Random Factoid #505

15 12 2010

How much is shock value worth?  A friend and I discussed this today, particularly in regards to “Black Swan.”  Both of us have seen it twice (and there could be even more trips for me), and we couldn’t help but compare our experiences.

We compared what we each thought, but we also talked about how it held up on the second viewing.  Plenty of movies, particularly really shocking ones, are really only good for one watch.  I’m sure that given the massive amount of exposure the movie has gotten leading up to its wide release on Friday, plenty of people will flock to it, but I doubt many will return.

I think it’s different to hear about a movie from someone who has seen it once than hearing about it from someone’s who has seen it twice.  So consider this sentence my “second time around” review: “Black Swan” is every bit as enthralling the second time.

But that’s not what this factoid is about.  It’s about an observation both of us came to about the movie: it felt a whole lot shorter the second time.  Then, we came to the generalization that all movies that are heavy on shock value feel shorter on repeat viewings.

Perhaps it’s because we get so thrilled by the plot the first time that we totally lose ourselves, but I can’t put my finger on a specific reason why.  Does this phenomenon happen to anyone else, and if so, can you explain it?


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Random Factoid #504

14 12 2010

And the continued harassment of the American movie renter continues…

According to a report by Cinematical, movie studios have begun to remove bonus features from rental discs.  Here’s what they had to say:

“A Consumerist reader recently wrote in to the consumer advocate blog to let them know that he had discovered the ‘Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World’ DVD he had rented from Blockbuster contained no special features. The $3.99 price tag he paid for the rental disc got him the menus for the special features, but any attempts to access them were met with a message proclaiming, ‘This disc is intended for rental purposes and only includes the feature film. Own it on Blu-Ray or DVD to view these bonus features and complete your movie watching experience.'”

So, the question has to be raised: do movie renters deserve bonus features, or are they truly just a “bonus” for those willing to pay $15-$20 for the disc to own?  I think that if they are going to slight the consumers still giving them money, renters should have access to some internet site or YouTube channel to watch some of the features.  Perhaps some are left exclusive for buyers, but I think it’s wrong to give the renters just the movie.

What do YOU think?


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Random Factoid #503

13 12 2010

If you check out my page listing reviews by letter grade, you’ll find that I often dislike movies vehemently.  I never lose my faith in the movies in the face of all these terrible movies, though I do wonder if the directors, producers, writer, and/or actors of these movies know when they are making something that it is total garbage.

Turns out, Michael Bay was man enough to admit “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” was a failure.  It took him a year and a half to admit what bloggers and normal audiences have been saying, but it’s still nice to hear it from the man himself.  He said:

“We tried to learn from the second movie. On the second movie we got burned. We had a writers strike, we had to agree on a story in three weeks, and then we knew they were going on strike. It was a f***ed scenario all the way around; it wasn’t fair to the writer; it wasn’t fair to me; it wasn’t fair to anybody. It was still an entertaining movie, but I think we failed on certain aspects. What we did with this movie is I think we have a much better script, and we got back to basics. … It’s more serious. I got rid of the dorky comedy; I mean we’ve got two little characters, that’s it, but the dorkiness is not there. Dork-free Transformers. It’s much more serious. It’s still entertaining; it’s big looking.”

This is somewhat reassuring as I actually loved the first “Transformers” and still watch it every so often.  I wouldn’t say I’m hotly anticipating “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” but this is a small boost in its favor.

Although I will say, I can never forgive Michael Bay for scaring Megan Fox away from the movies.


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Random Factoid #502

12 12 2010

In case you haven’t been able to tell, I really like Christmas and Christmas movies.  Between my factoid on “Home Alone,” my “Elf” moviegoers challenge, and my F.I.L.M. column on “Love Actually” (and another “F.I.L.M.” tied into the holiday coming next week), there’s no shortage of Christmas spirit on this site!

So needless to say, I was a little dismayed to read this report from The Los Angeles Times:

“This year, the role of Grinch will be played by Hollywood … the release of new Christmas movies long has been as much a tradition of the season as the annual late-night TV showing of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ and shoppers stampeding stores on Black Friday … but this year, there’s hardly a holiday movie in sight.

‘… The way to do a big-budget film these days is to take stories that everyone in the world knows and take them in a new direction,’ said Joe Roth, a producer and former chairman of Walt Disney Studios. ‘But no one’s come up with a fresh way to do a holiday movie, so we’re all doing it with other kinds of stories.’

