Random Factoid #126

1 12 2009

I have been saving this one for a while, and you are really in for a treat.  Since today is December 1st, it seemed like a good time.

In 2003, I became quite obsessed with “Elf.”  I even went as far as to create what I called the “Moviegoers Challenge,” designed to see how much people really paid attention in the movie.  I’ll attach a Microsoft Word file for you to download it, but I’ll paste it onto this post.  If you decided to actually take it, keep in mind that I actually knew all the answers to this.

Elf Moviegoers Challenge – click here to download.

Full challenge is posted after the break.

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Shameless Advertisement #5 – December

1 12 2009

Well, December is finally here!  Bring on the Oscar movies … and plenty of other fun movies!

There was another pretty good turnout for this poll.  In a tie for second place were “The Princess and the Frog,” “Avatar,” “It’s Complicated,” and “Invictus.”  Unfortunately, the runners-up get nothing except a link to their trailers.

There was also a tie for first place.  Rather than prominently feature “Up in the Air” for the third time, I decided to spread the wealth. So the winner, and the readers’ of “Marshall and the Movies” most anticipated movie of December 2009 is…

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REVIEW: Fantastic Mr. Fox

30 11 2009

It might not seem odd at first, but soon after being immersed in the world of “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” you are bound to notice that all the characters are saying the word cuss, used as a substitute for any necessary expletives, with great frequency.  In a brilliant stroke of ingenious mischief, Wes Anderson finds a way to tone down the movie with dumbing it down.  He takes everything that audiences love about his live-action features – the dysfunctional families, the eclectic music, the geometric shots, the conscious cinematography, and all the quirks – and refuses to surrender to the family movie.  Style intact, Anderson makes a movie that audiences will realize isn’t all that different from his other pictures.

The cast of characters might seem a little bit familiar to fans of Anderson’s work.  Mr. Fox (George Clooney) is a flawed father struggling to accept his responsibilities to his family, and he yearns for his furtive days of hunting.  Trying to rediscover his true self, he embarks on a series of ultimately successful raids on the crotchety neighboring farmers with the wonderfully neurotic opossum Kylie (Wallace Wolodarsky).  This is all to the dismay of Mrs. Felicity Fox (Meryl Streep), his caring but somewhat disapproving wife.  Knowing Wes Anderson, the family drama can’t end there.  Their son, Ash (Jason Schwartzman), can’t seem to live up to his father’s legacy.  In addition, he begins to feel like second fiddle to his dad when naturally gifted cousin Kristofferson (Eric Chase Anderson) comes to stay with the family.  The classic “hunted become the hunters” story intertwines with the family turmoil as Mr. Fox angers the dim-witted farmers adjacent to their dwelling.  Using their wile, the rodents are able to outsmart and outmaneuver their foes.

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Random Factoid #125

30 11 2009

Something about 25 being a factor of 100 made me want to make this the factoid to start a new trend: whenever I can, I will include pictures with factoids to make them more visually appealing.  Sound good?  Let me know “yay” or “nay” in the comments.

So, without further ado, today’s factoid:

I love this irony.  The only time my ID was ever checked before going into an R-rated movie was 5 days before I turned 17.  That was to see “Paranormal Activity,” for those of you wondering what movie it was.


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REVIEW: A Christmas Carol

29 11 2009

Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” gets the title “timeless” bestowed on it because every year at Christmas, some new version of his story is spawned.  Robert Zemeckis is the latest filmmaker to take a stab at the tale.  Rather than revamp, retool, or recondition the story, he simply uses modern technology to retell it in a fun way that stays true to the source material and keeps the soul intact.  His “A Christmas Carol” bottles up the real spirit of the holiday season like no recent movie and spreads it through the audience.  It really is an empowering feeling to walk out of a movie inspired to put that twenty-dollar bill in the Salvation Army bin, not in the cash register at the mall.

