Playlist : Double Feature

Real quick. I saw two real good comedies over the last 2 days.

1. 500 Days of Summer: Makes me want to like non-romantic comedies...and Joseph Gordon Levitt even more. Real funny and original style to this...not at all what I expected.

2. The Promotion: I have had this love fest with Seann William Scott and John C. Reilly ever since "Cop Out" and "Cyrus" respectively. Real underrated film here...very funny and almost "Office Space" quality about two nice guys turning bad and trying to go for the same promotion at a grocery store. Both actors really do a great acting job and not just for the laughs...also look out for a good Jenna Fisher, a great and subdued Fred Armisen and Randy from "The Wire". It really gets sad for our favorite slubby guy Jon C Reily especially all his weird tattoos

Playlist: COP OUT or A Couple of Dicks

Ok...Kevin Smith made this movie...he knew he had to do something and the world of film was just not going to make the films he had in his pipeline..I can forgive him for it...but damn I wanted him to stick to his guns and write/direct all his films...this is a cop action comedy with Bruce Willis...I mean that's pretty cool...but who are these writers?...and will K Smith put in his patented K Smith style...you know the cool pop references and nostalgia for being a Gen X'er...and blatant sexual content etc etc

THE GOOD1. Seann Willam Scott is really funny. Every time I see this guy recently he is MONEY. He is here as the Shit Burglar...a Parkour shit leaving criminal who will help the cops once caught

2. Guillermo Diaz as Poh-Boy..the baseball lovin bad guy

3. The Kevin Smith Touches...the pop references and bad language...at one point Tracy Morgan goes into an interrogation room and pretends to be a "crazy criminal"...he just lets loose on film quote after film quote...from Star Wars to Scarface to Mr. Tibbs to The Color Purple.

4. Side character Adam Brody as a secondary cop partner team ...he is the young cop partnered with Kevin Pollack...this guy is genuine and funny and not afraid to look stupid...he shines here.

5. The soundtrack: Opens with "No Sleep till Brooklyn"...continues with classic Run-DMC, and the score by Harold Faltermeyer who came out of retirement...he did Beverly Hills Cop, the Running Man, Fletch...etc...this score feels so good and so comforting for a 35 year old man who yearns for those action cop films of the 1980s

THE BAD

1. Sadly it's these two...not to be pun-ie...but Bruce Willis just phones it in..and Tracy Morgan is incomprehensible..I really have to watch the film with the subtitles on...Morgan just talks too fast and mumbles and actually spits all over the place...instead of saliva I think this guy secretes milk out of his mouth...thick gobs of mucus milk

2. The Plot: It makes no sense, it should not be hard to follow a comedy cop film...think back to Beverly Hills Cop..the plot of the crime was simple--an exporter put drugs, German counterfeit money, and I think drugs covered in coffee to throw off dogs into America..that's it...in this film there is a woman locked in a trunk, a baseball card, stolen phones or equipment, drugs, money, gangs..it's a mess.

3. The Editing: A lot needed to be cut or rearranged or something..it feels choppy and not paced well...well guess who edited it?..Kevin Smith..I mean if he directs it..fine...not write it..Ok..but why couldn't they get a real editor?

4. Jason Lee: As the new husband of Bruce Willis' wife...he is not funny anymore...plays a faggy jerk (thanks Louie C.K. for bringing back faggy)...Memphis Beat is a joke...Earl sucked at the end, his last big role was Almost Famous which was 10 years ago...I love him in Mall Rats and Chasing Amy..I guess that's enough

5. The Writers: The Cullen Brothers..what's up with Brothers..no one can follow in the Coen Bros footsteps..wait...except for the Duplass Bros..these guys are no Duplass Bros.

6. Kevin Smith: I feel bad and I don't...I was real upset about this not writing thing..now I don't..this film is sub-par with or without him..there are flashes of Smith's best work here...I take this as one of those thing that you see actors do..they will make a big dopey film to then pay for something better later on...with Red State in the works now I feel good about that one and can understand doing Cop Out..although Cop Out made very little money, made for 30 million, and made an OK 44 million)...Smith also has the hockey film "Hit Somebody" in the pipeline with a potential to team up with Seann William Scott.

The real BEST thing is the Blu-Ray Comedy Mode in the DVD...it's Kevin Smith using Blu-ray technology to dive into commentary, deleted scenes and bloopers..he's great at this..I just wish there was a straight up commentary with him and Seann William Scott.

Woo..that was in depth..I say check it out to complete your Kevin Smith films..but if you like extras, definitely check out the Blu-Ray

Playlist: Party Down (Season 1)

Why? Recommended by a few people, including our very own Vin

If you don't know (and you might not since this was on Starz, which you may also not know is a cable network), this comedy follows a small catering team to a different event each episode. It's L.A., so the charcaters are all trying to break into or back into the Industry. Fittingly, the show works because of the actors.

The thing about ensemble casts is that you need to start everyone off as a broad charcater type in order to ground the audience. Look at Kramer from "Seinfeld." he started as "the goofy neighbor." No one knew anything about him so they had to play it a little obvious at first. He was still funny, but he became funnier as he took on more layers. And, as is the case on "Party Down," those layers are exposed during interactions with the other characters. Good shows are self-feeding organisms: they make they're own jokes.

As for those actors, I didn't want to like Adam Scott--he has one of those punchable faces--but he centers the show with his low-key charm. I also didn't want to like Jane Lynch--for personal "Glee"-backlash reasons (man, I'm a jerk)--but she's undeniably naturally funny. PD's Kramer. And Ken Marino, as the team leader, is so sweetly desperate that you feel bad for laughing at him. Not that it stops you.

SMC Bonus Cool Point: Director Fred Savage is also a regular director on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." Who needs Winnie, right?

Favorite Episode: "Celebrate Ricky Sargulesh" (Guest-starring Steven Weber as an Eastern European gangster who just got off for murder. Most out loud laughs of the season.)

