my favorite people/things from the Oscars this year

Hugh Jackman

No offense Billy Crystal, but his musical bits were better. Its great that even a wider audience now knows that he's capable of doing much more than scratching things with his adamantium claws. He's a Tony-award winning muscial theater actor everyone. Recognize.

Phillip Petit

Man on Wire won for Best Documentary Feature, and the film's subect balances the Oscar upside-down on his chin. Gotta say I never saw that one before.

Kate Winslet

My favorite speech of the night. The moment where she asks her father to whistle so she see him in the audience was priceless. Sure Meryl has lost more Oscar races than she has, but she also won on her second nomination, so those losses have to be easier to take. Thank god they finally gave Kate her due.

(honorable mention for favorite speech moment has to go to the guy who won for Best Animated Short Film...He can barely speak English, and yet he can make me crack a genuine laugh by quoting a Styx song.)

Steve Martin & Tina Fey

While some might pick their thinly-veiled dig at Scientology, but I thought Martin's last line "Don't fall in love with me" was gold. Kudos to the Oscar producers for surprising no one and finding a way to get the red hot Fey on the stage.

James Franco & Seth Rogen

The short film they made w/ Judd Apatow was solid. The idea of stoners finding the overly-serious Best Picture nominees hilarious is not particularly clever, but it was delivered well, and the awkward moment after the clip of Franco kissing Spicoli had to be done. And the cherry on top was James Franco butchering the German pronunciation of the winning live action short film (Spielzeugland). Way to put that Columbia University education to good use.

Pineapple Express at the Oscars! - watch more funny videos

The younger actors from Slumdog Millionaire

It was not a surprise that Slumdog would clean up this year. But those kids were awesome. On the red carpet they exposed Ryan Seacrest for being a talentless hack (he didn't even try to pronounce their names, they refused to shout them all at once when he asked, he singled out the only one that didn't speak English to interview individually first...needless to say it was a train wreck). And I love it when the Best Picture winner becomes a chance for all involved to come on stage. Even though its the film producer who gets the statue, the award is called Best Picture. Each piece of the intricate puzzle that makes up an impressive film deserves to be on that stage

Seeing the kid who played the youngest version of Salim high-fiving Danny Boyle was really neat. You can't really replicate the brightness of his smile on that stage.

Acting nominee tributes

This was a new wrinkle in the show this year, and I loved it. They brought out five former winners of each acting award to praise each of the 20 nominees individually. Almost every one of the nominees was visibly moved by the gesture. I'd imagine that it was supremely tough to coordinate (they had sneak some of the bigger stars in through a side entrance to keep the surprise intact, and finding 20 former winners had to be a scheduling nightmare), but I really hope they try to do this again.

Good show...will have to keep me until next year.

PS - I hope they keep doing the Coming Attractions previews after the show. That was the first look I got at Public Enemies. Michael Mann really got himself a dynamite cast: Depp, Bale, Cotillard...(and that only scratches the surface)...really looking forward to that one.

and the Oscar goes to...

So this Sunday is it. The culmination of movie awards season. Zee Oscars.

With the exception of 2007 (when I was stuck toiling away on a cruise ship) I've sat through the 4+ hour marathon that is the Oscars every year since 2001. I don't ogle the fashion. I just love to see the show. See the first time winners struggle to find the words...see the smug previous winners act as though they walk on water. Its a great time.

This year Hugh Jackman is hosting. Expect him to sing. And dance. and crack jokes given to him by funnier people (I heard Ricky Gervais gave him some material). I will be satisfied if he throws at least one of his former co-stars under the bus (I'm rooting for Christian Bale jokes, but I'll bet on Nicole Kidman jokes).

Its killed me that since I began to gobble up every bit on online Oscar buzz, I've not worked in an office that has an Oscar pool. I'm convinced I would clean up.

Anyway here are my guesses for each of the awards to be handed out on Sunday:

Lets start out with the three categories that absolutely no one cares about except for the nominees. You'd be better off picking the over/under on how far from the stage the eventual winners will be seated.

My predicitions for winners will be in bold (EDIT: I just realized that the bold doesn't show up well at all against the black background, so I'm going to change the color of the my picks to red as well as keep them bold). The films I've actually seen are designated with a "-"

Best Short Film, Live Action
Nominees:

Auf der Strecke (On The Line)(2007): Reto Caffi
Manon sur le bitume (Manon on the Asphalt)(2007): Elizabeth Marre, Olivier Pont
New Boy (2007): Steph Green, Tamara Anghie
Grisen (The Pig) (2008): Tivi Magnusson, Dorthe Warnø Høgh
Spielzeugland (Toyland) (2007): Jochen Alexander Freydank

At the 2004 Oscars, one of the nominees was a film called Most. It was co-written/produced by one William Zabka, 80's high school bully extraordinaire. Alas the former Cobra Kai could not take it down, and that's the most exciting this category has ever been.




Spielzeugland (Toyland) is about the Holocaust. Ship it. Print.

Best Short Film, Animated
Nominees:

La Maison en Petits Cubes (Pieces of Love): Kunio Kato
Ubornaya istoriya - lyubovnaya istoriya (Lavatory Lovestory) (2007): Konstantin Bronzit
Oktapodi (2007): Emud Mokhberi, Thierry Marchand
-Presto (2008): Doug Sweetland
-This Way Up (2008): Alan Smith, Adam Foulkes

Presto was the Pixar short that ran before Wall*E. These used to be money, but they haven't won since For the Birds in 2002 (it ran before Monsters Inc.). Got to peep This Way Up on iTunes last month, and I'm going on a limb for this one.

Best Documentary, Short Subjects
Nominees:

The Conscience of Nhem En (2008): Steven Okazaki
The Final Inch (2008): Irene Taylor Brodsky, Tom Grant
Smile Pinki (2008): Megan Mylan
The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306 (2008): Adam Pertofsky, Margaret Hyde

Haven't seen any of these, but my pick is a description of the assassination of MLK from someone who was on the titular balcony. If its halfway well shot its in the bag.

Best Documentary, Features
Nominees:

The Betrayal - Nerakhoon (2008): Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath
Encounters at the End of the World (2007): Werner Herzog, Henry Kaiser
The Garden (2008/I): Scott Hamilton Kennedy
-Man on Wire (2008): James Marsh, Simon Chinn
Trouble the Water (2008): Tia Lessin, Carl Deal

Man on Wire is killing at every major award show. Trouble the Water is the one on this list I most want to see (I ♥ you NOLA). And I just received Encounters at the End of the World from Netflix yesterday (if its even half as good as Herzog's last documentary Grizzly Man, I will be satisfied.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Nominees:

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008)(Germany)
Entre les murs (The Class)(2008)(France)
Revanche (2008)(Austria)
Okuribito (Departures)(2008)(Japan)
Vals Im Bashir (Waltz with Bashir)(2008)(Israel)

Its a close race b/t The Class and Waltz with Bashir. The Class won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. I picked the one that one the Golden Globe (not that those awards have ANY bearing on these), but the trailer for Bashir is much cooler.

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Nominees:

Bolt (2008): Chris Williams, Byron Howard
-Kung Fu Panda (2008): John Stevenson, Mark Osborne
-WALL·E (2008): Andrew Stanton

I subscribe to the argument that Wall*E was very much in the running for a Best Picture nomination, so this category is no contest (I would have given the noms for the Reader and Frost/Nixon to Wall*E and the Dark Knight).

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Nominees:

-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron
-The Dark Knight (2008): Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, Paul J. Franklin
-Iron Man (2008): John Nelson, Ben Snow, Daniel Sudick, Shane Mahan

Actually a tougher category to call despite there being so few nominees. The Dark Knight featured more practical effects than CGI so that rounds out the bottom. It becomes a choice b/t a movie driven by effects (Iron Man) and one that depends on them heavily but to a subtle result (Button). I'm going with the Forrest Gump rip-off.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Nominees:

-The Dark Knight (2008): Richard King
-Iron Man (2008): Frank E. Eulner, Christopher Boyes
-Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Tom Sayers
-WALL·E (2008): Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood
-Wanted (2008): Wylie Stateman

I love how every awards predictor has to define this category along with the other. Sound editing aka Sound design. Its all about creating sounds. I gotta go with the those cute robots.

Best Achievement in Sound
Nominees:

-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten
-The Dark Knight (2008): Ed Novick, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo
-Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty
-WALL·E (2008): Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt
-Wanted (2008): Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt

Achievement in Sound aka Sound "Mixing." Its all about balancing your noise with your score, and your dialogue. Usually I'd pick the Sound categories to go to the same film, but I gotta go w/ TDK. And I think this is the last category I'll be picking Slumdog Millionaire to lose.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Nominees:

-Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman, Gulzar("Jai Ho")
-Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam("O Saya")
-WALL·E (2008): Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman("Down to Earth")

Don't understand why Bruce Springsteen's song from The Wrestler didn't make the cut here. But Early on it looked like that lovely (see also putrid) song from Bolt by Miley Cyrus & John Travolta was going to be in the running. Now I know this category allows for incredible statements like "Alfred Hitchcock and Federico Fellini never won Oscars, but Eminem and Three Six Mafia have." But having to even think much less say Miley Cyrus Oscar winner makes me dry-heave. This song and its corresponding dance number were awesome.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Nominees:

-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Alexandre Desplat
-Defiance (2008): James Newton Howard
-Milk (2008): Danny Elfman
-Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman
-WALL·E (2008): Thomas Newman

Its a travesty that Howard and Zimmer got snubbed here for their incredible work in The Dark Knight, but this award has always belonged to Slumdog Millionaire.

