Joe Dante

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Professor Wagstaff
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Re: Joe Dante

#126 Post by Professor Wagstaff » Tue Feb 25, 2014 1:36 am

Not sure where to post this, but does anyone know if Criterion struck up some sort of promotional deal with Dante's Trailers from Hell website? I noticed recently the site began indicating reviews of films featured in the Criterion Collection and this week they have all Criterion-themed trailers.

Movie-Brat
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Re: Joe Dante

#127 Post by Movie-Brat » Mon Apr 07, 2014 3:12 pm

So apparently Burying the Ex is in post-production and is prepping for a Cannes Film Festival release. Hopefully this will get a wide release unlike The Hole as I wish to see a Joe Dante film on the big screen since my previous experience being Small Soldiers.

http://www.joblo.com/horror-movies/news ... a-daddario" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

shaky
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Re: Joe Dante

#128 Post by shaky » Wed Sep 03, 2014 8:16 am

Does anyone know if the Masters of Horror blu-ray disc presents "Homecoming" in the correct aspect ratio? I'm assuming it's 16/9? Thanks in advance!

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Forrest Taft
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Re: Joe Dante

#129 Post by Forrest Taft » Wed Sep 03, 2014 10:02 am

Put in my disc to check, and yes its 16:9 (or 1.77:1, as the back cover specifies). Don't know for sure if this is the OAR though, but it would be my guess.

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Dylan
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Re: Joe Dante

#130 Post by Dylan » Mon Apr 06, 2015 5:05 pm

Trailer for Burying the Ex.

I love Dante and I'm very happy he's made another movie, but I think both the zombie and zom-com genres are a bit played out by now (I'm surprised they keep getting made) and a film with a very similar plot came and went last year.

Meanwhile, I hope The Man With The Kaleidoscope Eyes is still going to happen. There hasn't been any news about it since the original announcement, which was nearly two years ago.

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Dylan
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Re: Joe Dante

#131 Post by Dylan » Sun Jun 14, 2015 3:00 pm

Burying the Ex had its LA premiere on June 11th and will be released on VOD (with a limited run in theaters) on June 19th, so for a couple weeks there have been various Joe Dante articles online.

From the LA Times: Joe Dante is a Genre Success

Dante on what happens a lot of the time when he goes into meetings with producers who are looking for a director:
"They say, 'We love you, you're our favorite director' — and then they hire somebody younger," he said, laughing. "But the meetings are usually cordial, and there's always a lot of respect and admiration for the career, which is a good thing because every once in a while it gets you a job."
And this nj.com interview answers what is going on with The Man With the Kaleidoscope Eyes:
I've been excited about that one for 10 years. Hopefully I won't have to be excited about it for another 10 years ... We've got a great script – Tim Lucas of Video Watchdog and some other folks worked on it -- and we came close to doing it, twice. But before you get the actors you have to get the money and before you get the money you have to get the actors. It's very tough to put things together now. I never wanted to be a producer, but now, if you're going to get something made, you have to be.
Disappointing, if not terribly surprising. It still sounds like it could be his best film since Matinee if he gets to make it, so hopefully it will pull through whatever hurdles it needs to in order to get into production.

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Dylan
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Re: Joe Dante

#132 Post by Dylan » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:33 pm

Another interview with Dante over at RogerEbert.com - love how many interviews he's doing.

I actually had the opportunity to see Burying the Ex recently and while it wasn't great, there's enough of Dante's talent on display to make it worthwhile for fans. Dante once again demonstrates how great he is at getting great and inimitable performances out of a young cast. Anton Yelchin is terrific to watch and very appealing, giving a very neat performance. Ashley Greene and Alexandra Daddario are also very good, and Dick Miller actually has a speaking role in the film and it's nice to see him [remember when Dick Miller was ubiquitous? I miss those days, which made his scene here all the better]. The first act, which sets everything up by just showing us Yelchin and Greene's deteriorating relationship, has some of Dante's finest directing since Matinee. Some of these scenes are so good, in fact, that I wish the entire film would've been about Yelchin's relationships instead of the zombie plot kicking in. But alas, this is a "zom com" and the it starts to fall apart the moment it goes in that direction.

