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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Oscar Moment: “Animal Kingdom”

11 12 2010

Who is Jacki Weaver?  The Oscars could force you to know who she is on February 27 by awarding her Best Supporting Actress.

Sony Pictures Classics saw a performance in Weaver in “Animal Kingdom” that they thought was awards-worthy but knew it would never be considered unless they campaigned the heck out of her.  The movie is a little-known specialty release straight from Australia with Guy Pearce as its only faintly recognizable name.  It received a small release in the United States after winning a big prize at Sundance but garnered little buzz except for the raves it drew for Weaver as a crazy mother.

Trying to capitalize on this goodwill, SPC started campaigning her early seeing how wide-open the Best Supporting Actress category was (and to a large extent, still is).  They sent out “Animal Kingdom” screeners on September 30, remarkably early and the first of the year’s to arrive.  To Oscar bloggers, they sent out T-shirts with Weaver’s face plastered on the front.  They also put up FYC advertisements on major pundits’ sites starting in September, noticeably before any other movie this year.

Sure enough, their work hasn’t gone unnoticed: in the first week of awards precursors, she has won Best Supporting Actress from the National Board of Review, the first big group to announce their year-end favorites.  She was nominated by the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics in the same category but lost to Melissa Leo for “The Fighter,” and she was also recognized by the Golden Satellite Awards.  Back in her native Australia, she won Best Actress in an across-the-board “Animal Kingdom” sweep.

So clearly the goodwill for Weaver is there, but the question still remains: can an unknown foreigner win, or receive a nomination, for an Oscar?

Marion Cotillard went all the way for “La Vie en Rose” back in 2007; few knew her name then.  The same year, Amy Ryan dominated the critics circuit, winning almost every group’s Best Supporting Actress prize for her work as a negligent mother in Ben Affleck’s “Gone Baby Gone.”  She was hardly on the map, but thanks to Miramax’s campaigning and her widespread support, she entered the field at the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and Oscars.  The NBR’s pick for Best Supporting Actress has gone on to receive an Oscar nomination 6 out of the last 10 years, although only once did they manage to pick the winner (Penelope Cruz in 2008).

I think in order to get past the issues with name recognition, Weaver is going to need a strong showing from the critics groups in the weeks to come.  If they like her, then nominations from the Golden Globes and SAG Awards should ensue, making an Oscar nomination highly likely.  All signs point towards this trajectory now, but the momentum could easily shift away from Weaver.  One thing’s for certain: she makes a dull Best Supporting Actress category in 2010 a little bit more exciting.

BEST BET FOR NOMINATION: Best Supporting Actress


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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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Oscar Moment: December 10, 2010 Awards Round-Up

10 12 2010

Welcome back to another exciting awards round-up post!  It’s been a whole week since I’ve said anything about the Oscars, which is the longest I’ve gone since September!  It’s a good thing this week has been pretty stagnant aside from a few minor critics groups and some top 10 lists out in the mix.

Please remember to take the poll at the end of the discussion!  It will help to make these posts more community-driven – it’s fun just reading it and writing about it, but I sure do enjoy it more when I get your feedback!  You don’t have to live and breath Oscars like I do to take part!

As for last week’s poll, you all think that “The Social Network” will beat “The King’s Speech” for Best Picture.  And by you all, I mean all one voter that took the poll.  So let’s shoot for higher this week!

(And another reminder: I spent a lot of time linking the titles of movies in this post to their respective Oscar Moments/reviews if you want to know more about them.  So don’t hesitate to click!)

Awards

Washington, D.C. Film Critics announce. Generally not a very exciting bunch; Kris Tapley of In Contention said their picks are usually just guessing what the Oscars will nominated in about 7 weeks.  Like myself and several others, they think “The Social Network” is going to be the cup that the Academy sips from when picking their awards.

