This, I Demand! Results

Catch that Serpentor reference there? If not, go watch some G.I. Joe and get back to me. You've heard of VOD right? Video On Demand? Or see it on iTunes? These days plenty a movie will get a small release in markets like Los Angeles and New York, some press and then hit Demand services where you can watch brand new movies in the comfort of your home. Generally for less the cost of an evening movie ticket. Dolph Lundgren and Tony Jaa's Skin Trade hit VOD weeks before the theatrical release and Arnold Schwarzenegger's Maggie just landed in a handful of theaters to hype up the digital release. It's an interesting and cost effective way to unleash a flick. Instead of spending tens of millions of dollars on promotions, tie-ins and premieres, cast and crew hit a few talk shows, do some online videos and attend a small premiere. Then we get to come home from a long week, kick back on the couch with a bag full of fast food, a glass of whiskey and hit BUY on our remote control. In this case it was via Amazon Prime where I had some promo bucks, I think from using non-rush shipping. Thanks Amazon!

I had seen plenty of advertising for Magnolia's latest release, the romantic dramedy Results, on Facebook, about the lives of personal trainers something or other. Guy Pearce and Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother, Avengers) headlined a pretty decent cast that included Kevin Corrigan (The Departed), Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar), Anthony Michael Hall (Weird Science) and Brooklyn Decker (Battleship). Written and produced by busy indie guy Andrew Buljaski (Computer Chess), Results finds Pearce's buffed up Trevor running a successful gym/lifestyle joint called Fitness 4 Life or 4 Points Fitness something or other. He's looking to expand to bigger and greater things to spread the gospel of taking care of yourself to achieve physical, spiritual and mental shape. His top trainer is the direct and kind of pissed off Kat (Smulders) who stops clients in the street to shame them for eating cupcakes and being late on their dues. Along comes Danny (Corrigan) a shambolic and weird yet well off guy whose just been dumped. Looking to get in shape, he enlists Trevor's help and Kat is dispatched to his bougie yet empty house to start getting ripped. Lines are crossed, people get ticked, hearts get kind of broken, weights are lifted and many an online work out video is watched.

Results is a weird movie. It has it's funny and odd moments but you're just not sure where it's going or what it's doing. By the end it's revealed to be a sweet and simple romantic comedy about two individuals stripping away their baggage and accepting one another. But on the way you get lots of claustrophobic shots in bland offices and the empty house along with lingering scenes where people just kind of hang out. Austin and parts of Texas are mentioned as the locale but nearly everything is shot in nondescript homes and empty streets so there's no character provided. A detour to see a kettlebell guru (Hall) and his wife (Decker) provides a few laughs and enlightenment that the leads realize they might love each other. Everything seems to go on for a while and there's even a couple of montages pre and post a mention of Rocky showing life going great for Trevor and Danny working out. There are some nice visuals as Trevor envisions and walks his dream gym and juice bar but the overall pedestrian use of locations makes Results feel like a bit of a home movie with famous people in it. If you like any of the actors and have your laptop or tablet nearby, Results isn't the worst way to spend $6 bucks or 100 minutes and did inspire me to go work off that fast food.

Workout of the Day: Guy Pearce

Guy Pearce is no stranger to having his shirt off for a flick but he's usually looking pretty skinny. I remember thinking he had a pretty solid but slim build in 2000's Memento and wasn't surprised when I learned he had done some bodybuilding as a teenager. His mom would take him to the gym and while she took a swim, Guy was pumping weights and doing circuit training. That lead to winning a local contest at age 16 but nothing much more came of it. Cut to 2012 and after years of headlining some really random movies and embodying eclectic roles like L.A. Confidential, Ravenous, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert and Bedtime Stories, Pearce went full action hero mode for Lockout.

More or less a sci-fi mash up of Escape From New York and Die Hard, Lockout didn't light the box office on fire but remains a visually interesting and entertaining action flick. Having just played a vain playboy in The King's Speech, Pearce's Snow is a vast change of pace being a smart ass anti-hero type, a guy who has a quip for every question and walks around with some yoked out pipes. There's fist fights, space fights, shootouts and one liners galore. Nearly every piece of press on the film focused on Pearce's transformation. In an age when getting in shape lands you lead roles (hello, Chris Pratt), I was surprised Pearce didn't land on the cover of Men's Health, Fitness, Journal, Diary whatever talking about bulking up. Maybe he did but I didn't see it on the ol' internets.

While definitive workout plans remain elusive, Pearce constantly referred to his youth in the gym and muscle memory coming into play. The only real details gleaned are that he spent a month prior to shooting hitting the weights after directors and writers James Mather and Stephen St. Leger dubbed him a bit skinny. While on location in Serbia for the 3 month shoot, Pearce says he worked out 5 days a week in the gym and consumed lots of protein powder and local meat. Like fellow actors Ryan Reynolds and Daniel Craig, Pearce has some great genetics and a build that easily accommodated an extra 20 pounds of beef. Pearce did many of his own stunts, hanging from wires, getting burnt by a ricochet shell casing and roughing around with stunt guys who all compared him (unfavorably) to Gerard Butler who had just left town. Apparently Pearce didn't lift as much weight or drink as much booze or party as late as Butler.

