Movie Review: Domino: When Meth Meets Filmmaking

[iheartskins]

Tonight I walked out of a movie for the first time in my life. Although I wasn't sure what I was getting into, the preview, although a little cheesy, looked intriguing and the cast list appeared impressive. Little did I know that I was about to sit and look at a collection of images totally lacking in both common thread or substance.

Domino, Tony Scott's latest installment, makes a home video of someone's crank induced fantasies seem palpable in comparison. Although Scott has directed some excellent movies, True Romance and Crimson Tide among the most famous, in Domino he attempts to challenge traditional stylistic norms of film by making lots of very short shots and changing scenes after fewer than two minutes have elapsed. This might have been his desire, but he just leaves his viewers wanting to slow the film down. Each scene shows a small snipet of the story in a psuedo coked-up version of Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. But where Pulp Fiction featured compreshensible segments of a story, Domino provides only randomly related offerings that seem to have no coherent structure. Probably the most inexplicable scene is when 90210 "stars" Ian Zerring and Brian Austin Green make several cameos. Why, you may ask. No clear reason can be understood for this aside from a director's own unrelated interest that he'd like to either mock or give some kind of pathetic homage to actors that most of us have thankfully forgotten.

Although some of the actors show some promise--as Mickey Rourke's does in several scenes where he dominates poor Keira Knightly--the fact that there is no character development means that however valiant his, and Edgar Ramirez are in their portrayals, it's still impossible to follow who we're supposed to believe they are.

For about the same amount of money and probably the same amount of fun (or more), I'd recommend watching COPS after smoking several lightbulbs of crack. Maybe you could even ask your local crackhead to tape himself doing this. That'd probably be more tolerable than this drivel.

Easily the worst Hollywood movie I've ever seen.

[Ghost of]

Sadly, a movie that I liked, Man on Fire, was the prelude to your horror. While the 'crank-induced' color saturation and editing was used more judiciously and sometimes to excellent effect there, one could easily see Tony getting out of control.

You must remember that his brother, Ridley, once said, "Style IS substance." What he may have meant only in one sense, Tony apparently took to its extreme. You saw the hints of it already in Spy Game. It is like a disease.

but maybe he'll pop out of this with enough bad press and response.

[LeesburgSkinFan]

I stayed for the whole thing and was kicking myself afterward. Who was I supposed to root for in the movie? Man, it was garbage. By the way, the real Domino Harvey committed suicide over the summer...she must have seen a screening.

[iheartskins]

I liked True Romance and I own Crimson Tide, but this movie was just unwatchable.

steveo56, what'd you think of it?

[Spaceman Spiff]

Man, I've heard nothing but bad things about this movie. And it sucks cause I thought the previews looked pretty decent. I'll stay away from it for sure.

[steveo21]

I liked True Romance and I own Crimson Tide, but this movie was just unwatchable.

steveo56, what'd you think of it?

I have always seen him riding the coat tails of his big brother.How did so much talent go one brother, and so little went to the other? I know true romance was good but I give the credit to Quentin Tarantino for the screenplay BC he actually wrote it but took money to give up his credit.

Watching his career is like watching someone grow up, showing talent, perfecting his talent, and then slowly begin to deteriorate from a brain disease. He has pretty much always been a stylized filmmaker who makes fast paced, if not perfect films. Last Boyscout was silly, but quite entertaining.I think he reached his peak with True Romance. He went on to make other really good films like Crimson Tide. The Fan sucked, but I figured that was a disaster from the start. Then he made Enemy of the State, which was good, but it was with this film that I started to notice his impatience as a director. He wanted to be hip and force you to be entertained by using a lot of loud and quick cuts. It was still good though. After that, we got Spy Game. I also liked it, but he was showing more of the directorial impatience that some call stylistic masturbation. Most recently came Man on Fire, a film that I would have enjoyed if Scott had nothing to do with it. I couldn't concentrate on the intruiging, yet familiar, story or the acting because the camera work was giving me a headache. It seems that he has gone even further with Domino. Maybe he has just been doing a lot of drugs lately. That would explain it. It's sad though. He was a promising director. Maybe he just had about a decade of decent luck with his films.

