FunkSoulBrother1980

Check out My "Inception" Review over at Cinemaniac

2010-07-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

http://the-cinemaniac.blogspot.com/2010/07/review-inception.html

I'm Cheating on My Netflix with Redbox and Hastings But I Want To Work It Out

2010-07-01T20:01:00.000-07:00

I’ve been having an affair. I’ve been cheating on my Netflix subscription off and on for over a year now. It has just been a flirtation with Redbox and Hastings. It didn’t mean anything. I want to work on my relationship with Netflix so we can be stronger and avoid a nasty split. Everything was wonderful. I don’t know how it happened.

I was in an exclusive relationship with Hollywood Video for six years. It was over when Hollywood Video skipped town with no notice, no phone call, no email. I was on the rebound. I started a Netflix subscription. It was nice to look forward to mail again. It was so exciting to watch a movie and as soon as it was over, drive to the Post Office at night to drop it off so the Netflick was on the road the next day.

Things were going great. Then I moved to two movies at a time, then three movies. Maybe we got too serious too fast. The more serious we got, the less time we had for each other. Sometimes I wouldn’t watch a movie for weeks. Things started to get complicated.

I love everything about Netflix but it isn’t the same Netflix I fell in love with. The inventory had been compromised. “Taken” was number one on my queue for six weeks and I still hadn’t received it. I ended up going to a grocery store and noticed a Redbox. It was all so innocent. I just wanted to see if “Taken” was available. For the first time in two years, I rented a DVD that wasn’t with Netflix. Our relationship has never been the same.

It happened again when “Inglourious Basterds” had a “Very long wait” next to the title in my queue. It was so easy. I even started seeing Hastings when I knew films had a long wait attached to them.

In 2010, the lack of inventory wasn’t the issue. Sometimes I can time it to get a movie the day it comes out. Netflix started cheating on me, dealing with studios to hold off on releases for a month or so in an effort to get me to purchase DVDs rather than rent them. Supposedly Netflix did this all for me, in order to get more streaming content. That is a good thing but I haven’t seen a huge boost in streaming content.

Netflix and its lack of inventory have caused me to run into the arms of Redbox and Hastings when I want to see a movie. This is the problem. I rarely get a movie in my top five. This leaves me with movies coming off the bench, movies slotted in the 5-10 slots.

Since we’ve been having problems, Netflix has tried to woo me. I can’t say Netflix didn’t try. Netflix released the PS3 streaming disc. It was fun. Spent the holidays watching the first two seasons of Dexter. After the initial surprise of the effort, the stream wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. There are some good TV shows but not all the shows I want aren’t available. There are some movies that are good but not many major studio releases. A friend compared the streaming selection to “A $5 bargain bin at Wal-Mart.”

There are some things I can do and Netflix can do to help our relationship. I love instant streaming but there needs to be more content available, more copies of DVDs to meet demand and release the DVDs on their actual release date, not some Netflix timetable Bizaro world release date. My needs aren’t being met.

I’m not excited to see Netflix anymore so they stay with my mail and end up taking longer to get watched. I end up watching less and less and keeping movies longer. Maybe it’s Netflix Kharma. If I hold onto movies too long, movies I want will stay gone too long. Maybe if I get them watched and back in the mail, more of my movies will come back to me. I will start treating Netflix better and hope that my love will reciprocate. Netflix, I want our relationship to work. I want to give this a chance.

Michael Keaton and the Milk Carton

2010-06-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

Michael Keaton is the voice of Ken in Toy Story 3, the first high profile film he has been a part of in over ten years. He will also be in Adam McKay’s film The Other Guys this summer. Keaton is getting more action this summer than he has since the Clinton administration.

In Toy Story 3 interviews, he has talked about wanting to do a sequel to Beetlejuice. Please don’t back to Beetlejuice. It would be all CGI and 3D and everything you loved about Tim Burton was killed by Hollywood years ago. I know it seems retro to go back to your old role. Bruce Willis did it with Die Hard. Stallone did it in Rambo and Rocky. Trust me. No one wants to see Beetlejuice and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Like a lot of our older actors, I’m sure he would love to get in a hot tub time machine and go back to the 80s. where Keaton was a star.

Night Shift was his breakout performance next to the Fonz directed by Ron Howard. Mr. Mom was great because it was such an outrageous concept for a man to stay home. Gung Ho to this day is the only film about unions that is funny.

