Negromancer News Bits and Bites from September 1st to 9th, 2017 - Update #42

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SPORTS - From NYTimes:  Sloane Stephens wins the women's tennis singles title at the 2017 U.S. Open Women.

From HuffPost:  American tennis is alive because of Black women.

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STREAMING - From ArsTechnica:  Disney is pulling its "Star Wars" and Marvel Studios films from Netflix, beginning in 2019.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  Spike Lee and Jordan Peele ("Key & Peele") are uniting for the film, "Black Klansman," based on the true story of a Black man who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan.

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BOX OFFICE - From Variety:  "Spider-Man: Homecoming" opens strong in China.

From Fortune:  "Spider-Man: Homecoming" may be the highest grossing straight-reboot film at the worldwide box office.

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COMICS-FILM - From THR:  Drew Goodard will write and direct "X-Force," a spin-off from Fox's awful X-Men film franchise.

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STREAMING - From TheWrap:  Christina Ricci's Amazon series, "Z: The Beginning of Everything" has cancelled.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  Armie Hammer joins Felicity Jones in the Ruth Bader Ginsburg (a current Supreme Court Justice) biopic, "On the Basis of Sex."

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COMICS-FILM - From THR:  "Suicide Squad 2" finally has a director.  Gavin O'Connor of "The Accountant" (with Ben Affleck) will write and direct the film.

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TELEVISION - Variety:  CBS is developing a TV series based on James Ellroy's classic novel, L.A. Confidential.  The book was previously developed into a critically acclaimed, Oscar-winning 1997 film writer-director Curtis Hanson.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  Jude Law joins Elle Fanning and Selena Gomez in a Woody Allen film due next year.

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CELEBRITY - From YahooCelebrity:  A rare photo of Jamie Foxx and Katie Holmes, long rumored to be a couple, has surfaced.

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COMICS-FILM - From TheWrap:  In terms of domestic box office, "Wonder Woman" is now one of the top five highest grossing superhero movies of all time.

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STREAMING - From Deadline:  Chris Pine to take the lead in Robert F. Kennedy project at Hulu.

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MOVIES - From Deadline:  Paramount has acquired rights to "authorized prequel" to Bram Stoker's "Dracula," entitled "Dracul."

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STAR WARS - From TheWrap:  Colin Trevorrow "steps down" as the director of Star Wars Episode 9.

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TELEVISION - From TheWrap:  "American Horror Story: Cult" - frenzied mess or metaphor for Trump-induced madness.

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MOVIES-FILM FESTIVALS - From Variety:  Angelina Jolie gets a standing ovation at the Telluride Film Festival for her new film, "Cambodia."

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POLITICS - From NYDailyNews:  The selfish reason Donald Trump has made several film cameos.

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COMICS-FILM - From CBR:  15 things wrong with the X-Men film franchise, according to Comic Book Resources.  [Yeah, those movies are a stanky hot mess. - Ed.]

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MOVIES - From Variety:  Luc Besson's "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" was a big disappointment at the box office.  That has cost the deputy CEO of Besson's EuropaCorp is job.

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WGA - From Variety:  The incoming president of the Writers Guild of America, West says that Hollywood writers will have to make a 2020 strike threat to get a decent contract.

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BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficeMojo:  The number one film at the 9/1 to 9/3/2017 weekend box office is "The Hitman's Bodyguard" with an estimated total of $10.25 million.  This is the film's third consecutive weekend at the top of the box office.

From Variety:  "Dunkirk" wins the most recent international box office period.

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CELEBRITY - From BBC:  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Prince William of Great Britain and his wife, Kate) are expecting a third child.

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MOVIES - From YahooMovies:  A slideshow of the 50 most anticipated films of Fall 2017.

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SPORTS - From BET:  Tennis great Serena Williams has given birth to a baby girl.

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COMICS-FILM - From CBR:  Spike Lee may be involved in a Sony Pictures film based on Marvel Comics character, Nightwatch," who is part of the "Spider-Man" line.

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COMICS-FILM - From ScreenRant:  Cate Blanchett gives the three reasons she wanted to be in "Thor: Ragnarok."

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COMICS-FILM - From SideshowToy:  A first look at Evangeline Lilly in costume as "The Wasp" during filming of Marvel's "Ant-Man and the Wasp."

