I’m trying to work on my Best Films of 2008 a little early this year. I went through the list of Oscar-eligible films and copied all the titles I haven’t seen yet that might make my “best of” list. I’m sure some of these are great1 and some have almost no chance, but if you have an opinion (for or against) please comment.
Continue reading Are Any Of These Movies Great?
TV shows are in limbo, making this a good time to catch up on those movies you’ve missed. I’ve tried to use Netflix, but it’s recommendation engine is still sub-par.1 Here are two resources that are actually reliable:
Ebert Search: Just select 3.5-4 stars in 2008. You’ll find some interesting stuff from the best film critic in the world.
2008’s Oscar-Eligible Films: Going through the 281 films that can be nominated for the 2009 Academy Awards, I found a lot of interesting films I didn’t have a chance to see.
This weekend I watched Meet Bill and Cashback on Netflix downloads. Meet Bill has a great cast, but they’re tied to a messy plot with an unfulfilling ending. It’s also a bit gayer than was strictly necessary. I would have been better off watching American Beauty for the seventh time. Cashback has some hot naked chicks, and while I can relate with the protagonist’s (and director’s, I’m sure) obsession with the beauty of the female form, there wasn’t a lot of there, there. Here, I should have rewatched Art School Confidential. Neither are terrible films, but you can find better. Even on Netflix downloads.1
But coincidentally, both films included Royksopp’s What Else Is There? in their soundtracks. This is a great mid-tempo electronic song with ethereal vocals, so I include it here for your enjoyment:
Having seen the original, then the trailer for the remake, I came in with low expectations. I recommend you do the same. It got 20% on Rotten Tomatoes, which seemed a bit harsh after watching it. Then I remembered Rotten Tomatoes lists the percentage of critics who recommend the film. This is not a critic’s choice. I’m not sure this is even an average moviegoer’s choice. It’s simply better than we expected, which may say more about our expectations than the film.
The original is an absolute sci-fi classic. It was very easy to improve on the circa-1950 effects, and they did. However, even though this is billed as an IMAX movie, they don’t have any IMAX scenes; they just reformatted it for the bigger screen.
And even though the f/x are much better1, they don’t make up for the changes to the characters’ personalities. The boy, played by Jayden Smith, went from likable to slappable. As for the alien visitor Klaatu, played by Keanu Reeves, well, they removed his personality altogether. To quote Ebert:
He is so solemn, detached and uninvolved he makes Mr. Spock look like Hunter S. Thompson at closing time.
The acting is fine throughout (assuming Smith and Reeves were told to act annoying and wooden, respectively), but solid performances and nice effects can’t save it from bad characterization and plot holes. One of the dangers of making a film more realistic and up to date is that it invites more scrutinizing; unless you’re really thorough, the audience can see the holes better. These guys weren’t so thorough.
Again, the original is a true classic, currently #197 on the IMDB Top 250. For the $17 I spent on the IMAX ticket (plus gas), I could have bought a copy of the original on Blu-ray. I suggest you do that instead.
At Amazon:
The Day the Earth Stood Still (Special Edition) [Blu-ray] (1951)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (Two-Disc Special Edition) [DVD] (1951)
When the movie was released over the summer, I was a little surprised by the lack of interest. I realize it had been 10 years since the original movie and 6 years since the series ended1, but I would have thought the lack of material would have raised interest. I can only guess that the trailer did a poor job selling it because the poster had people talking.
For me, the marketing made no difference. I simply thought: I’ve already watched about 150 hours of X-Files – why would I stop short of what could be the final 2? This is the basis for my recommendation; if that’s not good enough for you, well, OK.
Now it’s available on Blu-ray and I’ve finally seen it – the extended cut, no less. It turns out I wasn’t prepared. I forgot a lot about the series. I watched it with a friend who had also seen the series, and we were expecting closure on topics like Mulder’s alien-abducted sister, conspiracy plots, etc. There is almost none of that in the film. It’s pretty much a standalone episode with a little “where are they now?” thrown in. I felt like I was shorted.
Then I visited Wikipedia to research a couple references I didn’t fully remember. This was, uh, enlightening. As it turns out, just about everything I wanted closure on I had already gotten – in the series. I just forgot it all.
So if you’re going to watch this, but like me haven’t give the show much thought in the last 6 years, do a little pre-reading on Wikipedia.2 Reading the main X-Files article will obviously help, but if you’re short on time, there are two character histories that will save you a couple major “Wait… what???” moments: Fox’s sister Samantha Mulder and Baby William.
Once you do that, and you go in with the mindset of “cool, I’m getting one last standalone bonus episode” then seeing I Want To Believe won’t be a big disappointment.
And “one last” sadly seems to be the case. Chris Carter said that if this was a big success he’d make another X-Files movie about the foretold alien invasion of earth in 2012. Obviously, that would be very cool. Unfortunately, judging from the IMDB box office numbers, IWTB was less a big success and more a “let’s hope this thing breaks even after DVD sales”.
Where to next?
So it looks like this is really the end, as The Lone Gunmen didn’t exactly take off.3 My recommendation: Bones.
It’s about a female doctor (Temperance Brennan, aka Bones, a forensic anthropologist rooted in hard science and skepticism) partners with a male FBI agent (Seely Booth, who relies on psychology and hunches) to solve homicides. There is constant sexual tension between the partners, but no gratification. Heck, they even made Booth Catholic. It may not be X-Files, but it’s as close as you’re gonna get.
At Amazon:
The X-Files Store
The Bones Store
What is your fascination with my forbidden closet of mysteries? -Chief Wiggum
When I was 9, I remember seeing the trailer for The World According to Garp, thinking it looked awesome.
