Eternal Sunshine of Ross' Mind

Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums of All Time (490-481)

2012-02-10T16:28:00.000-05:00

Another ten, another blog post. With these next ten albums, we get two double albums, a trio of country superstars and a variety of other great styles and albums from legends. So with that, here are Rolling Stone's Top 500 Albums of All Time, albums 490-481.

490. Gang of Four-Entertainment!

I’m particularly a fan of bands that came from the Gang of Four sound, particularly bands like The Rapture, and to a lesser extent Maximo Park. Entertainment! starts off with two songs, “Ether” and “Natural’s Not In It”, that are a great example of Gang of Four’s style: fun post-punk with a political stance. After listening to Entertainment!, it’s hard that more bands don’t consider Gang of Four a major influence. What they do with their debut album is clearly influential on so many younger bands over thirty years later.

Suggested Track: “Natural’s Not In It”

489. Steve Earle-Guitar Town

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people say “I love all kinds of music except country and rap.” Guess what? Then you don’t like all kinds of music, you like a few kinds of music. I state this because this group of ten albums features some of the greatest country music ever. First off we have Guitar Town from Steve Earle, an album that predates the alt-country style and is some of the best in that genre. The problems that Earle faces in Guitar Town aren’t “country music problems” but human problems, dealing with issues that we all face. Earle’s songs transcend genre though when his message is this strong. Guitar Town is a beautiful take on a self-described hillbilly that’s more happy being on the road than trapped by the normal ideas of being trapped in one area.

Suggested Track: “Someday”

488. D'Angelo-Voodoo

In the past ten albums, I described how I’m not that into funk music and that I’m not a fan of albums that seem to play out as one large song with little distinction between tracks. As much as I do like her track to track, I personally don’t like much of Erykah Badu’s recent work for that very reason. But something about Voodoo works greatly for me. Maybe it’s the great combination of musicians that D’Angelo gathered for this album that included J Dilla, DJ Premier, Raphael Saadiq and Questlove. Or maybe it’s the fact that it is arguably one of the sexiest albums of all time. But this album works for me in ways that others don’t, because what I love about Voodoo is how it feels like one near eighty-minute riff where D’Angelo gathered his friends and just tried things out. The great use of samples in “Devil’s Pie”, the extra verses by Method Man and Redman on “Left & Right” and the insane near perfection of “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” all lead towards D’Angelo trying, and succeeding, on finding a sound unlike anyone else, while still sounding like great funk and R&B artists of the past.

Suggested Track: “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”

487. The Smashing Pumpkins-Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

When I was younger, instead of receiving an allowance every week, I instead asked for a new CD a week. While not the most fiscally responsible idea, it was what I constantly wanted. It was this weekly goal that led me to purchase albums that will surely make it on this list, like Odelay and OK Computer at the age of 11, and highly influenced my tastes at a young age. One album I always wanted was Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, a double album, which would mean spending half a month’s “allowance” on one purchase. Unfortunately I never had the patience and therefore never bought the album. Years later I downloaded the album, but never listened to it. Until now. And oh my god, I was a fool. Maybe it’s just the anticipation, but Mellon Collie has blown my mind. I worried about a common problem I’ve encountered with the double album, which is that the album’s great tracks get frontloaded, as I suspected this album would. The first half of the first disc is like a Smashing Pumpkins Greatest Hits with tracks like “Tonight, Tonight”, “Zero” and “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”, but the album is so incredibly consistent and beautiful, surprising and changing in brilliant ways. The second disc does slow things down considerably, as I expected, but still is a nice supplement to the first disc and the package as a whole is something that I think young Ross would have absolutely waited two weeks for.

Suggested Track: “Tonight, Tonight”

486. Funkadelic-Maggot Brain

On one of my few drives from Virginia to Georgia, I was listening to an edition of NPR’s “All Songs Considered” with the category of something along the lines of songs that remind you of summer. The song “Maggot Brain” from Funkadelic was mentioned as the listener said that she used to drive around at night, windows down, blasting the song. At this suggestion, I followed along, and man, what a great idea. This ten-minute guitar solo intro to the album is somewhat of a misrepresentation of the fun that comes later on the album. The next song, “Can You Get to That” is fun enough that Sleigh Bells decided to use it on their song “Rill Rill”, which I had no idea before. The album is filled with great, fun songs, but book ended by two songs that couldn’t be more different. While “Maggot Brain” is a solemn, almost heartbreaking mode, the album builds in anticipation to the complete clusterfuck of insanity that is “Wars of Armageddon”. Anything goes on the final track, but at that point, nothing is a surprise anymore so it completely works.

Suggested Track: “Maggot Brain”

485. Loretta Lynn-All Time Greatest Hits

I first fell in love with the awesomeness of Loretta Lynn with her brilliant comeback album Van Lear Rose, produced by Jack White and was one of the most surprisingly badass albums I’ve probably ever heard. To be honest though, I really had no context for Lynn beyond knowledge that “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, the song and the film, were from and about her. Thankfully All Time Greatest Hits fills me in on the blank spots. Lynn paints her career as a woman who won’t take shit from anyone, except possibly from the man she loves, and the song titles pretty much point this out. She threatens to kick the ass of the women trying to steal her man (“You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)”, “Fist City”), yet even when her man is too drunk (“Don’t Come Home A Drinkin’”) or has left her alone with an abundance of children to take care of (“One’s On the Way”), she stays with the man, even if he way do her wrong. With “One’s On the Way”, I also found it interesting that Lynn plays a woman who realizes that the world is changing, but for her things aren’t ever going to be any different as she sings:

“The girls in New York City, they all march for woman’s lib, and Better Homes and Gardens shows the modern way to live, and the pill may change the world tomorrow. But meanwhile today here in Topeka, the flies are a buzzin’, the dog is a barkin’ and the floor needs a scrubbin’, one needs a spankin’ and one needs a huggin’, Lord one’s on the way.”

This duality to Lynn is what makes her such an interesting character in the country genre, regardless of how true her songs may be, and after decades in the music industry, she still had great stories and unique viewpoints that make her worth paying attention to.

Suggested Track: “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man with Conway Twitty”

484. Merle Haggard-Branded Man

Maybe it is because he is following up Loretta Lynn, but Merle Haggard didn’t have quite the same success as Lynn did for me. Surprisingly, he doesn’t feel like he has the same edge I liked about Lynn, even though he sings about going to prison, which he actually did. But Haggard’s heartbreak is what makes Branded Man such a compelling release. Even though he’s been hardened by prison, his heart is still as weak as ever. “Don’t Get Married” deals with Haggard hoping his sweetheart doesn’t get hitched while he’s locked up and “Loneliness Is Eating Me Alive” appropriately has Haggard dealing with crushing solitude. The most effective here though is “Gone Crazy”, where Haggard literally believes he is going insane since he doesn’t have the girl he believes to be the love of his life. Haggard presents himself in a way that is a surprise, given his tough history and demeanor.

Suggested Track: “Gone Crazy”

483. The Notorious B.I.G.-Life After Death

While I never purchased Mellon Collie as a child, I was able to purchase Life After Death. The only catch was I purchased the single-disc, edited version of the album. This bastardized version either left off entire tracks or edited them heavily. In fact my first “Parental Advisory” albums I purchased during my pop-punk phase, with artists like Blink 182, Sum 41 and The All-American Rejects, where “dirty” language only added to the teen angst. But I digress. Even with this half-sized album, Notorious B.I.G., along with Jay-Z, quickly became my favorite rappers, even to the point where I never really had any appreciation for 2Pac, almost out of East Coast respect. The 90s MTV rap explosion brought me not only to love the hip-hop of the time, but also led me to love directors like Spike Jonze pre-Being John Malkovich.

Life After Death was released shortly after B.I.G.’s death, but at that age, all I knew was that he was now dead and that it was part of the East Coast/West Coast rap feuds. While historical context does make Life After Death to an extent bittersweet, it is a phenomenal goodbye. I think when an artist dies at such a young age, as Christopher Wallace did at the age of 24, it is easy to believe that they are only so beloved because they weren’t able to have the usual arc of long-lasting artists, wherein there is a rise to popularity and the supposedly inevitable fall. But Life After Death and Ready to Die are enough to prove that he truly was one of the most important rappers of all time before his demise.

But now to Life After Death, B.I.G. is able to make himself still seem threatening even, well, after death. With artists guest-starring like R. Kelly, Mase, Lil’ Kim and Faith Evans, it’s a much better eulogy than the then Puff Daddy’s “I’ll Be Missing You”. It’s impossible to talk about Sean Combs without talking about his love for Wallace, and it’s clearly evident here. Combs lovingly produces the album, full with great samples that made Combs such a powerhouse in the 90s. Life After Death is an incredible second album and a suiting goodbye to one of hip-hop’s most influential artists.

Suggested Track: “Hypnotize”

482. Elvis Costello and the Attractions-Armed Forces

I think I like Elvis Costello for the same reasons that I like St. Vincent. Both are artists reminiscent of something that we’ve seen before. While St. Vincent may seem like a perfectly normal singer-songwriter, her music is beautiful, but with a tinge of darkness that makes her almost eerie. Elvis Costello’s music is almost like an homage to earlier days, 50s rock n’ roll and Buddy Holly. But Costello also has that darkness. Armed Forces has anger and darker issues at its core, while still a fun album if you want to simply take it as catchy tunes. I’ve always appreciated Elvis Costello, which probably also stems from my love of Saturday Night Live and his impromptu “Radio, Radio” performance, and I’m excited to hear more from Costello on this list, an almost certainty.

Suggested Track: “Green Shirt”

481. The Smiths-The Smiths

Like all people my age, we find out we like The Smiths then realize the closest things we will get to new material is solo work from Morrissey. The weird thing is, I don’t really like Morrissey solo, but with The Smiths, I think he is great. For those who don’t know, The Smiths are constantly stuck in a perpetual state of heartbreak. While this could be obnoxious with a lesser band (cough Dashboard Confessional cough), it’s endearing with The Smiths. It’s a shame that they are essentially the band to influence a thousand mediocre-to-bad emo bands. Their first album, the self-titled The Smiths is a good introduction to the band, almost like a mission statement as to who they are and what their style will be. I personally like where The Smiths go from here more, and from what I can tell Rolling Stone agrees with me. The Smiths isn’t so much a disappointment as it does excite me for where the band goes from here, before their destruction in only a few short years.

Suggested Track: “This Charming Man”

So now, here are my rankings for the albums we have listened to so far (original chart rankings in parenthesis):

1. The Smashing Pumpkins-Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (487)

2. Funkadelic-Maggot Brain (486)

3. The Notorious B.I.G.-Life After Death (483)

4. Kiss-Destroyer (496)

5. D'Angelo-Voodoo (488)

6. Earth, Wind and Fire-That's the Way of the World (493)

7. Loretta Lynn-All Time Greatest Hits (485)

8. Public Enemy-Yo! Bum Rush the Show (497)

9. The Smiths-The Smiths (481)

10. Cyndi Lauper-She's So Unusual (494)

11. Steve Earle-Guitar Town (489)

12. Gang of Four-Entertainment! (490)

13. Husker Du-New Day Rising (495)

14. Mott the Hoople-All the Young Dudes (491)

15. Merle Haggard-Branded Man (484)

16. Eurythmics-Touch (500)

17. Pearl Jam-Vitalogy (492)

18. Elvis Costello & the Attractions-Armed Forces (482)

19. Albert King-Born Under a Bad Sign (499)

20. ZZ Top-Tres Hombres (498)

Also, if you'd like to follow along, and I recommend you do, it has been very entertaining and a great learning experience for me, you can do so with my Spotify playlist Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums, which I am updating with every new post.

Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums of All-Time (500-491)

2012-02-07T17:21:00.001-05:00

Back in 2003, Rolling Stone created a list of their 500 favorite albums of all time. Back then I very much wanted to listen to all of the albums on the list in an attempt to enhance my musical education. But since in order to do that, I would have had to purchase almost all the albums, I restrained myself and decided not to. Now it's 2012, there are many ways to listen to almost any album you can imagine, and I've decided to embark on this monstrosity of a listening challenge. I've also decided to chronicle this adventure and give my takes on each of the 500 albums.

Let me make a few things clear. First of all, I'm not really a big fan of Rolling Stone, but I am a fan of lists. To me, Rolling Stone is filled with writers stuck in the past or have a great sense of hero worship, which is why any album featuring Bono, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen or any of The Beatles will undoubtedly always make their end of the year list (SuperHeavy??? Really?) Around the time this list was released, I was much more of a SPIN fan, as I loved the writing of Chuck Klosterman, Sia Michel and the rest of the then writers. I feel like I have a great deal of knowledge on the last decade of music, but beyond that, it is pretty scattered, which will make this list fun for me.

I also plan on making my own list based around the albums that made the top 500. I will listen to, then write about ten albums in order at a time. Then I will post my top 10 albums that I've listened to at that point. Also to keep it fun, I don't plan on looking more than 10 albums ahead. Just enough to make sure I have the album or have access to the album. So without further ado, here are albums 500-491:

500. Eurythmics-Touch

For me, Eurythmics were one of those bands that I never really payed much attention to. I found Annie Lennox annoying and the song "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" was a constant irritation to any kid growing up in the nineties who listened to Top 40 radio. After checking out the track list to make sure "Sweet Dreams" wasn't on this album, I delved in and was surprised by the album. Touch is a consistently fun synth pop album that never really slows down. It actually hit a sweet spot that I didn't really know I had until LCD Soundsystem, which is dance music that is also quite emotional, as can be seen in "No Fear, No Hate, No Pain (No Broken Hearts)" and the hit single "Here Comes the Rain Again." I'll be honest, one of the detractions for me starting this list was seeing that I would have to start off with the Eurythmics, but I must say, I'm glad I gave Lennox and Dave Stewart another chance cause Touch is a fairly fun album.

Suggested Track: "Here Comes the Rain Again"

499. Albert King-Born Under A Bad Sign

There are a few genres of music that I don't hate, but that just don't really stand out for me. Funk, reggae and blues I don't have a problem with, but I rarely will listen to for fun. I knew little about Albert King's Born Under A Bad Sign with the exception that it was a blues album. I'll say this: Born Under A Bad Sign didn't change my opinion of blues but I do think it is a very good album. King's vocals, along with his phenomenal guitar that is clearly an inspiration for many a classic rock guitar player really elevate this album. There is a lot to like here and when King gets into a groove, it can get pretty fun. But one of my problems with blues, mostly an entire album of it, is that most of the songs feel like they drag into one long track. Once again, it doesn't sound bad, it just can be a bit boring. But at least King makes it sound fun.

Suggested Track: "Born Under A Bad Sign"

498. ZZ Top-Tres Hombres

Having grown up watching MTV and VH1, I was familiar with the videos of ZZ Top, yet I never really latched onto the music of ZZ Top. That really didn't change after listening to Tres Hombres. I'm also not a huge fan of Southern Rock, but like blues, I can appreciate it and there are a few exceptions. ZZ Top is blues mixed with Southern Rock that does give them a distinctive sound, which you can almost trace bands like Kings of Leon and My Morning Jacket going back to. That being said, I just kind of fell in the middle of this album. Nothing really grabbed my attention here, not that it was bad, just a bit underwhelming for my tastes.

Suggested Track: "La Grange"

497. Public Enemy-Yo! Bum Rush the Show

The first band I knew I actually do like, and first band I've seen live, to show up on the list is Public Enemy. I mean is there a more fun guy in the history of hip-hop than Flavor Flav? I think not. But of course the star here is Chuck D whose raps are clearly influential on the future of hip-hop. I found Yo! Bum Rush the Show to be much less aggressive than future albums from PE, but still has a sense of tension in their music that was still quite rare for the mid 80s. I'm very excited to listen to more of PE, which I'm assuming will show up on the list, after listening to their beginning. Chuck D's growth as a rapper will be great to note when we get a bit further on the list.

Suggested Track: "Sophisticated Bitch"

496. Kiss-Destroyer

I don't think it is hard to discount Kiss. I mean they are notoriously known for spectacle over their music. So just on reputation alone, I had never really payed attention to Kiss. This was foolish. Since I'm a huge fan of many artists that are an exaggeration of the craziness and sensibilities of heavy metal bands of the seventies and eighties, like The Darkness, Andrew W.K. and Tenacious D. Kiss was my biggest surprise in the first ten albums, but I realize now that it shouldn't have been. Destroyer is a party in an album. It's an album that never takes itself too seriously and it's hard to hate because of that. Destroyer is simply fun and I had a ton of fun with it.

Suggested Track: "Beth"

495. Husker Du-New Day Rising

I was also pretty excited about checking out Husker Du, since for years I knew the name but didn't know the music. New Day Rising is a great example of 80s punk rock and the expansive scope of the album is impressive. However like Born Under A Bad Sign and Tres Hombres, by the end I felt like many of the songs really drew together in a way that felt a bit too similar. I appreciate their sound and would like to check out their other albums like Zen Arcade, at the very least I can say I'm interested.

Suggested Track: "New Day Rising"

494. Cyndi Lauper-She's So Unusual

Another artist I really ignored due to early 90s radio overexposure was Cyndi Lauper. Not to mention she's one of those musicians whose public persona has become more popular than her musical career. But much to my surprise, She's So Unusual is a very strong pop album. The album has no problem just being fun, as with the hit singles "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" and "Time After Time", but also deals with interesting gender roles in tracks like "When You Were Mine." The album does take a left turn towards the last few tracks that becomes grating on the nerves, such as "He's So Unusual" and "Yeah Yeah", but the album is too strong at that point to be shaken.

Suggested Track: "Time After Time"

493. Earth, Wind & Fire-That's the Way of the World

For me, Earth, Wind & Fire are one of those artists you ignore because your parents made sure you knew they loved them when they were your age. However like most of those artists, with age you realize they are kind of great. That's the Way of the World probably sounds so great to me now because almost any R&B or funk artist I've ever listened to has been influenced by them. On some tracks, I even thought, "so this is where Andre 3000 gets it from." That's the Way of the World is pretty brilliant, not only for its historical context, but because it's just so much fun.

Suggested Track: "Shining Star"

492. Pearl Jam-Vitalogy

OK, so I intentionally do not like Pearl Jam. Let me get that out there. However I do appreciate the musician that Eddie Vedder has become in the last few years, mostly on the Into the Wild soundtrack and his ability to experiment with his sound in weird ways, like releasing an entire ukelele-based album. Vedder's experimentation is why I came away at least enjoying that experimentation in Vitalogy. The album is all over the place in terms of style, throwing a bunch of stuff at a wall and seeing what sticks. Songs like "Bugs" and "Stupidmop" seem more inclined to see how far it can test its audience. But when it is successful, you can easily see why Pearl Jam was such a big deal in the nineties. Vitalogy didn't exactly win me over, but Vedder and co. do leave me intrigued.