Favorite Guest Star: Kristen Bell, "Stennheiser-Pong Wedding Reception" (I'm not usually a fan of hers, but she was spot on as the anal-retentive team leader of a rival catering team)

Playlist: Pontypool

Why? One of the most buzzed about "zombie" movies in years

Damn it, this was so close. Helluva set-up: Grant Mazzy is a veteran radio personality stuck doing the morning show in a small, snowy Canadian town. What plays out next is pure Orson Welles as reports start to trickle in about strange occurrences in the area, including a gathering mob that soon turns violent. All the time, we see nothing but the inside of the studio as the tension builds through the reactions of Mazzy (character actor Stephen McHattie--think Lance Hendrikson mixed with Hugh Laurie) and his staff.

Which brings us to the crossroads. Go one way, director Bruce McDonald maintains the movie as a study of paranoia and the unknown, relying on his storytelling to escalate the terror. It's risky, but where else to take a narrative leap but in a low-budget genre film. The other way, which you probably guessed is the way we went, is to bring on the zombies. One choice isn't better than the other. It's what happens after the choice that counts.

To McDonald's credit, he has gone on record as stating that the infected people in this film are not zombies. He refers to them as "conversationalists" because the disease is language-based. Certain words--different for everybody--trigger a neurological lockdown where "you become so distraught at your condition that the only way out of the situation you feel, as an infected person, is to try and chew your way through the mouth of another person." It's always interesting to see a new twist, but there's no science here to back it up in the slightest. That's not even the real problem. There's not even any pseudo-science to back it up. The "why" is never fully revealed. Again, this is okay if you are confident to leave your story shrouded in mystery. Which leads us back to the choice to reveal the "zombies."

The radio station is soon overrun by infected townspeople as well as a doctor whose connection to the epidemic is never explained but who is presented as the key to solving the puzzle. The character (or the actor, or both) is a mess. He's goofy and babbling and kills the carefully-developed tone of the film. And adds nothing. At this point the whole concept breaks down and the resolution feels made up on the spot. It feels like no one had any idea what to do in the second half of the film. Still better than Dead Snow, though.

Playlist: American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein

Why? Interesting sounding documentary

And it was. Finkelstein is a professor and author who has made his career criticizing Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. Ok, more than criticizing. He compares them to the Nazis, his argument given a certain legitimacy by his being the son of Holocaust survivors. Surprisingly, some people disagree. This film does a good job of presenting both sides of the debate and not simply shooting the subject in a glowing light.

Unfortunately, it could have been about 25 minutes shorter. Like I said, Finkelstein is a complex personality and someone I didn't know anything about--the perfect docu mix. A tight hour would have done the job without all the filler that dragged this film down at times. It's a problem with a lot of documentarians. This may be a strange criticism, but I think they focus too much on "making a film" instead of simply tackling a subject as efficiently as possible. It's what gives good documentaries a bad name. So, no, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this film so much as I would suggest reading up on Finkelstein. Don't worry, online reading counts, too.

Playlist: Alice in Wonderland

Why? Because 15 years ago, this would have been brilliant

Now, however, well...in the last ten years, Tim Burton has made one original movie (Corpse Bride, 2005). His upcoming movies? Frankenweenie (based on his own 1984 short), Dark Shadows (based on the TV show), Maleficent (based on Sleeping Beauty), The Addams Family (based on another TV show and already made into a series of films), and Monsterocalypse (based on a game, so that's different). It's sad, and I'm sad, because another talented artist has apparently lost his way. (Check out his Web site for a reminder of his unique imagination.)

Alice is the culmination of this slide into corporate mediocrity. The film, based of course on one of the most fantastic stories of all time, is lifeless, and even worse, heartless. I had zero investment in the story--it's just a lot of CGI and not much else. Even the acting was a mixed bag. Mia Wasikowska showed a strong presence as Alice and Mrs. Burton, Helena Bonham Carter, was entertaining as the oddly big-headed Red Queen. Anne Hathaway, as the White Queen, came off as a stoned Goth witch. No idea what was going on there. And then there's Johnny Depp. Ouch. This may be the worst performance of his career. I feel like I must have blacked out at some point during this movie because I cannot understand what the point of his character was. He was a relatively sane Mad Hatter with a boring back story that was forced to the main storyline for no other reason than they had to justify Depp's salary. Again, imagine this casting 10-15 years ago. Imagine how insane Depp would have played the Hatter.

I genuinely felt my time was wasted.

(Though check out this picture of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Tell me they don't look like Jonah Hill.)

Playlist: Exam

"Do you have any questions?", "What's the question?", "What's the answer?", I have more questions?", "Does this film have an ending?", Will we be in this room the whole time?"

Films like this are great, they either are throwaway films, (see CUBE 2)...or great films..(see CUBE)

Movies this is like...Usual Suspects, Saw, Cube obviously, Primer (kinda without time machine stuff), puzzle solving films are fun if done right...maybe even memorable...but if done wrong...they just are terrible...this one is done right but is closer to Cube then say the greatness of Usual Suspects or MOON which uses a small space and limited actors to tell a puzzling story. It's terse, small, a good Saturday Night Thriller.

Stuart Hazeldine is a new British director that's been around. He is king of British Spec scripts...things like Blade Runner 2. Also he wrote Knowing and is pals with Dark City's Alex Proyas...which I love that film but Proyas' next few films were just ok.

EXAM is like that thing the substitute teacher did in your class when you were in middle school. Write a bunch of questions on the board and then make you feel stupid later for answering all the questions when the answer was at the start...believe me I looked for the answer and felt stupid I didn't get it the first time...but this film goes through all the rules and reminds you how the logic works...it's simple and easy.

The acting is good...it varies from REAL good to student film level..

The best acting is by Luke Mably...playing the role of "White"...he stereotypes everyone and calls them by how they look...like "Black", "Blonde"...kinda like a racist Reservoir Dogs...

