bob balaban Tagged Articles at Cinematical

There is only one press screening I can recall that caused a member of the professional media to actually stand up and begin beating his head against the back wall of the theater. Injured Joking though he may have been, it was very much a shared sentiment among those of us being subjected to M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water three summers ago, and it's the one image that I will most associate with that film for a long time to come.

I could go on about how clumsy and indulgent the film is as a whole, but I already did that to the tune of 1,500+ words here, and while my rant then was justified, I inevitably find myself curious to give the film itself another look (not today; gots me some errands). At the moment, though, I know there's at least one scene that just plain doesn't work and won't work again, and I'm hoping to make that my focus of Scenes We Hate That Don't Necessarily Gross Us Out.

I was talking with a friend the other day about the shocking decline in the quality of Kevin Spacey's films. It seems as though that Oscar for American Beauty was some sort of horrific curse, sending him into a long run of ill-advised, disastrous movie projects. Look at the man's filmography pre and then post Beauty. It's distressing! But Variety is reporting on a flick that sounds like it might turn things around. HBO Films' Recount will tell the story of the Florida results in the 2000 election, one of the most controversial political events of recent years. As Monika recently told you, Sydney Pollack was supposed to direct but dropped out due to "an undisclosed illness." Jay Roach, a director primarily known for broad comedy (Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Meet the Parents, and their lesser sequels), will now direct. Danny Strong wrote the screenplay. The film will document "the legal and political maneuvering from the point of view of both the Bush and Gore camps."

Spacey will star as Ron Klain, "former chief of staff to vice president Al Gore and one of the lead attorneys who challenged the voting results in Florida." In addition to Spacey, Recount has lined up one hell of a supporting cast: Laura Dern will play Katherine Harris, the Florida secretary of state who certified that George W. Bush had won the state. Denis Leary (what went wrong on this season of Rescue Me, DL?) plays Michael Whouley, a Democrat pollster. John Hurt plays Warren Christopher, a key player for Gore. Tom Wilkinson plays James Baker, brought in by the Republicans to see that the disputed results held up. And two Christopher Guest alums will duke it out in the courtroom. Ed Begley, Jr will play David Boies, the lawyer who appealed the results and argued for the Democrats. Bob Balaban plays Ben Ginsberg, head attorney for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. See what I mean about that supporting cast? You won't have to demand a Recount -- look for the film on HBO during the 2008 presidential election.

I don't like movies in which a strong, confident woman learns (often through humiliation) that her life simply isn't going to be fulfilling until she finds herself a man and maybe a child or two. I don't care if it's Bette Davis in Now, Voyager or Diane Keaton in Baby Boom, it's insulting to single women, and I was a single woman for long enough that I still feel insulted. This was the bias I carried into No Reservations, in which Catherine Zeta-Jones plays a top-notch chef and single woman whose life is obviously missing something, and I don't mean a kitchen blowtorch, either.

Zeta-Jones stars as Kate -- and when a single female character shares the name of the title character in The Taming of the Shrew, alarm bells start ringing in my head. Kate is an untiring perfectionist in the kitchen of the bistro where she works to create lovely and delicious cuisine, and you notice that the men in her domain are relegated to the jobs of servers and line cooks. She has a lovely apartment, she dresses beautifully, but she has to see a therapist for "anger issues" because she insults the diners when they don't like her cooking. Oh, and she's not interested in a relationship with her neighbor or anyone else for that matter.

After a tragic family accident, Kate is faced with the possibility of raising her niece Zoe (Abigail Breslin), who is still suffering from grief and shock. When Kate takes time off from the restaurant, her boss (Patricia Clarkson) hires a man to help out, an Italian cook named Nick (Aaron Eckhart). Kate resents the intrusion, but Nick turns out to be an opera-singing, life-loving guy who also gets along well with kids ... I don't need to draw you a picture.