Suggested Track: "Better Man"

491. Mott the Hoople-All the Young Dudes

Mott the Hoople is one of those unfortunate bands that will always be more well known for the name they've chosen rather than what their music sounds like, kind of like Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. or Fucked Up. But All the Young Dudes is a exceptional glam rock album that changed the band's focus due to David Bowie's production. It's hard to not hear Bowie's influence on this album and it's probably better that he was there than not. I would like to hear their pre-Bowie work to compare and contrast, but I do enjoy what I hear in All the Young Dudes.

Suggested Track: "All the Young Dudes"

So with the first ten albums of the Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums, here's how my personal list compares. Original chart placement in parenthesis:

1. Kiss-Destroyer (496)

2. Earth, Wind and Fire-That's the Way of the World (493)

3. Public Enemy-Yo! Bum Rush the Show (497)

4. Cyndi Lauper-She's So Unusual (494)

5. Husker Du-New Day Rising (495)

6. Mott the Hoople-All the Young Dudes (491)

7. Eurythmics-Touch (500)

8. Pearl Jam-Vitalogy (492)

9. Albert King-Born Under a Bad Sign (499)

10. ZZ Top-Tres Hombres (498)

Paste Magazine Week Sixteen

2011-12-15T14:31:00.000-05:00

Here are my articles from my sixteenth week at Paste:

-2011 Gotham Awards Announce Winners
-2012 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominations Announced
-Louis C.K. Returning to Parks and Recreation
-The 50 Best Albums of 2011
-Person of Interest, "Foe" Review
-It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "How Mac Got Fat" Review
-Fox Confirms Sequels to Rise of the Planet of the Apes and X-Men: First Class
-Stream the New Album from The Roots
-HBO Announces Premiere Dates for Eastbound and Down, Life's Too Short
-The 50 Best Songs of 2011
-New Girl, "Bells" Review
-Watch the First Trailer for Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie
-GamePro Magazine To Shut Down After 22 Years
-See the First Image of Daniel Day-Lewis With His Lincoln Beard
-The 20 Best TV Show of 2011
-The 25 Best Live Acts of 2011
-It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "Thunder Gun Express" Review

Paste Magazine Week Fifteen

2011-12-15T14:22:00.000-05:00

Here are my articles from my fifteenth week at Paste:

-Portlandia Goes on Tour
-Oscars Announce Documentary Shortlist
-Watch Bret McKenzie Duet With Kermit the Frog
-Air Announce New Album Inspired By Silent Film

Paste Magazine Week Fourteen

2011-12-15T14:17:00.000-05:00

Here are my articles from my fourteenth week at Paste:

-The 15 Greatest Actors-Turned-Directors
-Hear a New Jonsi Track From the We Bought A Zoo Soundtrack
-Colin Firth Could Play the Villain in Oldboy Remake
-Toy Story, Tangled Shorts Coming Before Disney Films
-Watch the New Video for The Black Lips' "Raw Meat"
-Jonathan Coulton, "Artificial Heart" Review
-David Fincher May Make Cleopatra Film With Benjamin Button Writer
-No Bioshock Movie Happening, Says Game's Creator
-New Girl, "Thanksgiving" Review
-NBC Orders Remake Pilot of The Munsters
-Smith Westerns Announce Tour Dates
-Watch the New Trailer for Pixar's Brave

Paste Magazine Week Thirteen

2011-12-15T14:07:00.000-05:00

Here are my articles from my thirteenth week at Paste:

-The Walkmen Announce New Album, Anniversary Tour
-Jessica Chastain To Play Princess Diana In New Biopic
-Benicio Del Toro May Play Villain in Star Trek 2
-The 20 Greatest Cinematic Families
-Where's Waldo? To Find Its Way to the Big Screen
-Watch and Listen to Songs from The Muppets
-Person of Interest, "The Fix" Review
-Harold & Kumar May Become a TV Show
-Jennifer Saunders Writing Ab Fab Movie
-Awesome of the Day: One Man's Attempt To Review Every Full House Episode
-New Girl, "Cece Crashes" Review
-Miles David Biopic Finds Director
-Hear a New Song From Cee Lo, Co-Written by Rivers Cuomo
-Criterion Collection Films Now on iTunes
-Watch Stephen Colbert, Brian Eno and Michael Stipe Sing Together
-Rivers Cuomo Announces Pinkerton Diaries Book
-Howard Stern to Replace Piers Morgan on America's Got Talent?
-Awesome of the Day: 13 Very Popular Movie Poster Trends
-It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia "The Gang Gets Trapped" Review

Paste Magazine Week Twelve

2011-12-15T13:14:00.000-05:00

Here are my articles from my twelfth week at Paste:

-Watch Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake's "History of Rap 3"
-First Image From The Three Stooges Film Revealed
-The 13 Scariest Bands of All Time
-DirecTV to Keep Airing Fox Channels
-Burt Reynolds Will Play Himself on Archer
-Cabin Fever Receiving Two Prequels
-Listen to Erin McKeown's Anti-Holiday Album
-Listen to New Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, DOOM Song
-Terrence Malick Shooting Two Films Next Year
-New Girl, "Naked" Review
-Guy Pearce, Ben Foster Cast In Steve Buscemi's Queer Adaptation
-Jonsi Announces Details of We Bought a Zoo Soundtrack
-Carmen Sandiego Movie Coming, Jennifer Lopez To Produce
-James Blake To Release New EP Next Month
-Ricky Gervais to Host Golden Globes Again?
-It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, "The Anti-Social Network" Review
-Person of Interest, "Witness" Review

Paste Magazine Week Eleven

2011-12-13T17:44:00.000-05:00

Here are my articles from my eleventh week at Paste:

-Eric Bana to Play Elvis Presley in New Film
-The Dark Knight Rises Prologue to Air Before Mission Impossible 4?
-Grand Theft Auto V Announced
-Warner Bros. to Quit Shipping Harry Potter DVDs in December
-Watch Ryan Adams' Dark Metal Comedy Video Countdown Show
-Peter Jackson Will Direct Sequel to The Adventures of Tintin
-Starz Making New Show About Young Da Vinci
-Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood Work With DOOM on New Track
-NBC Picks Up New Jim Gaffigan Comedy
-The 10 Most Shocking Moments on Saturday Night Live
-David Bazan Giving Out Lifetime Concert Passes
-DirecTV To Soon Drop Several Fox Cable Stations
-Damon Albarn and Flea Announce New Band Name
-Awesome of the Day: Shit That Siri Says
-It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, "Chardee Macdennis: The Game of Games" Review

Paste Magazine Week Ten

2011-12-13T17:36:00.000-05:00

Here are my articles from my tenth week at Paste:

-SNL Announced November Hosts and Musical Guests
-Aaron Eckhart to Play Beach Boys' Drummer in New Biopic
-McDonalds to Launch In-Store Television Channel
-Awesome of the Day: "The Walken Dead"
-10 Best Young Celebrity Multitaskers
-Fucked Up to Perform David Comes to Life in Entirety
-Zombieland Writers Making Micronauts Movie, Zombieland TV Show
-Marketa Irglova, Alone With Everybody
-Ben Lee, "Deeper Into Drea' Review
-Steve Carell to Kill Channing Tatum in New Film
-Watch the Video for Coldplay's "Paradise"
-Assassin's Creed Latest Video Game to Become Movie
-Carey Mulligan to Work With The Coen Brothers, Spike Jonze
-Matt Damon to Make Directorial Debut
-Watch Zooey Deschanel Sing The National Anthem at the Worlds Series
-It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, "The Storm of the Century" Review

Paste Magazine Week Nine

2011-12-13T17:24:00.001-05:00

Here are my articles from my ninth week at Paste:

-The Simpsons Picked Up For Two More Seasons After Dispute

-The 20 Best Songs By The Strokes

-Alberta Cross, "The Rolling Thunder EP" Review

-Jim Carrey Joining Steve Carell in Dueling Magician Film

-Primer Director Returns With a Pair of Films

-Nora Ephron to Write and Direct Time-Traveling Jane Austen Film

-Michael Winterbottom to Direct Film About The Beatles' Final Year

-New Girl Bumped Until November

-Awesome of the Day: Greatest Historical Comebacks

Paste Magazine Week Eight

2011-12-13T17:16:00.000-05:00

Here are my articles from my eighth week at Paste:

-Kevin Kline to Play Two Roles in New Charlie Kaufman Film
-Will Christopher Nolan Direct The Twilight Zone Movie?
-New Mortal Kombat Movie Coming Soon
-15 Films to Check Out Before December
-Bon Iver Adds Tour Dates
-Apple Announces iPhone 4S, New Voice Controls
-AMC Announces First Comedy Series
-Danger Mouse's Movie-Inspired Albums Spawns New Film
-Mister Ed Getting Big Screen Adaptation
-New Girl, "Wedding" Review
-Johnny Depp May Play Dr. Seuss in Biopic
-Jon Favreau, Seth Green, Star Trek Writer Collaborate on TV Show
-Photos of Terrified People From Inside Haunted House
-Person of Interest, "Mission Creep" Review
-It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, "Sweet Dee Gets Audited" Review

Paste Magazine Week Seven

2011-12-13T17:09:00.000-05:00

Here are my articles from my seventh week at Paste:

-Netflix Acquires Streaming Right to Dreamworks Over HBO
-The 30 Greatest Music Videos of the 1990s
-Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees Announced
-Ryan Adams Announces Second Leg of Tour
-James McAvoy to Play Elton John in Biopic?
-Ben Stiller, Anna Faris to Host SNL
-iPhone 5 to Be Unveiled October 4
-DreamWorks Making Live Action Version of The BFG
-Stephen King Presents His Sequel To The Shining
-New Girl, "Kryptonite" Review
-$75 Day Tickets For DeLuna Fest Available Now
-Famous Photos Remade in Legos
-It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "Frank Reynolds' Little Beauties" Review
-Person of Interest, "Ghost" Review

Paste Magazine Week Six

2011-12-13T16:59:00.000-05:00

Here are my articles from my sixth week at Paste:

-Modern Family, Mildred Pierce Win Big at Emmys
-Will Forte, Richard Ayoade Join Ben Stiller's Neighborhood Watch
-Denzel Washington May Star in The Secret in Their Eyes Remake
-John Singleton to Direct N.W.A. Biopic?
-The 10 Greatest Videogame Trilogies of All Time
-New Girl, "Pilot Episode" Review
-The Room Star Tommy Wiseau to Start Web Series
-Watch the Trailer for the Swell Season Documentary
-Watch the First Full Trailer for Fincher's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
-Universal Making New Scarface Film
-Watch Wavves' New Video for "Bug"
-The CW Creating Extreme Musical Chairs Show
-Kiefer Sutherland to Star in New Show from Heroes Creator
-Awesome of the Day: Win Butler Is Really Good At Basketball
-It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "The Gang Goes to the Jersey Shore" Review
-Person of Interest, "Pilot Episode" Review

Paste Magazine Week Five

2011-12-13T16:47:00.000-05:00

Here are my articles from my fifth week at Paste:

-10 Classic Foreign Films You Might Have Missed

-Ron Howard To Make Superhero Drama 364

-GameStop to Release Their Own Gaming Tablet

-The National Announce Winter Tour

-The Book of Mormon Creators Say Movie Will Happen

-Expendables 2 Gets Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme

-Samuel L. Jackson Confirmed for Tarantino's Django Unchained

-James Franco Adapting Cormac McCarthy's Child of God

-Source Code to Become TV Show

-Xbox 360 Live TV Coming By End of the Year

-Awesome of the Day: 100 Greatest "Shut Up"'s in Film

-It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "Frank's Pretty Woman" Review

Paste Magazine Week Four

2011-12-13T16:37:00.000-05:00

Here are my articles from my fourth week at Paste:

-The 20 Best Comic-Book Movies of All Time
-Eddie Murphy to Host 2012 Oscars
-Elvis Biopic to be Released Next Year
-Hopkins, Baumbach Turning Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections Into HBO Show
-PJ Harvey Wins Mercury Prize
-Watch Morgan Spurlock's A Day in the Life With Girl Talk
-Colin Meloy's Wildwood Being Turned Into Stop-Motion Film
-Self-Lacing Back to the Future Shoes Coming From Nike?
-SNL "Schweddy Balls" Sketch to Become an Ice Cream Flavor
-Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman To Sing Together in Les Miserables

Paste Magazine Week Three

2011-09-07T14:52:00.002-04:00

Here are my articles from my third week at Paste:

-Jon Stewart to Host Nevermind Reunion

-List of the Day: The 10 Best Paul Rudd Film Roles

-Wavves Release New Single, Announce Tour With Fucked Up

-Josh Brolin To Star In Spike Lee's Oldboy Remake

-Paul Dano Playing Young Karl Rove In Richard Linklater Film

-James Blake Announces New EP, Enough Thunder

-Morrissey Announces North America Tour Dates

-Stephen King's Under The Dome Turning Into TV Series

-Awesome of the Day: The Great Paris Post-It Art War

-The Walking Dead To Split Up Second Season

-Starz To End Existing Deal With Netflix

Paste Magazine Week Two

2011-08-29T15:23:00.000-04:00

Here are my articles from my second week at Paste:

-List of the Day: 10 Best Podcasts Right Now
-Brian Wilson to Release Album of Disney Classics
-Stan Lee Sues Over New Conan The Barbarian Film
-Watch OK Go and The Muppets Cover The Muppet Show Theme
-Watch a Live-Action Short Film Based On Portal
-SoundLand Festival Announces Lineup
-Listen to Ben Folds Five's First Song in 12 Years
-Listen to the Bon Iver and James Blake Collaboration
-Liam Gallagher Drops His Lawsuit Against Brother Noel
-GameStop Takes Deus Ex Off Shelves Due To Coupon

Paste Magazine Week One

2011-08-21T15:35:00.000-04:00

So this week I started my internship at Paste, so I figured I'd throw up links to my articles I write for the website onto my blog. So here are the articles I wrote from my first week, in chronological order:

-Breaking Bad Renewed for Fifth and Final Season

-Sex and the City to Return For Another Season?

-Star of Spider-Man Musical to Play Jeff Buckley in Biopic

-Patti Smith Memoir To Be Adapted Into Screenplay

-MTV to Pay Tribute to Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears at VMAs

-Matthew McConaughey To Play Former Stripper in Soderbergh Film

-Listen to Feist and Others Cover The Velvet Underground

-Listen to a Matt & Kim, Andrew W.K., Soulja Boy Collab for Coverse

-Bon Iver and James Blake Teaming Up?

-Robert Downey Jr. To Produce Film About USS Indianapolis

-Tony Scott To Remake The Wild Bunch

-Awesome of the Day: The Best Wedding Photos Ever

-Watch the Video for Bon Iver's "Holocene"

Best Films of 2010 (#10-1)

2011-06-20T19:59:00.000-04:00

10. True Grit

It takes balls to remake a John Wayne classic. But then again, the Coen brothers are the guys who perfectly adapted Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men and have proven themselves to be two of America's greatest filmmakers. For four decades, the Coens have consistently shown America through different locales and times, interpreting its inhabitants with care and interest. True Grit is no exception. The Coens tackle the western in a way that many modern filmmakers have attempted, but always fallen short. With a cast that coasts John Brolin, Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges and incredible newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, the Coens pay respect to the Charles Portis novel, while still making a film that is distinctly Coen. True Grit will hopefully mark the return of the classic western. And the amazing thing is, it's not even one of the Coens five best films.

9. Catfish

It's incredible how with the internet, we can not only know an insane amount of information about other people, but also what others can know about us. Catfish delves into this in this documentary (or is it?) about Nev, who starts a relationship with someone he's never met, which may not be what it seems. To give any more away about Catfish would take away part of what makes it so great. But in a world of Facebook, Google Maps and YouTube, the idea of a long distance relationship can be a horribly shocking thing and the consequences can be unbelievable in this fascinating film.

8. The King's Speech

The King's Speech had a big problem that it had to overcome for me when I first saw it. How do you make a film that is marketed as an uplifting true story, with the ending essentially in the name of the film, and still make it entertaining and fresh? Director Tom Hooper breathes new life into the biopic by making interesting choices and great casting. The miraculous trio of Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth makes for a group that is always exciting to watch their dynamic. Hooper's camerawork is subtle, yet beautiful in the way it frames Firth. Like Firth's character, Hooper frames him by always attempting to keep him out of the middle. Firth fights against being center of the screen, yet slowly moves towards the middle as his confidence grows. The King's Speech knows what it is, yet tries to make some unique changes in order to compel the viewer who has seen this scenario one too many times.

7. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is essentially a love letter to entertainment. There is hardly a frame in Edgar Wright's film that doesn't reference some form of movie, band, video game or internet culture. What Wright does is epic, he attempts to literally make the graphic novel come to life, without compromising any of the spastic insanity from the books. Scott Pilgrim basically praises and questions the nerd lifestyle where entertainment and self-centeredness is seen as both a gift and a curse. Wright melds everything from "Legend of Zelda" to Beck in a cohesive, hilarious and inventive love story that bends cinema in completely original ways.

6. Exit Through the Gift Shop

Exit Through the Gift Shop is a documentary the way that only Banksy could make it. The film is a mind-boggling mixture of possible reality and fiction, while asking questions about what exactly is art and giving a basic primer to the under-appreciated, yet gorgeous graffiti art culture. Banksy tells his story through "filmmaker" Theirry Guetta, who wants to learn more about this subculture. As he gets deeper in, Banksy wants Guetta to get some hands of experience, thus leading to interesting questions about art and fame and creates one of the most thought-provoking documentaries in years.

5. Dogtooth

The first time I heard about Dogtooth, it was from critics hailing it as the best film of the year. Without knowing anything about it, I delved into one of the darkest, weirdest funniest films I've seen in years. I don;t want to give anything away, because I want as many people to have the same experience I did with Dogtooth, but if you think a movie that is somewhere in between combination of The Village and a Lars von Trier sounds like an awesome idea, you should definitely check out Dogtooth. At the very least, it will make you ask tons of questions and constantly thinking about it for days to come.

4. Toy Story 3

While Pixar is one of the greatest filmmaking companies possibly of all time, Toy Story 3 had a lot to live up to. Audiences had worried when Toy Story 2 was announced that Pixar was going to start going down the sequel-happy road that Disney did. However TS2 proved Pixar could do sequels right. But before TS3, they had never embarked on a trilogy, and not only that, but a fitting end to Pixar's most beloved characters. And on the heels of two of their most emotionally powered films, WALL-E and Up. But once again, Pixar delivered in droves. Buzz and Woody, along with their friends were given a finale worthy of allowing the Toy Story trilogy as one of the great film trios and proved that there may not be anything that Pixar cannot do.

3. Inception

I love Christopher Nolan. I guess that goes without saying. He has become the most beloved director of fanboys since Tarantino. But what Nolan does so great, and has done since his first film Following, is makes films that are exciting, revolutionary in the way they tell story and are smart. After watching Following and Memento, it seemed ridiculous that Nolan could become one of the most famous directors of the past decade, but by changing how people viewed Batman, Nolan did the impossible. Now with his seventh film, a film that a decade ago I guarantee would never had been made by a major studio, Nolan is bringing intelligent story to the multiplexes in a groundbreaking way that is exciting for the future of movies.

