I know there are questions, I'm sure there are answers, but I don't really care about either.

That's essentially how I feel about Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut. It was an entertaining film that dragged a at the end but overall was interesting to watch. What it wasn't, however, was thought provoking. As soon as the film ended, I was basically done with the film. I wasn't thinking about any of the questions, didn't try to interpret any of the many metaphors. I was just entertained and ready to move on.

One of the reasons for that might have been the fact that the film had so many ideas that it never really got any of them across. Spike Jonze said that Kaufman's approach to a film is to attempt the impossible and in this case he seemed to have tried to make a very personal film that was completely open to interpretation by the viewer. He took his personal opinion and wrapped it in so many metaphors that it was unclear what his original opinion was, or even was actually about in the first place.

Still, I liked the film and think it could have made for an intriguing David Lynchian TV show. In fact, I'd really love to see Kaufman take on a series since it might be the better medium for his vast and sprawling style.

Posted by SoulHonky at 02:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by SoulHonky at 09:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So with Hollywood hording all of the quality dramas until the end of the year, what films seem like they are going to be the best? Click on the name of the film to see the trailer.

1. Doubt: Right now I'd put my money on this one running away with the Oscars. Multiple acting Oscars and adapted screenplay although I think they'll give Best Director to someone more Hollywood.

2. Milk: The political climate should help this film get some buzz and I wouldn't be surprised if Sean Penn got an Oscar night podium to deliver a message to the nation while winning another Best Actor. 

3. The Brothers Bloom: I doubt this will get any Oscar nominations but I loved the trailer and am eagerly awaiting this caper/con flick.

4. The Wrestler: I'm interested in seeing Mickey Rourke's comeback performance and am hoping that Aronofsky has given himself a somewhat "normal" script to work with. I have to admit, I've still yet to get through The Fountain. 

5. Four Christmases: I actually don't even have high expectations for this film. I just know that some time over the month of December, I'll want a light, escapist film to go see and this seems like the best bet. 

6. Che: I'm intrigued but it work of mouth and reviews aren't good, it could easily be pushed aside. While I know I miss out on a lot of quality foreign films because I think this way, I can't get past the fact that one of the reasons that I go to the movies is because I don't feel like sitting down and reading. If I'm not in the mood for a book, I'm not going to be in the mood for reading in a darkened theater. It's an unfortunate way of thinking, I know, but I also think it's the way a lot of people think.

7. Valkyrie: A lot of bad buzz but it's Singer/Mcquarrie of Usual Suspects fame. The latest trailer was good enough to get me on the bandwagon.

8. Revolutionary Road: Leo, Winslet, Sam Mendes. I'm a fan of all three so I'll be ready to give this one a look. Sam Mendes could snag Best Director if this one lives up to its pedigree.

The question marks: Seven Pounds, Yes Man, Frost Nixon, The Day the Earth Stood Still

As for the others: Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Australia seem like sprawling epic romances that really have little going on to reel me in. Australia's running time is also daunting. Even if they get great reviews, I might not break down and see them. I have zero interest in Gran Torino and will also go so far to say that I'm not a Clint Eastwood fan. I liked a lot of his early stuff (and think A Perfect World is highly underrated) but I could do without most of his latest ventures, save for Mystic River. Marley and Me? Well, they got one out of two right. The Spirit looks awful. I'll probably let The Reader slip to the Netflix queue and that's about it.

Posted by SoulHonky at 03:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I really wanted to love JCVD. Unfortunately, the film is simply too flawed to really recommend dropping 12 bucks on. That being said, the premise is so interesting and Jean Claude Van Damme's performance is so surprisingly captivating that it should be immediately added to people's Netflix queues. And if there was ever a movie that deserved the Funny Games/The Ring instant remake, it's this film.

The biggest problem is that the bank robbery of the element of the film isn't done well and the film gives away many elements which could have been great twists. It really could have been a great study of how we judge people and the cult of celebrity but it barely skims the surface. If I ran a Hollywood studio, I would buy the rights to this film and give it to Charlie Kauffman to work on. It could be stunning.

Even though the film was disappointing, Jean Claude Van Damme's performance is a revelation. This is truly a performance which makes you step back and reassess the actor. Perhaps it was that the film was in his native language or that he actually lived through many of the smaller moments but Van Damme was amazing. He was surprisingly (and subtley) funny and he excelled in the little moments of the film. I'd honestly be surprised if Jean Claude doesn't get a lot more offers after this film. Perhaps he won't be the lead but he could make for a great villain or solid second lead.

One random oddity was that most of the footage from the initial trailer never made it into the film. It makes sense as it might be harder to root for JCVD if he's doing coke and kicking people's asses in Bulgaria, but it definitely threw me off a bit as I watched the film.

