Gazette film blog

PLEASE GO TO OUR NEW ADDRESS!!!!

2008-07-31T15:46:00.000-07:00

We're now at

gazettefilmblog.freedomblogging.com/

Hope to see you there.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

2008-07-24T23:37:00.000-07:00

Over the past several months, the cast and crew of The X-Files: I Want to Believe considered it a badge of honor to be as tight-lipped about the plot of their film as possible. Internet searches met with futility. Spoiler sites were useless. The film’s trailers were little more than a jumble of unintelligible images. As it turns out, the tremendous secrecy was not to hide the film’s plot until the last minute, but rather hide the fact that The X-Files: I Want to Believe is arguably the dullest film to hit theater screens this year.

Somewhere in the frozen West Virginia hinterland (who knew West Virginia had a frozen hinterland that looked so remarkably like the Canadian Rockies) someone is abducting women and subjecting them to freakish experiments. At a loss to explain the abductions, much less solve them, the FBI, led by Special Agents Dakota Whitney (Amanda Peet) and Mosley Drummy (Alvin “XZibit” Joiner) enlists the help of two former Bureau employees who have experience with the abnormal: Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), now employed as a pediatric surgeon and Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) who apparently spends his days cutting out newspaper clipping referencing paranormal events.

Together with Father Joseph Crissman (Billy Connolly), a defrocked priest who claims to receive psychic visions from God about the locations of the abducted women, Mulder and Scully (who have obviously lived a lot of profound history in the past six years since we last saw them, much of which is dealt with in casual, throwaway lines) find themselves right back where we left them — a battle of wits between reason and faith. As Mulder and Scully get closer to the truth, more than just their lives are in danger; perhaps their very friendship is at stake.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe would not even be considered a good episode much less a good film. There is utterly no sense of dread or tension, just as there is no sense of inertia or momentum. The X-Files: I Want to Believe is a profoundly boring film. To say the film was languidly paced would be to admit to the contributions of an editor and I am unconvinced one ever existed. While the characters appear to move in real time, the film seems to be stuck in slow motion, as if all the action is taking place underwater or within wet cement. All this leads up to one of the most anti-climactic, underwhelming resolutions ever set to film.

There are films that purposely conclude in ambiguity and then there are films that end without ever addressing the supposed central premise of their plot. The X-Files is the latter. A disjointed, unintelligible mess that makes no sense, The X-Files never once bothers to explain itself and worse, doesn’t even care to try. The X-Files thinks it’s saying something significant and insightful about the intersection of faith and science and the despair of losing one’s most profound beliefs, but as with so much else in the film, it is all talk and no action.

While Duchovny and Anderson slip comfortably back into the roles that made them 90’s icons, the movie itself is not so lucky. Why in the world was this film made? It’s not as if fans were clamoring for another installment, no matter how enjoyable the first film, which came out even before the series ran its course, turned out to be. Does anyone even care anymore? The X-Files is about six years too late and now completely pointless. There is nothing here to attract new fans. Die-hard X-Philes should prepare themselves for one heck of a disappointment. This time, X does not mark the spot.

GRADE: D+

YOU BE THE CRITIC

2008-07-17T12:58:00.000-07:00

Can the bat be that good?

I know other critics are also liking "The Dark Knight," but Gazette critic Brandon Fibbs sings four-part harmony in his praises.

His review, which is in tomorrow's GO! section, says:

To call “The Dark Knight” the greatest superhero movie ever made is an understatement of titanic proportions. And yet, conversely, the film is so devoid of camp and superhero trappings and is presented with such assured realism, that it hardly feels like a superhero movie at all. The most eagerly anticipated popcorn blockbuster of the summer is, in fact, one of the greatest crime epics ever made, taking its place beside such films as “The Godfather,” “The Untouchables” and “Heat.”

Wow!

The movie opens midnight Friday, (which is tonight). I want to know what you think. Please place your reviews under comments here.

Hancock rocks!

2008-07-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

I'd been disappointed with the early summer movies.
"Iron Man" was fun, although the climax was a bit too reminiscent of "Transformers."
"Indiana Jones" disappointed.

Then came "WAL-E"-- the most important animated film of our time. I agree with Brandon that this is Pixar at it's best, and that's something to behold.

But the biggest surprise of the summer so far has been "Hancock." I'm so glad that not only did the previews not give the twist away, but even though I knew there was a twist coming, it didn't hurt the film at all. This is a movie that starts as one thing and rises to a higher level. See it.

Did Brandon give away too much of 'Sex'?

2008-06-02T16:33:00.000-07:00

A reader recently complained that Brandon had given away too important a plot point in his review last Friday.

After seeing the film, I have to agree. Even though trailers had given away as much, the fact that the turn in plot happened more than an hour in should have led to more sensitive treatment.

When I wrote the movie reviews, I was always giving away too much. Comedies, especially. I wanted to share all the best gags, all the funniest lines.

Sometimes, we have to stifle that urge to share, that urge that drives us to be in this business.

But I have to say, I agreed with Brandon's review. It was a fun, sexy movie.

Sex and this City

2008-06-02T16:23:00.000-07:00

Gloss, the fashion boutique at the Promenade Shops in Briargate, threw an amazing "Sex and the City" party on Friday.

Women decked out in their high heels and Carrie dresses to nibble on phenomenal food at the store provided by Plate World Cuisine, and then the group took a series of limos, provided by Audi, to the new Hollywood Theatres to see the movie.

It was the kind of innovative, classy parties you usually find in bigger cities.

The only slight tarnish on the gloss was the new theater. The generic-feeling Hollywood Theatres seem a bit of a step down from Cinemark... although I love the all-digial projectors. And the chairs are comfy, if arranged with too-tight aisles.

When the new Cinemark opens, I imagine Hollywood's going to be hurting. Maybe they'll cut their prices.

'Indy' -- the long, spoiler filled version

2008-05-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Since Producer George Lucas and Director Steven Spielberg have been extraordinarily tight-lipped about any plot details whatsoever for “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” it is inevitable that a review of this film will contain what some may consider to be spoilers. Consider yourself warned.

BY BRANDON FIBBS
THE GAZETTE
If you take away nothing else from this review, please remember this: do yourself a favor and dampen your expectations. “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” cannot possibly be as good as you dream it will be. Even if — especially if — every critic in the nation gushed in unbridled adoration, it still cannot stand up to the ferocity of your fevered imagination.

The truth is, the latest addition to one of the most beloved movie franchises of all time is not an abomination. But it is, unquestionably, superfluous and arguably needn’t ever have been made.

“Crystal Skull” opens with Elvis, poodle skirts and drag races. We’re not in the 40s any more Toto. The year is 1957, almost two decades after we last saw Indy in “The Last Crusade.” If you’re concerned that the 65-year-old Harrison Ford is the weak link in this film, think again. The buff sexagenarian may throw fewer punches these days, but the film does a good job of addressing his age without dwelling on it. Ford’s face doesn’t age, it just gathers a few more lines here and there. Rest assured, Indy is the same as when we left him.

The Nazi’s are long gone and the Cold War is hot. Only a few minutes into the film, Indy finds himself stranded in the New Mexico desert, having just escaped from Soviet officer Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), a military researcher obsessed with the paranormal, and a convoy of Russian soldiers posing as American Army troops. Spalko would feel equally at home in a James Bond film, a devilishly smart villain who wields a silver rapier and peers out from beneath a Louise Brooks haircut with blue eyes as piercing as her blade. Using an impending nuclear test as their cover, the Russians break into a remote desert base in search of a coveted object that could end the Cold War the hard way.

Little does Indy know that his run-in with the Russians has everything to do with a visit from Mutt (Shia Labeoff), a young man who has patterned his persona down to the last detail on Marlon Brando in “The Wild One,” complete with the motorcycle, leather-jacket and switchblade. Mutt tells Indy of the discovery of a mysterious, otherworldly crystal skull by Indy’s old college pal, Professor Oxley (John Hurt) who is now in the hands of the Ruskies. Spalko and her comrades believe Oxley is the key to discovering a golden South American city that houses a psychic weapon of devastating power.

Riding a telltale red line across the map, Indy and Mutt find themselves tromping around Peru, where they engage in some familiarly eerie cave spelunking. It isn’t long before they are reunited with the Russians, a mentally unstable Ox, Indy’s old pal Mac (Ray Winstone), a mercenary who is on the side of whomever has the upper hand, and Mutt’s mom who turns out to be none other than Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), Indy’s feisty flame from “Raiders.” If Marion is Mutt’s mom, who is his pops? Like Ford, time has been good to Karen Allen who is largely unchanged from the last time we saw her nearly three decades ago.

The plot, sparse and convoluted as it is, is just preamble for rip-snortin’ chase sequences through the jungle, saber duels while balanced precariously atop moving vehicles, monkey ambushes, voracious giant ants, plummets over the side of waterfalls and, of course, snakes. The jaw-dropping climax of the film goes into otherworldly territory unexplored by the strictly terrestrial Indy, but is certainly familiar to Spielberg and Lucas.

More a prequel to Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” than a sequel to “The Last Crusade,” “Crystal Skull” taps the 50s zeitgeist and comes away with a story involving none other than Area 51, pyramid-building extraterrestrials and enormous flying saucers. While the topic makes sense, given the franchise’s pulp roots and the decade’s sci fi obsession, aliens don’t pack the same historical wallop as the other films, creating a far-fetched implausibility even this sort of escapist entertainment can’t possibly make convincing.

Some have derided the plot as formulaic. Sure. But what did you expect? “Indiana Jones” is patterned after the popular, larger-than-life Saturday matinees of yesteryear, not the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. That said, “Crystal Skull” is an uneven, mixed bag that feels far less polished and holistically complete than its predecessors. Sure, Spielberg is nothing if not competent and consummately talented. However, while the film is always entertaining, it can’t help but smell musty from time to time and appear to be as an exercise in going through rote motions.

Half the time you want Indy to shut up and stop delivering lengthy expository diatribes and the other half you’re exhausted to sit through yet one more thoughtless chase, repurposed from the earlier films. It’s great to see Indy and Marion back together, but all too often their relationship teeters dangerous close to a parody of its former glory. And LaBeouf, a fine, young actor, has difficultly gaining emotional traction.

Extraordinary as the visual effects are, the digital era has robbed the franchise of much of its magic. There is far too much reliance on CGI and artificial looking sets.

“Crystal Skull” is pervasively playful but only occasionally fun. And a lack of fun is a failure of the highest magnitude in a film of this nature. In fact, much of the over-the-top comedy is misplaced and completely inappropriate. Several moments induce laughter at, not with the action onscreen.

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is like bumping into an old friend you said goodbye to years ago and thought you’d never see again. The reunion is undeniably pleasant but somewhat cheapens the meaningful and eloquent goodbye you once shared.

The final moments of the film are too perfect. If you thought riding off into the sunset as the gang did in “Last Crusade” was ideal, “Crystal Skull” goes for a powerfully sentimental, if slightly less iconic send-off.

“Crystal Skull” feels like an extraordinarily well-funded fan film of the sort you can find on the Internet. It duplicates much of the look and feel of the previous installments, but little of the magic. In the end, “Crystal Skull” simply isn’t memorable.

New Hollywood Theater at Interquest opens for Indiana May 21

2008-05-12T15:24:00.000-07:00

The new Hollywood Theaters Interquest Stadium 14 on Interquest Boulevard will open May 21 (technically, midnight May 22) for "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

Winners at the Indie Spirit Film Festival

2008-04-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

Best horror film - “13 Hours in a Warehouse”
Best foreign language film - “Punch”
Best student film - “First Memories”
Best foreign-produced film - “The Stone Angel”
Best Native American film - “Standing Silent Nation”
Best short film - “English Language (With English Subtitles)"
Best documentary - “Vaccine Nation
Directors choice award - “The Bilbee Boys
Best feature film - “Minotauro"

Indie Spirit Film Festival

2008-04-27T16:57:00.001-07:00

I've had a pretty busy weekend, but I did manage to catch a few flicks at the new Indie Spirit Film Festival. Although I only saw one film on Saturday, that seemed like the fun day to me - a bunch of strange films in strange locations scattered around the Springs. Sunday was all at the Pikes Peak Center, which was fine, but kind of huge for the size of the event. I didn't make it to the opening film on Friday, "Everyone But You," but director/star Eric Shiveley did bake me some cookies. Tasty!

- Saturday night, we went to the freediving documentary "Sink Faze" (I wanted to see the horror flicks, but my wife wasn't into it). Actually, calling this a documentary is pushing things a little - this is to freediving (scuba diving without an air tank) what a Warren Miller flick is to skiing. It didn't really try to explain the sport, or much about who the people were, it just presented the 2006 record-setting freedives. Still, the filming was pretty good and the sport itself is offbeat enough to make for compelling footage.

- Sunday, I went to "305," a "300" spoof by David and Dan Holechek. I'd been talking to the twin brothers, both Air Academy grads now living in Los Angeles, for the last couple months (I actually saw a link to the Youtube short the movie was based on and posted it to the TV Talk blog before I knew there was any local connection). I was interested to see whether the feature film would be as funny as the short. It wasn't, but it came pretty close. For a low-budget, green-screen spoof, I thought they did a pretty good job. The audience was laughing, which, as David Holechek said afterward, is the most important thing. "305" is out July 7 on DVD.

- Lastly, I saw "Minotauro," on the strong recommendation of festival co-founder Matt Stevens. This is, I swear to god, "El Mariachi" meets "Like Water for Chocolate." Wrap your mind around that one! It's not nearly as silly as "Mariachi," or as affected as "Chocolate," but there's some nice cinematography, good performances, and I found the final scenes moving. Now that I think of it, "Pan's Labyrinth" is probably a better comparison. The mixture of shoot-'em-up and family relationship drama was uneven in places, but on the whole it was well worth seeing.

Three films ain't much given that they screened more than 80 at the festival. If you saw something you liked, post a review in the comments section and I'll tack it onto this list.

Win Ben Stein's money

2008-04-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

I saw an early screening of the new don't-call-it-creationist movie "Expelled" up at Focus on the Family last fall. It wasn't the final version, so I couldn't properly review it, but I'm guessing it was pretty close to what's in theaters today.

So I've been reading all the reviews of the movie and they all seem to be missing the point to me. All the reviewers are trying to weigh in on whether Ben Stein and company make a compelling argument for intelligent design - or at least make a compelling case against evolution.

But that, it strikes me, is not really the point of the film. "Expelled" is simply a right-wing version of "Fahrenheit 911" and "An Inconvenient Truth." There are even a bunch of scenes that are lifted whole from those films.

So the proper question, in my mind, is not how convincing it is to people who are unconvinced, it's how forcefully it speaks to the faithful.

Michael Moore's movies were never designed to win an argument - they were built to rouse the believers (in fairness, that may be less the case with Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth," although a lot of right-wing blogs would argue the point).

And viewed by those lights, I'd say "Expelled" works pretty well. It's over-the-top, it's relatively funny, it's righteously indignant. Michael Moore would be proud, assuming he has a sense of humor about these things.

I thougt the section equating evolutionists to Nazis was over over-the-top (I believe that's called Godwin's law). And the interview sections dragged at times. I think the producers have been desperately trying to gin up controversy about the film as a promotional tool, which is right out of the Moore playbook, too.

But will "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" entertain folks inclined to agree with its premise? I think it probably will. And, just as importantly, will it enrage folks who don't agree with it? Definitely.

Kimballs Twin Peak changes formats

2008-04-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

Matthew Stevens, general manager for Kimballs Twin Peak Theater, sent out an announcement today that the theater would be changing its format, moving away from the indie and arthouse fare for which it's known and focusing on the more commercially viable horror, slasher and zombie flicks:

Dear Movie Fans,

It is my duty to inform you that as of this Tuesday, we will be saying goodbye to independent and foreign films in Colorado Springs. Kimball’s Twin Peak will be closing its doors to re-open on Friday, April 4 with some revisions to our format.

To counter the lag in ticket sales, we have decided to turn to more mainstream tastes and to that end we have decided to focus our energies on horror, zombie and high action slasher films. You can count on us to provide the very best in alien abductions, the walking dead and escaped convicts. As always, we will endeavor to bring you the best this genre has to offer.

In addition to the change in films, we have initiated changes in the wine bar as well. We will no longer be stocking micro brewed beers and will instead be offering a wide variety of canned, domestic products including, but not limited to, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Budweiser, Coors and Miller Genuine Draft.

In honor of the occasion, we will be kicking off the weekend with a marathon of classic films in the style to which you can all become accustomed:

Witchcraft 8: Salem’s Ghost
Terror at Tate Manor
A Feast of Flesh
Big Foot
Voyeur.Com

Vampires vs. Zombies
I, Zombie: The Chronicles of Pain
Zombie Prom

Polterchrist: The Movie about Jesus and Murder
Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland

We look to your continued loyalty to help us in this transition. Thank you for the years of patronage and we look forward to seeing you all in the future.

Thanks and see you at the movies,
Kimball and Matt

P.S. – April Fool!

No Movies for Middle America

2008-03-05T08:43:00.000-08:00

Just got this interested letter to the editor from movie fan Ted Beckett:

I did not not go to see "No Country for Old Men" because it won the Best Picture Oscar: I went because I believed reviewer Brandon Fibbs knew what he was talking about when he rated it A+, "...a flawless film," etc.

Indeed, it is a brilliantly shot movie that accurately depicts a fascinating period of Texas history half a century ago. Unfortunately, what would have been a great film was ruined by its fascination with a homicidal maniac (Javier Bardem) who went around shooting people with a souped-up air gun. My wife had to get up halfway through the 14th senseless murder to go to another movie to protect her sanity. She did well, as there were 23 more brutal killings to follow.

