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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

BYOB Monday

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122 Responses to “BYOB Monday”

  1. AdamL says:

    So I know this came out a while ago, but just walked out of The Muppets (as in left after an hour) and completely baffled by the good reviews. I walk out of a fair few films – maybe 10% of everything I see – but I think this is the first time I’ve walked out of a film getting 96% on rottentomatoes. I mean seriously? 96%? Am I practically the only one that noticed it was absolute dreck?

  2. Chris says:

    NO, you’re not. I don’t think it’s dreck but I agree that it’s not very good. The Muppets have a huge amount of goodwill, though.

  3. jesse says:

    Wow. Yeah, kinda sounds like crazytalk to me, Adam ‘n Chris. First, in the interest of fairness, it’s worth pointing out that 96% doesn’t actually make it the most wildly positively reviewed movie of the year; in this case, I think it was a whole lot of three-star reviews, moreso than a ton of four-star reviews.

    But on the other hand, if I had reviewed it, and for a publication that uses that stuff, I probably would’ve gone 3.5 stars/8 out of 10/etc. It was on my best of the year list and was one of the most purely enjoyable movies I’ve seen in years. I laughed a lot, and found the first section of it almost Simpsons-y in number and quality of jokes (a little softer, of course, than The Simpsons, but still).

    There is some spotty storytelling in it, and a little bit of a weird focus thing where the first 30-40 minutes are about Segel and the new Walter character, and then it sort of shifts and is more about Kermit and Piggy… but I didn’t really mind as I liked all of those characters a lot. I just wish it had been five or ten minutes longer; it felt cut down.

    But: Great jokes. Great new songs and great Muppet covers of pre-existing songs. A lot of clever but not too insistent nods to the old Muppet movies. I had a great time. I will probably buy the Blu-Ray straight away, which I rarely do (Disney makes it annoyingly easy since their stuff rarely turns up used anywhere, or even deeply discounted).

    Also, I’m sorry, but unless a movie is really causing you pain or irritation, walking out is pretty silly. And if you were pained or irritated by that movie, I don’t know what to tell ya.

  4. JS Partisan says:

    Yeah I agree with Don on this one. You are alone in your condemnation of this ridiculously awesome movie. Dreck? Really? Someone needs their whimsy checked.

  5. Tuck Pendelton says:

    Dreck is pretty harsh. All over the map? Sure. Uneven? you bet. But there were some nice jokes and some fun musical numbers. The villain storyline is clearly the weak link, and the strange cameos. NPH, Krasinski, Galifiankis make sense. But Judd Hirsh? James Carville?

    The Grammy’s got bigger rating this year than the oscars last year. Whitney’s death and Adele’s popularity contributed to that. The oscar’s will have low ratings too. Despite Crystal’s star power for the older crowd. People watch to see the movies they love win. And no one really loved that many movies this year.

  6. JS Partisan says:

    Tuck, they didn’t love most of the nominated movies but they are going to see the Descendants like crazy. Nevertheless, what in the hell happened to the Academy that gave Oscars to Forrest Gump and Return of the King? Seriously, where did their populous touch? It’s so weird that in the past you can at least see the year’s popular movies getting nominated but now, these folks as a collective body do not even try to throw their audience a bone.

  7. Chris says:

    Also, among the celeb appearances, Chris Cooper is embarrassingly bad in “Muppets.”

  8. Don R. Lewis says:

    I’m fine if you don’t “like” THE MUPPETS (although I find that kind of silly too as it’s completely charming) but “dreck” and actually walking out of the film just seems over the top. There’ nothing offensive enough in that film, story or filmmaking to force one to “walk out” unless you hate the Muppets and always have. In which case, why see the movie.

    In fact, I dare to call bullshit on Adam and Chris. Unless you had a preconceived dislike of The Muppets, there’s no freeking way it’s dreck or worthy of a walk out.

  9. Foamy Squirrel says:

    “populous”

    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

    /Inigo

  10. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    Foamy sometimes JS sounds like Oswald Bates from In Living Color… “we must internalize the ‘flatulation’ of the matter by transmitting the effervescence of the ‘Indianisian’ proximity in order to further segregate the crux of my venereal infection”

  11. yancyskancy says:

    Why wouldn’t the Grammys get bigger ratings than the Oscars? It’s basically a concert, with big stars performing big hits, and occasionally a brief interruption to hand out an award. If you don’t like a certain performer, you grab a bite, or hit the john, or channel surf for two minutes (or just forward through it, if you’ve got it recorded).

  12. JS Partisan says:

    Boam, you are a woman who acts like a man with a nick that insults a dead man. Please, do us all a favor, stop. Just stop and since you are a white woman, what you have posted above becomes rather insensitive when you reference it.

    FS, you obviously ignored the time Joe and I had this discussion. It has an definition that can also me throngs of people as in you know, the throngs of people who see movies?

    Yancy, because the Grammy’s suck. They usually give the key awards to crap acts or to older people (Jethro Tull beating Metallica and Steely Dan beating Radiohead), and most of the time they are incredibly slow and tedious.

    It’s like watching a really bad concert but apparently they have figured out what to give the people, and that’s the MTV music awards. If those awards mattered.

  13. Chucky says:

    @yancyskancy: This year’s Grammy telecast went through the roof, thanks to a has-been who bit the dust less than 36 hours before showtime.

  14. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    Oswald I have explained my nick in the past and that it doesn’t insult Boam at all. I do acknowledge comprehension isn’t your strong suit Mr Bates, which I guess is why my humorous post suddenly becomes insensitive if I was a white woman!?!!

    ” It has an definition that can also me throngs of people as in you know, the throngs of people who see movies?”

    Hey Sanj are you available for english lessons? I have a pupil for you. (Sanj I love ya buddy.. just ribbin ya)

  15. JS Partisan says:

    Lady, you are trying so hard to insult me. The operative word being TRYING, but you are a fucking poseur. So, it doesn’t matter. It’s nice that you think referring to me as murderers is funny. You at least went with one real and one fictitious, but that doesn’t make you any less of a fucking asshole. People give me shit, Leah shit, Christian shit, and Lex shit. When they should be giving you all sorts of shit for that fucking nick you have and for not having the balls to post as your gender, while at the same time bashing Leah in the most sexist of ways. What a fucking prize you are.

    Seriously, the next time you give anyone shit, look in the fucking mirror, and realize you should keep your inane fucking thoughts to yourself or share them with whomever saddled up with you. I am sure they care more about your insensitive bullshit then any of us will. Piss off.

  16. yancyskancy says:

    JS: To paraphrase previous Grammy winner Tina Turner, what’s suck got to do with it? šŸ™‚ I’m just saying that fans of popular music are more likely to find something to their liking on the Grammys than are fans of popular movies watching the Oscars. Seems like you’d agree with that.

