Random Top 10 Lists (50's Films)

10. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
9. Paths of Glory (1957)
8. Seven Samurai (1954)
7. Vertigo (1958)
6. Touch Of Evil (1958)
5. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
4. High Noon (1952)
3. North By Northwest (1959)
2. Roshomon (1950)
1. On The Waterfront (1954)


Just Missed: All About Eve (1950), Ben-Hur (1959), Harvey (1950), Night of the Hunter (1955), Rear Window (1954), Shane (1953), Some Like It Hot (1959).

Random Top 10 Lists (90's Films)

10. Braveheart (1995)
9. Fargo (1996)
8. Boyz In The Hood (1991)
7. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
6. American Beauty (1999)
5. The Usual Suspects (1995)
4. Boogie Nights (1997)
3. Schindler's List (1993)
2. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
1. Pulp Fiction (1994)


Just Missed: Forrest Gump (1994), LA Confidential (1997), The Matrix (1999), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Se7en (1995), The Sixth Sense (1999), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Toy Story (1995), Unforgiven (1992).

Batman Begins

One thing is for certain, this ain't your daddy's Batman. Batman Begins is the story of how Bruce Wayne becomes Batman. It is about why and how a millionaire would become a crime fighting bat. This movie finally explains how the batcave came to be, how Batman got his suit, and where Batman learned those sweet moves that take down the bad guys. There are no villains in funny costumes here, just some evil people ruining Gotham City from the inside out. It's a new kind of comic book film. One about real people and how one person can make a difference.

Christopher Nolan has finally delivered on the promise he showed after the great mind fuck that was Memento. Nolan and Goyer have managed to not only revitalize a dead movie franchise, but also reinvent what a comic book movie could be. Batman Begins is structured perfectly, giving you everything you need without you even realizing and always pushing the story forward. Nolan shows a real visual flare here too. The cinematography is a throwback to Burton's Batman, but with some new cool visuals. Especially cool where the hallucination scenes, shot in a very cool and scary way. The cast is exactly what you would expect a cast like this to be...excellent. Never before has a comic book film been graced with a cast this distinguished (except maybe Sin City), and Nolan puts them to good use. Bale turns in a solid performance in the lead. He is the best actor so far at playing Bruce Wayne, but his Batman sometimes seems a bit forced. Michael Caine as Alfred the Butler is the character who steals the movie. He is basically used to help turn Batman into Bruce Wayne as opposed to the other way around. Rutger Hauer does good work with a relatively thankless part, as does Tom Wilkenson. Morgan Freeman and Cillian Murphy really turn in great performances, perfect for their parts. Freeman plays an inventor who has been demoted from one of the company's heads to someone who just sits around in a room full of scrapped top secret war stuff. Ain't that convenient for our good friend Bruce Wayne. Murphy plays Scarecrow, the closest thing to a costume villain this film has. He is a psychologist who uses a fear cerium to make people crazy. It is nice to see Cillian Murphy turn in a performance that will keep him working in Hollywood, after his great, but under seen star turn in 28 Days Later. Liam Neeson as Batman's mentor, and Gary Oldman as the soon to be police chief Gordon also do well here. Ken Watanabe, Katie Holmes, Mark Boone Junior, and Linus Roache round out the cast.

Not everything works in this new and improved Batman, but most does. The fight scenes were too dark and choppy and you could not tell what was happening most of the time. This may have been on purpose, but it was still annoying. Also, Katie Holmes' character was completely useless. She was ok in the movie, but it was so obvious she was in there just to have a female lead. That's pretty much all the problems I had with this film. One thing that I loved about this version of Batman is that it makes Batman scary like he is in the comics. In the comics his greatest asset is that the villains fear him. By keeping him in the shadows and keeping most of what he does to people off screen, it make him seem far scarier. So, all in all this is a very good film, on par with Burton's Batman and just about any other comic book film for that matter. Can't wait to see what Nolan does next.