After wading through all the carnage, the pointless ending left me wanting to locate an air gun and go hunting the producers.

For the Academy to give this 2007 version of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" the Best Picture award shows the depth of depravity the group represents. From now on, please show the A+ move rating with an asterisk.

Ted Beckett

You know, I'm a Coen bothers fan, but after that slice of brutality that was "There Will be Blood," I'm a bit gun shy on this one. And I think Beckett does represent much of the middle American audience, which longs for movies that are at least partially pleasant. So far "Juno," "Michael Clayton" and the last Bourne film are my favorites of the year.

There Will Be Popcorn

2008-03-04T15:55:00.000-08:00

So, I served my time Friday. I lost that Oscar duel with Kimball, and so I worked at his theater for a few hours. It actually was kinda fun. The girls working there taught me how to work the register, how to open the popcorn bags, how to evenly distribute the butter and how hard it is to sweep popcorn on carpet.

Afterward, I sneaked into "There Will Be Blood," and I was disappointed.

I got what Brandon loved about it. The opening, especially, had this cool, desperate "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" feel about it. The cinematography is amazing. Daniel Day Lewis is amazing, as always.

But the ending left me cold. As I told Brandon, I don't mind having my face shoved in a bit of mud and oil, but I'd like to have some of it rinsed off with a few drops of redemption.

What an ugly piece of work that film is.

Now, I'm really hesitant to see "No Country for Old Men."

Brandon loads up on tomatoes

2008-02-28T11:09:00.001-08:00

Brandon Fibbs, our movie critic, just got on Rotten Tomatoes.

I met Brandon at UCCS, where he was a film student of mine when I taught a sci-fi class (that was fun!), and we later hired him at The Gazette as a summer intern.

He went off to NY a few years ago to get his graduate degree in film studies from NYU. He just graduated and moved to D.C., where he joined the critics association.

So, now, I guess, he has the clout to throw tomatoes. Way to go, Brandon.

By the way, he also write reviews for Christianity Today.

See 'Across the Universe'

2008-02-27T15:14:00.000-08:00

Don't listen to our critic, Brandon, on this one.

He kept vacillating between B- and C+, and the more he thought about it, the lower his grade went.

This isn't a movie meant to be thought about. It's meant to be experienced.

I'll admit that you get the sense that there were a behind-the-scenes battle between the writers and the design team and the design team won in a TKO. (I had a similar sense about the newer "Star Wars" trilogy.)

The characters are thin and the story is thinner. But, man, is it a thing of beauty.

The visuals, the singing, the originality ... they were intoxicating.

The little kid singing "Let It Be" sitting in a burned-out-car in the middle of the Detroit riots ... his chorus picked up by an amazing gospel singer at a funeral. I absolutely LOVED that stuff.

So what if the whole doesn't quite equal the sum of its parts. Those parts are so transcendent.

For Beatles fans, especially, the movie is a must.

Oscar reflections

2008-02-25T09:17:00.000-08:00

I have to disagree with Dave Germain's assertion in today's Oscar story that winning Best Picture puts the Coen brothers into the center of the mainstream.

Living in LA has given David a skewed view of America. Look at the box office. Most of middle America hasn't seen "No Country for Old Men." In fact, most of middle America hasn't seen any of the Oscar contenders.

The Coen brothers were closer to the mainstream when they made "Fargo."

About my Oscar picks: Damn! Kimball just edged me out.

So, I will be serving popcorn and cleaning his theater some time this week. Probably Friday, I think. Feel free to heckle.

Is Oscar out of touch

2008-02-20T13:34:00.000-08:00

OK, who -- besides Brandon, the guy we pay to go to screenings -- saw all the big Oscar nominated films?

Few of you, I'm sure.

This isn't the first year in which the slate of contenders were movies few people have actually seen. But I wonder if the gap between the Oscars and the public is widening.

I long for the days of "Titanic" or "Lord of the Rings" ... when the big blockbuster we all saw and took our kids to see also took the lion's share of statues.

It made us all care more about the Oscars.

So, why is it that we're not seeing these nominated movies? For me, and I'm sure a lot of you, it's about the ratings. It's a heck of a lot easier for me to go to a movie with the kids than sneak off alone or just with my wife. So, I'm more likely to see the "National Treasure" sequel (PG) than "There Will Be Blood" (R).

I blame Hollywood and the way films are sold to studios. If it's sold as a "family film" or an "adventure film," the bar is set high for star power and special effects and low for script and artistry.

The R-rated flicks, on the other hand, are marketed for either exploitation or quality.

That's not to say that there weren't great films this year that weren't rated R. "Juno" was a terrific PG-13 comedy. G-rated "Ratatouille" was funny, clever and visually sumptuous. But those are the exceptions, and although "Juno" is nominated for Best Picture, it'll probably lose to a film that fewer people have actually seen.

My brother almost killed Roy Scheider

2008-02-12T09:28:00.000-08:00

Scheider had been living on borrowed time for the past 20 years.

He nearly died in a fiery car crash in the '80s, compliments of my brother, Arthur Epstein.

Back then, Arthur was a struggling actor/limo driver in Manhattan.

One day, his fare happened to be Scheider. Arthur was thrilled. He'd been a prominent extra in "All that Jazz," (He bumps into Scheider in the hospital hallway.) He was reminiscing with Scheider about how much fun he'd had on the set, when Sheider leaned over, looked at his ID and said, "Arthur?"

"Yeah."

"I think you're going the wrong way in a one way street."

Arthur noticed the headlights heading his way and spun into a wild U turn.

Hurray for Hannah!!!!!!!

2008-02-05T12:50:00.000-08:00

My sons didn't get it. We went this weekend to see "The Eye" (a mid-level horror flick that was better than I expected ... and really should have been screened for critics), and my boys wondered why we had to wade through a sea of little girls to get to the concession stand.

The reason, of course, was Hannah Montana, who's concert film is dominating the box office. Here's an observation from our Day Desk Editor Carmen Boles:

My 7-year-old daughter and I showed up at the Cinemark at 7 p.m. for the sold-out 8 p.m. show Saturday night. (I had purchased the tickets days earlier online.) At least 100 people – mostly moms and daughters but also some unlucky dads – were already queued up waiting to snag seats, some with blond wigs and almost all wearing HM apparel.

When they gave the signal to go in the theater, everyone ran to get seats. Those at the end of the line had to sit in smaller groups or in single seats throughout the theater – every single seat was occupied. A manager type told everyone to stay seated during the concert. For the most part they did, but there was a lot of clapping and swaying and singing along. People in the audience even whipped out their cell phones and swayed them in the air during the one slow song.

The girls loved Miley/Hannah, but the biggest screams from the audience were for The Jonas Brothers, who toured with Hannah/Miley. You really start to feel old when you’re sitting in a theater full of pre-teen girls going crazy for 3 mop-headed boys in skinny jeans with mediocre voices.

As a parent, it was probably much less painful than attending an actual concert (and WAY cheaper) but I still said no when Natalie asked if we could go again next weekend.

Kimball's seats going fast

2008-02-04T09:55:00.000-08:00

Kimball's Twin Peak owner Kimball Bayles just called in to report that they've now "sold" about 40 seats in their quest to upgrade the theaters' seating.

Here's the Gazette story about the sale, if you missed it.

Strange synergy

2008-02-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

Has anyone noticed that the plot for the new spiritualist comedy "Over Her Dead Body" sounds exactly like the plot for "Blithe Spirit," the Noel Coward comedy that's playing right now at TheatreWorks?

Just an observation.

Raving about Brandon

2008-01-25T12:33:00.001-08:00

this letter just in ... and it's not from Brandon's mom.

Brandon,

I just wanted you to know how much I love your movie reviews! Your passion for movies really shines through and your reviews are so fun to read. Your review today of “There Will Be Blood” made me want to run out the door to see that movie (which I’m going to do) J As a writer and author myself, and it takes a lot for me to be so moved by someone else’s work that I’m compelled to reach out and tell them. You have moved me. Keep up the great, eloquent reviews and thanks for taking the “GO” to the next level.

Your fan,

Sarah Michel, CSP

Oscar nominations are out

2008-01-22T09:07:00.001-08:00

I was glad to see "Juno" getting so much love from Oscar.

I'm planning some kind of Oscar prediction face-off against Kimball Bayles of Kimball's Twin Peak fame, so I better go out and see more of these movies.

By The Associated Press
Complete list of 80th annual Academy Award nominations announced
Tuesday:
1. Best Picture: “Atonement,” “Juno,” “Michael Clayton,”
“No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood.”
2. Actor: George Clooney, “Michael Clayton”; Daniel Day-Lewis,
“There Will Be Blood”; Johnny Depp, “Sweeney Todd the Demon
Barber of Fleet Street”; Tommy Lee Jones, “In the Valley of
Elah”; Viggo Mortensen, “Eastern Promises.”
3. Actress: Cate Blanchett, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”; Julie
Christie, “Away From Her”; Marion Cotillard, “La Vie en Rose”;
Laura Linney, “The Savages”; Ellen Page, “Juno.”
4. Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse
James by the Coward Robert Ford”; Javier Bardem, “No Country for
Old Men”; Hal Holbrook, “Into the Wild”; Philip Seymour Hoffman,
“Charlie Wilson’s War”; Tom Wilkinson, “Michael Clayton.”
5. Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There”; Ruby
Dee, “American Gangster”; Saoirse Ronan, “Atonement”; Amy Ryan,
“Gone Baby Gone”; Tilda Swinton, “Michael Clayton.”
6. Director: Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the
Butterfly”; Jason Reitman, “Juno”; Tony Gilroy, “Michael
Clayton”; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”;
Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood.”
7. Foreign Film: “Beaufort,” Israel; “The Counterfeiters,”
Austria; “Katyn,” Poland; “Mongol,” Kazakhstan; “12,” Russia.
8. Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Hampton, “Atonement”; Sarah
Polley, “Away from Her”; Ronald Harwood, “The Diving Bell and
the Butterfly”; Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old
Men”; Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood.”
9. Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody, “Juno”; Nancy Oliver,
“Lars and the Real Girl”; Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”; Brad
Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco, “Ratatouille”; Tamara
Jenkins, “The Savages.”
10. Animated Feature Film: “Persepolis”; “Ratatouille”;
“Surf’s Up.”
11. Art Direction: “American Gangster,” “Atonement,” “The
Golden Compass,” “Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet
Street,” “There Will Be Blood.”
12. Cinematography: “The Assassination of Jesse James by the
Coward Robert Ford,” “Atonement,” “The Diving Bell and the
Butterfly,” “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood.”
13. Sound Mixing: “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “No Country for Old
Men,” “Ratatouille,” “3:10 to Yuma,” “Transformers.”
14. Sound Editing: “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “No Country for
Old Men,” “Ratatouille,” “There Will Be Blood,”
“Transformers.”
15. Original Score: “Atonement,” Dario Marianelli; “The Kite
Runner,” Alberto Iglesias; “Michael Clayton,” James Newton
Howard; “Ratatouille,” Michael Giacchino; “3:10 to Yuma,” Marco
Beltrami.
16. Original Song: “Falling Slowly” from “Once,” Glen
Hansard and Marketa Irglova; “Happy Working Song” from
“Enchanted,” Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; “Raise It Up”
from “August Rush,” Nominees to be determined; “So Close” from
“Enchanted,” Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; “That’s How You
Know” from “Enchanted,” Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz.
17. Costume: “Across the Universe,” “Atonement,”
“Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” “La Vie en Rose,” “Sweeney Todd
the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”
18. Documentary Feature: “No End in Sight,” “Operation
Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience,” “Sicko,” “Taxi to
the Dark Side,” “War/Dance.”
19. Documentary (short subject): “Freeheld,” “La Corona (The
Crown),” “Salim Baba,” “Sari’s Mother.”
20. Film Editing: “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “The Diving Bell
and the Butterfly,” “Into the Wild,” “No Country for Old Men,”
“There Will Be Blood.”
21. Makeup: “La Vie en Rose,” “Norbit,” “Pirates of the
Caribbean: At World’s End.”
22. Animated Short Film: “I Met the Walrus,” “Madame
Tutli-Putli,” “Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go
to Heaven),” “My Love (Moya Lyubov),” “Peter & the Wolf.”
23. Live Action Short Film: “At Night,” “Il Supplente (The
Substitute),” “Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of
Pickpockets),” “Tanghi Argentini,” “The Tonto Woman.”
24. Visual Effects: “The Golden Compass,” “Pirates of the
Caribbean: At World’s End,” “Transformers.”

Blair Godzilla Project

2008-01-21T16:41:00.001-08:00

"Cloverfield" took in more than $40 million this weekend. Wow.

I took the kids on Friday and I have to agree with Brandon's assessment. Interesting concept, nice stylistic flair. Bad movie.

The problem is in trying to do what "Blair Witch" did. Narratives with handheld cameras are almost necessarily limited. ("Sex, Lies and Videotape" used footage well, but that was only part of the narrative.)

The camera's narrow point of view helps some parts of the giant monster movie as it helped "Blair Witch." It creates tension about the things outside of your frame.

The weakness comes in with your ending ... which is almost sure to disappoint.

"We didn't learn a single thing about the monster that we didn't know from the trailer," my son Eli said.

That's pretty much what Brandon had said.

ON A SIDE NOTE:

We had an interesting discussion in the newsroom about whether giant creatures are as interesting as smaller ones.

I don't think they are. Think about how much scarier the veloceraptors were than the T-Rex in "Jurassic Park." We relate to things more that are our size. And when things get too big, like, say, Godzilla, they're too big to care about us as individuals. They're mayhem, then, comes from clumsiness or angry fits... which aren't really scary.

ALSO SAW THIS WEEKEND: Bucket List
It had an important message: If you're dying, you want to make sure you bunk up with a rich guy with access to a private jet. The movie was actually fine, a nice choice for the whole family.

But my favorite film this year: "Juno"
what a delight that film is.

Deadsville

2008-01-04T15:43:00.000-08:00

With the exception of "Atonement," which finally opened here Friday after having opened in "select cities" months ago, 2008 is starting as a dud of a movie year.

What's opening next week? "In the Name of the King," a D&D special-effects fest that's almost certain to be worse than the trailers, the new Veggie Tales and "First Sunday."

Yawn... Wake me up when it's 2009.

I saw a while mess o' movies this past week

2007-12-31T13:43:00.000-08:00

I wish I could say I'm caught up. But I really want to see "No Country for Old Men," "Juno," "Lars and the Real Girl" and others.

Here are a few I've seen the past few days in the theater, on DVD or on cable:

"Charlie Wilson's War" -- Fascinating slice of history. Philip Seymour Hoffman ran away with the movie as a cocky spook who knows how to get the job done.

"Hoax"-- I can't believe this never made it to local theaters. Another piece of history most people knew very little about -- the guy who wrote the fake Howard Hughes book. It's one of Richard Gere's best performances in years, and the film keeps you on edge all the way through as you find out how somebody would sell the skeptical publishing biz on this.

"The Good German"-- I didn't get how a movie with George Clooney, Tobey Maguire and Kate Blanchett wouldn't make it to local theaters. Now I know. This is a film class film. Lots of interesting stylistic stuff to discuss. But the characters are unlikable, vaguely conceived and the story is ultimately unsatisfying.

"Unleashed" -- I thought this was a Jet Li kung fu movie. No. It's really a quite touching film about somebody raised as an attack dog who learns about life through music and love.

"Separate Lies"-- Great acting. Story is ho-hum.

"I Am Legend " gains legendary status

2007-12-17T13:18:00.000-08:00

"I Am Legend" raked in $76.5 million this weekend. That's the biggest December opening ever and a personal best for Will Smith, one of Hollywood's most bankable talents.

I took the kids to see it on Saturday at Tinseltown, and I can't get the images of a post-apocalyptic New York City out of my mind.

Brandon and other critics liked the film but thought it fell apart at the end, turning into a mindless zombie flick.

I don't think most movie-goers will see it that way. The last third of the film is thrilling, and its conclusion feels right. Emotionally, I found the film entirely satisfying.

Intellectually, the film left open several holes that would be easily filled.

HOW DOES WILL SMITH'S CHARACTER HAVE WATER AND ELECTRICITY?
One 30-second scene about him tending a generator and water pump would solve the problem.

HOW DID THE DARK SEEKERS RIG A BOOBY TRAP?
This one is more problematic. The little we know about these creatures suggests they're mindless, ferocious predators who couldn't slow down long enough to tie their own shoes, let alone copy Smith's chracter in setting up an elaborate trap.

This problem might be solved by creating some kind of Dark-Seeker-Human hybrid, who's enough of a monster to side with the Dark Seekers but smart enough to retain speech and higher functions.

HOW DO DARK SEEKERS SURVIVE?
This one isn't quite as essential, but I'd like to see evidence that the Dark Seekers are a viable species. We know they've lived for three years, so somehow they're getting food and water. I want to know how. It wouldn't take more than a minute to show us that. Also, is it possible that these creatures mate and will perpetuate their species?

I thought it was smart in the film "28 Days" when the soldier chained a zombie in the back yard, and through observation, realized that this was a creature without basic survival skills, and it wouldn't last long.

The same kind of scrutiny should have shaped the Dark Seekers into definable animals.

Holiday movie of the year

2007-12-04T08:56:00.000-08:00

"Enchanted" continues to be the No. 1 box-office, and I'm glad.

