What To Look Forward To in … May 2010

6 04 2010

YES! It’s time to preview May! That means it’s time for big-time summer blockbusters. Hopefully, this summer has less to make critics moan (a la “Transformers”) and more to make everyone reach for the popcorn (a la “The Dark Knight”). But I’ll let you make that decision for yourself. Three big sequels open in the banner month of summer,

May 7

“Iron Man 2” kicks off the summer movie season with a bang.  After its predecessor was the surprise hit of summer 2008, the sequel is opening to very high expectations.  Throwing in such tremendous new cast members as Mickey Rourke as villainous Whiplash, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, and Don Cheadle (as a replacement for the role last played by Terrence Howard) has only served to heighten them.  But do you really need to be sold?  If this movie doesn’t fall in the range of $350-$400 million, it’s a disappointment.

We’ve got a double dose of baby-themed movies opening in limited release on this day. “Babies” is for all you documentary people; the movie follows the first year of four different infants.  For the art house lovers, Sony Pictures Classics has you covered with “Mother and Child,” a movie which can be referred to as “hyperlink cinema.”  Like “Crash” and “Traffic,” “Mother and Child” follows several different stories all tying into a common theme – here, it is motherhood.  Starring Oscar nominees Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, and Samuel L. Jackson, it has played at a few film festivals and may be the only big indie movie of the month.  I guess even the specialty studios want you to see “Iron Man 2.”

May 14

“Robin Hood” is the second big release, and it boasts a pair of Oscar-winning actors, Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett, on the marquee.  And no, this isn’t the “Robin Hood” with the foxes and the other forest animals.  It’s a gritty, intense action movie directed by Ridley Scott (“Gladiator”).  I have plenty more to say about this movie, so keep your eyes peeled in the next week or so.

“Just Wright” and “Letters to Juliet” dare to go up against the two blockbusters packing the screens.  The former is a Queen Latifah vehicle where she stars as a physical therapist helping to rehabilitate an NBA star; the latter, an Amanda Seyfried mushy-gushy love story where she helps an older woman find her long-lost love in the city where “Romeo & Juliet” was set.

May 21

I really hope the trailer doesn’t ruin “Shrek Forever After” like it did for “Shrek the Third.”  Well, to be honest, the threequel tanked because the script was awful.  The first two were amazing, so I’m praying that the magic returns for the final chapter.

“MacGruber” strangely decided to move itself out of comfy April into May against one of the biggest franchises of the past decade.  Interesting move on Rogue’s part, but if the movie is going to make any money, it has to be hilarious.  To be honest, I have my doubts.  There hasn’t been a good “SNL” sketch-based movie since “Wayne’s World” nearly 20 years ago.  Often times, I don’t think the “MacGruber” sketches are funny for their 30 second runtimes … why would I want to watch them for an hour and a half or so?  Good news: it has Kristen Wiig.  Let’s pray for a lot of Kristen Wiig.

May 28

Technically, “Sex and the City 2” comes out on Thursday, May 27. Why they did that, I don’t know. But I do know this: women, get your outfits ready. According to my mother, a rabid fan of the series, all the girls got decked out like they were going to a charity gala.

“Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” is my pick for the big bust of May, although I could easily be eating my hat in two months’ time.  I really like Jake Gyllenhaal, but I’m not sure how much I buy him as an action hero.  Based on a video game, it seems to me that Disney is marketing it like the new “Pirates of the Caribbean.”  But I’m not a big gamer, so I don’t really know what to expect.

Excited much for this amazing month of movies?  Or will it live up to its promise?  Take the poll and let me know what you are thinking!


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Random Factoid #252

6 04 2010

Yesterday I talked about how annoyed I can get with bad behavior at a movie, but I should probably fess up.  I’m no angel.

I’ll share one moment with you that might have angered you had you been sitting in that same theater.  It was opening night of “Inglourious Basterds,” and my friends and I had already been to “Avatar Day.”  Needless to say, we were pretty jacked up.

Quentin Tarantino built up to a phenomenal conclusion.  I’m not going to ruin it for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, but my friends and I got up during the climax and screamed, clapped, and just went crazy.  I think my theater forgave us because I heard other claps too.

But be honest – would you be angry at me?  Keep in mind the circumstances and the movie; it’s not like I’m screaming at “Precious.”


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REVIEW: Law Abiding Citizen

5 04 2010

The gold standard for the cat-and-mouse thriller is “The Silence of the Lambs,” which won Best Picture back in 1991.  To be honest, it really isn’t fair to judge similar movies against it just because of how amazing that movie is.  But nevertheless, I still have to do it.

