planet hollywood Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Discuss: Dwayne Johnson, Philanthropist
Filed under: Documentary », Foreign Language », Independent », Celebrities and Controversy », Fandom », DIY/Filmmaking », Politics », CineVegas »
There's no way around it: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson owes at least some of his fame to the way his dominating figure fits the blockbuster action stereotype with near-mechanical sleekness. However, he also offers an alternative to that reductive perspective. Looking sharp in a business suit and speaking with the relaxed professional discipline of a CEO, Johnson showed up at a screening of Get Smart on Sunday at the CineVegas Film Festival displaying sheer confidence. The screening took place at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, where Johnson had recently acted in Race to Witch Mountain ("We just added to the chaos," he said), but on this visit, Johnson got a chance to remind people that he's not just a one-note performer, but someone who plays an active role in the international film community (not to mention the health community, since The Rock Foundation pushes obesity prevention).
Outside of his supremely meta performance in Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, Johnson has made his interests in adventurous cinema increasingly clear, and boldly champions independent artists. You can get a small glimpse of this aspect of his personality in Operation Filmmaker, documentarian Nina Davenport's account of an Iraqi filmmaker named Muthana Mohmed whose aspirations tragically fall short of the expectations surrounding him. Landing the opportunity to work for Liev Schreiber on the set of Everything is Illuminated, the 25-year-old Mohmed grows increasingly frustrated with the boring tasks given to him, and continually blows opportunities as a result of his unbalanced work ethic.
I'll Have a Cheeseburger and Sweeney Todd: Notes on the New Planet Hollywood Screening Room
Filed under: Exhibition »
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First of all, I've been reliably informed that it's actually not new, just out of use for a long time -- long enough that last week was the first time I'd ever heard of it in over two years of seeing movie screenings in Manhattan more or less daily. I'm talking about a critic's screening room that's actually located inside a Planet Hollywood in Manhattan's Times Square. Right up until the moment I showed up for my screening of Revolver earlier this week, I thought 'Oh, Planet Hollywood has funded a new screening room, how interesting.' Then when I showed up to the address, it was the address of the restaurant. I walked inside and looked around for a few minutes, re-checked the address I'd written on my notepad, and then walked up to a waiter and said "Where's the screening room?" expecting to be looked at like a crazy person. But she simply pointed me to a little stairwell and told me to go all the way up.
Cut to me walking through a dining room full of people eating their burgers and fries and waiters twirling around me with their trays. This was the first time I'd been inside one of these places since I was like, 15, when the big draw was still memorabilia, and the fate of the franchise was of some concern to Bruce Willis, as I recall. I suppose there was some memorabilia in this place, but I didn't see any as I looked around, and that was disappointing. If I was going to eat at Planet Hollywood, I'd want the Predator's dreadlocks hanging in my soup -- why else go? Also, although there *were* drink holders on the chairs in the tiny and rather unimpressive room, eating in there was apparently as taboo as in any other screening room. That's the end of my story.
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