Filmmaker, Mitch Cohen, Employs Kickstarter to Bring Unconventional Tale of the Undead to Life
Unlikely hero of unique zombie apocalypse film “Super Zero” finds 15-minutes of fame in end of days
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--If fervor and preparedness were enough to make a film in Hollywood, viewers in movie theaters across the country would already be enjoying Mitch Cohen’s original short film, “Super Zero.” However, since the one thing it does take to make a film is money, Cohen, a 36-year-old L.A.-based writer and director, recently launched a Kickstarter.com campaign – http://kck.st/15dN7BX – to make his vision for a new kind of zombie movie a reality.
Cohen, a father to two-year-old twins, who has been responsible for some of the industry’s most recognizable video game campaigns, conceived the unconventional “geek culture” film years ago, but was forced to shelve his passion project with the arrival of his children. Now, with a little help from friends and strangers alike, Cohen and his team are hoping to raise $34,500 by July 31, 2013 to make it happen.
An original take on a popular genre, Super Zero is the story of a geeky, shy and terminally ill teen, who rises from utter insignificance to become a zombie assassin and mankind's last hope for survival. In traditional zombie films, by definition, the end of the world is the worst possible scenario for everyone. In Super Zero, the film’s protagonist finally finds purpose in his life while the rest of the world scrambles to save theirs.
“Super Zero is really an epic win for the average guy,” said Cohen of his film. “The movie celebrates the overlooked, the eccentric and the powerless, combining sci-fi/horror with comic book-inspired action, irreverent comedy and a totally relatable and ultimately awesome average guy lead character. Plus there are zombies…a ton of zombies!”
Cohen, a self-confessed lover of all things geek, further describes Super Zero as his personal love letter to the community. He is hopeful that all those out there that may resemble him, or perhaps more aptly may identify with Super Zero’s protagonist, who is the everyday gamer/comic book kid, will be inspired to get involved and support the project. Cohen also hopes he may strike a chord with other visionaries out there that understand the struggle to balance family and career.
“Kickstarter is an amazing tool for identifying and connecting with audiences that share your passion and vision, even before you’re able to bring it to the screen,” said Cohen. “And much like the story behind Super Zero, it allows average folks to be a part of something extraordinary.”
Interested contributors can select pledge categories from $1 to $10,000+ and receive rewards for joining the Super Zero production team, including signed scripts, cameos in the film, set visits and on-screen production credits.
Cohen, the film’s writer and director, is joined on Super Zero by Producer Shane Spiegel and Cinematographer Idan Menin. For more information on Super Zero, the filmmakers and the Kickstarter campaign, please visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/811236299/super-zero-0?ref=live.
ABOUT MITCH COHEN
Mitch Cohen, a Los Angeles-based writer and director, lives, works and breathes “Geek Culture.” From film to video games to comics, he's both a fan and a contributing artist to the community. However, growing tired of much of the rehashed, derivative fare that is continually pushed onto the culture, Cohen is turning to the community members themselves to help him bring to life Super Zero, a zombie film they can champion as novel, compelling and completely original. For more on Cohen and Super Zero, visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/811236299/super-zero-0?ref=live.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
"Mad Max" Game Speeds into 2013 Comic-Con International
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment invites you to get into the Mad Max game at San Diego Comic-con. Delve into the upcoming open world, third-person action game, based on the iconic road warrior, in the form of several Wasteland-worthy activities.
WHO: MAD MAX SPEEDS INTO SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON
WHAT: INTERCEPTOR PHOTO OPP
· This replica of Max’s legendary car is ready for photo opps and ideal for sharing on social media to intimidate rival gangs of desert marauders.
o Corner of Park Boulevard and Tony Gwynn Drive near PetCo Park
EXCLUSIVE AUTOGRAPHED POSTERS BY DC COMICS ARTIST
· Inside the convention center, head to the Warner Bros. booth (#4545) on Friday, July 19 from 3-3:45 p.m. to meet DC Comics artist Shane Davis and get an autographed collector’s edition Motion Comic poster to display in your combat vehicle.
POST-APOCALYPTIC STREET TEAM
· Keep your eyes peeled for the Mad Max post-apocalyptic street team distributing special edition SDCC Mad Max posters featuring artwork by renowned comic book artist Shane Davis and Mad Max t-shirts.