Their Best Picture line-up was absolutely stellar though: “Black Swan,” “Inception,” “127 Hours,” “The Social Network,” and “Toy Story 3.”  If those were Oscar’s five (way back when they only nominated that many movies for Best Picture), I would be a very happy man.  Since many are already boiling the race down to a horserace, it’s curious not to see “The King’s Speech,” but it got plenty of love, including a win for Best Actor for Colin Firth and Best Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, and Original Screenplay nominations.

Jennifer Lawrence took Best Actress for “Winter’s Bone,” which definitely showed some strength from the win as well as nominations for Supporting Actor (John Hawkes) and Adapted Screenplay.  I think we could definitely be looking at a critical favorite in Lawrence, although this is a very similar trajectory to Carey Mulligan last year who wound up not taking home any major prizes.

Predictable wins for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” in the supporting categories, with the former looking more and more like a lock with each passing day.  “The Social Network” also won Best Director and Adapted Screenplay, neither of which was surprising given the group’s love for the film.

Interestingly, “Inception” won Best Original Screenplay over the field of “The King’s Speech,” “The Kids Are All Right,” “Another Year,” and “Black Swan.”  This category has played out interestingly at the Oscars over the past two years.  2009 brought us “The Hurt Locker” ultimately triumphing over “Inglourious Basterds” with “Up” as a dark horse looming in the background.  2008 was the horse race between two totally different types of movies, “Milk” and the almost non-verbal “Wall-E.”  Given what’s been going on recently, “Inception” makes a fascinating wild card.  “The King’s Speech” is like past winner “Milk,” and “The Kids Are All Right” gives off “Juno” vibes.  There hasn’t been a movie like “Inception” in the race in a long time (unless you want to compare it to the mind maze of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”).

For a historical reference point, last year the group picked “Up in the Air” as their Best Picture.  Aside from the slam dunk supporting categories, the only Oscar winner they selected was Kathryn Bigelow as Best Director for “The Hurt Locker.”  Since 2002, they haven’t been a very reliable predictor at all of the ultimate selections of the Oscars.

For a full list of nominees, see the official press release from the WAFCA.

The British Independent Film Awards. Predictably, “The King’s Speech” cleaned house at the British Independent Film Awards, the equivalent of the Independent Spirit Awards across the pond.  The very British story of King George VI took home Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Screenplay.  Curiously, director Tom Hooper lost Best Director to Gareth Edwards for his work on the ultra-low budget “Monsters.”  Mike Leigh was also nominated for “Another Year” in this category.

These awards don’t really show us much other than that the British are firmly allied over their love of this movie.  Last year, “Moon” triumphed over eventual Best Picture nominee “An Education,” the movie considered to have the “British vote” going into the Oscars.  This faction will be crucial to “The King’s Speech” if it is to prevail in the Best Picture category, and this is a very reassuring ceremony for the movie.

Also worth noting: “Never Let Me Go” may be almost entirely forgotten, but apparently Carey Mulligan isn’t.  She won Best Actress for her performance, and I still wouldn’t count her out as a dark horse Oscar nominee.  I don’t think a Golden Globe nomination is entirely out of the question (a la Tobey Maguire in last year’s “Brothers“).

The European Film Awards. Not much to report here as the only awards contender really in play was “The Ghost Writer,” and it capitalized on its seven nominations by winning a stunning six categories.  Lesley Manville was in contention for “Another Year” but lost Best European Actress to an actress I’ve never heard of in a movie I’ve never heard of.

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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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F.I.L.M. of the Week (December 10, 2010)

10 12 2010

With the release of David O. Russell and Mark Wahlberg’s collaboration “The Fighter” today (albeit in only four theaters), I thought today would be as good a time as ever to feature the duo’s first movie together, “Three Kings,” in the “F.I.L.M. of the Week” column.  The poster and topic may make it seem like your average war movie, but Russell’s knack for style and substance both in his script and direction elevate it to one of the most unconventional and exciting entries in the genre.

Iraq, 1991.  Operation Desert Storm is over, but four soldiers who see little action feel a little unfulfilled.  They wonder what they actually accomplished during the mission since they were so uninvolved.  Boredom, curiosity, and intrigue combine to bring together a group of four unlikely people together on a strange mission.