Amy Adams' wide-eyed performance as the Disney princess transplanted to New York City is truly a delightful family film for the holidays.

I just wish they did more with the generally rudeness of New Yorkers. The evil queen should have found kinship with many of the NYC characters.

I say that as a New Yorker, so don't get on my case. Got it?

Brandon's full of it

2007-11-30T14:39:00.000-08:00

This just in from a regular reader, a response to Brandon's review of "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead":

You must have lost your mind!!!!!!!
The review you gave for No Country I chalked off as artistic mumbo-jumbo. But we saw Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and left disgusted, sad, and any other adjective associated with despair. Obviously you are into dark and twisted movies. For that I feel sorry for you. Maybe the performances were great and I love Hoffman but the script and message was awful.
My prayer is that movie is a total failure and I tell anyone who will listen or ask, please don't see that movie.
Oh, and I see most movies so I'm not totally illiterate when it comes to that medium of entertainment.
Dianna Jenkins

The violence of the lambs!

2007-11-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

Isn't that a great tagline?

It's on the quirky horror flick "Black Sheep." I just caught the trailer on a disk of "1408."

"1408" is OK, a narrow but effective story starring a slightly miscast John Cusack. But the trailer for "Black Sheep" is freakin' hilarious.

I have to see this piece of New Zealand schlock about murderous mutant sheep. It looks so campy, it was like some of those great fake trailers on "Gindhouse."

What Would Jesus Buy?

2007-11-12T09:34:00.000-08:00

Matt from Kimball's sent me a screener DVD of this interesting documentary, and I snuck a peek at it before sending it off to Brandon.

The commercialization of Christmas is a subject ripe for documentary. My favorite scenes here involve teen girls discovering for the first time where their clothes, gadgets and bling really come from.

Unfortunately, Rev. Billy, the comic evangelist the film focuses on, is dull and his crusade goes nowhere.

All the Back-Shelf Picks

2007-10-24T09:35:00.001-07:00

I'm sometimes asked for a complete list of recommended movies from my Back-Shelf Pick column. Here's all of the movies I've featured so far. (And check the comments for some great suggestions from readers!)

Cherish
The Triplets of Belleville
Venus
Closer
Two Girls and a Guy
Next Stop Wonderland
Waking Ned Divine
Strictly Ballroom
The Last King of Scotland
The Hoax
Talk to Me
Once
Breach
Big Fish
Sweet Land
The Laramie Project
The Boynton Beach Bereavement Club
Sexy Beast
Polish Wedding
Heartbreak Kid (the original)
Magnolia
Gods and Monsters
Bark!
Notes on a Scandal
Run, Lola, Run
Whale Rider
Music of the Heart
Dirty, Pretty Things
The Queen
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Shipping News
SLC Punk!
This Is My Father
Riding Giants
The Autumn Heart
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway
Sweet Lorraine
Lord of War
The Producers
Butcher Boy
Blood Simple
The Spanish Prisoner
The Good Girl
Timecode
Tadpole
Attack of the Bat Monsters
Better Than Sex
Me Myself I
Okie Noodling
One Hour Photo
The Sweet Hereafter
Mystery Train
Everything Is Illuminated
Minus Man
American Movie
East Is East
Comedian
The Aristocrats
The Year of Living Dangerously
The World's Fastest Indian
Bagdad Cafe
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Touching the Void
Enigma
The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition
Aberdeen
Memento
A Slipping Down Life
The Cooler
You Can Count on Me
MirrorMask
Tumbleweeds
The Straight Story
Requiem for a Dream
House of Sand and Fog
Calendar Girls
Transamerica
Casanova
Kingdom of Heaven
Shopgirl
Saint Ralph
Clay Pigeons
Spellbound
The Big Kahuna
House of Games
The Missing
Plots with a View
A Love Song for Bobby Long
Love and Sex
The Quiet American
The Deep End
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Millions
Howl's Moving Castle
Proof
I Capture the Castle
Eve's Bayou
The Professional
A Walk on the Moon
Cop Land
Billy Elliot
Two Family House
Searching for Bobby Fischer
In the Bedroom
The Ref
Shine
Hear My Song
Smoke
Green Dragon
Garden State
21 Grams
28 Days Later
Personal Velocity
Montana
To End All Wars
Dear Frankie
Truly, Madly, Deeply
The Tao of Steve
Danny Deck Chair
In America
Lantana
Scotland, P.A.
Into the West
The Woodsman
Spartan
Happy Texas
The Safety of Objects
Happy Accidents
Smoke Signals
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

I hope you find some movies here you like. I've tried to pick under-watched movies with the most wide appeal. I have plenty of favorites that are Italian, French, Japanese, Chinese ... But I know that so many moviegoers won't bother with subtitles.

This column was so easy the first year. Now it's getting tough. Anybody have more suggestions?

Is Brandon Too Easy?

2007-10-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

I've been getting lots of letters praising our film critic, Brandon Fibbs.

But we just received his first hate letter. (Hey, Brandon, it was bound to happen.)

It's anonymous, of course.

Dear Mr. Epstein,

Is Brandon Fibbs your nephew of something? (He's not, just a former intern and former student) Or has he been sent to your newspaper by the major Hollywood studios to work for free? (No, but he'll tell you he's nearly working for free.)

Your reviews used to be sanguine enough (glad people still remember) -- but this guy has never met a movie he doesn't LOVE -- as his A and A- ratings for every film he reviews shows.

Personally, I prefer the more down-to-earth reviews of Roger Moore. At least he tends to see films as they ARE -- especially the mostly-junk now turned out by the hideous people presently controlling Hollywood.

Oh for the days of Frank Capra, William Wyler and John Ford!

(I can understand why this person feels that way. Brandon has given out lots of As and Bs lately. But it's really be a great time for Hollywood and off-Hollywood films. The end of the year is when all the Oscar contenders bunch up. I'm guessing this letter-writer hasn't gotten out to the movies since 1960.)

Where are all the kid flicks?

2007-10-01T08:26:00.001-07:00

I get that summer's over and now it's time for more adult films.

But it's been a long time since I've seen this kind of slim pickings for family fare.

All the great films I've wanted to see are R: The Kingdom, 3:10 to Yuman, Eastern Promises, Feast of Love, In the Valley of Elah, The Brave One, Death at a Funeral, Resident Evil: Extinction (we all need our guilty pleasures.)

Want a family picture, you have to settle for the disgustingly cute "Game Plan." Argghhh.

I decided to throw caution to the wind and take my boys -- 11 and 15 -- to 3:10 to Yuma, and I'm so glad I did.

It contained one unnecessary F bomb, and was as violent as any Western shoot-'em up. But it's also the most moral film I've seen in years. It's all about what "doing the right thing" means.

The kids loved it and so did I. ... By the way, if you get a chance to see the original 1957 Glenn Ford, it's also terrific (if you can get past the corny theme song.)

Add to your DVD list...

2007-09-10T14:22:00.000-07:00

I was just catching up with some of my Netflix and saw some great movies this weekend.

I expected "Blood Diamond" to be a Leonardo DiCaprio action film with political overtones. Instead, it was a deeply moving political thriller in the spirit of "Hotel Rwanda. Both Leo and Djimon Hounsou were outstanding. How did this not get an Oscar nomination?

I also loved Spike Lee's "Inside Man." Critics who were disappointed that Spike has gone mainstream just don't recognize artistic growth. This film still makes significant points about race and power, but those themes are embedded in an unorthodox heist film that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Death Sentence

2007-08-31T13:42:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I take too long to get to the meat of my reviews, forcing my readers to plow through several paragraphs until they discover my true feelings about a film. Let me save you the trouble this time around.

Avoid Death Sentence like the plague.

Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) is a mild-mannered everyman — an insurance executive who spends his days at work analyzing risk portfolios and his nights at home with his beautiful wife and two teenaged sons. When his eldest son is brutally murdered as part of a gang initiation, something inside Bacon snaps. While his quest for retribution comes away with its pound of flesh, it also takes everything Nick loves down with it.

Death Sentence is a wildly over-directed film from James Wan (Saw), who has never in his life heard of the words subtlety or restraint. The film relies on blatant melodrama when it should settle on cold, hard understatement. I couldn’t help imagining, in the first act, before it really went off the rails, what this film might have looked like in the hands of another, far more insightful and self-composed director such as Mystic River's Clint Eastwood.

The dialogue is embarrassingly ghastly; the is score overwrought; the soundtrack is something from a bad "Dawson's Creek" episode; the look of the film, with its soft, bleached frame and diffused cinematography doesn’t feel retro or daring — it just looks like rubbish. Perhaps most surprising of all, Kevin Bacon, a great actor by anyone’s estimation, turns in his worst performance in memory.

The audience laughed at so many points during the film (none of them points the filmmakers intended) that if one didn’t know better, one might think Death Sentence was a comedy.

The one single bright moment in this film is the inclusion of John Goodman as a gunslinger from whom Hume buys the weaponry with which to enact his revenge. Rest assured, though Hume is so inept when buying the guns that he doesn’t seem to know which end to point at the enemy, he is transformed into a badass simply by reading a few manuals — and, of course, shaving his head.

In the final act, as Bacon, now a black-clad death angel, uses his bullets to tear the limbs from his family's killers, Death Sentence begins to resemble the sort of grindhouse film Robert Rodriquez and Quentin Tarantino attempted to evoke earlier in the summer. It all ends (blessedly) with a rip off of Scorsese's magnificent Taxi Driver.

Revenge films seem to be all the rage these days. Next week Jodie Foster's The Brave One opens with a surprisingly similar storyline. Death Sentence pretends to be a fable about the dangers of reciprocity. It purports to be a moral commentary on reprisal and its ability to turn on and destroy all who touch it — those who live by the sword, die by the sword. Some have seen in it a cautionary tale about America's post-9/11 need for retribution. Sure, and Saw was an alarm bell against the inadequacies of the health care system.

Death Sentence is a laughably bad exercise in the pornography of sadism and the American appetite which voraciously consumes it. The only death sentence here is your price of admission. Do yourself and this film a favor. Put it out of its misery.

Telluride announces schedule

2007-08-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

Andy Wineke (lucky SOB) is on his way to cover the Telluride Film Festival. Look for his reports Sunday in Metro and then a wrapup in Life next week.

The schedule is always kept under wraps until the Thursday of the festival, and I just got the press release.

I'm not yet sure of all the celebs who'll attend.

We know Daniel Day-Lewis will be there because he's one of the tributees.

Other possible guests: Todd McCarthy, who's unspooling his new film; Sean Penn, who's premiering a film he wrote and directed and Nichole Kidman's in a film -- maybe she'll show.

Wineke (SOB) will keep us up on all the star-sightings and amazing movies.

Here's the full press release from the festival officials:

THE 34th TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL UNVEILS ITS 2007 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

A record breaking 33 new features, 15 revivals and restoration programs, three tributes, 16 new shorts, three panel discussions and six conversations make up the 2007 program

Telluride, CO (August 30, 2007) - The Telluride Film Festival (August 31-September 3), presented by the National Film Preserve and Apple, announces its program for the 34th Telluride Film Festival. Celebrating the best in film, past, present and future, from all around the globe, the Festival kicks off another exciting weekend packed with tributes, features, documentaries, shorts, conversations and panel discussions. The Festival opens Friday, August 31 and runs through Monday, September 3.

The Festival will pay tribute to three film luminaries including Daniel Day-Lewis, who captivated filmgoers with his performances in ROOM WITH A VIEW, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING and GANGS OF NEW YORK, and will be seen next in his much-anticipated role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s version of Upton Sinclair’s THERE WILL BE BLOOD; three-time Academy Award® winning composer Michel Legrand, whose film FIVE DAYS IN JUNE and THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT, for which he composed the original music, will both play at the Festival as part of Legrand’s tribute; and world renowned Indian director Shyam Benegal will accept the third of the Festival’s Silver Medallions while Festivalgoers are treated to three of his past works: ANKUR, BHUMIKA and ZUBEIDAA

The 34th Telluride Film Festival is proud to present the following new feature films and documentaries:

· Todd McCarthy’s PIERRE RISSIENT: MAN OF CINEMA about the influential publicist, sometime film distributor and film buff who discovered talent such as Jane Campion and Abbas Kiarostami.

· Lee Chang-dong’s SECRET SUNSHINE stars Jeon Do-yeon, winner of the Best Actress prize at Cannes, as a young woman trying to adjust to a new life with her young son amidst tragedy.

· WHO IS NORMAN LLOYD?, Matthew Sussman’s biography tracing actor/director Norman Lloyd’s 70 years as an entertainer.

· RAILS AND TIES, Alison Eastwood’s directorial debut, stars Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden in a story about two families in physical, emotional and psychological collision.

· Julian Schnabel’s THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY turns Ronald Harwood’s adaptation of ELLE France’s editor, Jean-Dominique Bauby’s best-selling memoir into a celebration of his hero’s two remaining assets: imagination and memory. The film, which won Schnabel the best director prize at Cannes, stars Mathieu Amalric, Marie Josée Croze, Emmanuelle Seigner, Anne Consigny and Max von Sydow.

· Winner of Cannes’ Palme d’Or, writer-director Cristian Mungiu’s film, 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS, set in the final year of Ceausescu’s dictatorship in Romania, depicts the horrors of the Securitate and the brutality of its methods used. Starring Anamaria Marinca and Laura Vasiliu.

· In Eran Kolirin’s THE BAND’S VISIT, the Alexandrian Police Orchestra, comprised of eight or nine slightly bewildered Egyptian policeman, head to Israel to play at the inaugural ceremony of an Arab arts center, only to find themselves lost in a foreign city. Starring Ronit Elkabetz, three-time winner of the Israeli “Oscar.”

· A THOUSAND YEARS OF GOOD PRAYERS, Wayne Wang’s adaptation of stories by young writer Yiyun Li, explores the cultural differences between China and America while a father (Henry O) travels to Spokane to visit his daughter.

· Stefan Ruzowitzky’s (THE INHERITORS, TFF 1998) THE COUNTERFEITERS is the true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history set up by the Nazis in 1936.

· PERSEPOLIS, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Parronaud’s adaptation of Satrapi’s graphic novel by the same name, is a gripping, bittersweet and surprisingly funny female coming-of-age tale. Catherine Deneuve, Sean Penn, Gena Rowlands and Iggy Pop provide voice support.

· WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER?, David Nicholl’s adaptation of poet-novelist Blake Morrison’s memoir directed by Anand Tucker (HILARY AND JACKIE, SHOPGIRL), tells the story of a son's conflicting memories of his dying father. Starring Colin Firth and Jim Broadbent.

· I’M NOT THERE, Todd Haynes’s (FAR FROM HEAVEN) essay-poem on the life of Bob Dylan, where seven characters embody a different aspect of the musician's life and work, features an all-star cast including Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Ben Wishaw, Marcus Carl Franklin, Heath Ledger, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

· In TERROR’S ADVOCATE, Telluride veteran Barbet Schroeder (OUR LADY OF THE ASSASSINS, TFF 2000; REVERSAL OF FURTUNE, TFF 1990; IDI AMIN DADA, TFF 1974) documents the story of the controversial French lawyer Jacques Vergès, a former Free French Forces guerrilla who defended unpopular figures such as Carlos the Jackal and Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy.

· INTO THE WILD, writer-director Sean Penn’s adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction tale of Chris McCandless’s (Emile Hirsch) solo journey into Alaska’s most remote wilderness.

· JAR CITY, adapted from one of Arnaldur Indridason’s best selling detective-novel series by writer-director Baltasar Kormákur, is a police thriller set in contemporary Iceland starring Ingvar Sigurdsson.

· JELLYFISH, co-directed by popular Israeli novelist Etgar Keret and his wife, screenwriter Shira Geffen, who won Cannes’ Camera d’Or for their film, follows three women through their lives in Tel Aviv. Stars Sarah Adler, Ma-nenita De Latorre and Noa Knoller.

· In writer-director Li Yang’s BLIND MOUNTAIN, the promise of a decent paying job lures a woman to a desolate farming village in Northern China only to find out she’s essentially been sold in to slavery.

· BRICK LANE, Sarah Gavron’s adaptation of Monica Ali’s controversial Booker Prize-winning novel, follows Nazneen (Satish Kaushik) from her impoverished life in Bangladesh to post-9/11 London, where she struggles to make sense of her life.

· Oscar-winning Kevin Macdonald returns to Telluride (LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, TFF 2006; TOUCHING THE VOID, TFF 2003; FOUR DAYS IN SEPTEMBER, TFF 2000) with MY ENEMY’S ENEMY, a documentary that tracks Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, a.k.a. the Butcher of Lyon.

· CARGO 200, Aleksei Balabanov’s (THE WAR, TFF 2002) controversial film set in 1984 ravaged industrialized Russia offers a detailed portrait of the Soviet Union in its death throes.

· MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, from writer-director Noah Baumbach, tells the story of Margot (Nicole Kidman), who tries to stop the wedding of her sister Pauline (1993 TFF Tributee Jennifer Jason Leigh) to the less-than-impressive Malcolm (Jack Black). Ciarán Hinds and John Turturro round out the ensemble cast.

· In ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD, Werner Herzog explores the vast empty splendor of Antarctica and, along with the physicists, biologists and volcanologists he interviews, tries to extract meaning from this desolate place.

· WIND MAN, Khuat Akhmetov’s striking second feature centers around a struggling town in post-Soviet Kazakhstan visited by a mysterious, aging, sickly man with wings and the gift of flight.

