TheSophomoreCritic

Megan Fox slams Transformers

2009-07-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

I actually have to admit I kind of enjoyed Transformers the first time around. It was partially because the summer of 2007 was such a massive dissapointment from the letdowns of Shrek 3 to Pirates 3 to lucklaster comedies like Lisence to Wed and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry to films that didn't excite me enough to watch in the first place like Simpsons Movie (the show has been going on too long and lost my interest 10 years ago), Rush Hour 3 (Rush Hour 2 was one of the worst experience I've ever had), Ratatouille (A Pixar film has never sounded that horrible).

Granted, Transformers sounded even dumber but somehow I made my way in the theater (I was working in a theater and it was all free) and the star charisma of Shia LeBouf and the Spielbergesque element of the lost son made me pleasantly surprised. Desperate to like something from that awful summer I proclaimed Transformers a decent surprise.

Looking back, Transformers represents so many bad things all at once, it should not be encouraged. It probably made everyone in the cinema a little dumber for having watched it:

The soundtrack was writen by someone with massive ADD, the action scenes were nonsensical (why would humans be needed in a fight between cars/robots?), and worst of all, you had the most stereotpu In the midst of the most stereotypical collection of characters I have ever seen together in one film:
1. The tough-guy marine with a soft spot for his daughter who solves problems by taking civillians like John Turturro and ramming them against a wall
2. The childish black guy who provides comic relief but within the plot actually does something well (knows computers or whatever)
3. The goofy government bureaucrat who is about as viable of a threat as Wile E Coyote is to the road runner
4. The hot girl next door
5. The hot girl's boyfriend who's sole purpose in life is to demonstrate his superiority over the nerds in school

I did really, really like the Australian defense analyst because she didn't fit into any box. She was attractive but because of Megan Fox's role in the movie, you didn't get the sense she was there just to provide eye candy. I also loved LeBouf.

But worst of all, inserting shiny cars into a movie is an overly commercial move designed to attract fan boys. It's practically screaming out at its audience that the film is nothing more than an attempt to round out a McDonald's Happy Meal with a toy.

So anyway, onto the news:
Megan Fox of Transformers fame, who's role is basically eye candy, protests that Transformers is a film that's basically about Special Effects and not about acting. She acknowledges the film made her career, but admits that it is crap. I'm not sure whether to applaud her or not, because if Fox had any integrity at all, she probably wouldn't sign up for the part of "teenage male fantasy," or maybe she'd try to do something with it.

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/us-magazine-megan-fox-bay.html

Then again, maybe I should give Fox points for being self-conscious of the fact that I basically think nothing of her. I would never see a Megan Fox film on the basis that she has no acting value to me. Transformers doesn't cut it. Still, if Fox insists that she's not just eye candy but a good actress, the burden is on her to prove us otherwise.

Meanwhile, Bay points out that he launched the careers of Shia LeBouf, Nicholas Cage, and Ben Affleck. Shia LeBouf, Nicholas Cage and Ben Affleck had already showed their range and what they could do in films before they appeared in Bay's films. LeBouf was in "The Battle of Shaker Heights", "The Greatest Game Ever Played" and "Disturbia." Those films grossed a small amount of money and weren't seen by a lot of people. If Bay puts Shia LeBouf in a film that's seen by millions and millions of people, of course he'll turn into a star. Is that to Bay's credit? Did Bay discover him? Not really.

I wrote more about this here:
www.examiner.com/x-3877-dc-film-industry-examiner

My sister and Apollo 13

2009-06-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about how movies and TV have the power to change people and the world.

A recent episode of the Family Guy spin-off American Dad postulated that Martin Scorsese changed the course of history with the film Taxi Driver. It's a well-known fact that would-be presidential assassin John Hinckley became infatuated with a 12-year old Jodie Foster upon seeing the famous 1970's film and attempted to kill the president because it was the only way he could get noticed. The episode takes it a couple steps further and postulates that because of the sympathy from almost being killed, Regan was able to win the election and therefore the Cold War. In the episode, the show's protagonist goes back in time and gives Scorsese the advice of not doing drugs. Without the drugs, Scorsese doesn't make Taxi Driver as effectively and the chain of history is broken so when they return back to the preseent, they are living in Communist Russia.

That would probably be an extreme scenario of how a film could change history. Nick Clooney, who I previously had the pleasure of interviewing, wrote a book about films that changed history and there's a good list. The Birth of a Nation was used as a recruiting device to sway opinion towards the KKK. Sidney Poitier's films and even Hattie McDaniel's Oscar win for Gone with the Wind in 1939 allowed blacks to be seen in a more dignified light. There is a lot I could expand on in this entry.

Moat often, films and TV shows inspire people to take on new interests or even professions. A lot of people were encouraged to major in forensics when the TV show CSI became a hit. A film that changed the lives of my sister and me was Apollo 13. Say what you want about Ron Howard being overly commercial, but he can tell a gripping story, and in the case of Apollo 13, there was something about that movie that really inspired me and my sister. The excitement, the wonderment of space, the danger of it, and most importantly the noble cause of furthering our understanding of the universe by going to outer space made me and my sister obsessed with space.

My sister was encouraged to read Apollo 13 and wanted to learn all she could about NASA. She sent a letter to Gene Krantz (the character that Ed Harris played) and he wrote her back. Me and my sister both went to space camp as well and had the time of our lives there. We also live in the Washington D.C. area where the most popular museum is the Air and Space Museum and we visited it on multiple occasions. My sister could have told you the names of every astronaut in the Apollo missions for a while.

Ironically, at space camp my sister befriended a teenage Bryce Dallas Howard a few years before she became famous. She was in my sister's unit. My sister also heard Warner von Braun speak if I'm not mistaken.

My sister developed an interest in the stars and went to college where she considered majoring in astronomy. She ended up working astronomy into her major. She met her future husband in an astronomy class. She was her first serious boyfriend. The night before my sister went to study abroad for a year and had to break up with her then-boyfriend (she didn't think they'd survive the distance), they escaped a going-away party that my parents threw for her and went to an open field miles away from the city where they could see the stars.

I remember once when my father, my sister and I were driving late at night from the ski slopes in Vermont en route to the hotel we were staying at. My sister said to us, "You know, I learned how to navigate by looking at the stars" and proceeded to show us which way was East and which way was North. My dad proceeded to tell my sister she was incorrect and that East was straight ahead of them. We later found out my sister was right and my dad had misnavigated. We had to turn around and spent an extra hour driving.

I was just thinking of this because USA Today reported that the upcoming 40th Anniversary of the moon landing is upon us. I remember on the 30th Anniversary of the moon landing, my sister invited me to go out with her and two of her best friends. We bought a rocket launcher and reenacted the the moon landing (technically, we reenacted the Apollo 13 space capsule leaving from Cape Canaveral if you want to be more specific) and she read a quote from her Apollo 13 book. It was one of the funnest evenings I've spent with her.

Peter Jackson said that he had been so greatly inspired by the movie King Kong that he wanted to recreate it over and over again in his room. The 2005 film King Kong represented his lifetime ambition. Stephen Spielberg also said this year as he accepted the Cecille B. DeMille award that he was greatly inspired by DeMille's "Greatest Show on Earth" and discovered his passion of filmmaking when he tried to recreate a train crash.

My sister is not an astronomer by trade and is not a filmmaker, but I see that similarity between her passion and those two filmmaking greats. I also think that one movie did truly change her life. She is also the greatest supporter of my blog and writing career there is (and her husband and father-in-law are two equally enthusiastic supporters) so here's to you, Yasmine.

Again, let me shamelessly plug (I think it's only fair if you enjoyed this that you click on these links, simply to pay revenue) these other articles I've recently written. Copy and paste them, please:
http://www.helium.com/items/1485245-dwyane-wade-scoring-title-magic-shooting-kobe-and-derek-fisher-review-of-2008-2009-nba-season

http://www.helium.com/items/1493567-robin-hood-complex-copyright-abusers-copyright-right-or-wrong-youtube-copyright

http://www.helium.com/items/1481780-saving-youtube-save-youtube-mozycom

What I've seen so far and what I'm expecting to see...

2009-06-22T14:32:00.001-07:00

The Brothers Bloom, dir. Rian Johnson-The film had some very good elements:
It's hard to cover this film without spoiling much of it
-The visual look was terrific. I wasn't sure if it was a period piece or it was set in the late 2000's, because there was a definite lack of cell phones and other modern day apparatuses in the frame. It was very retro, yet very much in the present
-Rachel Weicz was such a fascinating character. How could a woman that beautiful and rich be so lonely? Weicz manages to pull it off. An absolutely amazing performance and kudos to her for learning all those talents (apparently she had to learn all those talents)
-Some of the dialogue was exceptional. Penelope's speech about reinventing her life and refusing to see her loneliness as a weakness was definitely thought-provoking.

At the same time, the film on the whole didn't make any sense. It was too many twists to the point where you just didn't care what was going on screen because none of it was real and there wasn't much suspense to convince you that the film might have been heading in any other direction.

Wolverine, dir. Gavin Hood
Simply put, I've never seen such a promising franchise be squandered so poorly. The story, before being put to screen, had a lot of potential. Here's what I grasped from what the film was really about: Wolverine had some sort of internal ying and yang battle between his animalistic urges and his sense of humanity. Whenever something happened, his immediate reaction was to go berserk (full disclaimer: Wolverine goes berserk a lot) because that was his animistic nature. When he was able to control himself more, Wolverine showed empathy towards others and did the right thing. Sabretooth, on the other hand, was just purely irrational. Wolverine's journey is partially what's in the plot but it's also from differentiating himself with Sabretooth.

Anyway, because I'm an X-Men fan that I would have seen the film anyway, but it was a massive disappointment. It was overly Ramboish and the special effects were distractingly excessive. I wrote more here

Angels and Demons, directed by Ron Howard:
I know that the original had a hard time pleasing people, so if I liked the original a lot and I also liked A&D, I know that's not going to count as a highly-touted recommendation. What I can say is that A&D is similar in tone to the first film but with quicker pacing. It's much more of a thriller although it doesn't have as much of the buzz and controversy that the first one carried with it. That takes away some of the gravity. As someone who has read the book, I think the adaptation made some very smart decisions as to where the film should depart from the book and there is enough to be surprised in that department. You also have to hand it to the film for really showing Rome in all its glory and there's a lot of great scenery to like in the film as well.

Land of the Lost, directed by Brad Silberling:
It wasn't the absolute worst film I have ever seen but it was close to it. I am someone who tend to think anything starring Will Ferrell, including Step Brothers and Blades of Glory, were good films. This, however, was a major misstep on Ferrell's part that will definitely make me second-guess going to a film just because Ferrell is on the marquis. The film just wandered without much of a plot and didn't have enough laughs to keep us invested along the way. I know it was a homage to a TV show with notoriously low production values, but that was a kid's film.

