tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37858133240691854612024-03-13T12:51:24.815-05:00THE SOAP BOX OFFICEBrianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.comBlogger812125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-28115685094993504772012-10-29T16:37:00.004-05:002012-10-29T16:37:33.350-05:00New Home!<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Soap Box Office has moved to its new and much improved home! <a href="http://thesoapboxoffice.com/">Click the link</a> to check out our new digs! Thanks for stopping by!</span>Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-11190177022113641272012-10-15T01:15:00.002-05:002012-10-15T01:15:11.662-05:00New Things Coming!<span style="font-family: inherit;">About 8 months or so ago, I finally decided I'd had enough with Blogger and I began the task of building a new, legitimate website with a .com and everything. I've been working on it ever since. And by working on it, of course I mean thinking about working on it and continually getting distracted by other things. I've finally decided that if I'm ever going to get this thing done, I'm going to have to eliminate distractions and get down to it. With that in mind, I will be taking the next week off from writing in an effort to figure out this whole website building junk. The plan is to re-launch The Soap Box Office at its new home sometime next week. Maybe even Monday if I'm lucky. So please bear with me while I try to change everything over and swing by thesoapboxoffice.com if you're interested in seeing the (relative) progress as I go. Wish me luck!</span>Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-49456362911473803622012-10-11T01:08:00.000-05:002012-10-11T01:08:50.143-05:00Review: Seven PsychopathsAnticipation can be a seriously fickle mistress. Nowhere
is this principle more apparent than when it comes to the follow up to a
successful creative venture, whether it be a film, an album, or anything else. If
you see and come to love a movie made by a previously unknown director, you
almost immediately start looking forward to his/her next project. You build up
a level of anticipation for said upcoming project and as such, it becomes
tougher and tougher for the follow-up film (or album or what have you) to
measure up to the first one. It’s quite unfair, really. Such is the case with <i>Seven Psychopaths</i>, a perfectly decent
dark comedy that disappoints based less on its own merits (or lack thereof) and
more on the merits of its predecessor, <i>In
Bruges</i>.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Marty (Colin Farrell) has been having trouble focusing. A
struggling writer with a substantial alcohol problem, Marty is trying to come
up with the characters and plot for his aptly titled screenplay, <i>Seven Psychopaths</i>, but failing to find
the right inspiration. Sensing his friend’s troubles, Billy (Sam Rockwell)
attempts to help Marty by providing some curiously detailed, psychotic stories
and introducing him to his dog kidnapping partner, Hans (Christopher Walken).
But when Billy snatches the wrong dog, one belonging to an emotionally
disturbed crime lord named Charlie (Woody Harrelson), the trio has to evade a
group of gangsters, culminating in a final showdown right out of the movies…or
so Billy would have it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The words one would use to describe <i>Seven Psychopaths</i> would be these: “Solid”, “Decent enough”, “Mildly
satisfactory”, “Not bad”, or maybe even, “Pretty good.” And there’s nothing
wrong with that. The concept is fun and entertaining. There’s a distinct Woody
Allen feeling about this film mixed with <i>Get
Shorty </i>sensibilities and that suits the self-aware undertones well. In this
analogy, Farrell plays the role of Woody Allen in the form of writer/director
Martin McDonagh and he does so well. I’ve always liked Farrell even when his
movies were painful and I’ve enjoyed his recent resurgence. He’s a talented guy
who, I think, just needs to have talent around him (on screen and off) in order
to be great. Rockwell also has some very strong moments, though they are at
times tempered by the feeling that he’s not doing anything new (though perhaps
that’s an unfair criticism). Both of them are outshined, though, by Harrelson
who brings hilarity to a role that badly needs it and Walken who, I think we
can all agree, is always a genuine treat to watch in action. It’s been a long
time since I’ve seen Walken in a new movie and as such, <i>Seven Psychopaths</i> reminded me of what great presence the man has.
The seriously dark nature of the film, too, suits the cast and allows them all
to show off their skills. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The problem with <i>Seven
Psychopaths</i> is two-fold. One, the narrative struggles to stay on target and
build momentum. The first 20 minutes move along fast and the pace, combined
with the introduction of some hilarious characters, makes it a thoroughly
enjoyable beginning and the final 20 minutes wrap things up nicely. But in the
middle portion, <i>Seven Psychopaths</i>
takes some strange turns and slows to the point of bogging down at times. It’s
a stop-and-go approach that left me somewhat frustrated. Two, <i>Seven Psychopaths</i> just isn’t up to par
with <i>In Bruges</i>. I readily admit that
this is an unfair criticism but I think it’s one that a large number of viewers
will have in mind. <i>In Bruges</i> is a
triumph, a modern classic in the dark comedy universe, and seeing as how it is
the only other McDonagh film I have to go off of and the similarities in tone
between it and <i>Seven Psychopaths</i>, it
is difficult to refrain from comparing them. I anticipated something great and
while the concept is great and at least one scene is magnificent, the end
product is only alright. <o:p></o:p><br />
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Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-28464414983620349922012-10-09T00:05:00.003-05:002012-10-09T00:05:32.480-05:00Review: Looper<span style="font-family: inherit;">We’re entering a golden age, my friends. For sci-fi nerds
like myself, the last 15 years or so have been a harsh climate; perhaps not a
desolate wasteland but certainly a less-than-hospitable, arid landscape. The
90s were fairly painful for the genre and while the early-to-mid-2000s weren’t
awful, the number of good sci-fi films was far exceeded by the number of bad
ones. For every </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Memento </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">there was a </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">6<sup>th</sup> Day</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, for every </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Matrix </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">there were two </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Matrix </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">sequels, and so on and so forth. But
over the past few years, we’ve seen the resurgence of smartly written,
ingenious science fiction films, from low budget surprises like </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Moon</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> to the biggest film of 2010, </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Inception</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Looper</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, then, only serves to further my belief that the sci-fi
genre is coming back in a big, big way.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u6hwsPk1sxQ/UHOv8Nrl9hI/AAAAAAAAEGk/shU4BVME8yc/s1600/LOOPER-MONDO-POSTERS-570.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u6hwsPk1sxQ/UHOv8Nrl9hI/AAAAAAAAEGk/shU4BVME8yc/s400/LOOPER-MONDO-POSTERS-570.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the future, time travel has been invented and
subsequently prohibited to the point that only the mob has the means to use it.
When they want to eliminate someone, they send the person back in time 30 years
to 2044, where an assassin, known as a Looper, kills the target and disposes of
the body. Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a prominent member of the Looper
society and he enjoys the life he’s carved out for himself in the midst of a
bleak society. But when Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) shows up as his
target, he fails to complete his kill, forcing him to go on the run to avoid
the wrath of his boss, Abe (Jeff Daniels), as his future self sets out to
complete a gruesome task. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">There is so much more to <i>Looper</i> than what I just set forth but this is one of those times
where I believe the less you know going in, the better. To this end,
writer/director Rian Johnson and the studio behind him did a remarkable job of
preventing the trailers and advance buzz from letting too much out of the bag,
to the point that a significant member of the cast is nowhere to be found in
any of the previews. That’s quite rare and the studio deserves some real credit
for heeding Johnson’s pleas and playing it close to the vest. <i>Looper</i> unfolds brilliantly and quite
unexpectedly, bringing a number of surprises to the table even when you think
you have the whole thing pegged. None of this is done in a, “HAHA! GOTCHA!”
sort of way (see: every M. Night Shyamalan movie since <i>The Sixth Sense</i>) but rather as a natural part of the film’s
progression. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is an extremely well-written film from both a
conceptual and a narrative standpoint. Far too many sci-fi films die almost at
conception because the writer had a great idea and no understanding of how to
develop it. There are a dozen places where <i>Looper</i>
could have fallen apart but in these moments you can see the painstaking steps
Johnson took to pave over the pot holes that tend to pop up on the time travel
highway. This begins with limiting the scope of what can and cannot be done
with time travel and who has access to it, a stroke of brilliance that keeps <i>Looper </i>on track at all times. It is a
very focused film and one that doesn’t waste time on lesser sub-plots or the
pointless display of cool new technology that you usually see in futuristic
films. Everything is handled with an almost earnest sense of purpose and
Johnson weaves every character and every aspect of his film together so that
everything matters. Johnson also displays an exquisite understanding of time
management. <i>Looper </i>runs just under
two hours and yet, as a result of its unerring focus, it is able to accomplish
far more in that time than I would have expected. The film feels much longer
and much more immense than it really is and I mean that in the best way
possible. You feel like you know the characters, know the concept, and know the
stakes better than you really should in a movie of this length. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Johnson’s incredible work behind the camera is equaled only
by the rich performances in front of it. To be sure, <i>Looper </i>is filled with great supporting work from Emily Blunt,
Garrett Dillahunt, and especially Jeff Daniels among others. But the bulk of
the load is handled by Gordon-Levitt, Willis, and Pierce Gagnon (whose name I
would implore you not to look up if you haven’t see the film as it could ruin a
significant plot point), all of whom come through magnificently. What Willis
does here isn’t much different than what we’ve all come to expect from him over
the last decade but this is a weightiest role he’s had in quite some time and I
felt like he treats the material with a seriousness you don’t always see from
him. Old Joe is a haunted, determined man and Willis exemplifies that quite
well. Gagnon is simply a scene stealer of the highest order and I will say no
more about him so as to avoid a spoiler. And Gordon-Levitt brings a boat load
of nuance and subtlety to his role, making it clear why he was the perfect
choice for this role. Joe is hard and dangerous but also insecure about his
place in the world and Gordon-Levitt hits that mark over and over. In addition,
he does a remarkable job of looking like Bruce Willis. Yes, there are
prosthetics, makeup, and special effects in play here but his striking
resemblance to Willis has far more to do with Gordon-Levitt’s mastery of Willis’
facial expressions, mannerisms, and behaviors. If you knew nothing about Willis’
presence in this cast and sat down to watch the movie, you would almost
immediately note the Willis-isms that Gordon-Levitt slyly displays. It’s
uncanny, really, and it makes <i>Looper</i>
all the more enjoyable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the end, <i>Looper</i>
is a tremendous achievement, a sci-fi film that hits the mark on virtually
every level. The concept and plot execution is fantastic, the visuals are
gorgeous, and the action is well-paced and efficient. Moreover, <i>Looper</i> rewrites the time travel handbook
and sets the stage for Hollywood to officially enter a new golden age of
sci-fi. </span></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kp0ryXoih0Q/UHOwkITCuyI/AAAAAAAAEG0/KzU5Ah6lFYc/s1600/4halfstars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="38" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kp0ryXoih0Q/UHOwkITCuyI/AAAAAAAAEG0/KzU5Ah6lFYc/s200/4halfstars.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-58684221445839653672012-10-08T01:48:00.001-05:002012-10-08T01:50:58.985-05:00The Week That Was and the Week That Will Be - 10/8Seth MacFarlane was announced as the <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/seth-macfarlane-hosting-oscars-375327">host of the 85th Academy Award presentation</a> next year. This drew a mixed reaction from the Internet but as a friend of mine said, what the Oscars need more than anything else is a song and dance man and MacFarlane certainly qualifies. It has to be better than Anne Hathaway, right?<br />
<br />
The cast of <i style="font-weight: bold;">Arrested Development</i> sat down for a photo shoot with Entertainment Weekly and it <a href="http://www.slashfilm.com/heres-your-official-regal-look-at-the-reunited-arrested-development-cast/">looked like this</a>. I want to go to there.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.slashfilm.com/katee-sackhoff-of-battlestar-galactica-joins-female-expendables/">Katee Sackhoff</a> of <i style="font-weight: bold;">Battlestar Galactica </i>fame has been added to the cast of the female version of <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Expendables</i>. Great call.<br />
<br />
Wes Anderson recalls his <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/01/wes-anderson-moonrise-kingdom_n_1930367.html">favorite Bill Murray movies</a> that Anderson did not direct. Whoever first introduced Anderson to Murray was really on his/her game that day. Thank you so much.<br />
<br />
My pal Terrence over at The Focused Filmographer has officially earned himself a movie-related TV show. So cool! <a href="http://thefocusedfilmographer.com/2012/10/06/checking-out-the-happy-haps-106/">Check out the video</a>.<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>Weekend Box
Office Report</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The good news for the studio behind <b><i>Taken 2</i></b>: the film’s $50
million debut makes it one of only three such debuts ever in the month of
October. The bad news: the other $50 million films are <b><i>Paranormal Activity 3 </i></b>and
<b><i>Jack-Ass
3D</i></b>. Not exactly elite company. Still, though, that’s a substantial
amount of money and <b><i>Taken 2</i></b> did some serious business overseas, too, making it
commercial success even if critics weren’t impressed. <b><i>Frankenweenie</i></b> was the
exact opposite of <b><i>Taken 2</i></b>, garnering acclaim from the media and fanboys alike but
missing on the family market it looked to attract. Not entirely a surprise but
still I would say a little disappointing. And <b><i>Pitch Perfect</i></b> continued
to grow its audience, reaching profitability in two short weeks. Very smart
marketing on that one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">1.
<!--[endif]--><b><i>Taken 2</i></b> - $50M<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">2.
<!--[endif]--><b><i>Hotel Transylvania </i></b>- $26.3M ($76M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">3.
<!--[endif]--><b><i>Pitch Perfect </i></b>- $14.7M ($21.6M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">4.
<!--[endif]--><b><i>Looper </i></b>- $12.2M ($40.3M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">5.
<!--[endif]--><b><i>Frankenweenie </i></b>- $11.5M<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">6.
<!--[endif]--><b><i>End of Watch </i></b>- $4M ($32.84M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">7.
<!--[endif]--><b><i>Trouble with the Curve </i></b>- $3.87M
($29.71M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">8.
<!--[endif]--><b><i>House at the End of the Street </i></b>-
$3.69M ($27.53M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">9.
<!--[endif]--><b><i>The Master </i></b>- $1.84M ($12.31M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">10.
<!--[endif]--><b><i>Finding Nemo 3D </i></b>- $1.55M ($38.96M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>DVD Releases</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Guys! Guys! GUYS!!! The big day is finally here! We’ve
all been looking forward to it and yes, there was a time when I thought it
would never happen. But all our struggles, our perseverance, our
stick-to-itiveness has paid off. This week we will all FINALLY be able to
purchase the first season of <b><i>Whitney</i></b> on DVD, thus completing our
collective lives in a way Dorothy Boyd never could complete Jerry Maguire. I’m
just so happy, guys. Best. Show. EVER. (If you believed any of the previous
paragraph, I’d like to kindly ask you to leave this space and never come back.)
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b><i>New
Film Releases<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Rock of Ages</i></b> – Julianne Hough, Diego
Boneta, Alec Baldwin, Tom Cruise<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The Raven</i></b> – John Cusack, Alice Eve,
Luke Evans<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Shut Up and Play the Hits</i></b> – James
Murphy, Chuck Klosterman<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b><i>New
TV Releases<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Bones: </i>Season 7</b> – Emily Deschanel,
David Boreanaz, Michaela Conlin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: </i>Season
7</b> – Charlie Day, Glen Howerton, Rob McElhenney<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The League: </i>Season 3</b> – Mark Duplass,
Nick Kroll, Paul Scherer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Whitney</i>: Season 1</b> – Whitney
Cummings, Chris D’Elia, Rhea Seehorn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b><i>New
to Blu-Ray<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Little Shop of Horrors: </i>Director’s Cut
(1986)</b> – Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Steve Martin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The Great Mouse Detective</i> (1986)</b> – Barrie
Ingham, Val Bettin, Vincent Price<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Red Dawn </i>(1984) – Patrick Swayze, C.
Thomas Howell, Charlie Sheen<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Strangers on a Train</i> (1951) – Farley
Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Dial M for Murder </i>(1954)</b> – Ray
Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Whatever Happened to Baby Jane </i>(1962) – </b>Bette
Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Bruno<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>The Thing You
Should See</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><a href="http://thesoapboxoffice.blogspot.com/2012/06/review-prometheus.html">Prometheus</a></i></b> – Noomi Rapace, Michael
Fassbender, Charlize Theron<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Okay, really I should have titled this selection, “The
Thing I Really Liked Even if a Ton of People Tore it Apart Like a Dollar Store
Piñata.” I don’t know if you’d like <b><i>Prometheus</i></b>, dear reader. It
currently holds a 73% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.4 mark on IMDB but I
feel like every review I read or opinion I received on the film, the reviewer
expressed either disappointment or all-out loathing and it was especially
unpopular with fanboys. I, on the other hand, quite liked <b><i>Prometheus</i></b> and accept it
for what it is: a reintroduction of Ridley Scott to sci-fi and a table setter
for the movies that are to come in the series. It’s not <b><i>Alien</i></b> but then again,
what is? Also, if you know of any support groups for people who really dig this
movie, please let me know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xzMyqUJRK-8/UHJ2oLBik2I/AAAAAAAAEEs/OowFHt2mIWI/s1600/ET.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xzMyqUJRK-8/UHJ2oLBik2I/AAAAAAAAEEs/OowFHt2mIWI/s400/ET.jpeg" width="262" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>New to Blu Pick
of the Week or Whenever I Feel Like It</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>E.T. The Extraterrestrial Anniversary
Edition</i> (1982)</b> – Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There were several good choices this week. <b><i>Little
Shop of Horrors</i></b> is a film for which I hold great affection, <b><i>The
Great Mouse Detective</i></b> is an underrated Disney movie, and I’m kind of
excited for the re-release of <b><i>Red Dawn</i></b> which I’ve never seen. But
how could any of these fine films hold a candle to <b><i>E.T.</i></b>, one of the landmark
films of my childhood and one of my ten favorite films of all-time? There are
people who don’t care for <b><i>E.T.</i></b> and/or were scared of him
growing up and I like to call those people “Communists.” Seriously, though, this
is a film that left an indelible impression on me as a kid and still holds a
tremendous amount of magic for me to this day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>Coming to a
Theater Near You</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dear professional film critics, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">What were you thinking? We were given two wide release
films to choose from this week and foolishly you praised <b><i>Frankenweenie</i></b> more than I
thought you would (85% actual versus my 71% prediction) and panned <b><i>Taken
2</i></b> with more vigor than I would have imagined (19% to 26%). I’m not
worried about my own predictions, though; no, I’m worried about your group as a
whole. Collectively, you chose to endorse an undead, animated, black and white
dog over Liam Neeson. Liam Neeson, guys. Who do you think you are?! Have you
not seen Liam Neeson in action? He’s not going to take this slight sitting
down. No, he’ll formulate a plan, use his particular set of skills, and unleash
a massive counter assault complete with machine gun fire, lightsabers, and neck
chops. Oh, the neck chops! You sealed your own fate, critics, and there’s
nothing we can do for you now. I wish all of you the best in your attempts to
run and hide. Except you, Armond White. I hope he gets you first.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Regards,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Brian<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gWbJTU6s7w4/UHJ236zzp1I/AAAAAAAAEE0/T4s5bLhXVFs/s1600/argo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gWbJTU6s7w4/UHJ236zzp1I/AAAAAAAAEE0/T4s5bLhXVFs/s400/argo.jpg" width="272" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Argo</i></b> – Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston,
John Goodman, Alan Arkin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">During the Iranian revolution, a CIA agent (Affleck)
extracts a group of American captives across the border by disguising them as a
film crew. I’m still not completely sold on the rejuvenation of Ben Affleck as
an actor. But as a director? Total confidence. The early buzz on <b><i>Argo</i></b>
has been outstanding, the plot is supremely interesting, and I love this cast.
