“Movie backers fight tax credit cap - Des Moines Register” plus 4 more

Movie backers fight tax credit cap - Des Moines Register
Movie review: '(500) Days of Summer' refereshing - Union-News & Sunday Republican
Film Director Created Modern Teen Movie - The Ledger
Movie Review: A long, slow journey for ‘A Perfect Getaway’ - Daily Texan Online
Movie review: A double helping of Streep - Merced Sun-Star

Movie backers fight tax credit cap - Des Moines Register

Posted: 07 Aug 2009 01:56 AM PDT

A decision by lawmakers to place a maximum benefit on Iowa's movie tax breaks threatens to stunt the program in its infancy, a group of film and Iowa advocates told state officials Thursday.

Several lawmakers responded that capping the breaks is responsible legislation needed to protect taxpayers.

Movie advocates said the restrictions come as dozens of movie producers have started to consider Iowa home.

"If you do this, it will be stillborn," said Jay Villwock, an unemployed Des Moines resident who hopes to work in movies.

The credit, which has been in place since 2007, was enhanced by lawmakers this year to extend breaks to more movie employees. However, lawmakers also added a cap of $185 million a year for five tax-credit programs that largely deal with job creation, film production and business research.

The Iowa Department of Economic Development Board is in charge of dividing the $185 million among the programs and has set a $50 million cap for the film tax credit.

The credits in the first two years cost $32 million, short of the $50 million cap now in place, said Tom Wheeler, manager of the Iowa Film Office.

However, he said that Iowa is quickly becoming a movie hot spot and that bigger films, ranging from $5 million to $10 million each, are being made here.

Film advocates at the public hearing in Des Moines on Thursday said the $50 million cap could be gobbled by one large film and leave dozens of others without tax breaks.

"We're sitting on two right now that could possibly come into Iowa that's over a $40 million budget," said Becky Gruening, head of the Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau Film Commission.

"If we do not have the funding for that, we are losing a good three- to five-month piece of business."

Until last month, the movie program had no cap. Some lawmakers saw the deal as overly generous, costing taxpayers millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Several senators met with state economic development officials Thursday to discuss the program, including Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, and Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City. Both said they are concerned the program might be too sweet.

"Money doesn't grow on trees," said Bolkcom, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. "This is taxpayer-supported."

In June, before the $50 million cap was set, the state approved 58 applications to collect movie tax breaks. Those films won't be subject to the cap.

The cost to the state won't be known until those projects are completed.

State movie office officials haven't determined how they will decide which future projects qualify if there's not enough money for all of them. It's not known whether the program would work on a first-come, first-served basis or whether additional criteria would be established to govern distribution of the incentives.

It's possible that money from other credit programs could be transferred by economic development officials. Some of those questions will be dealt with during a Legislative Rules Committee meeting that's set to begin today.

"The more restrictions that are put on this tax-credit program, the less films that will be interested," Joel Sadilek, a native Iowan who is a movie writer and producer told state officials Thursday. "They're always looking for the best deal."

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Movie review: '(500) Days of Summer' refereshing - Union-News & Sunday Republican

Posted: 07 Aug 2009 02:18 AM PDT

by The Republican Entertainment Desk

(500) Days of Summer 3 1/2 stars Rated: PG-13 for strong language, sexual situations and alcohol abuse Running time: 1 hour , 35 minutes Playing at: Amherst Cinema

By STEPHEN WHITTY
Newark Star-Ledger

Tom believes wholeheartedly in the idea of kismet, true love, "Ms. Right." Summer believes in happenstance, no commitments and "Mr. Right Now."

They are the last two people in Los Angeles who should begin a relationship together.

So, of course, they do.

But that's the last conventional thing about the new film "(500)Days of Summer," which avoids the usual odd-couple jokes to present two people who really are wrong for each other, but try anyway against their better judgment.

Tom falls for Summer as soon as he sees her; my own love for the film took a while longer, but I can place the moment precisely: It occurred after their first night together, when Tom leaves Summer's apartment. He is smiling, a little foolishly. Everyone he sees is smiling back at him. The hate-yourself-for-liking-it-but-like-it-anyway Hall and Oates song "You Make My Dreams" is on the soundtrack. Suddenly, Tom leads downtown Los Angeles in a big production number.

Then he snaps out of it and goes to work.

"(500) Days of Summer" has a lot of offbeat moments like this --animation, nonlinear storytelling, split screens, movie parodies, abrupt talk-to-the-camera speeches. Too many, perhaps -- this is director Marc Webb's first film, and like anyone on a first date, he sometimes tries too hard.

But the can't-stop-smiling scene also feels absolutely real, emotionally. And so does most of the rest of this bittersweet romance.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt -- a terrific young actor who started as a kid on TV and has prowled the indie-drama world since -- is marvelously winning as Tom, a sad sack writer of greeting cards whose face can slip easily from wry hopefulness to despair.

