Random Thoughts From a Cinemaniac

Reflections on the Globes

2007-01-16T11:50:00.000-08:00

So, once again I find myself caught up in the always bittersweet movie
awards season with the Golden Globes. Like watching the third Godfather
in that it really isn't that good, but it's just good enough to watch.
However, though I did predictions and researched info about every movie
nominated for anything, I didn't even really feel like watching it. In fact, I
didn't see the whole thing because I felt it more interesting to watch
Billy Jack starring Tom Laughlin on DVD at the time - by the way it's
the most screwed up movie possibly of all-time if you're curious.
But I did catch everything from Marty winning best director on so I
think I'm in good shape to do a recap of the surprises.

Surprises: Babel winning best picture, drama. This shocker was
delivered by the Governator on crutches, an odd touch considering
almost all of the other presenters are actually good at acting,
writing, directing or something else relating to movies. The only
role that Ahnold (err, Arnold) was ever good at was portraying a
machine who talked monotone. Everything seemed to be about The
Departed and The Queen and after Scorsese won for best director, well
I almost went back to watching Ken Griffey Jr. dominate in Little Big
League (Yes, I know it's sad that watching this very bad movie is one
of the few lasting images of how good Griffey was back in the day, but
that is neither here nor there). But does this mean that it can
contend for best picture at the Oscars? At this time, I would like to
thank Regal Cinemas for not having Babel playing at any of the three
Regal locations within driving distance of me, as well as only having
Blood Diamond and Little Children left out of the other movies up for
various awards.

Cohen winning best actor in a comedy/musical. I was very surprised to
see Cohen win as Best Actor in a comedy/musical and while it isn't a gaurantee that he'll get an Oscar nomination because of it, I think
his chances are very good. Also, while I really was hoping to see him to be in character the whole time, he probably made the right choice by delivering his speech straight and found his speech pretty clever, even if it was mostly about starring down a 300 pound man's cavity.

Eddie Murphy winning best supporting actor. This was the biggest
surprise of the night, for me anyway, as I just assumed it would go
Nicholson for The Departed. With Murphy and Hudson winning alongside Dreamgirls winning Best musical/comedy, apparently Dreamgirls really will be a force in the other major movie awards ceremonies.

Worst prediction: Johnny Depp over Cohen. I picked Depp to win even though Cohen won a few city best actor awards (San Francisco and L.A.). I'm not even sure why I did this – I blame the vending machine being out of caffeinated beverages. Or maybe it was the office jackass talking way too much on the morning I was doing my predictions, causing me to be tilted towards supreme pessimism, which would explain me picking Depp in what I thought was a terrible movie winning over Cohen in a movie that was even funnier than the steep anticipation. Or maybe I'm actually the office jackass.

Coming soon: Why Little Children was almost a really good movie.

Golden Globes part 2: To the faithful Departed

2007-01-10T11:05:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm giving out an early hint with the title of this that there might be a few picks for The Departed. And why not - Leo proved once again that he act; Nicholson was Nicholson; the screenplay was sophisticated yet badass and, oh yeah, it was directed by Martin Scorsese. But remember, I'm very skeptical of awards season in general, like rumors that the Buffalo Bills will be good next season, but still feel it's worthy of writing two blog entries with just Globes predictions. What can I say, awards season is just the season I hate that I like - like Mean Girls, The Notebook or reruns of Full House. Here are my predictions and picks for the drama portion of the Golden Globes.

Best screenplay:
a. GUILLERMO ARRIAGA — BABEL
b. TODD FIELD & TOM PERROTTA — LITTLE CHILDREN
c. PATRICK MARBER — NOTES ON A SCANDAL
d. WILLIAM MONAHAN — THE DEPARTED
e. PETER MORGAN — THE QUEEN

Prediction: Look for Patrick Marber to win for Notes on a Scandal.
My pick: Many will give credit to Scorsese and DiCaprio, or even
Nicholson, for making The Departed what it is, which is a movie
claimed as the best movie of the year by many critics circle, but it
all starts with the smart and ballsy screenplay by Monahan.

Best director:
a. CLINT EASTWOOD — FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
b. CLINT EASTWOOD — LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
c. STEPHEN FREARS — THE QUEEN
d. ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INARRITU — BABEL
e. MARTIN SCORSESE — THE DEPARTED

Prediction: Martin Scorsese for The Departed. What a stacked director
category there is this year. Once again you have Eastwood and
Scorsese squaring off. Inarritu announced himself and Stephen Frears,
who did High Fidelity and Dirty Pretty Things, announced himself to
the more mainstream. So strong is t his category that Guillermo del
Toro didn't even get nominated for the critic darling Pan's Labryinth.
Eastwood will split votes, but if he only gets nominated for Letters
in the Oscars, who knows if Marty will get his Oscar then either.
My pick: Only getting to see Flags of our Fathers and not Letters,
it's tough to pick Letters over Scorsese's The Departed. However,
after getting named the best film of the year by the national board of review and being soundly claimed as the best of the two movies
Eastwood was nominated for, Letters looks like it could win. Even
though I'm a huge Eastwood supporter - my favorite movie is Unforgiven despite not really being a Western guy – I have to go with Scorsese on this one.

