John Hughes: Ferris Bueller Will Live On

I was about to go into fifth grade that summer. I was at my dad's office watching his television. I caught a movie with Matthew Broderick that I had never seen.

"That's Ferris Bueller's Day Off," my dad said.

My dad taped it on Showtime when it came on later that day. What a film and I hadn't even seen the first half. I had to go to summer daycare at my school that Monday. My dad asked if I could watch it. They ended up letting anyone who had seen it watch it. Imagine 15 fourth through sixth grade boys in a dark kindergarten room watching Ferris take the Ferrari out, sing in a parade and get the girl all while putting one over on everyone. We all dreamed of being Ferris Bueller. We wanted the popularity, the charisma, to be a person that always made it happen, who never surrendered, who believed you could never go to far.


While most guys identified with the cool nerds in “Weird Science” and “Sixteen Candles”, we all wanted to be Ferris Bueller. He was in total control of his destiny.

John Hughes had a knack for the underdog characters. The guys that never got the girl. The counterpart to the charming Ferris Bueller was Cameron Fry. He was Jack Nicholson before “As Good As It Gets.” The original Monk. Of course twenty years later, that character would be hopped up on so much antidepressant and anxiety medicine, we would seize to see his charm and character at all.

It is the era of Ferris Bueller the first minute he is on the screen. He was the audacity of hope twenty years before Obama. Everyone loved him. He was brilliant as he hacked into the attendance computer.

“I asked for a car. I got a computer. How’s that for being born under a bad sign?”

He could move and adapt under pressure, snatching Abe Froman’s reservation at the restaurant.

"We're going to graduate soon. We'll have the summer. He'll work and I'll work. We'll see each other at night and on the weekends. Then he'll go to one school
and I'll go to another. Basically that will be it."


This is maybe the most insightful yet underrated line of dialogue in the film. “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is the only film dealing with the twilight of high school life, accepting the end of the road and relishing the final moment. Ferris has the foresight to see his time with Cameron as the golden age that is about to be over. I didn’t even find depth in this monologue until I was 28 years old.

When you’re in high school, you are certain you are going to hang onto these friends of yours. You’ll never forget them as it is inscribed in yearbooks everywhere. The problem is life gets in the way. You go to college, get new friends. You see people at Christmas break. Facebook has the ability to salvage a lot of friendships that would otherwise be on life support. You get out of college and you get into work mode. You see friends a little bit less. Then you get married and you have to get a kitchen pass to leave the house. When you get married, you get the girl plus her extended family. Your time is getting strapped. Then when you have kids, forget about it. You are booked.


John Hughes died of a heart attack this year, the one man who could bring Ferris back for a sequel or dream up a character that rivaled him. That door has closed. Matthew Broderick never landed a part as a leading man as great as Ferris Bueller. None of us became Ferris Bueller. No one has written a charismatic character to rival it. The ideal of Ferris Bueller may never come again, but it lives forever onscreen.

Avatar: Take Control of Your Film Experience

A few days ago, I went and saw "Avatar", the hyped game changer, the return to the silver screen for James Cameron who left us after hitting an iceburg in "Titanic." I had done the ground work to preserve a good screening and experience but had to fight tooth and nail to keep it.

I had an advanced ticket I bought on Fandango on Sunday for opening day at 4:00. I got out of work a little after 12:00. If I wanted to push it, I could've tried for the 12:30 showing. I decided not to. I was pretty tired and didn't want fatigue or irritability to cost me in my experience. Little did I know, I was hellbent and determined not to let anything get in the way of my experience with the film.

While I was in line to pick up my reserved ticket, the woman in front of me also had a print outfor an advanced ticket. I knew she didn't go on Fandango for a ticket to "The Blind Side." We talked about "Avatar", the Carmike theater at the mall sucking and half price drinks and appetizers at the bar at On The Border.

I had a Red Bull before the movie. I had to wait in linejust to get into the theater. I was behind one woman that became a whole family with kids and large popcorns. This 8 year old kid had a Coke bigger than I ever had in my life.

I walked into "Avatar" and got the aisle seat next to the left, first row with the rail in front of me. I put my jacket in the seat next to me to nonverbally convey it was taken. It worked while the lights were still on as people bypassed my row to snatch up seats above and below. When the lights went out, I didn't have that nonverbal signal any longer. I had some people I could smell from the aisle walk up and ask if they could sit there.

"It's taken," I said.

They didn't hear me.

"It's taken," I said.

They found seats in the orchestra section.

Before it went dark, I saw some women with an old man. I'm thinking of the scene in "Trading Places." "Who is that your father or something?" This guy was old. "Where did you dig up that old fossil?"

"Alright Poppy, you're gonna sit up here with Greg, we're gonna sit down here," the women said.

Why did they want to sit with their dad? Then Greg shows up with large popcorns and Cokes. As the previews started rolling, the girls would periodically treat their father as a deaf child.

"Do you want some popcorn Poppy?"
"Do you want your 3D glasses on Poppy?"

Thank god that settled down.

A little bit later, one guy asked if those seats were taken.
"This one is but this one is not," I said.

He asked the people next to the empty seat if he could sit there. He sat down at the seat to the left of my jacket. So yeah, I'm okay with one low maintenance guy but not anyone with the potential to destroy the experience. One low maintenance guy, not a women with her kids, a cellphone and a need to be updated on whatever her friends just twittered as if it were breaking news.

During the previews, I had the urge to pee but maybe I could hold it for the next three hours. After about an hour and during a possibly small scene, I would leave my seat to go to the restroom. What about the Kharma of turning people away from the seat? What if I left my jacket? Would I not only leave my seat but my jacket? I made a run for it abandoning my jacket to defend itself as a territorial tool. What if I lost my seat? What if Kharma felt the need to take my jacket as well? A jacket I have had since the Bush/Kerry election.

I hustled there and back to the theater. Seat empty. Jacket still lounging in the seat next to mine. Crisis averted.

