Keri Russell turned 30!
Robot Chicken is coming out on DVD- YOU MUST SEE THIS!
The Unit and Evidence don't suck! And Heist really does, despite the lead hottie.
Issac Hayes left South Park and yeah, they went there.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Love it/Hate it...
Two movies, two dystopian futures.
One I liked, but not for the plot/writing, and the other I hated, because there was no plot/writing of which to speak.
OK,The Love goes first:
V for Vendetta- If you've read my House of Wax reviews, you know how a voice can get to me, and boy does Hugo Weaving have it in spades. And it wasn't just the voice. (That hypnotic, icy, creepy and still vulnerable voice.) Weaving's one of those classically-trained actors who has learned to use his entire body to make a point. And when you spend an ENTIRE movie in a mask, those subtle body movements, a tilt of the head, a hand gesture, a strut in the walk... they make all the difference. So much so, I actually tuned out of the movie a bit, and just focused on the attitude expressed through movement. His Matrix experience was a definite plus, but not just for the kung-fu aspects of V. There's a certain "disconnect" with reality that Weaving expresses very well. All the major characters Weaving's been associated with in the last few years (I'm thinking LOTR's Elrond, Matrix's Agent Smith, and now V) have been "outside" the main reality, yet an intricate part of it's goings-on. The "integral outsider" as it were. A puppet-master of sorts.
A similar kudos go to Natalie Portman, whose tear-laden eyes can be pissed and heartbroken at the same time. Screw the hair (or lack thereof)- look at her eyes, folks! While her character would have had farther to travel if she had been more of a gov't tool in the beginning, I was able to buy the initial external "guilt by association" and internal "my parents were right" versions that we saw, first through the inspector and later through Evey herself. Portman's line at the end to the Inspector about who V was (father, mother, brother, self) was believable only because you could see the echoes and transference in her eyes. I never saw V and Evey as a romantic pairing, but more symbiotic. She- his lost humanity, and He- her lost beliefs. Neither existed fully without the other, but each was able to subsist on its own, weakened, but independent.
And, yea! for making us actually believe an entire year had gone by, instead of feeling like it was rushed or forced.
As for the actual plot- meh. Been there, Fahrenheit 9-11'd that. The W'boys ditch Thatcherism for Bushism and there ya have it. An instant dystopian, paranoid future dictatorship plot. Read Orwell, you'll be happier, or at least more aware.
But I still loved it.
And now for The Hate:
Ahhh, Ultraviolet, you could have been so, so much more.
I don't care what you think, Mila Jovovich is a decent actress, good at action and not bad to look at. And I love playing H!ITG with William Fichtner, but this plot and this writing is crap. Oh, the humanity!
Set up a decimating virus story, set up a gov't human weapon story, set up a medical-freak-of-nature story, set up a vampire story, but for crying out loud if you're going to use all of them, use all of them at once- don't pick and choose depending on what works for the scene at hand! We had an intro voice-over that introduced the freak/virus story, and retconned the weapon/vampire bit about halfway through.
Here's my fix for almost the entire movie, and I can do it in 6 sentences to be uttered in V-O Scene One, while Mila's walking up to the gov't building for the courier-infiltration scene:
"They thought they were creating a perfect, human weapon.
Instead they got a highly virulent catastrophe.
The virus made the vampire-like weapons the government wanted, but they couldn't control it's spread.
Blood, tears, sweat, it was too contagious.
So they tried to destroy it- all of it and those who carried it.
And I got caught in the middle."
(Wait a minute! Isn't this the plot to Resident Evil?)
Bam! Innocent, infected heroine with tragic circumstances to be relayed in flashbacks where appropriate, not at the beginning where they sit there and are wasted for half the movie.
(Yeah, R.E. did this one better.)
Love the kid, hate the way he was ultimately useless and good only for looking forlorn and tugging at our heart-sleeves.
And haven't digital backgrounds and tracking shots gotten better than this, yet? Or did you embezzle part of the budget somewhere and we got stuck with this?
(I still want one of those negative space, belt buckle-thingies with the anti-grav drive, though. That looked cool! TechieToys!!!)