Best actor in a drama:
a. LEONARDO DICAPRIO — BLOOD DIAMOND
b. LEONARDO DICAPRIO — THE DEPARTED
c. PETER O'TOOLE — VENUS
d. WILL SMITH — THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
e. FOREST WHITAKER — THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

Prediction: Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland. Maybe even
more competitive than best director. DiCaprio changed my mind this
year about his acting talent, Will Smith seemed an obvious choice for
best actor as soon as the trailer came out for Pursuit of Happyness
and Peter O'Toole has been talked about with Whitaker since the
beginning of the awards season. For the Oscars, it's the Whitaker and
O'Toole show and if O'Toole is going to win best actor, it will be in
the Oscars and not the Globes. He poses the only threat for Whitaker
who seems like this year's Phillip Seymour Hoffman. For the Globes
though, don't be TOO surprised to see DiCaprio or even Smith win.
This category is much more wide open for the Globes than for the
Oscars.
My pick: It's about time Whitaker announced how good he is.

Best actress in a drama:
a. PENELOPE CRUZ — VOLVER
b. JUDI DENCH — NOTES ON A SCANDAL
c. MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL — SHERRYBABY
d. HELEN MIRREN — THE QUEEN
e. KATE WINSLET — LITTLE CHILDREN

Prediction: Helen Mirren for The Queen. Another competitive category
but this is Mirren's category for both the Globes and the Oscars.
Dench keeps the streak of getting nominated for what seems like every
single movie she makes. How again did the Bond franchise get her
onboard?
My pick: I have no problems with Mirren winning – and she will.

Best foreign language film:
a. APOCALYPTO (USA)
Touchstone Pictures/Icon Productions; Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
b. LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA (USA/JAPAN)
Warner Bros. Pictures/DreamWorks Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures
c. THE LIVES OF OTHERS (GERMANY)
Wiedemann & Berg/ Bayerischer Rundfunk / ARTE / Creado Film; Sony
Pictures Classics
d. PAN'S LABYRINTH (MEXICO)
Estudios Picasso/Tequila Gang/Esperanto; Picturehouse
e. VOLVER (SPAIN)
El Deseo; Sony Pictures Classics

Prediction: Pan's Labyrinth and Letters from Iwo Jima seem to be the
frontrunners but I expect Letters to win.
Best picture, Drama.
a. BABEL
Anonymous Content Production/Una Produccion De Zeta Film/Central Film
Production; Paramount Pictures/Paramount Vantage
b. BOBBY
A Michel Litvak Production/Bold Films; MGM/The Weinstein Company
c. THE DEPARTED
Warner Bros. Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures
d. LITTLE CHILDREN
New Line Cinema; New Line Cinema
e. THE QUEEN
A Granada Production; Miramax Films

Prediction: The Departed. The Queen is a one woman show, Babel
doesn't have the "buzz" and mass appeal that The Departed does and I'm
surprised to see Little Children and Bobby get nominated in the first
place.
My pick: Has to go to my favorite movie of the year, The Departed.

The Golden Globes: "It is what it is"

2007-01-09T16:15:00.001-08:00

The Ricky Jay character's quote in "Boogie Nights" is a perfect explanation to
me of how I look at the movie awards season. For me, the awards
season is bittersweet because on one hand, everyone knows politics
plays such a huge role that the best movies of the year don't
necessarily get the props that they deserve. It often becomes a race
to gather "momentum," which I always found intriguing because the
films being voted on were finished months prior to them gaining
"momentum." It's not like a sports team who played well, beat an
opponent and rode "momentum" into the next game. Basically this just
means that "momentum" goes to the most well known good movies of the
year, which sometimes is the best movie, but most of the time is
simply a means to a popularity contest. On the other hand, for movie
lovers who can't fly around to Cannes, Sundance and Toronto for real
celebrations of film, awards season is all we have. We watch on the
couch The less serious major awards show, the Globes (January 15th),
usually are a prelude to the Oscars, so in the spirit of the awards
season, here are my predictions and hopes of the major categories of
the Globes divided into two parts (one for the musical/comedy category
and one for the drama category)

The supporting categories are combined into one for drama and musical/comedy.

Best Supporting Actress:
a. ADRIANA BARRAZA — BABEL
b. CATE BLANCHETT — NOTES ON A SCANDAL
c. EMILY BLUNT — THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
d. JENNIFER HUDSON — DREAMGIRLS
e. RINKO KIKUCHI — BABEL

Prediction: I expect this one to go to Jennifer Hudson of Bill
Condon's Dreamgirls as The Devil Wears Prada was stolen by Meryl
Street, Babel's two candidates will split and Hudson has more "buzz"
than Blanchett does. Blanchett was also in two other noteworthy films
of 2006, The Good German and Babel, so she may not stand out as well
as Hudson does.
My pick: Cate Blanchett has always been a favorite of mine and I
wouldn't mind seeing her win.

Best Supporting Actor:
a. BEN AFFLECK — HOLLYWOODLAND
b. EDDIE MURPHY — DREAMGIRLS
c. JACK NICHOLSON — THE DEPARTED
d. BRAD PITT — BABEL
e. MARK WAHLBERG — THE DEPARTED

Prediction: Jack Nicholson for The Departed. He has a huge advantage
over Wahlberg because he's in the movie so much more. Brat Pitt also
isn't in Babel as much and who's going to pick Ben Affleck over Jack.
Eddie Murphy could also pull it off with rave reviews about his acting
from Dreamgirls.
My pick: It's tough to go against Nicholson here.

