Regarding Johnny Depp.

As expected, there are several what's-going-wrong entertainment media articles on Johnny Depp's affinity for payday jobs in would-be franchise starters like THE LONE RANGER (which would have been immeasurably better if Depp and Gore Verbinski created a lower-budget, non-Disney/Bruckheimer product feeling obligated to hit familiar PIRATES marks) and MORTDECAI (haven't seen it, but marveling at how Depp passed on Wes Anderson's GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL to work for David Koepp yet again).

The only upcoming Depp projects that hold interest for me are the Whitey Bulger biopic (though it's being directed by the I-love-Formula Scott Cooper) and Depp's own still-in-the-works Keith Richards documentary.

Then it's back to the safety of being acceptably eccentric in two more PIRATES sequels and a sequel to ALICE IN WONDERLAND (the low point of the Depp/Tim Burton collabotations).

New poem: FOR WALLY PFISTER POST-TRANSCENDENCE

[The following was written last spring.]

I can remember long-ago Friday nights

when people I knew at the American Film Institute

were either watching screenings of old movies

at the theater on the top of the hill

>
or getting the jump on their first-year video projects
by doing some surreptitious shooting
on the fire lane above the theater
>
five days to capture on tape
then to the editing room
from there to morning class
Antonio Vellani would screen
the finished product and ask the class
"Do you have any comments on the piece?"
>
silence
>
Mr. Vellani again asked for comments
and the students (called fellows)
would gradually speak their minds
>Cut to a quarter-century later
where the AFI students
active in the Industry
display their completed project
and the comments emerge from
legitimate critics (an endangered species),
fanboy websites
and gossip columnists
tweeting, blogging, snarking
without the momentary pause
of film/video students
organizing their thoughts
well aware
of all the push-boulder-uphill work
and what went wrong--and right--
in the preparation
of the cinematic meal.

Now vs. then: film critics/reviewers/watchdogs on the far edge of PG-13 violence.

"Even allowing that TLR's weirdness is "interesting" -- and I think it's just an overstuffed train wreck of multiple agendas, myself -- there is such a thing as a movie's implied compact with its audience, particularly when it's a supposed kiddie flick. I've read about droves of parents exiting with their tykes as soon as [SPOILER ALERT] one character cuts out and eats another one's heart. I'm with them, and remember: that's one hefty chunk of change for parents to burn off at the multiplex all of 1/2 hour in."--Tom Carson, veteran of publications such as L.A. WEEKLY and ESQUIRE, commenting on Glenn Kenny's MSN.com review of THE LONE RANGER.

"The film betrays no human impulse higher than that of a ten-year-old boy trying to gross out his baby sister by dangling a dead worm in her face."--Dave Kehr on INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, which had a heart-removal scene and caused the creation of the PG-13 rating midway through the summer of 1984.

And here's Ed Grant of Common Sense Media doing a years-after-the-fact assessment of Tim Burton's 1992 BATMAN RETURNS:
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/batman-returns

Critical tut-tuts, audience squeamishness in certain cases--and more broad-audience-friendly sequels with the latter two films.  Given the response to THE LONE RANGER (though the film has its critical defenders), it's not likely to get that far.

Tim Burton explains for you why DARK SHADOWS is being served with a twist of parody.

For those who don't keep up too often with THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, Geoff Boucher is the designated chronicler of all things Fanboy-friendly.

So, here's an excerpt from his talk with filmmaker Tim Burton on what looks to be Burton's Barnabas-meets-BEETLEJUICE take on Dan Curtis' gothic DARK SHADOWS (a durable property which became a daytime soap from 1966-71, two theatrical films in 71-72 and a short-lived prime-time series in 1991).

Boucher and Burton discuss the appeal of the daytime version.  Let's join Burton here--highlighting and bracket comments by me:

"It's a different animal," Burton said. "If I go back and watch something like STAR TREK, it's not that hard
to analyze what the appeal was, and even if the show is dated you identify what it was that made it work.  The DARK SHADOWS appeal was a little more abstract.  What I loved about it was the fact that it was a melodramatic soap opera, and, well, that flies in the face of any modern studio's interests as far as moviemaking [unless it's a recently-generated source of material such as the TWILIGHT books/films].  But what we've gone for is a mixture, and that's always what I've been interested in.  I think most of my movies are mixtures of light and dark and serious things and things that have humor in them. [what Burton is really saying is that old, unfamiliar TV series now get greenlighted as movies if they're played for laughs a la 21 JUMP STREET--but not in their original form]."

Here's a great misinterpretation of the current film THE RUM DIARY.

From K. Bowen, commenter on Jeffrey Wells' blog HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE:
Count me in the positive column. I like its setting, ambience, and developed characters.


Still, the thing I couldn't figure out was why Sanderson (Eckhart) was the bad guy and Kemp (Depp) was the good guy.



Sanderson is friendly, trusting, loyal, puts up with Kemp's alcoholic shortcomings in good humor and gives him a great opportunity. He's genuinely hurt when things go bad at the end. He only wants to build a resort so that people can have a great vacation and he can justifiably make money from it.



Kemp, meanwhile, is disloyal, unreliable, self-righteous, alcoholic and hangs out with friends he really should kick out of his life before they drag him down. He steals Sanderson's boat, tries to steal his girlfriend, and plays a significant accidental role in putting someone in danger. While he eventually pretends to act out of moral authority, he really acts out of envy. He's a fun fellow,


It is nice to have characters well rounded enough to debate things like this, however. Good job all around!

The complete thread with Wells' original post can be found at:
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2011/10/rummies.php