George Clooney on The Huffington Post

John Sergeant: How My Involvement with The Men Who Stare at Goats Was Erased Entirely

2009-11-18T13:31:04Z

As even Jon Ronson himself has acknowledged in his book, The Men Who Stare at Goats, I played a major role in unearthing its extraordinary story. Why then, as Ive been asking in the British national press, have I received neither credit nor recompense for George Clooney's current movie of the same name -- which is being promoted as inspired by that same extraordinary story?

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I am an investigative journalist and documentary producer with over 20 years experience, and the person to whom Jon Ronson dedicates his book 'The Men Who Stare at Goats'. Through most of 2003 and 2004, I worked on the Channel 4 UK documentary series on which the book is based, living a good part of that time in Los Angeles. (Though British, I have a Masters of Journalism from UC Berkeley).

A producer in documentaries can be different to a producer in movies. Sometimes s/he may be director, or a camera person, or an interviewer. In my eight years working with Jon Ronson I was all of these things, but (hailing from journalism), I mostly supplied and developed story content.

For 'Goats' I developed leads, took steers from sources, unearthed key materials, and actually carried out much of the investigation that yielded the remarkable tale that George Clooney and Grant Heslov quite rightly felt would make a great movie. Of course World of Wonder the production company behind the documentary would confirm this, as would Channel 4 UK. But Jon Ronson himself does too. If you turn to the last line of the book you will find these words:

'John's research and guidance can be found on every page'.

I am not going to pretend Jon's role wasn't crucial. He did a lot too, though usually by phone from England and between other jobs. He also did filmed interviews and ultimately spun our work into an entertaining and interesting book.

At the beginning, the project was about strangeness at the margins of George Bush's America. By the summer of 2003, we were looking hard at reports of 'torture lite' in Iraq; at Yale University's secretive Skull and Bones society (which had once had George Bush as a member); and at rumours of government psychics being reactivated to fight in the War on Terror. Then, pursuing steers provided to Jon by a former CIA psychologist called Dr Ray Hyman, I unearthed a mass of data about obscure military research into enhancing human performance in the early 1980s. This included Lt Colonel Jim Channon's remarkable First Earth Battalion manual, which envisioned a revolutionary new cadre of super-soldiers. It was that research which put us squarely on the trail of the real warrior monks.

I'm afraid Jon rarely, if ever, acknowledges it, but it was I who found and persuaded General Stubblebine to talk, and Glenn Wheaton, and Jim Channon, and John Alexander, and Dr Oliver Lowery, and Guy Savelli, and Pete Brusso, and 'Joseph Curtis', and Jamal Al Harith, and many other key players in the story. In fact everyone in the documentary and most people in the book. The relationships of trust I developed with these figures - not normally given to talking to the media - decisively contributed to the genesis of the 'Men Who Stare at Goats'.

I assumed in that period that I was working on a documentary only, and though dimly aware Jon might spin a book out of it, I simply wasn't party to the fact that he had tied up both the literary and subsidiary rights to the material being gathered for the series. In fact when he saw the full potential of the story - slightly belatedly, it has to be said - and that it could be his next book, I naively encouraged him. And though I didn't particularly like it, I didn't kick up too much of a fuss when, as happens in the book and elsewhere, he presented certain of my experiences as his own.

There is much more to be said about how I am airbrushed out of the book, and how similarly discomforting things occurred with other projects, but the upshot is that after that, I decided I needed to properly formalise our working relationship. Despite repeated efforts over the next three years though, it never happened. Then last year I made the shocking discovery that I had been completely excluded from the evolution and development of the movie itself. I took legal and professional advice and then tried one more time create some kind of contract. In February this year that effort was flatly rejected. It was only after further behind the scenes petitions failed, that I finally went public - the week of the film's launch.

I'm afraid Jon Ronson has had numerous opportunities and plenty of time to put this situation right. Quite what legal grounds he has for not wishing to comment are unclear, since our exchange of letters was, as I say, completed last February.

In the absence of answers from Jon, I detailed much of what I have stated above and more, in a letter I first tried to get to George Clooney, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor, director Grant Heslov, and BBC Films' producers over a month ago. A follow up letter, more or less reiterating the same thing, was addressed specifically to George Clooney not only because he is both producer and star, but because he has a well known concern for serious journalism. That letter has been in the hands of both his agent and publicist since at least the day of the movie's launch.

Since then, touchingly, several of the original Goat men themselves have contacted me to reaffirm my role. Last week Colonel John Alexander - one of the leaders - wrote to me out of the blue:

'If you want support for your position, tell reporters (or lawyers) to contact me. You were definitely the key person in developing the whole Goats project'.

In my view, Grant Heslov, Peter Straughan, the film's writer, and all the stars are completely innocent in all this. As with the public here, they just weren't given the full picture and were working in good faith on what is after all, a great story. George Clooney himself has a well-deserved reputation as both a great artist and an activist. So far as I know he - and all of them probably - are only interested in putting their names to projects of integrity and quality. That's why this is such a crazy situation - to maintain integrity here, this critical omission, ie my full part in it - needs to be addressed somehow or other. This is why finally, I'm putting my faith in the idea that once George Clooney's been properly informed about what's happened, he will step forward and get this bizarre situation justly resolved.

Jonathan Kim: ReThink Review: The Men Who Stare at Goats -- the First Earth Battalion Wants You !

2009-11-17T17:45:46Z

The Men Who Stare at Goats is dividing viewers and critics. Some thought it was funny and some didn't -- that's just a matter of taste. But it seems the main point of contention is the difference between what people thought the movie would be -- a dark, sometimes surreal examination of the US military's foray into psychic warfare in keeping with Jon Ronson's non-fiction book of the same title -- and what the film is -- a comedy with some nuggets of alleged truth. I had no expectations when I saw the film, and it's been a while since I laughed that much in a theater.

See my ReThink Review of the Men Who Stare at Goats below.

But what was really interesting was the research I did after the movie. In the film, Lt. Colonel Bill Django (played by Jeff Bridges) writes a field manual for a military unit of warrior monks who would have paranormal super powers, boundless love for the earth and their fellow man, and could win wars without warfare. Django's character is largely based on Lt. Col. (ret.) Jim Channon, who studied the New Age movement that was flowering in California in the late 70s and used his findings to write the First Earth Battalion field manual, which explains how to turn soldiers into real-life Jedis.

I was able to find and download the First Earth Battalion field manual from the website of Arcturus Research & Design, where Channon is a founding member. The group describes itself as "Strategic designers, social architects, outfitters to cyberspace since 1978, and a global troupe of players to anchor the planet's most visionary ideas."

See me discuss the First Earth Battalion field manual with Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks below.

Reading the manual, which is mostly handwritten with drawings made by Channon himself, it's easy to see why Channon's findings would elicit snickers and eye-rolls from some military brass. At the same time, you can equally imagine why his findings might generate excitement and enthusiasm from officers who had experienced the horrors of war, were still smarting from a costly and humiliating defeat in Vietnam, and only saw things getting worse with the possibility of all-out nuclear war with Russia.

Contrary to assumption, the First Earth Battalion field manual isn't about soldiers using psychic powers to be better killers -- it's about encouraging the military to focus inwards (both personally and as an organization) and realize that they shouldn't be fighting wars at all. For instance, here is a job description of a First Earth warrior:

Services rendered by the warriors of the First Earth Battalion are specifically designed to generate workable solutions to defuse the nuclear time bomb, promote international relations, spread wise energy use, enforce the ecological balance, assist wise technological expansion, and above all, stress human development.

