This won't be the most thought out thing I've posted but it's been a good while since I've posted an honest to god rant on here.
Bill Simmons's article on The Movie Star problem is one of the most frustrating pieces I've read in some time and it's also a lot of what annoys me about the Sports Guy - he writes these gran pronouncements in which he acts like he's in the know but they are only for casual fans because anyone who actually cares or is involved in the business sees that his points are fallacious, misrepresentations, or just not based in reality. Also, somewhere in the article, Sports Guy usually outs himself as not really knowing what he's talking about which he does in flying colors in this one.
After spending two pages going on about how Ryan Reynolds isn't a movie star and he hates how Hollywood is shoving him down our throats, Simmons lists who he considers a movie star and on that list is Ben Affleck, an actor who ten years ago WAS Ryan Reynolds (even down to attaining the unattainably hot girl; Affleck got J-Lo, Reynolds got Scarlett). One could argue that Reynolds actually deliver some quality movies whereas Affleck's filmography is filled with some absolute crapfests. To ramble on so much about Reynolds and then mention Affleck as a star is perhaps the greatest example of shitting all over your own argument I've seen in quite some time.

As for the idea of what a movie star is, Terry Rossie (writer of Pirates of the Caribbean) set me straight on that. A few years ago, I agreed with a lot of what Simmons had to say about stardom. My go to line was a Karl Krauss quote, ""How is the world ruled and how do wars start? Diplomats tell lies to journalists and then believe what they read." That was how I saw Hollywood; they try to sell their movie by hyping up an unestablished actor as a Movie Star and then turn around and believe the press and sign the guy to big money roles. I also pointed out to the box office failures of people like Angelina Jolie who was considered a star but was churning out duds.

What Rossie pointed out to me (and I hope I'm getting this right) was that what is sold to the press and public as a movie star and what studio execs and producers consider to be a movie star are two very different things. In the eyes of studio execs, the key indicators of a movie star are actors who can sell a film overseas, lead to easier distribution, and cheaper marketing. Today, an increasing factor is worldwide box office. Some older stars might not seem like Stars anymore but they still deliver the bucks overseas. The best example of that is Alexander, a bomb in the US that Colin Ferrell and Angelina Jolie helped make a money earner overseas. Similarly, POTC: On Stranger Tides didn't do gangbusters here but Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz's appeal overseas now has it as the 8th All-Time highest grossing movie worldwide.

What Ryan Reynolds is is a guy who studios think MIGHT be a movie star. If his films don't hit or he doesn't gain any traction overseas, he'll be cast aside like the other guys who tried to be A-list and failed (Jude Law, Orlando Bloom, and SG's boy Affleck).

This isn't to say that there aren't problem in Hollywood. Clearly the recent slate of studio movies is evidence to that. But Simmons's lack of understanding of the business and writing style just lead casual movie fans down the wrong path. It focuses on the stars rather than development. Actors over scripts. Ironically, Simmons makes a lot of the same mistakes that execs make when putting a film together.
He also commits one of the most ignorant sins that "film fans" often pull when he wrote,

"Why not worry about finding quality scripts and making quality movies instead? That would require real work and real ingenuity."

In trying to write about the problem with Hollywood, what Simmons really accomplished was showing the problems with his own writing.

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:18 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Gary Oldman. Tom Hardy. Mark Strong. Colin Firth. John Hurt. Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch.

That cast alone could get me to see pretty much anything and while this trailer doesn't really strike me as anything new, it's good enough to keep me excited about "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy".

Posted by SoulHonky at 05:22 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

It just struck me that I'm much better at BSing a rationale as to why my answer is adequate than I am at actually getting the right answer. I should have gone into politics.

Posted by SoulHonky at 08:57 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Man, I really don't like anything, do I?

Here's the trailer for Steven Spielberg's latest "War Horse" and, well, it looks visually striking but this is one of the more boring, cliched trailers I've seen in a long time. I know that it's based on a great book and Tony winning play but there's nothing about this trailer that interests me.

