Wind Me Up

February 25th, 2008

rewind.pngWith the high-def format war officially over and impeccably digitized movies coming to your home television any day now, the sentiment behind Michael Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind – namely, that the sterilized consumption of movies has ruined mom and pop shops and cheapened the experience of film – is easy to understand. But for a movie that seems so in love with cinema, it would be nice to see a more carefully constructed concept.

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We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Hearse

February 11th, 2008

An old conversation that seems appropriate today:

Me: What’s the best sports movie ever?
Mike: …is fishing a sport?
Me: Sure.
Mike: Jaws.

Rest in peace, Roy Scheider.

The Strike is Dead! Long Live TV!

February 8th, 2008

9192_6546.jpgAfter months of negotiation, reruns, and alternative programming, the writers’ strike is over, according to…Michael Eisner? Sure, why not?

Listen, it’s not like I haven’t found plenty of other things to watch since some of my favorite shows disappeared as early as November, but when Lipstick Jungle is the only new original programming on the air, you know it’s time to create some new shows.

First order of business: bring back The Office!

In the Nic of Time

February 3rd, 2008

treasure.pngIt seems that there’s an ongoing struggle for the consumer dollar between the few smart, well-made movies and the seemingly endless well of total pabulum (sadly, it seems that the latter is winning out). It’s refreshing, then, to be able to find a middle ground in Nicolas Cage’s National Treasure: Book of Secrets, a delightfully absurd historical adventure that’s as fun as it is absurd.

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Will Power

January 31st, 2008

legend.pngThat Will Smith is a legend in his own time is not surprising; after all, he’s conquered music, television and film in his 40 years on Earth largely based on his winning smile. What’s surprising – and somewhat satisfying – is the success Smith has had in parlaying his celebrity into meatier roles. He finds balance between popcorn and pathos in I Am Legend, an apocalyptic thriller with plenty of soul.

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Crimson and Clover

January 22nd, 2008

cloverfield.jpgIf success in Hollywood is dependent on the ability to manage hype, then the J.J. Abrams-produced Cloverfield, a Godzilla-level monster movie shot with Blair Witch sensibilities, is a legend in its own time. Beginning with the trailer, which debuted in front of last summer’s Transformers, moviegoers have been wondering what the project was and when they could see it. And while it’s not the genre-defining, life-changing film experience that some are claiming, Cloverfield is certainly deserving of at least some of its hype.

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Strange Bedfellows

January 10th, 2008

wilson.jpgThere’s a limited numbers of people in Hollywood who can take a cautionary tale about the United States’ efforts to aid Afghanistan during the Russian occupation and turn it into a feel-good comedy. Two such people are Mike Nichols and Aaron Sorkin, whose Charlie Wilson’s War, a story of back-channel political dealings, pairs a playboy congressman and an out-of-favor CIA agent to battle for ideals. And only in Washington, D.C., can such a story be so absurd and still be partially true.

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Razor Sharp

January 4th, 2008

todd.jpgThere are countless challenges in adapting a stage musical for presentation on film: capturing huge choral numbers in a medium traditionally reliant on close-ups, balancing the fantasy of expression through song with a more closely guarded check of reality, and finding the right mix of singers and actors are just a few. But when you consider the work of Stephen Sondheim, one of the darkest and most complicated writers Broadway has ever seen, the challenges grow exponentially. In Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, director Tim Burton has taken perhaps Sondheim’s best work and made of it a textbook for translating Broadway to Hollywood.

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Wrong and Write

January 2nd, 2008

As the Hollywood writers’ strike drags on into the New Year, it seems to be getting harder to choose a side and stick with it. I’ve been behind the writers all along, asserting that the immediate impact of a settlement is less important than setting the precedent for compensation when, a few years down the road, all television is delivered to your set from the Internet. But as my favorite scripted shows run out of banked episodes, ready to be replaced by reruns, untested new series and a handful of episodes of LOST, my resolve to support the union wanes, and I wish they’d figure out a short-term deal that would leave open the possibility of future negotiations. But as late-night talk shows return tonight, some without writers, I can’t help but support those who are bold enough to stay on the picket line.

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Excuse Me, Princess

December 31st, 2007

enchanted.jpgSince the dawn of computer-animated feature films more than a decade ago, the Walt Disney Corporation has been a big, juicy target for upstart animation studios looking to eschew the tradition of fairytale cartoons. No irony is lost on the fact that it was Disney’s partnership with the fledgling Pixar group that launched such films into the stratosphere. It seems oddly appropriate, then, that Disney’s latest foray into film amination, the charming Enchanted, perfects the send-up to their own tried and true stories.

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