INSANE IN THE MEMBRANE!

My lady and I recently re-watched Martin Scorsese's documentary on American Cinema. Dear Lord that man loves movies! High brow or low brow he loves them all equally. From the looks of the trailer to his new film it seems like he's getting the chance to get his B-Movie on. I can't wait!

Palms of Gold

This has definitely been an interesting year for Cannes. When the line-up was announced everybody was atwitter about the strength of the slate. Many legendary auteurs were represented.

Cut-to: the actual screenings.

Many of the films were reviewed as either so-so (or in the case of Antichrist absolutely horrible). The worm had turned and we were left with no stand-out film. So how were the awards finally doled out?

Special Lifetime Achievement Prize - Alain Resnais (who had the film "Les HerbesFolles"in competition)

Best Actor - Christoph Waltz for "Inglourious Basterds"

Best Actress - Charlotte Gainsbourg for "Antichrist"

Director - Brillante Mendoza for "Kinatay"

Scenario (Best Screenplay) - "Spring Fever" (Lou Ye)

Jury Prize - tie, "Thirst" (Park Chan-Wook) / "Fish Tank" (Andrea Arnold)

Camera d'Or - "Samson and Delilah" (Warwick Thornton)

Short Film - "Arena"

Grand Prix (second prize)- "Un Prophete" (Jacques Audiard)
The Palme d'Or - "White Ribbon" (Michael Haneke)

Quite the diverse slate. Though I find Charlotte Gainsbourg to be a great actress and have yet to see Antichrist, I can't help but feel that the jury gave her the prize for putting up with director Lars Von Trier. And as if I wasn't already psyched enough for Inglourious Bastards, it now has an acting award to its' credit. Only here could you have a sadistic Austrian film win best picture.

Cannes you never cease to surprise me. Too bad ALL of these films will be ignored come Golden Globe/Oscar season.

Three

Though I haven't seen a lot of Fellini I have seen 8 1/2 and I love it more than words. A beautiful film filled with so many startling images and ideas. If you haven't seen it yet I insist you must.

anyhow...

The film is titled 8 1/2 because within Fellini's filmography this was film number (you guessed it) 8 1/2. In 1982 the film was adapted into a Broadway musical cleverly titled 9. Now the cycle is complete and that musical has been made into a film. Here's the trailer:



It's kind of surreal seeing familiar images like la Saraghina in a similar yet vaguely unfamiliar way. Rob Marshall (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha) is definitely no Fellini but he's also no slouch either.

Some might give him flack for casting very few Italians in this film just like how he cast very few Japanese in Geisha. While I find this fact interesting I'll state that in the end all that matters is whether or not the film is good. Guess we'll have to wait till November to find out.

Worst comes to worst this film will make an interesting double feature with All That Jazz.

Revenge of the Croisette

It's that time of year again. A time of love and angst. Love for those crazy cineasts known collectively as "the french" and angst over the fact that I won't be able to attend their little film party. This year being particularly cruel because a mere 2 weeks after the festival ends - BECCA AND I WILL ACTUALLY BE IN FRANCE!

Le Sigh

Well anyway...I am of course rambling about the Cannes Film Festival. The creme de la creme of international film festivals. The place where all your favorite filmmakers show they're newest wares well before anyone else will ever get a chance to see them.

Le Sigh

This year's lineup is amazing. Here's a list of the films I'll be missing most at this year's festival:

In Competition

Abrazos Rotos by Pedro Almodovar

Antichrist by Lars Von Trier

Bright Star by Jane Campion

Enter The Void by Gasper Noe

Les Herbes folles by Alain Resnais

Inglorious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino

Looking For Eric by Ken Loach

Taking Woodstock by Ang Lee

Thirst by Park Chan Wook

Vengeance by Johnny To

The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke

Un Certain Regard

Mother by Bong Joon Ho

Push by Lee Daniels

Nymph by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang

Out of Competition

Agora by Alejandro Amenabar
The Imagianirum of Docteur Parnassius by Terry Gilliam

Midnight Screening

Drag Me To Hell by Sam Raimi

Special Selection

L'épine dans le coeur by Michel Gondry

ok.

