Reinvention and Revival

(Spoilers ahead) I've been a 'Star Trek' fan for many years now, and have been cautiously optimistic about this weekend's release. After my first viewing, I would have to classify it somewhere between “OK” and “Good”, but let's begin with the bad. Scott, you were right about one thing, and somewhere in the back of my mind I knew everyone would to use their catch phrases at least once in the film, but I was hoping they wouldn't overdo it. Yes, it did happen, but it wasn't obscene. Now hearing McCoy ask Spock if he was “out of his Vulcan mind” annoyed me because we have already heard this line uttered in 'Star Trek II' (One of many parallels I feel the filmmakers tried to force in this movie). So that aside, I guess I can live with the other obligatory phrases, even though they did make me twitch with frustration.

Another element that irritates me happens with about 90% of major films released these days, and that is the lack of development. No one takes their time anymore in developing characters and scenes. This could have been the perfect movie to introduce and develop every character in their respective elements. This is a story of origins and should have been allowed to take it's time. They could have concentrated more on the Starfleet days and had them all wind up serving on the ship in the end and guess what...It would have been great....but no, we've got to get to the action as fast as we can, plus we've got some CG to show off. But, as my experience watching movies has taught me, this was also to be expected, so I fight through it and take out what's left for me.

Perhaps the biggest offender of this movie, though, and the one I will not accept as having had to be there, was the casting of Leonard Nimoy as “future Spock”. This in no way gave any credibility to the story, nor did it make any sense. It's so forced that they couldn't even give a better reason for present day Kirk bumping into him on a remote planet by accident. Guest appearances are something that should be reserved for the series only. Hell, 'The Next Generation' featured almost all the original cast at one point or another. But for the movies, I think we should be able to rise above the mere charm of having an original cast member in it. If you have to put Nimoy in the movie, why not cast him as Sarek?

OK, so what was good about it? First of all, I think the entire cast was stellar. I was really pleased by everyones performances, especially since we weren't subjected to two hours of straight character impressions. Karl Urban came close with his Dr. McCoy, but I actually found him to be a pleasant surprise in this movie and thought he did a great job. I thought Chris Pine was excellent and delivered a young Kirk as well as anyone could. As far as the actual characters, I felt Sulu and Checkov were the weakest. They were just kind of there for the sake of introducing us to the rest of the regular cast. Sorry, we're focusing on the positive now so I won't get into Checkov not even being in the first season.

Overall, I have to say the story was pretty damn good. The “future Spock” element aside, I never found myself shaking my head in disappointment, which has become habit for me after virtually all of the “Next Generation” movies. In fact, there was a point for me after the destruction of Vulcan and the death of Spock's mother that I almost was in disbelief. Why were they re-writing our beloved Star Trek history? And then it made sense, the story itself was re-writing history and doing it effectively. It was a brilliant way to weave a new story into old fabric and therefore reinvent the saga. It worked. Although, I could have done without the “Back to the Future” explanation of timelines to the audience. I sometimes cringe at using a word like “fun” to describe a movie, but I did have a lot of fun with this one and would like to see it again. Could it have been better? Absolutely. But since the bar for Star Trek movies has been lowered so much over the years, it was nice to see one that delivered a story worthy of being a full length movie and not just a glorified, two-hour episode.

A Film Snob's Anit-Blockbuster Summer Movie Preview

Summer movies are products, plain and simple. Studios nowadays are owned by corporations. Corporations that make a wide array of products, cereal for example. When an executive green-lights a film, he needs to know exactly what audience is going to see it and how it can be packaged into an aggressive marketing campaign (i.e. High School Musical). He cares as much about a film as he does about a box of cereal. He'll never see the film, he'll never eat the cereal. Every once in a while we get a Spiderman 2 or Ironman or Dark Knight. But more often than not we're stuck with Wanted or Hancock or Pirates of Who Gives a Shit About A Movie Based On A Fucking Roller-Coaster (Fuck You, Disney). So, I give to you (all 5 of you), my answer to those assholes with my picks for Summer Flicks Not To Be Missed!