“Law Abiding Citizen” actually has a little bit in common with “The Silence of the Lambs.”  Outside of the cages, we have our Clarice Starling counterpart Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx), committed to justice so long as it doesn’t ruin his high conviction rate as a lawyer,  Inside, we have our Hannibal Lecter counterpart Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler), committed to justice in the form of revenge and payback against those who ruined his life.

Does “Law Abiding Citzen” measure up?  No, but there has yet to be a movie that has, so that shouldn’t be taken too harshly.

Overall, it’s a pretty good movie and it delivers some quality entertainment for an hour and 45 minutes.  I don’t know if I could go as far as to use a sensational adjective like spellbinding or gripping to describe it, but I managed to stay very engaged and curious about what would happen next.  This might not have been great to see in theaters, but it makes for a satisfying rental.  I’ll gladly stop and watch this on Starz when it comes on in a few months.

The main thing that didn’t thrill me about “Law Abiding Citizen” was that I felt very little friction between Foxx and Butler.  “The Silence of the Lambs” exploded off the screen because Foster and Hopkins played off each other so well.  I don’t take issue with Foxx’s contribution so much as Butler, who played his psychopathic killer quite similarly to the way he played the crude womanizer in “The Ugly Truth.”  He is a long way from delivering a performance so eerie that it could earn an Academy Award (like Hopkins), but in spite of his flaws, the movie doesn’t suffer too badly.  B /


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Random Factoid #251

5 04 2010

Today’s factoid inspiration comes from NPR blogger Linda Holmes’ article “The Shusher and the Shushed.”  I read the article a few weeks ago, and it was one of those perfect reads where a very intelligent writer strings together all the thoughts you have floating around in your head.  Here, she connects all my angers and frustrations about people talking at movies.

Unfortunately, out of the past three times I have shelled out the big bucks at the theater, I have had to use my voice to “shh” some very rude patrons in the theater.

Yesterday, at “How to Train Your Dragon,” there were a few whiny crying babies.  I have written many times about this being a pet peeve (Random Factoid #32, for instance), but I’m more inclined to forgive it during a kids movie than in a movie like “Funny People.”  But these kids were screaming at the screen!  I gave one forceful “shh,” but I knew it wouldn’t do much.  Eventually, I managed to drown out the kids.

But two weeks ago, when I went to see “Avatar” again, I was appalled at the talking going on in the theater.  A grown man was having a phone conversation on the row in front of me.  Correction, MULTIPLE phone conversations.  Everyone in my family gave him a “shh,” but I must have given over a dozen.  By the time you are that age, moviegoing etiquette is common sense.  You just don’t take a phone call in the middle of a movie.  Step out into the lobby at the very least.

I’m not afraid to “shh.”  If I pay $10 to see a movie, I’m going to enjoy the experience being presented to me in the theater.  Your phone call isn’t going to ruin that for me.  Phone calls don’t just interrupt a movie, like the ads say.  They interrupt me, and the movie isn’t going to stop and snap at you.  I am.

Any fellow bold souls out there willing to stand up and say that you have fought for your right to enjoy a movie?


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REVIEW: How to Train Your Dragon

4 04 2010

Ever since the dawn of full-length computer animated movies, Pixar has been the most reliable brand name in the business.  But in the past few years, DreamWorks Animation has been slowly gaining ground and clipping at their heels.  With each movie, they move closer and closer towards raising their game to the Pixar standard.

Their latest output, “How to Train Your Dragon,” isn’t quite at that level.  But the bright side is that it is one of Dreamworks’ best animated movies so far.

The story or the morals aren’t highly original, yet the movie still works and delights.  The hero, Hiccup (voice of Jay Baruchel), is a plucky youngster with a tiny frame.  In his Viking society, where bigger is better, that isn’t exactly a positive.  His father (a heavily accented Gerard Butler) has little faith in him, and the village doesn’t either as a result.

But this tiny little village has a big problem.  We like to think termites and ants are bad; they have to put up with dragons who terrorize their town, killing people and destroying houses.  The Vikings fight and kill the dragons, training the youth of the village to do the same.  But Hiccup has a different approach: he learns how to tame and train dragons after he rehabilitates one of the most dangerous species, which he affectionately names Toothless.  He then learns in a very Jake Sully-ian fashion that the creatures they had been treating with hostility could become great friends if they are treated with respect.

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Random Factoid #250

4 04 2010

Hop-py Easter, everyone!

One Easter memory that pertains to my blogging activities: I really hoped that the Easter Bunny would bring me the “Finding Neverland” DVD.