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COMICS-FILM - From Variety:  Warner Bros. would love Leo DiCaprio to play the Joker in its "Joker" stand alone film to be directed by Todd Phillips.

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MOVIES - From THR:  "The Crow" reboot, entitled "The Crow Reborn," is not at Sony Pictures.

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STREAMING - From Variety:  Netflix teams up with Damien Chazelle ("Best Director Oscar" for "La La Land") for a Paris-set musical series, "The Eddy."

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MOVIES - From YahooMovies:  Director Andy Muschietti says that the sequel to "It," the highly-anticipated adaptation of the Stephen King novel, will focus on the 1986 novel's "cosmic dimension."

From CinemaBlend:  Muschietti would like to make a new film adaptation of King's 1983 novel "Pet Semetary," which was previously adapted by director Mary Lambert in 1989.

From TheWrap:  Muschietti talks about the origin of Pennywise the Clown's distinctive look in the new "It."

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CELEBRITY - From YahooCelebrity:  Robert Pattison of "Twilight" fame once lived with Dustin Diamond a.k.a. "Screech" from "Saved by the Bell."

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TELEVISION - From Variety:  HBO's limited series, "True Detective," will return for a third season, with Mahershala Ali as its star.  Nic Pizzalatto and Jeremy Saulnier will direct.  No air date announced as of yet.

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CELEBRITY - From YahooCelebrity:  Taylor Swift's friend, the dancer, Todrick Hall, getting trolled over his relationship with Swift and his appearance in her new video.

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MOVIES - From TheWrap:  Sam Rockwell in final talks to play George W. Bush in Dick Cheney biopic from director, Adam McKay.

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MOVIES - From THR:  Lily Collins joins Nicholas Hoult in Fox Searchlight and Chernin Entertainment's biopic about J.R.R. Tolkien, the creator of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

OBIT:

From TheWrap:  Blake Heron, former child star, has died at the age of 35, Friday, September 8, 2017.  He was best known for the 1996 film, "Shiloh."

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From TheWrap:  Rock musician and recording artist, Walter Becker, has died at the age of 67, Sunday, September 3, 2017.  Becker was the guitarist and co-founder of the rock-jazz fusion band, Steely Dan.

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From Variety:   The actor and comedian Shelley Berman has died at the age of 92; Friday, September 1, 2017.  The Grammy Award he won in 1959 for "Best Comedy Performance, Spoken Word," was the first given for a non-musical performance.  In recent years, he played Larry David's father on "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which earned him a 2008 Emmy nomination.

Review: "Thank You for Smoking" is Too Glib (Happy B'day, Aaron Eckhart)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 229 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Thank You for Smoking (2005)
Running time:  93 minutes (1 hour, 33 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and some sexual content
DIRECTOR:  Jason Reitman
WRITERS:  Jason Reitman (based upon the novel by Christopher Buckley)
PRODUCER:  David O. Sacks
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  James Whitaker (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Dana E. Glauberman
COMPOSER:  Rolfe Kent
Golden Globes nominee

COMEDY with elements of drama

Starring:  Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Cameron Bright, Sam Elliot, Katie Holmes, David Koechner, Rob Lowe, William H. Macy, J.K. Simmons, and Robert Duvall, Kim Dickens, Adam Brody, and Todd Louiso

The subject of this movie review is Thank You for Smoking, a 2005 satirical comedy written for the screen and directed by Jason Reitman.  The film is based on the 1994 novel, Thank You for Smoking, by author Christopher Buckley.  Thank You for Smoking the movie follows the tobacco industry’s chief spokesman as he spins and disseminates information on behalf of cigarettes, while trying to remain a role model for his twelve-year-old son.

As Vice-President of the Academy of Tobacco Studies, Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is the main lobbyist and primary spin doctor for Big Tobacco.  Naylor is on a mission to make the country forget the dangers and health risks of smoking cigarettes.  However, his mission gets tougher with health advocates and the opportunistic Senator Ortolan K. Finistirre (William H. Macy) determined to put a new poison label (in the form of an image of the skull & bones) on cigarette packs.  Naylor goes on the PR offensive with a strategy to get big Hollywood actors to smoke on screen, as the movie stars of yesteryear did in the Golden Age of Hollywood movies.  Nick enlists, Jeff Megall (Rob Lowe), a Hollywood super-agent, to help him get smoking on screen again.