And the camera definitely has a crush on Zooey Deschanel, another talent who's rarely gotten what she deserves. Certainly she deserved a lot more than playing Jim Carrey's girlfriend in "Yes Man," and she gets a welcome chance to shine here.

The writing is sparkling, too. The script, by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, references a lot of movies, from "The Seventh Seal" to "The Graduate," but the one it seems to be channeling the most effectively (and most unconsciously) is "Annie Hall."

Part of that is the way the script dramatizes a faltering relationship by replaying the same incident with different results. Just as Woody Allen's Alvy knew his new girlfriend was no Annie when she rolled her eyes at his lobster battles, so does Tom know that things are going badly with Summer when one of their playful trips to Ikea is, suddenly, just a trip to Ikea.

But mostly, the "Annie Hall" parallel is found in the development of these characters as appealing individuals who are just slightly out of sync. Just as you rooted for Alvy and Annie - while knowing from the start that it wasn't going to work out - so do you cheer Tom and Summer, even though the film begins with their breakup.

Of course, like its lovers, "(500) Days of Summer" has its small flaws, too. Summer is Tom's idea of the perfect girl; he idolizes her, and he idealizes her. He doesn't really know her, though, and that's a problem the film has, too. Oh, we know she loves origami and Ringo Starr. But what are her hopes? Fears? She's the movie's heroine, and she's still only sketchily drawn. (The only other female with any sizable role is Tom's kid sister, a potty-mouthed parody of a J.D. Salinger prodigy.)

A truly great movie would turn this flaw into a virtue by making it not an oversight but an explanation; the reason that a romance with a "dream girl" falters is that the man never truly wakes up to see who she really is.

But even if "(500) Days of Summer" isn't truly great, it is great fun, from its fresh view of Los Angeles to its use of music to its charming leads.

In a warm-weather movie season that already seems to have lasted 500 days - was it really only May that "Star Trek" came out? - this "Summer" is a cool and refreshing treat.

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Film Director Created Modern Teen Movie - The Ledger

Posted: 07 Aug 2009 01:28 AM PDT

The creator of the modern American teenager film, who died Thursday in New York, made a group of films that is still watched and quoted today.

Hughes, who was 59, died of a heart attack during an early morning walk while visiting family in New York City, his publicist said. He lived all his life in the northern suburbs of Chicago, southern Wisconsin, and on a farm which he operated in Northern Illinois.

Refusing to move to Los Angeles, he once told me why he preferred to bring his young acting discoveries to Chicago to film: "I like to check them into a motel far away from their friends, keep them out of trouble, and have them focus on the work."

The list of films Hughes directed, produced or wrote includes such enduring hits as "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," "Some Kind of Wonderful," "Curly Sue," "Mr. Mom," "Home Alone," "Pretty in Pink," "Weird Science," "She's Having a Baby," "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," "Beethoven," "101 Dalmatians" and "Baby's Day Out."

His films helped establish an international notion of ordinary American teenagers, and he was as popular abroad as at home. Once when I was visiting the largest movie theater in Calcutta, I asked if "Star Wars" had been their most successful American film. No, I was told, it was "Baby's Day Out," a Hughes comedy about a baby wandering through a big city, which played for more than a year.

Hughes, who graduated in 1968 from Glenbrook High School in Northbrook, Ill., used the northern suburbs as the setting for many of his films, notably "Ferris Bueller" and "The Breakfast Club." He converted the gymnasium of the former Maine North High School in Des Plaines for use as a sound stage, assigning his actors schoolrooms as dressing rooms and corridor lockers with their own combinations.

Hughes was a star-maker for a generation. Among the actors he introduced or popularized were Matthew Broderick, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Macaulay Culkin and John Candy, who worked in eight Hughes films. Some of those actors, freed from their confinement under Hughes, later became famous as the Brat Pack.

He took teenagers seriously, and his films are distinctive for showing them as individuals with real hopes, ambitions, problems and behavior.

"Kids are smart enough to know that most teenage movies are just exploiting them," he told me on the set of "The Breakfast Club." "They'll respond to a film about teenagers as people. (My) movies are about the beauty of just growing up. I think teenage girls are especially ready for this kind of movie, after being grossed out by all the sex and violence in most teenage movies. People forget that when you're 16, you're probably more serious than you'll ever be again. You think seriously about the big questions."

After Hughes died, some reports referred to him as "a recluse who disappeared somewhere in Illinois." A few years ago, a friend of mine ran into him and kidded him about having disappeared from the Hollywood radar.

"I haven't disappeared," he said. "I'm standing right here. I'm just not in Los Angeles."

Hughes was incredibly productive as a screenwriter. He personally directed eight films, produced 23 and wrote 37, most recently "Drillbit Taylor" (2008). Such filmmakers as Judd Apatow and Kevin Smith cite him as an influence, Smith once saying, "Basically everything I do is just a raunchy John Hughes movie."

Hughes is survived by his wife of 39 years, Nancy, two sons and four grandchildren.

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Movie Review: A long, slow journey for ‘A Perfect Getaway’ - Daily Texan Online

Posted: 07 Aug 2009 01:49 AM PDT

Robert Doty

Daily Texan Staff

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Published: Friday, August 7, 2009

Updated: Friday, August 7, 2009

It's often said that novels must have a good beginning and films must have a good ending. David Twohy, writer and director, takes this maxim too much to heart in "A Perfect Getaway."

Despite the frenzied, spine-tingling finale, the film goes almost nowhere for the better part of the running time. The first two-thirds trudge along with the perfunctory spooks and mild character development found in any thriller without ever establishing any true tension.

Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich) take the lead as newlyweds hiking through Hawaii when they hear that another newlywed coupled has been murdered. The authorities suspect a man and a woman working together, so when the couple meets Nick (Timothy Olyphant) and Gina (Kiele Sanchez), their first thoughts are the same as ours. Toss into the mix Chris Hemsworth and Marley Shelton as the unstable couple Kale and Cleo, and we've got our pick as to whodunnit.

The problem here isn't the bare-bones setup but the utter lack of tension. Sure, each character does weird things and has their "Do you sympathize with me now?" moment, but when Nick talks about a plate in his head or Gina slaughters a goat, we see these moments for what they are. With so many strands thrown in this and that direction, all the audience can do is wait for the twist, never really investing in whatever weird possibility pops up next.

But once the movie hits its final turn, it kicks off a fevered finish that makes up for the somewhat slow beginning. Oddly enough, it's not the twist that makes it so exciting but the action that follows.

Finally stripped of the burden of keeping his twist a secret, Twohy lets the B-movie humor, thrills and gore out to play. It's easy to tell that this is what he was waiting for all along and the audience feels that joy. Every character pulls through to a fitting end and you almost forget that you spent the better part of an hour waiting for it. It's understandable since Twohy's twist makes the pre-twist portion structurally difficult to manage, but there must have been a better way to keep the audience's attention at the beginning.

Nonetheless, the saying proved itself right. I exited the theater having enjoyed myself thoroughly despite the slow beginnings. And there's not much else I can ask for.

3 out of five stars

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Movie review: A double helping of Streep - Merced Sun-Star

Posted: 07 Aug 2009 01:21 AM PDT

As depicted in Nora Ephron's new film, it was one of the treats that Julia Child cooked up for her famed recipe book, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."

Just between you and me, aspic looks like someone drained used motor oil into a Jello mold and let it harden into a wobbly mess.

But that's part of the fun of a foodie movie such as "Julie & Julia" -- you get to take a little culinary tour of treats that might otherwise remain as obscure references in old French novels.

There are plenty of delectable dishes featured, too, including several lingering shots of enough melting butter on the stovetop to clog the arteries of every executive on the Food Network.

Such a wide-ranging tour was on the mind of Julie Powell, a New York writer whose story sets the stage for this cleverly structured -- if slightly strained -- film. As portrayed by the appealing Amy Adams, who gives this character a likability that I'm not sure is warranted by the material, Powell decides to cook her way through Child's best-selling book in a year -- and blog about it.

Writer/director Nora Ephron tells Powell's story alongside a slice of Child's own life.

We meet the tall, distinctive-voiced future cookbook queen just as she and her husband, Paul (Stanley Tucci), a member of the foreign service, have moved to Paris soon after World War II.

As an American set loose in the gourmet capital of the world, the towering Child soon falls in love with every aspect of the French culinary scene, soaking up every tender morsel of knowledge with an enthusiasm that knows no bounds.

Alternating with Child's gastronomic adventures, we periodically shift over to Powell's adventures in a walk-up Queens apartment as she struggles with Child's tough (and fattening) recipes and alternately smooches/fights with her understanding husband (played by an appealing Chris Messina).

I've never been a vehement fan of Ephron ("You've Got Mail"), who tends to smooth and fuss over her movies until they exude a sort of glossy blandness.

There are some such awkward moments in "Julie & Julia" in which you're very much aware that you're in the middle of a Major Motion Picture, including a lunch that Powell has with a catty group of her more successful career-oriented friends.

Adams is endearing, however, and she finds depth in a role that could have come across as merely self-absorbed.

Whenever we switch over to Streep, however, the film ratchets up several satisfying levels.

She finds such a sweet, sterling physicality in her portrayal -- eyes fluttering skyward as she samples a scrumptious bite, hands swooping down to snatch a decadent hors d'oeuvre from a party tray, legs striding purposefully from one side of the kitchen to the other -- that she reminds me of one of those large, ungainly birds that you swear could never get off the ground but still manages to thunder into the sky.

And I like how nonmanipulative the movie turns out to be in terms of tying together its two halves. Though the whole project starts out with something of a gimmicky premise, Ephron doesn't succumb to triteness as the stories unfold.

I'm not sure I'd order the aspic.