The best part, for me, was the whole business with Yelchin meeting Daddario out of a shared love for Fruit Brute cereal - the handling of these scenes struck this Dante fan as so purely Dante-esque that I keep thinking about Fruit Brute with a huge smile days later. Here's an excerpt from the first Fruit Brute scene.
Last edited by Dylan on Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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repeat
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Re: Joe Dante

#133 Post by repeat » Thu Jun 18, 2015 12:18 am

It's OK - I know a lot of people were disappointed or even hated the film, but I found it entertaining enough; think I even laughed out loud at points. Probably best to see it in a theatre with likeminded crowd if possible, glad I got the chance to. Disliked the soundtrack though, but willing to put that down to a bad choice of music consultant. I like the fact that it's unabashedly a kind of a modern low-budget B movie, and not a multi-million pastiche thereof.

Edit: Just took a look at today's CRU updates and seeing this at 55/100 while distinguished critics race to fall over themselves for ersatz middlebrow fodder like The Tribe almost makes me want to put this in my top ten - but only almost... Even so I will always always root for Joe Dante: at this day and age you can never have too many people who still try to keep in mind that movies are supposed to be - at least try to be, even just a little bit - fun. (And while the script is admittedly pretty dated at points - the zom-com isn't exactly a new idea, the eco-warrior jokes are pretty 1990's by now, etc. - at least I got a kick of watching him have a go at directing the hell out of it)

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Dylan
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Re: Joe Dante

#134 Post by Dylan » Thu Jun 18, 2015 2:27 am

It's OK - I know a lot of people were disappointed or even hated the film, but I found it entertaining enough
It's much better than The Hole, but it has problems. The Seth Rogan-esque sibling doesn't work and the ending seemed like a cheap shot
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very Idle Hands and Shaun of the Dead, having the comic relief character die and become a "good zombie" that the characters are still wary of
The whole final third act, in fact, needed a bit of work...
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So what was the deal with the devil statue? Apparently that's why she came back from the dead but I don't recall her or Yelchin making a wish or doing anything that would trigger some ancient powers. And the resolution was just strangely simplistic - Greene was not a good fit for him as a girlfriend but she did love and care about him & she was sort of sympathetic [the whole business about her Mom having died] so it just seemed strange to coldly off her and be done with the whole story. I know she killed his brother and is a monster and he has met the girl of his dreams, but we got to know Greene pretty well in the first act and killing her without any kind of closure seemed like a mistake to me. I just think, dramatically or even comedically, more could've been done with her.
Disliked the soundtrack though, but willing to put that down to a bad choice of music consultant.
Do you mean the original score or the two (?) scenes scored with songs? The score was predictable and ordinary for the genre. This film really needed an old fashioned 1950s monster movie score, the kind of music Matinee's "MANT!" was scored with (or to think outside of Dante but still in his wheelhouse, The Monster Squad in 1987 had exactly the kind of old fashioned "monster movie" score this needed). I think that would've added a nice spirit to the thing. The songs were always out of place, particularly the one used in the climactic scene.
I like the fact that it's unabashedly a kind of a modern low-budget B movie, and not a multi-million pastiche thereof.
Yes. Absolutely. It's a sincere b-movie and Dante's direction is always nice, so there's that.

Meanwhile, I read that Mary Woronov played Yelchin's boss at the Halloween store but that her scenes were cut. At under 90 minutes it's not a long film so I can't understand why Woronov - somebody this film's intended audience would probably love to see - was cut. Maybe her scenes will end up on the DVD.
Last edited by Dylan on Thu Feb 01, 2018 4:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

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repeat
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Re: Joe Dante

#135 Post by repeat » Thu Jun 18, 2015 4:00 am

Yeah, the actual score was OK, I meant the terrible "rock music" - I didn't mind the funeral song actually. But I'm a stickler for perfect credit roll music and this one went right off the scale at the wrong end. (It's certainly not the first decent horror movie to be unwisely watered down with lame-ass pseudo rock - the end titles of Cabin in the Woods, an otherwise nearly perfect movie, jump once again to mind)

I think most of the problems are indeed in the script, and yeah it doesn't make much sense but hey :D The slacker dude had some funny lines though ("Don't make me use my keys!")

But yes, everyone, do go out and see it if you get the chance!

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Dylan
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Re: Joe Dante

#136 Post by Dylan » Fri Jun 19, 2015 2:01 pm

AV Club interview that touches on topics the other latest interviews haven't, including hints at what his very next project might be:
AVC: Among your current projects is Ombra Amor, the werewolves and vampires film?

