Smokin' Aces

Zak Forsman

Zak Forsman

Major Contributor
back in november, i had the pleasure of doing all the behind the scene material for this film. let me tell you, whatever you think of his work, Joe Carnahan is one of the coolest f**kers out there making pictures. what else can you say about a guy who blasts motorhead on set between set-ups?

anyway, i found this clip on youtube. it's my favorite scene from the film. jason bateman damn near steals the movie with this scene. if you watch it stick it out for the high fives and the "bonez it. padlock it. then you put the chain on it!" i'd been doing that to people for a week after i saw it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zssOnQQYsw

anyway, joe carnahan has made a crazy film that is easy to dismiss as a guy ritchie imitation. it ain't. smokin' aces is its own animal and the further you get into it the more some very human moments will resonate with you.
 
Guy Ritchie? Who is that? :P

I have been looking forward to this film since I first saw the trailer, looks like a fun flick. I enjoyed Narc and hope Carnahan can deliver another good film. I just hope he is not trying to be TOO HIP in this film.
 
Guy Richie -
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels ,... and Snatched.
Two Great Films.
However,... cant wait to see Smokin' Aces. My kinda action film. I was completely floored by the casting of this movie. Great line up.
 
Guy Richie ?

Lock Stock; an okay film

Snacth; a bad film

I would never dismiss Joe as a guy ritchie imitation.

Carnahan does come across as a cool dude; Narc was awesome and his BTS stuff on The Hire is good stuff.

And anything with Liotta in it get's me excited
 
You know what my only reservation about going out to see this is? The Star Power.

I don't know why, but I feel like the Star power might knock it down a notch. Like it's trying to be another Ocean's Twelve, which by the way has scared me clean away from the Ocean's franchise. But, if Forsman says it's a good one, then I shall be in the theater to check it out.
 
Kholi said:
You know what my only reservation about going out to see this is? The Star Power.

I don't know why, but I feel like the Star power might knock it down a notch. Like it's trying to be another Ocean's Twelve, which by the way has scared me clean away from the Ocean's franchise. But, if Forsman says it's a good one, then I shall be in the theater to check it out.
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Glengarry Glen Ross had Star power and it did okay. Perhaps your concerns lie more with who the stars are than how many there are.
 
John_Hudson said:
I would never dismiss Joe as a guy ritchie imitation.
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he'd love to hear that. the poor bastard has been defending himself and the film against this criticism over on the imdb.com boards for months. universal set him up with his own blog to get him off there. he posts under the username DikDastardly.

http://www.imdb.com/user/ur5171865/boards/

www.smokinjoecarnahan.com has the 'birthday' video my friend (a producer) organized for him. said the gun was a "half load" and still loud as hell.
 
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Blaine said:
Glengarry Glen Ross had Star power and it did okay. Perhaps your concerns lie more with who the stars are than how many there are.
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No, it had nothing to do with who they were. It was the advertisement that listed them all in order that made me go "ummm maybe not." I have not an issue with any of the stars listed at all. It just came off as a sale on the stars and not the movie itself.
 
Kholi said:
But, if Forsman says it's a good one, then I shall be in the theater to check it out.
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you'll get your money's worth. incidentally, joe said his insperation was not the guy ritchie/tarantino "scuzz" genre, but more so in the spirit of raising arizona. ...just more violent.

i'm proud of the piece i did on joe. it was renamed "The Big Gun" by Universal. I had titled it "Knock 'em dead, baby!" which is something joe would say alot. anyway, when the dvd comes out, definitely worth checking out to see what joe is really like. how unpretentious he is and how little he plays the game. the only thing i couldnt include (for obvious reasons) was his stories about TC and MI3. but it is referenced.

oh man, i had a good time on this one. wish i could share some of the dp's (mauro fiore who was coming off 'the island') stories about why he will never work with michael bay again.
 
I'm always a sucker for a good violent action movie (done right!)

and Joe C. does this genre right IMO.... Ritchie, Tarantino do as well.... but Joe C. has a more humble/everyman director kind of aura about him.... very un-hollywood, un-industry.... I like that

If he's trying to kindle the spirit of a more violent raising arizona then hell yeah!! sounds rockin for sure

zak, so you were in charge of the "making of" type featurette that will be on the DVD? what other films have you done similar work on?

:beer: for Joe
 
Star Power ?

I am not sure your concern Kholi ?

IMO, there isn't enough films made with ensemble casts. The Ocean's 12 film, which I detest, was a disaster.

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I don't see this at being remotely near the O12. The Oceans fims are made by a hack overrated director starring a bunch of actors, er celebrities who are in love with themselves.

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Films with Ensembles ?

Copland, The Departed, Pulp Fiction, The Big Chill, Magnolia, Boogie Nights ....

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I love the cast lined up for this:

Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Jason Bateman, Peter Berg and

Ray ****ing Liotta Baby !

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Joe is from Cali but doesn't wreak of Los Angeles, if that makes any sense.
 
John_Hudson said:
IMO, there isn't enough films made with ensemble casts. The Ocean's 12 film, which I detest, was a disaster.
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Seeing as how that was the most-recent movie I've [half] watched that had an "ensemble" cast (I didn't watch The Departed), it should be clear o'the concern. Either way, I'm going to go see Smokin' Aces.

Am not familiar with the director, either. Had nothing to do with him, simply the trailers and posters I've seen throwing the star names out there. That is all. And not even saying that was bad, just that it made me go "errmm".
 
joe is a down to earth super cool m*****r f*****r. i had several friends in his first film "blood guts bullets and octane" including my 67 pontiac (wish i still had that car). for a nice short he did, check out the bmw films with clive owens. great stuff. theres some other good ones there as well, my favorite being the tony scott james brown piece. i love guy ritchies early stuff but joes in a class all his own.

thanks
keith
 
HorseFilms said:
Damn you... teasing us with footage we'll never get to see.:)
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hey see that font in the horsefilms logo in your sig? i used that same one for the lower thirds on the dvd featurettes.

hoofandmouf said:
zak, so you were in charge of the "making of" type featurette that will be on the DVD? what other films have you done similar work on?
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well i took about three months off this year to make a feature, but some titles are as follows... Lady in the Water, Stay and Smokin Aces was the last thing i did in 06. i also did some library titles: The Ultimate Flint Collection and The Longest Day and a dozen or so commentaries for various films.
 
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By far this is the movie I'm most excited about seeing this year!! More than 300, more than Spidey 3, more than Fido(though Fido is a must).

Narc is such a great film... any cop film that gets Friedkin's approval is the shiznit.

I wish Carnahan made more movies. I would have liked to see his Mission Impossible, but this movie will suffice and then some I'm sure.

I love the trailers. It looks like there is sooo much going on in this film. I'm guessing it'll be a 2 to 3 times viewing in the theater for me. Hope it gets it's due in the theater, cuz for sure it'll be a dvd goldmine.

Zak - I'm sure I'm out in left field on this, but is there any political undertones or statement subconsciously in this film? This is a stretch, but his name is Israel and everyone wants him dead, and he gets attacked from everywhere.??
 
Staven said:
Zak - I'm sure I'm out in left field on this, but is there any political undertones or statement subconsciously in this film? This is a stretch, but his name is Israel and everyone wants him dead, and he gets attacked from everywhere.??
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whoa.

I was unaware of that....

you wouldnt have to reach far to connect the geo-political dots

Perhaps some of the hitmen are named Johnny Hezbollah, Ricky Hamas, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Smith and so on and so forth....
 
Zak Forsman said:
well i took about three months off this year to make a feature, but some titles are as follows... Lady in the Water, Stay and Smokin Aces was the last thing i did in 06.
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Oh man did I love Stay. I'm gonna go watch the special features right now just to check out your work. Glad to see I'm not the only Carnahan fan in the world either. After I saw Narc and saw how much money it made I started to think I was the only one. Anyway, I've been stoked for Aces ever since the first trailer was released. I love the cast (especially Piven/Bateman) and it just looks like such a blast.
 
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