My new favorite word is "INVIGILATOR"...which sounds awesome...but in British just means Exam Proctor...I always had an idea for a film called "PROCTOR"...and it wasn't as good as this film...maybe more like "One Hour Photo"...anyway that word is awesome and I will use it at least once a day now.
The film is now $5.99 on pay per view...it's worth a rent.

Lifetime Movies: 1995

Winner: The Usual Suspects

Movies with big trick endings run the risk of being forced to stand on their own once the novelty wears off. Whether they do or not is the difference between whether it was conceived gimmick first ("Hey, wouldn't it be cool to end a movie this way?") or if the ending is the organic conclusion to a well-crafted, character-rich story. Obviously, you know how I feel about this. Everything came together here, from the cast led by Oscar-winning Kevin Spacey, to Bryan Singer's direction to Christopher McQuarrie's still amazing Oscar-winning screenplay. It was one of the most rewarding movie watching experiences I can remember having.

Films of Note:

Vin nailed most of the contenders in his post. Heat, Se7en, and Twelve Monkeys are right there at the top this year's heap, which along with 1996 are my two favorite on the list.

Dead Man: Johnny Depp stars as a literal dead man walking in Jim Jarmusch's under seen existential western. Jarmusch is one of those directors "serious" film fans are supposed to like. I think I like him more than his movies, but this one seems to be an artist hitting all his thematic and stylistic marks.  

Dead Man Walking: I was so blown away by the acting that I went to see this twice in the theater. That's just not something I normally do. A powerful movie. And for those of you playing at home, this is my favorite Sean Penn role. Not to mention an incredible soundtrack.

Leaving Las Vegas: Cage and Shue challenged Penn and Sarandon for the tag team belts this year with a pair of career performances (they split the Oscars with Cage and Sarandon winning). It's almost as if Cage decided he had reached his peak because the next year saw him transform into an action star and an acting punch line. And did I mention Elisabeth Shue?

The Quick and the Dead: My friend Pete dragged me to see this since I had not yet fully come to appreciate the directorial wizardry of Sam Raimi. Sharon Stone's the "star" of this film about a quick-draw tournament (single-elimination, of course) but the rest of the cast steals the show: Gene Hackman, Leo DiCaprio, and some unknown as the male lead. I remember being disappointed that with all this talent on screen this guy I never heard of was getting so much face time. It was Russell Crowe.

Babe: Whatever. You don't like this? You're dead inside. 

Lifetime Movies: 1995

It was the year of Batman Forever and the year this genius guy got married...WELCOME TO 1995

As far as lists of films go, for me when I look at these last 36 years, the quality of films just shoots up dramatically in 1995. From here on it's an all out war for best films of the year, for action, great actors, amazing new directors making original and interesting films...this truly is the golden age...too bad 2010 had to come and be a pretty bad year for film...ah but the year is still young.

Nominees:

Toy Story, SE7EN, The Usual Suspects, Casino, Heat, Mallrats, 12 Monkeys

Yes it's a long list...I feel they all deserve it, but one rises to the top.




Micheal Mann's EPIC crime saga HEAT, is my best film of 1995. The story is solid throughout...the watchability is phenomenal, the acting is the glory of film with these two titans of film for the first time going mono-a-mono (do not see Righteous Kill...see this about 1000 times first). Micheal Mann is the best at action, intensity, and music...the use of music to add the coolest vibe for a film. I love his later films and the use of the video quality of Collateral, Miami Vice and even Public Enemies. When Chris Nolan was writing The Dark Knight he kept watching Heat for his inspiration...and it obviously has an impact. Pacino's over the top performance and DeNiro's understated cool calm are perfect...that with the street LA shoot out and Ashley Judd just make me want to go watch it over and over again.

Others:

Toy Story: Pixar classic, watch it with or without kids around...after a while though you realize that TS2 is better.

SE7EN: Brought David Fincher to the scene...I really didn't know who the killer was..I mean I remember the early buzz on the young Internet was that it was a name star...I knew of Kevin Spacey from the TV show "Wiseguy"...and other things...little did I know he would be the key to the surprise ending of 2 films this year. Seven is brilliant, it is a great serial killer story...Brad Pitt rules and is funny as hell and to think they wanted a different ending...FUCK THAT says David Fincher and One hit Wonder Andrew Kevin Walker...the writer that has done nothing since.

The Usual Suspects: Fuck the haters (yeah, you Slashfilm)...you just can't re-watch a classic I guess...this film builds constantly...and maybe you just don't like great acting...the writing by McQuarrie is great and free...he says so in interviews that he didn't know the rules of writing and maybe he is a worse writer now then he was back then because he follows the rules...well Keyser Soze should get his own movie.

Casino: We all remember this greatly in our memory..I say it is not as good as we think. Wall to wall music...music is everywhere..I think the Deniro-Pesci thing is great...but the side characters are not...except Sharon Stone who is wonderful.

Mallrats: all these actors that are in this are doing nothing now...they could have been great but all except that Affleck guy are done for...the film I think is great for that time...but that time is past...I remember asking for small cups in malls and doing the Jedi mind trick and saying snoochy buchies...man that was a long time ago.

12 Monkeys: probably the second best Gilliam film ever...Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt took a risk here with Gilliam...I really thought this guy was golden after this...and then came his other disasters...but this film is one of the best time travel films going...Brad Pitt again is perfect and funny, and Bruce Willis just goes with the flow and is serious throughout.

Man...a lot to write...it's just a bunch of great films...most of these I return to a lot and think.."Wow that was 15 years ago"? These are big name directors also who were in the prime of their career.