Posted by SoulHonky at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know I complain about this every year but Oscar season is the dumbest concept ever created by Hollywood. We've sat through 11 months of mostly mediocre to bad films and now in the last three weeks of the year, we're going to be hit with a deluge of dramas. It just makes no sense.

This summer, there was a minor controversy when The Love Guru and Get Smart opened on the same weekend. Usually studios plan their summer schedules out so there isn't that kind of head-to-head battle. It's better for business. Also, when the summer schedule started getting more and more packed, the studios decided to open the summer season earlier and earlier. Even though the initial thinking of releasing blockbusters in the summer is that kids are off from school and more likely to go to a movie, the season now starts in May when kids are still stuck in class. Not that that matters, films like Iron Man still make tons of money.

With Oscar season, the thinking is completely different. The Oscar slates have been becoming more and more packed but instead of spacing the films out, the scedule has been condensed. You used to see Oscar season start in November. This year, most of the top Oscar prospects don't come out until the second week of December. While people were amazed that Steve Carrell and Mike Myers went head-to-head this summer, nobody seems to bat an eye at the fact that the final weekend of 2008 features Tom Cruise vs. Brad Pitt vs. Leonardo DiCaprio (with an Adam Sandler kids movie and that Marley and Me flick thrown in just for fun).

The funniest part is that in terms of box office success, most of these films are still blown away by mainstream fodder like Night at the Museum or National Treasure 2 so it's not like these movies are somehow more successful at the end of the year. (And don't give me that crap about the Oscar bump. More films are lost in the shuffle than get a boost after the Oscar nods or Golden Globes). 

Thankfully, next year seems better. They are opening a few Oscar-type films in October and even have some opening in the spring (most notably State of Play, which boasts an impressive cast and is based on a great British mini-series). Hopefully this will be the last year we have to deal with the cinema tsunami at the end of the year and can instead be treated to quality films throughout the calendar.

Posted by SoulHonky at 12:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Danny Boyle revived the drug movie and the zombie flick and his latest film breathes new life into, of all things, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Slumdog Millionaire is part Usual Suspects, part City of God as it follows the story of a boy's life as he explains how he, an uneducated man from the slums, was able to get to one question away from the "Millionaire" grand prize.

The show lacks just a little something (maybe the pacing? I'm not sure) that keeps it from being a great film but it is still very good, HIGHLY recommended, and a film that I'm sure Hollywood studios hope doesn't do well here so that they can immediatly remake it. 

Posted by SoulHonky at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After Casino Royale, I don't think anybody could expect "Quantum of Solace" to be like the vintage James Bond films but the lack of any real personality or Bond-esque touches leaves the latest 007 film feeling like it could be anybody. A few changes and the film could have as easily been a Bourne film or a Mission: Impossible flick or a redo of the "Hitman" movie.

And while that disappointment is easily overlooked, the more damning problem is that James Bond has become a reactive hero. The film portrays James as an almost rogue agent but he is always just running down a lead. The great action heroes take it to their nemeses. I think one reason many people didn't like Die Hard with a Vengeance was because it was the one time that John McLane simply reacted to others. In the past Bond films, James would be dropped into a situation and then would rewrite the rules of the game. Even in Casino Royale, he did this: wooing the wife of his enemy, not going by any cover name, etc.

The other issues with the plot is that there really isn't enough of a villain. We know who the bad guy is and know he's bad but most of the film is spent trying to figure out why exactly he is bad. You don't ever really feel any time pressure or tension. There's no ticking clock. There's no damsel in distress needing to be saved. There's just this guy who's bad. And while the Bond girls are beautiful, one is a minor character and the other is basically doing her own thing for most of the film. She's as much a separate B-story as she is tied into the main Bond adventure.

As for the action scenes, nothing touches the opening scene of Casino Royale (that admittedly is going to be a tough one to beat) but the editing of the scenes is confusing and choppy. The first scene of the movie especially is tough to follow. There are so many cuts that you have no idea what's really going on. When something cool happens, you just think, "That's cool but I have no idea how it happened."

All that being what it is, it's still an entertaining film. It's a capable movie that won't be remembered for either being one of the best or one of the worst Bond films. In fact, it probably won't be remembered at all. There's just nothing really there. I'd recommend seeing the film (albeit with lowered expectations).

Posted by SoulHonky at 01:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I thought when I moved to Hollywood that, at the very least, I'd be able to see any movie that came out and possibly discover some hidden gems. Unfortunately, that's not so. Indie features are nowhere to be found in Hollywood. Case in point, the highly anticipated "JCVD" is nowhere to be found. Like most independent films, it's pushed out to the outskirts of town, playing in one screen theaters in West L.A. or the Valley. The film "Assassination of a High School President" found a similar fate; I'm not sure it's playing anywhere despite opening this weekend.