However, Nicky’s newfound notoriety does not go unnoticed by Big Tobacco’s head honcho, The Captain (Robert Duvall), who gives his blessing to Nick’s Hollywood plan.  Nick’s activities also get the attention of a beautiful, young investigative reporter, Heather Halloway (Katie Holmes), who is willing to use her body to get Nick to tell her his secrets.  Even with a busy schedule, Nick still finds time to hold forth with two comrades – two other lobbyists for industries also facing public backlash: Polly Bailey (Maria Bello) of the alcohol industry and Bobby Jay Bliss (David Koechner) of the gun industry.  Together, the three of them are the Merchants of Death or M.O.D. Squad.  Nick’s also a father, and he’s trying to remain a role model to his young, impressionable son, Joey Naylor (Cameron Bright), who thinks his dad is a god, but Nick’s ex-wife, Jill Naylor (Kim Dickens), isn’t sure a tobacco lobbyist is the best dad material.

Jason Reitman, the son of famed comedy director, Ivan Reitman (Animal House, Ghostbusters), has a more cerebral approach to film comedy than his father, and that’s clearly evident in the clever, offhand satire, Thank You for Smoking, which Reitman adapted from the novel by Christopher Buckley.  The film comes across as a savage satire of the tobacco industry, but Reitman directs the film with such elegance that Thank You for Smoking sometimes comes across as glib and soulless.  In his attempt to impale Big Tobacco, and also throw sand in the face of shallow Hollywood, opportunistic big media, and shameless Congress, Reitman’s movie ends up gabby and has no real villains.  This is a satire that comes across as if it’s teasing its targets rather than criticizing them.

While Thank You for Smoking holds up the characters and subject matter for detached scrutiny, the cast isn’t afraid to get down and dirty.  The actors take delight in revealing the characters for all their oily selfishness.  They’re all out for their own interests, and what little guilt they feel merely adds a light pungent flavor to the characters.  The best performance is delivered, of course, by Aaron Eckhart as the film’s protagonist/quasi-villain, Nick Naylor.  A character actor who can play an amazing range of lead characters, Eckhart gives Thank You for Smoking its gift of gab.  Eckhart’s screen chemistry with Cameron Bright, the young actor who plays Nick’s son, Joey, is supernaturally real.  It’s like a real father and son duo.

Eckhart humanizes Naylor, and makes the viewer like him and want to engage him.  Thank You for Smoking is well-written and well-directed (considering the inexperience of the director), and the technical aspects are pretty good.  But it’s Aaron Eckhart who makes Thank You for Smoking something more than just another satirical film essay.  He makes it memorable.

7 of 10
B+

Monday, November 06, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Golden Globes:  2 nominations:  “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Aaron Eckhart)

Updated:  Wednesday, March 12, 2014


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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Adam Sandler and "Jack & Jill" Dominate 2012 Razzie Awards

The Golden Raspberry Award or, as it is best known, the Razzie Award, is basically the opposite of the Academy Awards (the Oscars). This award honors the worst achievements in film in a calendar year, as determined by the paid membership of the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation.

The 32nd Annual Razzie Awards were announced Sunday, April 1, 2012, which was, of course, April Fools’ Day.  For the first time in the 32 years of the Razzie Awards, one movie won every category.  One actor's work took home every tropy.  That movie is Jack & Jill.  That actor is Adam Sandler.  There is nothing else to say.

The 32nd Annual Razzie Awards winners (for 2011):

WORST PICTURE
Jack & Jill

WORST ACTOR
Adam Sandler – Jack & Jill and Just Go with It

WORST ACTRESS
Adam Sandler (As “Jill”) – Jack & Jill

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Al Pacino (As “Al Pacino”) – Jack & Jill

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
David Spade (As “Monica”) – Jack & Jill

WORST SCREEN ENSEMBLE
The Entire Cast of Jack & Jill

WORST DIRECTOR
Dennis Dugan – Jack & Jill and Just Go with It

WORST PREQUEL, REMAKE, RIP-OFF OR SEQUEL
Jack & Jill (Remake/Rip-Off of Ed Woods’ Glen or Glenda)

WORST SCREEN COUPLE
Adam Sandler and EITHER Katie Holmes, Al Pacino OR Adam Sandler / Jack & Jill

WORST SCREENPLAY
Jack & Jill – Screenplay by Steve Koren & Adam Sandler, Story by Ben Zook

"Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" More Fantasy Than Horror

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)
Running time: 99 minutes (1 hour, 39 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and terror
DIRECTOR: Troy Nixey
WRITERS: Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins (based on the 1973 teleplay by Nigel McKeand)
PRODUCERS: Mark Johnson and Guillermo del Toro
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Oliver Stapleton
EDITOR: Jill Bilcock
COMPOSERS: Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders

FANTASY/HORROR/THRILLER

Starring: Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison, Julia Blake, and Jack Thompson

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a 2011 dark fantasy film, and it is also a remake of a 1973 ABC made-for-television horror movie of the same name. Co-written and co-produced by Guillermo del Toro, the new Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is sort of a cross between a horror film and a scary movie for kids. It is certainly an atmospheric film, but it is never truly scary as it could be.

Although she wishes she didn’t have to do so, 8-year-old Sally Hirst (Bailee Madison) arrives in Rhode Island to live with her father, Alex Hirst (Guy Pearce), and his girlfriend, Kim (Katie Holmes). Alex and Kim are living in Blackwood Manor, the former home of the late renowned painter, Lord Blackwood. The couple is also restoring the manor in order to put it back on the market for sale.

Not long after moving in, Sally begins to hear strange, small voices in the walls of the manor. She even discovers that the mansion has a long-hidden basement where Lord Blackwood once worked. There, Sally opens an old fireplace and unleashes creatures that want to claim her as one of their own.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark features a theme familiar to horror films – how often victims go unheard or ignored. With that in mind, Sally Hirst is ostensibly the lead character, and she should be both protagonist and hero. However, the screenplay doesn’t mind telling a story of a small child being menaced, but the writers seem to blanch at the idea of that same small child fighting back.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark also juxtaposes fantasy and horror, and ultimately comes across as a really scary fairy tale. Because so much about the creatures, the film’s adversaries, remains in the dark, however, the movie isn’t as scary as it could be. In the bid to remain mysterious and secretive, the film, instead, views like a slice from a larger and far more interesting story. It doesn’t help that the creatures often look like bad CGI creations, which makes some of the sequences in which they attack seem more comical than scary. I could not help but feel disappointed in them; it is a vague disappointment, but still a feeling of discontent.

I still like that Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark has imagination, and the art direction and sets are museum-worthy. The photography by Oliver Stapleton is perfect for fantasy and horror and also resembles the work Guillermo del Toro’s frequent collaborator, cinematographer Guillermo Navarro. To be honest, I’d take Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark’s imperfection over other films’ perfection.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, January 07, 2012

Review: "Mad Money" Has Mad Funny Trio

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mad Money (2008)
Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual material and language, and brief drug references
DIRECTOR: Callie Khouri
WRITERS: Glenn Gers (based upon an earlier screenplay by John Mister and the screenplay for Hot Money by Neil McKay and Terry Winsor)
PRODUCERS: James Acheson, Jay Cohen, and Frank DeMartini
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Bailey
EDITOR: Wendy Greene Bricmont

CRIME/COMEDY

Starring: Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, Katie Holmes, Ted Danson, Adam Rothenberg, Roger R. Cross, Meagan Fay, Christopher McDonald, Stephen Root, Sterling Blackmon, Peyton “Alex” Smith, and Matthew Greer

While watching the crime caper Mad Money, anyone who views it with a critical eye will notice that the character writing is thin and that the plot stumbles whenever the narrative jumps back and forth in time, but director Callie Khouri (who won an Oscar for writing Thelma & Louise) keeps things moving – fast and upbeat – so the viewer won’t see the cracks in this lighthearted crime escapade.

The plot is implausible, and even viewers that don’t look hard can see where the criminal conspiracy at the heart of Mad Money would fall apart early in its execution. However, this comic trio of Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes are so lovable, and this recessionary crime tale about the struggling working class and downsized middle class is both timely and rings true.

Bridget Cardigan (Diane Keaton) discovers that she is about to lose both her home and comfortable middle class lifestyle because her husband, Don (Ted Danson), has been unemployed for a year (downsized from his job), and the couple is nearly 300,000 dollars in debt. Bridget, a stay-at-home mom, has been out of the job market for decades, and her decades-old comparative literature degree won’t help her in this tight job market. She accepts the only job she can get – as a janitor. Her custodial job is at the Federal Reserve Bank, where every day, employees destroy millions of dollars in worn out paper currency taken out of the system.