2. A Prophet

Whenever a movie is made about the mafia, it becomes impossible to not compare it, or at least discuss it in comparison to The Godfather. And while most movies try to be as great, A Prophet is one of the few who actually comes close. A Prophet tells the story of a young Arab man, Malik, who is sent to a French prison. While there, he is essentially given the option to either kill or be killed. This begins his six year stint in prison and deep into the mafia that has been a part of the prison system. The film is cringe-worthy at moments, heart shattering at others and always fascinating. A Prophet is quite possibly one of the greatest mafia films of all time.

1. The Social Network

For every other film on this list, I can think of some flaw. Scott Pilgrim forces too much book into one film. Toy Story 3 does tread some of the same ground as the previous two and A Prophet has a weird supernatural twist to it. But with The Social Network, I cannot for the life of me think of one negative aspect. Not one. The acting is top notch. Jesse Eisenberg breaks out of stereotype of the serious Michael Cera, Justin Timberlake gives his best acting performance and Andrew Garfield makes me excited to see his take on Spider-Man. David Fincher does a beautiful job directing a film with an actual emotional core, which is missing from many of his earlier films. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' simplistic yet haunting score works perfectly with the subject matter. And that script. Oh that script. Aaron Sorkin outdoes himself and kept my jaw on the floor with every new line of his crackling dialogue. The Social Network is about a great a film you can have to define the current generation and show the creation of the most famous unifier of people in decades.

Best Films of 2010 (#25-11)

2011-05-31T19:12:00.002-04:00

25. Let Me In

I must say, I was as skeptical as everyone else when Matt Reeves, director of Cloverfield, said his next project would be the English remake of the phenomenal Let the Right One In. But Reeves was able to keep the subtle nuance and quiet beauty that made the original so great. While Let Me In doesn't surpass the original, it does work great as a companion piece, which is better than I think most people would have expected.

24. Best Worst Movie

For some time, Troll 2 was ranked on IMDB as the worst film of all time. While that may be pretty harsh, most of the cast would probably agree. Probably the biggest believer of this would be Michael Stephenson, the child star of Troll 2 and the writer/director of Best Worst Movie, about the underground success of this terrible film. Stephenson follows his cinematic father, George Hardy, as he follows the surprise popularity of Troll 2, reunites several members of the cast and tries to figure out what went wrong. But Best Worst Movie becomes a moving documentary with endearing characters and becomes more about making the most of life and the things that bring us together rather than just being about some horrible film from the nineties.

23. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

In the penultimate film in the Harry Potter franchise, the wizarding world is going to hell, Dumbledore is dead, and Harry, Ron and Hermione are on the lam while running away from the school they once help so dearly. This first part of the Deathly Hallows film continues the franchises evolving into a dark, more mature franchise. The film takes its time and allows the characters to breathe for once, which leads to some interesting character developments. While most of the films have the trio working towards some larger goal, here they are confused and terrified teenagers, as they should be. With Part 1, director David Yates does a fine job showing the calm before the final storm in Part 2.

22. Black Swan

Director Darren Aronofsky as made a name for himself by creating flawed characters who attempt to succeed in their occupations, but it is those jobs that ultimately destroy them. For example, Jared Leto in Requiem for a Dream and Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. But with Black Swan, Aronofsky adds one important element: the goal of being perfect at that job. Portman's much deserved Oscar-winning performance is one of the year's best and is at its most interesting when focusing on that goal of perfection rather than whether or not her character is still sane. While Aronofksy does borrow heavily from his past films, Black Swan is still a great movie from one of film's greatest auteurs.

21. Somewhere

Sofia Coppola has always had a pension for films that are elegant and seemingly airy, but in a good way. She lets her characters take their time in their spaces, as seen most effectively in Lost in Translation. Her characters were in no rush, other than to learn about each other in their limited time. In Somewhere, Coppola explores this same type of relationship between a father and daughter, played by Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning, respectively. While very little plot-wise occurs, the duo's relationship slowly matures, which is beautiful to watch. Somewhere is a simple, possibly too much so, film, but Coppola handles it with perfect grace.

20. The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights

When The White Stripes released this documentary about their tour of every province in Canada in early 2010, it brought about a certain anticipation about the hopeful return of Jack and Meg White. However when it was announced at the end of 2010 that they would no longer work together as The White Stripes, it took on a whole other level. The White Stripes give their all in these final performances, from boats to bowling alleys and emotional piano renditions of some classics. The power and perfect simplicity will always live on in their music, but now with Under Great White Northern Lights, the greatness of their live performances has been gorgeously documented.

19. Winter's Bone

I'll be honest, the first time I saw Winter's Bone, I didn't see what all the fuss was about. Sure I thought the acting was incredible and the unique background for what was essentially a film noir was interesting, but I didn't get why many outlets were calling it the best film of 2010. Then I saw it a second time. Watching it again, the performances popped even more with the knowledge of what every character knows and what they are hiding to protect themselves and their community. No doubt the film would be nothing without Jennifer Lawrence's desperate performance as Ree, who is trying to save her family from being evicted, and especially John Hawkes as Teardrop, who with one masterful role moves himself from character actor to one of films' greatest assets.

18. Four Lions

Every year, some of the best comedies come from across the sea. In the Loop became one of the greatest comedies of 2009 and in 2010, that title went to Four Lions. Directed by Christopher Morris, one of the geniuses who brought us "The IT Crowd", Four Lions is about a group of jihadists who attempt to take a stand by performing a terrorist act in England. The problem is, they're all idiots. Four Lions is a ridiculous comedic premise that works brilliantly and is about as dark as a dark comedy can get, but excellent casting and a great script make this one of 2010's best comedies.

17. Rabbit Hole

It's very unusual to imagine that John Cameron Mitchell, the director who brought us such ground-breaking and unusual films as Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Shortbus would make a seemingly straight forwards film about a couple losing their only son. But Mitchell makes a film where the subject matter is handled in a completely refreshing way. The husband tempted by cheating doesn't act on his impulses, even though his marriage may be breaking apart. A couple who goes to therapy laughs at the similar stories of woe from other couples. Even changing the idea that the wife must be the sympathetic one by making the husband the one filled with loss. Rabbit Hole is a conventional idea done unconventionally, which is a great change from modern dramas.

16. The Kids Are All Right

Much like Winter's Bone, The Kids Are All Right took more than one watch for me to see what all the fuss was about. What makes The Kids Are All Right such a phenomenal film is that it isn't about a family with two lesbian mothers, their sperm donor and kids, it's a film about family and how at its core, we all deal with the same issues and problems. The five ensemble actors work beautifully together, making every combination of them just as interesting as the last. Mark Ruffalo, who has been a supporting actor for too long, creates a character that is both sympathetic and despicable and Annette Bening gives her best performance since American Beauty. The Kids Are All Right is simply a great story about family and the different iterations that institution can take.

15. Cyrus

Directors Mark and Jay Duplass have been at the forefront of the "mumblecore" genre of independent cinema ever since their incredible debut film The Puffy Chair. With Cyrus, the duo broke into the mainstream and made a film with just as much heart and great character as their small, personal films. It's finally nice to see what Jonah Hill can do in a more serious role and his role as the title character shows that Hill has more depth than he has shown in the past. John C. Reilly once again makes it known why he is so perfect melding comedy and drama into his great roles. Cyrus is one of the most sincere and hilarious comedies of 2010, and hopefully that will lead to more successes for the great Duplass brothers.

14. The Fighter

The Fighter is a perfect example of a trend that permeated 2010: films that instead of trying to break new ground, decided to do tried and true stories well. With The Fighter, we get an underdog story in the world of boxing, an idea that has been done countless times. Ever since 1931's The Champ, boxing has been ripe for the guy down on his luck making good. The Fighter doesn't break any new ground, but it tells this story we've all heard with beautifully handled performances (even though Melissa Leo's is far too overrated) and great directing from David O. Russell takes the most basic of stories and furthers it into one of the years' best.

13. Kick-Ass

When you get right down to it, there are no weirder characters in film than superheroes. Through some of the most unusual situations and defects, they decide to go to the streets and fight crime and villains, many of which are even more messed up. Batman watched his family get shot. Spider-Man was bitten by a super-spider. Captain America was engineered by the government. What Kick-Ass does is shows just how fucked up superheroes would truly be in the real world. Director Matthew Vaughn turns the most unlikely actors into some of the most interesting superheroes film has seen. McLovin as a supervillain? The little vampire girl from Let Me In nonchalantly shooting adults? It all makes sense in the world of Kick-Ass, which is a testament to just how great the film is. Vaughn creates a realistic, yet brutal look at the world of superheroes while always making it grounded in reality, no matter how screwed up that reality may be.

12. The Tillman Story

I have never had any interest in football. Ever. And quite honestly, I rarely am interested in stories about the military. But after watching The Tillman Story, Pat Tillman is almost a personal hero to me. Tillman defied expectations. Tillman enjoyed learning just as much as he did partying. He was a person who couldn't be pinned down and the more the film shows about this intricate man, the more it captured my imagination. Tillman gave up a football contract to fight for our country. However when he died due to friendly fire, the government decided to use this "all-American" man as a propaganda tool, saying he died in the front lines to protect America. But the Tillman family would rather have the truth out about their son/brother/husband instead of making him into a false hero and the film follows the Tillman family as they attempt to get the truth out about Pat. This beautiful documentary is captivating from start to finish and is one of the most fascinating tales ever put into the documentary form.

11. Get Him to the Greek

A spin-off of Forgetting Sarah Marshall could have been absolutely terrible. But one of the greatest thing about that film was Russell Brand's ability to be both the "villain" and also be a charming and likable guy. Thankfully that still resonates in Get Him to the Greek, where Brand's Aldous Snow has fallen off the wagon and must be transported to a concert by Jonah Hill. The film is quite possibly the funniest film I saw in 2010, thanks to what always makes Apatow films great: hilarious story-based comedy, with actual touching moments thrown in. Brand and Hill once again show that their chemistry is palpable and a surprisingly great turn by Diddy as himself makes Get Him to the Greek one of the great spin-off comedies.

Coming soon: my top 10 films of 2010. Can you guess what will take the final ten positions? Check back soon as I finally wrap up the best of last year.

Worst Films of 2010

2011-04-19T14:24:00.001-04:00

For a year that everyone claimed didn't have any good films, 2010 ended up having a wide array of great movies. These ten films are not among those. With the good come the bad and with that, here are my ten least favorite films of 2010.

Side note: Jonah Hex did not make this list. In all honesty, I believe that Jonah Hex is so incredible that it transcends good and bad to create an alternate classification that is just simply awesome. I think films of this caliber should now be called "Hexcellent". Feel free to use it in your everyday conversations.

10. 8: The Mormon Proposition

A documentary about the Mormon's backing of Prop 8 in California should be an interesting issue for a documentary, and there is some great material in this documentary. However, there is one argument that instantly negates any of this information. In 8: The Mormon Proposition, narrated by Milk scribe Dustin Lance Black, actually in one point compares homosexuals to people who practice bestiality. Look, in a film where you are trying to support the right for gay marriage, is it really the best idea to make that comparison? Especially one that many politicians use in order to work against gay marriage. What could have been a great documentary is scarred by glaring issues such as that.

9. Alice in Wonderland

I have always been a Tim Burton supporter for his style, which for the most part helps further his films and creates a dark, brooding atmosphere that works with the film. Yet with his update to the overdone Alice in Wonderland story, Burton puts his characters in a world not so much filled with wonder and imagination but rather overly filled with CGI. Burton relies on it so much, that hardly anything in the film is actually real. Now look, I understand the argument that "Wonderland" is a world where everything is backwards and nothing is as it should be, which is fine. But that same world can be created without such over-reliance on computer trickery. Whole worlds have been created before without using as much as Burton does. Look at The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, and even though I hate it even more than Alice in Wonderland, look at Avatar. Hell, even Burton has done it effectively before. Check out his twisted suburbia in Edwards Scissorhands or his melding of the truth and lies in Big Fish. Plus, Burton adds action and a huge finale that couldn't be less needed. He even creates completely new characters for the sake of a unnecessary final battle! I still respect Burton, but maybe his gothic adaptations of famous known stories should stop right about now...

8. Clash of the Titans

Poor, poor Sam Worthington. He's soon going to be synonymous with the brainless big-budget blockbuster. First it was Terminator:Salvation, which in all fairness, Worthington was probably the best part of. Then he was in the highest-grossing film of all time, Avatar, which is also one of the most idiotic films to make over $100 million dollars. Finally last year he made the remake of Clash of the Titans, which I'm pretty sure absolutely no one was clamoring for. What results in an overly-serious sword and sandals "epic" with no character and, basically, no point. When a video game like "God of War" can far surpass the storytelling of a wide-release film, you know there's a problem.

7. Knight and Day

Knight and Day is essentially Hollywood putting two stars together that they believe to still be relevant in a film that is top to bottom, generic and bland. Even the title, a play on words that doesn't make sense (Who is the "Day" is the film? Your guess is as good as mine) seems like a fake movie parodied on SNL. While I saw this film, here's what I remember about it: Tom Cruise, who is a spy or in some military agency, or fucked if I know, saves Cameron Diaz's life and then continues to have to do so for some reason that I can't remember for the life of me. I could figure it out with a quick Google search, but then if I were to die and someone went through my search history, I would be embarrassed that someone would find that I had looked up the plot synopsis to this crap.

6. Resident Evil: Afterlife

OK, I'll admit it: I'm a huge fan of almost anything "Resident Evil". Almost. I've played all of the games in the canonical series and even liked the first two films, as campy as they were. Then Resident Evil: Extinction. "Alright, two out of three ain't bad", I thought as I ejected the DVD. I was even mildly excited with the trailer of Afterlife, which promised elements from the best game in the series, "Resident Evil 4", including one of video game's greatest villains, Albert Wesker. Unfortunately, Afterlife feels like the SyFy network took over the duties for the franchise. At this point, Alice is one of the least interesting female "badasses" ever, which isn't helped by the atrocious dialogue and painful addition of 3D shots (more on that later). Like Clash of the Titans, you'd be better to play the video game that covers similar ground rather than spending your money in the theatre.

5. Saw 7: The Final Chapter

It's ironic that a film series that was about escaping from traps has attempted so many ridiculous plot-twists and labyrinthian logic that it seems like Jigsaw's greatest puzzle has been convincing people to go to the theaters SEVEN TIMES! The Saw franchise is the definition of diminishing returns. The first began as a simple independent horror experiment. Unfortunately, that led to the creation of "torture porn" films and six more Saw films. I was interested to see how, if at all, the films would be wrapped up in a suitable way, and in some ways the ending is kind of perfect, but the journey is so insanely moronic, it ruins any poetic justice put in the end.

Oh and a fun side note, the traps in the final seven range from the most intricate traps (the most insane is one trap where a man that is glued to his car must stop the trap before the car goes and A) one of his acquaintances has every limb torn off B) his tire falls and runs over his girlfriend's face C) he runs into another one of his acquaintances and D) he is killed in the car accident, apparently from lack of a seatbelt) to the simplest (literally jumping over a moderately sized set of spikes).

4. Remember Me

I have nothing against Robert Pattinson. I honestly don't. I actually like that they guy can have a sense of humor about himself and I truly believe that he has the potential to have an interesting career, he just needs to pick the right roles. However, he is still making movies like Remember Me.

Remember Me starts off in New York circa 1991, then after a short prologue, "10 Year Later". Hmm...what happened in 2001 in New York? Pattinson plays a troubled college student who no one understands, until he meets Emilie de Ravin who does get her, due to her own set of problems and the quirkiness to which she eats dessert at the beginning of her meals!!!! What craziness!!! By the end of the film, Pattinson is finally figuring himself out and beings to patch up his relationship with his father, played by Pierce Brosnan. Everything seems to be coming up to Pattinson until...wait, why does that calendar say September?!? Huh, September 2001?? In the most blatant plea for sympathy I think I have ever seen in a movie, Pattinson goes to meet his father for lunch....at the World Trade Center....on September 11th. While 9/11 was a terrible day filled with much grief, the shot of Pattinson in the WTC made me burst into laughter. The filmmakers' attempt to make you feel sympathy for this character is trite and pathetic and is an example of blatant disregard for the intelligence of its audience.

3. The Lovely Bones

Love him or hate him, Peter Jackson has taken on some pretty hard to topple works in the last decade. From the almost impossible to film Lord of the Rings trilogy to remaking one of film's greatest films' King Kong, Jackson hasn't shied away from much. But with all of Jackson's powers, he still can't make The Lovely Bones a good story. Jackson consistently uses one of my biggest pet peeves: narrating what the audience can obviously see. For example, main character Susie Salmon rides her bike down the street with a smile on her face, to which the narration says something along the lines of "I liked to ride my bike." No shit. Not only that, but the story makes it seem like getting raped and killed wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Oh, and that heaven is apparently the place where you become friends with the other victims of said rapist/murderer.

To make matters even weirder, the film toys with the idea that Susie could possibly make an impact on the living world long after she has passed. Which she does. By entering the body of a girl who was obsessed with her and kissing the guy that Susie liked without her consent. Now I know that one is more extreme than the other, but Susie is forced to do something she doesn't want to do right before she dies and then after she is dead, comes back as a spirit to take over someone and do something that that person doesn't necessarily consent to? How is one terrible and the other seen as a happy conclusion to a story?

2. The Runaways

Hey, here's a great idea. Let's take two of the most important females to rock and roll, make a biopic about them BUT give it to two of the most indifferent actresses of their generation? That's what happens when you get Dakota Fanning to play Cherie Currie and Kristen Stewart to play Joan Jett, both of The Runaways. The Runaways hinges on the acting prowess of these two women, yet they seem, to put it bluntly, not give a shit at all. It really shows when Michael Shannon, a phenomenal actor, who plays The Runaways' manager, shows up and acts Fanning and Stewart under the table. The films begs, rather, screams, to be taken seriously, but as these women fall down into the cliched devices of sex, drugs and rock and roll, it comes off more like lil girls playing rock stars.

1. The Last Airbender

This should come as no surprise to no one. The Last Airbender became the whipping boy of bad films of 2010. And for good reason. The Last Airbender has the worst of every aspect of film. Acting, directing, writing, editing, special effects, everything, the worst. And just when you thought Shyamalan could only go up after The Happening, he goes ahead and makes this abomination. And of course, it would be in 3D.

The Last Airbender has the darkest, fuzziest 3D of any film in 2010, and probably in the history of 3D films. If 2010 is remembered for anything, it will probably be how 3D was thrown into every film after the worldwide success of Avatar. Five of my ten worst films of the year were in 3D. Coincidence? Not at all. 3D is a terrible device that needs to be stopped and The Last Airbender shows why. It adds nothing, but rather takes away from a film, even if it is as terrible as The Last Airbender was to begin with.

Well those are my ten least favorite films of 2010. If you think I've left off anything, leave a comment and tell me what you think should have made the list.