    Chucky: Not sure how morbid fascination compels people to tune in for clips of Whitney performances and tributes to her, both spoken and sung. Your point would make a bit more sense if the show promised footage of her death, or maybe the autopsy. Those who truly considered her a has-been probably found a different way to spend three and a half hours.

  17. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    ” Itā€™s nice that you think referring to me as murderers is funny”

    Somewhere a space station rotates backwards, then falls and turns into a femur.

  18. JS Partisan says:

    Yancy, the Grammy’s for many years did not honor the most popular music. They did what I stated above and that turned people off of the show. They at least now throw bones to the people with popular choices, which is more then AMPAS does, but it’s still not as good a show as it can be. They also do not nominate or reward the best albums from the year like they should.

    If they could find the indie common ground the Oscar’s appreciates, while the Oscar’s could find the Grammy’s celebration of the popular songs/albums (in the Academy’s case movies) that matter to people, then both shows would be much better than they are right now.

    Lady man, no one gives a shit. Seriously, piss off.

  19. AdamL says:

    I have no preconceived dislike of the Muppets. In fact I think it might be the only Muppet thing I’ve ever seen. Haven’t actively avoided watching them and given the reviews for this one, I genuinely expected to like it.

    I just found the writing just so lazy at times – I mean it’s fine self-referencing the hackneyed plot if you’re being ironic and the plot is actually pretty clever, but this was just so ABC I would think even 10 years olds might have groaned.

    It also made no sense. There’s this disused Muppet theatre that clearly no-one cares about since they’ve let it fall into complete disrepair but as soon as someone wants to use the long since abandoned space, they decide they want to save it?! I’m not expecting something David Lynchian but come on, have some sort of interesting plot, or a novel idea. This was lazy.

    I also thought the jokes were lame, the acting awful (by Adams and Segal that is) and after an hour I just gave up.

    And I can’t subscribe to this school of thought on walking out:

    “…unless a movie is really causing you pain or irritation, walking out is pretty silly.”

    I wasn’t pained or irrtated but I was very bored and that’s enough. If you’re not enjoying a film an hour in then it’s clearly a lost cause so I see no point in gutting it out. No-one’s going to be offended (I wouldn’t do it in a play, although I might bail at the interval) and I can surely find something better to do with my time than spend another 60 minutes watching something I’m not enjoying.

    Didn’t hate it at all, just very disappointed and bemused by the 96%, which is higher than The Descendants, Moneyball, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Drive…

    (I take Jesse’s point about it probably representing lots of 3 star reviews rather than all out raves though)

  20. mitchtaylor says:

    Never thought anyone would hold a grudge that Dark Knight wasn’t nominated for so long.

  21. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    AdamL at first I found your line about walking out of 1 in 10 films kind of shocking but I guess in reality you do what the rest of us bozos secretly want to do but never do. Like sticking with a shit novel that you know reeks. So I admire your ability to do it but I prefer my masochistic bent for unknown reasons.

    I think your take on The Muppets is pretty fair if you approach it from a strictly cold and non romanticized eye towards proceedings. There’s such an incredible amount of goodwill associated that I think the film coasts on that generosity a lot. However the inherent charm of the piece, no matter how awkward the storytelling is, wins people over in the end. I think the film has such a strong opening 30 but then seems to turn into one of those meandering 70s movies with different characters and subplots popping up everywhere. It leaves people with a smile ergo good feelings and I guess that goes a long way these days.

  22. bulldog68 says:

    Re The Oscar Ratings, I have this opinion based on absolutely no data, but just a pure gut feeling that the Academy lost a lot of potential viewers when they didn’t at least nominate Dark Night for Best Picture. I still struggle to find five better movies from 2008.

    The nominees that year were the eventual winner No Country for Old Men, which I loved, Juno(better than TDK, no fucking way), Atonement (filling the mandatory British spot), Michael Clayton ( A solid entry with a script that was made better by a superb cast.) And There Will be Blood (overrated)

    I know its not a popularity contest, but when your front runner is a black and white throwback to the silent era, say goodbye to millions of viewers.

    When you go with Extremely Close as your surprise nominee, and leave out what could have been a still respectable decision in Harry Potter, or even a nom for Alan Rickman, you get more and more people deciding that you are less and less relevant.

  23. anghus says:

    AdamL,

    I liked the Muppets but i have to tell you, i can’t argue with you on some of the acting. Amy Adams was fucking painful. Her solo song “Party of me” was the most excruciating four minutes of film i’ve seen in ages.

    It’s an imperfect film, but i liked so many different pieces of it. Chris Cooper rapping was worth the price of admission.

  24. JS Partisan says:

    Yeah I disagree totally with the Amy Adams thing but you know, that’s par for the course. Funny how those things work out.

  25. LexG says:

    Another hot night on the Cold Blog, eh? Six hours without a workable post?

    ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

    Come on guys, I need a venue to rant about how horny I am… if nobody’s around to reply, what’s the point?

  26. sanj says:

    watched three musketeers 2011 …

    the only good new is that there are like 4 actors i haven’t heard of .. a few good action scenes ..

    but logic in this movie hurts my head … like with the airships.

    some actors from this movie should have gotten a dp30 out of it …

    valentine with Mila Kunis . photoshop at its best.

    http://dailybooth.com/muchacho/23435991

  27. sanj says:

    picture of Tina Majorino gets a LOOK AT HER!!! 200 comments …

    – lots of people on the internet are a lot like LexG
    with some crazy comments

    http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/pozn9/speaking_of_deb_from_napoleon_dynamite/

  28. Edward says:

    The Oscars are not about throwing the audience a bone. They are supposed to be about honoring the “best” (always a subjective term) films for the year, which they usually get “wrong” (another subjective term).

  29. sanj says:

    when you get oscar nominated everything gets
    way more serious – DP did a dp/30 with Michelle Williams and that was hard to watch … all super serious questions ..same thing with Gary Oldman and Shame dp/30 …super serious .

    so who wins ? Adam Sandler..he ain’t doing any dp/30 ever
    cause he’s too famous . he don’t answer serious questions.

    right now my favorite dp/30 is Leslye Headland – shes funny and talks about how she likes back to the future movies … DP didn’t screw up this interview. so go watch that.

    a lot of people will finally watch these dp/30 right after oscars are over ..they’ll figure out what the hype is about. when thousands start watching how does DP cash in ?

  30. cadavra says:

    Lex, it’s nothing personal, but at 2:AM Pacific time and 5:AM Eastern time, most of us are asleep. šŸ™

  31. LexG says:

    Anyone else seen this JUST FOR MEN commercial where a BABY has a dyed GOATEE and goes around picking up MODELS to GET LAID?