Bridget surprisingly learns that she has more in common with her new co-workers than she thought when she forges an unexpected bond with Nina Brewster (Queen Latifah), a hard-working single mother of two young boys, and Jackie Truman (Katie Holmes), a wacky and exuberant free spirit who acts as if she has nothing to lose. Looking to finally just get ahead, Nina and Jackie find themselves buying into Bridget’s scheme - steal all those 1, 5, 10, 20, etc. dollar bills meant for destruction. As their little crime syndicate amasses piles of cash, the girls think they have pulled off the perfect crime – that is until one misstep has them trying to stay one step ahead of the law.

Playing Bridget Cardigan, who must go from supportive wife to bread winner, Diane Keaton doesn’t simply play the character as merely a supportive housewife. Early in the film, Bridget is mostly boosting her husband’s confidence, but Bridget soon has to roar – to assert herself. That’s when Keaton deftly transforms her character into a bossy spitfire, a snappy malcontent not content to watch the comfortable world for which she worked so hard to attain just vanish because society considers her and Don passé. Keaton makes Bridget both sweet and sour and both fragrant and pungent. She’s a senior citizen with zest, spicy and spunky, and Keaton shows that in many scenes, especially when we get to watch Bridget go to Nina Brewster’s inner city hood, in spite of her fears.

As for the supporting characters, Queen Latifah’s Nina Brewster is by far the best of the lot. Latifah makes Nina the island of sanity in a sea full of screwballs – including Keaton’s Bridget, but Latifah also makes the sometimes dour, so-serious Nina so quite likeable. Holmes is no slouch either. Her winning Jackie Truman, always bouncing and shaking to the music of her mp3 player, is the fun chick everyone wants to know. Holmes lights up the screen with Jackie’s screwy bubbly personality.

This is one time in Hollywood fare that a movie’s plot leaves male characters as background filler material, and the girls become the action heroes. Mad Money is, however, more than just a chick flick. It does the caper film as light, but both entertaining and well-timed material, and in these times with so many worried about their finances and livelihoods, it’s darn good to watch these girls beat the system silly. All hail this queenly trio for making stealing money as sweet as honey.

6 of 10
B

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Review: "Pieces of April" is a Potent Thanksgiving Drama (Happy B'day, Katie Holmes)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 23 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Pieces of April (2003)
Running time: 80 minutes (1 hour, 20 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for language, sensuality, drug content and images of nudity
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Peter Hedges
PRODUCERS: Alexis Alexanian, John Lyons, and Gary Winick
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tami Reiker (D.o.P)
EDITOR: Mark Livolsi
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/FAMILY with some elements of comedy

Starring: Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, Oliver Platt, Derek Luke, Sean Hayes, Alison Pill, John Gallagher, Jr., Alice Drummond, Lillias White, Isiah Whitlock, Jr., and Sisqó

We’re all familiar with Christmas movies or even the generally labeled “holiday movie,” which (I guess) is supposed to cover the entire “holiday season,” ostensibly Thanksgiving to New Years Day. Are there films we can label as genuine Thanksgiving Day films – films dedicated to that day and have little or nothing to do with Christmas?

Now, Peter Hedges’ Pieces of April can join any existent shortlist of great Thanksgiving Day films. It’s the story of April Burns (Katie Holmes), who invites her family to Thanksgiving dinner at her teeny apartment on New York’s Lower East Side. April has a history of bad behavior, petty crimes, and (really) bad boyfriends, but she’s starting to get her act together. Her father, Jim (Oliver Platt), reluctantly gets his family together for the long trip to NYC, perhaps sensing that this is the last time he will have his entire little family together. His wife Joy (Patricia Clarkson, who earned an Academy Award nomination and won several post season film awards for her performance here), is dying of breast cancer, and Joy and her daughter April have a history of terrible confrontations and hard feelings.

Although I didn’t really go for Hedges documentary-style or the film’s grainy, digital camera realism, the technique does bring the audience directly into the actors. It’s a visceral experience to get in so close to them; it takes sharing the emotions of the characters beyond merely being a vicarious experience. The performances are, for the most part, all good (Derek Luke and Sean Hayes are shaky), and makes being so intimate with the characters a rewarding experience. In fact, the actors don’t show their hands. They make the characters so real that you ignore the fact that they’re playing. It’s like being a fly on the wall or an invisible man privy to an intimate and intensely private, personal family drama.