Best Achievement in Makeup
Nominees:

-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Greg Cannom
-The Dark Knight (2008): John Caglione Jr., Conor O'Sullivan
-Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008): Mike Elizalde, Thomas Floutz

This one gets tough b/c every single one of these movies mixes CGI w/ extensive makeup. I can't give it to TDK, solely b/c of The Joker, and I think Brad Pitt is more CGI-ed than he is made up. Perelman sat in that makeup chair for four hours each day to become Big Red.

Best Achievement in Costume Design
Nominees:

Australia (2008): Catherine Martin
-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Jacqueline West
The Duchess (2008): Michael O'Connor
-Milk (2008): Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road (2008): Albert Wolsky

Could go to Button, but The Duchess plays like a period piece fashion show.

Best Achievement in Art Direction
Nominees:

-Changeling (2008): James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis
-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo
-The Dark Knight (2008): Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando
The Duchess (2008): Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway
Revolutionary Road (2008): Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt

AKA...best production design. I think TDK could upset Button here, but I felt like they used practial locations more often than "constructing their set," and Button recreated several different periods and places as it moved through history.

Best Achievement in Editing
Nominees:

-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter
-The Dark Knight (2008): Lee Smith
-Frost/Nixon (2008): Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill
-Milk (2008): Elliot Graham
-Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Chris Dickens

Slumdog took the corresponding guild award (ACE), and I noticed the editing choices more in this one. I felt that Button could have been cut better, but I wouldn't be surprised if TDK gets a pity win here in response to its Best Picture snub.

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Nominees:

-Changeling (2008): Tom Stern
-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Claudio Miranda
-The Dark Knight (2008): Wally Pfister
-The Reader (2008): Roger Deakins, Chris Menges
-Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Anthony Dod Mantle

Again going with the guild winner, Although Pfister's chances have signicant traction with TDK. I think its a crime that Roger Deakins will likely get forgotten in this category. The Reader is not his best work, but after eight nominations he should have won by now.

Now into the big ones...writing, acting, directing, and the big chalupa...


Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Nominees:

-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
-Doubt (2008/I): John Patrick Shanley
-Frost/Nixon (2008): Peter Morgan
-The Reader (2008): David Hare
-Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Simon Beaufoy

If this goes any other way you'll probably be able to fly a plane in my mouth.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Nominees:

-Frozen River (2008): Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008): Mike Leigh
-In Bruges (2008): Martin McDonagh
-Milk (2008): Dustin Lance Black
-WALL·E (2008): Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Jim Reardon

This category ends up being a huge consolation prize for the second-best Best Picture nominee in many years (see Diablo Cody for Juno, or Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation) so that's why I think Milk has the edge. In Bruges & Wall*E are gaining ground, but I don't think they'll pull the upset.

Best Achievement in Directing
Nominees:

-Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
-Stephen Daldry for The Reader (2008)
-David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
-Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon (2008)
-Gus Van Sant for Milk (2008)

Nolan not getting a nomination here was a big surprise. But Boyle is the clear winner. Kinda surprising that this is Fincher's first nomination (for his second-worst movie so far imho).

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominees:

-Amy Adams for Doubt (2008/I)
Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
-Viola Davis for Doubt (2008/I)
-Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
-Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler (2008)

This category was all but won by Winslet for the Reader, and they threw her in the bigger category. And now Cruz is the frontrunner. Some are picking Davis to pull a Judi Dench (winning for a perf with such little screentime) but I don't think thats possible for a first-time nominee (Dench had lost in the previous year to Helen Hunt).

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominees:

-Josh Brolin for Milk (2008)
-Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder (2008)
-Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt (2008/I)
-Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008)
Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road (2008)

This is surest bet all night. What you should take bets on is who gets to accept the award on his behalf. Ledger's dad? His three-year-old daughter? Nolan?... If someone else actually wins, they will have the inside track on the most awkward acceptance speech in Oscar history.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Nominees:

Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married (2008)
-Angelina Jolie for Changeling (2008)
-Melissa Leo for Frozen River (2008)
-Meryl Streep for Doubt (2008/I)
-Kate Winslet for The Reader (2008)

Sixth time's the charm for Winslet. She's the frontrunner for the first time. Hopefully the bad press the movie is getting doesn't hurt her campaign. I think Melissa Leo will steal enough votes from Meryl to ship it to Kate.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Nominees:

-Richard Jenkins for The Visitor (2007/I)
-Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon (2008)
-Sean Penn for Milk (2008)
-Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
-Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler (2008)

This is the toughest one to call. Penn and Rourke are literally neck and neck. In the end I think Rourke elevated his character more than Penn. I could see someone else playing Harvey Milk, but no one else could be Randy "The Ram." I say that all the old Academy voters who go mushy for biopic leads will split their votes between Penn and Langella, and this will clear the way for Rourke to snag the statue.

And finally...
Best Motion Picture of the Year

-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Ceán Chaffin, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall
-Frost/Nixon (2008): Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Eric Fellner
-Milk (2008/I): Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks
-The Reader (2008): Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti, Redmond Morris
-Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Christian Colson

Slumdog is a juggernaut very similarly to what Return of the King was in 2004 (although a clean sweep is highly unlikely). Now that they finally named the nominees for producing The Reader, the nomination makes since. Both Minghella and Pollack, Oscar darlings died while this movie was in production. This nomination is their subtle curtain call.

OK so that's done... many thanks to info I've gathered all over the web most notably at The Envelope: The LA Times Awards Insider, The Oscar Warrior at Comingsoon.net, and Brad Brevet at Rope of Silicon.

an actors director ... and good guy

So I finally watched The Wrestler last night. It serves to reinforce my huge geekdom when talking about Darren Aronofsky. This post should serve as a sort of pre-rambling to a massive oscar-prediction write-up.



One of the downsides to living in a small town is that we have one ten-screen movie theater. So our cinematic choices are often limited. It must be said that whoever is in charge of movie selection over there is doing a much better job than in years past. I've actually had the opportunity to watch 3 of the 5 nominees for the Best Picture Oscar in the past two months. He balances crappy horror drivel with films that appeal to our sizable geriatric demographic on the Outer Banks. When Gran Torino opened up to wide release in early January, I was shocked at how full the theater was on its first night here in KDH. And even more shocked at the number of high school kids I saw in the audience.

Unfortunately I had to resort to alternate means to view the latest film by one of my favorite filmmakers...Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler. It involves identifying with Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Geoffery Rush (virtually speaking anyway). So my viewing experience did not have the grand scope of a film theater, but I was deeply impressed by Aronofsky's work, as per usual. I can actually point to a viewing of his work as being one of those aha moments, where I realized I was really into film.

..

It was Thanksgiving 2000, and I we were visiting our Arlington, VA friends as per usual. A quasi-tradition we have to is to try and squeeze a movie theater outing into our visit, but this year not everyone was interested. Zag the oldest son of my mom's best friend Linda, had recently gotten into film making, and we had talked some during our visit. I had taken in a seminar in my last semester at high school that dabbled in film analysis, but had been unable to register for any film classes in school due in large part because I registered for all my classes late, but also because the program was small, and the classes filled up very quickly (I guess the idea of watching movies for class appeals to college kids).

Zag and I decided to go out to Georgetown to find a small screening of Requiem for a Dream. And I was awash in greatness. The arresting cinematography by Matty Libatique and the ominous tones composed by Clint Mansell, coupled with incredible performances, were married to Aronofsky's haunting screenplay and direction to culminate in this eruption of a cinematic experience. With Zag there to help point out particularly impressive tones, themes, and techniques employed by the filmmakers, I was hooked. I wanted to drink in all that film analysis and theory had to offer, in a way that my former English teachers had wanted us to think about the dreary literature in which they drowned us.

Requiem got moderate love from the awards circuit. Most notably was the notice of the strong performance from Ellen Burstyn. She won the Independent Spirit Award for best Female Lead, but lost the Oscar to that horse-toothed Julia Roberts for Erin Brockovich. Looking back it was a very strong year for film so I'm not surprised that Darren got lost in the academy shuffle. Another his collaborator's who scored an ISA was Libatique for his cinematography. I actually watched the next two films he DP'ed for solely based on Requiem. The second was the god awful Josie and the Pussycats, that I will still defend to this day (to some degree) based on Libatique's involvement. The first, however, was Joel Schumacher's Tigerland, which featured the role that essentially started the meteoric rise of Colin Farrell. I was impressed when he turned out to be Irish, as I was convinced he was actually from Texas. Another one of his cast-mates captured my attention. He appears here sitting on the bunk on the right.



