I agree with every pick on this list, except one, They almost got it right. But I think the old Vancouver Canucks clown suits were the worst, most putrid thing ever draped over the shoulders of a professional athlete. But it's about time some collective asked round the cubicals to name the worst dressed athletes ever and put them to press. If there were other such lists printed (and we all know there were) I've never seen one.
But a good one.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Wow! I Didn't See This One Coming
I thought it would fill out the top five for Best Picture, but 13 nominations? This thing could potentially beat Ben Hur and Titanic for the record of 11 Oscars for one motion picture.
I couldn't believe it when I read it. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has been nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and 10 other Academy Awards.
Look, this was a good movie, maybe even a really good movie, but to justify 13 Academy Award nominations without the real marketing or word-of-mouth that you would normally see for a pre-bought, hope-to-be-blockbuster release, is surprising to say the least.
However, I do like the nod for Brad Pitt for Best Actor. I think he should have won a couple of times already for Fight Club and 12 Monkeys, for which he was nominated for. One of his best roles has to be Achilles in Troy. I want to say Se7en, but although that was a good performance, I don't think it warranted an Oscar. Hey, I'm not in love with the guy.
I have to add his best cameo (even before his pretty funny appearance on Friends) would have to be as Floyd, in True Romance. Funny.
But anyways, this movie was sweet, sincere, flowing and sad, even though the makers tried to make us feel alright, as if to say, "it's o.k."
But 13 nominations? I can't wrap my head around it. Is this the answer Hollywood gives us? They don't want to have to decide between Milk, because it's a Prop 8-accompanied release, which has made squat, considering? Or The Dark Knight because it was the best movie of the year? Unfortunately, it's a "comic movie," so it doesn't count.
Well, we have a buffer-zone for Hollywood bigwigs now. No direct competition. No questions about an "epic" winning a monopoly on Oscars night, right? And once again, the wrong movie will win Best Picture.
On the bright side, Heath Ledger got his obvious Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor for one of the most brilliant performances you ever will see portraying The Joker.
Never again will I look at another Batman comic and not think of Ledger as Joker.But I also can't believe Christopher Nolan didn't get a nomination for Best Director for The Dark Knight. Or for sure, The Dark Knight not getting a Best Picture nomination? I know. It is a "comic movie"but it was the best movie of the year!
Just being released outside of that 1-month zone killed it chances. You know the zone. The 1-month time target that only focuses on films released (at least the Best Picture) within one month of the awards ceremony.
Clint didn't get his Best Actor or Best Director nods! And with Gran Torino and The Dark Knight out of the way, it's down to Milk and Slumdog, it seems. Oh right, then there's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and its 13 nominations! Still, it's rather fishy in Denmark-type stuff.
What else got nominated for Best Picture of 2008? The Reader(?) and the liberal art house favorite, Frost/Nixon.
Mickey Rourke got a Best Actor nod for The Wrestler.
See it. He is now my favorite to win. Along with that was Marissa Tomei has a chance for a second Oscar, this one in a drama from the same film.
Slumdog Millionaire has 10 of it's own nominations overall as well. We have us a gen-u-ine Cinderella-like story going on. Strange how a movie with absolutely no acting nominations gets the nomination for Best Picture.And Wall-E
got the nod for Best Animated Feature. Good little movie.
But, 13 nominations for Benjamin Buttons? What the...? Where did this come from?
Ah, who cares? Just another ceremony that allows-on a nationally televised platform- the entertainment elite to pat themselves on the back for being Masters of the Universe, that lasts 18,000 hours long.
Nothing ever changes with this "tradition."
I wonder if I have to work that Sunday?
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Worst Political Movies of the Last 50 Years
By Ed Morrissey
Via HotAir.com
What have been the worst explicitly political movies of the last 50 years, roughly the lifetime of our new President? In order to qualify, the film has to have had a theatrical release, been considered a major motion picture (no cheapie, American International, drive-in flicks or straight-to-video nonsense), and dealt with explicitly political and/or policy themes. They could be conservative or liberal, although good luck finding many of the former; it just has to stink.