Johnny Dangerously was funny. The Dream Team showed us mental health in a comedic way. Beetlejuice was a great character and film directed by Tim Burton. Before Burton had Johnny Depp play everything in every film, he had Michael Keaton. Michael Keaton was Batman in 1989, showing us a dark, serious superhero film 19 years before The Dark Knight. Batman was such a departure from not just superhero films but almost every 80s film. After Batman, Keaton took on more serious roles like My Life, Pacific Heights and Clean and Sober. Go ahead show a little range.

“And like that, he’s gone.”-The Usual Suspects (Michael Keaton isn’t in this but there is a character named Keaton)

What happened after Batman Returns? I read on Wikipedia once that he turned down $30 million for a third Batman that Burton wasn’t directing. Did this blacklist him? Is this story even accurate? Keaton had a genuine uniqueness in his films. Why did the offers dry up? He still did solid work before the millennium. The Paper reunited him with Night Shift director Ron Howard in what is a very underrated film.

Keaton was good in Multiplicity, a film by a past his prime Harold Ramis.
Why hasn’t he been on a TV show that has kept him steadily working? While Gary Sinise has a huge show, Charlie Sheen is paid a ton, even Howie Mandel is a prime time regular, Keaton is hurting for work.

John Travolta got the resurrection of a lifetime with Pulp Fiction. No one gets that kind of rebirth, even other Tarantino actors. Michael Keaton was in Jackie Brown. He was good in Jackie Brown. Maybe that was supposed to be his comeback. For some reason it wasn’t. How did this man go from Batman to Jack Frost? Live From Baghdad is great work. Why is he in these films with tweens like Herbie Fully Loaded and Post Grad.

I’ve never heard about him being a jerk on set or drug problems. I had read about Chevy Chase sabotaging his career. We all know what happened to Lindsay Lohan. Where is Michael Keaton?

Michael Keaton could still be very productive in a film, maybe not above the title but still contribute. A young director who remembers what he’s capable of should take him for a spin. Someone like Jason Reitman or Rian Johnson.

I want to know the mystery behind what happened to Michael Keaton and why he has been robbed from the public? Is he picking terrible scripts like the one where he’s a prisoner getting an organ transplant? Or is he relegated to family films now with the good work he’s done in the tween demographic?

Maybe Quentin will give him another shot.

Strong Females in Film Have Driven Off A Cliff

2010-03-07T07:41:00.000-08:00

I am taking a graduate course called Contemporary American Drama. I took the course based on the fact the class would be viewing Thelma and Louise and reading the shooting script from Ridley Scott. I wrote an atomic paper, writing about of the prompts, the one student who did that. I even wrote about things outside the scope of the prompts. I tried to lay low in class not wanting to look like a brown noser or overachiever. This is that paper.

Strong Females in Film Have Driven Off A Cliff

Ridley Scott talks about Thelma and Louise being about freedom. The Thunderbird is the vehicle that gives Thelma and Louise that freedom. This brings to mind another film about a road trip, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. As Ferris plays hooky and takes Cameron with him, they open Cameron’s garage to find a 1958 Ferrari 250 GTS California. It is said less than a hundred were made. Cameron says the car is his father’s love and passion. Ferris says it is Cameron’s father’s fault he did not lock the garage. Cameron informs Ferris that his dad never drives it. He just rubs it with a diaper. Thelma embodies the erotic red hood of the 1958 Ferrari in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. She has been cooped up her whole life. She is a car that is never driven. In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, when that car gets out of the garage, it is taken on an incredible ride at breathtaking speeds just like Thelma and Louise.

Lightning struck with Thelma and Louise. It had a great director with box office appeal who could make the film he wanted. The budget was under $10 million and as a result, executives were not breathing down Ridley Scott’s neck. There was an incredible script to work with. Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon had been in several movies, but they were not such huge stars that it got in the way of the film. The audience was not thinking to themselves, “Oh my God, Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock are really good in this.” Davis and Sarandon are easily able to become Thelma and Louise. These elements are what made this film work.

It is obvious after the success of Thelma and Louise, Hollywood tried to reproduce that success. Many films took parts of the film and added another something new where others took every concept from Thelma and Louise. Bad Girls seems to take from Thelma and Louise more than any other film. According to Netflix, “Cody, Anita, Eileen and Lilly are four tough Wild West women on the run from the law. To make matters worse, as they’re withdrawing cash from a Texas bank, bank robber Kid Jarrett takes it. With two Pinkerton men after them, the rugged girls are determined to get their money back along with a little revenge in this six-shooting western adventure.” While it seems to take on many of the same themes of Thelma and Louise, audiences did not connect. It only took in $15 million at the box office.