JD: Right. Yes. That’s still in the works. We are still working on the funding for that. I’ve got another one called Labirintis, which takes place in the catacombs beneath Buda Castle in Budapest, which is a really creepy script, and I think that may be the next one. That one is looking a little closer. Because it’s lower budget, obviously, that’s one reason.
And he sheds light on where the Corman project may end up:
we’re thinking maybe it doesn’t need to be a feature film. Maybe it should be something else. Maybe it should be a play. Maybe it should be a graphic novel. I don’t know. We’re still working on it.
The struggle to get The Man With the Kaleidoscope Eyes funded must be immense if they're considering adapting the screenplay into a graphic novel or a play instead. You'd think one of the many successful contemporary horror filmmakers and/or the legion of Roger Corman disciples would come to its rescue, but I know that's easier said that done.

Meanwhile, Glenn Kenny's review of Burying the Ex also expresses confusion about the role of the devil statue in the plot. He's less forgiving of the film's faults than I am, however.

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Dylan
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Re: Joe Dante

#137 Post by Dylan » Sat Jun 20, 2015 4:02 pm

Profuse praise from Video Watchdog's Tim Lucas: The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave

I can't imagine a more positive and insightful review of the film, but even Lucas doesn't know
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if the devil statue is what brought Evelyn back. Lucas seems forgiving of this, but the ambiguity didn't do it for me.
Lucas makes an interesting obervarion here:
it's the prevalent Monster Kid culture underlying the story that comes across as its most profound idea. The conflict being played out between Max and Evelyn is foregrounded here in a world where horror has become culturally pervasive
And finally, I do like how Lucas suggests that the second half of the film might be
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a projection of Yelchin's survivor's guilt. I don't buy it but it's an interesting idea. If Yelchin ended up being the only one who saw zombie Evelyn I would totally go along with this interpretation, but as is the film doesn't really support it.
Last edited by Dylan on Thu Feb 01, 2018 4:57 am, edited 1 time in total.


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Dylan
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Re: Joe Dante

#139 Post by Dylan » Sun Aug 02, 2015 9:39 pm

Roger Corman, in a new interview with Flavorwire, gives an update on The Man With Kaleidoscope Eyes:
[Joe Dante] seems to have found some financing. He had some financing at one time, and it fell through, but he has new financing. I know there’s a new writer working on a re-write of the script.
And Corman reveals what actor they originally considered to play him:
At one time, [Dante] was in discussions with Colin Firth from The King’s Speech. But after that picture, his price went too high. So, Colin is not going to be playing me, unfortunately.

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Dylan
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Re: Joe Dante

#140 Post by Dylan » Mon Aug 03, 2015 2:06 pm

Last night I watched The Shadow Man, the episode Joe Dante directed for the 1980s Twilight Zone reboot series, and it's unsettling (not a word I've ever used to describe Dante's work) but excellent. Being an all out horror story, it's not the usual TZ fare - a being who crawls out from under an awkward, bullied kid's bed declares itself as "the shadow man" and assures the kid that it will never harm the person whose bed it lives under, then over the next few weeks the Shadow Man goes on a series of brutal attacks.
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Meanwhile, the protagonist - not being afraid of the attacks because the "shadow man" assured him of safety - becomes braver and subsequently extremely popular at school, even getting the girlfriend he wants, and eventually he doesn't care about who the Shadow Man attacks because he knows he himself won't be a target . The image of the peppy, overly confident kid looking into the mirror and smiling while combing his hair as the Shadow Man looms behind him & gets ready for another attack is a very creepy moment. All of this leads to a very bleak ending.
The episode co-stars Jason Presson, who also appeared in Dante's Explorers (he was a very good kid actor, I'm surprised his career didn't take off). All of the performances, as always in Dante's work, are terrific.

I consider this a key Joe Dante work and all of his fans should seek it out.
Last edited by Dylan on Mon Aug 03, 2015 11:37 pm, edited 2 times in total.

beamish13
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Re: Joe Dante

#141 Post by beamish13 » Mon Aug 03, 2015 2:56 pm

That episode is astonishingly bleak. Sad that his only recent TV work has been on CSI!

