Sometimes coming to a film late (either during an actual screening - SOMEWHERE IN TIME is immensely better if you see the first 40 minutes *after* the last hour - or long after it first opens, like my exposure to the 2004 film THE LAST SHOT today) can be an advantage. When you've never heard of a film with stars (ok, mostly TV stars) like Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Toni Colletti, Tony Shaloub, Calista Flockart and Ray Liotta, you have to figure that it had to be a minor piece - possibly a "straight to TV or DVD" release (seven months after a limited U.S. release, that is exactly what happened to THE LAST SHOT) and standards are appropriately reduced.Catching it on TV, it was easy to get caught up in the fun of the expert cast giving their all to a borderline farce based on the actual events surrounding the FBI getting involved (without telling the rest of the cast, crew or creative staff) in making a fake movie as a sting to capture a mafia big. The basic idea has potential but given the cast of expert comedians, the film makers concentrate more on the farcical aspects of movie making than the irony of the fake nature of the project. You can get an idea of the sort of potential they had (bearing in mind the then well known death of actor Vic Morrow under the blades of a falling helicopter) by reading the comment on these boards dated 16 June 2006 entitled "behind the scenes story." For most of the film's length it's easy to become pleasantly engrossed in the amusing character stories - especially Broderick's writer/director and Baldwin's increasingly obsessed FBI agent/producer. The only let down - and the film makers are even able to give it a surprisingly touching coda - is when Ray Liotta's FBI man tells Baldwin that the goal of the mission has been achieved and the "picture" is being shut down - JUST as they are getting set up to make the first and, as it turns out, last shot of the supposed movie (hence the title). It can't help but be a letdown for the audience which has come to root for the characters to overcome the craziness surrounding them and get the movie made. "Cinematicus Interruptus" ...and yet there is that coda in which the actual writers and directors of THE LAST SHOT give all the characters hope and possible happy endings. Whether this is going to add up to a happy ending for the viewer depends on the viewer, but the journey is very nice.

Wednesday, September 29, 2004message to Roy Disney for whatever its worth There were several unsafe, against union protocol and contract practices that occurred in the many weeks that I was shooting the film, as one of a handful of extras who were labeled in the script and storyboards as Stevens friends (Matthew Broderick played the role of Steven). Among these practices was the biggest flub of all: The pivotal Helicopter Scene where myself and about 5 others were directed by the Stunt Coordinator to stand under the hovering helicopter that was 10 ft above the ground (if a 6 man jumped up, he could've touched it, see the movie, it shows all) which is in every way a STUNT CONTRACT ROLE. Myself and the others participated about 3 times and then refused, unless given a contract. As there was no SAG rep on the set, we had no one to vouch for us, and the production grew livid at our request and literally started ripping our wardrobe off of us and placing it on other stunt people. This was indication enough as to how integral we were to the shot, and how we were getting a stunt contract stolen from right under us. We got the exact shots that we participated in, as well as the exact cameras that took those shots, as well as the storyboards showing US while the helicopter flew and hovered over our heads and presented it to our REP at the Screen Actors Guild, who in turn was going to present it as a claim on behalf of the 5 of us to Disney. A year went by and 4 of us (all except one) were sent a check of $20 for our troubles. Here is the aftermath of how Disney has made us feel:Written by myself on 9/28/04SOO.. has everyone seen the film yet? I had a chance on Sunday. I must say Disney is all about the profanity, nudity, gangster violence and cheap shots at typical shoddy-haven't we- heard-all-this-before-the-Player-etc "Hollywood biz" humor... ah, when Disney can stoop this low, well, there's your answer to family values, downward spiraling morals of society as a whole and well, a bleak bleak future of quality entertainment.Or am I giving them too much credit?regarding that helicopter scene... What exactly did OUR SAG "REP" say?!? There was no evidence of us being in that shot; and After reviewing the dailies all he saw were people scattering before the chopper came in; and that he could do nothing about it; as well as there was so much debris he couldn't make out anything. This is correct, right, or am I leaving anything out?