The story of Ebenezer Scrooge is probably the second most well-known holiday yarn, weaved into the very fabric of the holiday season itself.  We all know it: the old miser with a heart colder than the snow packed on the London sidewalks gets a wake-up call that changes him.  Prior, Scrooge scoffed at Christmas with a “bah, humbug.”  He scorned those who wanted to care for him and refused to give care to the people that need it the most.  He treats his employee like dirt and gives him wages that amount to little more than that.  But Scrooge gets a visit from three ghosts – the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come – that change his perspective by reminding him of the joy that the season used to bring, the plight of those less fortunate, and the bleak future that awaits him if he doesn’t change his ways.  The result is a more tender-hearted man who appreciates Christmas and the giving spirit that accompanies it.

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Random Factoid #124

29 11 2009

If you haven’t gotten to laugh at something pathetic today, this factoid will give it to you.

I lay out the tickets in my collection in a grid format.  The normal sized tickets lay six in a row.  Going into the summer of 2005, I had 5 tickets on the last row on a page.  We were headed to an AMC theater to check out the new “Star Wars” movie, but this was bad news for me.  I knew I had to convince my family to use the auto-ticket machine, or there would be a big empty space on my page.  When we walked in the theater, there was no line at the normal kiosk.  I started with casual suggestions but then turned to begging.  It was to no avail.  If you ever look through my collection and notice a glaring blank space, this is its story.


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REVIEW: Couples Retreat

28 11 2009

Hollywood loves combo deals.  A recent favorite is the probing exposé of a relationship mixed with comedy.  “Couples Retreat” follows this recipe, but there is only a fair amount of laughter added to offset watching long sessions of couples therapy.  Surprisingly, the script (written by stars Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau) captures a wide scope of realistic relationships, perhaps some of the best in comedy of this type.  However, the writing is also the film’s weakness as it plays like a rerun due to its devotion to the typical “relationship movie” formula.  You come to expect some master plan behind all the exercises that pull the couples apart (while subtly bringing them together), but the movie amounts to little more than just a string of events.

The married-with-kids couple whose relationship has become like a job (Vince Vaughn and Malin Akerman).  The high-school couple who has been together way too long (Jon Favreau and Kristin Davis).  The anal couple who is frustrated because everything doesn’t go according to their perfect plan (Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell).  The older man-younger woman couple that always manages to raise some eyebrows (Faizon Love and Kali Hawk).  Chances are, you know at least one of these couples.  “Couples Retreat” dwells largely on the familiarity of its characters to propel the more serious side of the movie.  At the same time, it allows the strengths of the actors to provide some comic relief.  Vince Vaughn does a few trademark trite spiels; Jon Favreau gets plenty of moments to be curmudgeonly; Jason Bateman plays average Joe with a tinge of neurosis.

“Couples Retreat” doesn’t really succeed as a comedy, but it does manage to portray some very realistic relationships with very real problems.  As the directorial debut of Peter Billingsley (Ralphie from “A Christmas Story” – you know, the one they play all Christmas on TBS), it’s not such a bad place to start, but it definitely leaves something to be desired.  We’ve seen all the stars in this movie do better, and it isn’t too far out of line to request more.  But for what it’s worth, this will provide you some amusement yet fail to deliver the belly-laughs we have come to expect from actors like Vaughn, Favreau, and Bateman.  B- /


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Random Factoid #123

28 11 2009

I’m not the kind to hold a grudge against a person. A website, that’s a different story.

I have not used Fandango to purchase advanced tickets since 2002. I pre-ordered tickets to “Star Wars: Episode II,” and there was some sort of a mix-up with the system that caused me to miss the first 15 minutes of the movie. If you ever read the factoids, then you will know that picking up on a movie already in progress is something I really despise.  Even though I’m sure that the technology is updated and millions of people use it without problems, I still haven’t forgiven Fandango.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (November 27, 2009)

27 11 2009

Before I went to see “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” I wanted to get a taste of Wes Anderson’s distinct style.  So I took a friend’s recommendation and watched “The Royal Tenenbaums,” which is this week’s “F.I.L.M.” (First-Class, Independent Little-Known Movie).  I am now officially smitten by the quirky, off-beat humor that people love about Anderson.  He has a very cultish, niche audience, but “The Royal Tenenbaums” managed to make a blip on the mainstream radar.  It made a respectable $52 million (attendance comparable to “The Final Destination”), won a Golden Globe for Gene Hackman’s performance, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.  But for a large group of moviegoers who haven’t experienced Wes Anderson, might I suggest renting this?  You’re really missing out if you haven’t.

