Recent demonstrations by the disaffecteds occupying Wall Street and calling themselves the 99%, coming as they have on the proverbial heels of another populist revolt, the TEA Party, suggest that one thing is clear: people on the left and the right have had it with the status quo in Washington D.C…
…or have they?
Not likely…and I blame The Lion King. [Read more →]
Shark Night, 3D came out a few months ago, you know. I saw in a preview commercial — just one time. Didn’t go out to see it. What I gathered is this: it is a movie about a night with lots and lots of sharks who come at you in 3D. Oh, and there are girls in bikinis — who, I imagine, come at you in 3D as well, but that is neither here nor there.
It might have been a great movie (though I doubt it). [Read more →]
You know what I am sick of? George Lucas bashing. That’s what I am sick of. That said, I don’t think George Lucas is the Jesus of movie makers. I like Star Wars well enough. I really like Indiana Jones. The guy is great, but I’m not going to declare him the Shakespeare of Hollywood. He makes good, entertaining films with enough depth that they hold up for numerous viewings. What more can you ask?
But can we admit something, please? The original Star Wars trilogy is not the apex of film-making. Are those films the equals of Citizen Kane or Lawrence of Arabia or, heck — Schindler’s List? No. Of course they are not. [Read more →]
It seems to me, doesn’t it to you, that a lot of the public squabbles we incessantly hear of do not arise from mere differences of opinion but from a seemingly primal urge we humans have to tell other people what to do. It’s not enough to be secure in our own certainty. It’s not enough for us to tell other people how right we are and how wrong they are. It’s not even enough for us to simply tell others what to do. We have to tell them what to do and, if they don’t comply, try to force them to do what we say through state action or the courts. It’s a sickness, a human design flaw, I think. I’m not immune. Frankly, I’m writing this to tell people to stop telling other people what to do, which kind of defeats my purpose. But wouldn’t the world be a more peaceful place if we adopted a more ‘live and let live’ attitude; if we curtailed our pursuit of power over others through government fiat; if we were just more accepting of differences in lifestyles, values, and beliefs? [Read more →]
Last Thursday night, I was one of the first in line to watch the final installment of the new Harry Pooter movie, “Harry Pooter and the Deadly Gallows Part 4,” and I was so excited, as you probably guessed already. I had on all of my wizard gear, such as my magic wand, and the muggle, and my quiddick things. Also, I had on a cloak, and my Pooster glasses. I loved this last and final Harry Pooper movie before the reboot, because it is just exactly the movie that fans of this long-running, unique fantasy series deserve. It had all the wonderment of the other films of the series, although I was surprised by the part when Harry Pookie died, but I especially loved the part where Harry pooped in Hermiony’s mouth. Even though I think that they stole my idea for a movie where people poop in each others’ mouths when they have romantic relations, I still loved it because that is how real wizards would be romantic with each other, and also share their magical secrets, by trading the magic that comes out of their butts (“potters”), and putting it directly in the mouth of the other wizard (“consumption”).
But what really made me excited was that the new “Dark Knight Arises” teaser trailer was released at the same time as the new Harry Pooted movie. This created quite a dilemma for me, as a fan of both this unique movie series about a school for magic and a “chosen one” who has to do a lot of magical stuff and avenge the deaths of his family by a fearsome villain who seems to be unstoppable, and a fan of the other, Batman movie series about a superhero whose parents are killed so he goes out to avenge their deaths by doing a bunch of stuff and he learns how to be a hero because he’s a designated heroic person who has to save everybody. [Read more →]
10. A love child from the future came back and tried to terminate the pregnancy
9. When the doctor delivered him, he slapped the doctor back
8. In the neonatal unit, he kept hitting on all the female babies
7. His mom had to buy baby food by the case
6. He always babbled in a thick Austrian accent
5. His mother always referred to her son as “my little ‘hasta la vista’ baby”
4. At three months, he was bench-pressing his crib
3. If you tried taking candy from this baby, you’d come back with a bloody stump
2. In his first-grade play, he couldn’t act to save himself
1. He was just offered a position as the new head of the International Monetary Fund
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
Last month, a writer at Moviefone unleashed upon the internet a definitive list of the top 25 comic book movies. The piece candidly acknowledges the difficulties in undertaking such a task:
The trouble with making a Top 25 list is how you judge the entries. Do you do it by box office receipts? Or critical consensus? What about the quality of the script, or how well a movie has aged? We took all of these factors into account while making our list, with one more criteria [sic]: how significant is the movie? Where does it stand in the history of comic book movies? These twenty-five entries are the 25 most significant comic movies, with a few entries you’ll recognize and a few that you should seek out immediately.
