Lionsgate's 'Perfect Game': Bumped to season's end?

Ever since I took my baseball-crazed 10-year-old and his pals to see a screening of Lionsgate's "The Perfect Game," he's been urging all his Little League buddies to see the movie, which does a nice job of telling the soul-stirring story of a ragtag bunch of kids from Monterrey, Mexico who assemble a Little League team that--shockingly--wins the 1957 Little League World Series. It feels like a fable, but it's actually a true story, with the poverty-stricken kids overcoming all sorts of obstacles and blatant prejudice to win 13 consecutive games, the last one a perfect game, hence the title.

There's only one problem: Lionsgate has suddenly bumped the movie from its Aug. 8 release date and won't say when the film will be released. It's rarely a good sign when a studio bails out of a release date at the last moment, especially when it won't say why. All I could get out of a high-level Lionsgate exec was a terse: "The studio expects to have news about a new date soon."

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if Lionsgate is going to release the movie, it will have to do so by mid-October, which would be the height of major league playoff time. It may be that Lionsgate is experiencing some growing pains as it has ramped up its release schedule, which seems to have another "Saw" sequel and a new Tyler Perry project every other month. (The studio just signed a new deal with Perry, who's been a consistent box-office performer.) Before moving "The Perfect Game," the studio had three movies in August, four movies in September and three more scheduled for release in October, including Oliver Stone's much-anticipated "W." For a small-sized studio like Lionsgate, three or four movies in a month is quite a crowd.

I'm hoping Lionsgate will do right by "The Perfect Game." It's a movie with a lot of heart and a great young cast of kids, whom my son's friends all somehow recognized from their appearances on various Disney Channel shows. For us oldsters, it has Cheech Marin as a twinkly-eyed Monterrey parish priest who makes sure the boys always have a guardian angel watching over their shoulders.

For baseball purists, here's an extended trailer from the film that features some great vintage footage from the glory days of '50s baseball:

       

'Dark Knight' fan boys rip the head off another critic

OK, let's get one thing out of the way right up front. I am not a "Dark Knight" detractor. Chris Nolan is a really gifted filmmaker and he's made a film that has the intensity of heavy-metal cinema--it works on a hundred different levels, whether you find it totally involving or an assault on the senses. My problem is with the film's Bat Fan Boys who've been deluging film critics who abusive e-mail simply because they didn't join the crowd (or maybe we should call it the mob) and embrace the movie.

The first critic to take the hit was New York magazine's David Edelstein, who, as we wrote last week, was pummeled by unhappy Bat boys after calling the film "noisy, jumbled and sadistic." Edelstein took offense, writing a spirited defense of his position, noting--tellingly--that 99% of his attackers hadn't even seen the movie yet. But now "Dark Knight" fans have a new punching bag--the Wall Street Journal's eminence grise, Joe Morgenstern. The veteran critic didn't like the film, but his reaction was hardly knee-jerk dismissal. His review treats the film as serious but muddled art, calling it "a social experiment on a global scale, an ambitious, lavish attempt to see if audiences will turn out for a comic book epic that goes beyond darkness into Stygian bleakness, grim paradox, endless betrayals and pervasive corruption."

The reaction? As Morgenstern told me last night, while he was waiting for a plane in Chicago: "I've gotten 250 or 300 e-mails, almost all with the vilest, most abusive language you could possibly imagine. I was stunned. These people aren't just discourteous. They're insane." So what's going here? Are critics wrong to expect their readers to show civilized manners? Or have fan boys turned into droogs, the nasty gang of brutes who run wild in Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange"? Is it time some people got a life?

   

'Dark Knight': Hollywood's new art-house hit?

I guess the specialty business really has collapsed. The Landmark, the Westside of Los Angeles' premiere art-house oasis, where discerning adults can sip cappuccino, munch on vegan cookies and see their favorite new existential French thriller or auteur-driven drama, is full of ... studio popcorn movies! Half of the Landmark's 12 screens are devoted to showings of "The Dark Knight" and "Mamma Mia!," the two current box-office hits. The complex is still offering such art-house favorites as "Mongol" and "The Wackness," but in very small portions. If you want to see "The Visitor," the summer's one modest art-house success (and a wonderful film), it has five showings a night. If you want to see "Dark Knight," you can pick from (gasp!) 17 showings a night.

When Landmark first arrived, its top executives assured neighborhood activists that it wouldn't be showing "Spider-Man"-type blockbusters, which could attract boisterous teenagers to the area. Has it abandoned those promises? Or has it simply adjusted to the marketplace, which has been a disaster for art-house productions?

Claudia Eller, our business section's indefatigable film expert, files this report:

Is Bill Clinton ready for his Hollywood close-up?