Also, I think it’s great that Affleck is taking himself out of his comfort zone
and making a movie that doesn’t center on the city of Boston. Really looking
forward to this one. <b>Rotten Tomatoes:
Fresh, 92%</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Sinister</i></b> – Ethan Hawke, Juliet
Rylance, James Ransone<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A new homeowner (Hawke) finds a box of disturbing videos
in his attic that leads his family to an encounter with a horrible supernatural
force. I’ve been really looking forward to this opening. Not because I’m dying
to see it; on the contrary, my dislike of horror films is well documented. No,
I’m excited for the opening because it means the constant barrage of trailers
and advertisements that pop up anywhere and everywhere and scare the living
crap out of me will finally come to an end and I’ll be able to sleep again. I’m
so tired, you guys. <b>Rotten Tomatoes
prediction: Fresh, 75%<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Here Comes the Boom</i></b> – Kevin James,
Salma Hayek, Henry Winkler<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">With his school’s extracurricular activities in danger, a
bumbling teacher (James) takes up MMA fighting in order to earn the money the
school needs. Ordinarily, I’d write off a Happy Madison film like <b><i>Here
Comes the Boom</i></b> as mindless entertainment that isn’t for me but isn’t
really hurting anyone. This time, though, Adam Sandler and his lackeys have
crossed me. <b><i>Here Comes the Boom</i></b> is basically a carbon copy of last year’s <b><i>Warrior</i></b>,
if you stripped out all of the significance, the realness, and the heart. <b><i>Warrior
</i></b>is a GREAT film and one that has been criminally overlooked whereas <b><i>Here
Comes the Boom</i></b> is undoubtedly a heap of rubbish that will probably
bring in a healthy box office take. This makes me angry. <b><i>Warrior</i></b> is on Netflix
Instant and it’s brilliant. Go watch it instead of this, I implore you. <b>Rotten Tomatoes prediction: Rotten, 31%<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Seven Psychopaths</i></b> – Colin Farrell,
Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A struggling writer (Farrell) gets roped into
his friend’s (Rockwell) misadventures that bring him into contact with a host
of interesting characters. This is writer/director Martin McDonagh’s follow up
to 2008’s <b><i>In Bruges</i></b>, a dark comedy with extensive critical appeal and
great rewatchability. I caught a screening of <b><i>Seven Psychopaths</i></b> last
week and while I enjoyed it, it’s nothing special and most certainly isn’t for
everyone. <b>Rotten Tomatoes prediction:
Fresh, 83%</b></span></span>Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-18046806068215998252012-10-05T03:10:00.001-05:002012-10-05T03:10:41.501-05:00In Home Viewings: "Safe"<span style="font-family: inherit;">By winning an MMA cage fight in which he was supposed to
take a fall, Luke Wright (Jason Statham) runs afoul of the Russian mob. Instead
of just killing him outright, the mob runners kill his wife and tell him that
if he ever gets close to anyone again, they’ll murder that person, too, leaving
Wright in a perpetual state of guilt and loneliness. He drifts from place to
place, longing for death but too prideful to end his own life. Things change
for Wright, however, when he stumbles across Mei (Catherine Chan), a young girl
with a gift for numbers who is at the heart of a bloody battle between the
Chinese, the Russians, and the dirty NYPD officers Wright used to work with. Having
put himself in the line of fire for all three groups, as well as Mayor Tremello
(Chris Sarandon), Wright hatches a dangerous plan to keep Mei safe and settle
some old debts in the process.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Whether or not you’re a Statham, you have to give the guy
some credit for milking his moment in the sun for all its worth. He is, shall
we say, limited as an actor and his work is far from varied. He is, however,
very, very good at what he does and he has now put together a decade of titles
in which he has cracked skulls with the best of them. Statham has experienced a
longevity that I never would have imagined and he shows no signs of being slowed
down by stinkers like <i>Killer Elite</i> or
<i>In the Name of the King</i> (*shudder*).
More than anything else, the man is likeable and as such, we (read: “I”) keep
coming back to his films unquestioningly, almost absentmindedly. “Statham has a
new movie? Welp, I guess I’ll be seeing that at some point” is a sentence I’ve
said to myself a dozen times over the last few years. I never expect much, and
many times I come away unimpressed, but I always come back for more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Safe</i> might just
be the best movie Statham has headlined to date. It has a slightly different
tone to it than, say, <i>The Transporter </i>in
that it is far less concerned with style and one-liners. Instead, <i>Safe </i>has a surprisingly good plot with
which to work and takes a few twists that I did not see coming. It doesn’t take
itself too seriously (thankfully) and it isn’t what you would call “sophisticated”
but there’s a well-rounded script at play here that continually puts Wright and
Mei in better-than-average situations. Wright is a strong character and he
displays a depth that you don’t usually get with Statham. Mei is a quality
compliment to Wright and she is a fitting spark for his rejuvenation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Safe
</span></i><span style="line-height: 115%;">delivers some excellent action sequences (duh) that
allow Statham to show off his most marketable skills but it also has an energy
about it that I felt was missing from other Statham films of late. It moves at
a brisk pace without cutting corners and continually pumps in more adrenaline
in relatively smart ways. There’s one twist toward the end that could have used
a little more elaboration and I wish director Boaz Yakin (of <i>Remember the Titans</i> fame) would have
upped Sarandon’s screentime a bit as I felt that character could have been a
bigger player. But all in all, <i>Safe</i>
hits the mark on everything you want from a small-scale action flick and
reminded me once again of why Statham continues to draw me in.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MnwiCpEcTFI/UG6V9eaauyI/AAAAAAAAEC4/uIfcwBkjKsI/s1600/3halfstars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="38" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MnwiCpEcTFI/UG6V9eaauyI/AAAAAAAAEC4/uIfcwBkjKsI/s200/3halfstars.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-64720398668308278342012-10-04T00:00:00.001-05:002012-10-04T00:00:12.450-05:00Trailer Spotlight: Lincoln, The Lone Ranger, The Hobbit<i style="font-weight: bold;">Identify Thief</i><b> (February 8) - Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy</b><br />
<div>
I can't say I'm holding out much hope for <i style="font-weight: bold;">Identity Thief</i> to be good necessarily. Bateman's track record over the last few years is sketchy to say the least and you couldn't call the humor on display in this trailer. On the other hand, Melissa McCarthy is one of the more talented physical comedians in the industry and it looks like they're going to turn her loose here. I don't know, could be a decent bet for a lazy Sunday rental.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<i style="font-weight: bold;">Promised Land </i><b>(January 11) - Matt Damon, John Krasinski, Hal Holbrook</b><br />
This definitely looks to be a little strong on the preachy front but still, with a cast like this, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Promised Land</i> can't be too bad. It's good to see Damon re-team with <i style="font-weight: bold;">Good Will Hunting</i> director Gus Van Sant and Damon also co-wrote the script with Krasinski. It's got a great pedigree but can it deliver?<br />
<br /></div>
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<br />
<b><i>The Croods</i> (March 22) - Emma Stone, Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds</b><br />
I haven't been all that interested in this film's production but I must say, if the trailer is any indication, <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Croods</i> is much closer to <i style="font-weight: bold;">How to Train Your Dragon</i> than I would have imagined. It can't be much worse than the collection of garbage we've gotten in the kid-friendly department this year.<br />
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<br />
<b><i>42 </i>(April 12) - Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, Alan Tudyk</b><br />
How has it taken this long for us to get a Jackie Robinson biopic up and running? This seems like a no brainer to me. I'm excited to see Ford in a role that has some meat to it and the cast surrounding Boseman (as Robinson) is stellar. I do have to say, though, the first look feels a little bit too much like <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Express</i> which wasn't all that impressive. I'm intrigued though.<br />
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<br />
<b><i>The Lone Ranger </i>(July 3) - Armie Hammer, Johnny Depp, Tom Wilkinson</b><br />
I don't know exactly what it is about this project. Maybe it's that Depp hasn't been the star of a good movie in a long time (seriously, IMDB his most recent half-decade or so). Maybe it's that <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Lone Ranger</i> has been in some version of pre-production for what seems like 20 years. Or maybe it's that the trailer is only a giant mechanical spider away from looking exactly like <i style="font-weight: bold;">Wild Wild West</i>. But whatever it is, I'm having a hard time mustering up much excitement for this one. Am I alone in this?<br />
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<b><i>Lincoln</i> (November 16) - Daniel Day Lewis, EVERYONE ELSE WHO HAS EVER BEEN AWESOME IN A MOVIE (and Sally Field)</b><br />
With this cast (seriously, just look at the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443272/fullcredits#cast">IMDB cast list</a>), this director, and this subject matter, you can pretty much pencil <i style="font-weight: bold;">Lincoln</i> in as a frontrunner come Oscar season. I just hope it doesn't have the same tone as <i style="font-weight: bold;">War Horse</i>, which I kind of hated.<br />
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<b><i>The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey</i> (December 14) - Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage</b><br />
I have one and only real concern going into the three chapter version of <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Hobbit</i>. It's not the stretched out length of the story or the fact that Peter Jackson is clearly adding stuff or this whole 48 FPS film speed thing. I don't care about any of those things. My concern is that the dwarfs look goofy. I thought Gimli looked a little too funny in the <i style="font-weight: bold;">Lord of the Rings</i> trilogy but it wasn't a big concern because he was just one dude among a bunch of men, elves, and hobbits. But now that there are 12 of them and they're the majority of the main characters, I wish they looked a little less family friendly. And because of this concern I will only watch this movie 8 times in the theater, not 9.<br />
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Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-37544495242588671522012-10-03T02:32:00.003-05:002012-10-03T02:32:43.537-05:00Review: "The Master"<span style="font-family: inherit;">There are certain films, outstanding, quality, great,
amazing, incredible films, that do not play well with the masses. Critics,
filmmakers and other members of the industry love them but the average
moviegoer does not. If you only have the opportunity to spend your hard earned
money at the theater once a week (or a month, or a year…), more often than not
you want to see the big hit, the blockbuster, or the date-y movie that you can
talk about with your friends. And that’s fine. No, that’s more than fine; that’s
as it should be. As a huge fan of popcorn/blockbuster films, I greatly
appreciate the near-universal appeal of the movies that value entertainment above
all else. That said, I also have a deep seeded love for independent cinema and
the small-scale pictures that are likely to dominate award season. As such, I
have to walk a line here when it comes to recommending a given movie to the
average moviegoer, to which this space is dedicated to. With that in mind, let
me say this up front: you’re not going to like </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">The Master</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) spends the years
following World War II moving from job to job, always unhappy and always
running into trouble wherever he goes. A veteran with some serious mental
problems and a righteous alcohol addiction, the only thing Freddie really seems
good at is making hooch, hideously strong, borderline toxic hooch. Freddie’s
life changes, however, when he stows away aboard a boat bearing Lancaster Dodd (Philip
Seymour Hoffman) and his family up the Eastern Seaboard. Dodd is a doctor, a
philosopher, and a writer, among other things, who has created an appealing and
controversial set of beliefs for himself and his growing base of followers.
Dodd takes his religion (though it is never referred to as such) and embarks on
a grass roots campaign of sorts to spread his good word and accumulate the
power that comes along with it. For some reason, Dodd takes a liking to Freddie
and sets him up as a kind of lackey, a position that perturbs the rest of Dodd’s
followers, including his wife, Peggy (Amy Adams). But as Dodd and the group
struggle to attain worldwide relevance, Freddie’s individual challenges prove
to be too difficult to manage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rwLA-mr2qF8/UGvp-DCskMI/AAAAAAAAEA8/40k-v_QBV5U/s1600/TheMaster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rwLA-mr2qF8/UGvp-DCskMI/AAAAAAAAEA8/40k-v_QBV5U/s400/TheMaster.jpg" width="272" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">On the surface, I think that paragraph properly
encapsulates the plot of <i>The Master</i>. It
goes much deeper than that, though. This is writer/director Paul Thomas
Anderson’s (not to be confused with the hack, Wes Paul Anderson of <i>Resident Evil</i> fame) fictionalized
version of the rise of L. Ron Hubbard and his cult-like religion, Scientology.
It is both an account of how the words and ideas of great men can be used for
evil and an indictment of this particular religion itself as well as (perhaps?)
belief systems altogether. That’s my analysis, anyway, though I am completely
certain that there are levels to this film that I missed entirely; maybe lots
of levels. I have a feeling that if you read a dozen reviews for this film, you’d
find a dozen different ideas about what <i>The
Master </i>really is about. In layman’s terms, this is “a real thinker” and it
is as incredibly smart as it is maddeningly complex.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">What is not complex, however, is the quality of the
acting contained within <i>The Master</i>. Every
once in a while I see a movie and come away fully believing that I have just
seen the performance that would eventually win Best Actor/Actress. It happened last
year with George Clooney in <i>The
Descendants</i> and while Clooney ended up losing out to the buzz saw that was <i>The Artist </i>and Jean Dujardin, I stand by
my assertion: Clooney was magnificent in that film. Given my track record, this
will probably be the equivalent of putting a curse on these fine actors but I’ll
go ahead and say it: I would be very surprised if anyone tops what Phoenix and
Hoffman have done here. Hoffman’s performance is what I would consider to be
his most charismatic and magnetic one to date and those qualities come
incredibly naturally to an actor who I’ve never really considered to be either.
Dodd is powerful and charming but it is his barely-contained rage and an edge
of desperation that makes the character stand out. If you will pardon the pun,
it is a masterful performance. Adams, too, hits her mark with extreme
precision, embodying the old saying, “Behind every great man there stands a
great woman.” Her character never receives the attention given to Freddie or
Dodd but it is no less important and should garner Adams a load of award
attention. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But it is no slight to Hoffman or Adams when I say that
their performances pale in comparison to that of Phoenix who WILL be the Best
Actor winner when the Oscars roll around (sorry for jinxing you, Joaquin). I
have no idea what Phoenix’s real mindset is at this point; I’m not sure if
anyone does, including Phoenix himself. His off-the-wall retirement, subsequent
foray into hardcore rap, and years-later confession that the entire thing was a
bit is one of the weirder Hollywood stories of the last decade and has left me
with a great deal of confusion as to what to actually expect from the man. But
the fact of the matter is he is a supremely talented actor who is capable of a
historically great performance. This is that performance. One scene in
particular, a long shot in which Dodd questions Freddie for a full three
minutes while the latter refuses to allow himself to blink, should be enough to
get Phoenix’s name on the nominee list. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Freddie has so many issues at work within his body and
mind and Phoenix is able to display each of them in exquisite detail. His
brutal alcohol dependency, his low IQ and lower self-esteem, his sexual
deviance, his war-ravaged body and even further damaged mind, his hatred of
authority and his secret craving of that which he hates, all are brought forth
with a perfect blend of force and subtlety. Freddie is an incredibly rich
character with which to work to be sure but I’m not sure there’s a singly actor
in Hollywood who could better embody him than Phoenix, save for perhaps Daniel
Day Lewis. Phoenix even transformed his body into a gaunt, hauntingly sickly
appearance that reminded me of Christian Bale’s transformation in <i>The Machinist.</i> This is truly a
powerhouse performance that will stick with you long after you exit the
theater. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">My one complaint about <i>The Master</i>, and ultimately the issue that will prevent it from
being an audience-friendly film, is that I felt it lacked a purpose. Or maybe
it’s that I simply can’t grasp the purpose. There is no questioning its
pedigree; I honestly can’t imagine that I will see another film this year that
is as well-made as <i>The Master</i> is. The
camera work is magnificent, the shot selection is unbelievably good, and the
score (by Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood) drives the film flawlessly. But from a
purely storytelling perspective, I’m not sure what the goal is. In this way, <i>The Master</i> is very similar to last year’s
<i>Tree of Life</i> but whereas this film
works much better as a character study and a platform for exquisite acting, <i>Tree of Life</i> reached me personally on a
near-spiritual level that <i>The Master </i>lacks.
That doesn’t keep it from being a tremendous film, however, and one that will
certainly find a spot among the year’s best with critics, filmmakers, and
cinema junkies alike. </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">But
if you’re looking for a good date movie, a fun night out with the guys, or a
nice family outing, I would suggest literally any other movie that is currently
available to you. This is not the droid you’re looking for.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v2-7c3YMOSs/UGvqDZqMqRI/AAAAAAAAEBE/M93oA-1TFV0/s1600/4stars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="38" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v2-7c3YMOSs/UGvqDZqMqRI/AAAAAAAAEBE/M93oA-1TFV0/s200/4stars.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-32343318112083521092012-10-02T01:08:00.001-05:002012-10-02T11:43:27.356-05:00Review: "Trouble with the Curve"<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Recently a friend of mine read one of my reviews and
remarked that I spent the majority of the review ripping the film apart and
then gave it a decent grade. My responses was that I feel like I need to
justify and illustrate my reasons for docking a grade even if it’s not a bad
film and told him he needed to come around when I really dislike a given movie.
I hope that friend is paying attention today because I’m about to unload both
barrels on <i>Trouble with the Curve</i>, a
film that will undoubtedly wind up at the top of my worst of the year list. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Things have been better for old Gus Lobel (Clint
Eastwood). At one time a prominent scout for the Atlanta Braves, Gus has fallen
behind the times and hasn’t had a “hit” in a while. What’s more, his vision is
beginning to go and his contract is up at the end of the year. Gus is looking
at a retirement he wants no part of. With the Braves holding the second pick in
the upcoming draft, Gus is sent to scout Bo Gentry (Joe Massingill), a power
hitting phenom that every team in the league covets. Sensing that Gus is
struggling, his daughter, Mickey (Amy Adams), tags along for the trip, putting
their already contentious relationship to a test it almost cannot handle. When
they come in contact with Johnny Flanagan (Justin Timberlake), a former player
whom Gus scouted who is now, in turn, scouting for the Red Sox, he sparks a few
well-needed conversations that put father and daughter on a path toward
self-discovery and forgiveness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I thought long and hard about <i>Trouble</i><b> </b>and did my best
to come up with some positives. Here’s what I could muster:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">1. I snickered to myself during this movie approximately
four times. Not outright laughter, you understand, but still, a mild expression
of amusement;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">2. Amy Adams is pretty;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">3. The second act isn’t the worst second act I’ve ever
encountered;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">4. I like baseball. Not as it pertains to this film,
though; just, in general, I like the game of baseball;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">5. There’s a great Ray Charles song that plays over the
closing credits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">That’s all I could come up with and alas, that’s not
nearly enough to keep <i>Trouble </i>from
being an unbelievably awful film on basically every level.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dPkwEuxg5YU/UGoRkIFyrhI/AAAAAAAAD_Q/nB4DNGO2a2g/s1600/troublewthecurve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dPkwEuxg5YU/UGoRkIFyrhI/AAAAAAAAD_Q/nB4DNGO2a2g/s400/troublewthecurve.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">First of all, this movie is filled to the brim and beyond
with every cliché you could possibly imagine. It’s like the filmmakers (whom I’ll
address again shortly) were playing “Terrible Movie Cliché Bingo” when they put
this mess together. Father-child tension: Check! Old man idioms: Check! A
youngster who just doesn’t respect his elders: Check! A happy ending tied up
with a pretty bow even though it doesn’t fit the narrative of the film AT ALL:
Check! The list goes on and on, enveloping every aspect of <i>Trouble </i>in a haze of irritating clichés that would ruin even a good
film, let alone one as poorly written as this one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The clichés, though, only serve to highlight Randy Brown’s
abysmal script that is full of more holes than the proverbial Swiss cheese, if
the Swiss cheese was also rancid and covered in a foul green mold. The first
act boxes the film into its inevitable and worthless course, the second act
finds a tiny smidgen of momentum by taking the focus away from Eastwood, and
then the third act comes along with all the storytelling acumen of a mentally
challenged monkey. Quite honestly, this is a script that wouldn’t have been
deemed strong enough for a made-for-TV movie on the Hallmark Channel. The “plot”
is a paint-by-numbers travesty that is as predictable as they come save for one
small break in which the story takes a very weird and dark turn for a brief
second and then is washed over as if it never happened. (Because what family-friendly
film would be complete without a near-rape? All of them, you say? Right you are.)