Box office receipts, which I assume here is intended to mean the number of tickets sold, is something that can be quantified. Calling his list the “top 25” rather than the “25 best” suggests that he should probably just have gone by the amount of money each film has earned. Of course then you get into the problems of rising ticket prices, DVD and blu-ray sales, rentals, the amount of money the films earn on pay-per-view, pay cable, basic cable, networks, and syndication. That’s pretty complicated, and movie studios are notoriously creative in their accounting practices. [Read more →]
If you’re thinking of going to the time, trouble, and expense of attending the new “Green Lantern” film, you should probably read the comic below, in preparation. Not to be melodramatic, but if you don’t, you won’t know what’s really going on:
As mentioned in last quarter’s column, there have been a lot of “life-as-illusion” themed movies coming out lately. While I suspect that the success of Avatar and Lost are partly responsible for this trend, I think people’s fascination with 2012, drastic world changes, and a surge in our search for meaning are also fueling the recent string of films about alternate realities and simulated worlds. When airplanes are crashing into buildings, cities are submerged underwater, the Middle East is revolting, and the world economy is collapsing, real life almost seems more fantastical than our dreams. Jon Stewart summed it up perfectly at the 2008 Academy Awards: “Normally, when you see a black man or a woman president, an asteroid is about to hit the Statue of Liberty.” Yes, we are now officially living in the future, and we all know what kind of stuff happens in the future—exactly the kind of stuff that’s happening right now. But at least, thanks to Hollywood, we’ve been warned. And Hollywood’s heads up may even go much deeper than prophesies of events to come. They may help explain the reality we all find ourselves in. [Read more →]
I’m not going to review the film. That’s been done and done and done.
And it’s true, the movie is just ok. The characters are one dimensional. The script is overly didactic. The cinematography made-for-TVish.
Instead I’m going to share my reaction to the film, my emotional reaction: frankly, it depressed me. Not because of my disappointment in the film’s quality, or because of the film’s all-too-real dystopian setting.
No, it depressed me because, unlike most movies wherein one must rely on the suspension of disbelief to accept the hero’s actions, this movie portrays heroes acting in ways many of us could achieve. It depressed me because I haven’t started a successful business; therefore, I haven’t benefited society as much as maybe I could have. It depressed me because I haven’t honored or appreciated as I should those entrepreneurs who have.
The bottomline message of Atlas Shrugged part 1 is that if you want to help the poor, start a business; create wealth; create jobs. If you haven’t done this, it might depress you; but don’t assuage your depression by supporting government redistribution schemes. Do it by encouraging and supporting entrepreneurs and small business owners–and thank them for their service just as you do those men and women in our armed forces. They deserve it.
There have been a lot of “life-as-illusion” themed movies coming out lately. We’ve had Avatar, Inception, and TRON: Legacy, and this month alone there’s The Adjustment Bureau, Limitless, Sucker Punch and Source Code. All these films share themes of alternate realities, questions about what is reality, and insight into powers that might be manipulating the reality we live in. While I hope to discuss the most recent batch of these films in an upcoming column, for now I’d like to bring up one that slipped past the radar of many moviegoers. This film actually gave me goose bumps when it revealed an angle that I’ve only recently adopted, and have never before seen in any other movie. That film is Disney’s Tangled. [Read more →]
10. “I hope Inception wins for Best Brain Cramp.”
9. “Only three hours to go?! Man, this show is just zippin’ by!”
8. “Best Picture? – Hah! My favorite is Best Sound Mixing!”