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never

2011-03-21T18:23:00.000-04:00

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never-2011

Before seeing the new documentary about the relatively short and successful life of Justin Bieber, I knew very little about The Biebs. I knew that he was young, yet looks much, much younger. I knew that his song "Somebody to Love" was ridiculously catchy, but that he is more well known for his signature hair and that said hair was recently cut. I also knew that his fans are for the most part, certifiably insane.

Now the creation of a "rock"umentary is for the most part to either:

A) Give fan service to the devoted who love the artist portrayed

B) To educate the non-fans and to have the audience grow exponentially

That being said, I gladly put myself into the second category. Yet did watching Never Say Never make me a true Belieber?

Never Say Never doesn't bother hiding the fact that just as many little girls love Bieber for his looks and hair as much as they do for his music. Yet the film shows something I wasn't expecting: they show that Bieber does in fact have talent. Bieber is shown as a musical prodigy, playing drums extremely well at a young age and picking up and learning every instrument he possibly can. To watch this young kid holding his own, or even surpassing people twice his age, is astonishing.

The film cuts between these looks at his younger life, living with his single mother, and showing the build up to Bieber performing at a sold out Madison Square Garden. As a child, Bieber's mother knew her son had talent, and began to post videos of him performing on YouTube, which led him to work his way up the ladder. Eventually Bieber met up with Usher, who became a mentor for him and the rest is history.

The rest of the film's focus on his big performance is the attempt to show him as a "normal kid" (hanging out with friends, playing pranks, doing homework, etc.) seem painfully staged at points. Frankly at some points, Bieber just comes off as kind of a jerk.

Some of the films best moments, however, are watching the way the lives of the people around Bieber are changed. In one instance, his best friends are forced to ignore constant phone calls from girls who want to get closer to Bieber. Which brings us to the fans...

The film shows upfront the hysteria that goes into fans seeing Bieber. The crowd at his concerts are 95% young girls, and the constant screams show that. Especially at the big day at MSG.

After close calls and the possibility of cancellation, the show goes off without a hitch. The show is pure spectacle, with fireworks, crazy dancers and guest stars galore. For someone around twice the age of the usual audience, and the wrong sex, I could appreciate the concert for what it was. The dancing was fun and the songs are admittedly catchy (I found myself humming several of his tunes while leaving the theatre, and for a while after), and thankfully Bieber does get to show his talented side with a drum solo portion of the concert. But once again, I'm not the key demographic here.

I'll admit to having a good time with Never Say Never, but I haven't really become anymore of a fan than I was walking in. I respect that he is seemingly much more talented than he is given for and that he does seem to be more than what meets the eye. Hopefully over time, Bieber will focus more on the music rather than the image, which he definitely is aware of and has no problem making fun of himself, and he may just have a career along the likes of someone like Justin Timberlake. Hey, never say never.

Rating: C+

Interview with Kevin Smith

2011-02-28T16:26:00.000-05:00

The following is an interview I conducted with Kevin Smith before the release of his 2008 film Zack and Miri Makes a Porno:

Kevin Smith, the writer and director of Chasing Amy, Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, could arguably be considered one of the most important influential directors in recent history. Smith came from the early 90’s with his now-classic Clerks to become an essential indie director and has gained popularity since. Smith’s current film Zack and Miri Makes A Porno, possibly his most ambitious and controversial, might also be one of his best.

            “If you scrape away the pornography and the other trappings of the story, in terms of a bunch of people getting together to make a porn, it really is kind of how we made Clerks to some degree. Some knuckleheads who don’t know anything and get together and make a feature” Smith said of the similarities to his newest film to his first film. “The experience of making Clerks fifteen years ago definitely informed the plot of this movie.”

Smith, a native of New Jersey, is known for his View Askew films, a series of films with interconnecting characters, stories and themes that takes place in the Garden State. “The area of New Jersey in which I grew up in certainly effected the kind of dialogue I write, fractured, candid dialogue with a lot of vulgarity cause that’s how my circle of friends; that’s how we speak.” However, for Smith, it is more of the people that influenced him than his location: “I imagine if I had grown up any place else, it wouldn’t be that much different, although having my friends that I’ve had over the course of my life has certainly influenced me as a filmmaker. But I can’t say that the great state of New Jersey necessarily influenced that, as much as the people in New Jersey that I hung around with definitely influenced it.”

            Zack and Miri star Seth Rogen is known as an excellent improviser, yet Smith is notorious as a director who is not so much of a fan of ad-libbing. Yet according to Smith, the culmination of both their styles was not a problem. “It really combined rather well. I mean at the end of the day, they’re all consummate professionals who love to act they all honor the scripts, it’s not like they all get there and are like ‘well we won’t be needing this anymore.’ “ Rogen’s spontaneous way of comedy seems to have worked well for Smith: “When he makes a joke that’s not there, that wasn’t in the script or ad-libs a line, it sounds like it’s coming out of the character’s mouth, not Seth’s mouth so it doesn’t seem like someone’s stopping the show to make a joke or stand out. He’s also good at ad-libbing stuff that propels the story forward. So you welcome a guy like that cause he’s not just executing, he’s elevating.”

In many of Smith’s films, there has been an incredible connection between characters. With the characters of Zack and Miri as played by Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, this is no exception. “From the moment we say down to do the first table reading of the script, it was apparent that their chemistry was sickening it was so good, it was so insane and so thick.” Zack and Miri could quite possibly be put in the pantheon of great connections in Smith films: “Sometimes you work with actors that just have that wonderful, fantastic chemistry that you don’t even have to do anything as a director except stay out of the way.” When the two main characters finally consummate their relationship, Smith wanted to make it as believable as possible: “Every movie I’ve ever seen with love making or intimacy portrayed, its usually very cheesy.” However in his film, it is quite different. “This isn’t a scene about the act of physical intimacy as much as it is about the emotional connection between these two people.”

            “I knew the term porno was going to turn off some people.” Zack and Miri has been shocking people with just its name and promotional materials alone and Smith does know that this is a film that may not be for everyone. “Initially the MPAA gave us a NC-17. Because porno’s in the title, I think maybe they were a bit heavy-handed in giving us a NC-17.” But Smith assures fans that this is the movie that he wanted. “I got to keep everything I wanted to keep in the movie.” Even through all the ratings drama, Smith’s next film could be just as controversial.

“I’m going to do this flick called Red State, this little political horror movie that I scripted right after Zack and Miri. With Red State, I get to kind of switch genres all-together. There’s no laughs in the movie whatsoever. On the surface, as it’s written, there’s no likable characters, everybody dies, it’s dark, there’s no comedy in it. It’s like 180 degrees from not just Zack and Miri Make A Porno, but also every other flick I’ve ever made.”

            Smith has innovated the comedy genre, and it seems like in his promising new batch of films, he will change it once again.

The Green Hornet

2011-02-18T15:28:00.000-05:00

The Green Hornet-2011

The Green Hornet has had an unusual, albeit interesting trip to the big screen. Years ago, Kevin Smith wrote a script, but dropped out for fear of doing a action film that he may not be prepared to direct. Then Stephen Chou, writer/director of Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer signed on to direct, but awkward script changes made the writers wary of having him take part. Now, its final iteration seems like the most intriguing of lineups. With Michel Gondry of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind directing and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the team behind Superbad, writing, it should be unusual, yet hilarious take on the superhero genre, while also remaining a strong keystone in their creative development. Unfortunately though, the final product comes off as a disappointing film that seems to water down the talented writers and director.

The origins of The Green Lantern border somewhere between Batman Begins and Billy Madison. Britt Reid, played by Rogen, is the son of a successful newspaper publisher, which means that Britt is free to be a rich millionaire playboy with no responsibilities. But once Britt’s father dies, he decides he must make his life mean more than countless parties and a new one-night-stand every night. With his fathers’ assistant Kato (Jay Chou), he decides to fight crime, while using the newspaper business handed down to him to make The Green Hornet and Kato look like the bad guys they are trying to infiltrate. This leads crime leader Chudnofsky, played by Inglourious Basterds’ Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz, to make it his personal vendetta to take out this up-and-coming crime group.

Rogen and Goldberg’s dialogue is all but lost here, settling more for a generic superhero origin story that has been seen all too much in the past decade. Rogen and Goldberg’s dialogue usually focuses around the witty banter between the two main protagonists, such as Michael Cera and Jonah Hill in Superbad or Rogen and James Franco in Pineapple Express. But with Rogen and Chou, the script falls flat, with both of them seeming out of their element. Rogen doesn’t seem comfortable in a PG-13 environment where he can’t flow freely and Chou is hardly able to keep up with even the tamed down version of Rogen due to the lack of knowledge of the English language.

With Gondry, you always know that he is going to make the film look great and have his distinct DIY directing style that focuses less on special effects and more of what can be handled in-camera. With Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Gondry created a labyrinthian world that mimicked the world of dreams. With Be Kind Rewind and The Science of Sleep, Gondry made his approach look more homemade, which made it all the more charming. Gondry’s style, especially with the use of 3D, seem like they would be a refreshing change for this genre, but most of his style is absent here. With the exception of a few camera tricks and a car chase that screams of Gondry, most of the film looks as cliché as the genre itself.

That’s not to say that The Green Hornet is a terrible film. In fact, The Green Hornet works best as a meta joke; a borderline parody of the superhero films it is trying to create. Instead of a hero with a weaker sidekick, the tables are turned. Waltz’s Chudnofsky plays his villain like a kid who wants to be one of the cool kids. And the origin of The Green Hornet is almost apropos of nothing, with a threadbare reason at all for him to be fighting crime. There is barely any of Rogen and Gondry seeping out of The Green Hornet, but it’s enough to make it enjoyable, especially in these beginning of the year doldrums.

Rating: C+

Top 5 TV Episodes of 2010

2011-01-23T09:33:00.001-05:00

For the last few years, television has truly been going through a renaissance of sorts . Thanks to cable networks and a focus on making TV more cinematic, the medium has become more engrossing and stimulating. 2010 had some of the best writing, directing and acting of any year of television and with TV going in bolder and more unique directions, it will hopefully only get better. With that in mind, here are the top 5 TV episodes of the past year.

5. Community-"Modern Warfare"

NBC's Thursday night block of comedies has never been more solid then it is with The Office, 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation. But the one show that is rarely gets its due and it possibly better than all the rest is Community. In its first season, the show struggled to find its voice at the beginning but quickly with its parodies of entertainment cliches and original characters became one of the best comedies on TV, with its best episode being "Modern Warfare".

In the episode, Glendale Community College has a paintball war in which the winner gets to register for classes early. However, GCC takes it too far when the school turns into a wasteland of paint and students. The show becomes a phenomenal parody of every action film imaginable. If there's an action movie you can think of, Community parodies it within its 22 minutes. It even has time to poke fun at Glee and the romantic relationships that the show has avoided. But with the wit shown in this one episode, Community cements itself as one of 2010's best comedies.

4. The IT Crowd-"The Final Countdown"

I don't think anyone can argue that the British might to comedy better than anyone. Just look at anything Ricky Gervais has done in the past decade. Another case in point is the fantastic comedy, The IT Crowd, about two computer technicians and their boss in a office building. The shows characters are original, yet instantly recognizable. In the shows' first three seasons, each character has gotten their share of the limelight, but in the fourth season, they all received an episode that played to all their strengths together.

In "The Final Countdown" (available on NetFlix Instant), uber-nerd Moss becomes a contestant on a word savvy game show and becomes a star. His friend and co-worker Roy follows Moss in his success, while also dealing with his own B plot of trying to convince a former classmate, now more successful than Roy, that he is not a window washer. Their boss Jen meanwhile, is trying to figure out what goes on during apparent secret meetings that she is not invited to. The episode's third act culminates in a satisfying and hilarious finale that makes for the series best.

3. Mad Men-"The Suitcase"

In this fourth season of Mad Men, Don Draper realized that he needed a change in his life. Yet it was the seemingly innocent Peggy, with a past as dark as Don's, that helped him realize this. In one of Mad Men's finest episodes ever, the odd couple are paired together and forced to tear each other down, then build each other back up into something better than when they both entered.

There are few television shows that will allow for two characters to sit and talk for an entire episode, but Mad Men has always been for experimentation and like Draper, finding a new way to look at things, and it's better for it. "The Suitcase" is as thrilling as TV gets thanks to the incredible dialogue. A conversation becomes a nail-biting disintegration of two of the shows most interesting characters who have only been able to confide in each other for four seasons.

2. The Walking Dead-"Pilot"

At its beginning, The Walking Dead looked like it could become a mashup of great ideas from every possible zombie movie in existence. But instead, with the help of producer/director Frank Darabont ("The Green Mile", "Stand By Me"), the pilot of The Walking Dead ended up being surprisingly original and quite touching.

The shows premise seems like it comes directly from 28 Days Later: a man wakes up to find himself in the middle of a zombie outbreak that has ravished the world and begins his search for his loved ones. But The Walking Dead walks close to the line of where we have seen these types of programs go before, and quickly veers in the opposite direction. The pilot was very methodical in its pacing, letting the setting tell the story rather than sloppy exposition. The pilot also dealt in realism, introducing characters, telling their stories, then never seeing them again for the rest of the season. With its pilot, The Walking Dead came out of the gates with its best, and while the shows subsequent episodes did struggle more and more with each new one, the beginning it one of the most promising pilots in recent history.

1. Lost-"The End"

Lost was always a show that had to have as close to a perfect ending as possible. With a huge fan base, years of questions and a rich mythology, Lost had the most to lose with its final episode. Yet surprisingly, Lost pulled off a final episode that will go down as one of the great finales (also available on NetFlix Instant).

Lost never pretended like it would answer all of its questions. It only attempted to be a great character drama. Like life, not all of the answers would be given. Not every loose end would be tied up. But in the end, it would all make sense. Lost pulled that off. The final episode was for everyone. Not just fans of the show for all six seasons, but for people who may have stopped halfway through. The finale was fan service at its best, giving fans reunions, closure and yes, even some answers. It was one of the only episodes of any shows ever that had me laughing, yet also bawling like a baby. Lost had a lot to live up to, yet in its incredibly epic finale, it was able to eclipse even the greatest of expectations.

Top 10 Christmas Movies

2010-12-24T14:43:00.001-05:00

So this holiday, you've trimmed the tree, you've hung the stocking by the chimney with care. Hell, maybe you even roasted some chestnuts. Now that you've exhausted yourself over the Christmas season, why not take a break and enjoy the true reason for the season. Presents? No! Jesus? Please! I'm talking about Christmas movies! To help you during this season, here are the top 10 Christmas films to help you get through the holidays.

Runner-Up: A Christmas Tale

Arnaud Desplechin’s story of the Vuillards, a family filled with conflicts, problems and awkward moments, gets together for the holidays, which may be their mother’s last if she doesn’t receive a much needed transplant. With the Vuillard’s house packed and the family disagreements rising up once again, the family must rise up over their anger towards each other in order to save their family. The always wonderful Catherine Deneuve is radiant as the mother and Mathieu Amalric, as Henri the son that trouble follows, shine in a cast that is brimming with talent.

10. The Santa Clause

The first of Tim Allen’s many holiday movies, The Santa Clause actually holds quite a twisted premise. Allen’s character accidentally startles Santa Claus, making him fall off the chimney, ultimately killing him. He then puts on the dead man’s clothes, proceeds to essentially take over his identity, and begins to take on characteristics of the man. Sounds more like The Talented Mr. Ripley than a Disney Christmas classic.

9. The Nightmare Before Christmas

Only Tim Burton could be whacked enough to attempt to create a film about both Halloween and Christmas at the same time. But his tale of the king of Halloweentown wanting to bring Christmas to his neck of the woods ends up becoming a sweet tale, even though the Easter Bunny and Santa get kidnapped, the police attempt to shoot down Santa’s sleigh and several children receive decapitated heads for Christmas. But Jack Skellington showed that Christmas can be enjoyed by anyone who puts their heart into it in this charming, albeit unusual film.

8. The Muppet Christmas Carol

Combining The Muppets, a Charles Dickens story and Academy Award winner Michael Caine sounds more like a crazy acid flashback then a adorable retelling of Christmas classic. But the last great Muppet film is always a pleasant surprise. Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat tell the story of Ebenezer Scrooge only the way The Muppets could: with offbeat humor, great characters and a silliness that breathes new life into Dickens.

7. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Almost every father who has ever wanted to give his family the greatest holidays ever can probably see part of themselves in Clark Griswold. The man does everything he can to make the week of Christmas spectacular, yet falls short in almost every way. But as he suffers through his own personal hell on a quest for perfection, his family pulls together to save him from himself. Yet this irreverent holiday favorite shows that sometimes the last thing you want for Christmas is your family.

6. The Shop Around the Corner

Director Ernst Lubitsch brings romance to the retail counter as two employees of a gift shop that can’t stand each other fall in love unknowingly as pen pals over the holiday season. Almost fifty years later it would be remade with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks as You’ve Got Mail, but Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart have perfect chemistry together and the emotional final scene is enough to fill you will holiday cheer.

5. Elf

Already, Elf is touted as one of the great holiday films, yet it’s hard not to agree. Will Ferrell as Buddy, the elf who leaves the North Pole to find his New York publisher father, who just happens to be on the naughty list, is as adorable as it is random. Ferrell blends awkwardness and naïveté to a character that could have been irritating, but instead is the perfect embodiment of the Christmas season.

4. Love, Actually

While there have been many films since Love, Actually that attempt to gather a wide variety of actors and have their stories interconnect through various romantic entanglements over a holiday, Love, Actually is one of the originals and the best. The film deals with the many different types of love people encounter over the holidays and what is genuinely surprising is that not everyone has a merry Christmas (sorry Emma Thompson), and there are several different archetypes of character that you believe you have seen, until the rug gets pulled out from other you. For a romantic comedy to completely blow away your expectations, is something special, and Love, Actually is one of the best.

3. A Christmas Story

Anyone who has ever turned on TBS Christmas has seen this much beloved story of the Parker family and poor little Ralphie who just wants his Red Ryder BB gun. Ralphie’s determination to get the toy that everyone tells him will make him “shoot your eye out” will be familiar to anyone who has just wanted that one present so badly. The recollection and absurdity of Ralphie's remembrance of his past is hilariously overblown and will remind everyone of holiday's past.

2. Home Alone & Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Every kid that has grown up over the 90’s has at some time or another wanted to be Kevin McCallister. They have wanted to toboggan down their stairs (which when I tried as a child, left a dent in the floor, unlike Kevin), or set up traps for some unexpected visitors, or just had free reign over the house. But Kevin’s antics of being alone for not one, but two holidays, and being invaded by the Wet Bandits, later known as the Sticky Bandits, has not only become one of the highest grossing films of all time, but is also now a no-brainer in the line up of classic Christmas movies.