THE BROTHERS BLOOM

Rian Johnson's follow up to Brick is a fun, stylish con man movie that I was lucky enough to catch at AFI last month. Although it sort of falls apart in the last act, it consistently kept a smile on my face throughout. Rachel Weisz is adorable, as is Rinko Kikuchi (the naked Japanese girl from Babel). Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody are perfectly cast as brothers, demonstrating great chemistry.

THE LIMITS OF CONTROL, A.K.A. NO LIMITS, NO CONTROL

This is the first frilm from Jim Jarmusch since 2005's underrated Broken Flowers. Jarmusch has been one of the most solid independent filmmakers of the last twenty years, always making interesting, genre defying films. Isaach De Bankole stars as a mysterious loner in Spain, intent on finishing a job. This marks his first starring role for Jarmusch after supporting roles in three of his previous (Night on Earth, Ghost Dog, and Coffee and Cigarettes). Rounding out the cast are John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Paz De La Huerta, Alex Descas, and Gael Garcia Bernal.

WHATEVER WORKS

I love Woody Allen. I still see all of his films in the theatre. I know he's not the filmmaker he once was, but I'd be willing to put Vicky Christina Barcelona, Match Point, Hollywood Ending, Sweet and Lowdown, or any of his films up against any piece of shit studio film any day. This film stars Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood as two people who begin a odd relationship after a chance meeting. And, it's his first film shot in NYC in five years. Oh, by the way, this is his 42nd film. Fuck you, haters.

500 DAYS OF SUMMER

The best/most original/honest film about relationships I've seen in a long time. Caught it at AFI and it blew me away. Go see it.

TAKING WOOKSTOCK

Here's the deal with Ang Lee: dude has one of the most eclectic filmographies of any modern filmmaker. The Wedding Banquet, Eat Drink Man Woman, Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm, Hulk, Brokeback Mountain, Lust, Caution, and now this. Taking Woodstock stars Demetri Martin (I know, right) in the true story about how Woodstock became Woodstock. Great supporting cast includes: Tim Sigur look alike Liev Schreiber (in drag!), Emile Hircsh, Paul Dano, Eugene Levy, Kelli Garner, and Imelda Staunton.

THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE

Steven Soderberg is one of my favorite filmmakers working today. He makes big successful studio films just so he can make intriguing experimental films like Full Frontal and Bubble. TGE marks his second film in collaboration with Mark Cuban owned 2929 Productions. Back in 2004, he signed a three picture deal to create ultra low budget experimental films that would be released theatrically, on DVD and Pay-Per-View all at the same time. Bubble was a experiment in location, only using the resources (actors, props, etc.) of a very small town. The second film in the series is about a high class call girl who is more than a hooker, she becomes your girlfriend. The experiment is in casting: the lead actress is a real life porn star, Sasha Grey (just google her name, see what pops up). I was able to see this film earlier this week, and I loved it. It's not for everyone, but if you love beautifully photographed films with a bunch of subtext, see this film.

R.I.P. Dom DeLuise

Dom DeLuise was a big part of my childhood, and it always sad when someone who gave you so much joy passes. I loved Burt Reynolds and Mel Brooks films and Dom DeLuise appeared in many of their movies. He also had a great voice and did very well later doing voice over work. Here are my favorite Dom DeLuise films that I grew up with.
Blazing Saddles(1974)
The End(1978)
Hot Stuff(1979)Which he also directed. Whoever thought Dom would outlive Jerry Reed and Suzanne Pleshette?
Smokey and The Bandit II(1980) Yea it's bad, but I've seen it a hundred times.
History Of The World Part I(1981) Greatest Roman Emperor ever!
The Cannonball Run I and II(1981,84) Gotta love Captain Chaos, arguably his best role.
Johnny Dangerously(1984)
Favorite Voice Over Work
The Secret of NIMH(1982)-His Jeremy character is good comic relief in a very dark film.
Spaceballs(1987)-Pizza The Hut needed his own movie.

These aren't the best films in the world,but I've seen all of them many times and they all in one way or the other did influence me. He was 75.