One more time for emphasis...

LE SIGH!

Let The Wild Rumpus Start!

This trailer looks soooooo beautiful. I cannot wait for this movie. We've gone too long without a Spike Jonze film and this looks to be well worth the wait. The studio has been worried about whether or not this film will appeal to kids. I don't even think it has to. Everyone who grew up with this book will be there opening day! I gotta go find a crown.

Volume II

Though it is not exactly chic to say among the cineastes, I simply have to say:

I LOVE KEVIN SMITH

He makes me laugh. Plain and simple. So suck it.

Anyhow...

Today it was announced that Kevin is set to direct a script he did not write. It's titled A Couple of Dicks, was written by Robb & Marc Cullen and is set to star Bruce Willis & Tracy Morgan. This is big news considering Smith once declared that he would NEVER shoot somebody else's material. Also this will be Kevin's first film without longtime producer Scott Mosier.

Ever since Zack & Miri Make a Porno underperformed at the box office Smith has seriously been re-evaluating his career and this appears to be a direct manifestation of that angst. I'm really eager to see how this turns out. I have the utmost faith in Smith. Hopefully this will be the film that shows people he's not just a writer. Homeboy grew up.

Rosebud

FEMALE REPORTER: If you could've found out what Rosebud meant, I bet that would've explained everything.

THOMPSON: No, I don't think so; no. Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get, or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn't have explained anything... I don't think any word can explain a man's life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a... piece in a jigsaw puzzle... a missing piece.

According to Peter Bogdanovich, Welles' unreleased final film: The Other Side of the Wind, might finally get screened at this May's Cannes Film Festival! Mind you they've been making similar statements for years, but something tells me that it might finally be Orson's year. We will finally get to see/hear Welles' final statement as a filmmaker (dramatic pause) His cinematic rosebud.

*fingers crossed*

King of the Jews

Though he didn't make my list of living filmmakers (cause he only has two under his belt) I do love me some Judd Apatow. I absolutely agree with all of those people out there who list him as the heir apparent to Woody Allen.

And today we have the premiere of the trailer to Judd's newest film Funny People.

In my opinion it looks pretty good.  Great laughs while at the same time letting a little more drama creep in.  I'm interested to see how people react to this.  It is definately not The 40-Year-Old Virgin but it is absolutely the next logical step in his evolution as a filmmaker.  This and Inglorious Basterds are definately my most anticipated films of the year.

Mahalo

100 Nazi Scalps!

I am so excited for this movie! Love the Leone style intertitles. Majorly bummed that Morricone isn't going to be doing the score but oh well. There's still a whole lot to love here. I'm drooling with anticipation for the black & white sequences. Robert Richardson is a cinematography GOD! AND HE'S WORKING WITH DAVID & SANDY WASCO AGAIN!!!

The trailer's gonna be showing before Friday the 13th. Could this be the film that reunites Tarantino with mainstream audiances? You be the judge:

Cloudy With A Chance Of WTF?

So the Oscar nominations were announced this morning. This has been a so-so year for films and as a result the nominees have been pretty easy to pick. That's not to say that there weren't some pretty shocking omissions. OK let's move forward. I promise this won't be as tedious as my Golden Globes overview. I'll skip categories about which I don't have anything interesting to say.

Best Actor

Haven't seen The Visitor but I love Richard Jenkins so it's nice to see him on here. Though I would have liked to see Benicio for his great work in Che and WHERE THE FUCK IS CLINT!

Best Supporting Actor

Downey Jr actually did it! He got a nom for being the dude playing a dude disguised as another dude! Didn't care much for the film but that performance was awesome. This is one of the best categories in terms of quality. It's going to Heath though and deservedly so.

Best Actress

Who will win? Hathaway or Winslet? Or will they split votes and someone else wins? Hopefully not Angelina. Ooh the suspense!

Best Animated Feature

Some people thought Wall-E would follow in Beauty and the Beast's footsteps and get a best picture nomination. It's consolation prize will be winning this category.

Best Director

I love Fincher, Boyle and Van Sant though I don't know how I would feel about David winning for work that I found to be a little sub-par. What I do know is that Ron Howard doesn't need another Oscar (though he's a very nice guy and a capable picture maker). And what's the deal with Stephen Daldry? How did he squeak in over Christopher Nolan who's vision for The Dark Knight allowed it to soar above all other comic book films?

Best Foreign Language Film

Though I didn't see hardly any foreign films this year I do have an opinion on this category. Gommora, which many considered a front runner for the category, was passed over. I'm really looking forward to this film's American release. Was it too "genre" to make the cut? Speaking of genre...Sweden didn't even submit Let The Right One In so it had no chance. Why do we leave that up to a bunch of guys who are most inclined to pick the easy and sure thing? Risky stuff will never get a chance that way.  CORRECTION: apparently Sweden did not submit Let The Right One In because it wasn't eligable.  Since the film wasn't released in Sweden before October, it is ineligable for THIS year's Oscars, but could be eligable next year.  I'm leaving my original comments here because I think the points I make about bias against genre are still valid.

Best Makeup

I'm happy to see creature makeup finally getting some love! They passed up Hellboy the first time around. I guess the troll market forced them to take notice. This is an extremely tough category to pick. All the work here was phenomenal.

Best Cinematography

As much as I love Roger Deakins' photography I don't want him to win this year.  He deserves to have his first Oscar be for a film that he was on from start to finish.

Best Original Song

This is the first BIG "what the fuck?" category. Only three nominees? Has this ever been done before? I mean I'm glad I won't have to hear some Miley Cyrus song or something. And I'm totally stoked to see M.I.A up for a Golden Boy. But to pass up The Boss? Especially when he just won the Golden Globe? This stinks just as bad as that year when they passed up Mick Jagger. In some ways they're so old fashioned (Disney movies) yet also forward thinking (Eminem, Issac Hayes). I think this category will always be a mystery.

Best Picture

And now for the second BIG "what the fuck?"...The producers' guild, the directors' guild and the editors' guild ALL picked the same five nominees. One would think a phenomenon like that would result in those five films being the Oscar nominees. You just thought wrong. The Reader wasn't even supposed to be released until next year but Harvey Weinstein insisted on moving it to this year. This created all sorts of shock waves in the Hollywood community and prompted one of the film's producers to remove his name from it. And now it's up for best picture AND director? Something smells rotten in Denmark. Harvey is notorious for heavy handed campaigning. Did it finally pay off? Or maybe it has to do with the Oscar's continuing love affair with the Holocaust. I had some fairly serious misgivings about The Dark Knight but all in all it was a very ambitious and well executed film. I think this will be one of those hotly contested categories people discuss for years to come.

Best Sound Mixing & Editing

Winning these will be like giving Ben Burt a best actor award. His twitters and squeaks are what gave Wall-E it's heart and soul.

AND EVEN THOUGH IT WAS KNOWN WELL IN ADVANCE - NO HONORARY OSCAR FOR ROGER CORMAN...THIS YEAR AT LEAST

OK. Sorry.  No mroe rage.  For now. I'm really excited for Milk and Slumdog.

Catch you guys on the flip side.

Bad News & Bragging

People have been waiting around for a film adaptation of Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons' The Watchmen since the mid 80s. The film is now shot, edited and ready to roll. But it seems we might have to wait a little bit longer.

Just before Christmas a judge ruled that Fox had some legal claim on the property. Today Fox officially asked to stop the film's March release. Man I fucking hate Fox almost as much as they seem to hate fan boys.

First they make shitty movies like The Day The Earth Stood Still and Dragonball Evolution that condescend to one of the most educated and literate audiences out there. Now they top it off by blocking the release of geekdom's most anticipated film. And all of it is done for the all mighty dollar. They just want to see how much they can wring out of Warner Brothers. What a bunch of pig anuses.

In other news....I got one of these bad boys for Christmas -

I am absolutely in love with the images I'm getting out of it. I feel like a big boy now. For anyone who is interested you can check out my portfolio over at:

www.myspace.com/pinkcowphotography

Feel free to comment and if you have any photographing needs you think I might be able to fill just let me know.

My other prized acquisition?

God I love Stanley Kubrick. I just spent the past year watching each of his films one at a time and each one is breathtaking in its' own way. This book is absolutely a must own for anyone who loves film. It is filled with high resolution photos from all the films, behind the scenes shots, script pages, costume designs, etc. It even has a section on his un-filmed projects (Napoleon, Aryan Papers and A.I.).

Some time soon I hope to post something on here about Kubrickian structure (as pretentious as that sounds). I've also got lots of other ideas for this here blog percolating. 2009 should be fun.

Mahalo.

Silly Things (Video-palooza)

From about 4th grade till freshman year I was a moderate Anime nerd. It never got to Cosplay levels but it was pretty intense. In addition to classics like Akira and Fist of the North Star I also found myself watching Sailor Moon for a fix.

Though I don't really follow that scene any more I still have an intense respect for the medium. The energy and imagination that goes into even a half-hour episode of a cartoon series is awe inspiring. The following trailer has absolutely NO respect for the art of Japanese anime:



I seriously thought they stopped making movies like this with Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. This is getting a theatrical release? I could have rounded up a bunch of Cosplay kids from Comic Con and made a better movie. And poor Chow Yun Fat. Apparently he passed on re-teaming with John Woo to be in this film. WHAT THE FUCK?!?

In other news...

While the rest of the world is starting to take comic book films seriously, Fox continues to excrete condescending shit like this:



It was very shrewd marketing to put this before The Day the Earth Stood Still. They probably figured that since the film looks like shit they should market it to people who like to go and see shit. If you're there to see Keanu "act" then you'll be totally fine with that bit at the end of the trailer with the helicopter.

It's so weird. The big daddy company (20th Century Fox) produces such shit, while their boutique branch (Fox Searchlight) has churned out a fairly steady stream of quality like Little Miss Sunshine, Juno, The Darjeeling Limited and this year's magic film Slumdog Millionaire.

Hopefully Hugh Jackman's next production will be of a little higher quality considering that it's -

THE MOTHER FUCKING OSCARS!?!?

OK kids. Not all hope is lost. At least Asian cell phone commercials still have a high standard of quality.

Here's a Japanese cell phone commercial directed by Wes Anderson and starring Brad Pitt:



and a pretty sweet Chinese one where they do their infinitely more awesome version of Fred Astaire dancing with a Dirt Devil:



To serve as a sort of French bookend to Wes Anderson's clip, we have this lovely Dior spot directed by Ms. Sofia Coppola:



OK. Let's end this with a lame duck who can apparently duck like the best of them:



Now let's see if he can duck a war crimes tribunal.

Mahalo

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?

Though it has been rumored since forever...

It looks like the Bluths are one step closer to the big screen.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, series creator Mitch Hurwitz and Ron Howard have signed deals with Fox Searchlight to write and direct an Arrested Deveolopment movie! Time to bust out the DVDs and brush up on all the quotable goodness.

Also, I never thought I would find myself having to say this but...

Thanks Sex and the City movie! Your box office returns made studios more willing to give feature film versions of TV shows a try!

Yes I'm aware that most TV to film transfers amount to little more than an extra long episode and that it will likely be a box office dud. But I don't give a fuck. Wanna know why?

WE'RE GETTING AN ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT MOVIE!!!!



source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i3727898fb2739b043733d6fbf0b66e7a

due maestri di bad-ass!

So apparently Ennio Morricone is going to do be scoring Quentin Tarantino's World War II epic Inglorious Basterds (sic). This is AWESOME news. Aside from Martin Scorsese, Tarantino is my favorite filmmaker when it comes to use of music. Every single film of his has been accompanied by an excellent soundtrack album and now it seems the same will be true of Basterds.

For Kill Bill & Death Proof Tarantino was only able to use pieces of pre-existing Morricone, now he'll be able to get the real shit live and uncut. Hopefully Morricone will deliver some epic and experimental stuff for Quentin. I'm tired of the respectable Ennio. I want the return of THIS Ennio:

Perhaps he could win an Oscar® for reals this time. This could be the movie that shows the Academy® that he didn’t need their pity.

Viva il maestro!

We're Ready To Believe You!

OK so this is somewhat old news and I don't know why I didn't blog it before but...

"GHOSTBUSTERS III" IS IN THE WORKS!!!!!

I have a very special relationship with anything and everything "Ghostbusters". It was my first, favorite movie. My grandpa made me my own version where all the parts that scared me shitless were edited out. When I went to kindergarten they wrongly thought I was a prodigy because I could write the word: Ghostbusters. The first time I ever got in trouble for cursing it was for saying, "We came, we saw, we kicked it's ASS!"

I don't care what you say this film is one of the the ten greatest comedies EVER. Let's just hope this new one doesn't suck. Remember the build up to "Phantom Menace"? That was no bueno.

But there is reason to have faith in this one. The script is currently being written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky (staff writers on "The Office"!!!!) and according to a recent appearance at Fantastic Fest Bill Murray would consider coming back!

I need to track down my old proton-pack so I can look like a loony wearing it to the premiere or something. Don't even TRY to tell me you're not thinking the same thing!

and...THE FLOWERS ARE STILL STANDING!

Source: http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_popmachine/2008/09/harold-ramis-co.html

Greed Is Glam & Other Stuff

Question: How does a filmmaker like Stephen Soderbergh follow up an epic bio-pic about one of the more polarizing figures of the past century?

Answer: With a Liberace bio-pic of course!

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117992314.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

The script is by Richard LaGravanese and early word is that Michael Douglas will star with Matt Damon as the pianist's longtime partner Scott Thorson. Some people might be scratching their heads about this choice of project but I think it is brilliant.

After the cultural phenomenon that was "Brokeback Mountain" many predicted a slew of gay themed films aimed at the mainstream would follow. Sadly this has not been the case. Outside of this fall's "Milk" no other big gay films (heh) have materialized.

While "Milk" will be an important film (in that it will let us know if audiences really are ready to handle gay issues in a mature fashion) this Liberace film will be the real test. "Milk" has it somewhat easy. Harvey Milk was a serious man with serious ideas. Liberace on the other hand, was NEVER taken seriously. Can Soderbergh et al get an audience to care about a man who so many saw as a joke? I say if anyone can, they can.

In other news...

A few nights ago I finally realized that the soon to be released "Lakeview Terrace" was directed (but not written) by Neil LaBute. I guess this is his way of trying to show that he can make a commercial film and hopefully get out of the director jail he put himself in when he perpetrated the cinematic travesty that was -




While I have no plans to see "Lakeview Terrace" I wish Mr. LaBute all the best. I really liked "In The Company Of Men" and "Your Friends & Neighbors" and "Nurse Betty" was pretty good too.

Lastly...

I MET HENRY ROLLINS!!!!

Mahalo

White Dog Rides Again

Sam Fuller's controversial 1982 film "White Dog" is finally going to be released in America!

Samuel Fuller’s throat-grabbing exposé on American racism was misunderstood and withheld from release when it was made in the early eighties; today, the notorious film is lauded for its daring metaphor and gripping pulp filmmaking. Kristy McNichol stars as a young actress who adopts a lost German shepherd, only to discover through a series of horrifying incidents that the dog has been trained to attack black people, and Paul Winfield plays the animal trainer who tries to cure him. A snarling, uncompromising vision, White Dog is a tragic portrait of the evil done by that most corruptible of animals: the human being.

Source: http://www.criterion.com/

Last month they released Passolini's controversial classic "Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom" and this is a perfect follow-up. Now they just need to get their hands on a copy of "The Day The Clown Cried".

Please support the Criterion Collection - they're doing the Lord's work!

PAYING Homage & Other Stuff

I don't know if you guys are aware of this or not but we are currently in the middle of a big Alfred Hitchcock revival. And guess who's leading the charge? Shia LeBeouf and director D.J. Caruso!

Though I have not seen "Disturbia", everyone tells me that it IS "Rear Window". Apparently it is SO "Rear Window" that the estate of the man who owns bought the rights to the original story is suing:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2008/09/is-disturbia-a.html

CUT-TO PRESENT DAY:

I am watching a commercial for Caruso and Shia's new collaboration "Eagle Eye" when it occurs to me:

This is TOTALLY a riff on Hitch's favorite set-up of an innocent man on the run!

