Random Factoid #430

1 10 2010

No.  I don’t believe it.

Has Michael Caine spilled all of the secrets to the summer’s most buzzed movie’s ending?  Or is he merely chiming in with the latest “Inception” theory?  Since he was in the movie and could actually talk to Christopher Nolan – where all bloggers like me can only dream of it – should his statements be taken more seriously than those of any fanboy?

Since this does concern the ending, I won’t spoil the fun for the two Americans who happened not to see “Inception” this summer.  The discussion continues after the cut.

Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #429

30 09 2010

Hollywood really is running low on ideas.

As if the movies couldn’t get pathetic enough, now we get insulted by the Kennedy/Marshall Company turning the story of “Sulley,” the pilot who landed a plane in the Hudson River, into a movie.  His heroic actions took place in all of three minutes, and even if you put that in the hands of an artsy European director, you can’t make much of a movie out of it.  And in case you didn’t pick up on it, these are the people that gave you Best Picture nominee “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

I’ve got two ideas for Kennedy/Marshall.  First, they could turn the story into a comedy and cast John Ratzenberger as Sulley, the option I much prefer.  Or, secondly, they could abandon this adaptation (they optioned his memoir) and choose to bring some other book to the big screen.  It’s taken “The Hobbit” long enough to get to the screen, and a personal favorite of mine, “Ender’s Game,” has been shopping for a home for quite some time now.  I haven’t read “Life of Pi,” but a lot of people have and love it; that movie can’t seem to get off the ground.  So why can quality literature get shelved and Sulley’s memoir get the rush order for the silver screen treatment?


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #428

29 09 2010

There must be something in the water in Hollywood with everyone dropping dead this week … first Gloria Stuart, then Sally Menke (Quentin Tarantino’s editor), then Arthur Penn, and finally Tony Curtis.  Oh, and for Comedy Central fans, Greg Giraldo.  In alll seriousness, why do deaths in show business always come in a value pack?  Buy one, get four free … what a morbid deal.

Back in Random Factoid #279, I talked a little bit about celebrity mortality, particularly how I was somewhat affected by Natasha Richardson’s passing.  So in the same vein, I got to thinking about what celebrity I might actually cry for when they die.  It has to be someone whose movies are tightly linked to my own life, most likely somehow to my childhood.

Right now, I’d have to say I think I could cry when Julie Andrews dies.  She feels like a sort of cinematic grandmother to me.  But I don’t want to think that it could happen anytime soon …


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #427

28 09 2010

WARNING: Today’s factoid is pretty much a rant in the style of “Really?” from SNL’s Weekend Update.

My opening statement comes from some wonderfully sardonic writer at Cinematical:

You may recall that many ‘Star Wars’ fans were unhappy with the prequels, and that as a consequence of the fans’ anger, Episodes I, II, and III are only the 7th, 30th, and 12th highest-grossing films of all time, with a combined worldwide gross of just $2.4 billion. Duly chastened by this catastrophic failure, George Lucas announced Tuesday that those prequels, along with the three original films, will be re-released in 3D. This will fix everything, since the main thing people didn’t like about the prequels was that watching them didn’t require special glasses.

Really, George Lucas?  You are rereleasing the “Star Wars” movies in 3D?  Your estimated worth is over $3 billion; isn’t it time to stop trying to make money off the “Star Wars” trilogies and just move on?  You haven’t directed anything other than that series since 1973, so maybe a new project could do you good!  When you are that rich, you aren’t allowed to shamelessly money grub like this!

And really, 3D conversions?  We still have to put up with you?  I thought you were going to DIE with M. Night Shamalamadingdong’s reputation.  I’m sorry, but I’m not so desperate to see a movie in 3D to see a movie that gets a cheap-o conversion, nor am I so desperate to see the original “Star Wars” movies like my parents saw them in a theater.

I don’t have the incredible wit and biting humor of Seth Meyers, but that’s my best stab at the ridiculous news emerging today.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #426

27 09 2010

I just had a random thought hit me, and thus, it proved to be nice fodder for random factoid discussion.