WAR PAINT STATION
· Come visit our gang of bandits and get a Wasteland Warrior look featuring tribal-style face painting and temporary tattoos.
o Corner of Park Boulevard and Tony Gwynn Drive near PetCo Park
CUSTOMIZABLE MAD MAX ANIMATIONS
· Become Mad Max and make your own story using official Mad Max images with the Skit! App for iOS.
WHEN: Thursday, July 18 through Sunday, July 21, 2013
Thursday - Saturday: 9:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Sunday: 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
WHERE: Mad Max Activities:
Corner of Park Boulevard and Tony Gwynn Drive
San Diego, CA, near PetCo Park
Poster Signing:
Warner Bros. booth (#4545) on Friday, July 19 from 3-3:45 p.m.
B-ROLL: Epic new Mad Max gameplay trailer: https://www.hightail.com/download/bWJvdFdjR3NVVGxBSXNUQw.
ABOUT: In development by Avalanche Studios, Mad Max is an open world, third-person action game where players become Mad Max, a lone warrior in a savage post-apocalyptic world where cars are the key to survival. Mad Max is scheduled for a 2014 release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC. For more information visit MadMaxGame.com. You can also find Mad Max on Facebook, Twitter (#MadMaxGame), and YouTube.
WHO: MAD MAX SPEEDS INTO SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON
WHAT: INTERCEPTOR PHOTO OPP
· This replica of Max’s legendary car is ready for photo opps and ideal for sharing on social media to intimidate rival gangs of desert marauders.
o Corner of Park Boulevard and Tony Gwynn Drive near PetCo Park
EXCLUSIVE AUTOGRAPHED POSTERS BY DC COMICS ARTIST
· Inside the convention center, head to the Warner Bros. booth (#4545) on Friday, July 19 from 3-3:45 p.m. to meet DC Comics artist Shane Davis and get an autographed collector’s edition Motion Comic poster to display in your combat vehicle.
POST-APOCALYPTIC STREET TEAM
· Keep your eyes peeled for the Mad Max post-apocalyptic street team distributing special edition SDCC Mad Max posters featuring artwork by renowned comic book artist Shane Davis and Mad Max t-shirts.
WAR PAINT STATION
· Come visit our gang of bandits and get a Wasteland Warrior look featuring tribal-style face painting and temporary tattoos.
o Corner of Park Boulevard and Tony Gwynn Drive near PetCo Park
CUSTOMIZABLE MAD MAX ANIMATIONS
· Become Mad Max and make your own story using official Mad Max images with the Skit! App for iOS.
WHEN: Thursday, July 18 through Sunday, July 21, 2013
Thursday - Saturday: 9:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Sunday: 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
WHERE: Mad Max Activities:
Corner of Park Boulevard and Tony Gwynn Drive
San Diego, CA, near PetCo Park
Poster Signing:
Warner Bros. booth (#4545) on Friday, July 19 from 3-3:45 p.m.
B-ROLL: Epic new Mad Max gameplay trailer: https://www.hightail.com/download/bWJvdFdjR3NVVGxBSXNUQw.
ABOUT: In development by Avalanche Studios, Mad Max is an open world, third-person action game where players become Mad Max, a lone warrior in a savage post-apocalyptic world where cars are the key to survival. Mad Max is scheduled for a 2014 release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC. For more information visit MadMaxGame.com. You can also find Mad Max on Facebook, Twitter (#MadMaxGame), and YouTube.
Director Nicolas Winding Refn Holds Reddit Event
JOIN DIRECTOR NICOLAS WINDING REFN FOR A REDDIT ‘AMA’ JULY 17th at 11AM ET / 8AM PT
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA
ONLY GOD FORGIVES Opens Nationwide on JULY 19th
About Nicolas Winding Refn
Nicolas Winding Refn was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1970, and is renowned for his modern and radical, innovative style.
He has already received two lifetime achievement awards, one from Taipei International Film festival in 2006 and the second from Valencia International Film Festival in 2007. He was the winner of the Emerging Master Award from the Philadelphia International Film Festival in 2005.
At the age of only 24, he wrote and directed the extremely violent and uncompromising PUSHER (1996). The film became a cult phenomenon and won him instant international critical acclaim. He wrote, directed and produced PUSHER II (2004) and PUSHER III (2005), as a result of his first movie’s growing cult following. The subsequent success of PUSHER II and III, along with the first, created the internationally renowned PUSHER TRILOGY, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2005. His other films have always enjoyed the support of the leading international festivals: BLEEDER and VALHALLA RISING screened at Venice in 1999 and 2009 respectively, while FEAR X and BRONSON screened at Sundance in 2003 and 2009. DRIVE is Refn’s most commercially successful film to date. Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011, it won the Best Director prize and was a contender for the Palme d’Or.