Too many times we concede a filmgoing experience and do not take control. Thank God it was the first day of a huge movie and very few lit cellphones were in the dark. Too many times we have to take what we get.

Many times, there are too many cellphones to even begin to start policing it. If I could, I'd call in the National Guard to round up those cellphones.

Was it unethical to say the seat was taken when it was only by my jacket? Should there be preferential seating given to people with advanced tickets? Should there be a first class seating for movie theaters for people who have respect and appreciation for the film and not feel the need to check their phones even for the time? Time for most of the population to reinvest in a watch. Should I be given preferential seating because I got there twenty minutes early to stake out the seating or should someone be able to stroll in passed the start time during the previews and stumble onto a seat next to you? There should be a Bill of Right for Filmgoers. For people who have significantly more invested in the film than others.

Yo Johnny, I'll See You In The Next Life

While I was never a fan of "Road House" or "Ghost", "Point Break" is one of my all time favorite movies that has held up to hundreds of viewings since 1991. It was released in the summer of 1991 but I didn't catch up with it until it made its way on video. I remember at 11 years old loving it so much, when it was over, I hit rewind and watched it again.

It was the first movie I remember seeing where you loved the bad guy. Patrick Swayze was great at Bodhi. He was so great, there were all those knock offs of "Point Break" trying to use his rules for bank robbery.

It was great to see "Hot Fuzz" pay such homage showing Nicholas and Danny watching it after a night at the bar, Danny explaining how Keanu Reeves can't shoot Swayze because he loves him so much. "Point Break" is the quintessential bromance of the 90s.

"Point Break" is a throwback to when Swayze was still a star and Lori Petty was still a viable actress. Keanu Reeves has gone on to do some good films but "Point Break" still holds up as his other films fade.

I remember a friend spoiling the ending before I saw it. He told me Swayze surfs a hurricane wave at the end. When I think about it, he didn't really spoil it. That scene where Johnny Utah lets him go to die doing what he loved, he was thanking Bodhi for changing his life. Then the FBI shows up and says, "You let him go," and Utah says "No I didn't." Then those FBI guys say, "We'll get him when he comes back in." Utah says, "He's not coming back". Then you see Bodhi ride that wave to the score of the film. The end of his life wasn't as glorious as Bodhi's, but Swayze had ridden enough big waves to justify his run.

"Yo Johnny, I'll see you in the next life."

1999: The First Rule of Fight Club is.........

Where "Office Space" hatched a plan to rob from the country stolen from Superman III and "American Beauty" had blackmail, Lolita like lust and drug use, neither pushed the envelope like David Fincher's "Fight Club."

"Fight Club" is a masterpiece on all accounts even on things having nothing to do with the film. This film caught all the right breaks at the right time from timing to studio backing. The money was there from Fox because you had Brad Pitt. Fincher wasn't executive produced to make mainstream film.

It is a film that isn't handicapped because it has to have a love interest. Marla Singer's part plays a pivotal role in the film. The timing of this film was brilliant, just two years before 9/11. With acts of vandalism and terrorism, there's no way this would've been released after that.

"Fight Club" author Chuck Palahniuk worked with the screenwriter Jim Uhls on the script. The source material wasn't just ravaged by hack screenwriters. The film cost 63 million and only took in 37 million. It made its money overseas and on video.

You have this incredible director, two of the best actors of their generation, a script and a studio willing to release it. As great as this film is, it still hasn't been seen by the masses like you would think. More people have probably seen "Office Space."

Then there are people who have seen it only for the fighting. Meatheads of the world, the film isn't really about fighting, it's about the male experience. It's about society. Our culture. It's about spitting in the face of all the expectations and norms we have.

In the film, Jack blackmails his boss like "American Beauty" and uses the money to start up Fight Clubs all across the country. Fight Club becomes Project Mayhem, a group who pulls pranks all over cities with their big goal being to blow up the credit card companies. The debt goes back to zero. Everyone starts over. The film is about ridding your life of all the stuff that doesn't matter. It's about human sacrifices that give rebirth. It's about selling women's cottage cheese back to them.

We had "The Sixth Sense" earlier but "Fight Club" caught us off guard because Tyler isn't a ghost. Turns out he's a figment of Jack's imagination. We've seen this device countless times over the last ten years to where it's standard, but in 1999 it was a jolt. Fincher has done some good films notably "Zodiac" but none of them have been a masterpiece. Brad Pitt has done a lot but will he ever get to play a counter culture character of this magnitude? Will Ed Norton get to have a character and story of this level that has a studio backing?

When asked about the miracle of how this got made, Slashfilm Managing Editor Dave Chen summed it up best.

“You have to accept that Fight Club was kind of a happy accident. You have an auteur director taking on a big budget film that’s virtually unmarketable.”

If a studio accountant looks at that equation, that is why we may never see a film of that caliber ever again.

1999: American Beuty...Look Closer

"American Beauty" also dealt with waking up to life in suburbia in a dead end job in a loveless marriage saying "We're not gonna take it anymore." Kevin Spacey plays Lester Burnham who gets little respect at work and even less at home. He feels he's lost something. He meets his neighbor, teenage Ricky Fitts who invites him to smoke some grass. Something more was lit than the joint cause Burnham trades in a Camry for a 1973 Pontiac Firebird, blackmails his boss and stands up to his wife and daughter. Where "Office Space" was rebellion against the corporate life, "American Beauty" was a rebellion against the American dream we've all been sold. In the directorial debut of Sam Mendes, this film went onto make out of the Oscars like gangbusters. Every performance is the peak for each actor and while Mendes has done some interesting work, nothing with the gravity of "American Beauty."

Party Like It's 1999: Have You Seen My Stapler?

The fall out from "Wall Street" wouldn't be felt for twenty years when the economy nose dived our 401Ks. The "greed is good" manifesto that yuppies and everyone from the financial sector to desperate housewives justified for their every indulgence seems to be finally catching up on us.