A few years later, Set It Off was released. According to Netflix, “Sick of being victims of circumstance and fighting a system that keeps them from reaching their dreams, four black women from the Los Angeles projects opt to knock over a bank. Emboldened after pulling off the heist, they continue their crime spree.” This film was for an African American female demographic. It takes many of the women’s liberation ideas touched on in Thelma and Louise. This movie was much more successful at the box office than Bad Girls, garnering more than $36 million. With a production budget of $9 million, this is successful across the board. As a film about women, specifically African American women, this was a huge success. Unfortunately, this film has not stayed in the American conscience as Thelma and Louise has.

The 1990s saw more films about female action heroes, a trend that would continue on into the 21st century. For every Carrie Ann Moss in The Matrix, we get Pamela Anderson in Barb Wire. It takes more than leather pants, cleavage and a gun to make a strong female character. Quentin Tarantino has made films with strong female characters like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill and Pam Grier in Jackie Brown. Angelina Jolie has become an action heroine franchise with films such as Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Wanted and Tomb Raider. While these films may be fun, they are usually over the top and never attempt realism. Many of these films make money and why not make an action star out of a legitimate actress like Geena Davis? In 1996, Geena Davis would go back to the well that gave her success with Thelma and Louise. The Long Kiss Goodnight would make her an action heroine for the 90s. According to Netflix, “Samantha Caine can’t remember anything before the day she woke up eight years ago, injured and two months pregnant. Now a schoolteacher with only vague memories, she starts to exhibit bizarre, violent impulses.” It is only after hiring a private detective that she discovers that she was once a top CIA assassin named Charlie. With a production budget of $65 million, overseas The Long Kiss Goodnight grossed over $56 million, while domestically only grossing $33 million. This began a decline in films starring Geena Davis as far as strong female characters. In 1999 she played Mrs. Eleanor Little in Stuart Little, then try a few television shows along with sequels to Stuart Little. She eventually played a strong woman for one season as President of the United States in the ABC show Commander in Chief. Davis was never able to retain the status that Thelma brought her.

Susan Sarandon would play strong female characters in The Client and Dead Man Walking before fading into more conventional female roles.

Ridley Scott is a great director for women. In 1979, he gave audiences Alien putting Ellen Ripley played by Sigourney Weaver as the last one standing who defeats the alien. In 1986, James Cameron would make Ripley a stronger character able to fight in Aliens. In 1991, James Cameron would take that sensibility to Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. In the first Terminator film, Sarah Connor is scared and confused. She needs a man to keep her alive. In the second film, learning from her experience, she is ripped, smart, armed and ready to take on the machines. In 1991, Jodie Foster plays FBI trainee Clarice Starling who has to go toe to toe with imprisoned Hannibal Lecter in order to catch a killer in Silence of the Lambs. Foster would win the Best Actress Oscar over Davis and Sarandon.

Jim Emerson wrote about the glossy feel of the film. He was focused on what the film was not and not what it was. Emerson wants Thelma and Louise to be “a low budget production by Robert Altman or Bob Rafaelston or someone with a feel for the raw and messy-but sometimes extraordinary-possibilities of human life.” He said Scott, “packaged it as a feature-length perfume commercial targeted at knee-jerk ‘feminists’. Thelma and Louise is a movie that is all dressed up and has no place to go.” Emerson wants the film to be more like Badlands, They Live By Night and You Only Live Once.

Ridley Scott is one of the few directors in Hollywood whose track record gives him considerably more power in making his films than other directors. Emerson acts as if the source material from Callie Khouri’s screenplay was a gritty, dangerous and unpredictable journey. It was not. Scott was true to the screenplay to a large degree. A few things are different, but that comes with the territory of taking the printed word and putting it to film. Ridley Scott and Callie Khouri were not out to make the film Emerson wanted for Thelma and Louise. Khouri’s script is fresh and fun. At no point does the reader see this screenplay as dark and gritty.

Second of all, this is a studio picture. In the Thelma and Louise Extended Edition DVD commentary, Ridley Scott said, “It needs to be fun. It costs a lot to make a film so you have to get the audience into the seats.” The departures from the screenplay are there to do just that. The goal is to make an enjoyable film with universal appeal. That is what the studios want from every film and the source material does not make it impossible to make a film that does that.

This was a small film especially for Ridley Scott who had made films like Alien and Blade Runner. The two leads for Thelma and Louise were two actresses who weren’t big stars like Meryl Streep, Sally Field or Julia Roberts. Everyone else in the film was probably paid scale or slightly above. The production budget of the film was $16.5 million according to boxofficemojo.com. The opening weekend of the film is usually the best time for a film. It opened at fourth place at over $6 million. A movie that opens up at fourth place is almost assured to drop like a stone in the following weeks. Thelma and Louise ended up grossing $45 million. The way a film is able to have that kind of longevity is word of mouth and repeat viewings. People took Thelma and Louise and identified with the characters and went on this ride. Many people who saw Thelma and Louise probably did not even know what feminism was. People who saw it probably had never seen Badlands or You Live Only Once. The opinions about Thelma and Louise were not lukewarm. People had big opinions about this film that have nothing to do with Ridley Scott or Callie Khouri.