    How HOW do you guys see something like that and not want to kill yourself? A BABY WITH A DYED BEARD picking up women, and I’m not even allowed to LEAVE THE HOUSE.

  32. hcat says:

    Why? did they open a school nearby?

  33. storymark says:

    When did “afraid to” become “not allowed”?

  34. LexG says:

    I am not free to date at will… Someone in-lawish/ex-ish lives across the way from me who monitors my social life, and there are various financial reasons why years on I am an asexual kept man. Basically imagine if you were financially tied to an ex and their family for business and personal reasons, and had to maintain the appearance of a guy not dating or getting laid.

  35. sanj says:

    watched Chronicle 2012 ….nice movie. great compupter graphics near the end.

    this could have been big if they saved for the summer.

  36. sanj says:

    The Interrupters dccumentary is on frontline on pbs for free this week …

  37. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    There’s your spec script sale right there Lex. Jason Bateman as you. Lock it in.

    “Basically imagine if you were financially tied to an ex and their family for business and personal reasons, and had to maintain the appearance of a guy not dating or getting laid.”

  38. chris says:

    Don R Lewis, I did not use the word “Dreck” or say I walked out of the Muppets. I’m a fan of the Muppets. I just don’t think the movie is good.

  39. Joe Straatmann says:

    That Just for Men ad seriously upsets me, but for different reasons. They’re the same reasons I want to punch the people who took a look at the special effects in Baby Geniuses and thought they looked good and not ungodly creepy.

  40. JS Partisan says:

    Okay… it’s too fucking dead in here. Seriously.

  41. LexG says:

    SERIOUSLY, when 4-5 hours at a time go by SANS COMMENT, and Poland goes to WHOLE FILM FESTIVALS about which he NEVER WRITES A WORD… the COLD BLOG is deeeeeeeeeeeeeead. Sanj is the only one even trying lately.

    DP, I KNOW you’re ALL about this DP/30 shit, which MUST make you money somehow, but really… kill the blog dead. It is OVER, it is DEAD, it is BORING, it is POINTLESS… Come ON, the only thing on the BLOG all week that got so much as a rise was some dork saying they didn’t like THE MUPPETS– a four-month old movie discussed in a BYOB.

    I know DP won’t acknowledge the competition, but doesn’t Nikki get 30 COMMENTS on EVERY THREAD? Doesn’t Wells get dozens of hits on every entry? Even Glenn Kenny’s limp dick blog gets more comments on any given thread… and he’s usually talking about shit from A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

    THE BLOG IS OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVER.

  42. hcat says:

    Jesus Bulldog, I know Dark Knight still has legions of fans, but for you to call the academy out of touch for not awarding the best picture Oscar to Batman 5 months before its premiere seems a little unreasonable.

    Even in its year there were a some better films that got overlooked, such as no acting or directing noms for Lives of Others, and nothing for Elegy (the real best film of that year).

    And even if it were competing with the films you mention, with the exception of Clayton each of those get better with repeated viewings while after the first visceral thrill of seeing Dark Knight more and more of the flaws become apparent. Holding a grudge about the Dark Knight snub and championing Potter for an Oscar nom…it might be better if you followed the Nickelodeon movie awards than the Oscars.

  43. sanj says:

    Ahley Tisdale from the high school movies
    has 6 million followers on twitter ..

    ahh…the power of movies / tv ..

    no dp/30 yet but shes got her fans

    http://twitter.com/#!/ashleytisdale

  44. sanj says:

    there’s a 80 inch sharp lcd tv …

    now’s a great time for best buy to turn itself to a theatre chain ..

    people will watch dvd’s and the latest movies if the price is low enough – 3 bucks or less.

    best buy would have 1000 blurays inside their stores they could show ..

    best buy theatres could beat netlix and regular theatres at the same time for price and value .

    best buy could show the vow and one for the money for 5 bucks .. which is probably all their worth ..
    or waste 12 bucks each at any normal theatre. ..

    would movie critics go to best buy to watch movies ?

  45. yancyskancy says:

    Yeah, you gotta be careful when Googling specific Oscar years — the 2008 ceremony awarded films from 2007.

    The nominees for 2008 were SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (winner), THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, FROST/NIXON, MILK and THE READER. You don’t have to be a big DARK KNIGHT fanboy to think it deserved a nod over some of those.

  46. sanj says:

    eastbound and down is back this weekend ..

    i like the series – the characters all have stories ..

    but where is the hype for this ? why isn’t hbo spending
    millions promoting this ?

  47. LexG says:

    Season 2 of Eastbound was AWFUL.

  48. LexG says:

    I want someone to explain to me what STUDIO GHIBLI is, why anyone has ever heard of this before, and WTF is this ARRIETY THING?

    Every time I see a commercial, it’s so depressing I want to kill myself. That’s not even my usual fuck-cartoons rant, I’m saying it looks SO MELANCHOLY and DOWNCAST and LOW-RENT and DEPRESSING, it puts me in an actual depressed mood just seeing the spots for it, like I feel sad. It looks upsetting and I feel sorry or something.

    Is this is that MIYAZAKI dude people always talk about? But didn’t he die? Isn’t he JAPANESE? GHIBLI doesn’t sound Japanese. Where is everyone hearing about STUDIO GHIBLI?

    This thing is going to do SO badly here, I again feel kind of sad about it. It looks melancholy and unhappy.

  49. sanj says:

    this arriety thing – this week there have been
    like 100 tv ads everywhere on every channel .

    the animation doesn’t look pixar like . so everybody will skip this ..

    season 2 of eastbound – they went to Mexico – i liked it – they had lot of new actors from there .

    looks like season 3 is the final season.

    this place needs banner ads for new tv shows ..

    war horse / the help banner ads = old stuff by now .

    also Danny McBride too famous for a dp/30 . i would
    like to see him yell at DP the entire time .

    DP is just not into comedy … the biggest names of comedy don’t do dp/30’s . DP loves small indie movies
    with characters and stuff.

    so no Sacha Baron Cohen for The Dictator – not worthy for a dp/30 but it’ll probably make millions
    anyways.

  50. Krillian says:

    I just got rid of HBO. I’ll pick it up for a month during the final month of Game of Thrones so I can record the whole season and watch it.

    I’m glad they brought back The Life & Times of Tim. Such an absurdist show.

    Also, I just saw Woman in Black earlier this week, and it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t too good either. Too many cheap jump-scares, not enough to hold the story together as to what motivates the ghost, and the ending fizzles. Loved seeing Ciaran Hinds in a big role, loved the sets and designs, etc., but I actually found Insidious more satisfying.