7. “What about Sex & the City 2? Or are they just giving prizes for good stuff?”
6. “I never realized that the Oscar is just chocolate wrapped in tinfoil.”
5. “I hope Jeff Bridges wins Best John Wayne Impression.”
4. “Crap! Justin Bieber: Never Say Never won’t be eligible until next year!”
3. “If 127 Hours wins, how’s that guy gonna clap?”
2. “Isn’t Lindsay Lohan up for Best Special Defects?”
1. “I thought The King’s Speech was about that whole ‘I have a dream’ thing.”
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
While the story in The Company Men is not literally “ripped from the headlines,” the film deals with a current and important problem. Although the film is not without flaws, the subject matter is compelling, the performances are strong and the film really resonated with me. [Read more →]
Mega producer Ivan Reitman has been producing and directing comedies for over 30 years. He directs and produces a standard romantic comedy here, and that is not such a bad thing. No Strings Attached is amusing, even if it is predicable. But Natalie Portman and a remarkable cast of supporting actors give this unremarkable comedy added laughs and energy. [Read more →]
Marvel published the top comic book of 2010. Do you know what it was? Do you even care? It was The Avengers #1.
“The Avengers” No. 1, Marvel Comics’ relaunch of its superhero property featuring Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Spider-Man and Wolverine, was the best-selling comic-book title for 2010.
A relaunch, of a comic book that was first published in 1963, then relaunched in 1996, then relaunched in 1997, then relaunched in 1998, then relaunched in 2004 (actually a resumption of the original series launched in 1963), then relaunched in 2010. You can try to follow it all here, if you like.
In 1998, the great cartoonist Frank Miller told The Comics Journal
When I was in my 20s, putting together Ronin
and feeling the handcuffs come off creatively, I thought that we just had to win a certain number of business victories and there would be an absolute explosion of all this fine talent producing work that they were dying to do. And there’s no politic way to put it– it’s been a crashing disappointment to see what’s actually happened. And as time has gone by, my expectations have lowered. Talent is being squandered by people just becoming the next person to do whatever old Marvel comic. That’s not just squandering an opportunity, it’s suicide. Creative suicide. In one of my nastier moments, I started comparing the industry to a bunch of Elvis impersonators, trying to sell records. Understand, I grew up on the old Stan Lee/Jack Kirby/Steve Ditko stuff and loved it and will always have affection for it. But repeating it would be like staying in first grade the rest of my life. [Read more →]
It’s not that Country Strong is a terrible film. It is just not a very good film. The talents of Gwyneth Paltrow are wasted in this derivative and formulaic film in the milieu of country music. The music is pleasant enough, the story is momentarily diverting and the performances are pretty good. But in the category of films about music, Country Strong is not even close to as much fun as Burlesque or as good as Crazy Heart. [Read more →]
“I am in a post graduate delirium,” says Aura (Lena Dunham) the main character in Tiny Furniture. That may be true, but this small film is more than an indie post graduate comedy. Tiny Furniture contains memorable characters, a good cast and a fresh new voice. It made me laugh and it also moved me. [Read more →]
When I was a lad I watched lots of weird, psychotronic movies very late at night. You know the kind of thing I mean — Italian zombie movies, French vampire movies, usually from the 70s, with weird proggy soundtracks etc, etc.
The problem with all such films of course is that the plots are almost invariably dreadful, the acting awful, and the exciting freak-out horror sections are separated by long stretches of narrative tundra. Wouldn’t it be great, I thought, if somebody took all the interesting bits- the psychedelic breakdowns, the grinning skulls, the orgy scenes, the flashing strobe lights and melting flesh and stitched it all together in one continuous montage of hallucinatory imagery? [Read more →]
Kevin Spacey dominates in a film that cannot decide if it is comedy or “ripped from the headlines” drama, or both. Either way, the story of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff is fascinating.
The film follows Abramoff (Kevin Spacey) through his successes as a Republican Washington lobbyist, the scandal involving the Indian casinos, his final venture and his arrest and eventual incarceration. [Read more →]