I have a few in mind already, which will hopefully give some guidance:
The Day After Tomorrow (2004) - Utter cheese-fest of hysteria, bad writing, and bad science, but it’s Al Gore’s Citizen Kane. Global warming meets Irwin Allen, and the dumbest moment comes when Americans become illegal immigrants into Mexico. How ironic!
JFK (1991) - Oliver Stone takes the most ridiculous of the Kennedy assassination conspirators and glorifies him as some truth-teller to power. Loaded with Stone’s paranoia, it’s fronted by Kevin Costner in his dead-wood period. Requires equal parts Dramamine and No-Doz.
Nixon (1995) - Oliver Stone strikes again, this time in demonizing Richard Nixon. A better director might have made a compelling portrait of the most reviled president in American history, but instead, Stone trowels on his hatred and stylized direction to turn this into an utter disaster.
The Dreamers (2003) - Three young adults get naked and have a lot of sex in order to rebel against the stifling culture … of Paris in 1968. Complete with the glorification of the 1968 riots that led France into a Socialist economic coffin for four decades.
The China Syndrome (1979) - Another hysteria-driven film, but this one managed to kill nuclear power for decades when an accident at Three Mile Island occurred at the same time as the movie hit theaters. Neither the movie nor the accident killed or injured anyone, but it handcuffed American energy production, and it’s still handcuffed to this day. It misrepresents the safety procedures and the fail-safes in American reactors of the time.
Ishtar (1987) - Notorious bomb involves Americans caught up in the cold war, jihadis, and really bad singing. What were Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty doing in a remake of Spies Like Us?
The Scarlet Letter (1995) - If Demi Moore had just stuck with the source material, perhaps the scenery-chewing would have been less egregious. Instead, Hollywood changed Hawthorne’s plot to give us a happy ending. Demi Moore explained this by saying a happy ending was okay, because not too many people had read the book. Uh … right. Terrible, terrible, simply awful version of the story without a performance to make it worthwhile despite the high-priced talent. (Yes, it’s political.)
The Deer Hunter (1978) - Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it won an Oscar for Best Picture. It’s still a dreadfully boring movie shot by self-indulgent director Michael Cimino. In 1978, any movie about Vietnam was considered high art. When Cimino essentially remade this film two years later in Heaven’s Gate and set it in the Wild West, it bombed, and Cimino’s career went into the tank.
The Contender (2000) - While I hate the politics of the movie, I have to offer the small defense of it being perhaps the most realistic depiction of the tone in Washington. Also, I thought about this film a lot during the ten weeks that Sarah Palin campaigned for VP. Watch the film again with that in mind, and almost everything that happens in the movie has an analog with Palin, only with the bad guys and good guys reversed.
The American President (1995) - If we could divorce the politics from the movie, it would make a cute romantic comedy. Unfortunately, Rob Reiner has all of the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and Michael Douglas gives an almost fascist speech at the end which Reiner expects us to cheer, including an explicit threat to go door to door to confiscate guns from law-abiding Americans. Bonus points for bad with Richard Dreyfuss in the Snidely Whiplash Conservative role. Yes, really.
Munich (2005) - Well made and simply awful. I wrote a review of it when it first came out three years ago, and I was being kind.
V for Vendetta (2005) - Haven’t seen it, although it’s on my Netflix queue just so I can make up my own mind about it. I heard it’s pretty objectionable on its politics.
The Constant Gardener (2005) - Sheer, unadulterated dreck. My review can be found here. Nothing but a stream of left-wing sloganeering, complete with laughable reliance on the UN as the only incorruptable presence in the Third World.