  51. LexG says:

    Krillian, or anyone re: Woman in Black, and consider this a pretty big SPOILER

    SPOILER

    SPOILER

    Wouldn’t the first kid have died like TWO DECADES AGO? Why was it still somewhat in child form when Radcliffe digs it out of the muck? Shouldn’t the body have been decomposed or entirely evaporated? Instead he drags out this murky dead body like it happened the previous day.

    END SPOILER.

  52. Paul D/Stella says:

    That’s a little disconcerting because I found Insidious to be laughably stupid, and I have a pretty high tolerance for the genre. The Innkeepers is vastly superior. James Wan is a hack.

  53. hcat says:

    I was wasting time watching some trailers and I think there’s going to be a lot of WTF expressions on peoples faces when Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is attached to This Means War. Wouldn’t Chronicle have been a better match to launch that campaign on?

    And it is really a sign of an unrelenting crush when an upcoming movie has DeNiro, Dano, and Moore and all I can think of is Thirlby, Thirlby, Thirlby.

  54. sanj says:

    hey LexG – you know that blond chick from Chronicle ..does she get a LOOK AT HER!!! …she didn’t do anything that cool in the movie ..

    also the grey is finally coming to a theatre near me ..so i might go .

    all these chick flicks – one for the money – the vow – all tv movies from the looks of the trailer + reviews .
    these actresses think they are making great movies but they aren’t …and regular people just won’t tell them
    they suck cause LOOK AT RACHEL MCADAMS!!! she’s hot.

    you know what would totally be fun – if Rachel McAdams took her fans to see Shame with her …

  55. Paul D/Stella says:

    Abe Lincoln looks bonkers. I laughed a lot watching that trailer. Not sure if that’s intentional. I remember liking Another Bullshit Night in Suck City. Being Flynn is a terrible title.

  56. LexG says:

    “Another Bullshit Night in Suck City” is an EMBARRASSING title, really stupid (the “suck city” part in particular, it just reminds me of like 1978 when someone would say “suck eggs” or something)… If one more dude opines they should’ve stuck with that title for the movie… YEAH, hombre, and they should have penetration fucking in PG movies. It’s not gonna happen. You’re not gonna have BULLSHIT in the title of a movie. PLEASE.

  57. Paul D/Stella says:

    I don’t think they should have used the book’s title. Just saying Being Flynn is equally lame.

  58. jesse says:

    Another Bullshit Night in Suck City is an EXCELLENT title, and obviously you can’t call a movie that, but I wouldn’t just say Being Flynn is “equally lame.” I would say it’s approximately one thousand times more lame. I cannot think of a lamer title unless they were to just call it ON HOW LIFE IS ((c) Macy Gray). Even that might actually be better than Being Flynn. You can easily nix the bullshit part and still get an acceptable title: Another Night in Suck City, or even just Another Night if you have to go super-bland. Or literally anything else besides the “Verbing” construction, which is a good idea about once every 60 times it’s used.

  59. Paul D/Stella says:

    And wasn’t it called Another Night in Suck City before Being Flynn?

  60. storymark says:

    Knowing absolutely nothing about the movie – “Another Bullshit Night in Suck City” piques my interest. “Being Flynn” sounds dull as hell.

  61. LexG says:

    It should be called Another Focus Feature With Low Contrast Sheen and Powder Blue Grain.

    Every studio has the SAME LOOK to ALL their movies… I must have, as Jeff McDouche once said, some special CAT EYES where I can distinguish it, but EVERY Focus movie has that look.

  62. jesse says:

    Yeah, it actually filmed some stuff in my neighborhood and the signs up were for ANOTHER NIGHT — but those signs often shorten titles so I wasn’t sure what they were going with. Then saw the trailer and it turns out they went BEING FLYNN. Why not just call it THAT’S MY BOY? Oh, wait, Sandler and company are using that one to replace the perfectly fine title I HATE YOU, DAD.

  63. hcat says:

    While not a fan of Sandler I Hate You Dad is an eye-catching title. That’s My Boy sounds like a sitcom that would have been on after Happy Days.

  64. LexG says:

    I LOVE CHLOE MORETZ
    I LOVE CHLOE MORETZ
    I LOVE CHLOE MORETZ

  65. Paul D/Stella says:

    Her best performance by far is in Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

  66. jesse says:

    Lex, I like you, you’re funny and you know a shitload of stuff about movies and I like a lot of your weird obsessions.

    But the Chloe Mortez thing is creepy.

  67. hcat says:

    Rented Texas Killing Fields a few weeks ago and Moretz was pretty good in it. Overall decent movie but I still think they could have done something better with the cast they had.

    My favorite Moretz role so far has been her little guest spot on 30 Rock. Thought she was hilarious, if they bring her back I might actually check out an episode this season.

  68. LexG says:

    She is CUTE and seems COOL.

    I wish 38 YEAR OLD WOMEN could look and act more like CHLOE… Instead of some pouty RAY OF SUNSHINE, guys my age have to date broken-down old single moms.

    It isn’t fair. What did THE GREAT MAN (Woody Allen) once say?

  69. LexG says:

    waitwaitwaitwait CHLOE was on 30 ROCK????

    THE NEW KRISTEN STEWART.

  70. jesse says:

    She was funny on 30 Rock, I’ll grant you that (and this season has been largely decent).

    Generally I find her kind of child-actory and a little stilted/cutesy. Maybe that’s why Lex’s obsession creeps me out a little more; she seems like SUCH a kid to me. I’m personally not much into Dakota Fanning, and while it was certainly creepy to be all about her when she was like, fourteen, her persona was very much Little Adult, so I can get it while finding it skeazy.

    Moretz, she just seems like a lucky kid.

  71. LexG says:

    I wish Elle and Chloe would come over to my apartment and play video games with their feet ALL over my cushions and table.

  72. JKill says:

    “Another Bullshit Night in Suck City” is a great book. I don’t like the new title either, but from the trailer, it looks like it has potential as a film. I’m optimistic.

    ROUND-UP OF STUFF I’VE SEEN RECENTLY

    SAFE HOUSE: I liked this more than most around here and other places, apparently. It’s fairly rote, I guess, but Washington and Reynolds are fantastic in it, and I thought it had very strong action direction. I enjoyed it a good deal. It’s refreshing to see a traditional, non-cgi heavy action film too. (Sadly, I will miss CONTRABAND in theaters because the approx. 1,000 films that have been released in the past three or four weeks have already pushed it out in my area.)

    THE INNKEEPERS: I think this is every bit as great as West’s HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, just in a different way and in a different key. It’s probably a more accessible movie, and I really responded to how it’s a low key Jarmusch-esq comedy that builds to a pretty damn scary horror film. Very charming and fun.