· In JOURNEY WITH PETER SELLARS, Mark Kidel travels the globe with Sellars (TFF Guest Director, 1999) to reveal the inner life of a true visionary.

· STEEP!, writer-director Mark Obenhaus’s extreme skiing documentary features ski legends Stefano de Benedetti, Glen Plake, Doug Coombs and Seth Morrison.

Along with featuring some of today’s best contemporary filmmakers, the Festival pays tribute to the classic films and filmmakers of yesterday: Pordenone presents a George Eastman House restoration of King Vidor’s silent film, THE BIG PARADE, with a live musical performance by Gabriel Thibaudeau; BOUND BY CHASTITY RULES by Korean director Shin Sang-ok; PEOPLE ON SUNDAY, recently restored by the Netherlands Film Museum, co-directed by Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer from a script by Billy Wilder and Kurt and Robert Siodmark, with a live performance from the Mont Alto Orchestra performing its original score; and Richard Lester’s newly restored and digitally remastered HELP!.

The 34th Telluride Film Festival’s Guest Director Edith R. Kramer, world renowned film programmer and retired Senior Film Curator and Director of the Pacific Film Archive (PFA) at University of California, Berkeley, presents five additional archival programs: GEORGE KUCHAR, MOVIEMAKER, a collection of the director’s work on 8mm preservation prints from the Anthology Film Archives; Marco Ferreri’s DILLINGER IS DEAD; Teuvo Tulio’s THE WAY YOU WANTED ME with the Finnish Film Archive’s preservation print; Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat’s MILLIONS LIKE US restored from its original camera negative by the Australian National Film and Sound Archive; and Paul Fejos’s MARIE, A HUNGARIAN LEGEND.

Backlot, Telluride’s intimate new screening room and film showcase features ten films about films:

· A LUCKY ADVENTURER OF KOREAN FILM: Director Shin Sang-ok, about the kidnapping and imprisonment of Sang-ok and his wife, actress Choi Eun-hie. Directed by Lee Sung-soo.

· BERGMAN ISLAND: Ingmar Bergman on Faro Island, Cinema & Life, features clips from behind-the-scenes footage from THE SEVENTH SEAL, THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY and PERSONA. Directed by Marie Nyrerod.

· CHRIS & DON: A LOVE STORY, about British-born author Christopher Isherwood and his unconventional relationship with Don Bachardy. Directed by Guido Santi and Tina Mascara.

· THE DAWN OF SOUND: How Movies Learned to Talk, Warner Brothers presentation of the history of cinema’s sound pioneers.

· ESTRELLAS, a story about Julio Arrieta and the unemployed extras, actors and crews he hires on South American productions. Directed by Federico León and Marcos Martínez.

· FOR THE LOVE OF MOVIES: The Story of American Film Criticism, featuring interviews from J. Hoberman, Elvis Mitchell, David D’Arcy, John Powers, Roger Ebert, Richard Schickel and many more. Directed by Gerald Peary.

· HATS OFF, follows the day-to-day life of Mimi Weddell, a 92 year old actress living in New York City. Directed by Jyll Johnstone.

· MAN IN THE SHADOWS: VAL LEWTON, Martin Scorsese and Kent Jones celebrate Lewton, his key team and their films.

· MAURICE PIALAT: LOVE EXISTS, a tribute to the late Pialat. Directed by Anne-Marie Faux and Jean-Pierre Devillers.

· THE STORY OF THE KELLY GANG, a restoration of the original from 1906. By John, Charles and Nevin Tait.

Also in the Backlot lobby, attendees will be able to view a collection on loan from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences entitled, “Erich von Stroheim: A Life Discovered,” a photography exhibit including family photographs, handwritten documents and correspondence to demonstrate the fantasies, fictions and obsessions that would later play out in von Stroheim’s films, along with the stills from the films themselves.

TFF’s annual Medallion Award, which honors the passionate heroes of cinema including writers, historians and other film lovers, will go to Leonard Maltin, writer of the annual Movie Guide and numerous other publiciations, producer, teacher and movie fan. Maltin will present REDISCOVERING VITAPHONE, a selection of rare and delightful Vitaphone short subjects.

Rounding out the Festival’s program is the SHOWcase for shorts, seven short films chosen to precede selected feature films; Filmmakers of Tomorrow featuring three shorts programs by emerging filmmakers, one of which includes eight shorts from Mexico including some produced by Telluride alumni Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro Ganzález Iñárritu; six conversations featuring interviews between Festival guests; three free panel discussions open to the public; and two student programs: Student Symposium, which provides 50 graduate and undergraduate students with a weekend-long immersion in cinema, and the City Lights Project that provides 15 high school students and five teachers from three divergent schools the opportunity to participate in a concentrated program of screenings and discussions.

The 34th Festival poster was designed by German-born, Oakland-based Mark Stock, whose work can be found in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Museum of Modern Art (New York and San Francisco), The Library of Congress and The National Gallery.

The 2007 Telluride Film Festival’s major sponsors include Apple (presenting sponsor), Starz (lead sponsor), Pine Ridge Napa Valley Wines, Telluride Mountain Village, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Microsoft, Heineken, Subaru, TCM, NBC Universal, Panasonic, Dolby, Variety, Kodak, Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, National Endowment for the Arts, Sony, Cornerstone, Wright Group, Boston Light and Sound and Telluride Foundation.

The Festival’s program will be posted in its entirety on Friday, August 31 at 11:00 am PST. Visit: www.telluridefilmfestival.org.

Film stills available for download online at: http://clients.browndesign.com/tff/34/.

*Please note photo credit information if applicable.

About the Telluride Film Festival

Co-founded in 1974 by Tom Luddy, James Card and Bill and Stella Pence, the Telluride Film Festival is a four-day, international educational event celebrating the art of film, nestled in the tiny mountain village of Telluride, Colorado. The festival exists to provide the opportunity for lovers and creators of cinema to come together, see and discuss the most interesting film work of the past and the present. Festival headquarters are in Berkeley, California.

Who's the best covert operative?

2007-08-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

Bourne vs. Bond. I was having a discussion on KVOR on Friday about which is super-covert operative is better... and which movies are better.

I think the Bourne franchise has such visceral thrills, each chase and fight scene so well constructed, that it pushed Bond to be more real.

"Casino Royale" owes as much to Bourne - for upping the ante - as it does to actor Daniel Craig and director Martin Campbell.

That said, Bond will be the one with the legs. "Bourne Ultimatum" wrapped up the Bourne saga with a nice ribbon. I don't think I need to see another Bourne movie.

Bond is another story. I'm looking forward to the next Bond, and I'm thinking Craig can carry the martini for another four or five films.

I was a big fan of Craig's. He brought a rawness to the part.

But I can't help but wonder ... if this was the beginning of Bond's career as a 00 agent, how many years in charm school does he need before he becomes Sean Connery?

Cell phone call --- D'oh!

2007-08-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

OK, it's annoying when somebody in the movie theater forgets to turn off their cell phone. It's even more annoying when they run outside the theater so they can answer it.

But during my recent viewing of "The Simpsons," some bozo actually answered his phone and continued a loud conversation....

"Yeah, I'm at 'The Simpson's.' .... So, how are you doing."

Soon the boos drowned out the conversation.

The best retort to one of these knuckleheads I'd heard in this situation was somebody who shouted: "CAN'T TALK RIGHT NOW... I'M AT THE FREAKIN' MOVIE THEATER!!!!"

Eddie Murphy coming to Denver

2007-08-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

Just got word from the Associated Press that the new Eddie Murphy movie “NowhereLand” is scheduled to shoot in Denver starting in October.
“This will be the largest production in Colorado in several
years and we hope this is a sign of good things to come for our
film industry,” Gov. Bill Ritter said Wednesday in a statement
issued through the Colorado Film Commission.
“We are thrilled the Mile High City will be a backdrop for this
high visibility production,” Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper added.
Murphy’s character is described as a financial executive whose
career is spiraling downward, but who finds solutions to his
problems in the imaginary world of his daughter.

Bergman and Antonioni

2007-07-31T08:34:00.000-07:00

Ingmar Bergman is gone. One of the towering masters of modern cinema and easily one of my favorites, Bergman died on his secluded island retreat Monday at the age of 89.

Using the severe, claustrophobic gloom of his native Sweden’s unremitting winter nights as well as its soft summer evenings as a cinematic backdrop, Bergman confronted horrendous subjects such as marital disintegration, mortality, and the fear of nuclear holocaust through stories of plague and madness.

The auteur behind such films as Secrets of Women, Wild Strawberries, Winter Light, Persona, Cries and Whispers, Scenes from a Marriage , and Fannie and Alexander, he is perhaps best known for 1957’s The Seventh Seal with Max von Sydow, an allegorical tale of a medieval knight playing chess with the shrouded figure of Death.

Adjö och tack själv för alla bion...Farewell and thank you for all the movies

Then today, we learned that Michelangelo Antonioni has also died. He was 94.

The celebrated Italian director whose modernist style heavily influenced film aesthetics, was responsible for such classics as L'Avventura, in which Antonioni explored the emotional sterility of modern society, Blowup, in which a photographer inadvertently captures a murder on film (and captured "swinging 60s" London) and The Passenger with Jack Nicholson.

Antonioni was awarded a special Oscar in 1995 for his lifetime achievements. Though his films, known for their long, lingering shots, were not always crowd pleasers, he was something of a cult figure for filmmakers and moviegoers.

Bart's penis and other Simpson's minutia

2007-07-31T08:30:00.000-07:00

"The Simpson's Movie" rocks. Hilarious stuff throughout. One of the questions parents have wanted to know is why the film gets a PG-13.

One is for a scene that riffs Austin Powers. Bart, after being dared to ride his skateboard naked to town, takes off, and his privates are constantly being covered by birds, bushes, etc.. until he rides by a hedge that covers everything BUT his privates.

Funny scene.

In another, Marge shouts an exclamation: throw the G-- D--- bomb.

That's pretty much it.

Transformers- don't believe the critics!

2007-07-24T16:07:00.001-07:00

I loved it! I think the critics, ours included (sorry, Brandon), missed it big time, and I think it relates to their expectations. The previews made it look like "War of the Worlds" so critics expected something in that vein. No. Think high-powered special-effects-extravaganza spin on the old Transformer cartoons. Sure it was silly, and that's what made it so fun. When the giant robots were in the backyard hiding from the kid's mom -- that was hilarious.

These critic types really need to loosen up.

By the way, I also saw "Once" at Kimball's. It's a smarter, indie version of "Music and Lyrics," and the music is terrific. But seeing such a small film after a Michael Bay spectacle was a big jarring. "Once" probably could have benefited from a few cars flying through the air.

We're having a cow, man!

2007-07-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

Twentieth Century Fox is being awfully foxy about "The Simpsons Movie." Our critic Brandon can't get a screening in NY until Thursday night, much too late for our GO! deadlines.

Same with critics in Denver.

But, apparently, critics in LA will see it Tuesday night, still later than most screenings but not too late to print Friday.

What's the deal? Usually, studios hold late press screenings or no press screenings when they think the movie's a bomb. That's not the case here.

Fox execs told the LA Times they want to preserve the film's plot from Internet pirates and scoop-hungry movie bloggers.

"Anybody who's needed to see the film has already seen it," said the spokeswoman, who asked that her name not be used. "We're not concerned about audience response to the film. The audience response has been overwhelming."

Maybe we should blame the internet. Print critics always have always embargoed our reviews until opening day. But bloggers (now called "the pajamarati") will post plots and reviews the minute they get out of the theater.

Later screenings can help a studio control its online press.

As the GO! editor, it leaves me in a bit of a quandry. I was planning on making "The Simpson's" the cover next week. But if I do that, I'm gambling that I'll find a review on the wire on Wednesday that I can run on the centerspread.

If none of those LA critics come through for me, I'll be scrambling pretty late to find something else to fill.

By the way, I'm primarily a print guy and I'm not wearing pajamas right now.

All the Back-Shelf Picks

2007-07-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

I'm sometimes asked for a complete list of recommended movies from my Back-Shelf Pick column. Here's all of the movies I've featured so far. (And check the comments for some great suggestions from readers!)

Sexy Beast
Polish Wedding
Heartbreak Kid (the original)
Magnolia
Gods and Monsters
Bark!
Notes on a Scandal
Run, Lola, Run
Whale Rider
Music of the Heart
Dirty, Pretty Things
The Queen
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Shipping News
SLC Punk!
This Is My Father
Riding Giants
The Autumn Heart
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway
Sweet Lorraine
Lord of War
The Producers
Butcher Boy
Blood Simple
The Spanish Prisoner
The Good Girl
Timecode
Tadpole
Attack of the Bat Monsters
Better Than Sex
Me Myself I
Okie Noodling
One Hour Photo
The Sweet Hereafter
Midnight Train
Everything Is Illuminated
Minus Man
American Movie
East Is East
Comedian
The Aristocrats
The Year of Living Dangerously
The World's Fastest Indian
Bagdad Cafe
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Touching the Void
Enigma
The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition
Aberdeen
Memento
A Slipping Down Life
The Cooler
You Can Count on Me
MirrorMask
Tumbleweeds
The Straight Story
Requiem for a Dream
House of Sand and Fog
Calendar Girls
Transamerica
Casanova
Kingdom of Heaven
Shopgirl
Saint Ralph
Clay Pigeons
Spellbound
The Big Kahuna
House of Games
The Missing
Plots with a View
A Love Song for Bobby Long
Love and Sex
The Quiet American
The Deep End
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Millions
Howl's Moving Castle
Proof
I Capture the Castle
Eve's Bayou
The Professional
A Walk on the Moon
Cop Land
Billy Elliot
Two Family House
Searching for Bobby Fischer
In the Bedroom
The Ref
Shine
Hear My Song
Smoke
Green Dragon
Garden State
21 Grams
28 Days Later
Personal Velicity
Montana
To End All Wars
Dear Frankie
Truly, Madly, Deeply
The Tao of Steve
Danny Deck Chair
In America
Lantana
Scotland, P.A.
Into the West
The Woodsman
Spartan
Happy Texas
The Safety of Objects
Happy Accidents
Smoke Signals
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

I hope you find some movies here you like. I've tried to pick under-watched movies with the most wide appeal. I have plenty of favorites that are Italian, French, Japanese, Chinese ... But I know that so many moviegoers won't bother with subtitles.

Love the movie displays!

2007-07-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

I though the Silver Surfer -- larger than life in the lobby of the movie theaters was cool. But the Simpson's new plastic movie display is even cooler. You can sit on a bench beside Homer, Bart, Maggie, Marge and Lisa. So, next time you go to Tinseltown or Cinemark, bring your cameras.

Films about America

2007-07-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

FROM BRANDON...

Last week a friend told me of a recent encounter in Europe with a gentleman who has based his perceptions about the United States entirely on the films he’s watched. When she asked him for examples, he listed off what she considered to be a horrifyingly distorted and misrepresentative sampling. When he asked her which movies he should be watching in order to get a more accurate feel for American sensibilities, she came to me for suggestions.

I’ve compiled a list below, in no particular order whatsoever, of what I think might be a good jumping off point. It is certainly not an exhaustive list and I know I’ve left off films for which I will blanch afterwards. I tried to pick films spanning well over half a century and avoided those that might be considered overly jingoistic or propagandistic — no point trying to give him a more truthful glimpse of our country by making it a falsely buoyant one. Still, I wanted the majority of these films to embody the best of our country, or at the very least, its best ambitions.

1. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
A poor Oklahoma family is forced off their land during the dustbowl and migrates with thousands of dispossessed farmers westward to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless during the Great Depression. Representing one of this nation’s most trying chapters, The Grapes of Wrath, based on the novel by John Steinbeck, is a poignant glimpse into the American class system and the everyman’s resolve to never buckle to external pressure.

2. All The President's Men (1976)
During the run-up to the 1972 presidential elections, a minor break-in at the Democratic Party National headquarters spirals into a Republican conspiracy at the highest levels, perhaps even the White House itself. Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein struggle to uncover the truth in this magnificent film crystallizing the power and necessity of the press.

3. 12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Angry Men takes place almost entirely in a courthouse deliberation room as a jury mediates over the fate of a young Spanish-American accused of murdering his father. As the jurors’ prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other begin to surface, the open and shut case becomes anything but. The film is a luminous look into our criminal justice system and the maxim of presumed innocence.

4. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Steven Spielberg pays homage to The Greatest Generation in this stunning film focusing on an Army unit’s search for a single soldier after World War II’s horrific Normandy invasion. The soldiers are a patchwork who’s who of American youth, and their quest rife with the heroics and fears common to us all.

5. Do The Right Thing (1989)
Spike Lee’s seminal film about a single scorching day in New York City and the tempers that summer day ignites is a profoundly difficult film to watch. It is also profoundly important. It is a reminder that no matter how far we have come — and we have come far — race relations in this country still have a long way yet to go.

6. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
This adaptation of Harper Lee’s beloved classic novel is awash in Americana without ever once stooping to cliché or cheep sentimentality. It is a gorgeous intersection of so many important facets of the American experience — life in the South, children growing up, fatherhood, the criminal justice system, and racism just to name a few. It also contains what just may be the most complete and perfect portrayal of manhood ever captured on celluloid.

7. In America (2002)
While the immigrant experience as seen through the eyes of those who passed through the doors of Ellis Island over a century ago is critical to understanding this county, we often forget that immigration is a constant and continues unabated today. When an aspiring Irish actor and his family illegally immigrate to the United States, they struggle with impoverished conditions and letting go of the ghosts of their past.