1. It's a Wonderful Life

It is amazing to hear that Frank Capra’s timeless film, which is now synonymous with Christmas, was a flop when released in 1947. But now, the story of George Bailey, played by the famous everyman James Stewart, is one of those perfect feel-good films that shows that every little person matters in this overwhelming world of ours. It is the type of film that will make you feel like you could lasso the moon, believe that everytime a bell rings an angel gets its wings and make you feel like the richest man in town

The Social Network

2010-10-03T16:29:00.001-04:00

The Social Network-2010

It takes a lot to completely change the way that humans interact with each other. Before this millennium, if you wanted to know if a girl you thought was cute was single, or if you were curious what your friends were doing at this exact moment or if someone you knew liked the same band as you, you had to actually ask them. One man changed that. Created interactions without the actual act of interacting. When put in those terms, one would think that person would be socially awkward. Hard to get a long with. Put simply, kind of a dick. Also, that person would be a genius. That persons name is Mark Zuckerberg.

David Fincher's latest film The Social Network, tells the story of Zuckerberg, who created one of this generations most powerful tools, Facebook, out of heartbreak, alcohol and a whole lot of vengeance. Zuckerberg saw what the Internet had the power to do and expounded upon it. This is a college student who was able to crash Harvard's Internet in the middle of the night with a website he created in hours. When in high school, he created a music sharing program that when Microsoft showed interest in purchasing it, gave it away for free. This is a guy who understands what can be cool and can create it, yet can't be invited to the parties on his college campus.

Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg of recent Zombieland fame, is a man you don't want to cross. Automatically, we are shown even before we see that he has created Facebook, that he is being sued by two different parties, one of which is his best friend. Yet, even while the threat of losing millions of dollars looms in the air, Zuckerberg comes to trials in sandals, illustrates on legal pads instead of listening and argues the relevance of the court.

His business partner and aforementioned best friend Eduardo Saverin, played by the star of Never Let Me Go and future Spider-Man Andrew Garfield, backs Zuckerberg with money and moral support. They quickly become Harvard celebrities. The rise of 'The Facebook' becomes wild as they gain groupies, hire new hands and the term 'Facebook Me' becomes used as a verb around the Ivy League grounds.

Zuckerberg and Co. change the world of sociability through code.

This partnership seems solid until the creator of Napster Sean Parker, as played by Justin Timberlake, decides to meet with the two boys and builds their hopes of what this website could do. Zuckerberg and Saverin are thinking other colleges. Parker is thinking other continents. Facebook spreads like a virus across the country and eventually the world. What once became a way to find people who share the same class as you becomes the worldwide phenomenon that I have checked five times since starting this article.

Zuckerberg states that he knows what makes Facebook cool throughout the film, and so does director David Fincher. Fincher has made some riveting films over the years, from Seven to Zodiac to the Academy Award nominated The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the much beloved Fight Club. Fincher makes The Social Network reek with cool. Fincher once again works with his Fight Club cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth to create one of the most gorgeously shot films of the year. Fincher makes you want to be these people, inhabit their world, be part of the revolution.

Not to be outdone by the visual masterwork Fincher creates, Aaron Sorkin has written a elegantly worded script that surprises around every turn. The dialogue here is the year's best and bites with wit. Sorkin's writes characters that talk with urgency and intelligence yet always is able to keep the audience up with him. The Social Network might be the most perfectly worded script since 2008's carefully written Doubt.

Let's not forget the cast, which showcases some of the best talent young Hollywood has to offer. Eisenberg steps out of his usual frame to play his darkest, most conniving character yet, and does it well. Eisenberg plays Zuckerberg deliberately, knowing what consequences his actions will have on others several steps before they even realize it. Rooney Mara, who will be the future Lisbeth Salander in Fincher's next film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, has a small but chillingly great role as Zuckerberg's ex-girlfriend. Surprisingly overlooked are the Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, played by Armie Hammer and Josh Pence, respectively, who give Zuckerberg the seed of inspiration for Facebook. The Winklevoss brothers bring a great shot of humor into the film without every playing schticky stereotypes.

Justin Timberlake adds to his interesting repertoire of characters and does an excellent job as Parker, who straddles the line of eccentric genius with success leeching.

"This is our time."

But the real stand out performance here is Andrew Garfield. Garfield was phenomenal is Spike Jonze's breathtaking short film I'm Here from earlier this year and his career is only getting more interesting with his role as Saverin. Garfield is the heart and soul of The Social Network, as the man who gets dragged in the mud by Zuckerberg to create something great. Garfield rapidly becomes the audience's hero and shares in his failures and disappointments throughout the film, perfect for his future role as Peter Parker.

Many critics have felt the desire to call The Social Network "the film of the generation", and I'm very inclined to agree. While past generations have had great actors, writers, musicians, etc. to create biopics around, Fincher has created one around the creator of a website. A website that in less than a decade has changed the world and Fincher shows us the rise of the website checked by almost everyone in brilliant fashion. With the pitch-perfect writing by Sorkin and the great cast of up-and-comers, Fincher has created a film that shows what makes celebrity today and how the guy next door can be the billionaire of tomorrow with only a computer and ambition.

Rating: A

The Expendables

2010-09-15T19:56:00.001-04:00

The Expendables-2010

A person's enjoyment of Sylvester Stallone's newest directorial, writing and acting venture, The Expendables, is very dependent on what you believe Stallone's intentions are. You can believe that Stallone is intentionally creating a stereotypical 1980s action film, filled with bad dialogue, terrible directing and the usual suspects of the horribly cheesy action films that are fun to watch because of their ridiculous nature. Or you can believe that Stallone made this film completely seriously, without much irony, in order to relive the heyday of such bad films, without being cognizant that in doing so, was making a pretty terrible film himself. Unfortunately, I am in the latter of the two crowds and that in the process of creating a "man's man" version of the action genre that Stallone and the rest of this cast thrived in, created a disaster of an attempted revival.

The Expendables has a story, but c'mon, the film is really about watching celebrities best known for their muscles blowing people up. Heck, for that matter, I won't even use character names in this review since part of The Expendables draw is the "oh hey, remember him?" factor. Plus with character names like a sniper named Gunner, a tattoo artist named Tool, demolitionist Toll Road and a Chinese martial expert with the terribly offensive name Yin Yang, I think it's better they go by their true names. But apparently the story here involves a South American dictator who is allowing power to go to his head that must be stopped by a group of mercenaries called The Expendables, which are Stallone, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren and Jason Statham. But like previously stated, this story is just an excuse to watch former action legends beating the crap out of countless enemies and cause as much mayhem as possible. In fact the first half of this movie is essentially watching various cameo appearances show up, smoke a cigar, then walk off, never to be seen again.

Now while The Expendables features many characters, I use the term very loosely. Most of them are basically boiled down to whatever weapon they like best, along with one joke about their past or personal life. For example, all that is learned about Couture is that he wrestled in college and has cauliflower ear. Thats it. Besides a basic joke, literally nothing is learned about any of the characters, with the exception of Jason Statham. I found it a guilty pleasure that whenever two or more of The Expendables got together, they discussed fighting or...fighting, but whenever Statham and Stallone got together, they talked about relationship problems in a matter in which 14 year old girls do.

"So, do you like her, or do you like like her?"

Oh, let's not forget the reason for this mess: Stallone. The writing is excruciatingly terrible, right down to cliche bad guy one-liners. It's completely non-sensical. Example: for some reason, The Expendables have a gun throughout the entire movie that has enough firepower to blow a person's torso right off. Yet it is only saved till the very last moment when all hope is lost and Stallone remembers that Terry Crews has had nothing to do during the entire film. Not to be outdone, his directing is even worse. During exchanges of dialogue, he will inexplicably go around the room after every line of dialogue, just so you remember that that wrestler you used to like in the 90s is still in this film. He can't film a competent fight or chase sequence to save his life and when he attempts to exhibit emotion through a monologue given by Rourke, he zooms in so close to Rourke it's hard to focus on anything then the crevices left on his face from the hard living he's done over the last three decades.

Like most people, I want to believe that Stallone is in on the ridiculous joke, but I can't help but think he truly believes that these washed-up action heroes are still stars. Case in point, without a shred of irony, Stallone has released new films in both the Rambo and Rocky franchises. If Stallone hoped to parody action films, he does, but not in the right way. Stallone should have gone full force and not half-assedly create another brainless 80s-style action film.

Rating: C

Hard Eight

2010-09-10T08:39:00.000-04:00

Hard Eight-1996

Whenever someone asks the question, "Who is this generations' Martin Scorsese?", the obvious answer is of course Scorsese himself. However, what they really mean is who is the next great auteur? Who is the director that will be synonymous with great filmmaking? The type of director that will create films that will draw crowds solely because of who is behind the camera? In that case, the clear cut answer in my opinion is Paul Thomas Anderson. Each of his last four films, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood are already considered new classics, and in the case of There Will Be Blood, many people considered it the greatest film of the last decade. But before these four films, Anderson was just a student as the Sundance Institute trying to craft his first film, Hard Eight. While not as perfectly spun a story as his latter works, Anderson definitely shows the germ of a great future with his debut work.

The film starts out simply enough with a man named Sydney, played by Philip Baker Hall, sees a destitute man outside a coffee shop and offers him some coffee and conversation. The man, John, played by John C. Reilly, has just lost all his money in Las Vegas in an attempt to make enough money to bury his mother. Sydney offers John a proposition: he will give John $50 if he will follow Sydney's instructions on how to cheat a casino out of money. John agrees to do so and the $50 quickly becomes a several hundred dollars then a few thousand. Thus begins the friendship of Sydney and John.

Years later, the two are inseparable, with John following Sydney as a child follows a hero, mimicking how Sydney acts, enjoying the same drinks and hoping to have the same manners as him. This duo is splintered when they both meet Clementine, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Sydney wants to help her much like he did John, while John quickly falls in love with her. From here, Sydney and John's relationship starts to take them down different paths as their friendship goes down unusual turns.

Sydney teaching John the ins and outs of what he does.

Hard Eight seems to be much more fractured and unbalanced then latter Anderson films. The film seems fragmented into sections, with a script that seems like Anderson knew his beginning and end and winged the in between. Yet, even through this, the germ of Anderson's great future can still be seen. His trademark fast zooms and tracking shots are first seen here, almost as if he is practicing for what is to come. Also, Hard Eight's theme of fractured families fits in perfectly with his strong theme of family in his follow up films. Clearly, Anderson has a direction he wants to go in, but just hasn't found the right outlet to perfect it quite yet.

Anderson surrounds himself with a phenomenal cast and crew that will benefit him down the line. Cinematographer Robert Elswit, who will go on to win the Oscar for There Will Be Blood, starts to navigate what Anderson will utilize as his style. The light score of Jon Brion and collaboration with Aimee Mann will feature heavily in future Anderson films, most notably Magnolia, but their music undercuts Hard Eight quite well prior to that work. Anderson also starts to wrangle together his corral of great actors he will use again and again with Hall, Reilly and featuring a cameo by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Reilly plays what he knows best: the likable and vulnerable protagonist the audience will root for. Reilly balances self-control and rash decisions in situations that will just leave you thinking, "he just doesn't know any better." Hall is calm and collected, choosing his dialogue carefully as he interacts with even the most minor of characters.

Anderson seems to be at practice in Hard Eight, attempting techniques and style that he will utilize greatly in his later films. With Hard Eight, Anderson has the spark of promise that with some reworking, helps make him one of the great directors of our time, even if his first film doesn't showcase this quite as much.

Rating: B

Best Films of 2009 (10-1)

2010-06-24T08:56:00.001-04:00

10. The Messenger

For 2009, I don't think there was a movie that I was as surprised by as The Messenger. After past attempts at films about the recent war in the last few years, 2009 had not one but two great films. The Messenger takes the perspective of one of the most emotional and difficult jobs in the military: being a member of a Casualty Notification Team. Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson, in possibly his best performance, take on the job from two different angles. The Messenger forces the viewer to struggle through the notification process with Foster and Harrelson, and takes you through the tribulations of life off the clock. The Messenger is one of the most moving and surprisingly funny films of 2009.

9. The Hurt Locker

Hey, remember how I said there were two great films about the war in 2009? The Oscar winner for best picture is the first modern war film to actually work because it decides to be an action film first and a war movie second. Unlike other recent war films (Stop-Loss, In the Valley of Elah, Rendition, etc.), The Hurt Locker doesn't bother preaching its issues with the war but rather, it comes naturally through the narrative ever so subtlety. The Hurt Locker is one of the most unnerving films of last year and a great ensemble cast that includes the greatest trio of the year, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty and the incredible Jeremy Renner, as the bomb disposal unit team in the middle of the conflict. The Hurt Locker is a poignant and a very deserving winner of Oscar's highest honor.

8. Up in the Air

Director Jason Reitman's films are only getting better with each subsequent release. Up in the Air is the story of a man who doesn't want any connections in his life holding him down. That's why he chose a job that keeps him in the air for most of the year, but when he is forced to ground, he is also forced to deal with these interactions. Reitman's camera is simple, yet tells the story beautiful. His use of blue hues perfectly reflects Clooney's Ryan Bingham character, calm and collected and always ready for his next flight, and his use of a handheld camera when Bingham decides to give in to relationships are small touches that go a long way in this great coming-of-age story.

7. Where the Wild Things Are

When you think of directors who would be great to bring Maurice Sendak's classic children's tale to the screen, one wouldn't usually think of Spike Jonze. The man made Christopher Walken dance around a hotel lobby in Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice video, put John Cusack and Cameron Diaz literally in a person's head in Being John Malkovich and helped create reality TV by being one of the creators of Jackass. Yet, it is this style of whimsy and absent-minded craziness that makes Jonze actually the perfect choice. By creating characters that are mirror images of emotions that main character Max has to contend with and telling the story of a boy trying to find his place in the dark and scary world, Jonze made a brilliant "children's" film that has all the incredible depth of classic films like The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland.

6. A Single Man

Colin Firth incredible performance anchored the agonizing story of a man who loses his lover of 16 years in a car accident. A Single Man is simply about loss and coping with said loss, even when you can't show how much it hurts.Firth is restrained and masks a deep layer of pain in one of the year’s best performances, while fashion designer Tom Ford directs a film that is just as stylized and gorgeously shot as it is heart-wrenching.

5. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

The story of an illiterate girl pregnant with her second child from her father and dealing with her abusive mother was one of the toughest and inspiring films of the year. Director Lee Daniel’s harsh portrayal of the lives that some have to endure opened eyes and touched hearts and breakthrough performances from Mo'Nique and Gabourey Sidibe makes Precious one of the most powerful films of the year.

4. Moon

Sam Rockwell’s portrayal of a man who works on the moon for three years and starts to question his sanity and his employers is one of the most fascinating films of 2009. Rockwell proves he deserves to be a leading man and Duncan Jones beautiful direction is somber and elegant. This quiet, underrated drama makes for one of the best sci-fi films of the last decade.

3. Up

With Pixar's tenth film, they still know how to show the magic of animation. Within the first fifteen minutes, these film masters makes one of the most emotional scenes of the year without using any dialogue. The film remains impressive as this story of a man hoping to grant his wife's final wishes leads to some unique characters in South America and makes for one of Pixar's best.

2. (500) Days of Summer

In this unconventional romantic comedy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a man who believes he may have found the one when he meets Zooey Deschanel, yet she may not feel the same way. (500) Days of Summer is a refreshing change from the usual romantic fare and director Marc Webb tries new techniques in an effort to break new ground in this tried and true genre. Levitt and Deschanel are perfect with each other and the unique screenplay make (500) Days of Summer the second best film of the year.

1. Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino threw history books to the wayside and created an alternate World War II, where Brad Pitt leads a ground of Nazi hunters, known as the “Basterds”, to try and inflict pain to the ones who have caused so much pain themselves. Tarantino builds tension to the point of explosion, especially when newcomer Christoph Waltz as the “Jew Hunter” Col. Hans Landa is on the screen in a scene –stealing performance. Tarantino has made great films over the last two decades that have helped shift the ideals of modern filmmaking, but with “Basterds”, this might very well be his masterpiece.

Let me know what films I've missed and what you would have put in your top 10 below in the comments.

Best Films of 2009 (20-11)

2010-06-18T20:11:00.002-04:00

2009 was a surprisingly great year in film. So great in fact that Roger Ebert proclaimed it to be one of the best years in film since 1939, when such classics as Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, The Rules of the Game, Stagecoach and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington were all released, just to name a few. While I won't go that far, I do think Ebert was right in that 2009 was particularly great for movies in general. In honor of this great year, I have gone through the 179 films from 2009 I saw and have narrowed it down to my personal top 20 of 2009, but first let me go through some films that came close, but didn't quite make the list:

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs-Surprisingly, this film made me laugh harder than almost any movie last year.

Whip It-Drew Barrymore's directorial debut brought out the best in Ellen Page and was a great story of finding what you love and doing anything to hold on to it.

Drag Me to Hell-Director Sam Raimi went back to his Evil Dead roots after ruining the final Spider-Man film, and had a great time doing it.

Big Fan-Patton Oswalt is pitch-perfect in this heavy dramedy about a super-fan of the New York Giants who takes his obsession way over the line.

Antichrist-No, it is not as disturbing as rumored and yes, everyone should check it out at least once, if only for Lars von Trier's beautiful directing and the great symbolism thrown in this terrifying tale.

Food Inc., The Cove, Anvil!: The Story of Anvil and Valentino: The Last Emperor-Four great documentaries that stuck with me long after the movie was over and showed just how great documentary filmmaking was in the last decade.

So without further adieu, kicking off the list at #20...

20. In the Loop

Politics sometimes get so ridiculous, it's hilarious. In Armando Iannucci's adaptation of the British comedy of the same name, he proves that both British and American politics can be so close to comedy, that it can be terrifying. Iannucci creates what feels like a combination of "Arrested Development" and "The West Wing", with an incredible ensemble cast, most notably the always pissed off Peter Capaldi, and takes a humorous look at events that should scare, but just make you laugh.

19. District 9

District 9 is one of the most daring summer movies in recent memory and the fact that it worked as well as it did is even more incredible. When you break it down, District 9 is a pseudo-documentary style film with no big name actors, a first time director and hardly any budget that discusses the poor treatment of the people that live in the slums of South Africa. But for some reason, throw in aliens, and the whole thing comes together into a great summer film with just as much action as heartfelt emotion.

18. Funny People

After directing two of the best comedies of the 2000s, The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, Judd Apatow took a huge chance and made a more personal, more serious look at the lives of comedians. Apatow's foray into a more serious film gave us another great dramatic performance from former Apatow roommate Adam Sandler and showed Apatow's growth into trying new and different things.

17. Zombieland

Zombieland works as a great comedy because it knows exactly what it wants to be: a surreal, post-apocalyptic zom-com. Zombieland works perfectly as America's answer to Shaun of the Dead. Zombieland is ridiculous in all the right ways and it attempts to be nothing more than just a great time at the movies, which it succeeds at perfectly.

16. Watchmen

Watchmen is exactly what I wished director Zack Snyder had done with 300. By taking the best parts of the incredible graphic novel and fixing the unusual ending, Snyder brought to life one of the most conflicted superhero groups of all time, from the epic opening montage to the final spirit-breaking moments, Watchmen was a fantastic "super" hero movie that tried much more than most.