In the DVD commentary for Thelma and Louise: Special Edition, Callie Khouri said, “The roles for women are very narrow. Did it revolutionize women’s roles in film? Absolutely not. I wish it had more of an impact in opening things up. It was a chink in the armor. It’s going to take huge audiences of women to support these kinds of films. The idea that women only respond to emotional things or issue movies, I don’t feel that way.

1991 was a golden age of women in film, an era Hollywood will not be eager to revisit even though it meant big box office numbers. Another film in the summer of 1991 was Terminator 2: Judgment Day. According to Boxofficemojo.com, its budget was $102 million. Its opening weekend take was over $31 million. It would go on to gross $204 million domestically and $315 million overseas.

According to boxofficemojo.com, Silence of the Lambs had a production budget of $19 million. It opened up at number one with $13 million, going on to gross $130 million domestically. Silence of the Lambs is the only movie in the top ten box office films from 1991 that stars a female character.

According to boxofficemojo.com, Fried Green Tomatoes opened with $5 million and would go on to gross $82 million.

If there is a good script and real characters with women the audience can believe in, it will be a success. Studios keep running the same formula thinking women only want to see romantic comedies or romances. They do not. Women are craving strong female characters in a strong original story. Looking at film since 1991, no year has come close as far as strong female characters and viable box office draw. Sleeping With The Enemy with Julia Roberts is about a women getting away from an abusive husband. Soap Dish with Sally Field is about an aging soap star coming to terms with her career. My Girl is the coming of age story of a strong 11-year old girl.

In 1992, there are three standout films with strong female leads and box office power. There is Sister Act, A League of Their Own and Basic Instinct. Geena Davis stars in A League of Their Own as the leader of the women’s professional baseball team. Basic Instinct shows that a female lead is a killer who is able to use her sexuality and brains to slither out of getting caught. This made Sharon Stone a star. Hollywood begins making strong female characters if the right actress is in it.

Julia Roberts was in The Pelican Brief in 1993. She won an Oscar in 2001 for Erin Brockovich, a film about a broke single mom working as a law clerk taking on a huge cover up.

Hillary Swank has taken roles that have given audiences something new. In Boys Don’t Cry she played a woman posing as a man, and is ultimately killed for it. In 2005 she played a female boxer in Million Dollar Baby, who is so strong in life, after an accident, chooses death. Choosing death is also the final decision in ‘Night Mother.

In 2009, after a career of romantic comedies, Sandra Bullock played a strong female character in The Blind Side. 2007 saw the strength a teenager has to have to deal with pregnancy in Juno.

As month subsides to month, it becomes clear that there will be fewer films with strong, dynamic female characters. These films usually require a Julia Roberts, Hillary Swank or Sandra Bullock level star just to get made. Thelma and Louise was able to thrive without a heavyweight movie star.

In the screenplay, blood is found in the car. In the film, this is not mentioned. What is the impact? If Thelma’s blood is on the car, it proves to be the thing that puts everything else into a chain of events. Maybe the blood could get Thelma and Louise an insanity plea. Maybe the blood gives them an out, and they would be able to come home. Ridley Scott’s decision to omit it seals that there is no going back. It pushes the stakes. It increases conflict. The characters see their journey through. It does not give the audience a cop out ending. It is almost like everything was just a dream and they would wake-up back in Kansas. It takes the film in a direction that gives a sense of permanence. They did what they did and there is not any going back.

In the screenplay, Harlan is shot in the face. In the film, he is shot in the heart. The film gives it a more symbolic touch where the screenplay gives a more realistic scene. It makes sense in the screenplay. Louise shoots him for what he says. It makes sense to shoot him in the head where he is mouthing off. Shooting him in the face is going to be gory. A movie made for a female demographic could be turned off by someone getting shot in the face and blood shooting out everywhere. Shooting him in the heart means less blood and is more poetic.

The screenplay ends with a B.B. King song. After listening to this song, it is easy to tell why this would not work as well. Most people want their Hollywood endings wrapped up in a nice little bow. For some people, this is the first time they have seen an ending that does not end happily. Audiences are going to have a hard time taking that in. They are going to be wondering if Thelma and Louise dove out. Did they get away? If Scott had added music and lyrics that adds to the scene, it would be information overload for most audiences. Ridley Scott has instrumental guitar in the scene as the car drives off the cliff in slow motion, letting the audience soak in what has just happened. There is no going back.