Best actor in musical or comedy:
a. SACHA BARON COHEN — BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE
BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
b. JOHNNY DEPP — PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
c. AARON ECKHART — THANK YOU FOR SMOKING
d. CHIWETEL EJIOFOR — KINKY BOOTS
e. WILL FERRELL — STRANGER THAN FICTION

Prediction: Johnny Depp edging out Aaron Eckhart. Cohen will get
stronger consideration than I previously anticipated but I just don't
see him winning despite a very weak category. Will Ferrell? Come on.
Johnny Depp was equally as good as in the first Pirates, but
My pick: Cohen for Borat. I like Johnny Depp and wouldn't be upset of
Eckhart won, but Cohen is single-handedly responsible for the most
surprising movie of the year. Cohen's movie was so funny that masses
loved it and even the critics had to stand up and cheer for it. Very
simple – he makes the movie what it is. Johnny Depp was equally as
good as in the first Pirates, but I felt the movie was garbage and
can't vote for him here.

Best actress in a comedy or musical:
a. ANNETTE BENING — RUNNING WITH SCISSORS
b. TONI COLLETTE — LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
c. BEYONCE KNOWLES — DREAMGIRLS
d. MERYL STREEP — THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
e. RENEE ZELLWEGER — MISS POTTER

Prediction: Meryl Streep for The Devil Wears Prada. Award voters
never seem to tire of her, Beyonce was outshined by Hudson and I don't
see Bening winning for Running With Scissors. Renee Zellweger could
win for Miss Potter, but The Devil Wears Prada had more massive
appeal.
My pick: Toni Collette for Little Miss Sunshine. She was very good in
one of my favorite movies of the year and though I like Streep a
little more after Adaptation, I'd like to see Collette win.

Best picture comedy or musical:
a. BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS
NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
One America; Twentieth Century Fox
b. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Twentieth Century Fox; Twentieth Century Fox
c. DREAMGIRLS
DreamWorks Pictures/Paramount Pictures; DreamWorks Pictures/Paramount Pictures
d. LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Big Beach/Bonafide Productions; Fox Searchlight Pictures
e. THANK YOU FOR SMOKING
Room 9 Entertainment/David O. Sacks Production/Content Film; Fox
Searchlight Pictures

Prediction: Dreamgirls in a very strong category. Little Miss
Sunshine and Borat will get their share of votes, but Dreamgirls has
had the best picture Oscar nomination buzz since before it came out.
My pick: Little Miss Sunshine. If the category was funniest motion
picture of the year, I'd choose Borat, but Little Miss Sunshine was
good on so many levels it has to be my choice here.

Indiana Jones 4 FINALLY has a shoot date

2007-01-04T11:12:00.000-08:00

So, I was planning on writing about the next three months of my
adventures of trying to circumvent the horrible ideas for movies in
2007. But then I found out that Indy 4 was not only back in the topic
of conversation for movie geeks but that Spielberg, Lucas and Ford
have all agreed on a script and found time to make it.

The Indiana Jones triology was a staple of my childhood. My mother
once had to drag me away when I was 8 or 9 because I was watching
Temple of Doom over and over again - which is strange because it's my
least favorite of the three. And even today, I can watch them as pure
entertainment and still never even come close to getting sick of them.
When I first heard that they would be making a new Indy, about four
years ago it must have been now, I was thrilled. Considering that
Harrison Ford hadn't made a good movie since....when was The Fugitive
made? I was thrilled to see him in a role I know he could excel at. I
heard that Spielberg and Lucas were dialing in on a script and that
Connery had even signed on already.

However, people were already worried about Ford being too old. Then
time passed. Then it became common knowledge that the next one would
be set in the Cold War era. Everyone calmed down. Then time passed.
Spielberg finally said he would be able to fit shooting into his
schedule. Then Lucas started getting script advise from George
Steinbrenner. Then time passed. The already slippery slope that the
fourth installment of Indy has become seemed to be finally heading
straight down. Indiana Jones 4 - TBA became the verdict. Then came
the announcement the other day that Lucas, Spielberg and Ford all
finally agreed on a script and more importantly, seemed to have
figured out when they were going to make the damn thing. Right now,
Indy 4 is slated for a June shoot and should be ready for May 2008.
Of course, euphoria trickled into me when I read that everything was
set to finally begin production. However, I'm beginning to have some
second thoughts about it – maybe I'm just worried that it'll suck.

The original trilogy ended with, in my opinion, the best of the
trilogy as it celebrated the adventure genre as the characters rode
out into the sunset. If anyone could make it work, it would, of
course, be Lucas and Spielberg, but the longer it goes the less the
chance that anything they could produce could possibly hold up to the
original three. And there is still another thing that disturbs me
more than repeat viewings of White Chicks on F/X: There is still a
rumor that Lucas wants to make Indiana Jones using digital filmmaking
instead of true film, as Spielberg prefers. If this happens, which I
severely doubt it will, I might stop watching movies; that's how
horrible it would be to see Indy in digital. Just imagine Marcus
Brody riding a digital camel into the digital sunset just to make me
nauseous. Please George, for the love of everything that is holy…use
original film. Don't make me use the title for a blog entry next May
entitled "He chose….poorly."