In the 80s, baby boomers went from peace sign smoking hippies to yuppies bent on decadence. "Greed is good" must've been the 80s investor's favorite movie line comprable to the 90s Swinger's line, "You're so money and you don't even know it." We had seen shades of the fall out of the Wall Street mentality in films like "Falling Down" but that was a little too psychotic. Who would deliver our first counter corporate film of 1999? The man who brought you Beavis and Butthead.

"Office Space" grossed ten million dollars in its initial release. The little movie that could is probably in your dvd collection because regardless of how much studios preach first weekend grosses, this film had legs because it was great. Even if it's not in your collection, you've probably quoted lines about "TPS reports" or "I wouldn't say I'm missing it Bob." "Office Space" stars "Swingers" alum Ron Livingston as Peter Gibbons, a working stiff who one night after being hypnotized wakes up with a whole new attitude. Instead of being a slave to the grind, he comes in when he wants, cleans fish in his cubicle and tells efficiency experts how little work he gets done during the day. "Office Space" gives Ron Livingston his last great role and Mike Judge may have peaked with this one as well. This film brought us a true big screen adaption of "Dilbert" to the big screen.

Party Like It's 1999: Angelina Jolie Before She was Tabloid Fodder

Angelina Jolie burst onto the scene with "Gia" in 1998, then the next "It" girl, where would she head? In the fall of 1999, she was in "The Bone Collector." From Netflix, Rookie cop Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie) reluctantly teams with Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) -- formerly the department's top homicide detective but now paralyzed as a result of a spinal injury -- to catch a grisly serial killer dubbed The Bone Collector. The murderer's special signature is to leave tantalizing clues based on the grim remains of his crimes. This movie is unforgettable ten years ago after seeing it in theaters. All I remember is it trying to be as good as Fincher's "Seven" and how the killer just popped out at the end, like they just picked a name out of a hat. Luckily for all of us, this wasn't Jolie's only film in 1999. She had a small part in "Pushing Tin", a remarkable film because it makes air traffic controllers looks cool. She showed us what she could do in "Girl, Interrupted."

"Girl, Interrupted" starred pre-kleptomaniac charged Winona Ryder as Susanna Kaysen, a girl in the 60s who is sent to a mental institution because she didn't know what to do after high school and didn't want to turn out like her mother. It mentions she swallows a bottle of aprin with a bottle of vodka. So the girl has her issues, seems pretty tame to everything else we've heard about the era. In the institution she meets all kinds of new gal pals including the with the rebel yell, she cried more, more, more Lisa played by Angelina Jolie. Jolie takes her Gia character and splashes danger and psychotic psychedelics to this 60s film. The role garnered Jolie an Oscar. Ryder is good in it but for all intents and purposes, Jolie elevated this out of Lifetime M.O.W. status and made it something more. James Mangold directed the film which would be put him on a path of making quality films for years to come: "Identity", "Walk The Line", "3:10 to Yuma". For pure oversight and fairness, he also did "Kate and Leopold". It's an underrated film with some flaws but the role of Lisa is one of the best female written roles in the last ten years. After "Gia" and "Girl, Interrupted", Jolie went on to play video game vixens, "Tomb Raider", sexy drivers, "Gone in 60 Seconds", assassin wives, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", grieving wives, "A Mighty Heart", secret society assassin, "Wanted". I'm afraid Angelina Jolie is playing the sexy fill in the blank way more than she should. Are the studios to blame for not focusing on good scripts for women or are they not just wanting to make them? Angelina Jolie could be much more than Cambodian adopting tabloid fodder. I wish her assistant, her agent, whoever is the Ari Gold and Eric Murphy to her Vincent Chase are able to find a role to keep her in the game when she can no longer play the sexy fill in the blank, though she could probably convince all of us as the sexy geriatric in the nursing home.

Small Town Movie Theater Trumps IMAXES and Theater Chains of the World

I got married last year and moved within 50 miles of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. There were all kinds of films being shown in the more artsy theaters like the Inwood. They also have movie events like midnight showings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and other cult movies. What’s great about this kind of viewing is everyone in the theater knows the movie, loves the movie. Some even live the movie by dressing up like Dr. Frank-N-Furter or Magenta. While I never made it out for those features, I found something closer.

I’m a big movie buff from Texas and there are three movie theaters in my hometown. Carmike Cinemas, the one at the mall with broken speakers, immature staff and small screens, but hey they have digital screens. Technology doesn’t matter when everything else is tanking below mediocrity. Everyone cringes when a highly anticipated film lands at Carmike Cinemas.

Another one is a two dollar theater where films finish their theatrical run. It’s a theater that is about to be torn down so sometimes the speakers aren’t great and some of the seating has trash bags over it. It used to be one of the premiere theaters in the 80s and 90s.

“Paul Blart: Mall Cop” was there after it was already out on dvd. It’s a good deal and sometimes it’ll get movies that didn’t hit the other two theaters like “The Brothers Bloom” and “Fanboys.” Plus you can get a popcorn and coke for under five dollars. It’s an enjoyable theater that’s on its last legs with a lease about to strike midnight for this Cinderella.

None of these are my favorite but I’m such a cinephile that I’ll wade through sticky floors and bad service and sit next to trash bag seats if a movie is at one of these theaters.

This leads me to Cinemark Theaters. Oh, how I wish that all the movies could be here. The staff is nice but when asked, they will go after people messing with their cell phones during the film. It has huge screens, nice seats and is clean. The concession is a financial nightmare but you can’t have it all. They have more screens and summer movie times but they also get independent films that used to never see these parts.


What made me so happy about moving closer to Dallas were the more opportunities to interact with people really into movies. It is so hard to connect with other people about films, I wanted that kind of communal film experience.

While the Star Wars Prequels were disappointing to a perfection, I really take a shine to “Attack of the Clones”. I attribute this to seeing the midnight showing of the premiere. I was in a theater full of Star Wars fans and that collective energy led to a very exciting viewing.