In the scene with the trucker, Thelma and Louise ask what if someone made obscene gestures like that to his mother, his sister or his wife. It is a good line. It adds to the scene because the guy is not a monster. He is just a man. This is a guy who does not know how to treat people, and he needs to think about his loved ones. Setting this man right is something a mother would do. It adds to the film in a very organic way.

The scene with Jimmy and Louise where she asks what color her eyes are was not in the screenplay. This is a quick addition that feels organic. It shows how flimsy relationships are.

The screenplay is the foundation for the film. A great majority of the script survives. When adapted to film, there are going to be differences due to the changing of hands. It is almost like a game of telephone. The director brings something to the script. Ridley Scott said he spent a great deal of time with Callie Khouri. Scott said this way you have spent your time with the writer and you know everything about the story. This is how so much of the screenplay remains unscathed. The actors and actresses are going to take the lines and can change the complete tone of a scene with their delivery.

According to Scott, the state trooper crying was something the actor did in the audition and he loved it. Brad Pitt starts out with a limited number of lines. Brad Pitt is engaging and on the way to becoming a big star. It is important to play your strengths and increasing Pitt’s screen time enhanced the film.

When a director is on board with the screenplay and has communicated with the writer, the director knows the key to the film is the script. Ridley Scott changed a few things but he made it to fit a mainstream audience film. After the director, actors and editing, the screenplay survives.

In the DVD commentary, Scott says the gun was an implement to avoid violence. It was to be used against wild animals at the cabin. It does not fall that way. A gun is nothing but potential. A gun is how bad things can happen to good people. At the beginning of the film, Louise is in control and she has a gun in hand. As the film progresses, Thelma is in control and she has the gun. A gun is power. With a gun, Louise takes a life and Thelma robs a convenience store.

The adventure goes through unpredictable turns. It is easy to forget this started off as a small vacation, a weekend getaway. When Louise is yelling for Thelma to get in the car to leave the hotel, Thelma is in her bikini out by the pool.

In the commentary, Scott talks about J.D. taking the money from Thelma and Louise. It was a split second decision. He liked Thelma but decided money was more important. How many times do people make the wrong choice because of money? People take a job they hate. They marry someone they do not love. Life is hard enough without having to put a price on everything.

As the film progresses, the women find out who they are, what they are made of. Scott says, “They look more attractive as the film goes on. Metaphorically they are letting their hair down.” As far as the ending, Scott say, “If they got away, the legend would not be complete.” This echoes Dr. Hoffman’s reference to a Christ Complex.

Stephen Tobolowsky plays FBI agent Hal in Thelma and Louise. An email to the actor resulted in a quick response to discuss with the class. An email was sent back to report the discussion.

Dear Stephen,
I read your email to my professor who thought it was very interesting and wanted me to make copies of it for everyone in the class. My laptop was freaking out before class so I couldn't make copies for everyone. Dr. Hoffman asked me to read the email at the start of our discussion.
Just so you know, the class is 10 women and 5 men. When I began to talk about the state trooper being put in the car and being killed, a girl interrupted me. She said he didn't die. I brushed it off, ‘Well maybe that was in the story at some point, I'm not sure, he may have misspoken.’ Then one of the guys said, ‘He wouldn't have lasted long in the trunk with that heat. They didn't show him dying but they didn't show him getting out either.’ I was able to finish the email.
The women in the class erupted disputing the victim mentality you described. They didn't see that the wheels were in motion before they left. They didn't see that Thelma could've just walked away from her husband, that Louise could've quit her job. Your email was taken I feel as an attack on women, which I didn't agree with.
My professor who is a man, wanted copies made so I feel he thought it was interesting. Then after a break, I told a guy next to me, ‘I thought it was interesting. There were some things I didn't think about. I wasn't expecting such outrage.’ The guy said, ‘I liked it too.’ Then another guy said, ‘I liked that he said it was over before it started. That was really good. I had thought about that too.’
I guess the reaction proved your words right that women gravitated them as if they were Joan of Arcs.
I had told my professor about how you were eating a lot in the film and how that came out of some improvisation and he had me tell that story.
I think my professor loved that it sparked a heated discussion. Thanks for your insights. You definitely made class more interesting.

Five minutes later, a response was waiting in the inbox.