I knew I had see him before. After I IMDB'ed him, I had to pick my jaw off the floor. (Here's a hint: "How can I have s'more when I haven't had any yet," "You're KILLING ME Smalls"). I watched that flick so many times growing up, and I always wondered what happened to those kids. I even rented that god awful sequel they cranked out because on the back it touted a where-are-they-now featurette.

Anywho, I digress (as is my nature). Libatique has DP'ed for Aronofsky for all his pictures...until The Wrestler. Matty forced Aronofsky to find a new DP for The Wrestler, most likely because Matty was off working on a little picture called Iron Man. Matty's also established a new collaboration trend, having framed each of Spike Lee's pictures since She Hate Me. But never fear...Libatique's hopefully tied to Darren's next two projects.

But perhaps Matty wasn't the right choice for The Wrestler. Maryse Alberti did the lighting and framing for this picture, and his pedigree is not be scoffed at. Most notably when scanning his filmography I saw a few highly touted documentaries, and The Wrestler plays very close to that type of tone. But it wasn't as if Aronofsky wasn't completely w/o his regular collaborators. He had his steady music man Clint Mansell whose provided the score for each of his movies.

My friend Jason liked his music so much that he used it in a clever youtube video,


I still believe a better name for the clip would have been "Requiem for a Wii'm"

...

When I was a sophomore in college I had the good fortune to meet both Aronofsky and Mansell.

We had a screening of Aronofsky's breakout film Pi, and following the film Aronofsky and Mansell (who of course scored this pic as well as Requiem for a Dream by this point) had a Q and A session.

The first thing I realized was...This guy seems like a regular average human being: How in the world did come up with such a depressing, visceral experience like Requiem. When I got a chance to shake his hand and get an autograph, I simply told him that it was a relief to find out that he had a normal sense of humor. There was also much speculation at this Q and A session about the much hyped Batman Year One project that Aronofsky was rumored to be developing. Aronofsky got shafted by the studios on this (I suppose you've seen the two somewhat successful movies starring Christian Bale have you?)and his next big project The Fountain. (I remember reading an early script review when Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt were attached, and he a $75 million budget...this was in 2002; then EVERYTHING WENT WRONG; long story short he had to make the movie for $35 million with Hugh Jackman, and his fiance Rachel Weisz and it was released in 2006)And yet he keeps on trucking despite Hollywood horror stories.

What I've come to realize is that Aronofsky is very much an actor's director. He sets the stage so well for an actor to deliver a monster performance. Burstyn in Requiem got an Oscar nod. Hugh Jackman proved he's a legitimate triple threat by showing dramatic chops in The Fountain, to go along with his action star clout and his Tony-award winning musical theater career. And now he's given Mickey Rourke the best gift he could possible get.

This film was tougher financially for them to make with Rourke as the headliner. And Aronofsky persisted that he be cast. I found his lack of bankability a little surprising given that Rourke had lit up the screen as Marv in Sin City in 2005, but that was not a headlining role by a longshot. But no one could play this role but Rourke.

So yeah Aronofsky didn't get nominated for an Oscar, but you can bet your sweet ass that win Rourke takes it down, he's gonna give up the love for Darren.

this is why I love NPR

I currently subscribe to nine NPR podcasts. This is actually a pared down selection for me, as I had to curtail my podcast list, due to the fact that my inability to listen to actual music was being hindered by my ever-replenishing slate of online radio content. Therefore shows like All Songs Considered, It's All Politics, NPR: Movies, & Talk of the Nation, got the boot b/c they were A) too similar to another podcast I enjoyed, B) not in season (I'm only deeply interested in politics in an election year so sue me), C)featuring too many stories I was hearing on other shows, or D) just ran too long. (I subscribe to longer shows, but they tend to be weekly shows). My listening list is creeping back to the 30 mark, and I fear another subscription trim may be imminent.

Fresh Air I consider to be the crown jewel of the nine NPR shows I enjoy. I just finished listening to yesterdays' show, and discovered something fantastic.

Joss Whedon, the brilliant mind behind one of my favorite TV shoes of all time, is ginormous fan of Stephen Sondheim. Not only is he a fan, but they've met, and have dialogue as artists.

Yes the guy responsible for this:

Is a fan of the guy who wrote the words for this:

Whedon's new show Dollhouse premiere's tonight on Fox, and the buzz on it is not great, but I'm sure that he's got a million even great ideas still germinating inside.

EDIT: Just read a great interview w/ Whedon about this show. I guess I can't make fun of my friends who still read Maxim (you know who you are). The bit about how DC comic book heroes make for bad movies it interesting, and his admission that he is ,in fact, JJ Abrams is hilarious.

my top ten films of 2008

So its 22 days into the New Year, so it must be time to reflect on the best movies I saw in 2008. I wanted this list to be a little bit different from the mainstream critic's lists, so I'm limiting it to movies released in 2008 that I actually saw.

This criteria excludes most of the usual fodder for these lists because I live in a small market for films, and I've not seen most of the "Oscar movies." I'm also going to exclude those that have seen already this year (Gran Torino, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) that technically were 2008 releases.

So without further ado here we go.

Honorable Mention - My Kid Could Paint That - honorable mention goes to my favorite documentary I saw this year that qualifies. This would have gone to King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, but it had a 2007 release.

Having sold fine art for five glorious months on the Funship Ecstasy, I heard a variation of the line "my kid could paint that" Heck when I first laid eyes on Parkwest's catalog of Joan Miro's work I sure as hell thought the same thing. So It intrigued me that a four-year-old girl was producing gallery quality work. This film's greatest strength is actually its unintended commentary about the nature of documentary film making. The producers set out to make a completely different film, but found their direction changing as the truth was revealed about their subject

On with the real list.

10. Blindness - this was one of those films I saw and said, "Wow, that was powerful, too bad its not a movie I can recommend to anyone." Most people don't want to see such a raw film. The depiction of the breakdown of common decency and values strikes a little too close to the realm of feasibility. I actually felt that the community constructed might have been very similar to that which sprung up in the Superdome during Hurricane Katrina.

9. Blueberry Nights - Wong Kar Wai's films have always struck me as beautiful, and this was his first fully English language film. I think it came in under really high expectations, but it was still a fantastic piece of film making. Norah Jones shows decent acting chops to go with that voice.

8. Pride and Glory - This film gets a nod because it triumphed over what I call genre-staleness. I've seen WAAAY too many dirty cop movies, and with Infernal Affairs/The Departed setting the bar so high in this arena, I didn't expect too much from this one. I was pleasantly surprised.

7. In Bruges - I really cannot wait to see writer/director Martin McDonagh's next film. The acting, and the writing is really spot on, and more people need to see this film.

6. Mamma Mia! - I've said before that I'm a sucker for musicals, so this is no surprise. This film makes the list despite having only one passable male lead singing voice, and an absolutely god-awful performance all-around from Pierce Brosnan. Amanda Seyfried needs to be cast in more films.

5. Iron Man - All about being second best. This would be the best comic book adaptation in many other years (Chris Nolan cancelled that . . Robert Downey Jr. killed it (Tom Cruise has reportedly wanted this role for years, and I'm glad he never got it); and his career resurrection (complete with an Oscar nom for Tropic thunder today) takes a backseat this year to Mickey Rourke. The moderate success of Ed Norton's Hulk sets the bar high for the proposed merge for the Avenger's movie, but I won't get my hopes up for that until they're actually filming.

4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall - My favorite comedy of the year (although it was almost derailed by Role Models late in the game; and Pineapple Express sorta overpromised/underdelivered). It has everything, a homoerotic Jonah Hill, plenty of full frontal guy time, weak-yet-attractive female leads, and lots to quote.

3. The Visitor - I'm SOOO psyched that Richard Jenkins got an Oscar nomination for best lead actor for this film. Its tough with a film that was released so early in the year, but this film is a solid rental. Everyone can find something about the movie to love, and Jenkins is fantastic.

2. Wall*E - The best animated film in recent years. Makes a lot out of very little dialogue. Great social and environmental commentary that's not preachy or harsh. And its for everyone. I feel terrible that I waited so long to finally watch this one.

1. The Dark Knight - a bit of a cop out to list this ahead of Wall*E, but I'm biased for Christopher Nolan. Didn't think it was possible for him to improve so greatly on Batman Begins. It ran nearly three hours, and I would have gladly watched three more (and I went to the midnight showing). I fully intended to judge Heath Ledger's performance very harshly, and it was still amazing. The only argument I can support against him being the best supporting actor of this past year is that his performance is so powerful that he really doesn't support anyone. He outshines everyone, every second that he's onscreen. I always felt he was a great actor ever since Monster's Ball. This just confirmed it.

