Big Fan
The Burning Plain - #
Departures
Downloading Nancy
Fame - #
Halloween II
The Hurt Locker - #, *
I Can Do Bad All By Myself - #
In the Loop - #
La Cucina - #
Moon - #
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
Post Grad - #
Wrong Turn at Tahoe
Click below for this week's TV and Blu-ray releases
Becker - 3rd Season
ER - 12th Season
Simpsons - 20th Season
Blu-ray:
8 1/2 (Criterion) - *
Billy Jack
The Brothers Bloom - *
Cliffhanger - *
Last Action Hero
The Matrix - *
# - also on Blu-ray
* - Doctor approved
Monday, January 11, 2010
DVD and Blu-ray Releases 1/12/10
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Weekend Box Office: 1/8-1/10/10
Title/Gross/%Change/Total
1. Avatar: 48.5 mil / -29% / 429 mil
2. Sherlock Holmes: 16.6 mil / -55% / 165 mil
3. Alvin & Chipmunks 2: 16.3 mil / -54% / 178 mil
4. Daybreakers: 15 mil / (-)
5. It's Complicated: 11 mil / -42% / 76 mil
6. Leap Year: 9.2 mil / (-)
7. The Blind Side: 7.8 mil / -35% / 219 mil
8. Up in the Air: 7.1 mil / -34% / 55 mil
9. Youth in Revolt: 7 mil / (-)
10. Princess & Frog: 4.7 mil / -52% / 93 mil
11. Invictus: 1.7 mil / -56% / 34 mil
12. New Moon: 1.7 mil / -51% / 291 mil
Avatar is not slowing down that much, closing in on Titanic's take of 600 mil. Jim Cameron knows what people like, just not this person.
Song of the Day- Casimir Pulaski Day
This song by indie darling Sufjan Stevens is the best, truest song I've ever heard about faith, bar none. And don't worry about the length, for some reason there's like 4 minutes of silence at the end of this. And here is the rest of it.
Continue reading this postSaturday, January 9, 2010
Song (and links) of the Day - Pennyroyal Tea, Nirvana
Soul tingling rendition of one of the best songs of the 90's. Interesting columns from David Brooks and Norman Podhoretz on Avatar.
Continue reading this postThursday, January 7, 2010
TV Notes
Bride has introduced me to two new shows that are worthy of mention:
1. Hoarders airs
weekly on A&E. Each 60 minute show follows the attempt to clean and bring order to the lives of 2 different hoarders. A hoarder is someone whose "inability to part with their belongings is so out of control that they are on the verge of a personal crisis." The show is fascinating and tastefully done as it shows an interesting mental illness and the predicament of their loved ones.
2. Jersey Shore airs
weekly on MTV. The show is similar to The Real World, featuring self-proclaimed 'guidos and guidettes' that live in a house on the "Jersey Shore". The 20 somethings on the show are all very primitive humans - they are only concerned about their hair, abs, spray tan, steroids and hot tubs. It is interesting to see a unique regional vibe in homogenized America, and the car wreck that is their lives is hard to turn away from. One guy goes by "the situation" (referring to his abs) and one gal goes by "J-wowww". Here's the NY Times "Handbook" to the show.
Song of the Day- I and Love and You
This little number by The Avett Brothers will sneak up on you, so listen twice. And here is the rest of it.
Continue reading this postWednesday, January 6, 2010
Up in the Air - Part 2
Lawyer was a little underwhelmed in December, but I found much more in the film than he did. The aerial shots of the different cities was a nice directorial touch - I've never seen establishing shots done like this before. Other great directorial touches include putting military personnel in the airport backgrounds and placing mostly cold buildings behind George Clooney while placing trees and bushes behind Anna Kendrick. The quick back and forth dialogue was enjoyable and funny. Clooney was a little too smug in a few scenes, but Kendrick and Vera Farmiga nailed their parts (as did Reitman-regulars Jason Bateman, Sam Elliott, and JK Simmons). The scene with Simmons is where it became a great film for me, only slightly dipping with the Danny McBride part before pulling it together with the touching (and apparently real) stories from the recently fired . . .
Like Sideways, the title obviously has multiple meanings. Bateman says it verbatim toward the end, but it's also metaphorically appropriate addressing where we are as a country and a species. Maybe mankind has always had an uncertain future, but there used to be some sense of community. I loved the ending and Clooney takes the action that so many others in the film (and us) do: Just keep living and put one foot in front of the other.