If Bill Clinton knew who Peter Morgan has been talking to lately, he'd probably be tossing and turning under the sheets all night. Best known as the screenwriter of the Oscar-nominated "The Queen," Morgan has quietly become Britain's best fictionalizer of real-life political and cultural events. The Ron Howard-directed adaptation of Morgan's hit play, "Frost/Nixon," is due out this December. Morgan has also finished an adaptation of John le Carre's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" for Working Title. He's in such demand these days that during a quick visit to Los Angeles last week, he had to squeeze our interview in between a lunch with an A-list director, coffee with a top producer and a lengthy phone chat with Barbra Streisand. ("Sorry,'' he said, by way of apology, "but she's quite, well, garrulous.")

For my money, Morgan did his best work on a little-seen British drama, "The Deal," which paints an acerbic portrait of Tony Blair's sly, opportunistic rise to power, with Blair played by Michael Sheen, who is something of Morgan's alter ego, having also played the former prime minister in "The Queen" and David Frost in "Frost/Nixon." Released in Britain in 2003 and directed by "The Queen's" Stephen Frears, "The Deal" never had a theatrical release in the U.S. But you can see it tonight (Wednesday, July 23) at 7:30 on a double bill with "The Queen" at the Egyptian Theatre as part of an ongoing American Cinematheque series. The film arrives on DVD here next Tuesday. With David Morrissey as Gordon Brown, Blair's Labor Party ally-turned-rival (and now British prime minister), the film is a fascinating meditation on today's media-driven politics, showing not only how a friendship is torn apart by political ambition, but how Brown's steely intellect was no match for Blair's easy warmth and seductive charm.

By now you're probably wondering ... what does Bill Clinton have to do with all this? Ah. As it turns out, Morgan wrote "The Deal" and "The Queen" as the first two parts of a political film trilogy. Now he's working on the final installment. When we spoke on the phone the other day, he'd just been in Washington, D.C., talking to political insiders, with a trip to Little Rock, Ark., next on the horizon. So guess who'll have a starring role in the next film?

Roger Ebert: Back to the future of film criticism

It would be fair to say that I'm not an objective observer when it comes to the news that Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper have quit their longtime gig as hosts of "At the Movies," Disney/ABC's weekly TV review show. When I was a young pup in film school in Chicago, Roger Ebert was already a prince in the critical pantheon, first from his perch as critic at the Chicago Sun-Times, then as a TV reviewer (with Gene Siskel) on their original PBS movie review show. Roger's writing--crisp, spare, seemingly effortless, opinionated but never mean-spirited--was a huge inspiration to all of us young writers. He was also generous with his time. When the college arts series I ran was losing money, bankrupted by a series of hapless, hopelessly pretentious theater productions, we staged a Russ Meyer Film Festival, with Roger generously agreeing to take the stage and introduce the first night's proceedings. The sex films played to a packed house, teaching us a valuable lesson about showbiz success--you can never aim too low.

More recently, Roger came to my defense when I got into a spitting match with comedy second-banana Rob Schneider, who took out a series of full-page ads in the trades deriding me after I made a sarcastic quip about his film, "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo," saying it was "sadly overlooked at Oscar time because apparently nobody had the foresight to invent a category for Best Running Penis Joke Delivered by a Third-Rate Comic." Schneider blasted me in his ads, saying I'd never won a Pulitzer Prize either. This inspired Ebert to end his review of its sequel "European Gigolo," by saying: "As chance would have it, I have won the Pulitzer Prize, and so I am qualified. Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Schneider, your movie sucks."

The news that Ebert and Roeper are quitting the TV series is being played as yet another instance of the dumbing down of media culture, which is no doubt a fair explanation. They are being replaced by younger talent with considerably less stature; Ben Lyons, who's been reviewing films for "E! News," and Ben Mankiewicz, who's been a talking head at Turner Classic Movies and hosts a pop culture show for Sirius Satellite Radio. Frankly, it's understandable that ABC would seek a younger generation of critics in its effort to liven up an aging show, especially in an era where critics are embattled and far less influential than ever before. It's also hardly a news flash that Ebert would have to step down sooner or later. Having battled health problems over the past few years, including a bout with throat cancer, he is unable to speak, making it impossible to handle a TV gig.

But I don't see this as the end of Western Civilization, Part 983, and here's why:

   

'Dark Knight': When's the sequel?

If you think this summer has been jammed with superhero movies, you ain't seen nothin' yet. When it comes to source material for movies, books are quickly fading (if Scott Rudin didn't buy every good new novel in sight, would any writer ever get a Hollywood sale anymore?) while video games are proving--so far--to be a hit or miss proposition. But with "Iron Man," "The Dark Knight," "Wanted" and "The Incredible Hulk" all hitting it big in recent weeks, superhero comics and graphic novels are so hot that every studio is scrambling to make sure they have a few franchise properties in the pipeline.