The Doomsday Machine: Episode 4

Two of the greatest filmmakers of our generation are Joel and Ethan Coen. I don't think there is anyone who has studied film that would disagree with that. Their work has always stood out amongst the crowd of the formulated Hollywood drivel we are treated to 90 percent of the time. I've always found their films to have a unique voice, as well as perfect technical execution. Growing up in the early 90's, they were, perhaps, the equivalent of what Paul Thomas Anderson has achieved today. That is, they had four films under their belt that were all perfect.

After that, it seems that budgets may have gotten bigger and perhaps we, as viewers, lost a little something in the intimate settings that we were used to. I think the thing I've always enjoyed about their movies is their ability to set a scene with perfect visuals as well as perfect sound, with little to work with. Their attention to detail gives their lower budget movies a true sense of being there. However, their next five films still were nothing short of brilliant. It wasn't until 2003 when 'Intolerable Cruelty' came out that we all started to look around and wonder if they mailed it in. Though after what they've given us over the years, I won't hold one or two sub-par movies against them. The fact is, even those movies are better than the previously mentioned Hollywood tripe.

In this episode we get into our favorites. For the most part I think we can all agree on the choices but it's interesting to see what some of us hold above others, but then again, trying to rank Coen Brothers films is like answering the question, “Which would you rather have...A winning lottery ticket, eternal youth, or superpowers?” There really is no bad choice.

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The Comeback Kids

The best of recent cinema has been inundated with comeback stories. The Wrestler proved what we all knew—Mickey Rourke is one hell of an actor. JCVD was even more surprising in that Jean Claude Van Damme proved he could actually act. 

Rourke and Van Damme were '80s superstars who came on the scene as a hot commodity then fizzled, taking genre roles in stale films. But their latest flicks got me thinking: If they can do it, what other B-list '80s stars could also show off their unknown chops? 

1. Steven Seagal 

The aikido master was known for his roles in such nighttime fodder as Hard to Kill, Out for Justice and Under Siege. He was never much of an actor, and that's putting it so, so lightly. He was always more of a catchphrase type actor, ending films with that glorious one-liner. 

Now, he's overweight, starring in direct-to-DVD films that can't even garner a 2 a.m. slot on USA. 

But the dude's got fans. Vern from "Ain't it Cool News" wrote an over-300 page dissertation on the genius of his flicks. Sure, it's outlandish, but anyone who has a childish love for Seagal's trademark bone-breaking moves would be in line to see a dramatic turn from the silent martial artist. 

How about life after Under Siege? What does the cook Casey Ryback do post-battle? Perhaps he makes a badass chicken parm. 

2. Dolph Lundgren

The Russian. The one actor forever known as telling Stallone, "I will crush you." Afterwards, he was The Punisher, the villain in Universal Soldier, then he was demoted to lord-knows-what. 

While he doesn't exude personality in these flicks, he was one of the funnier commentators on VH1's "I Love the '80s." Let's give him a stab at a comedic role as a supporting actor. Something tells me he could be the affable tough/gay guy partner ala Val Kilmer in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or The Rock in Be Cool. 

Lundgren's an icon for being the one man who could bring down Rocky. I'm sure he can take time off from the gym to do an action comedy with Chris Tucker. 

3. Mr. T 

I pity the fool who doesn't make a documentary on this perplexing A-Team member. 

4. Christian Slater 

Many will balk at this entry. The guy's known for Pump Up the Volume and doing his best Jack Nicholson impression all the time. But his best flicks flirted with the action genre. Remember True Romance? Hell, even I'll admit Kuffs was a guilty pleasure, and it was ridiculously violent for a PG-13 flick. 

Nowadays, everything he does has action in it. The guy wants to be an action star. Sure, he's tried drama, but no one has cared. He will be forever known as the smart-ass. 

No more. Slater needs to go bald and play the worried dad who constantly reads a book and always chews his magnifying-lens-style glasses. Instead of Nicholson, he needs to start ripping off Richard Jenkins. 

Don't act like you're not intrigued. 

5. The Cast of Young Guns 

With Rambo 5,  Rocky 6 and Die Hard 4 all seeing the light of day, let's bring back the most ridiculous of the sagas—Young Guns. Bring the entire cast back and let Christopher Nolan direct it. 

Make it like The Dark Knight but with '80s teen idols Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen leading a group of newcomers through the Midwest. 

