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Post by Librarian on Mar 19, 2005 21:03:30 GMT -5
Why are there double words throughout it? I thought I was going crazycrazy! Oh Thanks! I didn't realize it copy/pasted that way. I just fixed it.
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Post by Gage51 on Mar 19, 2005 22:33:26 GMT -5
What a wonderful review! Thanks for posting that. Beth
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Post by Natalie on Mar 25, 2005 14:31:34 GMT -5
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Post by AlsoAVirgo on Mar 25, 2005 15:52:04 GMT -5
Sounds like my kind of movie! Thanks for the review! P.S. OK--I'll admit it. ANY WILSON MOVIE is my kind of movie!
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Post by Gage51 on Mar 25, 2005 16:33:21 GMT -5
Huh. That's the first nice review that I've read of her performance. Oh Lord, I guess we knew that they'd be compared to Wes but I'm already tired of it. They are different people. Say it with me now.....they are different people. Ouch. Yes, please enlighten us you smug dork. What a jerk. The whole point of filming in Austin is to film something unlike a big Hollywood blockbuster isn't it? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Can't wait! Lookin' forward to it! This reviewer didn't like the way his town was portrayed in TWBS. Poor baby. Yet he calls Luke charming, Will Ferrell hysterical and Harry Dean Stanton, Kris Kristofferson and Seymour Cassell "quaint". He can't seem to make up his little bitty mind. Again, I don't mind a review where the reviewer dislikes the movie and can point out flaws but the bad reviews I've read so far seem to be written by people who have a bone to pick, a stick up their ass, a fly in their soup. Oh you get the idea! Beth, glad the positive reviews are greater in number than the negative ones
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Post by Librarian on Mar 25, 2005 19:00:19 GMT -5
What a jerk. The whole point of filming in Austin is to film something unlike a big Hollywood blockbuster isn't it? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? That guy was just talking out his ass. -- My new favorite expression.
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Post by Pollyanna on Mar 25, 2005 22:07:30 GMT -5
This review from joblo.com says almost the complete opposite! I think you said it well Lib THE WENDELL BAKER STORY Director: Luke Wilson, Andrew Wilson Cast: Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Eva Mendes, Eddie Griffin, Seymour Cassel The opening night film was a Wilson Brothers joint. Written by Luke, co-directed by Luke & Andrew, and starring Luke & Owen is a solid little comedy of redemption called THE WENDELL BAKER STORY. Luke stars as a wise-ass ne'er-do-well who has a sweet girlfiriend (Eva Mendes) and a "career" that consists of creating fake IDs for illegal Mexican immigrants. A trip to the slammer and outright dumpage by his squeeze is not enough to set Wendell's life in the right direction...but his new job at a "retirement hotel" just might do the trick. The flick's sort of a modern-day tall tale farce, one that benefits from great performances all around, a sweet streak of sincere romance, and an admirably quirky sense of humor. Looks like all that work with Wes Anderson might have rubbed off on the Wilson boys, and the result is a sweet, weird little comedy.
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Post by texasgal on Apr 9, 2005 10:47:12 GMT -5
Natalie, that was a terrible review. Yes, there were little inconsistent glitches in a couple of the details of TWBS. So what? Fifty percent of Braveheart was fabrication, having no basis in historical fact. But I still liked the movie.
Here's another review of TWBS from Brian Chasnoff, printed in The San Antonio Current dated March 17-23, 2005. This one is much more favorable:
PACING ROOMS AND PARSING WORDS
Luke Wilson looks worried. It's hard to tell if this is because it is opening night at the South by Southwest Film Festival, and the curtain is about to rise on his new film The Wendell Baker Story, or if the furrowed brow and vexed eyes are his natural demeanor. Whatever the case, Wilson has used those eyes on the big screen to expressive effect for close to a decade now. Gazing into a mirror in The Royal Tenenbaums, those two sad orbs reflected a world of hurt and made us believe when his character Richie Tenenbaum sliced his wrists. In Bottle Rocket, after receiving the heave-ho from his true love Inez, Wilson's eyes communicated dejection more credibly than perhaps any other bodily organ in the annals of recent film. But those eyes are capable of more than radiating pain. One of the best moments in Bottle Rocket occurs when Luke finally elicitis an "I love you" from Inez and performs an imprompty dance of pure joy that forces us to unfurrow our own brows with him.
The progression from pain to transcendence that Luke navigated in Bottle Rocket works backward in The Wendell Baker Story, in which he plays the title role, a decidedly confident and untroubled con man who furrows nary a brow even after getting thrown into federal prison for produucing fake IDs for illegal immigrants. Unbearable angst descends, of course, but only after Wendell's girlfriend (Eva Mendes) decides to move on with her life, having had enough of his imperturbable and unromantic optimism. Love pangs notwithstanding, Wendell Baker's buoyancy is a far cry from Richie Tenenbaum's despair. As Wilson tells me a day after the film's premiere, Wendell Baker is also a departure from Luke Wilson. "I wanted to write something where I felt the guy's a lot different form me," he says. "Someone who wouldn't let anything people say about him bother him."
