Random Factoid #200

13 02 2010

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been sharing this experience with you all for 200 days, yet here we are.  Random Factoid #200.

“Marshall and the Movies” is not, however, the first movie blog I have written.  Back in December 2007, I attempted to start an Oscars blog called “Bold Oscar Predictions.”  The site would be largely modeled after AwardsDaily and InContention, the two sites I frequent the most.  My main goal was to write columns that used the history of the Academy’s choices to predict the nominees and winners.

I set up the site the day after I finished my finals in ninth grade, although I can’t seem to pinpoint my motivation.  My first post was to be called “Why Amy Adams Won’t Be Nominated for an Oscar.”  I was almost finished when I had to go out the door, never to return again.

I set the site up on a random server, and I made the stupid mistake of not writing down what I called it or where I set it up.  For over two years, I have been searching for this blog.  It was all in vain until a few weeks ago when I was cleaning out the spam from my Gmail account.  I got a notice from “blog.com,” which I was about to delete before I remembered “Bold Oscar Predictions.”  After a lengthy reset password process, I finally found the blog.  Completely barren, of course, but it was still nice to have finally found it.

(Oh, and Amy Adams, if you ever read this, it’s ABSOLUTELY nothing personal on the post.  Your role as Julie Powell is what inspired this blog!)


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What To Look Forward To in … March 2010

12 02 2010

There’s more to March than just the Oscars.  Finally, March arrives and we can stop dwelling on 2009.  In my opinion, March is usually a pretty decent movie month.  This year’s crop looks especially promising with new movies from Tim Burton, Paul Greengrass (“The Bourne Ultimatum”), and Noah Baumbach (“The Squid and the Whale”).

March 5

After almost 3 months, “Avatar” will have to cede those illustrious 3-D and IMAX screens to Tim Burton’s twist on “Alice in Wonderland.”  The titular character is played by relative newcomer Mia Wasikowsa, who will look quite a bit older than the Alice you remember from Disney’s 1951 animated classic.  If that’s not a big enough draw for you, surely Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter (who will hopefully channel more of his glorious Jack Sparrow than his Jacko-esque Willy Wonka) will suffice.  No?  How about Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen of Hearts?  Or Anne Hathaway as the White Queen?  Perhaps Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar?  No doubt about it, this is one exciting cast, and I’m sure Tim Burton won’t have any problem distinguishing himself from the numerous “Alice in Wonderland” rip-offs that have sprouted over the past few years.

“Brooklyn’s Finest” is directed by Antoine Fuqua, helmer of “Training Day,” which was enough to get me interested.  However, it really looks to be little more than a mash-up of every cop movie ever made.  But hey, that may be your thing, which would make this your potpourri.

March 12

I’m excited for “Green Zone,” which looks to be a smart political thriller. See my previous post at the release of the trailer for more info.

On the indie side of things, Noah Baumbach looks to return to Oscar form after “Margot at the Wedding” underwhelmed with “Greenberg.”  The movie stars Ben Stiller as Greenberg, the grouchy misanthrope who finds a reason to be pessimistic about everything.  However, a special woman comes along and begins to melt his heart.  I’m looking forward to a double-edged performance from Stiller, one that can show off his dramatic chops but also give us plenty of hearty laughs.

Seth Rogen’s four roommates in “Knocked Up” were equally as funny as he was. Each of them have slowly gotten their “moment”: Jonah Hill in “Superbad,” Jason Segel in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” Now, it could be Jay Baruchel’s turn. “She’s Out of My League” pits him similar situation: the uncomely guy getting the smoking hot babe. Hopefully Paramount gives this the push it deserves, maybe making Baruchel a breakout comedic star of 2010.

Could “Remember Me” get Robert Pattinson the Razzie for Worst Actor? After narrowly missing the cut for his two performances as Edward Cullen, this could finally be the one to get him the kind of awards attention he deserves.

Forest Whitaker is an Academy Award winning actor. What on earth is he doing in “Our Family Wedding?” For that matter, America Ferrera has won SAG and Golden Globe awards, and Carlos Mencia was once actually funny! This looks not only insufferable but almost racist. Plus, didn’t I see this movie in 2005 when it was called “Guess Who?”