As for defending marriage, I though Clooney did a pretty good job when he talked about the best moments of a person's life are usually shared with someone else. This could represent friends, family, or a spouse, but seemed to prompt Clooney himself into serious action. The film is not quite tight or focused enough and meanders toward the end. There are minor distractions (e.g Can, sir? and Bateman talking about his bowel habits), but its heart is absolutely in the right place. It's right there with its Pixar namesake as the biggest emotional impact of the year. A-
Revised Top 10 of 2009 (with much left to see)
1. The Hurt Locker
2. Up
3. Inglourious Basterds
4. Up in the Air
5. Public Enemies
6. (500) Days of Summer
7. Adventureland
8. The Brothers Bloom
9. The Hangover
10. Funny People
Song of the Day - I've Just Seen a Face
By The Beatles
After the overwhelming response to my last Beatles post, I'd though I'd post another early favorite. It's off the Help! album. Short, sweet, and to the point. There are some great, rare photos on the link.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Some Avatar Thoughts
Priest gave a review of Avatar opening weekend and I was warned of its shortcomings (bad dialogue is always unsettling to me). I gave it the best chance possible (IMAX 3D) but the story was too familiar and the characters were barely present - only there for Jim Cameron to go nuts with CGI. I recognized the similarity to Dances with Wolves immediately. Then I started thinking about everything that DWW got right and everything that Avatar got wrong . . .
In Dances with Wolves, Lt. John Dunbar is about to have foot amputated at a Civil War field hospital when he decides to go on a suicide mission. He inadvertently becomes a hero and chooses to be stationed in South Dakota to see the frontier. He meets some members of the Sioux tribe, most notably a white woman who was adopted by the tribe as a child. Her husband is recently deceased and they slowly fall in love. He becomes integrated into the tribe when he helps them find a buffalo herd. He eventually makes it back to his post, but is presumed to be a traitor since he has adopted the Native American clothing and language. He helps the Sioux tribe kill Union soldiers when they come to rescue him. The film ends with Dunbar leaving the tribe to talk to American authorities about a truce.
In Avatar, Cpl. Jake Scully has recently become paraplegic (though we're told, not shown, this). His twin brother is recently murdered (again told, not shown) and this allows Jake to become an avatar (human DNA mixed with Na'vi DNA). Jake's brother was a scientist, but Jake is only a "grunt" and considered stupid by everyone in the film. The Na'vi are the indigenous humanoid creatures on the alien moon Pandora in the year 2154. Jake's avatar is able to integrate into the Na'vi tribe because some magical weeping willow insects land on him, perceived as a sign from the local deity. He meets a female Na'vi and falls in love. She has no backstory which keeps her character distant. Jake has nothing to offer the tribe and somehow he becomes a better "native" in less than 3 months than everyone else. (This reminded me of the first Dances with Wolves remake - The Last Samurai - when Tom Cruise became the best samurai in Japan in just a few short months.) Jake is able to lead an attack on the earthlings and become a member of the tribe through a bunch of New Age mumbo jumbo crap.
So Jake's stupid and should have great difficulty walking in his avatar, but is able to tame a dragon that few ever have? A hardcore Colonel almost gets scratched to death within minutes of being on Pandora, but the paraplegic (!) Jake is basically invincible. Michelle Rodriguez disobeys orders but is allowed to rescue Jake (who is only being guarded by one - ! - soldier). Why wasn't anyone guarding the avatar transport stations? Didn't anyone notice Rodriguez war-painting her helicopter?
John Dunbar was never a great Indian - he just had guns. Dances with Wolves has several three dimensional characters (Dunbar, Stands with a Fist, Wind in his Hair, Kicking Bird). Even Kicking Bird's wife, Cisco the horse, and Two Socks the wolf are great characterizations. Despite a 3D IMAX presentation, every character in Avatar was one-dimensional. Kevin Costner captures honest moments of humor throughout Dances with Wolves, but every attempt at humor is Avatar is forced, an obvious attempt at a catch-phrase. Dances with Wolves ends on a perfect bittersweet note while Avatar ends on a predictable and sour one. It feels like a set up for a sequel. Would the humans really give up the valuable mineral that easily? Doubtful. Why wouldn't the humans have tactical nuclear weapons to destroy the Na'vi? They did in Aliens. Jim Cameron must think Aliens is his best film since he's copying it so shamelessly. But the exact same left-wing message in Aliens was handled delicately and subtly - not pulverized into the viewer's brain as in Avatar.
