Happy Thanksgiving from Hollywood

By Aaron 11/21/2007

With Christmas, Chinese food or ham might be a given, but with Thanksgiving, movies are a given (I guess Turkey is too, but that’s beside the point). Somewhere between the Fourth of July blockbuster and the Christmas moneymakers, Thanksgiving movies can be family fare, or they can be put-the-kids-to-sleep-see-them-without-them type of movies. For purists out there – give me a break – these are mostly November movies and it is hard to remember exact dates. Plus, imdb doesn’t have a “search by holiday feature.” The list dates back to 1993 when imdb started taking really accurate records, and when I was seven. So it works out for both of us. Without further ado, here are the movies released on ‘Thanksgiving weekend’ that you should have seen over the years.

Leon, (1994)
Saltystix: 8.5/10
Action Barometer: 7/10
Family Factor: 2/10
Jean Reno plays The Professional in Luc Besson’s movie about an assassin who takes a young girl under his wing (Natalie Portman). Throw in Gary Oldman, some crazy action scenes, and you have a pretty good flick. Drawback: Not many mothers want to see a little girl with her hand wrapped around a 9mm.

Goldeneye (1995)
Saltystix: 7.5/10
Action Barometer: 8/10
Family Factor: 5/10
Pierce Brosnan slips on the tux for his first Bond flick, reclaiming a day that most other James Bond movies would dominate. In this one, Brosnan tracks down a stolen helicopter with the help of a computer programmer as they chase the illusive Janus. Drawback: Not enough Famke Janssen – seriously the movie is a passable family flick with some action.

Space Jam (1996)
Saltystix: 6/10
Action Barometer: 3.5/10
Family Factor: 8/10
Scenes from this movie are etched into my memory – like when Bill Murray has to sub in for the good guys against the steroid popping aliens. Luckily Michael has enough skillz to go around to beat the aliens in this animated-live action hybrid. Remember how good the music was (when you were a kid?) Drawback: very limited viewing/re-viewing.

The Jackal (1997)
Saltystix: 7/10
Action Barometer: 8/10
Family Factor: 1/10
Bruce Willis is The Jackal, the world’s best, and most infamous assassin hired for one last high profile job. Racing to stop him is his old nemesis, played by Richard Gere. Jack Black is in the movie too, but not to deliver Nacho Libre style family fare. Drawback: exploding body-parts and uncomfortable sexual situations make this a movie for after Thanksgiving.

American History X (1998)
Saltystix: 9/10
Action Barometer: 5/10
Family Factor: 0/10
Edward Norton, at his best, plays a white supremacist who leaves prison a different man – and a better man. After a murder changed the course of his life, Norton comes back to find his brother, played by Edward Furlong, on the same path that ruined his life. Language and violence aside, the movie is definitely NOT a family movie. Drawback: Like I said, wait until the kids are asleep. If you need a movie to watch, the family friendly A Bug’s Life also came out in 1998 (the Woody Allen-free movie about ants).

Toy Story 2 (1999)
Saltystix: 7/10
Action Barometer: 6/10
Family Factor: 10/10
Pixar’s favorite batch of Toys has a new adventure when Woody gets stolen and the gang has to convince Woody that being loved by a kid is worth more than vain, museum immortality. New character Jessie (voiced by Joan Cusack) adds a lot to the gang and makes the movie very entertaining. Drawback: nope. Flawless. (I mean, it is a well executed animated film by Pixar – what do you expect?)

Unbreakable (2000)
Saltystix: 7/10
Action Barometer: 4/10
Family Factor: 3/10
M. Night managed to squeeze this one out right before hitting rock bottom. Bruce Willis plays a security guard that Samuel L. Jackson believes has super powers. Does he? Either way the movie has a great feel to it – eerie, yet entertaining. You COULD see it as a family, but the whole family might not like it. Drawback: not enough action.

Spy Game (2001)
Saltystix: 8/10
Action Barometer: 5/10
Family Factor: 4/10
Robert Redford plays mentor to Brad Pitt’s spy trainee in this movie about the espionage business. Told mostly in flashbacks and constantly using on screen text to tell us the time, the movie moves really fast. Not a lot of action per se, but you are never bored. Drawback: how do you sell the family on a spy flick without gadgets and a save the world plot?

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Saltystix: 6.5/10
Action Barometer: 6.5/10
Family Factor: 8/10
The second adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s wizard follows Harry and his pals as they try to uncover the heir of Slytherin who has opened the long lost Chamber and unleashed a deadly basilisk that risks Hogwarts’ future. And if this movie isn't your fave, Harry has a habbit of coming out right before you cut the turkey. Drawback: way long.

