Even when seen outright, the beast is both a terrifying and awe-inspiring creation. Moreover, this behemoth is traveling with a personal army of what Google has informed me is giant “parasitic lice,” which have a predilection toward eating those who survive the chaos caused by their former host. Cloverfield supports the theory that the people of New York City can survive anything… almost. Our mindless 20-somethings run from the monster and his lice, and then go back into the city to save Beth from one high-rise building that is leaning against another.

There is a moment in which Rob tells the audience, “If you found this, if you’re watching this then you probably know more about it than I do.” Fortunately I didn’t. Those who followed the viral campaign all the way until 1-18-08 (the film’s 9/11-erific original title) probably know a heck of a lot more than both of us. However, I prefer it this way. Going in, all I really knew was what the trailer had made very clear: that “it’s alive!” and “it’s huge!” I had a lot more fun because of my ignorance.

After the screening, though, Cloverfield raised some questions. How does the camera battery last for 12 hours? Where Hud finds the wherewithal to keep the camera in hand is beyond me, but I excuse this in the presumption that it is required to tell the story. But how does this camera survive at the film’s ending? What was that thing that fell into the East River just before the… never mind. If you have an answer to any of these, write a letter to the editor.

Note: in the trailers before Cloverfield, there was a trailer for 10,000 B.C., the new film from director Roland Emmerich. Emmerich has made a career out of coming up with clever ways to destroy New York City (Independence Day, 1998’s Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow) and unless his latest picture is stupider than I already anticipate, he will not have the opportunity this time around. Thus, it was only appropriate to find his trailer at the head of this film.

Running time: 84 minutes. Directed by Matt Reeves. Produced by J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk. Written by Drew Goddard. Starring Michael Stahl-David, T.J. Miller, Mike Vogel, Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan and Odette Yustman. A Paramount Pictures release.

Writer/director George Gallo brings reflective film to Flagstaff

Trevor Morgan and and Armin Mueller-Stahl look at a painting in George Gallo’s Local Color

by Gary Sundt

As Printed in The Lumberjack on April 17, 2008

The last time writer/director George Gallo was in Flagstaff, he was at a bar.

It was during the filming of his 1988 script, Midnight Run. He recalled, “I was with one of the actors, John Ashton. We were getting all tanked up in a bar right across the street from the train station. I was catching an overnight train home to L.A. I didn’t want to fly home, and I figured I’d just get drunk and get on the train and get a sleeping compartment and go to sleep. I remember liking Flag quite a bit.”

Gallo will be returning to Flagstaff via his latest film, titled Local Color. Opening Friday, April 25, the film recounts the director’s own experiences as an 18-year-old aspiring painter who finds guidance and wisdom from an aging artist the summer after his high school graduation. In an effort to pay tribute to those who have inspired him, Gallo (who wrote the story for Bad Boys and the script for The Whole Ten Yards) has written and directed a film addressing the topic of art and expression.

“The film is based very much on what happened to me personally when I was 18 years old,” Gallo said. “I graduated high school in 1974 and wanted to continue my art training. At that time, there really wasn’t much in terms of practical, grounded training in the world of representational art. It was all abstraction, and I was more of [a] traditionalist. There was really no place to study.

“So I ended up studying with a brilliant Russian impressionist. I became his student, his apprentice, and he was the master, obviously. But he had become an old drunk by the time I met him, and his better days were behind him. He didn’t like what the world had become, didn’t like what the world of art had become and had decided, in a kind of conscious effort, to drink himself to death.

“But I came along full of youthful exuberance, and saw the true genius in the work that he had done, and wanted him to teach me. His whole thing was basically ‘f-ck you, get out of here, leave me alone, let me die.’ And the movie is pretty much about the kid trying to get the old man to believe in life again, and so then he can pass the baton on to the kid.”

Local Color also explores the filmmaker’s then-taxing relationship with his father, George Gallo, Sr. Gallo refers to his father as a working-class guy who couldn’t imagine his son making a living in the arts.

“He was of a different generation,” Gallo said. “The idea of making a living at painting or writing stories didn’t sit very well with him. He always understood ditch digging or being a cop or getting a city job. That was his reality.

“I wanted to be an artist and he just didn’t get it. It led to a great deal of arguments and fighting in our house, which I think is pretty clear in the movie. Here he had this kid with his head in the clouds, a really artistic kid. And he’d look at me and he’d be like ‘where the f-ck did you come from?’

“So that was my reality that I grew up in. I was quite headstrong, and obviously I succeeded ultimately. Was he proud of me in the end? Yes. He’s a very proud father. He just didn’t think I could pull all this sh-t off. And when I look at my life, I can’t believe I pulled a lot of it off.”

Gallo was no older than most students at NAU when he sold his first screenplay. He recalled, “I started studying a lot about filmmaking, and took a shot at writing a script when I was about 20 or 21. I got incredibly lucky. I sent the script to a cinematographer by the name of Arthur J. Harding. He passed the script along to a producer, Martin Bregman, who did Scarface, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico… all these big Al Pacino movies of the day. They purchased the script.