15. An Education

An Education has a unique moral for most films today: don't settle for what you don't want and don't shoot too high, but rather, find a perfect middle ground. The beautiful dialogue, written by Nick Hornby, pops by a cavalcade of impressive actors like Peter Sarsgaard, Alfed Molina in one of his best roles to date, and incredible newcomer Carey Mulligan as the girl who wants so much more from her drab British life.

14. Hunger

If there is one actor who came out of nowhere to impress me in 2009, it has to be Michael Fassbender. While his supporting role as former film critic/guy who doesn't know how to signal "3" in German, in Inglourious Basterds brought him some attention, it was his staggering performance in Hunger that caught my eye. Hunger is unflinching in its portrayal of a hunger strike in 1980's Ireland. Fassbender's shocking weight loss is akin to Christian Bale's in The Machinist and Steve McQueen's dedication to showing the horrors, including an incredible 17 minutes take, make Hunger an masterful achievement.

13. Brothers

The biggest problems with Brothers is the horrible trailer, which makes the film look like it's about a crazy husband on leave finds out that his wife has been sleeping with his brother while we has been in the Middle East and loses it. In fact, Brothers is a beautiful character driven piece about uncertainty and the pain involved with it. Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire are three actors who could easily be shoved aside for being typecast in their roles, but here each breaks out and hits a new level of acting credibility, especially Maguire, that shows that these three are some of the best in young Hollywood.

12. A Serious Man

The Coen's are arguably the great living American directors this generation. Once again, they prove their greatness with A Serious Man, the Job-like fable of Larry Gopnik, a Jewish teacher who thinks he is doing everything right in his life, yet only bad things start happening to him. The Coen's have always blended comedy and drama masterfully and here, Gopnik, played by Michael Stuhlbarg, is sympathetic, but you can't help but chuckle a bit at his horrible plight.

11. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

As Harry Potter gets ready to partake in his final cinematic outing, this penultimate film finally get the feeling of the Wizarding world down to a science. The realm of these young wizards is as realistic as it has ever been and as the end comes to a close, the films only get better and better as their world becomes more fleshed out.

Toy Story 3

2010-06-16T13:36:00.001-04:00

Toy Story 3

Fifteen years ago, an animation group named Pixar broke new ground by creating the first ever fully computer-animated film. Computer animation was thought to be cold and heartless. Yet, with two toys, Buzz Lightyear and Woody, fighting to return to their owner Andy, all of that changed.

In a decade and a half, Pixar has redefined not only how animated films are seen, but how movies are seen. The bond between a father and son in Finding Nemo, the superhero action of The Incredibles and the staggering heartbreak in Up proved that animated films could have just as much heart and passion as live action films.

With fifteen years and ten incredible masterpieces under their belt, Pixar decided to go back to their original, beloved duo for their eleventh film, Toy Story 3, and they deliver in every way possible.

The times, they are are changing at Andy's house. The trusted toy owner is heading off to college, leaving behind his childhood toys. Even little sister Molly is too old for his Barbie doll. The few remaining toys are desperate. The last decade has been hard on them, losing most of their toy kin to various yard sales and adolescence. Instead of going on recon missions to check out if Andy has received new toys or who is being sold at the most recent yard sale, the remaining toys will even attempt to steal Andy's cell phone, just in the hope that he will hold one of them. They are desperate for the love that they once knew.

A few days before another big move for Andy, his mother walks in with two trash bags: one for the attic and one for the dumpster. Most of the toys end up in the bag for the attic, while Andy decides to take his most trusted friend, Woody, to college with him. However, Andy's mom mistakes the attic bag for the trash pile, taking the toys down to the curb for pickup. Woody sees this and tries to stop the toys from heading to the landfill. He does so, but the damage has already been done. After a decade trapped in their toy box prison, they finally accept that maybe this is it. Maybe Andy only sees them as trash anymore. With their options limited, the toys decide to jump in a box labeled "Sunnyside", a day care center which Andy's mom donates to. Reluctantly, Woody jumps in and joins his friends on their new adventure where and love and affection will hopefully be abundant.

While the original Toy Story was about friendship and Toy Story 2 was about dedication towards that friendship, Toy Story 3 has a much deeper story: moving on and finding love in new places. After so many years of dedication and memories, Woody finds it hard to move on from the boy who wrote his name on the bottom of Woody's boots. In the first film, Woody always stated that "no toy gets left behind", but at this point, almost all of the beloved toys have left, leaving them as the left behind. Toy Story 3 packs an emotional punch that was lacking in the previous two films, yet feels natural after Pixar's forays with emotion in Wall-E, and most notably, last year's Up.

But don't think that Toy Story 3 is nothing but tears and misery. The Toy Story gang is just as hilarious as ever, and great new characters are introduced seamlessly into the progression. While a majority of the story focuses on the original gang, new characters like Trixie, played by Flight of the Conchord's Kristen Schaal, Timothy Dalton as Mr. Pricklepants, Jeff Garlin's Buttercup, and a character known only as Big Baby are great additions to a series overflowing with fantastic characters.

With a great combination of mellon collie and happiness, new characters and old, it seems like Toy Story 3 should be overwhelming in size and scale. But director Lee Unkrich, who also co-directed Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo, does a phenomenal job with his first solo directing gig at Pixar. One choice I was curious about was the decision to have Little Miss Sunshine screenwriter Michael Arndt handle the screenplay. Would we see Andy's heroin and porn loving grandpa? Would Andy have to put his dead corpse in the back of their blue minivan with the "A113" license plate to get to Molly's beauty pageant? Would Rex and Hamm have discussions about Nietzsche and Marcel Proust? While none of these happen (and in hindsight, that would have been kind of awesome), Arndt handles the story with delicate care. He understands these characters and what the fans want to see, while also surprising all the way to the end. It's easy to tell that you have a great writer and director when you can tell exactly what emotion a non-sentient toy is having.

After fifteen years, these toys are still as beloved as ever. As an audience, you still care about their trials and tribulations. Pixar's first creations resonate a decade and a half since their first inception and bring new humor and great emotion with them. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen have become their characters, as have the rest of the great supporting cast. I found myself getting lost so much in the wonder of the film, that I continually remind myself that these characters aren't living, breathing creatures.

Pixar is still masters at what they do and Toy Story 3 is proof that you can have incredible, true to life characters, with emotions and heart, even if they are child's play things. With Toy Story 3, Pixar has created the first truly great animation trilogy. Putting Toy Story along the lines of The Godfather or The Lord of the Rings trilogies is a perfect fit. With a track record like Pixar's it's hard to believe that this may be one of their best, but once again, Pixar goes above and beyond any and all expectations to create another great masterpiece.

10 Worst Films of 2009

2010-06-15T21:20:00.000-04:00

As the ’00 decade wrapped up, it was easy to remember the huge innovations that had occurred in film in the relatively small span of ten years. However, with the highs also come the lows, and in 2009, there were plenty of cinematic lows. Here are the ten worst films of 2009:

10. Paul Blart: Mall Cop

While I didn't like Paul Blart, it stands to reason that I am more just not a fan of this type of film. The type where a fat guy runs around doing goofy things, being completely oblivious to his surroundings while we are expected to laugh at his infantile and misunderstood ways. Not only that, but the company producing the film, Happy Madison, has one of the worst track records I can think of in the ways of quality. There first film was Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigalo and it only gets worse from there, littered with some of the worst films of the decade (The Master of Disguise, Grandma's Boy and Strange Wilderness, just to name a few). But it's films like Paul Blart that are making comedy for the lowest common denominator. Paul Blart represents the tragic downfall of great comedy in film today.

9. The Unborn

Hey, do you remember The Unborn? Because I sure don't. Every year, countless bland, terrible horror films are released to theatres. The Unborn was one of 2009's worst. Essentially, the story is of a woman who is haunted by her twin brother, whom died in the womb. Now her brother wants out. The Unborn makes itself nearly indistinguishable from every other post-The Grudge horror film that treads the same ground over and over.

8. Gentlemen Broncos

The premise of Gentlemen Broncos has a surprising amount of promise: an aspiring teenage sci-fi writer has his story stolen by his hero, Ronald Chevalier, after a bout of writer's block. But the over-the-top directions that director Jared Hess takes this film makes it so vile and ridiculous, it's hard to enjoy, with the exception of the always great Jermaine Clement as Chevalier. Hess directed Napoleon Dynamite, which definitely had its awkward moments, but still dealt in reality. His follow-up, Nacho Libre, got a bit more ridiculous, but nevertheless, still rooted in a believable world. Here, in Gentlemen Broncos, we are presented with snakes with explosive diarrhea, ridable does with laser-scope eyes, a hermaphrodite Sam Rockwell and a sci-fi story about Rockwell trying to find his recently removed testicles. Look, I love my films weird. Hell, Charlie Kaufman is my favorite screenwriter. But sometimes, enough is enough and someone needs to reign in Hess before he goes even more overboard.

7. The Ugly Truth

Yes, by putting The Ugly Truth higher than Gentlemen Broncos that ultimately means I would rather watch a giant snake shitting on people than watch Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler together. Here we have a smart businesswoman who wants everything perfect and a man who seems to think with nothing but his penis, but is in fact, a sweet guy inside. Where have you heard this before? Try about several dozen other romantic comedies. And odds are, one of them had Heigl in it. There aren't two actors in Hollywood right now that I feel are more overused that these two, not to mention the fact that they play very similar roles in every film. Oh, and my favorite part of The Ugly Truth? How could these two completely different people ever find love together? They bond over their love for the same type of water... I think I've made my point..

6. Gigantic

If someone went out to make the most cliched indie film of all time, Gigantic would be it. Quiet, shy main character who has an unusual job/interest? Does mattress salesman and trying to adopt a Asian child count? Check. Older, well known actors throw in for good measure? Ed Asner and John Goodman are available, so check. Quirky love interest for the main character? Well of course, lets get Zooey Deschanel! Check! And while we are at it, lets give her a cheery, sunny name. Like, I shit you not, Happy Lolly. Gigantic goes for quirky for quirkiness sake, which is a horrible downfall for any film. But here is fails spectacularly, with ideas such as Goodman's character "willing" himself to no longer have cancer or for no reason, having Zach Galifianakis play a thief who amounts to nothing. Gigantic is nothing more than a gigantic mess.

5. Adoration

Atom Egoyan's 2009 release Adoration has a young high school student being motivated by his teacher to tell his class that his imprisoned father is actually there for terrorism as part of a class exercise. The experiment goes overboard when the student takes his opinions and viewpoints on his father to the Internet. Adoration forces its message across with some of the worst acting I have seen in quite some time. The dialogue here is so unnatural that its cringeworthy. The student Simon, played by Devon Bostick, mostly known for his work in the Saw movies, in unsympathetic, unbelievable and downright annoying, while his various "Internet friends" have some of the worst dialogue I have heard in a film, quite possibly ever. Such a huge disappointment from a talented director.

4. The Fourth Kind

So, after a film like The Blair Witch Project, how do you make your audience believe that what they are seeing is real material? Probably step number one isn't to have your main actress and director come out and blatantly tell the audience that what they are watching is real. The Fourth Kind features Milla Jovovich as a psychiatrist in Alaska who starts to notice something strange happening to the locals: they seem to be getting abducted by aliens. The "real" footage is usually shown side-by-side next to the "recreation", however both are as fake as possible, only varying by small changes. The film insists upon itself that everything here is real. In fact it screams that everything here is based on real events. Yet a quick Google search points out the "events" are several cases of Alaskans getting too drunk, getting lost in the woods and then being found a few days later. The Fourth Kind is one of the worst examples of how to utilize the lost footage style of filmmaking.

3. The Limits of Control

A man with no name sits at a coffee shop. A stranger shows up, asks him the same questions that the person before him has asked and the same questions the person after will ask. They trade matchstick boxes. The man receives a piece of paper, reads it, and then eats the paper. Then it all repeats. Over and over. For two hours. The film ends in a third act that tries for a message but by that point, it’s too late to save this pretentious and dull film.

2. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

When watching Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, it’s hard to not think that you are the butt of some elaborate joke led by director Michael Bay. Of course its terrible, its about Transformers. But non-sensical fight sequences and racist twin cars make this even worse than the first film. Bay attempts to bury the asinine film with explosions and terrible one-liners in a hope to distract viewers from what they are actually watching: a steaming pile of trash.

Before #1 is announced, here are a few that narrowly missed the worst ten:

Still Waiting and S. Darko-simply kept off the list because they were direct-to-DVD releases. Yet that aside, S. Darko would easily have been the worst film of the year.

While they didn't come close to the bottom, I must say that Avatar and The Blind Side are both terrible films. I don't know how they made so much money, but Jesus, what horrible, horrible films.

And the number one worst film of 2009 is...

1. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

The original Street Fighter movie is considered one of the worst video game movies of all time. The newest film in the Street Fighter franchise keeps up the family tradition. The movie takes some of the worst characters from the game, played by Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas and easily the worst performance of the year by Chris Klein, pieces them together into a terrible, nonsense story and accomplishes a disaster that is an embarrassment to two forms of entertainment at the same time.

The Book of Eli

2010-04-12T16:41:00.000-04:00

The Book of Eli-2010

The Book of Eli is a film that doesn’t hide its age. A post-apocalyptic America is filled with rubble, hollowed out J. Crew stores are used for shelter and KFC Wet-Naps are Armageddon’s answer to the shower. The world is devoid of any order and only a few remain to fight over remaining water and resources. But in cinematic terms, how many times can the world be destroyed, left to this similar outcome over and over, before it’s impact is dulled? The answer is right about now.

Denzel Washington is a lone stranger who has been traveling across the United States for 30 years to deliver a book to the people who need it the most. Early on, the book is alluded to as having caused wars, divided people and had the power to control millions. It doesn’t take much to figure out what book it is, but here’s a guess: it’s not Twilight.

While on his quest, he comes across a shantytown, where he meets Solara, a local barmaid played by Mila Kunis, who wants to leave the town run by her stepdad, Carnegie (Gary Oldman). Carnegie, whose search for the book that Denzel just happens to have, has lead his gang of miscreants (who thankfully, like in every other disaster film, don dreadlocks and goggles, so we know they are bad) to rape and murder their way across the land to find this written word. He knows the power that the book has and wants to use it to lead the people in the way he wants. Yet, Washington, with his lighting quick reflexes and talents with knives, won’t allow him to take the only remaining copy of his book.

Washington is decent given the material he has to work with, playing the stranger like the end of the world version of Clint Eastwood’s Man Without A Name, while Kunis plays the girl in distress unconvincingly.

It's the end of the world as we know it....once again.

As the first film from directing team the Hughes brothers in nine years, since From Hell, they go for a sepia-toned world that tries for the apocalypse’s answer to a western, but instead comes off as a poor mash up of I Am Legend, The Road and Mad Max. The movie constantly strives to be something unique, with its idea of “knowledge is power” and an attempt at a Gotcha! ending. But the world, which seems built in sound stages and green screens, unlike the terrifyingly harsh environments of The Road, makes anything genuinely new just seem false.

The Book of Eli’s world is an unbelievable one, even by post-apocalyptic standards. It’s the type of world where Denzel will trade leather gloves to a mechanic played by Tom Waits so that he can have his iPod charged to listen to music for a few hours. Or where one of the most published books of all time is impossible to find, yet copies of “O’ Magazine and “The Da Vinci Code” are easy to find. And that’s a world that even as a viewer, can be quite a bore to be a part of.

Daybreakers

2010-03-01T15:54:00.000-05:00

Daybreakers-2010

Ever since Stephanie Meyer's abortion of young adult novels, the world has become overwhelmed with love for vampires. The pasty complexions, their cold demeanors, their desire to drink blood...what angst filled pre-teen girl wouldn't love these bloodsuckers?

Popular culture has become inundated with these night dwellers. True Blood and Twilight have made them popular, while smaller films such as the spectacular Let the Right One in and Chan-wook Park's Thirst have attempted to take deeper, more deconstructing looks at these creatures that have come out of nowhere to dethrone zombies as the current monsters of choice.

With that comes Daybreakers, which seems like it should be coming from an experimental, high concept idea, which looks on the outside like an original thought, comes off as a cheap B-movie.

In 2019, vampires have turned most of the human race into their own type (my guess is the reason for it being so recent is the successful Twilight series. Just a guess). Now as the humans are becoming extinct, vampires must search for new ways of sustaining themselves. Ethan Hawke plays Edward (seriously), a scientist who is tasked with trying to create a blood substitute. The company he works for has been using humans in blood farms, and now facing bankruptcy, Edward is their only hope.

After helping a group of humans, Edward is considered a possible help to a small group of humans attempting to find a cure to their small numbers and to the end of vampirism. Led by Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac (Willem Dafoe), a former vampire himself, Edward helps solve the problems of the vampires and the humans.

The concept of an almost all-vampiric world is promising, but the lack of believability is ludicrous here. The film makes us believe that there is only one company who seemingly has a monopoly on the blood market. And with the right amount of shade, vampires have no problem in the sun; a simple hat will suffice. Even more ridiculous is the simplistic way to 'solve' vampirism. I'll just say, Bram Stoker would be embarrassed.

The cast isn't helping much either. Dafoe as 'Elvis' is having a good time, but he's the only one. Every line is seeping with Southern drawl and one-liners that scream for you to remember that he comes from below the Mason-Dixon line. Hawke is as good as he can be with the terrible dialogue he is given and Sam Neill as Charles Bromley, the head of the corporation creating synthetic blood is pretty tame for what I would consider an "evil vampire".

"Living in a world where vampires are the dominant species is about as safe as bare backing a 5 dollar whore."

The wise words of Elvis (Dafoe).

Daybreakers does do some things right. The cinematography and art direction are surprisingly competent and easy on the eyes and asks some questions about vampires I never knew I had (what happens when a vampire bites another vampire? Answer: super-vampires!).

Daybreakers does try to do something different and its attempts at originality are a good start, but it's hard for writer-directors Michael and Peter Spierig to back up the unique ideas they have. In the hands of a more experiences writer-director, Daybreakers could have been more than just scraping the bottom of the barrel for the remnants of the vampire fad.

\

Extract

2009-09-13T14:19:00.005-04:00

Extract-2009

A decade after Mike Judge made the cult-classic Office Space, Judge has traded in the white-collar for a blue one, and not much else, with his newest comedy Extract. After Idiocracy’s failure, it seems like Judge has gone back to the well to retread some of the same ground he did ten years ago.

Judge once again portrays the monotony of the modern workplace; this time settling for a flavor extract company built from the ground up by Joel (Jason Bateman), who is looking to sell but has problems after a industrial incident at work costse employee Step (Clifton Collins Jr.) one of his testicles. With Step’s space open, in comes con artist Cindy (Mila Kunis), trying to convince Step to sue, hopefully earning her piece of the winnings, while trying to swindle Joel into romance. Joel, who has recently had bedroom troubles with wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig), is interested in Cindy, yet feels too guilty to act on these urges. Scraggly best friend and former co-worker Dean (Ben Affleck), suggests hiring a male prostitute to seduce his wife so he can carry on with his plans guilt-free.