The burnt out Major Archie Gates (George Clooney) leads family man Troy Barlow (Mark Wahlberg), dumb redneck Conrad Vig (Spike Jonze), and hard-as-nails Chief Elgin (Ice Cube) on a search for Kuwaiti bullion they think is hidden in Saddam’s bunkers.  Following a map they found in a prisoner’s butt and their unbounded desires to strike it rich, they traverse through dangerous territories in Iraq waving the banner of freedom as a Kevlar vest for their journey.  However, what they find amounts to a whole lot more than gold.

“Three Kings” is not just about an expedition for gold; it’s about what happens when humanity gets in the way of things.  Along the way, the four soldiers encounter a number of situations with two choices: helping themselves or helping innocent Iraqi citizens.  Gates and company find it harder and harder to choose in self-interest despite getting closer and closer to the gold.  Russell’s movie is a powerful testament to the kindness of the human soul and how it can remain intact even during war.

Clooney, Wahlberg, Ice Cube, and the hysterical Jonze are all fantastic in helping the movie to shine, but “Three Kings” is David O. Russell’s movie, and he knocks it out of the park.  His script is a strange mix of comedy, drama, and action, but it never fails to satisfy, often on multiple levels at once.  Behind the camera, he toys with several experimental techniques to produce one of the most eccentric-looking war movies I’ve ever seen.  He provides a very different sort of artistry for the genre, and it’s a fantastic retrospective statement on our time in Iraq (before our second entry) that packs one heck of a punch.


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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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REVIEW: Solitary Man

9 12 2010

Michael Douglas, like most skilled actors, can deliver good performances in his sleep, but these types of actors are only exciting to watch when they try something different or really put in the work to elevate their performance.  In “Solitary Man,” it seemed to me like Douglas was sleepwalking through the entire movie.

It’s really a shame because this could have been a great role for him.  Fascinating performances often arise when actors take parts that reflect where they are in life, particularly at milestone ages.  From child to teen, from youth to adulthood, from young to middle-aged, and for Douglas, from middle-aged to the age of mortality.  The theme of confronting old age is particularly eerie to watch now given Douglas’ fight with cancer.

Yet while all the components are there, something just doesn’t add up.  I wouldn’t attribute it all to Douglas; the film’s plot is pretty weak and the self-examination severely underdeveloped.  This is such a rich topic, but the movie only brushes the surface.  Douglas’ Ben Kalmen struggles with a lot of things: his loneliness, his infidelity, his fall from grace in business, his desire to stay young, among others.

The psychological struggle is all provided by Douglas, not at all by the script.  Nowhere is there a great line for us to chew on or a particularly interesting plot development to leave us reeling.  There’s just predictable old plot gimmicks that run for 90 minutes, which hardly feels adequate for Douglas to give the character much depth.

He gets no help from an impressively cast ensemble including the likes of Susan Sarandon, Jenna Fischer, Jesse Eisenberg, and Mary-Louise Parker.  The writers don’t bother to give any sort of depth to these supporting actors; they might as well have just abandoned names altogether and called the characters “aging ex-wife,” “young new girlfriend,” and “beautiful daughter.”  There’s so much “Solitary Man” could have been, but not even Michael Douglas can save it from becoming an entirely forgettable snooze.  C / 


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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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REVIEW: Just Wright

8 12 2010

Guys, don’t let the basketball fool you.  “Just Wright” is as much of a sports movie as “Forrest Gump” is.  If you take a gander at the poster, look at Common’s right hand (the one on top of Queen Latifah’s hand) for a better of indicator of what the movie is really like.  Substitute it for a microphone and Katherine Heigl/Gerard Butler and you’re right back in “The Ugly Truth.”

Now here comes the part of the review when I throw out words like cliched, formulaic, and predictable to warn you that if you’ve seen a romantic comedy in the past decade, you’ve seen “Just Wright.”  The only counter to all these negative adjectives is, of course, if the charms of the leading man and lady can overcome the familiarity.

