Movies worth $10

Lions for Lambs (release November 9, 2007; click here for preview) – I have been itching to write about tomorrow’s release for a long time. Ever since I saw that ridiculous preview where Cruise shouts, “DO YOU WANT TO WIN THE WAR ON TERROR? That is the preeminent question of our time.” Too bad this makes no sense. This is not a yes or no question. Meryl Streep isn’t going to be like, “actually I do want to lose the war on terror. I want a terrorist to blow me up.” Clearly. I’m not even going to go into an exhaustive summary of the film’s plot – Redford, Streep, and Cruise made a movie that Redford directs, so expect for this movie to be a more entertaining, far superior version of the earlier release Rendition. Although the ad campaign sucks.

Enchanted (release November 21, 2007; click here for preview) – I know this is a Disney movie – but it intrigues me because it reminds me of an old mini series I recently re-watched (NBC’s 10th Kingdom). Enchanted follows a fairytale (and animated) princess (Amy Adams) as she stumbles into the real world of today (and into live action film). Susan Sarandon is also in the film, but more importantly, Adams gets a starring role here. Ever since Talladega Nights I have thought Adams was underused in her movies. Although she does not seem to be the Disney-movie-type, I still hope this movie is good.

The Golden Compass (release December 7, 2007; click here for preview) – I am way excited for this movie and all my friends make fun of me for it – calling this movie a lame attempt at a lame attempt (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe). But this movie looks like it maintains the intelligence and fantasy of the book (as opposed to TLtWtW). Throw in Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman, Ian McKellen, Eva Green, Sam Elliot, AND Dakota Blue Richards. Okay, this is her first movie, but her name is Dakota – just like Dakota Fanning! She has to be good! And the movie has TWO actors from Casino Royale! How can the movie not be good?

Protagonist (release November 30, 2007; click here for preview) – A festival warrior of a documentary finally reaches America’s shores. The film weaves together four stories in Inarritu fashion (except coherently, and tastefully). It’s too bad this film will probably not show up in a theatre close by. That’s why there is always Netflix.

TV Buzz

Pushing Daisies has an off week while Michael Michele and Portia de Rossi joins House and Nip/Tuck respectively. Friday Night Lights will be intense tomorrow night…Otherwise, it’s been a slow TV week (for me at least).

A touch of nostalgia

I was channel skipping the other day and I came across two drastically different, yet immensely pleasing movies: Charlie’s Angels and Batman Returns. Remember the first Charlie’s Angels movie? With Bill Murray – who was great and when the over the top Angel-style action was not too too chotchy? And then Batman Returns – full of great shots and great villains – Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman is AMAZING – and DeVito’s Penguin is good too, but, not as hot. Does anyone remember when Bill Murray made funny movies? Or DeVito and Pfeiffer made good ones?

In one of my classes we started watching The Last of the Mohicans. Which is a great movie, but it was so funny because the DVD was so old that it had those fancy intros for dts sound AND thx. It was pretty cool. Does anyone remember those intros??? Just a short trip down memory lane…

What the papers say

There was an interesting article in the LA Times a few weeks ago about how screwed up the Academy Awards Oscar rules are for Foreign Language Film. Since the category is called Foreign Language Film the movies have to be more than 50% in a foreign language, not just be a good foreign movie. That is screwed up. Remember when people thought Apocalypto might win that category last year? Thankfully it was not nominated, but something needs to change so that the best movies from outside the U.S. get the recognition they deserve. If you're curious - like I was - click here for an exhaustive account of the nominees and winners for Best Foreign Language Film.

There was an article on Yahoo earlier this week that broadcast the decline of Sherwood forest. Yes, THE Sherwood forest of Robin Hood lore has been cut down from 100,000 acres to a mere 450 acres. One of the sites of the greatest legends of all time, could disappear within a few years. That is too bad – I just finished watched the 80’s cult favorite Robin of Sherwood series and that is a solid show.

Blender magazine, refusing to let Rolling Stone dominate top 100 lists, came out with their top 100 rock movies. Click the article to see what is number one. All I’m going to say is that for once I agree with their choice for #1. And my top rock movie – Almost Famous, still cracked the top ten.

Empire online had a fun editorial about lesser-known superheroes who should have their own movie. Just giving it a shout out because it’s premise and suggestions jived well with our last Fanboys feature on Graphic Novel Adaptations.

Um…really???

A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila is actually a real show. After being inundated with countless commercials across many of MTV’s parent stations over the summer, I thought the show couldn’t possibly be real. For those of you people who have thankfully stayed away, the show is a reality show where model Tila Tequila allows men and women to compete for her affections and her decision on whether to choose male or female sexual partners. If that summary is not offensive enough, you’re reading the wrong column. This show makes Kid Nation look like child’s play (pun intended).

The screenwriter’s guild went on strike. Really? How could Hollywood let this happen? This has been creeping forward FOREVER and Hollywood new the repercussions. But they did nothing…my favorite TV shows better not hit a standstill – I’m not sure FNL could survive the strike if it mean their shows stopped.

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.