So there it is. This year has started out pretty good. Can't wait to see Slumdog, Milk, etc. but that was 2008.

these people do exist?

How can a red-blooded American go through life without having seen Star Wars?

Encountered this hilarious video clip today, and just thought I would share it. Reminds me of my friend Tom in college, who told me he had not seen the Star Wars movies. Shocking, I know.


Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Enjoy your weekend :)

Thoughts on Will Smith's latest dramatic turn

So despite all of the negative press it's generated to this point, I decided to see the latest Will Smith drama Seven Pounds the other night. Normally this type of film is right in my wheelhouse. Its a film that deals with controversial issues, and is built upon a sizable plot twist, and gives steady, but not easily discernible clues to its viewer throughout the film. I like having to work for it.

I have very rarely been let down by Will Smith. Its no mistake that Hollywooder's consider him to be the #1 most bankable movie star. Of the 14 films of his that I have seen (not including Seven Pounds), I have thoroughly enjoyed 10 of them. And among those favorites are his serious films in addition to his bread-and-butter action flicks. On the periphery of those 10 are my somewhat questionable acceptance of I,Robot and Hitch. In both those cases I overlook serious flaws in both films, due almost solely to Smith actually elevating those films singlehandedly.

I was initially excited to see Seven Pounds because it reunited Smith with Italian director Gabreile Muccino, who directed Big Will, to his second Best Actor Oscar nomination two years ago in The Pursuit of Happyness. I was naturally confused then as this years Oscar buzz began to pick up and Smith's name was never being mentioned. The cryptic trailer combined with the movie's title did little to assuage my fears. Nor did nearly every review I read from the major critics, who scoffed at the instruction they were given to "not give away the film's major twist." Most simply said "This film's not worth spoiling anyway."

So on New Year's eve my friend Chris offered to spoil it for me before I saw it, and I took him up on it.

Here's what I was able to deduce prior to talking to Chris:

Seven Pounds is most likely a direct reference (I say most likely because the film never actually makes the reference) to William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. The titular character, Shylock demands that his penniless debtor repay instead with a pound of flesh. This has trickled down into the mainstream like many of the Bard's master works. The most resonant pop culture reference that came of my mind almost immediately was in David Fincher's movie Se7en, when in John Doe's depiction of the deadly sin Greed, he instructs his victim to repay his "debt" with several pounds of flesh.

Based on the trailer Will Smith's character, Ben Thomas, is man of extraordinary wealth and means, who seeks to use these means to better the lives of several people, including Rosario Dawson, and Woody Harrelson playing a blind man.

I don't think I can fully launch into my thoughts on the film from this point without saying SPOILER ALERT. DO NOT CONTINUE READING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM AND INTEND TO.

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As it turns out Ben Thomas is an extremely tortured soul. The film begins with him calling 911, to report his own suicide before he actually commits the act. The major impetus for his desire to kill himself is hinted at a few times in the first act, but only fully revealed in the film's resolution. Thomas was involved in a horrific car crash that killed seven people including the love of his life. Thomas was irresponsibly using his PDA while driving, and thus feels he must pay the penance for these seven deaths (hence he owes seven pounds of flesh).

Thomas decides to take a very literal slant on this debt. He begins by donating one of his lungs to his brother who was a chronic smoker (one pound down). This selfless act inspires him to donate the rest of his usable body parts, to atone for the lives he took in the accident. If the premise stopped here, I could truly buy this as a noble act, but I admit it would make for a fairly uninteresting movie.

Thomas decides instead to seek out the "perfect" recipients for the remaining pieces of his body/life. This immediately turns the inherently selfless act of organ/charity donation into a selfish act. The religious underpinnings of this judgment are enormous, as Thomas is undoubtedly playing God. He invades the privacy of likely hundreds of people on donor lists, in order to judge whether these people are worthy of receiving his 'hallowed' organs. Who he is he who decides to receive his charity?

He chooses to donate a piece of his liver to a social worker. He then uses these first two recipients of his charity, to select his next benefactors. He steals his brother's IRS credentials to gain illegal access to tax records, and enlists the help of the social worker to find a battered mother of two, to whom he gives his opulent beach home. Why would he choose to dramatically impact the lives of so few when could have just as easily sold his home, and donated the proceeds to a charity that would impact thousands of lives.

He makes two rather innocent choices for his next two donations, choosing to donate a kidney to a deserving high school hockey coach, and bone marrow to a cute kid.

His final two donations involve the most elaborate of his schemes, and further cloud the lines of selfish/selfless and right/wrong. He selects a meek blind man Ezra Turner (Harrelson) to receive his eyes, and a single woman Sarah Posa (Dawson). He spends the most film time getting to know Posa, which makes since as it seems to be the most important of his seven pounds of flesh that he intends to give. As he does comparably meek favors for Posa (weeds her backyard, repairs her ancient printing press) while he determines she is the true recipient for his heart, Thomas endears himself to Posa, and the two of them fall in love. He makes a last ditch effort to see whether Posa can survive without his heart, but then commits suicide, with his best friend/lawyer having explicit instructions to be sure that the Turner and Posa receive his remaining two pounds of flesh.

To complain about his method of suicide is fairly pointless, because is the grand scheme of things it pales in comparison to the ethical debates raised by the movie. Thomas has admired a jellyfish since childhood that was described to him by his father as the deadliest animal on the planet, and he decides to place one in a bath of freezing water to kill himself. From one vantage point, he doesn't actually die until the moment he reaches the hospital, which makes his organs the most valuable. But also wouldn't the poison from the jellyfish also render his heart (the most important organ in the whole equation) useless?

I also find my evaluations on the actors and director to be inconsequential to ethical debates. Ben Thomas is set up early on in the film as a very caustic character. He is unflinchingly mean and judgmental. Even knowing what his character was up to, I still felt that the director Puccino gave his lead an unnecessary uphill battle. Smith I felt was out-acted by his character. With a few exceptions, he merely one-tones it through most of his emotional scenes. Dawson, on the other hand was a glimmer of sunshine, giving one of her strongest performances ever, and showing she is capable of great things, and if she's given a shot at a good role she could be in line for some end of the year hardware for sure. Just not this time.

This sort of movie sets itself up to be over analyzed to death, which I normally value very highly. As a rabid contrarian, any movie that sparks hearty debate is usually aces in my book. But based on much of the public response to this movie, many people do not find fault with the actions of this films protagonist. Which I feel automatically vilifies anyone who finds fault with his actions.

The two people with whom I saw this movie both cried their eyes out. One of them was even watching the movie for a second time. Needless to say I found it slightly awkward based on my quibbles with the film overall. Its a natural thing, and I've found that I've cried more often in powerful movies in the recent years, just not this time. I may have had something smart-ass to say if someone cried watching 27 dresses, but not this time. And nothing can top my first tearjerker... I cried my eyes out when Luke Skywalker burned his father in his funeral pyre at the end of Return of the Jedi. I was five and it was his father for Christ's sake.

OK no more tangent... back to the show.

Suicide, anyway you slice it, is a ridiculously selfish act. Those who love you are greatly affected by your loss, and can often blame themselves for your decision to end your own life. This is one of the main reasons I believe that suicide is a crime in most Western societies. Thomas's lawyer/best friend is visibly destroyed by knowing of his friend's plan to kill himself, and that's just one person. And I was annoyed that Thomas allowed the connection to be established between himself and Posa, given his overarching intention. He inserted himself into her life, knowing that he would be dramatically removing himself eventually. The movie skirts around this issue by emphasizing Posa's close relationship with her new heartbeat, insinuating that he never really leaves her.

So Ben Thomas suicide is supposed to be viewed as noble because he has carefully selected the most suitable recipients for his heart and eyes? By determining who receives his last two pounds of flesh, Thomas has in effect sold his organs. It sets a dangerous precedent to allow someone committing suicide to designate to whom his organs should go. Its one small step away from someone choosing murder someone else for their vital organs in order to save someone that they love.

Ultimately I don't want to feel empathy for someone who commits suicide. This is the same reason I vehemently dislike the movie Blow. I didn't want to feel sorry for the man responsible for 60% of the cocaine introduced into the US.

Wow that went longer than I thought. I apologize to anyone who is still reading. Just had a lot of these ideas rattling around. Combined with the book I'm reading (Jon Krakauer's Under The Banner of Heaven; which is about the people, in this case Fundamental Mormons, who commit violent and heinous crimes in the name of God) I just felt the need to purge some of these ideas. Perhaps I'll blog about he book next once I finish.

my songbook pt. 5

"Tango de Roxanne" - Ewan McGregor, José Feliciano & Jacek Koman from "Moulin Rouge" (2001)

I would say I am a little guarded about my affinity for musicals. To be blunt...its not very heterosexual. I have received quite a bit of flack from some friends, one in particular (James) for being adamant that I enjoy most forms of musicals. It seems strange given that I this a recent trend. I wouldn't say that I was decidedly anti-musical in high school, but my enjoyment of all things Fosse, Minielli, etc. wasn't at its current level.