I’m moving back to my hometown where Carmike and Cinemark reside. I never made it to the Inwood for smaller independent films. I never made it to the Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight. I worked in Arlington last year, leaving me to drive four hours a day and racing 30 thousand miles on my car. I was too tired to go into Dallas, fight the traffic and try to enjoy something I would have loved.

While I didn’t get to dress up like Tim Curry or watch “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” at midnight, I found something else.

Decatur was ten miles from my apartment. It’s been a small city since forever. I knew they had a movie theater, a three screen cinema. Naturally I stuck my nose up at it. I wanted something bigger and better.

My whole life, I’ve wanted to see a new movie opening night. I remember my parents being away and staying with my grandmother when I was 11 years old, trying to convince her to take me to see “Lethal Weapon 3”.
“Please, I’ve wanted to see this for two years,” I said.
“How can you have waited two years to when it starts tomorrow?” my aunt said.
“Because I’ve been seeing previews and knew they were making it,” I said.

That Friday, my grandma and I were in the theater at four o’clock after school waiting for “Lethal Weapon 3” to start. Turns out my grandma really loved it.

That detour illustrates my intensity to see a movie on opening night, a trait I’ve seen in very few.

My wife is a fanatic for “Twilight”. She considered going to the midnight show but had teaching and coaching the next day so she elected for sleep. I was in Decatur and she called to ask if we could go see “Twilight.” I thought she’d be exhausted as she had coached basketball games after school. For the first time in my life, I tried to talk someone out of seeing something opening night. She wasn’t having it. In ways, I loved this passion for film, even if it’s only for the “Twilight” films and Harry Potter.

We ended up seeing it in Decatur at the Three Screen Cinema. I remember being in awe of how low the prices were for popcorn and drinks. It was really packed with Twilight tweens and all the other that made it a huge it that weekend.

I didn’t return to the theater for months when I went to see “Watchmen” a second time on a Sunday. I love Sunday afternoons and having a relaxing day but just couldn’t get it going since I’d been married. “Watchmen” gave me that opportunity. The Twilight phenomenon wasn’t happening so I was in a quiet theater with short lines for popcorn and Coke. I got all this for under ten dollars.

It’s only a three screen cinema. They are going to have mainstream movies. Some I wanted to see, others I wasn’t so crazy to see but I ended up going because of the great experience at this theater. I saw “Knowing”; not great but I enjoyed it with popcorn on the side. At $7.00-$9.50 for a matinee, I wouldn’t have gone to see “Knowing” but for 9.50 for a ticket, popcorn and Coke, I did. I saw the fourth “Fast and the Furious” installment on a Sunday afternoon and was able to ignore plot holes and character development and revel in fast cars and Vin Diesel acting tough. When the price isn’t so jacked up, your investment and expectations don’t have as high a bar.

This last year, I have seen very few movies on Friday night. Exhibit A is me trying to get out of seeing “Twilight.” One Friday night in May, I had planned to go.

The theater was packed, not Twilight packed but packed. Some woman across the aisle was texting at the beginning of the movie. I didn’t want to get the theater staff and I didn’t want to worry about it the whole movie cause you know if someone is messing with their phone at the start of the movie, odds are they won’t leave it alone. I just walked up to her. This was a woman with two kids and gym shorts, not the Star Trek demographic. If she wasn’t going to be into the film, she wasn’t going to ruin it for me.
“Could you not text during the movie?” I said. “It’s distracting.” I sat down and she put her phone up.
I loved “Star Trek” so much that I went the next afternoon. It had been really hard for me to relax and enjoy myself for the last year and I had finally found my outlet.

I saw “Terminator: Salvation” on a school night. I saw Pixar’s “Up”. My wife started going with me to some movies. We saw “Ghosts of Girlfirends Past”, a film that wasn’t a first choice of mine but was easier to swallow than I thought.

We saw “Night at the Museum 2”. I really disliked the first film but really liked the second one. Even “The Proposal”, the Sandra Bullock/Ryan Reynolds concept romantic comedy was a lot of fun.

The toughest viewing had to be Will Ferrell’s “Land of the Lost”. It was a mess of a movie but I loved watching it on a Tuesday afternoon. It was like my summers as a kid, dropped off at an afternoon matinee and then hitting the arcade.


This theater had some sort of magic that allowed every movie to be at least good or at worst watchable. This theater had small screens, but I didn’t have to watch twenty minutes of commercials before the movie. I never had to go tell the staff the projection wasn’t working. This small theater was more efficient than the IMAXes and AMCs of the world. It’s not the size of your screen. It’s how you use it.


No screen size could save the mess that was “Transformers: Revenege of the Fallen.” While nowhere near the quality of the first film, it was okay in some areas. I had to give it the Fast and the Furious treatment. Ignore plot holes and character development.

The day before we moved was a Sunday on Fourth of July weekend. I had seen all of the movies at the theater. Even with all its flaws, I saw Revenge of the Fallen again. In ways, it was better the second time. For one, I knew when to get popcorn. They were so busy that day that they ran out of popcorn. I went back to Transformers and waited twenty minutes for hot popcorn. I knew which scenes would be strong like ones featuring Optimus Prime and ones that weren’t, ones with no robots.

I thought this would be my goodbye to the theater. A few weeks later, my wife and I were finishing up the move out of our old apartment, turning in keys and what not. We left just in time to see “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.” It was more fun than other theaters because the kids were into it and cell phones were kept to a minimum.

This theater had been so therapeutic for me. It was an escape from the stress of work and life. This theater meant more to me than midnight showings of cult classics and costumes. I had gone to most movies in my life by myself. A lot of my friends didn’t have parents that let them see a lot of movies or they didn’t want to spend their money that way. I ended up seeing a lot on my own which I’m comfortable with because you don’t have to worry if that person likes it. You can just see it for yourself. It only makes sense one of my favorite theaters wasn’t a community experience but a one on one experience. Me and the movie.