Star Trek, directed by J.J. Abrahams:
Most of what's already been said about Star Trek are my sentiments. It's a truly exciting film that does a flawless job of walking the fine line between reinventing characters and altering them to fit a new generation or storyline. The actors and forces behind them did a great job of interpreting these iconic roles and that's what made the film tick so well. The special effects and visuals were amazing as well. It's hard to truly awe in audience when one out of every films released in the summer boasts a $100 million budget for special effects, but Star Trek was out there. One little complaint: The plot was somewhat confusing and ultimately, meaningless. It wouldn't have hurt to give us a plot worth caring about.

although

Twitter Review of 2005 film Elizabethtown

2009-06-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

I live-twittered the film Elizabethtown as I was watching it on TNT:

road trip took a little long, was that like a 12-minute montage?
1:41 PM Jun 13th from web

yeah, Clare doing that camera clicking thing and now making that ridiculously accurate book, supercreepy (and superhot)
1:28 PM Jun 13th from web

Oh, so Ben is god and Clarie is with Ben? so this guy's in a 3-way love triangle with god?
1:28 PM Jun 13th from web

apparently, Clare is a fallen angel from god: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060625/ANSWERMAN/606250305/1023
12:56 PM Jun 13th from web

Clare directing the people out of the fire-sprinkler induced chaos like a flight-attendant, nice touch..and then last look, good too
12:44 PM Jun 13th from web

Susan Sorandon dancing at the funeral was ridiculous but really effective and nearly tear-inducingly touching
12:40 PM Jun 13th from web

Susan Sorandon @ the funeral: I loved mitch b/c i couldn't function w/o him. literally:i'm probably legally retarded
12:33 PM Jun 13th from web

ehh, kind of lazy to intertwine a convo about romance and a convo about business together IMO, so jealous of orlando bloom now, btw
12:21 PM Jun 13th from web

so ben's out of the picture, but why was he in the picture in the 1st place? ewww, are you two making out next to daddy's dead body?
12:19 PM Jun 13th from web

i'm officially sad that kirsten dunst or anyone like her doesn't show up when i'm on a plane, cause yeah, she's stalkeish but iminluvwithher
12:13 PM Jun 13th from web

cameron, why did you write the other guy, ben, in the story?
12:08 PM Jun 13th from web

true story: uncle met my aunt as a flight attendant and rode her flight 20 X before eventually asking her out, maybe he'd like this film?
12:05 PM Jun 13th from web

is alec baldwin coming back into this movie? please comeback, alec and provide some deadpan comic stylings
12:01 PM Jun 13th from web

cameron why have you made judy greer and susan sorandon out to be laurel and hardy? i'm referring to the bumbling fix-a-car scene
11:59 AM Jun 13th from web

i wish i had a soundtrack playing in the background of my life so i could know which phone convos were important and which i could hang up
11:57 AM Jun 13th from web

...that must have been kind of awkward
11:55 AM Jun 13th from web

cameron: remember when u interviewed your idol billy wilder in that book and asked about rock music and he was all like "that's crap"
11:51 AM Jun 13th from web

cameron crowe: i know you love rock music, but stop drowning out the conversations with it
11:49 AM Jun 13th from web

oh, screw it: if kirsten dunst was a flight attendant who showed me obsessive attention n a red eye flight, i'd probably like it too
11:48 AM Jun 13th from web

is kirsten dunst bad at her job, stalkerishly obsessed on 1st site or both? apparently, because she's hot the audience will forgive her
11:45 AM Jun 13th from web

cameron crowe doesn't think much of females so far:flight attendants are pretty girls who only take the job to meet mr. right and...orlando bloom's sister and mother have no idea how to make funeral arrangements
11:37 AM Jun 13th from web

live twittering elizabethtown:hope this movie isn't too sentimental and/or mushy for me at this time of day
11:34 AM Jun 13th from web

Again: Follow me on twitter at okonh0wp or here at www.examiner.com/x-3877-dc-film-industry-examiner

Links to posts of mine on helium...

2009-06-15T18:18:00.000-07:00

Here are some articles I wrote on helium.com. Please be generous with your clickage.

10 Westerns

Why the internet is killing print journalism:
http://www.helium.com/items/1480323-decline-of-newspapers-gravity-of-print-industry-importance-of-newspapers

Can youtube make money?
http://www.helium.com/items/1481780-saving-youtube-save-youtube-mozycom

Book Review: Barack Obama: Dreams of My Father

Director Analysis: John Huston:
http://www.helium.com/items/1288157-john-huston-anjelica-huston-man-who-would-be-king-treasure-of-sierra-madre-african-queen

17 Actors most overdue for an Oscar nomination

2009-06-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I am going to blog a little bit on here after a 5-month hiatus. Please do repay the favor if you like what you read by simply clicking this link. Clicks on that site are the only way I make money through blogging.

Here is a list without even looking at who is in high-profile films this year, i would say:
Lead Actor:
1. Matt Damon-Snubbed for Talented Mr. Ripley, Good German, Syrianna. Only one nomination 12 years ago despite being one of the most bankable actors today with one of the most creative tastes in projects he choses
2. Ralph Feinnes-Only two noms, snubbed for Constant Gardener and vote splitting cost him a nom for one of three fine performances this past year
3. Russell Crowe-No nominations since 2001. Nominated 3 times and deserved to win 2 of them. Despite being one of the two or three most brilliant actors in their prime today. Snubbed for Master and Commander, Cinderella Man, and American Gangster.
4. Jim Carrey-Snubs have dated back to 1998 with Truman Show, 1999 with Man on the Moon and 2004 with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Has wisely stayed out of sequels like Dumb and Dumber 2 and Evan Almighty, so he's not as commercialized as people give him credit for.
5. Liam Niesson-Snubbed for Kinsey and has only one nomination with

Either one:
1. Albert Finney-Being nominated for Erin Brockovitch was a good consolation for one of the best British imports of his generation to go empty-handed at the Oscars
2. Tom Hanks-Been 9 years since last nomination. Terrific in supporting roles like Catch Me If You Can or lead roles such as Ladykillers or Terminal
3. Daniel Craig-Clearly a better actor than the James Bond moniker allows him to be and he was snubbed for Munich and Infamous. I fear that in the mold of Sean Connery, the Academy will wait until he's done being Bond before the Academy gives him any consideration, because he's more an action star than a guy to be taken seriously.
4. Jude Law-Was in 6 movies alone in 2004. Highly prolific actor with only 2 noms to his name and 6 years since last nom. Still no win.
5. Ewan MaGregor-More than Obi-Wan Kenobi, he's a star in his own right and has been bankable and interesting to watch in everything he's been in.
6. Gabrael Garcia Bernal-If Benicio del Toro and Javier Bardem can get oscars, he should at least get a nomination. He hasn't exactly been snubbed but he has shined in Babel, Bad Education, Y tu Mama Tambien.
7. Michael Douglas-He's only had one nom in his whole career and has a lot more memorable roles in that and has been one of the premeiere actors of his time in the 80s. Traffic and Wonderboys showed he could still be a great actor

Supporting Actor:
1. Paul Bettany-I just think the guy is great in supporting roles like Master and Commander, Beautiful Mind (he got snubbed there, IMO), and that film with Harrison Ford
2. Alec Baldwin-He's brilliant on 30 Rock and his career spanning from Beetlejuice to Glengarry Glenn Ross has produced way more than just one memorable role. Plus he's on TCM, so bonus points with the old people. He needs to not have those list
3. Lawrence Fishburne-Contemporaries such as Morgan Freeman and Samuel L Jackson have been nominated multiple times, why not him?
4. Kevin Spacey-Only 2 nominations but then again there are only 2 wins. With his schedule as theatrical manager of the Old Vic Theater in London, he's said that he wants to only do supporting but he killed in films
5. Greg Kinnear-Whether the lead in Little Miss Sunshine or Auto Focus or supporting, he's an excellent actor and just one nomination doesn't serve adequate credit to him

NBA list I compiled

2009-06-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

This is the rosters for the 2007-2008 by the ten biggest colleges to contribute NBA players:

From 10 schools, you have 137 players. I don't know what the exact total of people who played in the 2007-2008 season was but I know that the number of people on the opening day roster for the 2008-2009 season was 438 (I couldn't find the number for 2007-2008 with a quick google search and don't feel like wasting any more time on this). Players like Keith Langford and Loren Woods were signed for 10 day contracts which means that they're signed as temporary help over the course of the season, so the number is probably higher than 435.

A star next to their name means that the player was never on a final four squad.
I think the mark of a school is one that produces NBA talent consistently. Kansas, UCLA and Arizona have relatively good numbers for being able to ship people off to the NBA in off years where the school doesn't make the final four.

Arizona:
Los Angeles Lakers: Luke Walton
Portland: Channing Frye*
San Antonio Spurs: Damon Stoudamire
Dallas: Jason Terry
Houston: Loren Woods*
Atlanta: Salim Stoudamire*, Mike Bibby
Washington: Gilbert Arenas
Philadelphia: Andre Iguodala*
NJN: Richard Jefferson
Toronto: Marcus Williams*

UCONN:
Seattle: Donyell Marshall*
Memphis: Rudy Gay*
New Orleans: Hilton Armstrong
Milwaulkee: Charlie Villenueva, Jake Voshkul
Detroit: Richard Hamilton
Chicago: Ben Gordon
Charlotte: Emeka Okafor
Washington: Caron Butler*
Philadelphia: Kevin Ollie*
New Jersey: Marcus Williams*, Josh Boone
Boston: Ray Allen*

UNC:
GSW: Brendan Wright
Minnesota: Rashad McCantis
Dallas: Jerry Stackhouse
Atlanta: Marvin Williams
Charlotte: Jeff McInnis, Raymond Felton, Sean May
Washington: Antwain Jamison, Brendan Haywood
New Jersey: Vince Carter

UCLA:
LAL: Jordan Farmar, Trevor Azria*
GSW: Baron Davis*, Matt Barnes*
Seattle: Earl Watson*
Denver: Delani McCoy*
Milwaulkee: Dan Gadzuric*
Detroit: Aaron Affallo
Charlotte: Ryan Hollins
Toronto: Jason Kapono*, Derrick Martin*

Kentucky:
Houston: Chuck Hayes*
Memphis: Antoine Walker
Orlando: Keith Bogans
Detroit: Tusheyan Prince*
Dallas: Jamal Magloire
Charlotte: Derek Anderson, Nazr Mohammed
New York: Randolph Morris*