Children of Men (2006) - Another film filled with anti-Bush propaganda, although it seems a little out of place …. in 2027. I reviewed this one, too, when it first hit theaters.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)- Well I suppose no one could play the robotic, solemn Klaatu, like the robotic, solemn, Keanuu Reeves. And he wasn't even playing the giant robot, Gort. Nope, Reeves was, in all his magnificent charisma-laden self, cast to play Klaatu; the low-key, but straight foward man from another world sent to Earth to "help us see the error of our ways" before we destroy the planet. Another Al Gore library favorite. It is slow, depressing, inaccurate and just plain bad. With some good eye candy supplied by Jennifer Connelly and some other bad acting (besides from Reeves) from Jaden Smith, Will Smith's son. You'd think I could expect a better performance from said offspring, what, with the numerous good performances his father has given us over the past 10 or so years. The Day After Tomorrow meets An Inconvenient Truth. With some neat special effects notwithstanding, to be avoided.
Frost/Nixon (2008) - will be reviewed shortly. And although I hear good things about it, that Nixon is not villianized, nor is Frost cannonized, which I fully expected from liberal director Ron Howard
Via HotAir.com
What have been the worst explicitly political movies of the last 50 years, roughly the lifetime of our new President? In order to qualify, the film has to have had a theatrical release, been considered a major motion picture (no cheapie, American International, drive-in flicks or straight-to-video nonsense), and dealt with explicitly political and/or policy themes. They could be conservative or liberal, although good luck finding many of the former; it just has to stink.
I have a few in mind already, which will hopefully give some guidance:
The Day After Tomorrow (2004) - Utter cheese-fest of hysteria, bad writing, and bad science, but it’s Al Gore’s Citizen Kane. Global warming meets Irwin Allen, and the dumbest moment comes when Americans become illegal immigrants into Mexico. How ironic!
JFK (1991) - Oliver Stone takes the most ridiculous of the Kennedy assassination conspirators and glorifies him as some truth-teller to power. Loaded with Stone’s paranoia, it’s fronted by Kevin Costner in his dead-wood period. Requires equal parts Dramamine and No-Doz.
Nixon (1995) - Oliver Stone strikes again, this time in demonizing Richard Nixon. A better director might have made a compelling portrait of the most reviled president in American history, but instead, Stone trowels on his hatred and stylized direction to turn this into an utter disaster.
The Dreamers (2003) - Three young adults get naked and have a lot of sex in order to rebel against the stifling culture … of Paris in 1968. Complete with the glorification of the 1968 riots that led France into a Socialist economic coffin for four decades.
The China Syndrome (1979) - Another hysteria-driven film, but this one managed to kill nuclear power for decades when an accident at Three Mile Island occurred at the same time as the movie hit theaters. Neither the movie nor the accident killed or injured anyone, but it handcuffed American energy production, and it’s still handcuffed to this day. It misrepresents the safety procedures and the fail-safes in American reactors of the time.
Ishtar (1987) - Notorious bomb involves Americans caught up in the cold war, jihadis, and really bad singing. What were Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty doing in a remake of Spies Like Us?
The Scarlet Letter (1995) - If Demi Moore had just stuck with the source material, perhaps the scenery-chewing would have been less egregious. Instead, Hollywood changed Hawthorne’s plot to give us a happy ending. Demi Moore explained this by saying a happy ending was okay, because not too many people had read the book. Uh … right. Terrible, terrible, simply awful version of the story without a performance to make it worthwhile despite the high-priced talent. (Yes, it’s political.)
The Deer Hunter (1978) - Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it won an Oscar for Best Picture. It’s still a dreadfully boring movie shot by self-indulgent director Michael Cimino. In 1978, any movie about Vietnam was considered high art. When Cimino essentially remade this film two years later in Heaven’s Gate and set it in the Wild West, it bombed, and Cimino’s career went into the tank.
The Contender (2000) - While I hate the politics of the movie, I have to offer the small defense of it being perhaps the most realistic depiction of the tone in Washington. Also, I thought about this film a lot during the ten weeks that Sarah Palin campaigned for VP. Watch the film again with that in mind, and almost everything that happens in the movie has an analog with Palin, only with the bad guys and good guys reversed.
The American President (1995) - If we could divorce the politics from the movie, it would make a cute romantic comedy. Unfortunately, Rob Reiner has all of the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and Michael Douglas gives an almost fascist speech at the end which Reiner expects us to cheer, including an explicit threat to go door to door to confiscate guns from law-abiding Americans. Bonus points for bad with Richard Dreyfuss in the Snidely Whiplash Conservative role. Yes, really.