Posted by SoulHonky at 06:28 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I have to say that there hasn't been a more underwhelming franchise than Mission Impossible. Every movie has a cool set piece or two but they are almost all forgettable. I think one problem is that Ethan Hunt is a pretty bland hero. He showed some signs of life in the last movie because he actually had a backstory with his new wife but even then it wasn't really enough. He's another agent on the job, trying to right a wrong (that has probably wronged him). But the bigger issue is the lack of a cool villain. I can't remember any of the bad guys from Missions Impossible and even the fairly generic nemesis that Chris Cooper played in The Bourne Identity sticks in my head. And after watching this trailer, I don't think that Ghost Protocol has fixed any of these issues. It still seems like a personality-deficient James Bond chasing forgettable enemies.

Posted by SoulHonky at 08:49 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

When my friends Van Dam and Josh both recommend a band, it's probably time for me to get over my initial feelings of ambivalence and give them a spot as a tryout. The Naked and Famous are a band that just doesn't click with me but I think if I saw them live, maybe I would be a convert. While I like the songs, there's something about them that just doesn't grab me. But what do you think of them?

Posted by SoulHonky at 03:22 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

"Beginners" feels like a kinder, gentler "Blue Valentine" except that instead of two people caught in a dysfunctional relationship, you have a couple of people who are just kind of sad. The film had some very poignant moments and some laugh out loud jokes but I couldn't shake the feeling that these were two people who were just plain sad and there was just a Woe is Me cloud that hung over the whole picture. Whereas "Blue Valentine" showed the destructive power of love, I never really bought into the love story or the struggle in this film. I mean, when the beautiful Melanie Laurent picks you up at a party, I'm sorry but it's hard for me to look at you and go, "Aw, poor sad fella".

All that being said, it was a well made, quality movie that I could see a lot of indie filmgoers enjoying. It just struck me as exactly the kind of film that art house people love and most mainstream audiences aren't moved by. Although, the hipsterish art house people will probably find flaws with the fact that much of this film has been done before and done better. There were consistently moments in the film that I enjoyed but called to mind other similar moments from better films.

In the end, unless you're a cinephile who loves going to the theater, Beginners is the kind of film that I'd recommend adding to your Netflix queue and enjoying more as a rental.

Posted by SoulHonky at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Well, the underwhelming draft of 2011 and what the night lacked in talent, it made up for in confusion. Not only were there a slew of minor trades but teams kept drafting kids who duplicated players already on their roster. One can only assume that there are going to be a lot of trades going down after the lockout because there are a lot of messy rosters out there. The thinking of the evening was probably best (and by best, I mean terribly) summed up by #2 pick Derrick Williams when he said:

"There's Kevin Love, Michael Beasley and me at the 4 spot. Whenever you have three people that play the same positions, it's going to be hard to guard. It's going to cause a lot of mismatches."

To nobody's surprise, David Kahn made a lot of trades that didn't really improve his team. And the one trade that people thought he would make, with the #2 pick, never happened because he apparently was being unreasonable in trade talks.

Some people like what the Bobcats did but I don't really get it. I like Kemba but nobody has to guard a backcourt of Kemba, Gerald Henderson, and newly acquired Corey Maggette on the perimeter. And Bismack Biyombo is another African big man with the same initial for his first and last name (like fellow busts DeSagana Diop and Saer Sene) who has no real offensive game and while Ty Thomas showed some signs of life last year, I think the 'Cats needed someone who at least had some idea of what he was doing on offense.

Overall, some teams did alright but this was a pretty forgettable draft unless some kids from the mid-to-late picks can surprise and turn into impact players. No teams really improved. It's too late to write it now but in the next week I hope to come up with some trades for teams so they can clear out there logjams at certain positions and improve their standing.

That monster deal leaves the Clippers out in the cold, the Celtics trying to assure Rondo that he's wanted, and the usual suspects (Granger, Iguodala, Ellis) still stuck on their squads. I'll try to figure out something to do with them tomorrow or later this week.