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Likewise, virtually all of the characters are as
razor-thin and one dimensional as you could possibly get which makes their respective
and inevitable “redemptions” all the more painful. Note to all writers out
there: if your character shows no signs of not being a crusty old son of a gun
throughout the whole of your script/book/play, then your plot reeks of
falseness if he suddenly turns out to be a decent human being at the last possible
moment. That’s exactly what happens with Gus, who spends the entirety of the
film making it clear to the audience that he is a miserable, unlikeable old
coot and then makes a miraculous turnaround because…well, because you can’t end
a manipulative, toothless movie like this one without a happy ending. Mickey,
too, is exceedingly unlikeable and unsympathetic, a trait I did not know Amy
Adams was capable of displaying. Concerning her struggles, I found myself
thinking, “Oh, your father wasn’t there for you as a kid? Well, join the club,
there are like 3 billion members worldwide.” This is the sort of script that
could (and probably should) end a man’s career.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">If all of that wasn’t enough, <i>Trouble </i>stands, for me at least, as proof that Clint Eastwood is
done. I grew tired of Eastwood’s “grizzled old man” bit long ago and to be
honest, I haven’t liked one of his performances in almost 20 years. But this
movie takes things to a new level of depressing and aggravating. At the very
least, Eastwood’s old man act, complete with barely intelligible grumbling,
high-waisted pants, and general dislike for everything, has always seemed
genuine. But in <i>Trouble</i>, it comes
across as forced and uncaring, as if he’s doing a parody of himself in <i>Gran Torino </i>or <i>Million Dollar Baby</i>. Moreover, he spends a good portion of the
first 30 minutes of the film talking to himself, delivering winners like, “Breakfast
of champions” in regards to a cold can of Spam and “singing” the lyrics of “You
Are My Sunshine” to a gravestone. I half-expected the Obama Chair to make a cameo.
It’s wretched acting and worse yet, it’s an embarrassment to an actor who used
to be GREAT. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All of that doesn’t even take into account the
atrocious depiction of baseball (both on the field and off), the most mailed-in
conclusion of any drama I’ve ever seen, or little things like the presence of
snow on the ground despite it being the middle of summer in the Deep South. The
longer <i>Trouble </i>went on, the harder it
became for me to sit still resulting in what I’m sure was an annoying
experience for the person sitting next to me as I squirmed and shifted from
side to side, praying for the pain to stop. It’s the movie narrative equivalent
of being water boarded to death rather than being afforded that quick and
painless bullet to the head (a fate I longed for as I sat through this movie,
by the way). I can’t imagine anyone under the age of 60 enjoying <i>Trouble</i> AT ALL and while I’ve probably
seen worse movies over the years, this is one that unquestionably belongs in
that conversation.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_Qru7sJN3eM/UGoRHL7URfI/AAAAAAAAD_I/NIeAYhf09go/s1600/0stars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="38" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_Qru7sJN3eM/UGoRHL7URfI/AAAAAAAAD_I/NIeAYhf09go/s200/0stars.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
(Yes, that's a zero star review, the first I've given in 2 years. Well done, guys.)</div>
Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-52059703098765434612012-10-01T02:00:00.001-05:002012-10-01T13:25:03.950-05:00The Week That Was and the Week That Will Be - 10/1Gina Carano has been confirmed as one of the major players in the <a href="http://www.anomalousmaterial.com/movies/2012/09/gina-carano-to-star-in-female-spinoff-of-the-expendables/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AnomalousMaterial-Movies+%28ANOMALOUS+MATERIAL+-+MOVIES%29">all-female version of <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Expendables</i>.</a> I enjoyed <i style="font-weight: bold;">Haywire</i> much more than I thought I would and Carano is a good starting point for this movie.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Alfonso-Cuaron-J-J-Abrams-Team-Up-Superhero-Drama-47301.html">JJ Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron</a> have teamed up for a sci-fi TV series that will probably end up being somewhere between the greatest TV show ever and the greatest thing ever in the history of the world. (Overselling!!!)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Angela-Lansbury-Confirmed-Wes-Anderson-Grand-Budapest-Hotel-33177.html">Angela Lansbury</a> has been cast in Wes Anderson's next film. Betting Lansbury is about to give ol' Betty White a run for her money.<br />
<br />
Actor Johnny Lewis died last week and <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/johnny-lewis-death-sons-of-anarchy-374946">Hollywood reacted</a> with sadness but, perhaps even more sadly, without shock. Mr. Lewis, who played an important supporting character on <i style="font-weight: bold;">Sons of Anarchy</i> for two seasons, had some serious demons, unfortunately.<br />
<br />
Check out FlixChatter's "<a href="http://flixchatter.net/2012/10/01/presenting-the-small-roles-big-performances-blogathon/">Small Role...Big Performance</a>" blog-a-thon!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://fandangogroovers.wordpress.com/2012/09/24/sports-movies/">Fandango Groovers</a> gives us his favorite movie concerning each respective sport. Great list!<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><u>Weekend Box
Office Report</u></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bgYm4vRH5r4/UGk-ptJL2oI/AAAAAAAAD9M/Fbl4r27wjCg/s1600/220px-HotelTransylvania.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bgYm4vRH5r4/UGk-ptJL2oI/AAAAAAAAD9M/Fbl4r27wjCg/s400/220px-HotelTransylvania.jpg" width="271" /></a>Well, at least September ended on a relatively high note.
After a disastrous month with some of the lowest weekend totals of the year, a trio
of new movies brought a few people back to the theater and will hopefully build
some momentum for the industry as we move into Oscar warm-up season. <b><i>Hotel
Transylvania </i></b>far exceeded expectations, scoring the highest opening
weekend ever for a September release and the second highest opening for an Adam
Sandler movie (behind 2005’s <b><i>The Longest Yard</i></b>). <b><i>Looper</i></b>,
meanwhile, brought home a solid opening, though as a sci-fi nerd, I’m a little disappointed
to see that it wasn’t embraced with more vigor from the action/sci-fi/nerd
crowd. The R-rating probably didn’t help but I had hopes for a slightly higher
box office total. <b><i>Pitch Perfect</i></b> illustrated the proper use of a limited release
schedule, scoring a high per theater average and building great word of mouth
for its nationwide expansion this weekend. On the other hand, <b><i>Won’t
Back Down</i></b> only just managed to clip the top ten in its opening weekend
with a total that makes it one of the worst wide opening films ever. I guess
that shows that when <a href="http://www.eurweb.com/2012/09/wont-back-down-movie-stirs-anger-against-teachers-unions/">you anger your target market</a>, your film is in trouble.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b><i>Hotel Transylvania </i></b>- $43M<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b><i>Looper</i></b> - $21.2M<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b><i>End of Watch</i></b> - $8M ($26.16M)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b><i>Trouble with the Curve</i></b> - $7.53M
($23.72M)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b><i>House at the End of the Street</i></b> -
$7.15M ($22.22M)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->6.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b><i>Pitch Perfect</i></b> - $5.2M<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->7.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b><i>Finding Nemo 3D</i></b> - $4.06M ($36.47M)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->8.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b><i>Resident Evil Retribution</i></b> - $3M
($38.7M)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->9.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b><i>The Master</i></b> - $2.74M ($9.63M)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->10.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b><i>Won’t Back Down</i></b> - $2.7M<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><u>New to DVD</u></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This week’s choices are more varied than what we’ve been
treated to of late. On the down side, we have a host of CW TV shows that we’ve
all been looking forward to (!!!), one of the worst films of the year (<b><i>Dark
Shadows</i></b>), and a movie that would make my personal short list for “Film
That Should Immediately Be Stricken From the Record and Forgotten Forever” (<b><i>Annie</i></b>).
But on the plus side, we’re also being treated to the most recent season of two
high quality sitcoms (<b><i>New Girl, How I Met Your Mother</i></b>) and
two beloved classics (<b><i>Cinderella, Princess Bride</i></b>). Not too
shabby.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>New Movies<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i>People Like Us</i></b> - Chris Pine,
Elizabeth Banks, Michelle Pfeiffer<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i>Red Lights</i></b> - Robert De Niro,
Sigourney Weaver, Cillian Murphy<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i>Peace Love and Misunderstanding</i></b> -
Jane Fonda, Catherine Keener, Elizabeth Olsen<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>New TV<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i>How I Met Your Mother: </i>Season 7</b> -
Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Neil Patrick Harris<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i>Magic City</i>: Season 1</b> - Jeffrey Dean
Morgan, Kelly Lynch<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i>Hart of Dixie</i>: Season 1</b> - Rachel
Bilson, Jamie King, Wilson Bethel<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i>Nikita</i>: Season 2</b> - Maggie Q, Shane
West, Aaron Stanford<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i>90210</i>: Season 4</b> - Shenae Grimes,
AnnaLynne McCord, Tristan Wilds<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>New to Blu<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i>Cinderella </i>(1950)</b> - Ilene Woods,
Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i>Pet Sematary</i> (1989)</b> - Dale Midkiff,
Denise Crosby, Fred Gwynne<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i>Masters of the Universe</i> (1987)</b> -
Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella, Meg Foster<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i>Annie</i> (1982)</b> - Aileen Quinn, Albert
Finney, Carol Burnett<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><u>The Thing You
Should See</u></b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i>New Girl</i>: Season 1</b> - Zooey
Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, Lamorne Morris<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
You guys. <b><i>New Girl</i></b> is so ridiculously funny.
It took a few episodes for it to find its groove. In fact, I almost quit watching
after the third episodes. But in the fourth and fifth episodes, the show
started to take off and from there it was just crazy good. Deschanel is
certainly a great starting point but the real strength of the show rests on the
shoulders of Johnson, Greenfield (who got an Emmy nomination, whatever that may
be worth) and Morris. If you haven’t bought in yet, give this first season a
run through. If I’m being honest, it’s possible that I look forward to <b><i>New
Girl</i></b> more than any other sitcom each week. It’s that funny. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MCpdnPe6oAg/UGk-ynZkLUI/AAAAAAAAD9U/PqeGhr_eeYI/s1600/DarkShadows2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MCpdnPe6oAg/UGk-ynZkLUI/AAAAAAAAD9U/PqeGhr_eeYI/s400/DarkShadows2.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<b><u>The Thing You
Shouldn’t See</u></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i><a href="http://thesoapboxoffice.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-dark-shadows.html">Dark Shadows</a></i></b> - Johnny Depp, Eva
Green, Michelle Pfeiffer<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Ugh. That’s almost all the energy I can muster up in
order to describe what a rotten movie <b><i>Dark Shadows</i></b> really is. The
characters are one note, the plot is unbelievably perfunctory, and the tone is unnecessarily
and unfittingly harsh. It’s a mess and worse yet, it’s a lazy mess. Here’s
hoping this is the last Burton-Depp pairing for a while.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>New to Blu Pick
of the Week or Whenever I Feel Like It</u></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Princess Bride</i>: 25<sup>th</sup>
Anniversary Edition (1987)</b> - Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin<o:p></o:p></div>
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I don’t usually highlight films that have already received
a Blu-Ray release. But when the film is <b><i>The Princess Bride</i></b> and it’s a 25<sup>th</sup>
anniversary edition…exceptions must be made. I’m pretty sure everyone with access
to the Internet has seen this movie and that Amazonian tribesmen know that
rodents of unusual size do, in fact, exist. This is, quite simply, a modern
classic. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><u>Coming to a
Theater Near You</u></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I went three-for-four last week and would like to thank
the critics for agreeing with my predictions and making me look at least sort
of smart. <b><i>Looper</i></b> performed within the range I predicted, though a little
higher (93% versus 88%), <b><i>Hotel Transylvania</i></b> fell slightly
lower than I expected (43% to 50%), and <b><i>Won’t Back Down</i></b> angered critics
almost as much as it did educators (30% versus 35% predicted). I missed wildly,
though, on <b><i>Pitch Perfect</i></b> (73% versus 27% prediction) because I neglected
to consider the “Girl’s Night Out” faction of the critics out there. My bad. I
still stand by my assertion that the movie looks horrible for me personally. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Taken 2</i></b> - Liam Neeson, Famke
Janssen, Maggie Grace<o:p></o:p></div>
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A group of Serbians attempt to kidnap Bryan Mills
(Neeson) and his family in order to exact revenge for the death toll Mills
racked up in the previous film. I love this idea. <b><i>Taken </i></b>was one of the
surprise hits of 2009, a rare worthwhile January release that oozes
rewatchability. This plot idea is a perfect next step for this franchise as it
immediately puts Neeson and his adversaries right back into the situations that
made the first film so much fun instead of moving away from the tried and true
formula. That also appears to be the biggest issue with the film, though, as
most negative reviews (of which there are many) have pegged it as a near carbon
copy of the first film. Personally I look forward to seeing Liam Neeson beat
the tar out of anything so I’m in but we’ll see how it turns out. <b>Rotten Tomatoes prediction: Rotten, 26%</b>
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Frankenweenie</i></b> - Charlie Tahan, Winona
Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short<o:p></o:p></div>
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A young boy (Tahan) conducts an ingenious science
experiment that brings his beloved dog back from the dead. Early reviews have
been good and the idea is smart. But how many times is Tim Burton going to burn
us? It seems like every time he’s made a movie in the last decade we get all
excited about it, only to find that the movie stinks, just like the last one. <b><i>Dark
Shadows</i></b> may have been the last straw for me. <b>Rotten Tomatoes prediction: Fresh, 71%<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Also New: </b>A
group of misfits find themselves confronted with an evil force in the found
footage flick <b><i>V/H/S</i></b>…Two close families have their relationship put to the
test in <b><i>The Oranges</i></b>…a young adopted girl (Yara Shahidi) goes up against
an ambitious housewife for a town prize in <b><i>Butter</i></b>…Director Eugene Jarecki takes
a look at the U.S. drug policy in <b><i>The House I Live In</i></b>…and <b><i>Pitch
Perfect</i></b> expands wide.<o:p></o:p></div>
Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-10209719044929623712012-09-28T01:24:00.000-05:002012-09-28T11:10:39.495-05:00Small Roles...Big Performances Blog-a-Thon: Barry Pepper, "Saving Private Ryan"Ruth over at FlixChatter is hosting a blog-a-thon next week entitled "Small Roles...Big Performances." The title is fairly self-explanatory but the idea is to highlight a supporting performance (or performances) in a movie that you find particularly appealing. Make sure you check out <a href="http://flixchatter.net/2012/08/30/small-roles-big-performances-blog-a-thon/">FlixChatter</a> for the full list of participants and their entries. Should make for some awesome reading!<br />
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When Ruth opened up the floor on this topic, my mind immediately went to the work of Barry Pepper in Steven Spielberg's war masterpiece <i style="font-weight: bold;">Saving Private Ryan </i>and while there are any number of outstanding performances that fall into this category, Pepper's is the one that I appreciate above all. A talented actor who always seems to be overlooked in Hollywood, Pepper has had a few starring roles (most notably <i style="font-weight: bold;">Knockaround Guys</i> and my favorite sports movie of all-time, <i style="font-weight: bold;">61*</i>) and a handful of superb supporting roles through the years (his work in <i style="font-weight: bold;">25th Hour</i> is exquisite, not to mention <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Green Mile</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">We Were Soldiers</i>, etc.). But 14 years after <i style="font-weight: bold;">Saving Private Ryan</i> debuted, it is Private Jackson that still stands out among the rest.<br />
<br />
I was 15 when <i style="font-weight: bold;">Saving Private Ryan </i>was released and I can still remember everything about my viewing from who I went with right on down the mood as we exited the theater behind a group of WWII veterans. It's a movie that has the power to change you as a person, a gift that so few films have.<i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i>There are quite a few outstanding characters within <i style="font-weight: bold;">Saving Private Ryan</i>; Captain Miller (Tom Hanks), Private Reiben (Edward Burns), even Corporal Upham (Jeremy Davies) whose cowardice I cursed and hated even though I knew that deep down, I'd probably fall right in line with him. But as the film progressed, I became more and more enthralled with Jackson, the left-handed, Bible quoting sniper whose precision was impeccable and whose persona was irresistible.<br />
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To be honest, I don't think Pepper had a lot to work with in terms of strength of character or quality screen time. Hanks, Davies, Burns, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Adam Goldberg, Giovanni Ribisi, etc. all were handed more well-rounded characters than Private Jackson. That's not meant as an attack on Spielberg or the film (which is one of my 10 favorites), it's just the reality of making a movie. There are only so many pages to go around in a script; someone is bound to get squeezed. Pepper, though, handled Jackson like the seasoned pro he wasn't given that, for all intents and purposes, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Saving Private Ryan</i> was his major motion picture debut (if you don't count the Howie Long action movie <i style="font-weight: bold;">Firestorm</i> which I certainly don't). There's a subtlety and quietness to Jackson and Pepper used this to suck the audience in. He displayed an uncanny ability to draw attention to his character even when he's not doing much. As such, he became memorable when I'm not sure he would have been in other hands.<br />
<br />
Moreover, Pepper brought a downhome authenticity to the role and mixed it perfectly with just the right amount of arrogance, resulting in a character who was believably cool even though he most certainly was not trying to be cool. He has a natural swagger about him that stems from honesty, not braggadocio. When he tells his squad that, "...If you was to put me and this here sniper rifle anywhere up to and including one mile of Adolf Hitler with a clear line of sight, sir...pack your bags, fellas, war's over. Amen." you <i style="font-weight: bold;">believe </i>him. It's an incredible performance and one that made me a lifelong fan of one of the industry's most underrated actors.Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-6978072676022684482012-09-26T00:36:00.000-05:002012-09-26T00:36:12.399-05:00Review: "Dredd 3D"<span style="font-family: inherit;">Remakes are a tense subject in movie fan circles. There
are those who see no problem with the growing trend and those people are
usually drowned out by a crazed horde of violent remake haters. Personally I
think remakes are acceptable under one or all of the following circumstances:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1.) The original film was made in a foreign language (<i>The Departed </i>is a good example);<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">2.) The original film is over 25 years old and is NOT
considered to be a true classic (<i>RoboCop </i>should
be remade, <i>Jaws </i>should not);<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">3.) The original film was based on another source (book,
comic, play, etc.) but was poorly adapted. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Dredd</i> falls
into the latter category as the 1995 Sylvester Stallone film, <i>Judge Dredd</i>, didn’t exactly hit home
with fanboys of the graphic novels, mostly due to the presence of Rob Schneider,
one of the world’s great cinematic ruiners. This is one remake that people,
even if it is a vocal minority, have been clamoring for and I imagine it fits the
bill for the fans, though it’s certainly not for everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The future of America is bleak indeed. With the remaining
800 million residents of the country jammed into one megacity that stretches
from Boston to D.C., the world has become a dirty, grimy place. Only one symbol
of the law remains: the Judges, who operate out of the Hall of Justice. Assigned
the task of training a newbie (Olivia Thirlby), one of the most fearsome
judges, aptly named Dredd (Karl Urban), begins the investigation of a triple
homicide at Peach Trees, a 200 story apartment complex. Soon, though, he runs
up against a ferocious opponent in the drug kingpin known as Ma-Ma (Lena
Headey) who will stop at nothing to prevent the judges from leaving Peach Trees
alive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s been years since I saw the Stallone version of <i>Judge Dredd</i> but I remember it being a
hot, cheesy, mess of a movie. This time around, director Pete Travis takes all
the cheesy foolishness of that film and replaces it with blood…mass amounts of
blood. The best quote I’ve seen about this film pegged it as, “the comic book
version of a British independent film.” (I tried to find the author of this
quote but failed; I apologize for the inadvertent plagiarism.) That’s quite
fitting as <i>Dredd</i> has an indisputable British/European
sensibility that comes out to play in the stark and often gruesome depiction of
action and violence. This is a serious affair
the likes of which we don’t usually see in comic book films, though Travis does
take the time to allow for a few VERY American one-liners which are all knee-slapping
good. Personally I found the brutal nature of this blood and guts approach to
be gratuitous and distracting from what turns out to be a much better plot than
I would have expected going in. <i>Dredd </i>isn’t
so much gritty as it is viscerally and mercilessly savage. If you’re a horror
movie fan, this approach shouldn’t be a problem but I could have used a
slightly softer edge in this department. That’s not to say it isn’t fitting or
doesn’t necessarily work, I’m just saying it’s not for everyone and the rough,
hard edge will eliminate a large portion of the film’s potential audience (as
illustrated by the miserable box office total). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Brutal violence aside, <i>Dredd</i> is an extremely well-made film filled to the brim with slick,
sophisticated shots and some excellent effects. Travis’ world is small and
contained and that leads to a feeling of claustrophobia that adds to the film’s
frenetic intensity. In addition, Urban should be commended for a strong
performance under very difficult circumstances. Acting with a mask on one’s
face is tough and it becomes even more difficult when the mask never, ever
comes off. Urban is basically asked to “act” and emote with only the bottom
third of his face and he does it very well. He is sufficiently menacing when he
needs to be and Urban’s robotic approach to the character hits just the right
tone. Thirlby and Headey are both strong as well though, like Dredd, there’s
not much in the way of character development with which to work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All in all, I thought <i>Dredd</i> achieved what it set out to and did its job quite
effectively. It could stand for a bit of character development and I feel like