DVD Roundup (Boogeyman, D.E.B.S., The Machinist)

Boogeyman

Finding a quality horror movie over the last decade has been about as tough as finding a good Freddy Prinze Jr. movie. Sure there have been some relatively likeable horror movies, but only 1 or 2 great ones. This is a sad turn of events if you ask me. I am willing to give horror films a lot more leeway than I give most genres, but still it is hard to find decent horror films. Boogeyman has pretty much all the problems that most of the bad modern horror films seem to have. The first and biggest problem is it just isn't scary. If it were scary, then I could let the rest of the problems slide. The movie is an exercise in style over substance using quick MTV style cutting to try to create jump scares. This approach will never work and I wish some filmmakers would realize that. Great horror movies create a mood and an ambiance that is scary, these recent horror movies just try to skip all that and cheat the scare. Like White Noise, Boogeyman seems like a short film concept spread over 90 or so minutes. This causes the movie to be really slow with nothing happening until the last 15 minutes where everything goes a mile a minute and gets confusing. The movie is slow to a fault for the majority, and then gets going so fast at the end that yourt not entirely sure what is happening. Not to mention the fact that the ending is kind of cheesy.

Boogeyman wasn't all bad though. The first 10 minutes were very good, setting up the story nicely. If the rest of the film were as good as the first 10 minutes it would have been much better. I also liked Barry Watson's lead performance. I found him likeable enough to still care about what happened to him, even though he could have come off just as a complete wacko. I haven't really seen Watson in many movies, but he is a solid actor and I look forward to seeing him again. The rest of the cast was pretty average. No one turned in a bad performance, but there wasn't another good one either. All in all, Boogeyman isn't the worst horror movie ever, just another pretty forgettable one.


D.E.B.S.

It's hard not to like a movie about hot lesbians in school girl outfits. Having said that, I went into D.E.B.S. expecting an exploitation film, but what I got was a teen comedy/satire version of Charlie's Angels with a lot more heart and a lot less clothes. That's a win-win situation. The DEBS are a crime fighting branch of the government not unlike the CIA or FBI but they are comprised of beautiful (that's what the B stands for) college aged girl. We find out that the SAT test also tests for DEBS and only the best of the best get into the prestigious training school. If this all sounds ridiculous, I assure you, it's supposed to. The lead group of DEBS consist of a blond (the only girl to get a perfect score on the test), a black chick with an attitude, and French girl, and a dopey underclassman. During a routine surveillance mission spying on a beautiful assassin played by Jordana Brewster, things go haywire and one of the DEBS ends up alone with this dangerous assassin. And then they fall in love. Bet you didn't see that coming. From there all hell breaks loose. I love the way this movie treats the lesbian subplot as if it is a normal thing, that is not at all out of the ordinary. This makes it feel far more genuine and less like a statement movie.

D.E.B.S. is a very likeable movie. It has a cool, if not campy premise and pulls it off well. The acting is as good as you can hope for in a movie like this, and is loaded with good young actresses. Michael Clark Duncan even shows up as this films version of Bosley. This is a fun movie, if you go in looking for a light, fun movie you will not be disappointed. It is the kind of movie that will keep you interested and laughing for a couple hours, and in a few weeks, you will barley remember it.


The Machinist

Christian Bale is a seriously dedicated actor. For those that do not know, he weighed 120 lbs. while making this movie. He lost so much weight that he had health issues and was dizzy through a lot of the shooting. While that defiantly was a plus for his character, it also took me out of the movie. I just could not get over how bad he looked. He literally looked like a holocaust victim. While his weight loss was noble and also necessary to play the role (a role he was very good in), I think they needed to go with an unknown in the lead. Not because Bale didn't do a good job, but because every time I saw him I couldn't believe it was him. Which took me out of the movie ever so slightly.