Shot in the Chinatown district of Bangkok, Thailand, ONLY GOD FORGIVES marks the second collaboration between Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling.
Refn is currently writing his next film, I WALK WITH THE DEAD, co-produced with Wild Bunch and Gaumont, and is also turning his attention to television to develop BARBARELLA.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Tom Cruise's "Edge of Tomorrow" at 2013 Comic-Con International
BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--“Edge of Tomorrow” has been announced as the title of the upcoming sci-fi thriller starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, directed by Doug Liman and based on the book All You Need is Kill. The movie, from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures, is set for release on June 6, 2014, and the first look at footage from the film will be unveiled by the Studio at this year’s International Comic-Con: San Diego on Saturday, July 20. The announcement was made today by Sue Kroll, President, Worldwide Marketing and International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.
Kroll stated, “We are extremely pleased to be able to give the Comic-Con audience, who’ve always been so supportive of us, the first peek at footage from ‘Edge of Tomorrow.’ The movie has all of us at the Studio very excited, and we can’t wait to see the reactions of fans who know and love the sci-fi genre so well.”
The epic action of “Edge of Tomorrow” unfolds in a near future in which an alien race has hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, unbeatable by any military unit in the world.
Lt. Col. Bill Cage (Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously dropped into what amounts to a suicide mission. Killed within minutes, Cage now finds himself inexplicably thrown into a time loop—forcing him to live out the same brutal combat over and over, fighting and dying again…and again.
But with each battle, Cage becomes able to engage the adversaries with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt). And, as Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy.
The international cast of “Edge of Tomorrow” also includes Bill Paxton (“Aliens,” HBO’s “Big Love”), Kick Gurry (Australian TV’s “Tangle”), Dragomir Mrsic (“Snabba Cash II”), Charlotte Riley (“World Without End”), Jonas Armstrong (BBC TV’s “Robin Hood”), and Franz Drameh (“Attack the Block”).
Liman directs the film from a screenplay by Dante W. Harper and Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth and Christopher McQuarrie, based on the acclaimed novel All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Erwin Stoff produces, along with Tom Lassally, Jason Hoffs, Gregory Jacobs and Jeffrey Silver. The executive producers are Doug Liman, Dave Bartis, Joby Harold, Hidemi Fukuhara, and Bruce Berman, with Kim Winther and Tim Lewis serving as co-producers.
The behind-the-scenes team includes Academy Award®-winning director of photography Dion Beebe (“Memoirs of a Geisha”), production designer Oliver Scholl (“Jumper,” “Independence Day”), editor James Herbert (“Sherlock Holmes,” “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”), costume designer Kate Hawley (“Pacific Rim”), and Oscar®-nominated visual effects supervisor Nick Davis (“The Dark Knight”).
“Edge of Tomorrow” is a presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures. Opening domestically on June 6, 2014, the film will be distributed in 2D and 3D in select theatres and IMAX by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow.
Review: "Curious George" is Made with Love
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 207 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux
Curious George (2006) – animated
Running time: 88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)
MPAA – G
DIRECTOR: Matthew O’Callaghan
WRITERS: Ken Kaufman; from a story by Mike Werb and Ken Kaufman (based on the books by H.A. and Margaret Rey)
PRODUCERS: Ron Howard, David Kirschner, and Jon Shapiro
EDITOR: Julie Rogers
COMPOSER: Heitor Pereira
ANIMATION/FAMILY/FANTASY/COMEDY/MUSIC
Starring: (voices) Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, David Cross, Eugene Levy, Joan Plowright, Dick Van Dyke, and Frank Welker
Curious George and his pal, The Man in the Yellow Hat, the heroes of the Curious George series of children’s books created by H.A. and Margaret Rey come to life in the 2006 animated film, Curious George. The film is the only hand-drawn animated film to be released by a major studio this year, in this case Universal Pictures. There are, however, some computer-animated of CG backgrounds, sets, and objects used throughout the film.