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Random Factoid #199

12 02 2010

As I dug through my wallet this week, I discovered something about myself that I did not want to discover.

I am a wasteful person.

I found a free movie ticket to AMC Theaters that was over two months expired.  Just think of what I could have seen with that ticket.

Oh, and Random Factoid #2-0-0 coming tomorrow.  Get excited.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (February 12, 2010)

12 02 2010

This week’s “F.I.L.M.” is Pedro Almodovar’s “Volver,” a movie which you might remember for getting Penelope Cruz her first Academy Award nomination.  Technically, it’s a drama, but “Volver” is one of the most killer fun dramas I’ve ever had the privilege of watching. The movie has a killer sense of irony, which makes for one crazy entertaining time.

(Oh, and for anyone who doesn’t know Spanish other than hola, “volver” means to return.)

Cruz bares her acting chops as Raimunda, the beautiful mother and wife.  She and her sister Sole have a very peculiar relationship, and it has not been particularly strong since they lost their parents in a tragic fire several years ago.  However, the rumor mill is buzzing that the ghost of their mother, Irene, has been spotted.  This talk comes just as the sisters have begun to finally move on from the tragedy, and it only serves to aggravate matters.

The apparition appears to Sole but chooses to hide herself from Raimunda, with whom she didn’t have a relationship.  This is probably for the better because Raimunda has plenty on her plate without having to worry about her mother’s ghost.  I personally think the back of the DVD case says it best: “Raimunda has problems of her own, the least of which is a corpse in her freezer!”

Although you won’t catch Cruz traipsing around pink fabric in lingerie in “Volver,” she is at her absolute best here.  The actress shows an incredible emotional range, readily adapting herself to whatever mood the scene calls for.  She is equally effective in the film’s dramatic scenes as she is in the more light ones, and the result is a performance that is quite poignant.  Here’s to hoping that she and Almodovar take on more great projects together (or at least that they don’t stop at “Broken Embraces”)!


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Random Factoid #198

11 02 2010

Oh, and one more thing about my fantasy football team, the Houston Iron Men.

Yahoo Fantasy Football leaves a space where you can “talk smack.”  When I put together my team before the official beginning of the season, I put in this quote:

“Is it better to be feared or respected?  I say, is it too much to ask for both?”

While everyone else trash talked (and while I never checked my team), I classed it up with my Tony Stark quote from “Iron Man.”


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REVIEW: Fame

11 02 2010

In “High School Musical,” the students randomly burst out in song and dance numbers whenever they darn well please – and it is just a normal high school. Corny? Obviously. Plausible?  Most definitely not.

So you would think that “Fame,” a high school drama set in an arts conservatory, would seize the opportunity to give us what we so desperately want (at least in the eyes of Disney Channel) and deliver rousing musical numbers because we would actually buy it here.

Wrong.  In fact, “Fame” is hardly a musical at all.  Save for its rocking finale and the titular track, there is barely any music scattered amongst all the cliched teen angst that it forces us to sit through (I don’t count listening to Megan Mullally do “You Took Advantage of Me” at a karaoke bar as a “number,” nor the ten millionth cover of “Someone to Watch Over Me”).  And this is a shame because there really is some talent, particularly from the school songbird played by Naturi Naughton (formerly of the band 3LW, which included two of Disney’s Cheetah Girls).  I own the soundtrack – thankfully I didn’t buy it – and it has 20 songs, and I still find it confounding that music plays such a small part.

As for the movie itself, I could not find even the slightest morsel of care for any of the characters, mainly because I knew their exact trajectory from the moment they stepped on the screen.   It’s the same hackneyed teenage drama that Disney Channel has shoved down our throats for years.  At this point, it has gone far beyond old – it’s offensive.  How many times are they going to produce the same uninspired stories?  Equally as important, how many times are they going to subject us to the frustration of watching the same movie again and again?  Even if there was even the slightest tinge of imagination in the writing, it still would have been a stretch for me to feel anything for the characters because the only one that gets a decent amount of screentime is the lovestruck Jenny (Kay Panabaker, ironically a familiar Disney Channel face).