Duke:
Los Angeles Clippers: Corey Magette, Elton Brand
Phoenix: Grant Hill
Portland: Josh McRoberts*
Utah: Carlos Boozer
Denver: Dahntay Jones*
Houston: Shane Battier
Chicago: Lou Deng
Indiana: Mike Dunleavy Jr.
Orlando: JJ Reddick
Atlanta: Shelden Williams
Philadelphia: Shavlik Randolph
New York: Chris Duhon

Michigan State:
LA Clippers: Paul Davis
New Orleans: Morris Petersen
Milwaulkee: Charlie Bell
Cleveland: Eric Snow*, Shannon Brown*
Charlotte: Jason Richardson
New Jersey: Maurice Ager
New York: Zach Randolph

Florida:
Sacramento: Orien Greene
Denver: Taureen Green
Minnesota: Mike Miller, Corey Brewer, Chris Richard
San Antonio Spurs: Matt Bonner
Chicago: Joakim Noah, Anthony Roberson
Miami: Udonis Haslem, Jayson Williams
Atlanta: Al Horford
New York: David Lee

Kansas:
Sacramento: Brad Miller*
Portland: Raef LaFraentz*
Seattle: Nick Collison
Minnesota: Wayne Simien*
San Antonio: Keith Langford, Jaques Vaughn*
New Orleans Hornets: Julian Wright*
Chicago: Drew Gooden, Kirk Hinrich
Cleveland: Billy Thomas*
Boston: Paul Pierce*, Scott Pollard*

Stanford:
LA Clippers: Brevin Knight*
Utah: Jarron Collins
Minnesota: Mark Madsen
Memphis: Jason Collins*, Casey Jacobsen*
Atlanta: Josh Childress*

A fun quiz

2009-02-28T21:15:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I haven't written in a while. I've been writing for the other site I was hired for recently and this site will be on hiatus until that site comes through.

Orrin Konheim
This is a quiz that is a somewhat shameless (but hopefully effective) plug for the other site

A film literacy quiz:
1. What are the two most important days of the week that count the most towards ensuring a film’s survival in the theaters? What are the three most important days of the week?
2. What are the two families that have won Oscars over three generations?
3. Why do they use popcorn in the theaters?
4. Orson Wells was considered by some to be the greatest filmmaker ever. What was the one mistake he made with his debut film Citizen Kane that derailed his career?
5. Name 3 Sundance films over the last few years that have gone mainstream?
6. MGM stands for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Who exactly were these people?
7. Carrie Fisher, Jamie Lee-Curtis and Angelina Jolie all have parents in the film industry. Who were they?
8. What kind of movie always makes money?
9. Who originally owned the studio United Artists and who owns it now?
10. The five highest grossing films of all-time are Titanic, The Dark Knight, Star Wars, _____, and E.T. Fill in the blank

Answers here

7 Reasons why 2008 was better than 2007 in movies

2009-02-19T12:15:00.000-08:00

The Oscars come this Saturday which means that's the close of 2008 in film. I know that we're 7 weeks into the new year, but we're still in 2008 mode. Most of the films in theaters worth watching are 2008 vintage and as the year comes to a close I'm seeing a lot of negativity with respect to this year.

I've been reading comments everywhere from filmbabble.blogspot.com, to the film experience that proclaim 2008 to not be nearly as good as 2007.

I completely disagree. If you look at the history of my blog posts, I barely was blogging towards the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008. This is because 2007 was so bad that it turned me off movies and the only reason that my blog posts have increased as of late is because I've seen the quality of moviemaking go up this year to the point where I have more to write about.

It's hard to compare one year to another, but let me try to construct a well-detailed argument as to why the cinematic output of 2007 was an abomination of man and should be purged from history and why 2008's output was godlike. Here are my reasons:
1. 2007 was the year that sequels lost their artistic credibility:
Just look to May of 2007, the 3 most profitable sequels of all time, Shrek 2 (#3 film all time at the time of its release), Spiderman 2 (#8 film all time), and Pirates of the Carribean 2 (#6 film all time) made way to the three largely incoherent and dissapointing films that screamed out to the audience: "The reason we were created was for easy money" and easy money those films did make. The most memorable sequel of 2008 "Dark Knight" raised the bar for "The Dark Knight"
2. In 2007, Judd Apatow was declared the smartest man in film business by Entertainment Weekly:
Whether Judd Apatow is smart or not, he certainly made America DUMBER (or those who chose to watch his films). Apatow has only been doing what box office analysts have noted for years and what filmmakers hoping to pursue art over commerce have been trying to avoid: that the box office is controlled by adolescent boys and therefore the ideal comedy should have a lot of perverse sexual humor, four-letter words and references to drugs and laziness. Is this really that revolutionary? Apatow caters to the 13-16 year old crowd and somehow adults have latched onto it. Knocked Up was pretty funny, I will admit, but Superbad was rediculously sophomoric and had no innovation whatsoever to it. You could attach a camera to any two underachieving college students at a party school on a Friday night, and get the same level of entertainment as Superbad. In 2008, the force of Apatow was greatly subdued with
Forgetting Sarah Marshall in the Spring and Pineapple Express in the late summer.
3. There were a lot of quality films other than Judd Apatow
Comedies outside of Judd Apatow fell completely by the wayside. Juno was a big word-of-mouth buzzer, I'll admit, and there was Lars and the Real Girl, but a tremendous amount of summer comedies fell flat including Evan Allmighty, Shrek 3, Mr. Woodock, Rush Hour 3, Liscence to Wed, and later Dan in Real Life.
In 2008, we had a number of diverse successes which were all innovative and had something to offer: Tropic Thunder generated buzz through some incredibly creative casting, Pineapple Express dared to cross two opposite genres in the pot film and the action film, popular HBO host took a shot at being Borat (I haven't seen the film, to be fair), Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly teamed up again (which I can't help but love), the Coen Brothers produced their best screwball comedy in Burn After Reading, and Jack Black, Mos Def and Michael Gondry teamed up for a metacinematical wonder in Be Kind Rewind. In addition, two comedies made their way to the best original screenplay final five, In Bruges and Happy-Go-Lucky, not be filling in the quirky dramedy slot, but by being originals. In short, something to love for everyone on the comedy front.
4. Wall-E transcends the animated film genre
Did Pixar's Ratatouille top critics' lists far and wide as the #1 film of the year by critics ranging from Time Magainze to the AV Club to Entertainment Weekly to the LA and Chicago Film Critics Association and it was on many more lists as well. Ratatouille did not transcend the animated film genre like Wall-E did.
5.2007 was an overflow of war films that didn't resonate. 2008 approached current events in a more fitting way
Rendition, Lions for Lambs (which I personally liked), The Kingdom, Redacted, and Charlie Wilson's War (which I liked somewhat) all fizzled out. These films might have been relevant in 2003 when we made the ill-fitted decision to go to war or a couple years down the road when the situation was turning worse. By 2007, it was old news. 2008's big films were surprisingly relevant. Milk came out right after the controvoursey over Proposition 8. I now that was unanticipated, but could you have asked for better luck? How about Slumdog Millionaire and the Obama's rise to power? The Reader and Dick Cheney's attempts to defend his cohorts from war crimes? Frost/Nixon and the growing awareness with each upcoming election cycle that how candidates far in debates affects everything? And all these 4 were nominated for best picutre.
6.Many of the good films were forgotten anyway in 2007
In the Valley of Ellah, Great Debaters, Away from Her, Persopolis, Gone Baby Gone, Once, Atonement, Zodiac, Eastern Promises and especially Assassination of Jess James were all underpromoted, underbuzzed, and not seen by very many people. I'm not sure if there were fewer masterpieces in 2008 but the films that received high levels of buzz all got their due among audiences. Smaller dialogue-heavy films like Happy Go Lucky, In Bruges, Vicky Christina Barcelona, and Burn After Reading all got their recognition in the independent screenplay category or the Golden Globe comedy category and other than the 5 nominees, Wall-E, Iron Man and Dark Knight got tremendous buzz and won many film critics awards. Revolutionary Road become sufficiently high-profile, Doubt got 4 acting noms, and the Wrestler had a very ample fan base.
7. 2007's main awards seasons successes were unusually dark and depressing.
The year's feel good story "Into the Wild" was about a guy who went off to Alaska and died at age 21. Just the read the title of There Will be Blood. Michael Clayton is supposed to be a run-of-the-mill legal thriller but it injects Hitchkock-like murder plots. Sweeny Todd is basically a darkly perverted version of the American musical. Eastern Promises is darker than films of its genre. The Assassination of Jesse James also lets you know how that story is going to end up. And the best picture Oscar, No Country for Old Men, is basically a story that goes nowhere that works more as a study of death.

Do check my website if you like this article and reward me with revenue!:
www.examiner.com/x-3877-dc-film-industry-examiner

I have a new writing job!

2009-02-15T12:48:00.001-08:00

Thanks to my blogging efforts, I have a new job, I will be the DC Film Industry Analyst for The Examiner. Here is my inagural entry, right here.

Please click on that, if nothing else, because I get revenue through clicks.

Here are some other links, I found that I've starred through google reader. There is nothing I was triyng to promote, I just found them all to be interesting articles:

Too often the Oscars are about films that make it to the big stage and discard the ones that don't. Here is a list of underappreciated films:
http://www.awardsdaily.com/?p=6053

The question is who would you chose to have breakfast with after the Oscars. I think I'd probably go with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon because they seemed so freaking excited. On the flipside, we could go with Alexander Payne (writer), or actors George C Scott or Alan Arkin who claim that winning an award means virtually nothing to them, to see how lackadaisical they are about it. Perhaps, Robin Williams because he'd always be fun to be around, or Robert De Niro because he's fascinatingly quiet and awkward in real life:
http://filmexperience.blogspot.com/2009/02/breakfast-with-faye-dunaway.html

This critic found Doubt funny:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2009/02/comedy_of_doubt.html

This was an interesting article about how every best picture Oscar campaign is seeking to dig up dirt on the other contenders:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2009/02/oscar_gold_diggers_of_2009_fol.html

Someone attempts to defend M. Night Shamylan. Good for him. I've watched 2 M. Night Shamylan films. I saw Lady in the Water and liked it. I didn't have a basis for comparison so the "not as good as his other films" argument held no water for me. I felt Lady in the Water was extremely imaginative even if it was filled with lots of plot holes. You had to simply watch it differently. The Happening, on the other hand, was disastrously awful:
http://atomicgadfly.blogspot.com/2009/01/twisting-in-his-grave-defense-of-m.html

Non-movie related: This is a weekly column by Fidel Castro that shows off his philosophical and scholarly side. I was unaware he had these:
http://granma.cu/ingles/2009/febrero/lun9/reflexiones.html

A good summary on the best picture nominees:
http://hokahey-littleworlds.blogspot.com/2009/01/nominees-for-best-picture-are_24.html

Tropic Thunder: Tom Cruise is still brilliant

2009-02-15T12:40:00.001-08:00

I hadn't seen Tropic Thunder until yesterday afternoon and again this morning, so I heard the buzz about the film before actually experiencing it firsthand. A brief summary of things I've heard and you must have heard too: it's a pretty good movies, there are these fake trailers before the film, Robert Downey Junior gives an Oscar-worthy performance as an Australian actor posing as a black actor and never breaking character, and Tom Cruise has a hilarious cameo.