Party Like It's 1999 Even With The Phantom Menace: Episode 8 Kevin Smith Gave Me A Religious Experience and Never Called Me Again

Can you have a religious experience during a Kevin Smith movie? His last film, "Chasing Amy" in all respects was a guy trying to reform a lesbian film filled with penis jokes. His other films go even further into immature sexual discussion. It does work. Kevin Smith films will make you laugh if you can stomach them, but could he get serious?

"Dogma" is about two fallen angels trying to get back into heaven through a loophole that will destroy everything. A band of Apostles, angels and Jay and Silent Bob are trying to stop them. Alanis Morrisette plays God in this movie that was being protested as an abomination before it was released.

The film works really well and it has a lot of great points about religion and God without taking itself too seriously. Chris Rock is a black Apostle in one of his better film performances. The supposed to be next big thing, Linda Fiorentino was the lead with direct bloodline to Jesus even though she worked at an abortion clinic. This was a really great satire about religion and faith that gave way to new questions to ask after the movie ended.

It made me really think about the powers that be over the years who could have edited the Bible. It made me question some of the status quo beliefs that are thrown to us over the years. Maybe God really is a woman. Maybe God really is Alanis Morrissette. Maybe Jay and Silent Bob have a part to play in God’s plan.

Where has Kevin Smith gone after this film? He went back to Jay and Silent Bob. He did a “Clerks” sequel. He did a movie with Ben Affleck, “Jersey Girl”, which I never saw. He did a Judd Apatow impression with “Zack and Miri Make A Porno.” He’s really stayed in his comfort zone. It would be nice to see him write and others direct. It would be nice to see him take the kind of creative risk he did with “Dogma”. In the end, he does have to pay a mortgage and if it’s with Jay and Silent Bob, so be it.

Party Like It's 1999 Even With The Phantom Menace: Episode 7 Jim Carrey's Peak

Jim Carrey has never been content with where he is in his craft. While "Ace Ventura" and "Dumb and Dumber" made him a mega rich star in one year, he wasn't satisfied with that. Though he would continue mindless formulaic comedies, in 1998 he garnered critical acclaim for his performance in "The Truman Show." Can Jim Carrey do drama? "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" would later give us an emphatic yes given the right director and script. 2001's "The Majestic" shows us what happens when the director and script aren't there. What is Jim Carrey to do when he is not doing the formula comedies he does today, "Yes Man" or going darker with Joel Schumacher "The Number 23." He needs to hook up with Milos Forman again. Milos Forman cast Carrey as Andy Kaufman for the biopic "Man on the Moon." “Man on the Moon” was the funny and heartwarming then heartbreaking tale of the life of avant garde comedian Andy Kaufman. Carrey disappeared into the role entirely. You saw Andy Kaufman. This is the only film that has utilized Carrey's gifts for comedy and drama. He should've got an Oscar nomination for this one. Unfortunately, Milos Forman and scripts like this are few and far between. Luckily for Carrey, those formulaic wild man scripts are. A guy's got to eat. Whether or not he achieves that stratosphere again or not is up in the air, but he for this one film, he was able to truly maximize everything he had.

Party Like It's 1999 Even With The Phantom Menace: Episode 6 There is No Spoon

"The Matrix" had a preview during the Super Bowl in 1999. At this point, we've seen Keanu Reeves in a few great movies and we've seen him in a bunch of duds. This movie looked really good but it could be the next “Star Wars” or it could be the next “Johnny Mnemonic.”

"Your men are already dead." When that line was spoken right before Trinity took out a couple of policeman and leaped from rooftop to rooftop, you knew something was there. Everyone in the theater was locked and loaded for an awesome action movie at this point. Little did we know, we were being given an action film plus a great script. It took robots killing us to a whole new level. Our whole world was fake? It wasn't just Arnold after you. Everyone was hooked into the machines. Are we so far from that now? The bullet time effects stole Phantom Menace’s thunder. The Matrix had Neo and bullet time while Menace had annoying Anakin Skywalker and Jarjar. It was a bold film that satisfied in every way. It made you believe in Neo.

This was going to be the Star Wars of the 21st century. If you thought that, you were right. The Matrix sequels had the same fate as the Star Wars prequels as colossal disappointments. You had an unlimited budget, the first film worked. At this point, the studios should've backed off. Was it the Wachowski brothers themselves who cracked at this shot of greatness. The sequels were too self serious and like Star Wars 1-3, a strain that each line of dialogue had to tell you the meaning of life. The Matrix Reloaded got a pass because the third one would complete the puzzle. It didn't. The Matrix trilogy fizzled. Scratch that. Fizzle would make it a moderate disappointment. The Matrix Trilogy was like when they blow up an old hotel in Las Vegas. That’s the kind of disappointment it was. If anyone knows what happened in this production, post a comment.

Party Like It's 1999 Even With The Phantom Menace: Episode 5 Not Another Teen Movies

The 80s had their immortalized John Hughes films and after Kevin Williamson and "Scream", studios started ramping up the production of teen films. While we had "I Know What You Did Last Summer" starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar and their cleavage, we also got a ridiculous amount of horror teen resurgence. The WB launched "Dawson's Creek" and "Buffy The Vampire Slayer." Most of these films were trying to recapture the John Hughes touch with poor results. "Varsity Blues" with Dawson as quarterback was a huge hit in January of 1999. The studios cranked out a ton of teen genre films in 1999. Jawbreaker, 200 Cigarettes, The Mod Squad, 10 Things I Hate About You, Teaching Mrs. Tingel, Drive Me Crazy just to name a few. Luckily, some studios released films like "Rushmore" that put a new spin on the teen angst film.