Some other random thoughts:
1) Would a biologist really be smoking in a high-oxygen environment? How much did Nick Naylor negotiate for that?
2) The tail-to-tail connection with the animals creeped me out as only bestiality can.
3) The rituals were embarrassing. Left wingers deny Jesus ever walked on earth but then come up with this nonsense?
4) The music in Avatar by James Horner is a retread of his Glory main theme with hints of Titanic thrown in. The ending song by Leona Lewis ("I see you") is truly horrible, a shameless attempt to recreate Celine Dion's Titanic success (financial, not artistic). John Barry's DWW soundtrack is one of the best and memorable of the past 30 years with separate beautiful melodies for specific characters.
5) Were the footstep light-ups a tribute to Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" video?
6) So you mourn killing dogs but are OK killing people you don't agree with politically? Reminds me of people who insist on abortion on demand who pick up pitchforks for Michael Vick.
7) There was zero-tension in Avatar. I knew how and when every character was going to die. The plot points (specifically Sigourney's last scene) were clumsy at best and pandering at worst.
8) At least we still have Aliens, which is the exact opposite of Avatar. Aliens is tough, tense, credible, unpredictable, and has a hero that actually goes on a journey (discovering motherhood).
Aliens: A
Dances with Wolves: A
Avatar: C+
Thank You For Smoking: B+
Song of the Day - Fell on Black Days, Soundgarden
The best song from a great band is up to mark their reunion and forthcoming tour. Click here for information on the reunion.
Continue reading this postMonday, January 4, 2010
Compulsory Viewing
Here is a superb montage of 2009 films set to Radiohead. Here is a pretty good montage of the 2000's in film. I love these.
Continue reading this postDVD and Blu-ray Releases 1/5/10
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - #
The Final Destination - #
50 Dead Men Walking - #
Lorna's Silence
10 Things I Hate About You - #
Trucker
Click below for this week's TV and Blu-ray releases
TV:
Chuck: 2nd Season - #
Blu-ray:
Battlestar Galactica: Season 1
Cheaper by the Dozen 2
Dawn of the Dead
Dogtown and Z-Boys
End of Days
The Green Berets
Riding Giants
# - also on Blu-ray
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Heat - B+
On DVD (1995). Rated R, 172 minutes. Trailer.
I saw Heat in the theater in 1995, but given its pedigree (written and directed by Michael Mann) and cast (Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jon Voight, Val Kilmer), I owed it another (long) viewing. I remembered that the film felt like a chore most of the time, and my memory was correct. Despite fabulously well-written male lead characters and a good soundtrack, the bulk of this good film felt like work. Click below for more Heat:
The film follows disciplined and sophisticated thief Neil (De Niro) and bombastic and obsessive detective Vincent (Pacino) as they both work opposite sides of the law leading up to a major heist. Mann is basically examining the nature of men and their attraction to 'action' or heat. They need relationships and connections, but those things compromise their ability to be the best at what they do - in the end their true natures win out and the women and kids are left to the side. I certainly have a different perspective now than I did in 1995 and those themes are dead-on to the modern predicament of men everywhere.
Why is this such a slog? I can't really answer that except that most scenes are set in darkness and De Niro's character is too impenetrable to give life to the film. Mann's use of blue and reds and different lighting to mirror the emotions of the characters is really interesting, and the shoot-out scenes are typically awesome as in every other Mann film. I remember the big deal when this came out was the first scenes ever with Pacino and De Niro together, and they are cool to watch - but that's only about 15 of 172 minutes.
Lots of recognizable faces including Ashley Judd along with Natalie Portman, Jeremy Piven, Wes Studi, Buffalo Bill, the All State guy, Bubba Gump, William Fichtner and Amy Brenneman (dowdy on purpose?).