My parents generation loved the original movie and the TV series that it spawned, but I couldn’t help but wonder as I watched why this needed to be remade.  Why bother to make a musical without music?  Why bother to give us another outlandish chronicle of teenage problems? Why bother to “update” a movie when you have nothing new to offer?  C- /


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Random Factoid #197

10 02 2010

When I wrote Random Factoid #141, I hadn’t done this in over half a decade. Now, I have done it twice in less than three months.

I have read the source material of a movie after I saw the movie.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that I read “Up in the Air,” the novel by Walter Kirn. I brought it with me to Argentina and began it there when I found out that I would be interviewing Kevin Renick. I was under the mistaken impression that he wrote the song after reading the book, so I pile-drove through the first half in order to be prepared. After more research, I discovered that he hadn’t read the book, and my pace slowed quite a bit.

Overall, I liked the book. I much prefer Jason Reitman’s take on it though, which is very distinctly different from Kirn’s novel.

(And for those of you who read Random Factoid #195, yes, it was the movie tie-in edition.)


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Random Factoid #196

9 02 2010

For the past two years, my fantasy football team has been called the Houston Iron Men.

The team name comes not from some sort of sports context.  Rather, it comes solely from the movie “Iron Man.”

And it sounds like a cool team name – it works in both contexts.

Oh, and if you were wondering how the team did, it’s best that you don’t ask.


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Random Factoid #195

8 02 2010

Way back when, I talked about how I usually enjoy reading the source material of a movie before I plop down in the theater seat and watch.  Allow me to continue this thread in my mind.

Usually, a new edition of the book is released in tandem with the release of the movie adaptation.  The covers usually feature either artwork from the movie or the poster.

More often than not, I will wait until the “movie tie-in” edition is released to buy the book.  It makes me feel like I’m reading the movie, not just a book.


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REVIEW: A Single Man

8 02 2010

The protagonist of “A Single Man,” George Falconer (Colin Firth), often references moments of clarity, in which he is able to forget the pain of his past and live in the present.  Director Tom Ford does an excellent job of highlighting these moments, and it is here where his first film absolutely glitters.  He has made a movie that stands as one of the most thoroughly beautiful aesthetic achievements in years.  And it isn’t beautiful just to be beautiful – Ford uses all these elements to subtly alert us to the true mood of the scene, but it’s never so subtle that the message is unattainable.

Set against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the film’s events take place on what very well could be the last day of George Falconer’s life.  He has had to mourn the death of his longtime lover Jim (Matthew Goode) in private, thus making him a ticking time bomb of grief, ready to self-destruct at any instant.  George passes through life as little more than a specter, a mere shadow of the charismatic man that once walked in the same loafers.  On this day, no one even seems to suspect anything out of the ordinary.

We follow George as he meticulously attempts to finish his business.  He teaches his english class to a largely insipid and bored college class – with the exception of Kenny (Nicholas Hoult), who seems to take an interest not only in the thematic relevance of the class to the real world, but also in George himself.  He has dinner with his old friend Charley (Julianne Moore), a woman with a high capacity for alcohol and heartbreak.  Yet in the midst of all this, life (or some might call it fate) keeps giving him reminders of why we live.  These fleeting instances of rapture are brilliantly captured by Ford’s lens, and they especially stand out against the bleak canvas of George’s life.

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Random Factoid #194

7 02 2010

The Los Angeles Times, you are simply amazing!  Literally, you are taking fanning the flames of my obsession to a whole new level and I love it!

It’s like the stock market, except you put your money on Oscar candidates!  It’s so much fun to play the strategy game, especially knowing that you aren’t losing any real money.  I’m putting big money on potential underdogs (such as “Inglourious Basterds” in Best Picture and “The Hurt Locker” in Best Screenplay) and significantly less on the locked winners (such as Mo’Nique).

I just downloaded this today, and it is already the most fun app I have on my iPhone.  Search “The Envelope” and download the one from the Los Angeles Times.  Even if you aren’t as obsessed as I am, it’s still a good time.


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Random Factoid #193

6 02 2010

Although I may have managed to see all the Best Picture nominees on nomination day, I still haven’t seen all the nominated performances.