Dredd’s reputation should have been built up better within the context of the
film itself rather than relying on the audience’s prior knowledge of the
character. But the artistry of the post production effects and the overall tone
that carries from beginning to end makes <i>Dredd</i>
a solid, if imperfect, action flick.</span></span><br />
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Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-9696032622444894032012-09-25T01:03:00.001-05:002012-09-25T01:05:12.716-05:00Review: "End of Watch"The next time you find yourself sitting at home alone on
a random weekday evening, flip on your cable provider’s guide and count the
number of cop-related programs you have to choose from. My guess is that number
will be somewhere around 338 options, most of them pertaining to the <i>Law & Order</i> universe. As a society,
we are obsessed with cops and police procedurals seem to dominate the TV
landscape. But despite our preoccupation with this particular field, Hollywood hasn’t
done a particularly great job of late when it comes to cinematizing the police
officer experience. <i>End of Watch</i>, then,
stands as a reminder of how good a mainstream cop movie can be.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike Zavala (Michael
Pena) have been inseparable since the academy and have now become patrol
partners in one of the more dangerous divisions of the LAPD. A film student in
his downtime, Taylor uses lapel cameras to capture footage for his documentary
project, a lens through which the majority of the film is told. After a high
speed chase turns into a shootout, the pair become local celebrities, a status
that leads to the inflation of their already large egos. But before long,
Taylor and Zavala get themselves involved in a case way above their pay grades,
making them a prime target for a drug cartel.<o:p></o:p></div>
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David Ayer is no stranger to the cop film, having written
<i>Training Day, Dark Blue, </i>and <i>SWAT</i> and directed <i>Street Kings</i>. For my money <i>Training
Day </i>is the preeminent cop drama of the decade and <i>Street Kings</i> is seriously underrated in spite of Keanu Reeves’
involvement. (<i>Dark Blue </i>and <i>SWAT</i> are fairly awful but that’s beside
the point.) His familiarity with the subject, however, was part of the reason I
couldn’t muster up much anticipation for <i>End
of Watch</i>. Everything about it, from the cinematography that looked exactly
like <i>Dark Blue</i>, to the tone that
seemed too close to <i>Training Day</i>,
right on down to Gyllenhaal’s character who looked like a carbon copy of his
Marine in <i>Jarhead</i> (a movie I loathe)
seemed entirely too familiar and rehashed. How many times can one director go
back to the same material and draw out something new?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Somewhat surprisingly, <i>End of Watch </i>turns out to be the fresh and significant entry into
the genre that I didn’t think it would be and that the genre itself needed so
badly. It is an effective, efficient, and at times thrilling film that wastes
little time and somehow makes two dudes driving around in a car seem thoroughly
interesting. Ayer uses the shaky handheld camera effect quite well, a rare example
of how this technique can truly be used to play up a film’s realism. More
importantly, though, he doesn’t rely on the camera effect to become a crutch or
a gimmick to build tension. The action and drama would work without the shaky
approach and are only enhanced a bit by the camera technique. And unlike a
found footage film, Ayer doesn’t make any attempt to shoehorn the gimmick into
situations where it doesn’t fit or create dumb reasons for the camera to always
be there and always be in the perfect position to catch the right shot. When
there’s a reason for the shot selection to be through the lens of a camera
somewhere within the story, it is, but when there’s not, he doesn’t force it
in, which I greatly appreciate.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>End of Watch</i>
truly excels, however, because of the strength of its leads and their
tremendous chemistry. To be perfectly honest, I’ve never been a fan of
Gyllenhaal and I almost always find him somewhat off-putting. I guess I just
don’t find him likeable or relatable and many of his career choices play into
that. He is giving me reason to change, though, given his quality turn in last
year’s <i>Source Code</i> and the work he
puts in here. Taylor is an everyman and Gyllenhaal brings that to life
beautifully at almost every turn. Pena does much of the same, creating a clear
equality between the two that you don’t always get in a buddy-buddy
relationship like this. They work together so well that despite a handful of the
sort of great action sequences that I am prone to fall in love with, the best
parts of <i>End of Watch</i> are often the
exchanges between Taylor and Zavala as they cruise around their beat. It’s an
advanced course in what the relationship should look like between partners of
this nature. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There are a few dips in the momentum in the second act
and I felt like the wedding scene could have been cut down significantly. The
counter to that would be that this scene brings the humanity of the characters
home for the audience but I would contend that by this point I was completely
absorbed in the realism and didn’t need a lengthy look at life outside of the
precinct. But for the most part, <i>End of
Watch</i> displays nearly unending focus on the things that really matter
between Taylor and Zavala, to the point that, with the exception of Anna
Kendrick (as Taylor’s new girlfriend), most of the supporting actors are asked
to do next to nothing. The approach works very well, though, and <i>End of Watch</i> builds impressively for a
dramatic, pulse-pounding finale and at the end of the day, it very well might
be the best straight cop movie since <i>Training
Day.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-62843984919799604112012-09-24T00:18:00.002-05:002012-09-24T00:18:45.022-05:00The Week That Was and the Week That Will Be - 9/24/12<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Primetime Emmys were last night. Here's a <a href="http://tv.yahoo.com/news/emmys-2012-homeland-wins-outstanding-drama-series-025448082.html">recap</a> and here's a complete <a href="http://tv.yahoo.com/blogs/emmys/2012-emmy-award-winners-215138524.html">list of winners</a>. Other than that, the only thing you need to know is that the Emmys are the worst. I'm not someone who relies on award shows to tell me what to watch but I don't entirely dismiss them either. The Oscars, the Grammys, the SAG Awards, etc. I think there's value in what they do. But the Emmys? Completely and inexplicably irrelevant most of the time. Even the production value was weak this year and I was thoroughly disappointed in Jimmy Kimmel mailing it in. I now live in a world where Jon Cryer has an Emmy and Jon Hamm doesn't. Ugh. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">James Gunn has confirmed that he will rewrite and direct <i style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.firstshowing.net/2012/james-gunn-confirmed-to-rewrite-direct-guardians-of-the-galaxy/">Guardians of the Galaxy</a></i>, one of the upcoming Marvel franchise features. I'm not a fan of Gunn's previous work (<i style="font-weight: bold;">Slither, Super</i>) but there's no denying his ability. Should be good in this setting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">Les Miserables</i> has been bumped back a week and <a href="http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Les-Miserables-Bumped-Back-Christmas-33027.html">will now open on Christmas</a>. Strong move by the studio as positive word builds for this movie and it fits well in the spot vacated by <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Great Gatsby</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">Saturday Night Live</i> cast off Jenny Slate has signed on to write a <a href="http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Les-Miserables-Bumped-Back-Christmas-33027.html"><i style="font-weight: bold;">Looney Tunes</i> reboot</a> film. That is a sentence I did not expect to write this week. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">You can always count on The Soap Box Office to heap praise upon American Treasure Bill Murray. Please enjoy this <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2012/09/bill-murray-packing-hyde-park-on-hudson.html?mid=twitter_vulture">New York Times article</a> and then try to think of ten people you'd rather hang out with for a day than Murray. It's impossible. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>Weekend Box
Office Report</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The bad news is that no one went to the movies this
weekend, a rough trend that has carried all the way through September. The good
news is, for the first time all month, at least viewers were given a few
options. Pretty much everything Hollywood gave us prior to this week was a
horror movie or a bad misfire. Nothing that opened this week managed to grab a
huge audience but <b><i>End of Watch</i></b>, <b><i>House at the End of the Street, Trouble with
the Curve, </i></b>and <b><i>Dredd</i></b> provided viewers with a fairly
wide ranging set of choices. The split at the top of the list displays that. Of
all those films, I think <b><i>Dredd</i></b> is the only return that I’d
call surprising. I didn’t expect a $30 million opening but there is a hardened
fanbase for <b><i>Dredd </i></b>and the early reviews were very strong so I’m surprised
it didn’t do better.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OESjWfiYyEU/UF_sXBXSSDI/AAAAAAAAD10/-1a2M3BN9Qo/s1600/end-of-watch-german-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OESjWfiYyEU/UF_sXBXSSDI/AAAAAAAAD10/-1a2M3BN9Qo/s400/end-of-watch-german-poster.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Having not been to the theater in a couple of weeks due
to complete lack of interest, this weekend was like a field day for me. I gave
my money to <b><i>End of Watch</i></b>, <b><i>Dredd, ParaNorman, </i></b>and <b><i>Trouble
with the Curve</i></b>. Two of those movies were worth the money; the makers of
the other two have some serious explaining to do. I attempted twice to get to <b><i>The
Master</i></b> but fate continually intervened. But at least I got to see Clint
Eastwood embarrass himself even further! *Sigh*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">1. <b><i>End of Watch</i></b> - $13M<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">2. <b><i>The House at the End of the Street</i></b> -
$13M<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">3. <b><i>Trouble with the Curve</i></b> - $12.72M<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">4. <b><i>Finding Nemo 3D</i></b> - $9.44M ($29.97M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">5. <b><i>Resident Evil: Retribution</i></b> - $6.7M
($33.46M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">6. <b><i>Dredd</i></b> - $6.3M<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">7. <b><i>The Master</i></b> - $5M ($6.05M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">8. <b><i>The Possession</i></b> - $2.63M ($45.65M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">9. <b><i>Lawless</i></b> - $2.32M ($34.51M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">10. <b><i>ParaNorman</i></b> - $2.29M ($52.56M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>New to DVD</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Well friends, I hope you like procedurals! Because that’s
what you’re getting this week whether you like it or not. The <b><i>CSIs</i></b>,
the <b><i>Law
& Orders</i></b>, the <b><i>NCISes</i></b> of the world all run together
to me and I, along with most of the rest of the world, forgot <b><i>Desperate
Housewives</i></b> was a show after about season two. That said, I can’t
complain much about a week that brings us three quality home entertainment
options. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b><i>New Movies<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The Samaritan</i></b> – Samuel L. Jackson,
Luke Kirby, Ruth Negga<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Damsels in Distress</i></b> – Greta Gerwig,
Adam Brody, Analeigh Tipton<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The Tall Man</i></b> – Jessica Biel, Jodelle
Ferland<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b><i>New TV<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>American Horror Story: Season 1</i></b> – Dylan
McDermott, Connie Britton, Jessica Lange<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Family Guy: Volume 10</i></b> – Seth McFarlane,
Alex Borstein, Seth Green<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Desperate Housewives: Season 8</i></b> – Eva
Longoria, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Gossip Girl: Season 5</i></b> – Blake Lively,
Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>CSI: Season 12</i></b> – Ted Danson, Marg
Helgenberger, Elisabeth Shue<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>CSI-Miami: Season 10</i></b> – David Caruso,
Emily Procter, Adam Rodriguez<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>CSI-New York: Season 8</i></b> – Gary Sinise,
Hill Harper, Eddie Cahill<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Law and Order-SVU: Season 13</i></b> –
Mariska Hargitay, Danny Pino, Ice-T<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Portlandia: Season 2</i></b> – Fred Armisen,
Carrie Brownstein<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b><i>New to Blu<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The American President</i> (1995)</b> –
Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Michael J. Fox<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Dave </i>(1993)</b> – Kevin Klein, Sigourney
Weaver, Frank Langella<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Arachnophobia</i> (1990)</b> – Jeff Daniels,
John Goodman<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0JRfX7LB7JY/UF_snN5om4I/AAAAAAAAD18/0GCAFJ_p_Hw/s1600/avengers3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0JRfX7LB7JY/UF_snN5om4I/AAAAAAAAD18/0GCAFJ_p_Hw/s400/avengers3.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>The Thing You
Should See</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><a href="http://thesoapboxoffice.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-avengers.html">The Avengers</a></i></b> – Robert Downey Jr.,
Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Considering that it’s made more than $1.5 BILLION
worldwide, I probably don’t need to tell you that you should see <b><i>The
Avengers</i></b>. I’m not sure exactly where this movie is going to end up in
my top films of the year but as of right now, it definitely stands as my
favorite. Popcorn movies don’t get much better, or more fun, than this. I’m
planning on buying this one though it may take some time to figure out which
version I need to buy given that there are at least 27 choices. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>The Thing My
Dad Will See</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Bond 50: The Complete 22 Film Collection</i></b>
– Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Daniel Craig<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Confession: I’m not a HUGE fan of the <b><i>Bond</i></b>
films. I think several of them are very good, I own the Daniel Craig entries,
and I’m very excited for <b><i>Skyfall</i></b>. But as far as the entire 22
films go…honestly, many of them blend together for me. That said, I completely
respect their place and importance in the film world and I know tons of people,
including my dad, LOOOOVE these movies. If you’re in that boat, this Blu-Ray
collection is pretty incredible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>New to Blu Pick
of the Week or Whenever I Feel Like It</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The Game - </i>Criterion Collection (1997)</b>
– Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Deborah Kara Unger<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I think <b><i>The </i></b>Game is one of the most sinfully
underrated films of the last 20 years. For some reason I think it has been
stamped with the “throw away thriller” label and even I was probably guilty of
applying that tag. I rewatched it, though, a few years ago and was shocked at
how well it holds up and how seriously chilling it really is. It gets lost in
the shadow of David Fincher’s other films but at the end of the day, it really
might be one of his best. The added Criterion content should make it even
better.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>Coming to a
Theater Near You</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This week’s Rotten Tomatoes scores serve as a reminder
that this isn’t a science. I did fairly well on my predictions, picking </span><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Dredd</i></b><span style="font-family: inherit;">
at 83 percent (77% actual), </span><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i>End of Watch</i></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> at 77 percent (85%
actual), and </span><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Trouble with the Curve</i></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> at 48 percent (53% actual). I
overestimated </span><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i>House at the End of the Street</i></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> with my 37 percent prediction
(13% actual) but therein lies the problem: I didn’t see </span><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i>House at the End of the Street</i></b><span style="font-family: inherit;">
but it is fundamentally impossible that it could possibly be that much worse
than </span><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Trouble
with the Curve</i></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> because </span><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Trouble with the Curve</i></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> might be the
worst movie I’ve ever seen. I cannot believe that any film critic under the age
of 85 could watch </span><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Trouble with the Curve</i></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and give it a Fresh rating. So, again,
it goes to show that Rotten Tomatoes (and any other indicator) aren’t perfect.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHctPR_0BO4/UF_s4XFZTMI/AAAAAAAAD2E/KwDdvz14F6E/s1600/looper_header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHctPR_0BO4/UF_s4XFZTMI/AAAAAAAAD2E/KwDdvz14F6E/s400/looper_header.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Looper</i></b> – Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce
Willis, Emily Blunt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">An assassin (JGL) who disposes of the mob’s enemies after
they’re sent back in time from 30 years in the future faces his toughest
challenge when his older self (Willis) becomes his newest target. I’m really
excited about this one. Like, really, really, REALLY excited. I love good
sci-fi and <b><i>Looper</i></b> most definitely appears to be good sci-fi. This could be
a legitimate genre game changer. <b>Rotten
Tomatoes prediction: Fresh, 88%<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Hotel Transylvania</i></b> – Adam Sandler,
Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">After discovering a retreat designed only for monsters, a
mortal (Samberg) falls for the daughter (Gomez) of Dracula (Sandler). 2012 has
been a seriously disappointing year for family films so you wouldn’t think a
Happy Madison production would inspire much confidence. But while I certainly
don’t expect a world beater here, <b><i>Hotel Transylvania </i></b>doesn’t look
awful. If it could score a solid B- grade, it would be a step up from most of
the other animated junk we’ve gotten this year. <b>Rotten Tomatoes prediction: Rotten, 50%<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Won’t Back Down</i></b> – Viola Davis,
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Holly Hunter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A pair of mothers (Davis, Gyllenhaal) takes on the system
in order to improve the quality of their local school. I assume <b><i>Won’t
Back Down</i></b> will be very faux-powerful and wholesome and manipulatively
emotional. My experience with <b><i>Trouble with the Curve</i></b> has left me
very jaded toward this sort of bad Oscar bait and I now expect this movie to be
stinking awful. <b>Rotten Tomatoes
prediction: Rotten, 30%<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Pitch Perfect</i></b> – Anna Kendrick, Rebel
Wilson, Brittany Snow (Opens limited, expands next week)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A goth-y freshman loner (Kendrick) reluctantly joins her
college’s glee group and infuses some much needed attitude. Yeesh. I really
dislike everything about this movie but more than anything else I dislike that
Anna Kendrick is subjecting herself to it. You’re so, so much better than this,
Anna. <b>Rotten Tomatoes prediction:
Rotten, 27%<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><a href="http://thesoapboxoffice.blogspot.com/2012/04/review-other-dream-team.html">The Other Dream Team</a></i></b> – Arvydas Sabonis,
Sarunas Marciulionis, Donnie Nelson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I usually relegate limited release films to the “also new”
portion of the column but I got a chance to see <b><i>The Other Dream Team</i></b>
earlier this year and it is AMAZING. Browse through my review to get a feel for it and seek it out if it’s playing
in your area. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Also
New: </span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Take
a documentarian look at a hospital that mostly cares for the uninsured in <b><i>Waiting
Room</i></b>…and <b><i>Solomon Kane</i></b>, an action-horror flick set in the 16<sup>th</sup>
century, comes off the shelf after three years of collecting dust. </span></span>Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-39687335961366367292012-09-21T01:45:00.001-05:002012-09-21T22:07:34.708-05:00Friday Night Lights: A Retrospective on the Best Network TV Show Ever<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>EDITOR'S NOTE:</b> This post is long. Like, super, ridiculous, "should be in some sort of academic journal that no one reads unless they are forced to come up with another reference for a paper" long. Even still, there are a thousand things I love about </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Friday Night Lights</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> that I didn't have time or space to write about. The </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdiY6kijYHE" style="font-family: inherit;">incredible music</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, the gorgeous cinematography, the fact that it has made me a lifelong fan of a number of the performers, etc. I'm sure I've missed some important notes along the way. If you're a fan of the show I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you loved, what I missed, etc. Also, for those who haven't watched this show but still have nothing better to do than plow through this column, I did my best to avoid spoilers, with the exception of what happens in the pilot. So delve in at your own risk and go watch the show for yourself regardless. It's just the best. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4VsXbHbM4QE/UFwOJWsNFKI/AAAAAAAADzY/uEmabyhf7bI/s1600/FNL1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4VsXbHbM4QE/UFwOJWsNFKI/AAAAAAAADzY/uEmabyhf7bI/s400/FNL1.jpg" width="261" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Right off the bat, I must confess I came very late to the
<i>Friday Night Lights </i>party and my wife
likes to give me grief for this. When this show popped up on our “Shows you
might like” Netflix Instant interface, she immediately added it to the queue
and started watching. She preached its virtues for months despite my
protestations that I didn’t believe the show could be any good and made many <i>FNL</i> converts out of our group of
friends. Still I resisted, digging my heels in even deeper and refusing to give
it a chance. In my defense, it should be noted that my wife has horrible taste
in movies and TV dramas. She balances this with excellent decision making when
it comes to music and food, but we do not always see eye to eye on TV/movies.
Our DVD shelf is littered with wretched programming that I tend to hide away
when we have company and often I’ll find a new recording on our DVR that
boggles my mind with its awfulness. If the CW has a new show, you can bet my
wife will be tuning in. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I, on the other hand, stayed away from <i>FNL</i>
for three reasons:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">1.) I hate high school dramas. HATE THEM. If there is a
stronger word for hate that is invented in the future, I hope that someone from
that time period will go into this post and insert that word in place of hate.
My disdain for high school-related TV shows cannot be stressed enough. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">2.) As an impassioned, obsessed, self-appointed sports
expert, I had never seen a TV show that had done the sporting side of their
sports-related drama correctly. A few have come close, but most of the time,
when a TV show ventures into the world of sport, it’s an <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64neDXrcCAs">unmitigated disaster</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">3.) Everything about <i>FNL</i>
suggested that it would be off the air by the middle of the first season and
man, it can be tough to buy into a show that you know isn’t going to last.