Sounds pretty nice, doesn't it? Channon believed that the military, with its organizational and technological advantages, should be used to fight what he saw as potentially the biggest threat to the planet aside from nuclear war: environmental destruction (a sentiment shared by the Pentagon). Here's how Channon imagined the FEB's role:

I can see their action expanding to include evolutionary work like planting vast new forests, completing large canal projects, helping in the towns, helping to clean up the innter cities, and working with the troubled inner city youth in young commando groups, and working harmoniously with other nations to see that the plentiful resources of our mother earth are equally shared by all peoples.

But perhaps Channon's most prescient observation was the role that the modern media and world opinion plays in deciding who wins wars, making conventional warfare obsolete in most respects.

Since the advent of worldwide television coverage, the judgments for success in battle have changed. Victory will now accrue to the force that executes an action most consistent with evolving world values. Destroying your opponent and his property will in the long run equal defeat. -snip-

The day most of the world watched war on television they all helped decide who won...and from that point on conflicts were decided based on who had the most RIGHT not the most MIGHT.

When you throw in some of Channon's other recommendations, like using meditation, yoga, visualization and eastern medicine -- many of which are currently being used by soldiers both for general health and to fight the effects of post traumatic stress disorder -- and you've got the makings of an army that even a pacifist wouldn't mind joining.

For more ReThink Reviews, the only (therefore best) political movie reviews anywhere, visit ReThinkReviews.net.

Regina Weinreich: Fantastic Finian's Rainbow and Mr. Fox

2009-11-13T13:23:31Z

During intermission at a recent performance of Finian's Rainbow, I looked into the orchestra pit to find a musician, Wayne Goodman, anticipating Act II as much as I was. Marvelling at Burton Lane's great songs, including such classics as "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" "Look to the Rainbow," and "Old Devil Moon," the trombonist pointed out that this 1947 show with a leprechaun, crock of gold, and three wishes had real magic in the prescient lyrics by Yip Harburg and book by Harburg and Fred Saidy. Yip Harburg, who also wrote The Wizard of Oz with its signature "Over the Rainbow," influenced generations of musicals. So why aren't we talking about Yip Harburg the way we talk about the Gershwins or Irving Berlin? That question may remain a mystery, even as we are awed by this outstanding late '40's entertainment and its first-rate revival at the St. James Theater. Old-fashioned as it seems among so many musicals that play like cabaret revues, this one has a rich story, and resonance for views that prevail today, providing more than a laugh, as when Woody Mahoney (a fine and magnetic Cheyenne Jackson) says that a little yellow paper is better than money -- it's credit, or when a bigoted town official says, "My whole family has been having trouble with immigrants ever since we came to this country." The Finian of the title (the superb Jim Norton, Tony awarded last season for The Seafarer) arrives in Missitucky, near Fort Knox with his daughter Sharon (a gorgeous red-headed Kate Baldwin), having appropriated the crock of gold from a leprechaun (Christopher Fitzgerald). The ensuing mayhem includes a white man turned black, a green one turned white, a bride accused of witchcraft exonerated, a mute dancer given voice, and a town gone gaga "On That Great Come and Get It Day" regaining its values, hope, and love. Never has calico been so appealing.

Also surprising in its appeal is the matted fur of Mr. Fox in the movie version of Roald Dahl's classic, voiced by George Clooney reprising his role as Danny Ocean, a wily schemer in good suits. Maybe that's why dioramas of his woodsy world adorn the windows of Bergdorf Goodman's Men's Store on Fifth Avenue. Ophelia Dahl greeted guests at the Paris Theater premiere this week, recounting how at age five her father would tell them this tale. She also introduced her mother, the Academy Award winning Patricia Neal as well as the cast: Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, chef Mario Batalli, Eric Anderson, and director Wes Anderson and his writing partner Noah Baumbach. Grown-ups and kids alike marveled at Mr. Fox's antics in stop-action animation. He shines in his shenanigans, now a family man-er, Fox, pulling one last caper, imperiling his community of rabbits, rodents, and other wild life. Among the delighted guests at the after party hosted by Quintessentially and Partners in Health: James Toback and his son Andre, a pregnant Jennifer Jason Leigh, director/writer Oren Moverman, and actors Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster from the excellent film The Messenger. Willem Dafoe wandered in after the evening performance of Idiot Savant at the Public. Fisher Stevens, Lillian Ross, Nora Ephron and Nick Pileggi mingled with cast and crew. And what was served at Rouge Tomate's buffet dinner along with duck and red cabbage? Well, field greens of course.

You can see this post on Gossip Central

Alex Remington: The Men Who Stare At Goats : A Plot in Search of a Movie

2009-11-12T12:42:58Z

Grant Heslov's movie The Men Who Stare At Goats is a good premise
stuck in a mess of a movie. Based on a stranger-than-fiction book about
paranormal research within the U.S. military, it should be a black
comedy about the lengths to which our army will go to kill people.
Instead, it's a collection of tonally tin-eared, quirky setpieces that
strain believability and almost completely ignore the human cost of the
Iraq War during which the movie is set. In particular, it pales in
comparison to George Clooney's previous Middle Eastern dramedies, the
brilliant Three Kings and fitfully brilliant Syriana.

The cast of Goats is a mixed bag. George Clooney is
terrific playing a character convinced he's always in control, all
circumstances to the contrary; Ewan McGregor is a complete zero as
Clooney's straight man, a journalist unsure of what to make of all the
supernatural stuff Clooney is talking about. Jeff Bridges is fantastic
as the hippie founder of the Army's psychic warrior squadron; Kevin
Spacey isn't nearly gleeful enough as the antagonist who subverts them
to his own ends.

Heslov has many talents, many of which were on display when he cowrote, coproduced, and appeared in Good Night, and Good Luck,
and was nominated for two Oscars on that movie. He's a fine actor and
fine producer, along with his production partner George Clooney.
Indeed, for Goats, Heslov the producer was much more impressive than Heslov
the director, as evidenced by the muddled work done by a terrific cast,
and the fact that the opening weekend grossed more than half the film's
production budget, putting the movie well on the way to making a tidy
profit.

For all its flaws, it's not a terrible movie, simply a
mediocre one -- and it's already one of the highest-grossing movies
ever made about the Iraq War. It avoids many of the most egregious sins
of prior Iraq War movies, leaden political screeds far less interested
in storytelling than preaching to the choir. This movie simply wants to
be a light comedy about weirdness in the Army. Far better that it's too
light than too heavy.

Rating: 50

Crossposted at Remingtonstein.

Kim Morgan: Fantastic Mr. Schwartzman Talks Fox

2009-11-12T11:05:33Z

Jason Schwartzman has just accused me of having a crush on Terry Gilliam. Sitting in a small room of movie writers, the frequent Wes Anderson actor and perhaps one of Anderson’s most iconic characters (he was Max Fischer, after all), talked about a lot of things: working with Anderson, his love for various children's movies and the classic book by Roald Dahl, the unique way they recorded, and you know, my apparent crush on Terry Gilliam. Schwartzman is now the voice in Anderson’s beautifully crafted, charming, nostalgic, touching and very specifically Anderson-esque (right down to the paintings, to the retro cell phones, to Mr. Fox's natty suits) Fantastic Mr. Fox.

After talking to Jason (I can call him that now) about how much more tangible the old school, stop motion animation appears, and how I had just discussed this very subject with the great auteur Terry Gilliam the day before, Schwartzman looked at me all sly and said: “You’ve got a crush on Terry Gilliam.” After I protested something like, “No…I just think he’s so unique and funny and sometimes genius and I really admire him and…” Schwartzman wouldn’t let up, looking directly at me while nodding his head up and down to say: “Oh, you're blushing! Yes you do!”