Remember back when movies used to have “premiere previews” on the day before they opened between 7:00 and 10:00 P.M.?  Because midnight apparently wasn’t good enough for them.  The first movie I remember definitively doing this was “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” although there might have been some for “Poseidon” early that summer.  The trend ran mainly from 2006 to 2009, and some of the movie that previewed early were “Transformers,” “Iron Man,” and “Star Trek.”

(There were some earlier movies that used the model too, such as “The Matrix Reloaded” and “Austin Powers in Goldmember.”)

So why did they die out?  I honestly have no idea why.  Anybody have any ideas why we have to wait until 12:01 A.M. now?


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #425

26 09 2010

Dear iTunes,

Please get the Scala and Kolacny Brothers cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” ASAP.  Listening to it on YouTube is no way to do it, especially when you are doing it on your iPhone while driving and picking up any WiFi networks stop the song.  Please put it up either on “The Social Network” soundtrack or with the album that it was originally released on.  Every day I see this, my heart breaks a little more.

Sincerely,
Marshall


P.S. – Speaking of “The Social Network,” thank you Trent Raznor for the five-track sampler.  It is truly heavenly.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #424

25 09 2010

Lindsay Lohan is back in jail – wait, just kidding, she posted bail and has now been sprung from the slammer!  The whole saga has gotten so out of hand, and I’ve quickly lost all respect for Lohan.  She needs to serve her entire sentence; I don’t care if she is a celebrity, a criminal is still a criminal!  She broke the law, and she ought to pay just like anyone else.

I don’t know why I feel so compelled to offer my thoughts on Lohan today.  I guess I just care about people, not celebrities.  It’s clear that she’s headed down the path to destruction, and buying her way out of prison and rehab isn’t going to help her at all.

I guess the overarching feeling that does tie this into the movies is that while I admire and love people who star in movies, I don’t think that by virtue of their work they are better people than us common folk.  They deserve to spend as much time in jail for drunk driving as any movie blogger.  We send politicians and executives to jail for extreme sentences; what makes movie stars more untouchable than them?


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #423

24 09 2010

I’m all busy applying to college now, and my future in a year has become one of the biggest things on my mind as of recent.  But there was a time when the idea of going to college was as far away as getting married or having children.  Now it’s almost here … and I can’t believe it.

As I said in Random Factoid #383, there are certain subjects that my knowledge of is based entirely on what I have learned from the movies.  And when I posted that picture of “Legally Blonde” yesterday, I remembered the indelible impact that the movie had of my perceptions of college.

I got to see the movie when I was 10 years, a pretty rare occurrence for me.  Most of the adult humor flew over my head, and my mom was abhorred when she found out what I had seen.  But nevertheless, I had seen it and I absorbed some of it.

Mainly, I got the idea that picking a college meant picking a career.  I didn’t understand that Reese Witherspoon’s Elle Woods was going to GRADUATE school to study law, not COLLEGE.  So when people asked me if I was headed to Harvard (because I was quite precocious as a young child and not afraid of showing it), I told them no because “I didn’t want to be a lawyer.”

While now I know the difference, there was a large period of my life where my views of college were defined by what I learned from “Legally Blonde.”  Thanks, Elle!


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #422

23 09 2010

I do love musicals, and I sure have invested a lot of time into them over the past four years.  My production of “Godspell” is in 10 days, and I’ll also delve into “Fiddler on the Roof” later this year.

But away from my school, there are some interesting developments on Broadway with new musicals.  They are always looking for new source material, and the flavor of the moment is finding it in movies.  It was announced today that “Newsies,” a movie I have only heard of once or twice, will be adapted into a Broadway musical.  And in other news, “Catch Me If You Can” will apparently be making a similar transformation.

I’m in the camp that believes movies should stay on the screen.  They aren’t meant to have their plots stretched to maintain interest over two and a half hours, and they aren’t meant to have spontaneous musical breaks.  What ever happened to originality in writing musicals?  We claim that movies are bad about recycling; look no further than Broadway for someone doing it worse.  Name the last new musical based on an entirely original premise.  I can’t.

Case in point – “Legally Blonde: The Musical.”  It debuted to horrible reviews, got almost no Tony nominations, and is now destined to become an audition favorite for teenage girls with no idea of the classics that made the craft what it is.

Sigh.  The corruption of the beautiful art.


Comments : 5 Comments »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #421

22 09 2010

If I weren’t a) a student with a ton of homework and rehearsal or b) living in Houston, the fourth-biggest city in the nation which still can’t get any street cred for indie movies, I would so be hitting up this amazing opportunity to pay what I want for “Freakonomics.”  According to Cinematical, it’s just as simple as this:

Most people who abstain from going to the movies seem to do so because of the price. Well, what if you could go see a film for one cent? Yes, one penny. That’s theminimum you have to pay for an advance screening of ‘Freakonomics’ this Wednesday (September 22, 2010). The maximum? $100. Which would you rather? Or might you want to give something in between? Maybe you feel obligated to pay what you’re usually charged for a movie?

All you have to do is fill out a quick, anonymous survey so economists can analyze data about what kind of person chooses what kind of cost for him or herself. The questions are mostly related to age, education level, income and how much you usually spend at the movies, if at all regular. Also, you have to be able to get to one of the participating Landmark Theaters in the ten select U.S. cities (the ten big ones).

The pay-what-you-want model has long been a staple of museums and has in recent times been used for digital music. But this might be the first major feature film to employ the concept, and it makes sense with a documentary about alternative economics. It also could hopefully — though doubtfully — influence how movies are priced in the future, if not theatrically than digitally.

Is anyone curious to hear what I would pay if I could have gone?  Even if you aren’t, I’m still telling you here.

I would pay $6.  As a student, cheap movies are something I actively seek, and I will seize the opportunity to see them when I can.  I couldn’t honestly pay a penny because I would feel a certain sense of obligation to be somewhat charitable with my money since Magnolia Pictures was nice enough to provide the screening.  However, that charity would not make me pay a normal ticket price or a larger sum.

I’m curious to see the results of this social experiment.  How many people spent $100?


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #420

21 09 2010

Is this the end for DVDs?  I know I’ve been predicting their demise for quite some time now, but 2010 seems a little soon.  It’s been a hot topic in factoids recently, appearing in #404, #414, and #416.

Listen to this disturbing report from Best Buy via Cinematical:

Even as the popularity of digital media continues to rise and the Blockbusters of the world struggle to hang on, the demise of the DVD always seemed to be in the distant future. Well, it looks like the format may pass away sooner rather than later because a major DVD retailer is opting to axe the amount of space allocated to DVDs this holiday season. According to Daily Finance, Best Buy is shifting things around to make more room for video games and consumer electronics, namely netbooks and tablet PCs.

Best Buy Chief Executive Brian Dunn explained, “We’ll have another store reset before the holidays, which will include an increase in the space for higher-growth and, in the aggregate, higher-margin categories, like Best Buy Mobile, e-readers and gaming, with a heavy emphasis on new gaming platforms and pre-owned game titles.” He added, “This will be enabled by our reorganization of the DVD and CD sections.”

All I can say is that I’m not ready to go entirely digital for movies yet.  Transferring doesn’t work as easily, and there’s nothing simpler than bringing a disc over to someone’s house and plopping it in a player.  So has Best Buy jumped the gun on mourning DVDs?  Or is this the beginning of the end?


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #419

20 09 2010

Following up on movie disruptions from yesterday’s factoid, I turn today to my biggest moviegoing pet peeve: disruptive children.

I’m glad to see that theater are FINALLY addressing the issue.  It can seriously ruin an entire movie, like I described in Random Factoid #32:

I was at “Funny People,” and I was jammed next to a woman and her baby.  I knew that it would be bad news before the movie started when her daughter wouldn’t stop whining during the pre-show entertainment.  She managed to keep it together for the beginning of the movie, but I knew she was a ticking time bomb.  During a poignant and emotional scene between Adam Sandler and Leslie Mann, the baby starts screaming at a level so loud that it blocked out the sound from the movie.  And if the audience was staring bullets at her mother, she must have been wearing a Kevlar body suit.  She let her daughter scream and cry for over 2 minutes before taking her out, just in time to ruin the scene for the entire theater.