While Judge’s characters usually reflect the over-exaggerated, yet lovable versions of familiar stereotypes, such as Hank Hill of “King of the Hill” or Peter of Office Space, here his characters are cruel and downright mean, making it hard to connect to anyone. Step is the only respectable employee in the bunch, while Affleck, even though he does seem to be channeling Deidrich Bader’s character from Office Space, does get the only hilarious moments. Kunis, who has shown great talent in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, just simply play the stereotypical “hot new girl”. J.K. Simmons, who plays a co-manager of the factory, and Wiig are wasted as one-dimensional jokes and David Koecher as annoying neighbor Nathan, makes his continuous droning feel simply like another Bill Lumbergh.

Idiocracy might be known as Judge’s film about idiots, but Extract has its fare share as well. Every character has the stupid cranked up to extreme, leading each character to make the worst possible decisions. It presents these one-joke characters and shows how far down their horrible choices will take them.

It seems like this environment could be the setting for a take on greed in modern corporations, yet little is done to evoke any sort of deeper meaning, instead resorting to drug and testicle humor. For Judge, who usually has a larger point to his films, Extract just seems lazy.

Extract does not try to do anything unique or really have any ideas of its own. Judge’s latest feels like a repackaging of the caricatures and jokes that he has made in his previous work, yet without the underlying morality and compassion that we feel for these characters. Instead we are left with characters that have little to no substance and much like the extracts that Joel makes, just seem like an aftertaste of an original product.

The Last Waltz

2009-08-20T15:34:00.007-04:00

The Last Waltz-1978

While Martin Scorsese was directing New York, New York, his love letter to the great musicals of the 1940s, he was approached by Robbie Robertson, lead singer of The Band. The famous band has been on the road for almost two decades and were looking for a way to document their last performance, which they called "The Last Waltz". Requesting no money and with a miniscule budget, Scorsese agreed to film this epic performance.

The concert, which was filmed on Thanksgiving in San Francisco, at the location of The Band's first performance, the Winterland Ballroom, is more important for what it represents, not for being the swan song of a heavily influential band. In 1969, the 3 day festival Woodstock would define a generation that wanted peace and love. By the time The Last Waltz occurred in 1976, this period was coming to a close. Woodstock was the beginning, The Last Waltz was, as the name aptly suggests, the last dance for this way of thinking and that movement.

Scorsese's rock documentary is heavily organized and put together even stricter than most of his films. He knew exactly where he would move the camera down to specific words of certain songs. He even shows him asking The Band questions over again to get the exact wording he wants shown. While this setup works fine with the live show, the backstage elements could have used more randomness and unexpected behavior. Instead, we see Scorsese leading them by the hand as he asks them about life on the road, women, and history of the band, rather than simply documenting what happens backstage.

And what a backstage there must have been. A who's who of influential artists, including Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Van Morrison and Ringo Star help say goodbye to The Band. The concert boasts more guest artists than they even seem to know what to do with. So much so that two days before the concert was to happen, they realized that they were overbooked and tried to kick Muddy Waters off the bill. Thankfully, they found the space for Waters, who seems to be one of the only performers having fun and not road weary from excessive travel.

Even though Scorsese didn't have much money, it doesn't show at all with the final product. He tried to spruce up the Winterlight a bit for the performance and even hired production designer Boris Leven, who had previously worked on West Side Story and The Sound of Music, to help create the mood with his beautiful set.

Scorsese has always shown a keen interest in showcasing music that he loves through his filmmaking. Since The Last Waltz, he has directed the Dylan documentary No Direction Home, last years' Rolling Stone concert film Shine A Light, excerpts for the TV miniseries "The Blues" and even directed Michael Jackson's iconic "Bad" video.

With The Last Waltz, Scorsese doesn't show the concert from the audiences' perspective, he instead shows it from the viewpoint of the performers. We see up close the pain and excitement of this final performance on everyone's faces and the fear of what is to come after tonight. As The Band's career was coming to a close, Scorsese's was only beginning. Still with The Last Waltz, only his first documentary, he created what will go down in history as one of the all-time greatest rock documentaries.

Rating: B

(500) Days of Summer

2009-08-09T02:01:00.007-04:00

(500) Days of Summer-2009

“You should know upfront, this is not a love story”, an unknown narrator bluntly says early on in 500 Days of Summer. From the beginning, first-time director Marc Webb’s film feels immediately different from typical romantic films in that it takes chances in telling a love story in a non-clichéd way.

500 Days of Summer’s story is very simple, yet the way that it is packaged is what makes it so fascinating. Tom, played by Joseph Gordon Levitt of 10 Things I Hate About You and Brick, is a born romantic who aspires to be a architect while working day-to-day at a greeting card company. He knows that once he finds “the one”, his life will finally start to click. He is instantly drawn to Summer, Zooey Deschanel of Elf and Almost Famous, the new secretary at work who does not believe in true love. When the two bond in an elevator over similar musical tastes, their tumultuous 500 day relationship begins that evolves them both.

The film brilliantly shows the days of Summer and Tom’s relationship in a non-linear pattern, quickly jumping from the two deep in the beginnings of young love, to Tom depressed from the break-up in bed, eating nothing but Twinkies and whisky. Webb deviates from what an audience expects to see and tries instead to make the audience and active participant in what Tom is feeling. When Tom and Summer first make love, there is a great choreographed dance to show the flood of emotions. When the two break up, Tom’s world turns into a black and white animation, showing the beauty in his life is gone. And in a genius turn, we see Tom invited to a party thrown by Summer, and through split screen, we see what Tom expected to happen at the party and what actually happens. Webb shows an inventiveness that invigorates this simple love story.

What makes these emotions so compelling is fantastic performances by Levitt and Deschanel, who are at the forefront of a great new renaissance of young actors bringing down the mores of what to expect from young Hollywood. Both Tom and Summer feel like real people with real problems in a believable relationship. Tom is vulnerable and wanting to better himself, while Summer wants to be head-over-heels in love with Tom, has an underlying pain that cannot allow herself to put down her defenses.

Through the eyes of Tom, the film shows his love of Summer in an almost idolized fashion, making her the perfect person, which may not have been the case. Tom is unreliable in his lovelorn depression that we are uncertain just how truthful his take on Summer really is. Tom’s perspective shows everything from undeniable love to bitter heartbreak and everything in between with brutal honesty.

500 Days of Summer has an indie-cool vibe to it, so that almost anyone who enjoyed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Garden State will take immediately to it. The amazing soundtrack helps account for this as well, beautifully placing songs from Regina Spektor, The Smiths and Feist together to enhance the soundtrack that Tom and Summer live their lives to.

The chances that 500 Days of Summer even takes is astounding. The amount of new techniques that are unique to movies on a whole is a refreshing take in the summer season. Webb has new ways to show every emotion, that questions why other director’s haven’t tried anything quite as advantageous. Webb makes the film almost feel whimsical, yet both Tom and Summer anchor the film into a beautiful reality and an interesting new way to look at the love story, that it’s not hard to love so much about Summer.

Rating: A

Be Kind Rewind

2009-04-21T10:48:00.003-04:00

Be Kind Rewind-2008

“To films with heart and soul!”, Miss Falewicz, one of the most prominent renters at the VHS shop, Be Kind Rewind, proclaims as she toasts the stores’ newest remake masterpiece. Be Kind Rewind is filled with plenty of heart and soul in director/writer Michel Gondry’s newest film.

When Be Kind Rewind’s owner, Mr. Fletcher, played by Danny Glover (The Lethal Weapon series, The Royal Tenenbaums) leaves on a vacation to figure out how to keep his ailing video store up to date, he leaves the store in the hands of Mike (Mos Def of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Italian Job). But after Mike's best friend Jerry (Jack Black of School of Rock, Margot at the Wedding) becomes electrocuted one night, he walks into Be Kind Rewind and accidentally de-magnetized every VHS tape in the store. When the store's customers become irate with the blank tapes and with the fear of letting down Mr. Fletcher looming over Mike and Jerry's heads, they decide to remake, or "Swede" the films. What starts out as a quick Ghostbusters remake that leads Mike to play the Bill Murray character and Jerry to play everyone else, becomes a huge neighborhood phenomenon. Their shortened, homemade versions of the films make the remakes, Mike and Jerry, and Be Kind Rewind into a overnight success.

Mos Def shines in as the nerve-wracked, short term manager and shows his full potential as a leading man. For years, he has played minor roles, but is able to hold his own against film veterans like Glover and Mia Farrow (Rosemary's Baby, 2006's The Omen) Jack Black occassionally slips into his Jack Black routine, but is at his best when he shys away from his stereotypical craziness. When Black is not over the top, he is able to give one of the best performanes of his career. Rising star Melorie Diaz (Lords of Dogtown, A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints), plays Alma, who ends up being "The Girl" in all of the Sweded films, in very likable and fits in perfectly with Black and Def. The real stars of this film, however, are the supporting cast of the neighborhood. The unusual renters that come in day to day to the shop make some of the funniest and best moments of the film and bring life to the store. The town of Passaic, New Jersey is brought together by Mike and Jerry's films, and their contributions to the films really make them feel special.

Michel Gondry's vivid and unusual mind shows in every aspect of Be Kind Rewind. His originality and uniqueness has shown in his previous films Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep, and he continues to surprise here. His in-camera tricks shows the influence that one of film's first great innovators, George Melies, has had on him and brings that influence to a whole new generation. Gondry's low-budget recreations are inspired and incredibly smart. Films like Driving Miss Daisy, The Lion King and 2001: A Space Odyssey are remade with ease as if these ideas have been brewing in Gondry's mind for years. The genius here comes from how the simplest items can easily make these films a reality. For example, a green trash bag can turn into Slimer from Ghostbusters or well-placed pizzas can be used as to recreate a drive-by from Boyz N The Hood.

Be Kind Rewind really deals with the evolution of the film industry, the generalization of films and the lack of originality in many films today. By recreating massive, epic films with gigantic budgets and huge casts with just a few dollars and a handful of people, Mike and Jerry are able to show that it does not necessarily take millions of dollars to make something that will touch an entire audience. The reinvisioning of these films brings the town of Passaic together, in a way that few modern films bring people together today. The beauty and the simplicity of their movies touches its viewers and shows the heart that goes into each newly made film.

Be Kind Rewind is a near-perfect comedy that succeeds in almost every way. The film is witty and smart in a way that few films are. What could have turned into a gimmicky and dumb idea becomes a touching film with Gondry's script and direction. With the exception of a few loose ends, there is no reason why anyone should come out of the theater without a huge smile on their face. Be Kind Rewind ends up being just as sweet and filled with heart as the films that come out of Mike and Jerry's little VHS shop.

Rating: A

Vantage Point

2009-04-21T10:39:00.003-04:00

Vantage Point-2008

When a film attempts to tell the same story through various different perspectives, you have to keep that story interesting and constantly add new things to the scene. Atonement recently did this in a very smart way that made watching the same scene over and over again a joy and continuously illuminating. However, some films try to make the same scene engrossing, yet do not pull it off. Vantage Point tries hard to be compelling, yet just misses the mark.

Vantage Point is the story of an attempted presidential assassination at a groundbreaking conference in Salamanca, Spain that ends up being told through eight different persepectives. The attack is seen through the eyes of several people, including the weathered, bodyguard (Dennis Quaid of In Good Company, The Rookie), the fresh, young bodyguard (Matthew Fox of We Are Marshall, TV's Lost), the American tourist (Forest Whitaker of The Last King of Scotland, The Great Debaters), the television producer covering the event (Sigourney Weaver of The TV Set, Alien) and even the President of the United States (William Hurt of A History of Violence, Syriana). With each different person's perspective being shown, the story begins all over again and reviews the twenty-three minutes that the film takes place during. This setup seems interesting at first, but after several times, this gimmick becomes weak and trite over time.

The characters in Vantage Point are a cliched bunch that seem like they have been taken from television shows like 24 and Boomtown. Director Pete Travis and writer Barry Levy have their backgrounds in television, which seems apparent. The directing combines a style of handheld and conventional cameras, very reminiscent of 24 and its influence is very apparent in every aspect of the film. Vantage Point's idea of showing the film through all of the main characters' eyes is taken directly from Boomtown and its idea of counting down the time that is repeated once again reeks of influence from 24 and movies like Nick of Time and Run Lola Run. With characters like the guard getting a second chance, the president's Cabinet member who tries to force his will on the president and the idealistic reporter, makes for characters that seem too familiar and almost laughable when asked to be taken seriously. Vantage Point takes some genuinely great actors, such as Dennis Quaid and Forest Whitaker and puts them in laughable roles that seem less compelling and intriguing and more of a waste of their talent.

The dialogue tries to be poignant with its warnings of oncoming terrorist attacks and our policies towards other nations, but these parts just seem tacked on. The script thinks it is more suspenseful then it really is and ends up not being as surprising at it may seem. The film is repetitive for the first three-fourths, then tries to wrap up all of its loose ends weakly at the very end. Near the end, Dennis Quaid's character Thomas Barnes just blatantly says, "we need to tie up all of the loose ends." The script seems very banal and almost seems like a forgettable late night cable movie. With a film like this, the editing needs to be very specific and distinct. The editing ends up being sloppily done and repetitive. The film becomes frustrating due to the overused scenes and its repetitive nature becomes one of Vantage Point's weakest points.

Vantage Point is merely a decent film. While all the elements have been seen before, together they make for a watchable movie that does have its share of action and is able to keep the audience interested long enough to stick it out. Vantage Point always seems like it is on the edge of being a great film, but never seems to fix the flaws that plague it. The action builds quite slowly and ends with an unoriginal and unsurprising climax that seems obvious the further the film goes on. Vantage Point has enough to warrant a viewing, but once just may be enough.

Rating: C

17 Again

2009-04-20T22:42:00.004-04:00

17 Again-2009

The idea of films in which the main character goes back in time or gets a chance to redo his life over again are usually based on déjà vu. We’ve seen these characters do these events once, now they must go back and do them again for a different effect. The new Zac Efron film 17 Again gives the feeling of déjà vu, but only because we have seen this idea done before and in much better films.

Efron is Mike O’ Donnell, the star of the basketball team who just happens to be a dancer, not much of a stretch from Efron’s High School Musical days. When scouts come to watch him play, he must make a decision to make basketball his life, or give it up to be with his pregnant girlfriend. O’ Donnell drops the basketball mid-game and chooses his wife and daughter. Twenty years later, O’ Donnell, now played by Matthew Perry of “Friends”, hates his life. He has worked at a dead end job for twelve years and still lives in the past, regretting the choice he made. While reminiscing about the good high school times, a peculiar, magical janitor questions O’ Donnell if he truly would like another chance at the past, to which he emphatically says yes. When he sees the janitor later on a bridge, he jumps in after him. When he arises from the water, he ends up being seventeen again and gets a chance to restart his life the way he wanted.

I don’t know what is more unbelievable: the idea that a mystical janitor could turn a grown man back into a teenager or that Matthew Perry would play a grown up Zac Efron. Is this supposed to be an insult to Efron or a compliment to Perry? That being said, Efron is surprising, showing that he does have some comedic chops, especially when paired up with his fake dad/best friend Ned, played by Thomas Lennon, better known as Lieutenant Dangle on “Reno 911!” But Efron does have promise and he is given the chance to showcase that.

The director Burr Steers of Igby Goes Down knows exactly who his audience will be, as Efron put it recently on “Saturday Night Live”, the “tweens”, and he plays right into that, with as many sentimental moments and sweet scenes that makes all of them fall right in love with Efron again.

The problem here is that nothing seems fresh. Every joke, plot point and character here have been seen over and over again. Much better movies like 13 Going on 30, Big and even It’s A Wonderful Life and Back to the Future have dealt with these same issues and in a more enjoyable way. There are enjoyable scenes, such as the young O’ Donnell trying to rekindle the flame with his soon-to-be ex-wife, Leslie Mann of Knocked Up. Plus the cameos of great comedians, such as Jim Gaffigan, Margaret Cho and Melora Hardin as the teaching staff of the high school are nice additions.

17 Again is remarkably, a charming little film. It is tried and true material and it’s hard not to smile at Efron having awkward heart-to-heart discussions with his children, without them knowing who he truly is. It is an endearing story, but it does not have many places to go that have not already been seen.

There is a scene in 17 Again that shows just how much of a retread it is. After nerdy Ned has discovered the young O’Donnell, he sprawls any material he has that covers this type of incident across his kitchen table. The table ends up being covered with stacks and stacks of items. They even go as far as to joke about the mystical janitor who has “Spirit Guide Transformation Magic”, as if they have heard it over and over again. Unfortunately, we’ve heard it all before too.

Rating: C+

Adventureland

2009-04-20T22:37:00.003-04:00

Adventureland-2009

Everyone has had an experience like Adventureland. A place that while in the moment, is your own personal hell, yet once you look back on that time in retrospect, it brings some of your fondest memories. In writer/director Greg Motolla’s follow-up to Superbad, Motolla encapsulates that feeling in a manner in which George Lucas did with American Graffiti or Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused: it’s not so much about what happens, but it is about the experience.

After coming home from graduating college, James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg of The Squid and the Whale) is raring to go with his friend on a trip of a lifetime through Europe. Instead of receiving monetary assistance for his trip, he is given the news that his father has been laid off his job and that instead of traipsing through a different continent, he will have to get a summer job.

With his options for a job limited, he begrudgingly takes a job at the local amusement park Adventureland. He is left to work in the “Games*Games*Games”, as specified by his work uniform, where the quiet and the unenthusiastic work. His job seems monotonous and as co-worker Joel (“Freaks and Geeks” ‘ Martin Starr) tells him, “we are doing the work of pathetic, lazy morons.” But his ruined summer makes an unexpected turn when he meets co-worker Em (Twlight’s Kristen Stewart) and he starts to enjoy himself rather than mourn the summer he could have had.

Motolla gets the feeling of a 1987 summer down with a kitschy yet appealing feel to the park. He makes Brennan awkward yet lovable. Imagine a 20-something Woody Allen. His characters are not the clichés that are expected. Stewart’s Em is a smart, sophisticated character that makes it blatantly obvious why Brennan would be drawn to her. Starr’s Joel is borderline between indie cool and nerd, and always seems like he is stuck in the wrong place. Even Ryan Reynolds, who plays ride repairman Mike, is a predictable character, yet even when you are supposed to hate him, there is something distinctly likable there.

\Motolla’s script is simplistic yet always realistic. There are the embarrassing interactions, the nervous tension and the unusual conversations that make the dialogue feel consistently authentic. Motolla’s directing makes you feel the summer. The overcast summer days and the cool summer nights make the audience feel like just one of the many patrons ready to win a Big Ass Panda.