OK. Very funny Max…I mean, Jason. But when a female writer sniffed “Gross,” I whipped around proclaiming, “What’s wrong with Terry Gilliam?!” She answered, “He’s like four times your age.” To this, I say: “Who cares? So what? Age is just a number.” Enthusiastically Schwartzman replies “Exactly! That’s what I’m talking about!” He reveres Gilliam too: “He’s a powerful brain.” He then adds, with a wink, all overly sensually, but humorously: “I’m just saying, enjoy your body, enjoy your mind, and la, la, la!”

Alright. I’m officially charmed. Especially when he then admits to having a crush on co-star Meryl Streep.

Yes, I know we’re in the seventh grade. Or rather, the seventh grade class drinking coffee in the posh SLS hotel in Beverly Hills. But after I saw him in the reception area and he made a point to high five me, in the name of Gilliam, well, aw...forget it. Jason Schwartzman can accuse me of a crush any day.

But the actor seems to truly love his work on this movie and especially the actors he was surrounded by: Streep, George Clooney, Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray. The cast all recorded together, live, like a radio show (which is unusual for animated pictures), giving the picture a more intimate feel. And getting back to crushes, we all start to wonder if Schwartzman has one on Clooney as well:

“He’s a great actor. Just how incredible his voice is. When we were working together, because we were doing it all live and together, there would be scenes I wasn’t in. And Wes and Bill and George would be doing a scene together and I would just sit and watch, and I would close my eyes, and just sitting so close to George Clooney…I know it sounds funny, but I was like, ‘He’s got an incredible voice.’ So many nooks and scratches and cuts on that voice, it’s pretty amazing.”

As for his character, Clooney’s Mr. Fox’s frustrated little son Ash, Jason attributes a lot of the characterization to Anderson: “I struggle to talk too much about it, because I really felt like Wes wrote it so well. And that’s been my experience working with Wes. It’s just right there. You could see the whole thing, how it works, how to perform it, and if you don’t, he’s so articulate in helping you. But [also] the animators did so much of it, because he’s so cute and the way he moves and spits, the way he just stands…everything about him. I felt like, I didn’t do that. That’s Wes and the animators.”

And yet, Schwartzman does understand his character, angry Ash who really just wants to impress his dad. And he understands the complexity of children. When I ask him if he thinks studios underestimate what children can handle on screen, he answers: “I know there’s so many brilliant people that work at the studios whose job it is to like, dissect society and try to ask people questions and do polls and all kinds of stuff, so I think people know something. But I will say, a couple things: One is I do feel that what’s great about Pixar [is that] those movies smuggle in so much. I’m laughing and getting so much out of it, and then I’m looking around and there’s little kids around me and I’m thinking, ‘Well what are they laughing at?’ But somewhere it’s soaking into their bodies, like other messages and death and whatever. Like in ‘Up.’ That’s a heavy movie in the beginning.”

He continues by talking about other movies, and most impressively, Francois Truffaut’s masterpiece “The 400 Blows”: “I think that movie is incredible because it’s from the kid’s point of view, and he perceives that his mom is with someone else, and he’s lonely and he’s angry and he’s an outsider. He’s so little…I feel like we’re all just like little people and we have so many emotions, and can be so angry and confused…Did you see that movie, ‘Jesus Camp’? I was like watching it and thinking about these emotions. I almost felt like, in a weird way, this was religious molestation. I almost felt like their little bodies were too little to contain the guilt and emotions they were meant to feel."

He says: "But when I was little, [I watched movies like] 'The Neverending Story,' or like 'Labyrinth,' or 'The Secret of Nimh' -- that’s a dark movie. But my favorite was 'The Last Unicorn,' and that’s a weird ass movie.”

Extending Truffaut’s “400” to Anderson’s “Fox” and finally relating to his character Ash, Jason says, “I feel like a movie like this, had I seen it when I was little, it would have helped me. I felt little. And I felt like girls didn’t like me back. I felt different. I was totally different. And I was made fun of all the time. I was never as good as an athlete as I wanted to be, and I did want to be one. So I totally support filmmakers making movies where they realize kids are complex.”

As for Roald Dahl and the fact that he too understood that children were complex, sometimes dark, and filled with emotions, the actor states, first that he never imagined he'd star in one of his favorite children's books: “I didn’t expect to do what I was doing for a living. I didn’t expect to be a little kid one day, saying: 'Yeah I’m going to be in that book one day, animated.' The whole thing is an out of body experience, and then when I pull out of that body, and out of that body and then out of that body, it’s like a Russian doll of out of body experiences and it’s just very bizarre... [But] what I would also attribute to Roald Dahl’s longevity and generations continue to love him and why he remains to be so popular is because there’s something about all of his work that is a bit mysterious. And left in the dark. And that’s the thing that makes people want to know more.”

He’s right. And OK, maybe I have a little crush on Terry Gilliam…Actually it was Werner Herzog but that discussion was the following day.

Read more Kim Morgan at her site, Sunset Gun.

Marshall Fine: Movie Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox

2009-11-11T08:11:35Z

Perhaps Fantastic Mr. Fox will be the film that convinces adults that animation isn't just for kids.

Indeed, given the sensibility of writer-director Wes Anderson, Mr. Fox is barely a movie for kids, despite its Roald Dahl pedigree. Anderson's delicious take on life and movies may amuse youngsters -- but not as much as it will tickle adults, with its delightfully anthropomorphized forest creatures who can't quite escape their animal nature.

That idea -- that animal nature is a given that even the most thoughtful creature can't avoid -- is at the heart of this oddly funny and endearing film, made in stop-motion animation. Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach have adapted Dahl's fantasy tale in their own voices, in a way that preserves the basics but makes it uniquely their own.

Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) is a family man with a larcenous heart. His instinct tells him to raid the local chicken coops -- but his love for his wife (Meryl Streep) has made him promise to give it all up and settle down, working a less dangerous job. (The irony, of course, is that Anderson gives him a job as a columnist at a newspaper, as endangered a species as you can find today.) Continued...

For the rest of this review, click HERE to reach my website: www.hollywoodandfine.com.

Jerry Zezima: The Mustache Movement

2009-11-10T11:35:38Z

I may not be British, even though my favorite breakfast cereal is Cheerios, but for the past three decades, I have kept a stiff upper lip. Now, after all these years of hair-raising adventure, I am celebrating the 30th anniversary of my mustache.

I had never thought to grow one because mustaches are not common in my family. Two of the only relatives who ever had them were my Uncle Bill, who sported a dapper mustache, and my grandmother, who wasn't dapper but had inner beauty and made a mean dish of spaghetti and meatballs.

Then, in 1979, I had surgery to correct a deviated septum, which in my case was like repairing the Lincoln Tunnel. For more than a week, I was wrapped in bandages and couldn't shave. When the bandages came off, I had a mustache.

My wife liked the new look (anything was better than the old one), so I kept it.

Ever since, I have been told I look like Groucho Marx, who is dead and can't sue me. In fact, I like to go out on Halloween dressed as Groucho so I can get candy and beer from startled neighbors. I also was once mistaken (by friends, co-workers and even my own mother) for the infamous Groucho Robber, who struck several banks in Stamford, Conn., until his photo, showing him in a Groucho disguise, appeared on the front page of the paper. He was subsequently caught and I, saying the secret word ("innocent"), was exonerated.

So you can imagine my surprise and delight when I recently found out about the American Mustache Institute, a St. Louis-based advocacy organization that, according to its Web site is dedicated to "protecting the rights of, and fighting discrimination against, mustached Americans by promoting the growth, care and culture of the mustache."

"We are the ACLU of downtrodden mustached people," Dr. Aaron Perlut, the group's chairman, told me over the phone, adding that AMI is "the only mustache think tank in the United States." Its slogan: "A mustache is a terrible thing to shave."

