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Travel Week

Andrew Klavan — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:10:47 +0000

Back at home after a week of zipping around the country. I was in Nashville on Monday and Tuesday to meet with my friends and publishers at Thomas Nelson. They were having a sales conference and I was there to introduce my new young adult novel Crazy Dangerous. Book has a terrific jacket, but I haven’t got a postable copy yet. When I do, I’ll post it. Some of the TN fiction staff were also kind enough to take me to Puckett’s for some country music, which was great. I’m still recovering from the shrimp and grits I ordered. Coast-dwelling creature that I am, I imagined a couple of shrimps delicately displayed atop a thin layer of creamy white grits. Welcome to the south, pal. A cement truck backed up to the table and poured this stuff into a humongous bowl—okay, not really, but you get the picture. Absolutely delicious, but heavy, dude, heavy.

From there, I came back to Los Angeles where I spent the night so I could attend a conference of the Wedgwood Circle. The group is dedicated to supporting “the good, true and beautiful” in the arts. I discussed ghost stories, after showing clips from my favorite, The Innocents, and the very good Paranormal Activity. I always feel like a bit of an outsider at these things because I believe that very dark, even twisted, stories can sometimes be the best way to show the good, true and beautiful—not the usual Christian point of view. I made my case though and would like to adapt the brief talk into an article, as soon as I have two minutes to scrape together. Anyone interested in paying me fantastic amounts of money to do this, please get in touch.

Finally, I was off to New York, where I recorded two new “Very Serious Commentary” segments for GBTV. I’ve been really happy with the first few, especially because I think the post-production work is getting better and better as they go along. Really like the GBTV staff too, I have to say. Smart, young, eager, professional. Speaks well of Glenn that the people who worked for him in the past at CNN and Fox want to go on working with him in this new venture.

So a busy week—and all the while, trying to meet my deadlines. I’m about two days away from handing in my latest adult thriller, and about a week (I hope) away from finishing a first draft of a new YA. I’ve had to hire someone to get some sleep for me. Oddly, that arrangement is not working out all that well.

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PJTV’s Klavan on the Culture Suspended

Andrew Klavan — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:01:03 +0000

If you look at the news section over there somewhere, you’ll see the happy news that I’m going to be appearing on Glenn Beck’s new online TV station GBTV. I’m contracted to do four satirical commentaries a month for the next six months, and we’ll see where it goes from there. I’m delighted about this as I think Glenn is one of the three most unfairly demonized commentators of the day, along with Rush and Ann Coulter, and I’m honored to be part of his new enterprise.

That’s the good news. Unfortunately, as my contract calls for me not to compete with myself, I will have to suspend PJTV’s Klavan on the Culture videos for the time being. Frankly, I would neither have time nor energy to do both anyway. I’m sorry about this because GBTV is behind a pay wall and so my new videos will only be available to subscribers. On the other hand, this gives you an excuse to subscribe to GBTV – which so far, has been excellent.

In any case, my Klavan on the Culture blog will still be available on Pajamas XPress, and KOC’s brilliant Visuals Dude Justin Folk and I will be producing a series of funny videos for the Manhattan Institute, which should be more broadly available.

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Homelanders in the Hollywood Reporter

Andrew Klavan — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:00:13 +0000

This article in last week’s Hollywood Reporter laid out the team that will be tackling the Homelanders movie:

Miles Chapman has been hired to pen Summit’s adaptation of Homelanders, a young-adult book series by Andrew Klavan. Screenwriters Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, best known as the showrunners of TV’s Smallville, are working with Chapman in developing Homelanders and, while no deals are made, are in talks to make their directorial debut on it.

Lorenzo Di Bonaventura is producing while Di Bonaventura Pictures’ David Ready is exec producing.

The books, described as The Bourne Identity crossed with Disturbia, centers on a high school student who wakes up to find himself tied to a chair, not knowing where he is or how a whole year has passed. After he manages to escape, he embarks on an adventure to find out why terrorists and the authorities are after him.

Summit and the filmmakers are inserting a sci-fi element to the story.

You can read the whole thing here. And yes, of course, I’d already heard about the “sci-fi element.” I don’t know what it is, but I’m assuming it’s to avoid confronting the whole Islamo-fascist part of the story. That’s Hollywood, folks, and there’s not a thing I can do about it. But the creative team is top-notch, and I have high hopes they’ll make a good film notwithstanding.

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Me on Steyn

Andrew Klavan — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:00:20 +0000

Here’s a short piece I did for City Journal on the admirable Mark Steyn:

Back in the nineties, when I was living in London, I stumbled on a minor columnist of major brilliance. Now and again, I’d find him in some newspaper, writing about a television show I’d never seen or a second-rate play I never planned to see, and I’d remark to my wife how strange it was that a writer of such enormous talent should be wasting his time tossing off articles about such trivia.