I dug our school's production of Godspell, Me Me in St. Louis, and The Sound of Music, but it wasn't until very late in the year when my roommate Pedro and I got into a very deep Rocky Horror Picture Show rut. Pedro was the only male student at our school that was out of the closet, and his introducing me to Richard O'Brien's tranny masterpiece was the caboose to the yearlong train of education of all things rainbow. While Pedro pined for the Adonis-inspired Rocky, I oogled the youthful Susan Sarandon. I fell for her hardcore when i peeped he in Bull Durham (A cougar like her with a religious devotion to baseball...oh yeah), so the fifteen-years-younger version in her underwear was an easy sell.

Its staggering to think about how cloaked in ignorance about that lifestyle. There's no one in my life to blame for that, save for a lack of real exposure. Its that same cloak of ignorance that allows for horrible things like Prop 8 to pass even the most liberal of states. Yeesh...lets nip that political rant in the bud shall we.

I took my brother's friend Jenny to see Moulin Rouge in the theater in the summer of 2000. I had a thing for her (redhead, what do you expect), she had one for my brother, he had one for her younger sister (at least I think so; I could be completely fabricating that entire love trapezoid--I destroyed plenty of brain cells that summer). This was both our first and last date. I was transfixed by every bit of celluloid that night. As I began to gush about the magic we had just witnessed leaving the theater, I was stopped dead in my tracks as Jenny soundly denounced the film as weird. She didn't like it, didn't get it. Needless to say I found less and less attractive about her.

Moulin Rouge is this wonderful postmodern musical, that is a fusion of three distinct old style operas (La Traviatta, La Boheme, and Orpheus in the Underworld), set at a brothel in turn-of-the- (19th) century France. The rub on that period setting is that the film's songs (save one original "Come What May") are simply re-interpretations of popular songs throughout history, most having to do with love. Setting the film in 1899, allows its hero Christian (played by Ewan McGregor) to appear stunningly innovative as the original writing that he pimps are in fact a Greatest hits from popular music and musicals. When he belts out the classic sound of music line "The hiiillls are allive with sound of muuuuussssic!" that stops the bohemians dead in their tracks, I nearly died laughing at the genius of that moment. So many of this films musical cues elicited this sort of response, I panic that I may have made a hasty decision.

Perhaps I should have chosen to feature this entire soundtrack. I could wax on for quite a while on so many of these tracks (some more than others) Here's a complete list of tracks for the film, and quickly where I see the discussion heading in each case:

1. Nature Boy - David Bowie -- Ziggy himself doing a rendtion of a Nat King Cole classic...some great levels to explore there

2. Lady Marmalarde - Christina, Pink, Mya, Lil' Kim, Missy Elliott -- the pop sensation spawned by the film; its seems so disconnected from the film when I think of it now.

3. Because We Can - Fatboy Slim -- would devolve quickly into a dicussion of his uber cool "Weapon of Choice" video with Christopher Walken, which would segway not so subtley into me just needing more cowbell (its the only solution to my fever)

4. Sparkling Diamonds - Nicole Kidman & Jim Broadbent -- much to be said about the great references to Madonna and Holly Golightly herself

5. Valeria - Rhythm of the Night - Gloria Estfan just won something big right

6. Your Song - Ewan McGregor & Nicole Kidman -- The second big appearance by Elton john in a film fave of mine in as many years (the first being "Tiny Dancer" in Almost Famous) this coupled with the sweet music videos for "I Want Love" (w/ Tony Stark/Robert Downey Jr.) and "This Train Don't Stop Here Anymore" (w/ Justin Timberlake before he brought SexyBack) convinced me to purchase the Elton John double disc Greatest Hits album. He ceased to be from that moment the weirdo who did those two songs for the Lion King, and became a musical icon. Weird how my mind works.

7. Children of the Revolution - Bono, Gavin Friday, Maurice Seezer -- A T. Rex song. Actually not much here. Believe it or not talking about Bono bores me these days

8. One Day I'll Fly Away - Nicole Kidman -- old Jazz standard by Kidman here

9. Diamond Dogs - Beck -- just really one kickass artist doing his thing. Every album is so different from the last its hard to realize their the same guy. I remember belting out Loser in middle school & grooving to Midnite Vultures in high school, but both those memories are on completely different wavelengths.

10. Elephant Love Medley - Nicole Kidman & Ewan McGregor -- At the time I could only identify pieces of this roller coaster of homages. To effortlessly glide from KISS to U2 to the Beatles to disco queen Thelma Houston I was impressed as hell. This medley gets at the very postmodern heart of this film. These songs like "Up Where We Belong" and "I Will Always Love You" already exist to evoke certain movie moments (whether it be An Officer and a Gentleman, or The Bodyguard), but Lurhman pilfered them perfectly, to not only recall those emotions, but project his own gravitas on those already in place.

11. Come What May - Nicole Kidman & Ewan McGregor -- I was miffed during Oscar season that this was not nominated for Best Original Song. It prompted a very close examining of the rules for that an other categories. Because the song was originally written for Romeo + Juliet, it could not qualify for the category for the wholly different movie.

12. El Tango de Roxanne - Ewan McGregor, Jose Feliciano, Jacek Koman -- I'll get there

13. Complainte De La Butte - Rufus Wainwright - My sister recognized his voice, prompted me to gift her his CD, then I heard him sing "Hallelujah," see my first songbook blog for the rest.

14. Hindi Sad Diamonds - Nicole Kidman, John Legizamo, Alka Yagnik -- Ahh the Bollywood-inspired number. Could go any number of ways, including Mira Nair's work, or even Bend it Like Beckham

15. Nature Boy - David Bowie & Massive Attack -- that sets up a wicked tangent on house music

All of these don't even begin to scratch the surface on my initial fascination with Baz Lurhman and his take on Romeo + Juliet. I was so enamored with that world he created. The reason so many of my online login names include the Shakespeare character Mercutio is because of that movie. Harold Perrineau (pre LOST and pre Matrix) created a version of that character that found extremely daring and charismatic. But alas I digress....in a big way....Back to El Tango de Roxanne.

--



"Roxanne" ... Its embarrassing to admit that I never considered what the 1978 Police track was actually about. It took its re-imagining for Moulin Rouge as a tango, for me to recognize that its a song about a French prostitute.

As Satine goes to be the Duke to save the production of Spectacular Spectacular, Christian laments his powerlessness. Jacek Koman (The Unconscious Argentinean) performs a steamy tango with Caroline O'Connor (Nini, Legs in the Air). The resulting dance is cross cut with Satine's "encounter" with the Duke. The Argintinean lays it out for Christian that falling in love with someone who sells intimacy to the highest bidder is path to insanity, for "Jealousy will drive you MAD!"

Two distinct things about this track send chills down my spine. The first is the marked difference between the Argentinean's delivery of this song and Sting's original higher range. What can I say I love a good cover song, particular one that is more of a reinterpretation and not simply a tribute band trying to recreate the original sound.

Secondly is the slow building of drama within the track. The backing begins simply... As the song's momentum builds the vocal focus shifts from the Argintinean to Christian, and the backing, builds and builds. The melancholy felt by Christian and Satine underscored through the song is so achingly palatable. They are torn between wanting their love displayed through their art, or rather in actuality in their very lives.

This scene embodies what is magical about musicals. For so many who scoff at the bright and cheery spectacle of a musical production, it is unfathomable that people are driven by songs in their every action, and it's even more strange that one would let that inner song out, and simply sing to show how they feel.

"People don't just break out randomly into song," is the anti-musical sentiment I've had to contend against for so long. And there's a nugget of truth to that, because most people don't. But the feelings that drive and saturate any music exist within us whether we choose to let feeling erupt from us or not.

This may be why I was first drawn to the darker songs in all musicals like "Tango. My favorite track from Chicago is the self-loathing anthem "Mr. Cellophane" Another track responsible was "I've Seen It All" from Dancer in the Dark. Sadness and inner pain made more sense to be set to music at first. As I came to watch and dissect more musicals (My film class on musicals in college turned out to be one of my favorites) I came to appreciate all aspects of the art form.

I discovered gems like Rent, Mamma Mia!, and Sweeney Todd after college, and loved them.

So I'll guess that the melancholy that eloquently shattered the screen and my senses in "Tango de Roxanne" is responsible for a deep-seeded appreciation of the musical genre. They're a tough sell to much of the movie-going public, but feel renewed with each big studio production that makes it to theater (Even if they make to listen to the terrible vocal stylings of Pierce Brosnan sometimes...for every actor who can't sing there are several that can and thank God they still do.)

my songbook pt. 1

So I am currently reading the book Songbook by Nick Hornby. This is the limey bastard that wrote the literary inspirations for About a Boy, Fever Pitch, and most famously High Fidelity. This book is a collection of 31 essays on different popular music songs. In the first essay that is termed the introduction, Hornby describes a spectacular realization regarding why certain important songs are associated with certain feelings and sensations:

"If you love a song, love it enough for it to accompany you throughout different stages in your life, then any specific memory is rubbed away by use."