I quickly realized the immense value of the American Mustache Institute because, as I had long suspected, there is a lot of discrimination against mustached Americans. For example, the last U.S. president to wear a mustache was William Howard Taft, who left office in 1913. Perlut said that the last mustached major-party presidential candidate was Thomas E. Dewey, who did not, despite a famous newspaper headline, defeat Harry S. Truman in 1948.

Mustaches made a comeback in the 1970s, when, according to Perlut, "every man had three things: a mustache, a perm and a turtleneck." But lip hair suffered a big blow in 1981, when, said Perlut, two things happened: "Ronald Reagan became president and ushered in a clean-cut, corporate culture, leaving mustaches to the fields of nail technicianry, motorcycle repair and refuse disposal. And Walter Cronkite, who just died, God rest his soul, left the air. From that time on, it became unfashionable for TV newsmen to wear mustaches."

Now, however, mustaches are on the upswing. "When people like Brad Pitt and George Clooney grow them, it's good for the movement," said Perlut. "And the fact that Attorney General Eric Holder has a mustache is very important to our way of life."

To keep the momentum going, AMI hosts the Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year Award. This year's contest had a field of 100, including 18 finalists, and drew almost 100,000 votes. The winner was Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Clay Zavada, who sports a handlebar mustache. He beat out the likes of hero pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger. I voted for journalism's only representative, hirsute humorist Bill Geist, whose neatly trimmed mustache gets plenty of face time on "CBS News Sunday Morning."

Perlut, who has a doctorate in international studies and, he said, "nuclear mustacheology," congratulated me on the 30th anniversary of my mustache.

"Since you represent our way of life so well," he said, "you should nominate yourself for next year's Goulet Award. And if you win," Perlut added, presumably with a straight, mustached face, "it won't be lip service."

Stamford Advocate columnist Jerry Zezima can be reached at JerryZ111@optonline.net. His blog is www.jerryzezima.blogspot.com.

Copyright 2009 by Jerry Zezima

One Year Later: Celebrities Who Have Visited The Obama White House (PHOTOS)

2009-11-04T07:30:44Z

The White House released its visitor log on Friday in an act of "transparency like you've never seen before." The list of 431 names only includes those visiting on official business, not personal guests of the first family. A statement also warns that some of the names are false positives (names that make you think of a well-known person but are actually someone else: Michael Jordan, William Ayers, Michael Moore, Jeremiah Wright, R. Kelly). So a few famous names are missing and some are misleading, but the Hollywood presence is still huge.

As part of HuffPost's One Year Later series, here are some of the celebrities who have visited the Obama White House. Join us on Twitter to add your thoughts on Obama's first year in office by using the hashtag #oneyearlater.

PHOTOS:

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Andy Borowitz: U.S. Sends Paparazzi to Find Bin Laden

2009-11-02T15:43:12Z

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) - In a bold new strategy designed to locate the world's most wanted man, the United States today dispatched a team of paparazzi to find Osama bin Laden.

"If these people can find George Clooney when he's vacationing on Lake Como, they can find Osama," one intelligence insider said.

According to those familiar with the mission, the U.S. is using all of the paparazzi assets at its disposal, including TMZ.

"If the paparazzi are going to find bin Laden any time, it's now," one source said. "Right now in Afghanistan it's Fashion Week."

Elsewhere, Afghan president Hamid Karzai said that his recent victory "proves that democracy works in Afghanistan, as long as there are no elections." More here.

Jon Chattman: The Goat Who Stares at Clooney

2009-10-26T20:12:12Z

Goat Mcnealy may not be a household name yet, but odds are, he will be soon enough. The Vail, CO native is generating buzz for stealing scenes away from Hollywood elite players George Clooney, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges and Ewan McGregor in the upcoming comedy, The Men Who Stare at Goats. While it's a tad early for Oscar buzz, Mcnealy is turning heads as the title character in the adaptation of Jon Ronson's novel. (We'll omit a precious few critics who dismiss the performance - likening it to Courtney Love's "less-of-a-stretch" performance in The People vs. Larry Flynt).

In an exclusive interview for the Huffington Post, the now Los Angeles-based actor, took time out from a busy press tour to discuss his costars, making the film, and his breaking from the herd. After all, it was only two years ago that the star left home to pursue acting - scoring almost instantly with a role in the illustrious Chicago-based Animal Theater Company's adaptation of George Orwell's "Animal Farm." Here's the interview with the humble actor who many are calling this generation's "John Cusack on four legs."

As an overnight sensation of sorts, how have you dealt with your sudden burst of fame?
You know my childhood herd really keeps me grounded. I just keep them around me and of course include them in the perks. Sure, premieres are fun, but sometimes grazing with old friends can be just as much fun!

Speaking of which, what was it like grazing with George Clooney?
He's great! What an honor to work with someone with his talent. A consummate professional.

How difficult has it been avoiding the paparazzi?
It comes with the territory. Did I get into acting for fame? No. Do I sometimes like the attention? Yes. I'm only a goat, right?

You bring up an interesting point. Do you, as a goat, ever find yourself staring at men?
Well, I do find myself staring at women, not to kill them or anything....

Do you hope this film will raise awareness that goats are more than their hair, meat, and milk?
That's a great question but I'm no activist, I'm just an actor.

What are your hopes for this film's success? The trailer looks great by the way.
I'm hoping to branch out into several avenues, including TV, Music and products, in fact I'm actually starting my own line of goat cheese.

That's actually quite disturbing, but anyway, can we expect a sequel where you're front and center?
I don't want to reveal any spoilers, but I will say my agent is negotiating something big.... and lucrative.

Mr. Clooney and others sport wonderful mustaches in the film but who would you say has the best mustache ever?
Mmm, good question but I much more prefer the "goatee," if you know what I mean.

I don't, but that's OK. Last question - what do you make of the journey you're on?
The whole ride has been a real trip , I'm just happy to be doing what I love.

George Clooney In 'The Men Who Stare At Goats': Exclusive Sneak Peek! (VIDEO)

2009-10-23T13:48:14Z

George Clooney stars in several movies coming out this fall, and certainly the funniest looks to be 'The Men Who Stare at Goats.' He plays a psychic member of the U.S. Army's First Earth Battalion, a military unit that uses paranormal powers (and trains by stopping goats' hearts just by looking at them).

Sound far-fetched? The movie is based on a book of the same name Jon Ronson wrote about the US military's covert paranormal activities over the past three decades and their connection with psychological control techniques used to interrogate terror suspects. In the exclusive clip below, you'll see excerpts from the film and Ronson and other experts discuss paranormal military programs.

'The Men Who Stare At Goats' opens November 6. Its all-star cast includes Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey.

WATCH:

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George Clooney: I've Felt Terribly Alone In Relationships

2009-10-19T15:09:22Z

He may have twice carried the title of PEOPLE's Sexiest Man Alive, but even George Clooney can be unlucky in love.

"I've had some absolutely great relationships and some not so great relationships," the star, 48, tells London's Daily Mirror.

George Clooney & Elisabetta Kiss At Premiere (PHOTOS)

2009-10-15T14:34:30Z

A day after the two stepped out in London at a 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' premiere, George Clooney and his Italian gal pal Elisabetta Canali held hands and nuzzled on the red carpet of London premiere of 'The Men Who Stare At Goats.'

The movie opens in the US on November 6.

PHOTOS:

George Clooney Laments Media's Decline

2009-10-15T11:26:58Z

LONDON — George Clooney thinks something has gone wrong when the media prints celebrity rumor and innuendo as fact.

The star, a journalist's son, said a news story used to require "two reliable sources, and that doesn't seem to exist as much anymore."

George Clooney Brings Girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis To London Premiere (PHOTOS)

2009-10-14T22:31:55Z

George Clooney brought his television hostess girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis to the London premiere of "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" Wednesday night.