I guess the question I would ask the irate women is what did Thelma and Louise do? What good did they accomplish? If they were on a quest-what was the quest? Express it in words. If they were heroic what were they fighting and in the end where had the argument advanced? Again express it in words. And try not to have the sentence not start with ‘Well, I just feel……’ Ideals have to do with principals and not feelings…..so what were the principles involved?”-Stephen Tobolowsky

Thelma and Louise are not Secretaries of State like Condoleeza Rice or Hillary Clinton. They are not a House Majority leader or a running mate on a Presidential ticket. They remain outlaws on the run from the law in a world where there is no justice. Just like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, they go on a wild and unpredictable adventure. It is fast. It is heart pumping. It is dangerous. In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the film ends with the Ferrari freefalling to its destruction, just like strong female characters in film, just like Thelma and Louise.

I'm Pining Like John Cusack For Cameron Crowe

2010-02-21T14:16:00.000-08:00

Cameron Crowe’s current project “Deep Tiki” has been posponed from shooting in 2009, after Ben Stiller and Reese Witherspoon were cast in 2008, to shooting in 2010. That’s an awfully long delay. Surely someone of Crowe’s stature within the industry and actors who want to work with him could get the ball rolling quicker? Why didn’t this happen? What happened to Cameron Crowe? His films have either been cultural artifacts or universal timeless films.

Which brings me to Noah Baumbach. He is married to “Fast Times” Jennifer Jason Leigh. Noah Baumbach’s latest film, “Greenberg”, starring Ben Stiller as a man who is taking some time to do nothing. This is the type of film Cameron Crowe should’ve already done with Ben Stiller. What is Crowe’s film going to be because I know none of us want a rehash of the disaster of “The Heartbreak Kid.”

Hopefully this is Crowe’s choice. Hopefully the studios aren’t giving him the runaround. You know he stops at 7 unreturned phone calls.

I have many of Crowe’s soundtracks to his films. What he does with music is now being compared to what Jason Reitman, Quentin Tarantino and others use music for their films. Crowe was there first. Since 2005 we have not seen Cameron Crowe. I feel like we’ve lost something with him missing. We need him back. His stories aren’t perfect but a few are timeless and others are at least exciting and engaging upon first viewing.

If you look at it, all of Crowe’s films are about examining your life, which isn’t something that wasn’t done before and hasn’t been done in his absence, but he did it so well. “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” was a sign of the times, high school in the early 80s. Should I have sex? Is sex overrated? Should Mark Rattner explain to everyone he is not related to Bret Rattner?

“Say Anything” is timeless in that it could happen at any time period, with the exception of teenagers listening to Peter Gabriel or anyone thinking kickboxing is the sport of the future.

"A career? I've thought about this quite a bit sir and I would have to say considering what's waiting out there for me, I don't want to sell anything, buy anything or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed or buy anything sold or processed or repair anything sold, bought or processed as a career. I don’t want to do that.”-Lloyd Dobbler

What kind of job can you have if you are not selling anything bought or processed, buy anything bought or processed or have anything to do with anything that is bought or processed? How did Ione Skye not become a huge star after this? Is it worth taking a big risk for love? How could this result in anything less than a restraining order unless you’re in a Hollywood movie?

“Singles” had the setting of Seattle one year after the floodgates of “Nevermind” opened up the doors for every Seattle band to hit it big in the grunge era. Pearl Jam even has speaking parts as Matt Dillon’s band mates. “Singles” is about what it means to be young and forge a life for yourself. Do you need a significant other? Is it worth it? Is love what makes life worth living? How could I have cashed in on Seattle before the whole experience of Starbucks, grunge, Microsoft blew up

“Jerry Maguire” could be a cultural artifact in the terms it is about the huge money for star athletes in the 90s along with the last time the American economy was rolling for most people. It also is a film about examining what you want in life, a theme that has been captured in many films sense. Jerry Maguire was examining his life of bottom line, profit, salary at all costs mentality over relationships and human connection.

“Almost Famous” was his masterpiece, timeless yet a love letter to his youth touring with Led Zeppelin in the 70s. Another soundtrack I had to have after leaving the popcorn littered theater. I loved Almost Famous. It’s about finding yourself in your first time away from famiy, carving out a niche for yourself while writing for Rolling Stone under false pretenses. How did Kate Hudson not keep taking good roles after this?

“Vanilla Sky” was about losing that human connection and going to any lengths to retrieve it, even if that means being frozen in a cryogenic state. I think Crowe directs Cruise better than most. I haven’t seen it in years but thank god for Crowe giving us Jason Lee in “Almost Famous” and “Vanilla Sky

A few years later, after a recut, change in lead actor, we were delivered “Elizabethtown” with Orlando Bloom. On first viewing on the Friday night opening, I loved it. I loved everything about it. I bought the soundtrack that night and saw it again on Sunday afternoon. When I called a girl and talked for hours, I thought of “Elizabethtown.” That film is still enjoyable but has not aged like a fine wine. More like Marcellus Wallace’s quote, “If you mean it turns to vinegar, yeah.”

