Darth Vader In Love!

Holy crap this is funny:

Great production value too!

New Mike Myers’ Movie . . .

. . . same old shtick?

MacHEADS: the Trailer!

American Gangster, reviewed

Saw American Ganster. Overall, a decent movie. Worth the time and Netflix “rental”. Had I spent the $ in a theatre, I might have been disappointed. It wasn’t so much as it was a bad movie — in fact it was a great story — but it never really draws you in.

It was your typical Ridley Scott blockbuster movie. It sounded great and looked great. But the glossy style never really let you in to the heart of the story, which was essentially two characters at opposite ends of the law. I’m not sure this was the proper grist for the Scott Free mill. This script needed a more deft hand, as it was more a play than a music video. Yet they dressed it all up with the all the fancy trappings of modern day production quality, instead of letting the characters play the words out against one another.

At the very end, when we find out (through a short montage and subtitles) that the two enemies are now working together, and then did so for another decade or more, you feel you were short-changed on your typical cops and robbers caper and denied what could have been a very unique film.

Denzel Washington’s talents were wasted. Russel Crowe’s talents were wasted. Hell, even Cuba Gooding Jr.’s talents were wasted; why was he cast in so small a part? The movie was over scored and over cut. The pace never let up for a second to allow you to emote with any of the characters and you never felt empathy for anyone. The violence of the movie had the affect of a bad horror movie where you think, “wow, look at the blood effects that Hollywood can pull off these days” rather than make you feel the tragedy of human cruelty.

The end of the Vietnam War and its ramifications on the plot are considered by the viewer long before any of the characters. The main character is portrayed as a micro-manager, and you are left wondering why he never considered how his supply chain might be affected by the status of hostilities in Vietnam.

American Gangster felt like it was made by focus groups and studio executives rather than filmmakers. I don’t think anyone is ever going to say, “you’ve gotta see this movie!” Nor do I think anyone will say, “this movie really sucked.”

We have to kill again

New season of The Wire is on HBO.  I nearly forgot about it.  So last night I on-demanded the first three episodes and watched them back to back.  Great stuff so far.  I like the Baltimore Sun story thread.  When McNultey said “we have to kill again,” I jumped up off the sofa and laughed like a banshee.  Still waiting to hear Clay Davis deliver is trademark “sheeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittt”.  Prediction: Herc is going to play a key role in bringing down Marlo.

Owen Wilson

Bernie Brillstein on Owen Wilson’s Suicide Attempt 

This Guardian Unlimited story has the best two sentences in journalism history:

Many Hollywood insiders believe Wilson’s setback will be short-lived and that he will continue to enjoy big-screen success. “He’s loved,” Bernie Brillstein, a veteran Hollywood manager who worked with John Belushi and Chris Farley, said Tuesday.

Brillstein continues with more brilliant insights like:

“it’s a singular case. Anyone can have a bad day, a very bad day.”

and . . .

“There is no boundary. This [kind of thing] has happened for years but the press was never so vigilant in reporting bad news.”

Does this guy sell gift certificates for his career management services???