8. Glory (1989)
The Civil War quite literally tore this country in two. Glory is the story of the U.S.’s first all-black volunteer company, and their fight against the Confederates and the prejudices of their own Union army. One of the best war films ever made.

9. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
When a naive and idealistic young man is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate, his policies immediately collide with rampant political corruption. The film may be dated, but the themes sure aren’t. Frank Capra’s examination of the political machine and the shady deals that fuel it is as disturbing now as Jefferson Smith’s filibustering stand will forever be inspirational.

10. The Right Stuff (1983)
Tom Wolfe's book on the history of the U.S. space program is turned into a mesmerizing, hilarious, seat-of-your-pants thrill ride of a film. Covering everything from the breaking of the sound barrier to the Mercury space flights, The Right Stuff is a flat-out astonishing saga about America’s heroic race into space.

11. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
This film observes the social re-adjustment of three World War II servicemen, each from a different stratum of society. One returns to an influential banking position, but finds it difficult to reconcile his past loyalties with new commercial realities. An ordinary working man can’t seem to hold down a job or pick up where his marriage left off. Having lost both his hands in battle, a naval veteran is unsure if his fiancée's feelings are those of love or pity. Each veteran's crisis is a microcosm of the experiences America’s warriors have faced and continue to face when returning to an alien world once called home.

12. The Godfather I and II (1972, 1974)
From Ellis Island ports of entry to subterranean crime to souls desperate for legitimacy to the death of the Old World and the dawn of the new, no films better capture the duality of the American spirit clutching at both the future and the past than these. Don Vito’s gradual handover of his criminal empire to his reluctant son and what that son will do to keep his families (biological and criminal) together is constantly compelling, frequently tragic and disturbingly capable of eliciting our sympathies and best hopes.

13. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
George Bailey has spent his entire life living for the people of Bedford Falls at the expense of his own dreams. When a situation beyond his control drives him to contemplate suicide, his guardian angel shows George what the world would have looked like had he not been in it. The nightmare vision shows George just how many lives he’s touched and that his own life, despite its setbacks, has truly been a wonderful one. This Dickensonian tale is both a Christmas and an American classic.

14. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Master filmmaker Stanley Kubrick didn’t think that an accidental thermonuclear attack that led to the total annihilation of the human race was a laughing matter — but his film is. When a demented Air Force general looses his B-52 bomber squadron on the Soviet Union, the President of the United States and his advisors must do everything in their power to prevent mutually assured destruction. Will they succeed in time? Even while staring down an apocalypse, Americans prove they have an unquenchable ability to laugh at themselves in this Cold War dark comedy.

15. The Searchers (1956)
The Wild Wild West is that most quintessential of American touchstones. When an ex-Confederate soldier comes home from the Indian Wars to find that his family has been massacred and his young niece captured by the Comanches, he vows to get her back and kill every last Indian in the process. He searches for years, only to discover that his niece has been fully assimilated. Will his hatred for the Indians win out? Will he rescue his niece or kill her?

16. Rudy (1993)
Rudy grew up in a deprived Pennsylvania steel mill town where his destiny was decided the moment he was born. But Rudy had dreams of playing football for Notre Dame — not an easy goal when you have bad grades, poor athletic skills, and are only half the size of the other players. But Rudy has something no one else has — the drive and spirit of ten men, plus two. The sports film is characteristically American, as is the grit and determination exemplified by the main character. Truly, it’s not about winning, it’s about how you played the game.

17. Manhattan (1979)
The plot of Woody Allen’s marvelous comedy about love, sex, adultery, homosexuality, divorce, career dissatisfaction, and statutory rape (!) is secondary to its primary triumph — being perhaps the most beautiful cinematic love letter to an American city and its vibrant pulse of life ever made. Gershwin has never sound better.

18. Fight Club (2004)
You're young and fit. You have an easy, lucrative job. You have a large condo, Swedish furniture, hip art, electronic gadgets galore and a fridge full of condiments. Why then do you feel nothing? Why then are you emotionally and spiritually bereft? Fight Club is about so much more than bloodied faces and last minute twists. It is a modern day morality play warning of societal and personal decay. It is a profound postmodern tirade against our American consumer culture and the anarchic angst it generates.

19. On the Waterfront (1954)
As the government prepares to hold public hearings on union crime and underworld infiltration, a working-class longshoreman with a crisis of conscience reassesses his past and begins to reassert responsibility for his actions by standing up to the criminal organizations in control of the docks. Class, crime, religion, romance, misplaced allegiances and the titanic demigod that is Barlon Brando collide in this masterpiece by Elia Kazan.

20. Good Night, and Good Luck (2006)
It is the early 1950s, and the threat of Communism has created paranoia in the United States. Exploiting those fears, Senator Joseph McCarthy goes on a witch hunt to root out supposed infiltrators within the government. However, CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow decides to take a stand, exposing McCarthy’s fear mongering for what it really is, at a great personal toll to himself. Good Night, and Good Luck is a powerful look at the need to speak truth to power, even at the highest levels of government.

21. American Beauty (1998)
On the outside, the perfect couple and the perfect daughter live in the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood. But festering beneath it all is boredom, discontentment, hopelessness, and depression. From crisis to overcompensation and then placid acceptance, the meaninglessness of contemporary life is examined, superimposed utop a stark suburban canvas.

22. Forrest Gump (1994)
Encompassing the sweep of latter 20th century history with a twinkling innocence, Forrest Gump is the story of a man who, while not intelligent, has accidentally found himself a participant in numerous historic moments, even while his most fundamental desires elude him. Forrest Gump is proof that determination, courage, and love are more important than ability or intellect.

23. Stand and Deliver (1988)
Education in America is examined through a struggling school in a Hispanic neighborhood. A mathematics teacher, convinced that his students have potential, adopts unconventional teaching methods in an attempt to turn gang-bangers and students everyone else has given up on into some of the country's top scholars.

24. Documentary Tie: The Thin Blue Line (1988)
Errol Morris' groundbreaking documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime and later investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas, Texas. Part purveyor of the Roshoman effect, part circumstantial indictment, part condemnation of scapegoat economics, The Thin Blue Line was actually responsible for setting an innocent man free from prison. Bowling for Columbine (2002) With his signature sense of angry humor, activist filmmaker Michael Moore sets out to explore the roots of America’s astronomical number of firearm deaths. He determines that the easy availability of guns, our violent national history, our sadistic entertainment and even poverty inadequately explain the carnage. He confronts America's culture of fear, bigotry and aggression and holds partially responsible the powerful political and corporate interests fanning this culture for their own unscrupulous gain.

25. The Apostle (1997)
Actor/director Robert DuVall examines religion in America through the life of a southern Pentecostal preacher whose stable world crumbles when he discovers his wife is having an affair and nearly beats her lover to death. Fleeing the law, he starts to preach on the lam, and along the way this unlikable hypocrite finds redemption for his life and soul. It is a story of crime and punishment, action and consequence, sin and forgiveness — as it should be.

What do you think of the list? What films am I forgetting? What films don’t deserve to be included? I've already been pondering several "Honorable Mentions," among them the political films: The Candidate, Bullworth and Dave. Let me know what you think...

Catching up on my Netflix

2007-06-29T07:27:00.000-07:00

Just saw "Eragon," the dragon flick with my kids. Not as good as "Dragonslayer," but the special effects are great and with Jeremy Irons as the mentor and John Malkovich as the evil king you almost overlook the fact that the you kid star Edward Speleers (or is that Sleepers?) couldn't act is way out of a hobbit hole.

Surfer Soars, Fab Four Bore

2007-06-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

It doesn’t suck.

Or maybe I went into the theater with such low expectations that it couldn’t possibly be as bad as my imagination had concocted.

I’ll confess right off the bat that I’ve only marginally been exposed to comic books and graphic novels. Just this week, in fact, I asked some fanboy friends to help me remedy this glaring oversight in my pop culture education. That said, I’ve enjoyed plenty of comic-to-screen adaptations, but have never been able to muster the slightest interest in The Fantastic Four. Of all the Marvel franchises, the Four seem the hokiest, the most dated, frankly the most ridiculous superheroes out there.

Despite being pretty by-the-numbers superhero stuff, “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” is indeed better than its predecessor and may be (gulp) better than “Spider-Man 3” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” its summer blockbusters forerunners (I know, that’s not saying much). But if you get to the theater and discover you’ve made a big mistake, don’t lose heart. “Surfer” is mercifully short — not even an hour and a half long.

Unlike some movies, “Surfer’s” plot can be summed up in just a few words: The Silver Surfer, a servant of the evil, planet-gobbling Galactus arrives on Earth to prep it for destruction just as two of our heroes are finally getting hitched and dreaming about embarking on a “normal life.” Needless to say they drop everything to save the planet, are forced to align themselves with their old nemesis, Dr. Doom, and discover that the Surfer may not be the monster they think him to be — in fact, he just may be their salvation.

The simple plot may actually work in “Surfer’s” favor. The film completely lacks any sort of pretentious philosophical subtext which, when done right elevates the typical comic adaptation but when mishandled, sinks it. Instead, “Surfer” just aims to be a crowd-pleaser. This unfortunately means that the story is clunky (the coming global apocalypse doesn’t seem to really phase anyone) and the Saturday-morning-cartoon dialogue is completely banal and juvenile.

However, if you are one of those rabid-at-the-mouth fans who doesn’t care about any of this and just wants me to cut to the chase and get straight to the Silver Surfer, I can completely put your mind at ease — he is, well, fantastic. He soars through space, carving through the atmosphere with digitally rendered finesse and grace. A fully CG character, the Surfer is completely believable at every moment, a true digital marvel. Alas, the rumors about his master, Galactus’, shall we say, non-corporeal nature, are all true, but that doesn’t mean that he too doesn’t come off as breathtaking and terrifying. Weta, the team of digital artists behind "The Lord of the Rings," have once again outdone themselves. Sadly, the rest of the effects, doubtless farmed out to other houses are a mixed bag, lacking the sort of seamless integration that one would assume to be pretty standard fare by now.

In fact, the Surfer comes off so well that the Fab Four are completely uninteresting next to him. Despite the fact that we are supposed to be excited for Reed (Ioan “I prefer to remember you as Hornblower” Gruffudd) and Sue’s (Jessica “haaawt” Alba) wedding, or concerned about narcissistic Johnny’s temperamental powers, their characters are dull, lifeless, and without spark. This is the Surfer’s movie and even they seem to know it.

For the next film they should just kill off Mr. Fantastic and his pals and let the Surfer carry the show. That film I might actually want to see.

Grade: C

Ninjas of the Caribbean

2007-06-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

Last year’s “Ask a Ninja” Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest review was an instant classic and one of the best dissections of the film there was. If you have never been introduced to the ninja, now is the perfect time. His review of the third Pirates film actually incorporates the second, resulting in a great two-for-one deal. Enjoy!

Brandon's take on 'Pirates'

2007-05-31T09:34:00.000-07:00

NOTE: As you may have noticed, my review for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End did not run in last week’s “GO.” That was not for lack of trying. The truth is, in New York City, where I now live, Disney allowed one screening. One. And lil’ ol’ me didn’t make the cut. That should tell you something about damage control and trying to limit negative press fallout. I would have had this review up sooner but I was back in the Springs over the holiday weekend, enjoying a Rocky Mountain high. So, without further ado…

There’s a lot to be said for knowing one’s place in the world--not aiming too high or sinking too low--but intrinsically understanding one’s station and what’s expected of that station. I am not, thankfully, talking about human beings, but rather films.

There’s nothing wrong with being a popcorn movie so long as you don’t aspire to anything higher. And while popcorn fare may not be fois gras, most of us find popcorn an enjoyable and satisfying snack. There are some films that simply defy the normal critical analysis, that embody the intellectual equivalent of physical horseplay and in so doing are purely and simply enjoyable.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is not such a movie.

If films are made in rapid succession or better yet, simultaneously, their overall quality, whether good or bad, can usually be predicted by the first one out of the gate. The Matrix: Reloaded predicted the continuing mediocrity of The Matrix: Revolutions, whereas the brilliance of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring all but ensured the same sort of radiance throughout the entire trilogy. So it should come as no surprise that, after the staggering disappointment that was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, At World’s End shouldn’t be far behind.

Ignoring even the slightest expository dialogue to remind viewers where the last Pirates installment left off and why, At World’s End instead launches straight into a plot so muddled and convoluted it is barely worth trying to unravel here. That they began filming without a completed script (no lie) is instantly obvious.

Suffice it to say, our heroes go off to rescue the dead Jack Sparrow, now suffering in Davy Jones’ Locker (which ironically enough, looks remarkably like a bad Terry Gilliam movie); must face the treachery of Davy Jones and Lord Cutler Beckett, now in dark league together; convene all the world’s pirates for one final, epic showdown; set a goddess free, and reunite a pair of estranged lovers. Before it is all over, Elizabeth Swann will take her own stab at Henry V’s St. Crispin’s Day speech, her love affair with Will Turner will fold into a bittersweet (and oddly appropriate) dénouement, and Capt. Jack will find himself much as we first met him—marooned and shipless (although, after three films, I was sick enough of him to do the same).

If the script is a cohesive disaster, the special effects are masterful. But then again, what did you think they were spending all of those millions of dollars on, a screenwriter? At World’s End is filled with some utterly transcendent eye candy. Three moments that stick out in my mind are of a pirate’s vessel sailing across perfectly still water that flawlessly reflects the starlight above making it look as if the ship is suspended in space; the Black Pearl set aground in the middle of a vast desert of sand; and the final moments of Lord Beckett as the world shatters into splinters all around him. (The closing credits go on forever, rightly acknowledging hundreds of digital artists. By the way, if you didn’t stay to watch all those names sail by, you missed a final bonus scene tagged onto the very end.)

It’s not so much that Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is bad, so much as it is boring. Clocking in at just shy of three hours, the film is laboriously slow going with few substantive action pieces to make the long stretches worthwhile. In forgetting its origins, the third Pirates film, just like the second, also forgets to be fun. This is its greatest sin. We can forgive tedious patches and even muddled plots, but what is unforgivable is when a popcorn movie like this one has indefensible delusions of grandeur.

Perhaps the only thing worse than popcorn pretension is not knowing when to stop. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End does not, itself, know when to end. That it concludes by setting up a possible fourth installment in the franchise is enough to make one question just who are the real pirates and who are the ones being plundered.

No treasure

2007-05-30T09:24:00.000-07:00

I read the mostly lukewarm positive reviews, and yet expected to love the new "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." Critics whine about it being too long at nearly three hours.

I figured that would just be more pirate fun for your money.

Critics are almost always too harsh on summer popcorn movies.

Not this time. They were kind.

I saw the movie with the family on Sunday at Carmike 10 (my favorite theater, with the digital projectors and the $5.50 ticket price). It has great music, costumes, special effects.

You almost don't notice that they're no actual movie there. I admit it had some nice moments. Liked Keith Richards, looking more at home with a bunch of pirates than any of them. Liked the wedding held during a ship battle.

But much of the time, I felt like I was waiting for something to happen... but not in a good way. Not like suspense. More like boredom.

The third Shrek and Spidey were much more fun. This is what the most expensive movie ever made looks like?

After the credits (and the obligatory prologue), I realized my favorite parts were the previews.

Looking forward to "Enchanted," the new Harry Potter, "Transformers," and the new "Die Hard."

The theme this summer, by the way, seems to be cars tumbling through the air.

Shekarama

2007-05-23T13:32:00.000-07:00

I remember when I reviewed the original "Shrek," I loved it the way it wedded "traditional children's stories with hip pop culture, and ended up with something old, something new, something borrowed and something green."

I only had one beef:
"For all its laughs and charm, 'Shrek' could have been even better if it had done more with its classic fairy-tale characters. There are funny cameos by Pinocchio, the Three Blind Mice, Snow White and others, but they're all cheap asides. None of them find their way into the main story line."

"Shrek the Third" answers my criticism by throwing Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Captain Hook and scores of other fairy-tale characters together in the main plot, in which Prince Charming schemes to get the villains to take over the kingdom.

Critics have been ho-hum about the movie, harping on the fact that it doesn't feel as fresh as the original.

What were they expecting? Has there ever been a third part in a trilogy that felt fresh?

I went in hoping for the further adventures of Shrek and friends, and that's exactly what I got.

What do you guys think?

(Incidentally, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" reviews are in ... and they're as lackluster as the "Shrek" and "Spider-Man" reviews. Critics aren't liking anything yet this summer... except for "Waitress," which opens at Kimball's Friday. Everybody loves that cute little indie.)

Oh, what a web they weave...

2007-05-07T15:58:00.000-07:00

"Spider-Man 3"

Loved it.

Sure, the critics found a dozen things wrong with it, and they were right. It was bascially Spidey vs. The Kitchen Sink. Too many villains. Too many love interests. Too many close-ups on Tobey Maguire with a tear in his eye.

But, you know, after I'd read a dozen reviews, I'd lowered my expecations. My sons and I saw it at Carmike 10 and had a ball. That theater is terrific, by the way. Lower ticket prices. Better picture, thanks to those digital projectors.

I'd like to know what you folks thought about the movie.

Introducing new critic

2007-04-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

I wasn't going to launch our new critic, Brandon Fibbs for another couple of weeks. But Brandon couldn't let "Spider-Man 3" go without spinning his own web about it.

His review of Spidey will be in Friday's GO! (First reviews look kind of lackluster. Bummer!)

I just saw "Next" last weekend, and it reminded me that Roger Moore, although a clever writer, doesn't get popcorn movies. As he did with "Deja Vu," he looks for plausibility in action adventures. He needs some help with suspension of disbelief.