(See: the serious ratings dip for <i>Studio
60 on the Sunset Strip</i>.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Eventually, though, I started hearing recommendations for
<i>FNL</i> from other sources and decided I
had to give it a chance. I started my <i>FNL</i>
journey last year, after the show had already ended, and I have spent a fair
amount of time over that period hating myself for not being a full-fledged
member of the bandwagon from day one. I have a personal history of being ahead
of the curve when it comes to great TV shows and to have missed on this one
hurts my pride. What I found when I finally started digging into the show was
that the drama contained within <i>FNL</i>
was much more significant and REAL than any high school related show I’d ever
seen, that the football scenes were incredibly well designed if not always
realistic, and that, like <i>Firefly</i>,
even if the show had been cancelled after 10 episodes, it still would have been
incredibly worthwhile. Through a combination of the rabid support of a small
following, a creative agreement between NBC and DIRECT TV, and the lack of
ratings-grabbing content in the NBC stable, <i>FNL</i>
made it through five seasons and 76 episodes and became what is, for my money,
the best network drama ever. It felt wrong to love a show as much as I love
this one and not write something about it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So what follows is a somewhat haphazard look at what made
<i>Friday Night Lights</i> such an
incredible achievement to force those of you who haven’t watched it yet to get
on board while simultaneously providing a feather for the proverbial hat for
any longtime fan who had the good sense to embrace this show long before I did.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>NOTE:</b> For this piece, I drew extensively from an oral history of the show published on Grantland last year. You should really <a href="http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6766070/clear-eyes-full-hearts-lose">check this sucker out</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">CASTING</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">How many times have you watched a show and thought to
yourself, “I like this show but (this actor) drives me nuts” or “If (this
actor) was replaced by someone else, this show would really be good?” I do it
all the time and I tend to fixate on those flaws after a while. Even shows that
I love and stay locked into for years often come along with a bad actor or
maybe one who just doesn’t quite fit. Sometimes these situations work
themselves out and the misfit finds an acting groove but regardless, it’s
something many shows have to contend with. <i>24
</i>is one of my favorite shows of all time and I will swear by its virtues
until my dying day. But Kim Bauer (Elisha Cuthbert) is one of the biggest
beatings in recent TV history. Her character is awful, sure, but it’s partly
due to Cuthbert who, bless her heart, just cannot hang with the intensity of
the narrative or Kiefer Sutherland himself. It happens. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Show creator Peter Berg and casting director Linda Lowry had three serious issues
to contend with in casting <i>Friday Night
Lights</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1.) The majority of the characters are kids, a death knell to many a movie or TV show. Sure, most of the important actors were in their
early twenties when they were cast to play high-schoolers but still, young
actors are about as big of a wildcard as you can get in the making of a hit
show.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">2.) <i>FNL</i> is
essentially an ensemble and given the tight budget a show like this is handed,
virtually ALL of the actors were completely unknown. Kyle Chandler (Coach Eric
Taylor) was the lead in <i>Early Edition</i>
but I think he and almost everyone else would like to strike that from the
record. Taylor Kitsch (Tim Riggins) had one episode of <i>Kyle XY</i>
under his belt. And Minka Kelly (Layla Garrity) was working as a scrub nurse,
for goodness sake. It didn’t quite come down to taking people off the street
but that’s not far from the truth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">3.) The cast almost completely turned over after three
seasons. As with any high school-related show, the issue of what you do when
the kids graduate was a big one and the decision to bring in a new class was as
dangerous as it gets. How many high school shows have <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iUsu7mFA-s">attempted this</a> and
failed? Answer: ALL OF THEM.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Considering all of these challenges, what Berg and Lowry
did in putting the cast of <i>Friday Night
Lights</i> together is almost unheard of. Needing to fill spots for a litany of
important characters and armed only with the “name value” of the dude from <i>Early Edition</i>, they meticulously combed
through thousands of audition tapes and selected the right person for EVERY.
SINGLE. ROLE. I’m not sure that feat completely registered for me until season
four when “the new class” rolled in. Having grown insanely attached to the
characters from the original cast, I was wary of these new interlopers and
their different school and their lack of proper respect for Coach Taylor. And
by the end of the first episode I was once again hooked. That just doesn’t
happen, guys. You don’t take a handful of characters that everyone loves
deeply, phase them out, and the replace them with a new set that is possibly
even more relatable. Those newbies, also a batch of complete unknowns, all hit
their marks beautifully and immediately made the show their own. I feel good in
saying that in casting the 50 or so characters that really mattered over the
course of five seasons, the only misstep Berg and Lowry made was Gracie Bell
and her <a href="http://doesthismakemeabadperson.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/benjamingracie.png">seriously unfortunate forehead</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">THE PILOT</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The first point for which <i>FNL</i> must be commended for is the pilot. More often than not, pilot
episodes suck. There’s really no other way to put it. Many of my favorite shows
have miserable pilots. (See: <i>Community</i>.)
It’s just an expected thing in Hollywood. The pilot is designed to paint a
picture about what the show will be in the broadest stroke possible, in the
hopes that a wide ranging audience will come back for the subsequent episodes.
Very few shows come out of the gate with a bang and those that do stick with
you for a very long time. The pilots for <i>Arrested
Development</i>, which set the stage for the many absurdities that were to come
perfectly, and <i>The Shield</i>, in which
we see the clash between good cop and bad illustrated with ruthless flair, are
two examples that stand out as immense successes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Friday Night
Light’s</i> pilot is the best I’ve ever seen and it is even better looking back
at the whole of the show’s run. Berg (who directed the pilot) was able
to do more with five minutes and perhaps 10 lines of dialogue than most dramas
can cover in a half season in terms of laying character ground work. By the
first commercial break, you feel as if you know exactly who all of the key
players are and how their on screen lives will play out. You can play “High
School Label Bingo” with this cast and in quick succession mark off all the
important boxes. “You’re the drunk, you’re the jock, you’re the golden boy,
you’re the whore…” and on down the list. This allows the viewer to immediately
begin making connections to the character of his/her choice and moreover, each
character is almost instantly tagged with the appropriate label that they carry
with them and the baggage that comes along with it. Within five minutes and
very limited exposition, you know all you need to know about Tim Riggins to understand his starting point.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Moreover, this sense of familiarity that you get from the
pilot sets you up perfectly for the script to be flipped, which is exactly what
Berg set out to do. In that Grantland article, Berg says he intended to set up
Jason Street (Scott Porter) as some sort of all-American, golden boy… <span style="line-height: 115%;">“and
then demolish him.”</span> In 40 minutes, Street goes from a small town hero on a sure path
to the NFL to a vegetable. You can feel it coming and you know something is
afoot but it’s still a shocking, sobering turn of events. In so many ways, what
happens to Street is just an allegory for what will happen to the entire cast
over the course of five seasons. Berg places each of his characters in these
little cookie cutter boxes and then proceeds to break them out in a way that
very few shows are capable of. But speaking specifically for the pilot, the
drama that unfolds in the final five minutes is gripping, engrossing, and rife
with a level of emotionalism that you just don’t feel in a pilot. The cuts from
the game to Street’s surgery to the gathering of the players outside the room,
all backed by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnP-4WygOeg">one of the greatest voiceovers EVER</a>…it’s an exquisite episode
that immediately sucks you into the show whether you want to be or not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE VALUE OF SPORT</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This point is very personal for me. As I said before, the
portrayal of sports in TV shows is usually a cringe-inducing experience for me.
I grew up in sports, I work in sports, and if there is any worldly thing I love
more than movies and TV, it is sports. Because of this, anytime a show ventures
into the sporting world, I key in on every single flaw. I notice if the jerseys
are the wrong color, if the equipment looks cheap, if the court has been
shrunk, etc. I often (and perhaps unfairly) hold sports movies to a much higher
standard than I do, say, a movie about journalism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I cannot remember a TV show that handled its sporting
content with as much respect as <i>FNL </i>does.
The on-field action is consistently stellar and only slightly “moviefied.” That
is to say, pretty much everything that happens on the field is within the realm
of possibilities. The clock may not always run in real time and
certainly, the Dillon Panthers lead the world in last second victories but it
all looks real and I can’t really think of anything that happens that you would
have to call completely bogus. It’s much more than the appearance of the game
action, however. The true value of sport cannot be found in just the winning or
the losing; it is found in the playing, in the work, in the preparation, and in
the aftermath. That’s where most sport-related shows miss the mark:
they’ll show the triumph of victory and the heartbreak of defeat, but they
struggle in delving into the concept of growing through the process of playing
a sport.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>FNL</i>, on the
other hand, thrives in this department. Football is used as a conduit to show
the struggles, the victories, and the growth of a set of boys as they become
men. This allows not only for character development and plot exposition, but it
also gives <i>FNL</i> a sense of sporting
authenticity that you very rarely see. Winning and losing is balanced by the
concepts of brotherhood, responsibility, maturity, the facing of adversity, etc.
that come along with sport. You get to see just how important a coach can be to
a player and the difference one man/woman can make in the lives of dozens of
others. And sure, we’ve undoubtedly romanticized the value of sport but
regardless, it’s a feeling imbedded in each and every sports fan and no show
puts that on display better than <i>FNL</i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">“TEXAS FOREVER”,
FAITH, and FAMILY</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I think all three of these topics fit together nicely in
regards to <i>FNL</i>. In the aforementioned
pilot, Tim Riggins raises his beer in toast and simply says, “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBGRySnw5Sk">Texas forever</a>.”
That’s a sentiment that I, as a born and raised Texan, can easily embrace and
I’m definitely not alone in that. Very few states (or nations, for that matter)
have as much pride as we do and while that’s got to be a total beating to the
rest of you (which I completely and totally understand, by the way) it’s
unlikely to change anytime soon. That said, so many Texas-related movies and
shows fall into one of two camps: either they’re disparaging toward our state
(I'm talking to you, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSIOb7UGDkI">Courtney Kerr</a>)
or they’re so Texas-centric that no one else can embrace them. The 2004 version
of <i>The Alamo</i> is one of my favorite
films but there’s no way anyone from outside the state of Texas could enjoy it.
<i>FNL</i> paints an accurate picture of
small town Texas without fervently (and annoyingly) preaching its merits to
“outsiders” or treating its subjects as a bunch of backwater, goat roping
hillbillies. That’s quite a rare combination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">One way in which this fair treatment of Texas culture is
illustrated is in the presentation of faith within <i>FNL</i>. Whether you yourself hold any sort of spiritual beliefs or
not, the majority of the humans in this state would count themselves as
“Christians” or “believers” if you were to conduct a census. That percentage
jumps up quite significantly when you venture into small town Texas. As such,
most of the characters in <i>FNL</i> hold some
sort of faith and many actively engage with that faith on some level. Minus a
somewhat strange tangent for Layla Garrity, you can’t consider any of the
characters Bible thumpers or people who express their faith in a Tebownian
fashion, but the sentiment, the presence of faith and spirituality, runs
through many aspects of the show. Church going is a way of life, the players
frequently engage in the obligatory pre-game prayer, etc. and I think the
showrunners did an excellent job of showing that without preaching for it or
against it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mhlfjlDX8Lo/UFwQrWzKS_I/AAAAAAAADz4/oJa_MF6yDV4/s1600/FNL5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mhlfjlDX8Lo/UFwQrWzKS_I/AAAAAAAADz4/oJa_MF6yDV4/s400/FNL5.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve made no secret of my own faith, either in my
personal life off the internet or in this space here. I’m a Christian and I
work for a church. That said, I don’t need the overt expression of faith or
spirituality in a movie or TV show in order to get on board. In fact, more
often than not it makes me quite uncomfortable as it is usually displayed in a
way that either demeans anyone of a different faith (or no faith) or, much more
common, demeans the faithful themselves as dimwitted or foolish for being
spiritual. Within the confines of <i>FNL</i>,
Christianity simply <b>IS</b>. It’s a part
of life on the show because in small town Texas it most certainly <b>IS </b>a part of life and <i>FNL</i> not only allows that to exist but
casts it in a light that I would think even the most staunch Christian and the
most staunch atheist could accept. I have no idea what Peter Berg’s personal
faith is and frankly, I don’t care as it pertains to this show; what he (and
everyone involved with the show) chose to do with <i>FNL </i>was to keep it genuine, and genuine calls for a fair, balanced
approach to this topic. And as a real student of this subject, I'd say that's a rare feat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>FNL</i> took this
presence of Southern/Texas/Downhome sensibility to another level whenever it
chose to tackle the concept of family. I am keenly aware that to this point in
this column, I have described some aspect of this show as, “the best I’ve ever
seen” or something similar. I know, but I’m going to do it again and this
probably won’t be the last time. There have been any number of TV shows over
the last 20 years that have focused in heavily on the family dynamic and many
have done so quite well. But very, VERY few have ever taken it on with the
fierce accuracy or balance the way <i>FNL</i>
did. Good or bad, family plays into almost every ounce of our being in some way
or another and <i>FNL</i> showed that
brilliantly. Any number of difficult things happen throughout the course of the
show’s five seasons: divorce, death, unplanned pregnancy, alcoholism, and on
down the line. You name it and the show handled it at some point. And in almost
every case, the role of family comes into play in the way each issue is tackled
and that’s not always a good thing (and for many of the characters, it’s NEVER
a good thing). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>FNL</i> takes the
concept of family to a whole other level, though, when you start to look at the
role of surrogate family within the walls of the show. I have always gravitated
to characters (and the movies and shows in which they exist) that form
surrogate families with those around them to replace the lack of relationships
they have with their biological family. <i>Boy
Meets World</i> contains one of the best examples of this as Shawn Hunter
(Rider Strong) literally <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbddQOjPosg#t=10m55s">became a part of the Matthews family</a> over the course
of the show’s seven seasons. As a teenager I became keenly aware that, for me
at least, the concept of “family” is much more fluid than just blood and quite
frankly, the bond of blood doesn’t hold a candle to the bond of experience. <i>FNL</i> plays directly into this on a
consistent basis. Players form familial units with other players through the
challenges of football; Billy Riggins (Derek Phillips) steps in as a caretaker
for a teenage girl he doesn’t really even know; and at the forefront of it all,
Eric and Tami Taylor become the parents for a host of kids who come through
their programs, some of whom have no one at home to guide them and some who
have great home lives but simply need that extra bond. It’s not as if this is a
new concept to television, but it is handled with a subtlety and nuance that
most shows do not have. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">CHARACTERS</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Recently I read a review of <i>The Princess Bride</i> and told the reviewer that for me, the best
thing about the movie is that it’s difficult to choose my favorite character. “I
think it’s probably Inigo but Fessik is glorious and oh, then there’s Miracle
Max…” Watching all 76 episodes of <i>FNL</i>
involved having that exact discussion with myself 76 times. Ask ten <i>FNL</i> fans who their favorite character is
and you’re likely to get ten different answers. Contrast that with other great
network TV dramas. Who’s your favorite character in <i>24</i>? If it’s not Jack Bauer the only other acceptable answer is
Chloe. What about <i>The X-Files</i>? Mulder
or Scully, right? (And be honest, if someone answers Scully you judge them a
little.) There’s no clear cut answer with <i>FNL</i>
and that is a testament to the strength of every person who happens to pass
through Dillon, Texas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is where <i>FNL </i>really
separates itself from the pack. You could create a show with all of these other
elements; you could cast perfectly, shoot a killer pilot, and handle all of
your various subjects in uncanny fashion. But if your characters aren’t great,
your show will eventually (or immediately) fall flat. And by great, of course I
mean, “Otherworldly good in such a way that you will spend the rest of your
life trying to decide which one is your favorite.” Tami Taylor is one of the
strongest female characters you’ll ever see on screen. Few characters progress
and mature the way Billy Riggins does. Vince Howard (Michael B. Jordan) perfectly
personifies that kid that everyone knew growing up who just needed to catch one
break in life. The desire to root for a given character has rarely been more
universal than it is for Tim Riggins. And Coach Taylor…well, Coach Taylor might
just be the best person in the world, fictional or otherwise. That doesn’t even
take into account Layle, Buddy Garrity (Brad Leland), Matt Saracen (Zach
Gilford), Landry Clarke (Jesse Plemons), Tyra Collette (Adrianne Palicki), and
a literal host of others who might very well be the best character on any other
program.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Finding a weak link amongst these characters is a tall
order. For the sake of this piece, I spent quite a bit of time looking back on
and sorting through all the characters looking for a miss, for a character that
doesn’t measure up to the standards set by the rest of the field. I came up
empty. If I had to pick a player from the original cast who doesn’t quite fit,
I guess I would choose Smash Williams (Gaius Charles) who I consider to be a
little shallower than the rest, but even still, Smash is a superb creation.
With almost every other show that I love or have loved through the years I can
go through and pick out at least one character that I could live without. The
aforementioned Kim Bauer is a total wreck, Paul Kinsey (Michael Gladis) whipped
the fire out of me on <i>Mad Men</i>, and
Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate) routinely destroyed any sort of momentum <i>The Office</i> managed to create for itself
last season. But from both a quality and quantity standpoint, <i>FNL</i> is essentially flawless in this
department across the board. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">These are rich, weighty characters that we’re dealing
with here and that, combined with the aforementioned strength of the pilot,
creates an atmosphere that almost forces you to buy in, to <b>INVEST<i> </i></b>in the characters
and by proxy, the show. And it only gets better from there. <i>FNL</i> does in one, maybe two, episodes
what some shows that I love have struggled to do over the course of several
seasons. The characters are meticulously and ingeniously crafted and perhaps
even more ingeniously written from week to week. I (and everyone else I’ve ever
spoken to about the show) care about the residents of Dillon, Texas in a manner
that should probably be reserved only for close personal friends and immediate
family members. I had trouble sleeping one night because in the episode I
finished up with that night, Tim Riggins found himself in yet another batch of
trouble and I couldn’t help but worry about him no matter how idiotic that may
sound. That sense of family and brotherhood that <i>FNL</i> builds between its characters is extended lovingly toward the audience
and after a few hours you feel as much as part of Coach Taylor’s team as anyone
actually wearing that uniform.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Moreover, the relationships formed between the characters
stand as some of the most compelling examples of human interaction that I’ve
ever seen. Saracen cares for his challenging grandmother; Billy Riggins takes responsibility
for Tim Riggins who in turn takes responsibility for Becky Sproles (Dora
Madison Burge); and Tyra finds familial stability through her admittedly
awkward relationship with Landry. At the forefront of it all is the
relationship between Eric and Tami, a “marriage of equals” if ever there was
one. Over and over these characters are put in tough, real-life situations and
time and time again, they cling to each other, sometimes willingly, sometimes
begrudgingly, but always they come together. Through it all the characters are
enriched both individually and cumulatively and as such, their relationship
with the audience is deepened week by week. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6p149AxB1a4/UFwRgFCs6TI/AAAAAAAAD0I/CL-WxGZJMrw/s1600/FNL7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6p149AxB1a4/UFwRgFCs6TI/AAAAAAAAD0I/CL-WxGZJMrw/s400/FNL7.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s also important to note the “goodness” of essentially
every character that exists in the <i>FNL </i>universe.
To a man, and woman, the people of Dillon have incredibly good hearts and a
serious streak of morality runs through the town. That’s not to say that every
character makes the right decision every time or that everything that takes place in the show is "wholesome." In fact, when watching <i>FNL</i> you consistently find yourself
begging one character or another to not screw up again. But you never question
their hearts or their inherent goodness. (Except for <a href="http://benignhumor.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/friday-night-lights-182.jpg">JD McCoy</a>, of course. I
think we can all agree, that little turd can just die.) That’s a refreshing characteristic in a show of this depth when compared to the other high quality shows
of the day. If you asked me to name the best show currently on TV, I would say
it’s a toss-up between <i>Mad Men </i>and <i>Sons of Anarchy</i>. My admiration for both
of those shows and the characters within them is unquestionable and I
thoroughly appreciate their many merits. But the fact of the matter is, every
character on those shows is a terrible person. Don Draper (Jon Hamm) might be
the best character currently on television, and I love him, but he’s a
miserable human being and that’s not up for debate.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Contrast that with Coach Taylor: he’s a hard man with an
intensity akin to that of Draper and a man who is quite honestly an incredible
pain to live with; he’s not a guy that you want to cross. And yet, over and
over again, Coach Taylor comes to the aid of anyone who happens to come across
his path. You need a place to crash when you get kicked out of your house?
There’s a sleeping bag in the garage. Your dad was just killed in combat? Guess
who’s there to provide comfort. You need someone to be a character witness at
your trial? Boom, Coach Taylor in the house. He doesn’t always want to be the
good guy; there are plenty of times when it is abundantly clear that he would
like to do nothing but focus on the upcoming football game which will, you
know, decide whether or not he has a job next year, and yet he goes to aid of
his third string quarterback because, at the end of the day, he’s the world’s
greatest man. And sure, that sort of morality would never fly in the dark and
shady world of Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce but in the world of <i>FNL</i>, Coach Taylor stands as the anchor
for everyone else and his goodness often holds the whole thing together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">(NOT SO) CLEAR
EYES, FULL HEARTS, CAN’T LOSE</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As far as heterosexual males who do not have hormonal
imbalances go, I’m probably in the 99<sup>th</sup> percentile of “frequent
movie criers.” There are any number of things that can tear me up: kid stuff,
war stuff, sports stuff, especially dog stuff, you name it and it’s likely that
at some point I’ve gotten choked up about it in the context of a movie. If my
life was <i>The Sting</i> and the director
of an emotionally impactful film was Johnny Hooker, I would be described as an
easy mark. For a long time I fought this affliction but now I embrace the
madness (or the sadness, as it were) and don’t shy away from that which makes
me weep because more often than not, the payoff for emoting is worth it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This weekend I finished making my way through the </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">FNL</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> series. I cried. No, that’s not the
correct term. More like, I wept like a small girl whose puppy had just been run
over by a garbage truck…on her birthday. That’s fitting, considering I’ve given
more tears to </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">FNL</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> over the course of
my viewing than any other TV show or movie I’ve ever had the pleasure of
involving myself with. No network TV drama that I’ve ever seen has been as
affecting, as personal, or quite simply, as GOOD as </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">FNL</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> is. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Sure,
there are some missteps along the way (*cough* Season Two shenanigans*cough*)
but every show goes through some growing pains and the writers did an amazing
job of getting themselves out of the various jams that come up over the course
of five seasons. <i>FNL </i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">stands out as </span><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i>special</i>, </b><span style="font-family: inherit;">as an example of just how
much you can accomplish with something as dumb as a TV show.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">There’s a distinct and lingering impact that <i>FNL</i> leaves on its viewers. At a wedding
last year I mentioned it in passing to a friend I hadn’t talked to in a while
and we were immediately swamped by a set of passerbys who desperately needed to
join in the conversation and compare experiences. It’s like we’re all members
of this little club that went through a serious ordeal, some of it great and
some of it heartbreaking, and to pass up the opportunity to discuss it would be
a crime. </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">I
now spend time thinking that if Coach Taylor had been my coach for literally
anything I would a professional at whatever he was coaching me at right now. I
have debated with other viewers whether, at heart, we should consider ourselves
<a href="http://www.myteespot.com/images/Images_d/img_VqOAZv.jpg">Panthers</a> or <a href="http://www.search4tshirts.com/product_images/c/477/NBC249-JS__56966_zoom.jpg">Lions</a>. And if and when my wife and I are blessed with a male child,
there’s a better than zero chance that his middle name will be Riggins. From
episode one to episode 76, </span><i style="line-height: 115%;">FNL</i><span style="line-height: 115%;"> is as
good as it gets, a show that I will undoubtedly watch over and over again, and
one that I honestly feel has left me a slightly better person than I was when
before I watched. (Now how’s that for hyperbole?)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pZHXQ698Ok&feature=related">Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose.</a> </span></span>Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-25684531580874411412012-09-20T01:56:00.001-05:002012-09-20T01:56:33.892-05:00In Home Viewings: "The Pirates! Band of Misfits"The Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) wants more than anything
to be respected in the pirate community. A consistent underdog, the Captain
once again enters the race for the Pirate of the Year award before being blown
away by the stout competition. Determined to change his fortune, the Captain
and his crew set out on a series of misadventures that fail to bring home the
booty they had expected. Desperate and downtrodden, the crew comes across a
lonely scientist who turns out to be none other than Charles Darwin (David
Tennant). Darwin informs the Captain that his parrot, Polly, is actually the
last remaining dodo bird. Sensing an opportunity to make his fortune, the
Captain enters Polly in a scientific contest, unwitting opening himself up to
the ire of Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton).<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Admittedly I am not in the target audience for <i>The Pirates! Band of Misfits</i>. I am not a
child nor do I have children and more importantly, I’ve never been a big fan of
the previous Peter Lord and Jeff Newitt collaborations. While I respect the <i>Wallace and Gromit </i>films and <i>Chicken Run</i>, I haven’t found a reason to
fully buy into any of these movies and I’ve certainly never held much
excitement for them. The style of animation is cool in a retro, simple sort of
way but quite honestly, I’ve found all of the Lord-Newitt films to be boring
and unfunny. Frankly, I’d given up on these collaborations entirely before <i>The Pirates</i>. The trailer piqued my
interest though and I ended up being genuinely intrigued by the time I got
around the seeing it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As is the case far too often, however, almost all of the
parts I really enjoyed about <i>The Pirates</i>
found its way into the blasted trailer and therefore fell flat in the context
of the film. There are a few more laughs here and there but for the most part,
if you saw the trailer (and how could you avoid it, honestly, given how
fervently the studio pushed it) then you’ve already cashed in most of the movie’s
bigger chips. The monkey who communicates through humorous cards, the misguided
pirating shenanigans, the sea monster bit, etc. all of the funnier bits can be
found in the three minute preview. On the flip side, much of the film’s plot is
completely unexpected and the tone is significantly different than what I
imagined going in. The Darwin component caught me off guard and the twist that
he initially brings to the table is great. But those plot points are almost
always swallowed up by the lack of interest that began brewing within me from
very beginning.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The Pirates</i>
definitely has a British sensibility at its core and that comes in to play in
terms of the unhurried, meticulous way in which Lord and Newitt take the audience
through the narrative. I love British films and television shows and I
thoroughly appreciate the detailed way that British filmmakers tend to tell
their story. But good grief, that style just doesn’t work at all in a kid’s
film. I cannot imagine any of the kids I work with even sitting through <i>The Pirates</i> let alone coming away
impressed. I laughed a few times and I enjoyed the handful of obligatory
adult-themed bits, but I had to work to get through this film more than I ever
should when watching an 88 minute kid’s movie.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-11987085094441523252012-09-18T01:46:00.003-05:002012-09-18T01:46:54.280-05:00Review: "Premium Rush"<span style="font-family: inherit;">I confess, dear readers, that I am having quite a
difficult time figuring out what to write about </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Premium Rush</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">. I usually spend a couple of days after I see a movie
planning out my thoughts, letting everything gestate, coming up with an opening
paragraph/personal anecdote to tie it altogether and then bust that sucker out.
Well I’ve tried this time around and have put off writing my review far too
long as a result. And I just don’t have it. </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Premium
Rush</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> is a movie that involves absolutely no personal connection with the
audience on any level and that is both the best and worst thing about it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a bit of a wild man and a
free spirit, a guy who can’t imagine being locked away inside concrete walls.
Despite having gone to law school, Wilee makes his living as a bike messenger
in New York City and has earned a reputation for himself as the fastest rider
and the guy who takes the most chances to get his packages delivered. Things
get serious for Wilee, however, when he takes a package from Nima (Jamie
Chung), an old friend whose envelope holds far more importance than Wilee could
know. He is soon accosted by Bobby Monday (Michael Shannon) who demands he hand
over the package, leading to a chase through the city as Wilee attempts to make
his delivery. But the plot thickens when Wilee discovers that Monday isn’t just
a random nut job, but instead a corrupt cop on a desperate mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f6jMCPL0UMg/UFgYoXhXyCI/AAAAAAAADuQ/mgGsqNGFzQg/s1600/premium-rush-poster.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f6jMCPL0UMg/UFgYoXhXyCI/AAAAAAAADuQ/mgGsqNGFzQg/s400/premium-rush-poster.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Show me the person who saw that trailer for <i>Premium Rush</i> when it started making the
rounds last year and was excited for the movie and I’ll show you a liar. This
movie looked downright terrible and every time I saw it I got a little more
confused as to why Joseph Gordon-Levitt allowed himself to be sucked into it.
Surely this was a movie that had been sitting on a shelf for years, waiting for
the day when the studio could capitalize on Gordon-Levitt’s eventual star power.
Regardless of your opinion of the movie, you have to admit this was a strange
career choice for Gordon-Levitt. In the midst of a two year span in which he
will play prominent roles in <i>Inception,
50/50, The Dark Knight Rises, Looper, </i>and <i>Lincoln</i>, there will forever be a space left for <i>Premium Rush</i>, or as it will surely come
to be known as, “That Bike Movie.” This is odd to say the least, especially
coming from an actor who has displayed incredible decision making abilities (I
think we can all forgive him for <i>G.I. Joe</i>,
right?). As such, I was thoroughly confused by this film as its release date
approached and even more confused once the positive reviews started pouring in.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Once I finally got into the theater and the film began to
roll, I went through three stages of experience with <i>Premium Rush</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1.) I started out skeptically, looking at the film
through what I’m sure were furrowed brows, trying to ascertain what in the name
of <i>Angels in the Outfield</i> was going
on. “How did this script ever get the green light?” is a question that came to
mind more than once in the opening 15 minutes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">2.) After this initial bout of “I don’t believe this is
good”, I came around to what director David Koepp was trying to do and
half-enjoyed myself. Clearly no one involved with this production was taking
himself too seriously and as a result, there’s a carefree atmosphere that
inhabits the middle portion of the film. It is just this side of a B movie and
there’s a lot of fun to be had when you embrace that mindset.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">3.) After the B movie euphoria wore off, I became keenly
aware that I was watching a movie about a group of people who ride bikes for a
living and speak about it as if they had a societal value akin to doctors and
then I wanted it all to be over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There’s definitely some fun to be had with <i>Premium Rush</i> and it certainly isn’t
nearly as bad as I expected it to be. Gordon-Levitt is a favorite of mine and
as such, I enjoyed his work here even if it was perhaps the most
inconsequential thing he’s ever been a part of. Shannon, though, is without
question the best part of the movie. His take on the cliché tough guy crooked
cop is kind of genius and he seems to be having a good time. You know he’s in
on the joke and that makes the seriousness with which he treats Detective
Monday thoroughly enjoyable. Beyond the presence of these two stars, however,
there’s really nothing about <i>Premium Rush
</i>that makes it special or, much more disappointing to me, even rewatchable. The
best niche this movie could have carved out for itself would have been in the
guilty pleasure category but it never manages to scrape together enough
enjoyability to allow it to inhabit such territory.</span></span><br />
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Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-67810918957859331242012-09-17T00:23:00.002-05:002012-09-17T00:23:59.543-05:00The Week That Was and the Week That Will Be - 9/17The long-awaited <a href="http://www.slashfilm.com/godzilla-dated-for-may-2014/"><i style="font-weight: bold;">Godzilla</i> reboot</a> will hit screens in May, 2014. To me, this is an example of when remakes are worthwhile. The last <i style="font-weight: bold;">Godzilla</i> was a mess that no one remembers so this is an opportunity to introduce a vaunted character to a new generation.<br />
<br />
In other remake news, the rights to <i style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Brave-Little-Toaster-Remake-CGI-Live-Action-Hybrid-With-An-iPhone-32951.html">The Brave Little Toaster</a></i> have been purchased and the reboot will be CGI and live-action and updated to include modern technology. Yes, you read correctly, <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Brave Little Toaster</i> is making a comeback.<br />
<br />
Donald Glover, for my money the best part of <i style="font-weight: bold;">Community</i>, has a <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/community-donald-glover-nbc-pilot-369891">project in development at NBC</a>, ostensibly to keep him with the network after <i style="font-weight: bold;">Community </i>is cancelled later this year (because we all know it's going to happen, sadly). Smart move for NBC. They inexplicably allowed Mindy Kaling to take her new project to FOX, thereby losing a claim on one of the more talented young comedians in the business. Locking up Glover makes a ton of sense.<br />
<br />
There will NOT be a <a href="http://www.slashfilm.com/nope-there-wont-be-an-extended-cut-of-the-dark-knight-rises-on-blu-ray-and-dvd/">director's cut of <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Dark Knight Rises</i></a> released on Blu-Ray and that makes me grumpy.<br />
<br />
Charlie Highmore will play Norman Bates in <a href="http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=35209">A&E's <i style="font-weight: bold;">Psycho</i> prequel series</a>. So the kid from <i style="font-weight: bold;">Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</i> will now play a legendary nutjob. This creeps me out perhaps more than it should.<br />
<br />
Marshall at Marshall and the Movies saw <i style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://marshallandthemovies.com/2012/09/12/killerjoe/">Killer Joe</a></i> so you didn't have to and rips it apart to boot. Good call, Marshall.<br />
<br />
With summer now in the rear view mirror, Steven at MovieMuse gives us his <a href="http://moviemusereviews.com/the-five-breakout-stars-of-summer-2012/">5 breakout stars of summer 2012</a>. Excellent list worth checking out.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B3dqcFjPhFQ/UFaykeaxIdI/AAAAAAAADsQ/p0K8dGI8EP8/s1600/Retribution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B3dqcFjPhFQ/UFaykeaxIdI/AAAAAAAADsQ/p0K8dGI8EP8/s400/Retribution.jpg" width="272" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>Weekend Box
Office Report</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I will say this about the people behind the <b><i>Resident
Evil</i></b> franchise: they excel at picking the right time to release their
films. Each of the last four installments have opened in mid-September, each of
them won the box office that week, and none of them have faced much in the way
of competition. <b><i>Afterlife </i></b>went head to head with the very un-American <b><i>The
American</i></b>, <b><i>Extinction</i></b> had only to tangle with <b><i>Good Luck Chuck</i></b>, a bad
film even by Dane Cook’s standards, and <b><i>Apocalypse</i></b> faced off against the
insanely forgettable <b><i>Cellular</i></b>. In the case of <b><i>Retribution</i></b>,
had it opened even a week later, there’s a good chance it would get lost in the
shuffle. But with only a re-release to counter it, the newest <b><i>Resident
Evil</i></b> took home a healthy if less than expected win despite probably
being a terrible movie. There’s some definite skill involved in picking the
right time to open.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Finding Nemo</i></b> continued a bad trend
for 3D re-releases, as each one that has come out of the Disney vault has fared
worse than the one before it. I have to believe this will eventually kill the
calendar of 3D re-releases. I’m conflicted on that point because I pretty much
hate 3D and think the fad needs to end but at the same time, I’m in favor of
studios re-releasing older films, even for limited engagements, to give people
a chance to see their favorite movies on the big screen, many for the first
time. Perhaps the key is to simply scrap the 3D element. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1. <b><i>Resident Evil: Retribution</i></b> - $21.1M<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">2. <b><i>Finding Nemo 3D</i></b> - $17.5M<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">3. <b><i>The Possession</i></b> - $5.8M ($41.16M<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">4. <b><i>Lawless</i></b> - $4.21M ($30.14M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">5. <b><i>ParaNorman</i></b> - $3.03M ($49.33M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">6. <b><i>The Expendables 2</i></b> - $3.03M ($80.29M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">7. <b><i>The Words</i></b> - $2.88M ($9.16M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">8. <b><i>The Bourne Legacy</i></b> - $2.87M
($107.81M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">9. <b><i>The Odd Life of Timothy Green</i></b> -
$2.51M ($46.28M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">10. <b><i>The Campaign</i></b> - $2.4M ($82.85M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>New to DVD and
Blu-Ray</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">During the doldrums of fall, when there are very few DVD
releases of note, I’m always thankful that A.) Football has started and B.) I
really enjoy watching TV on DVD. Otherwise, getting my entertainment fill from
the DVD rack would be nearly impossible. Other than the titles highlighted
below, most of this week’s new releases consist of TV crime procedurals,
imperfect indie films, and a set of thoroughly lackluster Blu-Ray horror flicks.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel</i> </b>– Judi
Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkerson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Katy Perry The Movie: Part of Me</i></b> –
Katy Perry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Hysteria</i> </b>– Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh
Dancy, Jonathan Pryce<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The Woman in the Fifth</i> </b>– Ethan Hawke,
Kristin Scott Thomas<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The Do-Deca-Pentathlon</i> –</b> Mark Kelly,
Steve Zissis, Jennifer Lafleur<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Supernatural: Season 7</i> </b>– Jared Padalecki,
Jensen Ackles<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The Mentalist: Season 4</i></b> – Simon
Baker, Robin Tunney<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Body of Proof: Season 2</i></b> – Dana Delaney,
Jeri Ryan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Hawaii 5-O: Season 2</i> </b>– Alex O’Laughlin,
Scott Caan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Halloween II</i> (1981)</b> – Jamie Lee
Curtis, Donald Pleasence<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The Devil’s Advocate</i> (1997)</b> – Keanu Reeves,
Al Pacino, Charlize Theron<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Ed Wood</i> (1994)</b> – Johnny Depp, Martin
Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Judge Dredd</i> (1995)</b> – Sylvester Stallone,
Armand Assante, Rob Schneider<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Queen of the Damned </i>(2002)</b> –
Aaliyah, Stuart Townsend<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>The Thing
Everyone Loved…Except Me</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Cabin in the Woods</i> – </b>Kristen Connolly,
Chris Hemsworth, Fran Kranz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I respect the crap out of Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard, and
everyone involved with <b><i>Cabin in the Woods</i></b>. They set out to
make a moderately budgeted, smart horror-comedy and they absolutely succeeded.
If I had to pick a horror-comedy to get behind, it would be this one but I
really, really do not care for this genre. I also though the big twist ending
was thoroughly unimpressive. If you like horror movies, though, this one is
chock full of classic scary movie staples and has a definite air of Whedonistic
fun. It’s just not for me. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>The Thing You
Should Watch</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Suburgatory</i>: Season 1 – </b>Jane Levy,
Jeremy Sisto, Cheryl Hines<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yes, the title of this freshman comedy is AWFUL. I
thoroughly agree and in fact, the title alone kept me away for the first few
weeks of its run last year. But when I did tune in, I found <b><i>Suburgatory</i></b>
to be a consistently funny, at times special comedy headlined by a star in the
making in Levy. Created by Emily Kapanek (who cut her teeth on <b><i>Parks
and Recreation</i></b>) and centering on a New York City high schooler and her
single father who move from the city to the suburbs, the show displayed some
serious promise that I can only hope is realized in the upcoming second season.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>The Thing That’s
Overrated But Is Still Pretty Good</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Modern Family</i>: Season 3 – </b>Ed O’Neill,
Ty Burrell, Sophia Vergara<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The first season of <b><i>Modern Family</i></b> is exquisite and the
second season is very, very good. But the third season, the year in which most
sitcoms take it another level, was uneven and showed some signs of an identity
crisis. There are so many quality parts of this ensemble and I felt like the
third season struggled in keying in on the better parts. Personally, I think
the strength of the show is in the male characters and yet too often they took
a backseat to those belonging to Vergara and Julie Bowen. It’s still a very
good show, though, and one that I enjoy week-to-week but not nearly as much as
I enjoy <b><i>Community</i></b>, <b><i>Parks and Rec</i></b>, etc. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: inherit;">New to Blu Pick
of the Week or Whenever I Feel Like It<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures </i>(1981-1989)
– </b>Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, John Rhys-Davies<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Let me tell you, I’ve been looking forward to this day
for a while now. In the pantheon of my all-time favorite films, both <b><i>Raiders
of the Lost Ark </i></b>and <b><i>The Last Crusade</i></b> each hold a
prominent place. <b><i>Temple of Doom</i></b> also has extreme “It’s Saturday and it’s raining
so I just want to lay here and half-pay attention to a fun movie” value. And as
we all know that’s where it ends. There are only three <b><i>Indiana Jones</i></b> films, two
great, one pretty good. There is no fourth film, no ill-conceived return from
retirement, no scenes of Indy and his little buddy swinging through the trees
with a horde of monkeys, no Area 51 nonsense, no weird room full of ancient
aliens that makes no sense whatsoever in any context, etc. It all ended,
wonderfully I might add, in 1989 and we never saw Indy again. (Lobotomy
complete.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b><u>Coming to a Theater Near You</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As noted previously, most of you didn’t get a chance to
see <b><i>The
Master</i></b> this weekend but the critics who did seemed to dig it as it
finished with an 87 percent Fresh rating compared to my 91 percent prediction.