You're right, Nolan would never do that. But if it ever happened, you know damn right I would be there in the front row with a large popcorn. 

R.I.P. Jack Cardiff

One of the best cinematographers in film history died today. Jack Cardiff was arguably the best color cinematographer of the 40's and 50's. His groundbreaking work in the days of early color photography is still breathtaking and unmatched. Cardiff started out as a actor during the Silent Era and then worked his way from Clapper Boy to Cinematographer. He was a Camera Operator on Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Life and Death Of Colonel Blimp(1943). They were so impressed by him that they hired him to photograph their next three films and his best work. Powell, Pressburger, and Cardiff all collaborated on Stairway To Heaven:A Matter Of Life And Death(1946), Black Narcissus(1947), and The Red Shoes(1948). These films are masterpieces all around and probably the best looking films of the decade. The Red Shoes is one of my favorite films of all time. Cardiff left England and went to America after The Red Shoes and worked on beautiful films like The African Queen(1951), The Magic Box(1952), The Barefoot Contessa(1954) and War and Peace(1956). In the late 50's he turned to directing with Sons and Lovers(1960) being his biggest success. He returned to Cinematography in the mid 70's and worked until 2007. Jack Cardiff won a Academy Award for Best Cinematographer in 1948 for Black Narcissus and was nominated 3 other times including one for Best Director. In 2001 Cardiff received a Honorary Oscar for his achievements, he was 94. Below is a film still from Black Narcissus.

The Best Basketball Films

The NBA playoffs are upon us and I thought this would be a good time to express the Best and Worst of Basketball in film.


Best High School Basketball Film: Hoosiers

No shock here, Hoosiers has been a
Basketball film staple since it's release
in 1986. This film had such a impact on the sports world that in 9th grade my Junior High School Basketball coach watched Hoosiers a dozen times and tried to coach just like Norman Dale.(Gene Hackman) We won 2 games that year, and he was gone the next year.





Best College Basketball Film: Blue Chips

Nick Nolte pulls off the best Bobby Knight impersonation ever! This film even has Bobby Knight in it and you want more Pete Bell. It's a very entertaing film about the corruption of College Basketball and has great performances all around, with the exception of Penny Hardaway and Rickey Roe. William Freidkin directs a great Ron Shelton script. I have been waiting since 1994 for Nolte and Shaq's next film collaboration, come on guys!













Best Street Ball Film: White Men Can't Jump

Ron Shelton hits again with this gem from 1992.
Wesley and Woody shine on and off the court as the best screen duo since Riggs and Murtaugh. Ron Shelton is a sports director and every film he requires that his stars know how to play the sport the film is about. According to IMDB the basketball instructors on the film said that Wesley and Woody reached the skill level to play Division 3 college ball, and it shows. No other film has got the trash talking or the race division in basketball down as good as this film did.











Best Basketball Player in Film History: WOLF!

This is a tricky one. Michael J. Fox's Scott Howard in human form is the best player on a team with a horrible coach and a player called Chubby. Scott Howard sucks, but when he wolfs out he becomes Lebron James and single handily murders the competition while Chubs eats on the court. Nobody in the history of basketball, not even Jimmy Chitwood, could beat Scott Howard's WOLF!


Worst Player: Hoops McCann
Hi Hoops! This guy can't even throw paper in a wastebasket.

Best Performance by a Pro Basketball Player In A Film:Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kareem is pure gold in one of the best comedies ever made. Look at Dan Marino in Ace Ventura:Pet Detective and then watch Kareem in Airplane! The guy should have won a Oscar in comparison. The pissed off look on his face along with the "The hell I don't!" speech with Joey gets me every time.

Shaquille O'Neil's Neon Bedaux in Blue Chips is a distant second to Kareem. Penny Hardaway's Butch McCrae from the same film is the WORSE performance by a Pro Basketball player in film history.

The Best Basketball Film: Hoop Dreams

In 1994 Steve James made one of the best documentaries ever made. The Film is about Basketball prodigies Arthur Agee and William Gates growing up with the pros and cons of having a talent for the game. It also focuses on the inner city, drugs, family, and everyone trying to sink their teeth into these boys who may make millions one day in the NBA. Great film and a must see, even if you don't like sports.