Posted by SoulHonky at 09:31 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Here's the trailer for MTV's remake of Footloose, which looks about as bad and misguided as most every other MTV movie.

The true irony of the film though is the tagline, "This is our time". This is a shoddy remake from the 80's that speaks to nothing but nostalgia of another time. For the target demo, this is most certainly not their time. Furthermore, the dancing seems to lead to drinking and fornicating so I'm not sure how that's going to prove the preacher man wrong. Also, if I remember correctly, the dancing ban in the original was just how the town was, which makes more sense than having it be a crazy law that was recently passed. The outsider comes to town and... also disagrees with the law that most young people seem to hate... but he's going to make a difference. And finally, while I'm originally from Mass and shouldn't say this, the Boston accent often sounds, dare I say, "rahtaaaahded" and having a kid making a stand with, "This is owah time" seems like they were aiming for parody.

In the end, this film is simply too late. The nostalgia factor is non-existant and the dance movie craze has already come and gone and this film looks like an out-of-touch studio exec's idea of what the kids who liked Stomp the Yard, Step Up, Save the Last Dance, etc. would want.

Posted by SoulHonky at 08:39 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I've been slacking when it comes to the Tryout as I don't think I've had one in a couple weeks. The blog itself has been inconsistent at best and I'm going to try to fix that. I'm still trying to get myself into a groove and regular schedule but my addiction to sleep and debilitating laziness has kept me from doing much of anything besides eating pizza and gaining weight. Well, there's been some drinking in there as well but I'm only counting the things I can consistently remember doing the next morning.

Anyway, this week's Tryout is a new band called Various Cruelties. They're just getting started out and have a bluesier Phoenix-ish sound (Although the more I think about it, I'm not loving the Phoenix comparison). I'm liking what I'm hearing so far. It should be interesting to see what they come out with next or when their full album finally drops.

And leave it to Radiohead to put out a new song seconds after I post my Tryout. Anyway, here's a bonus clip, the new song Staircase from the upcoming "From the Basement".

But back to Various Cruelties, here are a couple of their other songs (they only have released four so head to their site to check out the one that I didn't post and like them on Facebook. Help support indie music!

Posted by SoulHonky at 05:29 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

The team behind The Muppets drop their latest parody trailer. This is my favorite one yet. I hope they keep this up. A Swedish Chef as Captain America trailer could be very funny but I could see them going with Sam the Eagle instead, which would probably be just as good.

Posted by SoulHonky at 08:57 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

After losing the Stanley Cup to the Bruins, Vancouver Canucks fans rioted in the streets. I'm sure many sane minded Canadians pushed for people to make love, not war but this couple did more than just talk. I especially like how it looks like the cops are actually keeping people from interrupting the amorous duo. I almost don't believe that this is a real photo (the guy looks like Ryan Phillipe and it seems like something that would happen in a terrible disaster movie starring Reese's ex) but I'm posting it anyway.

Posted by SoulHonky at 08:49 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Yes, I'm posting something from Entertainment Tonight but sometimes they actually do break... ok, they get first looks of trailers some times. Anyway, here's the trailer for "Moneyball" which is a lot better than I expected. Although i should have expected a quality sports movie from the pens of Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin.

Posted by SoulHonky at 06:27 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

J Smooth breaks it down.

Posted by SoulHonky at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I have to start this review by mentioning that I'm not a JJ Abrams fan. His movies have never really done anything for me and his penchant for unnecessary lens fare annoys me. Given that, I have to take a step back and say that this review could be harsher than it should be and I think that Super 8 is good enough that if you go in and just go along for the ride, it is entertaining enough. But the ending is laughable and pretty nonsensical and the film definitely feels like two different scripts sandwiched together.