Could this just be a coincidence or was it intentional? I guess stranger things have happened. Maybe just to be safe I should start writing a script for them in which LeBeouf plays a character who is afraid of heights and is hired to...

In other news...

A sort-of teaser trailer for Terry Gilliam's new film "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" debuted this weekend over at:

http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/2008/09/13/quick-stop-exclusive-teaser-trailer-from-terry-gilliams-the-imaginarium-of-doctor-parnassus/

Yep it's THAT movie. The one Heath Ledger died before finishing. Many people (myself included) are curious to see how this all turns out. Even the worst Terry Gilliam films are awesome to look at and that trailer seems to promise this will be no different. Also Terry is known for making great art from great chaos so...

*Fingers Crossed*

Oh and to end on a nice happy note...

I read over at http://www.aintitcool.com/ that Jude Law, Colin Farrell and Johnny Depp (the three actors completing Ledger's scenes) will give all the money they are being paid for this film to Heath's daughter Matilda. Apparently Mr. Ledger's will was drafted prior to her birth leaving her with no inheritance. This a super sweet and classy move. Good on ya fellas.

I used a lot of ellipses in this. Maybe I should invest in some Larry King suspenders.

Banned In The USA & Other Stuff

Recently I posted the hilarious trailer to Kevin Smith's new film "Zack and Miri Make a Porno". So far the only poster out there has been the Canadian poster which was declared inappropriate for American audiences:

Over the past few weeks Smith has been submitting other poster designs, all of which have been rejected. In frustration he submitted the following poster - which was immediately approved:

While I'm glad to see a one-sheet that isn't just "big heads" like oh so many posters out there, I cannot see this poster hanging on my wall.

Now I will grant you that it's a great gag and will definitely drive up box office rev due to the "scandal" element but as a piece of advertising it's just not pretty. Solid white? Really? Judging by the trailer and the footage I saw at Comic-Con the film has a very nice color palette which is reflected in the Canadian poster. Couldn't they have at least incorporated that into this new one?

Sorry. I'm nitpicking. I love Kevin Smith. And apparently so do a lot of other people. The movie showed at the Toronto International Film Festival this week and has been receiving great notices from places like Daily Variety, Time Magazine and Roger Ebert.

Speaking of Roger...

The other day he wrote one of his most scathing reviews ever and it wasn't about a film. Ebert wrote a review of Sarah Palin.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/1156080,091008ebertpalin.article

I heart Roger Ebert so much. Pulitzer Prize winning critic, "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" screenwriter, cancer survivor and political pundit extraordinaire.

I guess I'll finish this up with a trailer.

This is the just released trailer for the new Clint Eastwood directed, J. Michael Straczynski written, Angelina Jolie starring "Changeling".

It seems that Clint can do no wrong. I am a HUGE geek for films about the dark side of old Los Angeles like "LA Confidential" and "Chinatown" and this film looks very promising. Hopefully it will not turn into another "Black Dahlia".

Mahalo.

Che Follow-Up & Other Stuff

A week or so ago I blogged about the ambiguous status of Stephen Soderbergh's Che Guevara film. At the time of that writing there was no US distributor and it seemed as though the only US screening would be at the New York Film Festival.

I am now proud to announce that the film has been picked up by IFC Films (not Magnolia Films as originally rumored). The film will be shown in full (both parts with an intermission) in both LA and New York so as to qualify it for the Academy then in 2009 we will get it as two separate films in select theaters.

Source: http://weblogs.variety.com/thompsononhollywood/2008/09/toronto-watch-c.html?referrer=sharethis

In somewhat related news...

Another highly anticipated film has been picked up by an American distributor. "The Wrestler" staring Mickey Rourke and directed by Darren Aronofsky was picked up by Fox Searchlight after winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and garnering strong word of mouth at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Source: http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=story&id=1061&articleid=VR1117991826&cs=1

Both "Che" and "The Wrestler" could really shake up this year's award season. Many magazines and Newspapers have already done their "Fall Sneaks" editions and hypothesized on possible contenders. Both of these films seem to have strong Best Actor vibes.

"And now," cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!"