With regard to the last two points, I found Robert Downey Jr. to be a pretty interesting character, but Tom Cruise practically owns the movie. Can we take a moment to acknowledge that whether you love or hate him as an actor, Tom Cruise lasted as a star not because he's a great actor (good but not great, in my opinion) but because he's always made smart picks as to which movies to be in. That's in fact, why he's been a successful producer in addition to being a movie star.

Even with his career derailed by a blotched interview with Matt Lauer and 30 seconds on a couch with Oprah, Cruise is incredibly smart at choosing which roles to take at the right time. And this is no easy thing to do when the entire nation has suddenly gone from adoring you for 25 years to practically losing all faith in you, and you're depending on them for ticket dollars. Two of the first three films Cruise did post-Oprah Gate were incredibly safe choices. Mission Impossible III was a sequel: Even if you don't like the Tom Cruise of today, you used to like Tom Cruise and you can't deny liking Mission Impossible, so that would get the newly converted Cruise haters to the theater and it pretty much did so: Scoring $47 million opening weekend (word of mouth might have killed its overall gross, but opening weekend gross is based on how successful the marketing is, so i'll cite that figure). In Valkyrie, Tom Cruise is basically pleading with audiences to come with this logic: "Yes, America, I know you think I'm nuts, but I'm trying to kill Hitler in this film. You have to root for me to kill Hitler, right?"

While the general movie going public is still deciding whether Tom Cruise is crazy or not, Cruise dives headfirst into a role that covers the same territory as some of these perceptions and that's so potentially dangerous. It would be like if Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe did a passionate romantic film together after he broke up her marriage to Dennis Quaid by seducing her on the set of Proof of Life. Nonetheless, Cruise's producer character is an excellent, spot-on, and unique comic creation. It also is inaccurate to say it's just a cameo. He was in quite a bit of the film. I was baffled by Hollywood Foreign Press' decision to give Tom Cruise a best supporting actor nomination, but I might just have to agree that if we're (by we, I mean, the Oscars, Golden Globes, Broadcast Film Critics Assosiation, etc.) going to put Rob Downey Jr. in the best supporting actor category, then Tom Cruise as equally as deserving of a supporting actor nomination this year.

What's more, Tropic Thunder also features Matthew McConaughey and Nick Nolte in the best roles I've ever seen them in (although I don't think I've seen Nick Nolte in a lot of roles, come to think of it). McConaughey plays an agent who is willing to fight tooth-and-nail to get his client Tivo while Nolte is the movie-within-a-movie's screenwriter (or rather the novelist that the film is based off of or whatever you call it) of the film, who originally claims to have wrote the book off his war experiences. One of the film's big reveals is that his character WAS in the military, but not so much a combatant but a sanitation engineer for the Coast Guard.

If I were in charge of the SAG best ensemble nominations, I might be tempted to include Tropic Thunder in that category.

Helium Links

2009-02-11T11:21:00.000-08:00

Internet Piracy is wrong but it feels so right:
http://www.helium.com/items/1315289-illegal-music-downloads-illegal-downloading-internet-piracy-morals-downloading-debate

Here are some more good recommendations for science-fiction films. Top 10 Science-Fiction films:
http://www.helium.com/items/1297324-dystopan-dystopia-back-to-the-future-science-fiction-metropolis-star-wars-clockwork-orange

Why Star Trek has outlived it's usefulness
Reasons why Star Trek should stay dead

An open letter to Hillary Duff

2009-02-10T11:26:00.000-08:00

"Los Angeles (E! Online) – Making fun of Faye Dunaway's looks wasn't enough for Hilary Duff—she's still peeved at the aging actress.

Quick feud recap (because there are too many to keep track of anymore): Hilary is starring in a Bonnie and Clyde remake. This caused Dunaway to allegedly cackle, ''Couldn't they at least cast a real actress?" which got the Duffster in such a huff, she lashed out to E!'s Daily 10, "I might be mad if I looked like that now, too."

Seems pretty straightforward and done with, but Hilary's still got more to say about the matter on today's Bonnie Hunt Show.

See, Duff says Dunaway can't judge her, because the Lizzie McGuire star is still growing. "She started acting way later than I did, so I think I have time to grow—and grow with each project. I am learning and work hard at my craft," Hilary explains to Bonnie. Being the kind hostess, Bonnie offers up some comfort: "I think even Faye went through a time, if you look historically, where some people might have said that about her. She has great beauty, but she proved herself."

Then Hilary admits her D10 comments were kind of mean, but whatevs: "It's not OK for people to take stabs at you and to say mean things for no reason." And now we wait to see if this thing is really and truly over...or if another Faye Dunaway zinger is on its way."

Actually, no, Hillary, you don't get a pass to act like a bitch while you're working on your craft. You basically dismissed someone who's starred in three films that are universally considered among the best ever made: Chinatown, Bonnie and Clyde, and Network. You've made zero films that have been memorable over your whole career (I'll admit to liking Cheaper by the Dozen but most people including myself felt you were a distraction and error in casting in that film). The only reason you're in movies is because you're a product of the Disney corporation and they are putting you on the big screen as a means of cross-promotion for you on the little screen. If you ever make it to the big screen on a rare occasion when Disney isn't fighting tooth and nail for you, it would be through pure chance and no one's rooting for a commercialized Disney creation like you to get there. Also, you being a bitch doesn't make me want to root for your career any more.

Here is your list of unforgivable sins:

1. You made fun of Faye Dunaway's looks because she's old. Haven't you lashed out at the media for holding women to an idealized vision of beauty and haven't you publicly expressed displeasure off at US Magazine for devoting entire articles to your weight gain? Well, no more will I take your side for that.

2. You act as though Dunaway's career is irrelevant to you because she doesn't fit into your MTV-ized view that culture is only relevant if it's occurring in the here-and-now. Whether you chose to watch films released more than ten years ago or not, Dunaway is a part of film history and you are not. If starring in movies isn't just an excuse to promote generic pop tunes and whatever it is you do or did for the Disney channel, and you are in fact serious about your craft, you don't show it very well by not being aware of these things. Besides, considering that by 2019, you'll probably be completely forgotten to the next class of teeny boppers starring in movies, you might want to promote an appreciation of films older than 10 years old, so you can still latch onto whatever fame you have now

3. You're apology is only a half-apology. You accuse Dunaway of being mean to you which you don't approve of.

Breaking down the humor of viral youtube clip "Anne Hathaway Freaks Out on the Set of Rachel Getting Married"

2009-02-10T10:46:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R15PZetz9Dg

This latest viral clip, "Anne Hathaway Getting Married" is by comedienne Sara Benincasa who's slowly eclipsing LisaNova as the funniest girl on youtube. Anyway, I started thinking about this and deciding to do a full-on analysis about why this is funny and how this is particularly genius. The youtube clip is an audio parody of Christian Bale's explosive outburt at the director of photography (or DP for short)on the set of Terminator Salvation last week. In this fictitous clip, Anne Hathaway has a similar tirade at the Director of Photography for Rachel Getting Married.
Let's really break down the humor until it's no longer funny:

1. It's well-researched:
Sara Benincasa has either seen this film and knows more about its plot than I do (I also watched this film but found some of the plot to be confusing). Considering that one could easily make fun of Rachel Getting Married by watching the trailer or seeing a review, you have to admire a comedian for being so thorough as to actually watch a 2-hour art film just so they can make jokes about it. The actual names of the Director of Photography, Declan Quinn, her costars and their filmographies are all accurate (she could have looked that up on imdb). But her references to a sex scene in which she has her clothes on, the interracial dynamic of the new family (something touched upon in actual reviews of the film), the filmographies and context of various castmembers in the film.
She alludes to Rosemarie DeWitt's increased profile and the possible ego boost it might give her now that her show Mad Men has won the SAGs, Emmys, and Golden Globes.
Why is this funny?
Humor grounded not just in truth, but in exact details, makes for better parody. Think how Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein is funnier because it recreates the original film shot-for-shot. Another example is when Tina Fey delivered an acceptance speech at the Academy Awards when she singled out actual screen names of internet users who trashed her.

2. The fact that Anne Hathaway thinks that these people are compared to the amutuers who made Bride Wars:
Again, a fairly intelligent piece of context of the situation flipped upside down on its head.
So let's look at the context: Many respected actors and actresses today have not always had a history of being respected because they were previously known as comic talents (i.e. Bill Murray, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell), singer/rappers (Queen Latifah, Mark Wahlberg, Will Smith, Beyonce, etc), or hot women (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Charlize Theron). All of these actors and actresses owe their success to one single film that broke them out of that role (see appendix). Anne Hathaway is like that but in a different category. She's very cute and girly and makes a good leading lady for a romantic comedy or some cute Disneyesque film like The Princess Diaries. 90% of Anne Hathaway's work (except Brokeback Mountain) is her giggling and acting all cute and girly, but since she is now nominated for an Oscar and acted very non-cute in Rachel Getting Married, she owes any future work she gets to that film.
The irony here is that Anne Hathaway is criticizing the people on this set for not being as great as the cast of Bride Wars when the upcoming film, Bride Wars is as derivative and generic as all her previous work.

2b. The further incongruities of Anne Hathaway's state of mixed-up logic:
Anne Hathaway is being presented as someone who wants to take control of her career and image (why else would she be throwing a tirade on the set) but she wants a director who can allow her to do more full-frontal nudity. Again, a small bit of irony, but she seems to be disrupting the set and complaining because she wants to take her career backwards.

3. Mastering the tag and escalate
Tagging is what Conan O'Brien refers to as hitting the audience with a joke, and then when the audience is laughing at that joke, tagging something onto the back of the joke within the same context. You can do this a few times in a row and it will drive it to absurdity. The monologue does a wonderful job of tagging on a few occasions: In the "you aren't the f-ing cast of Bride Wars" part, she says "that movie was a feminist tour de force" (when, ironically, she's starring in the most feminist movie to come along ever), we're laughing at that, and she hits us with a rephrasing of the same statement, in an even more absurd statement "I felt like I was reading the feminine mystique meets the belljar." It's escalation. The best example of this is the part about how she "raped" her costar. Let's review this:
"Heather Matarazzo, I'm in a bad mood and she'd be like ok"......tag......escalate "I'm gonna f-ing rape you at 3:00 weiner dog and she'd be like 'fine'.....tag....(if you don't think that's funny enough, here comes an escalation).......escalate "and then i'd actually rape her and it was fun and everyone would let me"..tag.....escalate..."and we're still friends today"...tag....escalate...."and those are some of the best sexual experiences she or I have ever head today." See the idea here about how this gets more and more absurd? I particularly like the part (towards the end) about everyone "letting her rape Heather" as if consent for sex is given by a third-party or a consensus of third parties (did everyone on set meet and take a vote over whether they'd allow Anne Hathaway to rape her?).