A day later, Wilson is striding around a hotel room, unshaven and restless, and he still looks worried. Perhaps a late night spent celebrating coupled with the media onslaught have contributed to his apparent unease. His brother Andrew Wilson is here as well, sitting on a couch and exuding optimism about the film he co-directed with his brother. Filmed in Texas, the independently produced The Wendell Baker Story was a stock family affair. Brother Owen, blissful drawl intact, plays an evil nurse nearly as crooked as his own nose, mom Laura contributed still photographs, and Uncle Joe served as an "all-purpose adviser," securing such items as a vintage World War II airplane for Kris Kristofferson's character to pilot across the Austin skyline. Wendell's dog is even played by Wilson's own dog Brother, who is pacing around the hotel room with his master as we speak.
Given the familial alliance, it seems natural for Luke and Andrew to have filmed The Wendell Baker Story on location in Austin and Wimberley. The brothers Wilson grew up in Dallas, and Owen and Andrew attended the University of Texas. Often, the movie plays like a loving montage of familiar Austin sights, from the glacial grandeur of the Frost Bank Tower to the bridge over Town Lake. As for working with his brothers, Luke says the on-set dynamics mirrored those in real life. "We're basically kinda friends," he says, and grinning slyly adds, "Friends that you can offend over and over again."
The story follows an incarcerated Baker as he undergoes a moral transformation, makes parole, and lands a job at a retirement home. There, he attempts to foil the corrupt management while winning back his estranged flame, who in the meantime has shacked up with a typically uproarious Will Ferrell. Irreverent humor abounds. In one scene, an unusually menacing Ferrell clutches his crotch, mouths expletives, and trashes his own grocery store to intimidate Baker. In another, Owen's character delivers a tasteless, tossed-off elegy for a recently deceased resident of the retirement home. "I've never had cancer..." he begins with trademark insourciance.
Despite the script's irreverence, Wilson has managed to pen some sincere meditations on serious themes such as loss and death. Hollywood old-timers Kris Kristofferson, Harry Dean Stanton, and Seymour Cassel, who play residents in the retirement home, often serve as conduits for these reflections. At one point, a grizzled Kristofferson looks out on a setting sun and muses on the unique vantage point of old age. "When you're like me," he says, "and when it's late in the game, yesterday, today, and tomorrow are all in the same room." In another scene, Stanton lies in bed facing the wall, despondent over the death of his wife.
"I wasn't really conscious of doing it that much," Wilson says of anchoring the script with weightier material. "It's one of those things where you can have those feelings if you're our age."
Wilson has now stopped his restless peregrinations, coming to rest relatively calmly in a chair. As he talks about "those feelings," he fixes those overwrought eyes firmly on his inquisitor. Up close and in person, that familiar look of apprehension seems to derive not from a sense of insecurity, but rather from a curiosity for how the world is unfolding around him in all its hurt and joy, a sort of better-or-worse immersion in everything life has to offer.
Wilson began working on the script for The Wendell Baker Story in 1999, adding to it sporadically in his free time. Although he has written short stories in the past, this was his first attempt at screenwriting. Four years later, he began assembling family members and friends to bring the script to life. Both the schedule and budget were tight; Luke and Andrew had only 35 days to shoot 225 scenes. The result is an offbeat, episodic comedy with melancholy flourishes and a loose feel that reminds one of a gathering of close friends, which it virtually was. Now that the film has been completed, the co-directing Wilson brothers seem to have somewhat differing opinions on the finished product.
"I'm really pleased," says Andrew, smiling widely.
Wilson's answer is a bit more apprehensive: "Looking at something that I've worked on so hard for so long, I'm thinking, Should I be worried?"
Judging from the reaction of the Paramount Theater crowd on opening night, Wilson has no reason to be worried. Laughter and applause break out frequently and loudly during the show. People are clearly enjoying themselves. Despite such a warm reception, the following day Wilson still seems to harbor some uncertainty over the film's allure. "We were trying to make something that appealed to us," he concludes.
At least in Austin, what appeals to the Wilson brothers appeals to others as well.
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Post by WilsonFreak on Apr 9, 2005 11:08:35 GMT -5
Thanks for all the wonderful articles, LIb, Nat, Tex and Beth!!!!!!
What is really really cool to me is that we knew that Luke was working on a screenplay, and knew he was looking to get it made, and now, it has been made and is doing so well!!!!!!!! I feel so proud of Luke!! Like he is my own baby!!! lol!!!!!!! Now, if I can only get to SEE TWBS!!!!!!
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Post by Remi on Sept 18, 2005 7:09:41 GMT -5
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Post by hutchshottie on Sept 18, 2005 8:36:01 GMT -5
Thanks for that review I so can't wait to see this film now. Any news on when we can expect that? Well done the Wilsons.
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Post by texasgal on Sept 18, 2005 8:40:52 GMT -5
hutch, as far as I know (which isn't all that far), TWBS still doesn't have a distributor. Unbelievable!
TWBS has played very well everywhere it's been screened. Just like the article said, it's far better than most comedies that get distributed. The way distributors have ignored TWBS has got to be the movie mystery of the year.
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Post by hutchshottie on Sept 18, 2005 8:48:58 GMT -5
What a shame. Maybe we should protest!!!!!!!!!!! We should bug all distributors until they realise what a good film it is.
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Post by Gage51 on Sept 18, 2005 9:47:44 GMT -5
Thanks Remi! Beth
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Post by Librarian on Sept 18, 2005 12:11:16 GMT -5
Great review. Thanks, Remi!
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