The film follows a dysfunctional family that has fallen apart, mainly due to the large egos of the three extremely bright children.  Chas (Ben Stiller) is a successful enterpreneur by his early teens, Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a skilled playwright who is published by high school, and Ritchie (Luke Wilson) finds great success with the game of tennis.  But for different reasons, they all wind up miserable.  Surprisingly, it is their estranged father, Royal Tenebaum (Gene Hackman) who ends this unhappy spell.  With his eccentric and often manipulative ways, he often infuriates them.  But he has a certain charm that has the power to ease the pain of disappointment and fill the gap he has left in their lives with his absence.

One thing that I particularly enjoyed about “The Royal Tenenbaums” is that I could sense Wes Anderson had as much fun making this movie as I did watching it.  He ornately concocts these bizarre characters that seem so far-fetched, yet they hit home in unexpected and delightful ways.  Anderson makes his presence felt throughout the entire movie.  You can feel it in the cinematography, consisting of deliberately framed geometric shots.  You can feel it in the soundtrack, a mix of folk and rock that really sets the atmosphere for his quirky work.  You can even feel it in the font he uses for the titles.  If you were like me, questioning what could possibly make Wes Anderson so special, watch “The Royal Tenenbaums” to be silenced and completely won over.


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Random Factoid #122

27 11 2009

When I went through a big movie buying phase in eighth grade, I bought a few movies sight unseen because I wanted to have something new if I was ever in the mood for that kind of thing.  To quote Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman,” “Big mistake.  BIG.  Huge.”  Why did I spend $10 on “The Longest Yard?”


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REVIEW: A Serious Man

27 11 2009

The Coen Brothers have been entertaining audiences with their off-beat filmmaking techniques for many years now.  In “A Serious Man,” their artistry shines bright as they lead you through a miserable string of luck in the life of Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg).  It is easy to get lost in their style while they present these events that are undeniably captivating.  Knowing that they are Oscar-winning directors and screenwriters lends a sense of confidence that they know what they are doing.  But when the dust settles and the film cuts to black, I couldn’t help but sigh, “Huh?” with a great deal of dissatisfaction.

As I walked out of the theater, the worst feeling was looming over me – not only did I not know what the filmmakers wanted me to take from the movie, I had absolutely no idea what I had just watched other than a life being ripped apart at the seams.  This is tough for anyone to feel, but I am a critic of sorts.  I couldn’t help trembling at what my readers would think if I couldn’t understand it.  “What a philistine, that Marshall, can’t even appreciate simple art,” I thought you might say.

But I’m going to imagine this as “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” because I used lifelines so I could report to you something other than my confusion.  With the help of Google and a friend’s mother, I was able to decode some of the movie.
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Random Factoid #121

26 11 2009

Thanksgiving Day isn’t necessarily a huge moviegoing day for my family, at least nowhere near as big as Christmas.  It is the first day that my dad permits listening to Christmas music (although that hasn’t stopped me from listening to “All I Want For Christmas Is You” ten times already on my laptop).  When we do go, they have been family movies (“Enchanted” in 2007, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” today) so be thankful for that time we can share together.


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Marshall and the Movies – Counting Blessings

26 11 2009

I feel like diving in this ocean of generosity!  It’s a hailstorm of kindness!

– Roberto Benigni, accepting the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1999

Hello readers,

It has been three months since I addressed you formally, but before I begin, let me wish you a happy Thanksgiving to your and your family.  I truly love this holiday because it is something that everyone can celebrate.  It provides a great reminder to be thankful for what we have, something that we always seem to forget in the greed-driven Christmas season that kicks off at 4 A.M. tomorrow morning.

As I reflected on the many blessings that have been bestowed upon me, I couldn’t help but feel but the sincerest gratitude for all the success I have had with my blog.  Hey, you’re reading it, aren’t you?  That’s success to me, and I cannot thank you enough for visiting.  Every view I get further empowers me to deliver better quality writing.  Without you all, I would just be an obsessed teenager talking to himself in cyberspace.