Those nice people over at The Weinstein Co. just sent Cinematical the first poster for Justin Theroux's upcoming romantic dramedy Dedication, starring Billy Crudup and Mandy Moore. The story revolves around a highly-dysfunctional author of children's books (Crudup) who has major issues with women, enjoys telling children that Santa Claus doesn't exist and whose personal motto is "Life is nothing but the occasional burst of laughter rising above the interminable wall of grief." When his usual illustrator, played by Tom Wilkinson, unexpectedly dies, the author must begin working with an attractive young female illustrator, played by Moore. Dedication, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and was snapped up by the Weinsteins at that time, marks the directorial debut of Theroux, who is known for his acting work in David Lynch films Inland Empire and Mulholland Drive, along with other credits. The film will also feature other well-known players such as Dianne Wiest, Amy Sedaris, and Bob Balaban, and is scheduled to hit theaters on August 24. Click on the image above to get the full-sized poster.

Note: This review originally ran during the Toronto International Film Festival. It is being run again in conjunction with the film's limited release this weekend. For Your Consideration opens in wider release November 22. - ed.

With his films Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind, director Christopher Guest took the mockumentary approach he used in This Is Spinal Tap and brought it to a whole new generation. Guest assembled a cast of remarkable talent in Guffman, including Michael McKean (with whom Guest has worked for some 40 years), Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara, Bob Balaban and Parker Posey, and worked with the same cast (adding some new talent along the way, including the spectacularly funny Jennifer Coolidge and perfectly deadpan Jane Lynch, building an almost unbeatable ensemble of comedy.

Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind all took the mockumentary approach, dealing, respectively, with a play in a small town, an eclectic group of characters taking part in a national dog show, and the reunion of 1960s folk singers for a concert. Guest's previous three films with this ensemble worked, not just because of their mockumentary style, but because of the brilliance and energy of the cast, who worked improvisationally, with very little script. With his latest effort, For Your Consideration, Guest and co-writer Levy break away from the mockumentary mold to take a narrative approach, while still retaining the improvisational freedom that give the cast the room to make their characters their own.

Lady in the Water has its origins in a bedtime story director M. Night Shyamalan made up for this kids. If this the kind of bedtime story he tells, I bet his kids have some freaky dreams. I also bet those dreams are a heck of a lot more intriguing than the film their dad made from the tale he wove for them.

Paul Giamatti (who could read the LA phone book for 90 minutes on-screen and make it look good) plays the unfortunately named Cleveland Heep, a man who is trying to quietly hide away from life as the stuttering superintendent of The Cove, an average apartment building. As the film opens, Cleveland is welcoming a new tenant, literature and film critic Harry Farber (Bob Balaban). Now, logic might tell you that the bit you're going to open the film with should have some relevance to the actual plot and outcome of the tale, but in this case, the inclusion of this character is little more than a gratuitous bitchslap to the critics who have panned Shyamalan's last few films. Practically every word Balaban is forced to utter is a cliche of the snooty film critic (not that there aren't snooty film critics who are like that, it's just that in this case, the character is non-essential to the storyline other than ultimately serving as the obligatory redshirt). And I don't think it's that all those critics have no sense of self-deprecating humor; this character is just so shallowly drawn and blatantly placed that it reflects more on Shyamalan's self-indulgence than on the critics he's panning.

It's a holiday weekend/week, and some of us wish that local theaters held more special screenings on our days off next week. However, theaters seem to assume that people want to do stuff outdoors on July 4, so many ongoing film series are on hold for the week. Alamo Downtown will be closed on Monday and Tuesday.

A few theaters are celebrating the Independence Day holiday. Alamo Lake Creek is showing Red Dawn on Tuesday night. The Paramount is showing vaguely patriotic-themed films all week: Sergeant York and Pride of the Yankees on Monday and Wednesday, and Patton on Thursday and Friday.

• This week's AFS@Dobie collaborative screening is the film Lady Vengeance, which will play all week at the Dobie. Also opening at the Dobie today is Drawing Restraint 9.
• The Movies in the Park series has moved to Round Rock this month, and Friday night's film is The Wizard of Oz. The movie starts at sundown at Old Settlers Park and admission is free.