  73. jesse says:

    JKill, RE: SAFE HOUSE, I am usually all about those types of Denzel movies (which is just to say Denzel movies), and Washington is really good in it, but two quibbles: Reynodls is “fantastic”? I would’ve gone with “adequate.” Even Washington is more movie-star charming than giving a really great performance. And “very strong” action direction? You didn’t find it all a bit smash-and-grab camera-wobbly with Bourne-ish cuts? Some of it (much of it) looked cool in that Tony Scott/Paul Greengrass offspring sort of way, but in terms of action filmmaking where you can really tell what’s going on? I’m not so sure. And I like fast cutting! I don’t always have a problem with handheld cameras or crazy fast cutting… this was just such a generic imitation of guys who do it better, like Tony Scott. At least Tony Scott uses his swirling helicopter cam for establishing shots.

    Regarding The Innkeepers, big yes on the low-key comedy and Sara Paxton and Pat Healy are (I’ll use this word now) fantastic in it. But I didn’t find it as actually-creepy as House of the Devil. I enjoyed them both a lot, and loved the characters in Innkeepers so much that I didn’t care much about not being that scared, but I felt like the movie built so slowly (which I do like) that when it ended, it felt like at that rate, it would’ve needed another 20 or 30 minutes to reach a real sustained note of creepiness.

    I tried to go to a This Means War sneak preview last night, but our theater botched it — or rather, the print provider, I guess, botched it by not giving the proper unlock code for the digital print, so they had us wait for half an hour, then gave everyone refunds and re-admit tickets. So I don’t get to write about anything this weekend (I assume Ghost Rider 2 isn’t screening? In any case, I’d rather go see that with friends anyway).

  74. hcat says:

    Here’s a theme for lex:

    Wouldn’t it be nice if I weren’t older
    Then i wouldn’t have to watch from afar
    I could walk right there beside you
    instead of keeping back a hundred yards

    We could cuddle and you wouldn’t notice
    my balding, gut or halitosis

    O wouldn’t it be niiice.

  75. Paul D/Stella says:

    Ghost Rider 2 is screening tomorrow night. 21 Jump Street is screening tonight. Act of Valor screened a week or two ago and has more screenings lined up. Anyone see it?

  76. JKill says:

    Jesse, I found Reynolds (and Denzel, for that matter) surprisingly soulful and engaged and dedicated, considering the type of film. In my opinion, Reynolds pretty expertly pulled off his arc throughout the film, and it’s no easy feat playing opposite Denzel. I actually was impressed with how easy to follow the action was, and I’m on the fence, depending on the filmmaker, when it comes to the ultra-quick cutting action styles.

    I think I was creeped out by THE INNKEEPERS, mainly, because I liked those two characters so much and didn’t want harm to befall them. I agree that it’s not as ominous or sinister as HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, which had a kind of increasingly rancid vibe to it. But I think the fact that this new one was mostly sweet made me pretty distressed and unnerved.

  77. yancyskancy says:

    THAT’S MY BOY sounds like the title of a 1951 Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin film, which it is.

    Maybe it’s just me, but Chloe Moretz already looks about 35 in some shots, which makes me surprised she’s on Lex’s list.

    The Hollywood Reporter’s reviewer says THIS MEANS WAR is an early contender for worst film of the year. Tomatometer’s at 26% so far. Sheesh.

  78. sanj says:

    watched some pawn stars on history channel ..

    about people selling historic stuff to get money.

    some dude sold a les paul guitar for 90,000 bucks ..

    my problem is even if there is real video of these items being sold – there is no video…

    so i have to go to youtube and check out music by les paul…

    they won’t show even a bssic 30 second of any historic video…

    so this series just drives people to youtube …even
    if history channel has access to video clips .

    history channel don’t really want people to learn about history .

    also it takes like 30-40 years for anything to be worth
    something big .

    so in 40 years somebody will find the dp/30’s and sell them for thousands of bucks ..

    in 40 years DP will just end up being the president of sonyfoxwarnerbros movie studio …so he won’t care about the dp/30’s .

  79. LexG says:

    Remember when Moretzy did the Taxi Driver pics? Yeah.

    And I’m SURE none of her 8 million twitter followers are adult men. Heh, fucking Wells is always complaining about her silly tweets, so that cracks me up for some reason that he apparently “follows” her.

  80. LexG says:

    SAFE HOUSE POWER BEST VISUAL STYLE IN THE HISTORY OF CINEMA.

    Anyone seen Espinoza’s EASY MONEY (not the Rodney movie)? Curious to check it out, and see if he’s FULL GREENGRASS in that, too, or if he adopted this look to give Uni what it generally expects their action movies look like.

    Also I see the leading man is the suddenly ubiquitous awesome wigger cop male lead on THE KILLING, who’s actually Swedish but you’d NEVER know it from the TV show… Suddenly that guy is EVERYWHERE (Dragon Tattoo, Darkest Hour)… When he pops up for that BOURNE RIPOFF FIGHT at the end of THE HOUSE, I figured it was just him getting more plumb gigs off of his tv show… Didn’t realize he was the director’s personal Mifune.

  81. cadavra says:

    Lex, Studio Ghibli is like jazz. If you have to have it explained to you, you’ll never understand it.

    (Though in fairness, ARRIETTY is much better than the spots would make it appear. And good news for L.A. fans: the Landmark will be running a subtitled print twice a day.)

  82. LexG says:

    ARRIETY looks like watching a wake or going to church. About as much fun as a tax seminar.

    They should make a PIXAR CARTOON called BAITIN’ about a cute orphaned teenage girl named Chloe who can save the world by showing her feet, and then she becomes friends with some AWESOME AWESOME dude pushing 40 who drinks beer and becomes her mentor while they save the world from all the annoying Asian people and interracial couples.

    GOOD TOON.

  83. JS Partisan says:

    HC, that’s some pure curmudgeonly shit right there. Nevertheless, Potter deserved some recognition from the Academy but apparently too many members of the Academy went, “THEY TOOK OUR JOBS”, on Potter, and that’s some bullshit. Potter deserves to be recognized at this forth-coming Oscars telecast. If they don’t recognize it, THEY TOOK OUR JOBS, and fuck the Academy for that shit.

    Your Nick movie awards comment is funny, but then you praise Elegy. Really? TDK 88 meta critic score. Elegy, has a 66.

  84. sanj says:

    Whitneys death is still breaking news on cnn ..

    also DP wrote some long thing about movies and money again .. worth reading

  85. bulldog68 says:

    Really fucked up with the year thing and my TDK Oscar comment. That’s on me.

    But my comment Hcat was about a lack of nomination for Best Picture, because I could not find five movies that year that were better. (Purely subjective I know.)

    IMO if TDK was a straitlaced crime drama, with no character running around with a cape, I actually will take all the heat anyone gives me for saying this, but remove the cape, and TDK is as effective a crime drama as The Departed was. There, I said it. And I fucking loved The Departed.