Not too shabby. The newest <b><i>Resident Evil</i></b>, meanwhile, not only
won the (lackluster) box office but also managed to earn itself the highest
rating from the franchise, clocking in at 35 percent Rotten as opposed to the
22 percent prediction. Way to go, Alice! Now please stop. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I can’t say that I’m overly excited about any of the
films headed our way this week but at least we’re being given some stinking
options. I feel like the last two weeks have been a complete and utter waste of
time in this department and I’m starting to get withdrawals for having not been
in a theater in a while. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Dredd 3D</i></b> – Karl Urban, Olivia
Thirlby, Lena Headey<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In a post-apocalyptic America, a notorious peacekeeper
known as Judge Dredd (Urban) and his trainee (Thirlby) are sent into a
crime-riddled neighborhood to take down a drug lord (Headey). I was somewhat
excited about <b><i>Dredd</i></b> when it was announced but the trailer convinced me it
would be a more violent version of <b><i>Lockout</i></b> without Guy Pearce’s humor.
That, of course, sounds awful. And yet, the early reviews have been
overwhelmingly positive, earning <b><i>Dredd</i></b> a Certified Fresh rating
before it opens to audiences. So honestly, I don’t know what to tell you. <b>Rotten Tomatoes prediction: Fresh, 83%</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>End of Watch</i></b> – Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael
Pena, Anna Kendrick<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A pair of young police officers (Gyllenhaal, Pena) find
themselves marked for death after running afoul of a powerful cartel. I’m not
completely sure if <b><i>End of Watch</i></b> will employ the found footage technique or if it’s
just going to go the route of the shaky camera effect but whichever it is, this
is supposed to be a gritty police affair and it has impressed the first batch
of critics. For my part, however, I can’t find much interest within myself, due
in part to my dislike of Gyllenhaal and the fact that I feel like I’ve already
seen this movie tucked away within a dozen other gritty police dramas. <b>Rotten Tomatoes prediction: Fresh, 76%</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>House at the End of the Street</i></b> –
Jennifer Lawrence, Max Thieriot, Elisabeth Shue<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">After moving to a new town, a teenager (Lawrence)
befriends a neighbor (Thieriot) whose sister killed their parents. Scary
shenanigans ensue. I think this is a smart move on Jennifer Lawrence’s part as
she continues to prevent herself from becoming pigeonholed into one character
type or another. That said, <b><i>House</i></b> reeks of the sort of scary
movie clichés that I just can’t stand. <b>Rotten
Tomatoes prediction: Rotten, 37%<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Trouble with the Curve</i></b> – Clint Eastwood,
Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A longtime baseball scout (Eastwood) takes his daughter
(Adams) along for the ride on his final trip. On paper, you see this plot along
with a cast that includes Eastwood, Adams, Timberlake, John Goodman, and
others, and you immediately think “Oscar.” And then you see the trailer and you
realize it’s going to be the sort of over-written, smash you over the head with
emotion schlock that audiences sometimes buy but award committees HATE. I must
tell you, dear readers, the trailer for <b><i>Trouble</i></b> is one of the more painful,
embarrassing previews of the year. This looks HORRIBLE to me. <b>Rotten Tomatoes prediction: Rotten, 48%<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Also New: </b>An
introverted youngster (Logan Lerman) befriends two older youngsters in <b><i>The
Perks of Being a Wallflower</i></b>…A woman’s (Lynn Collins) life is changed at
just the right moment in the faith-based <b><i>Unconditional</i></b>…and <b><i>How
to Survive a Plague</i></b> takes a documentarian look at two groups who work
with AIDS sufferers. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-89018994498377763572012-09-13T02:33:00.000-05:002012-09-13T02:33:13.213-05:00In Home Viewings: "Bernie"<span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1998, an article in Texas Monthly magazine recounting
the very odd tale of Bernie Tiede (Jack Black) and Marjorie Nugent (Shirley
MacLaine), the elderly widow he murdered in 1996. A beloved member of the
community, Bernie had befriended Mrs. Nugent when no one else could (or would)
and eventually had become her daily companion despite their gap in age and
general phase of life. But as their relationship deepened, Nugent became more
and more possessive and abusive of Bernie, a soft spoken funeral director who never
could find a way to end their strange little relationship until the day he
finally snapped. Despite having a confession on file and a seemingly air tight
case, district attorney Danny Buck (Matthew McConaughey) came to fear that the
East Texas community would sympathize too much with Bernie, setting the stage
for the sort of quirky trial that is only befitting of such a strange story.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Without question, <i>Bernie</i>
is one of the weirder films I’ve seen in quite some time. Part re-enactment,
part documentary, director Richard Linklater (<i>Dazed and Confused</i>) excels in creating a surreal environment for
his film that continually keeps the audience off guard in a very endearing way.
Though the story is quite tragic, <i>Bernie</i>
is presented as a comedy and as odd as it may seem, that’s exactly the dynamic
that this tale needs. Considering the interviews with real townspeople who knew
Bernie and Nugent at the time, the tone of the film seems exceedingly
appropriate. It’s too weird to be presented as straight drama or tragedy and
doing so would have turned <i>Bernie</i>
into a Lifetime Movie of the week that no one (especially me) would pay
attention to. In a weird way, by approaching the subject matter from a comedic
perspective, Linklater allows for it to be taken seriously while also giving
his lead actors a chance to shine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m not sure when the last was that MacLaine did
something worthwhile but it’s safe to say it’s been a long time. As such, this
is a performance she can be exceedingly proud of as she brings Nugent to life
in exquisite detail. MacLaine forces you to both hate and sympathize for Nugent
and most importantly, she doesn’t let her character become completely inhuman,
a fact that honestly makes <i>Bernie</i> an
uncomfortable experience at times. It would be easier to laugh along with the
film if MacLaine wasn’t so good at making Nugent a tragic figure of sorts.
McConaughey, too, is quite believable and unendingly appealing for the first
time in many years. Given the critical acclaim McConaughey has garnered this
year, it has become apparent that I may have to retract at least a few of the
horrible things I’ve said about him over the years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The success of <i>Bernie</i>,
however, rests solely on the shoulders of Black, who comes through brilliantly
with what may very well be the best performance of his career. Very rarely have
I thought of Jack Black as a real <i>actor</i>.
Almost all of his roles, whether good or bad, come across as Jack Black, not as
a character portrayed by Jack Black. “Understated” has never been an adjective one
would use to describe Black’s performances but that’s exactly what this is.
Maybe for the first time ever, Black puts on the skin of another man and
manages to bring him to life in his own right. Bernie has many layers and Black
pulls each of them back expertly, providing laughs while still presenting him
as a tragic figure. If you’ve seen <i>Nacho
Libre</i>, <i>Be Kind Rewind</i>, or <i>Gulliver’s Travels</i> you may, like me,
find it hard to believe that Black is capable of genuine acting but this is a
fine example of what the man is truly capable of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Bernie</span></i><span style="line-height: 115%;"> doesn’t always plow forward with the same quirky
pace that is starts out with and as such, it does seem to drag a bit. Moreover,
it is at times difficult to completely enjoy the comedic aspects given the film’s
subject matter. But for what it is, <i>Bernie</i>
makes for a quality, seriously off-beat viewing that stands out in terms of
true uniqueness. </span></span><br />
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Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-32716154921397763382012-09-11T01:35:00.000-05:002012-09-11T01:35:01.052-05:00Review: "Lawless"I cannot tell you, dear readers, how much I wanted to
like <i>Lawless</i>. No, like is not the
correct term. Between the cast, the setting, and the delicious trailers, I
wanted to <i>LOVE</i> this movie. Instead, I
found myself focusing more and more on the film’s flaws and thinking about what
could have been than I did keying in on the positives. As such, <i>Lawless</i> stands as one of the most
disappointing films of the year for me and one that illustrates how only one or
two missteps can derail an entire film.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Set in Depression-era Franklin, Virginia<b><i> </i></b><i>Lawless</i> focuses on the Bondraunt family,
a set of brothers who have made quite a name for themselves as prominent
bootleggers. Forrest (Tom Hardy), a grizzled veteran with a litany of legends
attached to his name, is the patriarch and decision maker of the family, Howard
(Jason Clarke) stands as his enforcer, and as the youngest, Jack (Shia LaBeouf)
is mostly employed as a gopher, a role that leaves him appropriately
disenfranchised. When Forrest rejects the idea of paying a toll to the new law in
town, Special Deputy Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce) is brought in from Chicago to
crack some heads and force the Bondraunts to fall in line. But Rakes
underestimates the willpower of the Bondraunts and before long, their fight has
turned into an all-out war that speads across the county and puts anyone and
everyone in danger.<o:p></o:p></div>
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First off, it should be stated that even with the
complaints I am about to register, <i>Lawless</i>
is by no means a bad film. In truth, I very much admire the effort put forth
here to bridge the gap between summer blockbuster and award-caliber drama,
which (I think) was the goal here. It was a bold attempt even if it resulted in
a misfire. Most of the acting herein is exquisite, though should we expect
anything less from the likes of Hardy, Pearce, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain,
and Mia Wosikowski? Hardy and Chastain each give restrained but at times
magnetic performances that cannot be ignored. Oldman, though (thoroughly) underutilized,
brings great presence to his screen time and it is a treat to see the coolness
with which his character unleashes the beast in select circumstances. And
Pearce delivers the film’s greatest portrayal, instilling Rakes with a wicked,
diabolical streak of sheer evil that often drives <i>Lawless</i> when the narrative sputters. The audience immediately DESPISES
Rakes and that loathing kept me invested when I otherwise might have given up. Likewise,
the cinematography is excellent and the setting is so very appealing. Who among
us doesn’t love a good gangster film? There’s just something about the
Prohibition era that seems to suck us in. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But for me, so much of the good contained within <i>Lawless</i> is undermined, in equal
measurements, by the presence of Shia LaBeouf and the disjointed approach to
storytelling of John Hillcoat. Like his acting counterparts, LaBeouf is trying
and trying hard to give a great performance and if truth be told, it’s probably
his best work yet. Even still, at no point could I shake the feeling that I was
watching LaBeouf playing a character, rather than a character played by
LaBeouf. I think LaBeouf wants to be a good actor but I don’t think he is and I
found his presence incredibly distracting and mismatched in this setting. I can
only imagine how much better <i>Lawless</i>
would have been with someone like Joseph Gordon Levitt in the place of LaBeouf.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Just as LaBeouf is mismatched to the rest of the cast, so
too is Hillcoat to the overall goal of the film. A director with a flair for a
sprawling, even keeled approach to drama (see: <i>The Road, The Proposition</i>), going in I questioned whether Hillcoat
was the right man for the job of turning this movie into the audience-accepted,
modest blockbuster the studio clearly wanted it to be and I kept coming back to
that thought. The characters are yearning for development and yet most of them
are given only token backstories and then set aside in favor of more screen
time for LaBeouf. Oldman is barely used, Hardy’s character never gets a chance
to take off, and even Pearce’s development leaves us with far more questions
than answers. Moreover, the narrative is extremely slow to unfurl and takes far
too many headscratchingly unnecessary tangents that I can’t describe as
pointless but which could have been reworked to fit within the core storyline.
I’m all for a good slow burn that meticulously makes its way towards the finish
line but Hillcoat moves so slowly as to allow for both disinterest and
predictability. There is so much ground that could have been covered here but
instead the audience is given far more of Shia LaBeouf than any of us have ever
asked for. It’s a shame, really, because somewhere within <i>Lawless</i> is a GREAT film that would have dominated the award
circuit. It just isn’t <i>this</i> version
of the film.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nSSaSxZeOkM/UE0gY-VgQrI/AAAAAAAADm4/EH2In0lAdzs/s1600/2halfstars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="38" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nSSaSxZeOkM/UE0gY-VgQrI/AAAAAAAADm4/EH2In0lAdzs/s200/2halfstars.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-68307598870532541502012-09-10T02:36:00.000-05:002012-09-10T11:51:53.909-05:00The Week That Was and the Week That Will Be - 9/10<span style="font-family: inherit;">This wasn't my best week for staying atop movie news. Sorry about that. It was a weird week in real life this time around and that took some attention. Also, there were important things happening elsewhere, like the beginning of the NFL season which, of course, resulted in countless hours of fantasy football research. When you're a nerd, you're a nerd all the way. As such, I'm sure I missed important things this week but it did seem like most of the important stuff concerned screenings of some big movies at the Toronto International Film Festival. All those blurbs coming out of Toronto actually made me want to go to Canada for the first time in my life. (I'm kidding, Canada, your country is great, Nickelback aside.) Anyway, my bad on any missing, important news blurbs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jcTdhxS6bTw/UE1yoVXliwI/AAAAAAAADoo/tyhI7_lVUMI/s1600/MCD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jcTdhxS6bTw/UE1yoVXliwI/AAAAAAAADoo/tyhI7_lVUMI/s400/MCD.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">The big news of the week, sadly, is of the <a href="http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Green-Mile-Actor-Michael-Clarke-Duncan-Dead-54-32759.html">passing of Michael Clarke Duncan</a> at the age of 54. MCD had almost 100 credits to his name, most notably his incredible, Oscar-nominated performance in <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Green Mile</i>. Rest in peace, big guy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Tobey Maguire has been <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tobey-maguire-life-of-pi-oscar-367978">cut from Ang Lee's <i style="font-weight: bold;">Life of Pi</i></a>, a near lock for contention in the Best Picture race this season. Apparently, Maguire was too recognizable among a group of unknowns and Lee decided to go a different direction. </span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There is rumor of a <a href="http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Dark-Knight-Rises-Director-Cut-Rumored-Blu-Ray-32803.html">director's cut of <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Dark Knight Rises</i></a> coming to Blu-Ray and I've been salivating over it for days. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jeffrey Wright has taken on the role of <a href="http://www.slashfilm.com/jeffrey-wright-will-play-beetee-in-the-hunger-games-catching-fire/">Beetee in <i style="font-weight: bold;">Catching Fire</i></a>, the upcoming sequel to <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Hunger Games</i>. Great casting choice for one of the few remaining substantial roles. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-john-carter-director-20120908,0,1996908.story?page=1">Andrew Stanton talked to the LA Times</a> about his recent flop, <i style="font-weight: bold;">John Carter</i>, and the cost of doing business in Hollywood. I still say <i style="font-weight: bold;">John Carter</i> wasn't bad at all. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ruth at Flix Chatter has delivered this month's <a href="http://flixchatter.net/2012/09/05/five-for-the-fifth-september-2012-edition/">Five for the Fifth</a>. Head on over and give your answers! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
In accordance with the beginning of the NFL season, Fogs over at Fogs Movie Reviews gives us his <a href="http://fogsmoviereviews.com/2012/09/06/the-top-ten-sports-movies/">top 10 sports movies of all time</a>. Great list!<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>Weekend Box
Office Report</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">If your film tops the weekend box office but collects
under $10 million, do you still get to call it the number one film in America?
I say you should have to at least call it, “The Number One Movie in America By
Default.” Despite poor reviews, <b><i>The Possession </i></b>stays atop the box
office this weekend thanks in part to a complete lack of competition. <b><i>Lawless</i></b>
continued to underperform, leaving one to question whether John Hillcoat was
the best director for this sort of project in the first place. Our two new
films found almost as little favor with audiences as they did with critics
(more on that shortly) as <b><i>The Words</i></b> barely managed a $5
million pull and <b><i>The Cold Light of Day</i></b> couldn’t even break its way into the top
10, finishing up under $2 million (yikes). I gave my money to both <b><i>Lawless
</i></b>and <b><i>Premium Rush</i></b>, wasn’t impressed by either, and will not have to
find a way to crank out 600 words on both. Sigh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">1. <i>The Possession</i>
- $9.5M ($33.34M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">2. <i>Lawless</i> -
$6M ($23.52M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">3. <i>The Words</i> -
$5M<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">4. <i>Expendables 2</i>
- $4.75M ($75.41M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">5. <i>The Bourne
Legacy</i> - $4M ($103.7M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">6. <i>ParaNorman</i> -
$3.83M ($45.09M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">7. <i>The Odd Life of
Timothy Green</i> - $3.65M ($43M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">8. <i>The Campaign</i>
- $3.53M ($79.47M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">9. <i>The Dark Knight
Rises</i> - $3.28M ($437.84M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">10. <i>2016 Obama’s
America</i> - $3.28M ($26.08M)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oHwAh4ZvKhQ/UE1y6wkE2hI/AAAAAAAADow/qka9BWC2MUw/s1600/castle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oHwAh4ZvKhQ/UE1y6wkE2hI/AAAAAAAADow/qka9BWC2MUw/s400/castle.jpg" width="299" /></a></div>
<b><u><span style="font-family: inherit;">New to DVD<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>The Thing I'm Going to See</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Castle: Season 4</i> – Nathan Fillion, Stana
Katic, Molly C. Quinn</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As a general rule I am against the traditional
procedural. The method just doesn’t work for me. However, there have been
exceptions over the years and having just completed the first three seasons of <b><i>Castle</i></b>
in shotgun fashion, I’m willing to put this show in that category. The
week-to-week storylines are as lackluster as I imagined they would be (just
pull any plot from any crime-related drama and <b><i>Castle</i></b> has done it) but
the lead characters are outstanding. Gotta love ol’ Nathan Fillion and this is
a role custom made for him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>The Thing That
You Should See</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>30 Rock: Season 6</i> – Tina Fey, Alec
Baldwin, Tracy Morgan</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Big Bang Theory: Season 4</i> – Jim Parsons,
Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This week I offer the TV fans out there something for
everyone. If you’re a fan of the more progressive, witty sitcom then may I
suggest <b><i>30 Rock</i></b>, the closest thing we currently have to <b><i>Arrested
Development</i></b>. The sixth season was especially satisfying because the
back half of season five was a mess and I took great joy in seeing the show
return to its prominence. If you’re a fan of the more traditional sitcom, <b><i>Big
Bang Theory</i></b> is the perfect transition to the wittier programs the
networks currently have to offer. <b><i>BBT</i></b> is surprisingly smart, has a
solid storyline, and is exceedingly rewatchable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>The Thing You
Shouldn’t See</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><a href="http://thesoapboxoffice.blogspot.com/2012/06/review-snow-white-and-huntsman.html">Snow White and the Huntsman</a></i> – Kristen Stewart,
Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">You know, I didn’t hate this movie when I saw it earlier
this summer. But I’ve changed my tune. This movie sucks and moreover, it lacks
any semblance of significance. I’ve seen very few movies that simply sit around
and do nothing the way <b><i>Snow White </i></b>does. Add in Kristen
Stewart being oh so Kristen Stewart-y and Chris Hemsworth seeming bored throughout
and you’ve got a colossal waste of time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><u><span style="font-family: inherit;">Also New<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>What to Expect When You’re Expecting</i> –
Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Girl in Progress</i> – Eva Mendes, Cierra
Ramirez, Patricia Arquette<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Lola Versus</i> – Greta Gerwig, Zoe Lister
Jones, Hamish Linklater<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The Vampire Diaries: Season 3</i> – Nina Dobrev,
Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Spartacus: Vengeance: Season 2</i> – Liam McIntyre,
Katrina Law, Lucy Lawless</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Private Practice: Season 5</i> – Kate Walsh,
Taye Diggs, Tim Daly</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Blue Bloods: Season 2</i> – Donnie Walberg,
Bridget Moynahan, Tom Selleck</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Terra Nova: Series</i> – Jason Mara, Shelley
Conn, Stephen Lang<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Up All Night: Season 1</i> – Will Arnett,
Christina Applegate, Maya Rudolph<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><u><span style="font-family: inherit;">New to Blu<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Jeepers Creepers </i>(2001) – Justin Long,
Gina Philips, Jonathan Breck<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Firm</i> (1993) – Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn,
Gene Hackman<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Score </i>(2001) – Edward Norton, Robert
De Niro, Marlon Brando<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Titanic </i>(1997) – Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate
Winslet, Billy Zane</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><u><span style="font-family: inherit;">Coming to a
Theater Near You<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I hope none of you wasted your weekend at a movie this
weekend, dear friends. Both of the new films of the day found a way to finish
below a 20 percent rating with <b><i>The Words</i></b> scoring an abysmal 16
percent and <b><i>The Cold Light of Day</i></b> somehow outperforming it with a whipping
10 percent. You have to try hard to be that bad. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">September usually brings with it the not quite
blockbuster-y enough blockbusters and the not quite Oscar-y enough Oscar wannabes.