Ted (Will Ferrell) is a highly enthusiastic guide at the Bloomsberry Museum, but one day he learns from the museum’s owner, Mr. Bloomsberry (Dick Van Dyke), that the museum will be closed because of meager attendance. Mr. Bloomsberry’s son, Bloomsberry, Jr. (David Cross), is actually glad the museum will close because he plans on turning the museum’s site into a parking garage. Knowing that it will take an amazing new exhibit to attract more visitors to the museum, Ted (the name given to The Man in the Yellow Hat for this movie), embarks on a trip to the jungles of Africa to find and bring back a priceless artifact, a gigantic idol located in The Lost Shrine of Zagawa.
Although Ted doesn’t find the idol, a mischievous and inquisitive monkey (actually a chimp) finds Ted, who is dressed in a yellow getup topped off by a big yellow hat. Ted befriends the monkey, and when he leaves Africa crestfallen at failing to secure a giant idol, the monkey follows him and secretly stows away on the boat back to America. Upon returning to the big city, Ted is horrified to discover his simian friend has followed him. Although the monkey, which he names George (Frank Welker), is a troublemaker, Ted soon befriends him and they’re off on an adventure to save the Bloomsberry Museum.
Using illustrator H.A. Rey’s style guide of primary colors as the pallet, the animators of Curious George have created a traditional animated feature film with the warmth and feeling of something like classic Walt Disney hand drawn animated films. They succeed so well at creating quality 2D animation that whenever CG intrudes, the computer stuff looks like a rude guest or even a party crasher. Luckily, the luminous, hand-drawn animation surpasses any techno disturbances in the movie.
The voice acting works well, and David Cross as Bloomsberry, Jr. offers a surprise in the way he quietly steals scenes. Will Ferrell dials back his hyperactivity to make Ted witty, humble, self-effacing, and a man with a good sense of humor who only occasionally drops a sarcastic bomb. Frank Welker (the voice of “Abu,” Aladdin’s monkey sidekick in Walt Disney’s Aladdin films) adds the cooing, chattering, and gentle sounds of George that create harmony with Ferrell as Ted. Songs by popular recording artist Jack Johnson (In Between Dreams) and the score by Heitor Pereira (Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights) capture the essence of George’s inquisitive nature and his need to touch and feel the world around him and also the nature of the bond between Ted and George.
Curious George is an animated film for children who identify with George the nosey explorer, and if their parents have the ability to understand how and why George’s curious nature appeals to children, they’ll be down with this rascally chimp, too. For the rest: some of us may find that the lovingly crafted, old-fashioned 2D animation will blind us to whatever faults this flick has.
8 of 10
A
Thursday, October 05, 2006
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Monday, July 15, 2013
Chinese Star, Han Geng, Joins "Transformers 4"
MICHAEL BAY AND PARAMOUNT PICTURES ANNOUNCE THE CASTING OF CHINESE ENTERTAINER HAN GENG IN ‘TRANSFORMERS 4’
Michael Bay and Paramount Pictures jointly announced that Chinese entertainer Han Geng has been cast in “TRANSFORMERS 4.” Among Asia’s top stars, Han Geng has conquered the worlds of music, television and feature film to become one of the most influential entertainers in China.
He joins Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Jack Reynor, Nicola Peltz, Sophia Myles, TJ Miller and Chinese actress Li Bingbing in the fourth installment in the hit series of movies based on the best-selling Hasbro toyline. Paramount Pictures will release the film on June 27th, 2014.
“Han Geng has been a sensation in China and we are happy to have him in our movie,” said Michael Bay.
Making his debut in 2005 as a member of the hugely popular group Super Junior, Han Geng later turned to a solo career, releasing his first album “Geng Xin” in 2010, which went on to sell over a million copies. His most recent album “Hope in the Darkness” was released in 2012 and has earned Han Geng a number of hit singles.
Han Geng has appeared on both the big and small screen, with roles that have shown his range as an actor. In 2008, Han Geng appeared in CCTV’s “Stage of Youth,” a 12-episode drama that drew incredible ratings. Among his big screen roles, he had a cameo appearance in the 2010 feature film “The Founding Party,” along with other A-list Chinese celebrities and later that year had his first starring role on the silver screen in the action movie “My Kingdom”. The multi-hyphen entertainer has subsequently starred in the films “Beginning Of The Great Revival,” and “The First President.” His most recent starring role was in “So Young”, a major box office hit in China, having earned more the $115 million (over 700 million yuan) since its release in May of 2013.