That being said, I haven't seen it and don't plan on it.BUT!!! If you want to see a few good flicks check out 'Capote'" if you can find it in your area" also Good Night, and Good Luck.

[iheartskins]

I have always seen him riding the coat tails of his big brother.How did so much talent go one brother, and so little went to the other? I know true romance was good but I give the credit to Quentin Tarantino for the screenplay BC he actually wrote it but took money to give up his credit.

Watching his career is like watching someone grow up, showing talent, perfecting his talent, and then slowly begin to deteriorate from a brain disease. He has pretty much always been a stylized filmmaker who makes fast paced, if not perfect films. Last Boyscout was silly, but quite entertaining.I think he reached his peak with True Romance. He went on to make other really good films like Crimson Tide. The Fan sucked, but I figured that was a disaster from the start. Then he made Enemy of the State, which was good, but it was with this film that I started to notice his impatience as a director. He wanted to be hip and force you to be entertained by using a lot of loud and quick cuts. It was still good though. After that, we got Spy Game. I also liked it, but he was showing more of the directorial impatience that some call stylistic masturbation. Most recently came Man on Fire, a film that I would have enjoyed if Scott had nothing to do with it. I couldn't concentrate on the intruiging, yet familiar, story or the acting because the camera work was giving me a headache. It seems that he has gone even further with Domino. Maybe he has just been doing a lot of drugs lately. That would explain it. It's sad though. He was a promising director. Maybe he just had about a decade of decent luck with his films.

That being said, I haven't seen it and don't plan on it.BUT!!! If you want to see a few good flicks check out 'Capote'" if you can find it in your area" also Good Night, and Good Luck.

Thanks for weighing in. I tend to agree completely with your assessment.

And I also want to second the recommendation for Capote which is excellent. I saw it at the Angelika recently and wrote a review of it:

I don't know how widely released this movie has been, but I saw it tonight with Linda.

Wow.

A very moving portrayal of Truman Capote and the process by which he wrote the book that made him famous: In Cold Blood. The acting was superb--highlighted my an inspired performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman--and the pacing and cinemetography were of a similarly high standard.

By no means is it a cookie cutter drama; although moments of comedy punctuate some of the scenes, the movie has a darker focus. It doesn't cheat the reality of the story behind the movie by integrating Hollywood cliches. It's this lack of laziness that makes the film true to itself and more importantly thought provoking and memorable. I left the theater thinking about the implications of Capote's comparison of himself to the central figure of his novel--Capote and the murderer grew up in the same house but one walked through the front door and the other left through the back.

If you've read any of his work, or read the New Yorker with any frequency, I strongly suggest seeing the movie.

I'd be interested to see how closely, that is what details were included/omitted, the movie holds to the story from those of you that have read the book and seen the movie.

[steveo21]

Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of the best actors out there today! GREAT stuff!*MINUS TWISTER*

[Spaceman Spiff]

iheartskins, you write some awesome reviews man!

[steveo21]

iheartskins, you write some awesome reviews man!

[iheartskins]

Thanks Spiff and SteveO. It's a great way to do two things that I really enjoy: (a) write and ( watch movies.

[steveo21]

Thanks Spiff and SteveO. It's a great way to do two things that I really enjoy: (a) write and ( watch movies.

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Here ya go! A taste!

Vincent Chase and his brat pack may have Hollywood as their ultimate playground on HBO's hit show Entourage,but for creator and executive producer Doug Ellin it's just another day at the office.

text Chad Gervich photography Claudette Barius

"Cut!" yells Entourage director Julian Farino.

Doug Ellin buries his head in his hands. The shot's still not right.

Slumped in his director's chair, sneakers tattered and faded green T-shirt askew, Ellin looks more like a college kid home on break than the showrunner of a hit TV series. Especially a flashy, high-octane series like Entourage, HBO's breakout comedy about fictional movie star Vincent Chase and his posse of childhood friends.

