Friday Afternoon Videos: ‘Son, you got a panty on your head’
Add comment February 27th, 2009
For no reason other than it’s one of the funniest scenes in movie history, here’s the Huggies robbery from the Coen brothers second movie, RAISING ARIZONA.
Archive for February, 2009
They should’ve won for…
Add comment February 27th, 2009
Inspired by Kate Winslet’s Oscar win for THE READER, Chicago Tribune columnist Mark Caro lists other examples of “Right Oscar, Wrong Movie,” including these…
Martin Scorsese won for THE DEPARTED, but should’ve won for TAXI DRIVER, RAGING BULL or GOODFELLAS
Paul Newman won for THE COLOR OF MONEY, but should’ve won for THE HUSTLER, HUD or THE VERDICT
Sydney Pollack won for directing OUT OF AFRICA, but should’ve won for TOOTSIE.
He’s dead-on about Pacino’s win for SCENT OF A WOMAN being a joke. All that “hoo hah” is the most embarrassing thing he’s ever done. No Oscars for either GODFATHER movie or DOG DAY AFTERNOON? That’s what Al should have won the statue for.
I’m rooting for you, Eddie
2 comments February 27th, 2009
Remember how exciting it Eddie Murphy used to be in movies like TRADING PLACES, 48 HOURS and BEVERLY HILLS COP? Remember how his lightning-fast timing and comic energy blew the rest of the cast off the screen? Remember how he always seemed to be on the verge of doing something really, really amazing?
It’s hard to remember that now, 20 years after his peak roles, with nothing but NORBIT, MEET DAVE and NUTTY PROFESSOR sequels to mark his career, but maybe — just maybe — Eddie Murphy is going to do something good again. Maybe even something great.
According to this article over at Cinematical, Eddie Murphy is going to play none other than Richard Pryor in a drama called RICHARD PRYOR: IS IT SOMETHING I SAID? Murphy worked with Pryor in HARLEM NIGHTS (not, admittedly, the finest screen moment for either of them) and, like just about every other comic of his generation, idolized Pryor and his groundbreaking style of stand-up. What’s more, IS IT SOMETHING I SAID is slated to be directed by Richard Condon, who helmed DREAMGIRLS — the movie that earned Eddie a best supporting actor Oscar recently.
RICHARD PRYOR: IS IT SOMETHING I SAID is tentatively (and with this movie, everything is tentative at this point) scheduled for release in summer of 2010. After all the abuse I’ve given Eddie Murphy over NORBIT and MEET DAVE, it’s nice to actually be looking forward to one of his projects.
In heaven, everything is fine…
2 comments February 26th, 2009
With Kate Winslet (finally) winning an Oscar, it’s a fitting coincidence that the Onion’s AV Club is featuring HEAVENLY CREATURES this week as the selection in its New Cult Canon.
Released in 1994, it’s the movie that pretty much introduced Winslet to the movie world. Even year, young and unpolished, she’s obviously got some amazing acting chops. She plays Juliet Hulme, a 15-year-old who, in 1954, helped her best friend, Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey, also very good) murder Parker’s mom. The film is based on an actual case, and after serving a short sentence, Hulme and Parker were released — on the condition that they never see each other again.
If you go in expecting a dry true-crime story, you’re in for a big (and excellent) surprise. HEAVENLY CREATURES is directed by Peter Jackson, and though it’s not quite as fantasy-oriented as the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy or his KING KONG remake, it’s not far off. Instead of downplaying the fantasy world Juliet and Hulme concocted, he revels in it, bringing their visions of a magical kingdom, a personal heaven and Mario Lanza to colorful life. Those scenes, contrasted with the dark horror of the actual events (and supported by the strong performances of Winslet and Lynskey) make HEAVENLY CREATURES a truly great film. In fact — and I realize this is heresy to LORD OF THE RINGS FANS — it might be Jackson’s best.
Read the Onion write-up here, then rent the movie. I don’t think you’ll be sorry.
Uh oh.
2 comments February 26th, 2009
The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER has weighed in on WATCHMEN, and it’s not a pretty sight…
There is something a little lackadaisical here. The set pieces are surprisingly flat and the characters have little resonance. Fight scenes don’t hold a candle to Asian action. Even the digital effects are ho-hum. Armageddon never looked so cheesy.
Well, what about the acting, or the use of an alternate history?
 … the stories are too absurd and acting too uneven to convince anyone. The appearances of a waxworks Nixon, Kissinger and other 1980s personalities will only bring hoots from less charitable audiences.