I think most of us who pay $8 at the door already have suspended plenty of disbelief and we just want to be entertained. What Moore didn't get about "Next" is that it has no ending. Totally enjoyable popcorn movie until the credits rolled and everybody said, "What?!"

Brandon will do better.

Oh, I was also excited to see the preview of "Stardust." Just read the Neil Gaiman novel. Wonderful escapism. Can't want for the movie.

Disturbia-ing

2007-04-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

Saw Disturbia with one of my sons this weekend. Fun thriller. With all the mindless pour-on-the-gore slasher flicks out there, this one felt like it had some substance.

Of course, most of that substance was stolen from "Rear Window," my second favorite Hitchcock flick. But it was stolen well, and updated well.

I especially liked the way they encorporated new technoogy, such as the ring tones.

back-shelf picks

2007-04-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

I'm sometimes asked for a complete list of recommended movies from my Back-Shelf Pick column. Here's all of the movies I've featured so far. (And check the comments for some great suggestions from readers!)

Riding Giants
The Autumn Heart
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway
Sweet Lorraine
Lord of War
The Producers
Butcher Boy
Blood Simple
The Spanish Prisoner
The Good Girl
Timecode
Tadpole
Attack of the Bat Monsters
Better Than Sex
Me Myself I
Okie Noodling
One Hour Photo
The Sweet Hereafter
Midnight Train
Everything Is Illuminated
Minus Man
American Movie
East Is East
Comedian
The Aristocrats
The Year of Living Dangerously
The World's Fastest Indian
Bagdad Cafe
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Touching the Void
Enigma
The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition
Aberdeen
Memento
A Slipping Down Life
The Cooler
You Can Count on Me
MirrorMask
Tumbleweeds
The Straight Story
Requiem for a Dream
House of Sand and Fog
Calendar Girls
Transamerica
Casanova
Kingdom of Heaven
Shopgirl
Saint Ralph
Clay Pigeons
Spellbound
The Big Kahuna
House of Games
The Missing
Plots with a View
A Love Song for Bobby Long
Love and Sex
The Quiet American
The Deep End
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Millions
Howl's Moving Castle
Proof
I Capture the Castle
Eve's Bayou
The Professional
A Walk on the Moon
Cop Land
Billy Elliot
Two Family House
Searching for Bobby Fischer
In the Bedroom
The Ref
Shine
Hear My Song
Smoke
Green Dragon
Garden State
21 Grams
28 Days Later
Personal Velicity
Montana
To End All Wars
Dear Frankie
Truly, Madly, Deeply
The Tao of Steve
Danny Deck Chair
In America
Lantana
Scotland, P.A.
Into the West
The Woodsman
Spartan
Happy Texas
The Safety of Objects
Happy Accidents
Smoke Signals
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

I hope you find some movies here you like. I've tried to pick under-watched movies with the most wide appeal. I have plenty of favorites that are Italian, French, Japanese, Chinese ... But I know that so many moviegoers won't bother with subtitles.

Critic bashing

2007-04-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a recent e-mail about our critic. I get a lot of this sort of thing.

Mr. Epstein,
Why is it the Gazette's movie ratings/reviews are so consistently misleading? It is obvious to anyone with half a brain that the McClatchy-Tribune News Service is the pandering tool of the movie studios. When I need a laugh these days I share the Gazette's film "ratings" with friends and family around the country.

Two such blatantly lopsided reviews appear in today's GO section, Perfect Stranger and Pathfinder are both given a B-. To see what the majority of reviewers actually think of these movies check:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/perfect_stranger/ and http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pathfinder/

I pity the poor souls who actually rely upon the Gazette's rating system to decide which movie to see. You do both your readers and yourself a disservice by continuing to publish these untruthful unpaid advertisements for inferior films.

MY RESPONSE.....

I'm a little confused about your e-mail. You complain about the movie ratings/reviews being misleading and "lopsided."

I think what you mean is that Roger Moore's opinions about movies don't square with your own, and therefore, Moore must be in the pocket of the film industry. I can understand why an outsider might make such assumptions. After all, some critics are "quote whores." They get wined and dined and taken on trips by the studios in exchange for gushing quotes for movie ads. Roger is not one of these people. He works for the Orlando Sentinel, a reputable paper and would never take anything from the studios in exchange for positive reviews.

In fact, on the whole, Roger's reviews tend to be more negative than the Rotten Tomatoes or imdb averages.

But that's not really the point. I don't judge critics on how often I agree with them or how often their opinions are in line with what other critics are saying. In fact, I almost always disagree with my favorite critic, Tom Shales of the Washington Post. But I read him because he's fun to read, and, like the movie or hate the movie, he gives me insights about the film that other critics don't.

I've enjoyed Moore's reviews. I thought his reviews of "300," "Grindhouse" and "Pathfinder" were particularly well-written.

Still, we're planning to introduce our own critic in May: Brandon Fibbs, a former intern here who's now attending graduate school at NYU. You may find his opinions more in line with your own ... but, again, that's not the point.

Warren Epstein
Gazette A&E Editor

I love when people disagree with our critics ... but it always bugs me when they feel a critic's opinion is somehow "wrong." That's just crazy talk.

"Grindhouse" blues

2007-04-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

What you should know about "Grindhouse" is that it's more of a critic's movie than a regular person's movie.

Critics love that Tarantino and Rodriguez have raised the exploitation films to a works of art ... and, as art, they work.

But they're not really movies. You won't get emotionally invested in anything or anyone. It's not "Pulp Fiction," which was not only an homage to the genre but raised it to a great movie.

"Grindhouse" gives us plenty of cheap thrills, and a few laughs (especially in the fake coming attractions), but neither of the double-features ("Planet Terror" and "Deathproof") feels like a movie movie.

Not so high on the 'Hog'

2007-04-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a vacation in San Antonio, during which the kids and I had time for one movie (not counting the very clever 3-D movie "Pirates," starring Leslie Nielsen, at Sea World.

My boys are 10 and 14 and they really wanted to see "300." So did I. But an R-rating for blood-gushing fight scenes (and stern looks from my wife for even CONSIDERING taking them) convinced me to look more toward the PG-13 part of the movie marquee.

The choices were slim. The older one didn't want to see "Bridge to Terabithia." Everybody was lukewarm about "Ghost Rider."

So we settled on the lukewarm choice of "Wild Hogs." This is a movie that faces a built-in contradiction. One of my rules of movie-going is that if it has William H. Macy in the cast, it's going to be good. But I have another rule that if it has Tim Allen in it, chances are that it'll suck.

The Tim Allen rule carried the day in a movie that's all about gay jokes and goofy sight gags until the weekend warrior comedian biker quartet comes face to face with a mean biker gang led by Ray Liotta. Then it gets way too serious, way too fast and not all the gay jokes in Texas could save it.

There are just too many great R-rated movies out there. And "Grindhouse" opens Friday. The new Tarantino-Rodriguez bloodfest is getting great reviews.

Stranger than Guest?

2007-03-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

This insightful comment came from Gazette writer and receptionist Christpher Short:

Our last two mail DVDs were Stranger Than Fiction and For Your Consideration. Yes, a Will Ferrell vehicle and a Christopher Guest movie.

Why was the former about twenty times more entertaining? Why, why, why?

Watching movies with the family

2007-03-09T13:39:00.000-08:00

My greatest challenge in Netflix is always having at least one PG or PG-13 movie around on the weekend.

Last weekend, we watched "Monster House," which was thrilling for a kid flick. My wife and 10-year-old son loved it. The 14-year-old wouldn't watch because it was ANIMATED!

Then, I tried to watch "The Weather Man" with Nicholas Cage. I figured, even though it was R, I'd edit on the fly with the remote in hand.

20 F bombs later and 20 looks from my wife and the movie went back on the shelf, with my apologies to the kids.

Ups and downs of film reviews

2007-03-05T15:18:00.000-08:00

So, you may have noticed that for a while we had way too many bylines on our movie reviews. That was caused by two things:
1. Ebert's still recovering from cancer and has a stable of writers filling in for him.
2. Roger Moore, our critic from Orlando, wasn't filing early enough.

The good news is that Moore is back on track, usually filing early enough for GO! I'd like to hear what you guys think about Moore. We did a considerable search of critics throughout the country before settling on Moore.

I don't judge critics by how often I agree with them. I judge them on how well they translate their moviegoing experience into print. Mostly, I want to know if they're fun, insightful writers.

... Which brings me to Brandon Fibbs. Fibbs was a summer intern at The Gazette a couple of years ago and now he's at NYU's grad school studying film.

He's interested in writing for us. I don't have the budget just yet, but I like his stuff. Let me know what you think. You can read his film blog at http://thefilmsnob.blogspot.com.

If you were in my seat, would you continue with Moore, wait for Ebert to recover, or try to figure out a way to get Fibbs to write for us?

Kimball Bayles is da winner and champeen

2007-02-25T21:56:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Kimball Bayles, owner of Kimball's Twin Peak Theater, for handily beating our panel of expert Oscar pickers. In addition to a solid year of bragging rights, Kimball gets to have Warren spend a day sweeping up popcorn and peeling gum from the bottom of the seats.

As usual, however, the amateurs outdid the experts. In the Oscar-picking contest co-sponsored by Kimball's and the Gazette, two people correctly picked 16 categories. That's pretty darn good. So congrats to Ellen Jaramillo and Kathy Carson. I bow to your superior prognostication powers.

By the way, although I at no place or time claimed to be an expert, I did play along in Kimball's pool. I only got eight right. Nothing to shout about.

UPDATE - OK, Kimball is the winner. Sort of. In Sunday's paper, we ran picks from a group of local experts. Now, they were SUPPOSED to enter those same answers in Kimball's online pool. But they didn't.

Warren gave different answers in four categories (best picture, art direction, sound editing and original screenplay) which cost him two points. Bad Warren, bad! So, in the online pool, Kimball and Warren tied, but in the OFFICIAL Gazette pool, Kimball wins. And why Warren at any point thought "Little Miss Sunshine" would win best picture is beyond me.

Oscar blogging

2007-02-25T17:26:00.001-08:00

A few thoughts from the red carpet to start things off....

Best softball
“The Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special” – It’s hard to beat Barbara Walters when it comes to lobbing it over the plate, but trust Oprah to innovate. She had celebrities… interviewing each other! Genius. Oprah should get some kind of special achievement in laziness award for getting an hour of network primetime without having to ask a single question.

Best pre-game
We watched Ryan Seacrest on E!, but that’s probably because we’ve been so fixated on “Idol” lately, we’ve forgotten what television is like without Seacrest. Truth be told, Joan and Melissa Rivers? Still pretty annoying, especially on the TV Guide Channel, where they’re sharing the screen with listings for all the more interesting programs airing right now.

Worst accessory
Toby Maguire’s goatee. Peach fuzz should wait until Spring.

And on to the ceremony!

That intro kept making me think of those Mac commercials: "I'm a Mac." "And I'm a PC." Stop talking Oscars and start talking peripherals!

Whoa. That is one extremely velourish suit Ellen's wearing. I used to have a couch covered in that. It's nice she's so upfront about wanting to host. Her voice sounds kinda small, maybe there's a sound problem.

There's Oscar hosts who play to the room and there's Oscar hosts who play to the viewers at home. Jon Stewart got dinged for not doing the former, Johnny Carson was an expert at mixing the two. Ellen seems to be completely ignoring the idea that there's a worldwide audience for this thing. She also seems to winging it -- or at least doing a bang-up job of pretending to wing it. Either way, it's not all that entertaining.

Warren - "I agree with you about Ellen's opening. She's great at being relaxed and working the audience, but she doesn't exude to the viewing public that this is a classy show the way Johnny Carson and Billy Crystal did .Oh, well."

I totally knew she was going to dance. When Ellen said she wouldn't it only made it a sure thing she would .

Art direction
Pan's Labyrinth. All four of our expert pickers picked that one, so no surprise.

Best 'fro
Will Ferrell was rocking the 'do. Although you gotta wonder about the wisdom of doing a bit called "A Comedian at the Oscars" in a year when "Little Miss Sunshine" was nominated for Best Picture. I'm pretty sure that film's plot came directly from "National Lampoon's Vacation."

Achivement in Makeup
Pan's Labyrinth. See "art direction."

Best couple
Abigail Breslin and Jaden Smith. Repeat after me, "awwwwwwwwwwwww." Jada Pinkett Smith tearing up made me tear up.

Animated Short
This wasn't one of our categories, so technically I don't care, but that clip for "Lifted" looked really cool (although it didn't win).

Live Action Short
Don't. Care. I wonder how the director feels getting his Oscar from a 6-year-old, though. Maybe not, "awwwwwwwwwwwww." I have in fact heard of the winning film, though. I hope to actually see it someday.

I notice they have Clint Eastwood sitting next to Steven Spielberg. If a lighting grid were to fall on that row, Michael Bay would have a shot at Best Director.

What's up with the sound effects choir? That's really, really weird. I mean, I guess it's impressive, maybe, but I'm pretty glad nobody asked me to pay to see it.

Sound Editing
Letters from Iwo Jima. If you're keeping score at home, that one puts Kimball and Kathryn up 1 over Warren and Robert. "Flags of Our Fathers" -- tosh!

Sound Mixing
I still don't know what the hey the difference between this and editing is. Why aren't these in with the technical awards?
"Dreamgirls" scores its first of the night. Our score is now: Warren 2, Kathryn 4, Kimball, 3, Robert 3.

Supporting Actor
They used to throw one of the acting awards at the top of the show, to kick things off with a bang. That was a good idea. Waiting an hour, not so good.
Alan Arkin.
Whoa. Seriously whoa. Everyone -- ever-ee-one -- had Murphy pegged for this. The Academy must be too snooty to give something to Murphy. Scores stay the same - all of our pickers went for Murphy.

Warren - "Can't believe Arkin got it. His character is the reason I can't let my kids watch that movie. "

BTW, Arkin's definitely in the running for "Worst Speech." I don't blame him for reading. I blame him for being fingernails-on-a-chalkboard boring.

The Best Song performances always lend some much-needed pizzazz to the ceremony. However, despite the fact that I am second to none in my contempt for the Grammys, the songs themselves are invariably like "Our Town" from "Cars" -- instantly forgettable schlock. If the songs were any good, they wouldn't be on a soundtrack. Dammit.

Huh. Back-to-back best song nominees. Go figure. The eco-tips behind Melissa Etheridge are freakin' hilarious. Yeah, let's use light rail here in the Springs.

Leonard DiCaprio and Al Gore. Which one of these men drives a Prius? Trick question, it's Leo.

Is it me, or is Gore's hair less wispy-thin than usual? Gotta love that special effects magic.

Props to Gore for the announcement joke (Leo asked him if he had anything to announce tonight and Gore started off “With a billion people watching, it’s as good a time as any. So my fellow Americans, I’m going to take this opportunity, here and now, to formally announce...," then got played off by the orchestra). Funniest gag of the night, if you ask me.

Best Animated Film
Happy Feet. That brings our score to: Warren 3, Kathryn 4, Kimball, 4, Robert 3. Getting tight!

Adapted Screenplay
The Departed
Warren gets back in the game: Warren 4, Kathryn 4, Kimball 4, Robert 3.

Best Costume
Having real examples of the costumes on display is a cool idea. Love the corgi.
Marie Antoinette. Is this an upset? I'm not really sure. Warren and Kimball take the lead: Warren 5, Kathryn 4, Kimball 5, Robert 3.
"I want to thank everyone who had anything to do with this movie." Can't get more to the point than that.

What'sherface with the honorary thing might get "worst speech," too. Teachers are the real heroes? I guess it's a blessing that she got out of the acting side of the biz.

Warren - "I loved the Ellen bit when she had Spielberg shoot her picture with Clint Eastwood for her MySpace... then criticized the picture and made him shoot it again... I got a nice laugh. You?"

Best Cinematography
Pan's Labyrinth. Duh. Our score: Warren 6, Kathryn 4, Kimball 6, Robert 3.

Warren - "Highlight of the show: Gwyneth Paltrow's stunning pistachio dress... or was it lime?"
Definitely some sort of foodstuff.

The commercials during the Oscars are really interesting. They're just like the Super Bowl commercials except without the, you know, interesting parts. Why go to the trouble? And where the hay is Robert Goulet? I want my Robert Goulet!

Best Visual Effects
This is my favorite, because it's the "Token Oscar for a Movie People Actually Saw." Of course having said that, I'm the only one I know who saw "Superman Returns."
"Pirates of the Caribbean." $1 billion in box office can't be wrong.
Score: Warren's love of the low-brow pays off: Warren 7, Kathryn 4, Kimball 6, Robert 3.

Best Foreign Language Film
Ken Watanabe is so cool. I want to be Ken Watanabe when I grow up. Or at least change my last name to Watanabe. Even the name is cool.

Warren - "What a beautiful tribute to foreign films by Giuseppe Tornatore. I might have thought it self-endulgent to include so much of his own film "Cinema Paradiso," but considering it's my favorite movie ever, I'll let it slide."

BTW, Warren - Cate Blanchett's dress is way better than Paltrow's.

"The Lives of Others" wins. That's got to be a monster upset. Somewhere in L.A., Robert V is dancing a little hula, or whatever they do in Germany. (I should explain that Robert put in a big plug for "Lives of Others," even though he thought "Pan's" would win. We had to cut that for space - maybe we should give him a bonus point?). Scores remain the same.