Night at the Museum still box office champ and other signs of the apocalypse

2007-01-02T11:33:00.000-08:00

Here's the thing. I don't even really hate Ben Stiller. Yeah, I left
watching Zoolander with a bunch of my college buddies to smash my head
against the wall for a couple hours. True, I only thought Meet the
Fockers was funny for about ten minutes. But I didn't really start
ragging on Stiller until I saw the trailer to Night at the Museum.
Now, trailers aren't always a good representation of what a movie is
going to be like. However, when I see a trailer to a movie as
ridiculous and uninteresting as Night at the Museum and then watch it
dominate the box office, I begin to get that Johnny Ola feeling. You
know, that feeling that Michael Corleone gets in Havana in GF 2 after
he realizes that Fredo knows Johnny Ola, which means that Fredo must
be the traitor. The reason I get this feeling is because for every
Night of the Museum that comes out, three more equally bad ideas for a
movie are greenlit – if not more. I also get this feeling because for
every baffled head rub and snicker I had while watching the trailer,
many, many other people said, "hey, let's go see that." This leads me
to think that some sort of global catastrophe is certainly on the way
and because Ben Stiller is the poster child, I'm blaming him. So, the
eternal optimist that I'm not leads me to believe that in 2007 we will
be bombarded with similar movies. But, in the spirit of the New Year,
I spent the last hour or so doing research looking through the
scheduled release dates for movies that shouldn't give me that Johnny
Ola feeling in 2007. Here's some of how the research went:

JANUARY

The Good German – I know I've already mentioned it, showed a picture
and mentioned it again, but it finally goes nationwide January 19th.
George Clooney has SHOCKINGLY become one of my favorite actors and it
just looks like a cool idea for a movie being set in post WWII
Germany.

Must move the mouse past Code Name: The Cleaner starring Cedric the
Entertainer.

Freedom Writers: I barely eluded Code Name: The Cleaner and clicked on
this one that has Hillary Swank and Imelda Staunton (from Vera Drake).
Based on a book written by one high school teacher and 150 of her
students, it's about a group of students who struggle to make sense of
the world they live in and find out who the true heroes are/have been.
Seems like a natural fit for an inspiring, loosely based on real life
Hollywood movie.

Alpha Dog: This one was inevitable ever since rap was
popularized in the suburbs. Set in suburban LA, privileged teenagers
with too much money and too time on their hands run wild imitating the
thuggish behavior from the music the idolize. Could have just as
easily been set in my hometown of Clarence, New York – a rural suburb
of Buffalo. Has the potential to be a provocative film if it manages
to stick mainly with realism and avoid coming off as too preachy.
Maybe director Nick Cassavetes got a little direction from the recent
film Thirteen, which was about a mother dealing with her
thirteen-year-old daughter as she begins to get exposed to more and
more adult type themes before the mother is ready. Thirteen managed
to bring some issues to light without preaching and I'm hoping for the
same out of Alpha Dog. Then again, Cassavetes did make John Q.

FEBRUARY

Hannibal Rising – So I don't really know how to feel about this one.
It's about the dark path that led Hannibal Lector to become one of the
most terrifying characters in movie history. Starring Gaspard Ulliel
instead of Anthony Hopkins, (I guess they realized that Hopkins
wouldn't work as a young Hannibal) this is another in the line of "how
did the famous character become that way." But it worked very well
for Batman and even better for James Bond with Casino Royale, so I'm
willing to give it a shot.

I clicked on Code Name: The Cleaner. It's only 84 minutes and stars Cedric the Entertainer. Somehow, a "mild-mannered cleaner with amnesia" got tangled in a supposed government conspiracy which inevitably will lead to the action and comedy labels that are listed under genre. I know it was you, Fredo. I need to take a walk.

Reno 911 – Anyone who thinks this movie will be dumb should watch a couple of episodes of the show. Add an R rating and the melting of
limitations to what they can portray, it could be very, very funny.

MARCH

Reign over me – I promise there are almost no sarcastic undertones in
this one and it even stars Adam Sandler. I clicked on this one having
no idea what it was about and was more than pleasantly surprised.
Sandler plays a man trying to cope with family deaths during 9/11 and
begins rekindling a friendship with an old college friend (Don
Cheadle). Directed by The Upside of Anger director Mike Binder, this
looks like another attempt at a real character from Sandler, who
proved he's not a bad actor in the right role with Punch Drunk Love.
The Upside of Anger was one of the most surprising movies I've
ever seen. After only renting it because I was outvoted by the two
girls I was with at Blockbuster, I liked it far more than either of
them. Looking forward to this one, too.

Sunshine – Director Danny Boyle, who recently made the very good
Millions, steps into the science fiction genre. Set 50 years in the
future, it centers on a crew sent to
Re-ignite a part of the sun that is dying. A few years before this
mission, another crew was beset with the same mission but was never
heard of again. For me, sci-fi is very hit or miss, but the ones that
hit usually hit very hard. Seems like a creative idea – I hope it
works.

Zodiac – Director David Fincher once again takes on material dealing
with serial killers, like he did with Se7en. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal
and Robert Downey, Jr., this one chronicles the infamous Zodiac Killer
as he terrorizes a San Francisco Bay community. Fincher is perfect
for this type of dark material and Gyllenhaal has shown recently with
Jarhead and Brokeback Mountain that he has a lot of character range.
When not in prison, Downey can act, too.