Clooney has been dating the Italian beauty, 31, for the better part of the year. He was spotted around Lake Como with her this summer and brought her to multiple premieres at the Venice Film Festival.

PHOTOS:

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George Clooney Is Fantastically Foxy In London (PHOTOS)

2009-10-14T09:53:17Z

***AP Text, scroll down for PHOTOS***

LONDON - George Clooney and Meryl Streep were due on the red carpet in Leicester Square on Wednesday for the opening of the 53rd London Film Festival.

The stars provide voices for the lead characters in the opening-night film, the world premiere of director Wes Anderson's animated adventure "Fantastic Mr. Fox."

Anderson's stop-motion kid-flick is adapted from Roald Dahl's book about the battle between a suave, chicken-stealing fox and evil farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean.

Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Michael Gambon and musician Jarvis Cocker also provide voices for the playfully lo-fi feature, which brings the hipster sensibility of Anderson's "Rushmore" and "Royal Tenenbaums" to Dahl's children's classic.

Although the film takes liberties with Dahl's story -- giving Mr. Fox additional neighbors and family members -- the filmmakers had the blessing of Dahl's widow Felicity. Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach even wrote the screenplay while staying at the Dahl family home in Great Missenden, southern England.

"Fantastic Mr. Fox" is released in Britain Oct. 23 and in the United States next month.

PHOTOS:

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Randy Shaw: Has Obama Hurt Michael Moore's New Film?

2009-10-13T08:18:56Z

After seeing the U.S. premiere, I wrote that Michael Moore's Capitalism, A Love Story, is a must-see movie and his most powerful and politically fulfilled work. Moore thought so as well, and engaged in a media blitz to encourage a massive turnout to the 962 theater opening on the October 3-4 weekend. Moore argued that a top-grossing film critiquing capitalism would send a powerful message to Wall Street that the public is fed up with its greed.

But this expected rush to theaters did not materialize. In fact, Moore's new film did less than half as well per theater than Sicko, his previous movie. Overall, Capitalism, A Love Story finished a disappointing sixth in its opening week, tied with Drew Barrymore's roller derby film Whip It. This past weekend, Moore's film fell to ninth. There are many possible reasons for this. Did Moore overestimate the popular base for a movie that fundamentally critiques a system that most Americans support? Or has the popular anger that fueled attendance at Moore's anti-Bush administration films diminished with President Obama's election, so that the public no longer sees attending a Moore film as politically and psychologically necessary?

Michael Moore's new film opened in nearly 1000 theaters, the largest coverage in his history and more than double the venues that showed Sicko. But opening weekend revenue for Capitalism, A Love Story only slightly exceeded that generated by Sicko in only 441 theaters. And the film fell to ninth in its second week. Why did this powerful film that generated largely positive reviews not do better?

The Nature of Moore's Audience

First, Moore's primary audience is not teenagers eager to see the new date film on its opening weekend. Nor is it the under 12 crowd who packed theaters to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

Moore's core crowd -- activists, progressives, union members -- are not the type of folks who feel compelled to see a movie the first weekend it opens. I spoke to several progressive activists last week, and none had yet seen the film though all intended to do so.

So Moore may have simply misread his audience's need to see his movie on opening weekend. He also overestimated his ability to get people to theaters by framing attendance as a political act.

Moore's Systemic, Rather than Targeted, Challenge

While Moore aptly describes his new film as the fruition of his prior works, there is a difference between a film attacking a nonsensical war (Fahrenheit 911) or the nation's health care system (Sicko) and one that directly attacks the capitalist system. Alex Vitale, a Brooklyn College sociologist, suggested to me that so many potential moviegoers are implicated in capitalism that they could feel less comfortable rushing out to see Moore's new film.

In contrast, few attendees of Moore's brilliant anti-Iraq war film felt they were part of the system that led to that nightmare, and in fact millions opposed the U.S. invasion from the start. Similarly, there is vast public anger at the nation's health care system, and people could rush out to see Sicko without feeling implicated by the outrages Moore depicts.

Moore tries to avoid this problem by attacking Wall Street and the ruthless exploiters of capitalism, rather than small capitalist businesses or even the large but more socially conscious corporations that created good, middle-class auto industry jobs for Moore's father and those of his generation. But Moore's provocative use of the term "capitalism" in the film's title may have left many who would agree with its message feeling less compelled to rush out and see the film.

The Obama Factor

The nature of Moore's audience and the systemic challenge to capitalism aside, President Obama's election is likely the biggest factor in the less than hoped for opening attendance. Few Democrats or independents feel the sense of hopelessness and rage that compelled them to spend a couple of hours watching Michael Moore tear President George W. Bush apart.

Moore did not have to hit the airwaves or the blogosphere to convince people that seeing Fahrenheit 911 or Sicko was a political act -- folks were already desperate for ways to show opposition to the Bush administration. But Capitalism, a Love Story is targeted not at the current President but at the more amorphous "Wall Street," so the link between movie attendance and social change activism is less clear.

The fact is that public anger at Wall Street has been obvious for some time. People could understandably question why this point had to be reconfirmed by attending Moore's film on opening weekend.

Moore Acts, Hollywood Escapes

While Michael Moore's efforts to dramatically increase his Sicko audience through a film critical of capitalism may fall short, his ambitions stand in sharp contrast to that of Hollywood's many other "liberal" filmmakers and actors. While these folks regularly pat themselves on the backs for their donations to one cause or another, even the most progressive -- such as George Clooney, Matt Damon, or Brad Pitt, each of whom can make whatever film they want -- are fostering a culture where films are largely escapist fantasies that avoid truly telling it like it is.

Many Hollywood actors, producers and directors may define themselves as political progressives, but, unlike Michael Moore, they do not use their films to make a difference.

So get out and see Capitalism, A Love Story to send a message not just to Wall Street, but to the movie industry. Michael Moore should not be the only filmmaker with a progressive message that can open a movie in nearly 1000 theaters, but unless this film does well, he could be the last.

Randy Shaw is the author of Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century.

Michael Giltz: Toronto Film Festival Wrap-up

2009-09-21T12:53:21Z

The Toronto Film Festival ended over the weekend. My first experience there after a decade of covering Cannes was very pleasant: it's a press friendly event and the stress level is much lower than the Wimbledon of film fests. I saw some Oscar hopefuls that actually delivered, some 24 films in all, as well as reading several books, interviewing Vera Farmiga for an all too brief 14 minutes, visiting with family and friends (thanks for the guest room, Chris and Noriko and Momo!), doing two podcasts (including my first solo one), publishing an interview with musician Matthew Sweet and appearing on CP24's LeDrew Live to talk about the festival.

The winners were announced, including audience favorite Precious, which I saw at Cannes. With Oprah and Tyler Perry supporting it and general success at festivals from Sundance to Cannes, it's definitely getting every opportunity to be the indie breakout of the year.