If you want to clip and save the upcoming lineup, check out this compilation of upcoming projects from Wired.com, which has been tracking the comings and goings of superhero-to-Hollywood fare for some time. A couple of highlights to tide you over until Comic-Con:

Lionsgate has two films coming this December: "Punisher: War Zone" from German director Lexi Alexander and "The Spirit" (featuring Scarlett Johansson as Silken Floss) directed by "300" graphic novelist Frank Miller. Warners has two meaty graphic novel adaptations coming next year: "Watchmen," directed by "300's" Zack Snyder, and "Whiteout," starring Kate Beckinsale with Dominic Sena in the director's chair. The big question: What will happen to Frank Miller's "Hardboiled" graphic novel trilogy, which could be the most edgy and cinematic of them all?

By the way, if you didn't see it this weekend, our new Hero Complex blogger Geoff Boucher has a fascinating behind the scenes portrait of Mike Richardson's Dark Horse Comics, which spawned "Hellboy 2" as well as "300," "Sin City" and "The Mask" and now has a new production deal with Universal Pictures. My favorite part: When Richardson first starting coming to Los Angeles, he would regularly attend Arnold Schwarzenegger's monthly cigar parties. But the Gubernator couldn't remember Richardson's name, so whenever he'd gladhand him, he'd say, "Ah, comic book guy, good to see you!"

 

The Israel Lobby, Hollywood style

In Hollywood, a town full of Jews, there's a long-standing tradition to be in denial about being Jewish. Asked once why he never made films about Jewish characters, Louis B. Mayer complained: "Rabbis don't look dramatic." When Hitler was killing Jews in Europe during the Holocaust, Hollywood studio chiefs kept quiet, rarely giving money to Jewish refugees or, God forbid, making movies about the subject until long after all 6 million Jews were exterminated. Times haven't changed so much. When The Times went to Hollywood bigwigs for a reaction after Mel Gibson let loose a volley of anti-Semitic slurs after being arrested in Malibu on suspicion of drunken driving in 2006, Sony Pictures' Amy Pascal was the only studio chief willing to publicly respond.

Hollywood's attitude toward Israel has been nearly as standoffish. There have been untold dozens of films made about the Holocaust, but almost none in recent years about the Jewish homeland, unless you count the gaggle of hummus jokes in Adam Sandler's "You Don't Mess With the Zohan," where the comic plays an Israeli commando who comes to America to become a hair stylist. But one industry figure has made it a crusade to raise industry consciousness about Israel. For the past two years, the respected William Morris agent David Lonner, whose clients include Alexander Payne, J.J. Abrams and Jon Turteltaub, has been taking groups of Hollywood tastemakers -- both Jews and Gentiles -- on tours of Israel.

The trips, co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, have attracted a host of A-listers, including Pascal, such writers and directors as Payne, Turteltaub, Brad Silberling, Michael Tolkin and Audrey Wells, along with producers Nina Jacobson and Donald DeLine. The event-packed five-day itinerary includes meetings with Israeli artists, high-tech tycoons, soldiers and politicians; a walking tour of historical sites; a helicopter ride across the country; a trip to gay bars (for gay members of the group); and an evening of Torah study at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies.

Even though the trip is organized by a Hollywood agent, it hardly sounds like an episode of "Entourage." What gave Lonner the idea for such an unlikely odyssey? And how did all those denizens of Hollywood, the holy land of situational ethics, fare in Torah study?    

 

'Space Chimps': The bad movie streak continues

Believe it or not, it's another week, another critical dud for Fox.  As I noted last Friday upon the release of the execrable "Meet Dave," 20th Century Fox has a knack for making bad movies. How bad? Putting aside last spring's "Horton Hears a Who," Fox has released 16 movies since last summer's "The Simpsons Movie" that haven't managed to even score a mediocre 50 at Rotten Tomatoes, the Web's leading aggregator of movie reviews.

The release of "Space Chimps" today stretches that streak to 17. The kid-friendly animated monkey movie landed with a thud, scoring a 35 at Rotten Tomatoes, putting it in the same dregs with "Speed Racer" (36) and "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" (34). The movie did get a big valentine from the New York Times, but most other critics were merciless. USA Today's Claudia Puig called the film "truly dreadful," saying it was reminiscent of "bad Saturday morning cartoon fare." Entertainment Weekly gave it a D. (Our review wasn't much better.)

Nearly all the critics noted how cheap and cruddy the animation looked, especially compared to the recently released "Wall-E." In fact, the animation appeared so cheesy that the LA Weekly's Robert Wilonsky joked that the movie "looks like they ran out of the $292.96 budget halfway through."