“I started bouncing back and forth between screenwriting and painting, because the screenwriting thing became very lucrative to me rather quickly. I was very lucky. So I started writing screenplays, painting pictures, writing screenplays. Eventually I saw an opportunity to direct. Imagery and directing obviously go hand in hand, and directing is obviously linked to storytelling.”

Gallo has felt a certain untruth to artists as portrayed in films. In Local Color, he saw the perfect opportunity to bring to life the true art of being a painter to the big screen.

“A lot of times, I see artists working in movies and it’s kind bullsh-t. It’s just not realistic because whoever is making the movie doesn’t understand what it’s like to be an artist for real.

“Being a painter, I wanted a very specific truth. I’ve stood in a field for hours just learning the technique, and I wanted infuse, to the best of my ability, what that whole process is like. Part of being an artist is just keeping your heart and soul open to alternate points of view.”

Local Color will play as a limited engagement at Harkins on April 25. Gallo expects students of every type to relate to the film’s message.

“I think anyone who is trying to learn anything, be it art, music, political science, whatever it is, I think it’s a movie that will connect well with the student population. Especially in an artist-based community,” he said.

Prom Night (2008)

Brittany Snow wonders why she took this role in Prom Night.

by Gary Sundt

As Printed in The Lumberjack on April 17, 2008

The World English Dictionary defines “jeering” as shouting or laughing at somebody or something as an expression of disgust, scorn or other displeasure. The act of jeering is a time-honored tradition in a certain type of horror movie. Movies like this are of the “if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry” variety. Prom Night is one of these movies. The difference here is that I laughed so hard that I cried. So did most of the audience.

As with most modern horror films not remade from a Japanese flick, this is a remake of a movie that came out in the ‘80s. Before they figured out they could just make sequels to Halloween and Friday the 13th, they made rip-offs. One of these rip-offs was Prom Night. The original, despite featuring the talents of former scream-queen Jamie Lee Curtis, was not a good film, nor was it particularly successful. This remake, featuring the talents of Hairspray drama queen Brittany Snow, does not fare much better.

Donna (Snow) is the surprisingly well-adjusted victim of having her entire family slaughtered right in front of her by an obsessive teacher three years ago. After such a traumatizing experience, it would be understandable — expected even — for her to have developed a couple of different addictions, sexual recklessness and/or severe depression. Moving to a new town would be an absolute.

Not this well-adjusted teenage girl. She seems perfectly content living in the same town where her family was slaughtered. She goes to the same school. In fact, aside from the occasional nightmare, Donna is happy living her life knowing that the obsessive teacher is locked in an insane asylum oh-so-many miles away.

Most important in Donna’s perverse perfection-of-a-life is that prom has arrived. She is pumped, ready to dance the night away with her homeboys and girls. Her aunt and uncle (Jessalyn Gilsig and Linden Ashby) send her off just before a cop urgently knocks on the door (doesn’t call, that would be too fast) and informs them that Richard Fenton (Johnathon Schaech), the man who killed Donna’s family, has escaped from the nut house.

Do they call Donna’s cell phone, or her friends’ cell phones, or the hotel hosting the prom? No. They don’t need to worry because there is no reason to suspect that Fenton would come to Donna’s prom (their words, not mine). So everyone cools their heels, watching and waiting for something to happen, while all of Donna’s friends get killed.

What’s mysterious about these kills is how strikingly bloodless they are. Lots of stabbing noises, lots of shots of a menacing knife, but all shots of stabbing and blood are absent from the picture. To make up for this, we get some remarkably hilarious screams. One in particular, involving a hotel bellboy, is one of the funniest moments in recent cinema history.

While people are falling victim to stabbing noises, Donna and friends have multiple conversations about really stupid things. Imagine The Hills, but everybody gets killed in utterly unsatisfying ways. This is not uncommon in bad horror films, but I almost feel the sheer lack of violence makes this chatter all the more torturous. Even the House of Wax remake gave the gift of a pole through Paris Hilton’s head.

But do these idotic conversations ring untrue in the case of high school? As I write this review, I am sitting in an IHOP, which has apparently become the after-prom hangout of 2008. Prom Night was stitched together to make a quick, prom-season dollar and then be lost to the abyss of bad horror films. The majority of the people eating amongst me are the target audience, and listening to their vacuous drivel that counts as communication, I can see the inspriation. However, as these kids go on and on about who is with who at IHOP, they still sound more intelligent than Donna and Co.

As I come to the end of my review, it occurs to me that I haven’t critiqued the film much. But what’s the point really? It’s Prom Night. It was so bad the audience and I clasped theoretical hands and laughed a hearty laugh. This p.o.s. was utterly stupid, poorly constructed and may be the worst of the PG-13 horror remakes to date.

In conclusion, there are two special experiences a moviegoer can have that cannot be relived by multiple viewings. The first is when practically everyone in the theater respects the integrity of the film. The second is when the audience joins together in a mocking or scornful laugh. Prom Night is the latter, an experience to be looked back upon with a thoughtful chuckle.

Running time: 88 minutes. Directed by Nelson McCormick. Produced by Toby Jaffe. Written by J.S. Cardone. Starring Brittany Snow, Johnathon Schaech, Jessalyn Gilsig and Linden Ashby. A Screen Gems release.