I’m off to Venice for Critics’ Week, so Matt is running things in my absence. I’ll leave comments open for this thread, if you have thoughts or questions about The Nines (or other topics of interest).
Ciao e grazie.
I’m off to Venice for Critics’ Week, so Matt is running things in my absence. I’ll leave comments open for this thread, if you have thoughts or questions about The Nines (or other topics of interest).
Ciao e grazie.
Since Sundance, we’ve had a lot of questions (and compliments) about the music in The Nines. We didn’t end up making a conventional soundtrack deal, mostly because the film distribution situation was complicated enough. But you can find most of the music online. Alex Wurman has a lot of the score available for download at his site.
And with a few exceptions, including Cabaret Diosa’s “Comet Samba”, most of the tracks are available on iTunes. That’s where I found “You Keep Me Hanging On” by Ferris Wheel.
If the widget below isn’t loading for you, you can find the full playlist up at iTunes.
Briefly, because there’s a lot going on and I haven’t started packing for Venice.
The 7:30 p.m. Q&A tonight with me and Melissa (and others) apparently sold out yesterday afternoon. But there’s also a 10 p.m. show that I’ll be introducing. I haven’t gotten an update about the NY screening at the Sunshine, which Ryan Reynolds and Bruce Cohen will be introducing. (That’s not a Q&A, btw. Ryan might play me in the movie, but he can’t really answer questions about what the hell was up with koalas in the movie.)
The two reviews we were banking on — the LA Times and the NY Times — were great. While local and regional reviews matter, the LAT and NYT are incredibly important for overseas buyers, who will be watching the movie in Venice, checkbooks in hand. So if you live in France, or Germany, or Italy your chances of seeing the movie in a theater just increased a lot.
These are also the reviews we’ll be pulling quotes from for future newspaper ads. So now we can say things like, “a philosophical mind teaser with satirical fangs,” (Stephen Holden, NY Times) or, “it dispenses about a minor epiphany a minute and hooks you like a flounder.” (Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times).
UPDATE: MTV’s Kurt Loder made sweet, sweet love to the movie: “It’s a creative triumph — small in scale, but rich in ideas — for first-time feature director August (a writer best-known for scripting several Tim Burton movies). And it’s a quietly dazzling breakthrough for Ryan Reynolds, who has heretofore been indifferently utilized in movies like “Smokin’ Aces” or consigned to elevating such schlock as “The Amityville Horror.”
Meanwhile, the Christian Science Monitor was, shall we say, less than effusive in its praise: “So unspeakably bad is screenwriter John August’s debut as director, so hilariously unaware is the film of its overweening pretensions that it’s tempting to want to deem it a Hollywood writer’s fever dream that can be cured with a little editing, a bit of rest and relaxation – or something, anything.”
I wrote one last blog post for EW.com.
If you’re going to see The Nines this long weekend, you’ll be in a movie theater. You’ll have the benefit of a giant screen, good sound, and fellow patrons with which to partake (and debate) the film. There’s nothing like watching a movie with a crowd: it’s participatory and immediate.
One of my favorite moments of the Sundance premiere was listening as progressive waves of audience members realized that a story Hope Davis begins telling in Part One is, in fact, not a story at all. Hearing the little gasps, those who hadn’t yet caught on became more vigilant, wondering what they were missing.
It was a reminder that we make movies for an audience, not merely a consumer.
Yet there are some things a movie theater can’t provide, aspects which only work on DVD. The pause button, for example. Subtitles. Audio commentary.
But in the age of iPods, there’s really no reason why audio commentary has to be relegated to DVD. That’s why Ryan Reynolds and I recorded one last week for The Nines which is now yours to download. (47MB, right-click to save to disk)
This isn’t an original idea, by the way. Kevin Smith recorded an in-theater commentary for Clerks II, though I can’t find confirmation he released it into the wild. (Someone in the comments section will know.)
If you’re considering downloading it, here are some guidelines, ground rules and helpful hints:
I’d like to underline points 2 and 6. Please don’t ruin the movie for yourself or others.
Because you’ll ask, this commentary will likely also be on the DVD, along with other special stuff.
The files are relatively small, so the server should be able to handle the load. But if anyone feels inclined to set up a mirror, or seed a torrent, go for it. Leave a link in the comments. And let me know if you end up using it.