4. It's risky, but not overly offensive
Now, if you're going to be offended that they're making fun of rape, consider that this is not by definition rape since Heather said "fine" to the rape (which sounds like a deliciously uncharacteristic answer to whether you want to have sex or not). The idea of the entire set consenting to Anne Hathaway having sex with Heather makes it sound even MORE consentual than sex, in fact. Consider how much less funny and how much more disturbing this would have been if the line about Heather Matarazzo (I still haven't even looked up who that is, btw) consenting wasn't used. Also, there are three targets of Anne's wrath in fact, but none are for valid reasons: Rosemarie DeWitt stars on a TV show, the director of photography Declan is being made fun of because it's a parody of Christian Bale's tirade, and Julie Andrews is a much-loved icon whose status as America's favorite nanny makes her pretty much bullet-proof, so none of these tirades come across as being mean-spirited. If she started making fun of some intermediate figure like director Johnothan Demme, who for all we know, could be a humongous jerk, that might come across as worse. If she bashed Rosemarie DeWitt for logical reasons, then we might also find it vindictive or tasteless, but she sticks to the absurd. It reminds me of when Jack Black and Will Ferrell threatened to beat Peter O'Toole over the head with a Nickelodeon award because he's legendary: because the threat has no basis in truth, it has no negative connotations and we can enjoy it.

Appendix: Examples of actors and actresses who owe one single movie for remaking their career:
-Rappers or Singers include Mark Wahlberg for The Departed, Queen Latifah for Chicago, Mos Def for Hitchhiker's Guide, Will Smith for Six Degrees of Seperation.
-Comic talents: Bill Murray for Lost in Translation or Will Ferrell for Stranger than Fiction, Adam Sandler for Punch Drunk Love
-Hot ladies: Charlize Theron in Monster, Catherine Zeta-Jones in Traffic or Chicago, Cameron Diaz in Gangs of New York

A delayed (almost) top 10

2009-02-09T19:48:00.000-08:00

A month and nine days after the year originally ended, I still haven't really been able to compile ten films (I've now seen 30) I enthusiastically recommend without any reservations, but i'm pretty close. Here it goes, and watch out because I'll be using a lot of fancy words:

1. Frost/Nixon, directed by Ron Howard, starring Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon: Frost/Nixon is an excellent political thriller. It's kinetic, fast-paced, energetic, and more importantly, it is profoundly relevant to our times: Power is determined by who can make themselves look best in front of a camera. I also admire the film for creating a battle of wits with an indistinguishable line between who's the protagonist and the villain, yet taking time to humanize the "villain" at the film's end. Frank Langella has an incredibly difficult role to play as a former president and he doesn't even bother going to the original source to pull off his interpretation. I found Langella's Nixon (an the whole movie, for that matter) to be reminiscent of Citizen Kane in that Citizen Kane was powerful and wealthy beyond anyone's wildest dreams, but he never felt truly loved by the people and that was the film's big reveal.

2. Gran Torino, directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Hor-The story about a grumpy and somewhat bigoted veteran of the Korean War who copes with the changing makeup of his decaying town and his faith as he enters old age sounds more like a film one would see in Sundance due to its character-centered plot. If it hadn't been for an A-list star like Cliint Eastwood the film might not have ever reached a wide release which is a shame because this is among the most profound and moving pictures in years. Gran Torino is a sweeping exploration at shell-scock, culture clash, urban decay and especially ageism. In this film, Eastwood clearly looks like a shadow of his former self, but he plays a hero with the resolve, grit, and firepower of Dirty Harry or the "Man with No Name." When he befriends his neighbors and takes on the gang that threatens their safety, you've never seen an 80-year old hero on screen like this before and that's a tribute to Eastwood as an actor.

3. Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle, starring Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal: Although it's set in India and directed by a Brit, Slumdog Millionaire is the most American of stories. It's the classic rags-to-riches dream of a boy working his way to riches and it's set in the country whose notoriously rigid class system makes it harder than anywhere else to get out of poverty. In this setting, uneducated slum boy Jamal Malek uses his life experience to try to win a fortune on the Indian rip-off of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Shot on location, the film is such an engrossing visual experience that you can almost taste, smell and touch the Bombay slums. What's more, the film is also an amazing love story between Jamal and the love of his life who he'd give anything to get out of harm's way.

4. Wall-E, directed by Andrew Staunton: Some might call the first 30 minutes a Chaplainesque comedy and classify the film accordingly while I see Wall-E as a Dystopian fantasy of two star-crossed robots who inadvertently save a disenfranchised human race. Whether you see it as a comedy, science-fiction, an unconventional romance, or a moral parable, it's a winner either way. To even suggest making an animated film about two robots who can't talk is bold enough, but to make us care about these two inanimate objects is a feat for the ages. It's also safe to say from all the critical reception that Wall-E is far more than a cartoon, and has transcended the complement of "a good animated film." The Pixar studio has been fawned over for it's innovation so it must feel good for those folks to have one of their films be praised so highly on an adult level, for the first time.

5. Doubt, directed by John Patrick Shanley, starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis: I haven't seen this film, but what the heck, I only feel enthusiastic about 9 of the films I've seen so far, and of all the films I haven't seen, this seems like it has potential to be great. I've started to get more and more fascinated by it after watching interviews with the cast and seeing all four of it's stars get nominated for Oscars. Other contenders for films that look great are Australia, Religulous, and Frozen River. Why haven't I seen it? Last time I went to the movie theater, we were 15 minutes too late and saw Rachel Getting Married instead and now I can't afford to see a movie again, unless you donate to the site or buy DVDs from my site. (see "Reasons Why You Should Donate Money to Me #41")

6. Burn After Reading, dir. by the Coen Brothers, starring John Malkovitch, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, JK Simmons, Richard Jenkins, Frances McDormand: I personally find the work of Joel and Ethan Coen to be uneven but I couldn't resist the brilliance of the storyline and the brothers' ability to manipulate its various threads. The film resembles a British comedy of errors where characters exist in varying degrees of being in the dark as to what's going on, except it's taken to extremes. The characters are all hilariously inept and the comedy builds to an explosive climax as the circumstances become more and more outrageous. The Coen brothers usually have a strong sense of place in their films and as a Washingtonian, I got a special thrill out of saying the the Coen Brothers so cleverly lampoon the inefficient and bloated bureaucracy that plagues every corner of life in this city. It's truly an unforgettable film.

7. Be Kind Rewind, dir. by Michael Gondry, starring Jack Black, Muriel Hemmingway, Mos Def, Danny Glover-When the videotapes are accidentally erased of their content in an ailing video store, two friends try to save the store from foreclosure by creating their own homemade versions of the store's films. The film also stars Danny Glover as the store owner. The fun of watching Mos Def and Jack Black attempt to recreate low budget versions of Driving Miss Daisy, Rush Hour 2, King Kong and Ghostbusters is worth the price of admission alone but the film also has deeper themes about the way we consume and create art and the joy of the process.

8. Encounters at the End of the World, dir. by Warner Herzog-How about adding a documentary to the list? I don't normally spring for docs but I saw three this year and I felt this was a really great film in the mold of escapism. If a film's job is to take you out of the mundane and into a brand new world, where else can you go but the metaphorical world's end? A filmmaker goes to Antarctica and not only shows you how otherworldly the flora and fauna are, but how quirky the land's inhabitants are as well. If I had to make a complaint, Warner Herzog could have used a narrator other than himself, considering his accent is a little distracting.

9. In Bruges, dir. by Martin McDonaugh, starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleason, Ralph Feinnes-It's kind of funny because I spoke so highly of this film to my parents and they went to watch it and hated it because it has so many bad words, but if you look a little past that, you'll see some very interesting dialogue and very interesting characters. The film just won best screenplay at the British version of the Oscars (the BAFTAs) and it is nominated for best screenplay at this month's Oscars, so I can't be the only one to think that the film is doing something right. The film isn't just a slightly dark comedy. It plunges all the way into the dark side. At one point, a guy is risking life and limb to save someone who insists on wanting to commit suicide anyways.

10. Quantum of Solace, dir. by Marc Forrester, starring Daniel Craig, Matthieu Almaric, Gemma Arterton, Judi Dench, Jeffery Wright, Olga Krulyenko-I felt the series' reboot was justified not by Casino Royale, but by its follow-up, Quantum of Solacae. The action scenes and visuals were amazing, Craig is even more comfortable in his groove, but more importantly, Bond finally seems human. Yes, the trend started in Casino Royale, but this was the first time that a Bond film actually surprised me. Bond not shooting a villain or bedding a girl just because those are filmic conventions is something truly novel.