Lifetime Movies: 1994

1994 belonged to Pulp Fiction. It may not be a better film then Shawshank Redemption, but it's a better watch. Pulp was a running hit this year, driving through the pop culture landscape...Shawshank fizzled and then found its way and earned respect on video rentals...which is how I watched it...I think the name alone and "men in prison" hurt it...but I am glad they never changed it. Pulp Fiction was a time-changing, fashion-twisting, phrase-making Juggernaut...and we in the film fan community are still feeling the effects....how many knock-offs were made after this..about a thousand...maybe more. It's my best film of 1994. Whoever thought I would put soooo much time into thinking about the following:

1. What book was Vincent Vega reading on the toilet when he got shot?
2. Did the devil take Marcellus Wallace's Soul through the back of the head?..is that why he has a band aid there?
3. What's really in the case?...the soul of Wallace stupid
4. Will there ever be a "Vega Brothers Film"?
5. What if Stallone really took the "Butch" role?
6. Those Banana Slug T-Shirts are awesome
7. So Quentin Tarantino's character married a black girl?
8. Wow Vincent Vega is Alive at the end?...oh no he just moves time around

Other flicks:

Clerks: One of the best documentaries is the Clerks 10 year DVD "The Snowball Effect"...very entertaining...I have been off the K. Smith bandwagon for awhile...I think he lost his way trying to be something he is not after Jersey Girl...thought he got it back with Clerks 2 which was awesome...I guess we shall see...but he has the first Star Wars geek references in film history I think...and does it better then All.

Natural Born Killers: I saw Oliver Stone give a talk at my College once...he was a jerk...but I love this film...the director's longer cut is great...and the script of course is by Tarantino...again I wish he would write more...this film was stalled because Stone wanted images of the OJ case in the film...his was the first to make that stuff to film...The movie is brilliant and still relevant in our pop culture reality TV bull shit lives. And I just find Juliette Lewis so hot.

Shawshank Redemption: Best film commentator in the world is Frank Darabont. IMDB lists this film as #2/#1 depending on traffic I guess...It's great...I actually like Tim in this...the prison mood and joy of the film is great...not much else...I gotta eat breakfast

Playlist: I Stand Alone

Gaspar Noe is the Vincent Gallo of French Directors. Uncompromising, controversial, has made too few films for his long time in film, and he presses your buttons.

I Stand Alone is tough to watch...not gory or little action. Noe has here a character study. Most American films do well outside of America because their is a lot of action, and therefore very little talking..and so foreign audiences don't have to read a lot...here the subtitles are rapid fire...the character's inner monologue never stops...his ideas about humanity and the loss he feels are never ending. This film is like Taxi Driver meets Up...and by Up I mean the Pixar Up....no there is no house or balloons..but there is a grumpy old man who is selfish and wants to bring an innocent child down with him.

At one point the film stops...a warning comes on the screen for any audience member to leave the film...and an actual countdown clock begins..it starts at 30 and that's all you see...literally the Director Noe is actively engaging us in the film and saying there is no turning back to what we will see as the film's ultimate horrors begin. It's nothing we haven't seen already...just done in a very jarring way. These Foreign directors like to manipulate us...Funny Games comes to mind where Micheal Haneke uses the manipulation of the audience and a remote control to let the audience know that we...the audience sitting and watching are as much to blame for the torture of the family in the movie as to two criminals in his film.

Noe uses these techniques...also very unnerving soundscapes (Lynchian) and a camera rush and special effects with loud sound to jolt us during high tension. Noe has made very few films.. I really liked the action and mood of Irreversible, and I am highly anticipating the US release of Enter the Void. I Stand Alone is the start of feature films for this 40 something director...he has many TV and short film releases...he is visually different and his direction is great, even though disturbing...and not in a gore way again...just unease...like I said, like a David Lynch met up with Martin Scorsese...even that comparison eliminates the great and subtle special effects he uses.

To anticipate Enter the Void, click the link.

Playlist: 35 Shots of Rum

Why? Trying to class this place up

Seriously, though, this film was on several "Best of 2009" lists and I did think it was good to expand my cinematic diet. A little French cuisine now and then to offset the usual American mac & cheese. Good intentions, right? What's French for "Oy"?

I should have known. The DVD came with an essay by Film Quarterly editor Rob White. I've read Film Quarterly. Rather, I've tried to read Film Quarterly. It's not written to be understood, but to be the print equivalent of self-fellating to the sound of your own pomposity. Film is art and art criticism has a vital role in society. But so does perspective. Not every foreign experimental arthouse film is a transcendental life experience. Just like not every summer blockbuster is deep-fried crap. You don't have to like or dislike anything until you actually like or dislike it. Novel concept. Maybe I'll start a School of Thought around it.

Right, the essay. White writes 35 Shots "lacks the menace of her (director Clair Denis's) recent work..." If only I had Babel Fished "Critic to English" I would have gotten the word "boring." I'm particularly dissatisfied that the late Vin just watched one of Denis's "menacing" movies, Trouble Every Day. It sounded tres wild.

Nothing happens. Not true. We get extended scenes of the characters driving a train, sitting on a couch, doing laundry, and in what may have been the climax, making an omelet. No one speaks in the way people only do in art films. Small talk, evidently, is so bourgeois.

Thought: could Denis have intended the title to serve as a supplemental instruction, an attempt to transform the medium to an alive, interactive experience, to blur the century-old chasm between creator and audience? Basically, should I have been drunk?

Playlist: The Book of Eli

Why? What's not to like about a dystopian wasteland?

It's in-your-face apparent that the Hughes Brothers decided to make an "important" film. It stars Denzel, after all. Denzel as a man of few words walking alone through the CGI desertscape of yet another Armageddon-ravaged world. Sounds like a kidless The Road, doesn't it? Although that actually was an important film (and book). That was an examination of humanity. This is a love letter to The Bible. With beheadings and eviscerations. Which come to think of it, are both very biblical. (The violence and the sex are what really make it "The Good Book".)