One day, walking through South Kensington, I saw him on the street; I recognized him from his byline photo. I wanted to introduce myself and say something on the order of, “Look, I don’t know much, but I know a fine mind and terrific prose when I see them, and by gumbo, lad, you should lay off this irrelevant cultural fluff and write about something that matters!” Unfortunately, I have struggled with shyness all my life, and the shyness nearly always wins. I let him pass, and tragically, without my encouragement, Mark Steyn’s career vanished without a trace.

No, of course I’m joking…

Read the rest here.

Andrew Joins Ricochet

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Movie: Bridesmaids

Andrew Klavan — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:00:21 +0000

[Possible spoiler - though I think everything here is in the trailer.]

So regarding Bridesmaids: reality check me here. A bride and her bridesmaids go to a high-class dress shop. They all get food poisoning and vomit and have diarrhea over everything. Is that a funny idea? Am I missing something? I mean, I get that it’s funny if you’re two 9-year-old boys trading jokes in the back seat of Mom’s mini-van, but I mean for the rest of us? I thought Super-Bad and Knocked-Up were pretty funny because they were essentially about 9-year-old boys or men who behave like them, but in a story about a wedding, the raunch doesn’t seem truly to communicate the characters or situation. Plus, did I mention it’s not funny?

And by the way, I saw this in the theater and the audience, many of whom seemed to be the college kids for whom it was made, chuckled, but didn’t erupt with any really big laughs. As for me, I admired Melissa McCarthy, who worked hard to get the humor and humanity out of every scene she was in, and I smiled at the scenes in the jewelry store and the ones with Jon Hamm, which seemed to me approximately as amusing as a lesser episode of Friends. Other than that, I found the whole thing drab, predictable and flat.

So assuming for a moment that it’s not me, that the film really isn’t very good (despite the undeniable talents of many of the performers involved), what accounts for some of the smashing reviews from venues on both the right, (Wall Street Journal ) and left (Los Angeles Times and New York Times)? Could it be that reviewers, most of whom are much older than college students, have been so intimidated by the fear of their own priggishness or irrelevance that they’ve lost the courage to state the obvious - ie. the movie’s not very funny?

Most of the reviews I read celebrate that at last women on screen can be as raunchy as men. But why is that good per se? If anything, it seems to point to the fact that any move toward “fairness” tends to downgrade everyone. Soon animal rights advocates will be able to celebrate that, at last, humans are as stupid as dogs, while socialists will be able to say, at last, rich people are as poor as poor people…

What was I saying? Oh yeah – it’s not a funny movie. But like I say, maybe it’s me. Go judge for yourself.

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DVD: Country Strong

Andrew Klavan — Wed, 18 May 2011 14:00:32 +0000

If ever there was a woman who should be seen and not heard it is Gwyneth Paltrow. I find her stunningly beautiful, but every time she opens her mouth off-screen she sounds awesomely shallow, spoiled rotten and anti-American.

In fact, I can’t help wondering if the expatriate actress took this role as an alcoholic country star in a desperate attempt to win her way back into the hearts and minds of the audience who made her parents and then her rich and famous.

Ah well. Nice try. It’s not the worst film ever made. I liked the music – but I like country music in general. I thought the performances were all very good. Paltrow deserves credit for her brave willingness to look about as lousy as she can during her character’s bouts with booze and self-pity. Garett Hedlund seems like a star about to happen. And Tim McGraw turns in an excellent and understated performance as Paltrow’s husband/manager. (McGraw, one of the best country singers out there, is the only featured player who never sings a note, which seems sort of like an annoying inside joke.)

But the direction is slow and the script cliched (both are by Shana Feste). And while there’s plenty of soap opera with this one screwing that one and then moving on to another, it’s none of it very emotional or involving. I wanted to see it because of the subject. I stuck with it for the songs. Basically, if you miss it you’ll never miss it. If you see what I mean.

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Moving my Blog

Andrew Klavan — Tue, 17 May 2011 14:00:41 +0000

For some reason beyond my comprehension, last week’s news item failed to post. Basically, it announced that I’d be moving my political/cultural blog from this site back to Pajamas Media’s XPress. There, I’ll re-open my old Klavan on the Culture website and join other PJM XPress bloggers like Victor Davis Hansen, Roger L. Simon, Roger Kimball, Stephen Green, Ed Driscoll and so on. My hope is that, seeing me in their company, people will think I must be smart too. A man can dream, can’t he? I’ll continue to post news about my books and movies and so on here but my rants against the great left wing machine and my reviews and so on will be over there.

Anyway, the move is supposed to take place any day, but we’re working on a few site and contract issues. I’ll post the link here when it’s ready and I hope you’ll visit me there for more Klavany goodness.