I want Cameron Crowe back. I want to be moved by the underdog. I want to be moved to buy the soundtrack upon leaving the theater. I want to believe in love in the way Cameron Crowe paints it. What are you waiting for Crowe? Get back to work. This is your dare to be great situation.

M&M Mini Review: An Education

2010-02-06T14:25:00.001-08:00

"An Education" started playing at my local Cinemark. Knowing it was a nominee for Best Picture plus it was set in England minus the fact it didn't have any Avatars in it, I knew it might only last a week. I saw it at the bargain price of the Early Bird matinee and was the only one sitting in the theater. It's a shame. Everyone, especially every female in the country should see this movie.

This movie deals with issues that aren't dealt with in the film, a dilemma of following your heart or your head. Something that I imagine doesn't arrive at the same place as "Avatar" stopper "Dear John". The movie deals with a girl who has been spending her nights learning Latin, reading, writing and studying to get into Oxford only to be swept away by an older man. Soon she must deal with the issue of following through on Plan A or doing what feels good right now which is going to jazz clubs, Paris and dog races. Fun now is always the better seductress over working hard for something later. Do we spend the paycheck now or do we put some in the savings account?

Love is fleeting and has the ability to feel eternal and above all things. Pop songs have enriched that narrative but few people, especially young people understand how unpredictable and unforgiving love can be.

It's a shame a film this good will have an uphill box office battle. It's sad to see "Dear John" as the female film that has girl power.

M&M Mini Review: Crazy Heart

2010-02-05T17:42:00.000-08:00

First time Writer/Director Scott Cooper has done a great job on his first film, "Crazy Heart" with Jeff Bridges, the man he wrote the script for. Its comparisons to "The Wrestler".

The Hollywood marketing and hype have compared this story of a has been down on his luck has drawn comparisons to last year's comeback of the year, "The Wrestler" for Mickey Rourke. There are parallels and similarities but Scott Cooper is not Darren Aranofsky. Aranofsky had many films under his belt and Rourke had something to prove. It was a role Rourke had been unconsciously method acting the last twenty years.

Jeff Bridges plays Bad Blake, an older country singer run down by decades of alcohol and life on the road. This movie takes time to get rolling. What is surprising is you don't like Bad Blake. He's a jerk for the first hour or so of the film. His drinking keeps him from functioning. The film gets its energy from Collin Farrell, Robert Duvall and even Maggie Gyllenhaal who I don't like but keeps sneaking into good films. The story is true to itself and doesn't get wrapped up in a nice bow for everyone. It's good it just isn't great every frame.

It is unfair to compare it to "The Wrestler" because it's not trying to be that film and it is not anywhere in its scope going to be "The Wrestler."

Mickey Rourke's Randy the Ram, you were with him the whole film. You were with him when he was wrestling. You were with him in his struggle to work at a grocery store. You were with him when he tried to patch things up with his daughter. Your heart fell for him when he blew it time and again.

You don't have that same love and investment in Bad Blake and Jeff Bridges. This is still an enjoyable film but it's not going to make you cry. It's not going to make you cheer. It's just what it is. No harm in that.

My Lost Wishlist

2010-01-30T09:38:00.001-08:00

Most shows find something good, something that makes it stand on its own. Then it turns into that Ratt song "Round and Round". They repeat the same formulas and story lines over and over. "Entourage" does it so much it has a repeat line over it (math term). "24" has been able to survive even though we know the playbook. Most shows have to grow and evolve or they get stuck in the neutral of the status quo not wanting to rock the boat.

"Lost" has blown not just status quo but the boat off like it was the door to the hatch. Every season has gone in a bold new direction unlike anything we've ever seen. It has been a show that rewarded loyalty at the risk of viewership, a middle finger to the suits at ABC. A show that depends on your motivations of each character at that moment. Add in flashbacks, flashforwards, time travel and a smoke monster and only the die hards can follow the trail. You might be able to cheat on your girl. You might be able to cheat in school but you can't cheat "Lost." You have to see "Lost" when she wants to see you, whether that's Wednesdays, Thursdays, Tuesdays. I know we are in the age of DVR and for the less tech savvy VCR. My point is true lovers of the show try to find a way to see it when it premieres or at least get to their recording after work for a late night TV booty call.

