Knocked Out
By Aaron 6/15/2007

A previous editorial mourned the passing of the Frat Pack, seeing Knocked Up as the end. All I have to say is “thank you.” A new era of comedies is coming, and they will be better. Sure I loved those movies just as much as the rest, and I laughed till I cried when Will Ferrell walked down the stairs in Wedding Crashers, but you need to pause and reflect. Those movies are hysterical, but they don’t come close to the “all time great” comedies like The Apartment and Some Like it Hot. Instead, the Frat Pack movies seem childish, immature, and chauvinistic.

The age of the loaded ensemble is dead – movies won’t, and shouldn’t try to cram a bunch of top tier comedians into one movie anymore. They can’t afford them all and those comedians think will likely just get their own movie. Either way, the less emphasized ensemble of Knocked Up will likely be the way to go – funny guys who work because they are uniquely suited for their specific roles. And that’s the way it should be, where actors play roles, not themselves.

This acting evolution is the first component to having these movies tell a REAL story with dramatic and comedic elements. Drama AND comedy is what made movies like The Apartment and Some Like it Hot work, made them classics, made them the best. Humorous well-developed characters instead of characters that sink or swim on the specific star/Frat Packer should drive movies. Make no mistake, I think the Frat Pack are good actors, but Will Ferrell was essentially playing an extreme version of Frank the Tank in his cameo in Wedding Crashers.

Additionally, it would be a mistake to label the recent movies during the Frat Pack’s Diaspora “disappointing.” Au contrar, those movies were very good – positive steps in the transition from childish humor to solid, all around, respectable movies. Vince Vaughn’s The Break-Up was pretty good – it did what none of the other Frat Pack movies did, which was make a realistic situation (much like Knocked Up’s unexpected pregnancy), funny. The Break Up dealt with real emotions of a realistic relationship, not a model turned super-spy or a thirtysomething going back to campus. Owen Wilson’s You, Me, and Dupree similarly dealt with the realistic hysterics of a newlywed trying to keep his marriage afloat while his best man lofts grenades. You, Me, and Dupree thrives not on Owen Wilson’s hysterics, but on the character he creates and the situation he stirs up. Will Ferrell’s Talladega Nights was not exactly a stage in the evolution, but it showed that the Frat Pack’s Anchorman formula could be recreated without the Frat Pack – with actors that fit instead of big name pals.

Knocked Up IS this important step. Rudd and Rogen are different because they are character actors. The acting choices are perfect, as Rogen is much better than Michael Cera would have been. Cera would have been a less funny, less inventive, thinner (and more handsome) actor in the vein of a leading man. Rogen is great because he is not the typical leading man, he is something new and that uniqueness adds to the movie because he isn’t a great catch or even an okay match. Instead, he has to work to make Heigl love him and that means more than just getting her high and having a three way with her.

Another reason Knocked Up is so great is also why the new era has so much potential. Knocked Up is not a guy movie, and it is certainly not a chick flick. Rather it has the fratish humor of Old School but also the emotion and feeling that makes romantic comedies work. Simple things like equal screen time and viewpoints from both the male and female protagonists help make this a movie for everyone. Old School is through and through a guy movie – the whole frat concept, the sleeping with high schoolers, the KY wrestling and the jokes. Wedding Crashers is close to bridging the gender gap The Break-Up goes slightly too far, losing the comedic genius of the earlier Frat Pack movies amongst the romantic comedy clichés. Knocked Up is the healthy median, the best of both worlds. No longer do you have to fight with your girlfriend to get her see a filthy Will Ferrell movie. Now, you can count on your laughs, and her laughs to keep you both happy.

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.