Snap Judgments - a Quick Review of 5 Movies
(500) Days of Summer
My man Priest fell for this film hard during its theatrical run and I basically agree, but I don't find Zooey Deschanel quite as irresistible as he does. Joseph Gordon-Levitt certainly impresses, but even more impressive is director Marc Webb who holds things together when they really should fall apart. And just when the film is about to become redundant, Webb (with the screenwriters) pulls out all the stops with the split screen expectations-reality scene, followed by the charcoal sketch, followed by the 1/2 day scene, and on and on and on. The ending line with JGL's reaction is absolutely perfect. One of the year's very best. B+
Adoration
A teacher gets fired when she encourages a student to fabricate a story about his parents. This leads to interesting observations about religion and technology's effect on personal interactions. The cerebral Atom Egoyan directs and his usual mixed timeline is used well to explore conflicts and resolutions. It's too politically correct for my taste - (after all, every airline hijacker in the world for over 2 decades has been Muslim) - but there's a lot to think about here for the patient viewer. See The Sweet Hereafter first, and if you like that, see this. B
Terminator: Salvation
Not nearly as bad as you've heard. It never had a chance to reach the quality level of the first 2 Terminator films with McG at the helm, but there are some OK ideas rolling around about what it means to be human. Still, it's overly referential and reverent toward Cameron's first 2 Terminators with virtually no new interesting characters. Christian Bale's John Connor is too serious and the whole thing is in desperate need for Cameron's sense of humor. B-
G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra
Essentially a video game without an ounce of drama, believability, or honesty throughout its 2 hour running time. And not disastrously bad enough to be remembered. Who the hell goes to a funeral on a motorcycle wearing a leather jacket when it's raining? What about all those underwater fiery explosions? Idiots. C
What Doesn't Kill You
Mark Ruffalo and Ethan Hawke play small time Boston hoodlums who go their separate ways after some jail time. Ruffalo gives his usual great naturalistic performance, but Hawke's gold tooth-capped tough guy is as scary and menacing as Paul Blart. It's based on writer-director Brian Goodman's early life and he should be commended for rising out of the ghetto. But this is on the bad side of all the Goodfellas ripoffs - and they've all been pretty bad - except Casino. Hawke was never meant to play Denzel's part in Training Day. Ruffalo is always flawless in support, but has yet to find a great leading part. C
Weekend Box Office: 1/1-1/3/10
Title/Gross/%Change/Total
1. Avatar: 68.3 mil / -10% / 352 mil
2. Sherlock Holmes: 38.4 mil / -39% / 141 mil
3. Alvin & Chipmunks 2: 36.6 mil / -25% / 157 mil
4. It's Complicated: 18.7 mil / -15% / 59 mil
5. The Blind Side: 12.7 mil / +10% / 209 mil
6. Up in the Air: 11.4 mil / +1% / 45 mil
7. Princess & Frog: 10 mil / +11% / 86 mil
8. The Morgans?: 5.2 mil / +4% / 26 mil
9. Nine: 4.3 mil / -22% / 14 mil
10. Invictus: 4.1 mil / +2% / 31 mil
11. New Moon: 3.6 mil / +18% / 288 mil
12. Brothers: 1.3 mil / +7% / 28 mil
13. 2012: 1.1 mil / +13% / 163 mil
14. Precious: 1 mil / +10% / 43.5 mil
Avatar has the best 3rd weekend ever. It's on its way to top The Dark Knight's take of 533 million. The Blind Side hits 200 million.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Song of the Day - For No One
By The Beatles
I've gone on and on about Bob Dylan, assuming that it's common knowledge that The Beatles are the best. As Paul Thomas Anderson says in one of his Boogie Nights commentaries: "Every song is a Beatles song." For No One is arguably their saddest song and my favorite off the Revolver album. I'm not sure why the link has Let it Be's album cover instead of Revolver.
Friday, January 1, 2010
A Perfect Getaway - C+
A recently married couple (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich) are on their Hawaii honeymoon when they learn another newlywed couple has been murdered nearby. They decide to continue with their hike down a remote trail and meet 2 other couples, both filmed and written as suspiciously as possible. Zahn plays a mildly successful screenwriter and this fact allows writer-director David Twohy to openly address the fundamentals of plotting a movie. Twohy breaks many screenwriting rules throughout the first 2 acts, but he runs out of ideas for the third.
The huge plot twist is fairly easy to spot, especially if you've seen (spoiler link) this, but the dialogue alternates between too self-referential and too familiar. And none of the actors really pop off the screen. Timothy Olyphant comes closest as an Iraqi war veteran who likes to rough it in the wild. Zahn and Jovovich are awkward together and their back-and-forth dialogue is as forced as it gets. The Hawaiian scenery is unbelievably beautiful, definitely the best thing in the film. The first 2 acts work pretty well - especially for film dorks - and the whole film probably works for super-fans of the thriller genre. But if your whole film relies on a plot twist, you never really had much of a film to begin with. C+
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