Craig's MovieBlog

Joe Carnahan Corrects Me

Well you could have knocked me down with a feather last night, as I was reading my email and received a note from (wait for it) Joe Carnahan himself - director of Smokin' Aces, Narc, and the upcoming White Jazz, an adaptation of the James Ellroy novel starring George Clooney.

Holy effin' crap.

Now, I fully realize how important and powerful I am in the entertainment blogosphere (that's sarcasm), but it's still not everyday that I receive email from major motion picture directors, much less ones that have directed a movie that blew my mind (Narc).

Joe wrote because he would like to correct something that I posted regarding the status of his leaving the Mission: Impossible 3 project, and he was kind enough to give me permission to print his email verbatim:

Craig:

Stumbled across your blog (good writing!) and saw an erroneous little tidbit about my being dismissed/fired/whacked from MI3. Not so my friend. It's been reasonably well documented but bears repeating nonetheless:

I walked out on my own...I called Tom (videotaped said call to boot) and gave him my sincerest regards but felt I couldn't stay with the flick at it's then present incarnation. We had an agreement to a disagreement and I went along my merry way.

Thems the facts. Thought it was worth updating you and remind you that I am free to fill in as an occasional fact-checker, should time permit.

Best,

Joe Carnahan

And so, without continuing to kiss Joe's ass too blatantly, I post this correction, a sincere apology, and I'm going back to any previous posts that refer to this incident to see if I can update them appropriately.

Joe Carnahan Hates Me (and You)

Okay, not really...  but he is pissed off that I (and you) didn't see Grindhouse this weekend.  Who is Joe Carnahan you ask?  He's the director of the amazingly intense Narc, fired-director of Mission: Impossible 3, and recent director of Smokin' Aces, which I also didn't see in the theater (so he doubly hates me) but can't wait to grab on DVD.

How in the hell does a Rodriguez-Tarantino movie do that poorly? I'm going to see it tonight. Those guys, Tarantino especially, deserve a helluva lot more love than f*cking 11.6 million. What is wrong with American moviegoers? Is there nothing NEW that they're willing to embrace? Jesus, it's the worst kind of erosion. We're making dumber and dumber films and they're becoming cash cows.

For the record, I also didn't see Norbit, Wild Hogs, or Ghost Rider, which I would imagine he's taking aim at with the "dumber and dumber films" comment.

UPDATE: See this post for details...

It's Jason Bateman's World, and We're All Just Living In It

Readers of the blog know what a fan I was of Arrested Development, but its cancellation has clearly opened up Mr. Bateman's itinerary for some more movie work.  First, I noticed him in the trailer for Fast Track, along with other TV favs Zach Braff and Amanda Peet.

Then, according to Cinematical, not only does he steal the show in the upcoming Smokin' Aces, he's joining the cast of Tonight, He Comes, which is something about a slacker superhero, starring Will Smith and Charlize Theron.  My guess is that might do okay at the box office.

Tonight, He Comes is being directed by Peter Berg, is also directing The Kingdom, starring Bateman, Jeremy Piven, Jennifer Garner, Jamie Foxx, and Chris Cooper, in what looks like CSI: Saudi Arabia.  You can check out the trailer on Yahoo.

New Smokin' Aces Trailer

I loved the first trailer, but now Smokin' Aces has a new preview which comes together even better.  Is this the strangest cast ever?  Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Common, Andy Garcia, Alicia Keys, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Peter Berg, Martin Henderson...

Smokin' Aces Trailer

Most people on this series of tubes we like to call the Internet are all abuzz about how completely frenetic and insane visually this trailer is.  They're right.

However, while they are right, I'm more excited about the fact that Joe Carnahan is finally, finally directing another movie after Narc, my favorite film that no one saw way back in 2002.  He was one of the many directors attached to Mission: Impossible 3 (along with David Fincher) before Cruise kicked him to the side of the road found J.J. Abrams, but it looks like he really sunk his teeth into this one.  I can't even imagine what he would have done to Ethan Hunt and the M:I-3 franchise, but one can dream.

Oh, and see if you can even figure out which character is played by Jeremy Piven (before his title card appears).