As in all of these end-of-the-world fests, there's something valuable that everyone wants. Usually, it's something literally relevant to survival. Water, perhaps, or food. Pig shit, of course, if you're Tina Turner. Not here, though. Here it's the last copy of The Bible on Earth (fact check, please). Denzel, as Eli, is carrying it to the West Coast for some sort of delusional Messianic reason. Gary Oldman, playing a post-apocalyptic Al Swearengen, is the small town overlord who wants that book so he can control the masses. See, the Word of God is the most magical force in the universe, but even it can be corrupted by an evil nutjob. Get it? (We first see Oldman reading a bio of Mussolini. Yeah, I get it, thanks.)

The fight scenes are well-choreographed and this would have been a fun, if inconsequential, movie if it weren't for them hand-feeding us their "theme." There's a "Big Twist" at the end that is pretty good, though I don't know how necessary it was to all the action before it.

Two more: Mila Kunis, who I normally like, is terrible as Eli's sidekick. And there's a major plot hole about gas that would have been easier to ignore if the film didn't point it out in the previous scene.

Eh. Could of used zombies.

SMC @ The Movies: Inception

As you know, Vin and I both picked Christopher Nolan's mindfreak as our most anticipated film of the summer, so it was the perfect nightcap to our Saturday night doubleheader. And in tribute to revisionist historians everywhere, we actually watched it first.

Okay, so we both liked it--let's get that out of the way up front. Nolan brought his A game as usual and the cast was up to the task. In particular, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, and Marion Cotillard. Cotillard, who won an Oscar for 2007's La Vie en Rose, was almost distractingly stunning. I felt bad for Ellen Page because she looked like a little girl in the scenes they shared together.

I'm sure you know Inception has something to do with dreams and guess what? You're right. I'm not going to explain it, but what it all boils down to is a visually amazing sci-fi heist film. Does it make you think? Of course. But so did Jennifer's Body. There, I thought, WTF?

Vin: Is the ending a statement that our "reality"...is really a dream?...I thought this driving home. Or is it like Memento: it's all a dream...he "incepted" himself...I am reading all these things online and need to go to bed. This is a good take on the film.  

Frank: Funny thing is I didn't question the ending until I heard other people talking about it. As multi-layered as the film was, it was pretty linear and straight-forward. I think. I missed something, didn't I?

Vin: I am starting to question my reality now as a dream...Chris Nolan has incepted an idea into all of our brains with this film and some of us will commit suicide...

Frank: Yeah, anyone who commits suicide now can have their family sue Nolan.

Vin: Read Flicker by Theodore Roszack for a similar film idea.

Frank: You mentioned that book before. I have to read it. Who was supposed to film it? Aronofsky? (Ed. Note: Yep.)

Back to the movie, as complicated as it got I think the internal logic held up which is always a risk in these films. I guess we should expect Nolan to pay attention to detail. So how does this rate vs. his other films?

...And that's the last I heard from Vin. Officially, he's "on assignment" this week. Between you and me, he's dead.

SMC @ The Movies: Cyrus

SMC took the show on the road this weekend (yes, to an actual theater) for not one, but two movies. What made us take that long elevator ride from our subterranean bunker? Why our beloved Duplass Brothers, of course and their first studio film, Cyrus. The film follows a down-on-his-luck schlub (John C. Reilly) who has the unnatural good fortune to have Marisa Tomei fall for him. Only problem? She lives with her adult son (Jonah Hill) who has a few mommy issues to still work out. Of course, we liked it. 

Vin

I'll stand by a few things:

1. John C. Reilly would make a great buddy

2. The Duplass Bros make a great small film

3. Jon C. is the Cyrus in Catherine Keener's life

4. I want to see another film with Mark Duplass in it

 

Frank:

I said that it seemed a little strange at times seeing bigger actors in this indie-looking film--it looks just like their other movies, which I like a lot by the way. Do you think it would have been the same if, say, Mark starred in this and the other two were unknown? 

 

Vin

If Mark was in it it would have been seen by no one except their friends and a small amount of people who know the other films...It still would have been good...but I gotta say I missed Mark Duplass in this...but John C. Reilly was very funny and very believable.

  

Frank

What I really like about their films is that no matter the plot they try to figure out how people would realistically respond to situations. Like when they're fighting and they gall into the gift table. In a Hollywood film, first they would have jumped up and smashed through it like in wrestling. Then they would have kept going, probably rolling into a pool or the wedding cake. But here it was over quick like a real fight, people thought they were assholes, and everyone was embarrassed. I guess it's because they were just making a movie instead of "a comedy."

Vin

As for the realism...yes it was great...there were moments that you are expecting it to turn into a raunchy, "unrated" Step Brothers formula film...but it never does...and that is refreshing...I like that the only thing Cyrus does is steal the shoes and be generally creppy...in another film he would have done unreal things to be weird

 

Frank

Exactly. They would have beaten that point home. They probably would have had him grab his mom's ass or something. The beauty here is that you keep expecting him to do that but he doesn't because who would do that? The Bros Du actually seem to respect the audience's ability to think for themselves. 

Frank

And Tomei was really very good in this. She's a good actress. You guys should have never broken up.

 

 

Lifetime Movies: 1994

Winner: Pulp Fiction

It's hard to realize how much Tarantino changed the film landscape with a decade and a half of hack copycat movies blocking the rearview. But there really wasn't anything that looked like this at the time and definitely nothing that felt like it. Yes, he again gathered up all his favorite cinematic themes and images, all his fanboy crushes, but, also again, he repackaged them in a fresh and undeniably cool way. And, yes, that is basically what I said about Reservoir Dogs. That's a helluva one-two punch out of the gate. Actually, these may be the best first two films of any director ever.

The other remarkable thing about Pulp is that every time you watch it, it becomes a different movie. It's about two hitmen collecting a mysterious suitcase. It's about a hold-up in a diner. It's about a boxer on the run from a mob boss. A dance contest. An overdose. A motherf''n gimp.

Films of Note: (I'll leave The Shawshank Redemption and Natural Born Killers for the V-Man.)