With Adventureland, there is a great sense of nostalgia and sense of love for the time period. The time period is never meant to felt gimmicky or a jokey version of the 80s, instead a heartfelt admiration is shown for the time of Motolla’s adolescence.

Adventureland takes a surprisingly mature look at this period of transition for Brennan to an adolescent to a man. It’s not wall-to-wall jokes like Superbad, even though there are some great moments from park owners Paulette and Bobby, played by Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader, respectively. But its hilariousness comes from the quiet moments and the moments that feel real. It is Adventureland’s dedication to showing a realistic, but always enjoyable version of the 80s that makes Adventureland a beautiful ride.

Rating: B

I Love You, Man

2009-04-20T22:34:00.000-04:00

I Love You, Man-2009

Film has been ripe with “bromances” for years. Butch Cassidy had Sundance. Riggs had Murtaugh. Even Silent Bob had Jay. But none of those have ever been as forthcoming about it as I Love You, Man.

Paul Rudd is Peter Klaven, a guy who has always had more girl friends then guys. He is much more comfortable with just going to see The Devil Wears Prada and making Frappuchinos for his wife and her friends then playing poker and drinking with the guys. When he proposes to Zooey (Rashida Jones of “The Office”), the question arises: who will be his best man? His brother Robbie (“Saturday Night Live’s” Andy Samberg) suggests he goes on a series of man-dates to find the right guy to ask the big question to.

When all hope is lost and he has not found the perfect guy to accompany him to the aisle, he meets Sydney Fife (Jason Segel from Forgetting Sarah Marshall) at an open house. Sydney is much different then Peter. He believes in being free and letting the “animal” out. The two hit it off and start to hang out, maybe a little too much. Yet as Peter and Sydney get closer, the relationship between Peter and Zooey start to strain.

I Love You, Man is set up just like a typical romantic comedy, yet when it is between two guys, the result is awkwardly hilarious. Writer/director John Hamburg knows awkward after Along Came Polly and the incredibly successful Meet the Parents/Fockers films.

Rudd plays Klaven to ungraceful perfection. When near guys, he stutters over himself, he makes simple handshakes unnatural and creates unusual nicknames. Rudd has never been quite as shaken as he has here.

Segel’s Fife is the yin to Rudd’s yang. Segel usually is the bumbling, confused guy who can’t be smooth no matter how hard he tries. But Segel is laidback and cool as possible. Almost nothing shakes him. He screams at bodybuilders when they complain to him, he goes to open houses for free food and even attempts to fight Lou Ferrigno. Rudd and Segel are true opposites, but here, they attract.

The cast is filled out with comedic greats, both old and new. Jane Lynch and J.K. Simmons as the Klaven parents show just where his weirdness comes from, and a great collection of members from “The State”, with Jo Lo Truglio and Thomas Lennon as potential best men and Jamie Pressly and Jon Favreau as a married couple who flutter between love and hatred for each other. This great ensemble round out a fantastically comedic group.

I Love You, Man focuses on a type of relationship between guys that is rarely seen on screen. Outside of the Apatow comedies like Superbad, the comedy genre is pretty devoid of these relationships. We see a great friendship starting to percolate in a believable and sweet way. It takes the tired romantic comedy clichés and revitalizes it. Near the end, you feel a connection between these two that few other comedies are able to put forth.

Rating: B

Watchmen

2009-04-20T22:29:00.003-04:00

Watchmen-2009

They said that it could not be done. It was said to be unfilmable. For years, some of the top directors have attempted to make Watchmen, easily one of the most celebrated graphic novels of all time, into a feature length film, but to no avail. Then Christopher Nolan opened the floodgates with Batman Begins. Nolan ushered in a new era or superhero film, one where the internal struggles and the decisions that were being made were just as important as the maniacal villain. Over twenty years after Alan Moore's original novel was released, Zack Snyder of all people, the director of 2004's Dawn of the Dead remake and 300, makes his impressive adaptation that will make fanboys drool and make the uninitiated run to the comic store.

Watchmen occurs in an alternative version of 1985 where Richard Nixon is still president and nuclear conflict with Russia still has America's interest piqued with the Doomsday clock that counts down to the start of nuclear war. However what truly changes history is the rise of masked heroes in the 1940s. Yet years later, after the first era of heroes had either died, retired or gone insane, a new group, Watchmen, arrive to pick up where there predecessors left off. These heroes help alter the outcome of events such as Vietnam and the Nixon administration, and ultimately when the people choose "no more masks", the Keene act is passed, which leads to the splintering of hero groups such as Watchmen.

Years later, one of the Watchmen, The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), is thrown out the window of his apartment, leaving the police and the remaining Watchmen to question exactly what happened and if this could be the beginning of an all out attempt to kill masked heroes. Leading the search is Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), with a mask that changes based on how he feels, and his former partner Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson), who tried to continue the legacy that his forerunner started while trying to solve his current midlife crisis. This leads the former Watchmen out of the woodwork, such as Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), the proclaimed smartest man in the world who has become a successful billionaire, Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), who is trying to follow in her mother's footsteps and trying to understand her boyfriend, Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), the only true "super"hero, who is as close to god as man has ever seen. Together, they deal with how far is too far when trying to save the world and just how much will you give up to do the right thing when the stakes are higher then you ever thought.

Watchmen introduces some of the most intriguing heroes ever brought to film. Morgan as The Comedian is essentially the anti-Captain America, where shooting protesters is all just part of the larger cosmic joke to him. Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II take the most stereotypical views of heroes and flips them on their head with the decisions they are forced to make. But the two who really propel the story are Rorschach, who will go to incredible lengths to exact justice and Dr. Manhattan, who chooses to spend his time on Mars rather than worrying about the small quarrels that engulf the people of earth. Haley behind the mask is able to invoke more emotion than most unmasked heroes and as the ink blots move, we can see the gears moving in his head, trying to do what is best for society, regardless of the harm it may cause him. On the other end of that spectrum, Crudup gets Dr. Manhattan down to perfection. He floats through the world as more of a bystander than as an actual participant of it and struggles with the pain of knowing how everything in the world works and the burden of too much knowledge. His existential crisis on Mars makes for some of the most incredible scenes and the impeccable performance by Crudup truly makes Dr. Manhattan a credible character as opposed to just that naked, blue guy.

As a director, Snyder has been hit-or-miss. His Dawn of the Dead remake showed a first time director truly standing up to the task of recreating a classic horror film. But 300 took the original source material and took it too literally, making it a vapid and lifeless adaptation that became more about cool effects and awesome fight scenes than about interesting characters and worthwhile story. Yet from the montage near the beginning of the film, literally setting up what has passed from the beginning of masked heroes to the inception of Watchmen set to the tune of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changing", it is obvious that Watchmen is in the right hands. Snyder actually used the novel's panels as storyboards for the film and with the help of his director of photography Larry Fong, they truly take the look and feel of the novel and put it into motion.

Snyder shows a deep admiration for the original novel and he is impressively able to pack a substantial amount of the novel into a film that clocks in at less than three hours. Unlike with 300, Snyder does not take Watchmen directly from the page to the screen and is able to see that sometimes it does not translate perfectly in such a way. Therefore he does take liberties with the story to make the story more cinematic and arguably improving the story by editing some of the cracks throughout. Snyder biggest fault is that he sometimes does start to fall into old habits, such as the unnecessary slowing down of certain scenes. In fact, the opening slow motion death of The Comedian is so similar to the famous well scene in 300, that all that is missing is the killer proclaiming that "This Is Sparta!"

A good film will bring you into a world and tell you a phenomenal story. A great film will put you into the shoes of the characters in the film and ask you what exactly would you do in such a situation. Watchmen does just that. The seamless script from X2 scribe David Hayter and Alex Tse give this film an episodic feel that goes perfectly with the novel and keeps the main issues and arguments intact.

Watchmen is one of the great films that is able to engulf the viewer just as much as the book from which it is adapted. Snyder and his immaculate cast bring this impossibly deep world into a beautiful film that asks just as many questions as it answers. It does not let the audience sit back and watch flashy sequence after sequence, but rather makes them contemplate questions that most superhero/action films do not even dare try to tackle to make one of the most engrossing and captivating films in recent years.

Rating: A

Zack and Miri Make A Porno

2009-04-20T22:22:00.002-04:00

Zack and Miri Make A Porno-2008

When looking at Kevin Smith’s newest film Zack and Miri Make A Porno, it may look relatively close to a film from the Judd Apatow machine and his cast of freaks & geeks. This is an easy mistake to make. Smith’s trademark of taking an endearing love story and surrounding it with, as Smith calls it, “dick and fart jokes”, lead him through the 90’s with Clerks, Chasing Amy, Mallratsand Dogma. While Smith found a cult following, Apatow took this formula and found almost instant success with The 40-Year Old Virgin. Now Smith’s eighth film takes several of Apatow’s well-known conspirators, such as Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks and makes a film worthy of the success that Smith has so long deserved.

As the name implies, Zack and Miri, played by Rogen and Banks respectively, are two life-long friends who have the idea to make a dirty movie to help fix their financial woes. The amicable couple along with Zack’s coffee-shop co-worker/producer, represented by Craig Robinson of The Office fame, enlists the help of “actors”, such as Smith frequent Jason Mewes as Lester the Molester, Traci Lords as the appropriately-named Bubbles and Katie Morgan, as stripper turned porn star, Stacey. Together, they try to make a movie that will help Zack and Miri be able to have heat and electricity in their apartment. Yet the two friends worry about how the movie will affect their friendship when their looming sex scene together comes and what the repercussions of this physical act could mean for them.

Rogen and Banks are brilliant together and their chemistry is palpable. Rogen, whose recent role in Pineapple Express was disappointing, is in his most heartening and hilarious role since Knocked Up. Banks however has never made a film that is equal parts romantic and comedic, and she has not been this funny since The 40-Year Old Virgin. But her newest work in this film, along with in Oliver Stone’s W. and Definitely, Maybe, proves that she is one of the greatest up-and-coming actresses to watch. Both together on screen, Rogen and Banks are electric, forming one of the greatest on-screen couples this year.

The supporting cast is either hit or miss though. Smith favorites Jeff Anderson and Mewes are fun, as is Robinson, who is brilliantly understated as Delaney. Nevertheless, Traci Lords and Ricky Mabe, another one of the porno’s stars, seem more like one-note characters and not essential in any way, except for a few fleeting laughs.

For years, Smith has been known for his vulgar candor and excellent dialogue, yet lacking when it comes to directing. Since his last film, Clerks 2, and his recent work on the CW’s Reaper, he has started to seem more comfortable directing and it truly works here. While the script still sounds like Smith’s usual banter, he also seems willing to tell the story without words, instead opting for silence or a glance that says much more than he could ever say. Smith’s ability to be experimental with both of these mediums works in his favor.

The combining of the actors made famous by Apatow with the astounding writing or Smith makes for a great synergy. Smith’s highly-controversial film is not gigantic leap in a new direction for him, yet it does seem like growth on his part. Surprisingly, the film is not overly gratuitous and finds the warmth within the characters, making the subject matter seem nonchalant. The film looks and feels like it came from Silent Bob himself, thanks to his favorite cinematographer Dave Klein. With help from his usual suspects, plus Rogen and Banks with their powerhouse performances, and Smith’s new take on direction and usual wit, Zack and Miri Make A Porno is one of the funniest films this year and a great addition to the already fantastic library of Smith’s films.

Rating: A

Baby Mama

2009-04-20T22:16:00.001-04:00

Baby Mama-2008

In what is quite possibly the most anticipated reunion of “Saturday Night Live” alumni since Wayne’s World, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler reunite for the first time since their stint behind the Weekend Update desk in their new comedy Baby Mama.

In Baby Mama, Fey, who also wrote and starred in Mean Girls and the Emmy award winning TV show “30 Rock”, plays Kate Holbrook, the newly promoted vice president at the organic food market Round Earth, who at the age of 37, decides that she wants to have a child. Unfortunately, it turns out that she is unable to conceive and decides to go with a surrogate mother. This unlikely surrogate comes in Angie Ostrowiski, played by Amy Poehler of Blades of Glory and Horton Hears A Who!, a Big Gulp chugging, PlayStation playing woman who after leaving her common law husband, moves in with Holbrook. While Kate tries to help Angie take care of the baby in any way possible, Angie tries to figure out the newly baby-proofed apartment while trying to help Kate loosen up. Together, they try to help and learn from each other while they both try to bring a new life into the world.

Fey and Poehler work well off of each other, much like they did at “Saturday Night Live” and show why they are considered by many the best Weekend Update correspondents since the days of Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin. For the first time, Fey is the star of her own film and does a great job as the lead in a film. Poehler is awkward and unusual, yet she is lovable and easy to see why Fey’s Holbrook would pick her to carry her baby, even with her crazy outer shell. Greg Kinnear of As Good As It Gets andLittle Miss Sunshine plays Rob, Kate’s new love interest. While he is generic as the romantic interest, he still brightens the film, as does Kate’s boss at Round Earth, Barry in an extended cameo by Father of the Bride and Cheaper By the Dozen star Steve Martin. Regular cameos by Romany Falco of The 40 Year Old Virgin and Without A Paddle’s Dax Shephard are fun and do add some laughs as do some surprises by other “Saturday Night Live” cast mates.

First time director Michael McCullers does not try anything special or groundbreaking in his directing, however in his writing, he tries to make a non-generic love story and succeeds and times but fails at others. Baby Mama starts off interestingly enough, yet starts to lag around half way through and never truly recovers. The mixture of comedy and drama becomes uneven and the pacing is not able to stay consistent for too long. Also as a writer for such fast-paced comedies as the Austin Powers series and “Saturday Night Live”, he needs to learn how to blend the comedy and dramatic elements more carefully for a smoother feel.

Baby Mama tries to make an original take on the romantic comedy genre by adding an unusual premise, but unlike recent pregnancy comedies like Knocked Up and Juno, it does not work quite as well. The great comedic talents that flood the film makes it enjoyable to watch with some laugh out loud moments, but it just cannot sustain throughout. Baby Mama is interesting enough, it just feels a bit premature.

Rating: C+

Smart People

2009-04-20T22:14:00.003-04:00

Smart People-2008

It seems like nowadays, one of the most popular trends in films today is to tell stories of unlikable losers who find love and meaning while struggling through their everyday life. Recent films like The Savages and The Squid and the Whale seem to either hit or miss with this trend. With the release of Smart People, there is another film that goes for this and thankfully for the most part, it works.

Dennis Quaid, from Vantage Point and In Good Company plays the self-absorbed, widower professor Lawrence Wetherhold who after suffering a seizure, is not able to drive for six months. His accident brings around unexpected surprises with a new love interest in the form of his doctor and former student, Janet Hartigan, played by Sarah Jessica Parker of TV’s Sex and the City andThe Family Stone, and his adopted-brother, chauffeur Chuck, played to perfection by Sideways and Spiderman 3’s Thomas Haden Church. Smart People deals with these new constant people in his life interacting with him and his family, which also includes his genius, mental equal daughter, Vanessa, as done by Ellen Page of Hard Candy and last year’s indie hit Juno, and his distant student son James, acted by A History of Violence’s Ashton Holmes. In this dysfunctional yet intelligent family, they start to realize that maybe just being smart will not cut it.

Quaid and Page work well off of each other as the smarter-then-thou father-daugher duo. Quaid is almost like a pseudo-Jack Nicholson or Jeff Daniels in The Squid and the Whale type that just plays along the lines of being despicable and lovable. Page once again shows that at such a young age, she is able to reach an acting level that most adults are never able to achieve. Parker is very likable as the woman trying to soften Lawrence up and Parker has an incredible softness that usually does not show in most of her performances. However, the real star is Church, who ties the film together and steals every scene. His relationships between Quaid and especially with Page, make for some of the sweetest moments in the film as he tries to bring heart into the Wetherhold’s broken home. His character is very reminiscent of his Jack character in Sideways, except much more amiable and without the sleeze ball attitude. These deep character interactions and relationships are what make Smart People work.

First time director Noam Murro and first time screenwriter Mark Poirier make the characters in Smart People, well, smart. Yet some of their decisions are a bit questionable. The film sometimes goes too far to prove that Lawrence is still a broken man from losing his wife and goes to metaphoric lengths to prove this that do not necessarily work. Besides this though, Murro and Poirier make a film that feels like a combination of Wonder Boys and As Good As It Gets made by Alexander Payne.

Murro brings together an insanely talented cast that relishes in these characters and brings out all the best parts of the actors. The film sometimes struggles and seems to almost pull out its ending as an almost afterthought, but Smart People has enough wit and fun to make it an enjoyable, albeit flawed film.

Rating: B-

Shine A Light

2009-04-20T22:09:00.003-04:00

Shine A Light-2008

The Rolling Stones are arguably the world’s greatest band. Martin Scorsese in arguably the world’s greatest director. Now, withShine A Light, the audience is shown the inner workings of these two legends in their fields.

Over the years, Scorsese has not hidden his love for The Rolling Stones. In fact, he has featured their music in his films Casino, Mean Streets, Goodfellas and The Departed. So Scorsese works perfectly as documenter for a benefit concert that The Stones put on at the Beacon Theater during their A Bigger Bang tour in 2006. The film starts with Scorsese stressing out about how he does not know the set list and how he is not sure how to handle this. But even though Scorsese only receives the set list seconds before the curtain rises, he shows a steady hand that seems to almost control the direction of the concert. When the concert starts, it starts off with a “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, and Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood take the stage and instantly, they own the audience. Scorsese intertwines the various songs with stock footage that shows the young Stones. These clips show the naiveté of the young Stones and how they never expected success this big; when a young Mick Jagger is interviewed after two years of success and is asked how much longer he thinks they will be doing this, he comments, “I think we’ve got another good year in us.” However when it comes to performing, Shine A Light shows that The Stones have only gotten better with age.

The unusually small venue for the show makes the concert an intimate affair for both the band and the audience. But The Stones, with the help of Scorsese, are able to draw in the audience in the movie theater just as much as the concert audience. Each song builds and builds and the excitement never dies down. Cameos from Jack White and Christina Aguilera help keep the excitement, but everyone bows down to the real stars of the show. But Buddy Guy’s performance with The Stones on the Muddy Water’s song “Champagne & Reefer” is quite possible the best performance of the night. Guy and Richards start a battle of the guitars as they riff off each other, equally impressed by the other, until Richards eventually gives his guitar to Guy, a sign of who is the true winner. The night concludes with three of the bands strongest songs: “Start Me Up”, “Brown Sugar” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”. Even though they save some of their best for last, each song performed seems like a hit with the audience.

Scorsese shows an immense respect for The Rolling Stones, much like he did with The Band in The Last Waltz and in No Direction Home with Bob Dylan. He shows through performance and flashback The Stones’ phenomenal career over the years and that they are not even close to stopping. Shine A Light shows that the Rolling Stones are not just band mates, they are friends, they are brothers, they are legends. Scorsese engages fans and non-fans alike and makes a beautifully introspective look at The Stones’ lives. Shine A Light is not just fun, in fact it’s a gas.

Rating: A-