So maybe Hedges (one of the screenwriters on About a Boy), made all the right choices, and whatever one might question about his choice of visual style, it makes what could have been a pedestrian, feel good, disease of the week, family melodrama, TV movie into a fine film.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Patricia Clarkson)

2004 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Patricia Clarkson)

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Review: Aaron Eckhart Lights it Up in "Thank You for Smoking"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 229 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Thank You for Smoking (2005)
Running time: 93 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and some sexual content
DIRECTOR: Jason Reitman
WRITER: Jason Reitman (based upon the novel by Christopher Buckley)
PRODUCER: David O. Sacks
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jason Whitaker (director of photography)
EDITOR: Dana E. Glauberman
Golden Globes nominee

COMEDY with elements of drama

Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Cameron Bright, Sam Elliot, Katie Holmes, David Koechner, Rob Lowe, William H. Macy, J.K. Simmons, and Robert Duvall, Kim Dickens, Adam Brody, and Todd Louiso

As Vice-President of the Academy of Tobacco Studies, Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is the main lobbyist and primary spin doctor for Big Tobacco. Naylor is on a mission to make the country forget the dangers and health risks of smoking cigarettes. However, his mission gets tougher with health advocates and the opportunistic Senator Ortolan K. Finistirre (William H. Macy) determined to put a new poison label (in the form of an image of the skull & bones) on cigarette packs. Naylor goes on the PR offensive with a strategy to get big Hollywood actors to smoke on screen, as the movie stars of yesteryear did in the Golden Age of Hollywood movies. Nick enlists, Jeff Megall (Rob Lowe), a Hollywood super-agent, to help him get smoking on screen again.

However, Nicky’s newfound notoriety does not go unnoticed by Big Tobacco’s head honcho, The Captain (Robert Duvall), who gives his blessing to Nick’s Hollywood plan. Nick’s activities also get the attention of a beautiful, young investigative reporter, Heather Halloway (Katie Holmes), who is willing to use her body to get Nick to tell her his secrets. Even with a busy schedule, Nick still finds time to hold forth with two comrades – two other lobbyists for industries also facing public backlash: Polly Bailey (Maria Bello) of the alcohol industry and Bobby Jay Bliss (David Koechner) of the gun industry. Together, the three of them are the Merchants of Death or M.O.D. Squad. Nick’s also a father, and he’s trying to remain a role model to his young, impressionable son, Joey Naylor (Cameron Bright), who thinks his dad is a god, but Nick’s ex-wife, Jill Naylor (Kim Dickens), isn’t sure a tobacco lobbyist is the best dad material.

Jason Reitman, the son of famed comedy director, Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters), has a more cerebral approach to film comedy than his father, and that’s clearly evident in the clever, offhand satire, Thank You for Smoking, which Reitman adapted from the novel by Christopher Buckley. The film comes across as a savage satire of the tobacco industry, but Reitman directs the film with such elegance that Thank You for Smoking sometimes comes across as glib and soulless. In his attempt to impale Big Tobacco, and also throw sand in the face of shallow Hollywood, opportunistic big media, and shameless Congress, Reitman’s movie ends up gabby and has no real villains. This is a satire that comes across as if it’s teasing its targets rather than criticizing them.

While Thank You for Smoking holds up the characters and subject matter for detached scrutiny, the cast isn’t afraid to get down and dirty. The actors take delight in revealing the characters for all their oily selfishness. They’re all out for their own interests, and what little guilt they feel merely adds a light pungent flavor to the characters. The best performance is delivered, of course, by Aaron Eckhart as the film’s protagonist/quasi-villain, Nick Naylor. A character actor who can play an amazing range of lead characters, Eckhart gives Thank You for Smoking its gift of gab. Eckhart’s screen chemistry with Cameron Bright, the young actor who plays Nick’s son, Joey, is supernaturally real. It’s like a real father and son duo.

Eckhart humanizes Naylor, and makes the viewer like him and want to engage him. Thank You for Smoking is well-written and well-directed (considering the inexperience of the director), and the technical aspects are pretty good. But it’s Aaron Eckhart who makes Thank You for Smoking something more than just another satirical film essay. He makes it memorable.

7 of 10
B+

Monday, November 06, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Aaron Eckhart)

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