The story I've heard is that JJ Abrams had two moves he wanted to make: a monster movie and a coming-of-age movie about kids trying to make a zombie movie. At some point, he decided to merge the two films, which is a shame because I think the coming-of-age story might have been something. By far, the strongest parts of Super 8 are with the kids. When they aren't on the screen, the movie either devolves into Cloverfield or is just hokey. This isn't to say that the coming-of-age story is by any means new but the dialogue and performances by the kids makes it entertaining.

As for the monster movie, where to begin? The first issue is that the decision to hide the monster was just dead wrong. It adds next to nothing. In Jaws, when the main characters see the shark for the first time, it's a game changer. They now realize that they are in over their heads. In Super 8, the audience is already aware that there is a monster and that it's beyond dangerous and when the kids finally figure it out, the whole town is already in a panic and it doesn't really change anything. They went from knowing something was seriously wrong to now knowing what it is that is exactly wrong. Sometimes this kind of reveal can work but in this case it doesn't because the audience was just too far ahead of the main characters and, also, the reveal of what the monster looked like didn't really further the kids' ability to save the day.

I won't go into the problems with the ending (which I think most everyone will see as obvious) but I will say that it rivals The Adjustment Bureau in terms of an ending that almost completely derails the rest of the film.

There is a good film (or two) in Super 8 but because Abrams and Spielberg couldn't commit to which one they wanted to focus on, the movie becomes a somewhat disjointed, half-baked, but well made venture. I wouldn't recommend rushing out to see it but, as I mentioned earlier, I'm not a fan of Abrams so this is a case in which I'm probably not the person to go to for a recommendation.

Posted by SoulHonky at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Bon Iver's last album had a couple of great songs, was good overall, but it was definitely the kind of album that I listened to over and over for a week or so and then never listened to ever again. Justin Vernon and his friends have now come out with a second album. Whaddayathink? Is this one just as good? Will it have more staying power? Is it a sophomore slump?

Embed courtesy of Bon Iver and the NY Times.

Posted by SoulHonky at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Gotta love Nyjer Morgan. Apparently, he stepped up to plate in the 8th inning with his team winning, hit a double to drive in a run, and then was surprised to see his teammates rushing the field. Turns out that it was actually the ninth inning of a tie game and he just knocked in the winning run.
He continued his wizardry in the post game game interview.

Apparently, he throws up the T because he has an alter ego, Tony Plush.

Posted by SoulHonky at 08:07 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I have to admit, I've never gotten into any original show on TNT. It's a brand that just seems to shoot for mediocre and often hits their mark. The latest venture into original programming is Franklin and Bash, a show that pretty much relies completely on the likability of the two leads, Mark Paul Gosselar and Breckin Meyer. Luckily for the show, those two guys have charm to spare so the show isn't that bad. However the court cases are lackluster, the relationships with other characters are, at best, cliched, and the tone seems to be Ally McBeal-ish except with two playboys instead of a unlucky-in-love single lady. The show also seemed to cast its women from rock music video tryouts because almost all of the ladies saunter and one even disrobes in court. The women in this show seem less like they are in a court show and more like they are going to start crawling around on all fours on top of a piano or between a guitarists legs.

All that being said, because Meyer and ol' Zack Morris are so likable and well, because the ladies are nice to look at, the show does succeed a certain guilty pleasure quality. And with so little on TV right now, I'm sure it might be a decent, "Oh it's on? Why not watch it." attraction. It lies in the middle as a show that I wouldn't recommend to anyone but I also wouldn't judge anyone if they said they liked it.

Posted by SoulHonky at 05:43 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

X-Men: First Class is, to me, the epitome of a good but not great movie. It hits the right notes but it almost never seems inspired. The action scenes are fine but there was never a moment that made you sit up in your seat. Yes, the film does have the unenviable task of trying to live up to the opening scene in X2 (Nightcrawler in the White House), which is arguably one of the best action scenes in comic book movie history and it also is measured against Matthew Vaughn's last film, Kick Ass, and there's nothing in the film that comes close to matching Hit Girl.