I’m happy to report that over the summer, I went to a theater that added “please go outside if your child is disruptive” to the opening messages like “silence your cell phones” and “please throw trash in the specified containers.”  It’s about time.  But alas, that was only one theater.  Just one.

Is anyone else with me to sign some sort of petition to get EVERY theater to do this?


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags:
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #418

19 09 2010

Listen to this crazy moviegoing story:

This past week, the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles held a Stanley Kubrick retrospective. It was during a Friday-night screening of Kubrick’s classic, mind-warping sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odysseythat a man named “Robert” had a very public meltdown. Apparently, during the climax of the movie when astronaut Dave Bowman confronts his own death and undergoes a transformation into a mysterious celestial being, “Robert” started yelling. Multiple cellphone cameras caught this guy shrieking hysterically. In the video, you can see him stumbling, and pleading with audience members to “Get rid of your drugs!” He is then seen screaming the existential question “Is life a comedy?”

Eventually, he’s dragged out of the theater by cops. The movie was replayed from the moment “Roberts” tantrum started. So it’s a happy ending for everyone, except “Robert.”

I’ve never been so misfortunate (or perhaps fortunate) enough to see that kind of behavior at a movie.  Back in Random Factoid #252, I listed my rowdiest movie behavior, which was actually somewhat appropriate given the circumstances.

I’ve really only been in one movie where an individual made the moviegoing experience entirely different.  Going to see “Paranormal Activity” a year ago was made much more interesting by the audience around me screaming commands at the actors on screen.  “Don’t go there!!” they would yell.  “Oh my gosh!!” they screamed when something popped up out of nowhere.

But during a tense, suspenseful moment, a teenage girl audibly and visibly fell down a set of stairs in the theater.  Half the audience burst out in laughter, changing the mood and aura in the room significantly.

Anybody else found that they can have their experience changed by one person?


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #417

18 09 2010

“A stage actor acts on a stage, but a screen actor doesn’t act on the screen. The stage actor just walks on by himself, but the screen actor is put on there by a projectionist.”

– Christoph Waltz, accepting his SAG award in January 2010

We weren’t meant to have the power of pause, rewind, and fast-forward if you really think about it.  When Thomas Edison invented the movies, he wasn’t foreseeing the invention of the BetaMax, the LaserDisc, the VCR, the DVD, the Blu-Ray Player, the free watching on Hulu, the iTunes rental, or the Netflix instant streaming.  As far as I am concerned, the movie was never meant to leave the hands of the projectionist.

Which is why I feel compelled, sometimes, to put the remote down and enjoy a movie start to finish without pausing – like it was meant to be enjoyed.  It’s like a trip back to the good old days.  Sure, we still do it in the theaters, but to go through a whole movie without pauses at home is bringing the theater one step closer to our home.

I regret to say that I often multitask during movies largely out of necessity, because I can’t afford to totally lose as much time as I spend watching movies.  But for some movies, I put down everything and just watch.  These are the movies that I like to call “the experience movies.”  They require you to put away all gadgetry and distractedness so that you can be fully engrossed.

Some movies I would say belong to this list are “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”  Do you have a similar list?  If so, what’s on yours?


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #416

17 09 2010

What happened to bonus features?  Seriously.

They used to be my favorite part of buying DVDs when I was eight or nine.  I would shell out $20 for Disney classics I didn’t really want to see that much just so I could watch the special features.  Mini-documentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, outtakes – I loved it all.  It was only about four or five years ago when I realized that all I actually wanted to see was the movie itself.

That transition in thought apparently came just in time because most studios don’t even include them on the discs anymore.  Anybody notice how even “Avatar,” the biggest movie of our time, didn’t even have a trailer?

Why is it that no one wants bonus features anymore?  I miss having them as an option when I want something more than a movie.  I don’t need a documentary as long as the movie itself like the Criterion Collection of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” but something would be nice!

Is anybody else up in arms about this new development?  Anybody with any insights on why they are gradually disappearing?


Comments : 4 Comments »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

« Previous Entries Next Entries »