While I could just heap on the insults on “Just Wright,” I just don’t have the heart to bash Queen Latifah.  She’s just seems so warm and friendly that it would feel like a low-blow to really go after her and tear her up.  We all know she can do better, and for the most part, she selects roles pretty well.  This is just a misstep.  As the physical therapist who can’t help but fall for the basketball player she’s rehabilitating, the story is just so uninspired that it can’t get you to care enough to be involved.

It’s not her fault that this movie wound up as bad as it did.  Common is a pretty pathetic actor, and Paula Patton just can’t do much with her confused character.  Queen Latifah is actually a nice presence in the movie, endowing it with some of her charisma and personality that’s hard to resist.  She’s like a juicy burger enveloped by a moldy bun, which wouldn’t taste quite as unpleasant if we hadn’t been fed nothing but burgers by the romantic comedy restaurant.  C- / 


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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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REVIEW: Letters to Juliet

7 12 2010

The Italian countryside has got to be the single most beautiful place in the world.  Apologies to Amanda Seyfried, but “Letters to Juliet” is a romance (not even comedy) that doesn’t deserve to feature the gorgeous country in its background.  Given the quality of the script, the disillusioned lover played by Seyfried should be traversing back alleys to find the long lost love of Claire (the graceful, ageless beauty Vanessa Redgrave).

Shakespeare’s well-known tragedy “Romeo & Juliet” gets a fairy-tale romantic twist here as Sophie (Seyfried) ventures to Verona for her pre-wedding honeymoon with her all-too-occupied fiancé (Gael Garcia Bernal).  A journalist, she discovers the secret behind the letters left for the fictional Juliet in the wall of her house.  They are answered by the “secretaries of Juliet,” yet one letter manages to stay lodged behind a rock.  Sophie takes it upon herself to answer it personally, finding Claire and her well-groomed grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan).  Believing her love is still out there, they embark on a journey to find her Romeo.

From then on, all originality goes out the window and formula takes over.  Charlie and Sophie have the typical romantic arc: hate turns to not hate, and somehow not hating someone means you are in love!  If love in real life was like it is in romantic comedies nowadays, what a depressing world it would be.

Poor Claire for having to put up with their sudden infatuation in denial, and poor Vanessa Redgrave for having her name on this movie.  While it’s certainly darling that she got to make a movie that had echoes of her own life, no Academy Award winner deserves to star in something like this.  Apart from Redgrave, I struggle to find much good to say about this movie.  Italy and Amanda Seyfried look good, perhaps?  Or maybe that I would have really liked this movie if it was the first romantic comedy I had ever seen?

As Taylor Swift’s song goes, “It’s a love story, baby just say yes.”  When it comes to “Letters for Juliet,” maybe you should say no (unintentionally another Taylor Swift quote).  C- / 


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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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REVIEW: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

6 12 2010

C.S. Lewis’ Narnia book series has been a favorite of Christians for years.  They jumped for joy when Disney and Walden Media adapted “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe,” producing an audience hit that barely concealed its allegory for Christ.  Then came “Prince Caspian,” which was a purely Disney movie that deserves to be scoffed at.  The final kiss at the end between Susan and Caspian, the obligatory Disney kiss that was nowhere to be found in Lewis’ work, was an absolutely appalling end to a movie that strayed so far from its roots no thanks to the encouragement of the studio.

But after “Prince Caspian” took in a disappointing sum, Disney dropped the series and left Walden Media to find a new distributor if they wanted the books to be adapted.  After some searching, the group partnered with 20th Century Fox to present “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”

It’s amazing to see the difference a studio can make.  Fox and Walden’s Narnia is a reason for Christians everywhere to rejoice as it lays its foundation firmly back in the faith that has made Lewis’ books beloved for generations.  The movie gets its message across clearly but still leaves room for thought and pondering, all while providing great action and entertainment.

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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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