Han Geng has extraordinary popularity on the internet in China. When his albums or films are released his name and movies typically top the charts as the “most searched” and accumulate the most hits. “TRANSFORMERS 4” marks Han Geng’s debut in an English language production.
Paramount, China Movie Channel and Jiaflix Enterprises announced this past April a Cooperation Agreement regarding the production of “TRANSFORMERS 4” in China. Under the agreement, China Movie Channel, under the State Administration of Press, Publications, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRT), will cooperate with Paramount in broad-based support of the production of the film in China.
“TRANSFORMERS 4” is expected to be released in China on or about June 27, 2014. The parties are working in cooperation on a number of other areas related to “TRANSFORMERS 4”, including the selection of filming sites within China, and theatrical promotion. This agreement represents the first time that China Movie Channel will work with a western studio in the production of a major motion picture.
Shooting in multiple locations in the U.S. and China throughout the summer, the film is directed by Bay and re-unites the filmmaking team from the hit franchise, including producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Don Murphy & Tom DeSanto and Ian Bryce; and executive producers Steven Spielberg, Bay, Brian Goldner and Mark Vahradian. “TRANSFORMERS 4” is written by Ehren Kruger, based on Hasbro’s Transformers™ Action Figures.
The third, and most recent installment of the franchise, “TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON,” is the fifth highest global grossing film of all time with $1.124 billion dollars of worldwide box office success. The “TRANSFORMERS” movies are among the most popular films ever released in China, and Michael Bay is among the most popular directors with Chinese audiences. “TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON,” released theatrically in 2011, grossed $165 million in China and more than $1.1 billion worldwide.
About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. Paramount controls a collection of some of the most powerful brands in filmed entertainment, including Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Media Distribution, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., and Paramount Studio Group.
Michael Bay and Paramount Pictures jointly announced that Chinese entertainer Han Geng has been cast in “TRANSFORMERS 4.” Among Asia’s top stars, Han Geng has conquered the worlds of music, television and feature film to become one of the most influential entertainers in China.
He joins Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Jack Reynor, Nicola Peltz, Sophia Myles, TJ Miller and Chinese actress Li Bingbing in the fourth installment in the hit series of movies based on the best-selling Hasbro toyline. Paramount Pictures will release the film on June 27th, 2014.
“Han Geng has been a sensation in China and we are happy to have him in our movie,” said Michael Bay.
Making his debut in 2005 as a member of the hugely popular group Super Junior, Han Geng later turned to a solo career, releasing his first album “Geng Xin” in 2010, which went on to sell over a million copies. His most recent album “Hope in the Darkness” was released in 2012 and has earned Han Geng a number of hit singles.
Han Geng has appeared on both the big and small screen, with roles that have shown his range as an actor. In 2008, Han Geng appeared in CCTV’s “Stage of Youth,” a 12-episode drama that drew incredible ratings. Among his big screen roles, he had a cameo appearance in the 2010 feature film “The Founding Party,” along with other A-list Chinese celebrities and later that year had his first starring role on the silver screen in the action movie “My Kingdom”. The multi-hyphen entertainer has subsequently starred in the films “Beginning Of The Great Revival,” and “The First President.” His most recent starring role was in “So Young”, a major box office hit in China, having earned more the $115 million (over 700 million yuan) since its release in May of 2013.
Han Geng has extraordinary popularity on the internet in China. When his albums or films are released his name and movies typically top the charts as the “most searched” and accumulate the most hits. “TRANSFORMERS 4” marks Han Geng’s debut in an English language production.
Paramount, China Movie Channel and Jiaflix Enterprises announced this past April a Cooperation Agreement regarding the production of “TRANSFORMERS 4” in China. Under the agreement, China Movie Channel, under the State Administration of Press, Publications, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRT), will cooperate with Paramount in broad-based support of the production of the film in China.
“TRANSFORMERS 4” is expected to be released in China on or about June 27, 2014. The parties are working in cooperation on a number of other areas related to “TRANSFORMERS 4”, including the selection of filming sites within China, and theatrical promotion. This agreement represents the first time that China Movie Channel will work with a western studio in the production of a major motion picture.
Shooting in multiple locations in the U.S. and China throughout the summer, the film is directed by Bay and re-unites the filmmaking team from the hit franchise, including producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Don Murphy & Tom DeSanto and Ian Bryce; and executive producers Steven Spielberg, Bay, Brian Goldner and Mark Vahradian. “TRANSFORMERS 4” is written by Ehren Kruger, based on Hasbro’s Transformers™ Action Figures.