That middle finger has kept its ratings steady in the cult of viewers that still translates to millions of viewers and millions in ad revenue.

Expectations are high for this season. Look at expectations for successful sitcoms like "Friends" and "Seinfeld." Those were high and those didn't even delve into free will, predetermination, science, faith and Hurley's numbers. How can "Lost" with all its eye opening head turning moves give us closure that leaves us all satisfied? I have to tap my inner John Locke for that one.

I try to stay away from spoilers in general but have gone into witness relocation to make sure I don't happen upon anything related to "Lost." Some sites have the first four minutes of the season premiere available. Why watch it on my laptop when I can watch it in HD on my big TV within the full experience of the episode.

Doc Jensen at Entertainment Weekly has incredibly thorough analysis of episodes every week. I wish he had a tip jar next to his column so I could swipe the AMEX for his time and insight. Kind of a digital guitar case to tip for playing your favorite song.

It's useless to try to predict what's going to happen. People may have inklings but there is no context. Just let the moment come and enjoy it. Really, did any of us actually think we'd actually see Jacob? There's no point in trying to call it till it happens.

What is at stake this season not for the audience or the characters but for Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cruse? It's safe to say that they will never write a masterpiece of this level again. Guns N'Roses never recaptured their appetite for destruction. All the green screen in the world couldn't save George Lucas. They need to know that this will be their legacy. No pressure.

I caught up with lost the night before Season 4 Premiere, when they were showing the Season 3 Finale with pop ups that allowed strangers to get acquainted with the show. It was like mapquest to get you on path to where the show was at that point. I've loved watching it, analyzing it, reading about it. The scope and magnitude of this show gives it the audacity we only wish other shows would be able to execute. "Seinfeld" is great but can its storyline and characters help you make sense of the world and life? If it can, not like "Lost."

I hope if they do follow through with the reset, they remember everything. I don't want all the characters coming down with amnesia. I don't want their past wiped clean. Please don't take a mulligan on the last five seasons.

Last season was my first season of "Lost" as a married man. Though my wife wasn't interested in the show, she did leave me alone during the finale. She wasn't running the dishwasher, doing laundry or anything else that would detract from the experience. I'm hoping I will be able to experience the finale and just enjoy it for what it is knowing we may never see a show like this again.

This is my Lost wishlist. Things I would like them to tackle and clear up. There are also characters I love who I wish would be here for the final season even though their destiny is not to be.

John Locke-Will the real John Locke be back or is "Lost"'s version of Johnny Cash here to stay?

Daniel Faraday-My hunch is his character was there to drive the time travel narrative. With no more time travel, will he be relevant? I hope so.

Sayid-A great character who is always interesting. Who ran over his wife? Will he ever find peace?

Kate-She's interesting as a bad girl who must have Lenny Kravitz' "Always on the Run" on her Ipod. Please don't keep this character someone for Jack to pine for like a John Cusack character and Sawyer to blow it with perfect Juliet.

Jacob-I imagine we will get a lot on the man since we know so little.

Richard-I want the mystery, the aging, the third trip to see John Locke, all of it.

Johnny Cash-many writers assume the man in black is the smoke monster. A fully devoted episode to the smoke monster seems deserved.

Miles-I love this character who ended up being the son of Dr. Chang. He may only have been utilized in Dharma Land.

Walt-What happened when he was held captive by The Others? What is the origin of his powers?

Charles Widmore-What are his motivations? What's he behind? What's his next move?

Jack-I want the old leader Jack back.

Sawyer-How will his Dharma experience influence his leadership counter to Jack, how will he take the loss of Juliet? Will he be moping half the season? If anyone can mope and make you feel it, it's Josh Holloway.

Hurley-The numbers. What's the significance? His ability to communicate with the dead? How will this play out?

Claire-Where the hell did she go? Is this still Claire or will she talk someone into stabbing someone like John Locke's body did? Will Jack tell her she's his sister alone on Endor?

Ben-What part will he play? What is his surface agenda? What are his true motives? Will writers ever give us a reason to trust him? What was he trying to do by bringing John Locke's body back to the island?

Desmond-The best episodes have Desmond at the center. Hopefully this underused character will have increased workload this season.

Juliet-With a free fall in the well and in ratings for "V", will our favorite blonde get to come back full time? I hope so.

John Hughes: Ferris Bueller Will Live On

2009-12-31T14:02:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-25T08:29:00.000-08:00

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

2009-09-14T18:55:00.001-07:00

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.........

2009-08-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

"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?

2009-08-12T20:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-30T17:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-01T15:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

"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

2009-06-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-05-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

"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

2009-05-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-21T20:26:00.000-07:00

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?