Coming soon: Part 2 looking at the 2007 release schedule has
collaborations between Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez and
Jamie Foxx with Chris Cooper, Anthony Hopkins returning to portraying
a killer evading law enforcement and another run with the Shrek
franchise.

Why sequels are ruining movies

2006-12-14T09:48:00.000-08:00

"Everytime we needed money we robbed the airport. For us it was
better than CitiBank." It seems that movie executives have taken a
line from Henry Hill of Goodfellas and every time they have no good
ideas for a new film, they just dust off an old franchise and make a
sequel.

As punishment for Saw III, The Ring 2, Scary Movie 4, Bad Boys 2,
Rocky Balboa, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (I know some people actually
liked it), Jaws The Revenge, the thought that Battlefield Earth 2 was
a good idea (lucky it was panned) and most things sequel, I propose
that Hollywood has to go through one full year of not making anything
that resembles a sequel. That means: no continuing stories, no
traditional sequels, no "reimaginings" or anything else that really
just means another movie with the same title.

Now I'm not even completely anti-sequel. I've liked the Indiana Jones series, the Die Hard series and even films as recently as Spiderman 2 and Batman: Begins. But the sequel train has gotten far too long and now it seems that if there isn't at least the POTENTIAL for a sequel(s), then there is very little chance at getting a movie made. Here are a list of sequels currently in various stages of production: Blue Streak 2, Back to the Future 4, Alien 5, American Psycho 2, Superman Whatever, The Dark Knight (Batman), Spiderman 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Rambo 4, Predator 3, Jurassic Park 4, Indiana Jones 4, the 93rd Harry Potter, Zoolander 2, Hostel 2, Star Trek, Big Momma's House 2, Caddyshack 3 (no, seriously), Gladiator 2, Daredevil
2, Men in Black 3, Romancing the Stone 3, Rush Hour 3, Terminator 4,
Sin City 2, True Lies 2, Under Siege 3 and more on their way - trust
me.

I have less of a problem with movies like Harry Potter because they
are based upon books that have many different parts to them, so making
a movie isn't a stretch at all. However, movies like Predator 3,
Rambo, Rocky Balboa and Under Siege 3 were all movie franchises that
were dusted off after years of being finished just because sequels
have somewhat of a built-in audience and are relatively predictable
assets for the bean-counters of Hollywood. Once in a while you'll get
lucky and a sequel will be very good, but compared with the drudgery
of the rest of the sequels that make it to multiplexes, sequels as a
whole are horrible – think David Caruso, in CSI: Miami. Movie sequels
need to be stopped – or at least minimized before Gigli 2 hits
theaters.

Maybe an Oscar nomination for Borat?

2006-12-13T12:22:00.000-08:00

The biggest surprise of the year has to be the sensation of Borat.
For those who have liked the character for a while, maybe it shouldn't
come as that much of a surprise, but a recent announcement that the LA
and San Francisco critics both picked Sacha Baron Cohen as the best
actor of 2006 absolutely shocked me. With major critics from major
markets giving props to Cohen, there is now buzz that he might even
have an outside chance at getting nominated for an Oscar. Let me
repeat that. AN OSCAR. Though it's starting to look like Forrest
Whitaker might be able to start polishing the golden statuette for his
portrayal of a Ugandan dictator in "The Last King of Scotland," just
getting Cohen nominated would be unbelievable. Imagine what Cohen
could do with this. I can envision him stumbling over members of the
audience, showing pictures of his sister (the number four prostitute
in Kazakhstan) to people in tuxedos and Gucci dresses, muttering
anti-Semitic remarks to all the wrong people – the potential is
endless.

Borat would have a red carpet full of actors and actresses, who know
what game he's playing, yet because of the cameras that will be on
them, will be almost forced to comment. Of course, he could always
just show up not in character, but how could Cohen nix such an
opportunity? Unfortunately, the Academy Awards has become nothing
more than a display of vanity from personalities who've been
systematically trained to spit out dialogue that seems to have been
siphoned through a public relations firm first. Borat would have a
field day.

If those who pull together the Oscars are smart at all, they should
even have him give out an award or introduce a special segment. He
could probably make Sound Editing the most entertaining and
interesting part of the night fairly easily. And just imagine the
kind of conversation he could have with Sean Penn.

Is Jurassic Park turning into another series holding on too long? Spielberg and Knightley rumored to work on Jurassic Park IV.

2006-12-12T12:05:00.000-08:00

My sister's dragged me to see Pride and Prejudice – a movie that I had
no interest in seeing and who's main actress, Knightley, I wasn't a
huge fan of no matter how hot she is. Well, two hours later, I had a
different view on both the movie and on Knightley, as she proved that
she can act and the movie was surprisingly good. Now it looks like
she might be in Jurassic Park IV, which should bless audiences
sometime in 2008. Way to go Kiera.

So they're going to make a Jurassic Park IV. OF COURSE they are.
It's this simple: Dinosaurs on screen make money. Luckily, it seems
that Steven Spielberg has once again opted out of directing it, as he
did with Jurassic Park III, though he will have a role in it most
likely as a producer. So it looks like Spielberg is participating in
a series that could go the way the whole Jaws series ended up. By the
way, did anyone actually see Jaws the Revenge? The last installment
of Jaws based on a man-eating Great White who followed, yes FOLLOWED, the main character from the northeast all the way down to Bahamas to stalk the Brody family. The
worst part – the movie is worse than the plot sounds.