The third, and most recent installment of the franchise, “TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON,” is the fifth highest global grossing film of all time with $1.124 billion dollars of worldwide box office success. The “TRANSFORMERS” movies are among the most popular films ever released in China, and Michael Bay is among the most popular directors with Chinese audiences. “TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON,” released theatrically in 2011, grossed $165 million in China and more than $1.1 billion worldwide.
About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. Paramount controls a collection of some of the most powerful brands in filmed entertainment, including Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Media Distribution, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., and Paramount Studio Group.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Review: Bateman, McCarthy Capture "Identity Thief"
Identity Thief (2013)
Running time: 111 minutes (1 hour, 51 minutes)
MPAA – R for crude and sexual content and language
DIRECTOR: Seth Gordon
WRITERS: Craig Mazin; from a story by Jerry Eeten and Craig Mazin
PRODUCERS: Pamela Abdy, Jason Bateman, and Scott Stuber
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Javier Aguirresarobe
EDITOR: Peter Teschner
COMPOSER: Christopher Lennertz
COMEDY/CRIME
Starring: Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, Amanda Peet, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Genesis Rodriguez, Morris Chestnut, John Cho, Robert Patrick, Eric Stonestreet, Mary-Charles Jones, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, Matthew Burke, and Jon Favreau
Identity Thief is a 2013 crime comedy from director Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses). Starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy, the film follows a mild-mannered businessman who sets out to confront the woman who has been living it up after stealing his identity.
Accountant and family man, Sandy Bigelow Patterson (Jason Bateman), finds himself arrested for an assault that occurred in Winter Park, Florida. The problem is that Sandy lives in Denver, Colorado and has never been to Winter Park. After his new boss informs him that his credit score is getting him fired from his new job, Sandy learns that he is the victim of identity theft.
Traveling to Florida, Sandy confronts the other Sandy Patterson, a portly woman named Diana (Melissa McCarthy), who is having the time of her life with his credit. By hook and crook, the real Sandy manages to convince Diana to return with him to Denver to help him clear his name. Diana plans on using any means necessary to escape, but Sandy isn’t the only one after her. A skiptracer (Robert Patrick) is after Diana for a substantial bounty, and an imprisoned crime boss has sent two of his hired guns, Marisol (Genesis Rodriguez) and Julian (Tip “T.I.” Harris), to kill her.
Comedies from big studios tend to follow a formula that I first noticed in 2003’s Old School. The lead characters, especially the men, act like over-grown boys for most of the film. Then, the filmmakers spend the second half of the movie turning these guys that we love to watch being dicks into “dads” or other responsible White male types.
In Identity Thief, the bad boy White guy is actually a woman of many names, whom we come to know as “Diana.” As played by Melissa McCarthy, Diana is not like the frat-pack, stuck-in-adolescence types that headline such films as Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Wedding Crashers, to name a few. Diana is practically too complicated to be in a studio comedy. This character has issues. Diana is scarred, but bent, not broken. She has a rat-like determination to survive, and she’s adopted so many guises and told so many lies that you wonder when she’s telling truth. Who is the real Diana?
Diana is not a criminal with a heart of gold. She simply is good at beating the system, and, as the ultimate bull-shitter, she can separate the honest from the dishonest and truth from lies. For the do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do crowd, she is the worst nightmare: someone who can spot hypocrisy in all its guises.
Identity Thief’s plot and story, however, simply do not live up to Diana’s complexities. She’s intricate, while the plot is a by-the-numbers crime comedy that takes the easy way out of the obstacles placed before Sandy Patterson and Diana. Identity Thief is not a bad movie, because the lead actors and their corresponding characters are witty, engaging, full of intricacies, and damn funny. They make Identity Thief a really good movie.
I don’t want to forget Jason Bateman. He has perfected his spin on the genial good guy and the universal everyman in the television series, “Arrested Development,” and in movies like Hancock and Horrible Bosses. Sandy Patterson is a familiar character, but Bateman offers layers and subtexts that make the character three-dimensional – one certainly more complicated than this movie’s plot and the ending deserve. Bateman and McCarthy are so good that they make the holes in this movie take a backseat to their characters. Identity Thief is an evergreen film because of their performances, and their characters are the reason that this movie will be worth watching a decade from now.
7 of 10
A-
Saturday, July 13, 2013
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