MarkPellington Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It's too bad that more movies don't have the courage to explore faith and spirituality in a direct way; studios are usually too worried about appealing to all religions -- and all pocketbooks -- to be very specific about the subject. The other reason is that it's difficult for Hollywood movies to wrap up their neat, bow-tie happy endings with everything resolved, since the idea of faith is based on lack of proof, lack of finality. One of my favorite movies is Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc, which uses an unconventional, off-kilter visual scheme to document some exciting, endlessly fascinating arguments: which side is God on and what does He really want with us? The new Henry Poole Is Here bucks the trend with the appearance of a "miracle" in the life of its ordinary, everyday character. Does it raise any interesting, life-changing questions? Sadly, no. The film is too bored and lackadaisical with its subject to change much of anything. It's too uninspired to be inspirational.

Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) is a man with "movie disease." This means that he's going to die, and he'll have absolutely no symptoms until he does. Sometimes "movie disease" comes with a cough, but not this time. Sometimes "movie disease" has a name, like "brain cloud," but not this time. In preparation for the dark day, Henry buys a house in his old neighborhood, loads up on booze, doughnuts and pizza and waits. Meanwhile, his nosy neighbor Esperanza (Oscar nominee Adriana Barraza, from Babel) brings him tamales and pokes around his backyard. (Her late boyfriend used to live in the same house.) She notices that a badly done stucco job has produced a water stain, and that the water stain looks a bit like a familiar guy with a beard. The picture even produces a drop of blood.

Henry Poole Is Here Trailer


When Pearl Jam's video for "Jeremy" came out, I think I watched it a billion times -- one, because it was damn good, and two, because I was young enough to crush on the cute, doomed, floppy-haired star. Now Mark Pellington, who directed the video, is bringing us the Luke Wilson-starring Henry Poole is Here, and you can check out the trailer above.

Not surprisingly, there is great music, but I'm not so sure on this whole premise -- it's too "Jesus on toast" for me. Nevertheless, Wilson stars as Poole, a guy who finds out he has 6 months to live, retreats from his life, and sets on a course to die in suburbia with junk food and booze. But then his neighbor notices a heavenly face on his house's stucco. Miracles ensue, love with Radha Mitchell grows, and Henry finds a purpose in life.

Now the question becomes: Will Henry Poole find his own miracle, or will he end up like Jeremy?

The film hits theaters July 25.

The popularity and quality of DVDs, the rise of home theaters, the general unpleasantness of the modern cineplex experience -- when pinpointing blame for declining interest in going to the movies, all of these reasons (and a few more as well) likely play a part. Nonetheless, for studios and theater chains, the "why" isn't quite as important as the "how do we turn this awful trend around?" And if the past couple of years are any indication, their prime solution seems to involve trotting out a technology that's more than half a century old, slightly improving its quality, and touting it as some sort of revolutionary step forward. That's right, we're talking about 3D, which began its comeback in exclusive IMAX-only presentations of random major theatrical releases (like 2006's Open Season), and has now begun its full infiltration of the mainstream, most notably with last November's Beowulf, a CG spectacle that -- in nearly a third of all the theaters it was projected -- required the use of advanced red-and-blue glasses to get the full, eye-popping experience.

Now the next phase of the technique's attempted resurrection arrives in the form of U2 3D, the first live-action film to ever be shot completely in 3D. And as with Beowulf, the same inherent positives and negatives persist. Directed by Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington using a wide array of 3D cameras, this document of U2's 2006 stop in Argentina on their Vertigo tour -- including footage from seven different performances -- is a striking up-close-and-personal view of the iconic band running through a greatest hits set list to a raucous outdoor stadium audience. What Owens and Pellington's film provides is an immersive front row seat at a U2 show, which -- with its elongated stage platforms that stretch into the crowd, and an immense, multifaceted screen presenting all manner of graphics and text -- seems to have been custom-designed to be transposed into three dimensions. Attuned to the bass of Adam Clayton in "Where the Streets Have No Name" and the crooning of Bono during a fantastic rendition of "One," the spectators rock, sway and bounce with rhythmic exhilaration, feeding into the titanic ego of U2's frontman and washing over the band's calmly cool guitar god The Edge.

When The Jazz Singer arrived in theaters in 1927, it was far from perfect. In fact, despite heralding the arrival of sound pictures, its audio was quite poor in quality, and it would take many years before the sound in sound films would be accepted as natural. But The Jazz Singer will forever be remembered in the film history books. I'm not so sure that U2 3D will hold the same kind of prestige as that film, but it ought to, because as the first live-action digital 3D film, it is certainly opening the door for a brand new kind of movie experience, one that will likely be the standard in coming decades, if not years.

