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posted by admin on Jul 28

Jay and I spend twenty minutes discussing the merits and usefulness of the inspirational phrase, “Ducks fly together!” The rest of the time Jay feebly attempts to defend the movie as not being a bastion of un-American propaganda aimed at children but fortunately I use my acerbic, drunk wit to demolish his arguments.

Or something like that.

Find it on iTunes under The McRib Happy Hour or check it out on the web.

posted by admin on Jul 27

In Bill Simmons latest article (hopefully that will be a link should ESPN ever fix whatever is wrong with their site this morning) he argues that Almost Famous is the movie of the decade. I have to disagree with him on many grounds.

1) He freely admits it might be The Dark Knight but the verdict isn’t in on its rewatchability. Really? It’s been on HBO every day for several weeks, if you’ve watched it as many times as I have I’d say the verdict is in and the movie is infinitely rewatchable. This is not to argue The Dark Knight is the movie of the decade but considering it is the highest grossing and one of the best reviewed movies it certainly meets some imaginary criteria.

2) Almost Famous is exclusively and importantly about a different decade. It’s a great movie but for people born in the 80’s and 90’s it cannot define a generation of cinema simply because it cannot define them. Perhaps Simmons shows his age in identifying so strongly with the film.

3) It doesn’t crack the IMDB top 50 for the decade. Sorry but for a movie to be the best of the decade (through Simmons criteria) it must resonate much stronger with mainstream society.

4) If you want to argue the people ranking movies on IMDB are philistines whose opinions are unworthy of this discussion then you bring in a wide number of movies that may not have lit up the box office but are in the talks for the best film of the decade. Well, Almost Famous, as good as it is, doesn’t make the cut there either.

More to the point, Almost Famous is a look backward. To define a decade a movie should not only be well-received critically and commercially but serve as a signpost for the evolution of film. In a decade filled with influential films such as City of God, Memento, Eternal Sunshine, Requiem For A Dream, and many others but also filled with monumental blockbusters with The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Batman, Spiderman, and not to mention all the Pixar films picking one film is impossible. For mainstream movies it was the decade of fantasy and superheroes and for smaller, independent films it was a decade of social issues, challenging narrative structure and a digital revolution in who can make a movie.

I am very happy Almost Famous is Bill Simmons favorite movie of the decade, it is a great film, but having lived through the decade as an avid filmgoer it simply does not define the decade or exist as the best the decade had to offer.

I don’t know why I care so much about this and given that during a podcast Simmons picked The Shawshank Redemption as his defining movie of the ’90’s maybe I’m picking the wrong person to argue with. But somewhere deep within it irritates the hell out of me that Almost Famous would be picked as the movie of the ’00’s.

posted by admin on Jul 19

Awful Library Books.

“The future is now! Soon every American home will integrate their television, phone and computer. You’ll be able to visit the Louvre on one channel, or watch female wrestling on another. You can do your shopping at home, or play Mortal Kombat with a friend from Vietnam. There’s no end to the possibilities!”

Awesome!

posted by admin on Jul 16

Caught a screening this morning and generally enjoyed the movie. We’ve come to know these characters so well it’s become closer to high quality TV rather than going to see an individual film. The wonderful thing about the first three, and possibly the fourth, movies in the series were that you could enjoy them without any knowledge of the other entries. Did not really hold true in the fifth and the sixth film, Half-Blood Prince, certainly demands the viewer have some knowledge of the previous films to have any chance at appreciating what is happening on screen. But given that it is the sixth film in the series I suppose this is unavoidable.

Watching this movie it becomes abundantly clear why the final book will be split into two parts for it’s cinematic release. We rush through several important events with plot points spilling out all over the place that director David Yates does take a few brief moments to slow down and let the characters, and the film, breath is a testament to the continued quality of the series. Having read the book they really needed another ninety minutes to properly tell the story but they do the best they can with the two and a half hour run time the the recent Potter installments all seem to fall into.

The quiet moments for the main characters force Yates to steamroll through any development of side characters often leaving a one dimensional set piece in the films wake but Rowling’s story continues to be excellent and the growth of the central characters emotionally resonant that it’s easy to forgive these transgressions.

One curious note: much of the book investigates who this mysterious Half-Blood Prince actually is but the movie has little time for this and simply reveals it in a line devoid of meaning because we’ve never been told to care who this mysterious character might be. Just felt really weird.

If you’ve enjoyed the series so far you won’t be disappointed but if you’ve had no interest in Potter-mania up to now this is not the place to start.

posted by admin on Jul 16

New podcast available!

Jay and I discuss the soundtrack to Mortal Kombat. The video game, not that movie because that would be crazy.

Available on iTunes but get the direct feed here.

posted by admin on Jul 7

I’ve been slow updating the blog for several reasons but one of the good reasons is that many of my film reviews will now be featured in the Los Angeles section of Examiner.com. You can check out my personal page: here.

My first review is up and it’s of The Hurt Locker. Please check it out and more importantly check out my personal page and subscribe/favorite me. I’ll be posting links here to any new articles or reviews but it’d awesome if you subscribed and checked out any new articles when they are sent to you. I should have around three articles/reviews per week.

I’ll still be posting some mainstream reviews here as my primary focus for Examiner is Indie films so keep coming here but but a little less movie talk than before. I think that might actually make some people happy.