Wilnervision!

There’s something different about Warner’s newspaper ads and TV spots for “Michael Clayton” — and no, it’s not the obsessive listing of awards and nominations. That’s standard practice for an Oscar reissue.

Take a closer look at the text at the bottom of the ad, before the “Now Playing in Theaters Everywhere” stuff … and you’ll see a throw to the DVD release.

This is unprecedented. I mean, scheduling a DVD release to capitalize on presumed Oscar glory is nothing new. New Line held “The Player” back from video for nearly a full year, finally putting it out on VHS the day after the 1993 ceremony (at which it won exactly squat); when the Academy altered its campaigning rules in 2003, refining the ways in which studios could pimp their contenders, Universal scheduled the release of “Seabiscuit” for mid-December, and saturated America with legitimate ads for the DVD release — ads that just so happened to be peppered with pull-quotes about the movie’s Oscar-worthiness.

Studios have been adjusting their home-video strategies to fit ever since, which is why so many serious fall films are rushing to DVD in December and January instead of waiting for April or May, as they did in the good old days when prestige titles could run for months and months. Everything moves so much faster now, and even the most acclaimed films are over in a matter of weeks … but this is the first time I’ve ever seen a studio actively promote a DVD release within a movie’s theatrical campaign.

It’s kind of neat, actually. I like it when the industry shifts perceptibly. And I wonder how many people are seeing the TV spot, or noticing the date in the ad, and thinking about waiting.

Sorry for the lateness of today’s post — due to a couple of entirely unrelated issues, my latest Sympatico/MSN DVD column has only just gone live, thus frustrating my urge to link.

This week’s piece looks at a trio of docudramas — “Shake Hands with the Devil”, “Bordertown” and “Trade” — which all come up short in comparison to actual documentaries on their subjects. I mean, this isn’t a new thing, but … well, read the piece, and you’ll see.

My review of “Meet the Spartans” appears in today’s Metro. I know, I know, you’re thrilled for me. I’m just happy I was able to come up with 300 words on it; I was afraid I’d used up all my best failed-satire invective on “Date Movie” and “Epic Movie”.

Nope! Rage is fuel!

Oh, and you know how “Date Movie” and “Epic Movie” kinda sucked, but at least Alyson Hannigan and Jayma Mays were kind of funny in them? Well, let’s just say Carmen Electra, while certainly up for anything, could not hold their jockstraps.

(And yes, I know that wasn’t funny, but trust me, it accurately reflects the nature and tenor of the jokes in the film. Which, I remind you, came in first at the box office over the weekend. The Earth is doomed.)

Well, that’s just sad: Variety reports that “Meet the Spartans” beat “Rambo” at the North American box office this weekend, with the crappy collection of pop-culture references edging out the creepy fetishistic bloodbath by just $500,000.

Interestingly, “Spartans” grossed $18.7 million; “Rambo” made $18.2 million; not exactly impressive when you consider “Cloverfield” grossed $46.1 million just last week, but then that was a January record — and, almost certainly, the result of months of carefully stoked marketing.

(Side note on “Cloverfield”: Its repetition of the “Blair Witch Project” phenomenon appears to extend all the way to the backlash: “Cloverfield” dropped 68% in its second weekend, coming in at number four with just $12.7 million.)

I was going to say something pithy about wondering how many of the people who paid to see either “Meet the Spartans” or “Rambo” feel they got their money’s worth, as opposed to all the “Cloverfield” haters … but then I realized the answer would probably make me cry.

Because Sylvester Stallone’s career truly is the gift that keeps on giving, this week’s Sympatico/MSN movie column takes a moment to consider whether John Rambo or Rocky Balboa is his most potent character.

Also, I’ve been trying to coin a new action phrase, and I think “go all grapefruit” might just be it. You have to read it in context, of course.

Hey, remember what how surprised we all were that “Rocky Balboa” turned out so well?

Yeah, well, if you were holding out hope that Sylvester Stallone would revive the “Rambo” franchise with the same generosity and warmth, I’m afraid you’re in for a terrible disappointment.

On the other hand, if all you want is 90 minutes of savage violence, lovingly depicted in digitally enhanced slow-motion, you are gonna be so psyched!

Also opening this week, because late January is a time for suffering:

“All Hat“: Leonard Farlinger’s middling contemporary cowpoke drama opened in Vancouver last week; now Toronto gets to experience the pretty, vacant tale of an ex-con who comes home to find the family farm threatened by a rich developer. See, it’s all the classical Western themes, only retold for the present day! Nice idea, but boring as dirt in the execution …

“Still Life“: Months after its Vancouver bow, Jia Zhang-Kie’s meditative drama about the desolation left in the wake of the Three Gorges Dam project finally opens in Toronto; if you like sinking into movies without worrying too much about where they’re going, this is one of the best of its kind. On the other hand, I can see how some people might be driven mad by Jia’s relaxed pacing and flowing camerawork. It’s your call.

