Tag: movies

movies

Too Many Summer Movies 2008

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Unless I start to see a lot of double features, I am (possibily – hopefully) going to spend a couple hundred dollars this summer at the box office because there are a lot of flicks on my list. Here is a list of all of the movies that I want to see – listed in order of release date – the strike through indicates for one(s) I’ve seen:
Iron Man, Redbelt, Son of Rambow, Refusenik, Speed Racer, Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Sex and the City, Dreams with Sharp Teeth, Mongol, The Incredible Hulk, Get Smart, The Love Guru, Wanted, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, The Dark Knight, Pineapple Express, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Tropic Thunder, Hamlet 2
Yup, that is 19 films and those are just the ones of which I’m aware. This does not include the unknown indie flicks that will eventually receive tons of media love so that number should only climb. We’ll see how many I knock off though as my free time will soon be limited. The next on the list is the latest Mamet movie titled “Redbelt.” I cannot wait to see what he’s done with the sports genre. Should be pretty sweet.
5/24 UPDATE: Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay was not on my list only because it was released on 4/22 and technically not a summer movie. That being said, I feel like it should have been on the list and therefore I’ve added it. It was not nearly as good as the first one but it still had its moments, like when tons of bottomless females sauntered about for a good minute or so. Yummy.
Iron Man totally rocked – as an Iron Man comic affectionado, I have to say that I was quite pleased. I still have not seen Redbelt (it is not playing in any theatres in my area) but I did see IJ4 tonight: it was pulpy and if you know me, you’ll want to know that yes, I did wear my Indiana Jones hat.
8/22 UPDATE: Indiana Jones 4 was ridiculous. If you need any proof, just search for the term “nuked the fridge” and see how many results you get. This terms use in our lexicon can directly be attributed to a scene in the movie. ‘Nuff said. To see the offending clip check out YouTube before it gets pulled.
“The Dark Knight” was simply breathtaking. Nolan nailed it again. This time, the movie was so good, it was the first super hero movie to transcend the super hero genre. To me, it was an amazing story that happened to have a super hero in it. The story was the focus, the heroes were mere characters. Unbelievable. Ledger’s Joker was other worldly. He truly embodied chaos, like Javier Bardam’s character in No Country For Old Men. He was just not of this earth – a tour de force performance which sadly will never have a sequel.
11/1 UPDATE: Redbelt was a typical Mamet movie – some awesome dialogue, some stilted dialogue (think 1950’s teleplays where you think to yourself “do people really talk like that?”) and a spin or two in the plot with an ending that you probably did not guess. Overall, it was quality and I’m glad I saw it. It wasn’t one of his best but still, a Mamet movie is like pizza or sex to me. Even if its bad, its good and this one was okay in my opinion so if bad is good, okay is very good I guess…

movies

I'm Afraid of "The Hobbit" Movie

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Yay – they are making not one but two “Hobbit” movies! Um… actually… I take that “yay” back because upon further review, besides the fact that Guillermo del Toro based on beard, glasses and job description seems to be a cleaned up version of Peter Jackson, there are many reasons to worry about the quality, the story, the style – basically everything – about these new “Hobbit” movies.
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One reason to be wary is because of how del Toro feels about the genre. In 2006 he said,

“I was never into heroic fantasy. At all. I don’t like little guys and dragons, hairy feet, hobbits — I’ve never been into that at all. I don’t like sword and sorcery, I hate all that stuff.”

The second reason this director should not be trusted with the Tolkien franchise is that (to quote the Salon piece), “his aesthetic is darker, more Gothic and more grotesque than the Tolkien-via-Jackson universe; it derives more from the medieval mire of middle-European fairy tale than from the high-toned, pre-modern northern European epics Tolkien was channeling.”
Something is rotten in the lands of New Zealand and Tinseltown. Read the full Andrew O’Hehir penned Salon article (just click on the top right where you see the small words in a red box that say “Enter Salon”) for all the reasons you should temper your enthusiasm. I have two words for you: George Lucas. ‘Nuff said.

movies

Thoughts On Small Screen Movies

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David Lynch and I are on the same page regarding watching things made for the big screen on a small screen:

Forget about movies, I think that watching TV on a small screen (phone, portable DVD player, etc) sucks too. If its made for the visual medium, it should be seen in a way that you don’t have to squint.

movies

Comic Book Movie Update, aka Entry #600!

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The Golden Age of Geekdom continues into this coming summer as even more comic book adaptations are hitting the big screen. What better way to celebrate entry #600 on WGTCTIP2 than to talk comics?
First off, I confess that I have yet to see “FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer” which came out last summer and that is something about which I am not happy but overall, I’m pretty caught up with comic / movie adaptations. Some were great, others were okay and some were simply awful. I am putting “Spiderman 3” in the awful category simply because of how badly the story messed with both the comic’s history and my mind.
Leading into 2008 summer season, there are two movies that I am really looking forward to and both now have cool trailers on the web. Feel free to check out these sneak peaks at The Dark Knight and Iron Man. I think they speak for themselves.
If you are a frequent reader, you may note that I first got excited about The Dark Knight over a year ago and then a month or so later Iron Man also has piqued my interest.
So, is it summertime yet?

movies

"The Hobbit" Jackson Style Lives!