The problem with U2 3D's prestige could be that it is neither the first 3D movie, nor is it the first digital 3D film. But people have never seen anything like this before, enough that we could consider those early analog 3D films the equivalent of D.W. Griffith's failed 1921 sound film Dream Street, which used poorer technology than The Jazz Singer. And we could consider those recent animated digital 3D movies as the equivalent of the 1926 film Don Juan, which featured a synched soundtrack of music and sound effects, yet no dialogue. Anyway, what I'm saying is that U2 3D must be seen, not necessarily because it's a great film, but because it's an important film, and you can say you saw it when.

Not much of a U2 fan? Well, I'm not either. I've never owned a U2 album (though I will admit to liking most of the band's early singles), and I never had any interest in seeing them live, let alone seeing a concert film of them performing. However, while most concert films are limited to fan appeal -- unless Martin Scorsese or some other great filmmaker shoots them -- U2 3D is obviously different. Plus, it was co-directed by well-known music video director-turned-Hollywood-player Mark Pellington (Arlington Road) and video maker Catherine Owens, who is best known for directing U2's "Original of the Species" video and content for the band's multimedia-filled Zoo TV tour.

I apparently like Luke Wilson more than Erik, who recently told us about the actor's role in Henry Poole is Here, but I have to agree that the Vacancy star is at his best when surrounded by a good ensemble. Well, some of the other cast members of Henry Poole have just been announced, and so far it looks like Wilson will be supported well. The first, Radha Mitchell, is actually signed on, while the second, Oscar nominee Adriana Barraza, is still in talks ("advanced" talks). Though neither actress is who I would initially have in mind for a comedy, even one actually described as a dramedy, they are each talented enough for me to have faith in their capability for humorous performances.

Not much is really known about the plot of Henry Poole, which was written by Albert Torres, but a good guess for Mitchell's role is the love interest for Wilson's character. This part could be the fiancee that he breaks up with when he discovers he has six weeks to die, or it could be a new romantic pursuit, possibly one of the neighbors who disrupt his plan to wallow in seclusion for the rest of his short life. Hopefully Barraza will not ruin her Oscar-nominated reputation by appearing as a Mexican stereotype. So far, Henry Poole, which director Mark Pellington says is about a hopeless man who finds hope, makes me think of Joe Vesus the Volcano meets The 'burbs. As great as that combo sounds, though, Wilson is not quite the next Tom Hanks (even if you think Old School is Wilson's Bachelor Party and My Super Ex-Girlfriend is his Splash). Not even I like Wilson enough to give him that much credit.

I brought you news yesterday that Martin Scorsese will be teaching a Masterclass, presenting an award, and unveiling a new film preservation foundation at the upcoming Cannes festival. Today brings more confirmation that this is going to be a pretty amazing year for Cannes, which kicks off on May 16th. Guest of honor Scorsese will also be putting his Rolling Stones documentary up for sale, and more rocking will be heard at the screening of Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington's 3D U2 documentary U2 3D. New Line will be premiering scenes from the highly anticipated The Golden Compass with Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman. James Gray's We Own the Night with Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix, (who also co-starred in Gray's last film - The Yards), will premiere. And there will also be a screening of No Country for Old Men, which is written and directed by the Coen Brothers and therefore moves it to the tippity-top of my "must-see" list.

Ocean's Thirteen and Tarantino's Death Proof had already been announced for the fest, and Robert Rodriguez may do a special midnight screening of Planet Terror. The rest of the lineup is still unconfirmed, as the Cannes team still has many films to watch, but insiders are reporting that strong contenders include: Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park, Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream starring Ewan McGregor and Colin Farell, Todd Haynes' Bob Dylan project I'm Not There, Michael Winterbottom's Angelina Jolie film A Mighty Heart, City Of Men - a sequel to the mindblowingly excellent City of God from a different director - Paulo Morelli, Harmony Korine's Mister Lonely (with a cast that includes Werner Herzog and David Blaine!), Michael Moore's health care documentary Sicko - which Moore is racing to finish in time, and Julian Schnabel's Diving Bell and Butterfly. It is rumored that David Fincher's very cool Zodiac will be the closing-night film. Of course Cannes can't only be about American films and there are a lot of exciting foreign contenders as well, including the new movie from celebrated Chinese director Wong Kar-Wai: My Blueberry Nights, which has a phenomenal cast. So, ah -- anybody got an extra Cannes ticket? Maybe I'll try Craigslist.