It seems that Jaws and Jurassic Park are practically mirroring each
other. Jaws was a great ground-breaking movie and so was Jurassic
Park. Though Spielberg had little to nothing to do with the Jaws
series after the first one, it turned into one of the worst movie
series' I can think of as both the third and fourth installment were
so bad that accurate adjectives haven't been created yet. Michael
Caine was blackmailed - ok not really – into being a main character in the fourth one and even had to miss the Oscars, in which he won best supporting actor for Hannah and Her Sisters, because of filming
obligations to Jaws The Revenge. Before something like this happens
to someone in the Jurassic Park franchise, I was hoping it would have ended – though I'm not sure if they could make a movie quite as bad as Jaws The Revenge even if they tried, but I've been wrong before.

I like Spielberg. He's made so many great films it's hard to name
them all and he still seems on top of his game with recent releases
like "War of the Worlds," and "Munich." A lot of people panned "War
of the Worlds," but I thought it was as intense a movie experience as
I had seen in a while – that is until the last half hour when
Spielberg went Artificial Intelligence and almost completely ruined
the movie with a horrible ending. It seems the only person that can
stop Spielberg is himself, whether it's drawing out endings ala Peter
Jackson or continuing a series that reached not only it's pinnacle but
what seems like it's ultimate low point - hopefully that is. If
he's going to put any effort in at all to continuing a series, I just
wished he made it the Indiana Jones series – a series that was left
with at least a little graphite left in it's pencil. As for Knightley? Well, after she completes the Pirates trilogy and stars in
Jurassic Park IV, she might get demoted to Denise Richards status. I
don't know, maybe they can save the movie by just making it NC-17, canning Sam Neill and picking up Natalie Portman. Yeah, I'd watch that.

Winter movie preview part 2: Robin Williams' new movie and other things that baffle me

2006-12-07T15:38:00.000-08:00

Dreamgirls, Jamie Foxx, Jamie Hudson, December. 15: Bill Condon
(Kinsey and Gods and Monsters) directs an adaptation of a Tony award
winning musical that already is being pushed toward Oscar gold before
it's release next week. The movie follows the Dreamettes, formed by
Beyonce, Hudson and Noni Rose through the 1960's and 70's as they
experience the ups and downs of show business.
Outlook: Ho-hum material could be turned around by talented actors and
the writing and directing of Condon.

The Pursuit of Happiness, Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Demember 15: Will Smith portrays a salesman on the edge of defeat after being evicted from his apartment along with his young son. The Pursuit of Happiness was based on a true story and tells a story of struggle and life defining moments, which should give Smith a chance to show off his range.
Outlook: True "heart-wrenching" stories usually end up really good or pretty bad, without a lot of grey area. It also helps that Smith can act.

Night at the museum, Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Decmeber 22: Did you see the trailer? It's about museum exhibits coming to life. Robin Williams should now understand the SNL skit which has Richard
Dreyfuss on the set of Krippendorf's Tribe going "I was in JAWS
dammit." Uh, next movie.
Outlook: Bleak – think shoveling the January snow off your car in Buffalo.

Zodiac, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., January 19: David Fincher
of Fight Club and Seven takes a crack at portraying the infamous
Zodiac killer. Gyllenhaal has fast become a well-respected and pretty
damn good actor. The film is based around the 1970's killer who
terrorized San Francisco on his way to becoming one of the worst
serial killers known. And don't forget that when Downey isn't being
fingerprinted and asked to turn for mug-shots, he's also a good actor.
Outlook: Fans of Fincher should love what he could do with such dark material.

Breaking and Entering, Jude Law and Juliette Binoche, January 19:
Anthony Minghella (English Patient and Cold Mountain) directs a
capable cast in an intertwining human drama based around the life of a
landscape architect played by Jude Law. Other than the plot being
based around Law's investigation into a series of burglaries happening
at his firm, not a whole lot is known about the film. Minghella
brought together The English Patient, which also starred Binoche, but
Cold Mountain was so bad it ruined a sex scene with Nicole Kidman,
which is like losing while throwing a no-hitter.
Outlook: Hopefully it's a lot more English Patient than Cold Mountain.

Reno 911: Ben Garrant, Thomas Lennon, February 23: It has all the making of stupid humor and when I first heard they were making a Reno 911 movie, I can't say I was that happy about it. However, once I saw the trailer while waiting for the glorious Borat to infiltrate the movie screen, I realized it could actually be very funny. The few episodes of the show I've caught were way funnier than I anticipated they would be and now am very interested in the movie.
Outlook: Screw-up cops are just funny – think Super Troopers. Hopefully I wasn't just giddy about seeing Borat when I saw the preview.

Coming Soon: Why Mel Gibson and Howard Dean have a lot in common.

Warming up with the winter movie season part 1

2006-12-06T10:55:00.000-08:00

The Blood Diamond, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Dec. 8: No one could have turned around their career better than Leonardo DiCaprio in my mind. Yes, I know that he's been a large draw for a while, but he seems to constantly refocus and go after new and ballsy
roles, instead of sticking to the pretty boy images that we all had of him post-Titanic. Now he's Martin Scorsese's new DeNiro it seems and once again is headlining a promising movie with The Blood Diamond. DiCaprio plays a man caught up in the middle of conflict diamonds crisis in Edward Zwick's (The Last Samurai and Glory) new movie.
Outlook: DiCaprio's performance could make or break the movie.