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They said it could not be done, that Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema hated each other so much due to post LOTR legal & fiscal squabbling that Jackson would never, never, ever have a chance to direct a “Hobbit” movie.
Well, they were only half wrong, because reports today are surfacing that not one but two “Hobbit” movies are in the works and that Peter, his wife Fran and their rag-tag Middle Earthy crew will be producing them. Potential creenwriters and directors will be examined starting in January, 2008 and the plan is for the films to be shot simultaneously (like the LOTR movies).
I’m sort of speechless right now. I’m not jumping for joy yet because may they get a really shitty director, like how Transformers was produced by Spielberg but directed by Michael Bay. That being said, I am cautiously optimistic and will be frequently checking the The Official Hobbit Movie Blog, which has news and information about the upcoming flicks, to see how this all plays out.

movies

Simpsons Simpsons Simpsons!

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Like many people, I love the Simpsons. Seriously. I have seasons 2 – 11 on VHS tape because my mother said when I was in 7th grade, “You should tape the episodes if you like the show because its going to be canceled any day now.” That statement was made in the year 1990. In case you don’t have a calendar, 17 years have passed.
Along with Seinfeld, the Simpsons constitute the core of what I believe humor to be and while the show’s quality has dipped in recent years, I still and always will love Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie, Santa’s Little Helper, Snowball I, Snowball II, the entire Flanders family, Comic Book Guy, Dr. Marvin Monroe, Kent Brockman, Troy McClure, Barney, Moe, Disco Stu, Snake, Professor Frink, Carl, Lenny, Nelson, Mr. Burns, Smithers, Principal Skinner, Super Nintendo Chalmers, Kang, Kodos, etc. I basically can go on forever because all of the characters are important but I’ll just stop there so that this doesn’t become a 10,000 word post.
I have been putting this off for way too long now but as the movie is opening this coming Friday, I am running out of time to collect all things Simpsons into one massive post. If you haven’t noticed the Simpsons paraphernalia in the media lately, you are blind, deaf and dumb because yellow is in and it’s everywhere. Therefore, here is a run-down of all the cool stuff that has been going on for the past month or so:
1) Springfield, VT won a nationwide contest to see which Springfield would debut the movie. It’s video beat out Springfield, Illinois by only 1,000 votes (15k to 14k) but the party which was held last weekend wasn’t even close. For the debut, Page McConnell of Phish was there to play the Simpsons theme song, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream debuted a special one-time one-day only flavor called Duff & D’oh-Nuts and renamed “Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough” to “Chocolate Chip Cookie D’oh” for the day. Last but certainly not least, Magic Hat Brewery made a special batch of Duff Beer.
2) Certain 7-Elevens nationwide have turned themselves into Kwik-E-Marts. This bit of product placement is way cooler than GM doing all the cars in the Transformers movie. Below is a photo from a Flickr photo set of the Kwik-E-Mart, I mean 7-Eleven, in Times Square.

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3) The Simpsons Movie web site is pretty cool. Not only can you explore all things Springfield but the site allows you to make your own Simpsons avatar who lives there. Mine I named Double Jays and you can see him below along with a screen shot of Double Jays hanging in Moe’s Tavern:

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4) Burger King has a viral site called Simpsonsize Me where you can upload a photo and see what it looks like when you’ve been Simpsonized. My pic, which looks nothing like me, is posted below:

jeffSimpsonize.jpg

5) ESPN has a great article about the classic “Homer at the Bat” episode. Yes, I can sing all the words of the “Talkin Baseball” parody and yes, I do on occasion shout “Mattingly, shave those sideburns!” during key moments of Yankee games just for shits and giggles. This is one of many episodes I have on tape complete with circa 1990 commercials. Hysterical, always and forever.

I cannot wait for Friday!

movies

Conduire en New York

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After watching a car careening around Paris, I thought of another unauthorized car ride around a metropolis: the famous car chase from “The French Connection” which is considered the best movie car chase of all time.
The scene was filmed in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn roughly running down the B (now the D) subway line which runs on an L above 86th Street in Brooklyn. Many of the shots in the scene were “real”, in that Hackman actually drove the car at high speeds through uncontrolled traffic and red lights with Friedkin running a camera from the backseat while wrapped in a carpet for protection. The production team received no prior permission from the city for such a dangerous stunt and the only precaution taken was to place a “gumdrop” police siren on the car’s roof and blare the horn which has only added to this scene’s mystique. Enjoy the ride!

movies

Borat: See It If You Are Smart

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I saw “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” last night and urge everyone to see it, that is if you have a great sense of humor and are intelligent enough to understand the heapings of irony and wrongness that you are served. I honestly haven’t laughed that hard at a movie in a really long time. I also just saw that his Kazak web site is back live as well which is interesting considering I thought that the Kazak government had banned it. Lastly, I wonder how Borat will feel about this Jew praising his film. Maybe he’ll throw money at me to try and make me leave…