Cabin Boy: If I had one DVD wish it would be to have the complete series of Chris Elliott’s “Get a Life.” That’s not asking for much, is it? Apparently, “legalities” have kept me from being happy. And not in the usual restraining order way. Anyway, GaL, which lasted 2 seasons (!) on Fox despite execs thinking it was “too disturbing and that Elliott's character was too insane,” is one of my yardsticks for judging people. Sure, some people use religion or politics. I use Chris Elliott. It is a show Vin and I bonded over in high school and the rest, as you can behold, is Internet history. My point here is that Cabin Boy has never gotten the love it deserves and Chris Elliott should be bigger than Jim Carrey. I hate Jim Carrey.

Clerks: The movie everyone holds up when they say, “I could make a movie.” Kevin Smith filmed guys hanging out and talking about nothing. What an idea! Hey, no one else did it. Unfortunately, he really wants to drive that point home and has continued to make the same movie with bigger budgets. Usually, they’re enjoyable, though I think we all expected his legacy to be a bit more than that.

The Crow: A personal choice as I have a lot of memories associated with this film. I even have a molto cool Italian movie poster (“Il Corvo”) from my short lived hobby of collecting Italian movie posters. And I stand by my opinion that as good as Keanu Reeves was in The Matrix, Lee would have been amazing as Neo.

PCU: Animal House for the 90s…was actually a pretty dead-on (and funny) look at college at the time. At least my college at that time. And, it featured one of my favorite actresses of the time, Megan Ward, or as I liked to call her, My Backup Bridgit Fonda (she hated when I did that).

Loser: Reality Bites (no link)

One of the first movies I hated just for the fact of its existence. And Ethan Hawke. But more for it trying to speak for my generation in the most condescending, face-punchable way possible. Everything this was trying to say, Clerks said better, more authentically, and for less money than it cost to keep Hawke’s sleaze fresh between scenes.

DVD Extras

In continuing to bring you multi-tiered platform content, Single Malt Cinema now presents a series called "DVD Extras". I watch alot of dvds...and now-a-days with blu-ray, the content of dvds is changing. Which dvd do you buy? Films come out with 3-4 versions and with the intent of getting you to eventually double dip and buy 2 or 3 versions of the same film (I have 3 versions of Fight Club). I research Amazon, Dvdtown, Blu-ray, Digital Bits, Jo-Blo Dvd, Ratethatcommentary ,and Criterion Cast, as just a few sites that really help to get the right dvd and the dvds that have the best versions, most versions, and best extras, like commentary.

This portal should be used as a place to entice you to go to those other sites...they do a great job...I just like to bring you some of the best of the extras from dvds. Today I have two that come to mind.

1. The Wrestler Blu-ray - only the blu-ray has extras..the best of the extras is in a making of video diary of the set...Mickey Rourke I guess is a lazy actor and the actress playing his daughter is just really good and brings it on every take (Evan Rachel Wood)...at one point, Director Darren Aronofsky is so pissed with Mickey's performance...he steps into the camera...and slaps the shit out of Mickey and tells him he's terrible and the actress is killing him...O man...it's at a very emotional time in the film and is great that they left this on the dvd.

2. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Blu-Ray:...again the blu-rays are special these days...post Katrina NOLA looks like a wasteland on Blu-Ray (also see The Road Blu-Ray)...in this extra...it's a video diary...Werner Herzog explains the film a bit...why he is the one that works the clap board and shows how he got bit by an Iguana...the best though is Val Kilmer hamming it up for the videographer...at one point Herzog reprimands Val...but then Val tells him straight up that he was doing it for the video/dvd...and to cool off because he knows he is a ham...and you cant stop a ham from hamming it up...another point is when Nicholas Cage says pretty much that he picks movies based on something that Bill Murray once said "I don't want an audience saying after one of my films 'that was good', I want them to say...'WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT'...funny stuff.

Extra Extra Out.

Playlist: T.A.M.I. Show (1964)

Why? Never before released video of legendary 1964 concert. Hey, Quentin Tarantino said it was one of the top three rock films ever.

Q might be right. T.A.M.I., which stands for "Teenage Awards Music International" for some acronymistic reason, was shown briefly in theaters at the time and only on a handful of occasions since. Filmed by director Steve Binder in something called Electronovision, the transfer is impressively crisp and as a pop cultural artifact, this is pretty hard to top. Check out the headliners: The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, James Brown, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Chuck Berry. Everyone was so young and generally still a few years from their creative primes. And it's non-stop music. No filler, no commercials, which today is an unfathomable notion. Whether you like the music or not, it's still cool, and important, to have this footage. And I now know what I'm getting my Mom for her birthday.

One thing I have to mention: James Brown was a freak. Have you ever actually watched him perform? It's amazing. He moved in ways people should not be able to move. And that includes breaking out a proto-Moonwalk that a little boy in Gary, Indiana no doubt saw as well.

Final Playlist: Righteous Kill

In the old days we got 1974...a fade in and fade out...two film images of Deniro as Vito and Pacino as Micheal, from The Godfather II...years went by with speculation...will these two titans of the screen ever do a movie together...of course we eventually got it, in the right amount but it was still a tease in HEAT...they had 2 scenes together...a dinner and the last shot of the film where Al guns down Bobby...what a great film that was...years go by...and now unfortunately Al is 70 years old and Bobby is closing in on 68...so a few years ago they make Righteous Kill...it's terrible, of course, as I have made it clear in way too many posts...the end is...spoiler...but I don't care...the reverse of HEAT...I mean how weak is that..it literally has lights like the end of heat and they hold hands...Bobby shoots Al...

What else...why couldn't we get some more films out of these guys...I always respected Al a little more because he was in films less then Bobby...Bobby's best roles may be better...but Bobby has a lot of stinkers...the next rumor is a possible Bobby and Al team-up for Scorsese in a Frank Sinatra Bio-pic...Al would play Frank and Bobby would play Dean...as old men I guess...I am all for it...I just see Righteous Kill as a film based on the fact that we have Bobby and Al...and not 2 great actors...I mean why not have them as just actors acting...and not "Look, its Al and Bobby"

I will never watch this film again probably...I will watch HEAT many more times. Don't watch this film...maybe watch Taxi Driver and Scarface at the same time.