Apocalypto, December 8 : Yeah, I know Mel Gibson's a lunatic; an absolute maniac at times; but the guy knows how to make a big scale movie. Braveheart is one of the most entertaining movies I've ever seen and one of the only epics that can hold up at all made in
the 1990's. While I didn't like The Passion of the Christ all that much, I have tremendous respect for the amount he put into that film, making it clear he will go all out to make a movie the way he thinks it should be made. While I was skeptical of Apocalypto at first, the
more and more I see the trailer, the more and more I'm interested.
Outlook: A very interesting topic that not many people know about
could translate into a pretty good movie.

The Good German, George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, December. 8
(limited), December 25 (wide): Steven Soderbergh is back with George
Clooney, this time with a film a little more serious than the Oceans's
movies. While it was probably fun for Soderbergh to make less serious
movies, he does his best work in the realm of darker material. And I
love that Soderbergh is using black and white as well as a design
scheme that's a loving shout-out to the classic filmmaking era (see
Good German poster). Set in post WWII Germany, Clooney plays an
American caught up in a murder investigation in the beginning of cold
war politics in Berlin. Outlook: A must see – ballgame.

Rocky Balboa, Sylvestor Stallone, December 20: I'm probably the only
movie lover on the planet who hasn't seen all of the Rocky films, so
maybe I'm not the best judge here – but the footage from the trailer
looks horrible. And not like Home Alone 3 horrible or Weekend At
Bernies 2 horrible, I mean Freddy Got Fingered horrible – Plan 9 From
Outerspace or Jaws the Revenge horrible. I'm not sure why anyone,
Stallone included, thought it was a good idea to revise a series that
was almost universally shut down as having gone on for too long as it
is. Movie miracles happen all the time, as they seem to do with
Rocky, so it's not impossible for it to be a halfway decent flick.
Outlook: The film looks to be just as big of an underdog as Rocky.

The Good Shepherd, Matt Damon, William Hurt, Angelina Jolie and Robert
DeNiro, Dec. 22: Well, when you're Robert DeNiro and you want to make
a movie, you get people like Matt Damon, William Hurt, Angelina Jolie,
Joe Pesci and Alec Baldwin. A tale of one of the most interesting,
and certainly powerful, covert agencies in the world. Not much needs
to be known other than the movie has an unbelievable cast and a good
topic for a film. Damon stars as a young, ambitious man looking to
establish the CIA. While A Bronx Tale didn't knock my socks off, it
was a pretty good movie in it's own right and I'm looking forward to
DeNiro taking another crack at directing. Outlook: I'd be surprised
if it wasn't at least relatively entertaining, if not very, very good.

Children of Men, Clive Owen, Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, December
25: With a first-rate cast that includes Clive Owen, Michael Caine and
Julianne Moore, director Alfonzo Cuaron's is very intriguing. Those
who missed Yu Tu Mama Tambien, a film that if it was in English would
have made a much bigger dent on Americano cinema, will get a chance to
see what Cuaron can do when he's not playing with wizards and magic
spells ala Harry Potter. Set in the near future, it's a tale of a
society that hasn't had an increase in population in almost three
decades – 27 years to be exact. Owen soon finds himself escorting a
pregnant woman, Moore, to safety in what promises to be a chilling
thriller. Outlook: Has tremendous upside with a very interesting
story as well as an A-list cast and director. Warning: While good
sci-fi stories can make GREAT movies, sci-fi movies also have a
tendency to implode from the inside if they aren't handled properly.

The Number 23, Jim Carrey, Viginia Madsen, February 23: At his best
director Joel Schumacher is not bad (see The Client, St. Elmo's Fire
or A Time to Kill). At his worst, well, he's pretty bad (see Batman
and Robin, Batman Forever and Phone BoothI) This one tells the story
of a man (Carrey) who seems to be living a life based upon a book. It
promises to be a dark film, very different from Carrey's other dips
into serious acting, which I'm very interested in. Many laughed when
Carrey said he wanted to do more serious stuff – not many should be
laughing now. It's been pretty clear that as long as Carrey does
stupid comedies like Fun With Dick and Jane once in a while, he's free
to do other, more thought-provoking films like Eternal Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind and The Truman Show. Outlook: Not overly impressed with
Schumacher, but with the right script and actors, a lot of directors
can shine. This one has potential to be pretty good.

The Departed leads the way: quick comments on recently released movies

2006-12-06T08:36:00.000-08:00

So far this year's post-summer movie rush has been very good – almost shockingly good. Though I haven't seen every movie I've intended to, I've been satisfied with almost every movie I've seen so far since the end of summer.

The Prestige: Christopher Nolan is near his top form again in the shadows of another dark looking film. Christian Bale is quickly becoming a force and the movie was good before Scarlett Johansson even stepped in front of the camera; and we all know she usually doesn't detract from the viewing of a movie and certainly doesn't here either.

Flags of our Fathers: May not be able to be judged until Eastwood's
Letters from Iwo Jima is released next year, but Flags was good on its
own right. Eastwood continues to be a creative force in Hollywood in
the field of directing – how many people saw that coming 40 years ago?