The critics' other favorite number was 81, which is how many minutes the film lasts. My wife is trying to get our 10-year-old to see the movie this weekend, though he seems worried that the film, which is G-rated, might play too young for him. If we go and it turns out to be a masterpiece, I'll be happy to cross swords with all those wrong-headed critics. As for the Fox streak, it will last until at least next weekend, when "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" hits the theaters. I like that title: I want to believe that it's a good movie, but based on the Fox track record, only seeing will be believing.   

Photo from "Space Chimps" by Kerry Hayes / 20th Century Fox

The man who put the POW! WHAMMO! in 'Batman'

With "The Dark Knight" box-office blitzkrieg in full force, it's easy to forget that the caped crusader is a lot like the bat with nine lives, having survived all sorts of strange pop transformations, from comic book superhero to B-movie serial protagonist to kitschy TV comedian to Hanna-Barbera kids cartoon star to today's brooding Hollywood tentpole warrior. As a devoted Bat Fan, I've always loved hearing my 85-year-old neighbor Lorenzo Semple Jr. recount the improbable events surrounding his creation of the 1960s "Batman" TV series, which made him a lot of dough when he was a struggling playwright and helped create enough career momentum for him to launch a fabled screenwriting career (he co-wrote such classics as "Three Days of the Condor" and "The Parallax View").

Lorenzo has finally put pen to paper and told the whole "Batman" TV tale, which is quite a treat, not only for hard-core "Batman" fanciers, but for anyone fascinated by how much more spontaneous and unstructured the entire showbiz universe was back in the day. Living on the cheap in Spain in 1965, trying to write a play, Lorenzo got a cable from producer pal Bill Dozier that turned out to be an offer from ABC to write the "Batman" pilot. Here's how different the world was then:

"Faxes were in the future. I didn't even have a telephone in our Torremolinos house; communication was entirely by ordinary airmail and the very occasional brief cable. There was never a treatment or an outline involved. I never exchanged a word with an exec from ABC or 20th Century Fox, where the thing would be shot, nor did I suffer any creative consultation with DC Comics, owner of the character.... I was in hog heaven. I was sent four issues of the comic for plot ideas, each featuring one of the Big Four villains. The Joker seemed the best pilot choice, though I'm not sure why.... After the show went on, I stayed in Torremolinos and served as executive story editor, still without a phone in my house, reworking other writers' Batscripts, simply sending pages back and forth by ordinary airmail--prop-plane airmail, the 707 was still around the corner."   

You can read the whole account here. These days, along with Marcia Nasatir, Lorenzo reviews movies on Youtube as part of the Reel Geezers octogenarian critic team, so I'm expecting to see their take on "The Dark Knight" coming soon.

Photo of Adam West and Burt Ward in ABC's "Batman" from the Museum of Radio & Television

Depp as Dillinger: Mann kills on 'Public Enemies'

When I saw producer Kevin Misher painfully limping into Chaya Brasserie for lunch this week, having just returned from spending months in Chicago producing "Public Enemies," the upcoming Michael Mann 1930s gangster movie, I have to admit that my first thought was: "Oh no, Mann must've been using live ammunition again." Anybody who's ever worked on a Michael Mann film has stories to tell that sound like tall tales, at least until you spend some time on his sets and see for yourself that pretty much anything can happen when Mann has a full head of steam.

Outside of James Cameron and perhaps David Fincher, no one is as much of a hard-headed perfectionist as Mann, who has a special zeal for authenticity. When I spent time on his "Ali" set in Miami, he insisted on shooting a scene where Ali first sees Malcolm X at the exact mosque where Malcolm was preaching. He also shot a scene set in the backyard of Ali's Miami home at Ali's real house, even though the backyard was right in the flight pattern of Miami International Airport, meaning a plane flew overhead every 90 seconds, repeatedly drowning out the dialogue. One of the production guys shook his head, grumbling "We didn't have this problem when we shot near LAX with 'Heat.' " Why was that, I asked? "Michael got the flight controllers to reroute LAX traffic to a different runway for a few hours."

Frankly, when I scheduled my lunch with Misher back in May, I thought for sure the producer would end up canceling. "Public Enemies," which stars Johnny Depp as John Dillinger and Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, was slated to finish shooting June 30 to beat the SAG strike deadline. But having seen what happened on Mann's last movie, "Miami Vice," which went endless months over schedule, I figured the odds of Mann being done on time were about as slim as the Dodgers finishing the season with a winning record. And yet, here was Misher, bloodied (he actually hurt his leg in a hiking fall) but unbowed. So how did Misher and Universal Pictures manage to keep Mann on schedule?