(Even though when we chose to stop participating, they ripped our jackets and hats off of us and put them on stunt people who WERE UNDER CONTRACT DOING EXACTLY WHAT WE HAD JUST BEEN DOING in the shots that we had specifically named, down to which camera and everything! This alone is evidence that you don't need to weed through crushed walnut shells to uncover. )Well, if you go with THAT line of thinking, than there isn't any evidence that ANYONE was in the shot. I guess all those people were just figments of our imagination, and hell... did the entire shoot happen at all? Or maybe I simply died the night our shuttle bus was breaking every driving rule in the book, including crossing a double yellow line, driving on the wrong side of the road, and zooming way past the speed limit down a very steep hill in Antelope Valley in the wee dark hours of the morning, just to try and get us back to our cars in the nick of time so they wouldn't HAVE to pay us Golden Time... and everything since has ALL BEEN A DREAM. Ah! A dream is a wish your heart makes, to quote from the Disney cricket... and I must have wished this...I also must have wished to see myself speaking on the big screen one day. Who knew the wish would come true while chumming it up with Matty Broderick? It must be a dream, as don't exactly remember speaking nor a boom over my head, and when did that other guy have that huge run-on sentence monologue in the same scene? We must've both been dreaming... how weird! Too bad my dream didn't include a contract for my on-camera speaking role...---After talking with our SAG "rep"He told me after reviewing the dailies all he saw were people scattering before the chopper came in, but he says there was so much debris he "couldn't make out anything".I ask him why would they put Stunt people with us and sandwiched us in. He says "I Don't Know"I said didn't you ask them that, he Says "NO", he says he had to plead with Disney for the $20.00 I ask about the SAG lawyers taking on the case. He says "it's out of their jurisdiction" The only way to get anything is to get an outside lawyer to go after Disney and then SAG for not providing the service and protection we pay them for.They know we probably will not do this so they will make there back handed deals with these production companies.------------------------- Dear Roy, I'm sure your father never intended for his name to be used in this manner.

Lots of tossed-off wisecracks and funny lines in this movie. "I see you're lookin' at my face. My wife set me on fire while I was asleep. Squirted lighter fluid all over me. Six months later the marriage fell apart." Six months later? Fell APART? The story is simple enough. Baldwin, an FBI agent, hooks an unknowing Broderick into making a movie in Providence, Rhode Island, as a sting operation to nail John Gotti. The operation fails but the movie isn't really about Gotti or crime anyway. It's about two goofs who get swept up in an obsession to make a movie that's set in the Arizona desert. The FBI supplies them with just enough money to begin casting the "production". When the notice appears in Variety they get volunteer offers from academy-nominated actress Emily French (Toni Collet), Pat Morita, and Russel Means. The fantasy begins to turn so real that the original goal is forgotten and the artistic adventure acquires functional autonomy. Ars Gratia Arse, so to speak.The movie pokes a lot of fun at the Hollywood community. Russel Mean is supposed to play a character named Chief Blackbear, however he is informed that the name must be changed to Chief Blackhawk. He looks a bit taken aback and muses, "I guess I'll have to learn to manage that." Calista Flockheart's character punctures her thigh with a fork to arouse "sensory memories." Over dinner in a fancy restaurant, Colett rapidly runs through her physical and psychiatric history to a stunned Baldwin and Broderick and winds up peeing into an empty wine glass to show how she is tested for drugs every six months, while the other customers stop eating and the piano music comes to a halt.It's pretty amusing. Not so much the story as the exchanges between the characters that are written into the script. (The editor holds on a bit too long sometimes after the gags, waiting for the laughter to subside.) There's something rather sad about the ending, when the FBI forcibly shuts down the production -- kind of like "The Teahouse of the August Moon." Everyone is having such a ball that it seems tragic to have to get back to business.Yet, though the movie is amusing, it's not outrageously so. Anyone who wants to see a comedy about making a phony movie should rent "After the Fox," which in its combination of Italian over-the-top bombast and Jewish repartee is a classic of its kind.This one is worth catching though and offers some good laughs. The difference between the seasoned FBI agent, Baldwin, who has dealt with low lifes, and the ambitious director, Broderick, who was raised in the company town of Hollywood, is perfectly captured in a single exchange. The fake producer Baldwin makes up a story about the death of his fictitious wife. Broderick is sorry to hear that and asks, "Was she in the business?" Baldwin turns to stare at him -- for a long time -- and then asks, "Why would I marry a whore?"