Elf (2003)
Saltystix: 6.5/10
Action Barometer: 3/10
Family Factor: 7/10
Will Ferrell plays a human who thinks he’s an elf in this Christmas story that came out in November that keeps you asking, really? Especially when Ferrell eagerly gorges himself on cotton balls and almost doesn’t end up with Zooey Deschanel in the end. Drawback: Way way too kiddy – to the extent that some fathers would probably regret this decision.

The Incredibles (2004)
Saltystix: 8/10
Action Barometer: 7/10
Family Factor: 10/10
It’s pretty hard to top Toy Story at it’s own game, but if any movie could or does, it’s this one. Following a family of superheroes that get drawn into a revenge plot by an old nemesis (voiced by Jason Lee), this movie is full of action. But it still has lots of everything else, and certainly enough animated fun to make it a hit with the young ones. Drawback: it ends.

Walk the Line (2005)
Saltystix: 8.5/10
Action Barometer: 3/10
Family Factor: 4/10
Joaquin Phoenix plays Johnny Cash at the biopic apex while Reese Witherspoon delivers a spot on June Carter. The movie follows Cash’s early life and first wife as well as his tortured love for June Carter and Cash’s serious drug addiction problems as well as an attempt to explain why the man in black, was the man in black. Drawback: a little long and serious for the kiddies.

Casino Royale (2006)
Saltystix: 8.5/10
Action Barometer: 8/10
Family Factor: 6/10
Daniel Craig helps jumpstart the new Bond look and does so almost too well. But just well enough. A recently promoted (to double-o) Bond is sent to Montenegro to beat terrorist banker, Le Chiffre, at his own game and force the man to spill terrorist secrets to MI6. Eva Green lends a hand and the franchise’s new look and new feel works perfectly. Drawback: the ending leaves much to be desired.

Editor’s note: For all you cosmopolitan readers, three of Pedro Almodovar’s greatest hits were also released on Thanksgiving (in the U.S.), including: Todo sobre mi madre (1999), Hable con ella (2002), and La Mala Educacion (2004).

Could “Avatar” Win Best Picture?

By Brett Hogan

 

Last week, the trailer for James Cameron’s sci-fi experiment “Avatar” debuted. While initially unimpressed with the teaser, I began to wonder: Could this film win best picture? 

 

Buzz has been generating for this movie for years. Years. The technology to make this movie didn’t exist when Cameron conceived it, so he invented it. When is the last time you heard of a director spearheading the invention of anything? The casting started in 2005. Most movies these days, even epics, are done in half that time. I could go on. 

 

The most important thing to take away from all of this is that people are saying this will be the future of movies. Now, I don’t agree with the idea that CGI will become more prevalent than it already is. But I do believe that this will set the bar miles higher for sci-fi. I mean, that is what Titanic did. And that won some awards if memory serves.

 

I’ll bet you’re asking yourself, how can you even suggest that a film like this will win Best Picture when the initial trailer was nothing better than visual stimulation? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, the Academy has expanded Best Picture to ten films. This doesn’t guarantee anything other than improved chances for most films on the cusp.

 

Second, after last year’s Oscars debacle, which saw the best film of the year, “The Dark Knight,” not only get shafted in awards but nominations as well, the Academy is pulling out all the stops to appease those with the loudest voices in the film industry, the fanboys. Now, the Academy probably didn’t lose anything because of that other than some viewers of the award show. Perhaps if people are again outraged with the winners or nominees, the heads of the Academy would lose their jobs. So this is all about the Academy protecting itself, which is not so outrageous.  

 

 

Third, there is an economic motive here. I’ve heard this film will cost $190 million, not counting the R&D costs associated with Cameron’s inventions or the cost of getting 3-D cameras into every theater in the country. The Academy will do everything in its power to get people into the seats and make this the next “Titanic” or “The Dark Knight.” But the Academy doesn’t have much power, besides nominating and awarding, so they will slap the “Nominated for Best Picture” moniker onto every commercial and print ad to get the people who didn’t believe the critics to relent and see this movie.

 

Of course, all of this is pure conjecture, and no revolutionary film (Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, etc.) has ever won the Best Picture category because it changed the game. Except maybe Titanic. But still, could this movie actually win? My answer is no but a nomination is certain and who knows what could happen from there. We’ll know more come February 2010.