My films in order of preference (all ratings out of four stars):

UP IN THE AIR *** 1/2 (definite Oscar hopeul)
A SERIOUS MAN *** 1/2 (should get the Woody Allen slot come Oscar time)
DOGTOOTH *** (genuinely odd absurdist film; can't wait to see again)
A BRAND NEW LIFE *** (a real find -- Korean drama about little girl in orphanage)
SOUL KITCHEN *** (lighter fare from Fatih Akin)
WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY *** (interesting documentary about resurgence of Disney animation)
NORTHLESS *** (another find, this one about illegal immigrant trapped in Tijuana)
A SIMPLE MAN *** (Tom Ford debuts as director; Nicholas Hoult given matinee idol gloss)
I AM LOVE ** 1/2 (Tilda Swinton in lush Italian melodrama)
HUGH HEFNER: PLAYBOY ACTIVIST AND REBEL ** 1/2 (Hef with minimal naughty bits)
CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY ** 1/2 (Michael Moore in another conversation starter)
HUACHO ** 1/2 (typical fest fare -- made with care but no commercial prospects)
MAX MANUS ** 1/2 -- Norwegian WWII resistance hero biopic
LIFE DURING WARTIME ** 1/2 (Solondz revisits Happiness with unhappy result)
THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE ** 1/2 (director Rebecca Miller continues to develop)
SOLOMON KANE ** 1/2 (refreshingly serious sword and sorcery romp)
COLE ** (standard indie fare showcases strong lead Richard de Klerk)
THE TROTSKY ** (teen comedy that never transcends its very high concept)
LEBANON ** (Israeli tank crew story no gripper a la Das Boot)
VALHALLA RISING ** (arty Viking movie? Why not?)
YOUTH IN REVOLT * 1/2 (yet another quirky comedy with hyper literate hero Michael Cera)
PHANTOM PAIN * 1/2 (cyclist loses leg but doesn't gain any interest to viewer)
BITCH SLAP * (great title, loads of attitude, little else)
DORIAN GRAY * (makes debauchery seem dull)

OVERHEAD IN TORONTO #1

The man in the row in front of me at one screening was being greeted by practically everyone who walked down the aisle. But one woman stood out. They whispered their thoughts about some movie (I couldn't hear which one) and then she said, "I wished it were more explicit, more gratutious!" and then she laughed and added, "More tits, please!"

BOOKS I READ IN TORONTO

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: AWAKENING BY L.J. SMITH * out of ****
UP IN THE AIR BY WALTER KIRN ** 1/2 out of ****
A SINGLE MAN BY CHARLES ISHERWOOD *** out of ****
THE DEEP BLUE GOODBY BY JOHN D. MACDONALD *** 1/2 out of ****

OVERHEARD IN TORONTO #2

Guy and gal walking down the street laughing.

Guy: I just want clarification that you lied to Lindsay Lohan!
Girl: Lindsay Lohan lies to herself every single day!

MY COMPLETE COVERAGE:

Toronto Day 1
Toronto Day 2
Toronto Day 3
Toronto Day 4
Toronto Day 5
Toronto Day 6
Toronto Day 7 & 8

Thanks for reading. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog. Download his podcast of celebrity interviews at Popsurfing and enjoy the weekly pop culture podcast he co-hosts at Showbiz Sandbox. Both available for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.

Erica Abeel: TIFF Takeaway: America the Unbeautiful

2009-09-19T10:44:06Z

TIFF 2009 is the year America took it on the chin. In past fests, especially Cannes, we could usually thank Lars Von Trier for savaging the U.S. in such wicked parables as Dogville. But this time around it's mostly American filmmakers who find the amber waves have turned, well, brown.

At the same time the Americans have delivered razor-smart entertainments that double as spot-on reports about the zeitgeist.

The Joneses from first-time director Derrick Borte states its case against American consumerism like some fire and brimstone sermon. Meet the titular handsome family of four (Demi Moore, David Duchovny and their offspring, Amber Heard and Ben Hollingsworth) as they take up residence in a spanking new McMansion in some gated enclave. It soon becomes creepily apparent we're dealing with a faux family that's been hired by a company to "sell" their big-ticket lifestyle to the neighbors and spur them to "keep up with the Joneses" by acquiring new tsotchkes. As poppy Duchovny puts it, "whoever dies with the most toys wins."

The Joneses also displays -- intentionally, one hopes -- the almost baroque ugliness of America's affluent interiors. You wonder how the set dressers assembled these furniture showrooms from hell. And you'd be hard pressed to find a normal face in the film. Demi Moore wears lipstick and mascara to bed; you focus less on her character than trying to ascertain her actual age -- the CGI work, boosted butt, and ironed fall of jet hair make it a challenge. Duchovny phones in his turn as the dadso, while Amber Heard should consider never accepting a role that requires her to wear a top. Yet despite a denouement you can predict fifteen minutes in, The Joneses offers an original morality tale about the American Dream gone rancid.

Of course Michael Moore's doc Capitalism: A Love Story is ahead of the pack in denouncing a system rigged to permit Wall Street and the bankers to rake in the shekels while the little guys spiral into poverty and die from lack of health care I was particularly gratified by the way Moore fingers Lloyd Blankfein and Goldman Sachs as key players in a shadow government calling the shots. And who cannot identify with Moore's efforts to storm the steel and glass citadels of power to get face time with the CEOs, while guards -- who identify with the oppressor, as Freud would have it -- shoo him away like a gnat? If only the Americans whose cause it advocates would see this essential piece of agitprop!

The Informant1 by Steven Soderbergh could almost stand as a sidebar to Capitalism. In it Soderbergh, continues to explore the values of America's corporate culture, conveyed in his films as no more a choice than the air we breathe. The Girlfriend Experience took a sardonic look at the sales ethos extended to personal relations, where even intimacy has been reduced to a commodity to be purchased like socks.

Based on the true life exposé by Kurt Eichenwald, The Informant! follows a chubbed-up Matt Damon as the prez of the bio-products division at agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland. Driven by inscrutable motives, Damon cooperates with the FBI to expose a major price-fixing case against his employer. Soderbergh has become one of cinema's most astute social critics. Avoiding the earnestness of, say, Michael Mann's The Insider, Informant sidewinds its attack on corporate malfeasance using a larky score by Marvin Hamlisch and the hero's oddball voice-overs about everything from designer ties to the black noses of polar bears.

Though directed by Canadian Jason Reitman, Up in the Air is based on a novel by American Walter Kirn. There's been much verbiage about this film -- probably the fest's big breakout and 2009's version of Slumdog Millionaire. Tellingly, though, Slumdog rewarded the underclass; this year you'd be hard put to find a happy ending.

In his third outing Reitman spotlights America's executioners who do the corporations' dirty work. The George Clooney character and his B-School sidekick are handsomely compensated to dump workers via video conferencing, while delivering nostrums about loss as an opportunity.

Borrowing a page from Balzac, in this film the environment and the heartless people it spawns are of a piece, like tidal pools crawling with crabs. Clooney, in fact, reps a successful adaptation to his milieu. While the detachment he brings to lowering the boom on employees is doubled by his avoidance of an intimate connection and any emotional turbulence. "We're two people who get turned on by elite status," says his girlfriend, which just about sums them up.

Other American films touch on corporate rot - or Yankee cluelessness -- in less direct ways. In Solitary Man, by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, Michael Douglas plays an aging exec in freefall. No longer king of the roost in business, this alpha male feels compelled to bed everything that walks. Note to the filmmakers: could a guy of 60 with heart trouble to boot really please all those frisky ladies? Constructed like a thriller, The Art of the Steal by Don Argott is an eye-opener about how charities and Philadelphia power brokers conspired to seize hold of the multi-billion dollar Barnes collection of art. The film's little guys fighting a corporate putsch to honor Barnes's bequest seem straight from the playbook of Michael Moore. Finally, even The Invention of Lying by Ricky Gervais presents the citizens of Anytown U.S.A as gullible Yahoos.

But even if American filmmakers blasted the home front, they showed great skill and panache, working closer to the zeitgeist than most of their competitors at TIFF. And though bleak is the new black, these films offer green shoots. Both Capitalism and Up in the Air celebrate individuals who stand up to corporate Goliaths and refuse to play America's executioner.

Matt Damon: George Clooney's Girlfriend 'Really Wonderful'

2009-09-16T09:17:22Z

George Clooney's newest squeeze has passed an important test: gaining the approval of her beau's friends.

"She is a really, really wonderful woman," Clooney's close pal Matt Damon, 38, told PEOPLE at Tuesday's Manhattan premiere of his film The Informant!