The Last Shot is a quirky, enjoyable art-house comedy based on the true story of an FBI agent, Garland Schweickhardt, who was in charge of an elaborate operation named "Dramex" to nab mob influences in the film business.The Schweickhardt character in the film is named Joe Devine (Alec Baldwin). After a brief character establishing scene and an amazing title/opening credits sequence (featuring movie theater objects) that's one of the most creative and cute ones I've seen yet, Devine is transferred to the Providence, Rhode Island FBI office and learns of Tommy Sanz' (Tony Shalhoub) illegal mob dealings with the local teamsters. He figures that the best way to bust Sanz is to set up a fake film shoot and try to get him to make a deal to avoid having to use (and more importantly pay for) union truckers. So Devine, who knows next to nothing about the film business, poses as a producer and heads to Hollywood.He gets a crash course in the industry from insider Fanny Nash (Joan Cusack in a hilarious extended cameo), and he begins his search for a script and director. Enter struggling screenwriter Steven Schats (Matthew Broderick), who has a day job as a ticket taker at Mann's Chinese Theater and who lives next to a noisy (of course) dog kennel, a fact that profoundly annoys his struggling actress girlfriend, Valerie Weston (Calista Flockhart). Schats has been shopping his script, "Arizona", for a number of years to no avail. Devine sets up a meeting with him and immediately offers him a deal, including casting power, final cut and points. Of course Schats jumps on the deal.There's only one problem. The script calls primarily for location shots in the desert, including Hopi Indian cave scenes. It's integral to the story. But Devine insists that they shoot in Rhode Island. The bulk of The Last Shot hinges on a few different conflicts, including the FBI's reservations about Devine's plan, which keeps snowballing and turning into a more far reaching lie.Although it's not every day that the FBI sets up a bogus film production, director and writer Jeff Nathanson uses his debut film as a helmer to comment on various levels of the typical craziness of the movie business. Devine's FBI superiors function as executive producers who are regularly perplexed about where their money is going, but who are easily enough talked into furthering their support as Devine pitches additional time and resources they need to acquire. On a more literal level, Nathanson is also able to spoof agents, directors, actors, and many processes, such as location scouting and casting. Much of this material is hilarious, and viewers do not need to have any intimacy with the film industry to "get it", or to get that there is probably a lot more truth to these scenes than is usually admitted.The cast is excellent, including Baldwin and Broderick. They may not be the first two names many cineastes would think of when they imagine an art-house film propelled by humorous but poignant performances, but The Last Shot just shows why such conventional wisdom views are off the track. A lot of sizable stars take roles with far less screen time than normal--including Shalhoub, Flockhart and Ray Liotta, but this is a well-written script that turned out to be well directed, so it was a good move for them.At the same time that Nathanson enables a somewhat sarcastic, cynical view of the film-making process, there is a parallel plot featuring Devine that emphasizes a much more romantic view of the lure of the business. It becomes increasingly clear as The Last Shot unfolds that Devine is no longer concerned with just or even primarily nabbing mobsters. He's trying to plunge deeper into making his "fake" feature because he's falling in love with the idea of film-making. There's a particular line of dialogue delivered by one of Devine's superiors in the FBI, having to do with continuing Devine's project, that is not only a hilarious line in context, it's virtually the climax of the film. Devine has triumphed. The sham has become not what he tells Schats, but what he tells his supervisors. The subsequent conclusion of the film is thus heartwarming and a bit melancholy/tragic at the same time. It's a nice change of pace from more stereotypically "Hollywood" endings.This is a very good, near-excellent film that has not received the attention it deserves. Although there is an art-house atmosphere to it, it's really more of a mainstream film that should have opened wide in multiplexes with a big publicity campaign. I never even noticed the film on its theatrical release, and I live in New York City and usually pay attention to what's playing the art-house theaters. I only noticed the DVD through my weekly scouring of release schedules to make sure I don't miss anything. Give it a chance and make sure you tell a friend or two about it.