The Departed: So far, the most entertaining and personal favorite of
the movies I've seen this year. While not my favorite Martin Scorsese
movie, or even on my top five, it was as intense and thrilling as any
movie I've seen in a while. And I can now forgive Leonardo DiCaprio
for the line "I'm the king of the world." Well, almost.

Marie Antoinette: The most dissapointing of the movies I've seen so
far this year, but only because of the lofty expectations I had on it.
Still a pretty good movie worth seeing, even if it did fall quite a
bit short of what I hoped for out of Sofia Coppola. While I didn't
think it worked all the way through, I still admired the way Coppola
seduces people into looking at life from a new point of view and
refuses to make a conventional film.

Borat: I've followed the character for years, there was more hype from
the public and critic's circles than I've seen from a movie in recent
years, and it still managed to live up to the hype. Funniest movie
I've seen in a long time. It's a niiiiiice.

The Last Kiss: Worth seeing just because of screenwriter Paul Haggis.
It worked pretty well insofar as showing how tough commitment can be
for some people. Having said that, it seemed to run out of steam well
before the final credits and the ending was more conventional than the
ideas displayed earlier in the movie.

Casino Royale: Wow. The Bond series had been stale for a while, blah,
blah, blah. I agree that it was time for a change and applauded the
idea of starting over with a rougher and more badass Bond from the
very beginning. I equally admired bringing a versatile actor like
Daniel Craig to play a role not known for versatility. What I wasn't
prepared for was how well they were able to pull off the new look
Bond. Eva Green, who was criticized by many who never saw her in The
Dreamers as a poor casting move, turned out perhaps the best Bond girl
this side of Honey Ryder. What was even more impressive than I hoped
was the dialogue, which has almost never made a dent on me in any Bond
movie. The patience exhibited in holding the famous "Bond, James Bond"
line for the right moment created one of the best endings of a Bond
movie I've ever seen. And the way it rebounded from the too lengthy
poker game and pulled off the perfect ending provided enough character
fuel for Bond to go for another 20 films.

Must sees before the end of the year: Conversations With Other Women,
Little Children, The Good German, The Good Shepard, Rocky Balboa (ok,
just kidding), Babel, The Fountain, Last King of Scotland, Blood
Diamond, and many more that I've forgotten to name.

Can't wait for some PTA with 'There Will Be Blood'

2006-12-05T10:47:00.000-08:00

I became a Paul Thomas Anderson fan after two different moments: one,
while watching the extras on Magnolia where he's seen joking around
about how little it will probably make in the box office; and two,
when I read a quote explaining why he dropped out of a screenwriting
class after lifting a few pages of David Mamet's Hoffa and getting a
C- on the assignment. Very clearly, he's one of those pure filmmakers
who doesn't care at all about the marketing and the typical Hollywood
B.S. He's not in the business to do remakes or any other spectacle
films only made to make money. In other words, he's an actual
filmmaker and not a corporate puppet who happens to know the technical
basics of making a movie – I'm sure you could name a few dozens of
those. Michael Bay is lucky he madeThe Rock because outside of that
surprisingly decent action flick, well, he's battling Roland Emmerich
for worst director who still gets a large budget.
And I know many people – mainly Adam Sandler fans – didn't like
Anderson's last film, Punch Drunk love. While not as large in scope
as his other three movies, I thought it was very well done and showed
that Paul Thomas Anderson is a filmmaker with lots of range and was
very impressed overall with the movie. Now he's set to team up with
Daniel Day Lewis, an actor I have unbelievable respect for in the 2007
film There will be blood. It makes perfect sense for the two of them
to team up together. Lewis is an actor of extreme range in character
who basis his film choices upon interesting characters, not submitting
to every script that lands in his hands – like Samuel L. Jackson seems
to be doing and Paul Walker should be doing. I'm also very interested
in the topic, which is greed and power struggle in early 20th century
business.
The film could turn out to be a disaster, but I'm impressed with the
way that Anderson seems to be picking his films. He seems to throw
out everything he's done before, look for a topic that is interesting
to him and that he could make a good film based upon, and work from
there. So many directors today seem to define themselves early in the
career and stay within a small circle of what they are used to doing.
Again, Michael Bay, Roland Emmerich, Wolfgang Peterson and many others
come to mind. He seems to instead be following in the footsteps of
greats like Altman and Scorsese, who proved again and again it doesn't
matter what genre it is they can make a good movie. Altman made
Nashville, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Player, Shortcuts, Mash and
always managed to make a "Robert Altman film," without using any of
the same material from before. Scorsese has done the same. He's done
abstract biblical epics (The Last Temptation of Christ), period pieces
(Kundun, The age of innocence), quirky comedies (After Hours), dark,
intense films, (Taxi Driver and Raging Bull) small independent feeling
films (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore), bio-epics (The Aviator)
documentaries (The Last Waltz), intense dramas (Bringing out the Dead)
and a variety of gangster films (Take your pick.)
Anderson seems to be doing the same thing by not working within one
genre but exploring characters in any genre. Not every film is going
to be perfect, but I would rather see an Anderson dud more than a lot
of director's finest films just because you know that Anderson is
going to reach for something different. Like writer Charlie Kaufman
or writer/director Jim Jarmusch, you know even in defeat they will go
down swinging, which I think is the attitude that has been lost in
much of this generation's filmmakers – not that Kaufman has gone down
swinging yet, but you get the point. Now, if only I could get more
people to believe that Boogie Nights isn't just a movie about porn.