Still, it's a good movie. It has the right amount of laughs, some solid action scenes, and great interactions between Professor X and Magneto. The stuff with the younger X-Men isn't as strong as some of the personal moments are hokey and the character development is mostly through static dialogue scenes. Those problems aren't enough to derail the film so I'd recommend it to most filmgoers and especially anyone who enjoyed the early X-Men film. If you aren't interested in comic book movies or X-Men, the film doesn't do anything to change your mind; it's not the kind of film that will convert the non-believers. It's a film that will keep the believers happy.

I do have to say though that this film had one of the most awkward close-ups I've seen in a very long time. At one point, a character utters the words, "Do you want to be ENSLAVED..." and the film cuts to a close up of the only dark skinned African-American character in the film. Making it even worse, the look on the guys face is kind of like, "Seriously, NOW is when you're giving me my close-up?!" It's one of those moments that takes you out of the film and there was audible chatter immediately after it from the audience in the theater I saw the film in.

Posted by SoulHonky at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Can not wait for this. A documentary about one of my favorite bands Tribe Called Quest and how they fall apart. Apparently Q-Tip wasn't very happy about it so that might mean that it hits a little too close to home (or Michael Rappaport twisted the footage but I'd like to believe the former.)

One thing I have to ask though is: what does De La Soul think of this trailer? People are acting like Tribe invented this genre but De La were the real trailblazers, helped put Tribe on, and took a lot of shit for their Daisy Age approach from their contemporaries. I did like Tribe better but it seems like De La is being left out of the history books here. 3 Feet High and Rising was a seminal album, in terms of style, and De La Soul is Dead might have become one of the most underrated albums in hip-hop history. A reinvention while not selling out; a change of style that actually improved the quality of the band's music. If this movie does well, Rappaport should try to make a film about Pos, Huey, and Trugoy.

Posted by SoulHonky at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

A great list. I was very happy to see "The Way of the Gun" in there. The one that is missing is "I WILL SHOOT YOU IN THE FACE!" by a random cop in Reservoir Dogs. I also wished that they had the "spider monkey" line from Talladega Nights and the Lion vs. Tuna line from "The Other Guys".

Here's the Lion vs. Tuna part I mentioned above. I didn't love The Other Guys but it had its moments.

Posted by SoulHonky at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I can not get this song out of my head.

And now there's a polka remix! The Busta verse is especially well done. Weird Al would be proud.

Posted by SoulHonky at 06:03 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I know I've been slacking on the Morning Musics and this week's Tryout so here are a couple of cool videos of mixes of street performers from across the globe performing "Gimme Shelter" and "Stand By Me".

Thanks to the NY Magazine's Vulture blog for posting these up.

Posted by SoulHonky at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

The lesson I learned after watching "13 Assassins", the new samurai film from Takashi Miike, is that I'm just not really a fan of samurai films. As I've noted in reviews for Thor and POTC: On Stranger Tides, I like my action scenes to be more than just brute force. And while "13 Assassins" is a very well made film, it is still a lot of "Groups of guys with swords running at a smaller group of guys with swords." There's a little cat & mouse but not too much because that's simply not the way of the samurai.

Despite by blase attitude toward the genre, the film is still one of the better movies that I've seen this year. I'm still trying to figure out where I should rank it because part of me was more entertained by Thor and Fast Five but I can readily admit that "13 Assassins" is a better movie than either of those two.

In the end, I would definitely recommend this film to anyone who enjoys the samurai or brute force ass-kicking genre. The end of the movie is about 45 minutes of sword play and at one point it felt a bit like "Black Hawk Down" in feudal Japan. But if you don't like that genre, don't be swayed by the positive reviews - it's pretty much a straight forward albeit well made action movie. I think a number of people in the theater I was in were expecting something different because of the positive reviews and they seemed a bit stunned/shell-shocked (or should it be sword shocked) after the movie.

Below is the trailer. This is one of those films that is pretty straightforward - if the trailer looks like something you might be into, check it out. If not, the film isn't much different than what the trailer promises.

Posted by SoulHonky at 07:34 AM | Permalink | Comments ()