Supporting Actress
Jennifer Hudson. Finally, a non-surprise in one of the big categories. After "Lives of Others" and Arkin won, Jennifer had to be sweating this a little bit.
Scores - Warren 7, Kathryn 5, Kimball 7, Robert 4.

Best Documentary Short Subject
Hmm.

Jerry Seinfeld. I'm pretty sure he got that tux at the rental shop in the mall. Presenting documentary. That's called casting against type.
Why isn't he hosting this thing? He'd be perfect. I'm actually an Ellen DeGeneres fan (and I don't usually like Seinfeld), but I'm just not impressed tonight.
"These five incredibly depressing movies..." He's killing it.

Best Documentary
"An Inconvenient Truth" wins. The voiceover blamed Hurricane Katrina on global warming. Weird - I don't think Al Gore would go that far. Cause and effect is tricky.
Scores remain the same, 'cause all the pros know how much the Hollywood establishment loves Al Gore. (Hint: A whole, whole lot).

Clint Eastwood talkin' up "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is making me geek out. That's pretty much my favorite movie of all time. Greatest score ever. I'll have it stuck in my head for a month now. (The rest of Eastwood's speech totally blew, sadly).

You know, Ellen was talking about how international these Oscars are, but nobody thought to have subtitles set up? I'm guessing having Eastwood translate was planned, but it's kind of a waste of time. I did not know Eastwood's Italian was so good, though. I want to go to the Olive Garden with that dude.

Original Score
Babel. And speaking of scores... Scores - Warren 7, Kathryn 5, Kimball 8, Robert 4.

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, Ellen changed outfits. This one's nice and shiny - completely unlike my couch.

Original Screenplay
Didn't we already do this one? Little Miss Sunshine. The writer was Matthew Broderick's assistant - is that what he was referring to when he thanked the producers for "saving my life"?
Scores - Kimball is really pulling ahead now: Warren 7, Kathryn 5, Kimball 9, Robert 4.

Warren: "I think Kimball has it sewed up. I think we all have the same picks for best actor, actress and director ... so even if I get best pix, he's got me, I think. ... next year, I go back to facing off against the monkey."

Is Jennifer Lopez an "excellent reason for high definition television"? I happen to be watching in HD and... eh. She's got a lot of makeup on. I might look halfway decent with that much makeup. Plus, she sounded bored. On the other hand, Jennifer Hudson's dress was, um, distracting in HD. I'll leave it at that.

Best song
Inconvenient Truth. A lot of people thought the three "Dreamgirls" nominations would cancel each other out, and I guess that's what happened.

Warren: "None of us saw Melissa Etheridge coming. You just don't think 'Inconvenient Truth' - great music.... but her song was terrific."

It was not.

Best Editing
The Departed. Interesting. None of our panel picked that one. Is it a sign of things to come for "The Departed"? Could be.

In Memoriam
I always find it interesting to who gets the most applause. Robert Altman was really the only one who got the crowd up. And I thought it was funny that the only one who got to speak was "Scotty" - James Doolittle. Although they really, really should have let him say "I canna doo it, Cap'n. I'm givin' 'er all I got."

Best Actress
Helen Mirren. Well, yeah.
This will probably win best acceptance speech:
"This is the best gold star I've ever gotten in my whole life."
"For 50 years, Elizabeth Windsor has kept her feet firmly planted on the ground. She's maintained her dignity... and her hairstyle."
Scores don't change.

Ellen vacuuming is a pretty good bit.

Best actor
Forest Whitaker. Well, yeah.

Best director
Martin Scorsese. Well, yeah.
Pretty good speech - "Everywhere I go, people are saying, 'He should win one.' I go to my doctor's office, 'he should win one.'

Best film
The Departed

Warren: "Congrats to Scorcese and to Kimball's for topping me this year. Way to go."

So, since all of our panelists picked correctly for Best Director, Best Actress and Best Actor -- and because all four blew it for Best Picture, Best Song and Best Editing -- our final score is Warren 10, Kathryn 8, Kimball 12, Robert 7. (I'll go through that again tomorrow and double-check my math).

B movies

2007-02-21T15:32:00.000-08:00

This comment came from LadyBronco :

Warren,
Have you ever thought about putting together a list of great B-movies?
I have several favorites that I always find myself dusting off and popping into the VCR (or DVD if I have found it on that medium!)

8:14 PM

I love B movies. Some classic B movies: "They Live," "Tremors," "Repo Man"....
Which raises the issue of what is a B movie and what is a cult film.

I think the two are different but can overlap.

A B movie, originally created by the studio stystem that would churn out cheap drive-in fodder for every major release, suggests movies that are low-budget, campy and pure escapism.

A cult film is a movie that garners a devoted, fanatical following (often by a narrow group of people) that gives it life beyond its initial opening.

Given those definitions, what are some of your favorite B films and cult films?

Movies that hit or miss

2007-02-21T15:24:00.000-08:00

I recently showed "Me and You and Everyone We know" in one of my occasional PILLAR classes (which I do with local psychologist Ira Rosenbaum). It's one of those films I'm hesitant to recommend. A lot of people don't just dislike it, they want to jump on the box it came on and crush it.

Ira fell into that camp, which made for a fun discussion. I love the film, finding it a fragile beauty about the way we struggle to make connections.

One of my favorite scenes is about a guy who buys a goldfish for the family and accidentally puts in on top of his SUV when he drives off.

Drivers nearby see the doomed fish, and can't save it, but recognize value in trying. A poignant metaphore about our lives.

Ira thought it was a miserable film about miserable people.

OK, then.

Finally, The King arrives

2007-02-13T13:32:00.000-08:00

OK, you can stop calling me and Kimball's

"The Last King of Scotland" will open Friday at the Twin Peak.

We'll have Roger Moore's review... of course, he raves about Forrest Whitaker's performance and gives the movie an A.

Now, when are we going to get the Dixie Chicks movie?

back-shelf picks

2007-02-09T17:33:00.001-08:00

I'm sometimes asked for a complete list of recommended movies from my Back-Shelf Pick column. Here's all of the movies I've featured so far. (And check the comments for some great suggestions from readers!)

The Good Girl
Timecode
Tadpole
Attack of the Bat Monsters
Better Than Sex
Me Myself I
Okie Noodling
One Hour Photo
The Sweet Hereafter
Midnight Train
Everything Is Illuminated
Minus Man
American Movie
East Is East
Comedian
The Aristocrats
The Year of Living Dangerously
The World's Fastest Indian
Bagdad Cafe
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Touching the Void
Enigma
The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition
Aberdeen
Memento
A Slipping Down Life
The Cooler
You Can Count on Me
MirrorMask
Tumbleweeds
The Straight Story
Requiem for a Dream
House of Sand and Fog
Calendar Girls
Transamerica
Casanova
Kingdom of Heaven
Shopgirl
Saint Ralph
Clay Pigeons
Spellbound
The Big Kahuna
House of Games
The Missing
Plots with a View
A Love Song for Bobby Long
Love and Sex
The Quiet American
The Deep End
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Millions
Howl's Moving Castle
Proof
I Capture the Castle
Eve's Bayou
The Professional
A Walk on the Moon
Cop Land
Billy Elliot
Two Family House
Searching for Bobby Fischer
In the Bedroom
The Ref
Shine
Hear My Song
Green Dragon
Garden State
21 Grams
28 Days Later
Personal Velicity
Montana
To End All Wars
Dear Frankie
Truly, Madly, Deeply
The Tao of Steve
Danny Deck Chair
In America
Lantana
Scotland, P.A.
Into the West
The Woodsman
Spartan
Happy Texas
The Safety of Objects
Happy Accidents
Smoke Signals
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

I hope you find some movies here you like. I've tried to pick under-watched movies with the most wide appeal. I have plenty of favorites that are Italian, French, Japanese, Chinese ... But I know that so many moviegoers won't bother with subtitles.

I'm the best dad in the world

2007-02-08T16:35:00.000-08:00

I took my 10 year old to see "Epic Movie," knowing it would be the dumbest movie-spoof film I'd ever seen.

I tried to dissuade him, telling him it got terrible reviews.

"It's going to be awful ... I mean, really awful," I warned.

No use. His friend told him it was hilarious ... so, there I was.

This movie makes reference to about two dozen popular films, from "Willy Wonka" to "Narnia," to "Pirates of the Carribean."

But the filmmakers think that allusions alone are funny. You dress a guy up like Johnny Depp in a pirate getup and have him talk in that same drunken Robert Townsend voice, and it's gold!

Uggh.

Aidan, of course, howled every time it moved on to another movie reference.

"So, Dad, wasn't it good," he asked as we walked out of Tinseltown.

"It was hilarious. Glad you insisted we go," I said, hoping the discussion was over. But when it comes to movies, Aidan is never done.

"It was funny when they came to Harry Potter, and he looked like he was just the same? But then he turned around and he was this old guy?" (I know these aren't questions, but, at this age, almost all his statements end on a high note, like they're questions.)

I smiled and nodded.

"And the part with Willie Wonka ..."

In about 30 or 40 years, this wonderful boy is going to visit me in a nursing home and change my diapers. It'll all balance out.

Where's the rest of Boulder?

2007-02-05T15:52:00.000-08:00

My wife felt that after brutalizing her sensibilities by taking her to "Children of Men," I owed her a chick flick.

So we bypassed the darker films I'm dying to see -- "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Babel" and looked for light chick fare. My wife was leaning toward "Because I Said So" because we both liked the trailers and we're both fans of Diane Keaton. But the reviews were so relentlessly bad, I steered her toward "Catch and Release."

The Jennifer Garner and Timothy Olyphant love story "Catch and Release" had gotten middle-of-the-road reviews, but we both thoroughly enjoyed it.

One of the things I found interesting: It takes place in Boulder, and you'll recognize Pearl Street Mall and lots of other Boulder exteriors. But every time the film went into the wilderness, the folliage looked a bit too lush for Boulder. Sure enough, those scenes were shot in Canada.

Boulder apparently just didn't look Boulderish enough.

You pick the Oscars

2007-01-31T15:07:00.000-08:00

Kimball's and The Gazette are doing an Oscar contest, and I really have to commend Matt Stevens, the manager at Kimball's for creating an awesome Oscar ballot.

Click on

http://www.kimballstwinpeak.com/OscarGame.html.

Not only will you be entered to win valuable prizes, you also will, instantly upon creating your ballot, see if your guesses were similar to those chosen by other local movie buffs.

You'll also find out how your picks compared to mine and those of other local cinephiles.

About those prizes:
1st Prize) Dinner and a Movie gift certificate for 2 at the Metropolitain.
2nd Prize) Framed poster of The Royal Tenenbaums or The Road Warrior.
3rd Prize) 1 Movie Pass to Kimball's Twin Peak Theater.
Note: Tie breakers subject to management's discretion.

Have fun!

Oscar nominations

2007-01-23T09:23:00.001-08:00

So, after all that fuss over "Dreamgirls" at the Golden Globes, the musical collects the lion's share of Oscar nods ... but not Best Picture.

That leaves "Babel" as the front-runner, and local theaters are bringing it back on Friday. I'll have to check it out. Lots of friends have raved about it, and, of course, critics generally loved it, too.

Sometimes spending money on movies I know are going to depress me is tough. But it sounds like this'll be worth it.

Lots of other Oscar-nominated films are either staying in town or returning.

"Notes on a Scandal," which snagged a Best Actress nod for Judi Dench, is opening at Kimball's on Friday. We'll have a review in GO!

"The Departed," the best movie I saw last year, is back in local theaters. "The Queen," "The Pursuit of Happyness," "Pan's Labyrinth," "Dreamgirls" and "Letters from Iwo Jima," are still in town.

The one we're still waiting for is "The Last King of Scotland," which got an Oscar nomination for Forest Whitaker.

I think the toughest choice in the Oscar match-up is Best Director: Martin Scorcese, who's deserved it on many occasions, may get the sentimental vote for "The Departed." But how can you deny Clint Eastwood, who makes , not one, but two WWII films, the second in JAPANESE for heaven sake?!

Please send me some of your Oscar thoughts.

Children of Men .... and more

2007-01-22T13:32:00.000-08:00

I'd expected so much from "Children of Men" from the reviews and the high rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

One critic called it Samuel Beckett on Red Bull. I love that idea.

I usually love dark, post-apocalyptic thrillers. My wife and I saw it Friday night, and we both found it depressing, gratuitously brutal and predictable. It has one scene worth seeing:

In the middle of bloody urban warfare, a woman carrying the first baby born to humanity in 18 years walks out of a ruined building. As her baby's cry reaches everyone around her, they stop fighting and stare in awe. You knew this scene was coming, but it was still beautiful.

Then, somebody starts shooting again and the combatants apparently forget about the baby. What? I know the film is making political statements about how dumb we are ... but wouldn't protecting that child instantly trump all other missions of the soldiers?

I did love Michael Caine as the pot-smoking hippy.

But if you're looking for a better fall-of-the-British-empire-post-apocalyptic thriller, go for "V for Vendetta."

(INCIDENTALLY, my wife blames me for bad movies, like I wrote them ... she tells me I owe her "Memoirs of a Geisha" for this one. Ouch!)

Also this weekend, I caught "Crank" on DVD. I like Jason Statham and his "Transporter" films, and I thought the premise of the hitman poisoned with stuff that'll kill him if his heart slows, was interesting.

But the film just made me queasy -- action without the feel-good.

My son tried to get me to watch "Jackass Number 2," and I refused. I did agree to see the opening (running of the bulls in suburbia- funny), the best bit (about an actor set up to act like a terrorist who encounters an angry run-weilding cabbie, who, it turns out, is also an actor- cruel, but kinda funny.) and the closing number (a grand Busby-Berkley-esque musical number to Jerry Herman's "Best of Times"- truly amazing and funny.)

Beyond Golden Globes

2007-01-18T12:45:00.000-08:00

You can almost hear the drum rolls.

Hollywood is in that in-between point. The Golden Globes have already been handed out, and the Oscar nominations are out on Tuesday the 23rd.

The Globes made some great choices:

Just from the clips and an NPR report I heard, I can tell Forest Whitaker is amazing in "The Last King Of Scotland" (maybe Kimball's will get it soon); glad to see "Borat" getting more attention, and Scorcese getting his due for "The Departed."

I thought "Children of Men" might get more attention. Also, "Perfume" and "The Good German."

The Globes went gaga over "Dreamgirls," which I haven't seen because I saw it as a Netflixer -- a formula feel-good Motown story. Friends and colleagues have given it real mixed reviews.

What do you think? What movies should the Academy consider when they hand out their nominations next week?

Missing Sundance

2007-01-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

It's not fair that Rocky Mountain New critic Bob Denerstein is grumbling his way through another Sundance and I'm in Colorado Springs watching the People's Choice Awards.

Bob hates just about everything about Sundance -- the pretentious films, the artificially spontaneous celebrity round-tables, the walking, the waiting for buses, the crowds, the star-struck autograph hounds.

I love everything about Sundance ... even Bob's grumbling.

It's true that most of the films suck.

When I covered Sundance in '98, screenwriter and poet Sherman Alexie, who was introducing his film "Smoke Signals," summed it up best: "I'd rather watch 'T2' than 95 percent of the movies at this festival."

But you go there for that 5 percent, films like "Smoke Signals" or "Whale Rider" or "The Tao of Steve," that never would have made it to theaters if it wasn't for these festivals, which have become backdoors to Hollywood.

Our budget didn't have enough to pay for a trip to Sundance this year, and for Coloradans, Telluride is the more significant festival to cover. Still, I think of Park City every January.

'Pirates' the drama?

2007-01-10T10:02:00.000-08:00

Watching the People's Choice Awards ... the most bogus of award shows, to be sure, but putting "Pirates of the Caribbean" under Drama?

Did they see Johnny Depp in mascara running away from all those special effects?

New 'To Sir with Love'

2007-01-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

Going to the movies with the whole family is always a tough negotiation. I'm dying to see "Children of Men," which scored over 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. But it's rated R.

Instead, we went to "Freedom Writers," which I expected to be a paint-by-the-numbers "Stand and Deliver" type faux inspirational.

I was blown away (and so were the wife and kids). "Freedom Writers" found a new angle (in a new amazing true story) on the miracle teacher story that left a tear in my eye and had the audience cheering.

Unfortunately, the film fared poorly at the box office. If you see it and like it, talk it up.

TANGENT ALERT:

At one point, Hilary Swank's character, a new teacher in an inner-city integrated school, asks the kids how many of them have seen "Boyz in the Hood."

All of them had.

John Singleton's 1991 masterpiece remains the best, most heart-breaking gangsta flick ever made.

It's a film that's fiercely against gang violence.

But here's the irony: it not only sparked violence in the theaters when it opened, it stands to this day as a template for how gangstas should dress and behave.

"Well, then it failed," my wife says.

Did it? Is an artist responsible for the way people misunderstand his work?

What do you think?

Catching up on movies

2007-01-04T10:30:00.000-08:00

With TV shows still on winter break I've been catching up on my Netflix.

Earlier this week, I saw "Everything Is Illuminated." I'll have to make this one of my back-shelf picks. It's a delightfully quirky film about how a man's search for his heritage leads to another family's revelation. As he did in "Sin City," Elijah Wood proves he can do more than Frodo.

I'm getting old

2007-01-02T16:13:00.000-08:00

The kids and I saw "Accepted" on pay per view last night.

A couple of friends had raved about the movie.

The kids liked it.

Me? Not so much. At a time when we're trying to instill in the kids how important grades are, and getting into college is ... along comes a movie that says that stuff is all a bunch of BS.