Did I get that? No, the Easter Bunny felt fit to give me “Fat Albert.” In retrospect, he gave me the more endearing classic, and I respect his decision.


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REVIEW: Clash of the Titans

3 04 2010

It’s a pretty rare feeling for me to walk out of a theater feeling scammed.  But as I pitched my 3D glasses in the eco-friendly disposal boxes outside my theater, that’s exactly how I felt.

After seeing the success of “Avatar” early this year, Warner Bros. decided to add an extra dimension to the release of “Clash of the Titans.”  Usually, 3D adds to the wow factor of a movie and enhances the experience.  This, as moviegoers are now beginning to learn, also enhances the ticket prices – and the more we go, the higher they climb.

But the only thing that 3D enhanced in my viewing of “Clash of the Titans” was my disappointment and indignation.  I like the technology, and I know that great filmmakers will utilize to create some truly incredible cinema.  But here, we see 3D at its worst.  When it is just arbitrarily added to any movie, then it truly becomes a boondoggle and a meaningless accessory.

It is now the responsibility of the American moviegoer to stop 3D from becoming an arbitrary embellishment, and it has to start here.  If studios and theater goers think that we are so smitten by 3D, then they will continue to take advantage of us.  Think a movie like “Clash of the Titans” being retooled for 3D is bad?  At this rate, we will have “Precious 2” playing in 3D in the coming years.  That idea doesn’t sound all that crazy to a studio executive with you $4 premium ticket price lining his pocket.

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Random Factoid #249

3 04 2010

It’s Easter Eve, which means one faithful thing: “The Ten Commandments” is on ABC tonight.

I’ve watched it in bits and pieces several times over the past decade or so, but I’ve never sat down to watch the whole thing start to finish.  I’ve hit all the high points: “LET MY PEOPLE GO!” and the parting of the Red Sea.

The 5 hour run time is a little intimidating.  But maybe next year…


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Random Factoid #248

2 04 2010

Call me a geezer, but I’m developing a sort of technology resistance.

Specifically, to Blu-Ray players.  I don’t own a Blu-Ray player and I don’t ever intend to.

I don’t think they are any higher quality of movies.  In fact, I think watching a movie on a Blu-Ray player makes a movie seem a lower quality.  The characters all seem like paper dolls, and everything seems so unrealistic.

Am I the only one that hasn’t drunk the Blu-Ray Kool-Aid?  Or does anyone else feel like Blu-Ray is kind of a sham?

P.S. – I’m not a factoid repeater.  This is different from Random Factoid #69.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (April 2, 2010)

2 04 2010

I remember waking up the morning after the Oscars in 2003 and looking at the winners in the paper (because at that point, my parents wouldn’t let me stay up to watch the whole show) and wondering what on earth “Talk to Her” was.  Pedro Almodóvar’s Spanish-language film had taken the Best Original Screenplay category away from a movie that I loved very dearly at the time, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”  Seven years later, I finally found out what it was that I had been missing – and now it is my “F.I.L.M. of the Week.”

I’m still trying to get a hold of what exactly Almodóvar’s directorial style that everyone loves so much actually is, but whatever that may be, I absolutely love it.  “Talk to Her” is a beautifully developed story about two men and their relationships with the women they love – both of which happen to be comatose.  Benigno is a nurse in the hospital taking care of Alicia, a woman who had a terrible accident just as he became obsessed with her.  As her caregiver, he now has all the access to her that he wants (which is why I recommend this movie with a fair amount of discretion – this movie is not for the faint at heart or the easily creeped).

Marco, on the other hand, has been romantically involved with Lydia, a matador, for quite sometime whenever she is tragically maimed by a bull.  When she falls into a coma, she winds up at the same hospital where Alicia is kept and Benigno works.  In a coincidence so shocking it could only happen in the movies, Marco and Benigno happened to have sat next to each other at a play once, and they begin to strike up a casual friendship.  Their approaches to dealing with the women that they love differ greatly; the title derives from some advice that Benigno gives.  “Talk to her,” he suggests.  Act like she is alive.

The story that unravels from their friendship is unconventional yet so exciting to watch unveil.  It’s shrouded in artistry, and I’m still working on getting to the core of what this movie is really trying to say.  I don’t mind munching on it, and I love movies like “Talk to Her” because I am forced to think and ponder.  It’s the kind of movie that stays in your head for weeks and months, and it’s the kind of movie that makes you feel like one time simply isn’t enough to see it all.

P.S. – For anyone who has seen the movie, what do you make of the “Shrinking Lover” sequence (without spoiling the ending for anyone)?


