The weekend of Nov. 27-28 2010, brought about a massive one-two punch to our childhood memories with the passing of two men who forever affected our movie-watching careers. Tonight we remember Leslie Nielsen and Irvin Kershner.
One of the best films of the year and defiantly some of the best acting. I was really looking forward to this film because Fincher does a personal pic then a studio pic, and after Benjamin Button (2008) it was time for him to really care about a project. I also have a weakness for films based on true stories in contemporary times, like Shattered Glass (2003). I know this film is a dressed up version of the real thing, but it was realistic and enjoyable. The film represents how business is done today in the fast paced .com industry. Companies are based on fads and software, and are in and out of fashion so fast that Napster seems like a company that existed 30 years ago. The savvy businessman is out the window and young anti social misfits like Zuckerberg are in charge and they come across as cold and deceptive. Are they really bad or just inexperienced nerds thrown into the forefront of a multimillion dollar companies who can't interact with other people? I think David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin bring all of these points to the table and this film will be a time capsule of business in the 2000's, just like Wall Street (1987) was to the 80's. Fincher is also king of how to properly use CGI. He has fun with it wants to fool the audience of it's existence, which is what SFX are supposed to be used for. Great music, smart Sorkin script, and fine directing and acting all around. 4 out 5 stars.
man trying to break his gambling habits in order to save his marriage only to then have a sure bet fall in his lap. The quick-witted screenplay and brilliant casting makes for a very funny, quirky and enjoyable film. Screenwriter Nancy Dowd and first-time feature director Joe Pytka do a great job of capturing the setting of the racetrack as well as the mindset of the everyday bettor. Dreyfuss once again delivers a comedic performance on the money, but the real jewels of this movie are the side characters. David Johansen is hilarious as Trotter's best friend and biggest loser of the group of riff-raff they hang around the track with. Teri Garr was a great choice to play his wife who is used to having her heart broken time after time. Jennifer Tilly plays her trademark dim-witted character, this time with more sex-appeal, and many other recogn
izable faces pop up as well, like Allen Garfield, Robbie Coltrain, Cynthia Nixon, Tony Longo, and Richard Dimitri (Roman Maroni from Johnny Dangerously) just to name a few. Richard Edson, the garage attendant from Ferris Bueller has all of eight lines and is one of the funniest people in the movie. These days, a story with this many characters would have the director trying to shoehorn in equal screen time for a bunch of egos, but this one gets it right and gives the viewer no more than they need. A collaborative effort between writing, performance and editing generates a comedy with a good pace, and it all wraps up in a tidy 90-minute package. There aren't many copies out there but getting hold of one is well worth the effort.
We conclude our “Best of the Decade” talk with the top 10 lists of Matt Fickel, Cody Franklin, and Jeff Ayala. Will Fickel put “Tetro” on his list? Will there be a ‘Shotgun Stories’ in Jerf’s future? How many more times does ‘There Will Be Blood’ Appear? Tim Sigur makes an appearance by email and our own beloved Rever
end Renke delivers a spiritual message to us after the discussion, so besure and stay tuned all the way through. Enjoy.
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As early as the 1960's, the major television networks were airing “made for TV” movies on a regular basis. Filmmakers and audiences together created a market for that bridge between the movie theater and your living room. Ever since then that market has grown and even splintered into (sort of) sub-genres of low production value films. Over the years, the Lifetime television network realized the potential for consistent viewership simply by airing these movies and eventually producing them. In a way the network has almost created it's own niche in the made for TV world as we often refer to these films as “Lifetime movies.”
In the s
ame way we enjoy disastrous charms such as “Kickboxing Academy” and “Samurai Cop,” we've all been subject to, and highly enjoyed, the highly dramatized, poorly acted works that have found a home on the Lifetime network. Sisters for Lifetime is a blog that celebrates these treasures we have grown up with over the years. Recently, one of the founders of SFL stopped by the Doomsday studio to talk about her new site and it sparked a conversation about not just Lifetime movies, but chick-flicks and guilty pleasures of all types. Enjoy.
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Read my review of the Lifetime move Cradle of Lies on Sisters for Lifetime (under my female pseudonym).
as drama, the preppy blond asshole became a staple duringa time in which comedies thrived. Eventually morphing into other physical characteristics, one character trait remained consisted throughout the 80s and our favorite nemeses became popular amongst us at "The Doomsday Machine" for one
reason....They were all dicks.
After a four month spring break, we find ourselves in preparation for the “Best of the Decade podcast” and in doing so we need to finish putting out shows from the 2009 sessions. Hal and Matt are honored once again by the personal appearance of Scott Griffin all the way from Brooklyn, while Cody has to sit in a room all by himself and talk to us over Skype.
I think it’s very rare for most of us on the show to go out to see a movie just because a certain actor/actress is in starring in it. Personally, I get annoyed when someone asks if I’m going to see a movie like “Valentine’s Day” and when I stop laughing their response is something like, “But I thought you liked Bradley Cooper?” And that usually leads to some argument in which I wind up being called a snob. We do get excited however, in that rare instance that an actor has a streak in which he/she can do no wrong when it comes to picking their work. In this episode we discuss a handful of those actors that may peak our interests a little more when we hear their names these days.
I know this is predominantly a film Blog, but from 1990 to 1997 The Simpson's was one of the best shows in TV history. The first episode I remember loving was Homer Goes To Bat which aired February 20th 1992. In the episode Monty Burns decides to bring in some MLB ringers to help the Springfield Power Plant softball team beat the hated Shelbyville team. He brought in Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Ken Griffey, Jr., Steve Sax, Ozzie Smith, José Canseco, Don Mattingly, Darryl Strawberry and Mike Scioscia, which were some of the best players of the time. Yesterday the last active player on the Springfield Zephyrs, Ken Griffey Jr, retired from professional Baseball after 22 years. This saddened me because it made me remember a simpler time for The Simpson's and Baseball. The Simpson's was starting to roll into one of my all-time favorite shows and Baseball wasn't marred by strikes and steroid abuse. Now 18 years later The Simpson's have more bad than good episodes and is a shadow of the genius it used to be. Baseball has gotten better the last few years, but I don't have the same passion I had for it when I was a senior in High School. Goodbye Zephyrs you will be missed.
Sad to see one of the great Hollywood Bad Boys die, but he did live longer than most would have thought. Breaking into the business in the mid '50's with television and bit parts in great films like Rebel Without A Cause (1955) and Giant(1956) Hopper showed a lot of potential. He looked like the boy next door with a streak of rebellion and recklessness. Along with Brando, Newman, and James Dean, Hopper helped feed the fear of all WWII vets that the youth was going to ruin America. Dennis Hopper was one of the few that actually tried to change the way things were, and he proved it with his and Peter Fonda's ground breaking directorial debut Easy Rider(1969).
I was really surprised at how good this film was and shocked that it didn't receive any Oscar buzz. I loved the first half of the film a lot more than the second half. I am not saying that the second half is bad, but I saw original storytelling and throwback film making leading up to the beginning of the Hunger Strike. Once the Hunger Strike begins the film becomes more of a document, but still very good. Every actor is suburb and Michael Fassbender is just flawless, especially with the scene of him and the priest. I loved the way you didn't know who you were following in the beginning and then BOOM it's Fassbender's film. Kudos to director (still hard to say it) Steve McQueen for making a powerful and somewhat objective movie. The film looks beautiful and disgusting at the same time and guess what people, he used a tripod. I love that he went away from the documentary look and just shot a straight forward and very powerful film. One of the best and most important films last year. Watch it on Criterion Blu-Ray, but not while you eat.