It makes some valid points, but also tramples over our values.

I'm sure my parents probably would have thought the same thing if we'd sat down to watch "Animal House" when I was 14.

Happy Penguins

2007-01-02T16:10:00.000-08:00

I went to Pagosa Springs over the holidays.

They have one movie theater with one screen: "Happy Feet" at 6; "Deck the Halls" at 8

We did "Happy Feet" and barely got in before it sold out... sold out! ... it's been playing for what? five weeks? my family had to split up.

What a fun family film. After seeing "Night at the Museum" last week and "Cars" before that, I'm starting to think we're doing pretty well in getting quality family fare this season.

Back shelf picks - all of them

2007-01-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

I'm sometimes asked for a complete list of recommended movies from my Back-Shelf Pick column. Here's all of the movies I've featured so far. (And check the comments for some great suggestions from readers!)

Minus Man
American Movie
East Is East
Comedian
The Aristocrats
The Year of Living Dangerously
The World's Fastest Indian
Bagdad Cafe
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Touching the Void
Enigma
The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition
Aberdeen
Memento
A Slipping Down Life
The Cooler
You Can Count on Me
MirrorMask
Tumbleweeds
The Straight Story
Requiem for a Dream
House of Sand and Fog
Calendar Girls
Transamerica
Casanova
Kingdom of Heaven
Shopgirl
Saint Ralph
Clay Pigeons
Spellbound
The Big Kahuna
House of Games
The Missing
Plots with a View
A Love Song for Bobby Long
Love and Sex
The Quiet American
The Deep End
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Millions
Howl's Moving Castle
Proof
I Capture the Castle
Eve's Bayou
The Professional
A Walk on the Moon
Cop Land
Billy Elliot
Two Family House
Searching for Bobby Fischer
In the Bedroom
The Ref
Shine
Hear My Song
Green Dragon
Garden State
21 Grams
28 Days Later
Personal Velicity
Montana
To End All Wars
Dear Frankie
Truly, Madly, Deeply
The Tao of Steve
Danny Deck Chair
In America
Lantana
Scotland, P.A.
Into the West
The Woodsman
Spartan
Happy Texas
The Safety of Objects
Happy Accidents
Smoke Signals
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

I hope you find some movies here you like. I've tried to pick under-watched movies with the most wide appeal. I have plenty of favorites that are Italian, French, Japanese, Chinese ... But I know that so many moviegoers won't bother with subtitles.

The next Bond movie

2006-12-21T14:43:00.000-08:00

So, did yo come up with some great titles and suggestions for leading ladies?

Just click on the comment button and let me know.

And don't forget those official cocktail napkins.

"Rocky" fans, unite

2006-12-19T10:10:00.000-08:00

I'd like to hear what people think about "Rocky Balboa," the fifth and hopefully final installment of Stallone's boxing saga.

Andy Wineke's review will run on the Wednesday Pop page. It's pretty fun, I think.

Most of the critics are giving positive, but unenthusiastic reviews of the new "Rocky."

An exception is Steve Persall at the St. Pete Times. He loved it! Here are some excerpts of his review ....

"Rocky Balboa is a triumphant conclusion to what should have been
a trilogy, if Sylvester Stallone hadn’t stretched one movie’s worth
of ideas across four sequels.
The sixth installment of Stallone’s underdog saga is better in
some ways than the first, an Oscar winner for best picture of 1976.

"Rocky Balboa is one of the best sequels ever made for any
franchise . Yet it could almost stand alone. Cynics must stash away
those Stallone jokes for another day. After all the million-dollar
babies and Cinderella men on screen since 1976, Rocky reclaims his
title as American cinema’s heavyweight champion."

Wow, "One of the best sequels ever"?

Really?

What do you think. Please leave you comments.

Is 'The Fountain' all wet?

2006-12-11T15:05:00.000-08:00

Ignoring all the reviews, I found myself at Cinemark on Friday watching "The Fountain."
In fact, I took my kids.
During the credits, one of the dozen or so audience members asked, "Did anybody actually LIKE that movie?"
After a moment of silence, a man in the back answered, "I did."
I joined in, saying "I appreciated it as art. Slow, often boring art. But art."
My kids say they kept wanting to like the movie and appreciated the visuals. But they couldn't help but squirm in their seats waiting for something to happen.
This was made by the visionary director Darren Aronofsky, who made "Requiem for a Dream" and "Pi." He's been called the successor to Kubrick.
With "The Fountain," he's created what could have been his greatest masterpiece, a passionate science-fiction that jumps back and forth through time, in telling three stories set in different periods: a Spanish explorer (Hugh Jackman) sent by Queen Isabel (Rachel Weisz) to find the Tree of Life; a medical researcher (Jackman again) trying desparately to find a cure for his dying wife (Weisz again); and a bald future astronaut (Jackman) floating through through space with a tree looking for a dying star.
It may sound confusing, but the plot would have worked if the middle piece had developed Weisz's character as the dying wife. The film becomes about the doctor's obsession, his never-ending drive to keep his wife alive. What Aronofsky doesn't do is make US care about her fate. We simply don't know her.
Consequently, the movie falls apart, its stunning otherworldly images wasted.
"It was just boring," my youngest son declared.
Yeah. Sorry. Next time we'll listen to the damn critics.

Sylvester Stallone explains "Rocky 6"

2006-12-01T14:36:00.000-08:00

Slyvester Stallone was up in Denver today, promoting "Rocky Balboa" (the actual title) which comes out Dec. 20.

Yeah, another Rocky movie. I saw it, it's better than you'd expect, but it didn't really work for me. Full review to come.

Here's some highlights from the interview:

- They gave me like 25 minutes to talk to him -- that's a lot for a movie interview; the TV and radio guys were just getting 5 minutes. Must be my good looks and charming personality.
- Everybody asks if he's short. Not exceptionally -- he was about the same height as me (5-9), but he has this ginormous head and huge hands (and he's still pretty ripped), so he gives the impression of being bigger than he really is.
- He didn't want to end with "Rocky V" because it, well, sucked.
- He had a lot of trouble getting the studio to finance the film. The old head of MGM thought it was a terrible idea. The wife of the new studio head read the script and loved it.
- He's working on a script for "Rambo IV," but thinks it would be weird to do another Rocky and another Rambo back to back. Which it would be.
- A lot of "Rocky Balboa" is autobiographical -- him coming to terms with his own family and growing older.
- He says he didn't make the movie to reach out to new fans. He was more interested in ending the story for the people who have watched since the beginning.
- He auditioned other real fighters before settling on light heavyweight Antonio Tarver to play the fictional champ, Mason "The Line" Dixon. He needed a fighter who could speak his lines, but also someone who wasn't so physically overwhelming that Stallone would look ridiculous in the ring with him (although that was the entire plot of "Rocky IV").

Deja Vu

2006-11-28T12:58:00.001-08:00

I find this is one of those movies that ordinary people will enjoy a lot more than critics. That's because it has an outlandish sci-fi premise (gov't spooks figure out how to create worm holes that make time windows that allow them to see four days in the past).

Once you buy into this crazy idea (which you're more likely to do if you spend $8), it's a straight-up Denzel Washington actioner, with a whole bunch of great Bruckheimer explosions and car chases. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Casino Royale

2006-11-27T08:57:00.000-08:00

Saw the new Bond last night and I loved the reinterpretation of the franchise. It probably says something that my other favorite Bond movie was "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" -- George Lazenby was the original attempt to humanize Bond.

I thought Daniel Craig was great, I loved the details, the grittiness, the plausibility of the action scenes. Well, if not plausible, at least they weren't cartoonish. I loved that line from Vesper about Bond's watch and what it said about him. And the car wreck, seen in the previews, but better in context, was one of the best stunts I've seen in recent memory. However, I admit I was a little lost by the plot at a couple points.

SPOILER ALERT

Back to those plot questions: After the torture scene on the boat, Bond wakes up at the hospital and all of the sudden, he and Vesper are totally in love. Where did that come from? Yeah, he comforted her in the shower, but then they were at each other's throats again when she wouldn't front him the other $5 million.
Can you win a girl's heart these days by simply NOT running her over?

OK, and then at the end, M says that Vesper was in love with some Navy guy and the bad guys were using him to blackmail her. Sure, but what was the thing with her taking off the necklace and telling Bond that she wasn't going to live in the past anymore? What happened to loverboy No. 1? And, if Vesper made a deal to save Bond's life on the boat, does that mean she was in love with him then, or was the deal for both of their lives?

I've read a couple reviews and it seems like a lot of people were confused about one or another plot points. Maybe the writers and director were so concerned with getting the details right, they couldn't devote enough attention to making the forest clear.

Fast Food City

2006-11-16T16:00:00.000-08:00

I'd like to hear from people who see "Fast Food Nation." What local landmarks can you spot? If you work in the fast-food industry, how accurate is it? Let me know.

Borat pushback

2006-11-14T13:37:00.000-08:00

Borat has become the surprise hit of the fall, actually raking in more the SECOND week than the first. The word of mouth is huge on this.

I saw it on Sunday and laughed so hard I hurt myself.

I laughed again when I heard about the idiot frat boys and other suiing the studio. Good luck!

As with any huge phenom (Blair Witch ... Titanic), there are always those who wonder what the fuss is about.

Here's an email I received from a reader.

Warren;

I saw 'Borat' yesterday and am puzzled about the "A" rating it boasts in the Gazette's GO section. Who rates these movies?

The movie was not without the elements of humor; the cultural misunderstandings, as in the greeting kisses; the shock humor, as in the dinner party poop-in-a-bag scene and nudity at the convention scene; and the genuine reactions of down-home Americans to Borats mockings, as in the rodeo anthem audience. The improvisation was seemingly original, and as always, ethnic/gay jokes usually bring laughs. Initially there was a lot of laughter from the audience as we prepared to be amused.

But a little bit goes a very long way, then it turns gross. (As in the greeting kisses, the dinner party poop-in-a-bag scene, the hotel nudity scenes and the fear of being killed by Jews-what was that about?) Are there really that many people who like to see so much toilet and penis humor? As for the improvisation; who acts natural with a camera crew and lights in your face? The audience did stay vocal, but not so much in laughter as in groans and moans.

Judging by the comments overheard by people as we departed after the film, disgust prevailed over humor.

Who does rate these movies?

Sincerely Wondering,
Connie Hill

I told Connie about using a mix of local and wire reviewers. In this case: Jim Emerson from Universal Press Syndicate, whose opinion on this one was similar to most reviews I'd seen.

Here's Connie's response:

Warren;

Thanks for your reply. I was glad to hear your opinion of it.
You're welcome to put my letter on your blog.

Connie

PS I talked to a friend visiting Breckenridge today who said it is banned from theatres there!??

IS IT BANNED?
I've been trying to find out if Borat is playing in Breck. What I'm finding online is that The Speak Easy, the only in-town theater I know of, is temporarily closed. Borat is playing at the Trans-Lux Skyline Cinema, which is in nearby Dillon.

Please send me your opinions on the film.

Devil Spawn

2006-11-13T07:47:00.000-08:00

I watched the remake of The Omen this weekend, with Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles. Did anybody else find it ironic that Mia Farrow played Mrs. Baylock, the protector of wee Damien aka the child of Satan? She's the one who was drugged by a coven and got unknowingly pregnant with Satan's baby in "Rosemary's Baby." Then again, at the end of that movie she was beginning to form an attachment to the baby, wasn't she? Did they cast her for for this reason alone? A little horror movie humor?

Oscar contenders

2006-11-09T10:49:00.000-08:00

Big weekend for Oscar contenders. "Babel," "The Queen," "A Good Year" (OK, that last one, not so much. I expected a lot from Ridley Scott, finding another vehicle for Russell Crowe after "Gladiator," but critics are hating it.)

But I bet the new Will Ferrell "Stranger Than Fiction," which has funny previews, blows them all away at the box office.

Speaking of funny, I'm still trying to get out to see "Borat." Not one I'll take the kids to, though.

Cars

2006-11-09T10:40:00.000-08:00

Just saw this on DVD, and I wonder why it didn't get better reviews. Certainly, Pixar has prompted high expectations ... "Toy Story," "Finding Nemo," etc., but my family really liked "Cars."

It did take a while to get going, but once it did, it was a fun romp. Owen Wilson was great as Lightning McQueen, the big-city race car who learns the meaning of teamwork from Doc Hudson (voiced by Paul Newman) and the rest of the off-the-grid town of Radiator Springs.

Pixar's visual artistry has never been more dazzling. Particularly eye-popping is the look of the town at night with the neon glowing everywhere.

I give it a big thumb's up.

Back shelf picks - all of them

2006-11-02T12:43:00.000-08:00

I'm sometimes asked for a complete list of recommended movies from my Back-Shelf Pick column. Here's all of the movies I've featured so far. (And check the comments for some great suggestions from readers!)

One Hour Photo
The Sweet Hereafter
Midnight Train
Everything Is Illuminated
Minus Man
American Movie
East Is East
Comedian
The Aristocrats
The Year of Living Dangerously
The World's Fastest Indian
Bagdad Cafe
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Touching the Void
Enigma
The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition
Aberdeen
Memento
A Slipping Down Life
The Cooler
You Can Count on Me
MirrorMask
Tumbleweeds
The Straight Story
Requiem for a Dream
House of Sand and Fog
Calendar Girls
Transamerica
Casanova
Kingdom of Heaven
Shopgirl
Saint Ralph
Clay Pigeons
Spellbound
The Big Kahuna
House of Games
The Missing
Plots with a View
A Love Song for Bobby Long
Love and Sex
The Quiet American
The Deep End
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Millions
Howl's Moving Castle
Proof
I Capture the Castle
Eve's Bayou
The Professional
A Walk on the Moon
Cop Land
Billy Elliot
Two Family House
Searching for Bobby Fischer
In the Bedroom
The Ref
Shine
Hear My Song
Green Dragon
Garden State
21 Grams
28 Days Later
Personal Velicity
Montana
To End All Wars
Dear Frankie
Truly, Madly, Deeply
The Tao of Steve
Danny Deck Chair
In America
Lantana
Scotland, P.A.
Into the West
The Woodsman
Spartan
Happy Texas
The Safety of Objects
Happy Accidents
Smoke Signals
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

I hope you find some movies here you like. I've tried to pick under-watched movies with the most wide appeal. I have plenty of favorites that are Italian, French, Japanese, Chinese ... But I know that so many moviegoers won't bother with subtitles.

More Better Scary

2006-11-02T07:50:00.000-08:00

At the recommendation of Warren and our religion writer Paul Asay, I watched the original "The Haunting" and pretty much fell asleep during some apparently vital parts. Have I become immune to terror? Maybe. But it made me think of the movies I truly found super duper creepy:

"Don't Look Now" - 1973 movie starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. It's based on a story by Daphne Du Maurier, one of the all-time creepiest writers. It also has one of the steamiest sex scenes on film.

"Rosemary's Baby" - a classic! The 1968 movie stars Mia Farrow, Ruth Gordon and John Cassavetes. I think the apartment building in this movie is WAY creepier than Hill House.

Also freaky: "Amityville II: The Possession" - in 1982; and "The Amityville Horror" - in 1979

Be afraid

2006-10-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

My favorite scary movies of all time ....

1. The Haunting (1963 version, not awful remake)
2. Alien
3. The Exorcist (again, original)
4. The Omen (ditto)
5. The Shining (see post below)
6. Ghost Story
7. Blair Witch Project (go ahead and mock me. i loved it)
8. Mothman Prophesies
9. The Sixth Sense
10. The Others

Send me more.

Snowbound movies

2006-10-26T12:37:00.000-07:00

The blizzard has me thinking about my favorite snowbound movies. Of course, Kubrick's "The Shining" has to be at the top of the list.

Stephen King didn't do Colorado tourism any favors with that one. It's kind of a crazy idea that there would be a mountain resort hotel (it was modeled after The Stanley in Estes Park) that gets snowed in for months at a time.

Man, that was a creepy movie.

Yes, the book was better, but that's true of all King adaptations.

Can you guys think of any other great snowbound movies?

Prestigious!

2006-10-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

Don't listen to our wire critic David Germain, whose review ran in GO! on Friday. I saw "The Prestige" yesterday and found it as good as "The Illusionist," which I loved.

I was a little disappointed that "Colorado Springs" didn't look much like Colorado Springs (come on, could you not photo-shop in Pikes Peak, our biggest landmark?) and although Hugh Jackman's character stayed in a hotel that looked a bit like The Cliff House, it was never referred to buy name.

I'm curious to hear what other people thought of it.

Iwo Jima with a new dimension

2006-10-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

A buddy of mine, Greg Williams, is a nut about stereoscopes -- you know, those three-dimensional photo things ... the predecessor to the View-Master, which is actually just a slick version of a stereoscope.

Greg, who's an artist at The Tampa Tribune, also is a history buff and loves iconic photos, especially Pulitzer Prize-winners.

So, long before Clint Eastwood released his movie "Flags of Our Fathers," Greg was into Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima," which depicts five Marines and one Navy Corpsman raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi.

Greg knew that Marine cinematographer Sgt. Bill Genaust had filmed the same moment, and he wondered if the film footage was shot close enough, but not too close, to be able to create a stereoscope.

Sure enough, it had been.

Greg married a frame of Genaust's footage with Rosethal's photo and voila! -- a 3D picture.

Check out Greg's story and find a link to the 3D stereoscopic image.

You'll need those silly 3-D glasses. (Steal you kids from his "Shark Boy and Lava Girl" DVD.) But it's way cool.