With that said, The Machinist is a good solid mind screw of a movie, never really becoming great, but it will keep you watching for sure. The story is about a man slowly losing his sanity thanks to insomnia. He has not slept in over a year and things start to happen to him and he isn't sure if it is actually happening or if it is all in his head. This makes the movie a bit confusing to watch because you never really know what exactly is going on. You are left in the dark intentionally, so the audience is as in the dark as the character on the screen. The movie builds up very nicely to a climax it can't possibly live up to. The ending works well enough, but goes with a whimper instead of a big bang. All in all, it is worth a shot if only to see Bale's amazing physical transformation and a solid performance by Jennifer Jason Leigh. It is a movie that was certainly aiming for greatness, but has to settle for simply being good.

MTV Movie Awards

I watched the MTV Movie Awards tonight and realized that Jimmy Fallon just is not funny. He can be mildly amusing at times, but mainly I found myself wondering how funny his jokes could have been if delivered by Adam Sandler or Chris Rock. While I am complaining, would it have killed MTV to at least give us some decent musical performances? This is MTV as in music television right? The one thing you can usually count on from an MTV awards show is quality musical numbers. Until now that is. Eminem's performance was boring and Mariah's song made me get up and leave. Yellowcard did their best to cover "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds, but really they were a bad choice. The Foo Fighters gave the only inspired performance of the night but Dave Grohl's vocals were drowned out by the other instruments. All and all bland, safe choices. Where were the up-and-coming, next big thing groups MTV loves to put on the award shows? John Legend or Fall Out Boy would have been a welcome sight. I'd have even settled for Tatu and a bunch of girls making out in schoolgirl outfits.

As for the actual awards show, it was pretty much the same as it ever is. The wrong people win just about every award but it is chalk full of funny moments and sketches. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson teaching kids how to score was classic and Ben Stiller's acceptance speech was funny as well. A lot of the big laugh guys from years past were no shows tonight though. Jim Carrey, Will Smith, Will Farrell and Jack Black have given us some of the funniest MTV Movie Award moments in the past, but none of them showed, which kind of sucked. The salute to The Breakfast Club was very cool, especially for a big 80's film geek like myself. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams kiss was great too. I want them to get married and have babies. They still have that electric chemistry that had me a little misty while watching The Notebook. All and all, it was a good but unmemorable show. But hey, at least Napoleon Dynamite got some love. That was pretty friggan sweet.


List of winners:

Best Movie: Napoleon Dynamite
Best Female Performance: Lindsay Lohan (Mean Girls)
Best Male Performance: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator)
Best Comedic Performance: Dustin Hoffman (Meet the Fockers)
Best On-Screen Team: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert and Amanda Seyfried (Mean Girls)
Best Villain: Ben Stiller (Dodgeball)
Breakthrough Female: Rachel McAdams (Mean Girls)
Breakthrough Male: Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite)
Best Kiss: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling (The Notebook)
Best Fight: Uma Thurman Vs. Daryl Hannah (Kill Bill, Vol. 2)
Generation Award: Tom Cruise
Best Action Sequence: Roland Emmerich (Day After Tomorrow)
Best Musical Performance: Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite)
Best Frightened Performance: Dakota Fanning (Hide and Seek)

It's A Celebration Bitches

I know this isn't technically movie news, but this is my blog and I can type whatever I feel like. Yesterday around 7 in the evening here in rainy Orlando, my buddy Zac McCamie was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 17th round of the MLB draft. This is obviously glorious news as now I can hit him up for money any time I need to. Zac pitched at the University of South Carolina the last 2 years and at Seminole Community College the 2 years before that. He is to my knowledge, the only human being on earth to play in the Little League World Series, Junior College World Series, and the College World Series. Hopefully he will some day add the plain old World Series to that list. So allow me to be like the 50th person to congratulate him.