We’ve already seen <b><i>The Words</i></b> (which at some point aspired for award contention)
flop miserably and later this month we’ll get <b><i>Looper</i></b>, which I CANNOT
WAIT FOR but which is probably too confusing to be a summer blockbuster. This
weekend, though, we’ll get a treat in the form of a legitimate, strong, Best
Picture contender as well as one of the films that is sure to make everyone’s “worst
of 2012” list.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UcuJ-2mgfDo/UE1zKOfIWiI/AAAAAAAADo4/9CvsWHb_XJU/s1600/TheMaster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UcuJ-2mgfDo/UE1zKOfIWiI/AAAAAAAADo4/9CvsWHb_XJU/s400/TheMaster.jpg" width="272" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The Master</i> – Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A troubled veteran (Phoenix) has issues assimilating into
post-WWII society until he gets involved with a charismatic religious leader
(PSH). Based in part of the formation of Scientology, Paul Thomas Anderson’s
first film since 2007’s <b><i>There Will Be Blood</i></b> has received a
tremendous amount of attention and I must say, the studio (and Anderson
himself) has built the buzz over this one extremely well. More than anything
else, I’m most excited about seeing Phoenix in a role that has Oscar written
all over it. <b>Rotten Tomatoes prediction:
Fresh, 91%<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Resident Evil: Retribution</i> – Milla Jovovich,
Sienna Guillory, Michelle Rodriguez</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Alice (Jovovich) returns to kill zombie-things and stuff.
Gah, these movies are awful. AWFUL. The previous installments, of which there
are four, average a 25 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and that number seems exceedingly
high. Somehow I have seen all of these movies, usually after they’ve reached
HBO, but this is where I draw the line. No more, Milla Jovovich. <b>Rotten Tomatoes prediction: Rotten, 22%<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Also
New: <i>Finding Nemo </i></span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;">returns in 3D…An alumnus (Josh Radnor) and a
current student (Elisabeth Olsen) fall for each other at a professor’s
retirement party in <b><i>Liberal Arts</i></b>…A high powered broker (Richard Gere) finds himself
in trouble after some shady business dealings in <b><i>Arbitage</i></b>…A group of old
friends (including Channing Tatum) get together on the eve of their high school
reunion in <b><i>10 Years</i></b>…and Nicolas Cage does Nicolas Cage things in <b><i>Stolen</i></b>.</span></span>Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-1494237340601564792012-09-07T02:15:00.000-05:002012-09-07T02:15:14.110-05:00Review: "Searching for Sugar Man"This space is dedicated, more than anything else, to the
average moviegoer who doesn’t spend countless hours a week watching movies and keeping
up with industry information but simply wants a bit of knowledge before walking
in unaware to a given movie. As such, I usually go out of my way to avoid any
potential spoilers. Between trailers and the plethora of information available
at the touch of a smartphone, it’s difficult enough to successfully navigate
the spoiler-free world of movies and TV without me adding to the issue. Certain
films, however, are fundamentally impossible to properly discuss and dissect
(and therefore review) without throwing in a spoiler or two. Such is the case
with <i>Searching for Sugar Man</i>. Now, I
knew the “spoiler” I’m about to delve into going into this film and it
certainly didn’t hinder my experience. But even still, this is an outstanding
documentary that I will be encouraging everyone to see and if you feel a
story-related spoiler would damage your ability to enjoy it, please read no
further. You’ve been warned.<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In 1971, folk-rock musician Sixto Rodriguez released his second
and final American album on Essex Records out of Detroit. Upon selling
literally no copies of the record, Rodriguez was dropped from his label and
began a short existence as a struggling artist in the bar scene, a role that
didn’t suit him, and subsequently led to his on-stage suicide. A complete
failure on American soil, somehow Rodriguez’s debut album, “Cold Fact”, found
its way to South Africa and became a huge sensation to a country deeply divided
by the apartheid. Before long, Rodriguez’s songs became an anthem of sorts for
the lower class of South Africa and the middle class who supported the end of
the apartheid but lacked a rallying cry. The Rodriguez albums became more and
more popular, making him bigger than Elvis or The Beatles in South Africa
though almost nothing was known about the man. In the late 90s, a pair of
Rodriguez fans, Stephen Segerman and Craig Bartholomew-Strydom, sought to find
out more about their hero and what led to his untimely demise. Through a string
of strange events and many months of searching for information, the pair
finally broke their story wide open when they were put in touch with Rodriguez,
alive and well, making a living as a construction worker in Detroit. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aGqqZJVgoXE/UEmet199VYI/AAAAAAAADlQ/AP_VQpr4pGM/s1600/searching-for-surgar-man-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aGqqZJVgoXE/UEmet199VYI/AAAAAAAADlQ/AP_VQpr4pGM/s400/searching-for-surgar-man-poster.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
The story told in <i>Searching
for Sugar Man</i> is one that would be deemed completely unrealistic if it were
presented in a scripted drama. Stuff like this just doesn’t happen, even if
many of the events took place before the Internet boom. First of all, when you
hear the songs Rodriguez penned for his two albums (spliced in continually
through the course of the film), you find yourself completely shocked that the
guy didn’t make it here. Every record producer or former collaborator dug up by
director Malik Bendjelloul goes above and beyond in praise of Rodriguez, all of
them vexed as to why he never made an impact on the American charts. His songs
are reminiscent of the best of Bob Dylan, a soulful bluesy brand of folk that
pulls no punches in the writing and is backed by a rich, unique voice. Second,
the myth of what became of Rodriguez and his on-stage death was so widely
believed as to become written into the history books as fact. Everyone beyond
the handful of people actually connected to the man <i>knew</i> him to be dead. And third, the way in which this one man, of
all the bands and musicians from the era, became such an enduring sensation in
a foreign country, completely unbeknownst to him or really any of his inner
circle, is nearly beyond belief. Again, stuff like this just doesn’t happen. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The back half of the film centers on the rediscovery of
Rodriguez and his return to the stage in 1998. Footage from his six night
concert series in South Africa shows Rodriguez to be a proficient, comfortable
performer who was in no way intimidated by the throng of adoring fans that
flocked to the arenas. Even if <i>Searching
for Sugar Man </i>was a complete miss in every department, it would still be
worth the price of admission if only to see the reaction of the fans in the
packed house when their hero, long believed to be dead, took the stage for the
first time. It compares to Beatlemania, Bieber Fever, or any other
music-related madness that has gripped a nation. Inserted in amongst the
concert footage and the interviews with adoring fans and collaborators are
moments with Rodriguez and his three daughters, all of whom paint the same
picture of their father as a simple man who never needed the spotlight but nevertheless
graciously accepts it and thrives in it. At the time of filming, Rodriguez was
still working in the construction industry despite having to take occasional
leaves of absence to play sold out shows across the ocean. It is an almost
unbelievably surreal life that Rodriguez lives and yet it seems entirely
reasonable to the man and his kin. <o:p></o:p></div>
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From a filmmaking standpoint, <i>Searching for Sugar Man</i> isn’t flawless. Much of the post-production
value seems a bit dated or perhaps cheap and the built-in drama of what became
of Rodriguez didn’t completely work for me, though it did for others in my
party. Nevertheless, the story is such an engrossing one as to make up for a
multitude of sins and Bendjelloul does a masterful job of mixing the interviews
with his subjects in order to make Rodriguez’s tale a cohesive, multi-faceted
one complete with humor, tears, and a sense of sheer wonderment. This is a
triumphant film that deserves the award attention it is sure to get and one
that I hope many of you will seek out.</div>
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Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-1549505316743590242012-09-04T02:13:00.001-05:002012-09-04T02:13:53.521-05:00Review: "The Bourne Legacy"At times it can be difficult to admit one’s mistakes. We
like to think we’re right most of the time and even we aren’t, we often find
ways to excuse, justify, or brush off those mistakes. Today I must bite the
bullet and concede a lapse in judgment: I was wayyyy too excited about <i>The Bourne Legacy</i>. As a major fan of the
original trilogy, I got caught up in the excitement of a new film, the casting
of Jeremy Renner, and that magnificent tag line, “There was never just one.” I
got ahead of myself, named this movie as one of my top ten most anticipated of
the year, and let my expectations go unchecked heading into opening weekend. I
was wrong and that disappointment undoubtedly tainted my viewing of a film that
never quite measures up to what it could be.<br />
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Running concurrently with the events of <i>The Bourne Ultimatum</i>, <i>Legacy</i> finds the CIA attempting to tie
up all loose ends of their super-agent program known as Outcome that
essentially used Bourne to develop a scientific method for genetic
modification. All Outcome agents are quickly disposed of save for one: Aaron
Cross (Jeremy Renner), a rebellious sort of lone wolf who is suddenly forced to
go on the run and fight against the organization that made him who he is. In
need of a final genetic procedure, Cross travels across the country to come to
the aid of Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), an Outcome lab rat who has
herself run afoul of the CIA. With the head of the agency, Colonel Eric Byer
(Edward Norton), hot on their tails, Cross and Shearing make a trek across the
world in order to perform the procedure Cross desperately needs and give
themselves a fighting chance of taking on the CIA. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The best thing I can say about <i>The Bourne Legacy</i> is that it tries. It tries very hard, in fact.
Tony Gilroy, who wrote the screenplays for all of the previous <i>Bourne</i> films, clearly wants his film to
be better than the previous entries and the failures herein have nothing to do
with his effort. Likewise, the performances of the respective cast members are
all of high quality. Norton excels when given the opportunity though he is
underutilized and suffers from a character that should be bigger than it is.
Weisz proves herself a valuable member of the cast and supersedes the one dimensional
damsel in distress that I generally expect from this sort of role. Her character
has a purpose and she brings it to life appropriately. More than anyone else,
Renner acclimates himself to his role quite well and carries on in the
tradition of Jason Bourne with flair. Renner shows off a range of abilities
including action star potential and one scene in which he makes you forget you’re
watching a summer blockbuster and instead remember his Academy Award-nominated
turn in <i>The Town</i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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That’s about where the positives end, however. All of
Gilroy’s efforts to create a significant action thriller are for naught due to
the listless nature of the pace and the overly complex narrative that sucks the
life out of the better action sequences. <i>Legacy</i>
takes FAR too long to gain traction and start moving and once it does it’s
difficult as a viewer to switch gears. Gilroy needs a solid hour to explain his
plot before we can get down to the action-centric entertainment we expect from
this film. I can enjoy a complex action film as much as the next guy but
whereas the original <i>Bourne</i> trilogy
excelled in combining plot with action, <i>Legacy</i>
just stymies itself over and over. The script is kind of a mess to be honest
and plays out like the <i>Michael Clayton</i>
of Bourne films, a comparison that seems lazy considering that film is Gilroy’s
claim to fame but is also completely fitting. There are some great action
sequences in which Renner is fantastic but they are almost always swallowed up
by an abyss of boring and seemingly needless plot complications that don’t
serve a purpose. I believe Gilroy set out to make a thinking man’s action movie
and instead created an incredible film to nap through on a Sunday afternoon if
not for a few noisy interruptions. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As I seem to find myself typing far too often this year, <i>Legacy</i> isn’t a bad film. There are
inspired moments and I think it’s worth seeing if only to catch Renner upping
his physical game. Above all else, it lays the groundwork for future
installments in the series which I have to believe will be much better than
this one is and will hopefully bring Damon and Renner together for a round of
pure, unadulterated awesomeness.</div>
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Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-21914725915728177062012-08-31T01:56:00.000-05:002012-08-31T01:57:11.247-05:00Trailer Spotlight - 8/31It's been a few weeks since I've had the chance to do a Trailer Spotlight. We'll be playing a bit of catch up with some of the trailers I've missed recently but in order to keep this from getting too far out of hand I'm going to cap this session at five. For a complete recap of what we've missed lately, head over to The Focused Filmographer and browse through his <a href="http://thefocusedfilmographer.com/2012/08/30/trailer-time-thursday-8-30-12/">Trailer Time Thursday</a> posts. Great stuff there!<br />
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<b><i>Red Dawn </i>(November 21) - Chris Hemsworth, Adrienne Palicki, Josh Hutcherson</b><br />
If you haven't tracked the troubled history of <i style="font-weight: bold;">Red Dawn</i> over what seems like the last decade, you may not be as surprised as I am that this is finally finding its way to theaters. It was announced in 2008, began production in 2009, and was scheduled for release in 2010 before MGM ran into financial issues. It's been sitting on a shelf ever since, though n post production the baddies were changed from the Chinese to the North Koreans. This release date kind of came out of nowhere, too, as the studio backers felt (rightly so) that this was a weak Thanksgiving market and that <i style="font-weight: bold;">Red Dawn</i> could find some favor. The first trailer is in and I must admit it looks much better than I would have expected.<br />
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<b><i>Zero Dark Thirty</i> (December 19) - Chris Pratt, Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton</b><br />
It definitely won't be the only movie related to the events of Seal Team 6 and the killing of Osama Bin Laden but Kathryn Bigelow gets credit for being the first to put the story on the screen. I love what Bigelow did with <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Hurt Locker</i> and this cast is outstanding, even if it does lack a bankable star. We're not given much here but just from a patriotic standpoint, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Zero Dark Thirty</i> is likely to be a big hit.<br />
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<b><i>Seven Psychopaths </i>(October 12) - Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson</b><br />
If you're a fan of dark comedies and you haven't seen Martin McDonagh's <i style="font-weight: bold;">In Bruges</i> then you're doing things wrong. It's outstanding and it gets better upon further viewings. McDonagh re-teams with Farrell here and man, does this look good. And what a cast he's assembled this time around! PREDICTION: Tom Waits will steal the show in this film. Mark it down.<br />
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<b><i>The Company You Keep</i> (TBD) - Shia LaBeouf, Robert Redford, Anna Kendrick</b><br />
Wait. So you're telling me there are TWO movies this year in which a thoroughly undeserving Shia LaBeouf is being backed by a tremendous cast of much better actors? What's your deal, 2012? It's been over a decade since Redford has done much of anything worthwhile but at the end of the day, he's still Robert Redford and he can still get me to a theater just on the off chance that he nails it. <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Company You Keep</i> looks to have some potential but as with <i style="font-weight: bold;">Lawless</i>, it will probably come down to whether or not LaBeouf can not stink.<br />
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<b><i>The Last Stand</i> (January 18) - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Genesis Rodriguez, Forest Whitaker</b><br />
Oh boy, did I save the best for last. And by "best", I mean "really bad even for January." Having just come off of my <i style="font-weight: bold;">Expendables 2</i> viewing, I have to say that Arnie was the worst part of the movie (beyond the actual writing, of course). I expected some rust given his long hiatus but it was more than that. His flat, painful deliveries were indicative of an aging pitcher who has lost his fastball. <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Last Stand</i> looks pretty miserable my friends.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QqzJhk1p4rU" width="560"></iframe>Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3785813324069185461.post-71048665087470868452012-08-30T00:40:00.000-05:002012-08-30T17:16:14.226-05:00Review: "The Expendables 2"<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In this day and age of prequels and sequels, there is one
important question every studio or filmmaker must be prepared to ask when they
produce a hit: “How do we make the next one bigger and better?” If you’re
Sylvester Stallone and your hit is <i>The
Expendables</i>, the answer to that question is simple: just add Chuck Norris.
BOOM. Your sequel is immediately and appreciably better. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The Expendables 2</i>
finds Barney Ross (Stallone) and his crew of mercenaries still running
roughshod over third world baddies and taking on the jobs that no one else
will. Given a mission by CIA agent Church (Bruce Willis) that will ostensibly
settle their debt to the agency, the Expendables head to China in order to
track down and bring home a mysterious box with the help of Maggie (Nan Yu).
But upon retrieving the box, the team is ambushed by the notorious Villain
(Jean-Claude Van Damme) who steals the box and does the group an irreparable harm.
With revenge squarely on his mind, Ross, Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), and the
rest of the gang take on perhaps their toughest challenge yet in order to
apprehend Villain and prevent him from executing his diabolical plan.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As it pertains to movie criticism, for me there is
nothing harder than rating and reviewing a film like <i>Expendables</i>. How do you judge a movie that is rife with blatantly
bad dialogue, displays absolutely no character development, and values style
over any semblance of substance? You’d say that movie is pretty bad, right? But
what if that same movie is also an unhealthy amount of fun, makes up for its
lack of story with tremendous doses of absurdly violent action, and creates an
environment that is unquestionably perfect for its content? That would be a
pretty good film, right? In almost every way in which we as a society value and
grade movies, <i>Expendables</i> is an
abomination. And yet, after about 30 minutes, this film (even more so than its
predecessor) has a way of winning you over, even if you went in dead set on
hating it. As strange as it may sound, there is a certain charm about <i>Expendables</i> that transcends the
ridiculous action sequences and the beat you over the head with an iron rod
approach to storytelling. <o:p></o:p></div>
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For me, the specific charm that <i>Expendables</i> (and other films like it) utilizes is the understanding
between the audience and everyone involved in the production that none of what
transpires in this film should be taken with even the slightest hint of seriousness.
From the very beginning and over and over throughout the course of the film, <i>Expendables</i> extends to the audience a
sly wink or, if you prefer, a knowing nod, that allows you to completely
dispense with the silly notion of “reality.” It’s as if the movie opens with a
scrolling note, <i>Star Wars</i>-style, that
simply reads, “Hey, you know how stressful work was this week? Well, you can
forget about all that, little buddy. For the next two hours all we’re going to
do is blow crap up and make some jokes that are so bad you can’t help but
laugh. And when it’s all over and we’ve killed approximately 100 million
Russians, you’ll feel a little better about that glass ceiling. So sit back,
relax, maybe inject some testosterone into your veins, and enjoy. Later ‘brah.”
Every ounce of <i>Expendables</i> is easily comprehended
(duh) and once you’ve accepted the mindless but undoubtedly awesome brand of
entertainment, director Simon West wastes no opportunity to make each stunt
more ridiculous than the last. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Moreover, every single member of the cast (with the
exception of Dolph Lundgren who might not actually be alive) completely buys in
to the sheer absurdity of their film and “acts” accordingly. Stallone will
never get the credit he deserves for realizing exactly what he is today and
exploiting that to the best of his ability. There’s a genius to the creation of
this franchise and its execution that is due almost entirely to Stallone and
his ability to pull in virtually every washed up action star to actually make <i>Expendables</i> live up to what it sets out
to be is paramount to the success of this film. West does a great job, too, of
hiding the members of the cast who <i>really</i>
can’t act in the background and propping them up with hilariously bad one-liners.
The cast outside of the actual members of the Expendables represent perhaps the
best of the movie. Sure, the action scenes are great but getting to see Bruce
Willis smirk through every TERRIBLE piece of dialogue he’s given to work with
is a treat to behold. I am shocked to report that Van Damme is actually good in
his role as the over-the-top villain (seriously, his name is Villain!!!) and
gets my vote for “Best Performance in a Horribly Acted But Nonetheless Great”
action movie. And then there’s Norris who appears in the movie for all of three
minutes, delivers perhaps five lines, and yet somehow completely steals the
show. His first appearance marks the moment when <i>Expendables 2</i> outreaches its predecessor and the joke surrounding
his entrance is worth the price of admission in and of itself. (I won’t spoil
it but rest assured that keeping it quiet is KILLING me.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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I could spend hours pointing out all of the plot holes, bad
acting, and willfully bad writing that comes into play in <i>Expendables</i>. Virtually everything about this movie is completely
detached from reality, except for the number of rounds a gun can hold which for
some reason seems to be a real bugaboo that no one is allowed to violate. But
at the end of the day, <i>Expendables </i>is
EXACTLY what it is supposed to do and hits the mark on every level that an
awful movie like this could ever be expected to aim for.</div>
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Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16130518355363703289noreply@blogger.com1