George Clooney Prefers Prostate Exams To Facebook

2009-09-16T09:01:59Z

Don't expect to "Facebook friend" George Clooney anytime soon -- one of the world's sexiest men would rather undergo an intrusive medical procedure than be your pal on the Internet.

Erica Abeel: Corporate Culture on Trial in Toronto

2009-09-12T13:52:59Z

Some things at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which kicked off September 10th, remain unchanged. As always, the fest is insanely front-loaded; you practically turn wall-eyed wanting to sprint for three competing morning films: A Serious Man from the Coen bros, much ballyhooed An Education, and Telluride triumph Up in the Air. And let's not forget Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel.

Other things change. No more mister-nice-guy around here. The egalitarian protocol so beloved of journalists -- which contrasts with the impenetrable ranking system that makes Cannes an exercise in humiliation -- has taken a serious hit at this biggest of North American fests. Those Journos not "prioritized" were forced to line up in halls, down stairs, and out in the street to attend the screening of Up in the Air. Yes, we all got in, but, well, it's the spirit of the thing.

Having skipped last year to tub thump my latest novel, I was also taken aback by the current corporate embrace of TIFF. Screenings are now prefaced by commercials for everything ranging from Cadillacs to Blackberries. Well, guess they need the bucks for the new Bell Lighthouse home for the festival, promised for next year.

It's a tad ironic, though, in that one of the more robust themes to emerge in the fest's early outings is corporate malfeasance. One such film is Steven Soderbergh's The Informant, toplined by a chubbed-up Matt Damon as a whacko whistle-blower determined to expose his company's price fixing scheme with Japan. The film offers a zany free-associative voice-over by Damon and a sprightly score, complete with a kazoo, by Marvin Hamlish. But the motives of Damon's character remain opaque and stem more from Mitty-esque fantasy than a reformer's zeal. In a sense, The Informant is Soderbergh's business world sequel to The Girlfriend Experience, depicting a monolithic world in which there's nothing that's not for sale.

Similarly themed, Up in the Air, adapted from the novel by Walter Kirn and directed by Jason Reitman ("Juno"), is that rare hybrid: a crowd pleaser studded with zingy dialogue that also looks at serious issues, namely, the human misery beyond the statistics of downsizing in America. George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a permanent bachelor who crisscrosses the nation firing people for a living. His dream? To amass ten million frequent flyer miles. Ryan meets his match in Vera Farmiga's equally detached Alex, who like him gets turned on by upgrades -- "Think of me as yourself, only with a vagina." But the arrival in his company of Nathalie, a B School whiz who determines it's more cost effective to fire people by video, becomes a game-changer for Ryan. Even Mr. Cool himself blanches at her term "termination engineer."

Up in the Air flirts with slickness, especially toward the end, and there's one particular plot hole you could drive a truck through. Yet it bracingly takes a hatchet to the yes-men who get paid to do the corporations' dirty work. More, it skewers the vapid lifestyle of an executive flunky such as Ryan, who delivers motivational lectures on the advantages of living lite and shedding all responsibility towards others. In a sense, the film's an indictment of American frontier individualism pushed to an ugly and untenable extreme. Reitman also drolly captures the sleek generic look of Admiral's Club lounges and plush conference rooms so you all but smell the canned air and values.

One more notable change at TIFF: the journos' ensorcellement with digital technology. At one screening yesterday, there were as many people consulting blackberries and i-Phones than looking at the big screen. Maybe because the flick was about medieval German nuns. More about that tomorrow and the other trend emerging here: the celebration of powerful women.

George Clooney Stretched Thin Promoting Multiple Films

2009-09-12T08:47:41Z

As of late last week, a slightly frantic army of studio executives, publicists and agents in Los Angeles was still fretting through the intricacies of George Clooney's presumed presence at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Would there be just one news conference, on Friday, for his Overture Films movie, a paranormal comic thriller, "The Men Who Stare at Goats"? Or would there be a second, for his Paramount picture, "Up in the Air," which was scheduled for a public screening the next day?

Marshall Fine: Live from the Toronto Film Festival: Day 2

2009-09-12T07:14:42Z

I almost never go to parties at film festivals. Too often they're just giant clusterf**ks in which everybody and his brother is there for a free drink and a shot at hors d'oeuvres that usually amount to little more than pizza rolls and chicken wings. I'd rather spend the time watching a movie - or I need to be writing something.

But I annually make an exception for the Sony Pictures Classics dinner at Toronto, always a classy, intimate event at which the guest list is limited - and always includes the stars of Sony's inevitably quality line-up of films at the festival.

Friday night, the guest list included cast, directors and producers of Broken Embraces, The Damned United, An Education, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus and a couple of other SPC entries whose titles elude me at the moment. I was seated at a table with Lluis Homar, who costars in Broken Embraces with Penelope Cruz (who made a brief appearance at the event before dashing to catch a plane). Homar, who plays Cruz's lover in the film, was the envy of all the men at the table for sharing a couple of passionate scenes with her.

It was a delicious (if slowly served) meal and the perfect end to a day that included what may become the movie of the festival - and the film that could soon be the buzz of the fall season, though it doesn't open until Nov. 13: Jason Reitman's funny, moving Up in the Air.

Indeed, this film could easily put a second Oscar on George Clooney's mantle. He plays a corporate terminator - no, not a hit man but a guy whose company is hired to handle large-scale lay-offs for companies without the balls to do the firing themselves. It's the best performance of Clooney's career, one that eclipses even his amazing work in Michael Clayton and Syriana, playing a guy who spends all of his time on airplanes and who dreams of reaching the 10-million-mile mark for frequent flyers, which would make him part of a group more exclusive than the number of men who walked on the moon.

Directed by Jason Reitman, Up in the Air puts Reitman at three for three, in terms of movies that manage to be both smart and wickedly witty (Thank You for Smoking and Juno are the previous two.) Up in the Air suddenly leaps to the head of the Oscar pack for the fall season, a rueful comedy that taps directly into the national zeitgeist.

Almost as good in yesterday's line-up: A Serious Man, the Coen brothers' wonderfully weird comedy about Jewish life in the suburbs of Minneapolis in the summer of love, 1967 (where the Haight-Ashbury scene seems unimaginable).

For the rest of this post, click HERE to reach my website: www.hollywoodandfine.com.

Michael Giltz: Toronto Film Fest Day 2: Two Hits, A Fun Miss and Then Malaise

2009-09-11T21:18:36Z

Day 2 of the Toronto Film Festival and I'm still waiting for my friends' dog Momo to get used to me. He went into a frenzy when I came home last night, laid in wait outside my room in the morning, leaped at me when I hugged my friend Noriko and barked like crazy until I left. The (very) quiet streets of Toronto were a relief. Now where can I find doggie treats?

This morning is the Joel and Ethan Coen movie A Serious Man, the first test of how easy/difficult Toronto can be. The theater only holds 582 people. But I had a pleasant surprise: my badge has a little "p" on it which gives me a teensy bit of extra priority. Hallelujah. But my friends in the longer line got in as well, so Toronto really does seem hassle-free.