(Sigh!) It could've been sooooo gooood! But it wasn't!!!!
One I liked, but not for the plot/writing, and the other I hated, because there was no plot/writing of which to speak.
OK,The Love goes first:
V for Vendetta- If you've read my House of Wax reviews, you know how a voice can get to me, and boy does Hugo Weaving have it in spades. And it wasn't just the voice. (That hypnotic, icy, creepy and still vulnerable voice.) Weaving's one of those classically-trained actors who has learned to use his entire body to make a point. And when you spend an ENTIRE movie in a mask, those subtle body movements, a tilt of the head, a hand gesture, a strut in the walk... they make all the difference. So much so, I actually tuned out of the movie a bit, and just focused on the attitude expressed through movement. His Matrix experience was a definite plus, but not just for the kung-fu aspects of V. There's a certain "disconnect" with reality that Weaving expresses very well. All the major characters Weaving's been associated with in the last few years (I'm thinking LOTR's Elrond, Matrix's Agent Smith, and now V) have been "outside" the main reality, yet an intricate part of it's goings-on. The "integral outsider" as it were. A puppet-master of sorts.
A similar kudos go to Natalie Portman, whose tear-laden eyes can be pissed and heartbroken at the same time. Screw the hair (or lack thereof)- look at her eyes, folks! While her character would have had farther to travel if she had been more of a gov't tool in the beginning, I was able to buy the initial external "guilt by association" and internal "my parents were right" versions that we saw, first through the inspector and later through Evey herself. Portman's line at the end to the Inspector about who V was (father, mother, brother, self) was believable only because you could see the echoes and transference in her eyes. I never saw V and Evey as a romantic pairing, but more symbiotic. She- his lost humanity, and He- her lost beliefs. Neither existed fully without the other, but each was able to subsist on its own, weakened, but independent.
And, yea! for making us actually believe an entire year had gone by, instead of feeling like it was rushed or forced.
As for the actual plot- meh. Been there, Fahrenheit 9-11'd that. The W'boys ditch Thatcherism for Bushism and there ya have it. An instant dystopian, paranoid future dictatorship plot. Read Orwell, you'll be happier, or at least more aware.
But I still loved it.
And now for The Hate:
Ahhh, Ultraviolet, you could have been so, so much more.
I don't care what you think, Mila Jovovich is a decent actress, good at action and not bad to look at. And I love playing H!ITG with William Fichtner, but this plot and this writing is crap. Oh, the humanity!
Set up a decimating virus story, set up a gov't human weapon story, set up a medical-freak-of-nature story, set up a vampire story, but for crying out loud if you're going to use all of them, use all of them at once- don't pick and choose depending on what works for the scene at hand! We had an intro voice-over that introduced the freak/virus story, and retconned the weapon/vampire bit about halfway through.
Here's my fix for almost the entire movie, and I can do it in 6 sentences to be uttered in V-O Scene One, while Mila's walking up to the gov't building for the courier-infiltration scene:
"They thought they were creating a perfect, human weapon.
Instead they got a highly virulent catastrophe.
The virus made the vampire-like weapons the government wanted, but they couldn't control it's spread.
Blood, tears, sweat, it was too contagious.
So they tried to destroy it- all of it and those who carried it.
And I got caught in the middle."
(Wait a minute! Isn't this the plot to Resident Evil?)
Bam! Innocent, infected heroine with tragic circumstances to be relayed in flashbacks where appropriate, not at the beginning where they sit there and are wasted for half the movie.
(Yeah, R.E. did this one better.)
Love the kid, hate the way he was ultimately useless and good only for looking forlorn and tugging at our heart-sleeves.
And haven't digital backgrounds and tracking shots gotten better than this, yet? Or did you embezzle part of the budget somewhere and we got stuck with this?
(I still want one of those negative space, belt buckle-thingies with the anti-grav drive, though. That looked cool! TechieToys!!!)
(Sigh!) It could've been sooooo gooood! But it wasn't!!!!