I got fairly close this year: 13/20.  Or, as it would be called at my school, an F.  Maybe next year I can pass…

(NOTE: It wasn’t possible for me to see them all without traveling to New York because “The Last Station” still hasn’t opened here.)


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (February 5, 2010)

5 02 2010

The “F.I.L.M of the Week” is not independent, just to get that out of the way.  “North Country” is, however, first-rate.  The movie’s critics will probably say, “Haven’t I seen this movie before?  Oh, right, every two hours on Lifetime and Hallmark channels!”  To them, I say – yeah, maybe a little bit.  Sure, it doesn’t stray too far from the stock story of courage in the face of terrible circumstances.  But it has a tremendous power which can make you forgive the formulaic nature of the movie.

This power comes from a fantastic ensemble cast, led by Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand, both of whom received Academy Award nominations for their performances.  Theron plays Josey, a determined woman with two children that she needs to feed.  She moves back to her hometown and takes a job at the local mine, where she can bring home the biggest paycheck.  There are very few women employed there, and the men go out of their way to make sure they know that they aren’t welcome.  Horrible epithets fly and despicable deeds are committed.  The men succeed in their goal of making the women dread coming to work.  Josey and the other women, including the tough-as-nails Glory (McDormand), try to stand up for themselves, only to be told to “take it like a man.”

But what they don’t count on is Josey’s iron will.  She calls friend and lawyer Bill White (Woody Harrelson) to take on a landmark case – the first ever class action sexual harassment suit.  The town instantly turns against her, thinking she might be trying to shut down the mine.  Josey even manages to earn the ire of her father (Richard Jenkins).  But, as all these movies tell us, humanity and courage triumph over all perils.

Keep an eye out for Jeremy Renner, the now Oscar-nominated star of “The Hurt Locker,” who delivers a particularly haunting performance as one of the main perpetrators.  He also has a unique position in the conundrum because he was an old flame of Josey’s during high school.  It’s another role filled with emotional depth that Renner absolutely nails.  If anyone had any doubts, he’s definitely not a one-trick pony.

I’m sure the real events that inspired “North Country” were much less campy and melodramatic.  Nonetheless, the film gets you worked up, emotional, and impassioned.  For just another inspirational movie, that’s about as good it gets.


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Random Factoid #192

5 02 2010

I had an interesting dream last night.

I dreamed I was in the movie “Inglourious Basterds.”  Not as an actor, but as a person sitting in Shoshanna Dreyfus’ theater in the climactic moments of the movie.  It didn’t go like it happened in the movie, and I think when the rational part of my brain realized that it wasn’t broadcasting the right movie, it woke me up.

Which is a shame, because I would have really liked to have seen how it ended.


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FEATURE: Unadjusted vs. Adjusted Box Office

4 02 2010

I don’t know if you have heard, but there is this little movie out in theaters now called “Avatar.”  It has been breaking box office record after box office record, every day stealing the top spot from movies like “The Dark Knight” and “Titanic.”

The past two weeks have brought a tidal wave of incredibly important titles for James Cameron’s motion capture epic.  On Monday, January 25, “Avatar” became the highest grossing film in overseas markets.  The very next day, it became the highest grossing movie worldwide.  On Tuesday, February 2, the day “Avatar” was nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture, it became the highest grossing movie ever at the United States box office.  (All three titles were nabbed from Cameron’s “Titanic.)

Before I delve into deeper analysis, I think some hearty congratulations are in order for James Cameron and everyone involved in bringing “Avatar” to the screen.  No matter what you thought of the movie, you have to appreciate the tremendous amount of work that went into making it.  The amount of money that it takes to pay for a movie ticket has skyrocketed to prices that have forced Americans to reconsider how often they go to theater.  As a result, watching movies on laptops, iPods, and video game consoles has soared.  “Avatar” has returned the urgency to getting full immersion in the theatrical experience, and James Cameron deserves to be raking in all the money that he is.

But does “Avatar” really deserve to be called the biggest movie of all time?  There are people who claim the system by which that claim is made is flawed.  What I want to do is introduce you to the system that the detractors swear by – the “adjusted” system – and let you decide what system you think is the best.

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