Munich (2005) - Well made and simply awful. I wrote a review of it when it first came out three years ago, and I was being kind.
V for Vendetta (2005) - Haven’t seen it, although it’s on my Netflix queue just so I can make up my own mind about it. I heard it’s pretty objectionable on its politics.
The Constant Gardener (2005) - Sheer, unadulterated dreck. My review can be found here. Nothing but a stream of left-wing sloganeering, complete with laughable reliance on the UN as the only incorruptable presence in the Third World.
Children of Men (2006) - Another film filled with anti-Bush propaganda, although it seems a little out of place …. in 2027. I reviewed this one, too, when it first hit theaters.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)- Well I suppose no one could play the robotic, solemn Klaatu, like the robotic, solemn, Keanuu Reeves. And he wasn't even playing the giant robot, Gort. Nope, Reeves was, in all his magnificent charisma-laden self, cast to play Klaatu; the low-key, but straight foward man from another world sent to Earth to "help us see the error of our ways" before we destroy the planet. Another Al Gore library favorite. It is slow, depressing, inaccurate and just plain bad. With some good eye candy supplied by Jennifer Connelly and some other bad acting (besides from Reeves) from Jaden Smith, Will Smith's son. You'd think I could expect a better performance from said offspring, what, with the numerous good performances his father has given us over the past 10 or so years. The Day After Tomorrow meets An Inconvenient Truth. With some neat special effects notwithstanding, to be avoided.
Frost/Nixon (2008) - will be reviewed shortly. And although I hear good things about it, that Nixon is not villianized, nor is Frost cannonized, which I fully expected from liberal director Ron Howard
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Ledger Wins Golden Globe
Heath Ledger, who's brilliant performance as the diabolical, sociopath, The Joker that made the Christopher Nolan Batman sequel The Dark Knight the blockbuster what it was, won the 2009 Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Movie.
Now the Golden Globes are traditionally a pre-cursor to the Academy Awards. Many insiders of Hollywood are saying even before this, Ledger was the top choice due to his awesome performance and dedication to the role. Don't think that this is purely a "pity" award, because of his untimely passing. Most of these same critics and pundits were praising his performance even before his tragic accident.
I DO NOT want to have to add his name to my prior "They Should Have Won" list. Man, if Ledger doesn't win a posthumous Oscar for this (there has been only one other honor of this kind, Peter Finch was awarded the statuette posthumously in 1975 for his role in 1974's Network) I'm burning down Hollywood.
Now the Golden Globes are traditionally a pre-cursor to the Academy Awards. Many insiders of Hollywood are saying even before this, Ledger was the top choice due to his awesome performance and dedication to the role. Don't think that this is purely a "pity" award, because of his untimely passing. Most of these same critics and pundits were praising his performance even before his tragic accident.
I DO NOT want to have to add his name to my prior "They Should Have Won" list. Man, if Ledger doesn't win a posthumous Oscar for this (there has been only one other honor of this kind, Peter Finch was awarded the statuette posthumously in 1975 for his role in 1974's Network) I'm burning down Hollywood.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Yeah, Baby!
One step closer to the gold. Should Canada win, it would represent the second time Canada's best juniors claimed the gold medal five years in a row.
UPDATE:
Mission accomplished.
They did it! Five in a row.
This ties their own record of 1993-1997 (it would have been eight in a row if it weren't for the CIS -Commonwealth of Independent States, formerly the Soviet Union winning in 1992)
Russia has the all-time record of seven in a row, from the tournaments inception in 1974 through 1980.
Next year, we chip away ever so closer to making it our own.
UPDATE:
Mission accomplished.
They did it! Five in a row.
This ties their own record of 1993-1997 (it would have been eight in a row if it weren't for the CIS -Commonwealth of Independent States, formerly the Soviet Union winning in 1992)
Russia has the all-time record of seven in a row, from the tournaments inception in 1974 through 1980.
Next year, we chip away ever so closer to making it our own.
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