Here: I almost distilled these two for you...I'd like to distill the director and screenwriter of Righteous Kill in a BLENDER

Almost Done Playlist3: Righteous Kill

OK...so we could see the twist coming from the opening scene...this movie is like (spoiler, I think)...like if Kevin Spacey was Brad Pitt's partner in Se7en...I mean I really think that 1 statement was how the idea for this movie was started and how it was pitched.

1. The end scene with DeNiro and Pacino is actually pretty good...not at good as Heat...but worth fast forwarding to.

2. DeNiro actually is a character and not sleepwalking through it...he acts well in it...better then I thought.

3. Pacino, is ok...but both together are not great or even good till the end

4. I have 14 minutes left of the film.

Kinda Playlist 2: Righteous Kill Update

Ummm...what cop movie has 2 detectives and everybody in the film only refers to the 2 detectives by their "nickname"? I mean "Turk" and "Rooster"?...who wrote this terrible script?...was it some kid in high school?...I will plunge into this film again and try and finish it..it just makes me very angry...Jon Avent also directed 88 Minutes which I have not seen...so I guess Pacino gets along with him...I also guess they talked Deniro into it since he has had a string of losers and figured..."hey, people don't care what we are really in...let's get the guy who directed Fried Green Tomatoes and make a film where 2 great actors act terrible and the best actor in the film is played by Danny Wahlberg"...by the way the writer is Russell Gewirtz and he wrote INSIDE MAN???@@##@@>???%^...Bullshit...I call bullshit on this guy. Either Avent is an idiot or Spike Lee is really a great director.

Does Al look a little Sick?

Kinda Playlist: Righteous Kill

This is excruciating...I know...I have known who the killer in this film is...all the clues are laid out...and it's killing me to watch two of my favorite actors go through this film...Who the heck is Jon Avent and why does he think he is David Fincher?...The killer says he is the killer...why O why lord have you forsaken Bobby and Al to this?...I continue to watch...the good thing is that Carla Gugino is in this and she is hot...she played Bobby D's daughter in some film a few years back (This Boys Life)...and now in this film he is ploughing her fields from behind...if you get my drift.

Playlist: Entourage (Season 6)

Why? I'm a glutton for punishment

We talked a little about this show on our last podcast and we all agreed that while none of us actually liked it, we also couldn't stop watching. For me, it has an almost comfort food quality about it. It's solid and predictable and (content aside) competently made. The other factor, of course, is that we hate the characters because we want to be them. Any of them. It's every guy's fantasy to be able to live that life with his friends in tow and while seemingly not being asked to make any compromises or suffer any consequences. It's a load of crap, is what it is, but god how we want it to be our crap. Not to mention the fact that while the odds of such a stroke of fortune happening for us are microscopic, they're not literally outside the possible.

Season 6 played up those excesses of fame, but more importantly it did so while playing up the most appealing characteristics of the main characters (finally). Vinny Chase, a bigger star than ever and between gigs, was relegated to tagging along with his friends and picking up random girls. Really, that's all he did and it worked because the less acting Adrian Grenier is forced to do, the better.

Johnny Drama was the best thing about this show at one time, but then the writers couldn't help themselves and turned his neuroticism into obnoxiousness. Here, he had more professionally vulnerable moments that gave him some much forgotten depth (though the good news he gets int he finale almost negates the whole thing).

Turtle was the most bearable he has ever been. He's always come off as a sad little poser, but we finally got to see a little of the nice guy under the Yankees cap thanks to his relationship with Jamie-Lynn Soprano.

E was still a tool, but not as big of one as usual. I never understood this character. There's nothing about him to suggest he's be able to survive on his own in the Industry, yet they insist on making him some sort of power player. It's especially misguided when you juxtapose him with uberagent Ari Gold. Love him or hate him, that's a guy who can get things done. It was a big season for Ari and Jeremy Piven brought the goods as he always has (still seems like a jerk though).

The thing that bothered me the most about this season was the strange casting of Alexis Dziena as E's love interest. Out of all the young actresses in Hollywood (not to mention models and random girls off the street), why would they go with a weirder-looking Fiona Apple? And then to make her an overpossessive nutcase? Don't ruin the fantasy, idiots.

Best Episode: "Fore" (The celebrity golf outing with an F-bomb dropping Jeffrey Tambor)

Best Celeb Guest: Matt Damon ("Give a Little Bit")

Playlist: Trouble Everyday

The French:...Claire Denis: French Director...I think Frank was interested in seeing "35 Sots of Rum"...I saw this film Trouble Everyday because Vincent Gallo stars in it...I mean come on I have an obsession too you know.

Plot:...Woman hunts men, turns them on (sexually), then eats of them and she is a crazy psycho...her husband is a doctor that wants to cure her because he loves her...enter Vincent Gallo as a doctor who knows these people and kinda has the hots for the crazy wife...but the catch is he is on his honeymoon with a gorgeous wife played by Tricia Vessey

So Gallo could spend his honeymoon banging this sweetie..but instead we do get to a see a "money shot" of him in a mirror...you don't see him actually ejaculate but as close to it as possible. Any way the film is long and sometimes boring...alot of blood and gore but not too much...you get more sex and blood and vampireish feeling from Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula...this film is straight up odd and has something to do with plants, and blood, and cannibalism, and sex...anyway I do like Gallo's performance..any time he is either crazy out of control...or quite (especially when he is pleading with a girl...he says the word "please" better then any other actor alive)...he is money in the bank.

Also check out "Arizona Dream"...on you tube for a real weird trip...Johnny Depps hidden film that also costars Vinnie Gallo...weird is not the word...the word is?..."whatcouldhavebeenvinnygallo"

.