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Success and Silence

Andrew Klavan — Mon, 16 May 2011 14:00:04 +0000

Not long ago, a petition went around asking Fox News to move Greg Gutfeld’s terrific Red Eye out of the 3AM time slot to maybe 11PM – some time when it could be seen without the use of a DVR. Personally, I don’t think this goes far enough. I would like to see Fox start an entirely new cable network aimed at a younger audience with Greg as its linchpin. There’s plenty of talent around to appeal to conservatives who aren’t yet ready to watch ads for cholesterol meds. Why not put it to use? Breitbart might do something on the media? John Nolte or some of his Big Hollywood creations could do a showbiz show. Dana Loesch is smart and beautiful – I’m sure she has some ideas.

Beyond that, why does Rupert Murdoch have to do everything? Why has no one seized on the success of Fox News in order to create a pro-American entertainment network? Where are conservatives in general when it comes to following up on conservative media success? Pro-American films make money where anti-American films bomb. Religious films make money where anti-religious films bomb. Blue Bloods – the most openly conservative TV show in years – is not only a hit, it’s leading the pack in foreign sales. Why aren’t there any TV execs getting together and saying: “Conservatives – they’re this year’s desperate housewives!”

No good reviews for such endeavors? No newspaper and magazine attention? No awards? No invitations to cocktail parties? Why don’t conservatives start their own review outlets… award shows… parties? Why are the only conservative enterprises political and never cultural?

I know, I know. Because liberals hold the fort. They blacklist everyone they disagree with. They shout us down. And the need to put our money and effort into the short term goal of toppling the Obama administration draws all our attention away from finding the conservative John Stewart.

But the long term belongs to the culture. When lefties sell their dishonest histories and latest environmental scare or GOP conspiracy through Law and Order or the next Matt Damon thriller, why do we always complain instead of fighting back? Every time we go head to head with liberals in the culture, we win big – huge.

Why don’t we keep pushing forward on every cultural front?

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Movie: The Rite

Andrew Klavan — Thu, 12 May 2011 14:00:07 +0000

Let me say up front that I watched this on a little video gizmo on a cross-country flight – not the best way to see a movie.

Six years ago, Tripp Vinson and Beau Flynn produced a film called The Exorcism of Emily Rose which was top-notch. Marketed as a horror film, the picture had a big opening weekend – and then business dropped off as viewers, especially teenagers, realized that it wasn’t a horror film at all but an intelligent and heartfelt courtroom drama that explored questions of faith and reason… with a few scares thrown in.

Clearly, Vinson and Flynn meant to return to the well with The Rite and, while it doesn’t ultimately work, it does share a few very positive qualities with Emily Rose: intelligence, seriousness and a wonderful cast. Anthony Hopkins, who really is an acting genius, plays an exorcist and the very talented Colin O’Donoghue plays the skeptical young priest who comes to watch and learn. Rutger Hauer also turns in a good cameo as O’Donoghue’s grim Dad and Alice Braga is dynamite looking and very believable as a journalist.

The fine performances, smart dialogue and unflinchingly serious approach to the question of possession kept me watching the picture. Also, like Emily Rose, the film is “suggested by” true events, which is kind of interesting in and of itself.

Unfortunately, when it was over, I felt it didn’t really reach anyplace fresh and the ending seemed pretty much a foregone conclusion. Made me want to watch Emily Rose again though. And I’m glad someone out there is using genre storytelling to explore interesting issues in an intelligent way.

Better than the critics said it was, watchable and occasionally spooky, but not great.

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TV: “The Kennedys”

Andrew Klavan — Wed, 04 May 2011 14:03:57 +0000

Call the cops. Joel Surnow got mugged. First the usual left wing thugs tried to keep his mini-series The Kennedys off the air. They succeeded in getting A&E to cancel it but when small-time cabler ReelzChannel took it on, the lefty critics launched their wholly expected and dishonest attacks on the thing, trying to make sure no one watched it.

Left-Wing Television.

I watched it, start to finish. It was good, really good, really riveting. I couldn’t stop watching it, in fact. Great story, fine writing, interesting choices. Tom Wilkinson was supernaturally brilliant as patriarch Joe. Greg Kinnear and Barry Pepper were excellent as Jack and Bobby. And Kristin Booth as Ethel was fresh and compelling.

Some drawbacks. The budget was low for such an ambitious project and it showed from time to time, especially in the condensed storytelling of the final episodes. Plus Katie Holmes was lovely but didn’t really have the chops to make Jackie come to life.

But on the whole, it was top-notch TV. Oh, and it was sympathetic to the Kennedys! That was the crazy thing about the left’s attempts to censor it. The show made Jack look good despite his personal flaws. Bobby came across as something close to saintly. Even the sometimes monstrous Joe was treated humanely. The left is so committed to lies they don’t even know when the truth is on their side!

The left has so far succeeded at censoring the Path to 9/11 by preventing its DVD release. I don’t think they’ll be able to do that with The Kennedys so if you let the critics talk you out of watching, catch it on the rebound.

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