Alexander Payne's "Election" keeps Matthew Broderick from his 80s Ferris Bueller status and leaves him in his 90s adult loser status. In "Election", he's a boring Civics teacher and Student Council Sponsor. Reese Witherspoon who forgoed the Scream knockoffs and status quo teen fare.....oh yeah, she did do "Cruel Intentions". Anyways, this time she picked a script over cleavage playing Tracy Flick and giving us an original film about the overachiever syndrome. Flick is a girl who will stop at nothing to win the student election even if it means resorting to tactics Karl Rove would endorse. This has a completely original feel. It isn't nerd loves cheerleader, Ryan loves loser girl. Tracy Flick would destroy Samantha Baker and then spit on her for longing for some hunk while there are much bigger things to do like winning class president. This way you can add it to your resume, go to a good college so you can get a good internship so when you graduate you can dominate the world.

This gives us something we haven't seen on film before. We have an outcast nerdy girl who has all of this power and determination for her own agenda. Maybe the closest we've seen to this is "Carrie" but that's different. Flick didn't kill anybody. Director Alexander Payne took the momentum from this film to release Oscar darlings "About Schmidt" and "Sideways", two films about being on the road and finding yourself. "Election" is a teen film of the 90s that will hold up long past it turns 20.

In the summer of '99, we were shown "American Pie", putting R-Rated films about getting action on the landscape. It wasn't hinting at anything. It was bold and actually showed Jason Biggs humping a warm apple pie. It was so shocking. This is where Porkys and all those loser loses virginity of the 80s movies didn't venture. This had a certain element of raunch to it. In some ways Judd Apatow's success can be paved with this film making over 100 million dollars.

Party Like It's 1999 Even With The Phantom Menace: Episode 4: Rushmore and Not Another Teen Movies

Wes Anderson's "Rushmore" brought Bill Murray back into films we could love him in again. "Rushmore" starred Jason Schwartzman as Max Fischer, a boy in love with his prepschool Rushmore and then he's expelled. He befriends Herman Blume (Murray)and they end up falling for the same woman, Ms. Cross, a teacher at Rushmore. The script and the characters are what brings this film to life. What I love about "Rushmore" and all of Wes Anderson's characters, whether they're eccentric, weird, nerdy, geeky, it really isn't an underdog story in the classic sense. All of his characters know who they are and what they want and believe they're the smartest, coolest people they know. Max Fischer puts on plays with realism and explosions. He opens up an aquarium for his love. He's doing these balls out things taht would never be considered in the teen genre nor any other genre. Wes Anderson brought us back Bill Murray who would go on to do "Lost in Translation" among others. Anderson also had to have worked out some daddy issues by releasing "The Royal Tenenbaums", "The Life Aquatic", and "The Darjeeling Limited." While many adore "Botle Rocket", I feel without "Rushmore" in 1999, we would not have seen the other films we have had the luxury of seeing.

Party Like It's 1999 Even with The Phantom Menace: Episode 3

P.T. Anderson had a critical success with his 70s fictitious porn industry flim about a young guy named Dirk Diggler. "Boogie Nights" wasn't a huge commercial success but people in Hollywood were impressed. He could do anything for his next film, something a director might get one shot at his entire career if at all. In much the same way Zack Snyder followed "300" with the guts to go after "Watchmen", P.T. Anderson went bold and made "Magnolia", a symphony of characters all connected in the San Vernando Valley. Coincidence? Fate? A trophy wife addicted to prescription drugs. A home nurse trying to reunite a dying man with his estranged son who has grown up selling search and destroy seduction techniques. A policeman looking for love. At its least, it's what "Crash" was knocking off, at its most, it was dangerous daring filmmaking, all with everyone singing an Aimee Mann song. While the film does have its flaws, it showed us Tom Cruise can get an Oscar nomination, a preview of what we would get from Phillip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly among other things. "Magnolia" proves it's worth it to sometimes risk going too far to see how far you can go.

While P.T. Anderson was given a budget, a great cast and Tom Cruise, another Anderson was about to resurrect a star we had forgotten how good they were.

Party Like It's 1999 Even With The Phantom Menace: Episode Two

Martin Scorsese released "Bringing Out The Dead" in the fall of 1999, a story about an ambulance driver wrestling with his job, his life and his soul. Nic Cage played the ambulance driver, one of his last dramatic roles before becoming an action caricature. A few years off from his Oscar winning performance in "Leaving Las Vegas", this had an idea, a director and a star that could phone in greatness. It just didn't work as a film. It was slow and not haunting. I remember reading an article at the time about how Scorsese had lost it. Though 1999 wasn't his year, this pivotal moment led to him filming "Gangs of New York", something he had wanted to do for over twenty years. With Robert DeNiro older and in comedies, who would be Scorsese's muse? He found it in Leonardo DiCaprio who at the time hadn't done much film since Cameron's "Titanic." They needed each other. Dicaprio to keep Scorsese's touch intact and Scorsese to transition Dicaprio from boy wonder to manhood taking his films to the next level. In an interview, Dicaprio said he had the chance to do P.T. Anderson's "Boogie Nights" or "Titanic" and given the chance to do it all over, he would've chosen "Boogie Nights." Who knows where his career would’ve gone but hard to bet against P.T. Anderson.

"Party Like It's 1999 Even With The Phantom Menace" Episode One

1999 was a year dominated by the world wide release of the second coming of film, "The Phantom Menace," and while Menace ranks as one of the biggest cinematic disappointments of all time, I wouldn't trade a worthy Star Wars prequel for the incredible depth of filmmaking we got in 1999. While former Hollywood greats would stumble, a changing of the guard invaded overnight as if in a wooden horse. In this year we had bold dangerous filmmaking. We had films that rebelled against corporate America and the American dream. We had teen films not shaped out of the cookie cutter John Hughes mold. We had films that traded lightsabers for bullet time. We had comedy that dealt with religion and cancer. We saw twists and turns that were so brilliant, they’ve became just another Hollywood scripting device. It seems this flood of talent and brass filmmaking gave us some of the best films and performances of a ton of actors and directors. Unfortunately for Lucas, the force was not with him in 1999.