What's even worse is that there are no shortage of theaters in Hollywood. The Arclight has 14 theaters but in the era of Simulplexes (as Peter Bart called them) they only have 9 movies showing (and in some cases, the films are only showing during the day). The old theaters of Hollywood hey day are rundown; most of been renovated to clubs or gyms. Some are rented out as churches. The one that is still going, The Vine, is a second run theater that also shows the occassional porn.

The only option for most indie films is The Sunset Five which is in a dying little mall, has lousy theaters, and one of the worst parking structures known to man. It's one of the few movies theaters that makes you wish you'd seen the movie at home.

I guess it shouldn't be a surprise then that one of the most popular film-centric events in Hollywood is held in a cemetary.

Posted by SoulHonky at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

For those of you who can't get enough of The Dark Knight or simply want to find out on what page exactly the film started to fall apart*, you can download the full script here.

*OK, it didn't "fall apart" but it went from being a great movie to a very good movie that I didn't think would ever end sometime around the two hour mark. 

Posted by SoulHonky at 12:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Arianna Huffington always likes to seem like she's above it all but if she wants to continue that kind of attitude, she really needs to talk to the people running her "Huffington Post". I've had a problem with it for some time because instead of being what a news blog should be, it's just a left wing propoganda machine (basically the mirror image of The Drudge Report). The latest example is arguably the ugliest.

The Huffington Post cited The National Enquirer and their story about Cindy McCain's supposedly having an affair. Making matters worse, "a reader" (not sure if its a reader of the Huffington Post or National Enquirer) pointed out that the charge seems erroneous since the supposed damning evidence (a picture of a blonde making out with some dude) was taken at The Tempe Music Festival which took place while Cindy McCain was on a trip to Kosovo.

When a reader points something like that out, don't you remove the story from your site? Wouldn't you at least make some calls and do some actual reporting? Ah well, I should have known better than to keep going to that website. It's just a shame that someone of Huffington's intelligence and prominence couldn't have found a way to make a difference and promote quality journalism rather than just being a different kind of partisan hackery.

Posted by SoulHonky at 12:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Role Models is a funny film and also a good film. While it doesn't have the deepest of characters, it has a solid enough story and, in something that is very rare with modern comedies, it actually gets funnier as the movie goes along. There might not be many laugh out loud moments but the jokes are peppered in at a solid pace and the movie never really drags. It's enjoyable from start to finish.

Part of me wanted to put this movie at #2 on my list but I just couldn't do it. It's not THAT good of a movie. Even still, it's one of the year's best and I definitely recommend this flick.

Posted by SoulHonky at 01:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lost amidst the history of Obama is the fact that Sarah Palin may not be history. In fact, she might be back on the national stage in a matter of months. With Ted Stevens being convicted and then re-elected and probably soon-to-be expelled from Congress, Alaskans will take to the ballot box in the near future to elect a replacement senator. Now who do you think that might be?

It also will help shore up Palin's biggest problems. She's got running a state government on her resume, now she'll be able to work on her foreign policy (and hopefully her geography and current events while she's at it) and be able to focus more time on actually learning about how our government actually works.

Honestly, the only thing that might keep her from the job is her family. But if she was willing to move to Washington to be Vice President, i can't imagine she wouldn't be willing to do the same to become a Senator.

Posted by SoulHonky at 02:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

At least the neo-cons can take solace that they can still keep the gay man down. 

Posted by SoulHonky at 09:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The funny thing isn't the actual movie Zack and Miri Make a Porno. It's the fact that Kevin Smith is now making the kind of movies he mocks. If anyone else had made this film, Smith would be on a college campus right now ripping it to shreds.

It's a bad romantic comedy with a core friendship that you don't believe at all (and a budding romance that is laughably thin). It plays like a spoof of romantic comedies but if that's what he was going for, it was too close. When you hear a song from Live playing over a slow-motion "Aha, I realize how I really feel about you." moment, you think it's a spoof but then there's no punchline. 

Also, they get next to nothing out of the premise. If you think about making a movie about random people making a porno, there are tons of jokes that you could think of. Zack and Miri doesn't really get much out of it at all. Only a few "Making of" jokes; the rest of the laughs are the typical Smith dialogue. There are some funny lines but not enough to make the film worthwhile (and you'd like to think Smith has developed a little bit over the years). 

Craig Robinson is hands down the best thing about the movie and really needs to get a leading role in something but even he can't make this film worthwhile. Unless you are a die hard Kevin Smith fan, I'd skip this one.

Posted by SoulHonky at 01:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)