Buy some of these films:

To recap, during my last two years as a columnist for D.C. Scene, I submitted two top ten lists to them. Here they are:
2007:
1. 3:10 to Yuma, James Mangold
2. There Will be Blood, PT Anderson
3. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Sidney Lumet
4. Michael Clayton, Tony Gileroy
5. Charlie Wilson's War, Mike Nicholls
6. Sicko, Michael Moore
7. Great Debaters, Denzel Washington
8. Juno, Jason Reitman
9. Lions for Lambs, Robert Redford
10. Darjeeling Limited, Wes Anderson

2006:
1. Flags of Our Fathers, Clint Eastwood
2. Little Miss Sunshine, A pair of unknown directors whose names I can't remember
3. Departed, Martin Scorsese
4. Babel, Alejandro Inarritu Gonzalu
5. Blood Diamond, Ed Zwick
6. Prairie Home Companion, Rob Altman
7. Dreamgirls, Bill Condon
8. Bobby, Emilio Estevez
9. Hollywoodland, Allan Coulter
10. Cars, John Lassiter

Buy these films on amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/RUBXKQEVDWL7Q/ref=cm_lm_pthnk_view?ie=UTF8&lm%5Fbb

Game: Name the cast part III

2009-02-07T08:55:00.001-08:00

I give you an ensemble and you tell me the cast of the film. To make this moderately difficult I will omit no more than one key member of the cast and name every key player. I will also throw in cast members in bit parts as well, as I see fit. Looking on imdb or other comments is cheating. To see editions I and II, go to name that cast:
1. Geoffery Rush, Paul Ruebens, William H. Macy, Janeane Girafolo, Claire Forlani, Hank Azaria, Greg Kinnear
2. Amy Ryan, Albert Finney, Michael Shannon, Marissa Thomei, Rosemary Harris, Phillip Seymour Hoffman
3. Peter Falk, Teri Garr, Whoopi Goldberg, Rene Auberjoinis, Peter Gallagher, Greta Sacchi
4. Tom Hanks, Jennifer Garner, Martin Sheen, Ellen Pompeo, Amy Adams, Christopher Walken
5. Scarlett Johannson, David Cross, Steve Buscemi, Brad Renfro, Bob Balaban
6. Ed Harris, Harvey Keitel, Helen Mirren, Justin Bartha, Dianne Kruger, John Voight
7. Christian Slater, Gary Oldman, William Petersen, Jeff Bridges
8. Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinese, Kathleen Quinlam, Ed Harris, Bill Paxton
9. Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Oliver Platt, Nora Dunn, Christine Barinski, Joshua Molina
10. Anna Paquin, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Rosario Dawson, Barry Pepper, Brian Cox
11. Collin Farrell, Joe Pantolillio, Michael Clarke Duncan, Ellen Pompeo, Jennifer Garner, Jon Favreau
12. Morgan Freeman, Rene Zellweger, Allison Janey, Crispin Glover, Greg Kinnear
13. Billy Bob Thornton, Emma Thompson, Maura Tierny, Tony Shaloub, Mykelti Williamson, Adrian Lester
14. Julie Christie, Kate Winslet, Dustin Hoffman, MacKenzie Crook, Radha Mitchell
15. Tom Wilkinson, Kenneth Brannagh, Bill Nighy, Terrence Stamp

Tips on google search optimization

2009-02-03T22:00:00.001-08:00

Apparently, I've learned recently the term SEO or search engine optimization which is the art of raising your website's rank on a search engine. Google is one search engine but there are many others as well that it would be interesting to see if it worked,, which it sort of does. My content ranks differently on www.altavista.com, yahoo.com, and google.com.

One blog that helps you with tips for google search optimization is Ryan Pitylak. The site's author Pitylak produces original content and takes from other sources to guide people in the latest news on the art of search engine optimization. There's a lot of info on there that seperates the facts from the myths as well. A few selected tips:
-You don't have to update your blog frequently to be searchable. Static content does just as well
-Google, unlike msn or yahoo search engines, puts new sites into a "sandbox" while trying to sort out it's content. In order to avoid this, it's better to buy and older site.
-Sites linking to you increases your search enginge optimization as well
-Pay per ads don't affect content or don't detract from it, at least

Amazon.com widget installed!/Let's please save the media

2009-02-03T17:22:00.000-08:00

Good news subscribers: I have completed my amazon.com widget that I have been working on, in which I recommend some of the best films I have seen, many of which coincide with films that have been nominated for and won Oscars or films named by FilmFour Magazine, the British Film Institute, or American Film Institute as the 100 greatest films of all time. They're films that I think will be enjoyable to watch, insightful and hopefully will push you out of your comfort zone. I've also included brief synopses as well. Now you can directly buy films without the hassle.

I will divide these lists into current and older films. Don't be shy about trying out an older film (because that's all I have up at the moment). It would give you a great opportunity for conversation with an old person! My dad and I for example, have bonded over the fact that I've watched so many of his childhood favorites. Spend, spend, spend! Obama (and McCain) say circulate the dollar!

Since, I'm using up a post here, I'll write about a topic. Everywhere around me, I see signs that the newspaper and magazine industry is falling down and that's a shame because I was hoping to eventually be a part of it. I state elsewhere, why print media is so great (it's made by professionals, it contains just the right amount of space, it's mobile, it supports the craft, it directs you to knowledge you might not have known existed, etc).

Perhaps, we need philanthropy at this point. About two years ago, my favorite movie-related magazine, Premiere, folded. If I had known that the magazine was in danger of folding, I would have bought every issue out of a need to see it be kept alive. If I was a little wealthier, I might have even just flat-out donated them money. As it stood, I bought the monthly magazine Premeire about 5 times a year. I also saw Mad was being reduced to a 3 times a year magazine and having layoffs. That's tragic, wow. I discovered Mad Magazine when I was about 21, and have bought way too many issues, although my buying declined in the last year or two. I would have gladly bought more issues, however in the last year, if I knew they were in danger of closing.

They recently tripled their stock, having a kid's magazine version and a classics version. Their content is pretty well-guarded so it's hard to obtain the older issues. I love the movie parodies best, the year-end issue, and the political parodies and I don't know how they could keep the same quantity of movies that need to be spoofed if it was reduced to four times a year. At least make it a bimonthly publication.

On a side note, if I could plug something here, Andrew Keen's book "Cult of the Amateur" warns of the various consequences of new media, and it's all so so so very true.
http://www.amazon.com/Cult-Amateur-MySpace-user-generated-destroying/dp/0385520816/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233726762&sr=8-1

20 Best actor/director pairings of all time

2009-02-02T11:52:00.000-08:00

While this is not the case with every actor and director, one can say that for every great actor, there's often a great director who mentored him to a successful film career, and for many great directors, there's that one reliable actor they go to again and again to get their material across.

1. Elia Kazan/Marlon Brando-All of the actors of today look up to DeNiro, Hoffman, Hackman, Duvall and Pacino and those actors all idolized Brando. Brando learned his craft at the actor's studio which was co-founded by Kazan and it was Kazan who discovered Brando on stage and fought for him to be cast into Streetcar Named Desire, which along with On the Waterfront became two of the best performances ever captured onscreen. With so many aspiring actors cutting their teeth on screenplays from the Kazan/Brando collaborations, it's hard to argue any other way.

2. John Ford/John Wayne-It's not just remarkable how much Ford and Wayne contributed to the Western, but how much they grew with the Western and evolved with the genre. Normally, with a genre, you have one director who accomplishes something big, and then the genre moves in a different direction as another filmmaker comes. Ford and Wayne didn't just create the preeminent Westerns of their day, but they evolved along with the genre. There's significant difference in John Wayne's stock character between Stagecoach and The Searcher with a lot of variation in between. They also ventured outside the Western for the Irish period piece, Quiet Man, which one John Ford an Oscar. Of their 22 films together, other highlights include She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, How the West Was Won, Rio Grande and Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

3. Frank Capra/Jimmy Stewart-Frank Capra was the 1930's version of Spielberg and Scorsesee roled into one. He was the most respected, revered and commercially successful director of his time. His visions of homespun Americana gave hope to millions during the Great Depression. His two primary collaborators were Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart, and while I appreciate the Cooper/Capra pairings, I don't think anyone epitomized Capra's vision nearly as well as the wide-eyed Midwestern, Jimmy Stewart. Two of Capra's three entries onto AFI's 100 Greatest Films list, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life, featured Stewart front and center. In addition, James Stewart starred in You Can't Take it With You which won Capra his second best picture Oscar.

4. Martin Scorsese/Robert DeNiro-Under Scorsese DeNiro hasn played a musician (New York, New York), a sexual predator (Cape Fear), a depressed taxi driver (Taxi Driver), a boxer (Raging Bull) and more. Scorsese used De Niro at every possible opportunity. The only major films Scorsese left DeNiro out of the lead part in the 20th century were Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (a family melodrama centered around a female lead), The Color of Money (which couldn't have called itself a sequel if it didn't use Paul Newman, and Last Temptation of Christ (which used Willem Dafoe instead).

5. John Huston/Humphrey Bogart-The stories behind the films alone, of the two going drinking off in the primitive jungles of Africa, are worth hearing about. Huston's three most prominent films, Maltese Falcon, African Queen, and Treasure of Sierra Madre all feature Bogart in addition to the parody Beat the Devil. Huston also won Bogie his only Oscar in The African Queen.

6. Billy Wilder/Jack Lemmon-Wilder worked for 20 years before finding the perfect comic muse in Lemmon. Lemmon embraced cross-dressing in Some Like it Hot, the plight of the working class in The Apartment, and had five other memorable collaborations with Wilder. It was through Wilder, that Lemmon also got introduced to his other half (comedically speaking): Walter Matthau. Lemmon and Wilder tended to veer for the comic, but in Avanti! and Apartment, they approached dramatic elements as well.

7. Martin Scorsese/Leonardo DiCaprio-Leo DiCaprio has grown so much in the three Scorsese collaborations from Gangs of New York to The Aviator to The Departed, it's amazing. In Gangs of New York he was just a capable actor with movie star looks, by Departed he was the preeminent actor of his generation.

8. Vincente Minelli/Judy Garland-Judy Garland was MGM's preeminent child star and most valuable commodity, but as she aged, the studio needed a movie made that would move her out of her teenage roles. Vincente Minelli, originally an art director, came along and had his biggest film to date, Meet me in St. Louis, that also introduced Judy Garland, as a full-fledged adult. They also got married (a union that didn't end particularly well due to her addiction to painkillers) and produced (for better or worse) future musical star Liza Minelli. They did make four other films together including "The Pirate."

9. George Lucas/Harrison Ford-If you don't count sequels, Lucas has had a sum total of 4 creative ventures which he has unleashed on the world and Harrison Ford was a part of three of them. Lucas discovered Ford in his 2nd film, and Ford returned the favor by turning his two main creative ventures, the Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies into massive successes.

10. David Lean/Alec Guiness-Erase the filmographies of David Lean and Alec Guiness and there's very little reason at all to celebrate British cinema as a seperate genre. The two worked together on six films and while Guiness wasn't the star in all of them, he played a part in all of Lean's greatest successes (with the exception of Brief Encounter). The highlight, of course, was the Oscar-winning film Bridge on the River Kwai, which brought Oscars to both Lean and Guiness.

11. Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly-Kelly was also the co-director but they took over as MGM's most prominent team and worked their way up the ranks at MGM as a directing team. At first they took over Busby Berkley's troubled production of Take Me Out to the Ballgame before scoring a homerun in On the Town. In 1952, they followed that up with the most memorable film of the MGM musical era with Singing in the Rain. Donen then had a sole directing credit with Kelly as the star for It's Always Fair Weather, and after that Donen went on to become a prominent director in his own right.

12. Sidney Lumet/Sean Connery-Connery's best films outside of Bond were with Lumet and that's the director where he learned to be a serious actor from. Their most memorable collaborations were The Hill and Murder on the Orient Express.

13. Howard Hawks/Cary Grant-Grant was the early prototype of an action star. He was known as a suave matinee idol who could be molded to play the lead in any romantic film. For his own part, Grant saw himself as a funnyman who enjoyed playing around with good dialogue and Hawks supplied that in abundance. Grant has his most memorable performances when he's able to show off his flair for good comic timing and Bringing Up Baby, Only Angels have Wings, and His Girl Friday showcase his finest moments.