Not all of the 31 songs he pines about take him back to simply a certain place and time. But that happens for all of us. My father asked me some years ago to make him mix CD with several classic rock songs. As he listened the the finished product he talked about some of the tracks in particular and how they reminded him of his days in high school and so on. I realized that these associations explain my enjoyment of these silly "I love the 80's" shows on VH1. But I digress...back to Hornby's essays.

Some correspond to revelations in his personal and professional life. The end result, this book comes off like a mixtape of essays, much like a compliation lovingly constructed by Hornby's Fidelity character Rob Gordon. I was only about 5 essays into the book, when I thought that I could create a collection within this blog. One that would very much be my own.

I don't know how many songs I will end up featuring (the first shortlist I've compiled features ten songs, I figure I may find about five more). My big fight will be keeping movie chatter out of these blogs. I will try to limit focusing on songs that I have interacted with majorly having to do with movies.

I encourage you who read to comment on the blog...if you have a particular take on the song or the subject on the blog. I would also love to read your own mixtape of songs.

The first song I've decided to talk about is:

"Hallelujah" -- Jeff Buckley

This haunting cover of Leonard Cohen's 1984 song is my favorite version of the song even though its not the first version I ever heard. A quick iTunes search reveals that I have 7 different versions of this song in my collection (of the reported 170 different versions that have been produced. There is one other song in my collection that I have so many versions of...that I will also talk about soon enough.

Hallelujah has come to be known as a soundtrack song. Not a year goes by that it isn't featured in some movie of television show to underscore an emoitional celluloid moment. Its melancholy tone lends it to many emotional scenes to denote depression. Or it can be flipped with certain lyrics like my favorite "I used to live alone before I knew you" or "her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you" to partner with romantic undertones. Even Letterman used it recently in a homage to Paul Newman.

Truth is it is a beautiful song that blipped on my radar because of its use in the movie Shrek. I had recently bought a Rufus Wainwright album for my sister, and was captivated by his vocal ability. I recognized his voice, listening to the song in the film, and sought to learn more about this incredible song.

This was a time in my life when I began to fully utilize the internet to expand my knowledge of the music that intrigued me. A search revealed that this song was in fact written by Leonard Cohen, whose was responsible for another of my favorite songs "Everybody Knows." Thus began my long love affair with cover songs that were better than their orignials.

I was dissatisfied with Cohen's version of the song, but soon discovered that their were many others. Some of them were terrible (Bono's makes my ears bleed), but others like Buckley's were transcendent. Its remarkable when a cover of a good song can make it great or even swallow up the original entirely. Hendrix's take on Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" is leagues better (it blew my mind when I found out that wasn't a Hendrix song). Other times, its a cheap ploy by a struggling artist: Jessica Simpson singing "These Boots are Made for Walking" comes to mind first).

But the reason this song has stayed with me is the ensuing things I found out about Jeff Buckley. An American singer/songwirter whose light was extinguished way too early. His album Grace came out in 1994, when I was too busy listening to Seattle grunge to pay attention to this soft singer's genius. This artist I had never heard of is to this day in the mixtapes and CD players of my idols. His stamp on music grows because he took Cohen's song and elevated it into the stratosphere, so that those who create art (movies, tv, etc.) constantly look to it for an emotional punch.

It reminds me how so many of us long to make an impact on the world, even if its the softest impact imaginable.

...Next song coming soon... :)

mad about Mad Men

its embarrassing to admit that I wanted nothing to do with the AMC TV series Mad Men at first glance. It idea of rehashing and glorifying 1960's Manhattan held no appeal for me. I decided that I would try and watch the show solely because one of the featured players was a relatively unknown actress named Christina Hendricks.

I had more or less fallen in love with Hendricks during her three episode arc on the failed Joss Whedon sci-fi western series Firefly. She was a conniving grifter buried in the gorgeous body of a voluptuous redhead. I am a true sucker for redheads in all forms of media and in my everyday life so the hook was not so hard to set. I was depressed to find that she had done very little mainstream work other than Firefly at the time, so when he image showed up in the promos for this period drama I became mildly interested. Turns out she can fill out the clothes of the period quite nicely.



So I randomly tuned in one night last year to what turned out to be episode 8 of 13 from the first season. The show moves a very deliberate pace, and because I was not up to speed with the subtlety of the characters involved I lost interest very quickly and dismissed the show.

Then the accolades at the end of season awards shows began to trickle in and I wondered what I had missed. The lead actor Jon Hamm defeated the favorite Hugh Laurie for the Golden Globe, and the show beat out Grey's for best drama. The SAG awards probably should have followed, but they became a ridiculous love-fest for the Sopranos.

So I queued up the first season in netflix and decided to take a closer look. The first episode "The Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" had me from the opening scene. Jon Hamm as Creative Director at Sterling Cooper (an advertising agency on Madison Avenue; ad men on Madison = Mad Men) is the epitome of all that is cool about the 1960's he's well put together, and well off, with the perfect life. He's unfaithful to his wife like so many men of his stature are in that era, but we learn throughout the series that he doesn't just troll the nightclubs for a nightly tryst; he seeks independent, complete women. These affairs contrast the vapid home life provided by his cookie-cutter housewife. As the layers are peeled back from Draper's character we find him to be anything but the man he projects.

Another character that piqued my interest was the brand new secretary Peggy Olson played by Elisabeth Moss. Olson, fresh from secretarial school, is assigned to Draper. She is wide-eyed and conservative. She's shown the ropes by the vampish office manager Joan Holloway (played by the aforementioned Hendricks) Holloway gives her tips on how to use her femininity to receive small perks around the office, and even recommends her a doctor. Olson also shows character progression, by proving to be more than a secretary, producing copy for two ad campaigns, leading to a promotion at the end of the season. She represents a remarkable duality of a woman who can think for herself, even though she has been raised to be subservient, but who makes the same mistakes of other women in her place despite her uniqueness.

The shows appeal lies in the 1960's cliches that reflect glaringly against today's ideals. Every character smokes cigarettes almost every chance they get, as the dangers of tobacco have yet to be fully realized. The workers at Sterling Cooper barely hide the bottles of liquor in their desks, and partake regularly throughout the workday. One almost believes that they rarely do any actual work. Yet many issues that are still pertinent today are addressed: closeted sexual orientation, marital infidelity, women empowerment in the workplace, escaping a family name, sexism, etc.

But ultimately the series is about our love affair with words, and our desire as a culture to be sold. Ad men make their living on that perfect catch phrase that lassoes the unsuspecting housewife into choosing one brand over the other. The breaking down of the advertising process is intoxicating, and no one seems to know the game better than Don Draper.

I was given chills by his pitch in the final episode of the first season, called "The Wheel." He was producing a campaign for Kodak's new slide projector, in which he must incorporate the new wheel mechanism they have introduced. He mocks the obvious choice other ad agencies would use ("Kodak has clearly re-invented the wheel"). He then delivers a breath-taking pitch while he showed slides of his own family vacation to the Kodak executives (I've broken the lines as it was delivered; with each break pausing for the changing of the slide:

"This device isn't a space ship,
its a time machine.
It goes backwards and forwards;
it takes us to a place where we ache to go again.
Its not called the wheel;
its called the Carosuel,
it lets us travel the way a child travels.
Round and around and back home again.
to a place where we know we are loved."



Its impossible to replicate Hamm's dynamite delivery, or to explain how the words are drowning in personal meaning, as their are several plot lines that hinge on these very words.

All I can say is the show is incredible and I can't wait to see more.

Saying no to free money/victory all for the message

It has been far too long since my last blog, The change in my employment has had a large part to do with that. Funny that I have had more free time now for quite a while, yet I have written less.

I recently watched the movie Deal, against the advice of every review I could get my hands on, and of course against my better judgement. The convergence of my two biggest interests (film and poker) must truly inhibit my common sense.

The poker boom is traced by many to the John Dahl independent film Rounders. The post Will Hunting vehicle for Matt Damon. Damon (and certainly his costar Ed Norton) and Chris Moneymaker have brought so many potential poker players to the world of gambling for a living. The movie arguably the best "poker movie" made to date. I tend to champion Steve McQueen's The Cincinnati Kid, over Rounders, almost strictly because Rounders is so evidently the more trendy choice.

Both films have major flaws that help anyone who wants to argue against the film's poker "supremacy."

The featured game in Kid is five-card stud, which is now an antiquated game, rarely played. In the final hand (spoiler alert) The Man draws an incredibly improbable Queen high straight flush (the odds of this in five card game are beyond astronomical, just being dealt a straight flush only happens 1 out of 72,193 times) to best The Kid's tens full of Aces(the odds of this match up of hands occurring are even more laughable: 332,220,508,619 to 1) This hand stinks of Hollywood, and the sheer lunacy of the probability of this match up occurring threatens to undo all of the great poker displayed in the film up to this point (The terrific hero call made in the opening hand by the Kid, and ridiculous bluff run by the Man on Pig are the highlights). After thinking about it though. I think its the only spot in which the Kid could be broken, and the point of the film can not be driven home unless he loses.