Lords Of Dogtown

This movie has been on my radar for quite some time now. I am a big fan of the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys and when I heard Stacy Peralta (He is one of the main Z-Boys and also directed the doc) was writing a feature film version of the story I was more than a little intrigued. Then I found out that Fred Durst would be directing it, and all hope of it being good was lost. Thanks in part to my prayers, Fred Durst dropped out of the film and David Fincher took over. Once again I was pumped to see it. Then, taking his lead from Durst, Fincher dropped out of the project and for a while it looked like it may not get made. Finally, Catherine Hardwicke stepped in as the director, which was more than ok with me. You may not know her name yet, but her first film entitled Thirteen was nothing short of brilliant. Longtime readers may even remember that Thirteen won the Cammy Award for Best Picture and Hardwicke for Best Director a few years back. I had little doubt that Hardwicke could do the job here, in fact, she seemed the perfect choice to me. And much to my non-surprise, Lords Of Dogtown was every bit as good as I had hoped it would be.

The first thing I noticed watching this film, was that it was absolutely perfectly cast. This has a chance to be one of those movies that come along every decade or so loaded with young actors who all become stars (i.e. The Outsiders, Dazed And Confused, Fast Times At Ridgemont High). The 3 leads of the film are all relatively unknown actors, but not for long. John Robinson, who plays Stacy Peralta has only been in one film (Gus Van Sant's overrated Elephant), but that doesn't stop him from turning in a solid performance as the shy, sensitive Peralta. Victor Rasuk (Raising Victor Vargas) bears an uncanny resemblance to the real Tony Alva, and he really excels as the cocky and ambitious Alva. Rounding out the big 3 is Emile Hirsch as Jay Adams. Hirsch is the closest thing to a seasoned actor in this group, but he has never done anything like this. Hirsh plays the brooding, troubled Adams with an unbelievable amount of intensity. In a film full of great acting, it is Hirsch who steals the show. Heath Ledger, channeling Jim Morrison, turn in a hilarious portrayal of Skip Engblom, a surf shop owner who basically started the revolution only to get cut out of it. Michael Angarano as Sid, the least talented Z-Boy and Rebecca De Mornay as Adams' hippy mom are also great.

Hardwicke does a great job recreating 1970's Dogtown (aka Venice Beach) as an oceanfront ghetto. The cinematography and art design really give the film a grimy 70's vibe. The soundtrack also works wonders setting the mood. This film is loaded with great rock songs from the 70's. The skate scenes were always interesting, being shot in a very skate video sort of way. You learn real quick that the 3 leads in this film can really skate, because it is shot in such a way that you can see who is doing the skating pretty much all the time.

The film shows the transformation of the Z-Boys from surfers just looking to have a good time, all the way to their near rock star status as skateboarding becomes a cultural phenomenon. What is truly interesting is to see them torn apart by this sudden fame. All 3 stumble along the way and struggle with the pressure in their own unique ways. Hardwicke's great strength as a director is her way with young actors, managing to get real subtle performances out of relatively novice actors. As Peralta, Alva, and Adams become the first stars of the skateboard movement, they suddenly go from being 3 peas in a pod to vastly different. Peralta's script does a good job fleshing out not only himself, but also Adams and Alva without judging them. The dogbowl scene near the end of the movie is touching and did actually happen, it wasn't added by Hollywood.

Lords Of Dogtown manages to be both a companion piece to the great documentary that preceded it and also work beautifully as a stand alone film. Catherine Hardwicke takes another step in proving that she is one of the most talented directors working today. And a handful of very talented young actors take another step toward becoming stars. If that isn't enough to make you want to watch the movie then the cameo of Tony Hawk (Peralta, Alva, and Jay Adams also cameo) as an uncoordinated astronaut surely will.

Random Top 10 Lists (80's Films)

10. Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)
9. Hoosiers (1986)
8. Blue Velvet (1986)
7. The Terminator (1984)
6. Platoon (1986)
5. The Last Temptation Of Christ (1988)
4. The Silence Of The Lambs (1988)
3. Do The Right Thing (1989)
2. Raging Bull (1980)
1. ET: The Extra-terrestrial (1982)


Just Missed: Aliens (1986), Blade Runner (1982), Caddyshack (1980), Die Hard (1988), Glory (1989), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981), Ran (1985).