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Random Factoid #247

1 04 2010

One morning in 2009, because I truly had nothing better to do, I stopped for breakfast at Chick-fil-A and then waited outside of Target for 15 minutes.

For what?  To be the first person to grab the 2-disc “Pineapple Express” DVD.  Oh, and it had a bonus digital copy.

But if you think about it, that was kind of stupid because I had to go to school in 30 minutes … so it’s not like I could watch it right away.

I’ve never actually stood in a line to get a DVD.  Any movie that is worth that kind of a wait I will have already seen in theaters.


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A “Marshall and the Movies” Contest!

1 04 2010

You all know my struggle. I can’t get consistent commentary from the many people who read this blog – for those of you who have commented, ignore this part of the message.

I have a vision for the ideal way “Marshall and the Movies” would operate.  I’ve heard two descriptions of how to run a blog: an interactive community or a teacher-student setting.  I feel like at the current moment, I’m running a teacher-student operation with the occasional student input.  I don’t mind being a “teacher” of sorts, but if that’s the way it has to be, I want to learn as much from the “students” as they learn from me.  Ideally, we could have an interactive community here, but I’ll settle for an interactive classroom.  Right now, it’s just a classroom.

But as Natalie Keener says, “It’s only a problem if you have a solution.  I stand before you today with a solution.”  Readers of “Marshall of the Movies,” I type for you today with similar resolve.

In the month of April, I will be sponsoring a contest.

If you leave a thoughtful and relevant comment that contributes to intelligent discussion of movies or any other topic I bring up here, you will be entered into a random drawing for a prize.  The more you comment, the better chance you have of winning.  My hope is that you will be get in a habit of commenting that extends beyond the end of the contest.

What is the prize?  Well…

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Shameless Advertisement #11 – April

1 04 2010

Welcome to the first official month of spring AND the last month before summer movie season!

After the poll of what you were most looking forward to this month, there seemed to be a fair majority voting one way. Props to “Clash of the Titans,” “Date Night,” and “I Love You Philip Morris” for each collecting one vote.

But, you all clearly felt that the biggest attraction in April is …

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Random Factoid #246

31 03 2010

I actually feel legitimate disappointment when good movies have bad DVD covers.

Case in point: “Up in the Air.”  Come on, Paramount, is that really the best you can do?  A picture of George Clooney laughing surrounded by a whole bunch of empty blue space?

There’s nothing happening on the cover, and if I knew nothing about the movie, I would see it and walk away.  I fear that in the future, people will see this DVD and not even think twice about it.  Which is such a shame.

What about you?  Any DVD cover (or poster, for that matter) really disappoint you?


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REVIEW: The September Issue

31 03 2010

“The September Issue” is a documentary that gives a fascinating exposé into the fashion industry – or religion, as some see it.  Their chief diety is Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, who has the ability to make or break a trend.  It is largely because of her vision and foresight that the magazine has secured a foothold as the leading voice in fashion.

But most people know Wintour as Miranda Priestly, the character from “The Devil Wears Prada” played by Meryl Streep and written by one of Wintour’s former assistants.  The 2006 movie played her off as an ice woman with no soul, yet here there is no attempt to satanize her.  In fact, “The September Issue” avoids taking much of a stance on Wintour at all, and I’m glad that I was given the opportunity to form my own opinion on her.  To me, she is just a woman dedicated to perfection and refuses to accept anything less.

And “The September Issue” isn’t the real “The Devil Wears Prada;” that is to say, the movie isn’t out to paint us a portrait of Wintour.  It’s a glimpse into all the pain-staking efforts that come together to make the largest monthly edition of a magazine in history.  The September 2007 edition of Vogue that we follow from concepts to the presses is more like a fashion textbook, weighing over five pounds and amassing over 800 pages.  Although a lot of people write off some of these fashion shoots as silly, the movie gives us some fascinating insights into how much thought goes into them.

But to be honest, the movie’s real star is Grace Coddington, Vogue‘s creative director and often a foil for Wintour.  Grace is the movie’s scene stealer, which is quite a feat in a documentary.  While Wintour is all business, Grace is very emotionally invested in her work and finds herself frustrated whenever her boss doesn’t appreciate the shoots she puts together.  A former model, Grace has a great sense of what works and what doesn’t, and eventually Wintour clicks with her.  There’s plenty of drama between the two of them if that’s what you are looking for in “The September Issue,” but you’ll find more matter-of-fact filmmaking that documents an extraordinary process.  That’s pretty dramatic in its own right.  B+ /


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