It’s hardly just a creative matter. As the major studios reduce the number of films they finance, executives have been growing more selective about the types of films they make. They’re reluctant to greenlight projects that are tied to such a specific moment in time and therefore have a limited theatrical shelf life.”

In other words, don’t expect any new Christmas movies anytime soon thanks to the flop of “A Christmas Carol” and the general downward trend of holiday movies.  This really is a shame because these are the only types of movies I feel like people have loyalty to; everybody has that “Christmas movie tradition” where they have that one classic that they curl up together and watch.  If studios stop churning those out, these experiences become a relic, something only to be nostalgic about.  And I don’t want that.

Here’s my suggestion for a new entry into the genre: have James Cameron direct a CGI epic movie about the War on Christmas. Use Pandora as some sort of allegory for the fight between “Happy Holidays” and “Merry Christmas” going on in society nowadays.  Bring in blue people, the big man in the red suit, and every CEO of a retail company.  It would so be on.  Oh, and we’d need Hans Zimmer to score it.


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Random Factoid #501

11 12 2010

I’m a little behind on participating in memes that I wasn’t tagged in, but here’s my late entry into the series that I have found quite entertaining.

Cinema Scream put together a list of bloggers’ “cinema code of conduct” after the Ebert/Roeper of Britain put forth a manifesto of crimes against humanity that can be committed at the theater.  You know, like talking on your cell phone, smacking, and putting your feet on the seat in front of you.  Here’s their colorful, exciting graphic:

The meme asks for bloggers to add any other rules that should be added.  To this, I reply “read my random factoids column” because I have written about enough annoying moviegoing experiences that I could have a season of “Seinfeld” concepts.  But to add a new one, I’ll talk about my experience yesterday at “Black Swan.”

People need to respect saved seats. My friend and I got into the theater early so we could save two more seats for people coming later and still have good seats.  Up at the second-highest row, you get into some coveted premium seating.  Sure enough, the two people meeting us didn’t walk in until about the trailers, which made for about 20 minutes of us fending off the two seats.  A large group of twenty-something women were also on our row, and they clearly wanted our two seats.  So much so that one of them decided to aggressively use one of them as her footrest.

Later, a couple came up and just sat in them about 5 minutes before the previews started.  The entire auditorium was almost entirely full, so I wonder how they had the nerve to just sit in the seats.  Clearly if you are that late, those kind of seats aren’t going to be wide open like that.  If you want good seats, you have to get to a crowded movie early: it’s Social Darwinism of the multiplex, and it has been governing moviegoing for a long time.  Don’t act like it doesn’t exist.

So, dear moviegoers, sometimes groups don’t all get to the theater at once.  No one is going to be saving good seats as a buffer between you and them.  If they happen to be the kind of person that does want to do that, you’d be much better off finding a different seat.


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Random Factoid (500)

10 12 2010

Notice the stylistic change?  Not very subtle, I know, but I can scarcely contain my enthusiasm because today is my (500)th day of blogging!!! WOOHOOOO!!!!

How did I celebrate?  A MATH MIDTERM!!!  Just kidding, that’s what I had to do.  I celebrated the day at a Secret Santa dinner for my select choir group, a second viewing of “Black Swan” on its Houston general release, and something I’ve been planning almost since my blog started: watching “(500) Days of Summer” on my (500)th day of blogging!

I first saw the movie about four days before I started blogging, and it was the second review I wrote on the site.  In my overwhelmingly positive statement of love, I said:

“One of the things that sets the movie apart is its depiction of events: they are presented in a non-linear fashion. This allows the audience to really feel the up and down nature of their relationship and to know that anything can happen next, a luxury that romantic comedies can rarely provide its viewers. Deschanel, who most audiences will remember as Will Ferrell’s love interest in ‘Elf,’ plays Summer with the right balance of warmth and bitterness. She plays hard-to-get but also projects Summer’s need to be loved at the same time. Gordon-Levitt, who is perhaps best known for his work on the TV show ‘Third Rock from the Sun,’ has puzzled moviegoers with his selection of films over the years, choosing some off-kilter dramas (I do recommend you check out ‘The Lookout,’ one of his finest during this spell). This seems to be more familiar and comfortable territory for him, though, and I hope that he chooses more movies like this. He plays Tom with such irresistible charm that you yearn over his heartbreak and you cheer with his successes, especially when they break out into music and dance numbers to Hall and Oates (Gordon-Levitt is a surprisingly good dancer).”