Today Entourage has taken over Paramount Studios' New York Street, a small knot of sidewalks and brownstones situated at the back of the lot. Home to countless films, television shows and commercials appearing to take place in Gotham, New York Street is a near-perfect recreation of its namesake. In fact, if it weren't for the lights, cameras and crewmembers milling about, Ellin might as well be sitting in one of the very neighborhoods in which he grew up.

But he's not.

He's thousands of miles away from his childhood home, nervously contemplating the production schedule, wondering how much longer it'll take to finish a shot that's already taken, what? Thirty minutes? Normally, this wouldn't be an inordinate amount of time, but on a day when the show must shoot at over six locations (most of them on the lot), timing's everything. Ellin runs his hands through his unkempt brown hair and looks at Farino, emerging from the trailer where the scene's being filmed.

"How was that?" Farino asks.

One can almost hear the crew lean in, a hundred people anxiously awaiting their boss's answer.

"He's still doing it," Ellin replies, referring to series regular Kevin Dillon, who plays Johnny Drama, the show's funniest and most heartbreaking character.

In this particular scene, Vince has booked a commercial, and his omnipresent friends – Eric, Turtle and Drama – have tagged along to his trailer. The shot is relatively simple: Drama emerges from the trailer's bathroom, wearing nothing but a robe and slippers, and struts toward the sitting area, where his buddies chat offscreen. He brushes his teeth in the wall mirror, waiting for his cue, then turns to the camera and asks, "What, I'm not workin'?"

"It's like he's the first one being asked the question," Ellin says. "He's not. Everyone else has already answered. So it's not, ‘What, I'm not workin'.' It's, ‘What, I'm not workin'.'"

Farino nods, with the exhausted nod of a man who's been down this broken road before. He trudges back to the trailer to deliver the news. The crew deflates.

A moment later, the trailer door bursts open and Dillon storms out, bedroom slippers slapping the pavement, terrycloth bathrobe billowing behind him.

"This never happens," Ellin says, steeling himself for the upcoming conversation. "Hardly ever."

Grabbing his ubiquitous script binder, Ellin retreats with Dillon and Farino to the shade of the New York Street facade, where he tries to explain the difference between Dillon's reading and the reading he hears in his head. "What, I'm not workin'," Ellin explains, sounds like the entire conversation is directed at Drama. The correct reading, "What, I'm not workin'," sounds like Drama is simply the next person in line to answer the question. But Dillon insists his version is funnier.

Ellin and Farino exchange glances.

While one has to respect Dillon for being passionate about his work, it's hard to take him seriously as he stands in nothing but a robe and slippers.

After several minutes of artistic tug of war, Ellin and Farino convince Dillon to give it one more shot. The actor stomps begrudgingly back to the set, and Ellin returns to his chair.

"Everyone's friends [here]," Ellin says, without a hint of wryness. "There's no tension or weird **** going on."

This clearly isn't how he wanted to start his day.

"What happens at the end of [episode] eleven?" asks actor Kevin Connolly, appearing out of nowhere.

Ellin rolls his eyes. Connolly, who plays Eric, Vince's best friend/manager, is one half of an unintentional comedy team comprised of himself and co-star Jerry Ferrara, who plays happy-go-lucky sidekick Turtle. Like overgrown children, they bobble around Ellin's chair, harassing him for information about upcoming episodes, potential guest stars and season arcs.

On any other day, their schtick would be a welcome interlude amidst the chaos of production. But Ellin's not in the mood today.

In addition to dealing with Dillon, the writers are behind on scripts, line producer Wayne Carmona can't get permission to film at the U2 concert in three weeks and Comicon is being sticky about letting them recreate the world's largest sci-fi, fantasy and comic-book convention for an upcoming episode. Plus, the construction crew hasn't finished the giant aquarium for this afternoon's shoot, and Ellin's two kids, Lucas and Maya, both have double pinkeye and double ear infections. Stress is beginning to take its toll.

"[Executive producer] Larry Charles' assistant just told me I look like I've lost thirty pounds," Ellin says. "Thirty pounds! This really distresses me. This means I weigh about 127."