A new trilogy starring Trainspotting's Ewan McGregor as Obi Won Kenobi and how Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side to become Darth Vader was poised to be all anyone could talk about. We were all expecting George Lucas to be like Michael Jordan after winning three consecutive championships, retired for a few years and then laced them up for three more championships. George Lucas was returning to the ring to prove he still had it. Every level of Star Wars fan had been waiting for this from lukewarm fans to die hard Star Wars geeks. Pepsi and KFC were locked up for merchandising deals. The toys hit stores and kids meals were sold. That trailer was a religious experience? What could go wrong?

I was 18 years old and about to graduate high school when I saw "The Phantom Menace." Expectations had been dashed on some films but in the end, I liked most sequels or at least tried to. I never said officially I liked, "Weekend at Bernie's 2" but I didn't hate it either.

A crowd full of Star Wars fans were ready to be mesmerized when the title cards hit the screen and then.........nothing. Lucas didn't even hesitate to pull the lightsabers out early. I wasn't loving it but still had hope. Then Jarjar showed up. Then that boy who played Anakin showed up. There was something so unlikable about the character. This boy is going to be a Jedi Master? This boy is going to try to kill Obi Won and join the Sith. Many things ruin "The Phantom Menace" and I have many films to get to but Anakin Skywalker and Jarjar are in the top five.


It was a pure loss of innocence. I walked out of the film verbally telling people, "It kinda sucked." I always had the biggest expectations for films and even if they didn't live up to them, I still enjoyed them. The viewing of "The Phantom Menace" is definitely a coming of age tale. George Lucas jaded me. Since then, I never have had elevated expectations only to have in the back of my mind, "Remember The Phantom Menace?"

While everyone was stuck with their Darth Maul toys, there would be a treasure of films released that year, some of them box office smashes, others Oscar winners, some under the radar gems that would blossom into cult classics.1999 proved to be a pivotal moment for films and filmmakers. With success or failure, 1999 predicated the next move.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop: Who is this movie for?

"Die Hard" invented a whole new genre for action films. The Die Hard on a_______. We had Die Hard on a boat: Under Siege. Die Hard on a bus: Speed. Die Hard on a plane: Passenger 57, Air Force One. Die Hard in a sports arena: Sudden Impact. I think I heard a joke about how the studios were trying to come up with a Die Hard in a hot air balloon. You get the picture.

We never had a Die Hard in a mall......until now. Let me back up that. I remember as a kid at the grocery store Albertsons looking at the front of a VHS tape that said, "Die Hard in a Department Store." Probably some "B" movie. Who wants to see Die Hard in Dillards? I'm sure that would've been much more fun than registering for a wedding though. "Hey baby, maybe Hans Gruber will get us the dishes we like."

We never got our Die Hard in a mall and when it comes out, it's a comedy starring Kevin James.

"Good things come in pairs – Volcano, Dante’s Peak, Deep Impact, Armageddon."
-Ben Stone, Knocked Up

How on earth did we get two security guard movies in the same year? What I like about it is these are two different films about the same concept. The difference is like between "Hoosiers" and "White Men Can't Jump." Same concept. Different style and execution. While Jody Hill's "Observe and Report" was edgy and Taxi Driver crazy, Paul Blart is something else because it doesn't fit a comedy mold.

Let's look at what we have for Hollywood comedy. We have Will Ferrell and his outlandish films. We have the Judd Apatow mafia making comedy raunchy again. We have whatever Woody Allen is doing at the moment, but for the most part, there isn't that much out there.

I think Kevin James is funny. I watched his show "King Of Queens." Is he groundbreaking? No. Is he controversial? No. Is he fun for all audiences including the super conservatives who comprise the ratings board for films? Yes. Kevin James is a safe bet.

How did Paul Blart make $146 million at the box office? That rivals what the real Die Hard action knock offs make?

Is the movie action packed? To answer that, I'll just say the lead villain in it is played by the guy who wanted to play tummy sticks with Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers. No.

Is the movie realistic, and I mean using the Die Hard vehicle film curve? The terrorists are on skateboards and do all kinds of back flips and are super fast yet Kevin James is able to get away on a segue? No. Any time he is near anyone, they all want to take him on in a supposed to be hilarious scene in a Foot Locker or something instead of just blasting him with their guns?

Who is this movie for and how did it make this kind of money at the box office? Family dads brought this one home. Family dads who don't get to see real action films anymore. They don't get to see anything R rated because they've got kids. There's no babysitter so anytime him and the Mrs. want to go to a movie, it's gotta be a family film appropriate for everyone. Does the dad get to see "Live Free or Die Hard"? No. Crank 2? No. He has to sit for this and he probably loves it. This beats "Madagascar 2" or "Hannah Montana". This is an untapped market. The dads who don't get to see what they want anymore. I'm sure there is a whole market for Die Hard from Disney. We've seen what this did at the box office so I have no idea studio executives are pitching ideas right now. Saw from Disney. Milk from Disney. The Girlfriend Experience from Disney.

I can't wait to see what happens with this market and in five years when Paul Blart: Mall Cop With A Vengeance with Samuel L. Jackson is released.