  86. jesse says:

    Lex, eight kajillion guys can be doing something creepy and yet… doesn’t really make it less creepy to me. Same as your usual rejoinder about how no one complains about these endless forty-year-old ladies lusting after Justin Beiber (who I’ve never actually seen or heard in real life, but I’ll take your word for it). Double standards don’t make it less creepy either.

    I’m with you, bulldog. The Dark Knight is a kickass crime movie that happens to be about superheroes. It was absolutely one of the five best of 2008. But movies that are absolutely (according to me) among the five best of most years often do not get Best Picture nominations. Not a huge deal, really.

  87. JS Partisan says:

    BD, if this Academy can blow it’s load all over freaking hobbits. A guy in a cowl shouldn’t freak them out so much. Again, if TDK-R is an adored movie later this year. If it’s critical scores and audience score are astounding. The Academy better right a fucking wrong but these fucking people can’t help but trip over themselves for the Weinsteins (Hello, “THE ARTIST”), so they will probably fuck it up like they always do.

  88. David Poland says:

    What if TDKR is a great movie movie, but not as weighty as TDK… Joker’s absence costing it gravitas and Bain making it more of a thriller? What if the 99% thing feels a little played out?

    Could it be, JSP, just a great summer movie without deserving Oscar consideration?

    And please note… part of the Rings phenom was that all 3 movies got nominated. That was a unique event… as Potter found out.

  89. hcat says:

    JS – I agree with you that Return of the King was a bad call on their part, much the same way that I am not bothered by the lack of reaction on Potter. I dislike the whole ‘give them something for their troubles’ idea that led to awards for Scent of a Women, Training Day etc. Yes Potter is a worldwide phenom, but have you ever groused about the Pulitzers continued snubbing of Rowling?

    Elegy is one of the best movies of recent years, exquisitly written and filled with marvelous human performances. The quality of a film can’t be placed on a statistical scale (a x out of y scale is bad enough). MC and RT are hardly arguement enders.

    Bulldog – I admit I was a bit harsh, mostly as a reaction to your dismissal of some incredible films simply as overrated and ‘the english film’

    As far as taking off the cape, wouldn’t you also have to take out most of the action sequences which are also rooted in comic book style action? The sonar surveilence, the skyhook, the twin ferry bombs, and the centerpiece truck chase? While it is the most grounded of the comic book movies its over the top qualities extend just beyond men in capes. If you take away the capes I don’t see The Departed or Heat, I see a superior Bond film.

    And for its competition that year, I agree it was better than a lot of the films nominated, but as with every year there are many films that didn’t make it and I didn’t consider Dark Knight to be the most glaring oversight.

  90. hcat says:

    For Dark Knight and likely Rises, isn’t a billion dollars in box office a hell of a consolation prize? Don’t you think Imagine would have rather had Frost/Nixon in the black than in the running for BP?

  91. JS Partisan says:

    David, Jesus Christ on a cracker man, I explained that above. Seriously, go read my posts, because I agree that if it’s not like TDK in a similar way, it would make sense to give it a pass. If critics and the audience find it to be the best movie they saw this year, then the Academy sure as shit better come correct with Christopher Nolan.

    These people found Inception too loud, and will give the Weinstein’s awards for basically shitting in a can. I don’t see them fixing their mistakes, but one would hope they could have more adventurous taste.

    Seriously though David, how did the Academy go from giving awards to Gump, Titanic, and LOTR to what they are now? How did that happen?

    HC, they gave Lucas the Henry Fonda Special Achievement Award for The Empire Strikes Back, and that’s what they should give Potter. Sorry, but those films are a stunning cinematic achievement in terms of quality alone. Why the Academy cannot give them that same award is beyond me.

    I also disagree with your short-sighting of Denzel’s and Pacino’s Oscars. Those are two amazing performances and they had those awards coming. Hell, I’d give Denzel that Henry Fonda award every year if I could, but not agreeing with rewarding those two careers with thosea two great performances is sort of befuddling.

    You also feeling that a movie like Elegy deserves award recognition ignores that the films that get nominated for the Oscars, are usually some of the highest rated in terms of critical praise. Elegy got too much crap. While The Dark Knignt, for 2008, ranked highly among critics and movie-goers. If you don’t like the film upon repeat viewings, that’s your subjective opinion.

    How you feel does not change the fact that as a movie, TDK is better than the Reader. Have you seen the Reader? Outside of Winslet nudity, it is one hell of an uneven movie, but it’s a WEINSTEIN FILM! The ACADEMY JUMPS FOR BOB (Yeah, I agree with the King Speech winning BP, because it’s a better movie than Social network. Most of the time with that guy the Academy makes the wrong calls)!

  92. bulldog68 says:

    No worries Hcat.

    I think the Academic road for LotR was a bit easier due to it’s source material being of a more ‘respectable’ medium.

    Yes, a billion dollars is a hell of a consolation prize and I don’t think for one minute Nolan and the studio would have preferred the reverse.

    The weird thing David is that depending on how this years movies play out critically, TDK-R, if it crosses even that 80% threshold of gravitas, stands a chance of being nominated, due to TDK’s omission. Then again, I could be totally wrong seeing that the Academy might be thinking they already made up for that omission with the Inception nomination.

  93. jesse says:

    Yeah, I really don’t get the feeling the Academy members are feeling like they really have to make up for snubbing The Dark Knight. Has that EVER happened, where a movie’s best picture nomination seemed to be a “make-up” for another movie’s snub? Even a semi-related one, let alone a direct sequel?

    With actors, sure, sometimes they seem to win because they’ve been nominated so many times and lost. But does it happen with individual movies? It’s not like Nolan was nominated for Inception even when it made the ten-movie cut last year.

    I’m not saying it’s the right call. I think Nolan is a TERRIFIC big-studio filmmaker. Love his movies. Could’ve given him a Best Director statuette myself for Memento, or Dark Knight, or The Prestige. But for whatever reason, he hasn’t made it to that category yet. Lots of my other current favorites haven’t and some of them probably never will. It’s just the fucking Oscars. I love to complain about them as much as anyone, but JS, talking about it like it’s an INJUSTICE that they don’t invent a special award for Harry Potter… who fucking cares? Good reviews, huge box office, legions of fans. Why do they need to carve a special Dumbledore statuette to celebrate it further? They did an on-the-balance nice job adapting a bunch of popular books! It’s not an artistic miracle. It’s just a handsome adaptation with some good acting and effects.

  94. hcat says:

    There being 5-10 slots will help more than anything.

    And your mention of source material is a valid point. But also goes to explain peoples love for Batman and Potter. Everyone I know who loves the Potter movies have read the books, while everyone I know who is meh on them haven’t. I would assume you were a Batman fan before Dark Knight, and since that film did Batman better than the previous films it probably moved you more than it did academy members. Just as Miracle might be dismissed by most of us, but for a hockey fan…..

