plus 4, FROM THE LIBRARY: Read the book, see the movie - Grand Island Independent

FROM THE LIBRARY: Read the book, see the movie - Grand Island Independent
Actor Tim Allen takes a turn behind the camera for his new movie - Detroit Free Press
Appeals court grants retrial in case of movie-theater scuffle - Denver Post
Never mind about the movie, read the book first - The Malaysian Insider
Drink & a Movie - Washington Post

FROM THE LIBRARY: Read the book, see the movie - Grand Island Independent

Posted: 02 Jan 2010 09:38 PM PST

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Actor Tim Allen takes a turn behind the camera for his new movie - Detroit Free Press

Posted: 03 Jan 2010 12:08 AM PST

Allen, who directed an episode of "Home Improvement," describes reading the screenplay (by Judd Pillot and John Peaslee) a few years ago and loving it. When he found himself with a window of free time before his next project, he got encouragement to make the film from a famous actor-director pal.

"A friend of mine, Kevin Costner, says, 'You're going to keep talking about this until you do it. The only way to do this is finance it privately' -- and he showed me how to get that done -- 'and you've got to direct it, because you want to do comedy your way and add your twists.' "

Allen's company, Boxing Cat Films, produced and financed the project. It's getting a limited national release by Freestyle Releasing,

One of the film's producers, Anastasia Stanecki (the daughter of former local Detroit TV "Newshawk" Jerry Stanecki), says Allen's set was an upbeat place.

"From the day he said go on this project, he wanted it to be a fun experience for everyone and it was," she says. "He set the tone."

Stanecki says filming was done in Los Angeles in 2007, before the Michigan filmmaking incentives were enacted. She says Boxing Cat Films is interested in doing future projects in Michigan.

"We want to shoot in Michigan. We have a few projects in development and we talk about it and we think about it," she says.

As a director, Allen threw in small moments and visual puns -- like a figurine with moving eyes. "I really wanted to add my little sense of humor to it with little scenes in there. ... It's a lot of stuff I really like, fantasy sequences," he says.

He also toned down the racier aspects of the story and edited out some language he felt was gratuitous (the film is rated PG-13).

When he's asked about his ex-con character and his real-life stint in prison in the late 1970s for selling cocaine -- an experience he has said turned his life around -- there's no awkwardness.

"I'm so past my past," he says, describing the theme as a coincidence.

Allen says he's often wanted to do a film about his experiences in prison. "I didn't have a good time, but I still got laughs. I'm a funny guy, even in prison. And some of that stuff was pretty funny. This movie wasn't about that."

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Appeals court grants retrial in case of movie-theater scuffle - Denver Post

Posted: 02 Jan 2010 09:10 PM PST

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal appeals court has granted a new trial in a civil case involving a scuffle between an off-duty Utah County sheriff's officer and a Provo woman accused of talking during a movie.

After a week-long trial in 2008, a federal jury cleared Sgt. Harold "Skip" Curtis of civil claims by Vanessa Arnold that Curtis used excessive force during an altercation.

On Thursday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver overturned that verdict, saying instructions to the jury were faulty.

Arnold claimed Curtis yelled at her and her friend for talking during a screening of "Troy" at a Provo theater in May 2004.

Curtis also was accused of demanding that Arnold pay for his movie tickets.

An argument occurred when her friend Lorenzo Castillo later demanded an apology and was arrested. Arnold claimed Curtis threw her on some stairs after she asked him to stop.

Castillo was released outside the movie theater and later sued for false arrest. His claim was settled out of court.

During the trial, Arnold's lawyer argued that jurors should be instructed to approve a finding of excessive force if they found the actions by Curtis were intentional and unreasonable.

U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball imposed a tougher standard, telling jurors that Arnold was required to prove Curtis used excessive force and its use was "shocking to the conscience."

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Never mind about the movie, read the book first - The Malaysian Insider

Posted: 02 Jan 2010 08:19 PM PST

JAN 3 — Are you one of those people who are good at making movies in your head? By that, I mean do you actually see the movie of the movie you are reading... in your head?

I guess most readers do. In fact, there are people in Hollywood whose job is to do just that. They read a hot new book and if they think it will be a great movie (preferably one that will make the studio gads of money), they will recommend that it be optioned. For a movie at a date to be determined later.

For me, I just prefer to read the book first... if I hear that some movie is based on a book, I prefer to get to the book first. Very often, the movie they make is far, far inferior to the one you have in your head.

Of course, there are movies based on books which turned out pretty terrific."The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri is one of them... the movie was made by the wonderful Mira Nair. And just off the top of my head, the whole Harry Potter movie franchise is pretty cool too.

Over the Christmas holidays, I read two books which already have movies made out of the stories already. One is "Push" by Sapphire — the movie "Precious" is based on the book. And the other is Dave Eggers' "The Wild Things" which is adapted from Maurice Sendak's "Where The Wild Things Are" and based on the screenplay of the movie "Where The Wild Things Are" which he co-wrote with director Spike Jonze.

Are you confused by how "The Wild Things" came to be? Okay, let's see. Maurice Sendak's illustrated book has about maybe 10 lines of text. It's a very simple story of a hyperactive little boy whose mother punishes him for being "wild." He then falls asleep and dreams he sails off to a place where the wild things are — all sorts of beasts beautifully illustrated by Sendak — but in the end he wakes up and he is at home. And he is happy.

So how do you make a movie out of that? Ah, this is where director Spike Jonze got the help of writer Dave Eggers to flesh out the story. Thus the screenplay on which the movie is based.

But Eggers had lots of bits left over and it was Sendak himself who suggested he make a novel out of the material. And the result is "The Wild Things." The core story remains but it is the fleshing out of the characters — including the strange beasts Max encounters — which makes this such an engaging book for readers of all ages.

I daresay children will enjoy the adventure bit and the movie in their head will be all about the beasts and the havoc they wreak. Which child (or adult even) does not relish a bit of mayhem eh?

But the adult reader will immediately recognise the poignancy of what it must be like for a child whose parents are divorced... and only sister growing up and leaving him behind? It's heartbreaking.

I loved Sendak's book and when I gave it to my nephew recently — is anyone ever too old for a beautifully illustrated book? — he filled in all the gaps in the story himself. He told me how Max must have felt on the island and of course, how he must have been glad it was all a dream! All this from about 10 or so sentences... not bad eh?

I'm curious now to find out what he thinks of the movie. Actually I too am looking forward to the movie. I am a fan of Spike Jonze and the novel is good... so I think I won't be too disappointed.

But what about "Precious"? This little movie made big news when it won an award at the Sundance Film Festival. The fact that it stars Mariah Carey and is produced by Oprah Winfrey also upped the whole publicity frenzy.

The book is amazing. It came out years ago — 1996 — and if not for the movie, would have remained little-known in this part of the world. "Push" is the story of Precious Jones, an obese and illiterate 16-year-old, who is pregnant for the second time. By her own father.

The story of Precious Jones is told to us by Precious Jones herself. It is her voice we hear, her words we are reading:

"I was left back when I was twelve because I had a baby for my fahver. That was in 1983. I was out of school for a year. This gonna be my second baby. My daughter got Down Sinder. She's retarded."

Sapphire keeps it real throughout the book. Precious shares with us everything: the unspeakable abuse, the self loathing, the fight to get out of her circumstances. it's a terrific — and sometimes unbearably horrific — book.

It makes you realise how marginalised abused women can be. How hard it is to get help if you don't even know it is available.

I don't know about the movie — I can't wait to see it though — but this is one powerful book. You should read it.