I am so thankful for the acceptance in the movie blogging community that I have received.  I have been featured on the “Large Association of Movie Blogs” (LAMB) website.

To adapt the immortal words of John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what your blogger can do for you, but ask what you can do for your blogger.”  Thanks, devoted reader, I thought you would never ask.  You can help me out by visiting this site from my blog.  The more hits they get from Marshall and the Movies, the higher I rank and the more visitors I can draw here.

This site has brought even more readers from the community to build on being read by some impressive bloggers.  Please click on a link in the “Sites to Check Out” section of my sidebar; most of them are bloggers just like me.  The unprofessional ones have all commented or read the blog, and hopefully you will give them a chance.  Consider it my way of thanking them.

The LAMB isn’t the only way that I am getting the word about Marshall and the Movies around the town.  I have been contributing my reviews to Rotten Tomatoes for several months now.  You can visit my page at rottentomatoes.com/member/marshallandthemovies, but I would rather you read the reviews here on the blog itself.  Some random person has friended me from the RT community, so I’ll take that as some kind of a success.

I had considered elaborating on my desires of expanding the blog in the future, but I’ll save that for a later date.  It would ruin the mood of this post.  I want this to be one that expresses my elation with what I have been given, not my desire for something more.  I’m trying to be Lester Burnham at the end of “American Beauty,” not the beginning.

I couldn’t be more elated at what has become of this blog and that you have decided to take time out of your life and share it with me.

Until the next reel,
Marshall


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Random Factoid #120

25 11 2009

Before the factoid, an off-topic tangent: It’s funny how inspiration comes from the strangest sources.  I was struggling for today’s factoid.  While thinking, I started listening to some songs from the “Walk The Line” soundtrack.  With my face down in the pillow, I thought about that stretch of 4 months in late 2005 and early 2006 where I was completely obsessed with the movie.  Then, it came to me.

In my 7th grade computer class, we were given a PowerPoint assignment to create a slideshow that utilized animation to bring up the lyrics to a song as they were being sung.  Other people in my class did artists like the Backstreet Boys and Sum 41.  What did my partner and I do?  Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon singing “Jackson” from the “Walk The Line” soundtrack.


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REVIEW: An Education

25 11 2009

In the age of the booming blockbuster, independent cinema is in dire need of a movie that can appeal to a blooming generation of teenage moviegoers if sophisticated cinema is to survive.  I couldn’t be more pleased to report that “An Education” is that movie.  Although it is the type of movie that typically plays best with adults, it has the power to resonate among younger viewers unlike any movie of its kind.  Director Lone Scherfig’s clear understanding of the mind of teenagers radiates from as early as the opening credits, where sine graphs and frog diagrams devolve into hearts.  Thankfully, her vision is complemented by phenomenal performances and a sensational script that easily makes for one of the best moviegoing experiences of the year.

Jenny, the film’s heroine played with a stunning mastery by Carey Mulligan, is a character with struggles that people at crossroads in life can still appreciate many decades after the movie is set.  Sadly, she faces the same problem of creating a “college identity” separate from her regular identity that still plagues teenagers today.  Her parents (Alfred Molina and Carey Seymour) make sure that she has all the interests and hobbies necessary for her to fit the Oxford bill, obliging her to partake in activities that she loathes.  Through the process, Jenny begins to feel somewhat uneasy about going to spend four years doing something “hard and boring” with her nose in a book at a university only to end up in a “hard and boring” career for the rest of her life.  She reasons, however, to go against the grain would mean throwing away years of her life dedicated to looking impressive on an application, but still the desire remains for something beyond the education that a textbook can provide.

Almost as if an answer to an unspoken prayer, a chance encounter with the charming, older David (Peter Sarsgaard) gives Jenny a taste of a captivating world where the formalities of her schooling rank substantially below the proclivities for enjoyment.  Gradually, David’s outlook rubs off on Jenny, and she becomes willing to throw out what she has worked so many years for to enter the materialistic world that he inhabits.  For all those who think Jenny’s judgement is being impaired by an infatuation for love, what is she doing other than indulging a yearning that all students have had?  Her curious exploration into a very adult world ultimately leads her to a course she had never expected to be enrolled in – a crash course in adulthood.

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