In Rounders, my major gripe occurs with the betting in the first big hand, in which Mike McDermott is felted by Malkovich's Teddy KGB. While the hand is based on a colossal misread by McDermott, he made two crucial mistakes in the hand. The first was playing with his entire bankroll. This mistake occurs more often than it should in real life, but one would think that a player with the skills of McD would no better (he even says it; "always leave yourself outs"). The second mistake is his $33,000 raise on the river. Mike holds the second nuts (nuts is pokerspeak for the second-best hand possible) with a nines full of aces full house. He assumes that KGB holds a spade flush, based on his analysis on KGB's play in the hand so far. The ridiculous occurs with Mike, assuming that KGB has a weak hand, raises his huge $15,000 bet into a $5,000 pot, a staggering $33,000 more. KGB can only justify a call with hand better than the one that McDermott holds. A player like McDermott would likely call in that spot, not raise.

But these are quibbling problems. Overall both movies offer excellent depictions of poker, and its encompassing lifestyle. The two most recent movies based in poker that I have watched; Deal and Curtis Hanson's stinker Lucky You, have one common plot point which irritate me to no end. Both movies end with the final table of a prestigious poker tournament, and the father/son and teacher/student combinations from each respective plot facing off against each other.

In both films the protagonist purposely folds a vastly superior hand to their opponent. Nice killer instinct guys. In what poker world would anyone fold a winning hand on purpose. It makes sense that the director wants to make a point. But in no way are there any poker players who would do this. Just pisses me off that poker is being sold to the masses this way.

Poker players are trying to win the money. They don't care about making statements. They win or they lose. They're all degenerates (though some more than others). Don't try and dress them up. Just accept it and move on.

I see scary plants

The Happening
(dir. M. Night Shyamalan)
(starring Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo)

(*** out of ****)

Movies like this walk a very fine line. One on hand, I love a movie that makes me think, but I hate a movie that is so absurd it makes no sense. The more I let all the parts of M. Night Shyamalan's sixth Hollywood endeavor germinate, the more I begin to believe that this film is more of the former rather than the latter.

M. Night's chosen path as a filmmaker reminds of one of those awesomely bad "No Fear" T-shirts that were popular for a hot minute in my formative middle school years: "If you're not living on the edge then you're taking up too much space." Shyamalan has consistently tread on that hair's breadth of a line between genius and poppy-cock (at least in my own estimation) since he burst onto the Hollywood scene almost ten years ago.

Shyamalan knocked one out of the park with his first film 1999's the Sixth Sense. The film with the "killer twist," scored huge at the box office, and landed eight Oscar nominations (including two for Shyamalan himself for writing and directing). It was unheard of that a "scary" movie could play so well for the snooty Academy, so it was not necessarily a disappointment when the film tallied a nasty goose-egg on the big night. Also raking in nearly $300 million in domestic box office on a modest $55 million budget is not too shabby.

Shyamalan has yet to replicate the magic of the Sixth Sense in terms of universal appeal, but he has stayed true to his own style each time out, sometimes to his detriment. With one harrowing exception M. Night has always recouped his film's budget in domestic box office receipts, and that generally keep someone interested in financing you're films no matter how weird they are.

His second film Unbreakable retained the high-powered star that powered his first success, Bruce Willis, and added the money hungry Samuel L. Jackson (I say that lovingly because Jackson seems to do every movie that he reads; he's been in some world class bombs). It was an homage to Shyamalan's lifelong fascination with comic books. His heroes didn't wear flashy colors, and the movie's twist was that the main character's were in fact the stereotypical hero and villain. The movie didn't quite break $100 million at the box office. It might have been bad timing as the first X-men movie had killed during the summer, and maybe moviegoers weren't looking for an offbeat, darker comic book movie.

For Signs, M Night. traded in John McClane for Martin Riggs, and regained his mojo with a $227 million rake. His alien invasion spooker, was well structured. I still maintain that the first reveal of the alien through the news footage is one of the best "recoil" moments in any film this decade. Then the twist truly ruined the film for me. Shyamalan nicked the alien's weakness from H.G Wells, and he made it even more absurd. How do those aliens choose to land on a planet covered with a the very substance that is deadly to them. YAWN! Talk about deflating the suspense.

The trailers for 2004's The Village, didn't inspire very much confidence. I vowed to not watch the film's due to the trailer's pandering to a horror movie's lowest common denominator. I was thus perplexed when my best friend insisted I give the film chance, giving it a must-see label. I entered the theater highly skeptical, and needless to say I was floored by what transpired.

After three films with pronounced twists, one can't watch his films without trying to unravel the mystery before the "big reveal" So I immediately went for M. Night's "dummy twist" proclaiming out loud in the theater "The monster's aren't real!" So as my guard was then lower I was completely blindsided by the real twist, that the film was in fact not a period piece, but a support group of those who had lost loved ones to crimes of passion, had fashioned an isolated community to attempt to escape from the evil that permeates our society today. I remember hearing people scoff at the idea of people foregoing the comforts of modern technology to live in a agrarian society, but I was fairly impressed by the message that even in a simple society you cannot escape man's inherent desire to harm one another to obtain that which they can't.

Oh and I developed an unhealthy fixation on Bryce Dallas Howard, the first in a long line of movie star and musician redheads, that I pine after still.

It was Howard's involvement in Lady in the Water, that ultimately disappointed me the most. Easily the worst of M. Night's canon. I was really disappointed that Howard would agree to star in such a horrible film. I honestly couldn't finish The Lady in the Water. It was the first movie of Shyamalan's to truly fail at the box office, only netting $44 million domestically despite a $75 million budget. Shyamalan had enjoyed a budget around that size since his breakout hit, but the Lady fiasco knocked him down peg, and this summer's the Happening was made for $57 million.

Now for the main event. The Happening is a meticulously structured paranoia thiller, with impressive notes of cringe-inducing horror, and mild comedic beats. The movie is really just meat and potatoes, which some will slam as over simplified, but to me is merely concise and effective.

The movie opens with the scores of people in Central Park suddenly stopping what they are doing, and deciding to end their own lives by whatever means they can. The news outlets in the film identify that toxin was introduced that flips the inhibitor in the brain that controls our human predication for self preservation. The toxin is suggested as a terrorist attack, leading those in major cities to evacuate. This is no "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" rip-off. Those exposed to the toxin are only a threat to one person: themselves. An enemy you can't see or defend against is nothing new, but one who turns you on yourself is a fresh take for sure.

The plot then follows race of a few people to avoid this toxin as best they can. The two leads are a recently married couple, Elliott and Alma. Elliot (Wahlberg) is a high school science teacher, a hopeless romantic, who may have married Alma (Deschanel) hastily. Also in their group is Elliott's co-worker Julian (Leguizamo) and his young daughter Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez). Julian leaves Jess with Alma and Elliott to go after his wife, who had made her way to a different town than their group.

It becomes based on the patterns of the toxin's release, that terrorists aren't behind the toxin, but that plant's are the source of the toxin. The first instances occurred in parks, and they are only occurring in the northeast United States, where there is the highest concentration of nuclear power plants. Thus this M, Night twist seems to have a very political theme: Human beings are polluting their planet to such a degree that plants have evolved in response and are sic-ing humans on themselves to even the playing field. It is suggested that the plants' are triggered by groups of people, prompting the survivors to split into smaller and smaller groups.

This twist is partial reversal on the twist from Signs, but for better effect. Our planet is covered with flora, and therefore, if plants were ever a danger to us, how could we escape their wrath. Mind you this a more elegant version that killer plants. The film does not contain.garish man-eating venus flytraps.

The secondary motivation that triggers the plants to release the toxin, is even more subtle and subject to much debate. It appears that anger and/ or hate is also a catalyst for the toxin's release. A small group arguing over who's in charge prompts a release, and an lone angry woman does as well. Towards the end of the film the remaining three leads: Elliot, Alma, and Jess find themselves separated in what they term to be the end of their lives. Due to their intense love for each other, which was confirmed and strengthened in their flight from this epidemic, they choose to face danger head on, to be together in their final moments. It is at this moment that the episode ends. One can be led to believe that they were simply fortunate that it ended, or one could argue that their love actually prompted these plants to "stand down." These three had abandoned their fear of death, dismantling the efficacy of the plant's toxin.

Thus the strategy of dispersing this toxin reveals its true genius. Facing an unidentifiable and seemingly inescapable foe, those in the line of fire would be hard pressed to feel anything but fear and despair, and even anger at their own helplessness. And they therefore will forever be the best targets.