  95. leahnz says:

    yeah, people should just take a shut-in’s word for it about all older women and justin beiber in a silly attempt to rationalise his own numerous creepy creeperson paedo-perve big-pointy-hat grand-dragon blog splats

    i’d wager the ‘academy’ will never nominate a nolan batman movie for best pic. it’s not like they nominate many straight-up crime dramas to begn with (unless made by their beloved scorsese or the coens) and they clearly don’t dig nolan. (i find suggesting nolan should have won a best directing oscar for ‘the prestige’ kinda laughable jesse, but that’s just me)

  96. JS Partisan says:

    Jesse, who cares? The people who made it? Daniel Radcliffe, know him? He has millions of dollars and like six houses, but he clearly is pissed they didn’t recognize HP. Again, 8 films in 10 years that make it one of the biggest franchises ever, and the Academy doesn’t give it any recognition?

    Seriously dude, Empire received a special award, and HP should get one as well. If not that, they should at least do what the Baftas did last year with HP. You not getting that is on YOU! Your entire paragraph reads like those snotty kids back in the day defending Napster. “They got money, who cares?” THEY DO! You dismissing their work does not mean SHIT to them and the reality of what they created.

    HC, yeah, that’s the opposite with most HP fans. The book fans most of the time are the ones who bitch the most about the movies. A Batman movie, since Batman is one of the most known characters in the history of EARTH, should not lead to the Academy having a problem with a character whose been around for as long as they have lived. They simply are uppity.

    Nevertheless, mark this day as the day that TDK-R has almost been guaranteed a BP nom. Why? Leah betting against it! BOOKMARK THIS POST FOR A YEAR FROM NOW WHEN THE INEVITABLE HAPPENS XD (She’s probably right though)!

  97. yancyskancy says:

    JS, the special Oscar that EMPIRE STRIKES BACK won was for its special effects, before there was a separate category for it. You’re making it sound like the Academy decided they needed to give it an award because of the popularity of the franchise (if you could call it that after two films). It also got three competitive nominations (Score, Art Direction and Sound, winning the latter), which is sort of in line with how they’ve treated a few of the Potter films.

    leah: If the Academy gives two screenwriting nods and a Best Picture nomination to someone it doesn’t dig, I hope someday they don’t dig me. šŸ™‚

  98. sanj says:

    Colbert report went into repeats yesterday – nobody knows why.

    okay its my favorite show but they have technology they could easily use to tell people what is going on…
    a real reporter should look into this .

    also i haven’t seen star wars or harry potter .. so i’m neutral on them getting some oscar award ..

    i figure i’ll watch harry potter movies this year sometime but i’m never going to watch any star wars movies… like every single star wars movie – haven’t seen any of them.

  99. JS Partisan says:

    Yancy, it’s a SPECIAL OSCAR. They can give it out for whatever and seriously Potter deserved a nomination. The Academy simply lack the ability to see past their own myopic view of cinema. Oh yeah fuck them for ignoring Young Adult too.

  100. LexG says:

    Yeah, Jesse and Leah, you two genius social scientists, there’s no over 18 women who like Taylor Lautner or Justin Bieber. Yeah, no big fat hausfraus at ALL squealing when you go to see a new Twilight movie. Yeah, I guess Bieber wasn’t on THE TALK, and Leah Remini didn’t ask who the Biebs would rather DATE, her, Julie Chen or Sara Gilbert, all of whom are 35 plus…

    Imagine if I hosted a talk show and asked Elle Fanning if she’d DATE ME, which is exactly what the TALK crew asked Bieber… I can’t even BELIEVE I have to defend the fact that ADULT WOMEN ARE BIEBER FANS… Christ, I work in an office with THREE WOMEN who left work early on Friday opening night to see his concert movie in 3D, and they’re all over 35. One female coworker aged 41 has gone to see him IN CONCERT with other 30ish-40ish women. They all think he’s cute and have screensavers of the kid.

    Maybe I’ll roll into work tomorrow and delight everyone with my new Moretzy screen saver.

  101. scooterzz says:

    “…Imagine if I hosted a talk show…”

    i pride myself on my imagination and that’s just not a possibility…

  102. leahnz says:

    liar liar pants on fire

    “leah: If the Academy gives two screenwriting nods and a Best Picture nomination to someone it doesn’t dig, I hope someday they donā€™t dig me.”

    ha, good point, i meant as a director but i didn’t make that clear at all. the directors branch of the academy pooh-pooh nolan. for nolan movies wherein people are dressed up in giant bat costumes and such, i predict that won’t change for either category.

  103. JS Partisan says:

    She at least didn’t show up, or he didn’t show up, cursing you out. That’s always fun.

  104. jesse says:

    Lex, I guess I just don’t pay a lot of attention to THE TALK or whatever (and I did say I’d take your word for it; I didn’t think you were making it up, I’m just not confronted with that behavior as often as you apparently are), but my point is, what you described is creepy! It doesn’t de-creepify lusting after fifteen-year-old Moretz!

    Less so for Lautner, ’cause he’s an adult, as young as he is — just as you being obsessed with Kristen Stewart doesn’t seem creepy to me, because she seems like an adult woman to me (and is), and has for some years.

    Honestly, even when someone’s seventeen, eighteen, it reads less creepy to me; it’s when someone looks/acts more like a kid than a teenager to me that I start feeling creeped out. That’s where Moretz is right now. And she’s also a middling actor, but that seems to be neither here nor there.

    JS: “You dismissing their work does not mean SHIT to them and the reality of what they created.” AND YET: for some reason you imagine Dan Radcliffe and company are crying themselves to sleep over OTHER people dismissing (not even dismissing — just not particularly lauding) their work! I don’t think that’s the case. I think they have more perspective than that. And further, just because the guy who plays Harry Potter might think that his movie deserves awards recognition (who wouldn’t think that about a movie they liked and starred in?!) doesn’t mean the Academy better fall in line and award them! It’s just a series of movies. Their legacy is assured. There doesn’t have to be OFFICIAL CONSENSUS RECOGNITION.

    Leah, I love The Prestige — I remember 2006 being a pretty weak year for movies, so Brick, The Departed, The Prestige, and Children of Men felt so far above the other U.S. movies that year that any of them could’ve deserved the Oscar to me (so I’m fine with Scorsese actually winning it).

  105. movieman says:

    ARRIETY looks like watching a wake or going to church. About as much fun as a tax seminar.

    Yes, indeed!
    Thanks for the chuckle, Lex. I really needed that.
    (But try and give the Leah-bashing a rest, OK?