I’m pretty much obsessed with this movie, and it was so nice to sit down and watch the whole thing for once.  I’ve been watching it in bits and pieces on HBO and Cinemax, but only watching it from start to finish can I really appreciate how wonderful and unique the movie really is.

So thanks to everyone who has supported me in my first (500) days of blogging because I couldn’t have done this by myself.  As for the next (500), who knows what’s coming?


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Random Factoid #499

9 12 2010

Are projectionists on the chopping block?  The Hollywood Reporter has this report:

With [the switch from film to digital], the era of the reel projector is over. Currently, theaters are 35% digital, with the number growing just as quickly as manufacturing will allow for. Instead of a complex process of setting up film reels on platters and watching the cigarette burns for change over times while reading comic books, a “projectionist” will hit a button, make sure a little LED light is on, and sit back to read comic books while the movie they downloaded from a server plays flawlessly.

Technology races forward with a lot of positive effects, but here’s one human cost that we can get a little sentimental about. They aren’t gone completely, but sooner rather than later, we’re going to find ourselves holding a true memorial service for a completely obsolete profession.”

I think it’s kind of sad that a part of film history that has been needed since “The Great Train Robbery” will soon be obsolete.  Personally, I think there’s something kind of charming about watching a movie on film with all the scratches on the screen and pops in the sound.  It’s a part of going to the movies, and if audiences were really that concerned about picture/sound quality, they would have given up on the theater as soon as the LaserDisc came about.

So from where I’m sitting, I’m not ready to bid goodbye to the projectionist … even though I barely notice them or give them thanks.  (That’s what we have Christoph Waltz for.)


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Random Factoid #498

8 12 2010

Back in Random Factoid #257, I wrote that “I have a nasty habit of letting my iTunes rentals sit for almost all of their 30 day rental periods.  Then, I scramble to watch them before they expire – which is not a fun way to watch a movie.”

The whole 24-hour watching period is a pain in the butt and always feels like significantly less than the day that it is.  Subtract sleep from the equation and you are looking at about 16-17 actual viewing hours.  Then no one actually has nothing to do for 16 hours, and it’s really hard to find 2 hours of those to sit down and watch without having to worry.

So when I opened my AT&T U-Verse UGuide this week and saw that they were offering a 3-day rental for “Toy Story 3,” I couldn’t help but wonder why all streaming/online rentals can’t have a longer watching period?  Sometimes it’s hard to start a movie and then finish it within 24 hours – life happens.  I can count multiple times that I haven’t finished a movie I started watching on iTunes; so many instances, in fact, that I generally don’t let myself watch an iTunes rental past 8:30 P.M.

My modest proposal (tastier than a baby) would be this: at least a 2 day watching period for rented movies. I can live with 36 hours, too.


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Random Factoid #497

7 12 2010

Happy “Inception” day, everyone!

Now you can go to Best Buy (although I wouldn’t recommend it since this is December), Target, or your local gas station and pick up a copy of Christopher Nolan’s smart summer blockbuster!  I’m excited – although I won’t get a chance to watch it for a while, probably at least until I’m done with finals.  Bleh.

Anyways, I report to you with monumental news.  Huge.  Groundbreaking.  I bought a Blu-Ray disc. What I didn’t buy, though, was a Blu-Ray player, so I can’t watch it.

The movie that changed it all for me was, of course, “Inception.”  Since Warner Bros. isn’t being as kind as to offer a Digital Copy on the DVD, I was forced to shell out $24.99 to buy the Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack.  Part of my Black Friday shopping, I’m still waiting for it to arrive … it’s like waiting for a train.  Brutal.

And thanks to Amazon’s price-saver guarantee, I managed to save $7 from my original purchase since the price dropped to a cool $17.99 for the movie’s video release.  You gotta love when you keep saving on Black Friday purchases two weeks later!

For those who really love “Inception,” this video is a must-watch:

(P.S. – Like how I posted this artistic minimalist poster instead of one of the three hundred Warner Bros. released?  I think it’s pretty darned cool.)