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Dylan
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Re: Joe Dante

#142 Post by Dylan » Mon Aug 03, 2015 11:46 pm

beamish13 wrote:Sad that his only recent TV work has been on CSI!
Looks like he only directed one CSI: NY episode (a Halloween-themed episode concerning Amityville), but he's directed seven episodes of the Hawaii Five-0 reboot. He also just directed an episode of Salem. I haven't seen any of these, but I imagine they're all workman-like jobs that don't bare his signature, except probably in the level of performances.

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repeat
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Re: Joe Dante

#143 Post by repeat » Tue Aug 04, 2015 12:46 pm

Here's a stupid question: is there an alternate cut of Innerspace that has "Hypnotize Me" over the closing credits, or is my memory just playing its usual tricks on me? Just happened to see the last third of this and was surprised to not find it there.

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Dylan
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Re: Joe Dante

#144 Post by Dylan » Tue Aug 04, 2015 3:18 pm

repeat wrote:Here's a stupid question: is there an alternate cut of Innerspace that has "Hypnotize Me" over the closing credits, or is my memory just playing its usual tricks on me? Just happened to see the last third of this and was surprised to not find it there.
I actually just re-watched Innerspace recently after not having seen it since I was a kid, and it ended with the Rod Stewart cover of "Twistin' the Night Away," which is always how I remembered the film ending on VHS and on broadcast. It's very possible that there was a version in syndication that ended with the Wang Chung song, but I didn't see it.

The film holds up wonderfully, by the way. So much fun, and the circa 1987 visual effects are spectacular.

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repeat
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Re: Joe Dante

#145 Post by repeat » Tue Aug 04, 2015 3:54 pm

Yeah, it's definitely one of those "one-sock movies" (to borrow del Toro's memorable coinage) for me - very happy that it's finally out on Blu-ray.

I did also remember the last scene and "Twistin' the Night Away", but I was expecting the Wang Chung to come after that - in those days the credits were still short enough (even with these kinds of special effects) to only hold one song! I have no idea how I've managed to associate "Hypnotize Me" so strongly with this film, as it plays at a very low level in the background of one scene...

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Dylan
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Re: Joe Dante

#146 Post by Dylan » Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:39 pm

Dark, a horror film produced by Joe Dante, will premiere next month at the Oldenburg International Film Festival.

Last week, Dante did a very solid interview with Flavorwire and also reflected on parodying Donald Trump in Gremlins 2 for the NY Post.

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Dylan
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Re: Joe Dante

#147 Post by Dylan » Tue Oct 20, 2015 2:00 pm

Joe Dante to Direct Supernatural Thriller Labirintus

Though I was hoping (along with most of his fans, I assume) that Dante's next film would be The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes, it's great news that Labirintus (which he mentioned in interviews a few months ago) has gotten off the ground. A new film by Dante is always great news, and it kind of sounds like this will be a darker and more serious film for Dante (perhaps more along the lines of The Howling or his "Twilight Zone" episode The Shadow Man).

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Dylan
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Re: Joe Dante

#148 Post by Dylan » Sat Dec 26, 2015 6:48 pm

Dante will be directing an episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow. I'm not much of a superhero fan but I can imagine Dante having a lot of fun in the genre, even if this sounds more or less like a director-for-hire gig.

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domino harvey
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Re: Joe Dante

#149 Post by domino harvey » Tue Feb 02, 2016 11:12 am

Didn't like Burying the Ex at all, especially not how it needlessly piled on Ashley Greene's character for having the temerity to be a liberal and a responsible adult (actual driving force of the derision afforded against her) rather than a grown up goth with a poor business model (though every business in this movie is like something a thirteen year old would daydream about in math class). Worst of all, none of this is even kind of funny, and the endless sex jokes fall flat. I thought the cast-- outside of Greene, who does her best with an impossible part-- were lousy, and the film never convinced me Yelchin could attract a sea hag, much less the two comely women at his disposal here.

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Dylan
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Re: Joe Dante

#150 Post by Dylan » Sat Mar 05, 2016 7:38 pm

A brand new (and stylishly filmed) video interview with Joe Dante about Termite Terrace, the unproduced Charlie Haas script about Warner Brothers animators in the 1930s. A real shame this film never got made as it sounds like it would've been wonderful. I would love to read the script someday if it ever surfaces online.

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