Search Results for ‘guru’
November 12th, 2009
Jason Zinoman of VANITY FAIR spends the day at one of screenwriting guru Robert McKee’s day-long seminars and lives to tell about it. What’s more, he remains unimpressed with the man who proclaims ““You can’t work in this business without reading my book.” Read about Zinoman’s experience here, in a piece tellingly called “Robert McKee’s Unconvincing Story.”
And if you haven’t read McKee’s book (titled STORY, by the way), but you feel like you’ve heard of the guy, it’s probably from Brian Cox’s wonderful portrayal of a storytelling guru in Spike Jonze’s movie, ADAPTATION.
Here’s a clip to refresh your memory. (Warning — the language is pretty salty, so consider yourself warned).
By the way, the fictional McKee (mirroring the real-life McKee) is dead wrong about voiceovers. Here’s a partial list of great movies that use them: SUNSET BLVD., THE APARTMENT, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, FULL METAL JACKET, TAXI DRIVER, GOODFELLAS, FIGHT CLUB, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, DOUBLE INDEMNITY…
July 1st, 2009
As we head into the Fourth of July weekend, what could be more patriotic than a movie about fighting Nazis? Here’s a new international trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS which definitely puts the emphasis on the action and the comedy. I love the opening shot — make that shots.
By the way, I erred in a previous posting. Mike Myers is obviously playing a Brit, not a Nazi. Maybe, just maybe, this will allow him to make up for the cinematic crime that was THE LOVE GURU.
February 19th, 2009
Esquire presents its “2009 Alternative Oscars,” including a nod for Mike Myer’s abyssmal THE LOVE GURU as “Best Failure.” According to them, “Awards celebrate success, but some failures should be cherished. Mike Myers could make another five Austin Powers movies and then a nostalgic Wayne’s World, please every executive at the studio, all the while earning enough money to warm his collection of homes by burning bricks of $100 bills. He instead chose to go way out on a limb and try to be absolutely hilarious. He landed on his ass and made a movie that nobody should watch but everybody should applaud.”
Um, sorry. No applause from this corner.
I did like how they honored Elizabeth Banks as “Best Fun Blond” for playing both ex-First Lady Laura Bush and starring in ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO in the same month. Now that’s versatility!
Read the whole list here. There’s some (OK, a lot of ) profanity in the “Best Profane Dialogue” category, but if the name of the category doesn’t tip you off that you might be encountering some dirty words, you deserve to be offended.
January 7th, 2009
A poll of critics for NEW YORK MAGAZINE has picked the worst movie of last year, and it turns out to be…
 Drumroll please…
 … Will Smith’s Oscar-bait drama SEVEN POUNDS. To quote the NEW YORK TIMES A.O. Scott: “One of the most transcendently, eye-poppingly, call-your-friend-ranting-in-the-middle-of-the-night-just-to-go-over-it-one-more-time crazily awful motion pictures ever made.”
Here are the complete ballots, which include picks for everything from THE LOVE GURU to SPEED RACER to THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. Me? I didn’t see SEVEN POUNDS or Mike Myer’s unbelievably bad-looking THE LOVE GURU, but I did see THE HAPPENING, and it’s hard for me to imagine a worse movie than that. Oh, and I watched THE WOMEN, too. (Review coming soon.) That was really bad, but not as bad as THE HAPPENING.
If you did see SEVEN POUNDS (or don’t mind the plot being spoiled), click this link for a funny poster that spells it all out in old-movie story.
August 15th, 2008
I was excited by the prospect of Quentin Tarantino doing a modern take on the World War II movie with his new version of INGLORIOUS BASTARDS, but now I can feel that excitement starting to wane. First, Eli Roth (bad director, worse actor, decent horror fan) has joined the cast, and now Variety announces  that Mike Myers — yes, the man behind THE LOVE GURU – will have a role as well.
I know Myers considers himself the latter-day version of Peter Sellers, but he’s dreaming. (Though, by many accounts, both of them were notoriously difficult to work with.) Maybe he’ll use the same lame accent as that annoying Simon character he did on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.
Still, the guy has — or at least had — talent. WAYNE’S WORLD was a sharp comedy, and some of his bits on SNLÂ were funny (until he inevitably beat them into the ground). Maybe this is the sort of change of pace he needs. To give Myers his credit, he wasn’t bad in the disco drama 54, and if the movie had focused on his character instead of the idiot busboy played by Ryan Phillippe, it would’ve been a much better movie.
June 20th, 2008
Mike Myers’ latest comic epic, THE LOVE GURU, is getting savaged by critics and has accumulated a whopping 16 percent score at Rotten Tomatoes. (To put things in perspective, that’s less than half the score of YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN, another critical darling.)
Having paid my penance by seeing THE HAPPENING (19 percent, three points higher than GURU) last week, I’m not hiring a babysitter just so I can suffer through another bad movie this weekend. But I’m dying to hear from someone who’s actually seen it. Is it really that bad? I pegged it as a lousy movie weeks ago, and I have the feeling I was right.
But you never know. If you see THE LOVE GURU this weekend, please swing by here and offer your thoughts. And thanks for taking a hit for the team.
May 22nd, 2008
Before watching IRON MAN, I was forced to sit through the trailer for Mike Myer’s upcoming atrocity, THE LOVE GURU, which looks like it might have the distinction of being the worst movie ever made not starring a Wayans.
But the lack of laughs isn’t the only problem, here. There’s also the nagging issue of (near) eternal damnation.
The Web site Defamer.com reports that besides being blasted by spiritual leaders all over the world, the movie could, literally, send Myers and company to Hell. And not just development hell, either.Â
Defamer quotes Sean Clarke, editor of the Spiritual Science Research Foundation as saying “based on an afterlife demerit point system, those involved with making the movie can anticipate residence in the second region of hell for 1,000 years.”
Don’t think Mike and his co-stars are the only ones in for centuries of fiery torment. You, the ticket buyer, could be in trouble as well. Defamer continues:Â ”Watching it for entertainment would carry its share of consequences, too.”
Of course, after watching THE LOVE GURU, you’ve already spent about two hours in hell. Does that count as time served?