The Worst Basketball Film: Game Day

Oh this one is a doozy from 1999. It's Richard Lewis doing his best Rick Pitino impression while being a womanizing drunk. Movies like Coach Carter and Glory Road are bad films that follow a formula and are a dime a dozen. This movie is over the top with the acting, writing, and the scenario. The film takes place on the day of the championship game of the NCAA tournament, and Richard Lewis is the coach of the underdog team. What makes this film is the end, it is so mind boggling that you have to watch it 20 more times just to make sure it is real.

Quit Your Job: Punisher Movies over at Diggings

After watching Punisher: War Zone, I wrote about why there will never be a good Punisher movie. 

Check it out over at Diggings! 

AFI Dallas is not like SXSW

We don't have gay Target sponsored parties. People don't try to be cool here, they just are.

AFI DALLAS Wrap Up

The 3rd Annual AFI International Film Festival wrapped up this past week. For those who don't know, AFI DALLAS came to be when a local film dude with deep pocket wanted to open up a Dallas branch of the famed AFI Film Institute. What we got instead was a pretty decent film festival. It now ranks as one of the top 20 film festivals in the country and has grown pretty steadily in each of it's first three years. We pretty much get the same lineup more or less as SXSW and some of the top films from Sundance. Luckily, I work for a company that is a creative sponsor; we do a shit load of post work for the festival. That means that every year, I get my hands on a shiny Silver Star All Access pass. Here are my highlights (don't worry, NO SPOILERS):

1. BIG FAN is the directorial debut for THE WRESTLER screenwriter Robert D. Siegel and stars Patton Oswalt (yes that Patton Oswalt) in an amazing dramatic performance. This film reminds me of those fantastic, intimate character dramas from the early 1970s. Oswalt stars as a hardcore New York Giants fan, who's obsession with his favorite team and player completely defines him as a person, especially when faced with huge moral dilemma. 5 out of 5 stars.

2. 500 DAYS OF SUMMER takes the old cliched story of boy meets girl romantic dramedy and breathes new life in it. For anyone who's fallen head over heals for someone, only to find blank stares in return, this film is for you. Director Marc Webb does a superb job of blending together many genres and actually making it work. The film includes a great surreal musical number, as well as incorporating animation and an unconventional story structure. Also, the film wouldn't have been as convincing as it was without the performances by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. Gordon-Levitt is as close to gold as it comes nowadays, and Deschanel actally does more than stare at the camera for 90 minutes. 4.5 out of 5.

4-7. Great Documentaries: PROM NIGHT IN MISSISSIPPI (4 out of 5 stars) chronicles the first ever integrated prom in a small town in Mississippi (in FUCKING 2008!!!) thanks to Morgan Freeman. Racism lives on in the south! FOOD, INC. (4 out of 5 stars) shows us just where our food supply comes from (90% of it from 4 corporations, yummy!). ROCK PROPHECIES (4 out of 5 stars) showcases one of the most successful rock photographers of the past forty years. And ART & COPY (3.5 out of 5 stars) pulls back the curtain on big advertising and shows us the titans of the industry.

8. GIGANTIC was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize, and I'm not sure why. This film taps into almost every indie film cliche: quiet, loner, quirky lead; quiet, loner, quirky love interest; quirky, funny co-workers; loud mouth, over-bearing father of love interest; really cool parents who understand and accept said quirkiness; oh, and a hip indie music soundtrack. Paul Dano and Zooey Deschanel are wasted. John Goodman is funny at times. New York is beautifully photographed. Oh, and Zooey shows us her Deschanels for the fist time (half a point for that). 2.5 out of 5.

9. THE MISSING PERSON on the surface has a lot of promise. You take one of the great actors working today (Oscar nominated Michael Shannon), cast him as an old school private detective with a shady past who drinks too much and smokes like a chimney. Then you throw in some intrigue about a 9/11 survivor on the lam and PRESTO, you have yourself a great noir mystery. Eh, not so much. This film is so clunky, so misguided, so weighted down it takes forever to find it's direction (atmosphere can only carry a film for so long). Just a mess. 2 out of 5 stars.