“They Wait“: If you’ve ever wondered what “Ringu” or “The Grudge” would have looked like if they’d centered the action in Vancouver and poured the entire budget into three visual-effects sequences … well, you probably work at Telefilm, and you probably greenlit this movie. And I have to say, I really don’t have a lot of respect for you right now.

“Untraceable”: Gregory Hoblit, director of such cracked procedurals as “Primal Fear”, “Fallen”, “Frequency” and “Fracture”, turns in his first real dud with this sanctimonious blend of cyber-thriller and sado-porn about a killer who relies on Web traffic to commit elaborate murders; imagine the “Saw” films with a T1 connection, and you’ve got the idea. Diane Lane clocks in joylessly as the FBI agent in pursuit.

“Waiter“: Sick of his endless humiliations, a miserable working stiff seeks out his creator — a henpecked screenwriter — and starts agitating for a better life in Danish writer-director Alex van Warmerdam’s meta-comedy, which would be a post-Kaufman disappointment even if “Stranger than Fiction” had never been produced.

Also opening today: “How She Move”, which Chris reviews here; “The Rape of Europa”, which Rick reviews here, and “Meet the Spartans”, which I’m off to see this afternoon, because — even though I’ve seen the directors’ previous works, “Date Movie” and “Epic Movie” — I evidently lack the capacity to learn from my mistakes.

You ever have one of those days when you congratulate yourself for getting everything done early, only to turn around and realize you’ve left one really big thing entirely unfinsihed? And by “unfinished” I mean “unstarted”?

Yeah, well, I call those days “Thursday”.

To entertain you while I’m away, I present the final installment of Nathan Rabin’s magnificent Onion AV Club column My Year of Flops: “Perfume: The Story of a Murrrrrderrrrerrrr”. It is the awesome, as is Rabin’s epic recounting of the project and the toll it took upon him.

Catch you tomorrow …

The news came yesterday afternoon that Heath Ledger had been found dead in a Manhattan apartment. He was 28 years old.

I’ve been covering the entertainment industry for nearly twenty years now. I know we’re supposed to have deep and empathetic things to say about actors who die young — the tragedy of a talent cut short, the waste of a bright future, and so on.

But that’d be boilerplate. I never met Heath Ledger; I never knew him beyond his acting. I felt nothing upon learning of his death, other than mild surprise.

I don’t have anything to say, really, other than the obvious: It’s too bad he’s dead. He was 28, he had a young daughter, and he did indeed have a promising career ahead of him. I am still interested to see his Joker in “The Dark Knight”, and hope that, if the character comes to a bad end, the filmmakers don’t soften it out of consideration for sensitive viewers.

And I’ll say this, which is what I’ll say whenever the death of a person I don’t know seems to warrant comment: I’ve lost enough people to know that the poor guy’s friends and family must be going through hell right now. And that should be the last word on it.

Okay, here’s my Sympatico/MSN Oscar commentary; having had a little more time to think about it, I’m also very disappointed that “Starting Out in the Evening” was completely shut out, since it’s exactly the kind of finely crafted drama that could have used the profile-boost of a nomination, even if it didn’t ultimately win.

Oh, and as long as I’m putting up links, here’s my latest DVD column, which also strives to help out an overlooked movie that could use a little attention right about now.

Carry on.

The Oscar nominations are out, and I’m rushing to write an of-the-moment piece for Sympatico/MSN; until then, here are my immediate impressions: It was a big surprise to see Saiorse Ronan be the only actor nominated for “Atonement”, and it was lovely that Sarah Polley scored a screenwriting nomination for “Away from Her”.

Now the whole thing really boils down to a horse race between “No Country for Old Men” and “There Will Be Blood” … unless the Academy voters scurry to the safety of “Michael Clayton”.

I mean, Best Picture? Really?

Oh, and in other movie news, Variety is reporting that Hasbro Toys will be releasing a $100 replica of the “Cloverfield” monster … but not until September 30th.

“The 14-inch figure is being aimed at the collectible crowd and will include sound, two interchangeable heads (one each for the monster’s “calm or agitated” moods), 10 parasites and the head of the Statue of Liberty.”

I kinda want one, if only so I can get a clear look at the thing …

UPDATE: Here’s Hasbro’s product page. Note the lack of an image, or even a name for the thing. I still like “Grumpy”. Says it all, really.