And here’s the last line…
Looks like we have the first real flop of 2009.
Read the whole thing here.
Another WATCHMEN review
8 comments February 25th, 2009
Over at CHUD.com, Davin Faraci offers his take on the eagerly awaited (well, by me at least) big screen version of WATCHMEN. And he’s pleased, to put it mildly…
If nothing else, Zack Snyder’s WATCHMEN demands praise as an awe-inspiring achievement. Snyder has done what many considered impossible - he took Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s seminal comic book, WATCHMEN, and turned it into a movie. And not just a movie; Snyder hasn’t created some processional of images or a living audio book. He’s made a film that feels like a living, breathing thing all its own while also being - almost completely - the book.
Pretty positive, eh? That’s nothing. Listen to what other movie Faraci compares it to…
In many ways WATCHMENÂ reminds me of Francis Ford Coppola’s THE GODFATHER … Like THE GODFATHER, WATCHMEN is story about power in post-WWII 20th century America, except that the Corleone saga is about acquiring power while WATCHMEN is about using it.
Read the rest here.
That’s a lot of time in front of the TV
Add comment February 25th, 2009
As someone who loves watching DVDs, I tip my hat to Matthew Dessem. For the past few years, he’s been watching every single title in the Criterion Collection (in order!) and blogging about it.
He explains just why he’s taken on this daunting tax in an interview over at the Life of Zane blog:
“In 2004, when I started the project, I was looking for a way to learn more about foreign film. I suppose what most people do is work down a list of directors or genres, but that didn’t really appeal to me–I have Attention Deficit Disorder, so the thought of spending a month watching nothing but Fellini was terrifying. The Criterion Collection seemed like a good mix of different types of movies in a close-to-random order, so that’s where I started.”
And here, if you want to read Dessem’s thoughts on the dozens of movies (so far), here’s his blog. I especially recommend his write-up on ARMAGEDDON, which, as Dessem points out, is the one movie many people think doesn’t deserve a spot in the Criterion collection. (Dessem disagrees — and makes a damn good case for its inclusion.)
Your unapologetically geeky WATCHMEN post of the day
2 comments February 24th, 2009
Here’s the video for My Chemical Romance’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row” that’s on the WATCHMEN soundtrack. (In fact, if you go see a movie in the theater these days and you show up extra early, you’ll probably see a short making-of feature about this clip.) Notice the backdrop of the stage is a rorschach pattern, Pale Horse, a fictional band mentioned in the WATCHMEN graphic novel, in on the marquee, and there’s a smiley face on the drum. Too bad there aren’t any knottops all hopped up on KT-28s, though. That would’ve been a nice touch.
Â
Why “Desolation Row”? Because the title of the first issue of WATCHMEN, “At Midnight, All the Agents” is taken from a line in the song: “At midnight, all the agents and the superhuman crew go out and round up everyone who knows more than they do.”
My Chemical Romance singer Gerald Way, incidentally, is the writer of another comic book series, THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY. And you know what? It’s very, very good. Not quite WATCHMEN, but a lot better than you’d think coming from a rock star — apparently, he’s quite the comic book fan. Check it out if you get a chance.
Kentucky’s gonna fry tonight!
Add comment February 24th, 2009
Here, courtesy of THE JIMMY KIMMEL SHOW, is a sneak peak at Mel Gibson’s next project.
And you thought that NORBIT nomination last year was weird…
Add comment February 23rd, 2009
If you’re not completely sick of reading Oscar-related trivia by now, I highly recommend zipping over to Turner Classic Movie’s Movie Morlocks site for a couple of posts by “morlockjeff” examining strange Oscar contenders of the past. Did you know, for example…
… that CRAZYLEGS, a 1953 biopic of football legend Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch (starring Crazylegs as himself) earned a best editing nomination? It lost, of course, to FROM HERE TO ETERNITY.
… MINSTREL MAN, a 1944 drama that frequently featured its lead character in blackface (and not TROPIC THUNDER blackface, either — this was strictly un-ironic blackface) earned nominations for best music and best song?
…. Steven Seagal’s 1992 action flick UNDER SEIGE was nominated for best sound and best sound effects editing? (Actually, it’s a pretty good movie.)
… MONDO CANE, one of the sleaziest documentaries ever made, earned a best song nomination in 1963 for its theme, “More,” which became a standard among nightclub singers. (MONDO CANE’s title, by the way, was the inspiration for all those “mondo” phrases and titles that followed. The title actually translates idiomatically as “A dog’s world,” so if you see the phrase “mondo world,” it actually means “world world.”)