Lifetime Movies: 1993

Winner: Army of Darkness


Groundhog Day was a great film and a great choice by Vin, but I know he's not an Evil Dead fan. His loss. The Internet is stained with geekgasms about this movie, so I won't add to the mess other than to say it is just pure fun to watch. I don't know if Sam Raimi could have made this at another time. It was a perfect creative window for his sensibilities: he had built up enough genre clout to get his vision financed, but free from the corporate web of a billion dollar franchise. Basically, he was given money to intentionally make a cult classic. And he did. AoD is a campy, catchphrase free-for-all. The best film of the year? Of course not. But one I'll keep watching again and again (but not again because that would be a bit much).

Films of Note:

Vin hit on a lot of the high notes including the very underrated So I Married an Axe Murderer and the ground-breaking Judgement Night soundtrack. Overall, though, this was a surprisingly down year considering how the rest of pop culture was blowing up. But it appears the decade was just catching its breath. 1994 has some big films and then we hit what I think is the best 5-year stretch of this whole countdown.

A Bronx Tale: The directorial debut of Robert DeNiro. I'm surprised Vin didn't mention this and that's not just because he is a pillar of the Italian-American community. This is a great father-son story thanks in large part to one of my favorite DeNiro performances as the honest, hard-working dad losing his son to the "glamour" of the neighborhood wiseguy. SMC TRIVIA: we had scouts at our high school during the casting process. Vin turned down the lead to focus on his studies. It's true because it's on the Internet!

The Nightmare Before Christmas: I liked this long before it became Hot Topic chic. It's a dark, anti-Disney Disney musical. And it's a scary Christmas movie. Or is it a happy Halloween movie? Tim Burton at his Gothic peek, when he was still making movies instead of just cashing paychecks. Looking at his upcoming schedule, originality is going to fade even further into the past.

The Sandlot: A family movie that plays the nostalgia card, but doesn't go sappy. Plus, it turns into one of the last good baseball movies.

Playlist: Youth Without Youth

Why? Francis Ford Coppola's 2007 return to filmmaking

Yes, it was 10 years since Coppola last directed a movie (1997's forgettable The Rainmaker) and far longer since he had made a film. This and his follow-up, Tetro, are testaments to the resulting beauty of an artist rediscovering the love for his medium without the oppressive hand of a studio suit telling him how to be creative. These are indie arthouse films distilled from the mind that almost died under the bloated epicness of Apocalypse Now and all its fallout (Jack, anyone?).

I'm still trying to digest YWY. It's part Phenomenon, part Benjamin Button, part Mulholland Drive. I would go so far to say that it is a science fiction film, albeit one with far loftier ambitions than your standard time travel by the numbers fare. Not that it's a time travel movie...although it's not exactly not one either. Ok, let's go to the man himself, FFC, who calls it a meditation on time and on consciousness...a beautiful love story, or a mystery. Well, that clears things up.  

The source material was a 1976 novella by Romanian author Mircea Eliade about a professor (Tim Roth) who gets hit by lightning and starts a "new life with startling intellectual capacity". What's real and isn't, what happens and doesn't, is never clearly resolved. But thought-provokingly, not frustratingly. It's a film about ideas, or rather, the meaning and origin of ideas. I can't wait to hear Vin's take (yep, I saw a FFC film before him. Boom!)

Lifetime Movies: 1993

Now that the cat is out of the bag...and we had seen Res Dogs (as some online bloggers like to call it)...we now, and by "WE" I mean the real Generation Xers...we are looking for THE Independent hit...we want to be a part of telling all our friends to see this real cool movie that only we know about...of course, that film was Clerks and came out in 1994 and, of course, I was not hip to it till after Mallrats was already on video...for me I had to wait till 1996 to jump on the "COOL" bandwagon first for an Independent film...more on that later.

This was a tough year...the films I have highlighted all are good, however after 17 years I rarely come back to any of them and maybe have seen 1 more then 2 times...so I gotta go with gut here and pick the one that lasts the longest and the one I would recommend first to a Martian from another planet who wanted to know what great 1993 cinema had to offer. The Nominees are:

Schindler's List, Dazed and Confused, Groundhog Day, Carlito's Way, and True Romance

WINNER: GROUNDHOG DAY

Literally, I could watch this in an eternal loop just like the film, it's funny and new and fresh and Bill Murray at his best...when he is the star and he is great the film just flies by...not to mention great roles by Chris Elliot and Steven Tobolowsky. This film is great as a straight comedy, great as a love story, a slapstick comedy at times, and a way to teach karma and reincarnation and nirvana and Buddhism. No other film in this year does all this and is entertaining years later.

Other films and thoughts:

Schindler's List: great film...but not very funny...I don't mean to be cruel, it's just that it's a downer and rightfully so.

Carlito's Way: Sean Penn's greatest role easily and one of the last great Al Pacino roles

Dazed and Confused: maybe in hindsight this film is not as good as I remember...what really has this guy (Director Linklater) done?...not much for me...oh wait there's that film with Ethan Hawke that he has filmed for 12 years...can't wait till that one done.

Judgement Night: great great soundtrack...the film is terrible but the infusion of great rock and rap was genius.

Rudy: almost made it to the number one spot for me..its just that they set Rudy up as retarded...maybe a trip to the showers would be in store for Rudy at Amon Goeth's little work camp

So I Married an Axe Murderer: very underrated film...this I wish would have been bigger then Wayne's World and those godawful Spy Movies by Mike Myers...real funny film and has a heart to match.

True Romance: another one I could have made number one pretty easily...great script by Tarantino, great acting and the first on screen Gandolfini moment of my life.

There it goes...we all looked for that Indie hit, in 1994 the Tarantino Train keeps rolling...I want to hate him but he keeps making great films...too bad he hasn't written any more scripts like he did for 1993 and 1994...all his movies I think with the exception of One will make this list.