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Random Factoid #496

6 12 2010

Well ... I'm bored. Yawwwwn.

Worst blog post ever.

Cinematical reports the curious case of Sondra Lowell, who is to sleep what James Cameron is to visual effects: a cinematic pioneer in refining the craft.  Here’s more:

“Sondra Lowell has made two insufferable movies that even she can’t endure, and yet by some standards she might be the most successful filmmaker to have ever lived. Lowell’s films ‘WebcamMurder.com’ and ‘Sublime Crime: A Subliminal Mystery’ are (ingeniously titled) features explicitly designed to put her audiences to sleep, and the critics agree that her work achieves its goals with a consistency seldom seen in the careers of even the most celebrated auteurs (the Los Angeles Times described ‘WebcamMurder.com’ as “The most boring talkie ever made”). With just two films to her name, Lowell is not only the progenitor of the “film sleepy” genre (a term she coined to describe her work), but also its greatest artistic force.”

Here’s my problem with Lowell: this has been a sub-genre for years, slyly incorporating its way into genre movies since the advent of cinema.  I’ll point to a recent classic, Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation,” and the best of 2010 so far would have to be Tony Goldwyn’s “Conviction.”  So why bother trying to put people to sleep; so many filmmakers are so good at it that they can do it unintentionally!  I mean, how can you compete with Coppola, who can direct these movies in her sleep?  (Horrible pun fully intended.)


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Random Factoid #495

5 12 2010

We’ve been doing some debates in my Economics class over certain hot-button issues (bailouts, Social Security), and the sessions always end with an open forum for those not participating to throw questions at the debaters.  I’ve been particularly bold, throwing out questions that aren’t easy to answer without the debaters sacrificing their cause to avoid looking like a villain.  It’s earned me a certain … reputation, if you will indulge me.

So, who do I have to thank for this?  Two movie characters who I’d like to thank with this post:

Marylin Delpy (Rashida Jones) in “The Social Network.” Chances are you don’t know the character’s name off the top of your head; I sure didn’t.  Yet her impact in David Fincher’s “The Social Network” is so crucial, particularly in her final scene with the vulnerable Zuckerberg.  She speaks to her abilities to sway a jury in even the simplest of manners.  Delpy talks specifically about the power of the question; even if you can’t prove something, you can get a jury thinking about it by merely suggesting it.  A question has a power to sway anything even if that person has the right answer.  You can get them on how they phrase that answer, how long it takes them to come up with their answer, how eloquently they deliver their answer.

Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) in “Thank You For Smoking.” Obviously, the smooth-talking lobbyist with a swagger all of his own is the main influence though.  As Naylor puts it, “Michael Jordan plays ball. Charles Manson kills people. I talk. Everyone has a talent.”  His pointed way of phrasing questions and insatiable desire to be right has definitely been very influential, as well as blending wrong and right to form this vast gray area through which Naylor walks comfortably.  As he says, “If I prove that you’re wrong, I’m right.”  It’s an interesting ideology, and one that can be debated over its correctness.  However, I have definitely learned from Naylor that if you are looking to quickly win an important argument, the quickest way to sway the tide in your direction is by proving the other person wrong.


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Random Factoid #494

4 12 2010

It’s Christmas time, and that means it’s time for “Elf” and “Home Alone” to come back on TV again!  Oh, wait – HBO has been playing “Home Alone” all year long.  Being such a classic of my childhood (and always fun to watch as it awakens your inner sadist), I can’t resist indulging myself time after time watching it.

Way back when in Random Factoid #26, I said that “The Little Rascals” was that movie that I know line for line.  But watching “Home Alone” for the first time this holiday season reminded me of a different sort of feat I have achieved.  While I may not know every line in the movie (thanks to the beginning section that I usually skip), I know just about every noise that Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) make when they move through Kevin McAllister’s death tap of a house.  Every grunt, scream, and mutter – the length, the volume, the syllables.  Everything.  That’s impressive, if I do say so myself.

P.S. – Speaking of “Elf,” check out the Moviegoer’s Challenge I made back in 2003 when I was obsessed with the movie.  I posted it on Random Factoid #126 to kick off December 2009, and it has since become my second most-viewed post of all-time (behind the review of “Paranormal Activity”).  So I kindly invite you to take part in the holiday festivities that so many of my readers have engaged in.  300 people can’t be wrong.