An Industry of Cool: The Almost Famous Moment I Almost Had

An Industry of Cool: The Almost Famous Moment I Almost Had

I’m on the road a lot commuting to work. Two hours in the morning. Two hours in the evening. I have a ton of stuff on my video Ipod. Episodes of “The Office”, “Lost”, “The West Wing”. Lately, I’ve been listening to a podcast called the Slash Filmcast which is a couple guys talking about movies. What they’ve been watching, film news and then into an in depth review of one movie per week. With a lot of my movie friends moving off, the fellowship has broken. This has been a great way to get my movie fix. This is the best podcast that doesn’t have Ricky Gervais involved.
Since March, the Filmcast has been playing on the Ipod more than anything else. David Chen is one of the moderators of the show and every once in a while, he says what his AIM screen name is and to give him a shout if you want. I wrote it down this last week. I added him to my buddy list. Later that night, I saw he was online. I didn’t want to come off as a stalker ala Glenn Close in “Fatal Attraction” or creepy like Jim Carrey’s “Cable Guy” but I wanted to say something.
“Is this Dave from the Slashfilm cast?” I asked.
“Yup” he typed back.
“I just wanted to drop you an IM to tell you I really love the podcast,” I said.
“Who’s this?” he said
“My name is Scotty. I live in Texas. I send you guys email from time to time. I have a tough commute to work every day. Two hours both ways. I put the podcast on my Ipod and listen to you guys a majority of the trip the last few months.”
“That’s awesome man. Glad we’re able to help in some small way,” he said.
I kind of geeked out on the next line and revealed my inner fanboy.
“You and Devindra (other guy on podcast) are awesome. Ok, I'm done geeking out, I just think it's cool to talk to you online for a moment,” I said.
“Definitely, no problem, feel free to hit me up anytime,” he said.
I left it at that. I didn’t want to take up his night talking about movies and come on too strong. Maybe I can IM more and talk about films with him sometime when I’ve got something to say. Hopefully the geeky kinks are worked out now.
Apparently, they have listeners all over the world and even have people who donate to help keep the site and the podcast going. I’m sure he has a ton of people talking to him. This guy is off interviewing Rian Johnson and Kevin Smith. Who the hell am I?
In a perfect world though, it would’ve been much cooler. I love movies and discussing them. I would love to do that full time. American dream right? Maybe he would’ve been impressed and put me on the show. Maybe I could write for them. I was hoping the IM conversation would go down a little more like Cameron Crowe’s masterpiece “Almost Famous” about a young teenage rock writer who is looking to break into journalism. He runs into Lester Bangs played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, the editor of Cream Magazine. This is what I had hoped went down.

Almost Famous Moment with Dave Chen
Dave: So you’re the guy who's sent me those emails.
Scotty: Yeah. Yeah. I've been doing some stuff for a local underground paper also.
Dave: What are you, the star of your school?
Scotty: They hate me.
Dave: You'll meet them all again on their long journey to the middle. Your writing is damn good. It's just a shame you missed out on Hollywood. It's over.
Scotty: Over?
Dave: It's over. You got here just in time for the death rattle. Last gasp. Last grope.
Scotty: At least I'm here for that.
Dave: What do you type on?
Scotty: Microsoft Word 2003
Dave: And you like Clint Eastwood?
Scotty: The early stuff. In his new stuff, he's trying to be Oscar bait. He should just be himself.
Dave: You take drugs?
Scotty: No.
Dave: Smart kid. I used to do speed. You know, and sometimes a little cough syrup? I'd stay up all night, just writing and writing. I mean, like pages of dribble. You know, about Danny Boyle, or Darren Aronofsky.You know, just to freaking write. All right. It's been nice to meet ya. Keep sending me your stuff. I can't stand here all day iming my many fans.
Scotty: I understand.
(Then we continue to talk.)
Dave: You know, because once you go to L.A., you're gonna have friends like crazy. But they're gonna be fake friends. They're gonna try to corrupt you. You got an honest face, and they're gonna tell you everything. But you cannot make friends with the filmmakers.
Scotty: Is it okay if I-- -
Dave: If you’re gonna be a true journalist--you know, a film journalist--First, you never get paid much. But you will get free DVDS from the movie studios. Geez,nothing about you that is controversial, man. God, it's gonna get ugly, man. They're gonna buy you drinks. You're gonna meet girls, they're gonna fly you places for free, offer drugs. I know it sounds great, but these people are not your friends.These are people who want you to write sanctimonious stories...about the genius of movies. And they will ruin films, and strangle...everything we love about it, right? And then it just becomes an industry of cool. I'm telling you, you're coming along at a very dangerous time for movies. That's why I think you should turn, go back, and be a lawyer or something. But I can tell from your face that you won't. I can give you 35 bucks. Give me 1000 words on “Star Trek."
Scotty: An assignment?
Dave: Yeah. You have to make your reputation on being honest...and...you know, unmerciful.
Scotty: Honest. Unmerciful.
Dave: If you get into a jam, you can call me. I stay up late.

James Cameron: The Girlfriend That's Never Coming Back

It seems like Terminator Salvation was set to fail from the start because it's not James Cameron. He's not coming back. Yes, he gave us this brilliant story, two films that action and sci-fi have imitated, mocked and for the most part, failed to live up to. He hasn't done a full out action film since "True Lies", hasn't directed a film in twelve years. Cameron was once a young filmmaker who just needed a chance. I'm not saying McG is awesome, but if someone wants to step up to the plate, by all means, have at it.

This isn't S. Darko or some straight to DVD hell hole. This is Terminator with Christian Bale, studio backing and a summer release.

The music isn't that classic score from the first two films which concerned me at the beginning. A little background is written on the screen for the rookies, one sentence talking of John Connor as a possible prophet? I was hoping we weren't heading into Matrix Revolutions territory.

You can tell it's not Cameron's apocalypse. We've seen so many apocalypses over the last twenty years. It's very hard to show us anything new, especially when we already have a view from the first two films.

What I loved about this film was we didn't see every plot point spliced into the trailer. It's almost misleading because this isn't John Connor's story as much as it's Marcus Wright's. Sam Worthington is going to be a huge star. He is what engages you into the film. I thought Bale was just pissed and kind of one note but maybe that's what they needed him to do to show the cyborg's humanity.

The small flashes from the mythology, from Arnold, melting a terminator, freezing a terminator, all the way to the classic "You Could Be Mine" were present in the film.

I'm glad McG took the film into this new frontier because there are all kinds of things they could do. This is what they should've done with the third film.

What do you guys think? Are we ever going to get over James Cameron and date someone else?