Pearce is in shape again for the just released Results, a weird, pseudo romantic comedy about personal trainers. He looks great in the flick, muscular and cut with the extra weight in his face taking away some of that menacing angular-ness. Again, working out was a key topic for promotion but Pearce again chalked it up his past in the fitness realm but worked on upping his cardio for the running scenes. Having buffed up for the under performing Lockout and already appearing in a comic book movie as a villain in Iron Man 3, we'll see what next role will find the 47 year old Australian hitting the weights next for.

Ask Me a Question: The Rover

In a bit of summer time counter programming, it was time for Australian semi-post apocalyptic, revenge thriller western The Rover at The Arclight in Hollywood.  Writer/director David Michod was scheduled for Q&A afterwards and late in the day it was announced co-star Robert Pattinson would also be joining for a chat to hype up the limited release.  Michod had previously given audiences the low key yet engrossing family crime saga Animal Kingdom in 2010.  The Rover starts off by telling us it's been 10 years since The Collapse.  Then we cut to the arid desert of Australia where we find Guy Pearce's Eric sitting alone in his dusty car before he enters a near empty, makeshift bar playing some kind of Asian music.  Outside, a trio of criminals flee the scene of their latest job with one bleeding from a gunshot wound.  We hear them arguing over leaving someone behind and in the heat of the moment, a fight breaks out and they go crashing into the side of the road.  Their vehicle temporarily disabled, they hop into Eric's car and drive off.  What follows is a deliberately paced, shockingly violent and well made piece of revenge and redemption cinema if not the most enjoyable or engaging.

On the trail for his car and possessions, Eric comes across Rey, the thought dead 4th bandit and brother to gunshot afflicted Henry (Argo and Killing Them Softly's Scoot McNairy).  Eric takes Rey to get cleaned up and in the process turns him into his prisoner/guide to find big brother.  Dubbed a "half-wit", Pattinson convincingly plays Rey as equal parts dim, cocky and innocent behind fake teeth, mumbling southern accent and a bad fade haircut.  Throughout the film of course their antagonistic relationship turns symbiotic as they come to an understanding and help each other through.  We learn more about Pearce's mysterious Eric through bits and pieces that he was a soldier, formerly married, etc but Michod is smart enough to keep the reason why he's so keen on getting his car back a mystery until the very end.  We're never told exactly what The Collapse entails but there's still businesses open (that only take American cash), cars on the road and guns galore so it's not exactly Mad Max but Michod does an excellent job of setting up the run down, violent world without much explanation. 

Pearce plays Eric as focused yet disheveled with little dialog for vast stretches of the film.  Pattinson does a fine job acting in an unglamorous role and shows he's serious about using that Twilight fame to anchor an actual career.  Being shot in remote Australia gives us plenty of long takes of rocky and desolate landscapes and we can feel the heat and grime through sweaty brows, filthy clothes and flies buzzing about everywhere.  The music and sound are used to great effect, helping to build up tension then break it like when Pattinson sings along to a random pop song in the car out of nowhere.  Similar to fellow Australian film-making like John Hillcoat's The Proposition or Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly, The Rover is equal parts quiet, violent, impacting, beautiful and sad.  I can't say The Rover kept my interest the entire duration but at the end it was an experience to watch but not something I could ever imagine viewing again.

After the film, a Q&A hosted by an excited yet kind of goofy critic from Access Hollywood welcomed David Michod and Robert Pattinson.

- After Animal Kingdom, Michod's world was turned upside down.  Endless meetings, reading scripts he knew he'd never direct.
- Channeled professional and personal frustration into The Rover.  Feels that climate change is biggest threat to the planet but no one cares and for first time, the future does not seem very bright.
- Animal Kingdom and Warrior's Joel Edgarton has a Story By credit but there was no mention of his involvement.
- Pattinson had seen a teaser from Animal Kingdom and knew it was something special.  Read The Rover, was blown away by it and signed up.
- Got the look from seeing some white trash type but can't remember how he came up with the accent.  Being on a set of Australians, nobody could tell if it was good or bad.
- Shot in remote parts of Australia where it was 120 degrees and used night vision goggles to star gaze since there wasn't much else to do.
- Music came from various sources and inspirations but Michod cited going down an iTunes rabbit hole for 7 hours and discovering some out there stuff.
- Much was discussed about the film's conclusion, themes and story but I feel those would be spoiler heavy.  It's a simple movie so no need to ruin it here.
- Michod talks about hating to do "action" scenes because he gets 1/3 of the shots he would usually get in a day and it's not about talking to actors, it's just about technical garbage.

Like many of the Q&A's at The Arclight, The Rover's wasn't great.  For some reason, maybe it's because it's The Arclight, but it feels like the energy is sucked out and the moderators are looking for some highfalutin, important discussion on cinema and the state of blah blah blah.  It didn't help that our host had some really poor questions and the audience didn't change course with their mundane queries about favorite scenes to shoot and other crap I can't remember but it just wasn't very memorable.  More than several attendees left before the end and Robert Pattinson made for a borderline horrible guest.  Not that he was rude but he just didn't have much to say and barely looked up the entire time.

Now, that time Tim Allen and Dean Parisot did Q&A, it didn't matter that the moderator was blah, they just riffed without prodding and gave the audience great stories and background on the making of Galaxy Quest.

"By Grabthar's Hammer, by the suns of Warvan, you shall be entertained!"