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Random Factoid #493

3 12 2010

Everyone needs a scapegoat; 20th Century Fox just found theirs to the tune of $15 million.

According to a post on Cinematical, the studio is suing Patricia McIlvane for this ludicrous sum because she posted scripts on her website, which wouldn’t be terrible if they weren’t for movies that hadn’t been released yet.  Here’s more on her plight:

“Two strangers knocked on her door and informed her, in front of her children, 20th Century Fox was suing her for 15 million dollars. Two hours later, after grilling her with questions for two solid hours, they left her stunned and crying in her living room staring at a business card that stated they were “private investigators.”

This was the first contact PJ had from 20th Century Fox regarding a Media Fire online script library she created – and was the day 20th Century Fox filed a law suit against PJ in federal court for fifteen million dollars.”

In order to pay for her screenwriting career, McIlvane sells flowers over the phone as a day job.  So to me, this seems like the wrong example to make.  Considering that the script was already on a bigger website, Fox looks like they are on the bully pulpit.  Plus, why spend the money on legal counsel for a movie script when you have people out there pirating ENTIRE MOVIES?  Scripts get around; they get posted on message boards mainly to get hype going.  No one who doesn’t want to see the movie is going to spend two to three hours reading it.

Plus, Fox (at least Searchlight) is the same studio that posts screenplays on their awards site during the Oscar season.  That’s how I own a copy of “Crazy Heart,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “(500) Days of Summer,” and Best Adapted Screenplay winner “Slumdog Millionaire.”  They are a great sharing tool for people incredibly passionate about film, and prosecuting these people over those who are seeking to bring down the movie industry seems fundamentally off-base.


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Random Factoid #492

2 12 2010

“I really wish I was awesome” is a pretty lame excuse for a factoid, yet it’s a good reason to show you some really good stuff I’ve been finding online recently.  (I used the same excuse 100 days ago in Random Factoid #392.)  But nonetheless, it’s entertaining, and I’m in a particularly large time crunch at the moment.

Courtesy of /Film: “Many people sincerely hate the new layout for the Internet Movie Database. We understand. It certainly takes some getting used to. One perfect addition, however, is on their page for ‘This is Spinal Tap‘. Referencing the famous quote from the film, the possible rating doesn’t only go up to 10 like every other film. It goes to 11. Which is one louder. Very cool stuff, IMDb.”

Courtesy of Cinematical: “Call it ‘Your Cheatin’ Queue.’ The disgruntled boyfriend posted a screen shot from his girlfriend’s Netflix account with the caption “My girlfriend cheated on me, so I rated movies in her netflix account until I reached the desired result.” As a result, Netflix now tells this woman that they think she’ll love watching ‘The Scarlet Letter,’ ‘Unfaithful,’ ‘Indecent Proposal,’ ‘Whore’ and ‘Slutty Summer.'”

So there you have it, two totally different uses of the internet for awesomeness: one for good, one for morally shaky revenge.  So while I think I’m creative typing with a purpose over my keyboard blogging, there are people making things go to 11 and give a cheating girlfriend what she deserves with the same tools.  Sometimes the Internet can make us feel so small and so big at the same time.


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Random Factoid #491

1 12 2010

While on StumbleUpon, I discovered a graphic that so perfectly encapsulates why so many people are fed up with DVDs.  The studios clutter them up with all sorts of warnings, discretions, legal protection, certification, previews, and menus that make plopping a disc in the player an ordeal.  Why not just have the movie at the click of a button on iTunes, Netflix instant streaming, or – god forbid – a pirated movie site.

If I want to watch a preview, I’ll YouTube it or show up on time to a movie in the theater.  I don’t care that what the people say in the commentary doesn’t reflect the views of your company; can’t you just put that in the fine print on the case?  I don’t care that Blu-Ray is the new DVD player; if I wanted to watch a Blu-Ray disc, I’d go buy a player and some movies.  I don’t care to be informed again by an FBI warning that piracy could land me in jail; why would I buy/rent a DVD, requiring some sort of spending of my own money, if I was planning on pirating it?

Ugh.  Lawyers, stop forcing the studios to make DVDs such a hassle.  For the chart that more humorously explains the frustration of the honest American who spends money on buying and renting DVDs, look below:


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