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Off to the races
CBS got a jump on the '06-'07 scheduling wars by revealing most of next season's pick-ups. There are few surprises, although it is keeping most of its sitcoms on the fence until later. CBS is keeping How I Met Your Mother, Charlie Sheen's deal with the devil remains in place as Two and a Half Men gets a reprieve for another year. Poor sitcoms, we've been singing their death for years, and the tune isn't changing.
Not surprising, all three CSI's, the Amazing Race, Survivor, and 60 Minutes are still around. Criminal Minds gets another season, but I get the feeling that season two is going to sell the series for the long haul or kill it for good. While it draws respectable ratings against Lost, you could make the case that it's due more to dissatisfied Lost fans jumping raft, than to any real strong writing/acting/production. The episodes I've seen have been mostly meh. NCIS and Numb3ers are moving on, owing mostly to their great casts and loyal followings. Cold Case and Without a Trace will round out the procedurals that are the linchpin (only pins?) of the CBS-verse.
Of the mid-season replacements coming aboard, only The Unit is getting any real attention, but that's mostly due to the casting and creative team. Come on, David Mamet, Robert (T1000) Patrick, Dennis (President Palmer) Haysbert and Scott (that guy from Felicity) Foley! We're talking entertainment there.
(ed. 3-11-06)
Of course, I've missed the series premier twice now, so we could be talking hand of the Executive Programmer, here. Still gonna give it a shot, though. (Although I've heard from other 24 fans that seeing Haysbert channeling his inner action hero is a little jarring at first.)
Not surprising, all three CSI's, the Amazing Race, Survivor, and 60 Minutes are still around. Criminal Minds gets another season, but I get the feeling that season two is going to sell the series for the long haul or kill it for good. While it draws respectable ratings against Lost, you could make the case that it's due more to dissatisfied Lost fans jumping raft, than to any real strong writing/acting/production. The episodes I've seen have been mostly meh. NCIS and Numb3ers are moving on, owing mostly to their great casts and loyal followings. Cold Case and Without a Trace will round out the procedurals that are the linchpin (only pins?) of the CBS-verse.
Of the mid-season replacements coming aboard, only The Unit is getting any real attention, but that's mostly due to the casting and creative team. Come on, David Mamet, Robert (T1000) Patrick, Dennis (President Palmer) Haysbert and Scott (that guy from Felicity) Foley! We're talking entertainment there.
(ed. 3-11-06)
Of course, I've missed the series premier twice now, so we could be talking hand of the Executive Programmer, here. Still gonna give it a shot, though. (Although I've heard from other 24 fans that seeing Haysbert channeling his inner action hero is a little jarring at first.)
Sunday, March 05, 2006
It's the Oscar's, and yes- I care!
Yes, it's that time of year again. Glitz, glamour, awkward speeches, and- oh yeah!- awards for excellence, or something like that.
This is the first year in, hmmm, three years(?) that I was able to throw my annual Oscar gathering. I invited some friends over, made some food, passed out some ballots, and turned on the tube, and... I wasn't as badly disappointed as I have been in the past. A few quick impressions:
I don't know yet what others thought of the opening sketch- I had a flashback to Billy Crystal's movie parody intro two(?) years ago when I saw the Brokeback-esque tent- but I liked it. It pretty much illustrates what the annual host-choosing process must have become in recent years. Hurray, MoviePhone, guy whoever you are! Although the Clooney moment was just long enough to be really aaawkward before we moved on.
Jon Stewart should avoid all monologues. He's at his best riffing off of others, quaintly quipping his way along a few lines at a time. I don't know if it was the weight of the Oscar audience, or his unfamiliarity with the format, but he didn't hit his stride until about a quarter of the way into it when there was enough happening around him to comment on instead of going off his prepared jokes. But how much did I love the attack ads? It was a wonderful way to take a poke at all of those "For your consideration" ads in a uniquely "Daily Show" kind of way. He hit a few speed bumps along the way, but overall, good job. Better than Chris Rock, and no one beats Billy Crystal, but once things got rolling, not bad. Not bad at all.