14. Tim Burton/Jonny Depp-Jonny Depp had been in five movies including the Oscar-winner Platoon before breaking out in Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands. Although he only spoke 169 words of dialogue, Depp found his niche in off-beat behavior and Burton found a star that embraced his dark Gothic visions. The two have since worked together in Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeny Todd and have two more collaborations slated for 2010 and 2011, according to imdb.

15. Billy Wilder/Marilyn Monroe-Without him, she was barely capable of memorizing her lines in order, and it wasn't lost on Billy Wilder that his Aunt Mitzy could act better than Marilyn Monroe. "Then again," reasoned Wilder, "No one wants to pay to see my Aunt Mitzy." So Wilder learned to work with Monroe's weaknesses and the end result were two of his finest films in Some Like it Hot and Seven Year Itch. Marilyn Monroe was beautiful for sure, but Wilder made her look witty, alluring, and by all measures, a movie star.

16. Stanley Kramer/Spencer Tracy-Tracy provided "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" with a necessary counterweight. Amid all the comics running around, Stanley's character (a disheveled cop who flirts with the possibility of abandoning his post to chase after buried loot), was the one character with pathos. In three other films with Kramer, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Judgment at Nuremberg, and Inherit the Wind, Spencer Tracy turned out his best work.

17. Ethan Coen & Joel Coen/Frances McDormand-The Coen brothers have elevated the careers of bit players like John Turturro, John Goodman, William H. Macy, and Steve Buscemi. They have also provided memorable turns for leading men such as Nicholas Cage, Jeff Bridges, Tom Hanks, Billy Bob Thorton and George Clooney. Let's not forget, however, that they let women join in the fun as well. In particular, Frances McDormand has been able to shine in one of the meatiest comic roles of the decade in Fargo. In addition, she's featured prominently in Burn After Reading, Man Who Wasn't There and had a small cameo in Barton Fink.

18. Stephen Soderbergh/George Clooney-Soderbergh gave Clooney his big break in Out of Sight and even after that bombed, the two kept working together in Ocean's 11 and pretty much everything else. The two have experimented together with the HBO's "K Street", Solaris, and The Good German and are often producing partners. Soderbergh's influence on Clooney is pretty well-documented and when Clooeny's not starring directly for Soderbergh, he could be starring alongside Soderbergh staples like Brad Pitt or with Stephen Gaughan who wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Soderbergh's Traffic. A few negative points go to Soderbergh for all the alleged fooling around on the set of Ocean's 12 that Soderbergh and crew distracted themselves with.

19. Sydney Pollack/Robert Redford-Pollack and Redford were good friends and collaborators who shared socially-conscious attitudes towards filmmaking. Without Redford, one might reconsider just how far into the political realm Pollack might have gone in the first place. Redford and Pollack's collaboration in Out of Africa led to an Oscar for the film. As Pollack's recent funeral was an indicator, Redford considered Pollack one of his greatest friends and mentors.

20. Orson Welles/Joseph Cotten-Cotten was Welles' old chum at the Mercury Theater and put him in Magnificent Ambersons, Citizen Kane, and Touch of Evil. Wells and Cotten's best performances were in the British thriller The Third Man co-starring alongside each other, but it must be noted, it was directed by a third party.

Nick Lazo adds Never Back Down to his top ten list

2009-02-01T14:01:00.000-08:00

James Baradinelli of Reel Press says of Never Back Down: "This movie isn't bad just because it follows a formula slavishly but because it does so without verve or passion."

On the other hand,

Armond White of New York Press says of Never Back Down: "Maybe it’s just a genre picture, but scene after scene in Never Back Down displays vitality and wit. This is the year’s first good-looking and fully enjoyable American movie."

So who to believe? How about Nick Lazo, resident film industry insider, who recently submitted a top 10 list. Nick Lazo was the assistant to the director (which is nowhere near as prestigious as assistant director, mind you) for the film "Never Backs Down.":

NICK LAZO NEVER BACKS DOWN

After submitting my “Top 10 Movies of 2008” piece (which was, yes, three films light), I realized that I left an 8th film off the list: The 2008 MTV Movie Award winner for Best Fight, Never Back Down. Orrin has suggested that I recount a few of my experiences with you here, and in an effort to redeem myself for leaving my very first Hollywood job off my top 10 list, I shall comply.
In the summer of 2007, just after I finished my four-year stint at James Madison University, I had the privilege of working in the camera department of the film Get Some (NBD’s original, working title) in Orlando, Florida. It was hot, it was tiring, and it was AWESOME.
I was in charge of “digital video,” which meant researching consumer video cameras, hiring high school look-a-like videographers, and shooting the fights from strategic places in the crowd. (Some of that footage ended up in the final cut—see if you can spot it!) I acted as a liaison between the Property, Editorial and Camera departments, making sure that all the cameras actors were holding/operating were setup correctly and functioned property, getting tape stock to the camera assistants and the processing facility in Miami, and that the editors were receiving all of the DV footage along with their film dailies. It was quite the challenge, and needless to say, I learned a lot.

At the end of principle photography I was offered a job assisting the director of the film, Jeff Wadlow, in LA. Fast forward one week and I’m living in Los Angeles, working through post-production of a major motion picture. To say I was lucky would be an incredible understatement.

The post-production team quickly became my family, and for 10-14 hours a day my small (though private) office was my home. Those eight months are some of the fondest in my memory, and the number of stories, inside jokes, $400 lunches and last minute preview fiascos are too numerous to recount here. What I will say is that Never Back Down was the experience of a lifetime. Watching the movie, after nearly 20 screenings, still makes for a fun evening with friends, and I’d suggest it to anyone looking for an entertaining way to spend the night.

Never Back Down has kick ass fights, hot ladies, and one hell of a supporting actor in Djimon Hounsou. What more can a movie lover ask for?
Never Back Down

Rachel Getting Married

2009-01-31T23:54:00.000-08:00

I thought this one was on DVD but when my friend wanted to see a film today, I was surprised to see this one was still playing in theaters, nonetheless, i saw it with high hopes but was let down in the end.

Rachel Getting Married is a mellow character drama that's a cross between "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolff" and those character dramedies, Lost in Translation, Sideways, Savages and Little Miss Sunshine, that have been popping up at the Oscars the last few years. Three of those four got nominated for a best picture Oscar. Perhaps, Johnothan Demme was trying to be equally as ambitious?

Rachel Getting Married is about a girl, Kim, who returns from rehab to attend her sister's wedding and reunites with her dysfunctional family. I only use the word dysfunctional because i don't even know if the english language has any words that are stronger. Kim's older sister, Rachel has a PhD in psychology so she, Rachel, is constantly analyzing her younger sister's failures and is incredibly cold despite Kim's valiant efforts. The film is constantly switching its protagonist and its villain. At times, Kim is doing something reprehensible only to turn it around on us and make the audience view her as a victim, and the audience loathes Rachel instead. The film plays out over the course of one weekend, and we are treated to the somber and bittersweet moments of two people uniting in holy matrimony with a series of endless arguments and shame cycles between a family.

Audiences might be under the impression that Rachel Getting Married is a comedy because it's shot in the style of an indie film with quirky music, so we're cued to expect soemthing akin to Juno or The Savages. Looking at the film through that lens will easily lead to disappointment. The tone of the film, hand-held camera and akward lighting, is designed to be voyeuristic, in my opinion. We're peering through intimate moments between a family that we're not supposed to be seeing. The movie is definitely interesting and holds your attention in that way.

The problem with the movie is that it ultimately goes nowhere and ends up in a deeply unsatisfying loop. The characters have some intimate moments with each other. At one point, Kim gets hurt and Rachel comforts her and shows her humanity for a moment. This build-up is easily forgotten, however, among all the arguments that don't seem to combine together into as much of a story arc as I would have hoped.

One could argue that, it's lifelike, and the film very much feels relatable in that sense, but I think that this particular narrative deserved an ending. If we're going to watch two hours of a family arguing, I'd like to see it lead somewhere. Also, they should have edited more out.

Recommended films from this article:
-Who's Afriad of Virginia Wolff-A drama with Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal, Sandy Dennis, and Richard Burton that puts the "fun" in dysfunction.

The oscar-winning dramedies. All 4 of these films won Oscar for best screenplay:
Sideways
Juno
Little Miss Sunshine
Lost in Translation

Not recommended (it moves a little too slowly) but if you want you can watch it anyway:
The Savages

An attempted top 10 from veteran movie assistant (to the) director Nick Lazo

2009-01-30T18:19:00.000-08:00

My friend Nick Lazo was a fellow student at JMU's film studies program who had interned at Mirage Productions (his grandmother was friends with late producer/director/writer Sidney Pollack, see last post) and has taken film courses at the prestigious USC school of film. Last I heard, Nick had worked as an assistant (to the) director of the marginally unsuccessful film "Never Back Down" (you notice he didn't put that on his list as best films of 2008). I asked Nick to share his top 10 list, while I catch up on a couple more films to formulate mine:

Speaking of people named Nick, I had the recent idea to interview distinguished journalist and broadcaster Nick Clooney. You might know him as the uncle of Crossing Jordan/Twin Peaks actor Miguel Ferrer or the father of George Clooney, but he is also the author of a number of books, one of which "The Movies that Changed Us" is one of the better books I've read about film. He is the scholar-of-residence this year at American University and is teaching a class entirely based around his book. I talked to his media contact and in my pitch, I mentioned this blog, so I imagine
he will be reading this entry at some point and judging it's quality on whether Nick's entry will be good enough, so here goes:

Nick's introduction:
I have never blogged before. I feel like that’s an important fact to disclose. I’m sure there are a great many insightful writers and political scientists and experts on the migration patterns of the Mandarin Duck that have an enormous wealth of knowledge they simply must blog about, and good for them. Their voices (probably) deserve to be heard. Mine, on the other hand… I don’t know. Decide for yourself.
2008 was a pretty good year for the movies. I enjoy going to the cinema, sitting in a sold-out crowd, greedily wolfing down handfuls of popcorn before the previews even start. It’s an experience, and one that I enjoy as frequently as possible. I saw a lot of really good stuff this year, and my friend Orrin asked if I’d share some of my opinions with you. I’m not sure if I’ll make it to 10 films, but we’ll see how it goes.
So let’s begin, shall we! Here they are, in no particular order: Nick Lazo’s Top 10 Movies of 2008! (If you’re expecting deep critical prose, please skip to the end.)
1) MILK.
This one won me over with the trailer. Huge font, a powerful operatic score, and an elegant one-word title. I thought the acting was first-rate (James Franco is one of my favorites; did everyone see Freaks and Geeks?), and the fact that the production moved into the Castro in San Francisco like they did… Well, authenticity paid off in a big way. I’m only sorry the movie didn’t come out sooner, as it may have helped California’s failed “No on 8!” campaign. Bummer City.

2) SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.
I want to travel to India. This deep-seated desire of mine may have skewed my viewing of Danny Boyle’s intricate tale of love and luck, but that’s fine by me. This is the only movie on the list I didn’t see in a theater (it was watched in two parts from my best friend’s couch: Part 1 – before Subway sandwich; Part 2 – after Subway sandwich). I don’t regret this choice (especially when considering the intermission), but I’d pay to watch this again.

3) THE DARK KNIGHT.
I don’t really mind that this wasn’t nominated for Best Picture. That’s fine by me. I got my mind stimulated and still had the popcorn. Not too much else I need to say here.

4) FROST/NIXON.
I love Ron Howard. I saw him once in a Digital Intermediate facility. He ordered a carrot juice from Cynthia, the wonderful woman in charge of the kitchen. Seemed like a nice guy. Oh, and I really enjoy a good political piece, even when I know the ending (see All the President’s Men if you haven’t already).

5) IRON MAN.
Awesome, with a capital “A.” I recently got a look at the Blu-Ray disc, and after five hours of bonus features I’d only scratched the surface of what Iron Man has to offer its fanatics. Great movie.

6) WANTED.
“What the fuck have you done lately?”

7) MAN ON A WIRE.
I love to learn, and learning while I watch a movie is wonderful. Man on a Wire teaches its audience about passion, about drive, and about the intrinsic need some of us have to do something the majority will find inconceivable. It’s about risks, and the fantastic results of taking them.
So there you have it, Nick Lazo’s Top 10....errr....7 Movies of 2008. I hope you had as much fun reading as I did writing. Maybe I could get into this blog thing after all. And for those of you looking for deep critical prose, apologies for wasting your time.
Cheers!

Since Nick didn't complete his contractually obligated 10 films of the year, I get to chose for him.
8. The Love Guru-It might have won Razzies for worst film ever, but Nick felt it was Oscar-worthy.
9. 27 Dresses-It won chick flick of the year at the teen choice awards, but Nick loved it anyway
10. Pineapple Express-Nick said he loved James Franco and Freaks and Geeks, seems like a logical place to go

The funnest thing I've ever seen by Dennis Leary

2009-01-29T08:28:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted stars to be THIS HONEST. Unfortunately, studio PR people prevent stars from being anything but positive about their projects. If not millions of dollars could be lost, even on DVD residuals.

Also, a note to my subscribers, I'm going to mix my fanbase up by introducing the blog to new people and since the blogger settings only let me put 10 email addresses max, i'm going to put in some new email adresses and introduce new people to my blog. so you won't be gettingmy emails, but i'll still keep writing stuff, so check it out here.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6fc5cf60e3/denis-leary-remembers-denis-leary-movies-from-fod-team#player

Since this post, consists of links only, let me through in some more of my articles frm helium.com:
Do I agree with the AFI top ten movie list of all time?
http://www.helium.com/items/1259816-afi-100-list-sidney-pollack-oliver-stone-sidney-lumet-woody-allen-rob-altman

Hollywood and Homosexuality: Keeping homosexuality under raps:
http://www.helium.com/items/1259816-afi-100-list-sidney-pollack-oliver-stone-sidney-lumet-woody-allen-rob-altman

Best track and field athletes in history (I'm a track and field junkee):
http://www.helium.com/items/1235027-michael-johnson-jesse-owens-carl-lewis-track-and-field-history-track-and-field-athletes

Internet Piracy is wrong but it feels so right:
http://www.helium.com/items/1315289-illegal-music-downloads-illegal-downloading-internet-piracy-morals-downloading-debate

Not one but 3 dead people are getting a shot at the Oscars!

2009-01-28T21:22:00.000-08:00

There are 14,000 directors who are registered with the Directors Guild of America and only 30 living people among them have won the most prestigious award in directing: A best director oscar. Two of those 30 people died last year and despite the fact that one started his directing career in the 60's and one started his in his 90's, the two were good friends and professional partners. Anthony Minghellia and Sidney Pollack co-owned Mirage Productions in addition to their directing careers and produced films such as Michael Clayton and more recently, The Reader together. The Reader, a courtroom drama/holocaust film/story about a passionate love affair (it has Ralph Fiennes in it and all Ralph does is movies that involve passionate love affairs. This is Ralph's second film this year in which he plays someone involved in some sort of unholy and sinful romantic relationship for those keeping score), was somewhat of a surprise to be nominated for best picture (if but the great thing about it, is that the academy just decided to stretch the rules a little to allow both Sidney Pollack and Anthony Minghellia to get the nominations for best picture, so Heath Ledger isn't the only dead guy to be competing. Last year Sidney Pollack got nominated for Michael Clayton, but Minghellia being the junior partner got left out of the festivities.

A quick background on who these guys are:
Sidney Pollack is a director, producer, and pretty well-known as an actor as well. You might know him as Will's dad from "Will and Grace" or his role in the film Michael Clayton as Michael Clayton's boss/friend/confidant. He also starred in a great PSA that played before movies in 2007 where he harrassed a guy on a cell phone and said, "I'm sorry, is my directing interrupting you?" Pollack's most famous films included Tootsie, Out of Africa and They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (which imdb describes as a film about a deadly dance marathon). His best films were thrillers such as 3 Days in the Condor, Absence of Malice and most recently, The Interpreter. He was also well-liked and his funeral was attended by pretty much everyone in Hollywood, from what I read. His most frequently used actor was Robert Redford who wrote a tribute to him that I couldn't find with a quick google search unfortunately.

Anthony Minghellia is much different in style and background. Whereas Pollack started out as an actor before transitioning to dialogue coach and then director, Minghellia was a writer and was voted most promising playwright in the London theater. With his string of films English Patient, Talented Mr. Ripley, and Cold Mountain, he turned three best-selling award-winning novels and translated them into Oscar-contenders. It's true that a lot of Oscar winning films are adapted from books, but it's considerably harder to acheive this feat when the book is highly popular (i.e. Da Vinci Code) because everyone is always comparing it to the book. Cold Mountain was my favorite film of its year and because the director that beat him out for his 4th nomination, Fernando Meirelles, was ineligible (City of God was a 2002 film), it's good to see Minghellia finally get nomination #4. Pollack was in his 70's but because Minghellia was only 53 and had such a good track record of quality in his films, one has to wonder what movies he would have made or produced if he would have lived longer. Minghellia's favorite actor to work with was Jude Law who wrote a tribute to him here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/dec/14/jude-law-remembers-anthony-minghella

Recommended films:
They Shoot Horses, Don't They
The Slender Thread
Tootsie
The Firm
Out of Africa
The Way We Were
Jeremiah Johnson
Three Days in the Condor
The Interpreter
Anthony Minghellia:
Truly Madly Deeply
Breaking and Entering
The English Patient
Talented Mr. Ripley
Cold Mountain
Breaking and Entering
Arrested Development

Frost/Nixon Review

2009-01-26T20:41:00.001-08:00

I just saw Frost/Nixon and am really busy devoting myself to efforts that will lift me out of poverty. By the way, if you like what you see and are greatful for reaeding it, donate a dollar or two!

Ok, nonetheless, Frost/Nixon is one of the five movies this year that got nominated for best picture which means that comic book geeks and Pixar fans (I wouldn't call a Pixar fan a geek) hate it, regardless of whether they've seen it or not, because it was one of the five films that was nominated for best picture over the Dark Knight and Wall-E. Well, I've seen Wall-E and loved it and I've seen Dark Knight and can see an argument that it transcends the comic book genre and deserves recognition (although that's been happening for years now), but at the same time, neither of these films are as innovative as Frost/Nixon. Yes, it's true that Frost/Nixon is just a period piece and there have been a million of those honored by the academy whereas there have been very few action films honored by the academy and zero comic book adaptations, but just as the comic book geeks claim that the Academy has a bias towards period pieces, is it possible that the comic book geeks have a bias against period pieces?

Either way, Frost/Nixon is quite a film and stands alongside Gran Torino and Slumdog Millionaire as the three masterpieces I've seen this year. It stands alongside the most insightful of political films and even stands alongside Rudi, Rocky, and the greatest of sports films even though it isn't about a sport in the athletic sense. Like a great sports film, it is about the intensity of competition against a worthy adversary, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat and the price of the risk for entering into the arena (sorry if that last sentence sounded like Bob Costas at commentating about the Olympics).

The arena of competition in this case is public perception as an ex-president and a b-level talk show host are trying to earn critical respectability by making themselves look good throughout the interviews at the expense of the opponent. The way we are glued to our tv screens during the three presidential debates adds merit to the film's theme that public perception is everything. Is Frost/Nixon commenting on whether this our democracy is imperfect, or simply unapologetically stating that politics is a zero-sum game. Nixon calls Frost up on the phone at one point and says something like, "me and you are very much alike, we both want respect, we both are going to take this next interview and get that respect," and Frost responds back "I completely agree, but only one of us can win." It's one of those aha moments, because it's the unstated truth that neither of the two men who have been cordial to each other have acknowledged up to this point.

In one sense, the film is a commentary on the evils of capitalism and that resonates in this time when there are less jobs to go around and we have to compete against our friends and enemies alike for the few jobs that are out there. Both the men are putting on smiles for each other but they both desperately need to sway political opinion in their favor for capitalistic purposes: David Frost is trying to become respected as a journalist and earn bigger endorsement deals and Richard Nixon is trying to elevate his speaking fees as well as earn himself a place back among the Washington elite.

Under the surface, however, there's the suggestion that Nixon (and Frank Langella's characterization leads to this) was just a needy child who just wanted respect. But at the same time, David Frost is a person who needs that level of respect from his peers. Why? I think this was because of the way he responded to being bullied from the drunk phone call. If he didn't have some kind of inferiority complex he wouldn't have pulled an all-nighter to nail his opponent the next day. Again, the two men are mirror images of each other, and in the last line, one (I won't tell you who) suggests to the other that maybe they should have had each other's careers. So there's that duality theme that the Batman series has.

Lastly, I think the film is also a backwards version of that great political story where the outsider comes from nowhere to be the President of the U.S. and lead the country to greatness. Barack Obama had that angle when he was campaigning but many presidents campaign that way. Frost/Nixon is the exact opposite, and I thought that was interesting. Frost/Nixon is the story of a guy who's an outsider whose dream of saving democracy and leading the U.S. foward isn't to become president but to take down an illegitimate US President, which is harder to do, don't you think?

Anyway, an absolutely great picture. I saw this film about 6 weeks after it came out, so I'm sure that those who wanted to see it have already seen it, but it deserves whatever nominations it has, I'll say that.