I was a huge fan of Robin Williams due to Mork & Mindy, which was in its third season when the movie premiered. In addition to the fun and wacky antics the trailer showed, I was especially intrigued because it was rated R – apparently for something involving sex. I really wanted to see this movie. Of course, there was no way my parents would let me watch it.
Tonight, 26 years later, I finally watched it. I’m sure I had many opportunities to do so in between, but something kept me from it. I think I knew it couldn’t live up to the hype my 9 year old brain had generated. Even though I tried to lower my expectations, I was disappointed. It’s based on a John Irving novel that was a major best seller at the time, and after reading some comments by those who’ve seen/read both (including Ebert’s review), it lost a bit in the translation and didn’t add anything to make up for it. It’s less fun and sexy and more slow and tragic than I could have ever imagined from watching the trailer. Not bad, per se, but not something I’d recommend to anyone who hasn’t read the book.
Not long after being denied Garp, I was shooed out of the room during a bestial orgy scene in The Howling. I remember pouting like crazy. Of course, I was allowed to watch the rest of the film, including a scene where a werewolf, in human form, is shot in the forehead, then reaches into the bullet hole and pulls out some brain whilst spouting the line, “Let me give you a piece of my mind.” Violence? No problem.
Other sexually charged films I was desperately curious about (and which still remain on my yet-to-see list) are Cat People (the 1982 remake) and The Unbearable Lightness of Being (which I’ve begun reading). I distinctly remember passing the latter in the video store again and again, never having the guts to attempt a covert rental. The remarkable thing – other than the early 80’s being a big era for such films – is that these are films many adults wouldn’t fully comprehend (or at least only superficially). I imagine there were a few 9 year olds in 2001 maddeningly curious about Mulholland Drive, a film I’m still not sure I get. Perhaps it’s best that I waited…
Perhaps you’ve heard they’re remaking The Karate Kid. Whatever details you’ve gleaned so far, it gets worse.
It’s going to star Jayden Smith, Will Smith’s son who costarred with him in The Pursuit of Happyness. When filming starts next year, he’ll be 11. Yes, 11.
The other bit of ridiculousness is that much of the filming will be in Beijing, where the movie is set. Now how can you have a karate movie in China? The cultural ignorance is staggering. At the very least they should call it The Kung Fu Kid.
This is just another in a long line of Karate Kid ripoffs, like Showdown (starring Billy Blanks) and the recent Never Back Down. In fact, both of those movies are way closer in plot than the new remake. Seriously, who wants to see 11 year olds beat the shit out of each other? I got enough of that in 5th grade.
I was flipping through the OC Weekly “best of” issue and couldn’t help but notice the various Halloween costume ads. One that immediately jumped out at me was a rather modernized Hogwarts schoolgirl uniform. If only Dumbledore weren’t gay Hermione Granger would be walking around looking like this:
I really hope this will be a popular costume at the Halloween party I’ll be attending. And if you’re thinking, “That’s all wrong! There’s certainly not a star at the end of their wands!” then I’ve got a guy named Albus I’d like to introduce you to.
I saw Ghost Town this weekend and was sorry to see how poorly it did in the box office. I enjoyed it more than Righteous Kill, Lake View Terrace, and Burn After Reading (although that was pretty decent), which all beat it. Ricky Gervais is of course funny, but he also shows us he can act (granted, he already did that in the Extras series finale). Anyway, if you like Extras or the British Office, you’ll enjoy this.
Quite a title for this article, but it really makes sense. Trust me.
I was listening to the soundtrack for the Broadway show “Wicked.” It is based on the premise that the Wicked Witch of the West was really not evil, just a misunderstood soul. Wow. They are taking one of the iconic evil figures from literature and giving her a second look, an alternate-universe history that makes her, well, nice1. And that’s not right.
Taking this alarming trend to its pinnacle, could it be far behind for Hitler to make a comeback??
(NOTE: the following are satirical comments. Do not mistake them for reality; they are just an artifice to make a point. That is how satire works.)
After all, Hitler was really nice to his dogs. And he did put all of the German people back to work on that really cool roadway, the Autobahn. Did I mention that he created the Volkswagen?? That picture of Hitler and his gang of killers parading around on a convertible Wolkswagen has got to be the coolest, most disturbing image of the war. 2 So except for the 6 million people he killed, Hitler was a really nice guy. Really.
(NOTE: the satire has now ended. Back to reality.)
But we all know that the winners of a war write the history books, so they can adjust the facts to suit themselves. There are many instances of Allied atrocities in WW2 that should have been tried as war crimes. I am thinking of the conventional bombing of the German city of Dresden, or the firebombing of Japanese cities. The latter killed a whole lot more people than the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki (better left for some other article). But a lot of terrible things happen during a war; it’s just distasteful to try to justify them as being necessary for a greater good. It’s so much more honest to say what is really inside: the enemy is inhuman and we’re scared sh*tless; we need to kill as many of them as possible before the war ends. Afterwards, we have to go back to being human beings and play nice again. Or whatever passes for “nice” between bellicose nations.
So back to the Wicked Witch of the West. The play does a good job turning the Oz universe on its head. As with many revisionist works, there are problems with it, since it changes a couple of really key points that clash with the world that Frank L. Baum created. Similar to those Star Wars prequels that cannot exist in the same universe as the original Star Wars movies. But these are nits, and you can still enjoy the Wicked concept if you ignore them. Just don’t expect me to change my worldview: The witch is still evil. (Don’t forget, she did try to kill Dorothy. And her little dog, too.)