Why couldn't George Clooney win later in the night? He has such a laid-back approach to acceptance speeches, political without being preachy, they're charming, amusing. Here is a guy who knows his image (Sexiest Man to Batman to Oscar-winner) and he knows how to play (in)to it. Instead of gushing, he was appreciative, he knows this will define him, forever, as "Oscar Winner, George Clooney," but it won't define the work he does, or the image he presents. It was in a word, classy. More winners should be this cool.
Awwww! Moments- the masters of Wallace and Gromit brought bow ties for their Oscars! Love it! And the Director/Producers of March of the Penguins all had stuffed penguins with them.
The Sally Field Gusher Award goes too: Reese Witherspoon. She went on and on, but she was soooo cute! And sooo happy! (And for a minute, we all thought she was going to forget her husband, but... no- he got his shout-out, too.)
Memoirs of a Geisha ruled the "pretty things" categories. Picking up Cinematography, Costume and Art Direction awards, Geisha has proven, once again, that "historical"+ "colorful"+ "not-American"= Oscar. Thank the heavens that they weren't nominated in the Make-up category, too. Although, while we're on the subject...
Why was Cinderella Man even nominated? Were we really so short of nominees this year that a bunch of bruises and Depression-era hair became Oscar-worthy? And while I have no quarrel with the winner, The Chronicles Of Narnia, the only make-up job they really focused on was the Mr. Tumnus get-up, but the Ice Queen was amazing. Subtle, but powerfully effective. It was what make-up should be in something like this. The costumes were amazing, as well, but I guess the Academy is still in LOTR rehab....
Or is it, 'cause King Kong cleaned up the Sound and Visual FX awards.
Is it wrong to be gleeful that War of the Worlds was shut-out? No? Yippee!!! Don't get me wrong, Spielberg knows how to do the FX thing, (and the directing thing, and the producing bit) but it was so nice to see the "other guys" get their chance.
I like that the musical categories have opened up past the big historicals, and the traditional balladeering. But are we sure there weren't any more eligible songs out there?
Best ad-lib, not by the host- Jennifer Garner. She trips, she stumbles, she barely manages to stay on her feet, and- "I do my own stunts." Hee.
There weren't any real "upsets" although it kills me that Crash took home the big prize. I'm not surprised, just disappointed. The other pictures were so much better in plot, acting, and overall execution it's just criminal. (And since I haven't see all of them- thank you to all my friends, co-workers, and reviewers out there who have pointed this out to me. I'm sure I'll agree with you when I get around to catching up.)
As for the home awards- well, when it comes to picking the winners we kinda suck. The evening's winner only got a paltry 10 out of 24, a loss mostly due to holding out hope against hope that Brokeback was going to get more, and that there might actually be an upset somewhere and a dark horse could take it. Most everyone got Clooney and Witherspoon, and no one got Best Picture. We all loved Michelle Williams' dress/hair/everything, and everyone got really sick of me hating the set.
[But- I mean, the little box office add-on set was cute, but the presenters appearing out from those huge, gaudy columns, and the mono-chromatic awfulness of it all- I, I, God- it's called COLOR people! What I remember of the old movie houses (the ones that survived long enough for me to see anyway) , our chosen theme per the press release, are the vibrant blues and golds and reds. Velvet curtains, sculpted mouldings- OK we kinda had the mouldings, but as blown-up set pieces a story and a half high, and I know we don't want to possibly clash with the pretty dresses, but, again, it's COLOR people! COLOR and- (sigh) I'm stopping, I'm stopping.]
Oh, and last but not least, my favorite Oscar tradition: The "Official" Nicholson Count!- there were six reaction cuts to Jack Nicholson this year, and although I wasn't counting (but I may start) there were numerous cuts to Spielberg. Is he the new Jack? Maybe next year will tell. (This tradition started years ago when some friends and I were trying to figure out why the directors were cutting to certain people over and over again. I don't believe Nicholson was even IN a movie that year, but they kept cutting to him for some reason of seating and his general "look", and, well, we noticed. And have been noticing ever since.)
Well, that's the 78th annual Academy Awards. See ya next year!
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