Peeling back these layers of narrative construction like an onion, further reinforce my appreciation for this film. The acting was fair to middling. However scenes like one where Elliott pleads with a potted plant to not kill him only to find out the plant was plastic redeem the weaker ones.

James Newton Howard's score is Oscar-worthy, as is generally the case.

Overall my faith in M. Night Shyamalan is restored for the time being. He's prone to a make a misstep or two, so a film of this caliber doesn't not completely absolve him for Lady in the Water, but he's certainly out of the dog house. The film is not a homerun, but is most certainly a triple, which are generally harder to come by.

behind closed doors

Its a harrowing thought that these days, an exciting news story for me involves a town government possibly talking about things they shouldn't in closed session: things like grant applications. When did these things begin to pique my interest?

I tried to explain why I was finally handed something interesting to write about to my friends last weekend. As I laid out the details, I could see my friends' eyes glaze over: they had mentally checked out. They were no longer listening, but merely waiting for me to stop talking. One of them then compared me to the nameless, faceless teachers in a Peanuts cartoon, whose verbal output was a consistently unintelligible noise (while the noise is instantly recognizable when spoken, I find it hard to replicate in written words).



How do I explain that what I was assigned to write about was interesting? I tend to dismiss most of what I right in my summations of these torturous board of commissioners meetings as trivial and most certainly yawn-inducing. Endless people searching for exceptions to zoning ordinances so they can save $5,000 less on their million dollar construction project. Occasionally though the boards must talk about private matters, such as personnel issues or lawsuits, so they go into closed session. The public cannot know what goes on in closed session, until the matters discussed are no longer sensitive, at which point the closed session minutes are released.

Another time when closed session is needed is when the town is considering purchasing property. They can discuss the matter in closed session in order to protect their bid on the property. However the decision to use any municipal funds cannot be made in closed session; the public should know how the money is always being spent.

So recently we receive a press release from the state agency that has just approved a grant for one of our local governments. Further research into corresponding project reveals that it is contingent upon another sizable grant as well as matching funds from that government. Funny how that town had never to this point mentioned this project in their board meetings, despite having given approval for these grant applications.

So then the town announced support of the second grant recently, and suddenly the dollar amounts involved in the project were different (only four days later). The property owner was now asking for less than before, therefore the second grant would be for significantly less, and now the entire project could be funded without the town providing additional funds. Funny how that works.

This park project that should now be funded, should benefit the community. Thus the dilemma is: if a governing body conspires to do something away from the public eye, is it justified if the end result is beneficial? Who decided if the ultimate goal was beneficial or not?

I'm reminded of a similar ethics argument existing in the movie Gone Baby Gone. Should one who is charged with upholding the law, knowingly break the law to do what they think is right?

I don't tend to like politics, but seeing as I am technically the government reporter at this newspaper at which I work, I figure it was only a matter of time before I started rolling around in these sorts of issues. I can't promise I won't blog about politics in the future, but I sure hope my next political-themed rant is a long way off.

they're digging in the wrong place

How could I ever have doubted them? My anticipation level for the fourth (and long overdue) installment of the Indiana Jones franchise has risen and fallen like the stock market. There was the countless rewrites with several big name, proven screenwriters taking there shot at Indy 4, and being shot down by Lucas in particular. How could he turn away Oscar nominees like M. Night and Darabont. Has he not seen the Sixth Sense or Shawshank? Darabont was a writer for the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, but noooooo. So they settled finally on David "Spidey" Koepp (shiver)

Then there was the issue about the principals, namely Harrison "I don't care if I'm sixty-something I'm still going to wear an earring" Ford and Jones Senior himself the now-retired Sean Connery. Connery single-handedly saved the franchise in 1989 in Last Crusade, despite Spielberg moll Kate Capshaw's best efforts in Temple of Doom as the worst female action lead ever. But the news that he would not return for this summer's blockbuster, put the Jones crew on shaky ground. And could Ford, who has been without a hit since Air Force One, still don the fedora and crack the whip well enough?

But now for the three bits of good news I heard prior to actually watching the film. They cast Shia LaBeouf as Indiana the Third, the return of Marion Ravenwood, and the movie features aliens. At least the first and last of the these bits of news were met with some trepidation (some it my own).

Shia, lets face it, is everywhere these days. He apparently can't turn down any blockbuster script he's offered, and really why should he. An Emmy-winning child actor, he broke into the business in 2003 with a decent lead turn in a children's movie success Holes, took supporting roles in summer blockbusters for the next three years in hits (and misses) like I Robot, Constantine, and Charlie's Angels Full Throttle, and staked himself to some indie cred with an impressive performance in 2006 Sundance sensation A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.

Then 2007 became the year of Shia as he carried a Hitchcock remake to March success, then became the envy of every red-blooded malehttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif in America as he became friends with Optimus Prime, and locked lips with Megan Fox in Transformers. Many people I think viewed his casting in Jones 4 to be a cheap ploy towards a younger audience, but I'm inclined to believe otherwise. I think this kid can act.

Then was the return of Karen Allen. Marion Ravenwood is one of the key points to my argument that Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the greatest movies ever made. She was as balanced as a female character could be while still occupying that shoe-horned role of damsel in distress. She runs a bar, can drink any man under the table, and is very handy in a fight. Yet she goes gooey in Jones' hands, and becomes the girl that needs rescuing. I heard an inkling that Willie Scott would also cross paths with Indy in this film, but thank god someone put a kibosh on that. In fact, in the film when Marion and Indy fight, he notes that no woman he has been with since her had measured up. This was the ultimate slap in the face to Temple of Doom in my eyes, which of course is well-deserved. Crusade escapes harm from this though as Dr. Schneider turned out to be a villain.

And then of course there is the presence of aliens within the movies plot. My first thought was NO EFFING WAY. Indiana Jones deals with Mysticism, Nazi's, impossible-to-please parents. But then I realized that paring I should have considered was that this was Steve Spielberg yet again tackling alien encounters. As far as movies about aliens go, the man has absolutely knocked it out the park on two outta three tries, and according to Meatloaf "that ain't bad." (Plus I can ignore WOTW due to my hatred of Tom Cruise and the fact that its a remake)

My Cruise-loathing aside...this movie had me at hello. They opened with the original Paramount logo screen that dissolves into the movie's opening shot...just like each of the previous Jones movie's have done. The opening scene blares Elvis's Hound Dog over joyriding teens entrenching the movie in the 50's, and of course toys with its viewers with the reveal of your hero as he's pulled from the trunk of the car, first with the appearance of "The Hat," then the silhouette, and then of course Jones' annoyed snarl. As I viewed Ford at that moment I was drawn back to one of Jones' most memorable lines from the original film: "Its not the years honey, its the mileage." This would become this films mantra, as they fought every instinct along the way to modernize this film and made it just like the Jones movies of old.

Cate Blanchett does of course brilliant work as KGB psychic Irina Spalko, but I felt her casting was a bit wrong. I think that character would have been better suited to have been played by someone less high profile. Substituting the KGB as Jones' foil for the Nazis worked very well however.

But mainly this movie works because of homage and tradition. The introduction of LaBeouf's Mutt Williams is so steeped in movie lore its ridiculous. He appears on a motorcycle costumed almost to a T, just like Marlon Brando in A Wild One. Throw in a dash of Rebel Without a Cause, and stir in a pinch of the Outsiders, and voila there's Mutt. There was the Wilhelm scream featured for the umpteenth time in the library. There was even a rare homage reversal of sorts. The scene which features swarms of ginormous ants seemed to be taken directly from the man-eating scarabs from The Mummy...which I always so as a poor mans Indiana Jones movie anyway. And of course you can't have Harrison Ford ever deliver the line, "I have a bad feeling about this," without humming the Star Wars theme.

But the real homages are to the previous Jones movies. There's the blink-and-you'll-miss-it reappearance of the Ark of the Covenant in the opening hangar scene, and the return of the redline traveling via-map movie device. But I broke into a broad grin, when Jones reflected in his study on the photographs of Henry Jones Jr. and Marcus Brody. Both important cogs in the previous film they were justly acknowledged and remembered. The only person missing was John Rhys Davies's Salah, who I would like to have seen if only for a moment.

The movie worked, because it was an Indiana Jones movie through and through. Jones punched drivers out of vehicles to take the wheel himself. He was constantly kidnapped and forced to lead his enemy to their common goal (because they couldn't do it without him). He saw everything as a riddle, and of course solved them all. And he saw the bigger picture. While all those around him sought treasure and power, Jones, the perennially archaeologist sought to prove the legends he grew up believing, For him it was always about the hunt, and not the prize.

And of course the movie closes on a really well done scene. The wind blows the fedora at Shia's feet, and he picks it up to put it on his own head, only to have it snatched by its rightful owner. The scene encapsulates the film so well. Ford, Spielberg, and Lucas are deftly saying, "We've still got it, and this ain't the end for the ole Jones boys." These fellas are going to clean up with this film, and damn it they deserve it.