A SERIOUS MAN *** 1/2 out of **** -- I don't know if I should call this an unexpected treat after they won the Oscar. But A Serious Man is so distinctively a Coen Brothers film -- and so successful -- that it seems like a rebirth. No irony here. No distancing or sour comic tone. No outside source material. It feels bred in the bone and deeply felt. The story is set in 1967, with our hero a college professor and Job-like character beset by one trouble after another. (I defy anyone to review the film and not reference Job.) His wife wants a divorce because she's in love with an unctuous man who constantly hugs Larry Gopnik (a wonderfully restrained Michael Stuhlbarg) and needs to discuss everything in a reasoned, calm manner that is utterly infuriating. Larry is up for tenure but someone is sending anonymous letters denigrating him to the committee. His son is having a bar mitzvah but is in hock for $20 to the local juvenile delinquent pot dealer. Larry also has to deal with an awkward bribe from a Korean student that escalates in bizarre ways. Did I mention his brother (Richard Kind) is living on their couch, constantly draining some sort of oozing sore? On the bright side, the sexy neighbor next door bathes in the nude. That's a catalog of plot points, but not a good summary of the feel of this film. It's the most universal -- and yet the most Jewish -- movie the Coens have ever made, even though it has a close kinship with the over the top Barton Fink. Of course, getting specific can make any experience universal and that's what they achieve here. Who hasn't wondered, why me? Who hasn't yearned for answers? Who hasn't thought things couldn't get worse and then invariably been proven wrong? Their wicked humor is here: Larry is stranded at a local motel and having a crisis at work when his son calls to complain that the TV show F Troop is coming in fuzzy. The series of rabbis and lawyers and doctors all proffer advice, but when someone has something truly useful to reveal, of course they drop dead in front of him. It's deadpan but real, funny but sad, absolutely true and a fable for our times. It's such an odd duck, I thought I might have to start defending it, but the people around me all seemed to be on the film's wavelength. And yet what does the opener (in which a peasant woman stabs a dybbuk in the heart) actually imply? The price of not confronting evil head-on? Or the danger of letting fear and mistrust make you act hastily and without reason? One acquaintance called the film a Rosetta Stone for understanding the Coens. But they've never spoken in a foreign tongue that needed translating. They just cloaked their fears in comedy and heightened drama. Here, they have the nerve to stare the trouble right in the eye in this, their most honest film. Me, I'm running away but it's fascinating to see them not even blink. Can't wait to see it again. Another Oscar contender.

Well, I ran right from A Serious Man to Jason Reitman's Up In The Air with a heavy heart. The law of averages says I'm unlikely to see two really good Hollywood movies in a row.

UP IN THE AIR *** 1/2 out of **** -- Well, I was wrong. George Clooney and Vera Farmiga make a sexy couple in this romantic drama with bite. Clooney is a man who specializes in firing people -- he's great at coming into a company for a day, calling in people one by one and "letting them go" with a wry touch or brief insight that keeps the people from imploding (and more to the point, from suing). But his real passion is for frequent flier miles. Clooney loves to fly, loves to stay in hotels, loves to rent cars and loves to...avoid life? Unlike in the novel by Walter Kirn, in the film Clooney's character has never been married, perish the thought. When he bumps into fellow road warrior Farmiga, it's a match made in the Executive Lounge waiting area at JFK. They whip out hotel cards, compare notes on car companies and click on every level: especially on the level of no commitment or no fun. Single is what they want. Not even "single," for that implies the potential for dating, for marriage. Uh-uh. Seeing them spark and trade details of who is in what city when so they can arrange a play date is contemporary naughtiness at its best. Clooney's air-tight, impersonal, first class life is upended when college grad Natalie (Anna Kendrick) convinces his company they can fire people over the internet, potentially grounding him forever. She joins Clooney for a trip to Detroit to gain some hands-on experience and it's a delight to see him and Farmiga cluck over and guide Kendrick both personally and professionally (though they may be the ones who need the most help). The film couldn't be more timely, with its compelling montage of people being fired and then reacting in a thousand different ways. A light romantic comedy, it gains more gravitas and then smoothly segues to Clooney reconnecting with his family, getting serious about Farmiga and...well, you can do the rest. But you can't. An easier film might have stopped there. But Up In The Air is bolder and goes on quite a bit longer, frustrating our expectations and avoiding the smooth romantic-comedy landing for an ambiguous crash landing with Clooney still up in the air about where he wants to go. Not Reitman. He's taken a major leap forward and Clooney and Farmiga have chemistry to burn. (She's certainly got her eye on a Supporting Actress nod.) This is sophisticated, adult fare and another potential Oscar contender, especially in a year with ten nominees for Best Picture.

Whew. Two in a row, from Hollywood no less. Others admire Up In The Air but don't seem quite as bullish as me. Still, I'll wait for the reviews instead of my tiny sampling of opinion. I see Hollywood Reporter has already raved about the Coens film, which I imagine will be the first of many at the very least respectful reviews. (Respectful is the tone for Variety's take.) I scramble over to a new venue (the first time I'm leaving the Varsity on Bay St. above the Indigo bookstore) to catch Valhalla Rising, which I know nothing about except there are Vikings.

VALHALLA RISING ** out of **** An arty Viking film? Why not? From the director of the Pusher trilogy, this is a moody and fairly engrossing look at a man captured by other men and forced to fight to the death other prisoners for their amusement. Our hero has one eye and a vicious way in the ring (he never loses, never even comes close) and you know it's only a matter of time before he loosens those chains. A young boy that feeds him teams up with the man when he escapes (brutally, bloodily -- this is a slow film with exceptionally vivid violence when it strikes). They team up with/are dragooned into a group of Christian Vikings headed for the Holy Land but sideswiped by a fog into a path for Ireland or perhaps America. Very little happens here, but it looks very striking and the quirky score -- an organ at one point, at others an anachronistic electric guitar -- keeps your attention. But despite its would-be commentary on Christian crusaders and their bloody spreading of the faith, it all adds up to little more than a lot of atmosphere and just a little plot. The 90 minutes don't drag, but they don't skip by, either. The 13th Warrior it ain't.

The rest of the day is a low-key disaster. First, I need to file a profile of Matthew Sweet before he performs in New York City tonight. But finding a free Wi-Fi spot (or even one I can pay for easily) proves frustrating until I discover that Starbucks Canada offers two hours of usage a day free to any customer who signs up online. God bless Canada! So I bounce between Starbucks and the press office, secure a midnight movie ticket and then get utterly lost when striking out for a new venue, even though it turns out to be across the street from the Eaton Centre. The location was much farther away then I was told.

So I trudge back, only to find out the closest bookstore with a copy of Walter Kirn's Up In The Air is at the Eaton Centre, so back I trudge, finally spotting the cinema where Solomon Kane, the movie I missed, is playing. I press my nose up to the box office window and then move forlornly on. I hit another screening just because the timing works out. The film has the very unpromising title Melody For A Street Organ and the Ukranian film doesn't seem much better. The child actors who star are very forced and the translation of the dialogue is weak. But it's the subtitling itself that kills me. It's fuzzy, yes fuzzy and incredibly distracting. After 40 minutes, I give up because I'm hungry and tired and need to write and all the dialogue is fuzzy, which is awfully tiresome.

Back to the other Indigo to file this story, when I find out someone contacted me to appear on their TV show tonight at 9 on CP24 but I didn't check my mail until 8:53 p.m. Oh well. I might try and talk my way into the midnight showing of the new Ethan Hawke vampire flick or just head home and read Kirn.

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to a documentary about Disney's animation resurgence (it began with The Great Mouse Detective, in my book), either a well-reviewed French film I Am Love or the new spin on Dorian Gray, either The Trotsky (a Rushmore-like high school comedy) or The Road and whatever else I can fit in. I also receive a handwritten (!) invite from the director of a documentary on Hugh Hefner (which just got a good review in the Hollywood Reporter.) But it conflicts with the only screening of Trotsky, so I'll take my chances and try to catch it on Thursday. I definitely don't want to miss it and am sorry I won't be at the premiere with Hefner himself in attendance Saturday at 2 p.m.

Visit me online at my website, MichaelGiltz.com, and find links to the weekly pop-culture podcast I co-host on iTunes called Showbiz Sandbox, the solo podcast show Popsurfing featuring my interviews with artists, Facebook, Netflix and more.