swing vote Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Appaloosa
Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen are unlikely cowboys, Jeremy Irons is an even more unlikely villain, and Renée Zellweger is the least likely "proper widow" the Old West has ever seen. Appaloosa is a fitfully entertaining, post, post-modern Western; Eric D. described it well as "a buddy movie, a rough-and-tumble, no-girls-allowed, steak-and-potatoes romp that happens to be set in the Old West." The DVD includes an audio commentary by Harris (director/co-writer) and Robert Knott (co-writer/producer), four behind the scenes mini-features, and deleted scenes. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

Swing Vote
Like Appaloosa, Swing Vote was pretty much ignored during its theatrical run, but deserves to find its audience on home video. Kevin Costner is in his everyman, blue collar mode here, which means the film is immensely likable and funny. He plays a small town loser, with a way too precocious daughter, who must cast the deciding vote in a presidential election. Of course it's contrived and silly and obvious and non-partisan, but I loved the election videos made by the suddenly too-eager-to-please candidates (Dennis Hopper and Kelsey Grammer). The DVD includes an audio commentary with Joshua Michael Stern (director/co-writer) and Jason Richman (co-writer), a "making of" mini-feature, deleted scenes, an extended scene, and a music video. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

Tokyo Gore Police
For extreme horror fans only: everything your splatter-loving heart could desire. Buy it.

More new releases: Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach, Mirrors (also on Blu-ray), My Best Friend's Girl (also on Blu-ray), Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys, and Without a Paddle: Nature's Calling (also on Blu-ray). Plus the great, faux-Kennedy TV mini-series Captains and the Kings, which enthralled me when it first aired way back in the Mesozaic Era (Richard Jordan! Richard Jordan! Richard Jordan!).

My general rule is: I don't walk out of movies. The last time I did so was in 2006 during the fairly wretched bar mitzvah comedy Keeping Up with the Steins -- but only because I was with a friend who wasn't into it; we were bored and I was embarrassed because I had suggested the film. I'm occasionally tempted to leave in the middle of a movie that's giving me no earthly reason to hope it will get any better, but something always keeps me in my chair. Often I'm at a press screening, where it's poor form to walk out. Even if I'm seeing a movie on my own dime, I'm usually driven by a sense of duty and completism. I like talking about movies, as you've probably guessed, and it doesn't seem legitimate to do so not having given the whole thing a chance. "Oh man, I despised Movie X." "Really? What did you think of the ending?" "I left halfway through." "Oh."

I've been doing some traveling, and am spending this weekend in San Francisco. Friday was a gorgeous day, but for various reasons I'm a bit behind in my movie-watching duties, so after exploring the city for a while in the morning, I decided to head to the theater for a double feature. The first thing I went to see was Swing Vote, which I found irritating and politically gutless but certainly watchable. My next choice: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

It must be a horrible, wonderful thing to be a movie star in this modern age -- rewarded and yet tightly caged by the public's perception of you. Stay within the expectations of the ticket-buying public, and you're likely (or, more accurately, more likely) to not fall off the public's radar; at the same time, that gilded cage must, at some point, feel more and more like a prison. I mention this in talking about Swing Vote because Kevin Costner manages a somewhat nifty trick in his performance as Bud Johnston, a New Mexico ne'er-do-well who, thanks to a close-fought election and a voting machine error, gets to pick the next president. Oh, sure, we all do that on voting day -- but, due to a electoral college tie and a tie in New Mexico, it turns out Bud's vote will be the deciding one. For, well, everyone. Before this is established by Jason Richman and Joshua Michael Stern's screenplay, though, we get a sense of Bud -- and, at first, Bud seems like another in a long line of Kevin Costner likable rascals from Bull Durham's Crash Davis to Tin Cup's Roy MacAvoy. But Bud is something more interesting -- a man whose charm can't quite cover up the holes in his soul. Bud's a drunkard. Bud's lazy. And if it weren't for his daughter Molly (Madeline Carroll), Bud would be even more adrift and frayed. Early, Bud tells his civic-minded daughter that " ... voting doesn't count for a goddamn thing." Bud's the kind of guy who's wrong a lot -- and he knows it -- but, thanks to the gentle contortions of Swing Vote's plot, never more so than now.

The basic scenario behind Swing Vote makes for an easy pitch: An average American (Kevin Costner) winds up in the position of casting the deciding vote in a presidential election. Both candidates (played by Kelsey Grammer and Dennis Hopper) fly into town and try to woo him. It's a simple premise clearly aimed at exploring the various quirks of the political process. However, although it is quite a fantastical situation, the filmmakers have put quite an effort into incorporating at least one element from the real world: News anchors. Countless movies have asked Jay Leno and his fellow late night brethren to make cameos on TV joking about this or that bit of plot to add a sense of realism, but Swing Vote brings a slightly different set of rules to the table: The presidential candidates are clearly fictional (and Grammer, the Republican candidate, doesn't have many Bush-like qualities), while the news anchors, for the most part, play themselves. If you ask me, something doesn't quite add up here.