  106. movieman says:

    Has anyone else seen “This Means War”?
    It’s so “breezy” it threatens to blow off the screen and evaporate before your eyes.
    Except for a few naughty words and (implied) sex, “War” could have been made in 1966 at the height of 007 mania–except that version would have starred Doris Day as the woman trapped between competing beaus/spies Rod Taylor and James Garner.
    Chelsea Handler is beyond grating as Reese’s best friend/confidante. (Thelma Ritter–and Paul Lynde–did this thing a lot better back in the day.)
    The espionage subplot with Til Schweiger is laughably cursory/perfunctory, and the occasional bursts of violence seem completely unwarranted considering how bubblegum light the rest of the movie is.
    Of the the three leads, Tom Hardy probably fares best. He might be the sexiest leading man in movies today (does he even WANT to be a leading man?) if he didn’t have a British accent. (Sorry Anglophiles.)
    At 90 minutes (before end credits) I suppose it’s painless enough.
    But like “Tower Heist,” it felt frustrating because it could–and
    should–have been a whole lot better. The script just isn’t sharp or witty enough, and the direction is too prosaic and paint-by-the-numbers. And I’m usually a McG defender.

  107. christian says:

    To Catch A Predator: The Hot Blog Edition

  108. sanj says:

    JFK on the moon with a horse ..

    this should be a movie –

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/abrams/john-f-kennedy-alien-hunter

    what happened to Danny Boyle – dude should have lots of movies out but doesn’t .

    there’s so many big time directors everybody forgets about.

    thats when DP should do the dp/30’s …when hollywood
    people seem to go missing for months and months ..

    same thing with James Cameron and his Avatar crew – biggest movie and nobody is getting any exclusive Avatar 2 interviews .

    i dunno if the movies in the future matter to DP or what…

    or will movie critics keep telling us about how old movies are way better over and over ..

  109. Paul D/Stella says:

    Danny Boyle has a movie coming out next year.

  110. Ray Pride says:

    Danny Boyle is also co-producer of the 2012 Olympics ceremonies, and his stage production of FRANKENSTEIN was shown in theaters several months ago.

  111. jesse says:

    And between his 28 Days Later comeback and post-127 Hours break, Boyle worked a lot: 28 Days Later in ’03; Millions in ’05; Sunshine in ’07; Slumdog in ’08; 127 Hours in ’10. Although I feel like some of those were either finished way earlier, or released in the UK earlier… which means his recent pace-slowing (at least in terms of features) started earlier than it looks like.

  112. sanj says:

    DP should get Boyle to do live commentary during the oscars ..

    Boyle can probably go to any movie theatre and not get mobbed by fans .. he’d be the old guy ..

  113. JS Partisan says:

    Jesse, you not getting the importance of the award. Does not change the importance of that award, especially to those who gave half of their lives to those films like Daniel Radcliffe did. The fact that you think all actors believe their films deserve recognition, ignores that they can even smell a turd. You are assuming these people don’t like to win and that’s a foolish assumption.

  114. jesse says:

    I’ll bite: WHAT is the importance of the award? Please define it, rather than self-defining it. What about winning an Oscar would somehow validate Radcliffe’s life (so far) spent on Harry Potter in a way that fan adulation, critical respect, and gobs of money can’t?

  115. sanj says:

    photos of skrillex – music – look how he changed into
    a grammy award winner ..kinda like another version of black swan movie ..

    do i like the music – not so much ..

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/whitneyjefferson/60-photos-of-skrillex-before-he-was-skrillex

  116. JS Partisan says:

    Jesse, why are you posting on a blog that focuses on the Academy Awards, if you do not find them all that important?

  117. sanj says:

    DP just added lots of old dp/30’s .. in some of them DP actually shows up .. seems like DP had 2 camera guys back then .. one of them is actually outside ..

    the interviews are quite different when DP is in them or not in them .

    i’ll check them out after i watch 10 tv shows i need to watch first .

    still not sure when DP is going to add the sundance dp/30 2012 …

    also there’s that linsanity – some nba player is actually playing good but he came from nowhere . its like moneyball but with basketball. there should be a movie of this .

  118. leahnz says:

    what’s with the hotblog, so deserted, i think a tumbleweed just blew by.

    oh well, some weird random quotes and such rattling around in my head (meaning my trusty little quotes/trivia notebook i carry with me), what can it hurt:

    “we come down on her and we’re wrong…we could be breaking up one very snooty couple.”
    – det. lenny brisco, law & order

    regarding tv interviews:
    “i don’t want to sit there and become a puppet…so then you have shows all the time showing clips of the movie, and then (in announcer/game-show-host voice) ‘we talked to the actor Rubber Penis’…it’s just stupid man, a waste of time…i found myself being blown by america’s film corporations, it’s nice, i cum in their fucking lens.”
    – river phoenex, pottymouth tirade 1991 interview

    “cheer up, all the best people have bad chest and bone diseases!”
    – j hulme (kate winslet), ‘heavenly creatures’

    did you know: in the music vid for ‘all you need is love’ (w/jagger in the audience), john lennon is chewing gum whilst singing

    (makes me think of ‘sideways’ when miles is lecturing jack about the finer points of wine-tasting and after his best efforts he turns to stare at THCh and says, horified, “are you chewing gum?!”)

  119. jesse says:

    JS, I find them interesting, although if this were truly an awards-only blog that didn’t also focus on box office and film reviews and general movie-related chatter, I wouldn’t, frankly, post on it. I’m not saying the Oscars are worthless or stupid or anything. I watch them and get a kick out of doing an Oscar pool and rooting for the movies that I like. But paying attention to them for a fair amount of my life has led me to notice that a lot of the best movies lose to weaker movies — or get shut out entirely.

    If I’ve reached this conclusion, I would imagine that much of Team Potter has, too.

    I mean, you don’t even seem to particularly know what might be important about the awards; every signifier you use is based on self-evidence: They’re important because they’re the BIG AWARDS; if they’re not important WHY TALK ABOUT THEM therefore they are! Except none of that is reasoning. It’s just stating something over and over.

    I’m not sure why you’re so desperately intensely interested in a film series you like getting a kind of fake validation from an awards ceremony. It’s a fun awards ceremony, but if you take it that seriously, it’s not going to be.

The Hot Blog

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” ā€” some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it ā€” I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury ā€” he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” ā€” and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging ā€” I was with her at that moment ā€” she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy namedā€”” “Yeah, sure ā€” you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that Iā€™m on the phone with you now, after all thatā€™s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didnā€™t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. Thereā€™s not a case of that. He wasnā€™t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had ā€” if that were what the accusation involved ā€” the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. Iā€™m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, ā€œYou know, itā€™s not this, itā€™s thatā€? Because ā€” let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. TimesĀ piece, thatā€™s what it lacked. Thatā€™s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon