Artie Bremer takes a peek at a very early screening for THE CREW!!!
Hey folks, Harry here with a look at the Barry Sonnenfeld produced comedy, THE CREW. This has been a film that I've been curious about ever since hearing the names of the 4 male leads... RICHARD DREYFUSS, BURT REYNOLDS, DAN HEDAYA and SEYMOUR CASSELL. Now sure... all four of them are at... weird stages in their careers... but, just maybe there might be some great chemistry at work here. Well, this was an EXTREMELY ADVANCE SCREENING, so know that the film that Artie saw... will most likely undergo quite a bit of tweaking here and there before we all see it. So... with that in mind... here's the review...
Hello, Harry
Longtime reader, first-time poster
My wife and I were invited to a sneak preview of "The Crew," a new movie
starring Richard Dreyfuss, Burt Reynolds, Dan Hedaya, and Seymour Cassell
last night and I thought I'd write in and tell you about it.
The basic plot is that these four former "wise guys" (lots of "Goodfellas"
shots and allusions) end up spending their golden years in Miami, but are
slowly being forced out by more and more club kid-types moving in and
jacking up their rates. So, they stage a fake shooting of a corpse (Dan
Hedaya's character works in a morgue) that turns out to be the missing
father of a big-time drug lord. Comedy ensues.
Okay, there are a lot of problems with the movie that I'll go into, but I
need to say right off the bat - it was truly hilarious. The audience was
comprised of mostly older folks with a few twenty-somethings thrown into the
mix and everyone laughed their way through the entire thing. It comes down
to one thing-CHEMISTRY. Who would've thought that putting Dreyfuss,
Reynolds, Hedaya, and Cassell in a buddy movie would turn out this way.
They have impeccable chemistry together and all of the best scenes in the
movie are when the four of them are capering together. The supporting cast,
Jeremy Piven, Carrie-Ann Moss, Jennifer Tilly, and others, simply weren't
that great in comparison, Moss being positively wooden in her performance as
a police detective.
Here's what's wrong with the movie - the plot. We were told that this was a
rough cut with a temp track (the temp track was actually very good), but it
looked fairly well put together. Here's the problem, things happen that
make no sense. There are leaps from scene to scene and it feels like scenes
are completely missing. The entire motivation to shoot the corpse isn't
very well explained until later. The guys will be going along doing
something and then they'll jump to something else. Rather confusing. I was
looking for a thread of something to follow, but it was hard to do. The
entire Jeremy Piven subplot is not fleshed out at all and I generally hated
his character all the way through as well as the Carrie-Ann Moss one because
whenever she was onscreen, nothing funny was happening.
However, when the four wise guys were on screen, it was almost always,
always, always funny. Dan Hedaya splits the comic relief with the seldom
speaking Seymour Cassell while tough guy Burt Reynolds (you have no idea how
loud people were laughing at the "Burger King" sequence) and cool-hand
Richard Dreyfuss hammer out the complications. There are shots in the movie
that make no sense, too. Sometimes it is a straight-up caper comedy, while
other times it is an artistically-directed "stylish" kind of film. The
creative shots need to go (ie. camera flying out of Cassell's mouth) and
just the story needs to be told.
Let me reiterate, this was a very, very much advanced screening. Apparently
afterwards there was a focus group, but my wife and I weren't picked, so we
don't know what they were talking about. The producers all seemed to be
lined up there (I know Barry Sonnenfeld is a producer on this, but I
wouldn't recognize him if I saw him). Hopefully, everything will get fixed
and a very funny, albeit very light movie will come out. It reminded me of
a movie I saw in college, "Tough Guys," with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas
at times. I haven't seen that movie in years, but it was about old cons
kicking young ass. Same thing with "Original Gangstas" a few years back
with all the blaxploitation stars.
Like I said, though, the chemistry of the cast took the film to another
level when the script let it down. Burt Reynolds is just darn funny.
-Artie Bremer
The Premiere of the Definitive Director's Cut of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND!!!
God I'd love to see this on the big screen with digital sound and all the frills. It would be sooooooooo cool. And apparently it was according to Birdie Num Num.... Here he is to give you the geek's eye view on it all...
Just thought I'd share a little piece of geek nirvana that I was
fortunate to experience this evening.
Tonight, I attended the premiere of the "definitive director's cut" of
one of the great films of all time, namely "Close Encounters of the
Third Kind."
For this SPECIAL "SPECIAL EDITION", Spielberg has kept some of the
additions from the 1980 Special Edition, but has excised the lame
"inside the ship" ending and restored all the amazing family footage and
scenes of Richard Dreyfuss' nervous breakdown that he had cut out of the
"original" edition. All this, with digital sound and pristine color in
a beautiful brand new wide-screen print. Ahhh, bliss. (Now if only
Lucas can take a cue from Spielberg and put back Han firing first....
well, it's good to dream).
It had been a long time since I had seen this film, particularly on the
big screen. I remember being 9 years old and waiting on line at the
Cinerama Dome in LA for the opening. Let me tell you something -- this
film is even better with age.
It's incredible how well-made this film is, how far ahead of its time.
Face it, "The X-Files" wouldn't exist without it. The special effects
are still dazzling. They look ten times more real and awe-inspiring
than most of the CGI stuff we're given today. The lighting, the
texture... amazing.
Best of all, it's a reminder that Spielberg once was a master at a
little thing called subtlety. Not once does he hit the audience over
the head. And apart from, perhaps, STAR WARS, this is clearly John
Williams' best score. The film has its own deliberate pace, building
slowly to the amazing ending. And the characters are easily the most
real Spielberg has ever depicted. None of the cute, whitewashed
suburbia of, say, POLTERGEIST here.
For anyone out there who hasn't been able to see the original version on
tape for a while, I think the amazing family scenes here are going to be
the biggest surprise/treat. It almost felt like Cassavettes -- so raw,
so real. The scene where Dreyfuss starts breaking down in the tub and
his kid looks at him and silently cries... the sequence where he
destroys the house, gathering the materials for his sculpture... his
breakup with Teri Garr. We get such a raw picture of Dreyfuss'
obsession. The restoration of these scenes really takes the movie to a
whole other level.
Best of all, there was a discussion panel afterwards. Spielberg
couldn't make it (he was in NYC), but Vilmos Zsigmond was there, as well
as production designer Joe Alves, producers Michael and Julia Phillips
(she seemed like she was on drugs and hogged the mic whenever possible),
Melinda Dillon, Bob Balaban and, best of all, CARY GUFFEY!!! Guffey is
now married, has just gotten his MBA and lives in Alabama. His hair is
dark and he's very tall, but his face looks exactly the same.
I assume a theatrical re-release is being planned for this. Don't miss
it (as if anyone who reads this site would...).
Best,
Birdie Num-Num
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND Definitive Director's Edition review
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
may very well be my favorite Spielberg film. I don’t
know. It’s awfully close between RAIDERS OF THE
LOST ARK, JAWS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS..
I had yet to see this Definitive Director’s Cut, though
I’ve had it on video for what I believe has been a year
now. I had attempted to see this film projected on
OSCAR day of this year, but the theater so
completely botched it, that I was forced to go without
seeing this film in all it’s glory. Now... Thankfully
due to the blessed Paramount Theater I have had my
chance to see this latest incarnation of Spielberg’s
fantastic film.
I have been frustrated for seemingly ever now that I
haven’t had a chance to see the original cut of
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS because of that blasted
Special Edition with that pretty, but ultimately lame
interior of the Mothership yuckness that plucked
away my own sense of “I wonder what’s inside there”
that I was left with, with the original.
Also, that damned Special Edition cut out a ton of the
Dreyfuss going nuts sequence and made Teri Garr
seem like some sort of mega-bitch, instead of a
woman besieged by a seemingly insane and
irrationally erratic husband.
BUT, now.... Now we get to see Dreyfuss truly
become obsessed. We see the extreme emotional
strain between them. We also get to see what the loss
of Melinda Dillon’s son does to here, and the state
she is tossed into.
And to me, even with the pure glory of all of Douglas
Trumbull’s Special Photographic Effects, at the end
of this film I’m left with the journey that Roy Neary
has taken.
What would happen if you saw the light? And in this
film it could be either the light of beings from another
planet or God. I’m talking about seeing something
that ‘rational people’ don’t believe in. Be it the
Kennedy assassination or the Roswell landing. Those
kooky scientist we see claiming they’ve seen cities on
the surface of Mars or that an Asteroid is coming.
Have you seen a ghost? Have you seen the Loch
Ness Monster? Were you abducted? The Light at the
end of the tunnel in your spare seconds in death?
Then you are back here. Here in the world. The
world where people want to know the ingredients of
Pop Tarts. Where calories need to be measured. A
world with holes in the ozone and death as a
possibility of natural sex.
You’ve seen something beyond the realm of our
common existence and now you have to interact with
your loved ones. Do you tell them? Can you not tell
them?
Tomorrow The Iron Giant befriends you whilst hiking
in the forest. Do you NOT call CNN? How could
you not? But what if when they get there.... he’s
gone. This big ‘whatever’ is gone and you are left
holding the wind and waving your hands about and
gesturing wildly.
BUT WAIT... there’s more. In addition to all of the
trouble that will cause... Whatever this great
‘whatever’ you saw did to you, left remainders.
Leftovers... psychic impressions. Little fragments of
images and tidbits of knowledge. Just enough to eat
at ya. Just enough to keep you from being able to
function.
I LOVE THAT in this film. How Dreyfuss
recognizes something in a shape... He doesn’t know
what. He’s had mashed potatoes a hundred times at
least and never felt it meant Jack until now. And
whatever it means... he knows it’s important.
He’s compelled to figure out what this vague shape in
his mind’s eye is. He wishes it wasn’t there. His wife
has left him, he struggles and fights with it. But he
can’t let go.... cause it won’t let go of him.
What happens to Dreyfuss in this film... I just love.
And in David Koepp’s A STIR OF ECHOES it is
also done very very well, but in combination with
John Williams’ amazing score... which really goes so
far beyond a mere score. It becomes the language of
the last 15-20 minutes of the film.
This film is so utterly breathtaking with the
confidence of it’s storytelling, execution and acting
that I can’t help but wonder... What happened?
You know. Spielberg may not have won Best
Director or Best Film with CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
OF THE THIRD KIND... But he did win us. All of
us viewers that just fell in love with his stories. He
used to tell stories of our time. The most glorious
stories from our period. I loved his exploration of the
common man to bigger than known events.
Watching a movie like DEEP BLUE SEA, which
while being a fun distraction, doesn’t have an ounce
of the character development and long time
entertainment repeatability of a movie like CLOSE
ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND.
This film, for me, is unassailable. It’s this gleaming
gorgeous better than CG film, made of magic lights
and lens flares. The look in Dreyfuss’ eyes. He’s
seeing these things. I believe it. I know it. There is a
fervor to him, an honesty to his consuming thirst to
understand what it is he has seen.
Then there is the whole cross-cutting of the
‘government’ side of the story, and it does not feel
forced or hooky. The government is everybit as in
awe of these things as the normal men and women of
the world are. They want to be able to understand
their placement in the universe. They want to be able
to figure it all out. To see if it is a threat. To ensure
that it does not become one.
I love that.
And if there has ever been a more breathtaking
religious experience of an ending to a movie on par
with the end of this film I am just not familiar with it.
That ship, that natural wonder, and the utter
significance of mankind in the scheme of it all. It’s
breathtaking.
I love that. I don’t think I ever breathe during that
end sequence. I am so completely unaware of the
world I’m in at this point. There are no seats, no
fellow viewers, no screen. It’s really happening.
This isn’t a recreation, this is a happening AS I
WATCH IT! For me, it’s that involving.
There were two skips on the Digital Track and I felt
an actual physical reaction. My entire body was
racked with shivers and the breath left my body in an
audible gasp of panic. But thankfully the sound
returned. For the briefest of moments it shocked me
to reality, and I didn’t want to be here. I like THAT
world more.
Can you imagine being there for real? To know
without a doubt that we are not alone. To find out
that we have a significance in the grand scheme of the
universe other than merely occupying this planet of
ours.
Call me wacky, call me a kook, but everytime
Copernicus comes back from the Observatory I ask if
he saw the aliens yet. It’s a standard routine. One of
those... Who knows... maybe he’ll tell the truth this
time about what he learned as part of SETI.
Meanwhile, I let my computer go on searching for
intelligent signals whilst I sleep. It’s Spielberg’s
fault. He is directly responsible for my kookiness.
But I want to be there for the lightshow. I’m ready
for zero-G. I want my flying car. Teleportation. I
want little medical scanners that fix things. I want
robot servants and pneumatic tube driven
transportation. I want Aliens with out cookbooks that
want a fat second mate or cook aboard their ship.
I never ever want a sequel to this film, but I glory in
the wondering about what happened next. Where’d
he go and what did he see?
Strange isn’t it how attached we become to the
concepts these movies place in us?
When the film was over, I couldn’t stop singing them
damn notes or picturing them last few minutes of the
film.
I love this film. I remember watching this film as a
kid and being provoked into asking the big questions
like, “Are they going to eat him?”
And then being told that not all Aliens kill humans.
And that’s when I wanted to meet em. I figure I got a
99 in 1 shot of not being eaten, but ya know.... Every
person dies, but not every person gets eaten by an
alien. That’s a cool way to go. And if I am too filled
with cholesterol.... well maybe they’ll let me sauté up
some skinnier folks for the feast.
I just want to travel into deep space and have cool
science fictiony gadgets. Yeah... I’m pretty shallow.
But gosh, wouldn’t you want to go (of course if it
meant leaving all your friends and family and loved
ones FOREVER, that’d suck. I wonder if they’d
accept the whole AICN gang. I’m sure they’d let me
check email from up there. I mean, they’re really
really smart... right?)
Sigh. What a movie!