Chris Matthews blares into the camera about the ramifications of the election snafu. Tucker Carlson follows suit. Larry King delivers his trademark monotone. And Arianna Huffington gets a full-blown monologue. How is it that all these people can play themselves in a world with a completely different president, one virtually devoid (as far as we can tell) of modern talking points like the Iraq War and the beleaguered economy? It's almost as if they've been imported from another dimension.

With the film Swing Vote arriving in theaters this Friday, a small viral campaign has hit The Tube -- featuring a number of smear ads from both men running for president in the flick. See, Swing Vote stars Kevin Costner as a dude who, thanks to his pesky 12-year-old kid, winds up as having the final say in a presidential election between Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper) and President Andrew Boone (Kelsey Grammer). That said, those two men have both created YouTube channels, and while there are some live-action shenanigans posted from a couple months ago, the latest smear ads (posted late last week) are pretty damn funny. Check out the one up top, then make your way to Greenleaf's Page or Boone's Page. Enjoy.

[via The Hot Blog]

I know that studio attempts at "viral" internet marketing are a dime a dozen these days, but you should watch this. It's funny.

Swing Vote, due August 1st, presents the wildly improbable scenario that a United States presidential election comes down to one politically apathetic New Mexican's choice, leading the candidates -- an incumbent Republican played by Kelsey Grammer and a Democratic challenger played by Dennis Hopper -- to converge on his tiny hometown and court like they've never courted before. The obvious marketing hook: a campaign ad! Actually four of them, two by each candidate, all targeting Kevin Costner's Bud Johnson. My favorite one is above; the rest are here and here.

I like these because they're done with some nuance; I particularly enjoyed the parodies of real-life candidates' disingenuous tendency to "swing to the middle," decimating whatever convictions they previously claimed to hold to pander to "moderate" swing voters. The folks behind these videos take that to its absurd conclusion, of course, with the Republican uncomfortably embracing gay marriage and the Democrat haranguing his opponent about not being pro-life enough. The latter's the video I've embedded at the top of the post -- it cracked me up.

[hat tip: Cinema Blend]

Talk about a wacky supporting cast, Variety has just announced the names of folks who have just signed on to star opposite Kevin Costner in Swing Vote -- and the list is about as diverse as they come. Dennis Hopper, Nathan Lane, Kelsey Grammer, Stanley Tucci, George Lopez and newbie Madeline Carroll will join Costner in a comedy that revolves around a working-class single dad who becomes the most important man on the planet when the entire presidential election comes down to his vote. I'm not sure how on earth that would ever happen (is he voting after all the votes are counted?), but I'm sure writers Joshua Michael Stern and Jason Richman found a way to make it somewhat believable. Perhaps they can work some of that magic and also make Kevin Costner a bankable star again? Or is that asking a bit too much?

For their part, Hopper and Grammer will play the Democratic and Republican candidates respectively, with Lane and Tucci as their campaign managers. Lopez will show up as a local TV station manager for the town that gets caught up in all the hoopla. Dennis Hopper for President? I can certainly dig it. The film, which will be directed by Joshua Michael Stern, begins shooting in Albuquerque, New Mexico on July 23. I'm curious to see how they spin this one -- will Grammer play villain; the guy who will do just about anything to win Costner's vote? Or will they decide not to choose sides, and simply play up to the difficult decision one small town guy eventually has to make? Costner financed the film himself through his Treehouse Films, and we'll all get to see who the next big-screen President will be when the film hits theaters next year (just in time for our next real presidential election).

Actor and Oscar-winning director Kevin Costner has had a long, and in many cases, very successful career in Hollywood. First rising to prominence in films such as The Untouchables and Field of Dreams, Costner proved not only his acting talent but his directing skills as well with his academy award winning film Dances With Wolves. Now, according to Variety, the actor will add a political comedy to his already impressive list of credits. According to the article, Costner will next star in the film Swing Vote, which is being billed as an "indie election comedy."

The pic, directed by Joshua Michael Stern and written by Stern and Jason Richman, concerns a single father (played by Costner) who becomes extremely important to a very close presidential election -- it comes down to his vote alone that will decide the winner. In addition to starring in the film, Costner will also be producing with long-time partner Jim Wilson under their newly-minted Treehouse Films -- a company formed to produce indie film, television and online content for Costner to star. Treehouse, a smaller, indie companion to his Tig Productions, will allow the actor, according to the article: "the opportunity to shepherd projects from the ground up, with the goal of aligning partners of a like mind. Swing Vote fits right into that mold."

Even though the director of Swing Vote only has one other feature to his credit -- 2005s Toronto Fest entry Neverwas -- I'm not concerned in the least. Costner has a proven gift for comedy (watch Bull Durham if you don't believe me) and lately has been turning in some terrific performances -- especially in the recent The Upside of Anger. But no matter what you might think of Costner and his ability to hold an English accent for an entire film or how he looks in a mullet while underwater, he's still an interesting and entertaining star. I, for one, will check out this film with great interest. Swing Vote begins filming in July.